The spiritual beliefs of the Cro-Magnon and other peoples of the Upper Paleolithic were incredibly advanced as compared to their predecessors and the Neanderthals who managed to hang on for an additional 10,000 to 15,000 years after their arrival. The complexity, originality, and artistic and symbolic accomplishments of these peoples and their conception of, and ability to symbolically express the spirit world represented an incredible leap in religious thought and intellectual ability. Moreover, almost identical religious concerns and depictions of spiritual belief appeared throughout Paleolithic Eurasia and the Middle East at almost the same time period, as is apparent from an examination of the art that adorns hundreds of underground and above ground Paleolithic "cathedrals."

Over time, however, these beliefs also became modified and less uniform, particularly during the transition from the Upper Paleolithic to the Neolithic.

Nevertheless, throughout the Upper Paleolithic and the Neolithic and continuing into modern times, some believed the Netherworld was alive with the souls of trees, plants, animals, humans, and demons, and that the day and the night were ruled by all manner of goddesses and then, later, male gods (Armstrong 1994; Brandon 1967; Budge 1994; Campbell 1988; Frazier 1950; Harris,1993; Kuhn 1955; Smart 1969; Wilson 1951). They believed in gods and goddesses of the forest, of the river, of the sky, the clouds, the seasons, of the day and of the night. Planetary gods, moon gods, sun gods, personal gods, and goddesses and gods who created the Heavens and the earth. Gods and goddesses who created man and woman in the image of the gods. And then "Gods" who gave of their own soul and spirit, thus awaking man and woman to their own spirituality through the breath of life... so claimed the ancients.

THE GODDESS: THE GREAT MOTHER OF ALL

Yet, the first gods were not men but goddesses of nature and of life. It was woman who first became the godhead: The Great Mother of All. Although she may have been attended by priests and shamans, the first gods were goddesses; fertility goddesses, earth goddesses, mother nature, and goddess of the hunt (Austin, 1990).

And just as the peoples of the Upper Paleolithic were worshipping goddesses and creating her image to be adored, Neolithic peoples continued these traditions and were worshipping goddess who were obviously pregnant and with child. The Goddess cults became the dominant form of "organized" religion during the Neolithic. Ancient paintings from this time and after depict the goddess in all her fertile majesty, and sometimes with a youthful, lesser male god who would be like a son.

Hunting and fertility, violence and sex, are characteristic aspects of most ancient religions, with gods and goddesses of the hunt competing with fertility goddesses of the earth who again reigned supreme as agriculture and farming replaced gathering and hunting as the main source of subsistence. And just as agriculture was reinvented during the early Neolithic, worship of the Goddess, and the Goddess cult spread world wide.

Be it Crete, the Aegean, Greece, Rome, Asia, India, the Eastern Mediterranean, the Goddess cult was widely practiced. The Great Mother of All personified life, as was revered throughout the world as life giving and producing.

And, she was just as likely to be attended by women as men. During her festivals young males would trance themselves into a religious frenzy, and would take knives or swords and cut and castrate themselves. By sacrificing their manhood these youths would gain access to her power and could then became priests to the goddess so as to become as her, even dressing in robes and going about as a females forever after. In fact, the adoption of female dress by male shamans, medicine men, and priests has been a world wide custom. The priests dressed as women because it imparted greater spiritual energy to the priests, the clothing of women being used to transfer the powers of one to the other.

In addition, just as a significant number of the modern day clergy are homosexuals, and just as homosexuals, as youths prefer girls toys and clothes, this too played a factor in the dawning of goddess attire. Indeed, in later centuries although the homosexual clergy dispensed with castration--the exception being young boys who the priests would use for sex--they retained the tradition of dressing in womanly robes which continues to be the practice in many modern day religions.

Earth and Sky Goddesses and pregnant women, the Great Mother embodied the sexual power and the spiritual power of the life force that could be imparted to life as it emerged from the womb and the fertile fields. Male priests thus dressed accordingly.

Because of her life giving abilities, even during the Paleolithic she was associated with the land, the hunt, and the cosmos. Woman embodied the land from which plants grew from the womb of the earth, and she was the sky from which rain dropped from her celestial breasts to nourish the land and her children below.

Woman with her lunar menstrual cycle became the moon and the night, dominating life and death as the life giving principle.

It was this same life giving power which seeped back into the Earth and the sky when the living were buried at death in the womb of the Earth. It is the earth from which new life would spring anew. Woman as nature is the earth, giving birth and taking her children, in death, into the bossom of the underworld, the earthwomb, where spirits entombed would later emerge, reborn, sometimes as the soul of a newborn infant. Woman, the goddess was the great cycle of life. Woman was the earth, she was nature, she was god!

The great goddesses, the embodiment of life, ruled the Upper Paleolithic, Neolithic Europe, the Americas, Africa, Australia, and the Middle East. She was An, and then Ianana in ancient Sumer, Ishtar in Babylon, Anu and Isis in Egypt, Anat in Cannan, and Aphrodite in Greece. And each of these female goddess had the spiritual power of life and death and the spiritual power to give life to those who were yet to be born.

The great goddess was the queen of the heavens as well as the Earth, and Neolithic Kings could only claim and retain their kingship by paying homage to, claiming to be the son of, and later, by marrying the goddess. By marrying and possessing the queen of heaven and the Earth, the king could claim dominion over both.

One of the most ancient symbols associated with the great goddess is the kingly throne. The name, Isis, for example, also means "the throne." The kingly throne was originally a symbol of the legs and thighs of the goddess. Thus by mounting her he took possession of the earth, his country, the "mother-land" by seating himself upon her lap.

THE WAR AGAINST THE GODDESS

Ishtar and Isis were regarded as the Universal Mother ages before any male tribal deity dared to demand entry into the divine pantheon. Indeed it was only around 6,000 years ago, that male gods began to compete with the goddess for worshipers and sacrificial goods.

The first male god to obtain national political prominence and backing was Marduk. Marduk ascended to the head of the divine pantheon when the sixth king of the first dynasty of Babylon, Hammurabi, came to power. Hammurabi, who issued the world-famous codes of law, worshipped Marduk and solidified a kingdom that stretched from the central provinces embraced by the Tigris and Eurphrates, to the Persian Gulf. And for the next twenty centuries, Babylon remained one the greatest cities in the world. Babylon was a world-wide power and so too was its god, Marduk. And so too was her queen, Ishtar, who Marduk initially battled for supremacy.

As noted, in some ancient cultures, at first these male gods were personified as sons, and lesser gods who were her attendees. Later these male gods became her lover, and then her king, the Lord God who would rule and possess her.

It is precisely because there were so many gods and goddesses, who often served completely different functions, that the ancient Israelites, including Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob never clearly indicated that they believed in a single god, or that the Lord God was the only god. Rather, they promised to worship Him to the exclusion of other gods. Hence the commandment: Thou shalt have no other gods before thee."

Nevertheless, the Israelites, including King Manesseh, King Among, King Solomon, and Jezebel, the wife of King Ahab, continued to worship and practice the rites of other gods and goddesses, including Baal, Asherah, Yam, and Anat. As Moses ascended Mount Sinai, the people, including even the Lord God's high priest, Aron, almost immediately began performing the sacred rites associated with the great goddess, the celestial cow, the Great Mother of All, whose milk, in the form of raindrops, nourishes the earth.

"We will burn incense unto the queen of heaven, to pour drink offerings unto her as we have done, we and our fathers, our kings,. and our princes." -Jeremiah, 17,18.

The Lord God ordered her worshippers killed in retaliation and women in general began to be viewed with increasing disdain and suspicion. For the next two thousand years His prophets and priests would continually denounce and hurl invectives against women, for woman represented the eternal cycle of life and death whereas the Lord God did not: "I am a god of the living, not the dead" He would proclaim. Hence, the Jewish prayer: "Thank you God for not making me a woman."

Despite the war against woman the goddess, the ancient Israelites continued to repeatedly go astray. Despite repeated warnings and retributions, the ancient Jews worshipped numerous female (and other male) gods, seeking nurturance and protection from the great mother, and in particular to glorify sexuality. The first Temple was the site of a flourishing fertility cult involving ritual prostitution. King Manasseh even placed an effigy to Asherah in the Temple. Some Israelites even believed that Asherah was the wife of Yahweh. Women in particular, worshipped her as a god in her own right and sex orgies became part of her rituals.

THE SPIRITUAL LIFE FORCE

Although the Lord God may have provided woman and man with a living soul, the Lord God is not associated with the "life force," that female-principle of life which some believe permeates and emanates from every living thing. This is why the cult of the goddess, the Great Mother of All, was such a danger to the male-Lord God Yahweh. The Goddesses and Great Mother embodied this nourishing, spiritual life force whereas He represented fear, obedience, and retribution.

