In a time when division runs rampant—even in the church—and believers shred each other publicly for differing opinions, one man bravely steps out to call Christians to unity in the One who binds them all together—Jesus Christ. Author Dr. James W. Walraven dares to suggest that Christians make wiser choices, forgive one another, and mature in their faith.
Walraven, author of Will God Save Everyone, doesn’t shy away from tough topics. He suggests that though doctrines diverge, rather than separate over differences, Christians rally around the truth of the gospel—believers should treat others better than themselves. In a me-first, turbulent culture, the biblical call to love one another is almost a radical concept, but Walraven is convinced unity can be achieved.
“Spiritual maturity is critical when it comes to recognizing and resisting the many false teachings that are being promoted,” Walraven says. “As the world becomes increasingly hostile toward the Christian faith, the need for unity will be increasingly important.”
Dr. Walraven’s new book, One in Christ is written with strength through supporting Scriptures and other resources, yet with personal vulnerability, each chapter concludes with thought-provoking personal challenges designed to move believers closer to oneness in Christ.
What do the last three sections of 1 Enoch teach? In the previous post we saw that the first two sections of 1 Enoch taught things that fell far outside the bounds of Scripture, including outright error and legendary accounts. We will look at the last three sections of 1 Enoch in turn.
3. The Astronomical Book
The Astronomical Book supposedly deals with the movement of the sun and moon. Both have multiple portals from which they may emerge. Depending on the portal they come out of the resulting weather can be either a blessing or destruction.
Chapter 78 discloses that the circumference of the sun and the moon are the same. A few verses in this section speak of judgment against sinners. Most of the section is flowery speculative verbiage
The section consists of various musings, musings that would not be uncommon for time that 1 Enoch was written. As with the first two sections, the third section is not biblical, not even remotely so.
4. The Book of Dream Visions
The Book of Dream Visions is an allegorical dream about sheep, sheep that portrays the history of Israel from before the exodus to the coming of the victorious Messiah.
All the evil nations, portrayed as various animals, end up being restored. Given the section’s language, it is tough to see it as a prophecy from Enoch. For someone who knows Israel’s history, the vision makes sense, but if someone didn’t know their Old Testament history, it likely would not. It is also very different from the prophetic precision one finds in the book of Daniel.
Once again, the section fails in terms of qualifying as Scripture.
5. The Epistle of Enoch
The Epistle of Enoch is supposedly Enoch’s words to Methusaleh, exhortations given to Methusaleh to live righteously. It includes many woes against the wicked, contrasted with hope for the righteous
Chapter 105 includes prophecies regarding Noah that Enoch gave to Methusaleh to pass on to Lamech just after Noah was born. Biblically, was that conversation even possible?
Genesis 5:20–29 gives the chronology. Enoch lived 300 years after the birth of Methusaleh. Methusaleh was 187 years old when he fathered Lamech, and Lamech was 182 years old when he fathered Noah. Thus, Noah was born 369 years after Enoch fathered Methusaleh. There is only one problem: Enoch was not alive on earth to prophesy at the time Noah was born as Noah was born 69 years after God had taken Enoch.
That chronology doesn’t work, does it? As with the other sections of 1 Enoch, we once again see that this last section of 1 Enoch does not qualify as Scripture.
All told, given what 1 Enoch claims, it is not a biblical book in any sense. It contains too many errors, it has key ideas that go against what Scripture directly state, and chronological impossibilities. But it does say what people want to hear: we are not responsible for our sin; the Watchers are. What is perhaps disconcerting, prominent Bible teachers often use it to teach about the Nephilim and the origin of demons.
We want answers to things that the Bible doesn’t tell us. We either want our pastors to fill in those blanks or we look to hidden books, books that have supposedly been deliberately repressed by the church, for those answers. Those books provide answers, but the answers often directly contradict Scripture. Indeed, one of the reasons the books are marketed as “truth” is precisely to turn us away from God’s revealed truth, found in Scripture alone.
Sadly, we are often no different from the early Gnostics. We want secret truth that no one else has. We want to know, but especially to know “the truth” that contradict what God declares in Scripture, that apart from faith in Jesus Christ, of accepting His death on the cross for the forgiveness of our sins, we will be separated from God for all eternity in hell.
We can heap up to ourselves teachers who will tell us what we want to hear, but doing so ultimately leads us only to our demise. It is far better to stick with Scripture, what God declares in the Bible. Wisdom is to reject books like the Gnostic Gospels, Jasher, Giants, Jubilees, and the three Enochs, books that purport to tell us “truth,” but instead contain biblical lies.
Hopefully, by God’s grace, we can lead those who have been ensnared by the words of these books, to the truth and freedom found in Jesus Christ.
What does 1 Enoch claim to teach? Why is it so popular? Overall, does 1 Enoch accord with or contradict Scripture?
As for the book itself, 1 Enoch is divided into five parts: The Watchers; The Book of Allegories of Enoch; The Astronomical Book; The Book of Dream Visions; The Epistle of Enoch.
First Enoch is so popular as it purports to fill in the blanks, to give details that Scripture does not explain, especially in the first section: the Watchers. It gives all sorts of details about how the Watchers fathered the Nephilim and how the Watchers taught humans forbidden knowledge. It gives details about angelology and demonology as well as speaking of a “Son of Man” messianic figure.
