Post by Tom Green on Oct 3, 2007 18:58:40 GMT -5
The Days of Noah! - Are They Here?
by Gary Stearman
At the present time, a myth is being actively promoted. In this modern age of science and rational analysis, it seems strange to speak of a myth. Nevertheless, every society on the globe has now been systematically exposed to it — the idea that our planet is being visited by aliens from outer space.
Since the midpoint of the twentieth century, dozens of motion pictures, hundreds of books and lately, a storm of videos have molded the collective consciousness. Now, though they may not admit it, people believe that there must be life on other planets, in other galaxies, and that it has come here to visit us.
The worldwide belief in the evolutionary hypothesis has fed this myth. If life evolved here, so the thinking goes, it must also have evolved on other worlds, where conditions permitted. It is said that this may have happened on millions of other planets. Other beings may even have encountered those favorable conditions much earlier than we did and, therefore, their civilizations are far older than ours. This being the case, some of these hypothetical societies may have gotten a billion-year head start on humanity.
The popular concept says that they have had much longer to perfect themselves. Therefore, their accumulated wisdom and power would give them a godlike superiority in our sight.
At present, there is the growing belief that these advanced races have come here to ease us through the present nuclear, pollution and population crises, so that we can continue to evolve as they did.
The myth subtly proposes that they may even bring us the gifts of advanced technology, such as antigravity, superior materials and high-tech inventions. They might even teach us to live without plundering the coal, oil and mineral wealth of our tiny planet.
But there is a problem with this myth. It is not supported by the Bible — not at all. Nowhere in Scripture is there the slightest hint that the Lord created races on other planets, much less that they would ever come to Earth.
However, there is a great deal of scriptural support for visitations of another kind. Fallen angels have come to Earth with evil motives. They have carved out kingdoms for themselves and enslaved hapless human beings. In the past, these superior beings were called "gods." Humans worshiped them, and received gifts in return.
They are described as the fallen ones who joined Satan’s rebellion. More than once, they have come as supposed benefactors. In truth, they were — and are — liars. Their deceptive messages sound good, but bring death and destruction.
In the days before the flood of Noah, they brought gifts to men, and set up magnificent societies. To the Greeks they were the gods from the realms of heaven. Their children were the Titans of old. We shall begin by looking at one of these giants. The ancient myth presents him as the one who stole from the gods to help men.
His story is considered fictional, but strangely, it presents a narrative that perfectly coincides with biblical history. His life story demonstrates the fall, the motive and the fate of the iniquitous "angels which kept not their first estate" (Jude 6). His actions tell a familiar story.
Fire From the Gods
This Titan was Prometheus, famous in the mythology of the ancient Greeks. The Titans were demigods, said to have sprung from illicit unions between human women and gods who descended from the heavens to set up their own kingdoms on planet Earth. One of them was named Prometheus, from the Greek word, meaning "forethought." His name reveals him as one who developed a scheme that would ingratiate him to mortal men.
Taking a fennel stalk, he set it aflame in the heavenly domain, then brought it to Earth, where he taught men to use it in various ways. He stole something that was supposed to be reserved for the gods, and gave it to men. With it, they could warm themselves, cook, have light at night and burn sacrificial offerings, perhaps worshiping Prometheus, himself. That might have been his original motive. But perhaps, as we shall see, there is something more to this stolen fire than mere heat and light. The fire he stole was celestial in nature.
According to the myth, things went badly for Prometheus after his rebellious act. Zeus, the king of all the gods, discovered his treachery and ordered him chained to the top of the Caucasus Mountains, the high border between Europe and Asia. His punishment was gruesome, for each and every day, an eagle would fly down, tear him open and feast upon his liver. But Prometheus was an immortal, so the liver grew back for the next day’s attack. Thus, each day brought a new bout of horrifying torture.
Prometheus is portrayed as a thinker and planner, and sympathetic to humanity. He was what we could today call a "Type A" personality, an entrepreneur who views humanity as an opportunity to harness slave labor to build his kingdom. Of course, he wanted mankind to view him as a savior.
