Sons and Daughters of God

Our message today is going to be dealing with a specific passage of scripture in the first book of the Bible, Genesis. And it’s dealing with sons and daughters of God. Now that’s something that should be relevant to all of us because it’s a theme that goes all the way from Genesis into the Book of Revelation.

Before I get to that passage, I want to tell you a little story. Now there may be a handful of people here that have lived long enough to remember the event I’m about to describe.

Back in October 1938, October 30th, it was Halloween and much of America didn’t have television, but everybody had radio. And there were only two or three channels that people listen to on the radio. And there was a radio broadcast that became famous and it was called the War of the Worlds broadcast.

Now, what happened is a young Orson Wells took the book by H.G. Wells called the War of the Worlds, and he changed it a little bit. He modified the script and he presented it over the radio as though America was experiencing an attack from Mars.

Now if people heard the beginning of the broadcast, they announced that they were about to read from this book. And if people heard the end of it, they’d say you’ve just been listening to the end of the story of H.G. Wells as being a dramatic recreation. But a lot of people tune in and they miss the opener or they miss the clues.

And what they made it sound like as they began this broadcast, they were having music and it sounded like a typical evening just listening to different bands playing. All of a sudden they were interrupted by a broadcaster, there had been some explosions on Mars. They were shooting like bullets from Mars, we don’t know what it means, we’ll keep you updated, back to our music. They went back to music and then they came back and they interviewed some astronomers and then they came and they said it appears that they’ve landed in New Jersey and they’re the attacking the world.

And a lot of people that didn’t know this was just a dramatic story really wigged out. And some people got scared and they ran from their homes and there has not been some documentation of this, but supposedly people were jumping out of buildings in New York City. They may have just been typical suicides, they don’t know if they were listening to the radio program. But there was quite a reaction of people who really thought the world was being attacked by Martians with flame-throwers. Because they didn’t get the beginning and they didn’t get the end, they came to some wild ideas in the middle.

Well, some of them, that was certain passages of scripture and we’re going to look at one of those passages today, Genesis 6:1-5. There are several reasons that we are looking at these versus today. One reason is so that we can rightly divide the word and understand this in case people have questions about it. Another important reason to understand this passage is because the things that happened in this passage in Genesis 6, the first few versus, are the conditions of the world that lead to the destruction of the world in the time of Noah.

These things are being repeated in our day. So, for a variety of reasons, it’s good for us to understand what is the Bible saying here and what is the Bible not saying here. Genesis 6:1-5, “Now it came to pass when men began to multiply on the face of the earth and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw that the daughters of men, that they were beautiful. And they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. And the Lord said, my spirit will not remain with man forever, for he is indeed flesh, yet his days will be 120 years. There were giants on the earth in those days and also afterward when the sons of God came into the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men that renown. Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.”

So something about these marriages and these mighty men and these giants gets God to the point where He says, “My spirit will not strive with man, the Lord that He made man, he’s going to destroy man from the earth.” And it all happens in the context of this experience.

Now, there are some strange views out there regarding these versus and if you don’t know what’s happening before and if you don’t compare this passage with scriptures afterward, you also are going to see aliens coming. So you need to get the whole context for this verse. Some of the strange views that people have embraced is that these sons of God that saw the daughters of men that were fair or beautiful or comely, that’s how that translates, were actually fallen angels.

And these fallen angels took human lives and the offspring of these fallen angels, I mean, how else do you get giants, right? The offspring of these fallen angels were these giants and these mighty men and that’s why God had to basically purge the earth, because here you have these demonic amalgamations through these unnatural relationships between demons, I mean, let’s face it. Good angels want to do that, right? So it must be the bad angels, but why is it called the sons of God? Then there’s the other view. Now, there are actually some bible translations that say these fallen angels saw the daughters of men were beautiful. And that’s one reason I’m taking time to talk about this. It’s not just -- I’ve got to be careful what I say. I was going to say it’s not just a goofy interpretation because there might be some of you here that believe this.

Now, this theory doesn’t come out of thin air. Around the time of Christ, there were a lot of apocryphal books and some of the Pseudo-apocryphal books that people were reading did have these interpretations in them.

How many of you have heard of the book of Enoch? Did you know that in the book of Jude, Jude quotes from the book of Enoch? The Book of Enoch was a popular apocryphal book from the time of Christ. It wasn’t written by Enoch. It was a book that’s like, you know, you might have the story of John Bunyan and I could preach a spirit-filled sermon and maybe quote from John Bunyan or there could be something in that book that is a kernel of truth that I choose to quote from. It doesn’t mean the whole book is true.

That’s what Jude did. Some people used it as an endorsement for the Book of Enoch. And keep in mind the bible reformers chose not to put the Book of Enoch, neither the Catholics or the Protestants, in the bible as inspired. So they recognized it was a little mythological.

But here’s what it said. Chapter 7 of the Book of Enoch, verse 1, “It happened after the sons of men had multiplied in those days and daughters were born to them elegant and beautiful and when the angels, the sons of heaven beheld them, they became enamored of them and they said to each other, come, let us select ourselves wives from the prodigy of men and let us beget children.”

Some people take that, they read the book and some of the early church fathers said, well, maybe it did happen. And we’ve never shaken it since then. This is in an interpretation that causes problems with a lot of other doctrines.

First of all -- oh, I didn’t tell you what the second view is. If they’re not fallen angels, they’re aliens. There are not too many bible scholars that say that. But people in the world, they do these programs on Discover Channel or the History Channel and they get a little bit of bible and they get a little bit of your kind of kooky astronomers and they say the people around the world today, this is their view of evolution. When they can’t explain man is so uniquely intelligent and above and beyond all the other creatures, what they say is that aliens came from other worlds and had relationships with Neanderthals and they seeded humanity with intelligence. And that’s why man suddenly rocketed in intelligence beyond all the other creatures in such a short span.

Because man, if you look historically, has gone from nothing to written history in pyramids all at about the same time. How did they go from living in caves and banging on rocks with sticks to building pyramids and written language and such sophistication in mathematics and astronomy? Aliens must have come. They originally put life on this planet and so the DNA matched and they had marital relations and they’ll quote this verse in the bible, these goofy experts.

So these are some of the theories out there, a little strange on the range. Now let’s first talk about angels. I’m not going to take a lot time talking about the aliens. I hope that we’ve already got that out of the way, that you don’t believe that. If you do, don’t raise your hand. But I suspect you’re also buying the National Enquirer. Sorry.

Angels do not marry people. Jesus said that. Remember you’ve got to keep going and let the bible interpret itself. Jesus answered and said to them, “Are you not therefore mistaken because you do not know the scriptures or the power of God.” Jesus is telling religious leaders, you evidently don’t know your bibles.

“For those who rise from the dead neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like the angels.” How does He mean like the angels? Like the angels that do not marry.

If that’s not enough, it’s also in Mark, almost word-for-word like that and in Luke. Here’s Luke 20:36, “Nor can they die anymore for they are equal to the angels and sons of God being sons of the resurrection.” And so he’s talking about people, also sons of God. So that term, sons of God, is used a couple of different ways. We’ll get to that in just a minute.

More about angels. Psalms 104:4, “He who makes his angels spirits and his ministers the flame of fire.” Angels are what? Spirits. Is there a difference between spirits and flesh? Are there angels in the room now? Can you see them? [Audience collectively responds “No”] Why? Because they’re spirits. Again, are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them that shall be here as a salvation.

Getting married and having babies is not one of the ways that God created their job description. That’s not how they’re sent to minister. And can you think of what that would like? No, I don’t mean -- don’t take that too far, but what I mean by that is, is says “took in wives.” It doesn’t mean that they just had relations and left. It means they got married. They came from work, they put their little angelic hat on the shelf and said, honey, what’s for dinner and here the wife said, here, I’ve made some tofu for you and have a cup grape juice and they went to drink their grape juice and it ran out of all their angelic spiritual pores. I mean, it just doesn’t make sense.

You don’t find anything in the bible that tells us that angels have flesh and blood physical DNA and all the things that would be necessary to carry a -- now some of you men and women may think I’m married to an angel. I had a pastor, as a matter of fact, the pastor who baptized me. He should have stopped driving a long time before they finally took his keys away from him. He lived a long life. And up in his 90s he was driving one day and he was -- you’d think that when you get old and you know you don’t see as well, you’d slow down. But he sped up as they all got over. And he had this old Malibu and it was a fast car. It was almost all bondo by the time he retired because there had been so many repairs on it.

I remember one time seeing Pastor Phillips, I was driving through Ukiah, a four-lane road in a town, and all of a sudden I saw a car going up the street on the wrong side of the street, all the way on the wrong side of the street into oncoming traffic. And I looked and it was going slow. And I thought what -- and it was Pastor Phillips. And he got pulled over and he said, well, I was looking for an address and the numbers were too far away from me. I had to get over where I could read them. And he was such a nice guy, they never gave him a ticket.

And one time he got pulled over, he was doing like 90 miles and hour on Highway 101, the police pulled him over and here’s this 90-year-old man and his 87-year-old wife and the policeman looks and he says, “I’m sorry, officer, it’s such a hotrod, I got carried away.” And his wife said, “Officer, I just want you to know I’m not worried because I’ve got an angel in the car with me.” And officer said to her, “I wish that my wife talked about me that way.” Well, she wasn’t talking about her husband. She was talking about a real angel in the car.

