A Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Enoch, Part 14

Now we come to a place where Enoch starts naming the archangels who were his guides in the realm of the spirit. The first five are in this chapter.

20.1 And these are the names of the Holy Angels who keep watch.
20.2 Uriel, one of the Holy Angels; namely the Holy Angel of the Spirits of Men.
20.4 Raguel, one of the Holy Angels; who takes vengeance on the world, and on the lights.
20.5 Michael, one of the Holy Angels, namely the one put in charge of the best part of humankind, in charge of the nation.
20.6 Saraqael, one of the Holy Angels; who is in charge of the spirits of men who cause the spirits to sin.
20.7 Gabriel, one of the Holy Angels, who is in charge of the Serpents, and the Garden, and the Cherubim.

If you add Phanuel, Raphael and Remiel, you will have the complete list of archangels as revealed in the Book of the Prophet Enoch. We shall see these last three introduced later. These eight are the most faithful of God’s angels, and as such He has given them more power (δύναμις) and authority (͗εξούσια) than the other angels. They have charge of thousands of other angels to assist them in the tasks God has set for them. If when you pray, you call upon them by name, you can enlist their aid in your spiritual struggles too.

In a past post on this blog, Ol’ Fuzzy published a prayer of invocation of the eight Archangels named in the Book of the Prophet Enoch. I am republishing the entire post here:

One of the photos I posted to my Facebook timeline is a prayer I wrote to invoke the eight archangels revealed by the book of Enoch. I have no doubt of the existence of such beings. The Eastern Orthodox Church lists several choirs of angels including for example seraphim, cherubim, archangels angels, throwns and more. The day to day messengers of Heaven are the angels, beings of pure spirit and the power of God behind them.

On the other side of the coin are fallen angels, who followed the anointed cherub into rebellion against God. There’s also a separate group of angels who had been appointed by God to oversee the nascent human society, but took advantage of the physical bodies given to them by God to have sexual relations with women and beget children who were hybrid aberrations. The “watchers,” as the translator of the book of Enoch renders it, are no longer having any direct effect on humanity, because they are being held incommunicado in a place of imprisonment where God withholds His presence.

But by far the most dangerous enemies of humanity are not these angels, who are beings of pure spirit, but the offspring of the watchers. These beings are not a part of God’s plan of creation. They are not welcome in Heaven. So they are confined to the Earth. The reason for the flood in the Bible, according to Enoch, is the existence of these of these Nephalim who were enslaving, oppressing and killing humans all across the Earth. And now they’re dead, but not gone.

Being half human, these Nephalim have souls just as we do, but with angelic spirits. As I said before, the human soul bridges the realms of matter and spirit. But unlike humans, Nephalim are barred from Heaven because they’re not of God, from God or in the image of God. This brings out huge resentments between these Nephs and humanity. Face it they hate us. They want us dead. They have all the power of a human soul, and four and a half thousand years of practice in using it.

That is why God has given His angels charge over His chosen. They are sent to protect us from the fallen angels, yes. But more important, they help us resist the Nephalim. I have developed the prayer if invocation of the Archangels as an acknowledgment of their assistance, and a plea for their specific aid within their realms of responsibility. Enoch lays out these realms of responsibility and I will try to explain them as I understand it.

Michael, whose name means “Who Is Like God,” is the warrior of the Archangels. Michael is associated with the East. He leads several legions of lessor angels in battle on our behalf. I invoke Michael for protection, especially from spiritual evil. When invoking Michael, I face East and say, “Holy Archangel Michael, protect me from all harm, spiritual, emotional and physical.”

Raphael, whose name means “Healing of God,” is the physician of the Archangels. He is responsible for delivering the healing and wellness God has ordained for us. Raphael is associated with the South. He leads angels who know how to eliminate the spiritual causes of physical and mental illnesses. I invoke Raphael for health and wellness of my spirit, mind and body. When invoking Raphael, I face South and say, “Holy Archangel Raphael, bring God’s healing to my body, soul and spirit.”

Gabriel, whose name means “Man of God,” is the herald of the Archangels. He is responsible for delivering the revelation of God to humanity. Gabriel is associated with the West. When I invoke Gabriel, I face West and say, “Holy Archangel Gabriel, enlighten me with God’s wisdom in my heart.”

Uriel, whose name means “Flame of God,” is the executioner of the Archangels. Often called the Angel of Death, he is responsible for removing the physical life of those whom God has deemed must die. He also aids us in ridding ourselves of those habits of sin of which we wish to be rid. Uriel is associated with the North. When I invoke Uriel, I face North and say, “Holy Archangel Uriel, remove that which is sin from within me.”

Raguel, whose name means “Friend of God,” is the Archangel in charge of the stars and planets. He is associated with the sky. When invoking Raguel, I turn to the East and look up and say, “Holy Archangel Raguel, guard my thoughts from error from above.”

Saraqael, whose name appears only in the book of Enoch and doesn’t appear in my dictionary, is the prison warden of the Archangels. Enoch writes he is in charge of the prison where the watchers are held until the day of judgment. He is associated with the underworld. When invoking Saraqael, I look down and say, “Holy Archangel Saraqael, guard my feelings from temptation from below.”

Phanuel, whose name means “Face of God,” is the Archangel in charge of repentance. He assists us to align our thoughts with the will of God. When I invoke the Archangel Phanuel, I look inward and say, “Holy Archangel Phanuel, assist me to repent and change the way I think.”

Remiel, who is only named in the Book of Enoch and therefore not in my dictionary, is the Archangel in charge of resurrection. When I invoke the Archangel Remiel, I look through to Heaven and say, “Holy Archangel Remiel, raise my soul to the thrown of grace.”

I had posted a photo of this prayer on my timeline on Facebook. But I am reprinting it below for all those who do not follow me on Facebook. I use this as a lead in to my daily prayers, so I can have angelic assistance when I pray.

Holy Archangel Michael, protect me from all harm, physical, mental and spiritual.

Holy Archangel Raphael, bring God’s healing to my body, soul and spirit.

Holy Archangel Gabriel, enlighten me with God’s wisdom in my heart.

Holy Archangel Uriel, remove that which is sin from withing me.

Holy Archangel Raguel, guard my thoughts from error from above.

Holy Archangel Saraqael, guard my feelings from temptation from below.

Holy Archangel Phanuel, assist me to repent and change the way I think

Holy Archangel Remiel, raise my soul to the thrown of grace.

Holy angels of God, surround me.

Holy angels of God, defend me.

Holy angels of God, pray for me to the Lord our God for forgiveness of my sins.

I use this prayer of invocation every time I set down to pray in any form, for protection in the realm of the spirit as well as the realm of matter. I urge all Christians to use the authority given to us by Jesus to invoke these powerful aides in your own spiritual battles. These beings were created by God for the purpose of ministering, and given charge by Him to minister to us.

Ol’ Fuzzy is not employable and was denied for disability benefits. The only thing I have is the blogs. But I don’t qualify for ads on the blogs until there is enough traffic on the blogs to interest advertisers (20,000 hits per month). If you like the scribbles I post, please help me keep it going. First, share, share, share. The more people who know about the blogs, the more who will visit them. And you can leave me a gratuity by dropping a buck or two in Ol' Fuzzy's Tip Jar. This is a PayPal account I opened on Wednesday, April 5, 2017.

A Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Enoch, Part 13

The rest of Enoch’s vision of the watchers is an explanation from the Holy Archangel Uriel. It’s quite short, so I may do some of chapter twenty too.

19.1 And Uriel said to me: 'The spirits of the Angels who were promiscuous with women will stand here; and they, assuming many forms, made men unclean and will lead men astray so that they sacrifice to demons as gods. And they will stand there until the great judgment day, on which they will be judged, so that an end will be made of them.
19.2 And their wives, having led astray the Angels of Heaven, will become peaceful
19.3 And I, Enoch, alone saw the sight, the ends of everything; and no man has seen what I have seen.

Uriel is sometimes referred to as The Angel of Death, because God supposedly sent him to Egypt to slay the firstborn of every household where the doorposts were not marked by the blood of the lamb. Uriel gives Enoch a clue to the identity of the many formed idols and demons that plague the world. The watchers that rebelled were able to change their form into whatever they desired. Humans being gullible and innocent, were easy to fool with the smoke and mirrors of these illusions. He also shows the purpose of the watchers, just like any politician, is to be worshiped by the common humans that lived on the Earth in those days, just as it is for their offspring today.

Don’t be fooled by lying spirits that only want your destruction. There is only One worthy of your worship, the One Who created all that is. If you allow yourself to be fooled into worshiping these dead spirits, dead in more ways than one, you risk the death of your own spirit and the eternal separation of your soul from the presence of the Most High God. Since God is the source of all life, eternal separation from Him is the worst kind of death.

I realize that today’s post is a bit short, but I wanted to get one on the board today, and there wasn’t enough time to do a large passage. The coming week is going to be a busy on for Ol’ Fuzzy, so the posts will also be short for a while.

Ol’ Fuzzy is not employable and was denied for disability benefits. The only thing I have is the blogs. But I don’t qualify for ads on the blogs until there is enough traffic on the blogs to interest advertisers (20,000 hits per month). If you like the scribbles I post, please help me keep it going. First, share, share, share. The more people who know about the blogs, the more who will visit them. And you can leave me a gratuity by dropping a buck or two in Ol' Fuzzy's Tip Jar. This is a PayPal account I opened on Wednesday, April 5, 2017.

A Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Enoch, Part 12

Now let’s pay attention to the sights Enoch reports seeing on his spiritual journey.