As the story goes, Prometheus was the son of the Greek god Iapetus. He was bold and proud enough to launch his plan, laughing at the power of Zeus. As one studies the plots and counterplots of these wicked gods, questions arise. What was the supernatural fire that Prometheus brought to man? Was it merely the common product of carbon-based combustion, or was it something more powerful?
His mother Clymene was an Oceanid, one of the daughters of the Titan named Oceanus, who had a brother, famed to this day as Atlas, the god who bore the burden of the physical world. These were the heroes of the ancients, whose kingdoms are the stuff of myth and legend.
In his well-known history of the Jews, Flavius Josephus mentions them quite plainly. Writing about the children of Seth, son of Adam, he speaks of their wholesale descent into idolatry. It is significant that he mentions them in conjunction with mythical beings we have just named, with one difference. He doesn’t believe that they are mythical in the contemporary sense that they were tales concocted out of thin air in the imaginations of clever human storytellers.
He writes, "Now this posterity of Seth continued to esteem God as the Lord of the Universe, and to have an entire regard to virtue, for seven generations; but in process of time they were perverted, and forsook the practices of their forefathers, and did neither pay those honors to God which were appointed them, nor had they any concern to do justice towards men. But for what degree of zeal they had formerly shown for virtue, they now showed by their actions a double degree of wickedness, whereby they made God to be their enemy; for many angels of God accompanied with women, and begat sons that proved unjust, and despisers of all that was good, on account of the confidence they had in their own strength, for the tradition is that these men did what resembled the acts of those whom the Grecians call giants. But Noah was very uneasy at what they did; and, being displeased at their conduct, persuaded them to change their dispositions and their acts for the better; but, seeing that they did not yield to him, but were slaves to their wicked pleasures, he was afraid they would kill him, together with his wife and children, and those they had married; so he departed out of that land" (Antiquities of the Jews, I, iii, 1).
Those, whom the "Grecians call giants" are none other than the infamous Titans! They were the offspring of illicit affairs between Greek gods and human women. Josephus, and many other historians of the ancient world regarded the era of the Titans as real. It is historically and biblically accurate to say that superior but decadent beings intruded upon the world of the mortals.
They controlled the culture. Its riches, its sexuality and its spiritual order fell under their despotic rule. Eventually, their corruption produced a widespread decay that almost destroyed humanity. Had it not been for Noah and his family, the promised Redeemer would not have had a human race to redeem.
As students of Bible prophecy, we must harmonize New Testament accounts of the antediluvian world with the clearly expressed beliefs of the ancient histories. But before continuing with historical descriptions of the preflood world we shall look at the New Testament view of this period.
Marrying and Giving in Marriage
There is one biblical prophecy, delivered by Jesus, Himself, that rises to the highest possible level of impact. Because He addressed the disciples on the Mount of Olives, it is commonly called the Olivet Discourse. Like all believers, they wanted to know about the end times, so He answered them plainly, giving as much information as He deemed appropriate under the circumstances.
His words speak of Israel, during that time, still future, when the events of the Tribulation will turn the Gentile world upside down. Their system of world trade, and its diabolical monetary and social despotism, will be brought to complete ruin. In preparation for the establishment of the Kingdom, the world will experience an unprecedented time of chaos and disruption. In Jesus own words, "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be" (Matt. 24:21).
In view of the fact that the world has seen incredible cataclysms in the past, these words beggar the imagination. But then, so does the book of Revelation, which chronicles this future time of trouble. The only event we can compare it with is the Great Flood of Noah, which Jesus mentions in the same context:
"But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
"For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
"And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be" (Matt. 24:37-39).
When Jesus spoke these words, He could clearly remember every detail about what happened to the world of Noah, for in His preincarnate life as the Lord (Jehovah), He had both judged the sinful world, and observed its every detail. This being true, His words to the disciples constitute an astounding understatement.
His sparse description of the event leaves out massive amounts of important detail. First, those alive before the flood were invaded by fallen angels, the notorious Nephilim – "the fallen ones." They corrupted the human genome, leaving only Noah and his family untouched. He is called, "… a just man and perfect in his generations," who "… walked with God" (Gen. 6:9). And of the world’s population, only he and his family were deemed pure enough to repopulate the world.
