Watchman on the Wall

Announcer: Welcome to Watchman on the Wall, a daily outreach of Southwest Radio Ministries and swrc.com. God is still on the throne and prayer changes things. Today, Micah Van Huss and Lee Kuch-shaw continue their discussion of the unseen realm and the war of the princes.

Have you ever dreamed of walking where Jesus walked? Join Southwest Radio Ministries on an unforgettable journey to Israel this year. Experience Jerusalem, the Sea of Galilee, the Mount of Olives, Bethlehem, and many of the places where Bible history came to life. You'll see scripture in a whole new way as the pages of God's word come alive before your eyes.

Space is limited, so reserve your place today. Visit swrc.com and click on the Israel tour banner or call 1-800-652-1144. That's 1-800-652-1144. Your journey to the Holy Land begins with Southwest Radio Ministries. Now, here's today's host, Prophecy in the News magazine editor Lee Kuch-shaw.

Lee Kuch-shaw: Welcome today to another Watchman on the Wall program. I'm Lee Kuch-shaw, editor of Prophecy in the News magazine, among other things, and we have with us again today Micah Van Huss, author of many marginal mysteries books and also the person who oversees Marginal Mysteries at Southwest Radio Ministries. He today is talking with us about his new DVD, *War of the Princes: Jesus and the Bulls of Bashan*.

As I said yesterday, if that does not tantalize you and pique your interest, nothing will. But maybe that's not true. I have a feeling that all that he has to say will pique your interest. Welcome, Micah.

Micah Van Huss: Thank you, Lee. Those are mighty kind words. I hope they're true. I'll try to make them true.

Lee Kuch-shaw: He will dazzle you and amaze you, and it will all be scripturally based. Yesterday, we talked about many things, Micah, including Exodus and courtrooms and princes over all the nations or 70 some nations. Can you give us a quick overview of that? Then I'd like to talk to you a bit about Jesus.

Micah Van Huss: Absolutely. Yesterday, we talked about the Divine Council. The primary example of that in scripture is 1 Kings 22:19-22, that God uses spiritual beings to help administer the Earth and make decisions, just like they did for Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel chapter 4.

We also talked primarily about the curse of the Tower of Babel, the separation of the nations, the curse of the princes, the fallen angels being placed in charge of the Gentile nations, and God choosing Israel as his own nation, again Deuteronomy 32 verses 8 and 9.

So that's what we went over, and we brought it down to Jesus being crucified on the cross not only by Satan but also by the bulls of Bashan, the princes of the nations. They are called the bulls of Bashan in many places in the Old Testament. Psalm 22 is our primary example. They're called cows of Bashan in Amos 4, but these are the fallen angel rulers of the nations that we see in the Old Testament at the cross in the spiritual realm.

Lee Kuch-shaw: At the cross, these princes were there among the people who were cheering on his crucifixion. Can you tell us why—and I think you have some interesting scripturally based ideas about this—Jesus came to the Earth? It's not just one reason as most of us grasp pretty clearly. What were the reasons he came to Earth?

Micah Van Huss: Jesus came to the Earth for three primary reasons. We Christians have always been taught that Jesus came to save us from our sins, to reverse the curse of death brought on humankind by Adam through the garden through the Nachash, the serpent, tempting Eve and Eve tempting Adam and Adam willingly choosing sin, not accidentally. So Jesus came to reverse the curse of death, and I'm very thankful that Jesus did come to do that.

There are two other reasons that Jesus came to the Earth. We talked all about one of them yesterday and we just mentioned it; that's to reverse the curse of the Tower of Babel. Jesus also came to reverse the curse of the Watchers in Genesis chapter 6.

Since we've already talked yesterday and a little bit today about the curse of Babel, let's finish up that one. Jesus came to reverse the curse of Babel, and we saw yesterday how he was crucified, the bulls of Bashan were defeated at the cross. Colossians 2:15 says that Jesus spoiled the principalities and powers, and of course, the principalities and powers from Ephesians are the bulls of Bashan. They are the 70 plus fallen angels after the Tower of Babel.

So Jesus defeats them. Also with the curse of Babel, you have the situation with language. The world's divided into 70 nations, and instantaneously, the world is speaking 70 different languages after the Tower of Babel. To fix that curse, Jesus has to fix the language and bring it all back together.

How many disciples did Jesus send out into the world? He sends 70, and in a separate instance, when his disciples speak, they speak with tongues as of fire. Everyone hears the disciples speak in their own language. Regardless of what the disciples say, different languages hear their own language. Jesus has reversed the curse of the Tower of Babel through that, through the language and also through defeating the bulls of Bashan, the princes.