18.1 And I saw the storehouses of all the winds, and I saw how with them He has adorned all creation, and I saw the foundations of the Earth.
18.2 And I saw the cornerstone of the Earth. And I saw the four winds which support the Earth and the Sky.
18.3 And I saw how the winds stretch out the height of Heaven, and how they position themselves between Heaven and Earth; they are the Pillars of Heaven.
18.4 And I saw the winds which turn the sky and cause the disc of the Sun and all the stars to set.
18.5 And I saw the winds on the Earth which support the clouds and I saw the paths of the Angels. I saw at the end of the Earth; the firmament of Heaven above.
18.6 And I went towards the south, and it was burning day and night, where there were seven mountains Of precious stones, three towards the east and three towards the south.
18.7 And those towards the east were of coloured stone, and one was of pearl, and one of healing stone; and those towards the south, of red stone.
18.8 And the middle one reached to Heaven, like the throne of the Lord, of stibium, and the top of the throne was of sapphire.
18.9 And I saw a burning fire, and what was in all the mountains.
18.10 And I saw a place there, beyond the great earth; there the waters gathered together.
18.11 And I saw a deep chasm of the earth, with pillars of heavenly fire, and I saw among them fiery pillars of Heaven, which were falling, and as regards both height and depth, they were immeasurable.
18.12 And beyond this chasm, I saw a place, and it had neither the sky above it, nor the foundation of earth below it; there was no water on it, and no birds, but it was a desert place.
18.13 And a terrible thing I saw there, seven stars, like great burning mountains.
18.14 And like a spirit questioning me, the Angel said: 'This is the place of the end of Heaven and Earth; this is the prison for the Stars of Heaven and the Host of Heaven.
18.15 And the stars which roll over the fire, these are the ones which transgressed the command of the Lord, from the beginning of their rising, because they did not come out at their proper times.
18.16 And He was angry with them, and bound them until the time of the consummation of their sin, in the Year of Mystery."

This passage is filled with metaphor. Remember, Enoch is not giving us a lesson in astrophysics, but a description of what he saw in the spiritual realm. So we can’t criticize him for his poor understanding of physical cosmology, he wasn’t in the physical world at the time. Verses one to five are an overview of the trip to the place of imprisonment for the angels who transgressed against God. In another translation, the seven mountains in verses six ans seven are said to be made of metal. That was the basis for Hermetic alchemy. The alchemists claim that the metals each represent stages of spiritual awakening and growth. But anyone who thinks he can make himself like God without divine intervention is fooling himself in the first place. This hubris was the sin of Lucifer.

Verses eight and nine describe the throne of God. Apparently the stibium is the transliteration of the Ethiopian Coptic word for the Hebrew word shaboath. One of the titles of the Most High God is Lord of Shaboath, which we translate into the Lord of Hosts. The burning fire is a good metaphor for the ever luminescent brilliance of the uncreated light of God. This is the light that shone from Jesus on Mount Tabor in Judea when He was transfigured in the Gospels at the Feast of Tabernacles.

Verse eleven contains a description of angels in their natural form, ‘pillars of heavenly fire.’ Remember Enoch’s description of angels in the previous chapter changing form a form of fire into an androgynous form. So the pillars of fire he saw standing around to chasm are the legions of Saraqael, the guardian of the abyss. The pillars he saw falling from Heaven are the angels being cast into prison to await judgment in the Day of Judgment. The book interprets itself if you pay attention.

The strange turn of phrase in verse eighteen, ‘like a spirit questioning me,’ should probably be rendered ‘like an angel teaching me.’ The practice of teaching by asking the student questions is far older than Socrates and his Academy. We still use this method of teaching in the older catechisms of the Eastern Orthodox Church. The wordκατεχίσμος from which we get our English word catechism is Greek for teaching with questions and answers.

Enoch is the first author to refer to angels as stars of heaven. In their natural form, angels shine bright like stars and heaven is another word for sky. So the metaphor fits quite naturally. He tells us the things the angel said about those angels in the abyss or chasm. They are bound until the ‘Day of the Consummation of their sin in the Year of Mystery.’ Why is it called the Year of Mystery? God has not revealed to anyone when that judgment shall be, only that it is coming. Therefore, the exact time remains a mystery until it arrives. We have been given signs to watch for, but dates and hours are not in the prophecies.

It is obvious from this passage that this spiritual chasm, this abyss, was not created for humanity. But God will allow humans to go there if they really want to get away from Him. I do not see the separation of those who hate God from His presence as a vindictive punishment, but rather as a mercy for those who cannot abide in the eternal presence of absolute holiness and purest love. Hell, the place Dante wrote about, is mostly fictitious. The fires of hell are the despair and loathing of the ones who are sent there. And the description that Jesus Gave is echoed in Enoch’s description, ‘outer darkness where there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.’

Since this is not the planned end for humanity, why would anyone willingly put himself there? If you are in rebellion to the Creator of the universes, it’s past time for you to change the way you think. Repent and reunite with the One Who loves you enough to die for you salvation from the bondage of sin and death. You don’t have to slide down the slippery slope of the chasm. You can climb the middle mountain to the very throne of the Most High. It’s your choice.

Ol’ Fuzzy is not employable and was denied for disability benefits. The only thing I have is the blogs. But I don’t qualify for ads on the blogs until there is enough traffic on the blogs to interest advertisers (20,000 hits per month). If you like the scribbles I post, please help me keep it going. First, share, share, share. The more people who know about the blogs, the more who will visit them. And you can leave me a gratuity by dropping a buck or two in Ol' Fuzzy's Tip Jar. This is a PayPal account I opened on Wednesday, April 5, 2017.

A Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Enoch, Part 11

We saw Enoch’s dream vision of God’s answer to the petition of the watchers. So where does Enoch go next?

17.1 And they took me to a place where they were like burning fire, and, when they wished, they made themselves look like men.
17.2 And they led me to a place of storm, and to a mountain, the tip of whose summit reached to Heaven.
17.3 And I saw lighted places, and thunder in the outermost ends, in its depths a bow Of fire, and arrows and their quivers, and a sword Of fire, and all the flashes of lightning.
17.4 And they took me to the Water of Life, as it is called, and to the Fire of the West, which receives every setting of the Sun.
17.5 And I came to a river of fire, whose fire flows like water, and pours out into the Great Sea, which is towards the west.
17.6 And I saw all the great rivers, and I reached the Great Darkness, and went where all flesh walks.
17.7 And I saw the Mountains of the Darkness of Winter and the place where the water of all the deeps pours out.
17.8 And I saw the mouths of all the rivers of the Earth, and the mouth of the deep.

Enoch says the watchers or some other angels with him took him on a spiritual walkabout. The angels at first appeared to Enoch as beings of fire. This is obviously their normal spiritual form. In the realm of the spirit, form is mutable, people take the form they normally associate with themselves unless they have learned, like the angels, to take on an alternate form of their own choosing. Spiritual form is a function of self image.

This commentator is unsure if Enoch is giving an overview here of a later passage or describing a separate vision. Either way, he tells of a trip that he took in the spirit world to explore spiritual topology. This is something Enoch did many times with different angels at different times. Each time Enoch saw something different. Many commentators have tried to interpret the visions with esoteric systems of symbology that satisfy their personal agendas. My agenda is to promote the book on its own face and not read anything else into it.

The people who try to put some physical meaning to the spiritual visions are either denying the reality of the spiritual world or the veracity of the book. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t think that magic and spell craft are fake. But I believe that if you take Enoch at his word, you will understand the grave spiritual and psychoid dangers of using any magic system, because they’re all beholden to the spirits of dead Nephalim. Instead of placing magic based metaphors over the things Enoch saw let’s interpret Enoch’s visions in the light of God’s subsequent revelation to humanity and the rest of the book that tries to explain these things.

Enoch didn’t try to wander around the spirit world without a guide from that world. Modern shaman always use a spirit guide. My caveat is that you must be careful to vett your spirit guide most carefully. Enoch’s guides were all angels from Heaven. Today there are many spirits who clamor for the attention of the spiritual traveler. Do not let yourself be deceived by the spirits of dead Nephalim or fallen angels. These entities desire nothing less that the eradication of humanity. Why would you trust your spiritual safety to a spirit who wants you dead? Instead, place your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and the angels who serve Him. They want you to grow to your fullest spiritual potential.

Ol’ Fuzzy is not employable and was denied for disability benefits. The only thing I have is the blogs. But I don’t qualify for ads on the blogs until there is enough traffic on the blogs to interest advertisers (20,000 hits per month). If you like the scribbles I post, please help me keep it going. First, share, share, share. The more people who know about the blogs, the more who will visit them. And you can leave me a gratuity by dropping a buck or two in Ol' Fuzzy's Tip Jar. This is a PayPal account I opened on Wednesday, April 5, 2017.

A Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Enoch, Part 10

We saw Enoch travel to the place in the spirit realm where the watchers are confined and deliver God’s message of rebuke, then in turn write down their petition for mercy which he then delivered to God in prayer and received a vision in his dream that night that there could be no mercy for the watchers. What happens next? Enoch goes into greater detail on the specifics of the trip and the message.

