I am an extreme amateur Bible scholar and a former lawyer. I will answer any question you have about the Bible an/or how it applies to your life/prblem etc.
Nephilim means in Hebrew "fallen ones". They are connected with the scriptures in Genesis which speak of the fallen angels coming from the spirit tralm and mating with earth woman who bore offspring called nephilim in the Hebrew and interpreted in in modern translations and in the Greek Septuagint version of the Bible as "giants".
What they were and are are man who is totally possessed by Satan himself, even if only for a short time. Judus was a sort of nephilim in the the scriptures say that "Satan entered into his heart" before he betrayed Christ. The nephilim of old are called "the men of renown" in Genesis 6:4 and perhaps giants in size as compared to other humans.
In Genesis 6:5 God says that man became so wicked that "every thought and intent of his heart only evil continually". This was apparently due to the nephilim influence i.e. totally possessed by Satan so that they had no more normal human thoughts.
If you study what the earth was like in these days before the flood you find a situation not unlike what happened to Adam and Eve in the Garden. God put the tree of knowledge in the garden-knowledge of evil was real but Adam and Eve were not ready to handle such knowledge. Similiarily, during the tine before the flood sciences such as alchemy, witchcraft, and other powers that man was not able to handle correctly and therefore totally corrupted himself because of this premature knowledge.
There is of course evidence of the nephilim following the flood most often attributed to the Anakim or sons of Anak (Numbers 13:33). These sons of Anak 9or nephilim) so terrified the spies sent by Moses to scout out the promised land that they refused to attack them.
The sons of Anak are named in Numbers 13:22 as follows: "When they had gone up into the Negev, they came to Hebron where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai, the descendants of Anak were". They were described as giants and extremely evil and that these spirits actually exist in the Satanic realm today as part of Satan's netwok of "spiritual wickedness in heavenly places" (Ephesians 6:12). It can be inferred that the nephilim continue to exist today as Satan's ongoing attempt to block the Kingdom of God from being made mainfest on this earth.
What you are asking is extremely complicated and breaks my heart very much. I am not a therapist lthough, being a child of God I don't put much stock in therapy although it does give hurt people an opportunity yo express themselves.
I will answer your question from God's perspective but with the thought in mind that God grieves over this like you. The fact that one of His can be touched in such a hideous way is an affront to Him and makes Him very angry. That being said:
God does not cause evil. An enemy of God causes evil. Jesus proposed the following parable;
�The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, then the tares also appeared. So the servants of the owner came and said to him, �Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?�  He said to them, �An enemy has done this.� The servants said to him, �Do you want us then to go and gather them up?� But he said, �No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, �First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn.�
God allows evil for a variety of reasons but in the end it comes out allright because the evil is burned and the good is saved. I have been in mental health support groups and have encountered people who have been subjected to the greatest evil one can imagine such as abuse as a child, rape, sexual abuse, abandomement and other issues that have gone to the core of the person and affected the entire course of their lives. There isn't a lot that can be said to such a person, like yourself because anything you say can seem trite and devoid of understanding to the person who has been through it.
I can tell you this. Every person who ever walked with God was subjected to persecution far beyond what they deserved. One needs only to read the Bible to see how the prophets and Apostles, even Christ Himself, were treated by the world. And yetout of all this seeming disaster the purposesof God, which we can never understand, are accomplished. I too, as a man of God, have been subjected to many things I felt I didn't deserve and things where I said this just can't be God. I am however comforted by the wordsof the prophet Jeremiah as set forth in the Book of lamentations chapter 3. I quote someof that here for your comfort:
I am the man who has aseen affliction
Because of the rod of His wrath.
He has driven me and made me walk
In darkness and not in light.
Surely against me He has aturned His hand Repeatedly all the day.
He has caused my flesh and my skin to waste away,
He has broken my bones.
He has besieged and encompassed me with bitterness and hardship.
In dark places He has made me dwell,
Like those who have long been dead.
He has walled me in so that I cannot go out;
He has made my chain heavy.
Even when I cry out and call for help,
He shuts out my prayer.
He has blocked my ways with hewn stone;
He has made my paths crooked.
He is to me like a bear lying in wait,
Like a lion in secret places.
He has turned aside my ways and torn me to pieces;
He has made me desolate.... (Lamentations 3:1-11)
Yet after all that Jeremiah concludes:
"Remember my affliction and my wandering, the wormwood and bitterness.
Surely my soul remembers
And is bowed down within me.
This I recall to my mind,
Therefore I have hope.
The Lord�s alovingkindnesses 1indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail.
