ANGELS AND SEX

Angels and Sex


One reason many people fail or refuse to consider the possibility that angels interbred with human women before the Great Flood is that they assume angels are not sexual beings. Part of this comes from contemporary as well as medieval art which paints angels as being female in nature. As we'll see later in this book, the exact opposite is the case: All angels are referred to as being males in the Bible (with one small exception which will also be noted). Angels are called sons of God because they are male.

But does this mean they are capable of actually having intercourse with human women?

In Matthew, Jesus is quoted as saying that angels don't marry:


Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.16


This verse has been interpreted in a variety of ways. Some cults in the US and elsewhere have used it to justify group sex; they claim that this verse indicates that the angels don't marry but do have sex so a variety of partners or even homosexual relationships are justified. (Given the fact that God declared homosexual behavior punishable by a death by stoning soundly refutes this supposition.)

At the other extreme are those that maintain that this verse indicates that the angels are sexless. These people also often maintain that human beings will be sexless following their resurrection.

However, Jesus didn't really say anything to support either of these ideas. All he said was that none of the angels married or were given in marriage, and that human beings would be in the same state following their resurrection.

Since the sons of God were angels, and those who rebelled against God and took women as their wives had offspring, it is obvious that angels can have sex. Therefore, it can't be assumed that they are always sexless or--at least--that they can not transform themselves into beings that can breed with Earth women.

Some have suggested that Jesus was saying that the angels do not marry among themselves because they are all males. However, this makes the idea that human beings will be like the angels after the resurrection an odd circumstance unless one is willing to assume that women will be resurrected as men--something the scriptures never even

hint of. In fact, Paul goes to great length explaining that each person will be resurrected with their own body, transformed and incorruptible, but still recognizable."17

The explanation that makes the most sense is that since celestial beings are deathless, there is no need for procreation. Thus, there is no need for a marriage and children. Following the resurrection, the same will be true of mankind.

Researcher and author Charles DeLoach made another proposal for the method angels used to take on a physical form and mate with human women. In doing so, he may also have come up with a way to explain the disparity between the fossil record and recorded history back to the time of Adam and Eve. (It should be noted at this point that some people believe this disparity is caused by inaccurate dating methods. These methods have been built around the assumption that the Earth is millions of years old and the dating techniques "calibrated" accordingly. Thus, fossils and rocks are dated to be millions of years old when--just as easily--they might be dated as being thousands of years old had other methods of calibration been adopted.)

DeLoach suggests that the fallen angels may have possessed the bodies of animals, just as demons appear to be able to possess human beings. In doing this, the angels then experimented in interbreeding and crossbreeding the animals, slowly "evolving" them into more and more human forms. DeLoach speculates that these experiments could have culminated in beings that could then mate with humans.18

This suggestion is intriguing in that Satan first makes his appearance in the form of a serpent. This may also explain the apparent destruction of the Earth and its reforming during the Genesis account (more on this later). Furthermore, one might also speculate that the monstrous "serpents" we know today as dinosaurs might actually be the result, not of evolution or the creation of God, but rather the horrible alterations of a Holy creation by the fallen angels.


Other Clues in the Bible


There are a few other clues as to what happened in this corrupted marriage of angels and women. In the New Testament book of Jude, we find another reference to these fallen angels:


And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities.19


This passage gives several key bits of information. First, these angels willingly chose to leave "their first estate" (most likely heaven). Additionally, we learn that the sin of these angels was "in like manner" to that of Sodom and Gomorrah; they gave themselves over to fornication and going after "strange flesh" and who "defile the flesh." This suggests that the sin involved is one of having a trans-species sexual relationship. Since many believe that part of Sodom and Gomorrah's sin was having sex with animals (a sin which God would later make a capital offense under Mosaic law), this also hints that the sin of the angels is in having sex with another species--human beings. This ties in perfectly with the Genesis account of the sons of God marrying the daughters of men.

It is also interesting to note that the Greek word idion which is translated as "their own" in this passage means a private, personal, or unique possession.20 This suggests that the angels had a personal residence in heaven, created specifically for them. While they may visit Earth doing God's will, their place is in Heaven, just as man's place is on Earth, even after the Second Coming of Christ Jesus when mankind will live on a new and perfect Earth.21 These angels not only mingled their persons with human women but also placed themselves where they did not belong.

