Have you ever spoken with someone who doesn’t believe in a
particular religious philosophy and then dismisses its existence? For example,
many people may not believe in the existence of satanic religious groups and
therefore dismiss their existence. It doesn’t matter what someone on the
outside of a religious system believes, it only matters what the practitioners
of a particular group believe. In our modern times many people dismiss the
existence of those who intentionally participate in evil religious rituals and
evil behavior for their own gain. This is the case even within the Christian
community. Again, it doesn’t matter what a church or a Christian religious
group believes, it only matters what the people who intentionally practice evil
believe. In misunderstanding intentional evil, our society becomes vulnerable
to its schemes and plans. Intentionally evil people infiltrate our political
systems, our schools, communities, and our religious institutions. Just because
we have decided to believe that all people are generally good, does not mean
that all people are generally good.
The Essenes/Nazarenes/Therapeutaes lived with the reality of
there being people of intentional evil. They educated themselves with that in
mind and they lived in such a way that they rebuffed the effects of
intentionally evil people. We have studied Sons of Belial and we will explore
that again. Here are some previous blogs regarding Sons of Belial. http://musingsofawinsomeheart.blogspot.com/2013/01/principalities-and-children-of-belial.html
Belial is
used as a name for the devil. It was originally a person’s name, but because
Belial’s sons were so evil, the name was used as a title for all those who
intentionally practice evil. The Essene communities used this title for evil
people in many of their writings. We see that the Essenes had a Master over
individual communities and each community was to instruct its people regarding
these ideas. They believed there were two types of spirits that people walk in,
either the spirit of truth or the spirit of injustice. People choose which they
intend to walk in.
The Religious Ideas of the
Community (1QS XI, 7-9)
The Master shall instruct all
the sons of light and shall teach them the nature of all the children of men
according to the kind of spirit which they possess ... From the God of
Knowledge comes all that is and shall be. Before ever they existed He established
their whole design, and when, as ordained for them, they come into being, it is
in accord with His glorious design that they accomplish their task without
change ...
He has created man to govern
the world, and has appointed for him two spirits in which to walk until the
time of His visitation: the spirits of truth and injustice. Those born of truth
spring from a fountain of light, but those born of injustice spring from a
source of darkness. All the children of righteousness are ruled by the Prince
of Light and walk in the ways of light, but all the children of injustice are
ruled by the Angel of Darkness and walk in the ways of darkness. The Angel of
Darkness leads all the children of righteousness astray and until his end, all
their sins, iniquities, wickedness, and all their unlawful deeds are caused by
his dominion in accordance with the mysteries of God...
But the God of Israel and His
Angel of Truth will succour all the sons of light. For it is He who created the
spirits of Light and Darkness and founded every action upon them and
established every deed [upon] their [ways]. And He loves the one everlastingly
and delights in its works for ever; but the counsel of the other He loathes and
forever hates its ways.
We should keep in mind who the god of this world is. He is
the one enticing people to follow his ways. Some intentionally follow the god
of this world for things they are promised here on earth. Some follow the god
of this world because they believe they can somehow overthrow the Creator.
Think that through for a moment; a created being who already had a place he
ruled, but messed it up, who then did not want to bow to Adam, and stole Adam’s
rulership through trickery, is now going to promise human beings they can
overthrow the Creator of the Universe? Probably not going to happen. Yet people
believe the lies. The Master of the Community has more to teach, let’s go on.
And as for the visitation of
all who walk in this spirit, it shall be healing, great peace in a long life,
and fruitfulness, together with every everlasting blessing and eternal joy in
life without end, a crown of glory and a garment of majesty in unending light.
But the ways of the spirit of
falsehood are these: greed, and slackness in the search for righteousness, wickedness
and lies, haughtiness and pride, falseness and deceit, cruelty and abundant
evil, ill-temper and much folly and brazen insolence, abominable deeds
(committed) in a spirit of lust, and ways of lewdness in the service of
uncleanness, a blaspheming tongue, blindness of eye and dullness of ear,
stiffness of neck and heaviness of heart, so that man walks in all the ways of
darkness and guile.
And the visitation of all who
walk in this spirit shall be a multitude of plagues by the hand of all the destroying
angels, everlasting damnation by the avenging wrath of the fury of God, eternal
torment and endless disgrace together with shameful extinction in the fire of
the dark regions. The times of all their generations shall be spent in
sorrowful mourning and in bitter misery and in calamities of darkness until
they are destroyed without remnant or survivor.
We have to keep in mind our timing. When will the people
who walk in the spirit of falsehood suffer for following the devil? Not now,
while devil is in charge. If we remember back to our study of the Book of
Revelation, there will be a time when the beast rises up to rule the world, and
Jesus and his armies come back to establish the Millennial kingdom. That
thousand years will be one thousand years of torment until the white throne
judgement. So think this through, from the time of an evil person’s death they
go to Hades, the place of torment, until the white throne judgment when all who
are in Hades are judged as to their works. For someone who is evil and died two
thousand years ago that is at least three thousand years in Hades before final
judgment. Simply put, the devil does not have the keys to hell and death any
longer, so even in death there is no special place for those who practice evil.
Let’s continue.
The nature of all the children
of men is ruled by these (two spirits), and during their life all the hosts of
men have a portion of their divisions and walk in (both) their ways. And the
whole reward for their deeds shall be, for everlasting ages, according to
whether each man's portion in their two divisions is great or small. For God
has established the spirits in equal measure until the final age, and has set
everlasting hatred between their divisions. Truth abhors the works of
injustice, and injustice hates all the ways of truth. And their struggle is
fierce in all their arguments for they do not walk together. But in the
mysteries of His understanding, and in His glorious wisdom, God has ordained an
end for injustice, and at the time of the visitation He will destroy it forever.
Then truth, which has wallowed in the ways of wickedness during the dominion of
injustice until the appointed time of judgement, shall arise in the world for
ever. God will then purify every deed of man with His truth; He will refine for
Himself the human frame by rooting out all spirit of injustice from the bounds
of his flesh. He will cleanse him of all wicked deeds with the spirit of
holiness; like purifying waters He will shed upon him the spirit of truth (to
cleanse him) of all abomination and Injustice. And he shall be plunged into the
spirit of purification, that he may instruct the upright in the knowledge of
the Most High and teach the wisdom of the sons of heaven to the perfect of way.
For God has chosen them for an everlasting Covenant and all the glory of Adam
shall be theirs. There shall be no more lies and all the works of Injustice
shall be put to shame.
There is a hope for people who follow the Spirit of Truth,
purification. But take special note of this, they understood that this issue of
who one follows is a heart issue. That is what the
Essenes/Nazarenes/Therapeutaes always focused on, the heart of man. That is
also what the Letter of Aristeas explains to us. The Laws were given for
mankind to understand heart issues and behavior, not to follow rules. But this
lifestyle is only for those who freely want it.
Until now the spirits of truth
and injustice struggle in the hearts of men and they walk in both wisdom and
folly. According to his portion of truth so does a man hate injustice, and
according to his inheritance in the realm of injustice so is he wicked and so
hates truth. For God has established the two spirits in equal measure until the
determined end, and until the Renewal, and He knows the reward of their deeds
from all eternity He has allotted them to the children of men that they may
know good [and evil, and] that the destiny of all the living may be according
to the spirit within [them at the time] of the visitation. And this is the Rule for the men of the
Community who have freely pledged themselves to be converted from all evil and
to cling to all His commandments according to His will They shall separate from
the congregation of the men of injustice and shall unite, with respect to the Law
and possessions, under the authority of the sons of Zadok, the Priests who keep
the Covenant, and of the multitude of the men of the Community who hold fast to
the Covenant. Every decision concerning doctrine, property and justice shall be
determined by them.
Once someone decides to follow the Spirit of Truth they
become part of the community. Today we have church communities, but we don’t
actually live like the Essenes/Nazarenes/Therapeutaes lived. We don’t sell all
our possessions and share everything with others in the community. Today we
live independently of our church communities and our church communities have
differing belief systems. The Dead Sea Scrolls give us great insight into the
roots of our faith but we have to temper it with our modern times.
With that in mind we have a clear warning, similar to some
of Solomon’s proverbs. We again have to ask ourselves why some people intentionally
seduce others. I’m sure we have all heard of stories where a woman seduces a
man into bed then gets pregnant to keep him. That is an old “trick” that
happens all the time.
The Seductress (4Q184)
... speaks vanity and ...
errors. She is ever prompt to oil her words, and she flatters with irony,
deriding with iniquitous l[ips]. Her heart is set up as a snare, and her
kidneys (affections) as a fowler's nets. Her eyes are defiled with iniquity,
her hands have seized hold of the Pit. Her legs go down to work wickedness, and
to walk in wrong- doings. Her... are foundations of darkness, and a multitude
of sins is in her skirts. Her... are darkness of night, and her garments... Her
clothes are shades of twilight, and her ornaments plagues of corruption. Her
couches are beds of corruption, and her ... depths of the pit. Her inns are
couches of darkness, and her dominions in the midst of the night. She pitches
her dwelling on the foundations of darkness she abides in the tents of silence.