"Marrying and giving in marriage," indeed! Scripture tells us that the antediluvian world was wholly given over to monstrous infusions of corruption from the fallen angels, who quickly came to dominate their human thralls. This was a world so decadent that the Lord exterminated every land creature that Noah didn’t take aboard the ark.
Historically, the waters of this flood covered the entire Earth, wiping out its depraved population, except for Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives. This huge disaster is reduced to a simple reference to the removal of the entire population of the world.
In the absence of other information, one might envision a pastoral, rustic population of farmers and herders, living in an unblemished paradise. One might imagine that their daily activities were mundane and uncomplicated. Many modern scholars characterize this period as pre-literate. They say that reading and writing were unknown. Mathematics were the simple moving of stones from one pile to another, as sheep or cattle filed past their owner. Geometry and architecture were elementary, producing only crude shelters, perhaps in conjunction with caves.
In our era, the myth of the caveman has caught on to the extent that it has become part of our language and our thoughts. To call one a "caveman" or a Neanderthal is to suggest a smaller brain and a stooped posture. Such "knuckle-draggers" are commonly believed to be the originators of our human family.
In no way does this flight of fancy reflect the true image of the antediluvian world! Adam was created as a superior being, far closer to perfection than today’s humanity. His genome was flawless, as designed by the Lord. His offspring were also genetically superior to us. Their strength, longevity and intellect were superior. Their downfall came when – in their sinful state – they were captivated by the allure of the "gods" who came down and gave them "fire," to use the Promethean term. In the modern sense, they acquired technology. In the bargain, they became increasingly corrupt.
The Evil Transaction
This transaction is quite plainly documented in The Book of Enoch. Like all apocalyptic literature, this book (sometimes called First Enoch to distinguish it from another work, The Book of the Secrets of Enoch) must be taken with caution. It offers one of the few surviving histories of the preflood world. It was finally preserved as a manuscript, probably in the second century B.C. It has the distinction of being quoted as New Testament Scripture in the Book of Jude:
"And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
"To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him" (Jude 14, 15).
Jude testifies that these words were written by Enoch, himself. They may be found in the text of The Book of Enoch in chapter one, verse nine. In the book of Hebrews, this same Enoch is mentioned as a man of exceptional spirituality. He lived in the Old World, and was spared from its evils by being taken directly to heaven without experiencing death:
"By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God" (Heb. 11:5).
The text of Enoch is a historical account of the time period chiefly characterized by an assault from above, in which fallen angels invaded the domain of mortal human beings. His discourse tells of many strange events, most of which must be taken as confabulations of what must have began as true historical accounts.
But taken together, they present the general picture of an undeniable truth. The quotes we shall take from The Book of Enoch were first translated by R. H. Charles in 1912 for Oxford University Press, and then published in 1917 by S.P.C.K. Press of London.
There are many passages in its text that are in remarkable agreement with the general idea of a heavenly invasion, including the motives found in the Promethean myth. One, found early in the text, begins as follows:
"VI. 1. And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters. 2. And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: ‘Come let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children.’ 3. And Semjaza, who was their leader, said unto them; ‘I fear ye will not indeed agree to do this deed, and I alone shall have to pay the penalty of a great sin.’ 4. And they all answered him and said: ‘Let us all swear an oath, and all bind ourselves by mutual imprecation not to abandon this plan but to do this thing.’ 5. Then sware they all together and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it. 6. And they were in all two hundred; who descended in the days of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon, and they called it Mount Hermon, because they had sworn and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it’ (Enoch VI:1-6, pp. 34, 35).
The biblical text, of course, condenses these words into four terse verses:
"And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the Earth, and daughters were born unto them,
"That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
"And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
" There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown" (Gen. 6:1-4).
Though the biblical version leaves out names and places, it tells the entire story. Note that the Enoch record mentions the "days of Jared." Jared was sixth from Adam in the line of Seth. His birth came four hundred and sixty years after Adam’s creation. This gives us some idea of the timing of the angelic invasion.
It also mentions the place of their entry, Mount Hermon. This place has long been documented as the seat of Baal worship. The gigantic flooring stones that pave the Baalbek Acropolis are located nearby. It has often been said that today, there is no known way that such huge stones could be carved, finished and moved with such precision that there is practically no space between them. Heroic sculptures of the gods are still there today.
There is a great deal of ancient documentation that points to Mount Hermon as the dead center of ancient idolatry. For more information on this subject, see the January 2007, edition of Prophecy in the News.
After giving the nineteen names of the ringleaders of the angelic rebellion, Enoch goes on to document the result of their rebellion:
"VII. 1. And all the others together with them took unto themselves wives, and each chose for himself one, and they began to go in unto them and to defile themselves with them, and they taught them charms and enchantments, and the cutting of roots, and made them acquainted with plants. 2. And they became pregnant, and they bare great giants …" (Enoch VII:1,2 p. 35).
Wherever we read accounts of this ancient intrusion, we find that the fallen angels bring with them the forbidden knowledge that soon manifests itself as what we, today, refer to as "the occult." The herbs, roots, charms and enchantments mentioned above are the tools of the sorcerer. Among other things, they induce the trance state that enables the practitioner to mentally penetrate the dimensional barriers of time-space.
Occult literature is freighted with tales of soul-travel, out-of-body experiences, encounters with spirits, and so on. The first item on the agenda of the fallen ones — the Nephilim — is to corrupt the human race with the wisdom forbidden by God:
"There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,
"Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
"For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee" (Deut. 18:10-12).
These strictures are easily understood against the backdrop of the multiplied sins from on high that plagued the antediluvian world. The activities of the fallen ones are simply a continuation of the sordid proposition first offered to Eve by Satan, the serpent:
"For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil" (Gen. 3:5).
Satan essentially asked Eve to disobey God in exchange for forbidden knowledge. In one sense, this sort of evil outlines the entire history of humanity, which always seeks godlike knowledge in the name of "progress." From the days of the nephilim to the present, a cabal of men hearkened to the voices of evil from behind the veil. From Nimrod to Hitler, the story never changes.
The priests of Baal and Ishtar — of Zeus and Artemis — of Jupiter and Diana — have plagued the empires of Egypt, Greece and Rome. Just behind the scenes, the harlot and the beast have always guided the course of the world. This story is very, very old, indeed.
by Gary Stearman
At the present time, a myth is being actively promoted. In this modern age of science and rational analysis, it seems strange to speak of a myth. Nevertheless, every society on the globe has now been systematically exposed to it — the idea that our planet is being visited by aliens from outer space.
Since the midpoint of the twentieth century, dozens of motion pictures, hundreds of books and lately, a storm of videos have molded the collective consciousness. Now, though they may not admit it, people believe that there must be life on other planets, in other galaxies, and that it has come here to visit us.
The worldwide belief in the evolutionary hypothesis has fed this myth. If life evolved here, so the thinking goes, it must also have evolved on other worlds, where conditions permitted. It is said that this may have happened on millions of other planets. Other beings may even have encountered those favorable conditions much earlier than we did and, therefore, their civilizations are far older than ours. This being the case, some of these hypothetical societies may have gotten a billion-year head start on humanity.
The popular concept says that they have had much longer to perfect themselves. Therefore, their accumulated wisdom and power would give them a godlike superiority in our sight.
At present, there is the growing belief that these advanced races have come here to ease us through the present nuclear, pollution and population crises, so that we can continue to evolve as they did.
The myth subtly proposes that they may even bring us the gifts of advanced technology, such as antigravity, superior materials and high-tech inventions. They might even teach us to live without plundering the coal, oil and mineral wealth of our tiny planet.
But there is a problem with this myth. It is not supported by the Bible — not at all. Nowhere in Scripture is there the slightest hint that the Lord created races on other planets, much less that they would ever come to Earth.
However, there is a great deal of scriptural support for visitations of another kind. Fallen angels have come to Earth with evil motives. They have carved out kingdoms for themselves and enslaved hapless human beings. In the past, these superior beings were called "gods." Humans worshiped them, and received gifts in return.
They are described as the fallen ones who joined Satan’s rebellion. More than once, they have come as supposed benefactors. In truth, they were — and are — liars. Their deceptive messages sound good, but bring death and destruction.
In the days before the flood of Noah, they brought gifts to men, and set up magnificent societies. To the Greeks they were the gods from the realms of heaven. Their children were the Titans of old. We shall begin by looking at one of these giants. The ancient myth presents him as the one who stole from the gods to help men.
