Demons in the sky

 

A Christian YouTube channel tries to play the role of "voice of reason" vis-à-vis the ongoing UFO hysteria in the United States. But note the Biblicist dogmatism! Still, an interesting contribution. 

When Doreen met the Nephilim

 

This is actually a quite interesting video, featuring Doreen Virtue, Jordan B Cooper and some others, critically discussing and/or attacking the ideas of the late Michael S Heiser (whom I kind of liked). I didn´t know that Virtue was associated with Heiser during a period. Nor did I know that Heiser and his writings are *that* popular in evangelical and charismatic circles. Apparently, he was also a "gateway drug" to Eastern Orthodoxy.

I watched about half of the video, and unsurprisingly it´s very "theological" and "orthodox" (with a lower-case o). The evangelicals or Lutherans are imprisoned by their respective theologies, and simply can´t think outside the box. It´s a bit ironic that one of them pronounces "prisms" almost as "prison"! 

The New Testament literally quotes the Book of Enoch *and calls Enoch a prophet*, suggesting that Jude (supposedly a brother of Jesus) considered the accursed book to be...well, prophetic (i.e. inspired by God, the one with the capital G). As for esoteric knowledge, the early Church probably kept the Gospels hidden from the multitude and the catechumens, so already there you have a "hierarchy". And why does Paul talk about "milk" and "meat" in his epistles?

That being said, it´s probably true that many people drawn to Heiser are interested in fringe stuff. I smiled when Virtue mentioned that he had pictures of Bigfoot, a statue of an alien and a model of the Ark of the Covenant in his office (or perhaps home). There is also a connection to charismatic Christians who believe in literally casting out demons.   

That being said, while Heiser probably wasn´t right about everything, in some paradoxical way he probably stood close to historical-critical scholarship, since he acknowledged that ancient Israelite religion wasn´t strictly monotheist in *our* sense of the term, that the "canon of Scripture" was more flexible than evangelicals usually believe, and so on. My main criticism of Heiser was that he "took an idea and run with it", in effect constructing his own theology around the Book of Enoch and then interpreting the rest of the Bible through that prism. 

But then, actual "Biblical" religion was probably pretty wild, so who knows, maybe he was closer to the real thing than the people featured in this conversation...

No???

 

Wtf?! 

Project Sunshine

 

“Aliens and Demons: Evidence of an Unseen Realm” is an extended interview with Michael S Heiser, a maverick Biblical scholar who doubles as a kind of UFO-logist. I previously reviewed some of Heiser´s books on this blog, one of them indeed titled “The Unseen Realm”. The interview, dubbed a “documentary” on YouTube, gives a good overview of Heiser´s worldview, while also giving a strongly eclectic impression.

In the first portion, Heiser argues – more or less convincingly – that the UFO phenomenon is staged by the American military, and that there is a connection to Operation Paperclip and something called Project Sunshine. The “alien space craft” are military test flights of various exotic human technologies. The “alien bodies” might be bodies of young convicts, perhaps taken from death row and forced to participate in dangerous experiments. But when Heiser starts discussing MK Ultra, he suddenly switches gear and starts claiming that actual demons come through in the abduction experiences, when surely a secular explanation is just as possible here as at Roswell! Why not simply claim that “alien abductions” are an attempt to cover up MK Ultra´s mind-control experiments? In the same vein, contactee experiences are with lesser spiritual beings or outrightly demonic ones. Heiser points out that the notorious Swiss contactee Billy Meier claims to have met a gorgeous female space alien named Semjase, a name clearly related to that of the leader of the fallen angels in the First Book of Enoch, Semyaza or Semyaz…

Theologically, Heiser is somewhat heterodox. For instance, he doesn´t believe in the fall of Lucifer and the “war in the heavens” as an event taking place *before* the creation of Adam and Eve (and their subsequent fall). Instead, he puts most of his emphasis on the fall of the Watchers, the angels who mated with human females and gave rise to the monstrous race of the Nephilim (the Giants). This happened after the fall of Adam and Eve, but before the Flood. I get the impression that Heiser believes this to be an actual historical event. Heiser further argues that there are a number of different demonic beings in the unseen realm. Some of them aren´t actually demonic in the strict sense of the term. However, they are imperfect and have failed in the mission God assigned to them, that mission being to act like “gods” unto the Gentile nations. Other beings are outrightly evil and are probably the disembodied souls of dead Nephilim.

