In this episode, our guest Doug Van Dorn provides a primer, explaining what the Nephilim are, how they fit into the Genesis 6 narrative, and why this topic is important for Christians to understand. He also discusses how the Nephilim may have impacted the world today and why Christians need to be aware of their existence.  He also mentions that thinking about fantasy can help us better understand the history of the topic, which has been clouded by church history. The conversation discusses the importance of stories, and how they can change people's lives in ways that straight up theology cannot. The point is made that from Genesis to Revelation, the Bible is one big story, and that God wants us to learn from and use stories. 

 

The hosts and guest discuss how the Bible can be interpreted to support the idea of a divine council, and how this can help to get men involved in spirituality and church. Dr. Heiser introduced the idea to Doug, who then did his own research and found an article on the subject. The article blew him away and he realized that he had actually read about the divine council before but it had never hit his consciousness.

 

Discussion continues with the idea that humans were given dominion over the Earth by God, while the angels were given dominion over the heavenly realms. The conversation then goes on to discuss the idea that the temptation for Eve was not to become the Creator, but to have the ability to know good and evil, which is something she already had. In the Garden of Eden, humans and heavenly beings were able to interact with each other freely. However, after the Fall, humans were banned from the mountain where the heavenly beings resided. The Fall created a rift between humans and the heavenly beings, who were jealous of humans. In the Bible, there are many stories of meetings between God and humans. 

 

The conversation covers the topic of man's attempts to reach God, starting with Cain and Abel. It is mentioned that Abraham was likely a moon god worshipper in the city of Ur, but God chose him anyway and to make a name for Himself. 

 

The conversation then moves to Acts chapter two, which is considered the reversal of Babel. In this chapter, many people are gathered together and hearing different languages, the preaching in their own tongues. This is the reversal of Babel, where they're all together, and so they're all speaking one language, and so God separates them into many languages.

 

 

 

Doug Van Dorn on the Unseen Realm of Genesis 6

The Importance of Imagination in Christian Thought

The Importance of Storytelling in Christianity

The Divine Council in the Bible

The Unseen Realm: Dr. Michael Heiser

The Nephilim: A Biblical Theology of Giants

The Sethite View: A Biblical Perspective on the End Times

The Nephilim: A Biblical Mystery

The History of the Nephilim

The History of the Sethite View of Genesis 6

The Book of First Enoch and the Two Powers in Heaven

The History of the Supernatural View of Genesis 6

The Bible and the Nephilim

The Flood and the Tower of Babel

The Significance of the Medical Symbol with Two Serpents

The Nephilim: A Biblical Perspective

The Flood: A Local or Universal Event?

The Bible and the Nephilim: 

The Nephilim: A Biblical Explanation

0:46:24 

Angels given Dominion over the Heavenly Realms

The Temptation of Eve: Dominion Over Good and Evil

The Divine Council and the Garden of Eden

The Divine Council in the Bible

The Reversal of Babel

The Power of the Bible

The Power of Story: How Our Story Can Change the Way We Think About the World

Three passages on How the Giants interact with Christ

Deuteronomy 32:7-8 and Dr. Michael Heiser’s paper

The Tower of Babel and the Inheritance of the Nations

The Messianic Prophecies of Psalm Two 

The Divine Council in the Bible

The Divine Council and the Giants

The Eschatology of the Nephilim/Giants

The Bible and the Nephilim

The Battle for Allegiance: The New Testament Approach to Spiritual Warfare

The Battle Against Evil Spirits

What the Nephilim Mean to Us Today

The Power of the Gospel to Dispel Darkness

The Importance of Masculinity in the Church