Angeles Caídos
¿Qué sucede cuando un ángel desciende del cielo y asume una existencia terrenal? Un desastre.
El Midrash [1] cuenta que
en los años previos al Diluvio, cuando el crimen y la promiscuidad saturaban la
tierra, dos ángeles, Shamjazi y Azael, suplicaron ante el Omnipotente:
"¡Permítenos morar entre los humanos, y santificaremos Tu Nombre!"
Pero tan pronto ambos seres celestiales entraron en contacto con el mundo
material, también se corrompieron.
Es de estos ángeles
caídos, y sus descendientes, de quienes habla la Torá cuando dice que
"había Nefilím ["caídos" y "gigantes"] sobre la tierra
en esos días... los hombres supernos tomaron mujeres mortales, quienes les
dieron hijos; estos fueron los poderosos hombres de antaño, quienes derribaron
el mundo" [2].
Los
misioneros celestiales, que vinieron para redimir a la humanidad de la maldad
terrenal, cayeron, ellos mismos, presa de sus tentaciones -no estaban por
encima de robar novias de debajo del palio nupcial [3]- y jugaron un rol
principal en el desmoronamiento y la destrucción de su sociedad adoptiva.
Gigantes en Tierra Santa
Los Nefilím reemergen unos novecientos años después, cuando el pueblo de
Israel, catorce meses tras su éxodo de Egipto, está a punto de ingresar a la
tierra que les fuera prometida como patrimonio eterno.
A pedido del pueblo, Moshé
envió doce espías a explorar la Tierra Santa. Cuarenta días después, estos doce
hombres -cada uno líder de su tribu- regresan, severamente divididos.
Diez de ellos son
categóricos en su juicio que mejor harían los judíos si se quedaran donde
están, acampando en el desierto, pues cualquier intento de conquistar esta
tierra y radicarse en ella está condenado al fracaso. "Llegamos a la
tierra a la que nos has enviado", dijeron, "y, en efecto, fluye en
ella leche y miel... Pero poderosa es la nación que mora en la tierra, y las
ciudades son fortificadas y enormes. Vimos gigantes allí..." [4].
Sólo dos de los espías
-Calev de la tribu de Iehudá, y Iehoshúa dde la de Efráim- insistieron en que los
judíos deben, y pueden, proceder con el imperativo Divino de entrar a la
tierra. Si DIOS nos redimió de Egipto, exclamó Calev, si El partió el Iam Suf
para nosotros, si El hizo llover maná desde los cielos para mantenernos, ¿puede
verse impedido por fortalezas y gigantes? Si El nos ordenó tomar y colonizar la
tierra, triunfaremos [5].
En este momento, los diez
espías dieron su golpe de gracia: "No. No triunfaremos... Es una tierra
que consume a sus colonizadores... Vimos allí a los Nefilím, los descendientes
de los gigantes, los caídos" [6].
Idilio de Desierto
Estos diez hombres, todos líderes de Israel, no dudaron de la capacidad de DIOS
de realizar milagros. Con Su palabra mares se parten, fortalezas se desmoronan
y gigantes huyen aterrados. Dudaron de su propia capacidad de sobrevivir como
pueblo terrenal. Por más de un año ahora, habían vivido una existencia
totalmente espiritual. Pan del cielo los mantenía y una roca milagrosa producía
su agua; "nubes de gloria" los protegían del calor, el frío, las
flechas enemigas y los escorpiones, y orientaban y allanaban su camino por el
desierto. Libres de toda preocupación material, se sumergieron en la sabiduría
Divina recientemente revelada a ellos en la Torá.
Ahora,
se les estaba pidiendo que dejaran atrás su paradisíaco desierto, adiestraran
un ejército y poblaran la tierra, para obtener pan terrenal de su suelo
mundano. ¿Y con quién se encuentran allí, en esta tierra de leche y miel
materiales, sino con los ángeles caídos, ángeles que sobrevivieron el Diluvio
pero no sobrevivió la tierra? Es una tierra que consume a sus colonizadores,
argumentan los diez espías. Si estos seres celestiales no pudieron sobrevivir
la zambullida en la mundanalidad, ¿qué puede esperarse de nosotros, mortales y
frágiles hombres?
Hombre Deseado
Pero los hombres no son ángeles.
Totalmente espíritu, el
ángel se disuelve al contacto con la tierra. Pero el ser humano, cincelado de
espíritu y materia, es una síntesis de lo celestial y lo animal; el hombre está
facultado para hacer cielo en la tierra, para hacer de "santa" un
adjetivo para "tierra".
El hombre, no el ángel
supremo, es la corona y ápice de la creación de DIOS. Es él quien concreta el
propósito de DIOS en la creación, el deseo Divino de "una morada
abajo"[7].
"El
deseo de DIOS está con nosotros", dijeron Iehoshúa y Calev al pueblo[8].
Es para servir al deseo Divino -el deseo que es fuente y esencia de la
creación- que El nos ha hecho de la tierra, y nos ha dado esta tierra. Pues
somos nosotros quienes poseemos la capacidad de domesticar la tierra material y
construir de ella una morada para DIOS, una morada receptiva a Su
presencia.
Basado en una Sijá de Shabat Shlaj, 5742
Notas:
1. Ialkut Shimoní, Bereshit 44.
2. Génesis 6:4 (según el comentario de Rashi).
3. Rashi, Génesis 6:2.
4. Números, 13:27-28.
5. Números 13:30; Rashi.
6. Números 13:31-33.
7. Midrash Tanjumá, Nasó 16; Tania, capítulo 36.
8. Números 14:8.
http://www.kehot-lubavitch.com.ar/weekly/183shlaj.htm
EL REBE (El Rabí) ENSEÑA Selección de Comentarios extraídos de las obras del LUBAVITCHER REBE RABI MENAJEM M. SCHNEERSON -- Traducción Libre -- -- 183 -- SHABAT SHLAJ 1) ESPIAS AUTONOMINADOS, 2) ANGELES CAIDOS, 3) MENTE COMERCIAL Publicado y (c) por EDITORIAL LUBAVITCH SUDAMERICANA
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From The Genesis Record, 1976.
Henry Morris
Genesis 6:1, 2
Moral and spiritual conditions
in the antediluvian world had deteriorated with the passing years, not only
among the Cainites but eventually among the Sethites as well.
Materialism and ungodliness abounded, except for the small remnant connected
with the line of the promised Seed, along with those few who may have been
influenced by the witness of such men as Enoch.
Then, in the days of Noah, a
strange and terrible event took place, leading rapidly to such a tidal wave of
violence and wickedness over the earth that there was no longer any remedy but
utter destruction. The "sons of God" saw the "daughters of
men" and took them as their wives, the children of such unions being
"giants in the earth," mighty men of renown, monsters not only in
size but also in wickedness (Genesis 6:1, 2, 4).
One's first reaction to this
passage (and the standard interpretation of the liberals) is to think of the
fairy tales of antiquity, the legends of ogres and dragons, and the myths of
the gods consorting with men-and then to dismiss the entire story as legend and
superstition.
On the other hand, modern
Christians have often attempted to make the story more palatable intellectually
by explaining the "sons of God" as Sethites and the
"daughters of men" as Cainites, with their union representing
the breaking down of the wall of separation between believers and unbelievers.
Another possible interpretation which avoids supernaturalistic implications is
that the phrase "sons of God" referred to kings and nobles, in which
case the commingling so described is merely an account of royalty marrying
commoners.
Neither of these naturalistic
interpretations, however, explain why the progeny of such unions would be
"giants" or why they would lead to universal corruption and violence.
Although Scripture does teach that believers should not wed unbelievers (II
Corinthians 6:14; 1 Corinthians 7:39), there is no intimation that this
particular sin is unforgivable or more productive of general moral
deterioration than other sins. Regardless of intellectual difficulties, it does
seem clear that something beyond the normal and natural is described here in
these verses.