So some of you maybe feel like you’re married to angels, but most of us, after a few weeks of marriage get over that and we realize we’re very human. You know what I mean. And so the idea of humans being married to angels, when you really think about it, it just doesn’t make sense.

Let me give you another verse. Ephesians 6:12, “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities and powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness.” Spiritual wickedness in high places. Never build a doctrine on one verse. The idea that angels have cohabited with humans and that they can get married to humans and have babies with humans, don’t go for that. Don’t believe it. There’s nothing else in the bible that teaches that.

And another reason I’m taking time to talk about that is there are some dear Christians who think the antichrist is the result of the devil getting a hold of the bride of Satan, whoever she might be, and having a baby, kind of in that Rosemary’s Baby scenario and that this half devil/half human is the antichrist. Have you heard that theory before? Not the devil, not fallen angels, there’s nobody in the bible where humans have relations like that with angels and have children. And so I think it’s important to understand that.

But, Pastor Doug, who were these sons of God because obviously there was something very different about these sons of God because when they married the daughters of men, there’s something different about their children. They were giants.

All right, so we know there were giants back in the days of Noah as a result of the sons of the God and the daughters of men. The word there for giants is Nephile. You’ve heard of Nephilim, talks about the giants in the Book of Numbers and you can read at Numbers 13:33, “There we saw the giants, the son of Anak, which come of the giants and we were in our own sight like grasshoppers, as we were also in their sight.”

That’s a picture of Robert Wadlow. He lived back in the 1930’s. Robert Wadlow, born in Alton, Illinois in 1918. He weighed a normal 8lbs, 6oz. when he was born, but he drew attention to himself when by six months old, he weighed 30 pounds. A year later, at 18 months, he weighed 62 pounds. But he wasn’t fat. He was tall. He continued to grow at an astounding rate reaching 6’2” and 195 pounds by the time he was eight years old. When he was 13 years of age, he became the world’s tallest boy scout. At 13, he was 7’4” tall. And he was in a boy scout club and he played with them.

Eventually, Robert Wadlow’s height reached 8’11.1”, just 9/10 of an inch under 9’. Goliath was 9.6 ft. This is just the last century. Qualified him as the tallest person in modern history. His clothing required three times the normal amount of cloth and his size 37 shoes cost $100,000 a pair and that’s back during the Depression.

When Robert turned 20, the International Shoe Company provided his shoes for free and hired him and his father to promote the company. That’s all he did do for an income. The father and son team visited over 800 towns in 41 states and traveled 300,000 miles on their goodwill tour for the shoe company. They had to modify the family car so he could get in. They removed basically the front seat so he could sit in the back and stretch out his long legs.

Even though he was of enormous size, he was very good natured, intelligent and gentle. The shocked stares, people used to ask him, does it bother you when everyone looks at you? He says, “Oh, I just look above it all.” He tried to maintain a normal life. He enjoyed stamp collecting and photography and people would go everywhere taking pictures of them. He’d take his camera and he would take pictures of them taking pictures of him.

Karen and I, we went on a skin-diving trip in the Barrier Reef with the tallest Jew in the world; he was 7’4”. 7’4”, Eric Goldman. And we took pictures with him and she was up to his belt when diving with him. And we were scuba diving on a trip with him and, oh, about a dozen other people, so we got to spend some time with him, but his oxygen just always went like that. He’d be coming up for another tank right away because he was so busy he just sucked it all in with two breaths.

Robert, unfortunately, his health deteriorated even in his early 20’s. He went marching in a parade one day and he didn’t have real good sensation in his feet. He had braces on his legs. He wore an ulcer and got an infection and died before age at about 22. A young man, but a giant.

Now that’s the kind of giantism -- he had an overactive pituitary gland, but there are giants that are the result of what you call genetic vitality. So I could bring up Karen and Steven and Nathan and you’ll see very quickly that our boys are going to be taller than us. There’s something about when you add genes together from different groups, you get genetic vitality and this is what was happening.

And I’ll explain the sons of God and the daughters of men. Let me talk to you about Florida Panthers. Stay with me, it’s going to make sense. Now there’s a special subspecies of panthers in Florida that are just about extinct now. I think there’s only a handful of them left in the wild. The problem is that small group of panthers, because they only breed among themselves, they’ve got genetic problems and weaknesses.

Research of Florida panthers has revealed a serious weakness in the genetic make-up of the panthers’ stock from inbreeding within the limited population. Results include such things as the genetic flaws of congenital heart defects, sterility among some Florida panthers.

