In a time when division runs rampant—even in the church—and believers shred each other publicly for differing opinions, one man bravely steps out to call Christians to unity in the One who binds them all together—Jesus Christ. Author Dr. James W. Walraven dares to suggest that Christians make wiser choices, forgive one another, and mature in their faith.
Walraven, author of Will God Save Everyone, doesn’t shy away from tough topics. He suggests that though doctrines diverge, rather than separate over differences, Christians rally around the truth of the gospel—believers should treat others better than themselves. In a me-first, turbulent culture, the biblical call to love one another is almost a radical concept, but Walraven is convinced unity can be achieved.
“Spiritual maturity is critical when it comes to recognizing and resisting the many false teachings that are being promoted,” Walraven says. “As the world becomes increasingly hostile toward the Christian faith, the need for unity will be increasingly important.”
Dr. Walraven’s new book, One in Christ is written with strength through supporting Scriptures and other resources, yet with personal vulnerability, each chapter concludes with thought-provoking personal challenges designed to move believers closer to oneness in Christ.
Extra-Biblical Books? Part 4A: Other “Ancient” Books
What other books are commonly touted as providing “special” knowledge that the Bible has supposedly suppressed?
Other key books that have been suggested include the “Book of Jasher,” the “Book of the Giants,” the “Book of Jubilees,” and especially the “Book of Enoch.” We will look at each one in turn, starting with Jasher.
Jasher is a supposed retelling of the early history of Israel, starting with the creation of man and ending with the conquest of Canaan under Joshua. It is marketed as providing much more detail for the early days of Israel, filling in and expanding on the events recorded in Scripture from Genesis to Joshua, giving “truths” that the Bible does not.
We do find references to Jasher in Joshua 10:13 and 2 Samuel 1:18. The trouble is, the original Jasher that Scripture refers to has long since been lost. The most commonly available “authentic” version, the one referenced here, is a seventeenth century forgery. It consists of various Jewish legends and the retelling of extra-biblical Jewish midrashic writings.
We will look at one example from it in detail, the story of Abram’s conflict with king Nimrod.
When Abram (Abraham) was born, astrologers saw a sign that Abram would grow up and one day destroy the kingdom of the evil king Nimrod. Nimrod therefore demands the right to kill baby Abram. Abram’s father, Terah, substitutes a slave girl’s baby, a baby that Nimrod kills, believing it to be Abram. Later, Nimrod discovers that Terah had lied and that Abram was still alive.
As a result, Abram is thrown into a fire for three days. God keeps Abram alive, and Nimrod orders him to come out. Unfortunately, that is not the end of the story. Nimrod then has a dream that indicates Abram’s descendants will destroy the kingdom when Nimrod’s successors are in power.
Nimrod seeks to kill Abram again after he refuses to worship idols and thereby come under Nimrod’s authority. He flees to Shem and Noah’s house, where he is taught by Noah for a month. After that, he flees with Terah to Haran, and after Terah’s death, leaves for Canaan.
There are numerous problems with the tale as Jasher tells it. Biblically, while Shem is alive at the time of Abram’s birth, Noah is already dead. It is therefore not possible for Abram to have come under Noah’s tutelage. In addition, although the Bible does not provide precise dates, it is fairly clear that Nimrod lived a few generations before Abram.
If Jasher was a movie, it would be labeled: “inspired by Scripture.” Is it in any way truly biblical? No. Is it a fanciful fictional retelling of Israel’s early history? Yes. That is the nature of Jasher. To cite another example: Cain’s killing of Abel becomes another long, drawn-out fanciful tale.
Sadly, some will gravitate towards Jasher. Although biblically false, the claim that Jasher provides information the Bible omits, gives it a type of credence for those who seek to disparage and reject the Bible.
Bluntly, there is nothing in Jasher to recommend it. It is, after all, a forgery. As a forgery, which means by definition it is a lie, why would we be surprised when ads for it misrepresent the importance of its contents?
In the next post, we will look at Giants.
Unfortunately, I need to take a few days away from doing this blog. Due to my lack of eyesight, I fell (again) yesterday. I was out walking, doing errands, and the town that I live in has almost no sidewalks. Where the edge of the pavement meets the dirt, those last couple of inches have about a 45 degree angle or so. I didn’t realize I was right at that edge, planted my foot right on that angle, and although I didn’t roll my ankle, I still fell. The good news is that as far as I can tell, nothing is broken. But, when playing the falling game which I not so humorously refer to as “kiss the concrete,” the concrete always wins. So I am fairly beat up. It is just one of the realities I occasionally have to deal with due to my minimal eyesight.
Hopefully, I’ll only miss a couple of regularly scheduled blog entries, and will resume the series “Extra-Biblical Books?” shortly.
I apologize for any inconvenience this delay may cause. Prayers would be appreciated.
The “Book of the Giants.” The “Book of the Giants” is marketed as an important historical book that fills in missing information regarding the Watchers and the great flood. In that sense, it is related to 1 Enoch, which we will look at in detail a bit later in the series.
Fragments of the “Book of the Giants” are found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. It was probably written in the third century BC. Fragments of a later version have been found within Manichaeism, within the writings of Mani, dated sometime in the third century, probably between 240–274 AD.
Manichaeism was a gnostic religion founded by Mani (216–274 AD). Mani taught that God and Satan were opposites. He considered God and Satan to be equal with each other. Both were eternal. God was light and spirit, ruling that world, while Satan was the master over the physical world, matter, and the body. For the Gnostics, all matter was considered evil, whereas light and spirit were regarded as good.
Each person was in essence a light-spark trapped within the body. Life’s goal was to free that light-spark from the body and return to the world of purity and light. The version of “Giants” found within Manichaeism was probably written in the third century AD.
The two versions differ somewhat. Within the Dead Sea Scrolls, the angelic Watchers were supposed to teach men, but instead impregnated women. In Mani’s version, demons came, inhabited the earth, and impregnated women.
Before taking that wicked step, the watchers/domons had initially been seduced by women who were part of the line of Cain. The giants that resulted, the Nephilim, bring and practice great evil on the earth. They eventually dream of their own destruction. That destruction by the flood is confirmed to them by Enoch.
All cultures have myths about giants; claims have been made about finding unusual remains and bones. Interestingly, there are also over 50 named giants in Greek mythology.
So what is the problem with “Giants”? Only fragments of the book survive. Those fragments are random enough that much of the narrative has been heavily reconstructed.
Scripture tells us very little about the Nephilim. What is certain is that human sin, human choices, human practice, that everyone giving themselves continually over to evil brought about the Flood. The sin issue was with us as humans, not the half-breed creatures of the Nephilim.
As for the “Book of the Giants,” the reality is far less than the hype. It has very little substance and majors instead on conjecture. The reconstructed fragments take up only a few pages. The interest in it traces more to the way it parallels first Enoch than for what it may directly say.
In the next post, we will look at the “Book of Jubilees.”