Let's go ahead and go to the curse of the Watchers. Genesis chapter 6 is where we primarily get the story of the angels that sinned and had incursion into the bloodline of mankind. This is what set me off 25 years ago now. I grew up in Baptist churches. I was always taught in Sunday school that God chose Noah to survive the flood because he was righteous. Noah was righteous. Scripture does say that in Genesis 6.

But Genesis 6 also says something else. Verse 9 says Noah was perfect in his generations. Well, what does that mean? I was home from an Iraq deployment, and my brother showed me that in the King James. Noah was perfect in his generations. Five verses before that, Genesis 6:4, there were giants in the Earth in those days and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men and had children with them. The same were mighty men of old, men of renown.

So there is a breeding into the human bloodline of the angels, and you have the Nephilim, the giant offspring they produce. Five verses later, when it says Noah was perfect in his generations, that's exactly what scripture is talking about. His bloodline had not been tainted with that of the angels. His bloodline had not been tainted with that of the Nephilim. His bloodline was perfect.

So that is one of the reasons, probably the primary reason, but that would be a little speculation, that God chose Noah to survive the flood. He was righteous and his bloodline was pure. When you understand this giant worldview, it makes so much of scripture come to life and make sense.

Let's talk about the biggest argument against it. There are a lot of people who say that these sons of God in Genesis 6 are humans. They're not angels. There's no way angels would even be able to reproduce with human women. First of all, Genesis 6 says they did, so that's my primary evidence.

The idea that the sons of God, the B'nai HaElohim in the Hebrew, are humans is a very flawed view. First of all, folks will say that these sons of God are the godly human line of Seth. It doesn't explain how you have giant offspring between the sons of Seth and human women. It also doesn't explain why God sends a flood to destroy the Earth if you have godly men having children. Why would you wipe the Earth out?

No, it was because the bloodline of humanity and the animals were being tainted, corrupted, utterly corrupted through this. And people were corrupt. Now, more so than what I just said about the two reasons why these are not humans, let's back this up with scripture. People tell me these were demon-possessed men; that's how they were able to sexually procreate.

Scripture is full of the angels that sinned in the days of Noah, that specific wording, "the angels that sinned in the days of Noah." Let's get into it. Isaiah chapter 24 prophesies that the Messiah will visit the angels that sinned, the angels that are chained up in the abyss. The Messiah will visit them.

Scripture even fulfills that. 1 Peter 3:18, 19, 20, and 21. It says Jesus was put to death in the flesh and quickened by the spirit. Jesus dies on the cross. His body is in the ground for three days, but his spirit is on the Earth for three days, and he goes down into hell and he proclaims his victory over the spirits that made trouble in the days of Noah to the captives. So if you're going to say that the B'nai HaElohim in Genesis 6 were humans, then you have to tell me what these angels that sinned in the days of Noah were that Jesus went and proclaimed his victory over.

There's more verses. 2 Peter 2:4 talks about the angels chained up in Tartarus in the days of Noah. Again, we have the angels who are chained up in the abyss from the days of Noah. There's more. The primary one is Jude 1:6: "and the angels which kept not their first estate but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness." And then in verse 7, which is a much-overlooked verse, it says they sought strange flesh.

The angels sought strange flesh. The angels that are chained up in the days of Noah, they sought strange flesh. They were seeking sexual union outside of God's special boundaries. I'm going to quit banging people over the head for saying that these were humans in Genesis 6. I have just given many scripture verses that talk about these angels that sinned in the days of Noah, the giant offspring that they had, the strange flesh that they sought. Scripture fully backs up that these are angels in Genesis 6.

Jesus comes to reverse the curse of the Watchers. There are a number of the non-canonical texts that give much more detail what these angels did in Genesis 6. Without reading those texts, it says that they taught all kinds of forbidden knowledge to mankind: abortion, writing, astronomy, astrology, makeup, weapons, armor. I mean, I could go on; the cutting of roots, the study of the sun, moon, stars. There was all kinds of forbidden knowledge that these Watchers taught to humanity.

It also goes on to say that the giants began to corrupt humanity. When humans could no longer satiate them, they would drink their blood. The giants began to sin against the animals. Those are non-canonical, and I don't take those as inspired.

Scripture does say that the giants ate humans, and a lot of Christians don't realize that. That backs up the idea of what these non-canonical books are talking about.

Lee Kuch-shaw: And are the giants the Watchers?

Micah Van Huss: The Watchers are the angels, the fathers. The giants are the offspring of the angels and the human women, the Nephilim. The Nephilim are half human, half angel. That's a good point to not be confused. The Watchers are the angels, the fathers. The Nephilim, the giants, are the sons and daughters that they had through human women.