Amid everlasting fire is her inheritance, not among those who shine brightly.
She is the beginning of all the ways of iniquity. Woe (and) disaster to all who
possess her! And desolation to all who hold her! For her ways are ways of
death, and her paths are roads of sin, and her tracks are pathways to iniquity,
and her by-ways are rebellious wrong-doings. Her gates are gates of death, and
from the entrance of the house she sets out towards the underworld. None of
those who enter there will ever return, and all who possess her will descend to
the Pit. She lies in wait in secret places, ... In the city's squares she veils
herself, and she stands at the gates of towns. She will never re[st] from
wh[orin]g, her eyes glance hither and thither. She lifts her eyelids naughtily
to stare at a virtuous man and join him, and an important man to trip him up,
at upright men to pervert their way, and the righteous elect to keep them from
the commandment, at the firmly established to bring them down wantonly, and
those who walk in uprightness to alter the statute; to cause the humble to
rebel against God, and turn their steps away from the ways of justice, to bring
insolence to their heart, so that they march no more in the paths of
uprightness; to lead men astray to the ways of the Pit, and seduce with
flatteries every son of man.
The Seductress is the beginning of all the ways of
iniquity. There are many people who are brought up in Christian homes who have
to make the decision to walk with Jesus. It is a heart issue and those who get
led astray are seduced by someone, a woman, a man, an evil spirit. Keep in
mind, sexual seduction is the beginning of all the ways of iniquity and the
target is the virtuous, upright, and humble. There is no prize in seducing
someone whose heart is already following the unjust one. The prize is to seduce
someone whose heart follows the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth.
Just like Paul’s letters, the Essene/Nazarene/Therapeutae
communities were concerned with understanding sin, and the mysteries to come.
1Q27 combined with 4Q300, fr.
3 and 4Q299, fr. 1 I ... all {so that they might know the difference between
g[ood and evil] ...} (4Q300) the mysteries of sin ... {all their wisdom}
(4Q300). They know not the mystery to come, nor do they understand the things
of the past. They know not that which shall befall them, nor do they save their
soul from the mystery to come. And this shall be the sign for you that these
things shall come to pass. When the breed of iniquity is shut up, wickedness
shall then be banished by righteousness as darkness is banished by the light.
As smoke clears and is no more, so shall wickedness perish forever and
righteousness be revealed like a sun governing the world. All who cleave to the
mysteries of sin shall be no more; knowledge shall fill the world and folly
shall exist no longer.
Unlike the Pharisees, the Essenes were not sin conscious as
to keeping each rule, but they were sin conscious as to the ways and thoughts
of a person’s heart. They regularly encouraged the people to understand the two
paths and the future for each path.
4Q418,fr. 69(40417 51-5)
II... And now, O you foolish
hearts, What good is to (someone) who is not... [What] is silence for someone
who does not exist, and what is judgement if it has no foundation? Why do the
dead groan over their ... ... you have been shaped and your return is to
eternal destruction. For it shall wake up... your sin Darkness will roar
against your dispute. And all those who will exist for ever, those who search
truth will be aroused for your judgement [and then] all the foolish hearts will
be destroyed, and the sons of injustice will be found no more, [and all the
supporters of wickedness will be put to shame. The foundations of the firmament
scream at your judgement and all the ... will thunder. And you, elect of truth
and pursuers of [righteousness and] jud[gement] ... guardians of all knowledge,
how will you say: We labour for understanding and keep awake to pursue
knowledge ... and be not weary in all the years of eternity. Will he not
delight in truth for ever and knowledge... The s[ons of] heaven whose
inheritance is eternal life. Will they indeed say: We have laboured in the works
of truth and we exhausted ourselves in all the ages. Will they not walk in
eternal light [and inherit g]lory and great splendour. And you, O son of
[understanding] ...
Here is something the Communities
did do regarding the Sons of Belial. Those entering the Covenant first stood in
repentance for straying as a people. The Levites then would curse the lot of
Belial.
Community
Rule (IQS, 4Q255-64, 4Q280, 286-7, 4Q502, 5QII, 13) 1QS
I [The
Master shall teach the saints to live(?) {according to the Book}
(4Q255,
257) ……
On
entering the Covenant, the Priests and Levites shall bless the God of salvation
and all His faithfulness, and all those entering the Covenant shall say after
them, 'Amen, Amen!'