One effort to address this debilitating problem focuses on inbreeding the Florida panther population and other cougar subspecies. Florida panthers are still from the cougar/puma/mountain lion subspecies. It’s all basically the same thing. Such as the Texas cougar. So what they’re doing is they’re taking the Texas cougar species, they’re breeding with the South Florida cougars to produce -- here’s the words -- genetic vitality. Not only will it produce a healthier cougar, they will be a little bigger.

How many of you have heard of ligers before? When I first heard this and I first saw these pictures on the Internet, I thought, oh, that’s Photoshop. It’s not, they’re real. That’s a cross between -- a liger is what? A lion and a tiger. They’re both from that same big cat species. Probably on the ark, Noah didn’t have a lion and a tiger, he had a liger, something like it. And what you have today are the subspecies of that. And look how big they are. They’re ginormous.

And, you know, you can cross a zebra and a donkey. You get a little zonkey. And it looks like a zonkey, too, doesn’t it? You know, if you cross a whale and a dolphin, what do you get? A wholphin. They do, they do this. They’ve got some. There’s a number of animals that you can cross. You know what happens if you cross a Chihuahua and a bat? That’s it right there. They call it a bacotel. Now that’s Photoshop. You can’t cross a bat and a Chihuahua. You cannot cross an alien and a human. You cannot cross an angel and a human.

You can cross the sons of God and the daughters of men. These were two distinct tribes of people that existed in the world back before the flood and we’ll talk about who they were in just a minute.

First of all, sons of God. I’ve got to divide this answer really in two parts. Part one, when you say son of God, it can be used two different ways in the bible and it means sons of God, daughters of God. But these are always called sons of God. The word daughters of God is used, but that always refers to humans.

In the Book of Job, when you look in Chapter 1, it says, “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord.” This is several times in Job 1,2. “And Satan came among them. And Satan came from the earth.” There’s this heavenly meeting taking place with these sons of God that have come evidently to represent different unfallen worlds and Satan comes because he now claims this world. Adam was the son of God who ran this world, but Adam surrendered his dominion to the devil because he obeyed the devil.

Roman says, “Whoever you obey, that’s whose servant you are.” When Adam and Eve surrendered their allegiance to the devil by listening to the devil, the devil claimed this world as his. Even Jesus said, “The prince of this world.” Now who was He talking about? The devil. The devil claims dominion of this world, so when there’s this heavenly meeting and all the governors of different worlds gather together, the devil said, “I’m the governor, I’m the governor of earth. I’m here representing the earth. So they were called the sons of God because they’re all created. They’re not born. These are leaders from other worlds.

And some have speculated, and I’m inclined to agree, when you read, “And round about the throne in heaven, where 24 seats and upon the seats I saw 24 elders. These words, these elders, these are magistrates, these are rulers sitting clothed in white raiment and on their head they had crowns of gold. Here are these celestial rulers. These could also be those sons of God, leaders of other unfallen worlds.

Now, you realize Jesus did just make our planet. This is the one sheep that went astray, Christ came to, to save. But through the infinite time that God has existed, it’s hard to believe that the first time He began to love and create other creations was this world. I mean, you already know before this world, He had Seraphim and Cherubim and other angels, so we know there are other creatures. Why would it be a stretch to believe there are other -- I don’t want to use the word aliens, there are other creatures out there?

But they don’t visit this world because this planet has a disease called sin and we are quarantined right now. The only ones allowed to go into a quarantined hospital are the hospital staff; that’s the angels. And so those are the ministering spirits, where the exception of once or twice Moses and Elijah appeared.

And let me give you another one. Luke 3:37, 38. In the genealogy of Jesus, it’s traced in Luke all the way back to Adam. Now when you get closer to Adam, listen to how the wording goes. “Which was the son of Mathusala, which was the son of Enoch, which was the son of Job, which was the Jared, which was the son of Mahalaleel, which was the son of Cainan, which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.”

Now, what’s the difference between Seth and Adam? Belly button. Adam was created, Seth was born. Adam was the son of God.

So there’s another group that falls into the category of being sons of God. That’s you and me. Follow me. Jesus said, Matthew 5:9, “Blessed are the peacemakers. They will be called the sons of God.” Is that talking about aliens? Is that talking about angels or is it talking about you and me, humans?

More, John 1:12, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave power to become.” So here’s some who aren’t yet, “But when they receive Christ, they become sons of God. Even to them that believe on His name.” Don’t miss that. Believing on His name, becoming a son of God. Very important.

Go again, Romans 8:14, “For as many as are lead by the spirit, they are the sons of God.” Some bibles say children of God. By the way, it doesn’t just mean men. It’s just in a masculine sense. It means sons and daughters of God.

Philippians 2:15, “That you might be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world.”