Another hint of the relationship between angels and women is given by Paul in his letter to Corinth. Here the apostle tells women that they should cover their heads as a sign of subjection to their husbands--and also "because of the angels."22 Paul apparently believed that a woman's uncovered head was tempting to angels as well as men. Not surprisingly, Jewish tradition maintains that it was the beauty of women's long hair that attracted and tempted the angels to sin in the Genesis 6 account.

THE NEPHILIM

The Nephilim that were produced by the angel/mankind marriage were much different from either of their parents. This, too, went against God's plan for the Earth in which each animal and human being was to reproduce "after its own kind."23 This is perhaps the best demonstration that the parents of these creatures were not simply descendants of Cain and Seth. Had they been, they would have produced human offspring, rather than the Nephilim.

The Nephilim were more than simply large beings or giants. When the Greek Septuagint was created, the Hebrew word Nephilim was translated into Greek as gegenes.

This is the same word used in Greek mythology for the "Titans", creatures created through the interbreeding of the Greek gods and human beings. (The English words "genes" and "genetics" are built around the same root word as gegenes; genea means "breed" or "kind".24)

In the past there has been criticism of the theory that human beings could be genetically modified to become giants or superhuman creatures. Science has recently proven otherwise.

In April, 1997 scientists at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore revealed that they had discovered a gene in mice which they called growth/differentiation factor-8 (GDF-8). When mice cells were altered genetically to delete this gene, the creatures that were conceived from these altered eggs grew enormous muscles, becoming "super mice" for all practical purposes.25

The scientists wrote in the science journal Nature:


We disrupted the GDF-8 gene by gene targeting in mice. [Mice lacking the gene] are significantly larger than wild-type animals and show a large and widespread increase in skeletal muscle mass. Individual muscles of mutant animals weigh two to three times more than those of wild-lope animals.


Notice that not only were the animals with the GDF-8 gene stronger, they were two to three times larger. In other words, the super mice were stronger and considerably larger than their natural brothers and sisters having an unaltered genetic makeup.

That's with just one gene altered.

It doesn't seem unreasonable to believe that if such creatures would result with just minor genetic modifications, that the offspring of an angel/human coupling would not be just as--if not more--modified. Because angels are noted for their great physical strength, it isn't unreasonable to think that the offspring of human interbreeding would also have such strength.

This is reflected in the second title given them in the Genesis 6 passage: "mighty men" and "men of renown." In other words, the "lab rats" of the past were human beings, with the "scientists" conducting their genetic research being fallen angels.

While several other Hebrew words translated as "giant" are used in the Bible, the only other place the actual word Nephilim is used outside of the Genesis 6 passage is in Numbers 13: 33:


And there we saw the Nephilim, the sons of Anak, which come of the Nephilim, and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.26


This passage becomes very important in understanding Satan's plans for attacking mankind in the near future as this passage takes place long after Noah's flood which God sent to wipe out the offspring of the angel/human being interbreeding. That the Nephilim would be present in Canaan at this point in history can mean only one thing: the interbreeding between angels and mankind can and has happened not just once and not just in the distant past before the Great Flood. It wasn't so widespread and didn't threaten the entire human race, but it happened again long after the flood and (as we'll see later) has happened many other times as well.

A careful reading of the first introduction of this word in Genesis also shows that the Nephilim have appeared more than one time in history. The verses don't say that the first account was the only time this occurred. Rather,


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...27


It is important to notice that there were giants "in those days" and "also after that" time as well. Since the giants could only be coming from the sons of God interbreeding with the daughters of men, and since God wiped out the first instance of this with the Great Flood, this would have to mean that such couplings have occurred more than just once before the flood.

The passage about the giants in Numbers also explains why the word Nephilim is often translated into "giants" in English. The Jewish spies who reported the land was filled with Nephilim take the time to describe the creatures' size in relationship to human beings. The spies tell those who listen that the Jews were like grasshoppers both in the sight of the giants as well as in the sight of the spies.

If one stops to consider the relationship presented here, even given possible exaggeration of the differences in the mind of the spies, it is only logical to assume that the "sons of Anak" were huge, dwarfing the human beings who saw them. This passage also suggests that their strength might have been as great as that of a man compared to that of an insect. Little wonder then that the majority of the Jewish spies suggested that the Promised Land wasn't worth fighting for.

Unfortunately, the nay sayers had the final say. The Jews didn't invade the Promised Land and instead wandered in the wilderness for another 40 years. But when their descendants finally entered what would become Israel, God exacted a judgment on the inhabitants of the land.

