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The secrets of creation were contained in an oath—and one of the fallen Watchers demanded that Michael reveal to him the "secret name" so that those who heard the oath would quake before it.  That's one of the revelations in this week's study of 1 Enoch. Bear in mind, this section of the book was written just before the birth of Jesus so any specifics regarding the names of fallen angels and their abilities or misdeeds must be taken with a grain of salt.  However, it is interesting that this section, in the translation by R. H. Charles, is titled, "The Names and Functions of the (fallen Angels and) Satans.” Apparently, during the Second Temple, it was believed there was more than one Satan. We need to remember that Satan was not even considered a fallen angel until Ignatius of Antioch in the early second century A.D..  Again, the study is important because of New Testament doctrines that are not found in any Jewish writing prior to 1 Enoch.  Here is the link to the Academia page for scholar John Ben-Daniel, whose research into the book of 1 Enoch has been so helpful to us: https://independent.academia.edu/DrJohnBenDaniel We're asking for your help to Build Bunker Better! We've decided to remain in our home, but we need certain upgrades to make it safe for Derek given his recent mobility limitations compounded by mild COPD. Find out more at Gilberthouse.org/donate.

Isaiah’s polemic against the king of Babylon is, in our view, also a condemnation of the entity who led the rebellious sons of God in Genesis 6. We discuss the connections between “Lucifer” and the netherworld, especially the references to the “branch,” which is actually a loan word from Egyptian that means “dead god,” and the “dead body trampled underfoot” (Isaiah 14:9). We believe these refer to the entity called El, Enlil, Dagon, and Molech—i.e., Shemihazah, not Satan. We also discuss a potential reference to the Watchers in Isaiah 14:21, and the “flying fiery serpents” (dragons!) in Isaiah’s oracle against the Philistines. Question of the week: Why will children have to die during the Day of the Lord? Here’s the link we promised to TheSinging.Bible.

A DAY is coming when fallen angels and evil rulers throughout the centuries will regret their decisions to rebel against God.  The chapters we read from the book of 1 Enoch prophesy a time when kings and the mighty plead for a respite from their torment so they might come before the throne and worship God. Sadly, their opportunity to repent has passed.  Likewise, punishment for the fallen Watchers has been decreed and is being carried out with no hope of reprieve—at least not until the abyss opens up in Revelation 9 and they're given five months to torment those without the seal of God on their foreheads.  These chapters come from the section of 1 Enoch called the Book of Parables. As we've discussed over previous months, chapters 37 to 71 of 1 Enoch was completed just about the time Jesus was born. It's important because it tells of a messianic character called the Son of Man who would execute these judgments. It's the first mention of the Son of Man in any Jewish writing—and 30 years later, Jesus applied that title to himself.  We also read a couple chapters dealing with Noah. We point out a couple verses that disqualify 1 Enoch as scripture—for example, Noah apparently praying to his great-grandfather Enoch.  Questions of the week: What’s the difference between astral projection and the Lord carrying prophets away in the spirit, and is reassigning prophecies for Israel to the church Replacement Theology?

Lucifer is not Satan.  In this week study, we dig into the Hebrew name translated Lucifer in the king James Bible, Helel Ben Shachar. Scholar William Gallagher showed in a peer reviewed paper more than 30 years ago that Helel was the West Semitic (i.e., Hebrew) transliteration of the Akkadian deity Ellil.  This entity was known by many names in the ancient Near East, including Dagon, Assur, El, and Milcom (and thus Molech). All of these entities were connected to the underworld whereas Satan is nowhere in the Bible linked to Sheol, Hades, Gehenna, or the abyss.  The other clue pointing to Ellil et. al is the fact that this polemic is directed at the king of Babylon. In Hebrew, that's melek bab el, which literally means "King of Babel" or "king of the god-gate."  We realize this is a unique take on a famous and well studied chapter of the Bible. But it's consistent with other scriptures, and it's a good reminder to ask ourselves whether our interpretation of scripture is based on the Bible itself or human traditions.  Here's the link to the book by David W. Lowe, Deconstructing Lucifer, which shows how our understanding of Satan today is quite different from how the apostles viewed him: https://bit.ly/4cWhW9U  Question of the week: Why do some scholars call Judea in the time of Jesus "Palestine"?