Thus, UFOs and aliens are either secretive military experiments or literal demons (or other entities) from a supernatural dimension. While there might be intelligent life in other solar systems, no evidence for space aliens ever landing on Earth exists. In one section of the interview, Heiser polemicizes against the inordinately popular TV series “Ancient Aliens”. He explains that the famous vision of Ezekiel – often said to be an early UFO observation – is really the Old Testament god sitting on a “Babylonian” chariot, symbolizing that Yahwe is above the pagan gods. Nor is there any evidence for the wild claims of Zecharia Sitchin about Nibiru and what not.

One intriguing point made by Heiser is that the Sumerians also had a legend of fallen angels, but in their version, the Watchers are good gods who want to save humanity from the Flood brought about by gods who hate us! Their way of doing so is to mate with human females, thereby giving their offspring a portion of divinity, while also teaching the human population the arts of civilization. This rather sympathetic myth was turned upside-down by the Hebrew scriptures. But, of course, Heiser doesn´t think it´s sympathetic and expresses support for the Biblical version.

I can´t help thinking that Heiser “should” be even more heterodox than he really is. For instance, what about the Divine Council? Why does God say “let us make humanity in our image”? Heiser clearly believes that the Divine Council exist and that God is addressing other powerful heavenly beings in this version. If the “gods” of the goyim actually exist, doesn´t that make Yahweh into a polytheist high god? And why should we believe that Yahweh isn´t just another national god, anyway? Also, Heiser seem to believe that God did create extraterrestrials, but curiously enough without “God´s image”. Are we *that* unique in the entire cosmos? Why not embrace the Mormon position that there are countless of gods, countless of creators, and hence countless of “divine images”…

With that reflection, I close this review.   

Vimanas and Nephilim: On the planet of the ancient aliens

”Ancient Aliens Debunked” is a three-hour presentation by Chris White, scrutinizing many of the claims made in the History Channel series “Ancient Aliens”. White is backed by Michael Heiser, a somewhat free-wheeling Christian writer and Biblical scholar. The presentation (which is surprisingly well produced) is available for free on several YouTube channels. It´s not explicitly Christian, but such a perspective does shine through in the two last sections, which discuss the Flood and the Nephilim.

“Ancient Aliens” is an extremely popular TV series promoting the Ancient Astronaut Theory, according to which space aliens visited Earth in the past and decisively influenced human evolution and history. The “theory” was popularized by Erich von Däniken during the 1960´s and 1970´s. Däniken is indeed featured in the series, still going strong after all these years. Another prominent advocate, the late Zecharia Sitchin, is referenced. The series is narrated by Giorgio A Tsoukalos, a Swiss TV personality and probably a friend of Däniken´s (who is also a Swiss national).

I believed in the Ancient Astronaut Theory when I was about 12 years old, but today, I regard it as one of the more silly alternative theories. Essentially, its proponents travel around the world (usually the Third World), gasp at various ancient monuments, pronounce them “impossible” cuz reasons or something, and then draw the conclusions that aliens must be responsible. These speculations have been repeatedly and convincingly debunked ever since Däniken published his best-selling “Chariots of the Gods” back in 1968. Yet, here we go again: “Ancient Aliens” frequently features *literally the exact same silly arguments* as 50 years ago, which in my mind at least means that we´re dealing with deliberate ignoramuses. How many times must experts on Mayan iconography point out that the relief on Pakal´s tomb does not, repeat not, repeat not, show an ancient astronaut but Pakal´s death and journey to the underworld, and that its symbolism is well-known and consistent with other Mayan art from the period? There simply is no mystery there. According to “Ancient Aliens Debunked”, the rabbit hole goes even deeper. White believes that Ancient Astronaut theorists deliberately distort the evidence, making them charlatans and conmen rather than simpletons ignorant of archaeology. Clearly, I didn´t knew half of it…