This life force is experienced by some as exceedingly personal, and they identify it with the "spirit" or "soul" that has a unique and individual presence in every living thing. Others experience this life force as an impersonal power that exists everywhere in all things. Thus some have attempted to gain control over this power through ritual, sacrifice, and trance, so as to do good, but more often, to do bad.

This feeling of life's "power," the liberation of that power upon death, and the possibility of controlling that power, has given rise to innumerable religious rituals and beliefs, some of which can be traced to the Middle and Upper Paleolithic when archaic Homo sapiens, Neanderthals, and later the Cro-Magnon peoples ruled the planet.

Ancient, primitive humanity believed that this life force exits the body upon death. The Cro-Magnon of the Upper Paleolithic also associated that power with life and fertility, and thus with animal procreation and the birth of new life. Again, it was these beliefs and this association between woman, death, and fertility, which gave rise to the cult of the goddess.

GODS AND MORE GODS AND PERSONAL GODS

The Lord God is a rather young God, at least in the sense that He did not make himself known to the peoples of the Earth until after "the seventh day" of creation. And He did not even fully introduce himself until He met up with Moses, and told him one of His names: "Yahweh."

Prior to His emergence as a force to reckon with, and as the Neolithic drew to the close, it was claimed that the Earth was governed by a pantheon of gods--presumably the same pantheon that is alluded to in the opening chapters of Genesis, which appears to be a retelling of Sumerian cosmology. The Sumerians believed that this pantheon of ruling gods and goddesses numbered 50.

The Sumerians, however, did not believe there was anything spiritual or supernatural about these gods, the Anunnaki, and instead worshipped their own personal, or household gods and goddesses who they believed could intercede or their behalf before the ruling pantheon.

Although the cult of the goddess was also widespread, these personal gods were as numerous as the people, such that each household might harbor numerous personal gods and goddesses, one for each family member and those of ancestors who had long ago passed away. However, in some homes, all the family members might worship the personal god of the head of the household, and this god in turn could be passed down to subsequent generations.

The Sumerians had a large Semitic population, who also adopted some of these religious customs. Hence we see that the personal god of Abraham, became the god of Isaac and the god of Jacob and thus the god of Israel.

SUMERIAN AND BIBLICAL CREATION SCIENCE

Modern day "Creation Science" is rooted in the story of Genesis which in turn appears to be a retelling of the Sumerian tales of creation. The story of Genesis bears a striking resemblance to the "creation myths" including the "flood myths" penned almost 6,000 years ago by the peoples of Sumer--in what today is Iraq; stories that were still in fashion with the rise of the Babylonian state (Roux, 1992).

These and numerous other Biblical - Sumerian/Babylonian similarities (e.g. Chiera, 1966; Heidel, 1988; Kramer, 1991; Sitchin, 1990) should not be surprising considering that Abraham, the presumed patriarch of all modern day Jewish peoples, hailed from Ur of the Chaldees, which was originally a Sumerian city. In fact, a considerable proportion of the Sumerian population consisted of Semitic peoples (Roux, 1992) and Abraham may well have been a prince of the city.

According to Roux (1992, p. 85), "For more than three thousand years the gods of Sumer were worshipped by Sumerians and Semites alike; and for more than three thousand years the religious ideas promoted by the Sumerians played an extra-ordinary part in the public and private life of the Mesopotamians, modeling their institutions, coloring their works of art and literature."

Hence, it could be argued that the true authors of Genesis were the Sumerian peoples. As succinctly put by the renowned Sumerian scholar, Samuel Noah Kramer (1991, p. 75), "There is good reason to infer that in the third millennium BC., there emerged a group of Sumerian thinkers and teachers who, in their quest for satisfactory answers to some of the problems raised by their cosmic speculations, evolved a cosmology and theology carrying such high intellectual conviction that their doctrines became the basic creed and dogma of much of the ancient Near East."

Our knowledge of ancient Sumer comes from a variety of ancient texts, including epic tales, hymns, poetry, proverbs, prayers and incantations. Some of these texts are written in ancient Sumerians, others are Akkadian and Babylonian copies that were found in the ruins of palaces and temple libraries.

IN THE BEGINNING THERE WAS CHAOS

Sumerian cosmology, as to the origin of the Universe, in some respects resembles modern cosmology. For example, they imagined that at first there was nothing but chaos, and because there was nothing, it had no name. Moreover, because there was nothing, "No gods whatever had been brought into being. Uncalled by name, their destinies undetermined." Again, however, rather than a pure absence, this nothingness was chaos (Kramer, 1991; Roux, 1992), a "commingling" of clouds ("mummu"), and fresh waters (Apsu) and salt waters (Tiamat).