GIANTS AND WATCHERS will execute God's judgment on the prophesied Day of the Lord.  Isaiah 13 is, on the surface, a prophecy of judgment on Babylon. But there are clues in this chapter that there's more to this prophecy than meets the eye. First, the Hebrew verb translated "consecrated" (as in "consecrated ones," Isaiah 13:3) is based on the same root behind the words “holy one/s” in Daniel 4:13 and 17, used in parallel with "Watcher/s” in those verses.  Given that the Septuagint translates Hebrew gibborim ("mighty men") as “giants," it's possible that the "consecrated ones" of Isaiah 13:3 are Watchers—a powerful class of angel often tasked with carrying out God's will (as in Daniel 4).  As a whole, Isaiah 13 is an "already but not yet" prophecy of the destruction of Babylon. The "already" took place roughly 150 years after Isaiah wrote this prophecy when Cyrus the great captured the city the night of Belshazzar's drunken feast. The future fulfillment comes on the Day of the Lord, which we believe takes place at the end of the seven year Great Tribulation.  In addition, there are hints of the supernatural fulfillment of the "not yet" part of the prophecy. Isaiah 13:20–22 foretells a day when Babylon is utterly destroyed, becoming a haunt of supernatural creatures. That's not apparent in most English translations, but digging into the Hebrew and Greek reveals more of Isaiah's original vision: Babylon inhabited forever by demons, sirens, satyrs (or donkey-centaurs), and dragons.  Question of the week: What do we think about the Noahide laws?

After 200 years of idolatry, God finally allowed the northern kingdom of Israel to be destroyed and the people carried off by Assyria.  Meanwhile, the southern kingdom of Judah was being ruled the young, foolish, idolatrous King Ahaz. After being defeated in battle by the Aramean Kingdom of Damascus, Ahaz decided to worship the gods of Syria rather than turning to God for help. He also sacrificed his son to Molech in the Valley of Hinnom southwest of Jerusalem.  Then he turned to the Assyrians for help against Israel, Syria, and Edom, cutting up fixtures in the Temple to send to Assyria as tribute. Needless to say, God was not pleased.  Apparently, neither were the people of Judah. Ahaz was buried in the City of David rather than in the tombs of the kings of his forefathers.  Sharon’s niece, Sarah Sachleben, has been battling stage 4 bowel cancer and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah.  Derek’s new book War of the Watchers Book One: From Baal to Balfour is now available at Amazonin paperback and as a Kindle e-book!

After several chapters of prophecies of destruction at the hands of the Assyrians, Micah concludes his book with a promise of restoration for the people of Israel.  Although there are some differences between the Masoretic text on which the old Testament of our English Bibles is based and the Septuagint, which was translated from Hebrew into Greek by about 200 BC, the overall message is the same: God will chastise His people for their behavior, but He will bless the remnant who repent and return to Him.

Who is the Assyrian? The Bible foretells a mysterious character called “the Assyrian” who seems to have a role in the end times war against Israel. Who is he?  What’s odd is the Hebrew text of Micah 5:5–6 (and Isaiah 14:25, 31:8, and 52:4) lacks the definite article “the.” In other words, there is no "the Assyrian" in the Old Testament.  The Hebrew word Assur can referred to Assyria, its capital city, or its chief deity, who was the equivalent of the Sumerian/Babylonian god Enlil (called Ellil in Akkad), El of Canaan, Dagon of the Philistines, and Milcom of Ammon—and thus Molech, the netherworld god who demanded the sacrifice of children from his followers.  We believe the passages in Micah are an “already but not yet” prophecy, referring to the imminent conquest of the northern kingdom of Israel by Assyria, which occurred during Micah’s lifetime in 722 BC, and a future return of Assur in the end times as the Destroyer, Abaddon/Apollyon, who is released from the abyss for five months to torment those without the seal of God on their foreheads.

The Book of 1 Enoch prophesies a day when evil kings and rulers would be judged by a messianic figure called the Elect One—the Son of Man.   As we’ve mentioned previously, this section of 1 Enoch is the first Jewish text in which “the Son of Man” is used as a title—a title Jesus applied to himself 78 times.  We also discuss the differences between “angels” and cherubim, seraphim, and ophanim (Ezekiel’s wheels): and the identity of the Son of Man as one with the Lord of Spirits, God the Father—Yahweh.

The ruling elites of ancient Israel were compared to cannibals eating the flesh of those they were supposed to protect. We continue with the prophet Micah's polemic against ancient Israel's ruling class, who apparently took advantage of the poor and downtrodden. For that reason, God told Micah to prophesy a day of judgment that would bring destruction on the rich and powerful. Because Micah used the phrase, "in that day," we view this as an "already but not yet" prophecy—one that was fulfilled when Assyria conquered the northern Kingdom in 722 BC, and will be fulfilled again in the last days.

