Mike Hoggard - Anti-apostasy Teacher or the Next Harold Camping?

Lately a friend introduced me to the teachings of Pastor Mike Hoggard. She had been listening to him, and was very impressed by the stand that he took against all the apostate things that are going on in the church. To his credit, he believes that the KJV is the only accurate English translation of the Bible, which I have shown to be true in my article on the KJV Bible (see

http://bibleconundrumsandcontroversy.blogspot.com/2011/01/king-james-version-only-controversy.html ). He teaches against contemplative prayer, which I have yet to address, (I have now written that article 
http://bibleconundrumsandcontroversy.blogspot.com/2012/07/is-contemplative-prayer-scriptural-and.html ), but which I agree is a real danger to Christians. He teaches against rock music in the church (see
http://bibleconundrumsandcontroversy.blogspot.com/2011/01/is-it-really-christian-music.html ) and a number of other things that have infiltrated, which I also agree are bad. He also teaches a lot about the Masons and other occult teachings. It is good for people to be made aware of these things. In short, a great deal of what he teaches is good for people to know. He is attracting a bigger and bigger following, especially with people who are fed up with the apostasy in the church and are looking for some good old-fashioned Bible preaching. So what is the problem? The problem is, in the midst of gathering a major audience of Christians who are looking for someone to lead them out of apostasy, and are following him because of the strong stand he takes against apostasy, he is slowly and subtly introducing to them teachings that are not Scriptural. Because they are such little things within his sermons, nobody notices or gives it much thought, or they just let it pass like a blip on the screen, but when added up, it comes to a lot of things that are not correct. I also have concerns about the way he approaches his study of the Scripture, as well as the way he teaches it. I honestly see the beginnings of another Harold Camping in the making given enough time. (For those of you who missed the Harold Camping hoopla, here is some info on that 
http://bibleconundrumsandcontroversy.blogspot.com/2011/03/harold-camping-may-21-2011-rapture.html and http://bibleconundrumsandcontroversy.blogspot.com/2011/05/harold-camping-failed-and-tries-again.html.) I hope to show why I make that statement in the course of this article.

One of the first things I noticed was that he preaches about getting revelation (meaning special revealed knowledge of hidden things) from the Bible. Naturally studying the Bible is going to bring knowledge. Knowledge about God, knowledge about Christ, knowledge about how we should walk and behave, etc. He is against using man's commentaries to learn what God teaches. I agree. I believe that we should allow God to teach us by studying God's Word verse by verse, chapter by chapter, book by book, comparing passages that speak to the same subject. Pastor Hoggard however seems to believe that God teaches you by “revelation”. By that I am gathering that he means that he'll look at a passage and have some sort of epiphany that shows him some secret piece of information, as what he teaches is not stuff that can be had from a simple literal reading of the Word.

Concerning the subject of revelation Hoggard has made several statements that bother me. First he talks about the concept that the getting of “revelation” comes with a price. He says, “There's a price [for having this stuff revealed to you].” He says that it “comes with a thorn.” In other words, if you go looking to study God's Word and have Him show you what His Word says, you had better be prepared to pay a steep price for it. His statements seemed aimed more at preventing people from studying God's Word rather than encouraging them. He implies that you shouldn't do it unless you are willing to suffer some consequences. In fact he basically makes a threat against you if he finds out you are trying to study it. He says, “I pray for all of God's people who really have this thirst for knowledge and wisdom and they want these revelations from the bible and they want to study more and they want to know more. I'm going to pray that if necessary God will give you a massive thorn in your flesh.” Not just a thorn but a massive one? How nice of him. This is supposedly to prevent people from getting arrogant. So according to Hoggard, studying God's Word to learn what it says will make you arrogant. So does that mean basically you are better not studying? And if you do and he finds out, he is going to pray against you to ask God to make you suffer for learning what God wants you to know? Why on earth would anybody do that? 

I desperately pray that people will pick up their Bibles and study them. And I certainly would not want them punished for it. I want them to learn as much as possible, so that they won't be deceived by people who are misusing and manipulating it to teach error. God says, “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.” Hosea 4:6 God says if you don't study you will be destroyed for the lack of knowledge. That is because people will not pick up on the doctrines of demons they are being taught. He commands us to study as it is the only way to know what you are being taught is right or wrong. 2 Timothy 2:15 “ Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.” Those who do study will be blessed. Especially if they study Revelation which contains two blessings just for reading and heeding it. (Revelation 1:3, 22:7) Why should Mike Hoggard want to curse someone for doing what God has 1) commanded us to do and 2) said we will be destroyed if we don't know what His Word says, due to lack of knowledge, and 3) will bless us for doing?

Hoggard believes that understanding God's Word comes from “revelation.” He says that he preaches by “revelation.” By revelation I have come to understand that he does not mean that you lay precept upon precept, but that you are reading along and BOOM, all of a sudden you will see something beyond the literal message given in the passage.

