by Mike James

I have recently been made aware of some vestiges of “Seed of Satan” theology within Church of God circles. For those of you who are unfamiliar with this thinking—adherents of this belief think the different races came to us through different original parents. “Seedline” believers think Cain was begotten by illicit sexual activities between Eve and Satan the devil. Cain then became the father of the Jewish people. Some also believe “colored people” were around prior to Adam and Eve. There are some other similar ideas out there.

The doctrine of the “serpent seed,” also known as the “dual-seed” or the “two-seedline doctrine,” is a controversial and fringe Christian religious belief that explains the biblical account of the fall of man by stating that the serpent mated with Eve in the Garden of Eden, and the offspring of their union was Cain. This event resulted in the creation of two races of people: the wicked descendants of the serpent who were destined for damnation, and the righteous descendants of Adam who were destined to have eternal life. The doctrine sees human history as a conflict between these two races in which the descendants of Adam will eventually triumph over the descendants of the serpent.

One of the more recent intellectual fathers of these ideas is Bertrand Lewis Comparet. Pastor Bertrand Lewis Comparet was a Christian Identity minister and attorney who graduated from Stanford University. Pastor Comparet was a former assistant district attorney and deputy city attorney for San Diego and founder of Kingdom Identity Ministries as well as a member of the Christian Knights of the Invisible Empire.

Kingdom Identity Ministries is the largest supplier in existence of materials related to Christian Identity, a radical-right theology that generally identifies people of color as soulless sub-humans and Jews as satanic or cursed by God.

Kingdom Identity Ministries was willed the copyrights to Comparet’s written material after his death in 1983. 

I was recently provided with some full-length sermons delivered by Mr. Comparet. I want to briefly address some of his false teachings as a warning to anyone who may read this and is being influenced by people within this movement. 

One interesting thing about his sermon messages was how he addressed Genesis 3:3 in two of his messages that I listened to. In both messages Comparet tells us Genesis 3:3 is mistranslated, but he offers no proof of this. He thinks it is mistranslated because he believed the tree Eve was to not touch was speaking of Satan the devil. In other words, what God did not want Eve to do was have sex with Satan.

One of the reasons Comparet and others believed this different telling of the story of Adam and Eve is due to the Hebrew word for “touch” in Genesis 3:3.

The Hebrew word for “touch” there is naga in Hebrew (Strong’s H5060). Now the word does mean “to touch” or “to lay the hand upon,” but it can also mean euphemistically “to lie with a woman.” As you will find with many lies and heresies there is always a little truth thrown in to throw people off. 

Well, you might be wondering how the context of Genesis 3:3 would fit sexual relations since God warned Eve not to touch a tree. Well once again Comparet and others fail to use proper biblical hermeneutics. What Comparet taught was the tree in the garden was really Satan the devil. How did he figure that?

Well let’s turn over to Ezekiel 31 to find out. In this chapter Ezekiel provides a prophecy about Assyria (the nation) being likened to a tall cedar (tree). Ezekiel uses this typology in other parts of his book too (tree being a nation or a person). Now here is the big leap Comparet makes, in Ezekiel 31:9 we read the trees in Eden envied the Assyrian tree. Comparet then suggests since Satan was in the garden he must be the Assyrian being described here in Ezekiel 31 because it seems to imply the Assyrian was also in Eden.

This idea is flat out wrong. Ezekiel’s prophecy in chapter 31 is against Egypt (verse 2). The prophecy provides a comparison of the nation of Egypt at the time of Ezekiel circa 600 B.C. to Assyria which up to that time in history was the most powerful nation ever. Yet despite Assyria’s greatness they were cut down by God. The same will befall Egypt. The mention of Eden could relate to the fact all nations and people come from Eden in the sense that is where mankind began. God was comparing Assyria and Egypt to other nations and all originated in Eden. Or Eden could be used here poetically. Even the trees in Eden could not compare to Assyria in a poetic sense. Every original variety of tree was in Eden.

Once again context is important in trying to understand Scripture. Just because Eden is mentioned does not mean we have to put the Assyrian cedar back in the time of Adam and Eve.

I will have more to say on these false “seedline” views in an upcoming International News.

Sources: “Kingdom Identity Ministries,” Southern Poverty Law Center, https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/group/kingdom-identity-ministries

The Adamic Race in History, Bertrand Lewis Comparet, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgvmjW8__Lg

The Satanic Seed Line, Bertrand Lewis Comparet, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c78Eh_d1M4E

“Serpent Seed,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serpent_seed

“Seed of the Woman,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seed_of_the_woman

Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 6, (Grand Rapids: Zondervan), 1986.