Do we know what they knew?
4 For if God did not spare angels [Watchers] when they sinned, but cast them into Tartarus and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; 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; ...
For the first three hundred years of history after Jesus, the church had a core of knowledge that empowered it against the rampant pagan religions of its time. We are now facing the rise of that same paganism in this time as the gods and their demons return into the vacuum of a diminishing church. What is it that they knew seventeen hundred years ago that we do not? Answering this question is crucial and vital for without that answer, the modern Christian church will not only languish in paralysis, but find itself utterly ineffectual against the sins of the Watchers as they return.
Sins of the Watchers
The sins of the Watchers is the missing ingredient in the modern church. Christians do not know this story. Our counterparts in the early church not only knew this story but clung to it as the nucleus of the wrong that Jesus Christ corrected at the Cross. It wasn't only about saving humanity from Genesis 3, but correcting the devastation of the sins of the Watchers where human beings had been attacked, used, abused, and lured into depravities—orders of magnitude lower than what they otherwise would have sank on their own.
The evidence is right in front of our Christian faces. It has been there for seventeen centuries and easily found. It is the content of this evidence, the reason it was demonically attacked and removed, and the relevance of that in our modern time that is critical for us as Christians to learn. If the church is to fulfill the words of Jesus at Mount Hermon with regard to assaulting the very gates of hell—we must (as a body) become reacquainted with this nuclear bomb of our early founders in Christ! The story of the Watchers, who they are and what they did, is that bomb.
Evidence? What Evidence?
The evidence comes in two parts. The first part are documents and writings that informed the Second Temple Jews prior to and at the time of Jesus. These works are deeply and strongly represented in the contents of the Dead Sea Scrolls. However—the DSS material is not the only source. There are also ancient Mesopotamia writings to which these intertestamental DSS writings are a polemic rebuttal. Taken together, the stories of the sins of the Watchers must be recognized as the foundational data from which the Jews of that time interpreted their bible.
The second part of the evidence comes in the form of the writings of founding church fathers—that is—those men in leadership roles in the first three centuries of the persecuted church. This raises an immediate question: Why would we stop at the point where Constantine is "converted" and the Christian church is made legal? This is a very good question that deserves an answer. Let's be quick.
Shortly after Constantine's so-called vision and the legalization of Christianity in the Roman empire there was demonic wickedness truly afoot. We can be very certain that it is this point of history where the Enochian Watcher story is erased from the Christian mind. Church father's of the time fought for material like Enoch to remain in the canon of scripture (or at least have critical importance), but they failed to prevail. The death of Enoch from the view of the church spelled the doom and demise of the Watcher story and their sins, abuse, and violence upon humanity; setting the stage for Christians like you and I to be literally unaware of such stories until now.
Once again—what are the evidences?
First in line are the writings of the Second Temple era Jews: 1 Enoch (Book of the Watchers); Animal Apocalypse; Noahic Appendix; Book of Giants; Jubilees; Damascus Documents; Ben Sira; Wisdom of Solomon; 3 Maccabees; 3 Baruch; other DSS fragments (Genesis Apocryphon; Ages of Creation; Exhortation based on the Flood; Incantation; Songs of the Sage; Apocryphal Psalms).
Next up are the writings of church fathers between AD 100 and the third century AD: Testament of Solomon, Pseudo-Clementine Homilies, Tertullian's Apology, Commodianus Instructions, Irenaeus, et al. All of these were based on and informed by the list of Second Temple Jewish literature noted in the previous paragraph.
Throwing out the gods
Imagine the social and religious environment of a place like Ephesus in the first century AD. Paganism and worship of gods and idols was non-trivial. The culture and daily life of the people of that place and time were built tightly around idols, gods, temples, oracles, and all that went with it—including significant portions of their economies and wealth. The temples and idols and icons that adorned them were disgustingly expensive. Such things were not hastily and shoddily built. The were lavish, ornate, and the best that money could buy.
Now—image that a funny little half-bald guy name Paul, who does speak with trained eloquence, comes to town from an unknown backwater town called Jerusalem. It would be as though Jed Clampet showed up in posh Beverley Hills preaching about some obscure Jewish guy that died on a Roman cross. The immediate question rises: Why would people steeped in centuries of paganism be motivated to throw their gods and goddesses over the rails, and also to endanger their own lives and livelihoods in the process for a simplistic kindergarten notion of "Jesus-loves-me-this-I-know"? What if a 21st century American mega-church Christian showed up and starting preaching our 21st century nonsense to a bunch of wealthy pagan Gentiles in 1st century Ephesus?
The question is as rhetorical as it is obvious! And one is hard-pressed not to note that we live in a growing paganistic society that is forming itself up into another Ephesus dressed up in different words—and this 21st century Ephesus could literally care less about your mega-church message. As a matter of fact—it scoffs, laughs, mocks, and otherwise attacks it with pride and arrogance. Modern churches know this and attempt to dress themselves in Hollywood concert garb in a vain attempt to make themselves "relevant" to this society. It's a pathetic sham and all of hell knows it while they laugh and mock.