And out of this chaos there came form and substance, and then "An" from which flowed the seeds of life; seeds which eventually fell to Earth and which also fell upon the planet of the gods, thus giving birth to the gods, the Anunnaki. "An begot the Anunnaki" (Kramer, 1991).

THE ANUNNAKI: GODS FROM ANOTHER PLANET

According to Sumerian theology, a pantheon of gods, human-like in form, but possessing extra-ordinary super-human scientific powers and technological capability, took possession of the Earth so as to exploit this world for its resources. These same gods, the Anunnaki, claimed credit for creating the Earth, the heavens and the stars. However, these human-like "gods" were in turn ruled by laws and regulations that were promulgated and enforced by yet other gods who lived in different regions of the cosmos (Kramer, 1991). According to the Sumerians, different "gods" through agreements worked out between them and their various factions, were in charge of different regions of the cosmos and thus ruled over and exploited those life forms which dwelled on the different planets. The Earth, was but one of these many planets, and was ruled by a pantheon of human-like gods.

As based on his interpretation of ancient Sumerian cuneiform writing and glyphs, Kramer (1991) informs us that these gods formed and "functioned as an assembly with a king at its head, its most important groups consisting of seven gods... and fifty who were known as the great gods..." the most important rulers of Earth being Enlil who was exceedingly arrogant, exploitive, and brutal, Ninhursag who was his wife, and Enki who was a scientist and the half-brother of Enlil. First and foremost of the Sumerian pantheon, was "An" (Anu in Egyptian, or Anum in Akkadian). "An" was the "eternal sea" of space, the creator of the gods, including the peoples of Earth.

It is noteworthy that the Sumerians repeatedly acknowledged that Enlil, Enki and the other Anunnaki were not really "gods" but technologically advanced people who had come to the Earth from the heavens, from another planet, Nibiruo (Sitchin, 1990). Thus their names: the "Anunnaki" which means: "Those who came from Heaven to Earth."

According to the Sumerians, these "gods" were space-traveling peoples who not only flew in spherical and winged air ships, but who, according to Sumerian calendars, first arrived on this planet almost 500,000 years ago (Sitchin, 1990) --at about the same time that a new breed of humanity, the first Homo sapiens, emerged, their earliest remains being discovered in the Middle East (Joseph, 1996, 2000a). Thus, it could be surmised that the Anunnaki appeared on this planet just before the "seventh day" of creation, when the first primitive man and woman had emerged from the dust.

Moreover, according to the Sumerians, these gods had wives and acted no different from other humans. In fact, although in charge (king) of the Earth, Enlil was bound by rules and regulations dictated by yet other gods who dwelled in other regions of the cosmos, and he was required to carry out their instructions (Kramer, 1991). Apparently those instructions involved depleting the Earth of certain resources, such as tin, which in turn required a huge work force of slaves (Sitchin, 1990).

THE ANUNNAKI CREATE PRIMITIVE WORKERS

According to Sumerian cosmology, although the Earth was alive with all manner of beast, the "gods" determined that none were suitable to perform the duties required by the gods. In order to obtain a suitable work force, Enki, who was a master scientist and who carried a staff upon which coiled the double helix of two entwined snakes, performed experiments on these human-like animals and other creatures, creating all manner of hybrid beasts.

These experiments are depicted in Sumerian glyphs in which Enki and his assistants are shown dressed in aprons and holding flasks and other scientific instruments; and so too are depicted the results of his hybrid experiments, creatures that are half animal half man. Finally, by taking blood and other tissues from the body of the gods and mixing it in his flasks and then implanting the embryo into the womb of a goddess, Enki was able to create the first Homo sapiens, "primitive workers" who were created so as to work as forced labor, to tend the gardens and care for the live stock of the gods. "Primitive man I will create. He shall be charged with the service of the gods that they might be at ease."

Thus the "gods" according to the Sumerians "lowered from heaven... the throne of kingship." These individuals were half god and half human and were expected to rule over the fields, the animals, and the incredibly stupid human-like animals that roamed about the planet.

According to the Sumerians Kings lists, the Anunnaki created these first god-kings, over 240,000 years ago (Roux, 1992) when a goddess gave birth to a man who had been experimentally created and implanted in her womb. "Modern" human DNA also traces it ancestral lineage to a female ancestor who lived about 250,000 years ago (Stoneking & Cann, 1989; Vigilant et al. 1991). Likewise, tools associated with evolutionarily advanced humans have also been dated to around 250,000 years B.P. (Waters, 1997).

