Necromancy in the Bible: Fallen Spirits, Ancient Religion
Because of fantasy novels, zombie movies, and games like Dungeons and Dragons, a “necromancer” has come to mean someone who raises and commands the dead. In popular culture, a necromancer is commonly pictured as an evil warlock...
Christian Mythology: Criticism, Genre, Truth
“Christian mythology” is a broad term that gets used in a few different ways. Some people (atheists and skeptics, primarily) try to use it in a derogatory way to suggest that the stories in the Bible are fictional. In the same ...
Who was Phanuel? Archangel or Father of Anna?
Phanuel the angel is not mentioned in the Bible. This figure comes from the Book of Enoch, where he belongs to the ranks of the good angels who serve the God of gods. Those good angels are opposed to the fallen Watchers, a grou...
Abdiel: Milton's Angel who Scorned the Devil - By a PhD
The name “Abdiel” appears in the Bible only one time, in 1 Chronicles 5:15: “Ahi the son of Abdiel, the son of Guni, was chief of their father’s house” (NJKV). In this passage, Abdiel appears as someone’s father in a genealogy,...
Is Gadreel a real angel?
The name “Gadreel” is not found in the Bible. It comes from another highly influential ancient text called the Book of Enoch. In that book, Gadreel is listed as one of the mighty angelic beings called “Watchers,” many of whom f...
The Weapons of Our Warfare Are Not Carnal
Where in the Bible is the phrase, “the weapons of our warfare are not carnal”? It comes from St. Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians, verse 10:4. Here is the passage in context: For though we walk in the flesh, we are not w...
A fictional angel: Where is Amenadiel in the Bible?
Amenadiel is a figure from the DC comic Lucifer—a Neil Gaiman comic subsequently released as a 6-season television series in 2016. Amenadiel is portrayed as the older brother of Lucifer and the eldest of the angelic siblings, a...
What is a sardius stone in the Bible? Carnelian symbolism
As far as we can tell, a sardius stone (sometimes called “sard stone" or “sardine”) was an ancient name for carnelian, a reddish mineral considered a semi-precious stone. Use of the sardius for decoration goes back to at least ...