His story is considered fictional, but strangely, it presents a narrative that perfectly coincides with biblical history. His life story demonstrates the fall, the motive and the fate of the iniquitous "angels which kept not their first estate" (Jude 6). His actions tell a familiar story.
Fire From the Gods
This Titan was Prometheus, famous in the mythology of the ancient Greeks. The Titans were demigods, said to have sprung from illicit unions between human women and gods who descended from the heavens to set up their own kingdoms on planet Earth. One of them was named Prometheus, from the Greek word, meaning "forethought." His name reveals him as one who developed a scheme that would ingratiate him to mortal men.
Taking a fennel stalk, he set it aflame in the heavenly domain, then brought it to Earth, where he taught men to use it in various ways. He stole something that was supposed to be reserved for the gods, and gave it to men. With it, they could warm themselves, cook, have light at night and burn sacrificial offerings, perhaps worshiping Prometheus, himself. That might have been his original motive. But perhaps, as we shall see, there is something more to this stolen fire than mere heat and light. The fire he stole was celestial in nature.
According to the myth, things went badly for Prometheus after his rebellious act. Zeus, the king of all the gods, discovered his treachery and ordered him chained to the top of the Caucasus Mountains, the high border between Europe and Asia. His punishment was gruesome, for each and every day, an eagle would fly down, tear him open and feast upon his liver. But Prometheus was an immortal, so the liver grew back for the next day’s attack. Thus, each day brought a new bout of horrifying torture.
Prometheus is portrayed as a thinker and planner, and sympathetic to humanity. He was what we could today call a "Type A" personality, an entrepreneur who views humanity as an opportunity to harness slave labor to build his kingdom. Of course, he wanted mankind to view him as a savior.
As the story goes, Prometheus was the son of the Greek god Iapetus. He was bold and proud enough to launch his plan, laughing at the power of Zeus. As one studies the plots and counterplots of these wicked gods, questions arise. What was the supernatural fire that Prometheus brought to man? Was it merely the common product of carbon-based combustion, or was it something more powerful?
His mother Clymene was an Oceanid, one of the daughters of the Titan named Oceanus, who had a brother, famed to this day as Atlas, the god who bore the burden of the physical world. These were the heroes of the ancients, whose kingdoms are the stuff of myth and legend.
In his well-known history of the Jews, Flavius Josephus mentions them quite plainly. Writing about the children of Seth, son of Adam, he speaks of their wholesale descent into idolatry. It is significant that he mentions them in conjunction with mythical beings we have just named, with one difference. He doesn’t believe that they are mythical in the contemporary sense that they were tales concocted out of thin air in the imaginations of clever human storytellers.
He writes, "Now this posterity of Seth continued to esteem God as the Lord of the Universe, and to have an entire regard to virtue, for seven generations; but in process of time they were perverted, and forsook the practices of their forefathers, and did neither pay those honors to God which were appointed them, nor had they any concern to do justice towards men. But for what degree of zeal they had formerly shown for virtue, they now showed by their actions a double degree of wickedness, whereby they made God to be their enemy; for many angels of God accompanied with women, and begat sons that proved unjust, and despisers of all that was good, on account of the confidence they had in their own strength, for the tradition is that these men did what resembled the acts of those whom the Grecians call giants. But Noah was very uneasy at what they did; and, being displeased at their conduct, persuaded them to change their dispositions and their acts for the better; but, seeing that they did not yield to him, but were slaves to their wicked pleasures, he was afraid they would kill him, together with his wife and children, and those they had married; so he departed out of that land" (Antiquities of the Jews, I, iii, 1).
Those, whom the "Grecians call giants" are none other than the infamous Titans! They were the offspring of illicit affairs between Greek gods and human women. Josephus, and many other historians of the ancient world regarded the era of the Titans as real. It is historically and biblically accurate to say that superior but decadent beings intruded upon the world of the mortals.
They controlled the culture. Its riches, its sexuality and its spiritual order fell under their despotic rule. Eventually, their corruption produced a widespread decay that almost destroyed humanity. Had it not been for Noah and his family, the promised Redeemer would not have had a human race to redeem.
