Last weekend I was interviewed for the Conspirinormal Podcast. It was a fun show (a bit longer than an hour). We talked about the divine council, ancient astronauts, Zechariah Sitchin, and my new status as a government disinformation agent. Enjoy!
Interview on Conspirinormal
> my new status as a government disinformation agent
A fancy title but the conspiracy buffs make it sound glamourous. Since our work is off the books, we are technically independent contractors, which means no social security or unemployment insurance contributions from the USG, no vacation pay, no dental plan.
Sure, I’ve got to handle flying saucer debris, and our tech support is the *best,* but that don’t pay the bills.
So it’s just about fame? 🙂
With fame comes book deals.
LOL
Oh man, what an Unseen Realm teaser on the Genesis 6 stuff. I actually have the Annus article; will see what I can get from it. But it seems the Sethite view’s coffin has been nailed shut…and then nuked.
Very good interview.
Agreed – the Sethite view was incoherent before, but now it’s the poster child for how to ignore the ancient context of biblical material.
It’s so interesting the contortions people who religiously hold to a “human” view of Gen 6 take to defend their view. I shared elements of that article with some people and linked them to it, and the arguments back include
– “the writer assumes that the scripture is not inspired but rather is an alteration of Mesopotamian texts. We’ve all heard God haters make that claim.”
“the ancient Sumerians identified themselves with the god they worshipped. “Sons of the gods” could very well mean people with devotion to a supernatural entity, or even a “channeler” of such entity.
– (paraphrasing) “Genesis was written thousands of years before Babylonian texts, so how could Genesis be interacting with the Babylonian view?”
– “Lucifer and/or his crowd are not the sons of God — are people thinking.”
– “The top Sumerologists are of the opinion that early Sumer as monotheistic and later the religion began to degrade to polytheism.” Dude needs to read your dissertation (granted, not specifically about Sumer).
and finally
– “The Sumerians often referred (to) their gods as ‘father.’ As in their guide and protector. Not implying that they were biologically sired by the things. (a history of Sumerian religion by Thorkild Jacobsen.)”
While I appreciate people thinking about this topic, I don’t appreciate the contortions to make make scripture fit a pre-assigned view. Sometimes I wonder what’s the point in engaging in conversations about this topic.
boy, some of those are pretty dumb; kind of startling.
God is ( I always try to start everything, and end everything,in everything I say,making a Theological statment according to what is seen in scripture as the climax and “circle point” if I my invent a new phrase, of Theology, in the written scripture, which is that all things are from God, through God, and to God.) So to go on, God, is leading me to say I really see the benefit to people, of bypassing so much secondary,thirdasary, fourthasary etc.(just having fun and being origional)Theological discussion, and going right to the most origional source of everything as Mike and others are doing. Having said that,God is revealing to open eyes ears, that we who are collectively involved in this endeavour to get to the knowledge of God of the ancients,should be absolutly original in our thinking. God has put together His body, in which one can point out things that the others might need a little input on. So, having said that also, I want to start with some things that might help us a little. There are some “Deeper” issues God has as fondations, which He says in His words. What I am saying is, Can Faith be defined more origionaly ? , I mean, what were the ancients actualy thinking of when the thought of “Faith” . I am just saying this because , if Satan wants to hit on primary things, Faith would be one, our idea of “Love”, would be the other. And we are already addressing “Hope” in the recent Podcast of Mike, when He is discussing the “timing” of the Kingdom. One thing I know, is that the defining of “faith” as believing that God “exist” is NOT what the ancients, or the biblical writers were talking about. The saying that there is no God,is just so absolutly foolish, that the Holy ones just override it , and address what the REAL issue is, which is just acknowleging that Jesus went beyond death and shows THE SPIRIT IS THE TRUTH. Now having said that, this is where I want to question Mike on some of what I have heard him say. He said in one of his interviews somewhere, that he was not in the place of his understanding where he could see God as being “Without time”. In the scriptures, THAT truth is taught, Is it not ?—Mike said that he “couldnt see how God could be fully human, and stil be outside time. And then went on and said “as soon as you use any “time/space language, your immediatly acknowleding “time”. Lets note that by “no time” we are not saying the absence of “change”.(Like God goes back and forth from good to evil in His being, but always coming out in the good)because He is “God, knowing good and evil” Why I am sayng all this is because one clear thing we get from the origional Aramaic, Hebrew scriptures, is they point to Christ as defining “Time” himself. This truth gives us understanding in ALL OF THE MAJOR FOUNDATIONS. The pre-destination issue, the Faith issue, the What actually is “Love” issue. Just to start !!– Jesus is called “My ETERNAL Genesis” in the Aramaic translation by Victor Alexander which we can read online. This is Needed, in our understanding of How the ancients knew everything. What we need to understand, is that God is just having grace, and CONDESCENDING to our language, (shown in passages like when Jesus said “Ok, I will just use your language and say the girl “died” instead of saying her BODY fell ASLEEP”) So therfore she never actally died, but is eternal , like Thee Spirit. — I guess one of the things I am saying here is, I am wondering why Mike , in all his knowledge of scripture, would not say this is a CLEAR teachng in scriptue, but say like we heard him say in one interview that” How could God relate to our “feelings”. This is needed when we consider the Young earth-Evoulution (actualy needless)issue. Because , since there is no time with God, God is creating what we see right now, through Christ, “His eternal Genesis” all things. So niether young earth, nor evoloution, is TRUTH. The point is, to get back to the ancient world view, we shouldnt even GO THERE(the language of even discussing wether God exist or not) Because we can see that God is just showing us that this is needed,in THIS age, where people have decievingly twisted the meaning of faith as “believing that God exist”, when the ancients,didnt even go there. Because they knew that “The fool just SAYS in his heart, there is no God” because even though he SAYS there is no God, all along he knows there is. And so all men KNOW that there is God. Now to help Mike out here , because I know sometimes he will wonder what the point of a comment is, MY SOLO point is — THIS IS THE MAJOR DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE ANCIENTS AND TODAYS TEMPORARY WORLD VIEW, JUST THE ABSOLUTE FOOLISHNESS OF SAYING “THERE IS NO GOD” AND HOW WE SHOULD TAKE THE SAME SPIRIT WHEN TALKING ABOUT THIS TO THE UNREDEEMED” ? And so we end with what we are saying “No time” , but one eternal event horizen , The TRUTH” meaning Jesus, being God.
