Hi all,
Genesis 6, Nephilim, UFOs and such is a very popular subject now, and there is much confusion and error ‘out there’.
The scriptural and logical explanation of the truth will take longer than my usual 2 to 4 part series. But to keep each segment now longer than 3 pages for easier reading and thought, it will run 6 weeks. I hope the subject is of interest to you.
Popular teaching is….
…the belief there was a 2nd angelic rebellion in heaven in the time of Noah; that angels left heaven to mate with human women in the days before the flood. From that there has arisen much false teaching, including: Satan conceived with Eve, producing lizard-eyed half breed humans who now run the world. Some say the illuminati is comprised of these half breed people, and/or that UFOs are from this 2nd rebellion, and much more.
This series will separate fact from fiction and bring balance. After showing the errors I will show you chapter and verse what scripture really says.
More than that, it will provide readers with logic and scripture, with sound and balanced understanding of what was really going on in the days before Noah’s flood.
I always tell people it’s not so important that they agree with me, rather that they think through what they believe and why, and are able to explain why they believe what they believe. In other words, if you say you believe something, be able to defend how you arrived at your belief and why.
School days – book reports, bibliographies
I remember the very first time in school we were assigned to write a paper with a bibliography attached. A bibliography is when a person is writing a letter or paper and they quote someone else to help make their point. Whatever the source was of that quote was listed at the end of the report or paper. Remember those days?
The practice of citing outside sources, borrowing a quote here and there, is centuries old.
That’s why Matthew 7: 29 notes the people observed of Jesus: “…He taught them as one having authority, not as the scribes.” The scribes rarely gave their own opinions – They always quoted others. When asked a direct question a scribe would respond: “Rabbi (so and so) says….” (You can still see this in Jewish articles and books today)
It should come as no surprise then…
In the 66 books of the Bible the authors often quoted from others if it helped make their point. The same way even in an argument, a wife might say to her husband after telling him what she thinks, “Even your mother agrees with me…” (lol ) She is quoting another source to strengthen her point. A boss may confront a worker about something, citing someone in another department, using their quote to support their point.
In Luke 13: 32 Jesus called Herod a sly fox, which was a term commonly used in that day (even among Romans) to describe Herod. By using that common description of Herod, Jesus was showing His agreement with the Roman comments about Herod’s character. But He wasn’t endorsing anyone, merely using common terms so all could understand.
In Acts 17:28 Paul quotes the Greek prophets ‘In him we live and move and have our being’, which to the Greeks meant Apollo. But Paul told them it was true of the Creator, who was not Apollo – but he was quoting someone familiar to them to make a point.
In Titus 1:12 Paul quotes the pagan prophet Epimenedes saying Cretans are always liars and lazy…and in I Corinthians 15:33 he quotes Menander (Greek playwright) saying “Bad company corrupts good manners.” Paul pulled from outside and familiar sources for his readers, to strengthen his message to them.
Enoch and Jude
There are literally dozens of examples of the authors of the Bible quoting others to make their point, just like school children and adults do in papers and reports today. But by using a quote here and there doesn’t mean the authors are elevating that other author to the level of scripture. When a person writing a thesis or school child writes a report, just quoting an outside source doesn’t mean they agree with everything that person wrote – they are just using a single line or paragraph that suits their need.
Paul quoted a pagan prophet because 1 thing he said helped make Paul’s point, but he wasn’t suggesting that prophet was a prophet of God.
Enoch is quoted in Jude 1: 14-15, prophesying the Lord is coming with thousands of His saints to execute justice and judgement on all. Quoting Enoch doesn’t mean Jude was elevating the book of Enoch to the level of scripture – he was just using a tiny part of (the 3 volumes) it to make his point.
Today, there is a stream of teaching…
…that elevates the book of Enoch to a level equal with scripture, usually justifying it by saying Jude quoted Enoch, and from that building a whole teaching around Enoch being right and accurate about a 2nd rebellion of angels and such.
People who build their belief system on that one quote from the book of Enoch fail to consider that many authors quoted many sources outside of scripture to make their points, are in no way elevate their sources as equal to scripture.
The 3 books of Enoch are not old books
The 3 volumes were written in 3 parts by unknown authors between 300 BC and 100 BC – about 100 years before Jesus was born. Consider that in about 1400 BC Moses wrote Genesis through Deuteronomy. That’s 1,200 years +/- before the books of Enoch were written by a unknown people over roughly 200 years.
It wasn’t written by Enoch. Think about that fact. Others compiled oral tradition and stories about what they believed Enoch said or saw, and called it after the subject, Enoch.
Also consider
The books of Enoch had just been written when Rabbi’s were compiling the Old Testament scripture. Rabbi’s who are wiser than us in terms of who wrote what and when, decided when compiling the Old Testament canon of scripture, that the book of Enoch was not inspired literature.
Consider that. Men who lived long ago, closer to the actual authors, and part of that culture, determined the books of Enoch were not inspired literature. That’s huge.
Why do people today think they know more about what is inspired writing than those who compiled the OT?
So that is the first point of logic – Enoch was quoted by Jude about the Lord returning to execute vengeance, which other verses in our Bible also say.
But just quoting someone outside of scripture does not elevate that quote to the level of the Word of God. And, those chosen by God to compile the Old Testament rejected the Book of Enoch, which is why it is not in our OT today.
What about a 2nd rebellion of angels?
That’s where we pick it up next week. Until then,
blessings,
John Fenn
