Many scientists, historians and academics now believe that much of what is called “mythology” has its basis and foundation in facts. The writings we have from Greek and Roman mythology as well as the extensive texts from Egypt, as in the “Book of the Dead,” and the Babylonian “Creation Tablets” and other cosmogonies, provide us with reliable records.
Do any of these writings describe a situation where the gods came down from heaven, took women as wives and produced sons and daughters who were to reign in their stead? Of course they do. In fact, all the legends and memories of these mythologies were no mere invention of the human brain. Most of these stories and traditions grew and evolved from the real doings of these “mighty men of renown, the heroes of old” of Genesis six. Furthermore, all these stories and legends, from Greek, Roman and Egyptian mythology and, indeed, Vishnu and others, are corrupt versions of primitive truths which have been distorted as they passed from generation to generation, the memory of the original meaning being gradually lost as they did so.
Can we name any of these “gods” or “heroes” and do we know anything of their origin? Insofar as there is information at our disposal, we have a surfeit of details. Let us begin with the gods of Greece, who are the same entities as appear very often in Roman history. Please note in their various names the association with celestial and astronomical bodies, considering at the same time the background of the original “morning star” and the other “stars of God.”
The major Olympians (for such is the name given to the ancient gods) are very often the same entities but with differing names in Greek and Roman legend. They are as follows:
Apollo (star)
Ares (Aries: star)
Dionysus
Hades
Hermes
Poseidon (Neptune: planet)
Oedipus
Zeus
Jupiter (planet)
Atlas
Charon
Cronos
Deucalion
Heracles (star)
Icarus
Vulcan
Mars (planet)
Orion (star)
Pegasus (star)
Centaurus (star)
Aphrodite
Artemis
Athena
Demeter
Hera
Janus
Juno
Jason
Prometheus
Romulus
Remus
Saturn (planet)
Selene
Eos
Uranus (planet)
Pluto (planet)
Mercury (planet)
Orpheus
Perseus (star)
Andromeda (star)
There are many more gods and I shall not delve into the stories which detail their adventures.
Mount Olympus was the ancient site where many of the gods lived. The most ancient of these gods are known as Titans, who were reputed to be the children of heaven and earth. These are defined as a race of gigantic primeval gods who were of great physical and mental strength.
Apollo was the son of Zeus and Leto, who was a daughter of the Titans, her parents being Phoebe and Coeus. Apollo was the god of medicine, music and prophecy and Delphi in Greece is the site of his shrine and oracle.
There was a city of Macedonia called Apollonia, meaning “Place of Apollo,” which is situated about 35 miles from Thessaloniki. Interestingly, there is a passage in the Book of Revelation describing a “star” (angel) having the key to the “bottomless pit.” On opening this pit, a great cloud of “locusts” of fearful appearance ascended. Then we are told that these locusts have a king reigning over them whose name in the Hebrew is Abaddon and, in the Greek, Apollyon. Could this be one of the original Nephilim, thrust down into Tartarus for causing the heinous crimes which precipitated the Flood? We shall return to this later. Incidentally, the meaning of both Abaddon and Apollyon is “Destroyer.”
Paneas is another site which still exists. It was later called Caesarea, but in ancient times it was a shrine to the god Pan. This god was half-human, having the legs and horns of a goat, and he spent his time pursuing and fornicating with women (nymphs). Often his drunken orgies would turn into bloodshed, as he was prone to suddenly become violent. Thus we get the word “panic” from this particular demi-god. This sanctuary to Pan was also called Baalgad and it is close to Mount Hermon on the border of Lebanon and Syria where, according to the Book of Enoch, the original fallen angels landed after descending from heaven.
Huge palaces were constructed in the era of these gods at many sites around the then known world and the descendants of the people of these regions believed that these had been built by the Cyclopes, a race of giants known as Cyclopeans. Some of the earliest fortifications are said to have been built by Perseus, the legendary founder of Mycenae. These Cyclopes were sons to Uranus and Gaia: Brontes (meaning thunderer), Steropes (lightener) and Arges (bright). These savage one-eyed monsters were identified with the island of the cyclops (Sicily).
As was mentioned earlier, historians and scientists now admit that many legends and so-called mythologies have their basis in ancient truths. We have learned from Genesis that the whole world was filled with violence and immorality and that “every inclination of the thoughts of his (man’s) heart was only evil all the time” (Genesis 6:5).
Based on the evidence of the impressive temples and other advanced buildings of these ancient times, and considering the many written accounts of the identity of the gods and their exploits, it takes only a small step to identify these people with the Nephilim of Genesis six. For in the Greek and Roman legends we have the gods coming down to Earth, taking mortal women as wives, and bearing many children who were demi-gods, half-human, half-divine. Even if only some of the stories about these gods and their offspring are true, then we have a most bloodthirsty lot. For throughout the legends concerning these people we have debauchery, infanticide, matricide, patricide, rape, murder, adultery, incest, treachery and even cannibalism. You name it, they did it. This fits in exactly with the Genesis record, which tells us that the entire world was filled with violence.