The prophet Micah, a contemporary of Isaiah, prophesied the coming judgment of God on the kingdoms of Israel and Judah at the hand of the Assyrians. Our chronological reading order brings the book of Micah into the middle of our study of Isaiah. While Isaiah prophesied a day when the kingdom of Judah would declare, "God is my salvation," Micah's prophecy is a warning of God's imminent judgment for the sins of Judah and Samaria. We see both prophecies as being of the "already but not yet" type, fulfilled in the eighth century BC, but with a future fulfillment still to come. Bear in mind when reading Isaiah 12 that the the Hebrew word translated "salvation" is Yeshua—Jesus.

A VISION of Noah's was inserted into the Book of 1 Enoch, with interesting references to Leviathan and Behemoth. These are chaos monsters. Leviathan, described as female and from the sea, and Behemoth, male and occupying the wilderness—possibly the same one into which the Watcher Azazel was thrown as punishment for his role in corrupting humanity. We discussed the "already but not yet" prophecies of 1 Enoch 57–59 and the end times fulfillment of the vision ascribed to Noah in chapter 60. As a reminder, this month's study comes from the Book of Parables, the prophetic section of 1 Enoch written just before the birth of Jesus. The importance of this section of the book is in its prophecies of a coming messianic figure called the Chosen One, the Anointed One, and, most frequently, the Son of Man, a title not found in any prior Jewish writing. Jesus referred to himself as the Son of Man 78 times in the New Testament. The high regard for 1 Enoch held by Jesus, the apostles, and the early church suggests that it's worth our while to study this book for ourselves. It's not in the Bible, nor should it be, but there are teachings in the New Testament that come straight from the book of 1 Enoch.

Today Is Pentecost, fifty days after Passover. It’s the day the Holy Spirit descended on the followers of Jesus and the day Moses descended Mount Sinai with the Law.  We discussed the similarities and differences between those two events. For example, the fire on Mount Sinai and the tongues of fire over the heads of the followers of Jesus; and the 3,000 saved on Pentecost in Acts chapter 2 contrasted with the 3000 who were put to death when Moses returned from Sinai to find the Israelites engaged in debauchery around the golden calf.  We also discuss the change between the law on tablets of stone and the law written on our hearts. We bring in passages from Ezekiel 36 in which God promised to restore Israel to the land—not because the Israelites earned it, but for the sake of His Holy Name so that the world would know He is Yahweh. This was fulfilled in 1948.  Here’s the link to “The Comforter Has Come,” featuring Sharon with Sandi Patty, Steve Green, and Warren Hoffman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgOrW8DAFJ0 And here’s the video “Mount Hermon’s Upsettingly Dark Occult Connections”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rQvfrTtE9XM

The arrival of the Ark of the Covenant in Jerusalem in the time of David is a foreshadowing of the prophesied return of our King to his earthly throne.  This week, we flash back about 250 years to study four psalms we overlooked during the life of David. These Psalms of praise would have been written just after the arrival of the Ark of the Covenant in Jerusalem, as described in 1 Chronicles 13–16.   We also discuss the covenants between God and Abraham, Moses, and David, and the difference between the unconditional covenants made with Abraham and David and the Sinaitic covenant with Moses. Though the Israelites, and later Jews, broke faith with God, there are promises. He made that were not dependent on the faithfulness of the people of Israel.  Zechariah 12 and 14 tells us of a day when Messiah arrives in Jerusalem at the hour of Israel's greatest need. He will establish His eternal throne there:  For the LORD has chosen Zion; he has desired it for his dwelling place: “This is my resting place forever; here I will dwell, for I have desired it. (Psalm 132:13–14, ESV)  Here are links to the books we mentioned during the study: • Rebooting the Bible Part One by Doug Woodward • Rebooting the Bible Part Two by Doug Woodward • The Battle for the Bible’s Truth by Doug Van Dorn

The messianic prophecy of the one called "the Branch" is the focus of this week’s study.  We explore the “already but not yet” fulfillment of the promises of the restoration of Israel and judgment against Israel's neighbors—which May have already found partial fulfillment in the wars fought by Israel since 1948. We discuss the seven Spirits of Isaiah 11:2 and the references to those Spirits in the book of Revelation and their relationship to Jesus.  We also discussed these so-called Mandela verse, Isaiah 11:6. This is a reference to the Mandela effect, an Internet meme from a few years ago that claimed time travelers had somehow gone back into history and changed the verse to read, “the wolf shall dwell with the lamb," from, "the lion shall lie down with the lamb."  Let's be clear: Isaiah 11:6 never said the lion would lie down with the lamb. First of all, time travel is not a thing. Second, even if it was, God would never allow His Word to be changed. Anyone who suggests that this is possible is a false teacher who can safely be ignored. Are we really afraid God is that weak?