Demonology – Nephilim and Evil Spirits

The Nephilim have always been a controversial piece to our Biblical history. Who were they and what were they? In the Bible the Nephilim make their grand and mysterious entrance in Genesis 6.

Genesis 6:2-4, we see another theological mystery, the sons of God.

2 that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose.

3 Then the Lord said, “ My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”

4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.

Genesis 6:2-4

That's it for their grand entrance in the Bible. What I would like to address is the Nephilim and their role in demonology. There are several different schools of theological thought on what demons are. From my Benny Hinn library on deliverance, I have the sermons where Benny Hinn believes demons are a pre-Adamic race. When God wiped out the pre-Adamic race the spirits became demons. My personal belief, and from examining scripture closely, is that demons are fallen angels, and I will give my thoughts and experiences shortly. Then, there is another theology that has popped up which links the Nephilim to being demons. So we have several categories of possible roots of evil spirits, pre-Adamic spirits, fallen angels, and Nephilim hybrid spirits. All three cases surface in the different schools of deliverance and exorcism ministry.

Keep in mind the Bible is full of controversy on angels and demons. We have so many different schools of thought on what angels and demons are and aren't. I recently heard one pastor preach he didn't believer Lucifer was an angel and made the distinction between angel and cherub. We have the controversy in the scriptures, the Sadducees didn't believe in angels, demons or resurrection.

8 For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisees confess both.Acts 23:8

Let's focus on the subject of the Nephilim and how they entered into the fray of controversy in demonology. The clues to this mystery are actually found in the New Testament. The Nephilim may be the source of reference in the books of Jude and 2 Peter.

Since I am from the school of thought that demons are fallen angels I will refer to them as such. In Jude and 2 Peter I believe we are clearly dealing with angels that rebelled against God. There is no chance of redemption for the angels that disobeyed God to his face and in the presence of His glory. Their fate was sealed the moment they embraced their sin.

4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment;

2 Peter 2:4

There is a complimentary scripture in Jude.

6 And angels who did not keep their own domain, but abandoned their proper abode, He has kept in eternal bonds under darkness for the judgment of the great day,

Jude 6

However, I do believe in the book of 2 Peter and Jude, that the angels held in chains are the ones responsible for the Nephilim. It's my personal belief, and again, it's one of the many conversations I'll have with Jesus when I go on to my glory. At this point in time it's inconclusive.

The Book of Enoch Mystery

There is an interesting curiosity here in angelology, demonology and theology. Both Peter and Jude are referencing a book not included in the Bible, called the book of Enoch. Many Hebrew texts were lost in first century due to wars between the Jews and the Romans. The book literally disappeared off the face of the earth. In 1773, a British traveler and scholar, James Bruce, found copies of the text in a community of Jews and Christians in Northern Ethiopia. They were written in Coptic. Later, an ancient Greek version surfaced, and then ancient Hebrew fragments were discovered with the Dead Sea Scrolls. Both Peter and Jude were citing text from the book of Enoch. Keep in mind what we are about to examine raises more questions than answers but needs to be addressed in this discussion.

Jude is specifically citing the book of Enoch. How do we know this? A clue appears in Jude 14,15.

14 It was also about these men that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, “ Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones,

15  to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”

Jude 14-15

Jude refers to Enoch as prophet, who prophesied the Second Coming of Christ. Enoch is referenced in the book of Genesis in verses 5:18-24.¹ He is mentioned in the listing of the generations of Adam. Six short verses in the family tree and then this verse.

24  Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.

Genesis 5:24

There is no mention of Enoch the prophet with a messianic prophecy. Where did Peter and Jude get their information from? A matching text can be found in the book of Enoch. Again, a book not included in the Bible yet historically exists.

1Behold, he comes with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment upon them, and destroy the wicked, and reprove all the carnal for everything which the sinful and ungodly have done, and committed against him.

Enoch 1:9

What we have is a mystery or a theological puzzle that can't be resolved with the information we have on hand. As you can see, Jude, in Jude 14-15, is quoting Enoch 1:9.