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
�The Lord is my portion,� says my soul,
�Therefore I have hope in Him.�
The Lord is good to those who await for Him,
To the person who seeks Him.
It is good that he awaits silently
For the salvation of the Lord" (Lamentations 3:19-26).
However in reality all of your suffering and tragedy does not get you off the hook with God or allow you to curse Him or blame Him for your calamity. The Bookof Job makes this abundantly clear. God allowed Satan to take everything Job had, including his goods, his children, his self respect and his health and Job complained to God "why me, why me?" But in the end God met Job and showed him that he was only being tested and that the ways of God in accomplishing His purpose are past finding out by man.
Your response to what occurred I can only speak to from a level that you are a chosen vessel of God and that He intends only good for you and that he knows your pain but wants you to remain focused on Him and His great purpose for you. He loves you more than you can even imagine. He reminds you that "greater is He who than anything else".
As far as what you do (abortion, birth etc) makes no difference to God as far as your salvation is concerned. There is no sin involved in any decision you make. just know that whatever physical decision or how you choose to deal with this He will always be there with you in an intimate way. He is always as close as your breath. He cares-He loves. I care-I love.
As we speak. Although there will be that day when He does appear in the clouds and every eye will see Him etc. the truth is that He is right now, today establishing Hid kingdom on the earth. You sound like most Christians today, waiting for the rapture, waiting for the return of Christ, waiting, waiting like in the movie "Casablanca". however, the coming of the Lord is more than just that sudden appearance.
Its funny I just wrote an article I haven't published yet on that very subject. I haven't even totally profread it. But I think you will get the drift. I will attach this copyrighted article to this reply if you are interested:
The entire world of Christianity and indeed the whole world awaits the second coming of Jesus Christ to the world. This so called �second advent� is believed to be the pinnacle of Christian religion that is when Jesus returns to the earth after leaving some 2000 years ago. When He returns, many believe, He will establish His eternal government on the earth, solve the world�s problems and return the earth to a long ago lost Paradise. So the Christian world waits confident that this time they won�t miss Him as He was missed in ancient Israel so long ago. The promise is that every eye will see Him and every tongue will confess Him as Lord and that knowledge of Him will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. Churches as we know them will be abolished as the need for men to teach each other the knowledge of the Lord becomes unnecessary
The scriptures put it this way: �BEHOLD, HE IS COMING WITH THE CLOUDS, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth will mourn over Him. So it is to be. Amen� (Revelation 1:7). �For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father� (Philippians 2:9-11). They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, For the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD As the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11:9). �And they shall not teach every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest� (Hebrews 8:11; Jeremiah 31:34). So we all await this great event which we expect to happen apart from us. However the Second Coming is not all that simple as we will see.
First the second coming of Christ does not happen apart from us at all. Those who are on the earth actually initiate the return of Christ. Without us, He does not come at all. This is the great responsibility of each and every Christian. When Christ comes the scriptures say He will come with those who have died in Christ and them, with those who remain, rule and reign with Christ on the earth. However, Christ and those who have died in the faith do not return until we prepare a place for them.
Hebrews Chapter 11 provides a summary of the great men of God who have gone before us but died without receiving the promise they believed for. They are alive in the great cloud of witnesses (Hebrews 12:1) but they are waiting to be made perfect. Hebrews 11:39-40 states: �And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect�. God has provided something better for us in that, unlike the men of God of old, we are positioned to be able to see what was promised. And without us obtaining perfection, right here on earth, they are not made perfect and do not receive the promise.
The Christian world is conditioned to believe in an afterlife in �Heaven� where they are made perfect simply by dying. That concept is neither true nor supported in the scriptures. Jesus said
Said the following: �So the last shall be first, and the first last.� (Matthew 19:30; Mark 10:31; Luke 13:30). What does this mean that the first will be last and the last first. Jesus explains: �And they will come from east and west and from north and south, and will recline at the table in the kingdom of God. �And behold, some are last who will be first and some are first who will be last� (Luke 13:30). The first are those who have gone before us who did the will of God in their generation but died without seeing the promise. The last are us who also do the will of God in our generation but, unlike them, we will see the promise fulfilled. We are therefore the last generation to do the will of God but we are the first to see the promise. And, as Hebrews 11 says we will be made perfect first, before those who went first before us.
Christ was the very first. Upon His death He left to sit at the right hand of the Father. However He didn�t wait patiently. Hebrews 10:12-13 says: But when this priest [Christ] had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool� (see also Hebrews 1:13; Luke 20;43; Acts 2:35). We can see that Christ does not return to earth until His enemies be made a footstool for His feat. In the meantime He awaits that day.