The presentation speaks for itself, but a few sections stand out (at least they do to me). Thus, we finally learn what Ezekiel´s bizarre vision actually was – that one has long confused even myself (and perhaps a few Bible translators). It wasn´t a UFO-like object, but God´s chariot (the famed Merkabah) known from other Hebraic sources. It´s appearance is no mystery. But sure, I suppose some Däniken fan could claim that the chariot must have been powered by electricity and drawn by animal-human hybrids, so perhaps this won´t hurt the ancient alien scenario as much as White and Heiser hopes! Another good section deals with the Mahabharata, the claims about “vimanas” in particular. It turns out that the “vimanas” weren´t flying machines at all, but the palaces of the gods. They sure could fly, but they had no resemblance whatsoever either to modern human technology or to UFO observations. I could be wrong, but I don´t think anyone has reported seeing a hovering Vishnu temple in the night sky over New York (or New Delhi) lately! Even worse, the single best evidence for the existence of vimanas is a “channeled” text from the 1940´s, in other words a crude forgery, even apart from the fact that none of the contraptions shown in it are aerodynamic enough to take to the skies. (But, once again, I suppose you could argue that they must therefore have been powered by some unknown force, say Vril or Voor).

Another interesting section deals with “UFOs” in medieval art. In reality, we are dealing with anthropomorphic depictions of the sun and the moon, or simply with the Annunciation. This becomes clear if we put the “UFO” paintings in their proper historic and artistic contexts. I was somewhat disappointed to learn that none of the famed crystal skulls were authentic, not because I believe they are alien, but because it would be great fun if they were Mayan! And then there´s the Annunaki. It´s not entirely clear whether Zecheria Sitchin was a conscious fraud or simply a lovable old man stuck in his own delusions, but it seems that he literally couldn´t read ancient Sumerian! Heiser has debunked Sitchin before, indeed he has an entire website devoted to the subject. Essentially, nothing you ever read in Sitchin´s “Earth Chronicles” is true. Since the ancient Sumerians were an interesting and important civilization, I think Sitchin may have posthumously made them a real disservice by painting the entire field as crackpot.

The two sections which really stand out are the ones where the narrator´s Christian worldview slowly comes into focus. He accepts the reality of a world-wide flood – an idea I, as a newly minted Atlantomaniac, also find interesting and plausible. He even accepts the idea that angels may have mated with human females and given rise to the famed race of Giants. That one is much harder to believe! This, I think, is the Achilles Heel of this material: the ancient astronaut theorists might ask what is the *real* difference between angels and aliens? Note that White and, I suppose, Heiser believes that the “angels” weren´t spiritual or ethereal beings. They have solid bodies, can eat earthly food, and even look a lot like humans. They mated with humans by “changing their habitation”, an expression which the narrator believes refers to bodies. (I admit I never heard this intriguing idea before!) Thus, by discarding the angelic bodies and letting their spirits incarnate in fully human ditto, the Watchers became capable of begetting offspring with “our” women. The Nephilim or Giants were, of course, also physical creatures. It´s somewhat ironic that White believes in the most weird and extreme Biblical passage! That being said, I commend him for his honesty in laying all the cards on the table…including the wild cards.

Do we know everything about the human past? Of course not. We probably never will. However, the evidence to back the concrete claims of the Ancient Astronaut Theory simply isn´t there. Even apart from the whole thing feeling very very retro…

Ancient aliens debunked, Atlantis vindicated

This is an over three hour long debunking of "Ancient Aliens", a never-ending TV show on some American trash channel peddling the equally never-ending Ancient Astronaut Theory of Erich von Däniken et. al. 

I haven´t watched the entire documentary (yet), but what I have seen so far seems pretty solid. More specifically, the sections on "UFOs" in medieval art, the Crystal Skulls, the Mahabharata, the Annunaki and the visions of Ezekiel. The two latter sections features my favorite Bible scholar Michael Heiser. I must say that the amount of sheer and brazen lying from the Dänikenites surprised even me. Wow! We´re talking about scam artists here. 

The documentary has been uploaded by a Christian, but I´m not sure if it´s the actual narrator or somebody else. It does contain crypto-Biblical apologetics in the Annunaki section. 

