Saw this just now on FB from Mike Heiser's page. So sad. He made the Bible alive to me in a way different than others. I know some didn't always agree with his conclusions, but one thing is sure: I will miss him and his teaching. While listening to a podcast before podcast were ever even a think around the mid 2000s around 2004 or so, I heard him as a guest on a show. I never got to meet him in person, but we did exchange an email a few times and I got an email from him after I sent him a letter a few weeks ago. Lord Jesus, thank you for those who speak in a way that the common people can understand.
Dear friends and ministry colleagues
I wanted to post a short summary of where my cancer diagnosis has brought me. The short version is that I am at the end of the road in the late stage (4) of a very aggressive pancreatic cancer. Nothing to date has reversed the tumor’s status. It has now invaded the upper GI and stomach areas causing slow, uncontrollable bleeding. No one on my medical team has a solution or knows of one. During the latest endoscopy an effort was made to
cauterize as many of the bleeding points as possible to at least slow the bleeding. In essence, I am bleeding out at a slow rate with no solution. I am presently not in pain, but am very week, a condition that will worsen until I am gone. Since there are no further treatment options available to us, we have chosen to spend my remaining time at home. We are guessing (we have not been given a number) that this means I’ll live anywhere from a week to several weeks.
I know this news is depressing, but you should all know I will die happy to have served the Lord and you all in the ways I have. God has been very good to us, gifting me in discernible ways and, I think just as importantly, given me heart for the lay community – all of you. I desired nothing more than to empower all of you to study Scripture more deeply, to unlock the Bible for you in ways inaccessible to all but scholars. This brought me a special joy.
Let’s turn to the future. As you all know, when I pass I will join the family of God and his council, to which all of us as believers presently belong but “not yet” in its fullness. This is what awaits me, and I am glad. We will see each other in the future in unimaginably glorious ways. Until then, I have great hope and earnest expectation that all of you will contribute, or continue to contribute, to my ministry. Thousands of you have expressed how my work and content has changed your lives. I believe you, as my own experience, described briefly in Unseen Realm, was equally life-altering in my own case. My view of Scripture and purpose in ministry life was never the same after encountering and processing the divine council worldview and Deuteronomy 32 worldviews. Thousands of you have also expressed the desire to help further this content ministry or movement, as some have referred to it. NOW is the time. It is time for you all to think not about content you will receive from me, but what you can do to make sure other people discover the content that changed your life and outlook on Scripture. If you contribute to Miqlat, please continue to do so. The same goes for Naked Bible and the DRMSH community. Great amounts of content now depend directly on your continued to support, so please take the long look of ministry to others. All of these I have begun in some way are crucial to keep my content live and free online for others to discover and pass on. I can no longer do that. I am spent in service to you, so now it is time for you to do replicate the blessing you’ve experienced in the lives of others. I die with the belief that you will, like I did, take the long look of being a blessing to others to help them rediscover their Bible for the first time and to embrace the gospel as believing loyalty. Please be a part of what is now taking shape for the glory of the kingdom. I’ll be greatly blessed by you all.