We do see this knowledge in scripture in a backhanded, roundabout way, at least there. I think Revelation 19:17 is a direct reference.

Lee Kuch-shaw: So angels didn't just teach bad things. Metallurgy, is that bad?

Micah Van Huss: It depends on what you consider makeup, something that it all depends on your culture and your point of view. If they taught knowledge that mankind was not supposed to be taught immediately, was it bad? Were the angels allowed to do that? You've got astrology and astronomy. One of those is bad and one is not, what we consider good and bad.

The angels left their first estate, according to Jude. We could go through each individual technology, but again, I don't think the angels were supposed to share. Of course, in the mythologies, we have Prometheus, who grabs divine fire from heaven and brings it and shares it with mankind because Prometheus is feeling bad for mankind. So that's an echo of scripture right there.

Lee Kuch-shaw: We are talking today with Micah Van Huss about princes, about angels, and we are urging everyone to get Micah's new DVD, *War of the Princes: Jesus and the Bulls of Bashan*. It is based on much material from his *Angels Eternal* book, and you could order that at the same time or just the DVD at swrc.com or by calling us at 1-800-652-1144. 1-800-652-1144. Now we're going to swing back to you, Micah, because we were very involved in discussions about the Watchers and the Nephilim.

Micah Van Huss: Jesus has not yet reversed the curse of the Watchers. We've seen where he's reversed the curse of Babel. He has also reversed the curse of death where he died for our sins so that we may live, not of anything that we can do on our own. Ephesians 2:8 and 9: "for by grace are you saved through faith, not of works, lest any man should boast." Jesus reverses the curse of death in Genesis 3; he reverses the curse of Babel from Deuteronomy 32.

But we've talked about the Watchers, the curse of the Watchers, what they did to the Earth. God sent a flood to cleanse the Earth from what they did and their offspring, the Nephilim. But Jesus hasn't reversed that curse yet.

Not only do you have to deal with the Watchers, as Jesus, you also have to deal with their offspring, the Nephilim. Pre-flood, giants died in the flood and the war of the giants. According to non-canonical writings, Gabriel the Archangel caused the giants to go to war with themselves and kill each other off, and whatever didn't die in that war died in the flood. The offspring of the Watchers are the demons that now roam the Earth.

I've skipped a lot, so let me talk a little bit about that. I like to build up to that mystery, but let's go ahead and tell everybody. Demons and fallen angels are not the same thing. Satan is not a demon; Satan is a fallen angel, a prince of demons. So the demons are the spirits of the giants. They are half angel, half human.

The non-canonical writings say that there was no place for the demons, the spirits of the giants, in heaven, so they were destined to roam the Earth to cause trouble among mankind, seeking to inhabit places and never being satiated. So again, we get this picture of demons.

Now, again, I don't take that as inspired, but I do believe that's correct history. There are many of the ancient writings that talk about demons being the spirits of the giants, the dead giants. My other DVD that goes along with this and *Angels Eternal*, *Realm of the Dead*, is where we talk all about the demons, the giants that inhabit hell.

Scripture has three verses that talk about the giants, the Rephaim, the Gibborim in hell. So these are demons, with skipping a lot of that because we've already talked about that and you can get the DVD that goes with the DVD we're talking about today, *War of the Princes*. The other DVD is *Realm of the Dead* where we get into the giants in hell, their demonic origins, the spirits of the giants.

Jesus has to defeat the demons as well to deal with the Watchers. In fact, Jesus is the very first person in all of scripture to cast out a demon. At the synagogue in Capernaum, he cast out the demon there, and Jesus is staking his claim over the realm of the dead, saying I am here and this war we're about to win it.

To defeat the Watchers and the demons, let's bring it back to later in Jesus's ministry just before his crucifixion. Matthew chapter 16, this is after the transfiguration. He was transfigured on a high mountain. Most folks believed that was Mount Tabor. I have been there; I've seen Mount Tabor. It is 1,800 feet tall. Mount Hermon is very close by, and it is 9,000 feet tall. Jesus and his disciples were in the region of Caesarea Philippi just before Matthew chapter 16.

So I believe that Jesus is at the base of Mount Hermon. In fact, there's another evidence. Many people have been to the Gates of Hell. It is the Grotto of Pan in Northern Israel, and it's what the Greeks called the Gates of Hell. It's a giant gaping hole in the mountain. It's black. It's where they used to cast the goats that they sacrificed down into the hole. All kinds of Pan and Baal worship took place in the valley at the base of Mount Hermon.

