THOSE “OTHER” SIGNS OF THE DAYS OF NOAH
"As laboratories incubate new blends of man and machine.... The path of progress cuts through the four-way intersection of the moral, medical, religious and political—and whichever way you turn, you are likely to run over someone’s deeply held beliefs. Venter’s bombshell [the creation of the synthetic life “Synthia”] revived the oldest of ethical debates, over whether scientists were playing God or proving he does not exist because someone re-enacted Genesis in suburban Maryland." —Nancy Gibbs, Time magazine
"If Christians are to help shape contemporary culture—particularly in a setting in which I fear the posthuman message will prove attractive, if not seductive—then they must offer an alternative and compelling vision; a counter theological discourse so to speak." —Brent Waters, Director of the Jerre L. and Mary Joy Stead Center for Ethics and Values
Earlier in this series, we pointed out how the English theologian George Hawkins Pember, in his 1876 masterpiece, Earth’s Earliest Ages, studied the book of Matthew—where Jesus in answering His disciples concerning the signs of His coming and of the end of the world said it would be “as the days of Noah were”—and concluded from it that the most fearful sign of the end times would be the reappearance upon earth “of beings from the Principality of the Air, and their unlawful intercourse with the human race.”
We have built on this concept as well, suggesting that parallels between human-modifying technology and what the ancient Watchers did in creating Nephilim may be no coincidence at all; that a dark conspiracy could be unfolding by way of GRIN sciences and transhumanist philosophy that specifically allows the fulfillment of the prophecy “as it was in the days of Noah.”
But if indeed Satan has initiated an extraordinary conspiracy to revive species-altering supernaturalism as existed in Noah’s day, and assuming there is a gap between that sign and when God removes His own from this planet, the church as the body of Christ and God’s representation on earth could play a unique role as the instrument through which the Almighty, on behalf of His creation, will engage this evil. True believers are the salt of the earth and the only social influence identified in Scripture as the power against which the gates of hell cannot prevail. This, friends, unveils good news, because while Nephilim were on earth during (and after) the antediluvian age, this was not the only “sign” related to ancient days. There were other signs too, as illustrated in the Bible, having to do with God’s covenant people and their unequaled ability through faith to turn back Nephilim plans. “As it was in the days of Noah” points to this fact as well.
Consider how King Saul in 1063 BC stared across his tent into the eyes of the unproven and youngest son of Jesse. By chance, the teenager named David had come on a mission for his father to deliver food and gather information regarding the welfare of his brothers. On his arrival, Goliath, the champion of the Philistines, stood up at his camp across the Valley of Elah and once again challenged the armies of Israel to send a warrior out against him. Two times per day for the past forty days the fearsome giant had terrified Saul’s army, crying over the steep basin to the ranks of Israel:
“Why set the battle in array? Am I not a Philistine and you servants of Saul? Choose a man from among yourselves and let him come down to me.” Goliath challenged. “If he is able to fight with me and to kill me, then we will become your servants; but if I prevail against him and kill him, then you shall become our servants. I defy the ranks of Israel; give me a man that we may decide the outcome of this conflict in a single fight!”
On seeing and hearing this spectacle, David learned how Saul was promising a rich reward to any man who could defeat the nine-foot-tall menace. David’s response was one of dismay at the lack of Israel’s faith. “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?” he asked among the soldiers (1 Samuel 17:26). When Saul heard of it, he sent for the lad. But now, standing here in front of him, unable to fill his armor, the ruddy kid didn’t look like much of a killer. Then David told him about slaying a lion and later a bear in defense of his father’s sheep, and Saul relented.
With nothing but a staff, a sling, and five smooth stones, David emerged on the battlefield and ran toward Goliath. When the chiseled Philistine saw the fair-skinned youth approaching, he looked around, scoffed, then thundered, “Am I a dog, that you send a boy at me with a stick!?” Cursing in the name of his gods, he sneered, “Come on then, and I will give your flesh as supper to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field.”
But David shocked everybody with his retort. “You come at me with a sword and a shield, but I am coming in the name of the Lord of Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied,” he cried. “This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand; and I will smite you, and take your head off, and your carcass is the one the birds of the air and the beasts of the field will dine on!” With that, David rushed forward, let the stone go from his sling, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Why is this story important to this book? Because Goliath was a Nephilim, and was defeated by a young servant of God. If the arrival of these beings or the spirit of their sins is the preeminent sign of the end times, David defeating one is germane as well. This, too, is an important prophetic symbol.