Then
the Priests shall recite the favours of God manifested in His mighty deeds and
shall declare all His merciful grace to Israel, and the Levites shall recite
the iniquities of the children of Israel, all their guilty rebellions and sins
during the dominion of Belial. And after them, all those entering the Covenant
shall confess and say: 'We have strayed! We have [disobeyed!] We and our
fathers before us have sinned and acted wickedly in walking [counter to the
precepts] of truth and righteousness. [And God has] judged us and our fathers
also; II but He has bestowed His bountiful mercy on us from everlasting to
everlasting.' And the Priests shall bless all the men of the lot of God who
walk perfectly in all His ways, saying: 'May He bless you with all good and
preserve you from all evil! May He lighten your heart with life- giving wisdom
and grant you eternal knowledge! May He raise His merciful face towards you for
everlasting bliss!'
And
the Levites shall curse all the men of the lot of Belial, saying: 'Be cursed
because of all your guilty wickedness! May He deliver you up for torture at the
hands of the vengeful Avengers! May He visit you with destruction by the hand
of all the Wreakers of Revenge! Be cursed without mercy because of (4Q256) the
darkness of your deeds! Be damned in the shadowy place of everlasting fire! May
God not heed when you call on Him, nor pardon you by blotting out your sin! May
He raise His angry face towards you for vengeance! May there be no
"Peace" for you in the mouth of those who hold fast to the Fathers!'
And after the blessing and the cursing, all those entering the Covenant shall
say, 'Amen, Amen!'
It is quite possible that we
don’t understand the power of the curse, especially in community against the
evil people who are intentionally set against us. This was a community event
done every year when new people entered the community. The Priests blessed the
people entering in, the Levites cursed the lot of Belial, and they then
pronounced curses on anyone entering the community falsely or with sin in their
heart. They also pronounced blessings on the new people entering the community
who were entering with pure intent. And a bit further into the Community Rules
we again see the contrast between darkness and light. Notice that they are
cursing the group of evil people, not each individual by name.
…XIII……Thou
hast created us for Thyself, [O God], that we may be an everlasting people.
Thou hast decreed for us a destiny of Light according to Thy truth. And the
Prince of Light Thou hast appointed from ancient times to come to our support;
[all the sons of righteousness are in his hand], and all the spirits of truth
are under his dominion. But Belial, the Angel of Malevolence, Thou hast created
for the Pit; his [rule] is in Darkness and his purpose is to bring about
wickedness and iniquity All the spirits of his company, the Angels of
Destruction, walk according to the precepts of Darkness; towards them is their
[inclination].
As we have studied the
Essenes/Nazarenes/Therapeutaes lived in times of turmoil. Yet they didn’t curse
just anyone, they cursed the spiritual powers and the evil spiritual host for
their situation. These curses are not for your neighbor whose dog digs up your
flowers. These curses are not for the person who cut you off driving on the
highway. These curses are reserved for the intentional workers of evil and the
demons who inspire evil plans against the children of light. Here is a
community rule of all people cursing the works of darkness.
4Q286
(4Q287, fr. 6)=4QBerakhot''
Curses
of Belial Fr. 7 a
II
council of the Community shall all say together, Amen, amen. Afterwards [they]
shall damn Belial and all his guilty lot. They shall answer and say, Cursed be
[B]elial in his hostile design, and damned in his guilty dominion. Cursed be
all the spirits of his [lo]t in their wicked design, and damned in their
thoughts of unclean impurity For they are the lot of darkness and their
visitation is for eternal destruction. Amen, amen. Cursed be the Wicke[d One in
all the ages ] of his dominions, and may all the sons of Belial be damned in all
the works of their service until their annihilation [forever, Amen, amen.] And
[they shall continue to say: Be cursed, Ang]el of Perdition and Spirit of
Destruction, in all the thoughts of your g[uilty] inclination [and all your
abominable [plots] and [your] wicked design, [and] may you be [da]mned ...
Amen, am[en]. [Cursed be a]ll those who practi[se] their [wicked designs] and
establish [in their heart] their (evil) devices, [plotting against Go]d'[s
Covenant] ... to exchange the judgemen[ts of truth for folly.]
This is a powerful tool, not to
be used by our five senses but by the Spirit of God. If we remember that all
the words we speak are recorded as per Ecclesiastes, we will use control with
this weapon. We have to remember the imprecatory Psalms written by David show
us a culture of evil people intentionally plotting to harm the children of
light. A few weeks ago we looked at what happened after the temple was
destroyed in 70 AD and we noted that since the Jews were thrown out of
Jerusalem they made a school near Tel Aviv. They added a curse against
Christians to their list of reciting daily blessings. What we now can see,
looking back in time is that Christianity has prospered and grown for two
thousand years, but the Jews went into irrelevance and obscurity until 1948. If
we read documents from the turn of the 20th century, we see great
debate as to whether to allow Jews to move into Jerusalem as the land was harsh
and not suitable for agriculture. Many rich families put a lot of money into
Israel so that the Jews could live there and at first their time was rather
rocky. But eventually a generation of people took the initiative to make it
work. Today we see deserts that have crops enough to feed the population. Just
as we noted a few weeks ago, a curse causeless cannot alight, and we are not to
curse the king in our beds as a bird of the air will take it to him. Jesus said
this:
Matt 5:44 But I say unto you,
Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you,
and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; KJV
We may not understand the power
of the blessing either. If we curse the devil and his workers, but bless the
people who mistreat us, the power behind our words may actually help them
change their heart. We simply do not know what turns a man’s heart away from
the Creator Most High to instead serve a lesser god.
We have several hymns that the
people sang in their communities, and we can see their train of thought by
reading it. They know that there are intentional people set on harming them.
Again, bear in mind the turbulent times, however it is easy to apply these
ideas to our day as nothing has changed concerning people who believe they will
be rewarded for seducing Christians away from Jesus.
Hymn
7 (formerly 2)
I
thank Thee, O Lord, for Thou hast placed my soul in the bundle of the living,
and hast hedged me about against all the snares of the Pit. Violent men have
sought after my life because I have clung to Thy Covenant. For they, an
assembly of deceit, and a horde of Belial, know not that my stand Is maintained
by Thee, and that In Thy mercy Thou wilt save my soul since my steps proceed
from Thee. From Thee It Is that they assail my life, that Thou mayest be
glorified by the judgement of the wicked , and manifest Thy might through me In
the presence of the sons of men; for It Is by Thy mercy that I stand. And I
said, Mighty men have pitched their camps against me, and have encompassed me
with all their weapons of war. They have let fly arrows against which there is
no cure, and the flame of (their) javelins Is like a consuming fire among
trees. The clamour of their shouting Is like the bellowing of many waters, like
a storm of destruction devouring a multitude of men; as their waves rear up,
Naught and Vanity spout upward to the stars. But although my heart melted like
water, my soul held fast to Thy Covenant, and the net which they spread for me
has taken their own foot; they have themselves fallen Into the snares which
they laid for my life.
It was revealed many years ago
that those who practice satanism intentionally curse Christians to encourage
them to commit suicide. Think about that, a reward for causing someone to
become so despondent that they end their own life. We should take that
seriously. It doesn’t matter what sect of satanism one ascribes to, and it
doesn’t matter if you even believe satanism exists. What does matter is whether
the one practicing satanism participates in ritual cursing, because we know all
words have power as the Bible tells us.
This next hymn sounds very much
like the Book of Revelation. There is a war that destroys the land, and the
Sons of God, the heavenly warriors, come to rectify the situation. The mention
of Abaddon and the Abyss is something we studied in our series on Revelation;
when the deep is opened and evil spirits come out to wage war on the people of
the earth.
Hymn
10 (formerly 5)
I
thank Thee, O Lord, for Thou hast redeemed my soul from the Pit, and from the
hell of Abaddon Thou hast raised me up to everlasting height. I walk on
limitless level ground, and I know there is hope for him whom Thou hast shaped
from dust for the everlasting Council. Thou hast cleansed a perverse spirit of
great sin that it may stand with the host of the Holy Ones, and that it may
enter into community with the congregation of the Sons of Heaven. Thou hast
allotted to man an everlasting destiny amidst the spirits of knowledge, that he
may praise Thy Name In a common rejoicing and recount Thy marvels before all
Thy works. And yet I, a creature of clay, what am I? Kneaded with water, what
is my worth and my might? For I have stood in the realm of wickedness and my
lot was with the damned; the soul of the poor one was carried away In the midst
of great tribulation. Miseries of torment dogged my steps while all the snares
of the Pit were opened and the lures of wickedness were set up and the nets of
the damned (were spread) on the waters; while all the arrows of the Pit flew
out without cease, and, striking, left no hope; while the rope beat down In
judgement and a destiny of wrath (fell) upon the abandoned and a venting of
fury upon the cunning. It was a time of the wrath of all Belial and the bonds
of death tightened without any escape. The torrents of Belial shall reach to
all sides of the world. In all their channels a consuming fire shall destroy
every tree, green and barren, on their banks; unto the end of their courses It
shall scourge with flames of fire, and shall consume the foundations of the
earth and the expanse of dry land. The bases of the mountains shall blaze and
the roots of the rocks shall turn to torrents of pitch; it shall devour as far
as the great Abyss. The torrents of Belial shall break Into Abaddon, and the
deeps of the Abyss shall groan amid the roar of heaving mud. The land shall cry
out because of the calamity fallen upon the world, and all its deeps shall
howl. And all those upon it shall rave and shall perish amid the great
misfortune. For God shall sound His mighty voice, and His holy abode shall
thunder with the truth of His glory. The heavenly hosts shall cry out and the
world's foundations shall stagger and sway. The war of the heavenly warriors
shall scourge the earth; and it shall not end before the appointed destruction
which shall be forever and without compare. I thank Thee, O Lord, for Thou art
as a fortified wall to me, and as an iron bar against all destroyers Thou hast
set my feet upon rock... that I may walk in the way of eternity and in the
paths which Thou hast chosen
All the people left on earth
during the tribulation will have to endure until the end. As we know that the
redeemed are not on the earth at that time. The only people left on the earth
are those who reject Jesus and are not redeemed. Once paradise opens and the
dead in Christ rise first, the next thing that happens is that those redeemed
on the earth join them in the air on the way to heaven. For a short time it
will seem like things are alright on the earth. The two witnesses will start
their period on earth attempting to reconcile people to God, but after three
and one half years they will be killed by Abaddon/Apollyon/Gog. The entire
world will rejoice and give gifts to each other because they believe the
plagues the two witnesses brought on them will stop. What the world will be in
for, in the last three and one half years, will be worse.
