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THE LETTER OF JUDE
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Bible Studies Series
Charles Sulka
All references are taken from the NEW AMERICAN BIBLE, ST. JOSEPH EDITION. Much of the supporting material is taken directly from the notes in this version of the Bible.
This short letter is by its address attributed to “Jude”. Since the writer is not identified as an apostle, this Jude can hardly be meant to refer to the Jude or Judas of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus. (Lk 6, 16; Acts 1, 13; Jn 14, 22)
The person intended is almost certainly the other Jude, named in the gospels as a relative of Jesus (Mt 13, 55; Mk 6, 3), and the James who is listed there as his brother is the one to whom the Letter of James is attributed.
The purpose of the Letter of Jude is to warn the recipients against false teachers. The errors envisaged seem to reflect an early form of gnosticism (esoteric teachings); the writer hints at a dark back story in the Book of Genesis. The subject matter points to the cultural context of the early Christians in the gentile world.
Biblical scholars note that there is so much similarity between Jude and 2 Peter (Jude 4-16 and 2 Peter 1-18) that there must be a literary relationship between them; it is usually supposed that one of them borrowed from the other. Most scholars believe that Jude is the earlier of the two, principally because he quotes two apocryphal Jewish works, the ASSUMPTION OF MOSES (9) and the BOOK OF ENOCH (14-15) whereas 2 Peter omits both references. Since there was controversy in the early church about the propriety of citing noncanonical literature that included legendary material, it is more probable that a later writer would omit such references than that he would add them.
The references to these two apocryphal works reminds us that Christians are not simply the “people of the book,” and that the early Christian Church was not a “Bible-based” religion. The first twenty generations of believers never saw a Bible, as the Bible as we know it was not compiled until the end of the fourth century A.D. Most early Christians never saw any scriptures at all. Scriptures were a rarity; besides, few people of that era could read. Of the ‘scriptures’ that were in circulation, many were deemed apocryphal (or heretical) and were not included in the Bible when it was compiled. The Letter of Jude refers to two such works; many more have come to light in recent years from archeological finds and scholarly research. (Of the estimated fifty gospels that were in circulation in the early days of the Church — twenty-seven of which have been found so far — only FOUR were deemed worthy of inclusion in the Bible; all the rest were regarded as NOT being inspired works.)
Many ancient texts which did not merit inclusion in the Bible, including the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Bartholomew, and the Gospel of Mary Magdalene, today enjoy renewed popularity in New Age and occult circles. And as shown on a PBS video documentary, archaeologists have discovered a Sumerian artifact, carved in stone, which predates the Biblical era, telling the story of one ‘Noah’, a river trader, who left his business partners high and dry, so to speak, when he took a barge loaded with livestock, provisions, and agricultural products down river, never to return. In the story, reference is made to a great flood; the possibility exists that Noah might have been swept downstream a great distance and unable to return to repay his investors after the waters receded. It is also possible that Noah was a con artist who tricked his backers into providing for the founding of his distant dynasty, as the stone tablets (ancient accounting records) seem to suggest. Obviously the Biblical version is an embellishment of the account from the original Sumerian tablets, which could never have been written if the Biblical story of Noah were literally true (as there would not have been any Sumerians to record the event, as they, like everyone else, would have been destroyed in the Great Flood.) This more believable version of the story of Noah’s Ark might be seen as the real story of the founding of the nation of Israel.
Indeed, the Christian faith is far more encompassing, as it is founded on the ‘inner light’, the movement of the Holy Spirit of God. This reminds us that the truth of God’s Word is not to be found solely in scriptures, but rather in all of the teachings of Jesus Christ and in the guidance of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus said to the scribes and pharisees, “search the scriptures,” He was being sarcastic. He knew God’s Truth was not to be found in poring over ancient texts and questionable sources (including some that were plagiarized) . . . but rather in His word and in the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Scribes and pharisees are with us to this day. Today we have those who doggedly insist that the Bible is literally true (an absurdity) and who try to justify whatever they want to believe by quoting passages from scripture, even though the scriptures might be ambiguous, contradictory, allegorical, or even outright fabrications. Many of the texts found in the Jewish Bible have been shown to be based on the myths and legends of neighboring peoples — literary adaptations, as we now know the story of Noah’s Ark to be. The story of Noah’s Ark, written by and about Sumerians, was adapted by the Jews to fit their mythology.
It is important to recognize that the early Christian Church was a fellowship based on Tradition — the oral tradition handed down from the Apostles. Scriptures were not unknown, but were not central to the faith of the early believers. Over the centuries, religious writings (both good and bad) proliferated, and eventually became such a contentious issue that a council was called in the late fourth century where the Catholic bishops from around the world assembled to decide which scriptures would be embraced as inspired by the Spirit of God. What we know as the Bible resulted from centuries of writing, of much study and discussion, and, in the end, the simple process of voting yea or nay. The bishops’ determination as to whether certain writings were ‘inspired works’ was not without controversy; the controversy continues to this day. Even such luminaries as Martin Luther have disagreed with the decision of the council, and Protestants to this day include fewer books in their Bibles than do Catholics. And as to the actual meaning of the scriptures, it would be an understatement to say that among Christians there is, and has always been, widespread disagreement.
