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Alert: Grasshoppers Defeat Giants!!
Barbara L. Klika, MSW, Undershepherd, Life Coach
February 2025
For I am the LORD, I change not;
Malachi 3:6a KJV
Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:
Isaiah 46:10 KJV
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Jeremiah 29:11 NKJV
There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Genesis 6: 4-5 KJV
And the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth; both man, and beast, and the creeping thing, and the fowls of the air; for it repenteth me that I have made them. Genesis 6:7
…and only a few generations later, about 100 years, they were rebelling again.
Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. …Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” Genesis 11:1,3-4
God DID disperse them and confounded their single language so that they would not be able to “become like God.” Do you know the source of Nimrod’s plan?
When it was time for Israel to enter the Promised Land a crisis of faith followed.
And there we saw the giants, the sons of Anak, which come of the giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.
Numbers 13:33 KJV
Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the LORD thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest.
Joshua 1:9 KJV
What has been will be again,
what has been done will be done again;
there is nothing new under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 1:9 NIV
And as it was in the days of Noe[Noah], to so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.
Luke 17:26 KJV
Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
2 Peter 3:3-5 KJV
But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.
Daniel 12:4 KJV
Oh, the controversies in these words! Let me just try to count them!
Is the God of Israel, YHWH, really our God? Is the Bible really true? Is the “Old” Testament of any importance today? Just who were the “sons of God?” How could angels marry and mate with human women? Were “mighty men of renown” good or bad? Were they really giants? Was the flood really universal? Why would God kill so many people? What were they doing that corrupted everything? What does it mean, giants were in the land AFTER the flood? How did they get there if everything on earth was destroyed except Noah and family? Was it really only about 100 years after the flood that men built the Tower of Babel, rebelling against God again? Why would any of this matter for us today? Does history really repeat itself?
Many Believers have problems with these concepts and Biblical history. I see individual, familial, generational and institutional strongholds of interpretations/beliefs that have caused many to ignore or discount the more difficult aspects of our faith.
I usually stick with more familiar translations but this one from J.B. Phillips is QUITE specific to my point today:
I, my brothers, was unable to talk to you as spiritual men: I had to talk to you as unspiritual, as yet babies in the Christian life, And my practice had been to feed you, as it were, with “milk” and not with “meat”. You were unable to digest “meat” in those days, and I don’t believe you can do it now. For you are still unspiritual; all the time that there is jealousy and squabbling among you you show that you are—you are living just like men of the world.
1 Cor. 3:1-3
Of whom [God] we have many things to say, and hard to be uttered, seeing ye are dull of hearing. For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
Hebrews 5:11-12 KJV
Unbelievers, and even some Believers, struggle with issues such as whether or not the Bible is real and true, or if the “Old Testament” is still relevant. It is apparent that many do not realize that our God has told us the end from the beginning in order to help us prepare…especially those like us who are in the end of days season.
I can’t convince anyone of the intricacies and importance of all of these topics in a flash but I hope that I can encourage people to ask questions and take a look with new eyes and to hear with new ears. The concept of “progressive revelation” we believe has been misconstrued to mean there are new Scripture texts coming along. We believe it is more that the many layers of meaning of what is already established begin to come into focus at the fullness of time as determined by our Elohim, our Mighty God…when knowledge increases.
Our SAM community has been studying Joshua in recent weeks. As we look back to the story of Joshua conquering the Canaanites/the Nephilim/giants in the land, we are also looking at the present and toward the future. The things that were done that led to the flood had to do with what the fallen angels were teaching mankind: genetic manipulation and creation of hybrids of humans, animals and plants among them. These are the very things we are reading in our headlines today. Artificial Intelligence is exploding exponentially. Although there are some wonderful health benefits to be obtained there are also potentially destructive and irreversible effects, making us less than fully human.
