Adult Sabbath School: A Point of Agreement and That Which Should Alarm Armstrongists

NEO noted in a recent post:  A Darkness in the Armstrongist Heart: Blackwellian White Supremacy

"Error in Translation

“When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided all mankind, he set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel.”

"This was interpreted by Blackwell to mean that God organized the nations in order to allocate them to the oversight of the “sons of Israel.” This was not just a transient, temporal plan but would extend into eternity.

The problem is, this scripture does not say that. It instead refers not to the “sons of Israel” but to the “sons of god.” The full passage speaks of “El” and “Yahweh” and the “sons of god.” The nations were to be parceled out by El to the “sons of god” and Yahweh was to receive Jacob’s descendants from El as his portion in this process. The Masoretic translators altered this to read “the sons of Israel” to expunge anything that would seem to even hint at polytheism (see Michael S. Heiser, “Deuteronomy 32:8 and the Sons of God” and also Peter Enns’ interview with Mark Smith entitled “Who is Yahweh and Where Did Yahweh Come From?” both available on the web.) Heiser concludes:

“In light of the evidence there exists no textual or theological justification for preferring the Masoretic reading of verse 8. That verse should read "sons of God," not "sons of Israel."

This reference to other divine beings as “sons of god” should not alarm Armstrongists. Ron Dart preached a sermon that included this topic back in the Seventies."

In April of 2011 this same enigmatic scripture came to my attention with all its implications.  Biblical scholars have always wondered how this scripture ever made the cut and was included in the Book of Deuteronomy.   I would think the implications of other divine beings as the "sons of god"  or as others translate it, "to the number of the gods" which is that classic "uni-plural" Elohim HWA always got wrong.

https://armstrongismlibrary.blogspot.com/search?q=diehl+yhvh+el

"An interesting and surprisingly blunt admission of this multiplicity of gods is found in Deut. 32:8-9

“When the Most High (Elyon) apportioned the nations, when he divided human kind, he fixed the boundaries of his peoples according TO THE NUMBER OF THE GODS. (Elohim). The Lord’s (YHVH a lesser god than Elyon) own portion was his people, Jacob his allotted share.”

Here we have a rare and somewhat embarrassing admission that there was a god even higher than YHVH. The Most High was Elyon who had the authority to divvy up the nations between the other lesser gods.  In this account YHVH is a lesser god who was placed over the limited geographical area inhabited by Jacob.  This is why it was always well understood that the power of the god diminished the further away from its allotted land.  If they strayed too far, they qualified as “foreign gods,” which we all know were powerless in the new areas and definitely false.  You know, “My God is the true god, and …well…your’s is the Satan, or lesser and powerless god around here. “

So we learn that  YHVH and YHVH Elohim may have several implications.  This can mean that YHVH is the god over a band of lesser gods or that YHVH is a god that comes from a class of gods known as Elohim."  

The implications of this scripture when correctly translated are:

1. Polytheism and the belief in many other real gods was a common view held by the people of Israel as well as the surrounding nations.

2. El, who was originally the supreme Canaanite God was co-opted by the Israelites as their own Supreme God with all the associated traits. "El" was a common suffix in the language.  Isra-el, Dani-el, Beth-el, Immanu-el, etc)

3. In time, El, evolved into YHVH with all the previous associated traits of El. This is how the Priests of Israel and writers of the Pentateuch work such transformations in print. YHVH also took on the powers of Baal. (The Original Weather God Bob)

Exodus 6:3 may be translated:

"I revealed myself to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as Ēl Shaddāi, but was not known to them by my name, YHVH."

4. In time, YHVH was more commonly understood in the English world as "The Lord"

5. In a bit more time, "The Lord" evolved into Jesus of the New Testament.

The literary evolution of God from the Canaanite EL and his Counsel of the gods, or the "US" of "Let us make man in our image..." etc, where YHVH was a lesser god  just appointed over Israel (Chemosh over the Moabites and "The Satan" or Lucifer as a lesser god, with YHVH,  in the Council as well becoming the bad boy,  should be disturbing enough to the COG membership and ministry. Add to this YHVH usurping EL as now supreme, becoming "The Lord" of their Bibles and ultimately Jesus should give them pause for thought on just how this all evolved from the common polytheism of Israel where the other gods were very real to monotheism and Jesus. 

How Trinitarian Christianity is monotheistic is another muddle the explanations for which also evolved over the past 2000 years to accommodate the problems caused by the concept.

When "the Lord thy God", already as YHVH replacing El said, "You shall have no other gods before me, for I the Lord YOUR God am a jealous God," He wasn't kidding.

It is better rendered "You shall not bring any other gods (and there were plenty considered real and powerful in their own appointed territory) into my presence, for (BECAUSE) I, the Lord YOUR God am a jealous God."  Understood as such makes much more sense as to why the other gods were not welcome and eventually had to be ousted in the minds of the people, to this day. YHVH had a jealous streak.

I believe this reality of scripture and the actual beliefs of "the Chosen People" should indeed bother Armstrongists as well as a whole lot of other folk.

A more complete discussion of this enigmatic scripture and the realities of this evolution and  transformation of the gods in the scriptures can be found here:

http://contradictionsinthebible.com/are-yahweh-and-el-the-same-god/

A History of Polytheism in Israel

The Bahama's Was Destroyed By A Hurricane Because They Do Not Recognize A COG Prophet

Church of God leaders have a great track record of never letting a disaster go to waste.  No one is better at this than Bwana Bob Thiel.  You remember him, he is that self appointed little upstart that had to start his own personality cult because his spiritual Daddy (Rod Meredith) rebuked him and ignore him.

And just like clock work, our resident wanna-be prophet made another illogical utterance that shows the extreme narcissism that occupies his mind.

In his self-righteous glory, he claims that the Bahama's was destroyed because they do not recognize him as a true prophet of God.

Just over two weeks ago, the Category 5 hurricane Dorian devastated the northern islands of the Bahamas. “Dorian was the most powerful hurricane on record to hit the Bahamas… with wind gusts topping 320 kph (200 mph)” (Deutsche Welle, September 7, 2019). ...  

Storms like Hurricane Dorian should motivate us to think about and pray for those who are suffering. These disasters can also provide us a glimpse into far more widespread devastation that is prophesied to impact the world in the years just before Christ’s second coming—a time when “disaster will come upon disaster” (Ezekiel 7:26).

I reported about Hurricane Dorian last week (see Hurricane Dorian damages and kills in the Bahamas as it heads towards Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina) and have been praying for those in the Bahamas.

As far as Ezekiel 7:26 goes, it will affect many of Christians in the end-times. Here is the entire verse:

26 Disaster will come upon disaster,
And rumor will be upon rumor.
Then they will seek a vision from a prophet; (Ezekiel 7:26)

The people in the Bahamas have had disaster, but have not sought out any true prophet.

Sadly, since Ezekiel 7:26 is directed towards God's people, based on Jesus' word in Revelation 3, most Christians will wait until it is too late to flee from the Great Tribulation (cf. Zephaniah 2:1-3; 

The people of the Bahama's were NOT punished because they do not listen to liars like Bob Thiel. That is a fact.  Bob Thiel is a snake out to poison and destroy anyone who follows him.

Dave Pack: How to Identify a Cult