As students of Bible prophecy, we must harmonize New Testament accounts of the antediluvian world with the clearly expressed beliefs of the ancient histories. But before continuing with historical descriptions of the preflood world we shall look at the New Testament view of this period.
Marrying and Giving in Marriage
There is one biblical prophecy, delivered by Jesus, Himself, that rises to the highest possible level of impact. Because He addressed the disciples on the Mount of Olives, it is commonly called the Olivet Discourse. Like all believers, they wanted to know about the end times, so He answered them plainly, giving as much information as He deemed appropriate under the circumstances.
His words speak of Israel, during that time, still future, when the events of the Tribulation will turn the Gentile world upside down. Their system of world trade, and its diabolical monetary and social despotism, will be brought to complete ruin. In preparation for the establishment of the Kingdom, the world will experience an unprecedented time of chaos and disruption. In Jesus own words, "For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be" (Matt. 24:21).
In view of the fact that the world has seen incredible cataclysms in the past, these words beggar the imagination. But then, so does the book of Revelation, which chronicles this future time of trouble. The only event we can compare it with is the Great Flood of Noah, which Jesus mentions in the same context:
"But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
"For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark,
"And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be" (Matt. 24:37-39).
When Jesus spoke these words, He could clearly remember every detail about what happened to the world of Noah, for in His preincarnate life as the Lord (Jehovah), He had both judged the sinful world, and observed its every detail. This being true, His words to the disciples constitute an astounding understatement.
His sparse description of the event leaves out massive amounts of important detail. First, those alive before the flood were invaded by fallen angels, the notorious Nephilim – "the fallen ones." They corrupted the human genome, leaving only Noah and his family untouched. He is called, "… a just man and perfect in his generations," who "… walked with God" (Gen. 6:9). And of the world’s population, only he and his family were deemed pure enough to repopulate the world.
"Marrying and giving in marriage," indeed! Scripture tells us that the antediluvian world was wholly given over to monstrous infusions of corruption from the fallen angels, who quickly came to dominate their human thralls. This was a world so decadent that the Lord exterminated every land creature that Noah didn’t take aboard the ark.
Historically, the waters of this flood covered the entire Earth, wiping out its depraved population, except for Noah, his wife, his three sons and their wives. This huge disaster is reduced to a simple reference to the removal of the entire population of the world.
In the absence of other information, one might envision a pastoral, rustic population of farmers and herders, living in an unblemished paradise. One might imagine that their daily activities were mundane and uncomplicated. Many modern scholars characterize this period as pre-literate. They say that reading and writing were unknown. Mathematics were the simple moving of stones from one pile to another, as sheep or cattle filed past their owner. Geometry and architecture were elementary, producing only crude shelters, perhaps in conjunction with caves.
In our era, the myth of the caveman has caught on to the extent that it has become part of our language and our thoughts. To call one a "caveman" or a Neanderthal is to suggest a smaller brain and a stooped posture. Such "knuckle-draggers" are commonly believed to be the originators of our human family.
In no way does this flight of fancy reflect the true image of the antediluvian world! Adam was created as a superior being, far closer to perfection than today’s humanity. His genome was flawless, as designed by the Lord. His offspring were also genetically superior to us. Their strength, longevity and intellect were superior. Their downfall came when – in their sinful state – they were captivated by the allure of the "gods" who came down and gave them "fire," to use the Promethean term. In the modern sense, they acquired technology. In the bargain, they became increasingly corrupt.
The Evil Transaction
This transaction is quite plainly documented in The Book of Enoch. Like all apocalyptic literature, this book (sometimes called First Enoch to distinguish it from another work, The Book of the Secrets of Enoch) must be taken with caution. It offers one of the few surviving histories of the preflood world. It was finally preserved as a manuscript, probably in the second century B.C. It has the distinction of being quoted as New Testament Scripture in the Book of Jude:
"And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,
"To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him" (Jude 14, 15).
Jude testifies that these words were written by Enoch, himself. They may be found in the text of The Book of Enoch in chapter one, verse nine. In the book of Hebrews, this same Enoch is mentioned as a man of exceptional spirituality. He lived in the Old World, and was spared from its evils by being taken directly to heaven without experiencing death:
"By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God" (Heb. 11:5).