I have spent the last few weeks getting caught up on these developments since I last looked into them, perhaps four years ago…I can say that this is no longer science fiction. These things are happening. President Trump’s Stargate initiative for AI is described as an effort to surpass China’s AI programs and keep the lead in technology. Today, I saw that China’s “Deepseek” AI program has just surpassed ChatGPT usage. Two Open AI developers have now expressed their concerns, one paying with his life to do so. In the rush to establish dominance the danger is that safeguards may be lost. Unlike any other technological advancements, this one changes the genetic makeup of human beings and could potentially reach the point where the AI overtakes our ability to control and direct it.
There is a transhumanist agenda to replace God since enhanced human beings can be perfected by our own efforts. The ability to place one’s consciousness into a robot in effect gives eternal life, without all of the expectations of a personal God.
Believers are the only people who can uphold the dignity of life with human beings created in the image of God with the support of some humanitarians. “Science” vies with faith/religion for dominance. As Barna has shown through polling, the percentage of people identifying as more than casual Christians is declining. It is our confidence in and intimacy with our God and His empowerment that will cause us to stand against the dangers in the midst of throngs of people who deny Him and seek the bright sounding promises of being our own masters.
We are fast approaching this future when we will be facing literal giants, even if we had only thought that they were metaphorical before. We will all find out which spirit we look to. Are we like Caleb and Joshua OR are we like the other ten spies who were frightened away? They saw the physical evidence of the size of the occupants of the land and allowed their perceived “grasshopper size” to overrule their awareness that the Almighty God was directing and empowering them to act!
What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us? Romans 8:31 KJV
The intent to honor God’s Truth has been complicated by those in positions of authority who had decided on behalf of the people to compromise/synthesize Christianity with pagan practices such as Mithraism back in the three hundreds and those who made other additions and subtractions since then. For those “New Testament Only” believers, there is no foundation: like building a house starting at the second floor.
The Word tells us in both Old and New Testaments that we are NOT to add or subtract from it…yet people and leaders in church institutions have done so. The softer teachings are easier on the ear, but do not include all that the Word has for us.
For the time is coming when men will not tolerate wholesome teaching. They will want something to tickle their own fancies, and they will collect teachers who will pander to their own desires. They will no longer listen to the truth, but will wander off after man-made fictions. For yourself, stand fast in all that you are doing, meeting whatever suffering this may involve. Go on steadily preaching the Gospel and carry out to the full the commission that God gave you.
2 Timothy 4:3 J.B. Phillips Version
For one example, the whole story of the flood, the fallen angels and the reason the whole earth was corrupted is more fully told in Enoch I. This ancient book was considered Scripture by the early church and has continuously been so in the Ethiopian church. The late Dr. Michael Heiser wrote a great Companion to Enoch I book which is quite helpful. Enoch 2-3 books are outside of Scripture in many ways… but we wouldn’t know these things if we were not paying attention to what has been found at Qumran in the Dead Sea Scrolls or were aware that this book, Enoch I, quoted in Scripture, has always been considered Scripture by the Eastern church.
There is a theatrical concept of “willing suspension of disbelief” which makes it possible for an audience to disregard the trappings of a stage and surroundings, while entering into the action of the presentation. Perhaps we need to ask skeptical Believers to “suspend their disbelief” temporarily about what you have been taught just long enough to prayerfully examine what is known today and how it all fits together. So often, when we are unfamiliar with something, our first reaction is to reject it, without real consideration.
An uninformed opinion really has no weight--just emotion!
There are reasonable answers to the questions posed near the beginning of this article. A casual knowledge of the Word will not be enough to grasp them. We will need to be good “Bereans” like those Paul commended in Berea who took the time to check what he said against what the Scriptures said.
To fail to do this prayerful study and research in this age will be to our own peril.
News flash: the grasshoppers DID overcome the giants …and they did it through obedience and full submission to the LORD GOD of all the earth.
It is no different for us today when we walk in the Whole Counsel of God. (Acts 20:27)
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