For instance, it came to him that there is a connection between the story of Ehud and King Eglon of Moab and the key given to Satan in Revelation to open the pit. The story of Ehud is found in Judges 3. Israel had done evil in the sight of the Lord yet again, so he sent King Eglon of Moab to conquer them. They served him eighteen years, then the people cried out to the Lord and he raised up Ehud who went and killed King Eglon as he was alone in his summer parlor. In sneaking away from the premises, to prevent anyone from finding out what had happened right away so that he had time to escape, he locked the parlor doors as he left. Because the door was locked, the servants when they returned figured the King wanted to be left alone for privacy purposes, so didn't do anything for a while. In time they realized something was wrong, so got a key and opened the door only to find Eglon dead. In a flash of revelation, Hoggard somehow made the leap that this key was a parallel to the key in Revelation, because it kept an evil man locked up. Okay. So.....what? Where does he go with this? He goes nowhere with this. It is just a story that he points to and says that we should see how wonderful the Word of God is to show us that the word “key” is important and that it shows us that the key is important in Revelation. And so what have we learned about the passage in Revelation because of this? That the key keeps evil entities locked up. Okay, I got that from a literal reading of the passage in Revelation, I didn't need some secret “revelation” about Ehud to tell me that. And in fact, Hoggard never does discuss (at least in the sermon I heard) about the key in Revelation or what is locked up. So you've learned an interesting story about an Old Testament event that you probably didn't know before, which is good, but this “revelation” doesn't seem to have much point to it in terms of significance. This seems to be a common thread among his revelations. He takes a story and draws a parallel to no purpose.

In another story he talks at great length about the story of Absalom and that he was evil and had long hair. That he was a long-haired hippie. The long hair seems to be the key clue in this story. Then he vaguely refers to the hordes in the book of Revelation that have long hair. I guess one is supposed to draw from this “revelation” that the hordes are evil because Absalom was, and had long hair and so do they? One does not need to know that. One need only read what the Scriptures say about them and it is quite clear that they are diabolically evil, even more than Absalom. This seems to be the problem. He spends all his time showing these “parallels” that he has received from “revelation”, but never really teaches the Scriptures themselves.

Pastor Hoggard does the same thing with numbers that he does with these “word” revelations. He draws conclusions about things by adding, or dividing, or doing other mathematical exercises with them, if required. In fact he stated that when he studies the Bible, he keeps the Bible in one hand and a calculator in the other, as numbers are so important. Really? I have never had to sit with a calculator in hand tallying up numbers to understand the Word of God. There are times when I see parallels between numbers, such as the twelve tribes, and the twelve disciples, or forty year wandering in the desert and forty days of the temptation of Christ, but I don't see the need to add, subtract, multiply, or divide them to reveal some secret hidden message or code in God's Word. I'm not saying there might not be some interesting things to learn, but the obsessive way in which he uses numbers to show him what passages mean is where I start seeing a problem. Harold Camping got off on this same tangent. Numbers became more important than simply reading what the Word said. Look where it led him.

Hoggard seems to be taking this same route. In fact I question that he is using numbers in a proper way.

For instance, he points out that the numbers 13 and 3 are both important numbers in the occult. (Three is also an important number to God, as the Trinity is three in one. But Hoggard says it is the number of sin.) He will take multiples of these numbers and draw conclusions from them. According to Hoggard, the number 33 is very important. (It is two threes. I guess that is double the sin.) The Masons 33rd level is the highest level. He says that 33 is the number of the beast and that this is why the phrase "the beast" is found 33 times in the Bible. He says it is also the age of Christ when He died, as He was showing the destruction of His enemies when on the cross. (Somehow this dual and opposite use of the number both representing the beast and the destruction of the beast (and other antichrists) confuses me, and confusion is not from God). Now, finding the phrase "the beast" 33 times in the New Testament sounds really good as evidence to back up his assertion, except for one little problem. It isn't exactly correct. Oh, yes, if you google the phrase "the beast" in a New Testament search engine, you will find the phrase "the beast" 33 times in the KJV. However it is not as Hoggard represents it. The first time it is used, it is used to refer to a snake that bit Paul on the hand. The other 32 times, it is found in Revelation and it does refer to the beast known as the antichrist. But then if one looks a little more closely one finds that the word "beast" (without the "the") as referring to the antichrist is mentioned 37 times in Revelation and each time it refers to the antichrist. So the number of the beast is not 33 as Hoggard is saying to make his numeric point. He is deliberately manipulating data for his own purposes. And in fact, he leaves out the times that the antichrist is called the beast in the Old Testament. Would not that also be important? Should we not add those number of times mentioned to the sum? The beast is mentioned in Daniel 6 times. Add that to the 37 and you get 43 times. So should not the number of the beast be 43? No, actually God tells us the number of the beast, it is 666.

Hoggard selectively chooses those things which work for him, just as all who start playing with these secret numbers, words, etc. do when they try to convince people that what they are teaching is hidden knowledge that has been revealed to them (and usually to them alone). Another such mathematical “revelation” that he received was about the word “compass.” Now, as the compass is an important symbol for the Masons, he decided that there must also be a clue in the Bible to guide us as to the importance of the word “compass” as being used by Satan. So he counted up the number of times the word “compass” was used in the Bible. It turns out that the word “compass” is used 39 times. And wonder of wonders, that is 3 x 13. The problem is, if you look you will notice that every time it is used in the New Testament, it is a different Greek word each time. And for the many times it is used in the Old Testament, there are a dozen or so different Hebrew words that have been translated “compass” in English. And most of them are not the word “compass” referring to the tool we all used in math class, as the Masons picture it, but a word that means “to surround.” As in “they were compassed about on all sides.” In the original languages, this word holds no special meaning in relation to the Masons, or occult or anything else. But then again, Hoggard does not believe in using the original Hebrew and Greek when studying the Bible. He says and I quote “There's no revelation there.”

He believes that only the KJV should be used to study the Bible. I agree that it is the only truly accurate word for word English version, but to dismiss the originals from which it is translated as being incapable of giving understanding seems simply ridiculous. He however does not endorse using them and in fact tells you to avoid anyone who does, as you can't trust them. The same could be said of anyone using the KJV, if they use it inappropriately. People never seem to check on their preachers. As already stated, Hoggard says there is no revelation to be had from the originals. I don't know if he was misspeaking at the time, but I heard him quote a verse, then point out the verb tense, then say that it was not in in the original manuscript. I don't know if he meant something other than what actually came out of his mouth, but what came out of his mouth was completely erroneous. The translators of the KJV were very careful to translate it as accurately as possible.