I might return to this in the future, but for the time being, you are free to explore this smorgasbord for yourselves. An ironic fact which struck me when watching it, is that Ancient Astronaut theorists have to assume that pre-modern man (or is it pre-modern colored man?) was mighty stupid, since they constantly mistook space age technology for "gods" and in general couldn´t do anything without the aid of smart aliens from Wherever. 

Here´s another "alternative" proposition: no, you jerks, it was Atlantis the Lost Civilization all along... and Atlantis was *human*! 

Before the Da Vinci Code, there was the Bible Code...

This is a short study about supposed secret messages encoded in the Bible. The notion was popularized in 1997 by Michael Drosnin in his book “The Bible Code” (it sold well even in secular Sweden). Drosnin claims that the Hebrew text of the Torah contains hidden prophecies, including one about the assassination of Israeli PM Yitzhak Rabin. By now, various different Bible codes have been proposed, some proving that Jesus was the Messiah, while others prove the opposite. Unsurprisingly, fundamentalist Christians go with the former, while Orthodox Jews claim the latter!

The author of this booklet, Michael Heiser, is something of an enigma. He seems to believe in a rather “fundamentalist” version of Protestant Christianity, including literal demons and fallen angels (some of whom pilot UFOs). At the same time, he is skeptical of other alternative claims, such as Zecharia Sitchin's bizarre speculations about ancient Sumer. He doesn't believe the Bible codes either.

The codes are the result of a surprisingly “promiscuous” way of rearranging the Biblical text by computer (the so-called skip sequences), and you can get essentially any result by chance. Similar “prophetic” codes have been found even in “Moby Dick”! A curious fact is that Christian code enthusiasts use the Masoretic Text family (MT), which isn't even Christian, but rather consciously anti-Christian. This textual family evolved among Rabbinical Jews in polemics with the Christians in the early Roman Empire, who preferred the Septuagint. That Jews use the MT is less surprising, of course.

Heiser does have a theological problem, though. On the one hand, his argument hinges on the Biblical text being corrupt – no two manuscripts look the same, which means that there isn't a “true” text the code can be based on. On the other hand, Heiser presumably believes the Biblical text to be inspired by God. He is often at pains to signal his theological orthodoxy in the pages of the booklet. That being said, I regard Heiser's case against the Bible Code to be pretty conclusive. It's essentially a computer-generated code which “means” something only by chance, and it's not even based on the best available Bible manuscripts!

Here is a quote from the book which I think eminently summarizes the author's conclusions: “The claim that God inserted a special code in the Torah text when he moved Moses or anyone else to write the Torah cannot stand in the face of the inscriptional material we possess today. There is no way we can know or determine or reconstruct such a text and, more importantly for this discussion, the every-letter sequence of that text because the script, spelling, word order, and grammar of the language that originally conveyed the Torah has demonstrably changed over time. Comparing how a scribe of 800 B.C. would have written out the text of the Torah letter by letter with today's modern Hebrew editions would instantly produce enough letter variations to meet Satinover's aforementioned standard for undoing the Bible code” (Kindle Locations 448-453).

Make the Bible strange again

A review of "Reversing Hermon: Enoch, the Watchers, and the Forgotten Mission of Jesus" 

This is a book by independent Bible scholar Michael S Heiser. It deals with one of his favorite topics: the ancient Jewish scripture known as the Book of Enoch. Parts of the book are very interesting and probably true, others feel more speculative. It's not always clear whether Heiser (who is a Christian) actually believes in the strange tales attributed to Enoch, or whether he is only acting as a historical-critical commentator. The first half of the main text is well written, but then Heiser starts repeating himself, making the other half a tedious read. But, as I said, the subject-matter *is* interesting.

The Book of Enoch (or 1 Enoch) is quoted or alluded to by several New Testament writers, most obviously Peter and Jude. It was considered canonical by a number of early Church Fathers, including Irenaeus and Tertullian. Augustine rejected it, and his negative verdict has become the official Church position (except in Ethiopia). Among Jews, 1 Enoch was considered important by the Qumran community but Rabbinical Judaism rejected it. Thus, Enoch became a “lost scripture”. Heiser believes that this was a real loss: the worldview of the Bible was informed by Enochian speculations, and many key passages in the NT cannot be understood without this backdrop. The Enochian context makes the Biblical worldview more supranaturalist and, at least to me, slightly bizarre.