Once again we see another hymn
contrasting light and dark, and that there are teachers of lies and seers of
falsehood that scheme to cause one to fall away from God. The goal of the devil
and those who intentionally serve him is to cause the children of light to
stumble. Now that Jesus has taken the keys back from hell and death and sent
the Holy Spirit, we have a better position against the enemy. The Holy Spirit
lives within us, and we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. We might be led
astray, and we might lose rewards, but we still have the Holy Spirit within.
Hymn
12 (formerly 7)
I
seek Thee, and sure as the dawn Thou appearest as [perfect Light] to me.
Teachers of lies [have smoothed] Thy people [with words], and [false prophets]
have led them astray, they perish without understanding for their works are in
folly. For I am despised by them and they have no esteem for me that Thou
mayest manifest Thy might through me. They have banished me from my land like a
bird from its nest; all my friends and brethren are driven far from me and hold
me for a broken vessel. And they, teachers of lies and seers of falsehood, have
schemed against me a devilish scheme, to exchange the Law engraved on my heart
by Thee for the smooth things (which they speak) to Thy people. And they
withhold from the thirsty the drink of Knowledge, and assuage their thirst with
vinegar, that they may gaze on their straying, on their folly concerning their
feast-days, on their fall into their snares. But Thou, O God, dost despise all
Belial's designs; it is Thy purpose that shall be done and the design of Thy
heart that shall be established forever. As for them, they dissemble, they plan
devilish schemes. They seek Thee with a double heart and are not confirmed in
Thy truth a root bearing poisoned and bitter fruit is in their designs; they
walk in stubbornness of heart and seek Thee among idols, and they set before
themselves the stumbling-block of their sin. They come to inquire of Thee from
the mouth of lying prophets deceived by error who speak [with strange] lips to
Thy people, and an alien tongue, that they may cunni ng ly turn all their works
to folly. For [they hearken] not [to] Thy [voice], nor do they give ear to Thy
word; of the vision of knowledge they say, ' It is unsure' , and of the way of
Thy heart, ' It is not (the way)' . But Thou, O God, wilt reply to them,
chastising them in Thy might because of their idols and because of the
multitude of their sins, that they who have turned aside from Thy Covenant may
be caught in their own designs. Thou wilt destroy in Judgement all men of lies,
and there shall be no more seers of error; for in Thy works is no folly, no
guile in the design of Thy heart. But those who please Thee shall stand before
Thee forever; those who walk in the way of Thy heart shall be established for
evermore. Clinging to Thee, I will stand. I will rise against those who despise
me and my hand shall be turned against those who deride me; for they have no
esteem for me [that Thou mayest] manifest Thy might through me. Thou hast revealed
Thyself to me in Thy power as perfect Light, and Thou hast not covered my face
with shame. All those who are gathered in Thy Covenant inquire of me, and they
hearken to me who walk in the way of Thy heart, who array themselves for Thee
in the Council of the holy. Thou wilt cause their law to endure for ever and
truth to go forward unhindered, and Thou wilt not allow them to be led astray
by the hand of the damned when they plot against them. Thou wilt put the fear
of them into Thy people and (wilt make of them) a hammer to all the peoples of
the lands, that at the Judgement they may cut off all those who transgress Thy
word. Through me Thou hast illumined the face of the Congregation and hast
shown Thine infinite power. For Thou hast given me knowledge through Thy
marvellous mysteries, and hast shown Thyself mighty within me in the midst of
Thy marvellous Council. Thou hast done wonders before the Congregation for the
sake of Thy glory, that they may make known Thy mighty deeds to all the living.