Hoggard's demoting the original manuscripts makes no sense. There is no KJV without them. The reason there is no revelation in them for him is that he 1) apparently doesn't understand Hebrew or Greek, and 2) he can't find all those lovely words and especially numbers that he loves so much to manipulate. You see, the original manuscripts do not have all the chapter and verse numbers that he finds so very important. For instance he says the number “22” stands for “revelation” because the book of Revelation has 22 chapters. Unfortunately for Hoggard, the original book of Revelation had no chapters. None of the books did. The epistles were merely letters just as we write emails. Chapters and verses were added by editors, not put in by God for some hidden meanings. Hoggard finds all this symbolism in the fact that some word or number falls in a verse of a particular number in one chapter or book, and the same word or number may occur in a chapter or verse of the same number in another book. This is not Bible study. This is playing games. We are supposed to be studying the Word and by that I mean the actual words. Not playing math games with verse and chapter numbers. Just as Camping assigned meanings to all sorts of numbers, Hoggard seems to have done the same thing. I do not deny that some numbers are obvious, such as the number “7” being God's number, the number of perfection. But to spend all one's time looking for numbers and multiples of numbers gets a little obsessive. When one spends so much time doing this, one starts seeing things that do not exist. Sometimes a two is just a two and an apple is just an apple.

While on occasion, God will show us something deeper in a passage than what is understood at the literal level, our first method of study should be to simply read and study and understand a passage at the literal level. What I have noticed is that Pastor Hoggard is prone to spiritualizing Scripture all the time. Whenever he goes to a passage (more often than not an Old Testament passage), he is using the passage to discuss the numerology of it, or make some comparison to another Scripture, often with no seeming point in sight other than to say something about how great God is to have a hidden connection between the two. In fact he seems obsessed with all these hidden connections between Scriptures, as though these connections are far more important than anything it says at the literal level. For all the hours I have listened to him, I rarely hear him preach any Scriptural passage at any literal level. Many times the passage he is supposed to be preaching on isn't really even addressed, as he gets off onto all sorts of spiritual connections that are supposed to give us some sort of revelation, or off on another tangent entirely. At the end of his sermons I feel like I haven't learned anything at all about the passage or topic on which he is supposed to be preaching. Apparently I am not the only one, as he said that one of his listeners complained that he does not stick to topic. Hoggard's response was that he did not feel that the person had any understanding of how Scripture needed to be studied.

A further concern is that he seems to spend an inordinate amount of time preaching about the occult, the Masons, and all Satanic things about the end times. While a passing knowledge of these things is important for all Christians, it seems that everything he preaches comes back to this information. He seems as obsessed with this subject and everything related to Satan as he is about numbers. He takes occult legends and information and interprets the Bible from these sources rather than the other way around, even though he emphatically states that you should not bring anything to the Bible to interpret it other than the Bible itself.

Let me give an example or two. He stated in one sermon that the ten horns of Daniel chapter seven were the ten kings of Atlantis. Say what? Atlantis? Yes, he said they were the ten kings of Atlantis and that this is what the Scriptures teach. This could only have been a “revelation” that he received for two reasons. First, he has stated that the book of Daniel is still sealed. He has said that if you buy any books, tapes, etc. about the book of Daniel you have thrown away your money, as they are sealed until the end and have not been opened yet. In spite of that declaration, he says that the Scriptures (specifically in Daniel, which is supposedly still sealed) teach that the ten horns were ten kings of Atlantis. So this must have come by “special revelation” since he says the book is sealed. Second, the Scriptures never teach about Atlantis, they never mention Atlantis, so anything about that must have been learned by supernatural revelation (or occult sources). And what was Atlantis? I believe he says it was the antediluvian world. Now, I would have to say that I suspect that it most probably is true that the legend of Atlantis is a corrupted version of the story of the antediluvian world. It makes a lot of sense that it would be, given the description. I also know that occult history as related down through the ages in the Babylonian mysteries teaches that Atlantis had ten kings. I think this is the true source of his “revelation.” I, however, do not accept occult history as being on a par with Scripture. And I certainly do not think we are to interpret Scripture with the occult as our guide. All we know about the antediluvian world is found in the first six chapters of Genesis, and nothing is mentioned of ten kings there.

I also disagree that the book of Daniel is still sealed. (See my Bible study on Daniel at my endtimes blog here - more articles on Daniel found at the column to the right of page 
http://endtimesstudies.blogspot.com/2009/06/now-that-we-have-very-small-overview-of.html). All Christians know that we are in the last days. Israel has been a nation for over sixty years. The Lord's return cannot be too many more years away, as the state of the world cannot continue as it is and survive for much longer than that. The only way to understand the end times and what will be happening as described in the gospels and Revelation is to understand what Daniel 2, 7, 9, and 12 are talking about. It is the key to understanding there is a seven year period that will wrap up this age. The knowledge of the abomination of desolation, the beast, the ten horns, the 1260 and 1290 days, the forty-two months, and all the rest are not sealed anymore. They are quite understandable with the knowledge from the New Testament to help. Hoggard says he doesn't understand Daniel. At least he doesn't understand what has not been given as a “revelation.” Possibly if he quit studying numbers and spiritualizing everything and just read the word literally the way God intended, laying precept upon precept, he would start to understand what Daniel is teaching. 
 