Why is this important? If Jude and Peter are referencing the book of Enoch, which was in the synagogue in their time, we see another mystery surrounding the chained angels held in darkness. In Genesis 6:2-4, we see another theological mystery, the sons of God.

2 that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves, whomever they chose.

3 Then the Lord said, “ My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; nevertheless his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.”

4 The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men, and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.

Genesis 6:2-4

Again, there is a parallel text in the book of Enoch, found in Enoch 6:2-4.

1 And it came to pass, after the children of men had increased in those days. Beautiful and comely daughters were born to them.

2 And the angels, the sons of the heavens, saw and lusted after them, and said to one another: “Behold, we will choose for ourselves wives from among the children of men, and we will beget for ourselves children.”

Enoch 6:1-2

If the pieces of this puzzle match then we have the defining sin that created the Nephilim. Rebelling angels took for themselves earthly wives and polluted God's creation with their wicked family lines.

In Genesis 6, Moses tells us that Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations.

8 But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

9 These are the records of the generations of Noah. Noah was a righteous man, blameless in his time; Noah walked with God.Genesis 6:8-9

Was Noah spared because he was a just man and his family line was pure from the demonic DNA? We have a case for the Nephilim and the flood being a result of angels leaving heaven to seek and conceive with human wives. The angels held in chains in Peter and Jude could possibly be detained to keep them out of God's creation. Most demons act as tempters, in this case. these demons offense was that they defiled creation itself. And for that reason they were exiled in chains into the darkness of the pit. The book of Enoch raises more questions then answers. Is it a missing book that should have been included in the Bible? Who knows? Again, it is as much a mystery in it's content as is the book of Tobit in the Roman Catholic Apocrypha. It is my personal belief that the Nephilim were the product of rebelling angels conceiving with earthly women. However, I don't believe the book of Enoch is the definitive piece to prove my theory. Theologians also believe the sons of God refer to the descendants of Seth and not referring to rebelling angels.

Nephilim and Evil Spirits

Now let's discuss where the belief that the Nephilim are the source of evil spirits on the earth. Again, it is found in the book of Enoch, chapter 15.

8 And now, the giants, who are produced from the spirits and flesh, shall be called evil spirits upon

9 the earth, and on the earth shall be their dwelling. Evil spirits have proceeded from their bodies; because they are born from men and from the holy Watchers is their beginning and primal origin;

10 they shall be evil spirits on earth, and evil spirits shall they be called. [As for the spirits of heaven, in heaven shall be their dwelling, but as for the spirits of the earth which were born upon the earth, on the earth shall be their dwelling.]

11 And the spirits of the giants afflict, oppress, destroy, attack, do battle, and work destruction on the earth, and cause trouble: they take no food, but nevertheless

12 hunger and thirst, and cause offences. And these spirits shall rise up against the children of men and against the women, because they have proceeded from them.

Enoch 15:8-12

This is the key point the Nephilim spirit school of thought makes it's argument. I am not a Biblical scholar, it is times like this that I wish I had a PhD in theology. The fact of the matter is that these pieces simply don't fit. It is my belief that hybrid spirits roaming the earth is theologically impossible. This is the same reason I don't believe in ghosts nor have I encountered one in the nearly 500 cases of demonic activity M16 Ministries has been involved with. Our ministry team has worked in numerous cases involving the incubus and succubus demons. We have seen people get raped during deliverance prayer session by an unseen spirit. We have seen objects manifest from the stomach through witchcraft. Putting two and two together it doesn't take much more consideration that through sexual demons and witchcraft, DNA can be moved from a male and placed in a female. And there is a new life. Raise the child evil with no morality, and it's possible you have a Nephilim. Wickedness can taint DNA. The DNA can be manipulated but not created. We can manipulate DNA now and build better and illegal athletes, hence drug and hormone testing. An evil hybrid human is not beyond the scope of reasoning. The hybrid's will (part of the soul) can be raised and trained to be evil. However, the spirit comes from God. This is the part of logic which I find unsettling in the Nephilim spirits as being demons. God makes it clear how the process of death works. If these are evil created spirits that are part man, then they go to sheoul when they die. They don't linger on, just like spiritists believe our souls can linger on here on earth.