Galatians 3:26, “For you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” We become the children of God.

Galatians 4, 5, 7, “To redeem them that were under the law that we might receive the adoption of sons and because you are a son that God has sent forth His spirit into His sons, into your hearts crying Abba Father, wherefore you are no more a servant, but a son and an heir through Christ. All of you are sons and daughters through faith in Christ.”

So, when it says there in Genesis, “The sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were fair and they took them wives and they had these ginormous children that were mighty men.” What does that mean? Think about the birth of Seth. Originally Adam and Eve had two primary sons. What where their names? Cain and Abel. But Abel got sick. His brother made him really sick. He was murdered by his brother. It doesn’t tell that he probably rose up again and struck him, hit him with something. And God gave Adam and Eve another son, who would be the leader of the clan of the righteous. Because what happened with Cain? Cain, who was the leader of the daughters of men, he took his seed.

Genesis 4:25, notice what is says about Seth first, before we get to Cain. “Adam knew his wife again and she bare a son and called his name Seth. For God said he’s appointed me another seed instead of Abel --” Notice it’s seed. It’s not just one, it’s a generation of people, “-- whom Cain slew and to Seth, to him also there was born a son, he called his name Enosh and then men began to call on the name of the Lord.” They are calling on the name of the Lord, the descendants of Seth are calling on the name of the Lord. What did we just read from the New Testament? Those who call on the name of the Lord become sons of God. Didn’t we just read that? Remember, we’ve got to hear the opener and closer and it all starts to come together here. By the way, the word Enosh means mortal man. Seth realized we’re mortal here, we need to think about immortality.

If we begin to call on God’s name, we become sons and daughters of God. All that call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. God is coming for His sons and daughters. Are you among those that call on the name of God?

There were two generations of people before the flood. You had the descendants of Cain and you had the descendants of Seth. As long as they remained distinct, the sons of God and the daughters of God were pure. But, the children of Cain, they were farmers and they did a good job. And remember what happened when Cain sinned, that’s where you get the daughters of men.

Genesis 4:16, 17, “And Cain went out from the presence of the Lord --“ That’s what Jonah tried to do, flee from the presence of the Lord. “-- and he dwelt in the land of Nod, east of Eden.” He went towards to sun. He went toward sun worship, too. “And Cain knew his wife.” Where did Cain’s wife come from? That’s the second most popular question of the bible. You read in Genesis 5, it says Adam and Eve also had sons and daughters. It mostly talks about the primary or oldest sons because that’s who the name and the birth right and inheritance always went through. They had a lot of daughters, too. And if you live 930 years, like Adam, and if you were healthy, suppose that you’re only productive for 25 percent of your life, that means that you’ve got 300 years or 250 years that you’re having kids. How big would your family be, especially if God commands you to be fruitful and multiply. You do the math. And they may not have even had to wait nine months back then. They were vital. And they had a whole lot of children.

So Cain took one of his sisters. Cain knew his wife and she conceived and bare Enoch. He also had an Enoch. And he built a city and called the name of it after his son. Cain went out, they moved into a what? City, the city life. And they were farming the outskirts of the city.

Seth and Abel were the keeper of sheep. They lived more in the mountains, but they needed to shop. He went down to the people Sodom to do his shopping, eventually his daughters intermarried, the same thing happened. They began to intermarry and become involved with the daughters, Cain’s. The kids were beautiful. His daughters would good-looking and the sons of God, oh, mom and dad, I know that they’re not believers in Jehovah, but those are good-looking girls. I’ll convert her. You’ve heard that one before. I’m sure that I can just convert them. And that led to the intermarriage between the descendants of Seth, the sons of God, and the daughters of Cain, the daughters of men.

2 Corinthians 6:14-18, “Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness and what communion has light with darkness and what concord has Christ with Belial. Or what part has he that believes with an infidel? What agreement has the temple of God, you’re a son of God, your body is the temple of God, unbelievers, they’re idols.” Some people have made a pretty girl or a pretty boy an idol. “For you are the temple of the living God as God as said I will dwell in them and walk in them and I will be their God and they will be my people, wherefore come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch not the unclean thing.” He’s saying this in the context of marriage. Don’t be unequally yoked. “And I will receive you and I will be a father.” Notice, do not be intermarrying with them. “I will be a father unto and you will be my sons and daughters.”

God is saying to His church, he’s saying to His followers, do not be intermarrying with either unconverted or unbelieving people in the world. You are then my sons and daughters. If you put any pretty face, they might be the nicest people, they might be the most moral people, they might be believers from another religion, you don’t think that makes a difference, another denomination, you’re going to have problems. It says do not be unequally yoked.