Just as God destroyed the Earth with a flood to wipe the Nephilim from the face of the Earth during Noah's time, so he used the flood of invading Jews flowing into the Promised land to wipe out the giants they encountered. Realizing that some of the cities in the Promised Land were filled with Nephilim explains why God ordered some of the cities totally destroyed with the citizens in them to be put under the edge of the sword. God didn't want any of these monsters to once again pollute the human gene pool. God dealt out the same total destruction to these beings as he had with Noah's Flood.

Sadly, most Christians and Jews are unaware of the biblical accounts that giants were found far and wide in the Promised Land. Most artwork, movies and the like further the ignorance by portraying everyone but Goliath as being normal size.

This misses the mark. Careful reading of the Bible reveals that in many areas the Nephilim held control of the cities. One hint at their widespread control is found in Deuteronomy which outlines the areas the invading Jews had conquered following their invasion of the land; this section of the Bible tells to which tribes the land was given. In one small excerpt from this, we can see that the Nephilim originally controlled much of the area:

And we took at that time out of the hand of the two kings of the Amorites the land that was on this side Jordan, from the river of Arnon unto mount Hermon; (which Hermon the Sidonians call Sirion; and the Amorites call it Shenir;) all the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, unto Salchah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.

For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.

And this land, which we possessed at that time, from Aroer, which is by the river Arnon, and half mount Gilead, and the cities thereof, gave I unto the Reubenites and to the Gadites. And the rest of Gilead, and all Bashan, being the kingdom of Og, gave I unto the half tribe of Manasseh; all the region of Argob, with all Bashan, which was called the land of giants.28


This passage proves that the giants were controlling the land when the Hebrews arrived. It was only through their courage in slaughtering these monsters that God was able to bring the reign of the Nephilim to an end in this region. (It should also be noted that the iron bed described in this passage could accommodate an individual over twelve feet tall--far larger than would be expected if the giant were simply a victim of gigantism.)

Today there is archeological evidence to back up the biblical stories of Nephilim in the Promised Land. Writer Gary Stearman had this to say about ruins in the region that the Canaanites occupied during ancient times:


Today, tourists marvel at the ruins in this region. They are of truly gigantic proportion. As we have written earlier, "Here, and northward into Syria and Lebanon, there are the remains of ancient buildings and temples that stagger the imagination. For example, the ruins of Baalbek in Lebanon's Beqa' a Valley are so massive that some have suggested they could not be duplicated, even using modern building techniques.

"On the Acropolis of Baalbek, stood a temple dedicated to the storm god Hadad. It was 60 feet wide and 290 feet long, surrounded by 19 columns, each 62 feet high and over seven feet in diameter. But its flooring stones - still intact - are each larger than a modern railroad boxcar. No one can imagine how they were moved into place."29


How an ancient people might have built such structures is a mystery. Unless, of course, the ruins were made by a people much larger than regular human beings.

Moses also gives us another alarming clue to the nature of the habits of the sons of Anak. The spies told Moses:


And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of a great stature.30


The word translated into English as "eateth" is akal, meaning "to consume or eat."31' While the spies may have been speaking figuratively here (the word can be employed that way), this word often is used to mean the literal consumption of meat. And as we'll see, this may be pointing to what the spies saw as a danger presented by the sons of Anak: That the giants were also cannibalistic and would literally eat the inhabitants of the land should they choose to do so.

This view of giants has also been reflected in myths of many cultures, from those of the Greek Cyclops which were giants and ate human flesh to the Old English tale of Jack and the Beanstalk in which the giant boasts "be him 'live or be him dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread." While obviously these myths can't be viewed as actual, the fact that many diverse cultures have such myths suggests they have been handed down from those who had dealt with flesh-eating giants in the distant past.

The Nephilim are described as the "sons of Anak" followed by a detailed list of the city-states that were in the area. The details Moses laid out in this passage gives us other important clues that enable the piecing together of who the giants were and thereby expose Satan's ongoing battle against the human race. This can be done by connecting this description of the Nephilim to other accounts that use a different word for giant, but then link the word in a manner that shows its connection to the Nephilim.

One such key is in Numbers when the Nephilim are described as the sons of Anak; the spies then note with which cities these giants are associated. Later, when giants are referred to in the Old Testament, the writer occasionally notes-that the giant was like those found in one of these cities. This then gives us the "link" to prove that these giants are also Nephilim, even though a different Hebrew word is being used to describe them.

