What Cherubim Teach Us About God, Baptism As Spiritual Warfare, and Teaching Children to Resist Satan
Welcome back to The Think Institute’s weekly Newsletter. Every Friday, you and 1200+ other subscribers get an idea from me, a quote from somebody else, and something to think about. If you like this, please share it with a friend. You can subscribe and read all the archives here.
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Now let's get into it.
AN IDEA FROM ME
“There are other entities in this world—in the cosmos, in the Heavens and Earth—but they all serve the Lord. They serve Yahweh. They serve the “I Am,” God Most High. There is no god above God. He does not answer to anyone above Him. He is the highest, and the entities that exist, they serve Him. He is the King. He is the King of kings, and the Lord of lords. So that is the point [of the Bible’s depictions of cherubim and seraphim], to show that God is holy, and that God is king.”
—From “4 Realities of the Unseen Realm (Introductory Guide)” on YouTube
A QUOTE FROM SOMEBODY ELSE
“Baptism, then, is not what produces salvation. It ‘saves’ in that it reflects a heart decision: a pledge of loyalty to the risen Savior. In effect, baptism in New Testament theology is a loyalty oath, a public avowal of who is on the Lord’s side in the cosmic war between good and evil. But in addition to that, it is also a visceral reminder to the defeated fallen angels. Every baptism is a reiteration of their doom in the wake of the gospel and the kingdom of God. Early Christians understood the typology of this passage and its link back to the fallen angels of Genesis 6. Early baptismal formulas included a renunciation of Satan and his angels for this very reason. Baptism was—and still is—spiritual warfare.”
—Michael Heiser, The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015), 338.
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT
James 4:7 says, “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” What is one practical way we can teach our children to “resist the devil?”
Respond to this email in the next seven days, and I will write you back.
In Christ,
Joel Settecase
President
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