The interpretation of the
passage obviously turns on the meaning of the phrase "sons of God" (bene
elohim). In the New Testament, of course, this term is used with reference
to all who have been born again through personal faith in Christ (John 1:12;
Romans 8:14; etc.), and the concept of the spiritual relationship of believers
to God as analogous to that of children to a father is also found in the Old Testament
(Psalm 73:15; Hosea 1: 10; Deuteronomy 32:5; Exodus 4:22; Isaiah 43:6). Not one
of these examples, however, uses the same phrase as Genesis 6:2, 4;
furthermore, in each case the meaning is not really parallel to the meaning
here in Genesis. Neither the descendants of Seth nor true believers of any sort
have been previously referred to in Genesis as sons of God in any kind of
spiritual sense and, except for Adam himself, they could not have been sons of
God in a physical sense. In context, such a meaning would be strained, to say
the least, in the absence of any kind of explanation. The only obvious and
natural meaning without such clarification is that these beings were sons of
God, rather than of men, because they had been created, not born. Such a description,
of course, would apply only to Adam (Luke 3:38) and to the angels, whom God had
directly created (Psalm 148:2, 5; Psalm 104:4; Colossians 1: 16).
The actual phrase bene elohim
is used three other times, all in the very ancient book of Job (1:6; 2:1;
38:7). There is no doubt at all that, in these passages, the meaning applies
exclusively to the angels. A very similar form (bar elohim) is used in
Daniel 3:25, and also refers either to an angel or to a theophany. The term
"sons of the mighty" (bene elohim) is used in Psalm 29:1 and
also Psalm 89:6, and again refers to angels. Thus, there seems no reasonable
doubt that, in so far as the language itself is concerned, the intent of the
writer was to convey the thought of angels-fallen angels, no doubt, since they
were acting in opposition to God's will. This also was the meaning placed on
the passage by the Greek translators of the Septuagint, by Josephus, by the
writer of the ancient apocryphal book of Enoch, and by all the other ancient
Jewish interpreters and the earliest Christian writers.
Apparently the first Christian
writers to suggest the Sethite interpretation were Chrysostom and
Augustine.
The reason for questioning this
obvious meaning, in addition to the supernaturalistic overtones, is (for those
who do not reject the idea of angels) the opinion that it would be impossible
for angels to have sexual relations with human women and to father children by
them. However, this objection presupposes more about angelic abilities than we
know. Whenever angels have appeared visibly to men, as recorded in the Bible,
they have appeared in the physical bodies of men. Those who met with Abraham,
for example, actually ate with him (Genesis 18:8) and, later, appeared
to the inhabitants of Sodom in such perfectly manlike shape that the Sodomites
were attempting to take these "men" for homosexual purposes. The
writer of Hebrews suggests that, on various occasions, some "have
entertained angels unawares" (Hebrews 13:2).
It is true that the Lord Jesus
said that...in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage,
but are as the angels of God in heaven" (Matthew 22:30). However, this is
not equivalent to saying that angels are "sexless," since people who
share in the resurrection will surely retain their own personal identity,
whether male or female. Furthermore, angels are always described, when they
appear, as "men," and the pronoun "he" is always used in
reference to them. Somehow they have been given by God the capacity of materializing
themselves in masculine human form when occasion warrants, even though their
bodies are not under the control of the gravitational and electromagnetic
forces which limit our own bodies in this present life.
When Jesus said that the angels
of God in heaven do not marry, this does not necessarily mean that those
who have been cast out of heaven were incapable of doing so. It clearly
was not God's will or intention that angels mix in such a way with human women,
but these wicked angels were not concerned with obedience to God's will. In
fact, it was probably precisely for the purpose of attempting to thwart God's
will that this particular battalion of the "sons of God" engaged in
this illegal invasion of the bodies of the daughters of men.
Satan had not forgotten God's prophecy
that a promised Seed of the woman would one day destroy him. He had implanted
his own spiritual seed in Cain and his descendants, but God had preserved the
line of the true Seed through Seth. When Noah was born and Lamech was led to
prophesy that "comfort" concerning the Curse would come through him
(Genesis 5:29), Satan and his angels must have feared that their opportunities
for victory in this cosmic conflict were in imminent danger. Desiring
reinforcements for a coming battle against the hosts of heaven, and also
desiring, if possible, to completely corrupt mankind before the promised Seed
could accomplish Satan's defeat, they seem to have decided to utilize the
marvelous power of procreation which God had given the human family and to
corrupt it to their own ends. Men now were rapidly multiplying on the earth and
by implanting their own "seed" in humanity, they might be able to
enlist in only one generation a vast multitude as allies against God. So these
"sons of God" saw the daughters of men and "took them wives [or,
literally, 'women'] of all which they chose."
Some commentators have said
that, since the phrase "took them wives" is the same phrase as
normally used throughout the Old Testament for "taking a wife," there
can be nothing involved here other than normal human marriage. Therefore, they
argue, these "sons of God" must be merely male believers in the
Sethite line who married good-looking women of the Cainite (or other) line with
no regard to whether or not they were true believers in God. This argument,
however, is weak and is hardly sufficient to overthrow the heavy weight of
evidence otherwise. The word used for "wife" (Hebrew ishah) is commonly
also used for "woman," regardless of whether or not she was a married
woman. The word for "take" (Hebrew laqach) is a very common
verb, and can have any noun as its object. Shechem, for example,
"took" Dinah and lay with her, though he was not married to her
(Genesis 34:2).
The fact that these creatures
could take whatever women they chose further suggests a general state of
profligacy which made indiscriminate sexual unions quite commonplace. This is
also suggested by Christ's descriptive phrase "marrying and giving [out]
in marriage" (Matthew 24:38) as characteristic of the careless attitudes
of the days of Noah.
If, for the sake of argument at
least, we assume that the bene elohim were, indeed, angels, and that
angels can assume such a total human form that they actually have male
reproductive systems, then a grave question would have to be posed relative to
the nature of the progeny that would result from their sexual intercourse with
human women. The identity of the "giants" is discussed further below,
but the seriousness of this problem does have a bearing on how we should
interpret these unions. Fallen angels have no possibility of salvation, but
fallen men and women do have at least this possibility. What, then, would be
the case with "people" who were half-angel, half-men?
This seems to be such a
grotesque situation that it does appear extremely doubtful that God would have
allowed it at all, even if it really were physiologically a realistic
possibility. And yet, as already indicated, it does violence to the actual text
of the passage if we make it mean merely that the sons of Seth began to marry
the daughters of Cain. (If this were what it meant, why did not the writer
simply say so, and thus avoid all this confusion?) And why the giants, and why
the universal violence?
The sons of Seth were surely not
all godly men; so why should they be called sons of God (remember, they all
perished in the Flood)? Furthermore, Adam had many sons in addition to Cain and
Seth; were they spiritual "sons of God," too? Not very likely, at
this period of history. Furthermore, why stress only the union of godly men
with ungodly women? What about the "daughters of God"? Were they
being married to "sons of men"?
This naturalistic interpretation
is so forced and awkward that it seems to do disservice to the doctrine of
divine inspiration to suppose that this is really what the writer meant to say.
He surely meant to convey to his readers the idea that, in these days of
Noah, such an awful irruption of abnormality and wickedness burst forth on the
earth that it could only be explained by a demoniacally supernatural cause.
Rationalistic exegetes, of
course, do accept the plain meaning of the text here and agree that it speaks
of angel cohabiting with human women. Then, being rationalists, they maintain
that since this sort of thing is impossible, the writer of Genesis was simply
drawing on the myths and legends of demigods in various religious traditions.
On the other hand, is it not
possible that the Bible has the true record and these various legends of giants
and demigods represent the distortions that had accrued through long centuries
of verbal transmission of the tales in cultures removed from the true
patriarchal transmission line?
It is significant that the
Septuagint renders the phrase "sons of God" as "angels of
God." This was the Old Testament version in dominant use in the Apostolic
period, and thus this would be the way the phrase would have been read by
Christ and His apostles. The apocryphal book of Enoch was extant then, as well,
and was apparently known to the New Testament writers (Jude 14); and it intensely
elaborated this angelic interpretation. As an apparent result of these facts,
this interpretation is strongly implied, and probably required (as noted below)
by three New Testament passages: Jude 6; 11 Peter 2:4-6; 1 Peter 3:19, 20.
