Recently, I announced through the newsletter that I was closing the Seers See Forum for reasons explained here.
Instead, I invited subscribers to join me in conversation on a privacy-conscious social media platform called MeWe. Several of you already have done so. One of the complaints of MeWe is that “no one” is there. That’s kind of the point. Facebook is great for your public face, but what we have to discuss is too important. It’s not a commodity and you are not a product. Hence, MeWe. If you like, you can join me on the MeWe Seers See Ministries group.
DivineCouncil.org
In addition, I invited participants to join the forum at the DivineCouncil.org. The founders of the Divine Council forum have been more than gracious in welcoming our participation. They’ve even created a private space to discuss the things spiritually sensitive people see.
The best way to think about the seer gift involves shifting our mindset to think from a paradigm informed by the Divine Council worldview and a proper understanding of the Kingdom of God. I call this the Kingdom of God Mindset.
In my book Peace in Your House, I tried to weaponized the divine council paradigm. The divine council in the Bible has been examined by scholars for decades, but Dr. Michael S. Heiser brought the scholarly world to the rest of us in Unseen Realm and Supernatural. For reviews of these two works, see here and here.
The hosts of the DivineCouncil.org have created an awesome, safe and diverse place for us to discuss the things some spiritually sensitive people see. They were concerned some of the participants in the Seers See forum may feel some trepidation to form a new community on their site, and so I invited them to submit an open letter to you all. Here it is.
DivineCouncil.org Welcomes Seers!
“I didn’t have time to write a short letter, so I wrote a long one.” ~Mark Twain~
Beloved,
My name is Nathan. I am a follower of our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ and together with Terence and Zecharia, I am one of the three co-founders of www.divinecouncil.org (DC). Being on the seersee mailing list I was very humbled and filled with joy to receive news that Doug trusts us so much that he is migrating the seersee forum over to DC. However, I know that if I had somewhere that was a safe place for me, that was suddenly no longer there, I would be anxious about migrating to a new site, because who’s to say the people there will understand you, your gifts or what your family is going through?! So I reached out to Doug and offered to write this letter to you guys. I want to explain to you my relationship to Doug, as well as try and help put your anxieties about migrating to rest by explaining what DC is, and how came to be.
I second chair a small group guerilla Bible study along with my best friend, who is in seminary working towards his PhD in Revelation. We purchase 8 or 9 of the best commentaries we can afford and spend a year walking people through a book of the Bible. We have followed Michael Heiser’s material closely since Unseen Realm hit the bookshelves in October of 2015. One family that attends the Church my father-in-law pastor’s began coming to our Bible study. The mom mentioned to me one night that they were having problems with their teenage daughter and some things she was seeing. She said she was refusing medication. I said, “Good!” The mom looked at me puzzled.
Because they attend my father-in-law’s Church I have always had a good report with the family and the girl in particular. I knew she would open up to me if the mom was not around but in this day and age, being alone with a thirteen year old girl can put your position as a Bible teacher and husband in jeopardy. So I set up a time to meet the mom and the girl at the local mall’s food court early one morning. I sent the mom to walk around the food court but to remain within eye sight of me and the girl. I sat her down and said, “Tell me what are you seeing baby girl?” Without boring you with the details, she told me what she was seeing and she burst into tears when I told her, “I 100% believe you.” She said, “I’m not crazy and I don’t want to go back on medication!” I looked at this precious girl and said, “No one is going to put you back on medication. It’s ok. We’re going to take care of this.” I told the mom, I needed to do some research and that until then, she needed to listen to every word that came out of her daughter’s mouth, and if her daughter said to leave the house to leave the house immediately.
It was then I reached out to Doug. I told him I taught Unseen Realm and knew the material backwards and forwards but needed help on the specifics of cleansing a house. Doug was right there for me! We’ve still never met. We’ve only talked via email and over the phone. But anytime I needed him he was right there for a total stranger. His heart not only pursues Christ but it is genuinely close to those dealing with these issues because I think he sees his daughter in the people he helps. It’s his passion, as it is mine. Before I knew anything about any of this stuff, my brother had a run in with a watcher and was on suicide watch for over a year. Had my family not found a Christian doctor with a double PhD in psychiatry and theology, my brother most likely would not be alive right now. It’s important to me that you understand that the founders and the members of DC understand you and welcome you. This leads me to my next point, how DC came to exist in the first place…
Back in March or April of 2017, Lexham Press released Unseen Realm on Logos for free, for 2 weeks, as part of a 45 day reading plan. Their hope was that people would follow along for 2 weeks and then purchase the book. Heiser reached out to his veterans on his website and podcast and asked if we would help defend the both the book and Mike from charges of heresy. We gladly went to work. It was in the trenches of the Faithlife forum where I met and befriended Terence and Zechariah. The three of us were the most consistent and regular posters as well as the most ardent defenders of the divine council material from charges of heresy.