Another of his teachings that he got from the Masons is about DNA. Hoggard has said, “I know pretty much what Albert Pike is trying to conceal in this book (Morals and Dogma – the Masonic bible). And how do I know it? Did I go to the meetings? No. Did I read the secret document? No. I know that because the “revelation” came to me by the apostles and the prophets. That's how I know what is in here. (M & D) You want things revealed? Go right here. (the Holy Bible)” So Hoggard is using the Bible, or rather getting “revelations” from the Bible via clue words, numbers, etc. through the apostles and prophets that teach him what the Masonic book Morals and Dogma is hiding. Really? Instead of spending time studying the Bible, he's using the Bible as a codebreaker via “revelation” to figure out Albert Pike's big secret? And this bothers nobody? It bothers me. And what is the big secret Albert Pike is hiding? According to Hoggard, the secret is that the mark that the antichrist is going to make people take is a third DNA helix strand. 

Hoggard explains that in Genesis 6 the angels procreated with mankind creating hybrids, giants, men of renown. According to Hoggard this gave man a third helix strand of DNA. Now, I am not sure exactly how far he takes this, but he did reference the verse where Jesus calls the Pharisees a generation of serpents/vipers and says that Satan has a physical seed that these Jewish religious leaders had, as Jesus used both the word “generation” indicating that this was a bloodline, and “serpent” or “vipers” indicating that they were of Satan's seed. Again, I have not heard him preach further on this idea of a seedline, so I do not know how far he takes it. As to the third helix strand, Hoggard teaches that this is the secret the Masons have been keeping. That the fallen angels or nephilim are coming back, and that they want to turn us into them. And this is what the mark will be. That there will be hand held scanners (they are working on developing these for Homeland Security) that they will use on you to decide if you are one of them or one of us. This will be what allows you to buy and sell. 
 

There are several things about this last teaching that need to be addressed. First, the mark of the beast is supposed to be something that is given in your hand or forehead. It does not say it is a mark that is made in your genes, which cannot be seen. A mark in your genes would not just be in your hand or forehead, so to teach this definitely is the mark, based upon what he feels he has discovered through “revelation” via the Bible, about the secret in the Masonic book Morals and Dogma is simply not acceptable. Second, the whole idea of the angels having procreated with man before and after the Flood, and most probably continuing to do so, need not be discovered through “revelations” about a Satanic book. It is taught straight out in the Bible without having to go through all this hoopla. If he was simply studying the Bible he would have discovered it without all the numerology and special “revelations.” I did and so have others. [Read my article on fallen angels here

http://bibleconundrumsandcontroversy.blogspot.com/2012/01/giants-nephilim-aliens-do-they-exist.html]

God has told us in Genesis 6 that the angels married the human women and had hybrid children that were giants and men of renown. We are told that they (the giants) were also after the Flood, and indeed when Israel finally went into the land of Canaan, they had to fight numerous tribes of giants. We are also told that they did not kill them all off. We are further told in the gospels that as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be again before the Lord's return. We know then that we should expect that nephilim, giants, hybrids, and other things will make a return. We need only look to the stories and accounts of the natives and explorers of the Americas, as well as the Greeks, Romans, and Norse mythologies, as well as the descriptions that people are giving of “aliens” and their obsession with making hybrid babies, to see that there is quite a bit of evidence to lead us to believe they are still around and very active. To believe they are going to return does not require decoding the Masonic bible. The evidence is all over the place. Whether or not hybrids have a third helix strand is not something we can verify by any means or even need to know to understand Scripture. 

That the occult has been tinkering with crossing man and angels, man and beast, angels and beast, and beast and beast can be seen in the hieroglyphics of all the ancient cultures. That archaeologists do not see in these hieroglyphics what actually happened and may still be happening does not mean that we have to ignore it. It is clear that there have been hybrid nephilim in the past and will be again. Look at the Minotaur – a bull-headed god, Anubis – the jackal headed god, Horus – the falcon-headed god just as some examples. The Sphinx is a lion with a man's head. Everyone assumes these things are just imaginary, but they were not. They were probably nephilim or fallen angels. Not all angels are human looking. The cherubim have the faces of an ox, and eagle, and a lion, as well as a man. These creatures existed and may still exist and will probably show up again, given that Scripture tells us things will be as they were in Noah's day. However, stating as a fact that the mark of the beast is an infusion of a third helix strand of DNA (which there is no proof that they even have a third strand of DNA anyhow) is really going well beyond Scripture. 
 

That brings up another thing that disturbed me. Hoggard in many of his sermons has talked about Christ returning in the clouds. He makes a big point of the clouds and that if there are no clouds it isn't Christ. He expects the antichrist to make the same sort of appearance as Christ will make in the air, as it seems he believes the antichrist will be either a fallen angel or nephilim. I cannot say one way or the other if this is true or not, as the Bible does not tell us how the antichrist will make his appearance. Hoggard however is preparing his followers to expect this and, moreover, he is telling them that they will know it is the antichrist, because there will be no clouds. If it were really Christ there would be clouds, and that is how they will know, but not with antichrist. With him it will be a clear day. He is stating this as if it is a fact taught by Scripture, when in fact nothing of the sort is taught in Scripture. The problem with this is, what if the antichrist does make an appearance like this, only there are lots of clouds? The Scriptures do not say that this could not be a possibility, as it does not say anything at all. To teach that it will happen in this way, and that the give away is no clouds is simply setting people up to be deceived. He is saying if there are clouds, it is Christ, if not it isn't. 