Genesis contains obscure references to “the Sons of God” who had sexual intercourse with human females, begetting evil offspring known as giants or Nephilim. The official Church position is that the sons of God were humans belonging to the godly line of Seth. They defiled themselves by marrying women from the ungodly line of Cain. Heiser argues persuasively that this simply cannot be the correct interpretation. Rather, the sons of God are fallen angels who took physical form. The Nephilim really were giants, half-human and half-demonic. The full story of the fallen angels is told in the Book of Enoch, which also argues that evil came into the world through the fallen angels (or Watchers). Evil is identified with sexual seduction, weapons and magical arts. The worst evil was the sexual union between angels and humans, and this was also the main reason why God send the Flood – to wipe out the Nephilim. Meanwhile, the Watchers were punished by being thrown into Tartarus (Hell or the Netherworld). The evil didn't disappear with the Flood, however. When the Nephilim died, their demonic spirits were freed and started to roam the post-diluvian world. The Annakim and Rephaim fought by Joshua were also giants.

Heiser argues that several key events in the New Testament become more clear if seen through Enochian lenses. Jews associated the land around Mount Hermon, Bashan, with demons. Indeed, the very gates of Hell were believed to be situated there. Also, the fallen angels were believed to have descended to Earth on Mount Hermon. The land of the Gerasenes was also in this region. This explains why Jesus visits the land and carries out a dramatic exorcism. It's his way of showing the fallen angels and their minions that their days are numbered. The Transfiguration also takes place at Hermon, according to Heiser's interpretation. Once again, Jesus shows in dramatic fashion that he intends to defeat the fallen angels. Just like Enoch, who both ascended to Heaven and descended to the abode of the fallen angels, Jesus does the same thing. His descent among “the spirits in prison” is mentioned by Peter. The Book of Revelation also contains Enochian themes, such as the unleashing of the demons from the bottomless pit (i.e. the fallen angels from Tartarus) or the lake of fire into which the evil forces will be thrown (just as in the Book of Enoch, but mentioned nowhere in the Old Testament).

Heiser makes several other interesting observations in “Reversing Hermon”. Thus, he argues that the Book of Enoch is similar to pagan Mesopotamian legends, and could be seen as a polemical attack on them (of course, it could also be seen as borrowing!). The Sumerians claimed that their kings were half-divine and had been instructed by the apkallu, a kind of culture-heroes who taught humanity agriculture, architecture and so on. The Jews reverted the meaning of the story, recasting the apkallu and demi-gods as evil and demonic. Heiser makes the intriguing observation that the apkallu weren't wholly good in the original legends either. They are said to come from the Abyss (compare Tartarus!) and are in conflict with Marduk, the high god of the Babylonian pantheon. The epic hero Gilgamesh was described as a giant demi-god in Mesopotamian sources, and also in the Jewish “Book of Giants”. Even Enoch has a Mesopotamian parallel, the antediluvian king Emmenduranki who is said to have ascended to Heaven and received secret knowledge. Both Enoch and Emmenduranki were the seventh of their line.

Heiser also discusses astrological influences in the Bible. Thus, the “woman clothed with the sun” in Revelation is identified with the star constellation Virgo. The Dragon who challenges the woman is Libra and Scorpio, once regarded as a single constellation. The Star of Bethlehem is Jupiter.

If Heiser is right, and I think he is on to something, the real Biblical worldview will be difficult for modern Westerners to accept. Thus, Jesus came to Earth to defeat the power of literal demons which had caused the Flood and disordered creation by sexual relations with human females. Tartarus is a real place, probably below Mount Hermon. Several Israelite wars were fought to exterminate demonic giants. And yes, astrology is real. We even know the names of the fallen angels and of their leader, Semyaza. However, “Reversing Hermon” might be difficult to accept for another reason, too. It's too historical-critical for most evangelicals. The parallels between the Genesis and Sumero-Babylonian myths are so striking that it's frankly difficult to see the Biblical (or Enochian) stories as simple polemics against a pagan worldview. They are obviously *borrowed* from the earlier pagan sources. Skeptics will have a field day with this material, I think! If it will lead to any discernible results among Heiser's fellow Protestants remains to be seen…

No reincarnation allowed

A review of "Did Jesus Allow For Reincarnation?"