How do His enemies be made His footstool? Does that just happen automatically? Since He will not return until this occurs it must be an important event. Does it have something to do with us who remain and are the first to be made perfect? The answer is yes, the Sons of God become the army of the Lord whose purpose becomes to subdue all of Christ�s enemies and make the earth a footstool for His feet.
First we must realize that Christ is the firstfruits of many Sons of God to come who become like Him. Hebrews 2:10 says: �For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author of their salvation through sufferings�. Those Sons become, among other things, the army of the Lord. Joel 2:2-5 describes this army in allegorical terms: �So there is a great and mighty people; There has never been anything like it, Nor will there be again after it To the years of many generations. A fire consumes before them And behind them a flame burns. The land is like the garden of Eden before them But a desolate wilderness behind them, And nothing at all escapes them. Their appearance is like the appearance of horses; And like war horses, so they run. With a noise as of chariots They leap on the tops of the mountains, Like the crackling of a flame of fire consuming the stubble, Like a mighty people arranged for battle�.
However, unlike physical conquerors of the past (and present) this army is a spiritual army. Their enemies are spiritual enemies. Paul said: �Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:10-12). And: �For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh, for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses. We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,� (2 Corinthians 10:3-5).
This army will ultimately be successful. �But on Mount Zion there shall be deliverance, And there shall be holiness; The house of Jacob shall possess their possessions. The house of Jacob shall be a fire, And the house of Joseph a flame; But the house of Esau shall be stubble; They shall kindle them and devour them, And no survivor shall remain of the house of Esau,� For the LORD has spoken... Then deliverers [saviors] shall come to Mount Zion To judge the mountains of Esau, And the kingdom shall be the LORD�s�. (Obadiah 17-18, 21).
Likewise, in the Book of Revelation 20:9-10 it is said: �And they [Satan�s spiritual army] came up on the broad plain of the earth and surrounded the camp of His [Christ�s] saints and the beloved city, and fire came down from heaven and devoured them. And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever�. Satan, like God, is a spirit as are his satanic cohorts. This final battle will be a spiritual contest and the fire of God, through His saints, will destroy Him forever, making the way for Christ�s permanent return to the New Earth.
The main foe that will be defeated, before the earth becomes Christ�s footstool, is the spirit of the anti-Christ. Unlike current Christian thinking, the anti-Christ is not one figure who suddenly appears in the end-time, although human conquerors throughout history have been suspected of being �the� anti-Christ i.e. Nero, Hannibal, Napoleon, Hitler, Osama bin Laden and many other mighty conquerors and plunderers of the past and present. However, as John clearly pointed out in his epistle, the anti-Christ is a spirit which has been in the earth from the beginning. In 1 John 2:18 he says: �Children, it is the last hour; and just as you heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have appeared; from this we know that it is the last hour�. And: �By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God; and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world� (1 John 4:2-3). And finally in 2 John 7:�For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not acknowledge Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist�.
Note John equates the anti-Christ as a spirit or spirit of the anti-Christ. The spirit of the anti-Christ is anything that does not confess Christ as resurrected Lord. This narrows down considerably the list of the peoples and religions of the world, past and present, who John names as having the spirit of anti-Christ. Basically, only Christianity has as part of it�s beliefs the death and resurrection of Christ as Lord excluding every other religion throughout the world including Buddhism, Islam, Sanscrit, Kirshna and all other religions. In this age of religious tolerance this does not necessarily condemn the people practicing these religions, or practicing no religion at all, because God looks on the heart of man not what he does. However, any religion that doesn�t recognize God�s Son as Lord of Lords is a false religion, an anti-Christ religion, and will be destroyed before Christ�s return, according to scripture. Christ warned on the many false prophets who would arise and deceive many (Matthew 24:11; 1 John 4:1). Those who in their hearts are deceived by these false prophets, anti-Christs as you will, are in danger of missing Christ�s second advent and thus eternal salvation. Again we are speaking about spirits, spirits which exert great influence over mankind and are diametrically opposed to Jesus Christ.
In 2 Corinthians 10:5-6 Paul describes one purpose of the army of the Lord: �We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking
every thought captive to the obedience of Christ, and we are ready to punish all disobedience, whenever your obedience is complete�
The Christian world today tends to relate to Jesus as a sweet and peaceful soul, a type of Santa Claus, who exists only to make us happy and give us what we want. In truth the second coming of Christ is anything but that. He came the first time as the suffering who willingly went to His death at the hands of His enemies. He will return in a different form, that of a conquering Savior ready to punish all disobedience. Revelation 19:11-16: �And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, �KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.� The Second coming of the Lord is a fearful sight, especially to those who are perishing. Note that He prevails because of the sharp sword that proceeds from His mouth (the Word of God see Hebrews 4:12) and He is in fact named the �Word of God�. It is by the Word of God and the speaking of it that will precipitate the second coming of Jesus Christ.
