The Cambrian Pesher*
Day of St. Michael and All Angels (September 29th), 2020
Worlds without End
For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak . . . Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?
Hebrews 2:5, 1:14
One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.
Ecclesiastes 1:4
Beloved Friends:
Thomas Paine is known to history as a contemporary of the Founding Fathers of the United States and even as a Founding Father in his own right for being the preeminent propagandist for the Patriot cause in authoring the great call to arms – the pamphlet, “Common Sense,” 1776. The son of Quakers, he is less known for his other writings on “The Rights of Man” and “The Age of Reason” in the latter of which he argued against the dogmas of the Christian religion in favor of a philosophy of deism founded on science and rationalism.
It was composed in two parts: the first was replete with complaints over the miracles recorded in the Bible. He found it more sensible to believe in natural law and natural processes as an adequate explanation for the human condition rather than the miracles and supernaturalism of the Christian religion.
The second part was composed while he was ill and imprisoned in Europe for his infidelity. It consisted of a disavowal of the God of the Old Testament as a moral monster. We can see why Thomas Jefferson urged him to publish it pseudonymously.
The second part will be discussed another time. The metaphysical questions contained in the first part are what concern us today.
Among Paine’s complaints was his seminal idea in what scholars have later labeled “pan spermia” – the belief that the origin of life on Earth was propagated by encounters with “off-world” beings colonizing space. He found it difficult to believe that mankind was so unique in the universe that it was singled-out by a personal creator as the object of Divine revelation, and especially atonement. He could not understand why mankind should be the recipients of Divine grace and supposed, that to be fair, a righteous God would have to send His son to the infinite number of worlds in the universe to die and atone for the sins of every alien species. In the scheme of infinite worlds recycled infinitely over the span of eternity, it would be incumbent upon Jesus Christ to endure the cross an infinite number of times in world-cycles without end. The thought seemed incomprehensible and completely unacceptable to, as Paine saw it, the rational mind:
But, in the midst of those reflections, what are we to think of the Christian system of faith, that forms itself upon the idea of only one world, and that of no greater extent, as is before shown, than twenty-five thousand miles? An extent which a man walking at the rate of three miles an hour, for twelve hours in the day, could he keep on in a circular direction, would walk entirely round in less than two years. Alas! what is this to the mighty ocean of space, and the almighty power of the Creator?
From whence, then, could arise the solitary and strange conceit that the Almighty, who had millions of worlds equally dependent on his protection, should quit the care of all the rest, and come to die in our world, because, they say, one man and one woman had eaten an apple? And, on the other hand, are we to suppose that every world in the boundless creation had an Eve, an apple, a serpent, and a redeemer? In this case, the person who is irreverently called the Son of God, and sometimes God himself, would have nothing else to do than to travel from world to world, in an endless succession of deaths, with scarcely a momentary interval of life. (Internet Source, Public Domain, no pagination)
Paine’s arguments were disturbing and disruptive to the Evangelical churches of the new American nation. Accusing him of infidelity, Evangelicals thought it easier to level ad hominem attacks rather than grapple with the theological questions of an obviously brilliant mind. They simply discredited and then ignored him.
Now, after over two centuries since Paine’s arguments fell upon deaf ears, and facing the end of the world with the possibility of a new creation to replace the silent desolation caused by an imminent solar nova, are we to suppose that the Atonement of Jesus Christ was for naught except for gathering a new regiment for the angelic host? Must God begin again with a new creation with a new Adam and race of sentient beings to populate his material creation and fulfill his created purpose for the new Earth and Sky? Will He be required to allow another “fall from grace” and a new saga of pain and suffering culminating in another visit by His Son to redeem a new race with perhaps better results than the current human experiment?
We like to think not, but rather hope that someone on Earth will – as Noah of old – “find grace in the eyes of the LORD” (Genesis 6:8). But even then, starting over with a tiny remnant tasked with the subjugation of a new, vast and hostile wilderness seems daunting, let alone the vastness of the universe.
It is not enough to argue for the resurrection of the saints as a miraculous solution to this dilemma; for Jesus said that in the resurrection, we become “as the angels of heaven” (Matthew 22:30) who are not recipients of the Dominion Covenant but become, as it says in our opening text above “ministering spirits” unto “the heirs of salvation.” The Dominion Covenant requires the institution of marriage and the propagation of the species for purposes of colonization:
And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion . . . (Genesis 1:28)
This is further emphasized in the 8th Psalm as quoted by the Apostle with commentary:
For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come, whereof we speak. But one in a certain place testified saying, What is man, that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man, that thou visitest him?
Thou madest him a little lower than the angels; thou crownest him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of they hands; Thou has put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not under him, he left nothing that is not put under him.