But what is flesh (to be worthy) of this? What is a creature of clay for such
great marvels to be done, whereas he is in iniquity from the womb and in guilty
unfaithfulness until his old age? Righteousness, I know, is not of man, nor is
perfection of way of the son of man: to the Most High God belong all righteous
deeds. The way of man is not established except by the spirit which God created
for him to make perfect a way for the children of men, that all His creatures may
know the might of His power, and the abundance of His mercies towards all the
sons of His grace. As for me, shaking and trembling seize me and all my bones
are broken; my heart dissolves like wax before fire and my knees are like water
pouring down a steep place. For I remember my sins and the unfaithfulness of my
fathers. When the wicked rose against Thy Covenant and the damned against Thy
word, I said in my sinfulness, 'I am forsaken by Thy Covenant.' But calling to
mind the might of Thy hand and the greatness of Thy compassion, I rose and
stood, and my spirit was established in face of the scourge. I lean on Thy
grace and on the multitude of Thy mercies, for Thou wilt pardon iniquity, and
through Thy righteousness [Thou wilt purify man] of his sin. Not for his sake
wilt Thou do it. [but for the sake of Thy glory]. For Thou hast created the
just and the wicked.
The next document again compares
and contrasts darkness and light, and according to the times they lived in they
recognized that people had forsaken God via their hearts.
The
Angels Of Mastemoth And The Rule Of Belial (4Q390) Fragment 1
(2) [and] break[ing...] again
(?)... the sons of Aaron... seventy years ...(3) and the sons of Aaron shall
rule them, but they shall not walk in My Wa[ys,] which I comm[an]d you and
which (4) you shall warn them about. They also (i.e., sons of Aaron) shall do
what is Evil in my eyes, exactly as Israel did (5) in the early days of its
Kingdom-apart from those who will come up first from the land where they have been
captive, to build (6) the Temple. And I will speak to them and send them
Commandments, and they will understand to what extent (7) they have wandered
astray, they and their forefathers. But from the end of that generation,
corresponding to the Seventh jubilee (8) since the desolation of the land, they
will forget Law and festival, Sabbath and Covenant. They will break (i.e.,
violate) everything, and do (9) what is evil in My eyes. Thus I shall turn My
face away from them, and give them into the hands of their enemies, delivering
[them] (10) to the sword. Yet I will spare a remnant, so th[at] in My anger and
My turning away from them, they will not be des[royed]. (11) And the Angels of
Mas[t]emoth will rule over them and ... they will turn aside and (12) do . ..
what I consider Evil, walking in the stub[borness of their hearts ...]
Fragment
2
Column 1
(2) [My] house [and My altar
and] the Hol[y] Temple ... (3) thus it will be done ...[flor these things shall
come upon them ... and (4) the rule of Belial will [be] upon them, and they
will be delivered to the sword for a week of year[s... From the] beginning of
that jubilee they will (5) break all My Laws and all my Commandments that I
commanded th[em, though I send them] my servants the Prophets. (6) And they
wi[Il be]gin to quarrel with one another. Seventy years from the day when they
broke the [Law and the] Covenant, I will give them (7)[into the power of the
An]gels of Mastemoth, who will rule them, and they (i.e., the people) will
neither know nor understand that I am angry at them because of their rebellion,
(8)[because they aban]doned Me and did what was evil in My eyes, and because
they chose what displeases Me, overpowering others for the sake of Riches and
profiteering (9)... They will rob their neigh[b]ors and oppress one another and
defile My Temple (10) ... and] My festivals... through [their] children they
will pollu[te] their seed. Their priests will commit violence...
Column 2
(4) from it ...(5) and with a
word ...(6) we ... (7) they will know, and I will send ... (8) and with
compassion to as[k...] (9) in the midst of the land [and] on ...(10) their
possession and they will sacrifice in it ... (11) they will pollute it and the
alta[r...]
People who turn away from God are ruled by the angels of
the devil. The people turned their hearts’ because of riches and profiteering.
Even the priests turned from God as we have seen. As history shows us, even the
most innocent of church splits, in this case temple splits, can cause people to
follow rules and procedures rather than follow the Holy Spirit. The Pharisees
stayed during the Maccabean age to work in the temple while the Essenes left
Jerusalem to live in communities, following the Holy Spirit. It does not matter
how we perceive things with our senses, we need to be led by the Holy Spirit.
If we miss that, we will end up apart from the will of God. And like the Jews
who three times per day cursed Christians, if we are not led by the Holy Spirit,
when we take on cursing the lot of satan, we will end up under our own curses.