He is not teaching people what the signs we are supposed to know that come before Christ's appearance are. The way we are supposed to know it is Christ is to study Revelation to know all the signs and events that will occur before Christ's return. By knowing all these things, we will not be deceived. (Again, God warned that His people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.) How many times did Christ repeat “do not be deceived” in the Olivet Discourse? Answer: lots of times. Hoggard is simply not teaching the Bible and what it says. He is finding his information from occultic sources and passing them on to his audience as truths. This is seriously wrong. We should not be interpreting the Bible by revelations or occult sources. We should take God's Word literally and learn what it teaches. Hoggard is adding all sorts of things to the Scriptures, yet will preach against others who do so. He does not seem to see that he is as guilty of this as are others. If his followers are not careful and discerning, they will find themselves in the same place as Camping's people did.

Just a couple more things that I have heard him say that are major red flags, are that in the millennium there will be a temple and sacrifices, but the sacrifices will not be little animals the way it was before. The people will be sacrificing demons. Yes, that is what he said. People will be sacrificing demons. Do not ask me where on earth he got this from, because I cannot even imagine, as there is nothing remotely in the Bible that would lead to this conclusion. In fact the Bible teaches otherwise. The book of Ezekiel the last ten chapters or so teach all about the temple during the millennium. There will be sacrifices again, and unlike what Hoggard teaches, they will be animals.

Ezekiel 45:15-16, 21-23 “And one lamb out of the flock, out of two hundred, out of the fat pastures of Israel; for a meat offering, and for a burnt offering, and for peace offerings, to make reconciliation for them, saith the Lord GOD. All the people of the land shall give this oblation for the prince in Israel......In the first month, in the fourteenth day of the month, ye shall have the passover, a feast of seven days; unleavened bread shall be eaten. And upon that day shall the prince prepare for himself and for all the people of the land a bullock for a sin offering. And seven days of the feast he shall prepare a burnt offering to the LORD, seven bullocks and seven rams without blemish daily the seven days; and a kid of the goats daily for a sin offering.” 

Clearly this is speaking of the same animals that were being sacrificed before in the previous temples. Nothing is said about demons. How would a human go about wrestling a non-corporeal entity, taking it to the temple, and offering it as a sacrifice. And why would God, who demands perfect unblemished sacrifices accept anything as vile as a demon? God simply throws them in the pit of hell until judgment day. If this is one of Hoggard's “revelations”, it is quite unscriptural and shows that his “revelations” are not to be trusted. In fact this particular teaching is an abomination when one considers the rules God has given regarding sacrifices. (See my full article on millennial temple sacrifices here 
http://bibleconundrumsandcontroversy.blogspot.com/2012/04/will-there-be-animal-sacrifice-at.html).

The next teaching that I will mention here is the one about there not being a physical temple in Jerusalem. He is teaching that the temple referred to in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 “Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God,” is speaking about the human heart. He comes to this conclusion on the following basis. The word temple is used as many times in the Bible as the human body has bones. According to what I learned in science, the human body has 206 bones. Now I have counted this twice, and the word temple is used 203 times in the Bible. There are three different Hebrew words that are translated “temple”, and two different Greek words that are translated “temple.” Further the plural “temples” is used nine times – two different Hebrew words, and one Greek word. So what is the first conclusion I can make? That Hoggard has lied and manipulated information to try to make his point. 

Next he says that the heart has four chambers, and there are four cherubim around the throne of God. The two lungs stand for the O.T. and N.T. Your breath stands for the Holy Spirit. The seven vascular bundles in the lungs called nodes stand for the seven spirits which is the seven branched candlestick in Revelation. The twenty-four ribs are the twenty-four elders around the throne. Thus, instead of taking God's Word literally and believing that He meant a real temple, we are supposed to understand from Hoggard's “revelation” that these things correspond to the temple, thus our body is the temple spoken of in Matthew and Thessalonians. I will not deny that God uses patterns over and over in His creation. The largest thing, the universe, and the smallest thing, the atom have the same form or pattern. God reuses His patterns in a multitude of ways, so as He designed our bodies to house His spirit when we accept Him, it is not hard to imagine that He did use the same template. HOWEVER, Hoggard comes to this conclusion without taking into consideration what the Scriptures blatantly tell us. 

In Matthew 24:15 Christ told us “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand.)” What exactly is the reader to understand? That what the abomination of desolation is can be found in the book of Daniel. But of course Hoggard does not believe we can understand Daniel. It's really not that hard. Daniel tells us of the event of Antiochus Epiphanes when he desecrated the temple by slaughtering a pig on the altar and setting up a statue of Zeus. This event is not completely detailed in the Scriptures, it is only mentioned as the abomination, but there are historical records of this event that give us the details. It is the abomination about which Christ was referring, and to which every Jew could immediately relate, as it is event that created the situation that was the basis for their holiday of Hanukkah. It is mentioned in Daniel 11:31 “ And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.” Daniel mentions another abomination that will make desolate, only this time it has to do with the end times. Daniel 9:27 “And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.” Daniel 12:11 “And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.” Both of these verses talk about sacrifices being stopped (they can't begin unless there is a temple) and that an abomination will be set up. This is the same abomination spoken of in 2 Thessalonians. 

Further in Revelation 11:1-2 it tells us that John is handed a measuring stick and told to measure the temple and altar, but not the courtyard, for the courtyard and Jerusalem will be trodden underfoot by the Gentiles for forty-two months. “And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not; for it is given unto the Gentiles: and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months.” Now how exactly is John supposed to measure our bodies? And what is the altar in our body? And how is the courtyard (whatever that might be in our body) trodden by the Gentiles for forty-two months? It is simply ridiculous given these Scriptures to say that there will not be a physical temple during the 70^th week of Daniel, and furthermore to say that the temple spoken of is our body. Daniel never spoke of our body as being the temple. People were not indwelt as a regular course of events in the Old Testament. The only temple Daniel knew was the physical temple on the Temple Mount. Christ specifically refers us back to Daniel to avoid this very problem of the misinterpretation of making our body the temple in this case, because He knew that the Scriptures that Paul would write would refer to our body as a temple. He wanted to make sure that the reader understand, (which is why He referenced Daniel), that He was not talking about our bodies. He was talking about the temple mentioned in Daniel, which was the one on the Temple Mount. 