As noted, modern human DNA differs significantly from Neanderthal DNA, and Neanderthals died out about 30,000 years ago at which point the rapidly proliferating Cro-Magnon gained complete dominion over the planet. It is also around 30,000 years B.P, according to the Egyptian kings lists, that the gods established the first kingships (i.e., 32,000 years ago).

According to the Sumerians, Enki the scientist and god of the snake, created a new man and woman who could be instructed in the art of culture, science, medicine, and technology (Heidel, 1988; Kramer, 1991); a superior human which included women so beautiful that even the Gods lusted and desired them.

In consequence, the Anunnaki fathered innumerable children--and in so doing broke the laws formulated by the supreme lords of the universe. The children of the Gods then began to rapidly proliferate.

Hence, in summary, according to Sumerian mythology, at first there was chaos, and then there were great clouds which consisted of the primeval elements necessary for the creation of the planets and of all life. From this chaos there emerged An, the eternal heavens of space, who seeded the planets with life, including those planets which would give rise to the gods. These gods were exactly like humans, came to this planet in flying ships order to exploit its resources, and then created "workers" whose purpose was to serve the needs of the gods. For the next 200,000 years these "workers" attended to the fields, gardens, and livestock so that the gods could rest and be at ease.(Stoneking & Cann, 1989; Vigilant et al. 1991;(Waters, 1997).

SUMERIAN AND BIBLICAL PARALLELS

The first 25 verses of the first book of Moses (Genesis) repeats much of the creation saga, as told by the peoples of ancient Summer and Babylon, including, in verses 26-31, the story of the step-wise creation of all manner of species which culiminated in "man" and "woman" who was fashioned by a single god, who was a member of a pantheon of gods.

According to the Biblical version of Genesis: "And God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the earth, and over the cattle... and God saw everything that he had made, and behold it was very good."

The Sumerians tell us that after the creation of primitive workers that Enki and the others were able to rest.

Likewise, we are told in Genesis, that on the seventh day, God rested --for even Gods grow weary. Nevertheless, despite the fact that all that god beheld was "very good" including the creation of these first men and women, apparently they were not good enough. The primitive men and women that god created as part of the natural progression beginning with simple Life forms, could not till the earth or take on the responsibilities that the gods required. Thus, Enki fashions a man and woman who are created in the image of the gods and who possess wisdom.

In chapter 2 of Genesis, and after the seventh day when "god" had rested, the Lord God makes His first appearance. In Genesis were are told that the Lord God created yet another man who could tend the gardens; a man endowed with the spirit, or essence of god--yet a man who was to remain stupid and ignorant and whose only purpose was to toil at the behest of the Lord God.

"The Lord God formed a man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostril the breath of life; and man became a living soul. And the Lord God planted a garden, eastward in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. And out of the ground made the Lord God to grow every tree that is pleasant to sight and good for food" --for even Gods grow hungry. "But of the tree of knowledge," the Lord God warned, "thou shalt not eat."

According to the Biblical version, it is only after this warning, after pointing out the tree of knowledge to Adam, that woman, "Eve" is created. She is called "woman" we are told, because she was taken out of a man.

There is something odd about this story, for in life it is man who is taken from the womb of "woman"--which also means womb-man, the man with a womb. It is woman who gives birth to man, and not the other way around.

In this regard it is noteworthy that "Eve" means: "mother of all." However, by a subtle pay on words, it can also mean: "of the rib."

In Genesis, "Eve" is associated with the serpent. She is beguiled by the serpent who provides her with knowledge and wisdom which she then provides to the man.

Likewise, in the Sumerian version, a female goddess, becomes the "mother of all" when Enki, the double helix god of the snake, performs an experiment and implants the mixture into the womb of this goddess, the Mother of All, who gives birth to the first man.

Genesis appears to be a distorted echo of the Sumerian account of human creation; possibly purposefully distorted so as to cast aspersion on the original creator god, Enki, and the mother goddess who is the "mother of all."

Again, according to Sumerian mythology, it is a goddess who serves as the "host" who gives birth to the "new man" that is created in the laboratory of Enki. That is, it is through this woman, this goddess, that a new man is created, a man who is part-god, and who possesses wisdom.

According to the Biblical version, after the creation episode involving "Eve" a crime is committed. A former member of the divine pantheon, a serpent (the Sumerian God: Enki), a fallen angel, provides woman with the fruit of knowledge. She eats, and then offers the fruit of knowledge to man, who also eats, and all are condemned.