This is a short pamphlet arguing that Jesus didn't teach reincarnation. This seems obvious, but those who claim that early Christians did believe in the concept have tried to find it in the New Testament nevertheless. The most promising “proof text” is John 9:1-4, where the disciples wonder why a casual passerby is blind. Is it because his parents sinned, or because of his own sins? The question seemingly implies reincarnation, since the man was *born* blind. How can his sins have made him blind, unless he was sinful in a previous life?

The author, Michael Heiser, is an independent Biblical scholar with a good knowledge of ancient languages. In this case, it unfortunately takes him on a long semantic detour through Greek clauses and what not, which I'm not sure is even necessary for the case at hand. The bottom line is that Jesus rejects both notions proposed by his disciples, thus implicitly ruling out reincarnation (if that is indeed what the confused disciples are referring to).

But this is with outmost probability *not* what the followers of Jesus refers to, as Heiser points out in the final section of the pamphlet. The idea of reincarnation was foreign to 1st century Judaism, the religious context in which Jesus ministered. Neither the Pharisees nor the Essenes believed in reincarnation, the usual “proof texts” either referring to the immortality of the soul, or to the general resurrection on Judgment Day. The idea that Jesus was “John the Baptist returned from the dead” probably refers to spirit-possession (although I suppose it could also refer to physical resurrection, if we assume people didn't know the true identity of Jesus). The idea that Jesus was Elijah or some other prophet refers to the notion that Elijah, being taken up by God in a fiery chariot, never died and hence could return to the earthly plane at any time. It seems similar ideas also existed about some other prophets, notably Jeremiah. Finally, the seemingly bizarre idea that a person can sin before his birth is attested in the Talmud, which states that Esau sinned in the womb, which explains why God rejected him in favor of Jacob!

This study isn't bad, but perhaps it's too short on the comparative religion material to really “pin down” those who claim otherwise. Still, I give it three stars.

Binitarian monotheism?

A review of "Does Divine Plurality in the Hebrew Bible Demonstrate an Evolution From Polytheism to Monotheism in Israelite Religion? A Conference Paper" 

This is a short theological tract by Michael Heiser, arguing against the secular consensus view that ancient Israelite religion was originally polytheist (or perhaps “henotheist”) and evolved into monotheism during the exile in Babylon. Heiser insists on Israel's religion being monotheist from the start. This case really cannot be argued in a short pamphlet, either way, so this material should be regarded as an “opening statement” by the author.

Much hinges on how one chooses to date various Biblical books, or even chapters of the same (modern scholars believe that many books of the “Old Testament” have a composite character). One of Heiser's points is that Yahweh sounds sovereign and incomparable even in material usually regarded as pre-exilic. Conversely, the idea of a “divine council” populated by “elohim” can be found in post-exilic works. The author's comments on the inscriptions pairing Yahweh and Asherah are ingenious. Universally regarded as pre-exilic and often taken as evidence of polytheism, the inscription also proves that Yahweh was identified with the Canaanite high god El already before the exile. But if so, Yahweh was not a subordinate deity to El, he was the actual master of the cosmos! As a Bible-believing Christian, Heiser cannot accept the idea that he had a female consort, arguing that *this* must be an apostate notion.

