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A Gnostic speaks Joe Kovac’s seems to have a completely different take on Bible Scripture’s that have been clear to both readers, scholars and pastors of the Scripture for thousands of years. Unfortunately there is lot of revisioning going on these day by those who have a Gnostic - metaphysical view and employ it in their interpretations. It’s unfortunate that WND website continues to promote this false teaching.
Kovacs then explained: "Well, based on what we already talked about, what these symbols mean, we're all inside Sheol right now. This is the land of the walking dead. Sheol is the pit, the place of the dead, and we're all crying to God for help from deep inside this spiritual pit." These are not symbols for Jonah, these were actual weeds in the sea. Are in sheol now? So when an unbeliever dies he goes to where you are now. His answers are nonsense it would be laughable except that this is serious error? Sheol is the place of the dead, not of the living. The Bible speaks of people (not land) who are not spiritually alive as dead, speaking of in their soul and spirit. This is not what Jonah is describing. In Num. 16:30 Moses declared that Korah will go down alive into Sheol (v. 33), the earth swallowed him up. Isa. 14:9 “ Sheol from beneath is excited over you.” In the New Testament the Greek word hadēs is used the same sense as Sheol is in the Old Testament. Exception are when it is used for “the grave.” There is no way to misconstrue this to be what Kovac says it is. This man does not understand the ‘literal’ Word and manipulates it to mean what he wants it to be in symbols, spiritualizing it, he is trying to ameliorate the meaning. The interviewer Laird asked: " So the fish is ... our human existence?" "Correct, our existence here," Kovacs noted. "The big fish is the body of the beast if you want to think of it that way ." Whatever that means; this is not a biblical definition? Kovac continues: "'The deep closed around me and WEEDS were wrapped around my head.' Well what do weeds represent in the Bible? The Bible actually gives us the answer. In the New Testament, as a matter of fact, Jesus tells us what the weeds are: 'Weeds are the children of the evil one'" (Matthew 13:38 CSB) . "So when he (Jonah) says 'weeds were wrapped around my head,' it's talking about evil people who are wrapping around your mind all the time, all through childhood and puberty and adulthood. Some people are never able to shake the weeds out of their mind – they're just growing in there – and they can never come to God because the weeds (evil people) are wrapping around your head." This is about Jonah sinking to the bottom of the sea, are they evil people in the bottom of the sea wrapping themselves around Jonah, in his mind. Instead of literal events Kovacs changes them into symbols which makes the Scripture into a false interpretation and an even worse application. Tares may be considered a weed in the Bible, but we are not literally weeds. Tares are empty wheat stalks the parable of the wheat and the tares (Matt. 13:24–30, 36–43), tare is part of the vegetable species found in grain fields. As the wheat not suitable for human food, they are without substance, they are poisonous. They are left in the field (not the sea) indistinguishable from wheat until the stalks are mature for the harvest. Then they can be separated without difficulty. This is just ridiculous how he interprets the Word. Wrap your head around his answer. Tares are not weeds, they are wheat with no grain in it. Kovacs then analyzed verse 6 , which states: " I was imprisoned in the earth, whose gates lock shut forever." "What is the EARTH? We keep talking about this. This is the earth," Kovacs said, motioning toward his own physical body. "Our bodies are the earth because we're made of 'the dust of the earth.' (1 Corinthians 15:47 NLT) Nothing is literal to a gnostic who changes literal meanings to symbolic meanings and spiritualizes them. "We're locked in. We're like in prison now. We can't travel to the other side of the universe – the seen or unseen universe. God can do that, 'cause He's a Spirit Being. He's not shackled in this physical, fleshly prison that we're in. So the gates being locked shut, being imprisoned in the earth, that again refers to the human body." This is completely wrong, our body is not a prison as he uses Jonah to describe our constitution. Verse 6 concludes : "But you, O LORD my God, snatched me from the jaws of death!" "This is a picture of resurrection," Kovacs explained . "And again, as we know in the story of Jonah, he's taken out of the body of the beast, and is then able to preach to other people who finally come around! That city of Nineveh is like the only mass repentance place in the Bible mentioned. You have individual repentance among people, but the whole city of Nineveh, who were unbelievers, they repented when they saw somebody who was raised from death, raised from the body of the beast, who was no longer shackled in the body of the beast, giving them God's message, and that's when the mass repentance comes. It's the Second Resurrection. ... It's just a fascinating picture when you connect all the dots. " This is the only accurate statement he said, that Jonah had A RESURRECTION. But this is not a second resurrection. These dots are Invisible, only seen to those who has been gifted with his FALSE God speed. Does Jonah leave his body to preach (because Kovac has interpreted the beast also as our body; see our article on how he interprets us to be the beast of Revelation ) In his book, Kovacs explains: " At God speed, it's a veiled prophecy of the future, when the obedient followers of God exit their dead physical bodies and convince 'the rest of the dead, ' (Revelation 20:5) all the wicked folks who didn't get with the program in the first round, to repent so that they, too, can leave their body of flesh and inherit eternal life." No one leaves their body like this, in fact the Bible says in the resurrection we get an immortal uncorrupted body. We will always be in our body, as Jesus is today. This sounds more like Mormonism and liberal universalism than the Bible teaching. There are no second chances after death. Someone needs to straighten out this man before it is too late. Laird then expressed an intriguing point about the conclusion of Jonah's story: "After that happens in Nineveh ... because all the people believed, he pouts about it! All of a sudden he's jealous about it or something. ... And that's kind of the end of the story. We're left with this where Jonah's all miffed and yet the people in Nineveh have been saved. What are we to make of this? I never know what to make of the end of the story." Kovacs responded: "I think it's a message that we shouldn't be miffed about it. Because if you know that God's gonna eventually save [virtually] everybody, there might be the point coming through your mind of, 'Well, why am I bothering doing this? God is gonna save most people in the end anyway.'" His answer using Jonah is absurd, one needs to know the background of why all of Nineveh was saved. It was for a certain time and it was directly related to Israel and her future. This has nothing to do with the last days and the gospel that one is to believe in to be saved. Kovacs is clearly a universalist, as the Bible answers this question of how many are saved. God is not going to save most! Heb .9:27 “ And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment” This a judgment pertaining to whether they accepted Jesus, his gospel and received the free gift of salvation or rejected it while in their body. Jesus taught, Matt 7:14 “narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it .” Right after we find out why, many false prophets mislead them. You can decide if one of them is Kovac. Luke 13:23-24 Then one said to Him, "Lord, are there few who are saved?" And He said to them, Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.” Matt 20:16 “For many are called, but few chosen." (Mt.22:14). Kovac is changing the words and meaning of Holy Scripture by using a gnostic reinterpretation. This is not what we are supposed to do with the Word and are warned on convoluting it. To believe in the gospel now, when living is spoken as an imperative, there is nothing about any chance after one dies. 2 Cor. 6:2 behold, now is the day of salvation. |
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