When I was in the book of Enoch a couple episodes ago, something caught my attention. I was reading something from the book of Enoch’s chapter 15. I didn’t read the entire chapter on that episode, but I did read through it as I was doing my research, and there was a very interesting passage there about the spirits of the Nephilim.

Enoch chapter 15 basically makes the claim that when a Nephilim dies, its spirit roams the earth, afflicts humans, and will do so until the world ends.

In other words, the spirits of the Nephilim are demons.

The Book of Enoch makes a distinction between fallen angels and demons, saying that the fallen angels are these beings who God originally created, but that the demons were essentially created when those fallen angels mated with human women, as told in Genesis 6.

That goes against what I’ve heard all my life in church, which is that demons and fallen angels are the exact same thing. That the 1/3 of the angels who rebelled against God are the demons we frequently read about in the New Testament. The Book of Enoch has a different perspective on these evil spirits.

But this is not a podcast about Weird Stuff in the Book of Enoch. This is a podcast about Weird Stuff in the Bible. I do not use the Book of Enoch to replace my biblical understanding, but I do wonder whether this idea about the origin of demons is congruent with what Scripture actually teaches.

Because as we’ll see, scripture doesn’t outright state that demons and fallen angels are the exact same thing.

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore IF it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Isaiah 26, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

2:10 - Enoch 15

8:30 - Is this Biblical?

20:00 - Mailbag and Thanking Some Weirdos

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

So on this podcast, we’ve tackled the mysterious subject of Genesis 6 a few times when “the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose.”

That’s actually a direct quotation from that chapter. And it’s come up a lot on this podcast because it’s a podcast about weird stuff in the Bible, and this is probably the weirdest thing. If you don’t understand why it’s so weird, it’s because of who the Sons of God are: they are spiritual or angelic beings.

The Sons of God are a collection of spiritual beings that God created and ordered to watch over mankind and report to Him on what mankind is up to. They were to be involved in the management of the earth. But a number of them descended from the heavens and, as the Scripture said, took wives from among women. The testimony of Genesis 6 is that the Sons of God mated with human women and produced children with them.

So this raises a whole lot of questions- mainly: how? How did spiritual beings interact sexually with women- and not only that, impregnate them?

Is this something any angel is capable of?

Could it happen again?

Does it even seem within the realm of possibility that angels have the abilities to manifest physical bodies and sexual organs like this?

So I call it mysterious not because I wonder IF it happened. The Bible is clear: it did happen.

I call it mysterious because I wonder HOW it happened.

Even those who accept what the Bible is saying about the Sons of God and the Nephilim still wonder how it happened.

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Psalm 91, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

2:10 - What Angels Can Do

19:00 - Mailbag

22:45 - Closing Thoughts

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

There is a lot of controversy around this Book of Enoch: Should Christians read it or not? Some get confused about whether it should be considered scripture- and if it isn’t, whether Christians are allowed to read it.

So on the past few episodes, I’ve established that even though it’s not canonical scripture, the authors of the Bible did indeed read it and believe it. Peter did. Jude did. John did.

There’s actually a few places in Scripture where Jesus also might actually quote from Enoch as well. Seriously.

I was actually at a prayer meeting a few weeks ago when someone was talking to me- and totally out of the blue- says “Did you know Jesus quoted from the Book of Enoch? I was like, “no. But I’d find that very interesting.” This woman didn’t even know what I’ve been studying here on this podcast or anything like that. But I listened to her tell me why she thought that.

I found it to be weird, and I’d like to explore whether Jesus actually quotes from the Book of Enoch in the Bible.

Turn to Matthew 22, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

1:30 - It Started with a Question about Marriage

11:10 - Like the Angels in Heaven

19:10 - Mailbag

21:15 - Did Jesus Refer to Enoch as Scripture?

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

In Jude 14-16, he quotes from a prophecy of Enoch:

It says

14 It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, 15 to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage.

What’s weird about this prophecy is: it’s not found anywhere in the Old Testament.

Enoch is. It specifically says which Enoch. There’s an Enoch in Genesis 4 and an Enoch in Genesis 5. This is the Genesis 5 Enoch; the one everybody knows about. It specifically says who he is. It quotes a prophecy that he gave. But this prophecy is recorded nowhere in the OT.

So where did this prophecy come from? I mean, it’s a true prophecy. If it wasn’t true, it wouldn’t be quoted here in Scripture. So it’s a real prophecy; but where was it recorded? It was recorded in an ancient document called The Book of Enoch. And the Book of Enoch is not a book in your Bible. And yet, the Bible quotes from it and says it’s true. Jude quotes from a prophecy that is NOT in the Bible.

I find all this to be weird, and I’d like to find out why it’s in the Bible. Or in this case, why it’s NOT in the Bible.

So turn to the book of Jude and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

2:00 - What is Canon?

8:20 - Pseudepigrapha. Apocrypha.

16:00 - The New Testament Authors Quote Enoch

20:35 - Mailbag & Closing

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

I’ll have this debate with people about the rapture of the church, and I will hear this response all the time: the rapture isn’t biblical. I’ll even see it in the comments from today’s episode: the rapture isn’t biblical.

