The Rise and Fall of the Nephilim (20 page)

As we covered extensively, the Hebrew slaves were led out of bondage in Egypt under the leadership of Moses, and were guided by a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day. Both were seen for 40 years, leading the way through the skies.

Ezekiel saw what has been described as a “flying saucer.” NASA spacecraft engineer Josef F. Blumrich had read Erich von Däniken’s
Chariots of the Gods
. In the book, von Däniken described Ezekiel’s vision as none other than a “flying disk.” Blumrich immediately set about to disprove von Däniken’s theory, but upon further examination found that the vision in Ezekiel was nearly identical to a proposed craft design that he had invented. So he did an engineering analysis and worked out a preliminary design for the craft. He later wrote his findings in his book, entitled
The Spaceships of the Prophet Ezekiel.
¹⁶
Here is the description of what Ezekiel saw:

“1 In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month on the fifth day, while I was among the exiles by the Kebar River, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God. 2 On the fifth of the month—it was the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin—3 the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, by the Kebar River in the land of the Babylonians. There the hand of the Lord was upon him. 4 As I looked, behold, a storm wind was coming from the north, a great cloud with fire flashing forth continually and a bright light around it, and in its midst something like glowing metal in the midst of the fire. 5 Within it there were figures resembling four living beings. And this
was their appearance: they had human form. 6 Each of them had four faces and four wings. 7 Their legs were straight and their feet were like a calf’s hoof, and they gleamed like burnished bronze. 8 Under their wings on their four sides were human hands. As for the faces and wings of the four of them, 9 their wings touched one another; their faces did not turn when they moved, each went straight forward. 10 As for the form of their faces, each had the face of a man; all four had the face of a lion on the right and the face of a bull on the left, and all four had the face of an eagle. 11 Such were their faces. Their wings were spread out above; each had two touching another being, and two covering their bodies. 12 And each went straight forward; wherever the spirit was about to go, they would go, without turning as they went. 13 In the midst of the living beings there was something that looked like burning coals of fire, like torches darting back and forth among the living beings. The fire was bright, and lightning was flashing from the fire. 14 And the living beings ran to and fro like bolts of lightning. 15 Now as I looked at the living beings, behold, there was one wheel on the earth beside the living beings, for each of the four of them. 16 The appearance of the wheels and their workmanship was like sparkling beryl, and all four of them had the same form, their appearance and workmanship being as if one wheel were within another. 17 Whenever they moved, they moved in any of their four directions without turning as they moved. 18 As for their rims they were lofty and awesome, and the rims of all four of them were full of eyes round about. 19 Whenever the living beings moved, the wheels moved with them. And whenever the living beings rose from the earth, the wheels rose also. 20 Wherever the spirit was about to go, they
would go in that direction. And the wheels rose close beside them; for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels. 21 Whenever those went, these went; and whenever those stood still, these stood still. And whenever those rose from the earth, the wheels rose close beside them; for the spirit of the living beings was in the wheels. 22 Now over the heads of the living beings there was something like an expanse, like the awesome gleam of crystal, spread out over their heads. 23 Under the expanse their wings were stretched out straight, one toward the other; each one also had two wings covering its body on the one side and on the other. 24 I also heard the sound of their wings like the sound of abundant waters as they went, like the voice of the Almighty, a sound of tumult like the sound of an army camp; whenever they stood still, they dropped their wings. 25 And there came a voice from above the expanse that was over their heads; whenever they stood still, they dropped their wings. 26 Now above the expanse that was over their heads there was something resembling a throne, like lapis lazuli in appearance; and on that which resembled a throne, high up, was a figure with the appearance of a man. 27 Then I noticed from the appearance of His loins and upward something like glowing metal that looked like fire all around within it, and from the appearance of His loins and downward I saw something like fire; and there was a radiance around Him. 28 As the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the surrounding radiance. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell on my face and heard a voice speaking.”

(Ezekiel 1:4-28)

A “mobile” star guided three astrologers from the region of Babylon to the birthplace of Jesus Christ, mentioned only in the Gospel of Matthew, but not in the others. Even the Gospel of Luke omits the presence of the star, which is interesting, as Luke—who also wrote the New Testament book of Acts of the Apostles—was a physician and historian.

There are some who believe the star never actually existed, as it is recorded in no other historical writings of the day. Judea was a Roman province, and they gave no record of the star and its fanciful movement through the skies. However, if these “wise men” saw the star “in the east,” or better, from the east, it would have taken months if not a year or two to decipher the star’s meaning and follow it to Judea.

