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.
The Book of Jubilees. Jubilees has been marketed as a missing secret biblical book, one of the many books omitted from Scripture. It was probably written between 160–150 BC, by a Jewish priest or scribe seeking to defend traditional Jewish Law against Hellenism. What complicates things a bit is that it is included in the Bible of some of the Ethiopian churches.
Jubilees is a retelling of Genesis, but the timeframe is set in terms of 49 year jubilee cycles, hence its name. After seven cycles of seven years Israel was to have a fiftieth jubilee year. Proberty was to revert to the original family ownership. Indeed in essence property could only be leased with payment being based on the number of years until the next jubilee when it would revert back to its original owner.
Many other special rules applied. For example no sowing of crops was to be done. The land was to rest every seventh year, and rest for a second year in a row during the 50th jubilee year. Israel was to trust that God would provide during those two years. See Leviticus 25:10–30 for details about the jubilee year. Israel never observed letting the land rest during that seventh year or the jubilee years. Oddly, in the “Book of Jubilees,” while the 49 year cycle is maintained, the jubilee cycle doesn’t include the 50th year (at least in the timeline of the edition referenced here).
There are numerous differences between Jubilees and Genesis. In the first chapter, the “angel of the presence of the Lord” tells Moses on Mt. Sinai all that will befall the Israelites. The creation of the angels becomes part of the first day of Creation. The Mosaic Law is backdated into Jubilees, and both Adam and Eve had to be ritually purified after God created them. Did God created them unclean in some way? Why after God’s very good perfect creation, would they need to be ritually purified? As there was no sin at that point, what did they need purificiaton from? That makes no sense.
In addition, Noah expounds on part of what would become the Law, and the Feast of Weeks is backdated into Noah’s time. For details on the actual Feast of Weeks, see Exodus 34:24ff.
Prior to the Fall, all animals could talk. Corruption comes not through Adam and Eve’s sin buth through the birth of the Nephilim, fathered by the Watchers. Evil spirits—the dead Nephilim—pollute the post-flood world. Legendary tales of Abram’s rejection of Terha’s idols are also added in.
Events recorded in Genesis are often skipped in Jubilees. Some of the omitted items include: the consequences of the Fall; Shechem’s rape of Dinah and Simeon and Levi’s murderous response; Tamar’s deception and Judah getting her pregnant; Jacob’s wrestling with what is best understood as the angel of the Lord; and Jacob’s blessing of his 12 sons. Notice that much of what is missing would be considered embarrassing within Jewish history. It also lets Adam and Eve off the hook for their choice that brought sin into this world.
When looking at all of the modifications found in Jubilees compared to Genesis, coupled with the very late date of its writing, it is clear that Jubilees is not inspired Scripture. It was not part of the Old Testament Scriptures. Regarding its placement in some Ethiopian Bibles, it is worth remembering that in ancient times Ethiopia was an isolated region, having little contact with other churches.
As with other supposedly suppressed “biblical” books, Jubilees does not offer a “true” accurate account of events. While it may be of some historical interest regarding Jewish thought in the second century prior to Christ’s birth, it is not Scripture. If read as supposed “truth,” as its marketers would wish, there is a real danger of it causing confusion, of drawing people away from what Scripture actually says.
In no way, shape, or form is the “Book of Jubilees” worth the hype and attention it is getting.
The “Book of the Giants.” The “Book of the Giants” is marketed as an important historical book that fills in missing information regarding the Watchers and the great flood. In that sense, it is related to 1 Enoch, which we will look at in detail a bit later in the series.
Fragments of the “Book of the Giants” are found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. It was probably written in the third century BC. Fragments of a later version have been found within Manichaeism, within the writings of Mani, dated sometime in the third century, probably between 240–274 AD.
Manichaeism was a gnostic religion founded by Mani (216–274 AD). Mani taught that God and Satan were opposites. He considered God and Satan to be equal with each other. Both were eternal. God was light and spirit, ruling that world, while Satan was the master over the physical world, matter, and the body. For the Gnostics, all matter was considered evil, whereas light and spirit were regarded as good.