14.1 This book is the word of righteousness, and of reproof, for the Watchers who are from Eternity; as the Holy and Great One commanded in that vision.
14.21 saw in my sleep what I will now tell, with the tongue of flesh, and with my breath, which the Great One has given men in the mouth, so that they might speak with it, and understand with the heart.
14.3 As He has created, and appointed, men to understand the word Of knowledge, so He created and appointed me to reprove the Watchers, the sons of Heaven.
14.4 And I wrote out your petition, but in my vision, thus it appeared, that your petition would not be granted to you, for all the days of eternity; and complete judgment has been decreed against you, and you will not have peace.
14.5 And from now on, you will not ascend into Heaven, for all eternity, and it has been decreed that you will be bound on Earth for all the days of eternity.
14.6 And before this, you will have seen the destruction of your beloved sons, and you will not be able to enjoy them, but they will fall before you by the sword.
14.7 And your petition will not be granted in respect of them or in respect of yourselves. And while you weep and supplicate you do not speak a single word from the writings which I have written.
14.8 And the vision appeared to me, as follows: - Behold; clouds called me in the vision, and mist called me. And the path of the stars, and flashes of lightning, hastened me and drove me. And in the vision winds caused me to fly, and hastened me, and lifted me up into the Sky.
14.9 And I proceeded until I came near a wall which was made of hailstones, and a tongue of fire surrounded it, and it began to make me afraid.
14.10 And I went into the tongue of fire and came near to a large house, which was built of hailstones, and the wall of that house was like a mosaic of hailstones and its floor was snow.
14.11 Its roof was like the path of the stars and flashes of lightning, and among them was fiery cherubim, and their sky was like water.
14.12 And there was a fire burning around its wall and its door was ablaze with fire.
14.13 And I went into that house, and it was as hot as fire and as cold as snow, and there was neither pleasure nor life in it. Fear covered me and trembling took hold of me.
14.14 And as I was shaking and trembling, I fell on my face.
14.15 And I saw in the vision, and behold, another house which was larger than the former and all its doors were open before me, and it was built of a tongue of fire.
14.16 And in everything, it so excelled in glory and splendor and size, so that I am unable to describe to you its glory and its size.
14.17 And its floor was fire, and above lightning and the path of the stars, and its roof also was a burning fire.
14.18 And I looked, and I saw in it, a high throne, and its appearance was like ice, and its surrounds like the shining Sun and the sound of cherubim.
14.19 And from underneath the high throne there flowed out rivers of fire so that it was impossible to look at it.
14.20 And He who is Great in Glory sat upon it, and his raiment was brighter than the Sun, and whiter than any snow.
14.21 And no Angel could enter, and at the appearance of the face of Him who is Honoured and Praised, no creature Of flesh could look.
14.22 A sea of fire burnt around Him, and a great fire stood in front of Him, and none of those around Him came near to Him. Ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him but He needed no Holy Council.
14.23 And the Holy Ones who were near to Him did not leave by night or day and did not depart from Him.
14.24 And until then I had a covering on my face, as I trembled. And the Lord called me with his own mouth, and said to me: "Come here, Enoch, to my Holy Word."
14.25 And He lifted me up and brought me near to the door. And I looked, with my face down.
15.1 And He answered me, and said to me with His voice: "Hear! Do not be afraid, Enoch, you righteous man, and scribe of righteousness. Come here and hear my voice.
15.2 And go say to the Watchers of Heaven, who sent you to petition on their behalf: You ought to petition on behalf of men, not men on behalf of you.
15.3 Why have you left the High, Holy and Eternal Heaven, and lain with women, and become unclean with the daughters of men, and taken wives for yourselves, and done as the sons of the earth, and begotten giant sons?
15.4 And you were spiritual, Holy, living an eternal life, but you became unclean upon the women, and begot children through the blood of flesh, and lusted after the blood of men, and produced flesh and blood, as they do, who die and are destroyed.
15.5 And for this reason I give men wives; so that they might sow seed in them, and so that children might be born by them, so that deeds might be done on the Earth.
15.6 But you, formerly, were spiritual, living an eternal, immortal life, for all the generations of the world.
15.7 For this reason I did not arrange wives for you; because the dwelling of the spiritual ones is in Heaven.
15.8 And now, the giants who were born from body and flesh will be called Evil Spirits on the Earth, and on the Earth will be their dwelling.
15.9 And evil spirits came out from their flesh, because from above they were created, from the Holy Watchers was their origin and first foundation. Evil spirits they will be on Earth and 'Spirits of the Evil Ones' they will be called.
15.10 And the dwelling of the Spirits of Heaven is Heaven, but the dwelling of the spirits of the Earth, who were born on the Earth, is Earth.
15.11 And the spirits of the giants do wrong, are corrupt, attack, fight, break on the Earth, and cause sorrow. And they eat no food, do not thirst, and am not observed.
15.12 And these spirits will rise against the sons of men, and against the women, because they came out of them during the days of slaughter and destruction.
16.1 And the death of the giants, wherever the spirits have gone out from their bodies, their flesh will be destroyed, before the Judgment. Thus they will be destroyed until the Day of the Great Consummation is accomplished, upon the Great Age, upon the Watchers and the impious
ones. "
16.2 And now to the Watchers, who sent you to petition on their behalf, who were formerly in Heaven:
16.3 "You were in Heaven but its secrets had not yet been revealed to you; and a worthless mystery you knew. This you made known to women, in the hardness of your hearts. And through this mystery the women and the men cause evil to increase on the Earth.
16.4 Say to them therefore: "You will not have peace."

Sometimes typographical errors will crop up in my text version of the Book of the Prophet Enoch because I am using a very simple OCR application that doesn’t quite know how to read. It isn’t state of the art, but you get what you pay for, and it was free.

But let’s look at this huge passage of Enoch’s vision and his travels in the spirit world. Chapter fourteen is spent explaining the trip and the settings in the dream vision. Enoch is nothing if he is not thoroughly descriptive. His lack of reference is often assumed by the scholars who try to interpret the book according to their own theories and conceits. But remember that Enoch already told us the watchers taught men. Among the things taught was the making of glass. So Enoch knew the difference between ice and glass. If you find a commentary in which the scholar tells you that Enoch mistook a glass wall for ice, you can believe the person writing it does not believe in God.

This is a record of Enoch’s report to the watchers on his vision. So these words are the same as heard by the ones awaiting judgment. It is a harsh judgment Enoch reported to them, but they had many advantages that humans do not have. They were resident in Heaven, in the presence of the Most High God. They saw His glory on a regular basis. They knew He has a plan for creation, if not the particulars of that plan. And most of all, they had a commission from God to care for humanity. An interesting note: the Greek word we translate as bishop, ̛επίσκοπος (episcopos) literally means one who watches or looks upon. These angels were to be bishops for humans.

So God actually set the standard we are to follow for wrongdoing by clergy in His judgment of the watchers. Let’s look at that judgment after we examine Enoch’s interpretation of the throne room of God. Enoch said he was called by the clouds and the mist. He was caught up into the sky in his dream vision. And he came to a wall of hailstones surrounded by tongues of fire. There are others who have studied the lore of symbology who can explain better than I the significance of the ice and fire. But my take is that the fire represents the Holy Spirit. I base this on the description of the “tongues of fire” that came upon the five hundred in the upper room of Mark’s mother’s house the Day of Pentecost in the second chapter of Acts.

Enoch says he saw a series of houses or structures. Speculation among those who don’t want to believe that Enoch saw a vision of a spiritual reality runs from the mundane to the fantastic. Some scholars speculate that Enoch was taken into a pair of different space ships. I find that concept less credible than the idea of a transcendent being enthroned in Heaven and giving visions to people who love Him. Remember, Enoch tells us that this is a vision within a dream. Enoch was not physically present in Heaven at this time, and people who try to put a physical, material interpretation on this vision are being disingenuous. Some of my readers with a background in interpretation of dreams ought to try their hand at this one, and leave a comment at the end of the blog post so I too can benefit.

Enoch tells us three times and more that he was afraid to look at the face of God. Yet God called him to the throne as he would call a friend or a favorite child. Enoch’s fear in the face of utter holiness is a lesson to us. We act so blaze in the presence of the Most High God that He ought to be offended, but He is not. There is no being in all of creation who has a tenth of the power and majesty of the Creator. Enoch’s trepidation at being in the Presence is justified. We Christians of the modern age ought to remember the meaning of the word reverence.

Let us now look at the meat of the message God gave to Enoch for the watchers, the angels who had been charged with caring for humanity and corrupted humanity instead. God told the watchers through Enoch that they were eternally barred from Heaven, a punishment not even Satan suffers (see Job 2:1). The watchers are imprisoned in a spiritual abyss in the vicinity of Earth, and had to watch their offspring, the Nephalim, kill each other and then the survivors die in the flood. But God says the Nephalim will be known among men as “evil spirits.” I have not seen the Septuagint translation of this passage, and I have no knowledge of the Ethiopian Coptic language that is the only complete version of the book to survive the centuries, but I am sure that the Greek word translated here as evil spirits in the Coptic tongue is the word we translate as demons.

God told the watchers through Enoch that their offspring will be confined to the Earth because they sprung from the Earth. And the watchers who knew holiness and lived in Heaven will have no mercy because they were tempted by physical things even though they were spiritual beings, and they corrupted not only themselves but the very humans they were charged with keeping safe and holy. Both the watchers and their children are here, the former imprisoned until judgment and the latter running amok among humanity, but as demons and not able to directly harm the physical world any more. The mysteries of magic taught by the watchers, while often practical and efficacious, were imperfect because God’s plan for the salvation of humanity is superior. Therefore, God calls them worthless, because they have not the power to save one from the bondage to sin and death.

Perhaps you have made contact with a spirit who promised you great power and wealth if you just follow its instructions. Do not be fooled by those lies. The power may be real, as far as it goes, but the power and wealth are fleeting, temporal and lead to damnation. The greater power of God unto salvation is freely given to all who ask Him in the Name of Jesus Christ. The power to destroy is heady and calls to the nihilist in our sinful souls. But the power to create ex nihilo far surpasses the power to destroy what is already created, and that power is the same as the power that delivers humanity from the bondage of sin and death.

Reject all advances from spirits that tempt you to power and wealth that exist only in this world. The temporary existence of the world in which we live is a limit upon any power that stems from it. The power that formed all worlds on the other hand is eternal, timeless and never-ending. Receive that power instead.

Ol’ Fuzzy is not employable and was denied for disability benefits. The only thing I have is the blogs. But I don’t qualify for ads on the blogs until there is enough traffic on the blogs to interest advertisers (20,000 hits per month). If you like the scribbles I post, please help me keep it going. First, share, share, share. The more people who know about the blogs, the more who will visit them. And you can leave me a gratuity by dropping a buck or two in Ol' Fuzzy's Tip Jar. This is a PayPal account I opened on Wednesday, April 5, 2017.

A Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Enoch, Part 9

Now let’s look at the fruit of Enoch’s visit to the fallen angels, the Watchers. Today’s post will be a bit shorter than other recent posts.

