Sobering Truths (Pt. 1: Christian Doesn’t Mean Safe)

I would like to begin this blog post with a few Bible verses.

Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.

(1 Thessalonians 5:6)

Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

(1 Peter 1:13)

But the end of all things is at hand: be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.

(1 Peter 4:7)

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

(1 Peter 5:8)

What do these verses tell us?

All four of these verses are highlighting the necessity of being spiritually sober.

But what does it mean to be sober?

Well, in the original Greek, that word “sober” basically means “to be calm and collected in spirit; be discreet, be watchful.”

In a sense, being sober is almost like being spiritually awake, with the calm influence of God’s peace in the heart.

It also seems to paint a picture of being aware of what’s happening around you, but not allowing those things to bend you out of shape.

Unfortunately, however, I’ve noticed things that are subtly creeping into the church that–I believe–are TRULY and LITERALLY bending our collective identity as God’s people out of shape.

Heart Followers

Take, for example, the tagline printed on the cover of this Christian book:

What’s wrong with the “follow your heart” phrase on this Christian book cover?

Well, first off, the Bible makes it clear–as we looked at in a previous blog post on discernment—that the heart is one of the MOST deceitful and wicked sources of deception according to Jeremiah 17:9.

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?

(Jeremiah 17:9)

If you wanna dive deeper into this topic, I highly recommend you check out this six minute YouTube video from Christian media ministry, Little Light Studios:

This concept of “following your heart” is just a cutely sugar-coated version of satanist Alistair Crowley’s philosophy of “do as thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.”

A more modern way of saying this is “do whatever you want.”

What I’ve found even more saddening, however, is that it’s not just professed Christian books that are promoting this false, anti-Gospel ideology.

Even professed Christian ministries such as Guide Magazine are casually implementing this onto their websites.

You can see the screenshot for yourself below:

Here’s a close up shot of the above quote:

Gnostic Chasers

But this isn’t the first time for Guide Magazine to sprinkle in anti-Gospel philosophies like this.

Guide had a comic strip series run on their website from late January to about mid February of 2023 featuring their site’s “mascot”–Tucker Barnes–who is described as “a boy who has heaps of faith but not a lot of brains.”

In this particular comic strip, which revolves around a so-called “faith crisis” that Tucker Barnes experiences, there is a form of anti-Gospel ideology that is subtly interwoven in this comic strip series that is better known as “gnosticism.”

So, in other words, one of Guide’s own professed Christian comic has a gnostic Gospel plot line.

Let’s now break it down so you can better understand what I mean.

But before we dive in, some of you–I understand–may have NO CLUE what the words gnosticism or gnostic even mean.

And that’s totally fine!

If that’s your case, then you can go ahead and check out this video from Little Light Studios on gnosticism to get a better idea on what this false, deceptive philosophy is all about.

But in a nutshell, the core foundation of gnosticism is that they take every Bible story and flip it upside down.

So, for instance, characters like Jesus, Moses, and David are the “villains” (or the ones who, at least, are unhelpful to solve some crisis situation) and Satan, Pharaoh, and Goliath are the “heroes” (or the ones who, at least, provide the most help to solve some crisis issue).

Keep this in mind as we delve into the gnostic poison that’s intermingled in this particular Tucker Barnes comic.

Tucker Barnes & Gnosticism

So, to give a basic context to this story, Tucker Barnes experiences a “faith crisis,” and to help somehow resolve this spiritual struggle he is facing, he goes to his school’s principal, Principal Brightman.

Principal Brightman’s name literally means “BRIGHT MAN.”

Yet, he sadly FAILED to spiritually encourage Tucker Barnes in his own faith crisis.

It’s interesting that Jesus is also the “Bright Man,” according to verses like Hebrews 1:2-4 and Revelation 22:16.

Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds;

Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:

Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they.

(Hebrews 1:2-4, emphasis added)

I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.

(Revelation 22:16, emphasis added)

So, it’s like–on a spiritual allegorical level–Tucker first goes to Jesus (Who is the Bright Man) to help resolve his faith crisis, but it doesn’t seem to work out in a decent, mature, appropriately Biblical way by the time this particular comic strip ends.

Later on in the comic series, Tucker then turns to his pet goat, Otis.

So, Tucker ultimately decides to deal with his faith crisis by talking to his pet GOAT.

And somehow through his conversation with Otis the GOAT, he finally finds the “help” he needs to resolve his faith crisis.

According to Gesenius’ Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon, the Hebrew word for “goat” means “wood demons.”

An article from American Tarantula & Animals gives this analysis on the religious symbolism of goats according to Christianity, Judaism, and Satanism.

The article says:

What, for some, is a symbol of self-reliance and stubbornness, for others, it represents disobedience, defiance, and self-destruction. In Christianity, the goat was used as an epitomisation of evil due to its physical and psychological characteristics.

In Mathew 25:31-46, it is said that God, when all the nations are amassed in front of him, will leave on the right side the sheep, that is, those who have done good and who have merited eternal life, while on the left will be the goats, who are condemned to hell.

Goats are also mentioned in a negative context in the Hebrew Bible. Every year Jews celebrate the Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur, during which they are reminded of the sin that separated them from God.

According to Leviticus 16, instead of the sinner’s death, God announced that he would accept a substitute – a death of an animal.

Ever since then, one bull and two goats have been offered as a sacrifice. However, the two goats have different roles.

Lots were drawn between them to determine which one would be offered as a sacrifice and which one, the scapegoat, would be taken and left in the desert to bear the sins of the Jews.

Thanks to the portrayal of the goat in Christianity and Judaism and the fact that it was widely used as a symbol in pagan mythology, so [satanists] started using it in their writings.

Baphomet is a fictitious pagan deity supposedly created by the Templar knights who worshiped him as an idol sometimes in the 14th century.

However, it was popularized by the French occultist Eliphas Levi during the magical revival in the 19th century. In his book, Transcendental Magic,

Levi described Baphomet in the form of the Sabbatical Goat, after which it became the central figure of Satanism and the embodiment of Satan, the entity that personifies evil in three major Abrahamic religions.”

–American Tarantula & Animals

Tucker Barnes & Hollywood’s “Substitute Savior”

There’s another video from Little Light Studios exposing a film called MegaMind.

The basic gist of the film is that when the movie’s superhero (MetroMan), “decides he doesn’t want to save humanity anymore,” the film’s antagonist (technically)—MegaMind—has no choice but to step up and save the world.

Which, on a teeny-tiny watered-down level, is frankly what’s being presented in this Tucker Barnes comic series that we just covered.

Principal Brightman (Jesus is the Bright Man, the Bright Morning Star in Revelation 22:16, remember?) doesn’t seem to help save Tucker Barnes from his faith crisis. 

So who–by the time the whole comic series ends–actually steps up and somehow saves Tucker Barnes from his faith crisis?

The GOAT.

Who, according to the American Tarantula & Animals article that I just showed you, is “the embodiment of Satan.” 

So, this is the gnostic plotline that’s being presented in Tucker Barnes’ comic book world.

When Jesus couldn’t seem to truly save and help out the poor kid, Satan seemingly steps up to help Tucker in his faith crisis.

But this twisted deception of gnosticism doesn’t just stop at cartoon comics, though.

It’s also being implemented in kids games as well.

And we’ll dive right into that topic in Part 2!

Stay tuned!