Hi, Dean and all!
Sorry I haven't been able to post for a while but my PC finally threw in the towel and I had to get another one fixed up! Whew! What a backlog of mail ! You guys have certainly covered a lot of ground! BTW, Dean, I must congratulate you on your ever-burgeoning and updated website(s)! Great work, cobber!
Anyhow, I've been reading away furiously, and I notice old Zecheria Sitchin has cropped up among the topics, so I can't resist rising to the bait! I have all of his books - which I foolishly splurged out on, in a mad moment of mental abberation some years back. So, having subjected his endless scribings to a heavy scrutiny, I feel that I'm well qualified to put in my ten cents' worth on the subject. I believe that Sitchin has a deep fixation with his Annunaki "gods" and their giant mystery planet, Niburu. And, from what I've read of his work, I personally believe it all to be a load of pure self-delusionary BS. (Though his books must have made him quite a bundle - lucky stiff!)
Quite apart from trying to create another race of superior godlike beings by madly blending together the nephelim "fallen angels" of Jehovah and the ancient Sumerian/Babylonian hierarchy, his notion of them living thousands of years upon a gigantic planet with an enormously elongated, eliptical orbit, 10 times that of Pluto, which takes 3,600 years to complete, is, in hindsight, completely unscientific.
His Nibiru (or Marduk) doesn't even have the Sun for warmth or light over the vast bulk of its enormous orbit through the inky darkness of outer space. So I'd hate to be one of those poor Annunaki "gods" since they would have to live for 90 per cent of their almost endless lives in as gloomy a place as God's fallen rebel angels (their fathers or themselves?) - whom the Bible says are confined in chains in the pitch-dark pit of Tartaros, a special underground prison - under the earth. (Hopefully, one prays NOT inside the Hollow Earth!)
Quite apart from that however, one wonders how the Sun can still maintain its gravitational grip on such a far-ranging planet. Added to this is the notion that we are led to believe the Annunaki were flesh and blood "gods" who had lifespans of yea thousands of years. So if, as Sitchin implies, the Annunaki were the NEFILIM, the giant ogre-like offspring of the original fallen angels (who were the NEPHELIM) and their human wives - they must also have been the antediluvian giants of Genesis. But apart from this confusion between NeFILim and NePHELim - this presents a major problem. The alleged twelfth planet, Nibiru (or Marduk), is allegedly around ten times the size of Tiamat (the Earth) and thus it must have a gravitational force at least ten or more times that of the Earth. According to astrophysical law, any life-forms upon Nibiru would, of necessity, have to be very small, very squat, and very solid in size and build, to withstand such an enormous pull (or is that "push"?) of gravity. So the giant Annunaki would have been flattened out into rather big, messy-looking pancakes the second they set foot on Nibiru!
I'd hate to be in Sitchin's shoes when he fronts up before his Maker (unless he already has) to explain why he, as a Hebrew, has elected to tangle together so many different religious entities in his rather cunningly-woven hypothesis, and in particular, suggesting that the fallen angel nephelim (or their giant NEFILIM offspring), assumed the role of "Elohim" and created Mankind in THEIR own image instead of God's! BTW, according to James Strong, the Greek and Hebrew scholar who wrote that magnificent Bible concordance - the rebellious angels were the NEPHELIM, and their half-human offspring were the NEPHILIM. NEPHEL means "Fallen", whilst NEPHIL means "Giant, Tyrant or Bully", so there we go!
As to Sitchin's books. They're very ingeniously written and worthy of Steven Speilberg's attention, but IMHO they're still religio-scientific crap! I should know. I'm writing some of my own, even as we speak!
Regards to all, and a big "Hello" to Hazel - (liked your book!)
Marsflash (aka Gerry)