Personally, I think that this e-book is too apologetic (in the theological sense). Heiser's book “The Unseen Realm” is more nuanced. There, he argues that ancient Israel, while not polytheist in our sense of the term, nevertheless believed in a pluriform deity. The most important aspect of this pluriformity was a kind of “binitarianism”, according to which the invisible Yahweh was represented on Earth by a visible Yahweh or Angel of the Lord, who shared the invisible Yahweh's essence, hence being both identical and distinct from him. This idea later evolved into the Christian trinitarianism and the idea of God's incarnation as Jesus. In this work, Heiser's actual view is only mentioned in a footnote. While Heiser's Israelite binitarianism is connected to his theological perspective, it doesn't seem prima facie impossible. Why should we expect all monotheisms to be identical to each other? Why should we expect the current Judeo-Christian-Muslim dichotomy between monotheism and polytheism to be meaningful during the Bronze Age or Early Iron Age? Let's be honest: the Christian Trinity isn't “monotheist” in the sense usually understood by the “post-exilic” term...

I will give this short stump speech three stars, while directing the reader's attention to “The Unseen Realm” by the same author, and “The Great Angel” by Margaret Barker. While Barker's perspective differs from Heiser's in many ways, there are nevertheless interesting overlaps. Heiser himself recommends a book I haven't read (yet), “Two Powers in Heaven” by Alan Segal. Happy hunting!

I'm not saying it was aliens, but it was aliens

A review of "Panspermia: What It Is And Why It Matters: An Introductory Essay" 

This is a short tract by Michael Heiser, in which the author (a relatively conservative Christian) attempts to harmonize the Bible with the notion of panspermia. Heiser seems to believe that some form of the panspermia hypothesis is correct, and is worried about the consequences for Christian faith should it ever become standard science. The author suspects that New Age beliefs, paganism and/or outright atheism will get a boost by panspermia. Interestingly, he is also worried about the dangers of excessive literalism in Bible interpretation, including “six solar days creationism”. It's not entirely clear what his alternative is, although it seems to be a form of “hard” theistic evolutionism in which God oversees the evolutionary process. This would be similar to Michael Behe's position.

Heiser makes one interesting admission: nobody (or almost nobody) *really* interprets the Genesis creation story absolutely literally. He further admits that different interpretations of Genesis are plausible, and that it's may not be entirely possible to chose a correct hermeneutic. Heiser is also aware of the fact that the ancient Israelites regarded the Earth as flat and enclosed behind a celestial dome filled with water, a view presupposed in several Biblical passages. But wouldn't this bizarre cosmology disprove the very idea that the Bible is divinely inspired – unless “divine inspiration” is taken very loosely?

The author's attempts to save the Bible while embracing panspermia includes the idea that the Hebrew syntax of Genesis allows for a gap of millions of years already before the first verse, with the creation story being about God's refashioning of matter created at some earlier point. The verse about “the earth giving forth living creatures” could be interpreted as God giving the Earth certain properties which makes the emergence of life possible. Interestingly, Heiser argues that “the image of God” isn't a reference to a human *property* but to a *function*, humans being God's representatives on Earth. (Islam has this exact notion, presumably derived from some form of Judaism.) Since being created in the image of God means having a unique station on Earth, Christians need not worry about intelligent extraterrestrials not having “the image”. Indeed, God may have used ETs as intermediaries in seeding life on Earth through directed panspermia even though the aliens lack “the image”.

Since I'm not a conservative Christian, Heiser's project of intellectual harmonization between science and “hard” Biblicism strikes me as misguided. Why not admit that the Bible isn't a divine revelation in the narrow sense presupposed by theological conservatives? That being said, this booklet might nevertheless be interesting to some readers, and I therefore give it three stars.

It's OK when we're doing it (TM)

A review of "The Old Testament Response to Pagan Divination" 

This is a rather weak tract by Michael Heiser, in which he essentially argues that divination is OK if sanctioned by Yahweh and the Scripture, and not OK if anybody else does it. Well, that's what they all say, aint it?

If read carefully, the “Old Testament” does contain divinatory (or “magical”) practices . Joseph used scrying and dream-interpretation, Laban used an unknown form of divination to discern the will of God concerning Jacob, the temple priests used the famed Urim and Thummim (probably lots), and the mysterious terebinth at Shechem was also known as “The Fortune-Teller's Oak”. What was strictly forbidden was divination to contact *other* gods than Yahweh, i.e. the gods (or “gods”) of the pagan nations. Heiser also claims that the initiative in the Bible belongs to God himself, not to the person doing the divination. Thus, the prophets are chosen, not self-made.

