It was a big week!

The “Weird Stuff” ministry had a huge week, with three new pieces of content becoming available (four, if we include today’s newsletter). I’ll review them all before we get into today’s Rabbit Trail.

1, I released a new episode Wednesday called “Beasts of the Field” & Other Biblical Vocabulary for Demons. If you missed it, click below to listen.

(today’s “Rabbit Trail” is a follow-up to Wednesday’s episode)

2, I released a new article for the website, WeirdStuffInTheBible.com. The article is called: David’s “Naked” Dancing Before the Lord

As David victoriously returned the lost Ark of the Covenant to Israel, it was a big moment. So big, he may have gotten a little carried away- stripping off his royal garments and exuberantly dancing before the Lord. His wife, Michal, considered this undignified and embarrassing.

She and David exchange some sharp words about this, and it leaves some Bible readers wondering: who was in the wrong here? Was David in error for acting irreverently, or was Michal judging him too harshly? Let’s investigate.

Read the rest of it right here!

My first column for the Christian post

3, I was honored this week to be included in the Christian Post as one of their columnists. For this first piece for the Christian Post, I gave a shortened examination of “Casting Lots for Big Decisions,” a teaching I’ve provided on the podcast before.

As someone who has been a longtime reader of The Christian Post, it is so mind-blowing to see my own name now listed in their lineup of contributors. I hope this is the first of many to be featured, and a special thank-you to their editors (and God!) for this opportunity.

You can check out the piece right here!

Rabbit Trail: “Chaldeans” as a code word for demonic entities

In this week’s Weird Stuff in the Bible podcast episode, I covered how there are particular phrases in Scripture that are essentially codewords for spiritual entities. These were:

• Beasts of the Field

• Birds of the Air

• Snakes and Scorpions

Today I’m going to give you a fourth one:

• Chaldeans

These can be understood as the Babylonians, although it really referred to a mystical subset of the Babylonians who were steeped in a demonic theology. They worshipped pagan gods (like Bel- AKA Baal- AKA Satan) and engaged in spiritual practices like prophecy, fortune-telling and divination. For example:

Daniel 2:1-4 - In the second year of the reign of Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar had dreams; his spirit was troubled, and his sleep left him. ² Then the king commanded that the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the Chaldeans be summoned to tell the king his dreams. So they came in and stood before the king. ³ And the king said to them, “I had a dream, and my spirit is troubled to know the dream.” ⁴ Then the Chaldeans said to the king in Aramaic,“O king, live forever! Tell your servants the dream, and we will show the interpretation.”

The Chaldeans were very influential in Babylonian society, to the point that God threatened Israel with handing them over to these dark, mystic sorcerers.

And since Israel didn’t repent of its evil ways, that’s exactly what happened- an event known as the Babylonian captivity- which lasted 70 years.

Habakkuk 1:5-6 - ⁵ “Look among the nations, and see;
 wonder and be astounded.
For I am doing a work in your days
 that you would not believe if told.
⁶ For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans,
 that bitter and hasty nation,
who march through the breadth of the earth,
 to seize dwellings not their own.

Of course, in the Old Testament, this referred to a specific people group- real flesh-and-blood humans. The Chaldeans lost their political influence when Babylon fell to the Persians. They dispersed, and some eventually became the astrologers and wise men of the New Testament period (that’s a rabbit trail for another time).

However, in Acts 13, Paul is telling a group of Jews that Jesus died to set them free; that the Gospel is superior to the law of Moses in this way. The main application of “setting the captives free” that Jesus engaged in was deliverance ministry; He set people free from demons more than any other type of healing or miracle.

However, Paul leans on this Habakkuk prophecy to make this point about rejecting the freedom offered in Christ:

Acts 13:38-41 - ³⁸ Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, ³⁹ and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. ⁴⁰ Beware, therefore, lest what is said in the Prophets should come about:

⁴¹ “‘Look, you scoffers,
 be astounded and perish;
for I am doing a work in your days,
 a work that you will not believe, even if one tells it to you.’”

That’s a strange thing for Paul to cite, seeing as it’s a warning about the Chaldeans. Is Paul ripping that verse out of context?

Rather, I would submit that Paul is warning us of the spiritual Chaldeans we have to war against if we reject freedom in Christ.

The Operation of Spiritual Chaldeans

We know that the Chaldeans were demonically-fueled. Even if those people and their movement had died out by the time of the New Testament, the demons were still around (and they’re still around in 2025 as well).

So it would be beneficial to us to take a quick look at the characteristics of the Chaldeans from Habakkuk 1 so we can understand the operation of “spiritual Chaldeans” today.

Habakkuk 1:6 - For behold, I am raising up the Chaldeans,
 that bitter and hasty nation,
who march through the breadth of the earth,
 to seize dwellings not their own.

“Chaldean” = literally means “a wanderer.” The Hebrew root means “to lay waste or destroy.”

“March through the breadth of the earth” = that’s exactly what Satan does. He goes “to and fro on the earth” (Job 1:7) “seeking someone to devour” (I Peter 5:8).

“seize dwellings not their own” = demons seek to occupy spaces or territory. We’ll be talking about this concept a lot over the next few weeks of the podcast. But in a nutshell, they’re seeking to gain control.

Habakkuk 1:7 - They are dreaded and fearsome;
 their justice and dignity go forth from themselves.

“dreaded and fearsome” = spiritual Chaldeans seek to terrify and intimidate their victims into submission and surrender. Again, they seek control. Many Christians are intimidated by demons because they can’t see them; but that’s exactly what fuels their control. Jesus has not given us a spirit of fear (II Timothy 1:7), but of power. We have authority over these spirits; that’s why I’ve been emphasizing lately that we do. not. need. to. fear. them.

Habakkuk 1:8-9 - ⁸ Their horses are swifter than leopards,
 more fierce than the evening wolves;
 their horsemen press proudly on.
Their horsemen come from afar;
 they fly like an eagle swift to devour.
They all come for violence,
 all their faces forward.
 They gather captives like sand.

“violence” = Just like the Nephilim that these Chaldean spirits originated from, their hearts only dream of violence all the time (Genesis 6:5). The word “violence” in Hebrew here is “ra.” It means “disagreeable, malignant, evil, hurtful, wicked, misery, injury, calamity, distress…” and a whole host of other words. The definition of “ra” basically looks like you opened the thesaurus to “bad.” And that’s what describes the personality of a demon spirit. They are vicious.

“they gather captives” = the spiritual Chaldeans seek to take control of human beings- to make them their prisoner.

But remember: Jesus came to set the captives free! (Luke 4:18-19)

Habakkuk 1:10-11 - At kings they scoff,
 and at rulers they laugh.
They laugh at every fortress,
 for they pile up earth and take it.
Then they sweep by like the wind and go on,
 guilty men, whose own might is their god!”

Without Jesus- and a relationship with Him- we have no authority over the demonic realm. (Acts 19:11-20). But Jesus has all power and authority over the spiritual realm (Matthew 28:18), and He shares that authority with the church to take back control over planet earth (Matthew 16:18-19).

We’ll be discussing how we do that over the next few weeks.

Probably no newsletter next week, but make sure you’re watching your podcast feed this week so you can get this Wednesday’s episode: Why Was Eve Talking to a Snake? Coming 7/2/25.

-Luke