And what was the result of these intermarriages? Instead of the children of Seth influencing the daughters of men, the daughters influenced the sons of God. Look at the bible history. What is it about women -- sorry, they seem to have some power over men. What happened to David? What brought about the fall of Samson? Samson converted all the Philistines girls? Isn’t that what happened? They all became worshipers in Jehovah. And Solomon knew, if I could marry these daughters from other pagan nations, I’ll just convert them. I’ve got the temple here. Who converted who? They drew away his heart. And Ahab said about Jezebel, good-looking girl, I’m going to convert her. Yes, I know that she’s the daughter of the King Priest Ethbaal, but I’ll convert her. Who converted who?

What’s going to happen in the last days? Jesus said as it was in the days of Noah. That means just before Noah, things that led to the conditions of the destruction of the world with a flood by water are going to also be a preview of what’s going to lead to the destruction of the world by a flood of fire when Jesus comes again. History is going to repeat itself.

And it’s not just -- oh, by the way, while we’re on the subject of intermarriage, let me read you one more. Deuteronomy 7:1, “When the Lord thy God shall bring me into the land where you’re going to possess it and you cast out many nations before you, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, and the Perrizites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations greater and mightier than you. And when the Lord your God shall deliver them before you that you will smite and utterly destroy them.” I know you think that’s barbaric. Why was God so concerned? “That you make no convent with them, no show of mercy to them, neither shall you make marriages with them, your daughter you will not give unto his son, nor his daughter shall you take under your son for they will turn away your son from following me, that they may serve other Gods. So will the anger of the Lord be kindled against you and destroy thee suddenly.” There were only a few rare occurrences where a son of God was able to convert a pagan and you got Ruth and Naomi of Moab and her boyfriend, Solomon, is the one she ended up marrying. But most of the bible cases have worked the other way around.

And praise God, God is merciful. God sometimes blesses in spite of our rebellion and bad decisions. I have seen where believers marry unbelievers and the unbeliever comes around. It was still wrong to do it. Somebody say Amen. When the word of God says do not be unequally yoked, God sometimes blesses bad decisions. Isn’t that right? If that wasn’t true, there’d be no hope for any of us as parents. God sometimes overrules our bad choices and He is good, but don’t ever knowingly enter into a situation like that when you know what the Word of God says. Because you’re just becoming part of the problem that will lead to the great wickedness in the world when all the thoughts of men’s hearts are only evil continually. Yes, your kids might be mighty men, they might be taller and they might be stronger, but they were more wicked, too, weren’t they? Well, we’re not quite done.

Not only does it say that they have problems with intermarriages, you notice it says in Genesis 6:2 “And they took wives” plural, “for themselves of all whom they chose.” You read Genesis 4:19, and Lamech, one of the sons of Cain, took two wives. So it wasn’t just marrying out of the faith, it was getting into polygamy and bigamy and all kinds of igamies. But we are beyond that today. We haven’t lost the sanctity of marriage. That wouldn’t be a problem in our generation, would it?

Polygamy, is that a problem? Now, I’ve not seen it, but I understand that they’ve got a new reality program called Sister Wives about this character named Cody Brown and he’s got four wives and 16 children. On the screen, we’ve only got about a dozen of the children. Boy, you know how much that is in orthodontic work that you’d have to pay for? I don’t know how you could support all that. They’re now suing the state of Utah because of their bigamy laws. They say it’s a violation of their rights based on the 1st and 14th Amendments. And you know, the whole nation is watching this because based on the things that are happening in states with same-sex marriage, the very same arguments that are being used for people who say I’m in love with one who might be a different gender, you could say I’m in love with two or three. And if everybody are mutually consenting adults, they’re going to say what difference is it of the state’s If you’re not using religion, why can’t Billy have two mommies and one dad or three mommies and one dad or one mommy and three dads? Karen’s always irritated, she said, look, if you guys are going to have many wives, why don’t the wives get as many husbands? It just doesn’t sound fair.

Well, I could stop right here and start explaining the way that cattle work, but this probably won’t be productive. In any event, Luke 17:26, “A sign of the times as it was in the days of Noah, so will it be in the days when the son of man comes. They ate and they drank, they married wives,” multiple marriages “and were given in marriage. They are marrying and divorcing in a whimsical way the sanctity of marriage was lost until the day Noah entered the ark and the flood came. When they lost their distinction in their marriage, the sanctity of their faith, the peculiarity of their faith, the importance of the distinction between men and women, one mom, one dad, God’s designed for a family, pretty soon violence filled the land, the thoughts of men’s hearts were only evil continually.

And if you don’t think we’ve come to that age today, if you just flipped through the average cable television programming, you’re going to see promiscuity, divorce, deception and a whole lot of violence. So many programs are built around killing and murder and violence. Thoughts of men’s hearts only evil continually, we’ve gotten to that day.

But, Pastor Doug, it’s says the sons of God saw the daughters of men and took them wives, I don’t understand. It says they were mighty men. Well, that shouldn’t be that difficult for you. Think about it for a second. We’ve read this verse from Genesis, “The sons of God, the descendants of Seth, intermarried with the descendants of Cain, they had genetic vitality, their children were stronger and they were mighty.” That’s all that means. It’s just a scientific law. It still happens today.

You all know that through inbreeding with certain dogs they develop certain problems. German Shepherds get hip dystocia. There’s all kinds of problems with certain, even certain human races have their diseases that are exclusive to Jews and African Americans and others and it’s all genetics because of sin in our natures with the ongoing of time.

Do you know the generations of Americans now? I remember my father saying “When I was growing up, I was tall, but something has changed now. Everybody is getting taller.” That’s because America is the comingle of people all over the world. You’ve got genetic vitality. People are getting taller. So that shouldn’t bother you. There were giants before the flood, there were mighty men before the flood. So you don’t go away from here thinking these are aliens and fallen angels that married people. They were mighty men before the flood. Didn’t we just read that, Genesis 6, before the flood.

Does the bible say there were giants after the flood? Yes, you’ve got all the children of Enoch, you’ve got Goliath, you’ve got Saul, a head and shoulders taller than anyone else, you’ve got Robert Wadlow. You’ve got all kinds of people, so that shouldn’t bother you.

Were there mighty men after the flood? David’s mighty men were not the result of the aliens and fallen angels. Do you see what I’m saying? And so we don’t need to worry about that, but what’s even more important to me is the part where it said there in Genesis 6, “My spirit will not only strive with man, his days will be 120 years.” There was a limited amount of time. Once things began to fall apart with the marriages and the families, God said look, I can see where this is going. It’s going to have to end. Christ said except those days would be short and no flesh would be saved. Because of the time and wickedness, if it were possible, even the very elect would be deceived. When Jesus talks about the elect being deceived, what do you think about? Do you think about someone masquerading as the devil trying to hypnotize the world? Or could it be the elect are being deceived about holy lives, marriage, righteousness? Could it be we’re being deceived about that?

Then you read in 1 Peter 3, here’s a verse that’s connected with Genesis 6 that people get mixed up on. 1 Peter 3:18, “For Christ has also suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the spirit.” The emphasis is the spirit brought him back to life. “By which, He went and preached under the spirits in prison, which sometime were disobedient when once the long suffering of God waited in the days of Noah while the ark was being prepared wherein that few as eight souls were saved by water.”

All right, here’s one of the strange views on this. Jesus, when He died, didn’t really die, but He went down to this place of limbo where all the people from the days of Noah were held in some kind of a prison and He preached to them to give them another chance so they could go to heaven. Even though they died lost, they needed another chance. How many of you had heard that? That’s not what he’s saying. If you read back in Genesis 6 where it says, “My spirit will not always strive with man,” He said I’m going to give them 120 years. For 120 years, the spirit of God, through the preaching and example of Noah and his family strove with that generation that was imprisoned by sin back then, the same spirit of Christ that raised Jesus from the dead, strove with them as the spirit of God is striving with this generation today. But God said, “My spirit will not forever, it will not always strive with man.” There is a limit. Someday His spirit is withdrawn.

When Noah and his family entered the ark and the door closed, probation was closed. Life went on outside with those, that amalgamated race of Cain and Seth that had given themselves over to evil that had not remained pure. So not everybody that’s going to church is necessarily a son of God. Are you a son and daughter of God? You know, Jesus had to tell His generation, don’t think because you’re part of the church…

John 8, Who are the children of the devil? “Jesus said to the religious leaders, if God were your father, you’d love me, for I proceeded forth from God, nor have I come of myself, but He sent me. Why do you not understand my speech? Because you’re not able to listen to my words. You can’t even hear what He’s saying. You are of your father, the devil.” You don’t know how scandalous that was for Jesus to say that to the religious leaders, that they were not children of God, they were children of the devil. Would He say it today if He were here to anybody? Is just being a member of the church, just by being Jewish, did that make them children of God? Just by being on the books in the church, does that make you a son or a daughter of God? He said, you are of your father the devil and the desires of your father you will do. Whose desires do we follow? That’s whose children we are. He was a murderer from the beginning, speaking about when Cain murdered Abel and he does not stand in the truth because there’s no truth in him.

Matthew 23:15, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. You travel land and sea to win one proselyte, a convert, and when he is one, you make him twice as much of the son of Hell as you yourselves.” They’re pretty serious. So whose child are you? Are you a child of God?

