Mixing Iron and Clay

“When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown. The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

Genesis 6:1-5 English Standard Version

The debate surrounding the sons of God named in Genesis chapter six and to whom they are referring to, really isn’t much of a debate anymore, because not many in mainstream Christianity talk about it, and it is often dismissed by the theory that the “sons of God” are just the sons of Seth, Adam’s third child mentioned in the Bible. So the narrative goes like this: the sons of Seth took wives from the sons of Cain. There are many ways to approach this subject, and I would like to start with where the Seth theory originated.

Two books which I recommend reading are Confessions and The City of God, both written by fifth century philosopher and Bishop of Hippo, Augustine. These books have a great amount of information and cover a vast amount of topics with great insight. However, I disagree with Augustine concerning who the sons of God are in Genesis six. In The City of God, Augustine contrasts the people on Earth as being either part of God’s city or not, and indicates that Seth’s offspring were part of God’s city, calling them sons of God, and that they left to be with the more earthly daughters of Cain. Here is where we see philosophy merging with theology. In the philosophical circles of Augustine’s day, as today, it would not have been popular to venture into the alternative meaning of “sons of God”.

Before Augustine, the church fathers views of this subject were different. Tertullian was an early church father from Africa in the third century. The following is a small part from chapter XXII of Tertullian’s The Apology, where he discusses the origin of demons.

Chapter XXII.
“And we affirm indeed the existence of certain spiritual essences; nor is their name unfamiliar. The philosophers acknowledge there are demons; Socrates himself waiting on a demon’s will. Why not? since it is said an evil spirit attached itself specially to him even from his childhood—turning his mind no doubt from what was good. The poets are all acquainted with demons too; even the ignorant common people make frequent use of them in cursing. In fact, they call upon Satan, the demon-chief, in their execrations, as though from some instinctive soul-knowledge of him. Plato also admits the existence of angels. The dealers in magic, no less, come forward as witnesses to the existence of both kinds of spirits. We are instructed, moreover, by our sacred books how from certain angels, who fell of their own free-will, there sprang a more wicked demon-brood, condemned of God along with the authors of their race, and that chief we have referred to. It will for the present be enough, however, that some account is given of their work. Their great business is the ruin of mankind. So, from the very first, spiritual wickedness sought our destruction.”

From Tertullian’s Resurrection of the Flesh, he wrote, “There are the carcasses of the giants of old time; it will be obvious enough that they are not absolutely decayed, for their bony frames are still extant.”. From A Treatise on the Soul, chapterXX, Tertullian wrote the following:

“She [philosophy] thought, no doubt, that she was deriving her mysteries from sacred sources, as men deem them, because in ancient times most authors were supposed to be (I will not say godlike, but) actually gods: whom Plato paid very great deference; as, for instance, the Egyptian Mercury, and the Phrygian Silenus, to whom Midas lent his long ears, when the shepherds brought him to him; and Hermotimus, to whom the good people of Clazomenæ built a temple after his death; and Orpheus; and Musæus; and Pherecydes, the master of Pythagoras. But why need we care, since these philosophers have also made their attacks upon those writings which are condemned by us under the title of apocryphal, ought to be received which does not agree with the true system of prophecy, which has arisen in this present age; because we do not forget that there have been false prophets, and long previous to them fallen spirits, which have instructed the entire tone and aspect of the world with cunning knowledge of this (philosophic) cast?”

We see more on the subject from Irenæus, an early church father from Smyrna, who learned under church father Polycarp, who in turn learned under the Apostle John. I realize this doesn’t make him infallible; however, it does make him a spiritual grandson to the Apostle John. I also recommend reading Irenæus’s book Against Heresies, where the following is taken:

