Did Ancient Biotechnology create Nephalim?

By Thomas R. Horn

May 23, 2007
NewsWithViews.com

"The benei Elohim saw the daughters of Adam, that they were fit extensions" (Gen 6:2, Interlinear Hebrew Bible).

May 3, 2007 -- RaidersNewsNetwork.com -- In the study of the Old Testament Book of Genesis, beings of great stature called "giants" appear, which some scholars believe came into existence after powerful angels known as 'Watchers' descended to earth and used women (or their biological matter) to construct bodies of flesh, which they used to "extend" themselves into the material world.

The Apocryphal books of Enoch, 2 Esdras, Genesis Aprocryphon and Jasher support the Genesis story, adding that the sin of the angels grew to include genetic modification of animals as well as humans. The Book of Jasher, mentioned in the Bible in Joshua 10:13 and 2 Samuel 1:18, says, "After the fallen angels went into the daughters of men, the sons of men taught the mixture of animals of one species with the other, in order to provoke the Lord"(4:18). This clear reference to the Genesis 6 record illustrates that "animals" were included in whatever cross-species experiments were being conducted, and that this activity resulted in judgment from God. The Book of Enoch also supports this record, saying that after the fallen angels merged their DNA with women, they "began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and fish" (7:5,6). The Old Testament contains associated reference to genetic mutations, which developed among humans following this activity, including unusual size, physical strength, six fingers, six toes, animal appetite for blood and even lion-like features among men (2 Sam 21:20; 23:20).

What if, by corrupting the species barrier in which each creature was to recreate after its "own kind," Watchers had successfully mingled human-animal DNA and combined the hereditary traits of different species into a single new mutation? An entirely new being—Nephilim—might have suddenly possessed the combined intelligence and instincts (seeing, hearing, smelling, reacting to the environment) of several life forms and in ways unfamiliar to creation.

Will modern biotechnology resurrect Nephilim?

Today, molecular biologists classify the functions of genes within native species but are unsure in many cases how a gene's coding might react from one species to another. In recombinant DNA technology, a "transgenic" organism is created when the genetic structure of one specie is altered by the transfer of a gene or genes from another. This could change not only the genetic structure of the modified animal and its offspring, but its evolutionary development, sensory modalities, disease propensity, personality and behavior traits among other things.

Such transgenic tinkering already exists in many parts of the world including the United States, Britain and Australia where animal eggs are being used to create hybrid human embryos from which stem cell lines can be produced for medical research. A team at Newcastle and Durham universities in the UK recently announced plans to "create hybrid rabbit and human embryos, as well as other ‘chimera’ embryos mixing human and cow genes." More alarmingly, the same researchers have already managed to reanimate tissue "from dead human cells in another breakthrough which was heralded as a way of overcoming ethical dilemmas over using living embryos for medical research."[1] In the United States, similar studies led Irv Weissman, director of Stanford University’s Institute of Cancer/Stem Cell Biology and Medicine in California to create mice with partly human brains, causing some ethicists to raise the issue of "humanized animals" in the future that could become "self aware" as a result of genetic modification. Even the President of the United States, George W. Bush in his January 31st, 2006 State of the Union Address called for legislation to "prohibit…. creating human-animal hybrids, and buying, selling, or patenting human embryos."

Not everybody shares these concerns. A radical, international, intellectual, and cultural movement known as "Transhumanism" supports the use of new sciences including genetic modification to enhance human mental and physical abilities and aptitudes so that "human beings will eventually be transformed into beings with such greatly expanded abilities as to merit the label 'posthuman.'"[2]

I have personally debated leading transhumanist, Dr. James Hughes on his weekly syndicated talk show, Changesurfer Radio. Hughes is Executive Director of the Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies and teaches at Trinity College in Hartford Connecticut. He is also the author of "Citizen Cyborg: Why Democratic Societies Must Respond to the Redesigned Human of the Future", a sort of Bible for transhumanist values. Dr. Hughes joins a growing body of academics, bioethicists and sociologists who support "large-scale genetic and neurological engineering of ourselves….[a] new chapter in evolution [as] the result of accelerating developments in the fields of genomics, stem-cell research, genetic enhancement, germ-line engineering, neuro-pharmacology, artificial intelligence, robotics, pattern recognition technologies, and nanotechnology…. at the intersection of science and religion [which has begun to question] what it means to be human…."[3]

In related development, Case Law School in Cleveland was awarded a $773,000 grant in April 2006 from the National Institutes of Health to develop guidelines "for the use of human subjects in what could be the next frontier in medical technology – genetic enhancement." Maxwell Mehlman, Arthur E. Petersilge Professor of Law, director of the Law-Medicine Center at the Case Western Reserve University School of Law, and professor of bioethics in the Case School of Medicine is leading the team of "law professors, physicians, and bioethicists in the two-year project to develop standards for tests on human subjects in research that involves the use of genetic technologies to enhance ‘normal’ individuals – to make them smarter, stronger, or better-looking."[4]

Other law schools including Stanford and Oxford have recently hosted "Human Enhancement and Technology" conferences where transhumanists, futurists, bioethicists and legal scholars merged to discuss the ethical and legal ramifications of posthumans.