The Book of Jude cites the legend of Sodom & Gomorrah, two cities reportedly destroyed by God with “fire and brimstone” (akin to modern military ordinance, possibly even nuclear weapons, like nothing previously seen in the ancient world.) There are two reasons given for God’s wrath and the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah: (a) social injustice and (b) widespread moral depravity. In the first — social injustice — economic exploitation resulted in the impoverishment of the general population at the hands of a selfish and greedy moneyed class (the original capitalists) (Is 1, 9f; 3,9, Ez 16, 46-51). The other reason given was widespread moral depravity — sexual licentiousness, especially unnatural sexual practices, citing homosexual acts in particular (Gn 19, 4f; Jer 23, 14).
In the Book of Jude, the writer suggests that there is a third reason for God’s destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The writer’s reference to the spawn of heavenly beings mating with human females, citing the Book of Enoch (and Genesis) is to point out that God regards the commingling of alien and human flesh as an abomination. In Jude 7 it is said that the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah practiced unnatural vice. The passage literally translates as “went after alien flesh.” The ‘unnatural vice’ refers to the desire by human beings for sexual intimacies with angels. The residents of Sodom and Gomorrah were a degenerate lot, to be sure. At best, the survivors had an incestuous new beginning, at least regarding Lot’s family, if this sordid tale is to be believed. It is not hard to imagine that a similar fate might befall ‘heavenly beings’ today — that is, being assaulted by a mob of sexual perverts driven by lust — were they to materialize in, say, Hollywood, San Francisco, or New York City.
Note that today these two destructive social forces, (a) economic exploitation with the resultant widespread hardship and suffering, and (b) sexual depravity, immorality, the desecration of marriage, and the assault on traditional family values, can be attributed to the machinations and political activism of the spiritual descendants of these illicit unions. The Bible tells us that there were those who escaped the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. It would seem that the spiritual descendants of the escapees from Sodom and Gomorrah are active in the world today, to the detriment of human society.
For Reflection
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The Bible has several references to the commingling of alien and human DNA, and God’s reaction to this ‘abomination’. Of immediate interest is the reference to the Book of Enoch (Jude 6) which repeats the story in Genesis (Gn 6, 1-4) of celestial beings coming down to earth and having sexual relations with human females, resulting in hybrid offspring. The cross-breeding of outsiders (‘heavenly beings’) with human stock is a theme that recurs in both canonical and apocryphal ‘scriptures’, as well as secular writings from the ancient world. This might even account for the term ‘semitic’ (seed stock) in reference to certain Middle Eastern peoples selected by the aliens for breeding purposes. Presumably, genetic manipulation would have been a simple matter for any life forms possessing advanced technology such as interstellar travel. New and different life forms are created daily in today’s genetics labs (also an abomination.)
One theory is that the human race is being primed for a role of subservience to a race of intelligent parasites — ‘aliens’ as we might call them, or even ‘demons’ if we knew their true nature. The intervention of ‘heavenly beings’ (as they are referred to in scripture) in the development of the human race is recorded in a number of ancient texts, in addition to the Bible. Indeed, hieroglyphic records and even cave dwellers’ crude drawings would seem to show otherworldly beings (some in what appear to be space suits) visiting earth. Furthermore, the role of ‘higher powers’ in man’s development seems likely since Darwinian evolution would not have produced such rapid and profound technological advances in such a short span of time . . . and if God were personally managing the development of the human race, mankind would not be the miserable miscreants seen today, with selfishness, greed, ignorance, and immorality being man’s most salient qualities. Surely He could do better.
Per the Book of Jude, then, the alien eugenics program must accordingly be regarded as an underlying reason for God’s destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. In short, the human race has been infected by mind-parasites as a result of alien intervention in human development. The alien spawn will eventually subjugate the human race. The intelligent parasites are here on a mission of conquest via symbiosis. God has intervened on behalf of His children and is holding the interlopers in check until judgement day, at which time the demons will be destroyed and mankind will be set free. The long-promised Day of Judgment, as foretold in the Bible, might actually be an act of mercy by a loving God.
As Jesus pointed out in the parable, it is impossible to purge the human race of the mind parasites for they are now part of the human genome. On judgment day, God and His angels will separate the deserving (the ‘wheat’ in the parable) from these virulent interlopers (the ‘weeds’ of the parable.) Thus the mind parasites will be destroyed at one fell swoop, freeing the human race from bondage.
Sodom and Gomorrah are object lessons for God’s punishment for sin (Is 1,9; Jer 50, 40; Am 4-11; Mt 10, 15; 2 Pt 2, 6.) If God saw fit to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah for social injustice, economic exploitation, and sexual depravity, might modern America not befall a similar fate? It would be hard to argue that this nation does not have it coming, as America seems to be following the same path as the depraved inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah — maybe even worse.
Ver. 1.05 (09/07/2017 14:35)
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