13.3 And then I went and spoke to them all together, and they were all afraid; fear and trembling seized them.
13.4 And they asked me to write out for them the record of a petition, so that they might receive forgiveness, and to take a record of their petition up to the Lord in Heaven.
13.5 For they were not able, from then on, to speak, and they did not raise their eyes to Heaven, out of shame for the sins, for which they had been condemned.
13.6 And then I wrote out the record Of their petition, and their supplication in regard to their spirits, and the deeds of each one of them, and in regard to what they asked; that they should obtain absolution and forbearance.
13.7 And I went and sat down by the waters of Dan, in Dan, which is southwest of Hermon; and I read out the record of their petition, until I fell asleep.
13.8 And behold a dream came to me, and visions fell upon me, and I saw a vision of wrath; that I should speak to the sons of Heaven and reprove them.
13.9 And I woke up and went to them, and they were all sitting gathered together as they mourned, in Ubelseyael, which is between Lebanon and Senir, with their faces covered.
13.10 And I spoke in front of them all; the visions that I had seen in my sleep, and I began to speak these words to reprove the Watchers of Heaven.

Enoch did as God directed and went to the prison of the watchers to reprove them for their sins against God and humanity. And what a surprise when the very angels who had been charged with caring for humans asked a human to intercede for them with God for forgiveness. God’s mercy must have been known to them or they would never have tried to obtain mercy for such a heinous crime. They pleaded with Enoch to place their appeal before the Holiest of Holies.

These beings ought to have been praying for Enoch, placing Enoch’s petitions before God in Heaven. Instead they were incarcerated justly to await judgment. So Enoch dutifully wrote out their petition and went to his secret place of prayer to read it out to God on His Throne. God swiftly answered Enoch’s prayer of intercession with a vision in a dream. What he saw and heard in his dream was for the watchers, and Enoch dutifully returned to their spiritual prison to report the reply of the Most High.

Enoch not only walked a far distance to get to his personal prayer spot and back to his workplace, he did a lot of traveling in the spirit realm. Remember that the flood had not yet occurred, and the Nephalim were still mostly alive, but for the ones who had been murdered by their fellow giants. Therefore, spirit world travel was not so perilous as it is today. According to Andy McCracken, some scholars estimate that the flood happened around 15,000 BC. That is more than 17,000 years ago. So the Nephalim have had a lot of time to learn and practice how to do evil in their current state. I do not encourage anyone to try to enter the spirit world without years of practice and the protection of the Blood of Christ. These powerful beings who once lorded over humans in the most tyrannical way and lost their lives of nihilistic orgy now hate us with the most unholy zeal. If you go where they live, you had better be prepared to face their wrath.

Do you like to dabble in astral travel? Is the world of the spirit beckoning to you for a visit? There is a good reason that shamans today don’t begin to travel the world of the spirit until they have cleansed themselves, purified their hearts, purged themselves of all evil thoughts and intentions, and fasted for three or more days. Those of us who place our trust in Jesus our Lord ought to be doing these things regularly anyway. But a Christian has an advantage in the realm of the spirit that a shaman has not, the protection of the Son of Man over his soul.

Don’t play in the playground of the Nephalim unless you are a greater giant than they are.

Ol’ Fuzzy is not employable and was denied for disability benefits. The only thing I have is the blogs. But I don’t qualify for ads on the blogs until there is enough traffic on the blogs to interest advertisers (20,000 hits per month). If you like the scribbles I post, please help me keep it going. First, share, share, share. The more people who know about the blogs, the more who will visit them. And you can leave me a gratuity by dropping a buck or two in Ol' Fuzzy's Tip Jar. This is a PayPal account I opened on Wednesday, April 5, 2017.

A Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Enoch, Part 8

We saw Enoch’s vision of the evils of the watchers and their offspring, and we saw Enoch’s vision of the blessings of God toward the righteous faithful. Now let’s see where Enoch’s vision leads.

12.1 And then Enoch disappeared and none of the sons of men knew where he was hidden, where he was, or what had happened.
12.2 And all his doings were with the Holy Ones, and with the Watchers, in his days.
12.3 And I Enoch, was blessing the Great Lord and the King of Eternity. And behold, the Watchers called to me - Enoch the scribe - and said to me:
12.4 "Enoch, scribe of righteousness. Go and inform the Watchers of Heaven, who have left the High Heaven and the Holy Eternal Place, and have corrupted themselves with women, and have done as the sons of men do and have taken wives for themselves, and have become completely corrupt on the earth.
12.5 They will have on Earth, neither peace, nor forgiveness of sin, for they will not rejoice in their sons.
12.6 The slaughter of their beloved ones they will see; and over the destruction of their sons they will lament and petition forever. But they will have neither mercy nor peace."
13.1 And Enoch went and said to Azazel: "You will not have peace. A severe sentence has come out against you that you should be bound.
13.2 And you will have neither rest nor mercy, nor the granting of any petitions, because of the wrong which you have taught, and because of all the works of blasphemy and wrong and sin which you have shown to the sons of men."

Here we see Enoch being sent to the watchers, who abrogated their trust from God, to deceive and corrupt humanity with knowledge of many different ways to sin against God and His creation. What a horrible condemnation these fallen angels faced. Locked away in a place of spiritual confinement, they had to watch their unholy offspring kill each other and the survivors drown in the flood. Like all parents, they desired for their offspring to grow and flourish. But because of the evil the watchers taught and the violent evil of their children, they were condemned by God.

In verse four of the twelfth chapter, you can see the accusation God brought against these angels. They left their place in Heaven, in Eternity; they corrupted themselves and the women they took for wives; and they became completely corrupt upon the Earth. The sins of the watchers are enumerated in other places more completely, but the oath they made against God was the beginning of their end. The old proverb says that misery loves company, and the leaders of these angels loved to drag their charges into perdition with them.

But the other side of the coin shows the mercy of God in the confinement of the watchers, because their oath bound them to do only evil in the Earth. Humanity was in danger of annihilation. The Nephalim were robbing them of their food and livelihood, and if they had no food or trade goods, the Nephalim ate them. Then there was the spread of war craft and witchcraft. Humans were killing and cursing each other on a scale not realized again in history until the dawn of the Twentieth Century. Now we have come full circle in the ways of death. We have developed our capacity for waging war to the extreme. And we must like it, because in every generation since 1900, a war has broken out that threatened annihilation for a major portion of the human race.

This is the example Jesus held up to us for the evil of the end of the age, the days of Noah. With the Nephalim unable to directly consume a human or his goods, they work today through proxies, most of whom are blissfully unaware of their status as slaves to dead hybrids of angel and human. But you can see the work of the Nephalim in the actions of people who amass great wealth at the expense of those who cannot afford to give it to them, or the fanatics who kill, loot, and destroy in the name of their pet dogma. The name we use for this is demonization. Yet the spiritual entities we call demons once walked the Earth as Nephalim, giants.

Have you ever been tempted to take advantage of someone who could not afford to lose what you would deprive them of? Did you ever lash out in rage at someone who didn’t deserve it? If you answered yes to either question, you have been under the influence of a Nephali. You don’t need to be completely possessed by a demon to be influenced by one. Although many of the people diagnosed with psychological disorders are actually possessed by these spirits, they have found that working in the background, giving people evil thoughts and desires, brings them greater reward for their efforts.

Do not be deceived by the spirit of a dead Nephali. Any thought or urge that you don’t recognize as natural to you is usually from them. They lie to you and hide their acts by making you believe it’s from you own mind. But it’s not. Your mind, the part of your soul wherein your volition, reason and feelings reside, is the battleground in a cosmic-scale war in the spirit realm. If you don’t hold the line, the enemies of your soul will pull you down with them to the judgment God has reserved for them in the end of the age. Do not give them a place in your soul.

Ol’ Fuzzy is not employable and was denied for disability benefits. The only thing I have is the blogs. But I don’t qualify for ads on the blogs until there is enough traffic on the blogs to interest advertisers (20,000 hits per month). If you like the scribbles I post, please help me keep it going. First, share, share, share. The more people who know about the blogs, the more who will visit them. And you can leave me a gratuity by dropping a buck or two in Ol' Fuzzy's Tip Jar. This is a PayPal account I opened on Wednesday, April 5, 2017.

A Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Enoch, Part 7

Now look at the blessings God promised Enoch would come after the flood. It is a relief to read of peace and prosperity after all that death and destruction that went before.

10.17 And now all the righteous will be humble, and will live until they beget thousands. And all the days of their youth, and their sabbaths, they will fulfill in peace.

10.18 And in those days the whole earth will be tilled in righteousness and all of it will be planted with trees; and it will be filled with blessing.

10.19 And all the pleasant trees they will plant on it and they will plant on it vines. And the vine that is planted on it will produce fruit in abundance; and every seed that is sown on it, each measure will produce a thousand, and each measure of olives will produce ten baths of oil.

10.20 And you cleanse the Earth from all wrong, and from all iniquity, and from all sin, and from all impiety, and from all the uncleanness which is brought about on the earth.

10.21 And all the sons of men shall be righteous, and all the nations shall serve and bless me and all shall worship me.

10.22 And the Earth will be cleansed from all corruption, and from all sin, and from all wrath, and from all torment; and I will not again send a flood upon it, for all generations, forever.

11.1 And in those days, I will open the Storehouses of Blessing, which are in Heaven, so that I may send them down upon the Earth, upon the work, and upon the toil, of the sons of men.

11.2 Peace and truth will be united, for all the days of eternity, and for all the generations of eternity.

That is a beautiful picture, and it lasted up to the point when Nimrod built all the Sumerian cities. That is when the present rebellion began afresh. And things have waxed and waned over the centuries. Yet the evil of the Nephalim has not quite been equaled in the Earth since the flood. It seems to this commentator that the complete fulfillment of this prophecy of peace and plenty will not come to pass until God the Son is ruling on the Earth.

Remember, Enoch lived before the flood, and his grandson, Noah is the one who built the Ark after Enoch had been translated for about forty years. So many of the things mentioned in the Book of the Prophet Enoch that scholastic interpreters claim proves the book was written much later were actually visions that Enoch had to interpret and record. Note also that the book has been translated at least five times to produce our English language version. It was written in the antediluvian language, translated into paleo-semetic by Shem or his sons, translated into Old Hebrew by the Israelites, translated into Greek by the Alexandrian Jewish scholars who prepared the Septuagint for Ptolemy, translated into Ethiopian Coptic by the Syrian monks who brought the book to Ethiopia, and finally into English by several translators, the best of whom is Andrew McCracken. Therefore, we can expect there are many places where our modern English version of this book does not line up with the expectations of the original author.

