Michael S. Heiser (February 14, 1963 – February 20, 2023) was an American Old Testament scholar and Christian author with training in ancient history, Semitic languages, and the Hebrew Bible from the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Wisconsin–Madison. His expertise and work focused on the nature of the spiritual realm in the Bible and about spiritual matters more generally, and he wrote more than ten books on these subjects since 2010. He served as Executive Director of the School of Ministry at Celebration Church in Jacksonville, Florida, and as a professor at Liberty University and Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He ran The Naked Bible podcast and Miqlat, a ministry to disseminate his scholarship. He additionally been active in media productions around his area of interest, and in response to popular presentations relating to spiritual matters (such as material in the Stranger Things series, and in rebutting ancient astronaut conjectures). Early life and education Heiser was born on February 14, 1963, and raised in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. 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 Heiser's area of expertise is the nature of the spiritual realm in the Bible, namely the "Divine Council" (e.g., in Psalm 82) and the hierarchy of spiritual order in the Bible. In many of his works, Heiser stressed the overarching importance and role of the Divine Council in the Old Testament, and Kevin Bauder, Research Professor of Systematic Theology at Central Baptist Theological Seminary, has referred to Heiser as the "most prominent evangelical defender" of the divine council interpretation of Psalm 82; he notes 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 at least two works of fiction, in the early 2010s. Until