Many people are turned off right away from the classification put on books like Enoch, Jubilees, 1 & 2 Esdras, Tobit and even the Maccabees.

What is this word Apocrypha mean? What about deuterocanonical or even worse pseudepigraphal?

They all sound bad don't they? Here's what cool. The Holy Spirit is your guide and not man. We know that man has had their hands in the Bible ever since Jesus ascended to the right hand of the Most High. Since then the Pharisees have been trying to cut down and sometimes cut out verses in books like Isaiah that talked about his power and authority. We can look at sermons from pastors of that time like Josephus and see things are clearly missing, even entire books. They even created four versions of the septuagint, slowly removing little bits and pieces. This is primarily because they didn't believe Yeshusa was the Messiah, but also because he completely wrecked them over and over throughout the New Testament for adding to YHWH's law. They were mad. You don't think they didn't start playing a little dirty when He wasn't around anymore? Let's be real.

Also keep in mind the Pharisees were the official religious leaders of Rome? Did it ever dawn on you that they effectively just morphed into Roman Catholicism? The Vatican has it's hands in every denomination, but that is a long story. Do some research.

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Who Decided What Books Are Scripture?

Who controls what books go into our modern cannon of the bible? The Vatican...through meetings like the Council of Laodecia in 363-364AD. Leaders (just normal ol' men) have met multiple times to decide what books should be included as "scripture." The same groups took out Revelation and James in the second century only to put them back in later and they have also decided to label certain books as deuterocanonical or even worse pseudepigraphal. There are other cannons around that world that still include many of the books our American cannon is missing. The Ethiopian cannon has every book listed on this website and more. They are incredible followers of Christ as a whole too. Their cannon has been kept safe over the years and matches that of what Jesus would have been reading in the synagogs as a child. That's just the start. Peter references the events of the Watchers in Enoch and almost half of the letter of Jude does too. (There's more examples too!)

Understanding your enemy is crucial in any war and we are at war with the principalities of the air and a kingdom under Satans rule. It makes sense that Satan would try to hide the details of their fall from those seeking the Father. It weakens us.

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It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honor of kings is to search out a matter. - Proverbs 25:2

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The Apocrypha

A collection of Biblical books considered useful, but not considered equal to the scriptures.

When I compare these books to the foundational story presented in the "trusted" books of scripture, I find many of them add clarity to books we are familiar with and when they are quoted by Jesus and other writers it's really worth examining them. Satan has all the reasons to hide the message and he is the ruler of this current kingdom the bible calls Babylon until Yeshua returns, so we have to use our own discernment and ask for guidance from the Spirit on these books. We probably shouldn't just trust groups of men who got together to pick what they want us to know about.

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Deuterocanonical

The fancy way of saying they are "extra" books. Not considered "scripture" ... just extra.

The problem is that these books at one point were absolutely considered God's Word, inspired, scripture. Some of them include the Maccabees, Tobit, Sirach, 1 & 2 Esdras, Wisdom of Solomon and all the other books found in the 1611 version of the King James Bible.

You heard me. These "so called non-scriptural books" were removed and labeled "extra books." These books contain invaluable context to books in the modern cannon and they align with them perfectly from what I can tell. For example Tobit fills in tons of gaps about Jonah. Its wonderful.

1 Enoch & Jubilees gives us backstory of where evil spirits came from, how and also their destruction along with Satans. It's crucial to understanding the enemies (prince of the power of the air and his rulerships mentioned in Ephesians 6:12) presented in modern day scriptures, which is precisely why it makes sense he would want you to ignore it or scoff at it. This is a story we only get one verse about in Genesis 6's summary of the event.

Jesus himself quotes Enoch when he reprimands the pharisees in Luke 20:34 when he says that we won't be married after the resurrection. A concept not found in our modern cannon, but is only taught in 1 Enoch 15:2-7. Primarily verses 6 and 7. Jesus literally asks the Pharisees "Do you not know the scriptures?" This adds great validity to 1 Enoch, a book considered "deuterocanonical" by many church organizations.

From my studies, every book considered deuterocanonical could easily be inspired Scripture. You don't have to get hung up on yes or no, just read them and know that they add some amazing clarity to the Scriptures we grew up reading and sometimes its clarity on issues that divide believers and some even push people away. Like " Why would God destroy all the people on earth if He's a loving God?" That's a fantastic question and it's answered very plainly with common sense in 1 Enoch 5-10 and Jubilees 5.

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Pseudepigraphal

This word means falsely attributed works or texts whose claimed author is not the true author, or a work whose real author attributed it to a figure of the past.

I can get behind this word sometimes. Book like 2 & 3 Enoch are considered pseudepigraphal and it takes all but 5 minutes of reading these to easily see they are gnostic garbage, as far as testing them as scripture. They can be useful in understanding what certain groups of people think and believe, but I completely agree that those two books are not scripture by any means. They don't align with the modern cannon and really don't even align with 1 Enoch. I gather that books like these are created to discredit others that are worth reading like in this case 1 Enoch.

Now some of these pseudepigraphal books need to be read too.

For example the Apocalypse of Abraham (also called the Revelation of Abraham) gives us descriptions of the higher heavens that are pretty helpful for understanding biblical cosmology. It also doesn't say anything that counters any conspectus in our cannon, while also giving you an amazing back story to Abraham's realization that idols are junk and didn't do anything. Its pretty funny actually! God considered him righteous when he chose him and this books gives us the story of why God chose him.

The Life of Adam and Eve seems to align with our modern cannon well, however The Book of Creation and the Books of Adam & Even absolutely don't. So with pseudepigraphal books you need to be sure to ask the Holy Spirit for discernment. Remember it's ok to learn you're wrong about a book. Maybe you come to realize its garbage later. That's how you learn too and that can be helpful for teaching later.

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Ultimately it's up to you (not old guys) to decide what books you want to read. You don't have to believe everything you read so don't be afraid to read a weird book, but if you are new to the Bible and don' have a clear understanding of the story put forth in the modern cannon, it may be best to get familiar with it before you go digging into a book that you're not sure about.

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Excellent Resources

^These two great videos will help you see how scripture has been removed and put back over time. I highly recommend you get familiar with this idea and this is great place to start.