Admittedly, however, there is a
grave difficulty in the idea of angel/human sexual unions, not only the
question of whether such a thing is possible, but even more in the
theologically paradoxical and grotesque nature of the progeny of such unions.
Is there any way to resolve this dilemma?
A solution seems to consist in
recognizing that the children were true human children of truly human fathers
and mothers, but that all were possessed and controlled by evil spirits. That
is, these fallen angelic "sons of God" accomplished their purposes by
something equivalent to demon possession, indwelling the bodies of human men,
and then also taking (or "possessing") the bodies of the women as
well. The men whose bodies they possessed were evidently thereby made so
attractive to the careless and rebellious women of the age that they could take
over and use any of the women they chose. The seductive beauty of the women,
probably enhanced by various artificial cosmetics and allurements developed by
that time, was itself sufficient to induce men to constant obsession with sex,
assuring a maximum rapidity of multiplication of the population. Thus, the
"sons of God" controlled not only the men whose bodies they had
acquired for their own exploitation, but also the women they took to themselves
in this way, and then all the children they bore.
These particular Satanic angels,
therefore, compounded their original sin in following Satan in his rebellion
against God by now leaving "their own habitation" and keeping not
their "first estate" (literally, "principality"),
"going after strange flesh" as later did the Sodomites "in like
manner" (Jude 6, 7). Therefore, God no longer allows them to roam about
the earth like other demons, but has confined them "in everlasting chains
under darkness unto the judgment of the great day," casting them down to a
special "hell" (literally, "Tartarus," not the ordinary
place of departed spirits) where they are "to be reserved unto
judgment" (2 Peter 2:4).
This fearful phenomenon of
demonic "taking" and "habitation" of human bodies has often
been repeated since, though apparently never yet on the global scale which
Satan attempted in the days of Noah. Many such cases of demon possession are
noted in the New Testament, and missionaries still testify to its common occurrence
in heathen lands today. Even in modern "Christian lands" where the
influence of the gospel has until now kept it to a minimum, this form of
Satanic activity is evidently rapidly increasing. Spiritism, witchcraft, and
other forms of occult belief and practice-even Satanism itself-are captivating
the minds and bodies of multitudes today, specially among young people.
A closely related phenomenon is
the tremendous recent upsurge of interest in the "host of heaven"--in
terms of astrology, the so-called chariots of the gods, the various
unidentified flying objects, and their strange occupants. Although
scientists quite properly have pointed out the fallacious assumptions and
interpretations involved in these, there remains a stubborn residuum of
scientifically inexplicable, yet apparently well-verified, phenomena attached
to these highly unusual types of data.
It should not be forgotten that
there do exist "principalities and powers, rulers of the darkness of this
world, spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12) and
that Satan is "the prince of the power of the air" (Ephesians 2:2).
Evil angels, as well as God's unfallen holy angels, apparently on certain
occasions have the ability both to appear in material forms of various sorts
(even as "ministers of righteousness" -- II Corinthians 11:15) and
also to inhabit and control the bodies of human beings. Furthermore, Jesus
warned that, in the last days, "fearful sights and great signs shall there
be from heaven" (Luke 21:11). It may be that this particular feature of
the days of Noah is beginning to be repeated in the modern proliferation of
this great complex of unexplained and spiritually intimidating occult
phenomena, the purpose of which seems to be to gain direct Satanic control over
the minds and bodies of hosts of human beings before Christ returns.
http://www.ldolphin.org
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Bible Trek Ministries started in 1992 by Scott Barkley says: Today in Israel there is a new finding of a modern men buried with pre-moderns in the same caves. Both Discover magazine and National Geographic have documented that the Neanderthals lived side by side with modern man therefore we could hardly have evolved from them.