Thus, the second coming of Jesus Christ is not an event which occurs apart from us who believe. Actually we, His saints on the earth, create His coming by speaking His word into the earth and creating the atmosphere for His coming. Not only that but the Body of Christ, which is His many membered Body, becomes His spiritual temple within which He sets up His permanent abode. It is thus a temple not made with hands, as in the past, but a living temple, with living stones, His spiritual tabernacle for eternity on earth. 1 Peter 2:4-5 says: �And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice [chosen or elect] and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ�.
We are to become Christ�s very body with arms, legs and mouths. Paul says: �And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ� (Ephesians 4:11-13). We are thus to become Christ on the earth, His body and dwelling place, with all enemies defeated before He is to return to join us.
John confirms that we are to become like Christ. �Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is (1 John 3:2). In other words, before Christ appears the second time, we will already have become like Him. That is why we will recognize Him because we will be like Him. As Paul said: �For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known� (1 Corinthians 13:12).
There is much more to say such as concerning the gifts of the spirit we are given to facilitate His coming in His body (1 Corinthians 12) and the love we must become as He is love (1 Corinthians 13). The entire Bible speaks of who Christ is and what He is to become in and thru us, especially the New Testament but also the Old Testament. Jesus said of the Old Testament speaking to the religious leaders of the Jewish nation of His day: �You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that testify about Me;� (John 5:39). All scripture reveals Christ and teach us to know Him. It is those who know Him who will receive the promise.
He answers the five foolish virgins, as He excludes them from His Kingdom: �But he answered, �Truly I say to you, I do not know you.�(Matthew 25:12). Likewise in Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus says: �Not everyone who says to Me, �Lord, Lord,� shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, �Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?� And then I will declare to them, �I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!�
He warns: �Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. �For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it� (Matthew 7:13-14). Remember Christ is returning at a time and in a way you do not know. This article has attempted to explain how He will come, which may be in disagreement with traditional Christian doctrine. But study the scriptures to understand the truth of what is being conveyed here. Many are called to participate in His return but few are chosen. The wise will know (Daniel 12:3). Let us be among them.
Its no sin to stand up for who you are or what God has made you. God has made me a man of God who hears His voice and who would like to share this with the world. Christ did not shrink back from being the Son of God. Elijah said: "my name is Elijah and I stand in the presence of the Lord".
Likewise my name is Ken and I have something to give and if you want to know something ask me anything and I will give you an answer from God.
I just watched a Nat Geo program about the physical location of the Garden and I think they coucluded it was where the Bible says at the junction of the Tigres and Euphrates rivers in Iraq although Christopher Columbus thought Venezuela, some one else in China. I don't know but I do know this:
The Garden of Eden wherever it was was a place that does not yet exist in this physical earth. It was the forerunner of a place Called the Kingdom of God which is coming but is yet to come fully. It was a place of eternal life, no sickness and contained the unlimited presence of God.
In order to understand paradise, the Garden of Eden,one must understand what the world was subjected to after the fall. The world was subjected to futility (Romans 8:20-21). Futility (futile) is variously defined as: useless, vain, unproductive, trifling, frivolous, unimportant etc. We need only to look around us to see that is the place within which we are currently residing. Our world is the survival of the fittest both animal and human societies. Nothing lasts. Nations come and go. Rulers come and go. As Solomon put it in Ecclesiastes "all is vanity (futility)"...there is nothing new under the sun...what is has been...what point is there in man's labor etc.
I don't know if it was God's plan that the Garden of Eden turned out like it did. But I do know He did provide a solution so that we could return to such a paradise. Paul says in Romans 8 that God subjected creation to futility "not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it, in hope
that athe creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God".
God provided a plan to rescue humanity from its hopeless state. Paul says it is the Sons of God (plural) that would be given the task of releasing all of creation from the futility unwillingly put on it by God. Christ was the first Son to be followed by many more (Hebrews 2:10). Therefore it is up to us, through God and Christ, to return the earth to its paradise called the Kingdom of God.
that's why Jesus told us to pray thus: "thy Kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven". In other words paradise exists in heaven but it is God's intent that it exist here on earth as well. How the Sons are to go about this I can tell you but it requires more time than i have now nut if you're interested contact me and I will tell you.
In short it really doesn't matter the physical location. What matters is that it was a spiritual Kingdom that we need to re0create on earth here and now.
Hi, Just one question. "16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. 17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ." Colossians 2.
