No, Yahweh is Not Satan

IF YOU’RE watching or listening to this program, you probably already know that. But a dangerous teaching is spreading through social media that claims Yahweh is not the Father, but the evil one. We address the claims of this teaching, which derives from the apparent contradiction between the behavior of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Old Testament and Jesus in the New Testament. It’s understandable; without a divine council worldview, God can appear violent, capricious, even bloodthirsty. Building on that false characterization, this new doctrine—which is actually one the early church had to contend with for about 300 years beginning in the middle of the 2nd century AD—separates Jesus from Yahweh, making Him a secondary deity, an evil entity who deceived the patriarchs and prophets from Abraham to Malachi. However, Jesus identified Yahweh as his Father by calling the Temple, the temple of Yahweh, “my Father’s house” (John 2:16); and then identified himself as the Father. Yahweh (John 8:58, 10:30, 14:9). The Jews who heard Jesus make these claims understood his meaning; they twice picked up rocks to stone him for blasphemy. The notion that Yahweh is not the Father, but Jesus’ evil brother Satan, is a deception that only draws in those who haven’t read the Bible in depth or reject the parts of it they don’t like. The danger is that it presents a false justification to vilify Jews, who, in this false belief system, have been worshiping Satan since the time of the patriarchs.