That being said, it is still a wonder that it lines up so well with what we know of the times and the happenings since. As I go along, I shall expound upon the visions Enoch recorded that prophecy about the nation of Israel and the times we live in today. But this passage is obviously referring to the world that comes after the end of the age, not the post-diluvian times of Ham, Shem and Japheth. This should in no way discourage us. All prophetic foretellings in the Bible have shadows of their fulfillment before the fullness of the prophecy comes to pass. One case in point is the prophecy of Daniel of the Abomination of Desolation. When Antiocus Epiphanes sacrificed pigs on the altar of incense in the Temple of Nehemiah, most people assumed that the prophecy was fulfilled, then Jesus said it was yet to be fulfilled. And that happened when Titus entered the Temple of Herod with the Roman Eagles and tore the structure down.

Do you like the idea of peace and prosperity predicted by Enoch? It is sure to come after the Lord of Lords and King of Kings reigns upon the Earth from Jerusalem. Will you be a part of His kingdom then? If that is your desire, you can be a part of His kingdom now. Just join Him as He has invited you to do. Jesus works just as much now as He did when the Apostles walked the roads of the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. And you can be a loyal subject of the ultimate King right here and now.

Ol’ Fuzzy is not employable and was denied for disability benefits. The only thing I have is the blogs. But I don’t qualify for ads on the blogs until there is enough traffic on the blogs to interest advertisers (20,000 hits per month). If you like the scribbles I post, please help me keep it going. First, share, share, share. The more people who know about the blogs, the more who will visit them. And you can leave me a gratuity by dropping a buck or two in Ol' Fuzzy's Tip Jar. This is a PayPal account I opened on Wednesday, April 5, 2017.

A Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Enoch, Part 6

Now let’s look at God’s response to the evils of the watchers and their children.

9.1 And then Michael, Gabriel, Suriel and Uriel, looked down from Heaven and saw the mass of blood that was being shed on the earth and all the iniquity that was being done on the earth.

9.2 And they said to one another: "Let the devastated Earth cry out with the sound of their cries, up to the Gate of Heaven.

9.3 And now to you, Oh Holy Ones of Heaven, the souls of men complain, saying: "Bring our complaint before the Most High."

9.4 And they said to their Lord, the King: "Lord of Lords, God of Gods, King of Kings! Your glorious throne endures for all the generations of the world, and blessed and praised!

9.5 You have made everything, and power over everything is yours. And everything is uncovered, and open, in front of you, and you see everything, and there is nothing that can be hidden from you.

9.6 See then what Azazel has done; how he has taught all iniquity on the earth and revealed the eternal secrets that are made in Heaven.

9.7 And Semyaza has made known spells, he to whom you gave authority to rule over those who are with him.

9.8 And they went into the daughters of men together, lay with those women, became unclean, and revealed to them these sins.

9.9 And the women bore giants, and thereby the whole Earth has been filled with blood and iniquity.

9.10 And now behold the souls which have died cry out and complain unto the Gate Of Heaven, and their lament has ascended, and they cannot go out in the face of the iniquity which is being committed on the earth.

9.11 And you know everything, before it happens, and you know this, and what concerns each of them. But you say nothing to us. What ought we to do with them, about this?"

10.1 And then the Most High, the Great and Holy One, spoke and sent Arsyalalyur to the son of Lamech, and said to him:

10.2 "Say to him in my name; hide yourself! And reveal to him the end, which is coming, because the whole earth will be destroyed. A deluge is about to come on all the earth; and all that is in it will be destroyed.

10.3 And now teach him so that he may escape and his offspring may survive for the whole Earth."

10.4 And further the Lord said to Raphael: "Bind Azazel by his hands and his feet and throw him into the darkness. And split open the desert, which is in Dudael, and throw him there.

10.5 And throw on him jagged and sharp stones and cover him with darkness. And let him stay there forever. And cover his face so that he may not see the light.

10.6 And so that, on the Great Day of Judgment, he may be hurled into the fire.

10.7 And restore the Earth which the Angels have ruined. And announce the restoration of the Earth. For I shall restore the Earth so that not all the sons of men shall be destroyed because of the knowledge which the Watchers made known and taught to their sons.

10.8 And the whole Earth has been ruined by the teaching of the works of Azazel; and against him write: ALL SIN."

10.9 And the Lord said to Gabriel: "Proceed against the bastards, and the reprobates, and against the sons of the fornicators. And destroy the sons of the fornicators, and the sons of the Watchers, from amongst men. And send them out, and send them against one another, and let them destroy themselves in battle; for they will not have length of days.

10.10 And they will petition you, but the petitioners will gain nothing in respect of them, for they hope for eternal life, and that each of them will live life for five hundred years."

10.11 And the Lord said to Michael: "Go, inform Semyaza, and the others with him, who have associated with the women to corrupt themselves with them in all their uncleanness.

10.12 When all their sons kill each other, and when they see the destruction of their loved ones, bind them for seventy generations, under the hills of the earth, until the day of their judgment and of their consummation, until the judgment, which is for all eternity, is accomplished.

10.13 And in those days, they will lead them to the Abyss of Fire; in torment, and in prison they will be shut up for all eternity.

10.14 And then Semyaza will be burnt, and from then on destroyed with them; together they will be bound until the end of all generations.

10.15 And destroy all the souls of lust, and the sons of the Watchers, for they have wronged men.

10.16 Destroy all wrong from the face of the Earth and every evil work will cease.

Yes, this is a large chunk. But for narrative purposes, it all goes together. The Archangels Michael, Gabriel, Suriel and Uriel saw the evil being done on the Earth by their fellow angels and the offspring of those angels, and they became upset by this and prodded God the Most High to do something against these beings. It is informative the way the angels address God. The obvious deference in their prayer is a model for our reverence. We often take liberties with our prayers. But even the prince who is heir to the throne will greet the king with formal deference when approaching him on the throne. We ought to remember just Who it is that we petition and rudely disrespect.

God doesn’t waste any time in deciding what to do when the angels finally intercede with Him for humanity. He orders one angel to protect Noah, one angel to bind the leader of the fallen watchers and a third to gather the rest and imprison them until the judgment. Then He orders the rest to reassure humanity that the Earth will be restored to peace and life. If you look at the actions of the Most High in this case, you will see His patience and mercy toward even the fallen angels and their abominable offspring who are not in His plan for creation.

The imprisonment of the watchers is not for their punishment, that comes after the judgment, but it is to protect the people of Earth who were supposed to be helped and guarded by them. The extent of the betrayal of humanity by the sins of the watchers is cosmic. Imagine if you will that you hire a babysitter to guard and teach your children while you go away for a short while. When you return, you find that your oldest child has been sexually molested and a child resulted, this child then grew to gigantic size and enslaved his aunts and uncles, and the babysitter was teaching the children to cast spells and kill. Would you be patient with this babysitter and let the offense run its course? God did.

But just like one of us, God did call the supernal police to arrest the perpetrators and then eradicated the evil in His world. God’s forbearance is evident in the means of ending the evil. He does not immediately eradicate all of creation for the taint of the watchers and Nephalim. Instead he imprisons the watchers for the judgment and floods the Earth to remove the evil.

As we go deeper into the book, we shall see some more of the story of this episode in the history of the world. The Book of the Prophet Enoch has much more tho say on this subject. Don’t miss future posts on the Book of Enoch.

Do you follow some of the teachings of the watchers that God has abhorred? Perhaps you dabble in magic or spellcraft. Do you honestly believe this to be harmless? Yes, God will judge you by the intention of your heart. But if your intention is to do good, and you are consorting with these dead Nephalim, there is no way your intention can come to fruition. These beings hate you, God and all of humanity, even all of creation. They want nothing less than the total eradication of God’s plan for the world. You can’t expect to control them with your own will. The human soul is very powerful. Yet these creatures are hybrids of human an angel. They have angelic spirits and human souls. They also have over fifteen thousand years of practice in deceiving humans into doing their bidding. Do you, with less than a hundred years of personal experience, expect to outwit them?

Give it up. There is more power in the love of God than in the collected hatred of all the Nephalim and watchers put together. Turn to Jesus Christ for a real quickening of your spirit, and live for God. There is far more freedom in serving God than in being a slave to Nephalim.

Ol’ Fuzzy is not employable and was denied for disability benefits. The only thing I have is the blogs. But I don’t qualify for ads on the blogs until there is enough traffic on the blogs to interest advertisers (20,000 hits per month). If you like the scribbles I post, please help me keep it going. First, share, share, share. The more people who know about the blogs, the more who will visit them. And you can leave me a gratuity by dropping a buck or two in Ol' Fuzzy's Tip Jar. This is a PayPal account I opened on Wednesday, April 5, 2017.

A Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Enoch, Part 5

Ol’ Fuzzy has been gone for a period of mourning. My stepfather passed away on the tenth of November, and I was a mite despondent. But I’m back now, so let’s look at the rest of the evils of the watchers and their offspring.

8.1 And Azazel taught men to make swords, and daggers, and shields, and breastplates. And he showed them the things after these, and the art of making them; bracelets, and ornaments, and the art of making up the eyes, and of beautifying the eyelids, and the most precious stones, and all kinds Of coloured dyes. And the world was changed.

8.2 And there was great impiety, and much fornication, and they went astray, and all their ways became corrupt.

8.3 Amezarak taught all those who cast spells and cut roots, Armaros the release of spells, and Baraqiel astrologers, and Kokabiel portents, and Tamiel taught astrology, and Asradel taught the path of the Moon.

8.4 And at the destruction of men they cried out; and their voices reached Heaven.

These watchers are the source for all the worldly magic that is practiced in opposition to the One Who created everything that is and set it all in motion. The very laws of creation were being abused by the people taught by the watchers for the purpose of bending creation to fit their own will, in opposition to the will of God. Why did they do it? Enoch does not say, only that they did this after their oath. And as we saw in the last post, the children borne to the wives of the watchers were worse than the most heinous human. Verse four can be read to mean that the very watchers cried out at the destruction of men, but it’s more likely it was the few men and women who still followed God who raised the outcry.