The following is excerpted from "Living with Neanderthals" by James Shreeve, Discover Magazine September 1995 (underlines emphasis)
"The Neanderthals are the best known and least understood... To most people, the name instantly brings to mind the image of a hulking brute, dragging his mate around by her coif. Thick boned, barrel –chested, a healthy Neanderthal male could lift an average NFL linebacker over his head and throw him through the goalposts. Combining enormous strength with manifest intelligence, the Neanderthals appear to have been outfitted to face any obstacle the environment could put in their path. Neanderthals and modern humans have been sharing Spanish soil for 10,000 years. How can two kinds of human beings exist side by side for that long without sharing their cultures? Without sharing their genes? Clearly, if modern humans were inhabiting the Levant 40,000 years before the Neanderthal, they could hardly have evolved from them. If the dates are indeed correct, it is hard to see what else one can do with the venerated belief in our Neanderthal ancestry but chuck it once and for all. The(ir) cohabitation (Neanderthals) with moderns no longer needs explanation. Neanderthals and moderns managed to coexist through long millennia….Of course, if the Neanderthals were a biologically separate species, something must have happened to cause their extinction. After all, we are still here, and they are not."
["In Israel, on the southern edge of the Neanderthal range, a wooded rise of limestone issues abruptly out of the Mediterranean below Haifa, ascending in an undulation of Hills. This is the Mount Carmel of the Song of Solomon, where Elijah brought down the false priests of Baal, and Deborah laid rout to the Caananites." This is where the author traveled to collect the data for the Discover Magazine report. It is also the EXACT geographical area where the bible says was the home of "… Og king of Bashan, which was of the remnant of the giants, that dwelt at Ashtaroth and at Edrei, " KJV Joshua 12:4]
What is important about all this is: God has given us a relatively short timetable (in comparison to the age of the earth) that man has been on the earth. Evolutionists say man needed a long time, millions of years to "evolve" from "missing links". The bible states that modern man and some other type of physically imposing beings lived together on the same soil and now modern archaeology once again proves it with a physical finding (see Discovery Magazine Sept 1995 - also National Geographic January 1996).
In addition, now we have conclusive evidence from the DNA that the Neanderthals were not our ancestors (remember, Noah’s blood was untainted...). See USA Today 7/12/97 "Neanderthal DNA Disproves Link".
The National Geographic article even dares to state that the deposit of some of the Neanderthal fossils could have been the result of a "catastrophic flood" . Yet scientists desperately try to discount a universal flood (since that means facing the biblical account head on).
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From SIGNS OF COLLAPSE
by Ray C. Stedman
And the angels that did not keep their
own position but left their proper dwelling have been kept by him in eternal
chains in the nether gloom until the judgment of the great day; just as Sodom
and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise acted immorally and
indulged in unnatural lust, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of
eternal fire. {Jude 1:6-7 RSV}
There
Jude gives us the nature of the sin of the angels. He said it was like that in
Sodom and Gomorrah; it was "unnatural lust." This you can see is
directly in parallel with the statement in Genesis 6, that the "sons of
God" came in to "the daughters of men" and married them, taking
wives as they chose. This is evidently regarded in the Scriptures as an
unnatural act. Thus we have the picture of fallen angels joining in sexual
intercourse with the daughters of men and producing a strange race.
There
have been those who object to this idea by pointing out that Jesus said that
angels are sexless. In Matthew 22, Verse 30, he does say that those who are in
the resurrection "will neither marry nor be given in marriage, but are
like the angels in heaven." It must be noted, however, that he adds the
words, "in heaven," as opposed to the angels in hell. Some have
suggested that perhaps there was a time when angels did have sexual powers, and
this, of course, would permit the kind of thing recorded here. However, it
seems more likely that the explanation is given to us by Jude when he says of
these angels that they "left their proper dwelling" {Jude 1:6}, and
presumably took up improper dwelling places. Now bodies, in Scripture, are called
dwelling places. The very term Jude uses is, elsewhere in Scripture, applied to
the body. Its use here implies that the angels took up residence where they did
not belong. This, therefore, is suggestive of what we have in the New Testament
in the days of our Lord, in the many, many cases of demonic possession recorded
so frequently in the pages of the gospels. Evil spirits, fallen angels,
possessed the bodies of men, and these demon-possessed men married women and
produced a race of strange beings called here in Genesis 6, "the Nephilim."