But condemned by who? By the Lord God who we later discover is named Yahweh, the ""Destroyer" the "Lord of Armies" of "hosts." It is the Lord God who appears upon the scene after the seventh day who seeks to punish Enki and Eve "the mother of all" for this crime.

The Lord God, speaking to his pantheon of gods says: "Behold the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil... "and so the Lord God "drove out man" from his garden, and promised the worst retributions to woman and man for becoming like the gods, knowing good and evil.

They are cast out of the garden of Eden and terrifying soldiers, that is "Cherubin" with a "flaming sword which turned every way" is stationed at the boundaries of the garden to kill them if they dare to return.

AN INTEGRATED INTERPRETATION OF SUMERIAN GENESIS

Extrapolating from the accounts provided by the Sumerians and the authors of Genesis, and accepting for the moment that these accounts may be true, it thus appears that men and women, "gods" and "goddesses" from another planet established themselves on Earth somewhere around 500,000 years ago in order to deplete the planet of its resources. This is the same time period when the exceedingly ape-like Homo erectus first came to be slowly replaced by the first archaic Homo sapiens including Neanderthals.

Thus, when the Anunnaki first arrived on this planet (be it 500,00 or 250,000 years ago), the only available work force were extremely primitive humans who proved to be incapable of performing the necessary work.

According to the Sumerians, Enki performed experiment on these primitive humans and created a new man and woman who were able to perform the tasks assigned. As Enki's emblem is the double helix, this creative act may have involved genetic engineering and the creation of a clone or a hybrid clone that he implanted in the womb of a woman "god." This female "god" who also resembles a snake, then gives birth to humans who are fashioned in the image of the gods and who have knowledge of good and evil.

And, as we know, a people, great and tall, who strode upon the Earth like gods, the six foot tall Cro-Magnon people appeared on Earth; yet from whence they came, or how they "evolved" is unknown. Hence, at least from the standpoint of a thought experiment, it is possible that the Cro-Magnon people were the result of this genetic experiment, performed maybe around 250,000 years ago or as recently as 70,000 years B.P.

And then, a second god appears on Earth for the first time and calls himself the "Lord God." The Lord God, also known as the Destroyer and the Lord of Armies, appears after the first gods have taken their leisure, that is, after the proverbal "seventh day." In the account provided by Genesis, whereas "God" creates the first man and woman, and then rests, the Lord God then appears upon the Earth and claims to have created Adam to tend his own gardens--which is exactly what the Sumerians tells us were the motives of the Anunnaki. However, this Lord God also drives out "the man" and presumably Eve and the serpent god, from their homes and takes control of the garden of Eden.

Could it be that Yahweh and his "hosts" arrived here after the Anunnaki and then immediately began to war and struggle with them for control of the Earth? Can it be that perhaps Yahweh did not initially engage in any acts of creation, and did not even arrive on this planet until after the creation of the Cro-Magnon Adam and Eve?

THE SONS OF GODS HAVE SEX WITH HUMAN WOMEN

"When the morning stars sang together all the sons of God shouted for joy." Job 38:7.

And who is the morning star? Venus, is the goddess of love, knowledge, and wisdom; also known as the great serpent.

And who are the morning "stars?" Perhaps the Cro-Magnon daughters of the snake?

And who are the "sons of God?" Perhaps the son's of God, that is, of the Anunnaki, also known as the Anakites, and the Nephilim?

"When the goddesses of love gathered and danced and sang together, all the sons of god shouted for joy!

According to the King James version of Genesis (chapter 6): "And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose... 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..."

As stated more clearly in the original Hebrew version of Genesis ("Tanakh"): "It was then, and later too, that the Nephilim appeared on earth--when the divine beings cohabited with the daughters of men, who bore them offspring. They were the heroes of old, the men of renown."

THE FLOOD AND THE DESTRUCTION OF ANCIENT CIVILIZATION

The Sumerians tell us that the Anunnaki at first attempted to use selective birth control and sterilization to prevent the daughters of men from becoming pregnant with the children of the sons of the gods. They also attempted to use these same measures to prevent the daughters of those women who had been impregnated by the sons of god, from breeding. The Anunnaki failed in their birth control efforts and the land became filled with the sons and daughters of the sons of the gods.

According to the Sumerians, the Anunnaki King of the Gods, Enlil, received instructions that he was to destroy these illegitimate children of the gods, the "heroes of old" as they were conceived in violation of the laws (Heidel, 1988; Kramer, 1991). Moreover, he was to destroy the hybrid, half human half animal creations of Enki.

