Michael S. Heiser

Heiser was born on February 14, 1963, and raised in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. He was one of seven children. He received an MA in Ancient History from the University of Pennsylvania, and an MA and PhD in the Hebrew Bible and Semitic Languages from the University of Wisconsin-Madison (with a minor in Classical studies). ==Research interests==

Much of Heiser's work focused on the Biblical and Old Testament view of the "Unseen Realm": a supernatural world, distinct from the physical realm, inhabited by hierarchical order of spiritual beings, like angels, demons, and a divine council. Kevin Bauder of the Central Baptist Theological Seminary of Minneapolis called Heiser the "most prominent evangelical defender" of the divine council interpretation of Psalm 82, and said that Heiser "has become a[n]... evangelist for the divine council theory, giving it wide exposure in popular books and articles, and defending it" through his blogging and other internet activities. Criticism of ancient astronaut arguments Heiser spoke out critically against proponents of pseudoscientific ancient astronaut conjectures, especially as popularized by Zechariah Sitchin. Heiser appeared in Ancient Aliens Debunked as an expert on the Hebrew Bible and Ancient Near Eastern texts. ==Career==

Beginning in 2015, Heiser published at least ten books regarding the meaning of various biblical concepts, and on other topics related to popular understandings of spirituality; in addition, he produced two works of fiction, in the early 2010s. Until 2019, Heiser was scholar-in-residence at Faithlife Corporation. He was Executive Director of the School of Ministry at Celebration Church in Jacksonville, Florida, and a distance-learning professor at Liberty University and Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He also produced a podcast (The Naked Bible), and created a ministry called Miqlat, dedicated to the production and dissemination of his content. and in the 2019 documentary film The Unseen Realm. In 2019 he released the book The World Turned Upside Down: Finding the Gospel in Stranger Things, referencing the Netflix series Stranger Things as analogies to Christian theology. ==Personal life and death==

Heiser was married to Drenna, and had three daughters and a son. In 2021, Heiser was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. On January 4, 2023, his wife Drenna, posting on his Instagram page with an accompanying picture of the hospitalized Heiser, noted that he had been admitted for severe anemia, that physicians had stabilized him and were seeking to determine a source of blood loss. On January 22, he announced on his Facebook page that he was "at the end of the road in the late stage (4) of a very aggressive pancreatic cancer". Heiser died on February 20, a week after his 60th birthday. ==Selected works==

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