We will look at each of the five sections in turn.
1. The Watchers
The Watchers is probably the most studied section, for the reasons outlined above. Chapter 6 names the leaders of the 200 Watchers who came down and impregnated the daughters of men. Chapter 8 tells how the Watchers led humans astray by teaching humans war, astrology, immorality, and other arts. Earth’s corruption was not caused by Adam and Eve’s sin, but by the corrupting influence of the Watchers, corruption that leads directly to the Flood.
We can already see why 1 Enoch has a strong appeal: humans are not the source of the world’s sin problem. It is somewhat ironic. Just as Adam blamed Eve for his sin, and Eve blamed the serpent for her sin, the writer of 1 Enoch blamed the Watchers as the real source of human corruption.
Chapter 15 reveals that evil spirits proceeded from the giants that were fathered by the Watchers by human women. When the Nephilim perished due to the flood, evil spirits emerged from their corpses. In this respect 1 Enoch parallels Jubilees.
Elsewhere the first section of Enoch teaches that some stars are in the fire because they transgressed God by not coming out at the proper time. Visions of interim places of punishment and blessing are disclosed. Also, the women who transgressed with the Watchers became sirens (in Greek mythology sirens were the female half-bird/half-human creatures that lured sailors to their death through their singing).
What can we conclude about this first section? The Watchers directly contradicts Scripture, blaming sin and human corruption on the Watchers, not freely made human choice. It also includes legendary accounts and other myths. It is not biblical.
2. The Book of Allegories of Enoch
The Book of Allegories tells how no place for wisdom was found on the earth, but rather unrighteousness. A future Son of Man will break kings that don’t worship him, along with sinners. The earth will then rejoice, and in chapter 62, the kings of the earth fall down and worship before him, but they won’t repent: their worship is false.
The Book of Allegories also tells us a bit more about the Watchers. Chapter 69 discloses that the Watcher Gadreel led Eve astray. Chapter 69 discloses that the Watcher Penemue caused men to sin by teaching them to write with paper and ink; men were not created for that purpose. That raises an interesting question: what does that say about Moses’s writing down the 10 commandments, and the Law, let alone the Jew’s reording of the Old Testament?
Elsewhere, many evil angels (Watchers) are named, along with key good angels. Overall the second section includes lots of flowery language that says much less than one might think.
As with the first section, the second section of 1 Enoch does not mesh with Scripture. In the next post we will look at the last three sections of 1 Enoch.
The fall college football season is once again upon us. If there is anything that has gone totally bonkers it is the world of college football, with the arrival of the NIL portal. Consider Texas Tech and a player’s recent betting scandal. Within their conference, the Big 12, they are the highest football athlete/recruiting spender at an estimated $40 million per year. While that total is far above many of the other Big 12 schools, that total is “new business as usual” for main schools in both the SEC and the Big 10.
Reflect for a moment what that says about our culture’s priorities. Here in Oregon, the state government recently dropped requirements—at least for now—for graduating high school students to be able to demonstrate even basic proficiency in reading, writing, and mathematics. The tests were viewed as unhelpful, as well as being unfair, to students of color and those with disabilities. The suspension lasts at least until the end of the 2027–2028 school year.
Thus, high school students no longer need to be able to read, write, or do basic math to graduate from high school (consider that before 1910, high school students had to know either Latin or Greek to graduate). At the same time, what are universities spending money on? Recruiting 4 and 5-star athletes for their football programs. Be able to function competently in society? Not necessary. Play a game at its highest level? Massively important!
What a culture or country spends its money indicates what that culture or country worships. For our country, athletics, fantasy sports leagues, and sports betting rule the day (hence the betting scandal regarding one of Texas Tech’s former players; betting and conduct they sought to insist be legally ignore). Thinking a bit deeper, what we’re saying is that we worship the human body, its capabilities, its physical strength; we worship ourselves. Yet again, we are collectively guilty of idolatry, of denying God. Is it wrong to participate in sports? No. The problem comes in when we make those same sports, and athletics in general, into a god.
Ponder Psalm 147:10–11 (NAU): “He does not delight in the strength of the horse; He does not take pleasure in the legs of a man. The LORD favors those who fear Him, Those who wait for His lovingkindness.”
Human strength is fleeting. It doesn’t impress the eternal God. Wrestle with the harsh reality: other than the rare exception, eighty years from now every current “4 or 5-star” football recruit will be dead. Even fifty years from now, those still living will have significantly reduced physical capabilities. We are here on this earth only briefly. Is it wise for us to spend our days here worshiping ourselves, thumbing our nose at God, turning our backs towards Him, refusing His offer of salvation through Jesus Christ? As God favors those who fear Him and rely on His love and kindness as opposed to their human physical strength, wouldn’t it be wise for us to change our priorities?
Why do we spend time worshiping that which will perish? Even if the “thing” is fame, money, status, or some other object, what do we gain? All of that will be lost when we die. We might pretend otherwise, but every one of us will physically die. The real issue is: where will we spend eternity: in God’s presence or separated from Him?
Jesus put it this way in Mark 8:36 (NAU): “For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?”
What are our priorities?