Thus, the key to making these relationships is in Numbers:


Nevertheless the people be strong that dwell in the land, and the cities are walled, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the south: and the Hittites, and the Jebusites, and the Amorites, dwell in the mountains: and the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and by the coast of Jordan.32


Thus, when Moses uses another Hebrew term for "giant", he took pains to show the link between this term and the Nephilim during his cataloging of the peoples who were dwelling in the Promised Land:


The Emim dwelt therein in times past, a people great and many, and tall as the Anakim, who also were accounted giants as the Anakim; but the Moabites call them Emim.33


The word translated as "giant" here is Raphah (or Rephaim in its plural form), a word that has several meanings including "giant", "ghost" and "deceased."34 In fact, the same word or variants of it are translated as "dead" or "deceased" in other parts of the Bible.35 As we'll see in a moment, this gives us a very important clue as to why God had to destroy these beings in order to save mankind.

Moses took the trouble to link the Nephilim to the Anakim. We can then see that the two terms are related and that the Raphah are Nephilim or, at least, creatures very similar to the Nephilim.

Although these races of giants were eventually rooted out of the Promised Land, their marks are still seen there even today. The three-mile-long vale commonly called Baqa' along the road to Bethlehem is still known as the "Valley of the Rephaim" or "Valley of the Giants."36 Other areas were associated with the giants in Joshua with the Avvim, Philistines and Amorites all having some giants among their general populations.

The biblical contention that giants roamed the Promised Land is supported by archeological evidence37 as well as the Ras Samra Texts, discovered in 1928 which make frequent mention of the Rephaim in their cuneiform texts.38

The ancient historian Josephus also tells about the Jewish battle to wipe out the Nephilim in the Promised Land. He wrote that after the Jewish fighters had moved from Hebron to battle the Gibborim:


And when they had taken it, they slew all the inhabitants. There were till then left a race of giants, who had bodies so large, and countenances so entirely different from other men, that they were surprising to the sight and terrible to the hearing. The bones of these men are still shown to this very day, unlike to any credible relations of other men.39


Unfortunately, the Hebrew fighters tired of their work and didn't wipe out the very last of the Nephilim in the Promised Land. After seven years of fighting, Joshua permitted them to stop their war on the inhabitants of the land. While there were no Anakim left in most of the land, some remained in Gaza, Gath and Ashdod.40 These would later join the Philistines and, as we'll see later, may have been part of the tribe of giants that migrated northward over the next millennium, traveling westward through Europe.


PHISICAL CHARACTERISITICS

The Nephilim were obviously big, larger than individuals who are victims of gigantism. However, the Nephilim were more than simply big. They were murderous, wicked and mighty. They also had physical characteristics which don't normally all show up in a single human individual.

\What else was special about the giants who were the offspring of the fallen angels?

The most obvious characteristic of the Nephilim was, of course, their size. Where those individuals suffering from gigantism sometimes achieve heights of eight feet or more, the Nephilim were even taller. Amos describes them as "tall as cedars",41 a measurement that is generally conceded to be more figurative than literal.


But one other passage of the Bible actually goes to lengths to tell us the height of one Nephilim: Goliath.


And there went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and he was armed with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass. And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a target of brass between his shoulders. And the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam; and his spear's head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and one bearing a shield went before him.

And he stood and cried unto the armies of Israel, and said unto them, Why are ye come out to set your battle in array? Am not I a Philistine, and ye servants to Saul? Choose you a man for you, and let him come down to me. If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants: but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then shall ye be our servants, and serve us. And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of Israel this day; give me a man, that we may fight together.

When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine they were dismayed, and greatly afraid.42


Goliath was undoubtedly one of the descendants of the Nephilim tribes in Canaan whose ancestors had escaped the wholesale slaughter of these peoples (according to the commandments of God to the Jews invading the land that had been promised to them). Like other giants in that region, he aligned himself within a population of normal people who were more than happy to accept him in exchange for his physical abilities.

Using the material in this passage, it is possible to get a close approximation of how large this giant really was. A cubit is the measurement from a man's elbow to the tip of his longest, outstretched finger, giving a length of approximately 18 inches43; a span is the width of his hand with fingers outstretched, or about 8-9 inches.44 In other words, Goliath was over 9 feet tall.

I DID NOT REALIZE CHAPTER ONE WAS SO LONG.
MORE TO COME TOMORROW.
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