I was on the Bee again with the most excellent Ethan Nicolle and the most disturbing Kyle Mann.
We talk about epic films (Braveheart, The Patriot, Ben Hur) where individuals are willing to live and die for transcendent values set in all-encompassing civilization-shaking settings, and a lot of people get stabbed. We also talk about the secular-sacred divide in films and the genre of “Christian” movies. Spoiler: Not all Christian movies are crap.
I have recently done some research on child sacrifice in the Bible for the sake of a novel I am writing about Queen Jezebel and ancient Israel in the ninth-century B.C. Most readers of the Bible do not find it controversial that human sacrifice was performed in the ancient world and that it was prohibited by the God of the Hebrews. But as always, modern scholars and skeptics try to argue away the facts with their literary theories of deconstruction. If the Bible is wrong and the ancient world was not so bad, then we can go ahead and sacrifice our own children on our altars of convenience and dismiss those nagging guilty pangs of conscience that come from learning the lessons of history.
So I wrote an in-depth article about child sacrifice in the ancient world and the Bible.
No, it’s not a joke.
Really.
God loves horror.
Listen to this funny yet informative episode where I talk to funny guys Ethan Nicolle and Kyle Mann about the morality of horror movies.
This is my first time doing a release of more than one book at a time.
I am rebooting my Chronicles of the Watchers series, and these are the first two books.
Chronicles of the Watchers: A Spin-off Series to Chronicles of the Nephilim
What if the pagan gods of the nations were fallen angelic Watchers from God’s throne? Chronicles of the Watchers charts the influence of spiritual warfare on human history, just like Chronicles of the Nephilim and Chronicles of the Apocalypse.
Book 1 is Jezebel: Harlot Queen of Israel
Ancient Israel thought Jezebel was bringing progress and change. She brought Baal, the storm god of Canaan.
Book 2 is Qin: Dragon Emperor of China
A Greek warrior travels to ancient China in search of a dragon. He finds Nephilim, Watchers and a mad emperor in search of eternal life.
NOTE: This is a re-release of the novel The Dragon King (2016) with a new title. There is nothing new in the novel. Just different title and cover.
This is one of the best book reviews of my novel series Chronicles of the Apocalypse.
The reason is because the reviewer, Jerry Bower, is both responsibly knowledgeable on the material AND read all the books.
PLEASE note, that the podcast link at the bottom of the page is even better than the review and one of the BEST interviews on the series ever. We talk about the historical event of the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70, Josephus, the origin of the book of Revelation, 666, various interpretations of the end times and how they fail, false prophets of today, but also the supernatural dimension of the unseen realm as described by scholar Michael S. Heiser. I explain how I incorporate Heiser’s divine council and Watcher paradigm and how it fits into Revelation in the first century.
(And don’t forget to click the link at the bottom of the review to listen to the podcast)
If you want to go straight to the podcast online to listen, click here.
It’s not quite that simple. But there is much profundity in this discussion about our culture and superheroes.
Nate is one of my all-time favorite podcast hosts. This was an engrossing discussion.
Okay, I like the co-host Gene Gosewher too.
I talk alot so if you like to listen to me, you will love this podcast. If you hate the sound of my voice and my thoughts, then this will drive you up a wall.
This is the third part of my talk with Andy and Mel on The Not So Dissident Future podcast.
We discuss the implications of Revelation fulfilled in the first century.
What is there to look forward to? What comes next? What is the kingdom of God?
Mel and Andy chat with Hollywood Screenwriter and author of Chronicles of the Nephilim and Chronicles of The Apocalypse, Brian Godawa. They examine the theory that much of what Jesus predicted would happen ‘soon’, has actually happened in the 1st century.
I was a co-host again on the show with Michael Heiser, Doug Van Dorn, Natalina, Doug Overmyer, and two guests, Josh Peck and Derek Gilbert.
We were recorded live at a Branson Conference on the topic: Isaac Newton’s view of Bible prophecy and his prediction of 2060.
But also, did you know he was an anti-Trinitarian?
This is a great one. We talk about the dangers of people thinking they are God’s chosen ones to interpret prophecy and how it is too easy these days to follow in Isaac Newton’s footsteps and think you have it all figured out, when in fact, you are wrong.
But we also talk about this fascinating brilliant scientist who changed the world with good science, but was a mixed bag of alchemy, esotericism and other strange beliefs.
The anti-superhero series on Amazon. What if superheroes got publicists and social media?
The premise of this series is that a major private corporation manages superheroes’ careers and brand images like Hollywood celebrities. Of course, there’s big money in them thar hills and the whole “save the world” thing is just a cynical meme for exploitation by the elite.
I’m not that entirely adverse to the premise because, while I applaud the elevation of noble values that comes with most superhero stories, I have also had a deep distrust of the genre because of its tendency to replicate the idolatry of pagan religions.
On the one hand, a superhero like Superman can certainly be a “Christ figure,” a myth that points toward a spiritual truth. But I have also observed that as our culture becomes more secular and more god-hating and anti-Christian, it is no surprise to me that superhero stories become replacements for that lost narrative. Superhero blockbusters are evidence of a deep inescapable hunger for deity. And when the Judeo-Christian god is expelled from society, superheroes function as replacements of human projections.
There is very little difference between, say the gods of the ancient world, and modern superheroes. Sometimes, they are even direct references to such (Wonder Woman, Thor, etc.). They perform the same purpose: they express and explain cultural and moral values and incarnate the pursuit of transcendence, that hunger for deity.
Humankind is “homo-religicus” or an inherently religious being. And when you cast away the constraints of the Judeo-Christian God, you do not become strictly secular, you actually construct a new mythology (religion) to fulfill those transcendent needs. You create new gods. And if you try to stay secular, ideology becomes your religion, or totalizing discourse that is your god of ultimate values: Leftism, Marxism, Socialism, identity politics all operate in this way. They are God-substitutes. They are idolatry.
And those gods are tyrants. Because human beings are essentially evil, and therefore, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
In this sense, I actually found myself quite interested in the series, at first.
At first.
In fact, the story can be seen as a critique of the corruption of power and of elitist celebrity culture. That is how it is set up, before it all comes unwound… Continue reading
I co-hosted the show again with the usual suspects, Michael Heiser, Trey Stricklin, Doug Overmyer and Natalina (Doug Van Dorn missing because he forgot and was raking the leaves in front of his house :-).
We veered off into an interesting rabbit hole of the dangers of Biblical hyperliteralism and the attempt to correlate the Bible with modern sciences. It’s a good one.