But this is a weak argument, since Laban presumably used divination on his own behalf to discern God's will. Since the Bible doesn't condemn this, Heiser has to say that God permitted it. Conversely, prophets in pagan religions were frequently chosen rather than self-made, for instance shamans. So in the end Heiser simply tells us that it's not magic if we're doing it ™, even though it is magic.

In the realm of the Nephilim

Most of Dr Michael S Heiser's book “The Unseen Realm” is available for free on Kindle, if you click on the free sample button. I first heard about Dr Heiser a few years ago when I read a number of peculiar novels about fallen angels and Nephilim, one of which was authored by him. On one of Heiser's websites, he took apart New Age cultist Zecharia Sitchin's foolish speculations about aliens and UFOs in ancient Sumer. Apparently, Heiser is something as unusual as a Biblical scholar doubling as a UFO-logist! He is also a Christian, although his denominational affiliation isn't at all clear. Not-so-mainline Protestant?

As another reviewer have already pointed out, “The Unseen Realm” is not a how-to guide about how to contact angels or spirits (nor the Nephilim), apparently a frequent misunderstanding. Rather, it's a somewhat dry and tedious theological work. That being said, its contents might rock a few boats. Heiser attempts to place the Bible in the context of its own time, which includes an uncompromising supernatural worldview. Mainline Christians uneasy about references to demons and giants, or anthropomorphic descriptions of God, will find little comfort here. Many “fundamentalists” won't like the book either, since Heiser occasionally references the apocryphal First Book of Enoch. While Heiser's theology isn't identical with Margaret Barker's, I don't think it’s a complete coincidence that Amazon has paired “The Unseen Realm” with Barker's works. Some parallels to the Mormon faith can also be discerned.

Heiser argues that the ancient Israelites believed in two versions of Yahweh, one invisible and the other appearing in the form of an angel or a human. Human encounters with an angelomorphic or anthropomorphic version of God should be seen as descriptions of literal events, not clever metaphors. The second Yahweh had the divine essence of the first Yahweh, and was therefore both separate and identical with him. The second Yahweh later incarnated as Jesus. God rules the world together with a council of “sons of God”, who are created supernatural beings, a kind of archangels. The original plan of God was to have a second council headed by Adam ruling directly over the Earth. This plan failed when Adam fell, but at the fullness of time, Christ will restore part of fallen humanity, turn humans into “sons of God” and make them co-rulers with Jesus in a restored Eden, even judging angels.

The temple at Jerusalem was a symbolic picture of the cosmos, and a large part of the book deals with its sacred symbolism and Israel's “sacred geography” in general. Another substantial portion of Heiser's book deals with the Watchers and the Nephilim. Heiser believes that the infamous Biblical verses about the “sons of God” begetting offspring with “the daughters of men” either refers to fallen angels mating with human females (the view of 1 Enoch), or to some other supernatural process by which demonic beings can influence the natural procreation of humans. He rejects the more common interpretation, that the “sons of God” were the male descendants of Seth who unlawfully married the daughters of Cain. The Nephilim didn't just exist before the Flood. They were commonly found in Canaan in Biblical times. Indeed, the Israelite conquest of Canaan, with its attendant genocide of the native population, was actually a holy war directed at the Nephilim (now known as Anakim). Since Nephilim turn into disembodied demons when killed, all of Israel's history can be seen as a struggle between Yahweh and the Watchers. As a side point, Heiser claims that Eden was a perfect place in an otherwise imperfect world, and that the Flood may have been local.

“The Unseen Realm” is a Christian theological tract, and hence blends scholarship (including frequent references to Ugaritic and Mesopotamian material) with ideas that secular scholars would consider pretty fringey, such as the notion that the Hebrew scriptures really are fulfilled by Jesus Christ. That being said, I think Heiser's work is interesting, especially when placed alongside Barker's books on the Temple and the Great Angel. It does explain many peculiar or difficult Bible passages. Of course, alternative interpretations are always possible, but I think Heiser at least deserves a hearing. Incidentally, this book does *not* deal with the UFO phenomenon. Those interested in that part of Dr Michael S Heiser's work should consult the author's websites.