Likewise, the Lord God of Genesis could not bear this "wickedness" and set out to destroy one and all... "both man and beast..." in a great cataclysmic flood. Indeed, throughout Exodus the Lord God also emphasizes that all animals of the conquered and murdered people must also be completely destroyed.

As we have determined in an earlier chapter, the floods, the "great deluge" is not a myth, as there are world wide ancient legends (Hammerly-Dupuy, 1988), and geological (Schoch, 1992; Woolley, 1965) and other evidence of a world wide flood (Hammerly-Dupuy, 1988), and cataclysmic weathering alterning events, including the carcasses of wholly mammoths and other creatures, that were swallowed whole by oceans of waters and then flash-frozen with grass still in their mouths--some 12,000 years ago.

That is, the evidence suggests that following a terrible flood there was an "instant ice age" that was immediately followed by a rapid rise in temperature, thus releasing a second deluge. We are also told of two floods in Genesis one of which lasted 7 days, and another that lasted 40, whereas the Sumerians tell us that there were terrible winds and cold, as well as flood.

The rise in temperature following this rather instant ice age has also been scientifically verified, by James White, a climatologist at the University of Colorado. In a study published in Science, White presents evidence which indicates that immediately following this ice age temperatures increased by 20 degrees in a very short time. That is, temperatures returned to normal, thus unleashing even more terrible floods from the melting ice.

Ancient peoples from throughout the world including Meso-America, have passed on to their descendants, an almost ancestral memory of a time when the Earth was buffeted by terrible storms and freezing rains, of rising rushing waters that destroyed the cities, destroyed civilization, and destroyed the crowns of creation of woman and man (Hammerly-Dupuy, 1988). These cosmic catastrophes enveloped the Earth, some 12,000 years ago, when, according to the ancients, the planet Venus snaked through the heavens, rocketing through the skies like a twisting serpent with the Martian oceans (his coat and skin) trailing behind like a great tail. Venus then lashed the Earth with oceans of water, only to "tear out the eye of the sun" (an eclipse?) causing an instant ice age followed by even more terrible floods when the eclipse was over and the sun again began to shine.

In the oldest existent written records available to modern woman and man, records carved in stone over 6,000 years ago, we are told by Sumerian scholars of five great cities that had been erected over ten thousands years ago (Woolley, 1965); cities by the names of Eridu, Badtibira, Larak, Sippar, and Shuruppak (Kramer, 1991; Roux, 1992), which were destroyed in this great cosmic cataclysm. And Plato tells us of two great cities and civilizations, Atlantis and Athens, the Mayas tell us of "Mu," and the ancient Egyptians speak of numerous cities ruled first by the God, then the demigods, and finally, 15,000 years ago, the first kings.

Presumably the Sumerians, the ancient Egyptians, the Mayans, and Plato, were able to distinguish between myth and fact. Indeed, Plato tells us that this information is from the realm of fact, whereas the Sumerians always began their fables and tales of the marvelous in the following way: "One upon a time..." The same is not true regarding Sumerian accounts of the flood or of the gods (Heidel, 1988; Kramer, 1991; Woolley, 1965).

In fact, the Sumerians divided history into two periods: "Before the flood" (Lam abubi) and "After the flood" (Arki abubi), with their own civilization, arising some 6,000 years ago, belonging to the later (Kramer, 1991; Woolley, 1965). According to the Sumerians, the ancient Egyptians, Plato, and the Mayans, these predeluvial civilizations were incredibly scientifically advanced, and were ruled by mighty kings--including, according to Samarian and Semitic accounts, the descendants of the illegitimate "sons of the gods."

In fact, a great pre-deluvial sphinx still stands in Egypt. As based on geo-weathering studies conducted by Schoch (1992) and published in "Science," the great sphinx is around 13,000 (or more) years in age, and suffered the bulk of its erosion when inundated by torrential rains and flooding. And, as detailed in an earlier chapter, the three great pyramids of Giza appear to have been constructed by an incredibly technologically advanced predeluvial, predynastic Egyptian civilization.

EXODUS: GENOCIDE AND THE CHILDREN OF THE GODS

According to the Sumerians, although the floods destroyed all of civilization, not everyone was killed as the children of the Gods had been forewarned by Enki (Heidel, 1988; Kramer, 1991; Roux, 1992). Enki warned the people because it was he who had created them.