Each person was in essence a light-spark trapped within the body. Life’s goal was to free that light-spark from the body and return to the world of purity and light. The version of “Giants” found within Manichaeism was probably written in the third century AD.
The two versions differ somewhat. Within the Dead Sea Scrolls, the angelic Watchers were supposed to teach men, but instead impregnated women. In Mani’s version, demons came, inhabited the earth, and impregnated women.
Before taking that wicked step, the watchers/domons had initially been seduced by women who were part of the line of Cain. The giants that resulted, the Nephilim, bring and practice great evil on the earth. They eventually dream of their own destruction. That destruction by the flood is confirmed to them by Enoch.
All cultures have myths about giants; claims have been made about finding unusual remains and bones. Interestingly, there are also over 50 named giants in Greek mythology.
So what is the problem with “Giants”? Only fragments of the book survive. Those fragments are random enough that much of the narrative has been heavily reconstructed.
Scripture tells us very little about the Nephilim. What is certain is that human sin, human choices, human practice, that everyone giving themselves continually over to evil brought about the Flood. The sin issue was with us as humans, not the half-breed creatures of the Nephilim.
As for the “Book of the Giants,” the reality is far less than the hype. It has very little substance and majors instead on conjecture. The reconstructed fragments take up only a few pages. The interest in it traces more to the way it parallels first Enoch than for what it may directly say.
In the next post, we will look at the “Book of Jubilees.”
If there is one book that seems to cause near endless controversy it is the book of first Enoch. But two other Enochs exist as well: second and third Enoch. In this post we will look briefly at second and third Enoch and then turn our attention to the far more important first Enoch in the next post. All told, the three books are roughly half the length of the New Testament.
The only complete manuscript of second Enoch is found in Old Slavonic, a liturgical language used in the nineth century, centered around Thessalonica in Greece, as well as the first Bulgarian empire.
Second Enoch was probably written sometime between 100 BC–100 AD. It tells of Enoch’s rapture and travels through the ten heavenly dimensions. In it, Enoch also learns about Creation. After being in heaven for sixty days, and writing what he saw in 366 scrolls, he comes back to earth for thirty days. He then reveals all that he has learned, and upon completing his revelation is permanently taken back to heaven.
Second Enoch, while perhaps being of some historical interest, from a biblical perspective, has no doctrinal value. The content is sheer speculation.
As for third Enoch, the book claims to be written by Ishmael ben Elisha ha-Kohen or Rabbi Yishmael ben Elisha. It probably was written between 0–200 AD, but there is also speculation that it might have been written anonymously as late as sometime between 500–600 AD. It is not biblical in any sense and is far more fanciful than second Enoch.
The author has a vision, is transported up to heaven, and sees Enoch. He finds that Enoch has been translated into one of the highest-ranking angels: Metatron.* At the end of chapter 12, Metatron is even referred to as “the lesser YHWH”. Biblically, such a statement is blasphemous.
Chapter 22 includes the confusing reference to “the arches of the Bozv.” The only reference to “Bozv” is found here, within third Enoch. There is some speculation that the arches relate in some way to God’s Shekinah glory, but no one knows. In any case the height of those arches translates to over 3.8 million miles.
Chapter 48 states that Metatron has 70 names, but 105 names are then given, many of them ending with “yah”. That too is potentially blasphemous since “yah” in Hebrew is one of the names for God, a shortened form of “Yahweh” (a name meaning “servant of Yah” or something similar would certainly be ok). Overall, the book consists mostly of Metatron describing various ranks of angels and the supposed court of heaven.
Although touted as being deliberately excluded from Scripture, no real argument exists for including either second or third Enoch as part of Scripture. Both directly contradict Scripture. Biblically, unlike second Enoch, Enoch does not return to earth. As for third Enoch, its highly unbiblical and blasphemous nature is self-evident.
Neither second nor third Enoch have any biblical value.
*What might we think about Enoch’s supposed new name, Metatron? We tend to think that the names used in the movies for super-heroes and villains is somehow new. One wonders of possible spiritual connections regarding those names and concepts.