Whatever the star was, it probably did not happen at one moment, on one night, but over the course of several months as a portent in the sky.

The appearances of both angels and demons were apparently relatively commonplace throughout the whole of biblically documented history.

“Devoutly to be wish’d. To die, to sleep;
To sleep: perchance to dream: ay, there’s the rub:
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause: there’s the respect
That makes calamity of so long life…”

—William Shakespeare,
Hamlet

Despite my many questions and ponderings, based on the things I have studied, read, and absorbed over the years, I still cling to my Judeo-Christian roots, and making the leap from God, angels, and demons to UFOs, extra-terrestrials, and aliens is an exponential one for me. Yet, there is so much information out there that would tend to substantiate the existence of UFOs and alien interruption in humanity, that it cannot be overlooked. If you are anything at all like me, these things make you pause, wonder, and recalculate the things you were taught.

I have always said, rather cheekily, that when it comes to biblical theology, I have not “thrown out the baby with the bathwater.” Were I to make an on-the-spot statement of faith, I would say that I adhere to the basic tenants of the Bible, and hold Jehovah God as the Supreme Being, as well as a faith in Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit. In my youth I was taught that the Bible is the “only authority for faith and
practice,” especially as a good, conservative Baptist. The further I grow in distance from my cloistered education and walled-in, “fishbowl” denominational practices—and by fishbowl, I mean that we believers congregationally sat inside our glass bowl of church while the rest of the world looked in—I am finding that there is so much more to the universe than what we were taught, so much more to God than is visible in a methodological Christian environment.

Then there is that stinging, lurking
fear
in the back of my mind that any deviation from my old faith practices is merely my sinful nature drawing me away from God and his dictates. The apostle Paul warned his acolyte Timothy that “…
the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear”
(2 Timothy 4:3). And I find myself wondering if my disillusionment with church organization and methodology was the catalyst I allowed to drag me from the “true faith.” I find that I struggle with what was engrained in my head and heart, versus what I research and discover.

I consider myself to be a thinker. But there are times when I may imbue my thinking with fear of becoming inviolate of religious mandate and practice.

Therein lies the rub: No matter which way you look at this enigma, no matter how much existential mumbo-jumbo we wish to ascribe to our existence in the universe, or how much power of initiative or self-illumination we think we may possess, we are still the products of someone else’s creation, and the toys of some superior being’s manipulation.

We are not our own.

Whether it was an almighty, omnipotent God who created us from the dust of the ground and breathed into our nostrils the breath of life, or some enslaving, experimenting race of interstellar breeders who interfered with out primordial DNA, we are the product—or by-product—of someone else’s hand. Are we God’s creations, to do with as he pleases, having been imbued with a free will that is truly only free until, like insurance, you actually use it? Or are we the descendants of an alien
science experiment—the genetic offspring of an extra-terrestrial race that was either acting in benevolence by imposing its superior DNA into a race of genetically intellectual gutter monkeys, or implementing an intent that was far more sinister and enslaving?

Or are we simply the products of chemical reactions and evolutionary mutation and development; slaves to overt eradication of anything spiritual in order to default to what is scientific and explainable by mathematics and scientific methodology?

Either way, it appears as if we, the human race, are simply someone else’s toys. And sometimes, it’s just cooler to think that we are the offspring of alien interruption as opposed to “sinners in the hands of an angry God.
¹
” I believe that is why the scientific/skeptical community eschews the spiritual and metaphysical: They simply want to seek the basic nuts and bolts without having to answer to a higher authority or deal with the implications of the soul and spirit. As I said quite a bit earlier, there are veils we simply have no ability to pierce, and both the scientific/skeptical circles and the religious/faith-based circles are dead set on operating on the basis of what simply cannot be seen or proved. One circle consciously disregards and eradicates it as part of the functional equation; the other incorporates it in every facet of life.

Whatever your leaping-off point, be it faith, spirit, science, skepticism, anthropology; whether religious, anti-religious, Christian, Jew, Atheist, animist, Pagan, Wiccan, true believer,
et cetera ad infinitum
—it doesn’t matter when it comes down to sifting through the evidences and the facts, such as they may be. What is clear is that there was some interruption in the human race, whether it can be hinged on the extinction of the dinosaurs, opening the way for human development (without being eaten), or microbal mutations that developed and evolved over eons, bringing the human race where it is today (with obviously much more evolving to do if we believe the chain of evolution is still moving along), or the hands of a Divine Creative force, whether you view that entity as a spiritual/religious one, or simply an entity that has
the supreme power over us. Or, perhaps, it was clean and simple as extra-terrestrial interruption of some sort.