So—once again—why was a short balding guy from po-dunk Jerusalem turning Ephesus (and all of the known world) upside down with his message and our mega-church message is not only falling flat, but being mocked and run out of the city? The difference is the content. STOP! Think about it.
Exposing the gods
Paul came with a backstory that exposed the gods for who and what they are. His story not only exposed these things, but it also exposed how those gods and demons had abused, victimized, endangered, and violated blinded humanity for thousands of years. In the face of powerful fallen forces, Jesus had come to call them out to a fight, smack them down, and rescue blind human beings as well as forgiving their sins.
In contrast—21st century westernized, rationalized, and humanistic, selectively-supernatural "Christians" are clueless about who the gods are, who and what demons are, and how they have abused and violated humanity for almost 6,000 years. They cannot tell you the story of where homosexuality came from or the source of all such sexual deviancy. They cannot tell you the sources of magic, sorcery, witchcraft, astrology, and other occult practices. They cannot see the connection between the modern renditions of these things and the ancient renditions—connecting the dots between.
Modern Christians cannot tell you where the hyper-sexualization and objectification of women came from. They cannot tell you who invented makeup, jewelry, and other means of hyper-sexualization, and who it was taught to, or why. Instead, they place the blame fully on humanity, while devils snicker in the dark at our blindness and naivety. We are laughed at and mocked even as we are led into the jaws of our own destruction by an enemy that remains hidden from our sight and senses.
Relevant Questions
Why is it that modern Christians cannot tell you these things? Because the story that reveals it was stripped from the church seventeen hundred years ago and what replaced it was incoherent, inconsistent, and powerless church traditions created by mere men whose motivations were and are still highly questionable.
The fact is—scripture tells it own story. Truth is derived from scripture and not from church fathers. Truth originates from one place and one only: Scripture—in its own context and own worldview of the people that God providentially used to write it and assemble it.
Early Christians and Jews knew these stories and held them as foundational to the works of God, especially the Cross of Christ. Even Gentile pagans knew the basics from their own paganism and ancient stories as well. None of them held these things as myths and made up human hokum. They view the supernatural as real; gods were real; demons were real; even the one Most High God was real as well.
Therefore—when Gentile pagans were presented with the good news of their freedom from abusive gods and demons of violence by a loving all knowing and all powerful God of gods—they were drawn in. They understood clearly that the issue was a matter of power and loyalty. They knew instantly that God was powerful above all and that the Cross of Christ not only paved the way for their salvation, but was the means by which they could freely receive the eternal life that the gods had failed to deliver. They knew that the price of admission was not only the power God at the Cross applied to them, but a change in loyalties from the gods to the Most High God, Creator, and Savior of all.
Declaration of War on the gods
This was the powerful message that Paul preached in towns like Ephesus; declaring it openly for all. This story of Jesus defeating their gods (Watchers and demons) and openly shaming them in heaven is what induced them risk life, limb, businesses, families, and acceptance in their communities in an open show of force. Water baptisms included open disavowals of their former gods and a pledge of loyalty to Jesus Christ alone in hope.
The witness to this was their steadfast holding to Christ even under the threat of pain and death, humiliation, and ostracization from families, friends, governments, businesses, and society in general. They were willing to suffer horrid martyrdoms and executions for their newfound faith and stand against their former gods. All of this added up to a fulfilment of Jesus words at the very seat of the Genesis 6:1-4 rebellion: Mt Hermon, stating flatly: "the gates of hell will not survive My church!"
Return of the gods
In the 20th and 21st century, the gods are returning. The westernized cancers of sexual depravity and open child sacrificing through abortion—both ancient in origin—are just two in-your-face facts of living in 2023 that expose the return of ancient gods, demons, and their vicious ways and debauchery.
The answer in 2023 is the same as it was in the first century: The church needs to know who her enemy is. She needs to know what she is facing so that she is not duped like ancient Israel into siding with paganistic idolatry and everything that goes with it.
She needs to understand the ancient spirits behind the homosexual movement, abortion, and attacks against those who stand as the people of God. It is we, the church, who carry the Spirit of Christ, His power in us, and the message that exposes these ancient beings and their tactics in the 21st century.
Nephilim are coming
As the church, we may not see the full return of the Nephilim and the unholy alliance of fallen divine beings and human women—yet—we might. The church might be taken out of the world very soon, sparing us who believe and know. However, the palpable fear is either a late rapture. It is also a fear for the people who are left behind, who are clueless about what they will face. Scripture refers to the Nephilim and giants as "men of renown" and "mighty men" (gibborim in Hebrew). These are the Titans who seduced men by their physical strength and prowess, as well as demonstrations of miracles that wowed the men and women of that ancient time.
We are headed into very treacherous times. It does not get easier, simpler, or safer from here to there. The issue is not peace and safety—it is loyalty or treachery against God. It is the eternal safety of being born again of the Spirit of Christ in us or rejecting that and succumbing in human blindness to the attacks and violence of a seducing enemy.
Which one will you follow? Who will you believe when that time comes? I pray that you believe the message of Christ against the sins of the Watchers and demons right this minute. Waiting is very dangerous to your eternal soul!