Human sacrifice was a significant feature of these times both before and after the Flood of Noah. One god was called Moloch. His image was of a creature who had a fire burning in his lap as he sat upright with hands extended (see Figure 8). Young babies and infants were burned in this fire to appease the god and ensure grace and favour. Grossly immoral behaviour, including bestiality, drunkenness and orgies, was normal and, as with any such liberal behaviour, murder and violence followed. If we take these primeval stories at their face value, they fit right in with the picture painted in Genesis six, where the Nephilim reigned:
“These were the heroes of old, men of renown.”
(NIV)
Apart from the fact that these gods bore the names of stars and planets, also remember that the Nephilim and their offspring were exceedingly depraved and wicked and could be no other way, since this was their genetic make-up and nature. They so infected the entirety of the people with their sin and behaviour that all of mankind had to be destroyed, for they were beyond redemption. Only eight souls – Noah and his family – were saved.
Figure 8
An artist’s impression of Moloch. This deity was often represented as a horrible idol from whom flames came forth to consume whatever offerings or sacrifices were placed in his arms. Babies and young children were frequently sacrificed to Moloch.
The prime raison d’être of the chief archangel, Lucifer, was to kill all people so that the line of the seed of the woman could not survive and hence Yaweh’s prophecy could not be fulfilled. By filling the world with the Nephilim and their wanton brood, Satan almost succeeded. But the line of the promised Messiah, the seed of the woman, was maintained through Noah, and the nefarious plan of Lucifer came to nought.
The fallen angels, these sons of God, who infiltrated the people of the Earth and who were the gods of old, the heroes and men of renown, are all n
ow kept in Tartarus, awaiting a future judgment day. And I shall now show you something quite amazing concerning these same fallen angels, the gods and heroes of old.
TARTARUS AND THE UNDERWORLD
Such was the extent of the violence and immorality being practised by practically all the population of the entire world that Yaweh had to destroy it. So all the living, breathing things were drowned in the Flood of Noah. But the original fallen angels are not mere flesh and blood and cannot be drowned as ordinary people can. So Yaweh had to detain these spirit-men in a place from whence they could not escape. We are told of these beings in just three verses in the latter end of the New Testament. First in the Epistle of Peter. Speaking of the risen Messiah, he tells us:
He was put to death in the body but made alive by the spirit, through whom also he went and preached (Greek: kerusso) to the spirits in prison who disobeyed long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the Ark was being built.
1 Peter 3:18,19
The Greek word for “preached” here is kerusso, which means “to herald.” This is a phenomenal revelation. We are told here that the risen Messiah, in his new spiritual body, went to this prison where these fallen spirit beings are kept and heralded or announced his triumph to these evil spirits.
In essence, we might assume that he appeared triumphantly to these evil spirit-men and said to them, in our present-day vernacular, something like: “Here I am boys. All your plans have failed and have come to nothing. I am risen from the dead and, in short, your number is up and you’re history . . . I’ll be back!”
This passage states that these spirits are those who “disobeyed” in the days prior to the Flood and that, as a result of their sin, they are held in this place awaiting a future judgment. In the second Epistle of Peter we are given some further details:
If God did not spare the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell (Greek: Tartarus), putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment.
If he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others . . .
II Peter 2:4,5
This tells us that these angels who committed the sin which precipitated the Flood are “thrust down to Tartarus.” What makes this interesting is the fact that the word “Tartarus” is used only once in the entire New Testament. The only other place it is found is in Greek mythology. The Tartarus described by Homer is the subterranean prison of the Titans or giants, who rebelled against Zeus. In a similar way, Egyptian writings speak of the “Underworld.” Could it be that these ancient “mythologies” are describing the place where the Nephilim, the fallen evil angels who perpetrated all the violence and heinous crimes in the days of Noah, are kept?
Jude 6 gives another mention of this particular band of fallen angels:
And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority, but abandoned their own home – these He has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great day.
Jude 6
Without delving too much into the Greek text, the above phrase “They . . . did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home . . .” means that they left their spiritual realm and became manifested in the realm of the earthly. The inference is that, having abandoned their spiritual state, they could no longer go back there and were permanently obliged to remain on this Earth. But, because they are not flesh and blood but are celestial beings (even though they are in physical form and can be seen), they do not die as mortals and therefore have to be imprisoned in these gloomy dungeons known as Tartarus.
Now I would like to change tack slightly and introduce another idea.
In the Gospel of Mark, chapter five, we have an account of a meeting between the Messiah and a man who was possessed by many demons. This man was wild. If they bound him with chains or ropes, he would break them asunder. He lived in the tombs and would cry aloud and cut himself with stones. When he was confronted by the Messiah, the evil spirit speaking through the man said that his name “was legion . . . for we are many.” And they begged the Messiah not to cast them into the “Abyss.” (By the way, there are about 6,000 men in a Roman legion).
