Seven Signs Of the Days Of Noah

With the onset of winter keeping me indoors, I’ve been reading George Pember’s book “Earth’s Earliest Days”. It’s a commentary on Scripture, supplemented with… curious sources, which attempts to connect the Nephilim/Days of Noah with the Theosophists and Spiritists of the 19th Century, the time at which when he wrote.

You might think that sounds like a crackpot, and I wouldn’t call you wrong, but his genuine devotion to Christ comes through in the work and that forgives much. He does have some ideas worth exploring. This checklist of how to recognize “as it was in the Days Of Noah” should interest.

[From Chapter 10]

The seven causes of antediluvian corruption. Are they all in present operation?

The seven great causes of the antediluvian apostasy have been already noticed, and may be summed up as follows.

1. A tendency to worship God as Elohim, that is, merely as the Creator and Benefactor, and not as Jehovah the covenant God of mercy, dealing with transgressors who are appointed to destruction, and finding a ransom for them.

2. An undue prominence of the female sex, and a disregard of the primal law of marriage.

3. A rapid progress in the mechanical arts, and the consequent invention of many devices whereby the hardships of the curse were mitigated, and life was rendered more easy and indulgent. Also a proficiency in the fine arts, which captivated the minds of men, and helped to induce an entire oblivion of God.

4. An alliance between the nominal Church and the World, which speedily resulted in a complete amalgamation.

5. A vast increase of population.

6. The rejection of the preaching of Enoch, whose warnings thus became a savour of death unto the world, and hardened more beyond recovery.

7. The appearance upon earth of beings from the Principality of the Air, and their unlawful intercourse with the human race.

These causes concurred to envelope the world in a sensuous mist which no ray of truth could penetrate. They brought about a total forgetfulness of God and disregard of His will; and thus, by removing the great Centre Who alone is able to attract men from themselves, rendered the dwellers upon earth so selfish and unscrupulous that the world was present filled with lewdness, injustice, oppression, and bloodshed. It remains, therefore, for us to consider whether similar influences are now acting upon society.

That’s a pretty good description of Current Year. I have several problems with it, not least of which is the idea that humanity trying to improve its condition is good but actually succeeding would be fatal. Regardless, the boot fits.

The first cause may be detected in the universal spread of Deism.

And certainly we cannot but confess that the first mentioned cause is eminently characteristic of our times. For in all the professing Churches of Christendom, as well as among Jews, Mahometans, and Pagans, there are countless and ever-increasing multitudes who go in the way of Cain, acknowledging the Supreme Being, but not recognizing His holiness and their own depravity, and so denying all necessity of a Mediator between God and man.

Yep. Today is Christ the Butler, not Christ the Savior… although Muslims have always thought of Christ as a great prophet rather than the Son of God, and are content to bribe their way out of punishment via good works. And not asking too many questions about why one of Allah’s official names is Deceiver.

The second is beyond obvious. It’s Woman World out there. I’m so old, I can remember when feminists opposed child sex mutilation.

The third cause. Science, art and luxury.

Of the third cause, the spread of science, art, and luxury, it is unnecessary to speak: for none will deny that this is a great characteristic of our days: nay, the fact is a common subject of boasting. And alas! how many instances have we of the self-deifying arrogance which frequently arises from a little knowledge of the laws of nature, or a marked success in those arts, sciences, and philosophies which are the delight of cultivated and refined intellects!

I have problems with this one. Science & art are facets of Creation, and we today have observed how the mind darkens along with the soul. Luxury is a temptation to sloth, granted, but asceticism is a temptation to self-righteousness.

But it cannot be denied, that we have made technological progress to the point that even men of Pember’s time might think us wizards… and not a few men today have proceeded further to think of themselves as gods.

The fourth cause is as obvious as the second. The Church is dead… but with the Great Commission accomplished.

The fifth cause. Increase of the world’s population.

I have trouble believing that more people is a bad idea when ‘more people’ is twice what God has commanded. But Pember makes a case for how it’s bad:

…There is a phenomenon of Gloomy portent. For, while they multiply, men are also beginning to exhibit impatience of restraint: and, since they are learning to act together, and seem to be growing inflated with reliance on their fancied power, they will probably soon go on to deeds of impious daring. Large organizations, which are no longer confined to the frontiers of one people, forbode a second rebellion of Babel.

Meaning, large numbers of humans results in regression to the lowest common denominators of human conduct, and large organizations untethered from their homeland even more so. I go one further, that technology has erased the language barriers that God imposed specifically to prevent a Tower of Babel scenario… which means a Babel Scenario is now possible and, I contend, in progress.

The sixth cause. Increased callousness of the world consequent upon the rejection of Enoch’s testimony.

And so the powerful appeals of Enoch, his loud calls to repentance and threatenings of judgment to come, since they were slighted by the world, must have mightily hardened the hearts of men, and caused the Spirit of God to cease striving with them. Very probably many were at first impressed and alarmed: but after a while, when they saw day following day without any sign of the predicted vengeance, they lost their fear… they began to be scoffers, and mocked at the most solemn warnings…

There are no such warnings today because of the Church’s great apostasy. It is true, however, that the supernatural has not been seen in the West for so long that most people have no concept of a world besides the one they can observe. This was the Israelites’ fault in the Book of Judges: the stories of God did not foster any devotion, so every generation had to encounter God for itself. Thus did Israel get enslaved on, basically, a generational timeline.

The seventh cause. Unlawful intercourse with the denizens of the air.

NOT referring to Nephilim, which Pember believed are spirits of the Air who traded down to being spirits of the Earth, and as punishment by God, were not allowed to return to the Air. Pember is discussing sorcery here.

This, many would quickly reply, is certainly an event which has not yet startled our age, strange as our experiences may be: we have still something at least to wait for before the completion of that fatal circle of influences which ruined the old world.

Sorcery has not returned, at least not the ways that history recorded. Although Pember gives it a go:

For it is no longer possible to deny the supernatural character of the apostacy called Spiritualism, which is spreading through the world with unexampled rapidity… It is vain to speak of that power as mere jugglery which has convinced some of the elite of the literary world, which has caught in its meshes many scientific men, who at first only troubled to investigate for the purpose of refutation. Nor indeed can anything be more dangerous than utter incredulity: for the wholly incredulous, if suddenly brought face to face with the supernatural, is of all men the most likely to yield entire submission to the priests of the new wonder.

I wonder if instead of sorcery or Nephilim, evil has decided to adopt a generational approach. It is becoming clear, watching power centralize not into the hands a few people but a few dynasties, that if the wicked have not been literally interbreeding with devils, they have at least dedicated their bloodlines to Hell.

Meanwhile, men having convinced themselves that evil does not exist, are free to commit any evil should they find a reason to. They see the wicked prosper and the righteous wither, and there being no Judge to call them to account, chant the lies and pocket the bribes and sneer at the refusers for choosing a harder path of truth and discipline.

It’s a safe bet they don’t even know why they hate us, because they know it can’t be hatred of a Christ who never existed.