About Passing by Nehushtan: A Prophetic Think Tank
Welcome
“Those who are bitten by the serpent find their deliverance in looking to Him who knew evil only by subduing it, and who is therefore mighty to save. Well would it have been for the Church of Christ if it had been content to rest in this truth. Its history shows how easy it was for the old perversion to reproduce itself. The highest of all symbols might share the fate of the lower. It was possible even for the cross of Christ to pass into a Nehushtan.”1
This site is a daily devotional journal, written during my time as a military contractor stationed at Camp Lemonnier, Djibouti—home to the largest U.S. military presence in Africa. Most of my work took place on Navy SEAL bases throughout Somalia. Camp Lemonnier was primarily a staging ground, where I waited for C-130 flights into Somalia for Base work. During those mornings of waiting, I’d sit at the Green Beans coffee shop on base, do my devotions, read, and record thoughts that would eventually shape this blog.
Please be advised that these posts and not meticulously edited. I’m a very poor editor, and if you find no problems then most of it is not because of me but in spite of me. Its my brainstorming on a single subject, unfortunately written by someone who has still accepted more damage done by the Church to my faith than has accepted healing. I write this to correct the rats-nest in my mind that has occurred, for the purpose of returning it to the historically original state and standard.
I call it Passing by Nehushtan or Only What Moses and the Prophets Said Would Come. The latter title is that of a book I wrote on these subjects.
The name of the blog points to something profound: the bronze serpent Moses raised in the wilderness (Numbers 21). Originally a symbol of God’s healing, it was preserved for centuries—until the days of King Hezekiah, when it had devolved into an object of worship. Hezekiah called it “Nehushtan,” meaning “bronze thing,” a term of derision. He destroyed it as part of his sweeping reforms against idolatry.
This is a blog about that very tension—between true spiritual revelation and the things we make of it over time, our various Nehushtan’s. The serpent of Moses was a prophetic type of Christ, so our Nehushtan’s are about our worship not of the signification, essentially messianic prophecy, but the symbol, our fashioned concepts, systems, aesthetics, organizations, rituals and hubris. But messianic prophecy is not a first a human synthetic product. Its not merely a proof of Jesus’ identity or a debate for theologians, some possible ground to the Christian faith for one individual but not perhaps for another, subject to our whims, cultures and shifting priorities, but a the one and only profound, world-altering phenomenon of Transcendence that speaks directly to our understanding of God within our world and minds.
In Passing by Nehushtan, I ask:
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What did the bronze serpent really signify?
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What does the pole represent?
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Why did Jesus refer to it in John 3:14—“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up”?
That was the only time Jesus directly aligned himself with a biblical type. And he did so not to elevate himself alone, but to root faith in something much older, more transcendent, and undeniable—the prophetic Word of God.
Why Messianic Prophecy?
Most modern theology either neglects or reduces messianic prophecy to a footnote. But what if it is not just an apologetic tool or devotional inspiration—but the central method by which God reveals Himself? What if it’s not just about what we believe, but why?
This blog argues that Christian faith, rightly understood, is based on the demonstrable phenomenon of messianic prophecy—the verifiable intersection of divine intention, history, and the person of Christ. This isn’t abstract theology or systematics. It’s not about philosophical proofs or religious traditions. It’s about the living Word—the objective, supernatural self-disclosure of God across time, culminating in Jesus.
This, I contend, is the starting point for all true theology and philosophy.
Who Am I?
Honestly, does it matter?
I’m not a seminary graduate. I’ve never taught a Sunday school class. I don’t have a degree in theology, and I’ve never published a book. I’m not a “pew theologian” or an academic. In fact, I distrust both categories. Their obsessions often produce what I call “spiritual pornography”—content meant to gratify minds without awakening souls.
By trade, I’ve always been a blue-collar guy. But I’ve spent my life deeply pursuing the things of God. And I write not to impress or persuade, but to speak plainly, prophetically, and truthfully—especially to those who feel that both conservative and liberal Christian thought has missed something vital.
If you’re reading this, it’s not because you were drawn by credentials. It’s because you’re looking for something different—something older, rawer, and more real.
What You’ll Find Here
This is not your father’s theology.
You’ll find questions rarely asked and truths long overlooked. You’ll encounter the conviction that the church’s deepest problem is not doctrinal error per se, but a total inversion of the original basis of faith: messianic prophecy as the primary revelation of God. We have preserved the outer forms of Christian faith while losing the one thing that made it divine.
Most of the Church’s traditions—from Augustine to Aquinas to today’s systematic theologians—have built their systems without this cornerstone. Their contributions are vast, but I contend they’ve often failed to ask: What is the revelatory basis that Christ himself emphasized?
When Jesus referred to the serpent in the wilderness, he wasn’t aligning himself with Nehushtan—the idol—but with the original, prophetic sign. That lifting up in faith is not just a metaphor for the crucifixion—it is the divine pattern. That is what we have missed.
This blog is not about clever exegesis or theological novelty. It is about going back—radically, prophetically, even painfully—to the foundations. The first-century kind. The kind that can still spark repentance, faith, and reformation.
Why This Matters
If Christianity claims to be the one true revelation of God, then it must speak with unique clarity and power. It must be grounded in something no other religion offers: predictive, prophetic, demonstrable truth. Not proof texts, but a pattern—divine fingerprints across time.
I believe the neglect of this has led to a faith that mirrors the world’s religious systems—motivated by sentiment, lifestyle, or tradition, but disconnected from its supernatural core.
Jesus didn’t merely say, “Believe in me.” He aligned himself with prophecy—with God’s testimony across time—as the reason to believe. That is the path to authentic, unshakable faith. Anything else becomes Nehushtan: a bronze thing. A dead symbol.
A Final Word
This blog is simple, maybe even clumsy. You may find the writing rough, the structure uneven, the phrasing dense. But if you dig through it, I promise there’s gold here—especially if you know what gold looks like.
What’s offered here is not new in essence, but new in emphasis. It is not heretical or outside the historic faith, but it is confronting. It questions assumptions we’ve held for centuries, and it offers something far more foundational than denominational statements or theological systems.
It’s an attempt to smash the idols—not just Nehushtan, but the many modern equivalents: traditions, categories, assumptions, and structures that have replaced the living voice of God with familiar, pious echoes.
This blog exists to challenge both conservative and liberal theological paradigms—not out of cynicism, but out of hope. Hope that the Church might once again find its center. Hope that the Spirit of God still moves through the prophetic Word, and that we, like the early believers, might again be pierced by the truth and turned toward Christ—not a system, not a tradition, but a Person revealed through prophecy, crucified and lifted up.
You’re invited—not just to read, but to wrestle, reflect, and return to the foundation laid by the wise Master Builder.
Let’s take heed how we build upon it.
For starters, please see the links below or on the carousel:
When I Survey the Wondrous Nace, part 1: Passing by Nehushtan
Islam: When Ishmael Comes Marching Home: Passing by Nehusthan
Christ and the Noun Norming of Transcendence: Passing by Nehushtan
What is the Word of God?: A Prophetic Think Tank
The Meaning of the Cross, part 3: Persecution
Romans 1: Apostasy of the Gospel General Revelation
When I Survey the Wondrous Nace, part 1: Passing by Nehushtan
Luke 15: Parable of the Lost Coin, the Lost Motivation