Oddbean

Right before going back to college, my son and I were talking. I believe many (all?) religions other than Christianity and Judaism are instigated by demons or Satan. Paul says, "8But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! 9As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!" (Galatians 1:8-9) In Islam, I believe Mohamed was approached by an angel. In Mormonism, Joseph Smith was approached by an angel that gave him new revelation. Paul warned us that we couldn't trust anyone, not even an angel, if they gave us a new gospel. He said they were to be accursed. I do find it interesting that the two were misled in the same way even though the two are so different. Islam is the face of hate and Mormons are some of the nicest people you will ever meet, but they are both misled by fallen angels contrary to the Word of God. I've also wondered (speculation, not certainty) how every nation in the world could react simultaneously in such a harmful and tyrannical fashion to the covid "pandemic". If most of the world's leaders were controlled by demons, it would explain a lot. I don't know if it is true, but it would explain something that didn't make sense to me.

I don't believe that modern Jews are followers of the ancient religion (nor generally their descendants) If you want a demonic religion, Talmudic Judaism is certainly a candidate. They interpret everything to mean something other than what it plainly means. For example the 10 commandments are meant to be punishable by death, so they conclude "don't steal" means "don't kidnap a Jew" (since theft or kidnapping a gentile would not be punishable by death) As the above makes obvious, they believe a different moral code holds with regard to the treatment of Jews and the treatment of gentiles, with Jews being favored above the "beasts with human faces" Prohibitions on rape and adultery get interpreted as prohibitions on vaginal intercourse only, and anal rape of gentiles is considered acceptable (as the recent military incidents make clear) As a funny meme I saw recently said, all of Jewish history is the Jews technically not violating God's laws and God technically not smiting them

I agree with you that Talmudic Judaism or Talmudism is not of God. God decisively brought an end to the Old Covenant when He destroyed the Temple in 70 A.D., putting a stop to the sacrifices and offerings there ( https://ref.ly/Da9.27 ). But, nostr:nprofile1qqs0td2lddzt3xtm9dhgg6dx54lc60em9me8qg65x3zugrkwcjz7ueqprpmhxue69uhkummnw3ezuendwsh8w6t69e3xj730zxswhh, do you love your brothers and sisters, the Jews?

I've heard that at times Muhammad was unsure whether an angel or a demon ("jinn" in Arabic) was speaking to him as he was writing the Quran. https://www.perplexity.ai/search/was-muhammad-ever-confused-abo-xJVSwabSTo.pRyHNbLtfFA#0 I'm sure you're familiar with Ephesians 6:12: “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this darkness, against evil, spiritual forces in the heavens.” https://ref.ly/Eph6.12 via the Logos ,#Bible Android app. I'm still grappling with the idea I've recently become acquainted with that God set up a divine council, composed of the "sons of God", who also are called angels in Scripture, and that He divided up the nations among them and allowed them to rule, until He took away their rulership for abusing it, and also took away their immortality (see Psalm 82). There are various passages in the Bible used to support this interpretation, although it's not clearly laid out like this. These different angels, also called princes, ruled over various territories, such as the Prince of Persia, whom the angel Gabriel had to contend with in Daniel 10:13, and Michael the archangel, who is called the Prince of the people of Israel (Daniel 12:1). I'm sure there are still evil entities (fallen angels?) working behind the scenes and perhaps even entering into certain individuals to advance the kingdom of Satan. And COVID and depopulation is probably a part of that agenda, along with war, famine, death, LGBTQ+, transgenderism, transhumanism, statism, communism, etc.