People are just too afraid Of truth Of growing Of interacting Of being wrong Of learning anything And of making any changes. They are much more comfortable Half the time having their eyes shut than opened.
So God puts man here in this world first Because man is not born ready for that second world, And must have time to learn God’s ways And to wrestle with his own will— Should he be the sort to will that.
And so much of it seems to come down To how the man is willing to see himself, And whether he will let the truth of a matter Be the truth— Or whether he will twist it into something else.
And from there, if and when he ever notices That his own will differs from God’s, It comes down to who he really thinks is the boss— It comes down to whether he will yield himself.
And who among us has the will To wrestle with his own will, To make it into what it is not But should be, according to God?
Many a religion has been fabricated In order to help men pretend That they can be right with God While still defiant in their wills.
Such are cities of Cain—ever empty, Even when filled with people— Stout fortresses on this Earth, Yet fully exposed to the very Heaven That they assume is their friend.
A modern interpretation of Azazel as a Satanic, goatlike demon, from Collin de Plancy’s Dictionnaire Infernal (Paris,1825). Credit.
There are differing opinions (of old) on whether Azazel and Satan are the same being. So to start off, let me introduce Azazel by what are probably the three most famous passages about him—the first from the Bible, and the second two from 1 Enoch. I present these without comment. Otherwise, I’d be writing a book!:
8 And Aaron shall cast lots over the two goats, one lot for the Lord and the other lot for Azazel.[a]9 And Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for the Lord and use it as a sin offering, 10 but the goat on which the lot fell for Azazel shall be presented alive before the Lord to make atonement over it, that it may be sent away into the wilderness to Azazel.
Leviticus 16:8-10. ESV
8. And the whole earth has been corrupted through the works that were taught by Azazel: to him ascribe all sin.
1 Enoch 10:8. R.H. Charles Translation
1. And Azazel taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and made known to them the metals 〈of the earth〉 and the art of working them, and bracelets, and ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying of the eyelids, and all kinds of costly stones, and all coloring tinctures. 2. And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they were led astray, and became corrupt in all their ways. Semjaza taught enchantments, and root-cuttings, Armaros the resolving of enchantments, Baraqijal, (taught) astrology, Kokabel the constellations, Ezeqeel the knowledge of the clouds, 〈Araqiel the signs of the earth, Shamsiêl the signs of the sun〉, and Sariel the course of the moon. And as men perished, they cried, and their cry went up to heaven . . .
Origen pegs Azazel as the serpent in the Garden of Eden.
For the serpent–…–having become the cause of man’s expulsion from the divine Paradise, … having deceived the woman by a promise of divinity and of greater blessings; ….Moreover (the goat), which in the book Of Leviticus is sent away (into the wilderness), and which in the Hebrew language is named Azazel, was none other than this;
She is constantly on display And seeking approval, Even when no one is watching— Worn out in the endless Striving to meet expectations That had never had anything to do with Goodness and love and truth In the first place.
The new idea, as good and right as it may be— As true and efficacious as any— And as much needed for life As light to the eyes And air to the lungs— Seeps through the human’s mind Until it meets regions where It is turned away For causes that may never Be examined by the one Whose mind and whose objections They are.
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