Troublesome Topic: THE WATCHERS CAUSED CORRUPTION IN MANKIND

Pg 108  Michael Heiser indicates that the corrupt lesser gods were the cause of corruption of mankind. He supposes that II peter and Jude agree with him and agree with 1 Enoch 8 where  “certain watchers (angels) corrupted humankind by means of forbidden knowledge,” practices largely drawn from Babylonian sciences.

Heiser does not get into the specifics of how the Nephilim corrupted the nations but there is another passage in 1 Enoch that does. It is 1 Enoch 6:4-8. Below is the English rendering of part of that passage as found in the Dead Sea Scroll and translated by Jozef T. Milik; the brackets show places where he had to rely on another version, usually the Ethiopic version, to fill in the gaps left by the Qumran fragments.

4QEn » 1 iii—En. 6:4-8: 1 (PI. Ill )  is the Qumran fragment where the part about the Nephilim marrying human women and giving birth to giants that were 3000 cubits tall is found (see below).

^Those (two hundred) and their leaders [all took for themselves] wives from all that they chose; and [they began to go in to them, and to defile themselves with them] and (they began) to teach them sorcery and [spell-binding, and the cutting the roots; and they showed them herbs]. ^And they became pregnant by them and bare [giants three thousand cubits high who] were born (and multiplied) on the earth [according to the kind of their childhood, and growing up according to the kind of their adolescence, ^and they were devouring] the labour of all the sons of men and [men] were unable [to supply them. ^But the giants] conspired to slay men, and [to devour them. And they began to sin and to …] against all birds and beasts of the earth, [and reptiles which creep upon the earth and (creatures) in the waters], and in the heaven, and the fish of the sea, and to devour the flesh [of one another, and they were drinking blood. ^Then the earth made the accusation against] the wicked, [concerning everything which was done upon it. https://ia801408.us.archive.org/9/items/MILIKEnochInAramaicQumranCave4/MILIK_Enoch-in-Aramaic-Qumran-Cave-4.pdf

Heiser never specifically says that it was the Nephilim who caused that corruption, but in his key paragraph about corruption on page 108, Genesis 6 :1-4 is mentioned twice. Since Heiser quotes frequently from 1 Enoch without reservation, it would appear that he agrees with what 1 Enoch says in chapters 6 as quoted above.

According to Heiser, these entities were able to spread corruption because they were given authority to rule the other nations by God Himself.

The corruption theme is reiterated at various other points in the book.

This is a huge point; It is a redefining of sin, which it is not something to be taken lightly.

One could argue that Satan and his demons also influence people toward sin. Yes, that is true, but we also get the idea from Scripture that there are limits that they cannot cross. However, with the Nephilim and other wicked members of the supposed divine council who ruled and still partially rule over the nations, we don’t know where the limits are – Heiser never tries to explain that. When something like that is left to the imagination, people’s minds go any number of places and usually don’t stop going further and further. I have heard others say that serious problems like addictions and great violence are caused by the spirits of the Nephilim even to this day. However, Michael Heiser never seems to make such a bold claim in any of his books or, from what I can deduce, from his website, his podcast site or his You Tube channel. Despite him not saying it directly, it seems to be heavily implied.

Heiser seems to be making the point that man is not fully responsible for his actions because the spirits are in control and are leading men astray.

Not only does Heiser change the definition of sin, he implicates God in that sin. He presents a picture of the Supreme God as one who sanctions sin by empowering evil beings to do what they want, He listens to them, He accepts them in His council and gives them authority to act however they want to.

 In doing these things Heiser is rewriting the Bible. He is also bringing in so much pagan thinking from pagan religions of the Ancient Near East that he has created a totally different worldview.  Despite his claims that his proposed worldview is the right way to interpret our Scriptures, it is definitely not Biblical.

Next this series moves on to look at Jesus and the first of those lesson is A DIFFERENT PICTURE OF JESUS.