God's design or aspiration is the formation of utterly faithful family - a communion including both terrestrial and celestial entities, each granted autonomy. Authentic commitment demands affirmation, testing, validation, and verification. Without such scrutiny, loyalty is rendered insubstantial. Biblical literature presents this in the story of Job, explicitly demonstrating divine mistrust in both earthly and heavenly beings. Disloyalty results in divine extermination, a succinct and uncompromising truth.
17 ‘Can mortal man be in the right before God?
Can a man be pure before his Maker?
18 Even in his servants he puts no trust,
and his angels he charges with error;
19 how much more those who dwell in houses of clay,
whose foundation is in the dust,
who are crushed like the moth.
20 Between morning and evening they are beaten to pieces;
they perish forever without anyone regarding it.
21 Is not their tent-cord plucked up within them,
do they not die, and that without wisdom?’
In Reversing Hermon's seventh chapter, Dr. Heiser examines the origins of moral corruption. Both Second Temple and first-century Jews identified two primary causes: a ubiquitous "sin nature" within humans and the relentless sway from invisible realms by tainted, fallen entities.
Reflecting on this, I was drawn once again to the recurring patterns in the scriptures. Such repetitions act as underlying motifs establishing powerful theological arguments. I refer to the concept of "Dark Parentage" as a significant pattern where the influences of unseen entities are so potent that they fool humans into believing these foreign thoughts and ideas are their own.
DARK PARENTAGE Template: When the question of "Who's-your-daddy" is answered by "Satan-and-dark-forces" of demons and wickedness—even if you think you are parented by God, Himself.
Let's start looking for this in scripture. One of the obvious places is John 8:44.
You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
The crux of the debate rests on the Jews' assertion that their lineage traces back to God and Abraham, a claim refuted by Jesus. The intrigue deepens when one considers the implications within the contexts of Genesis 3, 6, and 11, with particular attention to Genesis 6:1-4. These verses describe the fallen sons of God, and subsequent references in Genesis 11, Psalm 82, and Deuteronomy 32:8 further elaborate on the divine lineage.
The ties become quite a bit more transparent when we tie in passages like:
You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?
An integral Enochian narrative asserts that the fallen divine beings are symbolized as serpents, as seen in Genesis 3. This narrative further incorporates the divine edict of their destruction, as indicated in Psalms 82 and elsewhere. John the Baptist, within this Enochian framework, chastises religious Jewish elites, extending the indictment: those allying with these metaphorical serpents — doomed to perish — will incur a similar fate.
Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples came to him, saying, 'Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.' He answered, 'The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears, let him hear.
The origin of our spiritual lineage, benevolent or maleficent, hinges on the source of our metaphorical "seed": either the divine essence of God or the collective body of detrimental forces, led by the paramount entity among the satanic assembly, often referred to as the Devil, Satan, or Lucifer.
Summing it up
God's grace, imparted through Christ's sacrifice at the Cross, is offered to anyone who honestly and humbly grasps the proclamation of the Kingdom of Heaven. The understanding demanded goes beyond one's physical ancestry to acknowledge the spiritual loyalty we have inadvertently pledged. When this realization dawns, coupled with the recognition of God's offer of salvation from this perilous lineage of damned beings, the Lord initiates the process of grafting us into Christ. At its core, this notion posits that our comprehension and humility—our recognition of our impotence to avert impending doom without His intervention—stir God into action on our behalf.
Our eventual salvation hinges on the continual cultivation of discipline and allegiance, like an enduring marathon of compliance. This capability for obedience springs from the Spirit of Christ's empowerment within us, consequent to God's integration of us into Christ at the crucifixion. Hence, our success in serving God as devoted family members rests not on our inherent power, but His. Salvation - a gift anticipated on the Day of the Lord - is not a merit earned by us, but graciously granted by Him. However, our test of fidelity remains: Can we, fortified by God through our embodiment in Christ, loyally and faithfully emulate Christ as His family members?
The ultimate end of ominous entities and those human allies steadfast in their allegiance to them, implies inevitable doom. Our salvation is compromised if we deliberately abandon: The Crucifix, the residing Spirit, and revert to our once renounced ties with these dark forces. This compelling decision is distinct from wrestling with sins or stumbling and faltering in our spiritual endeavors. Instead, we lose ultimate salvation if the choice we make is a deliberate and irrevocable return to the realms of darkness, with a fully aware dismissal of Christ's teachings and His impending Kingdom, as well as the consequences we face, together with already condemned unseen realm beings!
SUPPORTING DATA
In the data below, I use the LLM AI to see if it can locate any scripture that has a direct, indirect, or allusion to the notion of "dark parentage".
QUERY: Locate every instance of the "dark parentage" template in the NT gospels. Call out every passage to where the template applies directly, indirectly, or even as an allusion.
RESPONSE: The “dark parentage” template in the NT Gospels can be traced through various instances, directly, indirectly, or even as implicit detailing of descendants or influencers with malevolent origins or influences.
1. Matthew 3:7 / Luke 3:7 - "You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?"
John the Baptist refers to the Pharisees and Sadducees as a "brood of vipers." This could be an indirect allusion to the Eden serpent of Genesis 3.
2. Matthew 13:38 - “The field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one,”
In this parable, Jesus distinguishes between sons of the kingdom and sons of the evil one (dark parentage).
3. Matthew 23:15 - “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you traverse sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves.”
Jesus confronts the scribes and Pharisees for their harmful theological practices and refers to them as children of hell, suggesting dark spiritual influence.
4. Matthew 23:33 - "You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?"
Jesus, here again, is explicitly labelling the Jewish religious leaders as offspring of the Eden serpent (dark parentage).
5. John 8:44 - “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies."
Jesus directly addressed the Pharisees, linking their lineage to the devil, specifying their desires and behavior as aligned to their dark parentage.
6. John 8:47 - “Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”
This verse implies the Pharisees’ lack of godly parentage, inferring a dark origin for not hearing or accepting the words of God.
7. Acts 13:10 - "You son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, full of all deceit and villainy, will you not stop making crooked the straight paths of the Lord?"
Apostle Paul speaking to Elymas the sorcerer, overtly labeling him as a son of the devil, clearly signifying dark parentage.
8. 1 John 3:10 - “By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.”
John explicitly divides humanity into children of God and children of the devil (dark parentage).
Most of these instances refrain from literal dark parentage, but extensively use the metaphor to illustrate spiritual influences and inclinations. These dynamics of dark parentage exhibit a set pattern and even coincide with other ancient texts, symbolizing a common archetypal template across ancient near eastern cultures.
The instances above were found by the tool in the NT Gospels (including Acts as a freebee). Now, let's turn our attention to the Epistles.
QUERY: Locate every instance of the "dark parentage" template in the NT Epistles. Call out every passage to where the template applies directly, indirectly, or even as an allusion.
RESPONSE: Dark parentage, as it relates to the New Testament Epistles, can often connect with concepts of spiritual progeny or sinful genealogy. Here are some places where this template might apply:
1. Galatians 3:26-29 (ESV) "for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise."
Though not 'dark' in the traditional sense, this passage highlights the importance of lineage and underscores the direct link between belief and identity.
2. Ephesians 2:1-3 (ESV) "And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind."
This passage directly speaks to 'dark parentage'; followers of the prince of the power of the air are called 'sons of disobedience'. Here, the spiritual lineage is the direct result of disobedient actions.
3. 1 John 3:10 (ESV) "By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother."
This verse distinctly separates the 'children of God' from 'children of the devil', alluding to dark parentage.
One can extend these findings by drawing comparisons to similar themes in Philo Judeaus' works, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and Henri Frankfort's studies on Ancient Near-Eastern thought—the latter looms large in understanding a person's relation to the divine, whether to God or to malicious spiritual entities, invoking dark parentage or light parentage depending on their ethical carriage.
Moreover, hearken back to the intertestamental literature, especially the Book of 1 Enoch, where we see not just indirect allusions but explicit storylines built around 'dark parentage' concepts, for instance, the offspring of human women and 'Watchers'/fallen angels resulting in the Nephilim, blurring divine-human boundaries and eliciting divine judgement.
In sum, tracing this motif of 'dark parentage' across various ancient texts arguably uncovers layers of identity, genealogy, morality, and the relationship between humanity and the spiritual/divine realm.
QUERY: More references in the Epistles?
RESPONSE: Certainly! Here are some more examples of "dark parentage" in the New Testament Epistles:
1. Colossians 3:5-7 (ESV) "Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. In these you too once walked, when you were living in them."
This passage indirectly suggests a dark parental influence by speaking about living in sin and the wrath that it brings.
2. 2 Timothy 2:26 (ESV) "and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been captured by him to do his will."
This passage indirectly pertains to "dark parentage" as it refers to those who do the will of the devil, thereby becoming his spiritual children.
3. James 3:15 (ESV) "This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic."
In James, wisdom that does not come from heaven but is earthly and unspiritual is described as demonic. This could be an indirect allusion to dark parentage by associating earthly wisdom with demonic influence.
4. Ephesians 5:6 (ESV) "Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience."
Similar to Ephesians 2:1-3, this passage speaks about those who are deceived by empty words and become the "sons of disobedience."
5. 1 Peter 5:8 (ESV) "Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour."
While not explicitly referring to "dark parentage," this warning by Peter about the devil seeking to devour people could be seen as a reference to the spiritual lineage or influence of dark forces.
Remember, these passages often apply the concept of "parentage" in a metaphorical sense to show the influence of sin or evil forces on individuals or groups. Nevertheless, they help build a broader understanding of how the idea of dark parentage is used in the NT Epistles.