Ox in the Field masks for Satan

Thanks to an out-of-town friend coming to Chicago on business, I was unexpectedly treated to a visit to the Field Museum of Natural History on Monday morning. For a Christian, the museum's exhibits of Egypt, China, Tibet, Africa, Asia, the Pacific Islands, etc., offer a plethora of religious artifacts showing the vast interest of these cultures in communicating with spirits--appeasing them, mediating with them, harnessing their powers, on and on.

Touring the Pacific Islands exhibit, examining old specimens from Hawaii, New Guinea, Tahiti, Polynesia, New Ireland, etc., I was hit with dozens of well-preserved ritual/ceremonial/ religious painted masks made by tribal leaders, using natural materials from their tropical environs. Only elite status members of the tribe were permitted to construct a mask and these men sought a certain spirit's input for the mask’s design, then used the mask to carry out the spirit's interests. A number of the faces of the masks were of oxen.

A 1990 blurb from the Chicago Tribune reads, “Children may get a sense of deja vu when they see the new permanent exhibit called ‘Pacific Spirits: Life, Death and the Supernatural’ at the Field Museum of Natural History. It`s as though all their amorphous nightmare monsters have taken shape and come to roost in the museum.

There are masks with glaring eyes and mean mouths, some with saucer eyes and flapping jaws, others with pig snouts and pointed tusks or slithering snakes or flying bats and one that`s twice the size of a small child.”

*****

From Bible passages in Ezekiel 1 and 10 and Revelation 4 it is clear the ox is a representative of the cherub who is Satan.

“Folks, people talk about the devil having two horns--the two horns are the horns of an ox!” says Preacher Richard Jordan. “People go around making signs with their two fingers—peace, victory, all that kind of stuff—and that’s the devil.”

An entry to Wikipedia under the heading “Sign of the horns,” “Gene Simmons of the rock group Kiss attempted to claim the ‘devil horns’ hand gesture for his own. According to CBS News, ‘Simmons filed an application Friday, June 16, 2017 with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a trademark on the hand gesture he regularly uses during concerts and public appearances - thumb, index and pinky fingers extended, with the middle and ring fingers folded down. According to Simmons, this hand gesture was first used in commerce - by him - on Nov. 14, 1974. He is claiming the hand gesture should be trademarked for ‘entertainment, namely live performances by a musical artist [and] personal appearances by a musical artist.’ Simmons abandoned this application on June 21, 2017.” 

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"Do you remember in Genesis 3 when God talked to the serpent and told him he was going to be cursed above all the cattle of the field?” continues Jordan. “People come along and say, ‘Well, see, your Bible’s not very scientific. It doesn’t know the difference between a reptile and a cattle.’ Well, my dear friend, you just haven’t studied far enough! There’s a revelation there that science can’t pick up on and botany and biology can’t get! That tells you that the serpent standing there was cattle—he was an ox!”

In what has to be one of the most famous Bible passages of all, Genesis 3:13-15 reads,  [13] And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.

[14] And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
[15] And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

"When that serpent stood there talking to Eve do you think that was a snake standing there?" says Jordan. "Did you ever read in Matthew where Jesus told the Pharisees, the religious leaders of Israel, ‘Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?’

“He called them serpents and they weren’t snakes. They were men who had the CHARACTER, the nature, the spiritual status of ‘your father the devil.’ You see, He’s talking about the character.

“Lucifer was a cherub. In his fallen nature, he was a good-looking dude, able to transform himself into an angel of light. But his nature was that of a serpent; that dragon of Revelation 12.

“When Jesus Christ is called 'the lamb of God,’ do you think He’s a four-legged ‘baa’? Sheep with fleece on His back? When it refers to Herod as 'that fox,’ do you think he was a four-legged animal with a fluffy tail? No, these are terms that describe the character. The essence of the personality.

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“In Ezekiel, those descriptions of those beasts, those living creatures around the throne of God, identify the cherub as an ox who is a cattle.

"Yeah, there’s stuff going on way deeper than what’s on the surface. But if you don’t study your Bible as a Bible-believer, you’re never going to get that. You going to stumble on the surface stuff, stump your toe and run out ‘Aumph, Aumph, Aumph,’ all the way home. Or you’re going to give your Bible the benefit of the doubt and keep reading; you’ll find those answers.

“Look at the rest of that verse in Genesis 3:14: ‘and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.’

“Now, when God says ‘upon thy belly shalt thou go,’ He’s not talking about slithering around with no legs; it’s not that at all. We got an old saying Down South, ‘He’s lower than a snake’s belly in a wagon rut.’ I mean, when you’re on your belly, you’re as low as you can possibly get. Every other creature is above you.

“God’s saying, ‘Satan, you’re going to be the lowest of the low.’ What did he want to be? He wanted to be like the Most High, but he’s going to be the Most Low and there’s going to be a war that goes on.

“When verse 15 says, ‘And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel,’ there’s going to be a war between the Most Low and the Most High.

"God tells Adam and Eve in verse 19, 'In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.'

“You know what you’re made out of? You’re made out of dust, dirt. With this stuff that transpired with Adam and Eve, God said to Satan, ‘You’re the lowest of the low and you’re going to consume man. If man’s left to himself, you’re going to eat him alive.’ Satan’s going to devour man’s body.

“Can I tell you that sin destroys you. There is no free sin. There’s a ‘pay day some day.’ Now, that thing about dust . . .

“Look at the account in Luke 13: [11] And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself.
[12] And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.
[13] And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.

“When it says she’s ‘bowed together’ that means she’s bent over and can’t lift herself up. When you’re bowed down like that what are you looking at? You’re looking at your feet and the dust. Dust was all the woman could see. All she could see herself as was the devil’s food.

“That’s where Israel was and the only thing that could redeem her from that dust consciousness that she lived with for the 18 years, and she spent all her money on trying to get healed, was the Lord Jesus Christ when virtue went out of Him.

*****

Here’s an article I posted in 2016 under the headline, "OX News alert":

Daniel 4:33 reads, “The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebuchadnezzar: and he was driven from men, and did eat grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, and his nails like birds' claws.”

Jordan explains, “That madness that goes in Nebuchadnezzar; there’s a name for it in the books: lycanthropy. It’s when a man or a woman imagines themselves to be an animal and Nebby goes stark-raving buggy, or I should say beastly. He just goes berserk. He’s out in the field and thinks he’s an ox.”

If you look on Wikipedia, clinical lycanthropy is defined as “a rare psychiatric syndrome that involves a delusion that the affected person can transform into, has transformed into, or is a non-human animal. . . Affected individuals report a delusional belief that they are in the process of transforming into an animal or have already transformed into an animal.”

Jordan explains, “Now this madness Nebby’s involved in here, notice the terminology. Over and over again, the madness and the reason for the detailed descriptions (in Daniel 4) are the terms that match the tribulation period. He goes out and he eats grass like a what? An ox.

“ ‘And his hair grows like eagles’ feathers.’ You go over in Ezekiel 1 and you’ll see that eagle associated with that same type of thing. That’s a Second Coming passage, by the way.

“His nails are said to grow like bird claws. You ever read in Revelation 18 about Babylon over there being the habitation of every filthy and foul bird? You know what birds are types of in the Bible? Demons.

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“Did you ever read that parable in the Book of Mark and in Matthew about the sower who went out there and sowed that seed, and then the fowls of the air came out and what did they do? They snatched that seed away and Christ said, ‘That’s what Satan’s done; taken that word out of those peoples’ hearts.’ Those birds are demons that go in and snatch out that Book, see? That’s why in Revelation 18 they’re used in a passage that’s describing demonic activity.

“When Hitchcock put that movie out about how the birds are coming, you just thought he had a nightmare, didn’t you? You didn’t know that that fellow had . . . I tell you people that the creative genius of unsaved people is satanically inspired. Satan knows that Book even if a bunch of dumb Christians don’t.

“The greatest handbook on types and symbols in the universe is that one right there in your hands! Don’t you let somebody come along and say that Book isn’t important. That Book right there will explain to you what’s going on in the world when you don’t understand what’s going on.

“The types and the symbolism in art, movies, theatre of today come right out of that Book! In the great movie ‘Star Wars’ they say, ‘The Force be with you.’ That’s a quotation out of Daniel 11.

“See people, that book is THE Book!

“The tribulation period is going to be a time when God looks at the Antichrist and says, ‘He’s the beast! He’s a mad man!’ And what does the world do? They bow down and worship him and exalt insanity! Madness!

*****

“Psalm 49:6 says, ‘They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches.’ Verse 10 says, ‘For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others.

[11] Their inward thought is, that their houses shall continue for ever, and their dwelling places to all generations; they call their lands after their own names.’

“ ‘They call their land after their own names.’ Boy, isn’t that the telling the truth! ‘Nevertheless man being in honour abideth not: he is like the beasts that perish.’

“He said, ‘If you’re a guy like that, you know what you are? You’re a beast.’ Peter in II Peter 2 warns about a class of people who are literally beasts. II Peter 2:12 says, ‘But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption.’

“Natural brute beasts. Just fit for nothing but destruction. That’s a class of people that are just beasts.

“Notice the reference to Balaam in verse 15? Come over to Jude. Compare II Peter 2 with Jude and you’ll notice references to Sodom and Gomorrah preceded the passage we just read as they do in Jude verses 6 and 7 and then verse 8:

“Verse 10 says, ‘But these speak evil of those things which they know not: but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, in those things they corrupt themselves.’ All of that’s like Revelation 2:14 and 2:20.

“Verse 16 says, ‘These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.’

“You get the idea that these are a bunch of bad rascals, don’t you? This is just man gone mad and it’s the madness of self-will, and that willful king leads the nations in a mad pell-mell rush to destruction.

*****

“Go back to Daniel 4 and notice Nebuchadnezzar is restored into his kingdom here. Daniel 4:34 says, ‘And at the end of the days I Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the most High, and I praised and honoured him that liveth for ever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation.’

“Folks, when Nebuchadnezzar humbled himself, God restored him and he’s found in his right mind. In verse 26 he comes to know that the most high rules in the kingdoms of men; he comes to know that the heavens DO rule!

“He’s not just saying, ‘God’s the boss.’ He’s saying that the heavens RUN things!

“There’s an interesting reference in verse 13: ‘I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and, behold, a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven;’ That holy one, by the way, Nebby understood that to be angels. If you go back to verse 8 he talks about ‘the spirit of the holy gods.’ Those are angels.

“Verse 17. In verse 23 he talks again about the watcher and the holy one coming down and giving the word. There’s a decree these angels bring down that results in what happens to Nebuchadnezzar happening.

“People, the watchers and the holy one there, that is a reference to the administration of the affairs of the universe. God Almighty has a government over this universe, not just over the earth, but over the whole universe.

“Notice they’re called the watchers. There’s a special class of these people who have the function of going about in the earth and seeing what goes on and carrying back to God the report before the judgment throne of God.

“Go to I Kings 22 and you’ll see a little glimpse of some of the activity of this deal. 22:19. There is a courtroom scene whereby what is going to happen on the earth, and what is determined, is decided upon, and there’s one that’s sent from that court down to the earth to see to the execution of God’s purpose.

“Now I can’t give you perfect understanding about how all that goes on, but Nebby came to understand that God Almighty ran the show and that what happened down here, happened according to His governmental authority and His control and His rule and His decision-making!

“The Book of Daniel is full of this stuff. Daniel 10:13. The reason Daniel and his prophetic import is so full of this is because in the tribulation period this is going to be the issue! Jesus Christ is going to come back down into the heavens and take over the government of the heavens, cast Satan down onto the earth (Rev. 12) and then follow him down here and take the earth away from him.

“People, the issue from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22, is the authority of a throne over this universe!”