The book of Enoch sure explains a lot if it were true and accurate. But we don't know. I consider the book of Enoch to be an interesting piece of spiritual literature and history. But nothing more. It's one of those things I am going to have to have a conversation with Jesus about in Heaven. But I think I received the word of wisdom on this book loud and clear.

My Encounter with an Angel of Judgement

One of my most eye opening experiences and encounters with a demon happened on the Friday Night Strike, on the weekend of Father's day, in 2008. I remember this weekend specifically because my wife and I were attending a conference that weekend hosted by Georgian and Winnie Banov, Hiedi Baker, and Bill Johnson, in San Jose. So I am able to lock in the time frame for this experience I am going to present as my evidence for fallen angels being demons.

I had a team ministering on the streets of San Francisco. On the team there were three young women from a local church from the San Joaquin valley, and my son. We were praying for homeless people on the streets when this obnoxious man approached us. I was going through a weird spiritual season during this time of my life where the Holy Spirit was having evil spirits walk up to me and identify themselves. This loud mouth man approaches us and as he comes closer to us I notice I can only see the whites of his eyes. No pupils. He is walking down the street blabbering loudly with his eyes rolled in the back of his head. He approached our team and walked straight over to me. We were pretty much face to face when this spirit identified itself as an angel of judgement. I won't give the exact name, but it clearly identified itself as an angel. From the encounter I believe it was an angel of judgement waiting in the city. Now, I don't want you to go off the deep end and start saying the city is going to hell in a hand basket. This is not the case. I believe the angel is in waiting if there is no change of heart in the city. Working with some incredible homeless ministers, who live on the streets, we have witnessed in the past several years since then an incredible move of the Holy Spirit over the city. It's some exciting times in the city right now.

Now back to the angel of judgement story. These were my early days of God teaching me about deliverance ministry. I thought since this guy was demon possessed I could simply cast the demon out of this individual. I was filled with the empowerment of the Holy Spirit and so was my son. We tried to cast the demon out. Thank God for the Lord's Grace and Mercy! As my son and I tried to operate in the prophetic and get the demoniac's name, my son got a word of knowledge, Philip. We tried to no avail to cast out the evil spirit. So the man stepped aside from us and walked on down the street, with his eyes still rolled up in the back of his head, and we watched him walk away. As we turned around, the man, was NOW right in front of us again as if he had teleported. My son and I looked at each other and we looked at the demon possessed fellow. The guy strolled by us again. I looked over at the three young women who were with us and they were petrified. I know one of the women was a youth pastor. Needless to say, after several months of serving Night Strike we never saw their faces again after this incident. It freaked them out.

Now, the name Philip my son got as a word of knowledge, let me direct you to the book of Acts .

(8:26-40).

36 As they traveled along the road, they came to some water and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water. What can stand in the way of my being baptized?”

37 Philip said, “If you believe with all your heart, you may.” The eunuch answered, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.”

38 And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water and Philip baptized him.

39 When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.

40 Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.

Acts 8:36-40

Philip was whisked away by the spirit. What we witnessed was a demonic imitation.

For this reason and many other experiences I strongly discount that the Nephilim are the source of evil spirits. The Nephilim are an enigma and make for an interesting study in the Bible. Especially, when the giants show up again the post Noah flood scriptures. I have seen on youtube where prophets are now prophesying about the return of the Nephilim and the plan of evil spirits. I don't believe this at all. Go ahead and throw tomatoes my way if you will. I have seen too much in the battlefield for me to think otherwise. 

If you're learning Deliverance ministry, I strongly recommend you pick up my book.

More information on spiritual warfare can be found in our book,
A Field Guide to Spiritual Warfare - the Power to PULL the IMPOSSIBLE from the HEAVENLY REALMS.

Blessings.

Rev. Mike

1J.R. Church, The Ancient Book of Enoch, Prophecy in the News, www.prophecyinthenews.com