The Greek for “Abyss” is abussos and it is sometimes rendered “The Deep” and sometimes “Bottomless Pit.” But before looking at this passage, let us briefly recap some of the points already made.
We are told that these fallen angels of old were called the Nephilim, the “fallen ones.” These beings and their offspring inhabited this world both before and after the Flood of Noah. We are told that, in ancient days, these were the men of renown, the heroes of old, the mighty men who had made a reputation for themselves. Putting this information together with the ancient Greek and Roman mythologies, we can hazard that the gods of old were actually these Nephilim and their offspring. And that these old myths actually have their foundation in primitive truths which have changed into legends that have been passed down to us today.
We have also named many of these gods, illustrating that, just as they are known in the Hebrew texts as “stars” and “angels” alike, so they have been given the names of actual stars and planets, which star names date back to antiquity. So these Nephilim go by such names as Apollo, Hercules, Orion, Pegasus, Perseus and planets such as Mars, Jupiter, Mercury, Saturn, Neptune, Pluto, Uranus etc. Only about a hundred of these ancient star names are known to us today. However, I would not be surprised if all the other so-called gods of Greece and Rome were not also the actual names of stars now long lost or forgotten.
It has been established that these fallen spirit beings which came to Earth and corrupted the whole of mankind are now imprisoned in a place called Tartarus. We have also noted how the risen Messiah went and visited these evil beings in their present prison and proclaimed his triumph to them. Now let us jump forward into the future, to the middle of the events described in the Apocalypse, the Book of Revelation:
The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star (angel) that had fallen from the sky to Earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss.
When he (the star or angel) opened the Abyss, smoke arose from it like the smoke of a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss.
Book of Revelation 9:1,2
Notice once again that an angel is here referred to as a “star.” This angel, on opening the Abyss, lets loose smoke similar to that of a huge furnace. The passage goes on to describe “locusts” which also emerge from the Abyss. These locusts are given power to torture people like scorpions but not to kill them. The agony suffered by those stricken by these locusts is like that of the sting of the scorpion when it strikes a human. But now comes a very interesting vignette. We are told regarding these locusts:
They had a king over them, the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek Apollyon.
Book of Revelation 9:1,2,11
The meaning of both Abaddon and Apollyon in English is The Destroyer.
Could it be that the Abyss, also called the Bottomless Pit or the Pit of the Abyss, is that same place called Tartarus in the Epistle of Peter? Could it be that this is the present abode of the evil angels who inhabited the world before the Flood? And is there not a distinct etymological similarity between the Greek god of old called Apollo and the angel here described as being the king reigning over the locusts of the Abyss whose name in Greek is Apollyon?
I am not saying that the above conjecture is the definitive truth. But, by putting together all the pieces of the jigsaw based on the Scriptures, Greek and Roman mythology plus the other pieces of information we have examined, it would appear that the Apollo of old is one of the chief Nephilim who sinned in the days of Noah and was thrust down to Tartarus for his offence. And that this same evil spirit-man is none other than Apollyon, the king reigning over the “locusts” which are to emerge, in the future, from the Abyss, the Bottomless Pit, to bring agony and
destruction to the people of the Earth.
In the latter half of this book we shall delve into the events of the Apocalypse more closely. But for now I believe that this passage is pertinent to the context we have been pursing thus far.
If this surmising proves to be the truth, then it verifies that the gods of old, the gods of Greece and Rome, were indeed the Nephilim and their offspring, and that these men are now held in Tartarus, the underworld of myth and the Bottomless Pit or Abyss of the Scriptures, awaiting a future day of judgment. Furthermore, in the passage quoted from Revelation chapter nine, it is stated that the angel who was given the key to open the Pit of the Abyss had fallen from heaven to Earth. This would suggest that the Abyss or Tartarus out of which Apollyon and the “locusts” arise is on this Earth. This would tie in with those mythologies which speak of a subterranean underworld. Hades, a brother to Zeus who was married to Persephone, was the keeper of the nether world, the abode of the dead. In Roman mythology, he is called Pluto. In Egypt, the god who was the ruler and judge of the underworld is Osiris, who was the brother and consort of Isis.
In an earlier chapter, a list of the12 signs of the Zodiac and the 36 constellations was given. The Hebrew and Arabic names of these and the principal stars contained in them provide much information. In the context of this chapter it is most interesting that in the sign of Gemini, which means “the twins,” the two principal stars are of the same magnitude. They are named in Greek as Apollo and Hercules and the Latins called them Castor and Pollux (which was the name of a boat Paul sailed in from Malta after being shipwrecked there: Book of Acts 28:11).
The Nephilim and Pyramid of Apocalypse Page 8