Because Enil either failed to foresee the flood, or because he failed to kill all the illegitimate children of the gods, he was overthrown and replaced by another god. The Babylonians say the god that toppled Enlil was Marduk, the son of Enki.

Likewise, for creating humanity, for making them in the image of the gods, Enlil, the science god of the snake, was condemned.

In the account provided by Genesis, we are told that the Lord God of Genesis also failed to kill all the children of the gods. It was not just Noah who escaped the calamities and floods that enveloped the Earth, but the "wicked" children of the Gods, the descendants of the "Nephilim." The Nephilim survivors, may well have included Canaan, the grandson of Noah; Canaan being yet another member of the Sethian race.

As mentioned in an earlier chapter, in a different Sumerian account, the flood is described as an unexpected force of nature, which the Anunnaki could do nothing to prevent. And (according to this version), it was because of this failure to foresee or prevent this catastrophe, and it was because the power base of the Anunnaki had been destroyed, that Enlil was easily overthrown and replaced by Marduk who also tossed out Enki and the other members of the ruling pantheon following the flood.

According to this version of Sumerian history, the Anunnaki were taken so unawares by the impending cosmic catastrophe that they panicked and were forced to flee the Earth, like frightened dogs with tails between their legs, taking refuge in the heavens.

"The gods cowered like dogs and crouched in distress. Ishtar cried out like a woman in travail... The Anunnaki gods wept with her. The gods sat bowed and weeping" (Roux, 1992), for they were about to lose everything they had worked for.

After the floods had subsided, the Anunnaki are described as returning from the heavens, famished and starved, as they had been insufficiently provisioned.

As in the Biblical version, the humans of Earth who survived this cataclysm did so by building and arc. And as the survivers emerged after the waters had receded they built a fire, and roasted meat. According to the Sumerian version the gods returned from the heavens and "the gods smelled the sweet savor. The gods gathered like flies over the sacrifice" for they were starved and famished. Likewise, in the Biblical version, the Lord God also smells the sweet savor and joins Noah and his family in the feast.

And it is here that the Sumerian account of the history of the Anunnaki and their Nephilim children ends, and where the Book of Moses explains what transpired next.

EXODUS: THE LORD GOD PLOTS TO KILL THE CHILDREN OF THE GODS

For reasons that are never explained, Canaan the grandson of Noah, and a survivor of the great flood, is condemned by Noah. Canaan, but not his brothers, is cursed, not because of anything he did, but because his father, Ham, saw Noah lying in his tent drunk and naked (Genesis 9:21-28). It is Canaan and his children and descendants, according to the Genesis, who would establish the land of Canaan. And it is the descendants of Canaan, of the Sethian race, who the Lord God would seek to erase from the face of the Earth.

The Lord God would plot and scheme for thousands of years, to destroy the last descendants of the Nephilim, the Anunnaki ("Anakites"), as well as those of the Caananite branch of the Sethian race--all of whom may have been one and the same. The Lord God would create his own "godly offspring" who He would toughen up to serve as an army that would seek out and destroy the last of the descendants of those old Gods whose son's impregnated the women of Earth, thereby giving rise to titans and heroes of old. The Lord God would exterminate the sons and daughters of the son's of God, and the children of the daughters of Enki's human creations.

And so, according to Genesis, The Lord God chooses Abraham to be the "father" of the first of his "godly offspring," the multitude who would becomes slaves in ancient Egypt.

And thus, with the Books of Moses, begins the Exodus. The Lord God gathers up an army of the descendants of Israel -his "first born son." And with the assistance of Moses, He leads them from the land of Egypt to destroy the peoples of Canaan. However, the Lord God also explains to his godly offspring that they were chosen for this task "not because of their virtues, it is rather because of the wickedness of those nations that the Lord is dispossessing...." Indeed, to stress this important point, the Lord God repeats it to Moses and the Jews: "It is not because of your virtues and your rectitude that you will be able to possess their country; but it is because of their wickedness" (Deuteronomy, chapter 9).

And who are these "wicked" people that must be destroyed? It is "A people great and tall, the Anakites... The Lord your God will wipe them out." And who are these Anakites, these giants, "great and tall?" but none other that the children of the "Anunnaki," the Nephilim--or at least, so say the Books of Moses.

And after "Moses sent men to secretly scout the land of Canaan... they returned... and the men who had gone up said, We cannot attack that people... All the people that we saw in it are men of great size, we saw the Nephilim there--the Anakites are part of the Nephilim--and we looked like grasshoppers... to them" (Numbers, Chapter 13).