One day I got into a conversation with a physicist from Los Alamos who was a literal 6 day creationist. Currently, I personally do not have an opinion one way or the other in regards to old earth creationism (OEC) or young earth creationism (YEC) but as a Bible teacher I want to do my part to stay abreast of the issues and this was the first PhD physicist I had encountered who was YEC. I asked if he would teach me why he thought the way he thought and he was more than willing. The thread generated A LOT of passionate responses, 230+ if I remember correctly, and to date it holds the record for being the longest thread on Lexham Press’ Faithlife board.
Unfortunately, a troll who had been following the Unseen Realm discussions from the beginning used this thread to infiltrate our respectful and loving even if not always in agreement, community. Things got heated. One night I had a dream that I was inside a Church strapped to one of those G-Force chairs they put pilots and astronauts in. At the top of the Church was a door to escape but I couldn’t reach it because the G-Force kept me from reaching the door. I spun around in a complete circle, 7 times (we had just been debating the first 7 days of creation) and at the conclusion of the 7 circles, I saw death. He was in a black cloak and his face was grey and purple with worms and maggots coming out of it. I cried out, “No, no, no” so loud I woke my wife. After assuring her everything was ok, I fell immediately back to sleep and death was still there. I cried out, “Jesus!” and a blinding white light shattered both death, and the building like plate glass, and when everything disappeared I was in the presence of the LORD. We took a one week break from the thread for everyone to cool off.
When we resumed, the enemy again used the man to act as a troll and accuse the brethren. He was convinced it was his calling to throw stones at the body of Christ. Things again became heated. That night I had another dream. I dreamt that when I awoke, the serpent would be coiled at the bottom of the thread. When I awoke, I reached for my iPhone and checked the thread. There were 3 posts from the man, back to back to back, each one on top of the other, at the bottom of thread. I called a cease fire and asked that no one engage him further. Zechariah, reminded Terence, “Hey remember that idea you had for a website? Why don’t we just do it?!”
So Terence just did it! For the last 3 months Terence has poured every minute of his free time and lots of his own personal finances into building a state of the art forum that can serve as a safe place and a meeting of the minds for brothers and sisters in Christ who are familiar with divine council material. He spent a month just researching the best forum platform to purchase. The platform we use can do pretty much anything you want. Do you have small group Bible study? You can host it from DC. Do you pastor a Church? You can plug your entire Church into the forum software. Are you in need of materials and resources to help teach Scripture? Zechariah has been tirelessly uploading materials for months.
Also, members of DC have FREE access to ALL Mobile Ed videos produced by Logos/Faithlife, as well as the tons of articles that we upload to the Resources area of the forum. This is why DC exists. To be a safe place for believers to discuss, and then gather materials to, “go and make disciples of ALL nations.” We place a lot of emphasis on discipleship. We will give you all the material you need to teach Bible study or Sunday school. Our job is to infiltrate our communities with the Truth of God’s Word.
Currently, the members of DC came from this Faithlife discussion of Unseen Realm, and some from Heiser’s Facebook group. They are familiar with divine counsel material and would never cast judgment on any of you. We even have a handful of seers already and we consider them precious gifts to the forum community. However, especially for you, as an added level of comfort and security we are adding a private forum just for seersee members. A mom who just found out her daughter is a seer may want to hang out on the private seer forum for a while, whereas veteran seers may feel more comfortable or called to venture out into the public forum. The fact is an enemy that only you can see surrounds the Bride of Christ. Want to know what the Bride of Christ looks like? It’s seers, healers, teachers, and prophets all laboring together to build the Kingdom of God. Ideally, we’d like DC to empower you guys. Babel must be reversed! You guys are a vital weapon in this war we find ourselves in.
I don’t like change anymore than you do, but the founders and members of DC share your worldview and your goals to be the Bride of Christ and keep our garments white for the marriage supper of the Lamb. We are your friends, your brothers and sisters in Christ. I pray that you will embrace DC as your new online home and grow to love it more than your old home. Should you have any problems, please reach out to either myself, Terence, Zechariah, or Doug (who is a moderator on DC).
I look forward to your contributions to the DC community and to the larger body of the Church. May God bless you, your families and your ministries.
Nathan