Is Enoch saying that makeup is a sin? Does he claim that pretty clothes are wrong? Not at all. It’s the second verse that outlines the sin, the reason for the dressing up and makeup, “And there was great impiety, and much fornication, and they went astray, and all their ways became corrupt.” All the pretty dies and makeup was done for the purpose of attracting others to join them in the sins of fornication, impiety and corruption. Likewise, there’s no sin in slicing a carrot or radish, nor in watching the sky. But when you have a rebellious mindset and do these things with intention of thumbing your nose at God, then you sin. And not all roots that are cut are edible. Often it’s poison or the ingredients of some magic spell.

In fact, none of the things taught by the watchers would be classifiable as sin unless they’re done with the intention of defying God. Most people will look at only the surface and jump to conclusions that this or that action is sinful, relegating those who practice them to eternal hell. But we have seen in the series on the sermons of Jesus that God looks at the intention behind what we do and judges the act accordingly. In that case, it is possible to sin by giving alms or doing a good deed, if it is done with the intention of gaining favor or covering some other transgression. Look at the whole passage and it becomes more clear. When you take things out of context, then you begin to err in the realm of heresy.

Have you ever looked at the things someone else does in order to judge them evil? Do you puff yourself up because you have never cast a spell or channeled a spirit? Don’t! God will judge those who defy His will. That’s His job. But once you fall into the trap of comparing yourself to another, you have entered into the sin of hypocrisy. And hypocrites will fill more of hell than soothsayers, mediums, witches and fornicators. God can and often does redeem them. Saint Paul wrote, “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” He’s not telling us in that verse that we earn our salvation. He’s telling us to mind our own business and let God handle His.

Ol’ Fuzzy is not employable and was denied for disability benefits. The only thing I have is the blogs. But I don’t qualify for ads on the blogs until there is enough traffic on the blogs to interest advertisers (20,000 hits per month). If you like the scribbles I post, please help me keep it going. First, share, share, share. The more people who know about the blogs, the more who will visit them. And you can leave me a gratuity by dropping a buck or two in Ol' Fuzzy's Tip Jar. This is a PayPal account I opened on Wednesday, April 5, 2017.

A Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Enoch, Part 4

The watchers that swore the oath didn’t just sin by blaspheme, they carried out their plan and more. Look at the way Enoch put it and compare it to Genesis:

7.1 And they took wives for themselves and everyone chose for himself one each. And they began to go into them and were promiscuous with them. And they taught them charms and spells, and they showed them the cutting of roots and trees.

7.2 And they became pregnant and bore large giants. And their height was three thousand cubits.

7.3 These devoured all the toil of men; until men were unable to sustain them.

7.4 And the giants turned against them in order to devour men.

7.5 And they began to sin against birds, and against animals, and against reptiles, and against fish, and they devoured one another's flesh, and drank the blood from it.

7.6 Then the Earth complained about the lawless ones.

Here is the passage from Genesis:

CHAPTER SIX

1 And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, 2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. 3 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. 4 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.

Notice the parallels between the two passages, and keep in mind that the italicized words in the King James Bible are ones added by the translators to fill in gaps in the English text to make it read as they had interpreted the Hebrew to mean. Because the Jewish Maserites changed the Old Testament in an attempt to eradicate all references Jesus of Nazareth, the text these translators were using was unfaithful to the original, and there were some errors in interpretation. That said, look at verse four in Genesis chapter six. The word bare refers to the Giants in those days, but the addition of the word children in italics gives the impression that the giants mentioned in the first half of the verse were different from the children of the fallen angels, the watchers. Removing the rest of the italicized words reveals a very different understanding of the rest of the verse. The same mighty men of old, men of renown, means the Greek titans and the Olympic pantheon, as well as the other idols worshiped after the flood by the rebel humans who followed Semiramis, the mother of Nimrod.

When you read the Genesis account in the light of Enoch’s scroll, your view of the times is much clearer. Picture these Nephalim. Assuming that the number three thousand is a hyperbolic expansion of the original number, I would guess two orders of magnitude, these were huge beings. There was no such thing as a standard cubit. The cubit was the length to a human forearm, usually from the wrist to the elbow. Depending on whether the measuring person included the palm and or used the inside or the outside of the forearm, a cubit could run anywhere from fourteen to twenty-four inches (35.56 – 61 cm). Let us assume an average cubit of the day to be about half a meter. That means these Nephalim were fifteen meters tall! That’s about fifty feet. (If you went with the number in the current version of the text of Enoch’s book, they would be closer to five thousand feet tall, or nearly a mile.)

Enoch paints a desperate picture of those days. Nothing you could grow or earn was yours, the Nephalim ate it. And if you ran out of food you had no fear of starving, because the Nephalim ate you instead. These were trying times, marked with open warfare between various tribes and clans of humans and between humans and Nephalim. Is it any wonder that humans became so skilled at combat, tactics and strategy? It was kill or be eaten! And a fifteen meter tall hybrid monster was not an easy thing to kill. God sent the flood as a mercy to humanity.

And look at the other things the watchers did, teaching magic, enchantment, sorcery, channeling and poisons. God’s laws were being twisted into pretzel shapes at the whim of humans and Nephalim who practiced these things. Exerting your will to alter creation contrary to the will of God is the sin. I am not saying that the modern practice of magic, such as Wiccan spellcraft, is automatically sending anyone to hell. Only the rejection of God’s salvation will send one to hell. But the sins of magic are blasphemous when you try to negate God’s will, supplanting it with your own.

But Fuzzy, you ask, what about miracle workers? Is not that some form of magic? All Christian and most Jewish thaumaturgy (that’s Greek for wonder-working) is done according to God’s will and with the power of God. The thaumaturgy of magic is done according to the will of the practitioner and with the power of the human combined with that of the dead Nephalim. The difference is in the object of the thaumaturge’s faith. If you place your faith and trust in God, nothing you do will be contrary to His will. If you place your faith and trust in spirits of darkness, everything you do will be contrary to His will.

Cannibalism is another one of the evils listed by Enoch. He says they ate one another’s flesh and drank the blood from it. The Book of Leviticus (17:14) tells us the life of every creature is in the blood. Drinking the blood of a creature was considered unfit for a human because of this. Drinking the blood of a person, human or Nephalim, was worse, cannibalism to the tenth power. Here is where the legend of the vampires began, and why vampires are not just harmless entertainment. The Nephalim who practiced this before they died want to taste blood so badly they will try to do it vicariously through the humans they dupe into Gothic games of vampirism. Do not be fooled. Nothing the Nephalim want you to do is harmless, and seldom is it entertaining to an enlightened soul.

Have you ever been drawn into dabbling in magic or vampirism? These urges are not natural to the human mind. Such a thing can only originate with the Nephalim who were drowned in the flood. Give your mind over to Christ that He can heal you from these thoughts and shield you from the whispers of the spirits of darkness who only long for your ultimate destruction.

Ol’ Fuzzy is not employable and was denied for disability benefits. The only thing I have is the blogs. But I don’t qualify for ads on the blogs until there is enough traffic on the blogs to interest advertisers (20,000 hits per month). If you like the scribbles I post, please help me keep it going. First, share, share, share. The more people who know about the blogs, the more who will visit them. And you can leave me a gratuity by dropping a buck or two in Ol' Fuzzy's Tip Jar. This is a PayPal account I opened on Wednesday, April 5, 2017.

A Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Enoch, Part 3

We have just finished the benediction of Enoch’s scroll and his description of God’s laws. Now let’s get into the meat of the first vision.

3) REBELS AMONG THE WATCHERS

6.1 And it came to pass, when the sons of men had increased, that in those days there were born to them fair and beautiful daughters.  6.2 And the Angels, the sons of Heaven, saw them and desired them. And they said to one another: "Come, let us choose for ourselves wives, from the children of men, and let us beget, for ourselves, children.' 6.3 And Semyaza, who was their leader, said to them: "l fear that you may not wish this deed to be done and that I alone will pay for this great sin."  6.4 And they all answered him, and said:  "Let us all swear an oath, and bind one-another with curses, so not to alter this plan, but to carry out this plan effectively."  6.5 Then they all swore together and all bound one another with curses to it.  6.6 And they were, in all, two hundred and they came down on Ardis, which is the summit of Mount Hermon. And they called the mountain Hermon because on it they swore and bound one another with curses.  6.7 And these are the names of their leaders:  Semyaza, who was their leader, Urakiba, Ramiel, Kokabiel, Tamiel, Ramiel, Daniel, Ezeqiel, Baraqiel, Asael, Armaros, Ananel, Zaqiel, Samsiel, Satael, Turiel, Yomiel, Araziel.  6.8 These are the leaders of the two hundred Angels and of all the others with them.

Enoch is trying to warn his family and all who love God of the coming destruction and the enemies of their souls. According to Enoch, there were not one but two rebellious groups of angels that plagued the spiritual realm in his day. Lucifer and his band had yet to be expelled from Heaven. And the angels assigned to oversee and support humanity had a problem with the physical bodies God gave them to perform their task as teachers and aides. Having seen the beauty of human females, these angels lusted after them like human males without self discipline.

That wasn’t the full extent of their rebellion, however. These angels, watchers is the word Enoch used, took the sin of lust two miles further when they bound themselves with oaths against God and acted upon the lust. In my humble opinion, and opinion is all this is, the worst of their sin was the oaths. Once bound in rebellion against God, these watchers continued to advance into deeper sins of rebellion, as we shall see in future installments.

Part of the reason this book was discouraged in general use is the fact that Enoch names the angels who fell, or at least their leaders. A form of magic has grown up around the use of names. And while the watchers themselves cannot respond to their names, there are several children of these watchers hanging around looking for any excuse to gain power over a human soul, even resorting to impersonating their angelic parent. Therefore, to avoid the further spread of this ungodly magic, the book was removed from the Bible. That was likely the official excuse anyway. Some of the other visions of Enoch are quite uncomfortable for the Maserites who were opposed to Jesus Christ and charged with making a new Bible with vowels inserted so the lay reader could pronounce the words that were no longer in daily use.