Just as an exercise in logic, let us consider that 2 Thessalonians is talking about the temple as being our body. So what then would that verse be saying with that interpretation. Well, as only Christians are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, (unbelievers aren't) for antichrist to sit in the temple of God declaring himself God, it would mean that Christians will accept Him in their hearts in place of God. And only Christians would do this, as unbelievers are not the temple of God. That would mean that all Christians are condemned to take the mark of the beast. Is that really what people believe when they teach this? No. But isn't it exactly what they are teaching? Yes. Have they thought this through to its logical conclusion? Obviously not or they would see the fallacy of their interpretation. 
 

I will grant that Hoggard is teaching many good things that are true. There is great apostasy in the church. The Masons are occultic and have many secrets about what they plan on doing to mankind. But one can find this information all over the place. One does not need special “revelation” from the apostles and prophets to find out this information. It is out there all over the place. One only has to google it up. Hoggard's time would be better spent studying the Scriptures in a literal way and learning what they teach rather than spending all his time with looking for “revelations” of words, numbers, hidden codes, as well as studying the occult. He is doing his followers a disservice by not teaching them what God's Word really says rather than spending so much time on the occult and Satan.

One thing that came to mind after first posting this article, is the irony in the fact that Hoggard constantly preaches that Satan is the author of secret hidden knowledge, (which is what the Babylonian Mysteries, the Masons, and all these secret societies are about), and he also states that God is the opposite in that His Word is an open book, yet what is it that Hoggard constantly is doing to understand the Bible? He is seeking hidden knowledge by "revelation." How ironic for someone, who is against hidden knowledge, to be a person who does nothing but seek it out, not only in the occultic books, but also in the Bible. He is not looking to read what the Scriptures say at face value, but is continually looking for the hidden secrets. If God does have hidden secrets, what does God say about that? Deuteronomy 29:29 "The secret things belong unto the LORD our God: but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever, that we may do all the words of this law." The things which are revealed, God's Word understood at the literal level, belong to us. Even those things which He revealed to the prophets belong to us, as they were revealed to the prophets, not kept secret from them. Amos 3:7 "Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets." Even Daniel's prophecies (the only ones closed until the end) are now an open book. But God is clear that if there are hidden things buried in His Word, they belong to Him, not us. We are not supposed to be looking for hidden things the way the occult does. All this Bible code stuff is not what God wants us doing. God tells us straight out what He wants us to know, yet Hoggard spends his time doing what the occult does, looking for hidden secrets, the very thing God has said belong to Him, not us. This should tell us something.

As I keep hearing Hoggard say things, I think I will continue to add to this article, as it is important that people see how he is straying from sticking solely with the Scriptures. One of the latest things I heard him talk about when discussing UFO's was that they come from a fourth dimension. I think we all are aware that the spiritual dimension is a fourth dimension, and that there is every indication that many (but possibly not all) of these UFO's are actually spiritual beings (evil) who are posing as extra-terrestrials. This is not something that is new information or secretly hidden in the Scriptures. It is pretty obvious to most intelligent Christians that this is what is going on. However Hoggard is obsessed with this whole genre of "aliens" and such (and has been since his youth) so had to find hidden messages about this in the Bible. One verse that he says proves that the number "four" represents the spiritual is the verse Ephesians 3:18. Here is the context of that verse. 3:17-19 "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God."

According to Hoggard, this verse shows us four dimensions, breadth, length, depth, and height. Oddly enough although we always refer to three dimensions as width (breadth) length, and height, Hoggard accepts the word depth in place of height and says that height refers to the fourth dimension where God is. Yes, in Scripture the heavens are referred to as the heights, but that is because they are high above us. In fact, the word which is not part of the three dimensions here is depth. And why is that? It is because, when you look at the Greek (which Hoggard eschews as being unable to tell you anything) the word for height means altitude, the third dimension in our space. The word depth however means "profundity" or "mystery." It is speaking of depth not as a fourth dimension, but as we say our love for someone is so deep, it means it is beyond measuring it is so profound. The love of Christ is being spoken of here. It encompasses our three dimensions to their fullest degree and is so profound it is a mystery to us. Again, had Hoggard not been against looking to see what the original language was conveying, he might not have mistaken what this verse is implying. He again manipulates a verse of Scripture to lay a foundation for something he wants to be in Scripture. The sad thing is, he is not necessarily wrong about some things, such as the fact that UFO's are coming from a spiritual source (as well as many governmental ones I am sure), but his inaccurate use of the Scriptures to back this up, distorting their true meanings is, if you'll pardon the expression, not kosher. Adopting a habit of using Scriptures in this way will always lead one further and further from the truth. It is a dangerous habit.

In continuing to listen to some of Mike Hoggards sermons, I logged onto the Hog Blog and saw he had a couple of sermons on giants from the past couple weeks. In clicking on them to listen to them, the first thing that I saw and heard was an ad for Disney World. Given that Walt Disney was a high ranking mason, and that Disney's children's movies reek of sexual subliminal messages, as well as Masonic and Satanic overtones in many cases, I find it ironic (or maybe hypocritical is a better word) that he let's them advertise on his site while he preaches against what they stand for and do in their movies. One has to question how serious he is about these things he is preaching when he allows this for the purpose of making money, for that is why the ads are there. Doesn't that fly in the face of what he is preaching?