And so those are the Gates of Hell. Jesus, in Matthew chapter 16, asks, "who do men say that I am? Who do you say that I am?" And Peter says, "thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus says, "on this rock, I will build my church."

Lee Kuch-shaw: And he was standing literally at the Gates of Hell.

Micah Van Huss: So I'm speculating that he's talking about the rock, the mountain. Let's talk through that. "On this rock, I will build my church." Catholics, this is a schism in Christianity for the last 2,000 years. Catholics believe that the rock to which Jesus was talking was Peter. Jesus says, "on this rock, on Peter, I will build my church." And that is where Catholics get the papacy; Peter is the first Pope. And so the papacy is the rock on which the church is built according to Catholicism. I don't agree with that.

Protestants, of which I am a Protestant, like most Protestants will say that the rock is what Peter said, "thou art the Christ, the son of the living God." And Jesus will build his church on that statement. Now, I agree with the statement, but I don't think that's what Jesus was saying.

Jesus says, "on this rock, I will build my church." He is standing at the Gates of Hell, and I can see Jesus pointing at the Mount of Hermon, at those rocks. I've been there; it's a giant rock cliff with a gaping hole at the base of Mount Hermon. Jesus says, "on this rock, I will build my church."

Jesus is declaring his victory over the Watchers who descended on that very mountain in the days of Noah. The non-canonical writings talk about the Watchers descending on Mount Hermon, and it is known in all cultures that that is the mountain of the gods where the gods descended, Mount Hermon. So Jesus is saying on this rock, I will build my church.

He absolutely does it because, as we said in 1 Peter chapter 3, Jesus goes down into hell—the Sheol portion of Tartarus, I'm not 100 percent sure which, but he goes down into hell. And again, this is my study in my other DVD, *Realm of the Dead*, what is hell.

Quickly, there's three different places that are hell. The word hell doesn't appear in the Hebrew or the Greek. I'm not saying three different levels of punishment; I'm saying three different locations. In the original Hebrew and Greek, you don't see the word hell. Hell is an English word that combines all three locations, and it really confuses us. Hell is Sheol, Tartarus, and Gehenna.

Sheol's the realm of the dead where humans went after they died. Unredeemed humans go there after they died, and in fact, in the Old Testament before Christ, righteous humans went to Sheol after they died. We see this in Luke 16; we have two sections of Sheol. We have Abaddon and Abraham's Bosom, and a great gulf is fixed between the two. This is Luke 16, the rich man and Lazarus.

Jesus goes down into Sheol in 1 Peter chapter 3, and he proclaims his victory over the angels that made trouble in the days of Noah. And then he takes the righteous dead that are in Abraham's Bosom, the righteous portion of Sheol, and he ascends up through the Gates of Hell on top of Mount Hermon and he takes them to heaven from the top of Mount Hermon. He ascends the same place that the Watchers descended.

The fact that Jesus descended into hell is backed up in scripture. Ephesians chapter 4 verses 8 through 10: Jesus, first before he ascended, he descended into the lower parts of the Earth and he led captivity captive. So Ephesians also tells us that Jesus went into Sheol and he grabbed the righteous dead and he took them up to heaven from there.

Revelation chapter 1 verse 18 says that Jesus has the keys to death and hell, Thanatos and Hades. So Jesus uses those keys—however you can metaphorically use keys in the spiritual realm for the Gates of Hell—Jesus has those keys. He took them from Thanatos, the ancient Greek god of the underworld. Hades is a god of hell; Thanatos was the god of death. I believe I'm correct on that. Jesus has their keys, and he leads captivity captive.

Again, this is scripture. Revelation 1:18 is where he has the keys. Ephesians 4:8-10 is where he leads the captivity captive from the lower parts of the Earth, and he ascends up through the Gates of Hell at the Grotto of Pan on top of Mount Hermon and he ascends into heaven with them. That's when he says on this rock I will build my church. He is symbolically defeating the Watchers and their demonic offspring in that.

How do we know the righteous dead are in Abraham's Bosom? First of all, we have the story of Lazarus. Samuel is summoned up in the Witch of Endor encounter, and Jesus says to the thief, or the malefactor—thief is kind of a misinterpretation—Jesus says to the malefactor on the cross next to him, "today you will be with me in Paradise." So when that malefactor dies, he is in Abraham's Bosom. And when Jesus goes down to get all the righteous dead out of Abraham's Bosom, the malefactor is part of that group. So Jesus, ascending on top of Mount Hermon to heaven, has defeated the Watchers.

Jesus came for three reasons primarily: to reverse the curse of death, the serpent in the garden, Adam and his choice; the curse of Babel, the language and the princes of the nations, of which Jesus inherits the kingdoms because the princes had them that weren't Israel; and then the curse of the Watchers and their demonic offspring. Jesus has reversed three curses.

Lee Kuch-shaw: *War of the Princes* is the title of this DVD. Is that the war, this final war?

Micah Van Huss: The war of the princes is won by the Prince of Peace. It is Jesus Christ who has defeated the principalities and powers. Again, Colossians 2:15: Jesus spoiled principalities and powers. So when we say symbolically defeating the Watchers on Mount Hermon, it's not complete until his resurrection after the crucifixion on the cross.

If you remember the movie *The Passion of the Christ*, at the moment that Jesus dies, Satan is seen in the spiritual realm realizing he's been defeated. I would say it's at the moment of the resurrection. Buddha did not resurrect; other people, other gods of old did not resurrect. Jesus Christ is the God who created life and death here on the Earth, and he has the power to overcome and he did.

And that is what separates him, sets him apart from all other gods of mythology, all of the pagan gods, the princes of this world, Satan himself, Shemyaza, who was the leader of the Watchers in Genesis 6. Jesus conquers death.

Again, the study of angelology, I've had a pastor and I know plenty of people have pastors who skip over the weirder verses in scripture, and I'm not going to bonk those pastors over the head. I do know that neglecting this type of study produces a faith that is immature. We come to Christ and discipleship should be such a way that we continue to grow, and without studying what scripture says, I don't think you can only grow so much.

Now, all that pales in comparison to the fact that Jesus Christ has come to save mankind from their sin. I'm not going to fault somebody for not studying the weird stuff. Jesus Christ is the central point of all of history and all of scripture. It is my hope that everyone comes to know him as their personal savior, and I recommend that before any of this weird stuff.

I believe God's called me to study this, and I'd much rather talk about biblical mysteries than the latest football game scores. Not studying this stuff produces a faith that is shallow. Angelology, it's an important study because it magnifies who Christ is. We talked about the princes of the nations, the Satan, the prince of this world, the Divine Council. It all goes to show that if you realize Jesus Christ is more powerful than all of these entities, he is the King of Kings, he's the Prince of Princes, he is more powerful than any of it. If you put it into that perspective, all of a sudden the study on angels becomes much more important.

Lee Kuch-shaw: I do believe as you do that part of our sanctification process—I know that's a big word—of growing as Christians and believers in Jesus, I think part of that is digging into the deeper aspects of scripture and asking questions and asking God questions. He can answer those for us, and you are constantly asking questions and then seeking answers through scripture and through your research. We appreciate that. That takes us to new levels as Christians and as people who might just be seekers because certainly many of these topics are curiosities or mysteries that can lead others to want to find out more.

Thank you, Micah Van Huss. We've been talking today about his new DVD, *War of the Princes: Jesus and the Bulls of Bashan*. We look forward to hearing more about mysteries and mythologies as he's continuing to write and produce materials. But if you would like this DVD and perhaps his other DVD from *Angels Eternal*, that is called *Realm of the Dead*, you can get those by going to swrc.com or calling 1-800-652-1144. Thank you, Micah, for taking us into the realm of the dead and the princes and just giving us so many more things to study on and think about.

Micah Van Huss: Thank you, Lee. It's always good to have a good conversation. If folks have questions, email me at micah@swrc.com. I have had other people who email me with questions, Joel being the latest. So thank you so much, micah@swrc.com.

Lee Kuch-shaw: Thank you, Micah.

Announcer: What does the Bible really teach about the world beyond the grave? What are Sheol, Tartarus, and Gehenna, and why do they matter to Christians today?

In the brand new DVD *War of the Princes*, Micah Van Huss takes viewers on a fascinating journey into one of scripture's most mysterious subjects: the unseen realm. Drawing directly from the Bible, ancient languages, and historical context, Micah explores the possible origin of demons, the fate of the giants described in Genesis, and the prophecy of an ancient enemy who will one day rise from the abyss.

But this isn't a study of darkness; it's a study of victory through the finished work of Jesus Christ who conquered death, hell, and the grave. You'll gain a deeper understanding of God's power and authority over every spiritual realm.

Go deeper into God's word with *War of the Princes* DVD by Micah Van Huss. Order your copy today by calling 1-800-652-1144 or visit swrc.com. Tomorrow, Josh Davis will share the latest headlines from the end times, so be sure to tune in. *Watchman on the Wall* is a production of Southwest Radio Ministries and is supported by faithful listeners like you. To learn more, visit swrc.com.