“The Church, though dispersed through out the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, has received from the apostles and their disciples this faith: [She believes] in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them; and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit, who proclaimed through the prophets the dispensations of God, and the advents, and the birth from a virgin, and the passion, and the resurrection from the dead, and the ascension into heaven in the flesh of the beloved Christ Jesus, our Lord, and His [future] manifestation from heaven in the glory of the Father “to gather all things in one,” and to raise up anew all flesh of the whole human race, in order that to Christ Jesus, our Lord, and God, and Saviour, and King, according to the will of the invisible Father, “every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess” to Him, and that He should execute just judgment towards all; that He may send “spiritual wickednesses,” and the angels who transgressed and became apostates, together with the ungodly, and unrighteous, and wicked, and profane among men, into everlasting fire; but may, in the exercise of His grace, confer immortality on the righteous, and holy, and those who have kept His commandments, and have per- severed in His love, some from the beginning [of their Christian course], and others from [the date of] their repentance, and may surround them with everlasting glory.” Irenæus, Against Heresies book one, chapter 10.

Irenæus includes the angels that transgressed in his statement of faith, along with linking, keeping the commandments, with immortality conferred by the grace of God. These angels that transgressed are the sons of God that took for themselves human wives and produced giant offspring. We can find reference to these apostate angels and sons of God throughout scripture. Jude references the fallen ones:

Jud 1:4 For certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation, ungodly people, who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Jud 1:5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe.
Jud 1:6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day,
Jud 1:7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.
Jud 1:8 Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones.

Jude gives us a link between the angels that left their first estate and Sodom and Gomorrah, which gives us more insight on what actually took place there to cause יהוה God to consume those places by fire and brimstone. This group “crept in long ago.” Also, Peter speaks of the angels that sinned linking that to the flood of Noah and Sodom and Gomorrah. Who are the accursed children spoken of here?

2Pe 2:4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;
2Pe 2:5 if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;
2Pe 2:6 if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly;
2Pe 2:7 and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked
2Pe 2:8 (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard);
2Pe 2:9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment,
2Pe 2:10 and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority. Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones,
2Pe 2:11 whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not pronounce a blasphemous judgment against them before the Lord.
2Pe 2:12 But these, like irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed, blaspheming about matters of which they are ignorant, will also be destroyed in their destruction,
2Pe 2:13 suffering wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing. They count it pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, reveling in their deceptions, while they feast with you.
2Pe 2:14 They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children!

The Greek word translated to hell in verse four is Strong’s G5020. The English word hell is used to translate three different locations in scripture, and Tartarus is one of them. It is interesting that Peter uses the same word that describes the place where the Titans of Greek mythology are imprisoned.

G5020
ταρταρόω
tartaroō
Thayer Definition:
1) the name of the subterranean region, doleful and dark, regarded by the ancient Greeks as the abode of the wicked dead, where they suffer punishment for their evil deeds; it answers to Gehenna of the Jews
2) to thrust down to Tartarus, to hold captive in Tartarus

Jesus calls the Pharisees vipers and refers to their father the devil. If you do some research on where some of those Pharisees descend, you will find a Canaanite blood line from Babylon marrying the Judaen women during the captivity and dispersion. This is a link right back to the Nephilim which we will define a little later.

Mat 23:29 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous,
Mat 23:30 saying, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’
Mat 23:31 Thus you witness against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets.
Mat 23:32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers.
Mat 23:33 You serpents, you brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?
Mat 23:34 Therefore I send you prophets and wise men and scribes, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and persecute from town to town,
Mat 23:35 so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.
Mat 23:36 Truly, I say to you, all these things will come upon this generation.

How can these Pharisees be responsible for the righteous blood of Abel? I suggest there is more going on here. This was the reason Yahweh God was so concerned about destroying these descendants of the mixed seed of humans and Nephilim. They worshipped their fathers, the host of heaven, or the sons of God.

Exo 23:23 “When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I blot them out,
Exo 23:24 you shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces.

Let’s look at the verse in Genesis where we started talking about sons of God and Nephilim.

Gen 6:4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.

Nephilim is Strong’s H5303 and there are two words here, Nephalim and Nephilim. There is not much of a definition other than Giants, and at the time it was written, everyone knew what was being spoken of. However, related word Strong’s H5307, spelled the same in Hebrew, gives us more clues, meaning to fall or be cast down. So Naphalim are the angels or sons of God, who fell to Earth and did the deed that caused so much trouble. Their descendants are the Nephilim, half human, half angel, and their bloodlines are the Raphaim.

H5303
נפל / נפיל
nephı̂yl / nephil
BDB Definition:
1) giants, the Nephilim
Part of Speech: noun masculine
A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: from H5307

H5307 (Strong)
נָפַל
nâphal
naw-fal’
A primitive root; to fall, in a great variety of applications (intransitively or causatively, literally or figuratively): – be accepted, cast (down, self, [lots], out), cease, die, divide (by lot), (let) fail, (cause to, let, make, ready to) fall (away, down, -en, -ing), fell (-ing), fugitive, have [inheritamce], inferior, be judged [by mistake for H6419], lay (along), (cause to) lie down, light (down), be (X hast) lost, lying, overthrow, overwhelm, perish, present (-ed, -ing), (make to) rot, slay, smite out, X surely, throw down.
Total KJV occurrences: 434

In Deuteronomy chapter 3, it speaks of Og of Bashan being a remnant of the giants. Here the word translated for giant is Strong’s H7497. They were also worshiping new demon arrivals, who were new gods in chapter 32.

H7497
רפה / רפא
râphâ’ / râphâh
BDB Definition:
1) giants, Rephaim
1a) old tribe of giants
Part of Speech: noun proper, of tribe, gentilic
A Related Word by BDB/Strong’s Number: from H7495 in the sense of invigorating

Deu 3:10 All the cities of the plain, and all Gilead, and all Bashan, unto Salchah and Edrei, cities of the kingdom of Og in Bashan.
Deu 3:11 For only Og king of Bashan remained of the remnant of giants; behold, his bedstead was a bedstead of iron; is it not in Rabbath of the children of Ammon? nine cubits was the length thereof, and four cubits the breadth of it, after the cubit of a man.

Deu 32:15 “But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked; you grew fat, stout, and sleek; then he forsook God who made him and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.
Deu 32:16 They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods; with abominations they provoked him to anger.
Deu 32:17 They sacrificed to demons that were no gods, to gods they had never known, to new gods that had come recently, whom your fathers had never dreaded.

These Nephilim were one of the reasons for the flood of Noah. Right after the Nephilim are discussed in Genesis 6:4, we get these verses:

Gen 6:5 The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Gen 6:6 And the LORD regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart.
Gen 6:7 So the LORD said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.”

We get much more information in books like Jasher and Enoch, where animal flesh is corrupted and there were all manners of corruption in all of Yahweh God’s creation. However, “Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD”.

Gen 6:9 These are the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his generation. Noah walked with God.
Gen 6:10 And Noah had three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.
Gen 6:11 Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence.
Gen 6:12 And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth.

I am suggesting “all flesh had corrupted” is referring to corrupted genetics. When it says Noah was found blameless in his generation, or as the as the King James Bible translates, perfect, it is Strong’s word H8549, also used to describe sacrificial animals that were to be genetically pure.

H8549
תָּמִים
tâmı̂ym
taw-meem’
From H8552; entire (literally, figuratively or morally); also (as noun) integrity, truth: – without blemish, complete, full, perfect, sincerely (-ity), sound, without spot, undefiled, upright (-ly), whole.

Exo 12:5 Your lamb H7716  shall be H1961without blemish, H8549 a male H2145  of the first H1121  year: H8141  ye shall take it out H3947  from H4480  the sheep, H3532  or from H4480  the goats: H5795

When the Nephilim died in the flood their disembodied spirits remained due to the nature of their fathers being immortal. These spiritual beings are always looking for a host and can enter men and animals. Jesus cast them out of a man into a herd of pigs.