In his sermons on giants here are some things that he said with which I have a problem. These are quotes taken right from this sermon, which can be accessed on the Hogblog.

“New Testament doctrine, the doctrine of the salvation of the Gentiles, and the fact that God took Israel and said, 'I'm done with you for a while,' that whole doctrine, you know what it's based on? It's based upon the fact that these were giants. (He's referring to the passage in Numbers where the spies came back with reports of giants in the land.) Now, if you say, 'I don't believe the Bible, and I don't believe this word giants, I don't believe they were that big, I think the Bible's stretching it, I think that you know, the testimony got out of whack over the years, I think men, yada.'...If you think all of that, then tell Paul's he's a liar because Paul based an entire doctrine upon these giants. Hebrews chapter 3 verse 10, 'wherefore' this is what Paul said, Hebrews 'Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest. Take heed, brethren,' Look at this, look at this, 'Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God.' He says in verse 15 of Hebrews 3 'While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation. For some, when they had heard, did provoke: howbeit not all that came out of Egypt by Moses. But with whom was he grieved forty years? was it not with them that had sinned, whose carcases fell in the wilderness? And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not? So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.' Paul is basing the entire doctrine of salvation based upon faith, based upon belief on what God said, he's basing that entire doctrine upon a story that most theologians and scholars say probably didn't happen that way. What does that make our foundation stand on then? …....Paul based the entire doctrine on whether or not you can go to heaven, enter into your rest, he based his entire doctrine upon this story right here. It's called the provocation...... This is how important this (believing in giants) is............All these wonderful Bible doctrines, we've been missing it for years. They're all based on these stories of giants. That's how real these characters were. God spends a majority of the Bible dealing with doctrines that are based upon the stories of the giants. The giants were pivotal and crucial in our understanding of New Testament doctrines. Including the New Testament doctrine of hell.

I understand that Mike is trying to convey that we should believe what the Bible says and take every story as truth, but he is completely twisting what Paul is meaning here. Paul is not basing the doctrine of salvation upon the fact that there were giants in the land. That is a silly statement to make, and I can't believe he meant it as he said it. We are not entering heaven based upon the story of giants. Paul was using this story merely as one of the many, many examples of the fact that Israel was constantly not having faith in God, and he was warning believers in Christ (or Yeshua, as in this case as he was addressing Hebrew believers) to not fall into the same sin. The first two chapters of Hebrews are all about Christ (not the story of giants) being the source of our salvation. How He was made a man and took upon Himself our sins and then took His place at the right hand of God to intercede for us. The Hebrews are being warned that they must hold fast the confidence of their faith in Yeshua to the end, so that they can enter into their heavenly rest, or eternal salvation. The book of Hebrews is all about enduring to the end and remaining faithful to the belief in Christ's sacrifice. There are several warnings about falling away (Hebrews 6 and 10) and ending up being burned by God's wrath. Paul is teaching that the doctrine of salvation is based upon a continuing faith in Yeshua and that continuing in that faith is how we enter into heaven.

The book of Hebrews is all about faith. He is not teaching that believing in giants is how we gain salvation, nor is he making it a pivotal happenstance. Nor are all the New Testament doctrines based upon the existence of giants. Yes, giants existed. Yes, they were the offspring of angels and mankind. Yes, they were/are evil. But the doctrines of the Bible are based upon Yeshua redeeming us from the sin of Adam and Eve. That we have to battle Satan and evil spirits is a given, and a part of reality for a Christian, but our redemption and our doctrines of salvation are not based upon what the fallen angels did, but what man (Adam) did and how God is redeeming us from our own sin, not Satan or the fallen angels' sins. Hoggard is simply getting obsessed with these creatures. That they will probably return in the end is quite possible and most likely probable, but they still have no effect on our salvation. Our salvation is based upon our acceptance of and abiding with Yeshua as our Savior. Everything else is secondary to that. The majority of the Bible is not based upon giants and doctrines about them. The Bible is the plan of redemption of mankind. The Old Testament is the story of God bringing salvation through a rebellious, unbelieving people by having a Messiah born through their line in fulfillment of a promise to Abraham. The story of Israel's interactions with giants are just examples of their lack of faith, in some cases, or when they were obedient, showing God's power by having them defeat the giants. The story's focus is about Israel's unbelief/belief and disobedience/obedience, not about the giants. They are almost what Alfred Hitchcock, the famous movie director, would call the McGuffin. A McGuffin in a movie is merely the object used to drive the story, but what it actually is, is not all that important. Had it not been giants that caused unbelief and rebellion among the Israelites, it would have been something else, and often it was something else. Their biggest problem was unbelief and worshipping other gods (and yes those gods were often fallen angels, but anything that replaces God is an idol and false god, even if it is just money). The real issue is Israel's belief or lack thereof, and obedience or disobedience, and the consequences of each. It is not the fact that giants existed. Hoggard is making giants the center of importance in the entire Bible rather than Yeshua and His redemption of us by faith.

Some people have asked Hoggard about the fact that the promised land is supposed to be a picture of heaven, but they then say that it doesn't seem right as there were wars in Canaan, and there aren't wars in heaven. Hoggard corrects them by saying that there was a war in heaven when Satan and 1/3 of the angels were cast out of heaven. In this he is absolutely correct. Scripture bears this out in Revelation 12. He says that the real country that Abraham was seeking was not just the territory between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, but the kingdom of heaven. This too is true – Hebrews 11. Hoggard then explains that the Israelites having to fight wars to get the giants out of the land was a picture of heaven. The problem comes with his next statement. “There's a war to cast them out of heaven. Who gets to take their place? Israel. All of those born of the faith of Abraham get to take the place of the angels that God has cast down from the promised land.” Now I take issue with this. God did not choose Israel (both the nation and spiritual Israel) to take the place of angels. Angels and humans are two completely different creations for two completely different purposes.

