Long title, right?

For the past two years, I’ve warned people about the teachings of the late Michael Heiser, regarding a council of “lesser elohim” under the authority of Jehovah (though Heiser’s preferred pronunciation would be Yahweh). I first came across it when a long time, Christian friend made a facebook post about the multiplicity of gods in the world, with the caveat of “but don’t worry, Yahweh is the supreme one in charge,” or something to that effect. Anyone who holds to the orthodox, Christian view of the Godhead would be troubled at that. After much debating, I did a deep dive into the root, which was Heiser’s views, and have been sounding the alarm ever since.

In short, and though Heiser would have denied it, he has one foot in ancient near east paganism and the other foot in the Bible. Yes – he claimed to be monotheistic, but his views are polytheistic. Just take the words monotheism and polytheism and break them down. Heiser believed in a multiplicity of lesser “gods/elohim.” Mono = one. Poly = many. Theism = god. Even if lesser gods, a multiplicity of lesser deities is technically polytheism (despite Heiser’s denial of believing such). More theologically put, Heiser insisted he was monotheistic because he claimed Yahweh is the only uncreated, eternal, Most High God. However, he also taught that the “elohim” were real divine beings who share the term “god” in an ontological sense, not merely metaphorical or functional. That category distinction is precisely why the historical Church identifies this as a form of polytheistic cosmology, even if Heiser denied that label.

This isn’t to say that there isn’t an unseen realm of spiritual entities doing battle in the world today. Certainly that is so and no Bible believer would deny it. But to say there is a council of lesser gods that Jehovah rules over is more than a few steps too far and is a form of polytheism (even if the late Heiser and his cult following denies it).

I get a lot of flack for calling this spade a spade. I get accused of misrepresenting him and his beliefs. I’m often told I just need to read or watch even more of his content (no thanks – once the heresy is identified we need to be done with it). The real problem comes from the fact that his followers believe his denial of polytheism and take it at face value. But this is absolutely outside of the historic faith. Earlier today I used Grok, the AI on X, to fact check myself once again on this matter (I’ve used several AI to do this because I don’t want to misrepresent anyone. Suffice it to say, Heiser’s views are ABSOLUTELY a departure from historic theology.

Me:

In very brief, summarize Michael Heiser’s view that there is a council of created elohim. Their purpose, their rebellion, their obedience, etc. Perhaps bullet points would be helpful.

Grok:
Divine Council: God (Yahweh) presides over a heavenly assembly of created spiritual beings called elohim (gods/sons of God; e.g., Ps 82:1; Job 1:6).
Purpose: Administer nations/affairs of the world under Yahweh’s authority (Deut 32:8–9 LXX/Dead Sea Scrolls; Ps 82).
Rebellion: At Babel, some elohim corrupted their nations, demanding worship (Deut 32:8–9; Ps 82:2–5); became the “principalities and powers” opposed to God.
Judgment: Yahweh disinherits the nations, sentences rebel elohim to die like men (Ps 82:6–7); will reclaim all at Christ’s return.
Obedience: Faithful elohim remain in service to Yahweh, executing His will (e.g., divine council scenes in 1 Kgs 22; Isa 6).

Me:
And this is attacked for obvious reasons, as the historic and orthodox view says God/Jehovah/Yahweh (the LORD) is the only actual Elohim, with Psalm 82 and other passages referring to the judges, unto whom the Word of the Lord came?

Grok:
Yes, historic/orthodox view: Only Yahweh is truly Elohim (Deut 4:35, 39; Isa 43:10).
Psalm 82: Refers to human judges/rulers (“elohim” as those “to whom the word of God came,” John 10:34–35).
Other passages (Deut 32:8–9 MT, Job 1): “Sons of God” = angels or human authorities, not a council of lesser gods.
Rejection of Heiser: His view is seen as importing pagan ANE ideas, undermining monotheism.

Me:
And historic/orthodox wouldn’t say only Jehovah is “truly” elohim, but that Jehovah is the ONLY Elohim (opting for Jesus’ explanation of Psalm 82 – judges).

Grok:
Yes, historic/orthodox Christianity: Jehovah/Yahweh is the only Elohim (Deut 4:35, 39; Isa 43:10; 44:6–8).
Psalm 82: Jesus in John 10:34–35 explicitly applies “you are gods (elohim)” to human judges who received God’s word.
No other gods: “Sons of God,” “elohim,” or “divine council” terms refer to angels (subordinate, not divine) or human authorities—never rival deities.
Strict monotheism: Any reading suggesting real gods beside Yahweh is rejected as unbiblical.

So no, I’m not misrepresenting him. And yes, these views, while ancient among pagans, are outside of the historic Christian faith. If the faith was once delivered to the saints and the church has been the pillar and ground of the truth, an idea so revolutionary as this one ought to trouble us. The early Church Fathers encountered the same Hebrew terminology, the same LXX passages, and the same Second Temple literature that Heiser appealed to. Yet none of them taught a council of lesser deities. If this reading were apostolic, it would appear somewhere in the universal witness of the historic Church. It does not.

Earlier today, I saw that a popular confessional podcast called Theocast was splitting up over this teaching. That was heartbreaking to see because those are good brothers. When I commented that Heiser’s views are one of the biggest threats to the orthodox faith, someone Reformed “theobro” scoffed at me, calling Heiser’s doctrine “insignificant.” Really? The documentary Logos published for Heiser has over 3,000,000 views on Youtube. The Q&A has over 600,000 views. And Heiser’s channel has over 200,000 subs. That doesn’t sound insignificant to me, especially considering teachers are being won over to this view left and right (Canon Press, Theocast, etc). Why have no more alarms sounded then? Probably because Logos publishes the books of the men who would speak out, and they don’t want to bite the hand that feeds them. Your guess is as good as mine. The house name celebrity old guard have attacked men for far less. Money talks, I guess.

Anyhow – if you’d like to listen to how wrong this is, here are a couple of resources.

Words of Grace episode from 2023: https://flintriverpbc.org/the-only-god/

MTZCast from 2025: https://youtu.be/T43Sr8MmBJA?si=zNDcFckInoIb_y1o