Enoch says there were two hundred angels that rebelled in this episode and gives us eighteen names of leaders of that rebellion. That leaves one hundred and eighty-eight unnamed angels who were also involved. Since polygamy was introduced by the rebellious angels and a male human (or angel with the same physical equipment) can impregnate a different woman every day, there must have been tens of thousands of these offspring of the watchers by the time God flooded the world.

Once God collected up the watchers and bound them in the Abyss until Judgment Day, their offspring began taking revenge against God by attacking the only part of God’s creation they could get at, us. These Nephalim, as they are called, want nothing less than the total annihilation of the human race. Enoch tells us later on that the Nephalim are not allowed to enter heaven or hell because they are outside of God’s plan of creation. Therefore, these hybrid beings, now disembodied, are confined to the Earth where they began. Thus we have a large contingent of hateful spirits who want to destroy us living in our midst unseen, but not unfelt.

Forewarned is forearmed, and we were given the warning thousands of years ago. But the suppression of The Book of the Prophet Enoch has hidden the facts from most people. I have been called to be a voice of warning to all humanity who cares to live free in God’s will. Now that you are reading this, you too are forewarned. Do not be caught flat-footed by the enemies of your soul. If you are not serving God, I suggest you get acquainted with the Lord Jesus Christ. Only the protection of God in Christ Jesus can shield you from the animus of the Nephalim.

Ol’ Fuzzy is not employable and was denied for disability benefits. The only thing I have is the blogs. But I don’t qualify for ads on the blogs until there is enough traffic on the blogs to interest advertisers (20,000 hits per month). If you like the scribbles I post, please help me keep it going. First, share, share, share. The more people who know about the blogs, the more who will visit them. And you can leave me a gratuity by dropping a buck or two in Ol' Fuzzy's Tip Jar. This is a PayPal account I opened on Wednesday, April 5, 2017.

A Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Enoch, Part 2

The next section is longer, and it covers four chapters in the Ethiopian numbering system, but the chapters are very short.

2.1 Contemplate all the events in the sky; how the lights in the sky do not change their courses, how each rises and sets in order, each at its proper time, and they do not transgress their law.

2.2 Consider the earth and understand from the work that is done upon it, from the beginning to the end, that no work of God changes as it becomes manifest.

2.3 Consider the summer and the winter; how the whole earth is full of water and the clouds and dew and rain rest upon it.

3.1 Contemplate and see how all the trees appear withered and all their leaves are stripped - with the exception of the fourteen trees, which are not stripped, which remain with the old leaves until the new come after two or three years.

4.1 And, again, contemplate the days of summer, how at its beginning the Sun is above it. You seek shelter and shade because of the heat of the Sun and the earth burns with scorching heat, and you cannot tread upon the earth or upon a rock, because Of its heat.

5.1 Contemplate how the trees are covered with green leaves and bear fruit.  And understand, in respect of everything, and perceive how He Who Lives Forever made all these things for you.

5.2 And how His works are before Him in each succeeding year, and all His works serve Him and do not change; but as God has decreed - so everything is done.

5.3 And consider how the seas and rivers together complete their tasks.

5.4 But you have not persevered in, nor observed, the Law of the Lord. But you have transgressed and have spoken proud and hard words with your unclean mouth against his majesty. You hard of heart! You will not have peace!

5.5 And because of this you will curse your days, and the years of your life you will destroy. And the eternal curse will increase and you will not reserve mercy.

5.6 In those days, you will transform your name into an eternal curse to all the righteous. And they will curse you sinners forever.

5.7 For the chosen; there will be light, joy, and peace, and they will inherit the earth. But for you, the impious, there will be a curse.

5.8 When wisdom is given to the chosen they will all live, and will not again do wrong, either through forgetfulness, or through pride. But those who possess wisdom will be humble.

5.9 They will not again do wrong, and they will not be judged in all the days of their life, and they will not die of wrath or anger. But they will complete the number of the days of their life. And their life will grow in peace, and the years Of their joy will increase in gladness and eternal peace; all the days of their life.

Chapter two starts with the word contemplate. In the ancient languages, the words we translate with contemplate had a much deeper meaning than merely giving it some thought. To contemplate is to bring the subject into your heart and make it a part of you. If you have read the article I wrote on the Topology of the Human Soul and the Struggle for Holiness, you know that most ancient people considered the heart to be the seat of the mind, not the brain. To take the sky into your heart is actually to expand your soul to encompass the sky. Most people today would have a hard time expanding their soul to encompass the clothes they’re wearing. But the ancients spent a lot more of their time inside themselves, and they were less self-limited in the things they could do and did in the spirit.

Enoch looks for God by studying His works. Starting with the sky, Enoch takes us on a trip through the things that he contemplated on his spiritual journey to obtain his visions and his meeting with God. Enoch was impressed by the order and consistency of God’s creation. The only verse in chapter four gives us a clue to the home of Enoch. He lived in a place where the summer sun was very hot, and it made the ground unbearable to walk upon. But what impressed Enoch the most was the cycles of the trees and plants. Invariably they followed the same timing and progression from year to year, almost as though they watched the sky too.

Enoch took these observations of nature as lessons for life under God. And God took Enoch’s faith and his attempt to live according to the order he observed as righteousness. Enoch was a friend to God. They chatted as friends. We shall see in future verses that God the Father even bragged a little to Enoch about His only begotten Son.

Enoch then makes all these observations into a personal exhortation to righteousness in his readers. The fourth verse of chapter five begins in the second person to list the faults of Enoch’s fellow humans. The indictment is telling, and applies even more today than in Enoch’s time: You have not continued to keep, nor even observe, the law of the Lord. Far worse, you have actively blasphemed the Lord your God with foul cursing from your own mouth, which you have made a practice of using for sin. The rest of this passage is a prediction of the punishment God will mete out upon those who assault Him in actions and words. This ends with the sinners becoming a byword for wrongdoing, their very names taking on the denotation of curses.

Finally, Enoch talks about the blessings God will bestow upon the ones who follow Him, the Chosen, or as Robert Charles termed it, the elect. Before I go on I want to warn anyone who would take this terminology to mean they are superior to any other human being. God did not single out people beforehand to be damned or saved based upon some arbitrary whim. Nor did He decree that there are people of some better essence than others thus making them Chosen or Elect, as some heretical teachers would have you believe as they stimulate your itching ears. Don’t puff yourself up with false pride. God, being eternal, knows the end from before the beginning, and He loves you anyway. Therefore, the ones whom he knew would receive His Son are chosen to become by grace what He is by nature, not sharing in the essence of God, but sharing in the energies of God.

That said, God has big plans for those who are chosen. And Enoch begins laying them out in outline here. The final verse of the passage is a blessing and a great hope for all believers. Do you struggle with an inability to understand the will of God for your life? Are you having difficulty making choices? Enoch says you will be given wisdom to keep you from all wrong, and you will be protected from harm, until the day God appointed for you life to end. Bask in this hope.

Ol’ Fuzzy is not employable and was denied for disability benefits. The only thing I have is the blogs. But I don’t qualify for ads on the blogs until there is enough traffic on the blogs to interest advertisers (20,000 hits per month). If you like the scribbles I post, please help me keep it going. First, share, share, share. The more people who know about the blogs, the more who will visit them. And you can leave me a gratuity by dropping a buck or two in Ol' Fuzzy's Tip Jar. This is a PayPal account I opened on Wednesday, April 5, 2017.

A Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Enoch, Part 1

First I must make a correction to yesterday’s post: I misspelled the translator’s name. The proper spelling is Andrew McCracken. I am most grateful to Mr. McCracken for his work in making the prophecy and visions of the first recorded prophet of the Most High God accessible to modern English readers.

Let us start at the beginning with the Blessing of Enoch.

1) THE BLESSING OF ENOCH

1.1 These are the words of the blessing of Enoch; according to which he blessed the chosen and righteous who must be present on the day Of distress, which is appointed, for the removal of all the wicked and impious.

1.2 And Enoch began his story and said:

There was a righteous man whose eyes were opened by the Lord, and he saw a Holy vision in the Heavens, which the Angels showed to me. And I heard everything from them, and I understood what I saw: but not for this generation, but for a distant generation that will come.

1.3 Concerning the Chosen I spoke; and I uttered a parable concerning them: The Holy and Great One will come out of his dwelling.

1.4 And the Eternal God will tread from there upon Mount Sinai, and he will appear with his Host, and will appear in the strength of his power from Heaven.

1.5 And all will be afraid, and the Watchers will shake, and fear and great trembling will seize them, up to the ends of the earth.

1.6 And the high mountains will be shaken; and the high hills will be laid low and will melt like wax in a flame.

1.7 And the earth will sink, and everything that is on the earth will be destroyed, and there will be judgment upon all, and upon all the righteous.

1.8 But for the righteous: He will make peace, and He will keep safe the Chosen, and mercy will be upon them. They will all belong to God, and will prosper and be blessed, and the light of God will shine on them.

1.9 And behold! He comes with ten thousand Holy Ones; to execute judgment upon them and to destroy the impious, and to contend with all flesh concerning everything that the sinners and the impious have done and wrought against Him.

The prophet begins with a standard introduction, letting everyone know who it is that writes this scroll. Many modern scholars would have us believe that no book older than their own can be trusted to accurately report the name of the author and the time of the writing. They universally reject the idea that predictions could possibly have been made in the distant past (some recon the flood transpired as long ago as 15,000 BC) and come true in the near past. They would have us hold the belief that all such writings were made after the fact and lied about authorship and date.

To be sure, there are many works, pawned off as true, that were written under false pretense and in false names. There are ways to tell which is which. Since the Book of the Prophet Enoch was quoted so many times in so many books, both Old and New Testament, these scholars would tell us that the writer of Enoch is the one quoting and the others made up their material whole cloth. I find this a contrived house of cards built to house the rebellious refusal of said scholars to believe in God and obey His will.