Luk 8:27 When Jesus had stepped out on land, there met him a man from the city who had demons. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he had not lived in a house but among the tombs.
Luk 8:28 When he saw Jesus, he cried out and fell down before him and said with a loud voice, “What have you to do with me, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg you, do not torment me.”
Luk 8:29 For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. (For many a time it had seized him. He was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the desert.)
Luk 8:30 Jesus then asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Legion,” for many demons had entered him.
Luk 8:31 And they begged him not to command them to depart into the abyss.
Luk 8:32 Now a large herd of pigs was feeding there on the hillside, and they begged him to let them enter these. So he gave them permission.
Luk 8:33 Then the demons came out of the man and entered the pigs, and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the lake and drowned.
Luk 8:34 When the herdsmen saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country.

How does Jesus describe the days of his future coming? He says they will be just as the days of Noah were.

Mat 24:36 “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only.
Mat 24:37 For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.
Mat 24:38 For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark,
Mat 24:39 and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man.

The next set of words to define are in the phrase “sons of God”. The best way to define this is to see how it is used in other places in the Bible. In Job, sons of God, בן אלהים , pronounced Ben Elohiym, are presenting themselves with, satan, a transliterated word for adversary, to Yahweh God. So as a side note, when you say the word satan, it is the Hebrew word שטן, pronounce sawtan, meaning adversary or opponent. The Apostle John links this adversary to the old serpent and dragon which deceives the whole world in Revelation 12:9.

Job 1:6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them.
Job 1:7 The LORD said to Satan, “From where have you come?” Satan answered the LORD and said, “From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking up and down on it.”

Another place in Job that uses the phrase “the sons of God”, speaks about them being there witnessing the creation of the world.

Job 38:1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
Job 38:2 “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
Job 38:3 Dress for action like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me.
Job 38:4 “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you have understanding.
Job 38:5 Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?
Job 38:6 On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone,
Job 38:7 when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

The sons of Seth were not around to witness creation nor were they presenting themselves to God with Satan. These sons of God are a rank of angelic beings. In Deuteronomy 32:7 and 8, we see Yahweh God dividing the nations into their care, keeping the descendants of Jacob for himself.

Deu 32:7 Remember the days of old; consider the years of many generations; ask your father, and he will show you, your elders, and they will tell you.
Deu 32:8 When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he divided mankind, he fixed the borders of the peoples according to the number of the sons of God.
Deu 32:9 But the LORD’s portion is his people, Jacob his allotted heritage.

Most Bible translations use sons of Israel instead of sons of God in this passage. The English Standard Version uses the oldest original text that we have of Genesis, from the Dead Sea scrolls found in the caves of Qumran. It uses the phrase “sons of God” which makes more sense seeing how there were no sons of Israel at the time God divided the nations after the tower of Babel incident. He pulled Abram out of the nations ruled by these sons of God and took his descendants as his own portion of people. Psalm 82 also references these sons of God.

Psa 82:1 A Psalm of Asaph. God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:
Psa 82:2 “How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Selah
Psa 82:3 Give justice to the weak and the fatherless; maintain the right of the afflicted and the destitute.
Psa 82:4 Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked.”
Psa 82:5 They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk about in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken.
Psa 82:6 I said, “You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you;
Psa 82:7 nevertheless, like men you shall die, and fall like any prince.”
Psa 82:8 Arise, O God, judge the earth; for you shall inherit all the nations!

Here these rulers that Yahweh set over the nations are getting reprimanded for judging the nations unjustly and they will die like men, indicating they are not men. These are the principalities we are up against, the sons of God turned rogue, rebelling against the Most High. If these entities did not exist there would be no reason to refer to the Most High God, Yahweh, because he cannot be most high if there isn’t another group that are less powerful. Paul references them and says we will have to withstand them on the evil day.

Eph 6:11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
Eph 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.
Eph 6:13 Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm.

A similar example takes place with a prophet of Yahweh and Ahab. The prophet Micaiah describes an interesting scene of what appears to be the most high God Yahweh meeting with a council again.

1Ki 22:19 And Micaiah said, “Therefore hear the word of the LORD: I saw the LORD sitting on his throne, and all the host of heaven standing beside him on his right hand and on his left;
1Ki 22:20 and the LORD said, ‘Who will entice Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead?’ And one said one thing, and another said another.
1Ki 22:21 Then a spirit came forward and stood before the LORD, saying, ‘I will entice him.’
1Ki 22:22 And the LORD said to him, ‘By what means?’ And he said, ‘I will go out, and will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And he said, ‘You are to entice him, and you shall succeed; go out and do so.’
1Ki 22:23 Now therefore behold, the LORD has put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these your prophets; the LORD has declared disaster for you.”