Nobody is reassigned to take the place of any angels. This is a statement that comes from who knows where, for I cannot imagine how he came to this conclusion. It certainly isn't something Scripture teaches. Israel was the promised descendants of Abraham through whom the Lord was going to send the Messiah. They were to be a people of God on earth, for God had no other people. Yet, they chose most of the time to not be a people of God, but to follow pagan gods. God always had a remnant, but Israel was very unfaithful as a whole. Their purpose was never to replace the fallen angels. We do not die and become angels. Nowhere is this taught in Scripture. Angels were created at the beginning of creation as a separate and unique creation for various purposes, everything from overseeing nature to watching over us. Now to show that the phrase “Sons of God” in Genesis is speaking of angels, to show why these offspring are truly giants, he shows that all the Old Testament references to the Sons of God refer to angels. This is true. Then he goes to the New Testament and where the phrase is used to refer to Christians, he makes the leap from the passage that says that in the resurrection we will not marry but be like the angels in heaven who do not marry, to - we will become angels upon death. So the phrase Sons of God still refers to angels, it is just that we have not yet manifested as angels and won't until we die.

 Following this train of thought, as angels are shown to be stars throughout the Scriptures (this is true), this then means that we will become actual stars in the resurrection. The upshot of following this line of thought are the following quotes: “A third of the stars God cast out of heaven and He's going to use us to replace them.....When we shed off this flesh we are going to be as the angels of heaven..... Let's actually quote the Scripture. The Scripture says that when we are resurrected we become stars, we become as angels, okay? which are in heaven. The angels which are in heaven do not marry nor are given in marriage. Okay. They're not allowed to. It's not right, they're actually prohibited. It's in the law, okay?” So based on the statement that angels do not marry, and in the resurrection we will not marry, Hoggard makes the erroneous leap that we become angels. No. Yeshua did not become an angel. He is still Yeshua. And we will still be whom we are - resurrected humans, not angels. We do not marry in heaven, as procreation is not necessary. That was the purpose of marriage, to create families. It wasn't good for man to be alone, but in heaven we won't be alone. We will be with Yeshua and everyone else who loves Him. Marriage is a mortal institution, not a spiritual one. It is necessary because man dies and there needs to be progeny. Angels do not die, so they do not need progeny and therefore do not need to marry. Hoggard says, “let's actually quote the Scripture.” Okay, where is the Scripture that says in the resurrection we become stars? It's not in my Bible, and I use the King James Bible too. Scripture says in the resurrection we will not marry. There is a big difference between that and becoming a literal star. We are the Sons of God, because we have been adopted by God into His family through Christ Jesus, or Yeshua. This did not turn us into a different creation known as angels. Sometimes Hoggard takes these lines of thoughts of his simply too far.

One last thing that I caught in this sermon was his using a “word” to define something again. This time the word is “folly.” To continue to prove his point that the Sons of God were angels, he speaks about the passage in Jude that talks about the angels leaving their estate and are presently being held in chains. Now he says that God charges them with the crime of “folly” (Job 4:18) meaning sexual crimes. Now he admits that the word “folly” means “foolishness,” but as always, trying to over prove his point, he takes things beyond that which is correct. “Folly” does mean foolishness, it doesn't mean sexual sins. Hoggard says that he will let the Bible define the word “folly,” so he goes to several Scriptures that talk about events when sexual crimes took place that God called folly. For instance when someone raped Jacob's daughter it was called folly, and when a damsel played the whore, it was called folly. And when the Benjamites raped the concubine of the traveler it was folly. So according to Hoggard, in the mouths' of two witnesses (in this case he lists more than two) that means that this is the definition of the word. So in 2 Corinthians 11:1 when Paul asks them to bear with him in his folly his is speaking of his sexual crimes and is asking them to overlook them? Or when we are told in Proverbs to either answer or not answer a fool according to his folly, it's referring to sexual crimes? No. Here are two witnesses (by Hoggard's standards) that say it means something quite different. Folly means “foolishness” just as Hoggard admits right at the beginning. Trying to manipulate a word's definition to justify your point, when it is unnecessary, as the literal reading of the passage teaches the truth without needing this type of defense, is dishonest. When checked out, as I have done, it shows him to be deceitful as to the whole truth. Folly does not mean sexual crimes, it means “foolishness” and “stupidity”. Anyone who commits the acts of sexual crimes listed above are foolish and stupid in the extreme. But that does not change the definition of folly and it does not justify changing that definition to try to back up your viewpoint. Hoggard is correct in that the Sons of God who married the daughters of men were angels. The Scriptures bear that out by themselves. But to manipulate Scripture in this way to try to prove it just makes him look deceitful.

7/18/2012 - I just heard part of a sermon Mike preached against wine.  His exegesis is, as usual, very faulty.  Read what the Bible really has to say about alcohol here.

http://bibleconundrumsandcontroversy.blogspot.com/2011/01/is-it-permissible-to-drink-alcohol.html

Parts 2 and 3 in this Hoggard series are located here.

http://bibleconundrumsandcontroversy.blogspot.com/2012/05/mike-hoggard-part-2-king-james-bible.html

http://bibleconundrumsandcontroversy.blogspot.com/2012/05/mike-hoggard-part-3-are-you-being_23.html

2/10/13 Mike is now preaching against the Hebrew Roots/Sacred Name Movement.  In this I agree that they are a serious problem.  Here is my link to my article on this.

http://bibleconundrumsandcontroversy.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-hebrew-rootssacred-name-movement.html