Enoch admits to being in right standing with God, as he begins in the third person and reverts to the first person in the same sentence. As a shaman, Enoch would be hard pressed to remain righteous today, with all the spiritual darkness around us. But as we shall see, when Enoch began to explore the spiritual realm, those spirits of darkness did not yet exist. Enoch tells us they are the spirits of dead Nephalim, drowned in the flood of Noah. As we go along, you will understand better why this book was excluded in the early part of the current age from the cannon of the Old Testament where it rightly belongs.

Enoch was allowed to see a vision that is intended to warn those of us living today of the things around us and the things to come. In verse two he says,… but not for this generation, but for a distant generation to come. I believe without one iota of doubt that Enoch is referring to the present generation in this clause. God has brought the book out into the light of public knowledge today for a reason. That reason is that we are the intended recipients of the book and its many visions.

The rest of this chapter, verses three to nine, describe the end of the Earth on the Day of the Lord. Saint Peter was fond of this one as well as Saint Jude. But even Saint Stephen was inadvertently quoting this passage when he had a parallel vision in the chamber of the Sanhedrin during his trial, on the day they stoned him to death for the faith of Jesus Christ.

But the vision of destruction does not come without hope, as we see in verse eight. For those in right standing with God and their fellow humans, God will make peace, something lacking in today’s society for the followers of Jesus Christ. The salvation of God is not merely a Sunday morning before the football game event. It is eternal, both spiritually and physically.

Where will you be on that day, not too long from now? Will you be in right standing with God and your fellow humans, or will you be one of those upon whom God wreaks His vengeance? The time to decide is now, before the event, because when the Most High comes with ten thousand angels, it will be too late. Get ready!

Ol’ Fuzzy is not employable and was denied for disability benefits. The only thing I have is the blogs. But I don’t qualify for ads on the blogs until there is enough traffic on the blogs to interest advertisers (20,000 hits per month). If you like the scribbles I post, please help me keep it going. First, share, share, share. The more people who know about the blogs, the more who will visit them. And you can leave me a gratuity by dropping a buck or two in Ol' Fuzzy's Tip Jar. This is a PayPal account I opened on Wednesday, April 5, 2017.

A Commentary on the Book of the Prophet Enoch, Introduction

Over the course of my commentary on the Book of Hebrews so far readership of this blog has steadily dropped. So I shall table that for the time being and write on a subject that is not so blasé. When Jesus Christ walked the Earth, the Book of the Prophet Enoch was included in the Bible, both the Hebrew cannon used in the synagogues and the Septuagint translation everyone used in their homes. Many of the early Christian Fathers and Mothers of the Church quoted Enoch extensively. And the Book of the Prophet Enoch is the most internally quoted book in the Bible from Genesis to Revelation.

For a little background, Enoch was a shaman who lived before the flood. He was the seventh from Adam in line of descent. At the time Enoch practiced his faith, there were no evil spirits as there are today, because the Nephalim had not yet perished. Therefore, it was still possible for a spiritualist to walk with God as a friend. Enoch built a stone circle to observe the movements of the stars and planets and he sought visions to learn of the world around us and the world of the unseen.

The pharaoh who conquered Egypt and enslaved the Hebrew people must have brought the Book of Enoch with him from Mesopotamia, because Moses read it thoroughly before his mission. Although it is very possible Moses read the book only in his birth mother’s home or borrowed a copy from Jesse, his father-in-law, the Book of Enoch was too important a work to exclude from a royal library in the second millennium BC.

I am totally disgusted with the modern scholastic view that no book containing a fulfilled prophecy could possibly have been written before the event that fulfilled the prophecy it contains. In Wikipedia the various writers try so hard to discredit the prophetic nature of these books that they at one point claim that the Book of Enoch copied from the Book of Jubilees for the calendar and the Book of Jubilees copied from the Book of Enoch in another place. You can’t have it both ways, one of them must have been written first.

I hold the view that most of these books are what they claim to be, written by the author identified in the text and containing his own words. Doubtless there are many spurious works out there written for the purpose of leading God’s people astray. In my humble opinion, those are the ones most touted by the “scholars” as true examples of the faith of the times and suggested to be used to replace the canonical works in use for over sixteen hundred years. The blatant blasphemy of these so called scholars leads me to reject their hypotheses whole cloth and to stick with the textual explanation of authorship and date.

I shall use the excellent work of Andy McKracken as the text of my commentary. He has demonstrated a reverence for God and an intelligent interpretation of the dates and authors. So far as I have seen, there is no existing translation in the English tongue that surpasses McKracken’s work.

Tomorrow I shall start on the first chapter of the Book of the Prophet Enoch.

Ol’ Fuzzy is not employable and was denied for disability benefits. The only thing I have is the blogs. But I don’t qualify for ads on the blogs until there is enough traffic on the blogs to interest advertisers (20,000 hits per month). If you like the scribbles I post, please help me keep it going. First, share, share, share. The more people who know about the blogs, the more who will visit them. And you can leave me a gratuity by dropping a buck or two in Ol' Fuzzy's Tip Jar. This is a PayPal account I opened on Wednesday, April 5, 2017.

Apostasy and Heresy in Today's Christianity

Today I want to change topic in order to scratch the itch the Lord put on my heart. I look at today’s churches and see a great falling away, apostasy. And another problem that contributes to the first one is the rampant heresy in church circles, which leads those who follow into a path directly away from God. The last days of this present age are drawing to a close, and those who do not hold fast to the faith handed down to us from Christ through His apostles and their descendants in the spirit will find themselves locked out of the Wedding Feast of the Lamb in that day.

Let us touch on the second problem first since it leads the gullible into the first one. Heresy has plagued the Christian Church from the day after Pentecost AD 30. Just what is heresy and how do we recognize it? The most basic definition of heresy is the linguistic one derived from its etymology. The Greek word α͑ίρεσις (hairesis) means to chose. In the usage of the Christian Church throughout the ages it has the meaning to chose from among the truth and falsehoods a hodgepodge of doctrines to create a faith foreign to the truth. The many Pagan sects of Gnosticism filtered doctrines into the early Church to form many hybrid, heterodox beliefs that negated the truth of Christ for their followers. At the same time there were Christians who taught that one needed to convert to the Jewish faith before one could become a Christian. They placed supreme emphasis on keeping the feasts and Sabbaths of the Law of Moses.

We can see these and many others in operation in the United States of America and all over the world today. Most modern heresies cloak their heterodox doctrines in truthy sounding phrases and reason. To rationalize the truth is to negate it. For example, there is a teaching that has become popular among many practitioners of the Western Contemplative Prayer movement that states everyone and everything is a part of God. It is quite logical in its formulation, and just as completely wrong. To be separate from God is death, but it does not show that to be in God is to be a part of God any more than to build a house and enter it is to be a part of the house.

The essence of God is so different from the essence of humanity that it takes divine intervention just to commune with God. The Church has always taught from the beginning that the goal of Christ in His ministry and sacrifice is to make us become by grace what God is by nature. Not that we will ever share in God’s essence, but rather that we will share in God’s work. It is a false reasoning that to be in the image of God is to be a part of God. A mannequin is in the image of a person, yet I don’t see anyone arguing that a mannequin is a part of the person it resembles. The semblance of God in humanity is not physical, since God created that semblance before Christ became a human. Therefore, we can’t argue that we physically look like God. The semblance is rather a spiritual one, and there are parts of a human God did not possess before the Incarnation. Most remarkable is the human soul, the only created bridge between the spiritual and physical aspects of creation.

The insidious thing about this heresy is that it is a gateway to other heresies like universalism, the heresy of Origin, and deism, the teaching that everything is god. People who follow this heresy stop spreading the Gospel because they assume that all faiths lead to God (an idea that makes Jesus a liar when He said, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through Me.”). In fact there is no heresy that is safe to follow if your goal is to satisfy God and become the person He planned for you to be.

All of these heresies lead people astray, a form of apostasy. Others are disillusioned by them and quit the Church to avoid the heretics. Apostasy comes from the Greek word ͗αποστάσις, which is a compound word meaning out of place, or off level. One commits apostasy whenever one leaves the true faith for any reason, whether to follow a heresy or to simply quit. You don’t have to become a Pagan or join a cult to commit apostasy. There are people in church every Sunday who are in a state of apostasy. Jesus said to hold fast to His teachings until He returns. And He promised rewards only for those who continue the course to the end. So if you sit on the sidelines and make no further progress in your pilgrimage, you are just as apostate as one who quit going to all church and renounced to faith.

How does one recognize heresy to avoid apostasy? First, know your faith. Saint Vincent of Larens wrote a book, Against the Heresies, that addresses these issues. In that book he put forth a method of recognizing the truth. Anything that was held from the beginning, by all Christians, in all places is the Orthodox faith. Some things may not be essential to that faith but remain harmless. But anything that contradicts that faith in any way is heresy. We Christians must study the faith as handed down from Christ, through the Apostles and their spiritual descendants, to us today in order to avoid being led astray by pretty words that satisfy some itch in our minds. It is easy to rationalize and misquote the Scriptures. The devil did it when he tempted Jesus in the desert after He was baptized. But only someone who is willing to submit to those in authority in the Church (who are not necessarily those running an apostate church) and study to show themselves approved is able to remain unswayed by the tides of heretical doctrine that sweep through the world.

How do you do it? Read. Read the Bible and the writings of the ancient Church fathers and mothers that are recognized as faithful and true. Pray. Not just recitation of someone else’s words written down in a book of prayers, or giving God a list of things you want Him to do for you. But pray from your heart, and listen to God when He answers you. A prayer done right is a conversation between you and God, not a monologue of you dictating to God. Know God as you know your friends and family. Not just a passing acquaintance, but a deep sharing of inner thoughts.

Just because the rest of the world is jumping off the cliff into the abyss is no reason to join them. Proverbs says, “There is a way that seems right to men, but the end of it is the way of death.” Don’t find yourself on the road to perdition, but continue to walk in the way of salvation. That is all I have to say on the matter.