Who is the Prince of Persia that withheld the messenger angel coming to see Daniel until the Archangel Michael intervened and helped him go? Look at the account in Daniel.

Dan 10:4 On the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was standing on the bank of the great river (that is, the Tigris)
Dan 10:5 I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, a man clothed in linen, with a belt of fine gold from Uphaz around his waist.
Dan 10:6 His body was like beryl, his face like the appearance of lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and the sound of his words like the sound of a multitude.
Dan 10:7 And I, Daniel, alone saw the vision, for the men who were with me did not see the vision, but a great trembling fell upon them, and they fled to hide themselves.
Dan 10:8 So I was left alone and saw this great vision, and no strength was left in me. My radiant appearance was fearfully changed, and I retained no strength.
Dan 10:9 Then I heard the sound of his words, and as I heard the sound of his words, I fell on my face in deep sleep with my face to the ground.
Dan 10:10 And behold, a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees.
Dan 10:11 And he said to me, “O Daniel, man greatly loved, understand the words that I speak to you, and stand upright, for now I have been sent to you.” And when he had spoken this word to me, I stood up trembling.
Dan 10:12 Then he said to me, “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words.
Dan 10:13 The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days, but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I was left there with the kings of Persia,
Dan 10:14 and came to make you understand what is to happen to your people in the latter days. For the vision is for days yet to come.”

I have chosen to remain in the sixty-six book Bible simply because there is ample material there for this discussion. There are many extra biblical ancient texts that shed more light on all of this. Also, you can look at this as Yahweh setting the record straight, explaining all of the Demi-gods in ancient history, the mighty men, men of renown, spoken of in mythology. The basic story line is there. Gods came from the hosts or sky and had children with humans. It is everywhere in ancient history. They had names such as star people, the Greek and Roman gods of mythologies, the story of the Titan war and being banished to Tartarus, and today there is a great fascination with ancient aliens. It is nothing new, and has been there, largely unreported in the Bible. In an interesting book by Dr. Michael Heiser called Unseen Realm, he suggests that believers will replace these evil judges. See Paul stating we will judge angels and be joint heirs with Jesus, children of God.

1Co 6:1 When one of you has a grievance against another, does he dare go to law before the unrighteous instead of the saints?
1Co 6:2 Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you incompetent to try trivial cases?
1Co 6:3 Do you not know that we are to judge angels? How much more, then, matters pertaining to this life!

Rom 8:12 So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.
Rom 8:13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Rom 8:14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
Rom 8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
Rom 8:16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
Rom 8:17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

In the book of Revelation we see some interesting characters showing up at the end.

Rev 9:1 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.
Rev 9:2 And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
Rev 9:3 And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
Rev 9:4 And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
Rev 9:5 And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
Rev 9:6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
Rev 9:7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.
Rev 9:8 And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
Rev 9:9 And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.
Rev 9:10 And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.
Rev 9:11 And they had a king over them, which is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.

The king of these entities is Apollyon, the destroyer, adversary or satan. Further along he is referred to again. A lot could be said here, but for brevity we will move on.

Rev 17:8 The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to rise from the bottomless pit and go to destruction. And the dwellers on earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world will marvel to see the beast, because it was and is not and is to come.
Rev 17:9 This calls for a mind with wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman is seated;
Rev 17:10 they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while.
Rev 17:11 As for the beast that was and is not, it is an eighth but it belongs to the seven, and it goes to destruction.

One more reference I would like to look at comes again from Daniel. Daniel interprets a dream the King of Babylon has regarding the four kingdoms that will rule the Earth. The first kingdom was his, Babylon, the second, Persia, then Greece, and finally Rome being that of iron. However, the statue that represented these kingdoms had toes mixed of iron and clay.