From a youth to an old man, consider another example. Four hundred twenty-seven years before David slew Goliath, the people of Israel were camped along the southern border of Canaan, the “Promised Land” God had said He would give them. Twelve spies—one from each tribe of Israel—went in to survey the land and found walled cities inhabited by giant Nephilim offspring. Psalm 78:41 records what happened at this discovery. “Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.” In other words, like Saul’s army later did, the children of Israel trembled at the sight of the sons of Anak, the giants of Nephilim descent. “And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants,” they uttered in hopeless despair before adding, “and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight” (Numbers 13:32–33). Only two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, believed in the promises of God. They encouraged the people not to be afraid, to trust in the Lord who would give them victory over the Nephilim. But that generation disagreed, wanted to have Joshua and Caleb stoned, cursed God, and died in the wilderness never having received their inheritance in Canaan. Joshua and Caleb, on the other hand, waited for God’s further orders, which came in 1451 bc: “Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, thou, and all this people, unto the land which I do give to them, even to the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot shall tread upon, that have I given unto you, as I said unto Moses.... There shall not any man be able to stand before thee” (Joshua 1:2–3, 5). Joshua and Caleb trusted God as usual, and this time, at the age of eighty-five, no less, Caleb drove out the sons of Anak that had so terrified the unbelieving spies.
The fact that God’s people could prevail over the spirit of the Nephilim in these ways is an ageless reality. It suggests that believers today not only could survive, but could triumph, over the inhuman threat represented by GRIN technology and the transhumanist agenda. This will occur as believers recall specific Bible knowledge and engage in dynamic activity, what we title those other two signs of the days of Noah.
THE “SECOND SIGN” OF THE DAYS OF NOAH: PREACHING RIGHTEOUSNESS
While it could certainly be possible to get discouraged by focusing on the Nephilim and the prediction of their return at the end of time, a wonderful portion of Scripture from the same days of Noah adds, “But Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord.” Think about what a marvelous revelation this is: that at the darkest time in earth’s history, when the sins of the Watchers had spread like a cancer across continents, infecting all of humanity both genetically and philosophically, “Noah walked with God” (Genesis 6:9). At a time when all flesh was tainted by transhuman genes and every imagination of men’s thoughts were only evil continually (Genesis 6:5), one man had not forgotten where to glory, one man walked with God, one man found grace.
Today, as we move into the uncharted waters of a resurrected technological and human-transforming era, the keys to victory for believers will be the same as they were for David, Joshua, Caleb, and Noah—knowing where to glory, what to keep one’s focus on, where to place one’s faith, and whose champion we can be.
On this point, it is clear that Noah did not buy into the transhuman lies of his day. While the immortals known as Watchers were promising advanced technology to the world in exchange for use of human DNA (Book of Enoch, chapter 8), it must have been obvious to Noah how reminiscent this was of the serpent in the Garden who made similar promises of godlike abilities for those who partook forbidden fruit. Noah assumed leadership instead, independently maintaining his faith and focus in God, not willing to compromise his flesh or that of his family for any temporal therapeutic benefit (lie). Furthermore, Noah did not sit idly by keeping these opinions to himself. In 2 Peter 2:5, we learn he became a “preacher of righteousness” (Greek kerux: a herald or “one who announces”). This was true in his use of technology as an “illustrative sermon” while building the Ark (contrasted to the misuse of technology by Watchers), but some scholars believe it was more than this, that he preached audibly, facing the transhuman movement of his day with boldness, publically warning of the dangers of grievous sins related to genetic manipulation incited by invisible agents.
In the letter to the church at Ephesus, Paul states the responsibility of the Church in this regard for today, concluding this was by divine intention. “His intent was that now, through the church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 3:10). Imagine that. It is our duty as believers to follow Noah’s example and make known the manifold wisdom of God until even the angelic powers are aware of it. Was this behind what Brent Waters, whom we quote at the top of this chapter, had in mind when he said, “If Christians are to help shape contemporary culture—particularly in a setting in which I fear the posthuman message will prove attractive, if not seductive—then they must offer an alternative and compelling vision; a counter theological discourse so to speak”?
While “a counter theological discourse” reflective of the everlasting gospel of human redemption through the person of Jesus Christ will be antithetical to the salvation plan of transhumanism, it must address the difficult philosophical and ethical questions raised by modern technology and the portentous move by governments and powers to use biological sciences to remanufacture mankind. The message needs to be relevant and must appeal to the questions and style of a generation raised during the Digital Revolution, an age of personal computing and information-sharing technology that for many of us represents a shift away from the Industrial Revolution’s outdated methods of communicating. The need to parse information is changing so rapidly that we expect to hit the knee of the techno-info curve sometime around the year 2012, followed by Singularity and critical mass. As a result, the authors of this book have teamed with a group of ministries and intellectuals and are currently organizing a new national conference, the Future Congress on Emerging Threats and Challenges, the first of which is to be held the third week of July 2011 in Branson, Missouri. More information on this event—and why you should be there—will be posted before the end of 2010 at http://www.forbiddengate.com/, including how the conference will address, among other things, the need for an international statement on human enhancement and a Christian manifesto on GRIN technology and human dignity.
In the next entry, we will outline some of those issues from the new book Forbidden Gates.
AVAILABLE NOW! Forbidden Gates: How Genetics, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Synthetic Biology, Nanotechnology, and Human Enhancement Herald the Dawn of Techno-Dimensional Spiritual Warfare