But now we see not yet all things put under him. But we see Jesus . . .
Hebrews 2:5-9 (emphasis added)
The totality of what is affirmed here in terms of man’s dominion task is truly breathtaking. The Apostle describes the Earth (whether globe or plain) as “ground zero” of God’s new creation – and man is God’s vicegerent, not the mighty angelic hosts.
Unfortunately, the visions of Christian teachers, including many of the early Fathers, limit mankind’s future to a static existence without the call of propagation. In contrast, the Scriptures do not teach a God in a continuous sabbath, but rather a Creator who works six days and then rests, presumably, to resume His activity again afterwards. And again, the angels of heaven – to such a noble band – will be added the sons of the resurrection who will take their part in “serving” the elect of God on Earth.
We must suppose that “those who remain” (1 Thessalonians 4:17) upon the Earth at the Resurrection and who are “changed’ (i.e. “mutated”) – 1 Corinthians 15:51 – will be those “heirs of salvation” to carry-on with the work of creation “unto a thousand generations” (Exodus 20:6).
We can hope for such an outcome, but it might be true that the current human experiment has ended up being a “false start.” Nature is full of false starts, aborted ventures, and failed life-forms. It might be that in the providence of God, He will have to begin again with a new creation. Consequently, Paine’s disturbing scenario comes into play that Jesus Christ will yet again find it necessary to be born and to die in atonement for a new race, a new sentient and moral species.
While Paine finds this scenario unacceptable, the Druids and Magi of ancient times would have said otherwise, that Paine speaks with the limited mind of creaturehood. For the Druids, only God is a being who can bear the burdens of eternity. The universe is dependent upon God in the same way the body is dependent upon the head. He as mind and body is self-existent but the body is devoid of meaning and purpose without the Divine mind. Considering the infinity of eternity past and the eternity of the future, we can accept the notion of many creations, many falls, and many atonements as attributes of God’s infinite being. God does not create ex nihilo because that very concept is an absurdity. He creates from within Himself and imposes meaning upon His creation. This is what is meant by the doctrine of the Divine Logos:
In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God
and the Word was God. John 1:1
The stuff of the universe exists because God’s Word has a true existence.
The creature should not trouble itself with what can only be borne by the Creator. Instead, the creature must surrender to what God has reserved to His own sovereignty and simply worship.
“As in the days of Noah”
When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith upon the earth?
Luke 18:8
The descent into corruption by the human race in Noah’s time was truly a time of crisis. A sovereign God was not bound by any prior oath to preserve the human species, and the text of Scripture is quite clear that He was about to end the project:
And it repented the LORD that he made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart. And the LORD said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth. . . (Genesis 6:8-7)
Scholars have tried to ascertain the exact nature of the corruption. Many have come to believe in the pan spermia doctrine, that the angels or “sons of the gods” (elohim) as identified in the story are referring to extra-terrestrial or supernatural beings who mated with Earth women and corrupted the genetic pool, such that humanity no longer represented the original species to whom God had given earthly dominion – except for Noah, of course who was “perfect in all his generations” (i.e. his lineage).
Even though there is an abundance of biblical and extra-biblical support for this interpretation, and we hold generally that such an event may have happened on a limited scale – we do not believe that the corruption represented a mating process but rather a multi-faceted process which involved some kind of eugenics followed by genocide. We do not believe that the fallen angels were motivated by lust but by envy. While the alternative and traditional “Sethite” interpretation seeks to “demythologize” the texts to represent a mingling of the Sethites with the Cainites, the shortcomings of that view have been well documented by scholars over many centuries of commentary. What was happening to the human species in this incident was something far more extraordinary than the intermarriage between good people and bad people.
We offer a third view which we have learned from the Dead Sea Scrolls and that is the Enochian tradition of using a supernatural nomenclature as a code to describe real world events involving human beings. As we know, the term “angel” is used in many scriptures as human messengers, so we should not immediately assume that when Genesis refers to “the sons of god” that it speaks of supernatural beings, considering that the Hebrew word “elohim” is translated in many places as “the judges,” “the mighty” and so on with human application. Jesus Himself cited the Psalms to apply elohim to humans: “ye are gods” (John 10:34-35).
So then, briefly, what we might find being described in Genesis 6 is the institution of tyrannical government in which the rulers violently practice polygamy, eugenics, and genocide.
A detailed analysis must be offered at another time, but since Jesus said that the “End Times” would be characterized as a revivification of the times of Noah, we must ask what events we should expect to occur.