Dan 2:40 And the fourth kingdom shall be strong as iron: forasmuch as iron breaketh in pieces and subdueth all things: and as iron that breaketh all these, shall it break in pieces and bruise.
Dan 2:41 And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.
Dan 2:42 And as the toes of the feet were part of iron, and part of clay, so the kingdom shall be partly strong, and partly broken.
Dan 2:43 And whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of men: but they shall not cleave one to another, even as iron is not mixed with clay.
Dan 2:44 And in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed: and the kingdom shall not be left to other people, but it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.

So in verse 2:43 who are the “they” who mingle themselves will the seed of men? If they are the mingling with the seed of men, they can’t be men.

Rev 13:1 And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.
Rev 13:2 And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as the feet of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his seat, and great authority.
Rev 13:3 And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed: and all the world wondered after the beast.
Rev 13:4 And they worshipped the dragon which gave power unto the beast: and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?
Rev 13:5 And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months.
Rev 13:6 And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme his name, and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.
Rev 13:7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
Rev 13:8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Rev 13:9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
Rev 13:10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.
Rev 13:11 And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.
Rev 13:12 And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed.
Rev 13:13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,
Rev 13:14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.
Rev 13:15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.
Rev 13:16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:
Rev 13:17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.
Rev 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

Here we see the infamous number of the beast, six hundred three score and six, or six hundred and sixty-six. The interesting thing about this is the Greek letters that are used to describe this mark are not typically translated into six hundred and sixty-six. That is too big of a topic to cover here, so let’s just see what is written in the Greek from the textus receptus manuscript.

Rev 13:18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

Rev 13:18 ωδε G5602 ADV  η G3588 T-NSF  σοφια G4678 N-NSF  εστιν G1510 V-PAI-3S  ο G3588 T-NSM  εχων G2192 V-PAP-NSM  τον G3588 T-ASM  νουν G3563 N-ASM  ψηφισατω G5585 V-AAM-3S  τον G3588 T-ASM  αριθμον G706 N-ASM  του G3588 T-GSN  θηριου G2342 N-GSN  αριθμος G706 N-NSM  γαρ G1063 CONJ  ανθρωπου G444 N-GSM  εστιν G1510 V-PAI-3S  και G2532 CONJ  ο G3588 T-NSM  αριθμος G706 N-NSM  αυτου G846 P-GSN χξς G5516 A-NUI-ABB

There is the mark :χξς. If we look at the definition of the last Greek letter of the three, Stigma, we get Strong’s G4742. The definition is below, and it makes me think there is more going on here than just a number.

G4742
στίγμα
stigma
Thayer Definition:
1) a mark pricked in or branded upon the body. To ancient oriental usage, slaves and soldiers bore the name or the stamp of their master or commander branded or pricked (cut) into their bodies to indicate what master or general they belonged to, and there were even some devotee’s who stamped themselves in this way with the token of their gods
Part of Speech: noun neuter

Moving on, we see after all these things, the judgement and the new heaven and earth.

Rev 20:11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Rev 20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
Rev 20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
Rev 20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Dan 12:1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
Dan 12:2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Dan 12:3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.
Dan 12:4 But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

In conclusion, once a person learns who the gods of the nations really are, our surroundings become clearer, and we start to understand why we should not engage in their traditions and symbolism. It’s a defeated system waiting to be thrown in the abyss, and their objective is to rule the earth and take human kind with them.

Deu 12:29 “When the LORD your God cuts off before you the nations whom you go in to dispossess, and you dispossess them and dwell in their land,
Deu 12:30 take care that you be not ensnared to follow them, after they have been destroyed before you, and that you do not inquire about their gods, saying, ‘How did these nations serve their gods?—that I also may do the same.’
Deu 12:31 You shall not worship the LORD your God in that way, for every abominable thing that the LORD hates they have done for their gods, for they even burn their sons and their daughters in the fire to their gods.
Deu 12:32 “Everything that I command you, you shall be careful to do. You shall not add to it or take from it.

Feature photo of clay brick and an iron rail was taken by Emma Vail somewhere in Georgia.