You know, here in Northern California, we’re really close to this story. We’ve watched it play out for a few years now. It’s a horrible story, but it kind of gives us an illustration of the age in which we live. I think we’ve all heard of Jaycee Lee Dugard, kidnapped June 10, 1991, 11-years-old at a bus stop. She could see her house from where she was. Kidnapped by Phillip Garrido and his wife Nancy, taken and kept in this shack that was sort of insulated and fenced off. It was like a backyard in a backyard, and basically just kept there as a slave, fathered children with her and stayed that way for 18 years. She didn’t know what was going on and then finally was discovered and delivered after getting all mixed up from being kidnapped by that -- all this time she thought somehow she was related to this guy Garrido, later found out what a fiend he really was, and has been extricated from that whole situation and that whole life. Talk about a change of life, a change of family. She found out who her real mother was and now is still getting to know her real family.

Well, you know, the devil has kidnapped a lot of people in this world that should be children of God. And he’s taken them and he’s abused them and he has hypnotized them into thinking I’m really your family, I’m really your friend. That was Garrido’s defense. He said, oh, we’re just really a family. Now, some people, you’ve gotten so used to the devil, you think he’s your family. You get comfortable with him. He’s a kidnapper, he’s an abuser. And we’ve got to wake up and hear Jesus saying, you can be free. And by the way, he was recently sentenced to 431 years in prison and his wife to 36 years and Jaycee just got a $20 million settlement from the state, plus a big book deal. She’ll probably be okay financially if she manages her money well for the rest of her life. What a change of fortune to be living in this hovel in some creep’s backyard being abused like that, being liberated, finding your real family, living a clean life, living a normal life, and all of a sudden going from poverty to riches. What a change. That’s what the Lord wants to do for us, doesn’t he?

Whose child are you? 1 John 3:1, “Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that we should be called the sons of God.” Therefore the world doesn’t know it because it didn’t know him. Behold, John can’t even find words to describe it, so he said, you just stand back and look at it. Behold what manner of love.

Romans 8:14, “For as many as are led by the spirit of God, these are the sons of God.”

And again, Galatians 3:26, “For you are all the sons and the daughters of God through faith in Jesus.” Have you accepted Christ? Are you wanting to stay kidnapped by the enemy or are you wanting to be a child of God?

There will be two groups in the world when Jesus comes back again. He’ll have the sons of God, they’ll have the seal of God and he’ll have the descendants of Cain, the worldly. And we’ve got to know how to stay on the right side because in the same way the world is full of wickedness, God has said my spirit will not always strive with man. I think he’s already declared that. I think the clock is running out right now. That He has been striving with man.

The Lord raised up the Adventist Church over 150 years ago to give a message to the world. I think we’re just living in the last few moments of this world’s history. Have you accepted the adoption that Jesus offers you? When Christ was baptized, He came out of the water. The Father said, this is my beloved son in whom I’m well-pleased. He was declared the son of God at his baptism. When you accept Christ and you take that stand and you say Lord, I want to be yours, you can be declared, this is my beloved son, my beloved daughter, in whom I am well-pleased. He will be well-pleased with you, too. How many of you want to be adopted and be part of that family? Amen. Why don’t we sing about that.

We’re going to sing our closing hymn, a Child of the King, that’s No. 468 in your Hymn Books. Shall we stand as we conclude? Now before we sing verse three, I just want to give you an opportunity to respond. Some of you maybe have wondered, have I been living like a child of a king. Has God’s spirit been striving with you? Do you know which group you’ll be in when that flood of fire comes. Are you going to be in the ark of Christ? Or will you be in the world that perishes? And if you’d like to have that assurance that you are surrendering all, you’re accepting Christ by faith and making a decision to trust Him and to follow Him, to be led by His spirit, declared His child, you might have some special need for prayer. Maybe you’d like to come as we sign the third verse. And we’re going to sing it fast for I’m sure it’s written at this speed, but I’m used to singing this a little faster. How about you? I can’t read music, that’s how I learned it. So I’ll -- thank you. Let’s pick it up, let’s sing the third verse.

Father in Heaven, Lord, we are so thankful we can call you our Father who art in Heaven. And we know that you love us more than any earthly parent loves and treasures their children. And you know who you are -- who are your children, Lord. I pray that we will begin to bare your characteristics and be stamped with your image through the Holy Spirit. Lord, there is a struggle taking placing in the world today. The devil is trying court and woo the sons and daughters of God away from their family to intermingle with his corrupted seed. Help us, Lord, to be true to you and to stay part of your family. I pray, Lord, your blessing on your church. I pray that we will hear your spirit speaking to us and will respond in these last days to allow you to live your life in each one of us. We thank you and this is our prayer, in Christ’s name, Amen.