They were a race of giants. The word Nephilim is confirming of this
whole idea, because it means "the fallen ones."
All
this strongly suggests that demonic possession has the ability to affect
genetic structure. The chromosomes are changed so that the progeny are markedly
different; a sort of mutation takes place, and the result is a pronounced
change in the children of such a union. We know today that LSD has this kind of
an effect upon the genetic structure. Chromosomal changes take place and
children can be malformed and mentally deficient because of the use of LSD by
their parents. It is interesting that, in the book of Revelation, the Bible
links drugs with demonism and suggests that drugs are a means by which the
human spirit is opened up to the control of demonic beings.
Time
Magazine reported a new
theory to the effect that "a genetic abnormality may predispose a man to
antisocial behavior, including crimes of violence..." A normal male baby
has an XY chromosome pattern, but occasionally one is found with an XYY
pattern. According to an all-woman team of researchers in Scotland, this
"may be a super male, over aggressive and potentially criminal." It
was further noted that "the XYY (males) averaged 6 ft 1 inch tall whereas
the average for (others tested) was 5 ft 7 inches."
It is clear that the result of
this union of demon-possessed men with women was a race of mighty men,
"men of renown." Here, I think, is the explanation for the stories of
mythology with which many of you are familiar, the demi-gods -- half man
and half god -- such as Hercules, and others. Mythology is no mere invention of
the mind of man; it grows out of the traditions, memories, and legends which
were a corruption and perversion of primitive truths. We are told in this
passage that this occurred "also afterward." This "also
afterward" means that after the Flood a similar incursion of demonic
beings took place.
This second invasion resulted in
the presence in the land of Canaan of certain gigantic races which are called
in our Bible, the Canaanites. Many of you who have stumbled over those long
lists of "ites" in the Old Testament are familiar with these
various races -- the Jebusites, the Geshurites, the Hittites,
etc. All of these are divisions of the Nephilim (they are also called
the Rephaim in the Old Testament) who were already in the land when
Abraham came to the promised land. They represent an attempt on the part of
demonic powers to derail the divine program of bringing a Redeemer into the
world through the human race.
It is interesting that
archaeologists have now discovered the giant-cities of Bashan, and they
confirm the fact that there did exist in this area races of gigantic beings
whose beds are ten, eleven, or twelve feet long. (They had king-size beds in
those days, but only because they needed them.) It was these people that the
Israelites were commanded to exterminate completely. It was these giant cities
they were to wipe off the face of the earth; to exterminate the whole populace
and their animals…
Remember the Christian who saw a
drunkard staggering down the street wallowing in his own vomit, and turned to
his friend to say, "There but for the grace of God go I." We can all
say that. What has kept us? What has brought us to the truth? Was it any
goodness on our part? No, it is God's grace. It is that he loved us and called
us, he wooed us and won us, seeking us out and, through many influences upon
us, bringing us at last to see that the age in which we live is an age under
the bondage of a lie. He has opened our eyes, partially at least, to the truth,
till we have turned to the Lord Jesus and rested under the grace of God.
As our age deteriorates, as
other ages have done before us, and our civilization nears the point of utter
collapse, we can thank God that we have been snatched away as brands from the
burning, like Noah and his family, if our hearts are responsive to the appeal
of God's grace.
Title: Signs of Collapse
By: Ray C. Stedman
Scripture: Genesis 6:1-12
Date: Unknown date in 1968
Series: Understanding Society
Message No: 5
Catalog No: 325
http://pbc.org/dp/stedman/genesis/0325.html
"The truth is like a lion. Whoever heard of defending a lion? Just turn it loose and it will defend itself." Charles Spurgeon.
Other Useful Links:
Research on Intelligent Design
Tasters of the Word (YouTube), videos recientes: "Astronomía y Nacimiento de Jesucristo: Once de Septiembre Año Tres A.C.", "Estudio sobre Sanidades" (en 20 episodios), "Jesus Christ, Son or God?" and "We've the Power to Heal":
Tasters of the Word (the blog, with: "Astronomy and the Birth of Jesus Christ"):