In his book "Life, Liberty and the Defense of Dignity: The Challenges of Bioethics," the former chairman of the President's Council on Bioethics, Leon Kass provided a status report on where we stand today regarding transhumanism. He warned in the introduction that "Human nature itself lies on the operating table, ready for alteration, for eugenic and psychic 'enhancement,' for wholesale redesign. In leading laboratories, academic and industrial, new creators are confidently amassing their powers and quietly honing their skills, while on the street their evangelists are zealously prophesying a posthuman future. For anyone who cares about preserving our humanity, the time has come for paying attention."[5]

Not to be outdone in this regard by the National Institute of Health, DARPA and other agencies of the U.S. military have taken inspiration from the likes of Tolkein's Lord of the Rings. In a scene reminiscent of Saruman the wizard creating monstrous Uruk-Hai to wage unending, merciless war, we find billions of American tax dollars have flowed into the Pentagon's Frankensteinian dream of "super-soldiers" and the "Extended Performance War Fighter" program. Not only does the EPWFP envision "injecting young men and women with hormonal, neurological and genetic concoctions; implanting microchips and electrodes in their bodies to control their internal organs and brain functions; and plying them with drugs that deaden some of their normal human tendencies: the need for sleep, the fear of death, [and] the reluctance to kill their fellow human beings," but Chris Floyd in an article for CounterPunch a while back quoted the Daily Telegraph and Christian Science Monitor, saying "some of the research now underway involves actually altering the genetic code of soldiers, modifying bits of DNA to fashion a new type of human specimen, one that functions like a machine, killing tirelessly for days and nights on end.... mutations [that] will 'revolutionize the contemporary order of battle' and guarantee 'operational dominance across the whole range of potential U.S. military employments."[6]

In keeping with our editorial, imagine the staggering implications of such science if dead Nephilim tissue was discovered with intact DNA and a government somewhere that was willing to clone or mingle the extracted organisms to make Homo-nephilim. If one accepts the biblical story of giants as real, such discovery could actually be made someday, or perhaps already has been and was covered up. The technology to resurrect the extinct species already exists, and cloning methods are being studied now for use with bringing back Tasmanian Tigers, Wooly Mammoths and other extinguished creatures.

"Let not the dead live, let not the giants rise again…" (Isaiah 26.14, Douay-Rheims Version).

The reference above from the Book of Isaiah 26:14 could be troubling, as it may reflect a prayer from the prophet, a petition to God not to allow the giants to incarnate again. Did Isaiah pray this way because he knew something about the future, something related to a future return of Nephilim?

The relationship between creatures called "Rephaim" and the Nephilim of ancient texts is enlightening, as Rephaim are viewed as the spirits of dead Nephilim in the grave. The word "Rephaim" carries with it the meaning 'to heal' or to be 'healed' as in a 'resurrection'. In the Ras Shamra texts, the Rephaim are described as both human and divine beings who worshipped the Amorite god Ba'al, the ruler of the underworld, where the Rephaim served as his acolyte assembly of lesser gods, kings, heroes, and rulers. These beings were believed to have power to return from the dead through incarnation in bodily form as 'Nephilim'. The ability of Rephaim to be reincarnated in this way as living Nephilim is viewed by some as the explanation for Nephilim existing before, and after, the Great Flood.

The book of Job may elucidate this idea when it says, "Dead things are formed from under the waters. . . ." (Job 26.5). The dead in this text are Rephaim and the phrase "are formed" is from "Chuwl", meaning to twist or whirl as in a double helix coil or genetic manufacturing. When combined with something my good friend Steve Quayle once wrote, the word "Chuwl" takes on added meaning:

"When the Greek Septuagint was created, the Hebrew word Nephilim was translated into Greek as 'gegenes.' This is the same word used in Greek mythology for the 'Titans', creatures created through the interbreeding of the Greek gods and human beings. The English words 'genes' and 'genetics' are built around the same root word as gegenes; genea meaning 'breed' or 'kind'. Thus, the choice of this word again suggests a genetic component to the creation of these giants."[7]

And what about this prophecy from Isaiah:

"The vision which Esaias son of Amos saw against Babylon. Lift up a standard on the mountain of the plain, exalt the voice to them, beckon with the hand, OPEN THE GATES, YE RULER. I GIVE COMMAND AND I BRING THEM: GIANTS ARE COMING TO FULFILL MY WRATH [emphasis added]. . . . For behold! the day of the Lord is coming which cannot be escaped, a day of wrath and anger, to make the world desolate. . . . And Babylon . . . shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. . . . It shall never be inhabited . . . and monsters shall rest there, and devils shall dance there and satyrs shall dwell there . . ." (Isaiah 13:1-3, 9, 19-22, [Septuagint Version]).[8]

Given what is happening in Babylon (Iraq) and biotechnology today, we may be witnessing the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy.

Footnotes:

1, Picken, Jane. Medical Marvels, The Evening Chronicle, April 13, 2007
2, Wikipedia, The Free Enclyclopedia. Transhumanism, 2 May. 2007. Wikimedia Foundation Inc.
3, Grassie, William. What does it mean to be Human? A John Templeton Foundation Research Lecture Query, 2006
4, Case Western Reserve University. Case Law School receives $773,000 NIH grant to develop guidelines for genetic enhancement research: Professor Max Mehlman to lead team of law professors, physicians, and bioethicists in two-year project, April 28, 2006
5, Kass, Leon R. Life, Liberty and the Defense of Dignity: The Challenge for Bioethics, Encounter Books; 1 edition (October 25, 2002)
6, Floyd, Chris. Monsters, Inc.: The Pentagon Plan to Create Mutant "Super-Soldiers", CounterPunch, January 13, 2003
7, Quayle, Steve. Genesis 6 Giants. Bozeman, MT: End Time Thunder Publishers, 2002.
8, A vision which esails son of Amos Saw against Babylon

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