Translate

Monday, April 07, 2008

A conspiracy theory

The Omega Conspiracy: Satan's Last Assault On God's Kingdom. I.D.E. [Isaac David Ellis] Thomas. Crane, MO: Anomalos Publishing/Official Disclosure, 2008. $14.99. paper, 240 pages. ISBN: 0978845358.

The Omega Conspiracy is not the kind of book I would normally purchase or read. A friend gave me his copy and asked me to read it. We were studying the fallen angels in Jude, and the book relates to that. I.D.E. Thomas takes the position that the fallen angels of Jude verse 6 are the sons of God of Genesis 6:2.

The edition I read was printed in 1991 by Hearthstone Publishing. A new edition has just been reprinted by Anomalos Publishing/Official Disclosure. I do not know if there are any differences. The author of is a native of Wales in the United Kingdom, born in Carmarthenshire. Thomas held pastorates in Bethesda, Caernarfon and Llanelli. At the time of the 1991 publication, he was Minister of the First Baptist Church of Maywood, California. He is affiliated with the California Pacific School of Theology (an unaccredited institution of higher learning in Glendale, CA) and Pacific International University (an unaccredited university and seminary that offers distance learning courses). Thomas has written a number of books, including William Shakespeare and His Bible, God's Harvest: The Nature of True Revival, and A Puritan Golden Treasury of Quotations.

The Omega Conspiracy consists of an Introduction followed by 13 chapters. The substance might be summed up in a couple of items found online: "Mr. Thomas believes that a hybrid offspring culminated from relations between the Nephilim and the 'daughters of man' resulting in increased wickedness upon the earth; and thus evoking God's wrath in the form of the 'Great Flood'." And "I.D.E. Thomas reveals...signs that point to a return of mysterious beings known in the Bible as 'Nephilim'."

Thomas begins his book discussing some early mysteries of human history, such as the Mayan Calendar, Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids -- fitting a "pre-historic" aura around the human civilizations of those places and periods. This will "support" his idea that such high knowledge had to come from a source outside human civilization. He seems to reject out-of-hand any possibility that any ancient civilizations could have possessed certain high knowledge in math, engineering, etc. that we have not discovered today. His thesis accepts the reality of UFO sightings, and that those travelers are not extra-terrestrials but rather spiritual beings. In summary -- fallen angels.

Next he builds his case for fallen angels being the sons of God in Genesis 6:2. According to Thomas, the cause of Noah's flood was the illicit union of human females and fallen angels. To support his weak case, of which the Bible says little, he goes outside and brings in evidence from mythology and apocryphal writings. In Jude, he reads back into verse 6 the sexual sin of Sodom in verse 7 (going after strange flesh). Strange flesh in v. 7 means homosexuality, but in v. 6 means non-human. He does not sufficiently address numerous objections, e.g. {1} Giants or nephilim existed before the union of the sons of God and daughters of men (though he explains them as a product of the union); {2} Giants or nephilim existed in later Biblical periods with no evidence of "unnatural" union (though he seems content to accept such unnatural unions without any evidence); {3} The scripturally stated reason for the flood is the absolute wickedness of man rather than God trying to stave off the spread of some "genetic defect" or hybridized breed of angel-humans; {4} Noah's "perfection in his generations" is an uprightness by faith, not some pure genetic line of human descent; and finally {5} Jesus' own commentary on the days of Noah.

As Thomas winds up his book, he is so given over to his own conclusions that almost anything satisfies as proof of his proposition. On the other hand, rather than disproving objections he simply dismisses them.

As best as I can tell, the conspiracy and "Satan's Last Assault on God's Kingdom" is, according to Thomas, in the form of current UFO/fallen angel activity. This activity will once again produce union between the sons of God (fallen angels/UFO travelers) and the daughters of men (human females), bringing on the judgment of God?? I don't think he bothers to explain why the sons of God of Genesis 6:2 were evidently of such character that they could be "marrying and giving in marriage," while current UFO beings are often hideous and incommunicable.

Bottom line -- I don't recommend this book. Times are hard; save your money! Thomas asks his readers to accept fantastic ideas on very low standards of proof.

No comments: