From the beginning, God has desired to dwell with mankind. In the Garden of Eden, Adam walked with God in direct fellowship. There was no temple, no priesthood and no veil. God Himself dwelled with man. But after sin entered the world, that fellowship was broken. Humanity was driven from the garden and throughout the Old Testament we see God establishing a different way to dwell among His people.
First came the Tabernacle. Later came Solomon’s Temple. In the New Testament, however, something happened. God no longer chooses to dwell in tents or buildings made of stone. Through Jesus Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the human body itself becomes the temple of God.
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 6:19: “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God and ye are not your own?” This is one of the most profound truths in all of Scripture. God made man in His image. He designed mankind to be His dwelling place.
When God gave Moses instructions for the Tabernacle, every detail mattered. The dimensions, the materials, the furnishings and the arrangement were all intentional. The temple was designed by God because it represented something greater to come. Hebrews 8:5 says the earthly tabernacle served “unto the example and shadow of heavenly things.”
The secret societies of the world have long understood, at least in part, that the human body is deeply connected to the temple. Yet rather than using that knowledge to glorify God, they have often twisted it.
As we study in my book Secret Societies: Blood Never Sleeps, this is linked to the secret of both Freemasonry and Rosicrucianism. Freemasonry connects the body to the Old Testament temple through the number 46 in their symbolism. We humans possess 46 chromosomes. These chromosomes contain DNA, the blueprint of who we are. The temple of God and the human body are both designed structures, created according to a pattern by the Creator.
Psalm 139 reads: “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well. My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought… Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written.”
Long before modern science discovered DNA, Scripture declared that God formed us in secret and wrote the pattern of our bodies before we were born. Our DNA is not random. It is the handwriting of God in our bodies.
Secret societies appear fascinated with this truth because if the human body is the temple, then whoever controls the temple controls the man. Freemasonry speaks of pillars, staircases and hidden light. It speaks of ascending knowledge and the perfection of man.
The true “secret” may revolve around the corruption or transformation of the human temple itself. Freemasonry links this idea to the pillars of Boaz and Jachin and to Daniel’s prophecy of iron mixed with clay. Daniel 2:43 reads, “And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men.” The clay represents humanity. The iron may represent something other than humanity mixing with mankind.
Genesis 6 records that “the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.” The result was giant offspring, beings described as “mighty men which were of old, men of renown.”
There are different interpretations of this passage. Some believe the “sons of God” were merely the godly line of Seth. Others believe they were fallen angels or Watchers who crossed a boundary God never intended to be crossed. I adhere to the latter, as Scripture clearly identifies the angels that sinned in the days of Noah (2 Peter 2:4-5, Isaiah 24:21-22, 1 Peter 3:18-20, Jude 1:6).
Before the flood, that corruption included the mixing of angelic and human bloodlines. Ancient traditions go even further, suggesting that their offspring, the Nephilim, corrupted not only mankind, but animals as well. Noncanonical texts speak of the Watchers teaching forbidden knowledge and bringing corruption to the earth. While not Scripture, these stories reflect an ancient belief that the world before the flood was filled with genetic and spiritual corruption. How do you explain the existence of T-Rex in a creation of herbivores?
This may explain why so many ancient myths speak of half-human, half-animal beings: centaurs, satyrs, minotaurs, sphinxes and the animal-headed gods of Egypt. Perhaps these stories are merely myth. Or perhaps they preserve distorted memories of a time when the boundaries of God’s creation were violated.
Egypt especially is filled with gods that combine man and beast: Anubis with the head of a jackal, Horus with the head of a falcon, Sobek with the head of a crocodile. The old gods of the nations are consistently represented as mixtures. By contrast, God created man in His own image.
Throughout Scripture, demons seek bodies. When Jesus encountered the man possessed with a legion of devils in Mark 5:12, the demons cried out not to be cast into the abyss: “And all the devils besought him, saying, Send us into the swine, that we may enter into them.” In Matthew 12:43-44, Jesus warns: “When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest, and findeth none. Then he saith, I will return into my house from whence I came out…”
This demon refers to a man as “my house.” In other words, the body can become a dwelling place for evil spirits just as it can become a dwelling place for the Holy Spirit.
Mary Magdalene had seven devils cast out of her according to Luke 8:2. In Acts 16, Paul encountered a young woman “possessed with a spirit of divination.” The Greek wording is a “python” spirit, a demonic force associated with pagan prophecy. We study this Greek serpent Python in my upcoming book Mythologies Decoded: Echoes of the Bible.
The sons of Sceva in Acts 19 attempted to cast out demons without having a true relationship with Christ. The evil spirit answered, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?” The possessed man then attacked them.
These accounts show that demons are real, intelligent and eager to dwell within human beings. They seek the temple. Is it because it was meant for God?
This conflict is seen throughout the Bible. In the Old Testament, pagan nations filled their temples with idols and unclean rituals. They sacrificed children, practiced sexual immorality and called on false gods. Why? Because the enemy always seeks to claim what belongs to God.
In the New Testament, the battle moves from physical temples to the human heart. Paul warns believers in 2 Corinthians 6:16: “And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God.”
The temple can be filled with the presence of God or polluted by the presence of darkness. This is why Scripture repeatedly warns against sorcery, occult practices and communion with false spirits. Deuteronomy 18 condemns witchcraft, divination and communicating with familiar spirits. These are not harmless activities. They can invite evil spirits into the temple.
Many people think demonic possession only happens in dramatic cases with levitation and screaming. Sometimes it does. But often demonic influence begins more subtly: obsession, bondage, despair, addiction, rage, occult curiosity and rebellion against God.
Judas Iscariot is one example. John 13:27 reads, “And after the sop Satan entered into him.” Judas opened the door through greed, unbelief and betrayal.
King Saul is another. After Saul rejected God, “an evil spirit from the Lord troubled him.” He became tormented, paranoid and violent.
But we have hope. Revelation 3:20 reads, “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock.” Jesus does not force His way into the temple. He waits for us to open the door.
In the Old Testament, a thick veil separated the Holy of Holies from the rest of the Temple. No man could enter except the High Priest once each year. But when Jesus died on the cross, Matthew 27:51 tells us, “…the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom.”
Through Christ, God was no longer going to dwell primarily in a building in Jerusalem. He would now dwell inside His people. Instead of a temple made of stone, it is a temple of flesh. 1 Peter 2:5 says believers are “lively stones” built up into a spiritual house. You were designed for more than survival. More than success. More than pleasure. You were created to be the dwelling place of God – not yourself, but the benevolent Creator.
The world, the occult and the secret societies all promise enlightenment. They promise hidden knowledge. They promise that man can become like God. That lie is nothing new. It’s ancient. It was the serpent in Eden that told Eve, “…ye shall be as gods.”
But you don’t become like God through hidden knowledge. You become whole when the God who made you comes to dwell within you. The body isn’t an accident and your DNA isn’t random. You were fearfully and wonderfully made to be a temple of the living God.
The enemy wants to corrupt your temple, fill it with idols and claim it for himself. Jesus Christ came to cleanse the temple. Just as He drove the money changers out of the Temple in Jerusalem, He desires to drive every unclean thing out of the temple of your life.
And when He enters, the temple becomes what it was always meant to be: a holy dwelling place for the King of Kings.