Principally, we think a renewed attempt by humanity to improve upon the creation through things like genetic manipulation and cloning might be employed. Scientism as a form of sorcery will be used to correct human defects and depravity. We think, that if there was any involvement by the fallen (nephal) angels of heaven – as it says in extra-biblical writings such as the Book of Enoch – that their apostasy consisted in teaching mankind a forbidden knowledge which appears to have involved inter-species hybridization for the purposes of overcoming God’s curse upon creation. We are not talking about a hybridization with space aliens or angels, but rather the chimera: the union of animal with human or now, the idea of cyber-hybridization.
Contrast this quest with the moral teachings of Christianity and the use of the Old Testament, especially the Torah. The blessings and cursings upon humanity are sent to reflect the moral conditions of the people: obedience brings blessings and disobedience brings cursings. Covenant faithfulness, then becomes the source of life and of alleviating, over time, the conditions of the fall of man – not occult knowledge.
In this respect, we must caution Bible teachers who indulge too much sensational alarm over the discoveries – or rather “pretended” discoveries – of science: God will not be mocked and holds in derision this vain rebellion:
The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us.
He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath, and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
Psalm 2:2-6
The Rapture
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.
1 Thessalonians 4:16-17
These words of the Apostle were meant for comfort in a time of persecution and distress for the early Christians. They were not words meant for metaphysical extrapolation. A closer analysis of the very words of the Apostle presents problems if we try to derive an all-encompassing prophetical scheme from them.
For example, we are to be “caught up” into the “air” “to meet the Lord” and to stay there in that ethereal existence for “ever.” This condition contradicts other representations which call for a descent to the Earth for the Millennial reign.
Another is the assertion that this represents the “first” resurrection. We might wonder then what resurrection is represented in Matthew 27:52-53 in which “many of the saints” arose at the time of the Lord’s Resurrection or what is meant by the many scriptures which present regeneration as a resurrection.
While we have no problems with the notion of a condition of floating up into the sky at the second coming of Christ, we do not think that is what the Apostle is referring to, nor would it be desirable. A six-foot man stands “six feet” into the atmosphere already, so the notion of meeting the Lord “in the air” is really referring to meeting the Lord “in the clouds” which has a specific theological meaning in the Scriptures.
Elsewhere, the Apostle refers to “the air” as the place of rival dominions:
Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience . . . But God who is rich in mercy for his great love . . . And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
Ephesians 2:2,4,6 (emphasis added)
So then, using Pauline nomenclature, we could understand the cosmic event described in First Thessalonians as primarily one in which the believer experiences a change in condition of status, not one of locality. Truly, our physical condition will change to conform to whatever is necessary to exist in the new environment of Earth and Sky as we are told by the text in 1 John 3:2:
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. Because, as he is , so are we in this world.
However, we must remember that man – as a species – is a material creation endowed with moral agency whose natural habitat is the Earth and whose Divine mission is a vicegerency over God’s creation. And God’s callings are “without repentance” (Romans 11:29).
The Day of Saint Michael & All Angels
Today, we celebrate the work and ministry of the Archangel Michael and of the heavenly host. Michael is mentioned in Scripture, along with Gabriel, as a “prince” of the holy people (Daniel), who is also identified by Jude and Revelations – following the legends of Enoch – as the principal restraint upon Satan.
Again, referencing one of Thomas Paine’s skepticisms, he wondered how it was possible to have a genuine contest between two immortal beings in which it would be impossible to injure, kill or incapacitate the other. Christian mythology perhaps indulges too much in physical representations, but I borrow from the philosophers to point out that the angelic hosts operate in the “noumenal” realm rather than in the “phenomenal” realm. Jude tells us that Michael prevailed against the devil by saying “The Lord rebuke thee” (v.9). Satan’s real existence occurs in the mind of man’s imagination, not in the material creation. It is a real existence of a separate sentient being but he if ever had a power over the material world, he certainly does not now.
Thus, it is really God’s power that is the only power in the universe and it is directed by intelligence or better put, His Divine Logos. Herein is the error of magic and all satanic delusions: the belief that the forces of the universe are independent of God’s power and can be directed through the invocation of words.
Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power . . . sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high . . .
Hebrews 1:3
With blessings,
James
Collect for the Day
Everlasting God, you have ordained and constituted in a wonderful order the ministries of angels and mortals: Mercifully grant that, as your holy angels always serve and worship you in heaven, so by your appointment they may help and defend us here on earth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
*Cambrian Pesher is the pastoral epistle of the Cambrian Episcopal Church of the Grail, a fellowship and abbey adhering to a spiritual tradition from ancient Wales. We use the Authorized Version of the Bible (King James Version) as our default translation and the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopalian Church for liturgical guidance. We are not an affiliate of any denomination.
Copyright is reserved to the Cambrian Episcopal Church of the Grail, 2020