Clarifying the Michael Heiser Situation

Recently I did an interview for a video on Michael Heiser and have been asked by a number of people to apologize for participating due to things that other participants said in the video.

[jackwilson]

Anyone who thinks that Michael Heiser was a polytheist forfeits their right to vote.

[TourniquetAndDeliverance]

I miss Doctor Heiser. God rest his soul.

[Pr-]

To me, Dr. Cooper is making this much more difficult than it needs to be. First, he should actually watch the entire documentary (and probably should have before it was released so he actually knew what was in it and what he was part of). Second, if there are any claims in the documentary that he disagrees with or misrepresentations of Dr. Heiser and/or himself, he should simply state what those disagreements and/or misrepresentations are. Third, if he feels uncomfortable having his name attached to the documentary, he should request his contributions and name be removed. Last but not least, he should offer some thoughts that fairly represent Dr. Heiser the person and his views.

Worrying about himself, and whether he should apologize or not, is to miss the point. The point is to speak the truth in love (something the majority of contributors to this documentary apparently failed to model), and, in this case, to speak the truth on behalf of someone who can no longer speak for himself.

[samuelblackmon]

This response is disappointing because it is a defense of yourself rather than of Dr. Heiser. "It's not my responsibility if someone is slandering my brother." You are more like the Levite who passes by the beaten man who is eventually helped by the Samaritan. If someone included my words in a hit piece on my brother, I would decry the hit piece.

[BeanieQuestOfficial]

But when contributors say that Heiser said he was the first to come out with this, yet when anyone who knows Heiser knows he said he never had an original thought, well already we are off to a bad start.

[shawnsinyard]

like Heiser always said " nothing I'm teaching is a new thought"

[Eloign]

No one is asking you to apologize for what you said or didn’t say in the documentary. Just that you know Heiser wasn't a polytheist or cult leader and it would be good if you said as much. He’s a brother in Christ that’s being slandered. His widow and kids are still grieving and as an honorable person just saying hey I have disagreements with x or y but I condemn the slander and damnation of Heiser is sufficient.

Doreen and friends basically damned him. It’s evil.

[jeffdevries]

Look,
Bottom line is Heiser opened my eyes to the story of the Bible, both OT and NT
Led me to Holy Orthodoxy even though he was not orthodox.
I 1000% support Heiser, his teachings etc despite his use of the church fathers. Now that I understand the Biblical narrative, with Enoch and the Dead Sea scrolls to back up what Heiser taught. The Bible actually makes sense, the incarnation makes sense, the Trinity makes sense etc and the harrowing of Hell and the defeat of the Satan makes sense
I’m blessed to have learned from Dr Mike

[JosiahTheSiah]

Brother, respectfully, you were part of calling Dr Heiser's character into question in the middle part of that video. Doreen was very muddled in her criticisms; half of them went to Heiser's "fanbase, " and half of them went to Heiser himself, with little indication that she was making lane changes throughout the whole piece.

Your criticisms of Dr Heiser's fanbase (which you called "rabid") are separate from your criticisms of Dr Heiser, but when there was bleedover, you agreed with the other contributers that Dr Heiser was a lone wolf with no accountability, and that he was leading people into polytheism & paganism. You yourself accused him approaching his theology in a way that he has “discovered something new, ” and implied that he lacked humility. And you were verbally agreeing while Doreen and Don were being straight up character assassins, attributing questionable motives, and making false equivalences.

The right thing to do would have been to have your interlocutors pump the brakes when they delved into character assassination, but you didn’t do that. She called him a false prophet and accused him of wearing sheep skin. And you were right there. Come now, brother.

I don't consider myself particularly rabid, so on the chance that I am coming across as one of those rabid fanboys, please accept my assurances that I hold nothing but love for you bro.

[yvichenj]

We're not rabid. We're showing the same kind of defensiveness as we would for you had your work been slandered after your death.

[anthonywhitney]

What you've said is fair enough Dr Cooper. At the same time, the intent of the doco turned out to be a 'hatchet job' of Heiser, a guy who cannot defend himself. One can regret being part of a project, now knowing the intention of it.

[TheRemnantRadio]

I share your concerns Cooper, and I don’t think you have anything to apologize for! Thanks for the video never the least, it’s helpful to clarify 👍

[dustinneely]

I have zero respect for Doreen Virtue. She has a history of misrepresenting the views of others. The minute I see her name attached to any critique I immediately tune out.

[stephengray]

For anyone watching this who hasn't seen the Remnant Radio video, the guys there pointed out several times that Jordan was the one participant in the video they were responding to who hadn't badly misrepresented Michael Heiser's views (in many of the clips Doreen Virtue and her other interviewees were claiming that Heiser held positions that ate the complete opposite of the ones he did hold). And he wasn't in any of the clips that they responded to because of that. In fact, everything Dr Cooper said in this particular video is what I would have expected given what the Remnant Radio guys said about him in their video.

[Justme-juet]

So why even make this video? All you are doing here is weak self justification and denial. Frankly, it is disappointing and discredits you and the points you hope to make and I for one now question whether pride prohibits you from arriving at any good points worth consideration anyways. You may not have had control of the project and if you now suddenly did a 180 on the points you contended, that would be concerning information as well. But the reason one would apologize would be in regards to the project itself and regretting being a part of that hit piece even if it was an unwilling/unwitting one. But clearly what you have said here and more importantly have not said, means you whole heartedly endorse what was done but cowardly want to be excused from blame.What I respected most about Heiser was his humility and willingness to learn and openness to be wrong and allowing neither to get in the way of his faith. That would be a better path to follow than this one.

[BeanieQuestOfficial]

Disclaimer: I am on the "Heiser" side of things, but I agree you don't need to apologize for your specific segment. Unfortunately, your good comments were paired with other contributors who made false, if not laughably absurd claims about Heiser.

[clayw]

The problem is that you misrepresented Dr. Heiser. At times, you also used insulting language towards him and the people who follow his work. Disagreement is perfectly fine, but that's not what you did. If everyone who follows Dr. Heiser's work is telling you that you're misrepresenting him, then you probably are.

[micahwatz]

Doreen doesnt actually mentally grasp what Heiser said from what ive gathered. Sentinel apologetics did a good video addressing her misunderstandings of his work.

[joshgellock]

I watched some of Doreen's video, and I watched almost the entire Remnant Radio video. This is a good response. Doreen, Marcia, and Wave need to apologize, but I doubt they will. In my correspondence with Marcia on email, she is absolutely unrepentant. But coming back to you, this is well-said. I appreciate this content.

[rustyballard]

Doctor, as a former low level politician I learned early and was always very careful as to whose work or organization I attached my name to. If you believe you have been invited to speak in an academic forum/video then you do have an obligation (for your own self preservation) to ask questions as to the projects overall goals & focus. While I know nothing of whom you are I do suggest you start caring about what projects you allow your academic reputation to be tied to. God Bless!