The
Coming of Melchizedek
11Q13 Col.2
(...) And concerning what
Scripture says, "In this year of Jubilee you shall return, everyone f
you, to your property" (Lev.
25;13) And what is also written; "And this is the manner of the
remission; every creditor shall remit the claim that is held against a
neighbor, not exacting it of a neighbor who is a member of the community,
because God's remission has been proclaimed" (Deut.15;2) the interpretation is that
it applies to the Last Days and concerns the captives, just as Isaiah said:
"To proclaim the Jubilee to the captives" (Isa. 61;1) (...) just as (...) and
from the inheritance of Melchizedek, for (... Melchizedek) , who will return
them to what is rightfully theirs. He will proclaim to them the Jubilee,
thereby releasing them from the debt of all their sins. He shall proclaim this
decree in the first week of the jubilee period that follows nine jubilee
periods.
Then the "Day of Atonement" shall follow
after the tenth jubilee period, when he shall atone for all the Sons of Light,
and the people who are predestined to Melchizedek. (...) upon them (...) For
this is the time decreed for the "Year of Melchizedek`s
favor", and by his might he will judge God's holy ones and so
establish a righteous kingdom, as it is written about him in the Songs of David
; "A godlike being has taken his place in the council of God; in
the midst of divine beings he holds judgement"
(Ps. 82;1). Scripture also says about him ; "Over it take
your seat in the highest heaven; A divine being will judge the peoples" (Ps. 7;7-8) Concerning what scripture
says; "How long will you judge unjustly, and show partiality with the
wicked? Selah" (Ps. 82;2)
,the interpretation applies to Belial and the spirits predestined to him,
because all of them have rebelled, turning from God's precepts and so becoming
utterly wicked. Therefore Melchizedek will thoroughly prosecute the vengeance
required by God's statutes. Also, he will deliver all the captives from the
power of Belial, and from the power of all the spirits destined to him.
Allied with him will be all the "righteous divine beings"(Isa. 61;3).
(The ...) is that
whi(ch ...all) the divine beings. The visitation is the Day of Salvation
that He has decreed through Isaiah the prophet concerning all the captives,
inasmuch as Scripture says, "How beautiful upon the mountains are the
feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces
salvation, who says to Zion "Your divine being reigns"." (Isa. 52;7) This scriptures
interpretation: "the mountains" are the prophets, they
who were sent to proclaim God's truth and to prophesy to all Israel. "The
messengers" is the Anointed of the spirit, of whom Daniel spoke;
"After the sixty-two weeks, an Anointed shall be cut off" (Dan. 9;26) The "messenger who
brings good news, who announces Salvation" is the one of whom it
is written; "to proclaim the year of the LORD`s favor, the day of the
vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn" (Isa. 61;2)
This scripture's
interpretation: he is to instruct them about all the periods of history for
eternity (... and in the statutes) of the truth. (...) (.... dominion) that
passes from Belial and returns to the Sons of Light (....) (...) by the
judgment of God, just as t is written concerning him; "who says to Zion
"Your divine being reigns" (Isa. 52;7) "Zion" is the congregation of all
the sons of righteousness, who uphold the covenant and turn from walking in the
way of the people. "Your divine being" is
Melchizedek, who will deliver them from the power of Belial. Concerning
what scripture says, "Then you shall have the trumpet sounded loud; in
the seventh month . . . " (Lev. 25;9)
Here we see the summation, the dominion that passes from
Belial will return to the Sons of Light. The judgment of God has already been
written against Belial and his sons. The captives will be set free and the
congregation of the sons of righteousness will be established. According to the
Bible and the writings of the Essenes, the devil has an end. It doesn’t matter
what we believe about the devil, it only matters what others believe about the
devil, those who intentionally follow his evil ways. If people practice evil
sorcery and seduction it does not matter if we believe in the existence of
their god, it only matters who their targets are. If we are their targets, we
should be aware of the evil schemes against us. If we are smart, as a
community, we will curse the entire lot of all the sons of Belial, and all his
demonic host.
One can make a case either way as to curse or not curse. We
have David’s words and we have Jesus’ words, what do we do? Personally I
believe we do some of both. Curse the devil, demons, and then curse every
scheme and plan of the enemy. Curse all curses, curse hexes, curse vexes, curse
spells, curse incantations, and curse all evil words coming against us, the
children of the Most High. We pray for blessings of salvation for workers of
evil. Pray for visions and dreams of Heaven and Hell, and pray for them and
their families to repent and receive the Holy Spirit. Our words are powerful
and we can pray for an exodus of people from the devils earthly army to join
ranks with Jesus.