The text of Enoch is a historical account of the time period chiefly characterized by an assault from above, in which fallen angels invaded the domain of mortal human beings. His discourse tells of many strange events, most of which must be taken as confabulations of what must have began as true historical accounts.
But taken together, they present the general picture of an undeniable truth. The quotes we shall take from The Book of Enoch were first translated by R. H. Charles in 1912 for Oxford University Press, and then published in 1917 by S.P.C.K. Press of London.
There are many passages in its text that are in remarkable agreement with the general idea of a heavenly invasion, including the motives found in the Promethean myth. One, found early in the text, begins as follows:
"VI. 1. And it came to pass when the children of men had multiplied that in those days were born unto them beautiful and comely daughters. 2. And the angels, the children of the heaven, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: ‘Come let us choose us wives from among the children of men and beget us children.’ 3. And Semjaza, who was their leader, said unto them; ‘I fear ye will not indeed agree to do this deed, and I alone shall have to pay the penalty of a great sin.’ 4. And they all answered him and said: ‘Let us all swear an oath, and all bind ourselves by mutual imprecation not to abandon this plan but to do this thing.’ 5. Then sware they all together and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it. 6. And they were in all two hundred; who descended in the days of Jared on the summit of Mount Hermon, and they called it Mount Hermon, because they had sworn and bound themselves by mutual imprecations upon it’ (Enoch VI:1-6, pp. 34, 35).
The biblical text, of course, condenses these words into four terse verses:
"And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the Earth, and daughters were born unto them,
"That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
"And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.
" There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown" (Gen. 6:1-4).
Though the biblical version leaves out names and places, it tells the entire story. Note that the Enoch record mentions the "days of Jared." Jared was sixth from Adam in the line of Seth. His birth came four hundred and sixty years after Adam’s creation. This gives us some idea of the timing of the angelic invasion.
It also mentions the place of their entry, Mount Hermon. This place has long been documented as the seat of Baal worship. The gigantic flooring stones that pave the Baalbek Acropolis are located nearby. It has often been said that today, there is no known way that such huge stones could be carved, finished and moved with such precision that there is practically no space between them. Heroic sculptures of the gods are still there today.
There is a great deal of ancient documentation that points to Mount Hermon as the dead center of ancient idolatry. For more information on this subject, see the January 2007, edition of Prophecy in the News.
After giving the nineteen names of the ringleaders of the angelic rebellion, Enoch goes on to document the result of their rebellion:
"VII. 1. And all the others together with them took unto themselves wives, and each chose for himself one, and they began to go in unto them and to defile themselves with them, and they taught them charms and enchantments, and the cutting of roots, and made them acquainted with plants. 2. And they became pregnant, and they bare great giants …" (Enoch VII:1,2 p. 35).
Wherever we read accounts of this ancient intrusion, we find that the fallen angels bring with them the forbidden knowledge that soon manifests itself as what we, today, refer to as "the occult." The herbs, roots, charms and enchantments mentioned above are the tools of the sorcerer. Among other things, they induce the trance state that enables the practitioner to mentally penetrate the dimensional barriers of time-space.
Occult literature is freighted with tales of soul-travel, out-of-body experiences, encounters with spirits, and so on. The first item on the agenda of the fallen ones — the Nephilim — is to corrupt the human race with the wisdom forbidden by God:
"There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,
"Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.
"For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee" (Deut. 18:10-12).
These strictures are easily understood against the backdrop of the multiplied sins from on high that plagued the antediluvian world. The activities of the fallen ones are simply a continuation of the sordid proposition first offered to Eve by Satan, the serpent:
"For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil" (Gen. 3:5).
Satan essentially asked Eve to disobey God in exchange for forbidden knowledge. In one sense, this sort of evil outlines the entire history of humanity, which always seeks godlike knowledge in the name of "progress." From the days of the nephilim to the present, a cabal of men hearkened to the voices of evil from behind the veil. From Nimrod to Hitler, the story never changes.
The priests of Baal and Ishtar — of Zeus and Artemis — of Jupiter and Diana — have plagued the empires of Egypt, Greece and Rome. Just behind the scenes, the harlot and the beast have always guided the course of the world. This story is very, very old, indeed.