Thanks for directing me to the Amar Annus paper. Fascinating!
Here’s a link for those who need it.
http://www.academia.edu/2196071/The_Antediluvian_Origin_of_Evil_in_the_Mesopotamian_and_Jewish_Traditions_A_Comparative_Study
Great interview! Thanks!
This is NOT the article by Annus on the Origin of the Watchers that I talked about on the Conspirinormal interview. You won’t find what I was talking about here. So far as I know, that article is not publicly accessible.
The link here is to a book, not the article.
The article I was talking about is: Amar Annus, “On the Origin of Watchers: A Comparative Study of the Antediluvian Wisdom in Mesopotamian and Jewish Traditions,” Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha vol. 19:4 (2010): 277-320.
This article deals a death blow to any non-supernatural (or non-mythic as some prefer) interpretation in the sense that, if you care about interpreting the Bible in context, no human interpretation of the sons of God can work. It violates every point of context. Annus’ article is the most current study on the Mesopotamian apkallu. It supersedes ALL preceding work on this subject. That means your standard academic commentaries that all pastors are using are hopelessly out of date and mis-informed. Anyone commenting on Gen 6:1-4 hereafter will have to account for this article or else be academically inept.
The article is on Scribd.
https://www.scribd.com/doc/165671817/277-full-pdf
wow – nice find!
Wow. Good Stuff.
The first 51:46. You’d have to have grown up in MN.
praire_home_knucklehead-companion stuff. …a-n-o-k-a(eh!)…
Dr H starts at 51:48. Classically beguiling slow start. I’m suspicious he’s done this before.
You’ll find out WHY you ARE going to buy “The Unseen Realm” (oh yes you are)
_and_
about the dude in Michigan moving his garage around his back yard.
http://www.theforgottentechnology.com
There’s also a hidden treatise on Christian forbearance. A sweet (Most High-ly recommended) gift.
Leastways that’s what I heard.
Enjoy.
Thanks/Best.
Amar Annus has a page on Academia.com, with a number of papers able to be downloaded….and the one you likely referenced is not on there (yet), but is able to be requested (I’m naughty…I requested it!).
Looking forward to seeing what all the fuss is about…. 🙂
good idea!
Can someone confirm if this is the correct article Dr. Heiser was referring to: http://jsp.sagepub.com/content/19/4/277.abstract
It is not free. You either have to subscribe or you can pay by the article (for this one it is $30 for 24 hour access to download it). If this is as groundbreaking as Dr. Heiser said, then I would say it is totally worth it.
that’s the one.
See Terry the Censor above.
Scribid.
Pretend to subscribe for your free month. Remember to cancel if you’re not 100°/° satisfied…
Reading flow breaker was “enmeduracki”.(sNc). I made my brain read “Eddy the Pirate”. Smooth reading thereafter.
Mike: FYI, Annus has now uploaded this paper to Academia.edu. Meaning, it’s available for free (if you’re on Academia, that is). I’ve got a copy now. Presumably, it’s accessible for everybody else as well.
sweet
I have the article. It downloaded it for free in 2012 when it was free opened access for everyone.
On the Origin of Watchers: A Comparative Study of the Antediluvian Wisdom in Mesopotamian and Jewish Traditions
Amar Annus
Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha 2010 19:277
DOI: 10.1177/0951820710373978
A thanks to Kenneth’s for requesting it on Academia, it is there now if you press on Amar Annus himself after you get to his papers page. What I did not quite understand in reading this, is, are we saying that there are Watchers who do both good and evil at the same time ? Or both good and evil watchers? The former does not make sense to Biblical Theology. Or is this what you are talking about when you say we will never look at our bibles in the same way again ? And that what we usually think about Gods “holy ” “Angels” being only good, are not quite so ?
We will see when we read your book. Is this along the lines of the issue of ” The angels are not pure in Thy sight” like it says in Job, and “To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God” That “good” angels can have some imperfections in them ? You are probably just going to tell us to wait until we read the book.