And these days, my response when I hear it is always the same thing. If you want to tell me that the rapture is not biblical, then what happened to Enoch?

Because here’s what Genesis 5 says about Enoch:

Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.

On the previous episode, we talked about what this verse means, because it’s a little confusing at first. He was, and then he wasn’t. What exactly does that mean? Well in case there was any confusion, the New Testament makes it clear.

Hebrews 11:5 says

By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him.

So Enoch was essentially taken to heaven without dying. There’s actually a theological word for this: a rapture. To be raptured is to be taken to heaven without dying. A lot of the keyboard warriors are cracking their knuckles right now because I just said the no-no word in eschatology. Every time I have done a podcast episode in the past about raptures, I get raked over the coals in feedback because I am told how how we are appointed to suffering, so this idea that God would take us to heaven without experiencing more of it is just thoroughly unbiblical. But my response to that is: then what happened to Enoch?

Enoch was taken to heaven without dying. I call this a rapture.

And there are actually more examples of this in scripture. Enoch was just the first one.

If you find this to be weird, then let’s explore how much this comes up in the Bible. Turn to Genesis 5 and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Enoch

2:00 - Methuselah

7:40 - Elijah

10:40 - New Testament Raptures

19:45 - Closing Thoughts

More about the pre-flood world: https://weirdstuffinthebible.transistor.fm/episodes/unveiling-the-nephilim-giants-dna-and-the-days-of-noah

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Genesis 5 is one of those chapters people tend to read through pretty quickly. It’s a genealogy chapter. It’s a list of names: so and so the son of so and so, so and so begat so and so.

Not only that, it’s a list of names of people from Adam to Noah. Why do we need a genealogy of people from Adam to Noah? The genealogy is gonna reset at Noah anyway. This seems extra.

And yet, if you stop and smell the roses, you’re going to read about one guy in Genesis 5 who stands out above the rest.

Genesis 5:21-24

21 When Enoch had lived 65 years, he fathered Methuselah. 22 Enoch walked with God after he fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. 23 Thus all the days of Enoch were 365 years. 24 Enoch walked with God, and he was not, for God took him.

Enoch walked with God, and he was not. Was not what? That’s a weird sentence. Enoch walked with God, and he was not…for God took him.

What’s going on in this verse? I find it to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Genesis 5, and let’s get weird.

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

We are pressing forward in the book of Jude today. As I’ve said before, Jude is kind of like the Bible’s junk drawer. Everyone has a junk drawer at their house; it’s full of random objects that you just aren’t sure where else to put them, so you throw them all into one drawer and you call it your junk drawer.

That’s how Jude is. It’s like a collection of things that you just aren’t so sure what to do with. Just about every verse of Jude contains a callback to a Bible story. Almost always a weird Bible story. And we just spent three weeks talking about Balaam because he comes up in Jude 11. Let’s read it again:

Jude 11

Woe to them! They have taken the way of Cain; they have rushed for profit into Balaam’s error; they have been destroyed in Korah’s rebellion.

As a reminder, or if you’re with us for the first time, the book of Jude is a book about apostates. Apostates are those who fall away from Christianity, and right here, Jude introduces the fate of apostates: they rely on their works like Cain, they are materialistic like Balaam, and then they will suffer the same fate of those in Korah’s rebellion.

So what happened to the people in Korah’s Rebellion?

Numbers 16:32-33 say

32 And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods. 33 So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol [aka: hell], and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.

Wow, there is a story in the Bible where the ground opened up under some people’s feet and literally dropped them straight into hell itself?

Why would God do this?

And this literally happened. Does this mean hell is literally inside the earth?

I find all this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to Numbers 16, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

2:20 - The Legend of Korah

13:15 - Where is Hell?

22:22 - Closing Thoughts

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

If you don’t know Balaam’s story, you are behind the 8-ball. Most Christians don’t really know who Balaam is, which is a shame, because he is one of the most-referenced characters in the Bible. Balaam’s name comes up 59 times in Scripture.

In comparison, Mary is only mentioned 14 times. And yet, every Christian knows who Mary is. But not many know about Balaam. Balaam is mentioned in the Bible more than Noah, more than Sarah, more than Levi, more than Rachel, more than Isaiah. So if you don’t know who Balaam is, it’s about time you do.

That’s why I’ve done a couple of episodes now on the prophet Balaam. He is a lightning rod for weird stuff, and that makes his story fertile ground for a podcast about weird stuff in the Bible.

Here’s a question I’ve been wondering about: was Balaam a true prophet or a false prophet?

I ask because everything Balaam says comes true, and that’s the test of whether someone’s a true or false prophet, right? Except,

II Peter 2, a chapter all about false prophets, says:

They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet's madness.

So, everything Balaam says was a true prophecy, yet the New Testament still implies that he was a false prophet. Is this confusing or what?

So I find this to be weird.

I think I have a solution to this problem, and I’ll share it with you today. Turn to Numbers 23 and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

2:25 - Recap

5:50 - What Happened Up on that Mountain

10:40 - Balaam in the New Testament

12:20 - Motive Matters

16:45 - A Question for the Audience

17:45 - Closing Thoughts from Jude 11

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor