Reviewer: Michael E. Salla, PhD
Exopolitics Journal 2:2 (July 2007)
Rulers of the Earth is a moving personal attempt to clarify ancient
biblical references to the “sons of God”, and relating these to the
life and teachings of Jesus Christ. Dr Joe Lewels reveals his
own personal odyssey from successful businessman and academic who
once headed the Department of Journalism at the
of Texas at El Paso, to a researcher of the UFO abduction
phenomenon. After discovering that “hypnosis was absolutely
necessary” for recovering the suppressed memories of those
experiencing the abduction phenomenon, Lewels discovered that
past life information could also be regained detailing
historical events (p. 19).
A number of
synchronistic events lead to him
discovering that he and others involved in abduction research, have
deeply personal connections to the biblical events surrounding the
life and crucifixion of Jesus. More significant for Lewels, is his
own personal association with a mysterious Jewish sect called the
Essenes who have much information about the “sons of God”.
the Dead Sea Scrolls were
discovered from the Qumran caves describing in great detail the
beliefs and teachings of the Esssene community.
Lewels describes how
translations were suppressed for over four decades by Catholic
“had no interest in science at all,
but only in protecting their church’s belief system” (p.
Most disturbing are references found in
a number of the scrolls to “sons of God” who comprised both
righteous and fallen ‘angels’ who are described in modern terms as
‘Fallen angels’ were generally
known as ‘Nephilim’,
‘Watchers’ or ‘Archons’,
while righteous angels were known as ‘Aeons’ or ‘Elohim’. The
fallen angels or ‘Nephilim’ were banished to Earth and interbred
with the Daughters of Eve as explained in the Book of Genesis
“The Nephilim were on the Earth in
those days, and also afterwards, when the sons of God mated with
the daughters of men and they bore children for them: these were
the heroes of old, the men of renown.”
While the Book of Genesis
contains references to the fallen angels as ‘Nephilim’, the Dead
Sea Scrolls contain the original sources for this information.
Book of Enoch gives a highly
detailed account of the activities of 200 fallen angels or
‘Nephilim’/’Watchers’ who were locked into a deep conflict with the
‘righteous angels’ or ‘Aeons’. The Nephilim proceeded to
interbreed with humanity and created a race of giants that had much
authority until the time of the Noah and the great flood. The
Book of Enoch gives surprising validation to the theory of
extraterrestrial visitation, and that this involved genetic
intermixing with ancient humanity.
According to Lewels,
“the idea that the sons of God came
to Earth and had sexual relations with human women, thereby
creating a race of half man/half gods is too incredible for
most modern Christians or Jews to even contemplate” (p.
According to Lewels, the Dead Sea
Scrolls reveal many parallels between the teachings of Jesus
and the Essenes. The Essenes were led by a “Teacher of
Righteousness” who taught by personal example and led an ascetic
life that eschewed collaboration with the secular world of the
Romans or their Jewish
collaborators, the Pharisees. In Lewels’
view, Jesus was both a member of the Essene community and
their Teacher of Righteousness. He nevertheless points out
that there is controversy over whether Jesus was an Essene,
let alone their Teacher of Righteousness. There is less
controversy that John the Baptist was an Essene (p. 121).
Furthermore, other key figures in the
life of Jesus, his mother, father, aunt, were very likely,
according to Lewels, part of the Essene community. This meant
that while Jesus may not have been an active member of the
Essene community, he was deeply familiar with their teachings and
had been influenced by their ascetic lifestyle.
It is the discovery of the Gnostic Gospels at Nag Hammadi in 1945
that Lewels is able to penetrate deeper into layers of the mystery
surrounding Jesus and the sons of God. As in the case of the Dead
Sea Scrolls, the contents of
the Nag Hammadi findings took
decades to reach the general public. It was only in 1975 that an
authoritative translation of their contents were published.
Lewels reveals surprising information about Jesus
teaching Gnostic beliefs over reincarnation, elevation of women to
leadership roles, and developing a direct personal relationship with
the transcendent God that pervades all existence. Most
surprising is the belief that
the God of the Old Testament, Yahweh/Jehovah,
is in fact a Watcher or ‘Archon’ who keeps souls captive.
Jesus gives assent to this
Gnostic view in the following:
“[The souls are delivered] to the
powers, which are under the Archon. The souls will once more be
cast into fetters and led about until they are saved from lack
of perception, attain knowledge, and so will be perfected and
saved…. It [the soul] no longer goes into another flesh [after
it is perfected]” ( p. 169).
Lewels elaborates on the Gnostic belief
system that human life on Earth is controlled by the “sons of God”
or ‘Archons’ who were secret rulers entrapping human souls in
endless material pursuits. The idea was that if humans spent
their lifetime enmeshed in material pursuits, they would remain
bonded to the material world through reincarnation. Understanding
that Earthly life is a form of bondage to the ‘Archons’, Jesus
in fact set out to reveal the truth.
This formed the real reason for his
opposition to both the secular and religious authorities of the day.
However, the Gnostic teachings of Jesus were suppressed by
the Orthodox Church who ruthlessly persecuted Gnostics and destroyed
their texts. Apparently Mary Magdalene and her followers escaped to
the Languedoc region of France which became a haven for Gnostic
The Cathars of Languedoc flourished
until the 13th century when they were finally destroyed by the
Albigensian Crusade ordered by
Catholic Church. Gnostic beliefs all but disappeared
until the Nag Hammadi discovery in 1945.
Lewels backs his claims with sufficient citations and
reputable sources to make even the most staunch conservative
Christian rethink some of the core tenets of his/her belief system
concerning the sons of God, and the true message taught by
Jesus concerning these beings.
Overall, Lewels builds a very compelling
case that the “sons of God” described in biblical texts are
really extraterrestrials that are divided between those
trying to exploit humanity (Nephilim/Watchers/Archons) and those
trying to assist humanity (righteous angels/Aeons/Elohim).
Lewels argues that the modern
abduction phenomenon relates to
biblical events concerning “sons of God” and genetic modification of
humanity. He suggests that genetic modification by
extraterrestrials is well evidenced in human history, and while
this has traumatic elements, he implies this is acceptable due to
its beneficial aspects.
To illustrate, he cites one abduction
case where the experiencer claims that Jesus or ‘Sananda’
approved of the genetic modifications occurring in the abduction
phenomenon. In response to a question by Lewels as to why Jesus
would ask her to submit to such an experience, the abductee replies:
“He is teaching me about karma and
how we all live many lives, and in each life we make promises.
There is an agreement that we make before we incarnate into a
body, and then we have to fulfill our contract if we are going
to progress to a higher level” (p.220).
This leads to my one caveat about
Rulers of Earth.
Lewels merges the findings from his abduction research with
the ancient biblical material wherein genetic modification
associated with abductions are accepted as part of the historical
intervention method used by the Watchers or
For example, he cites the view that,
“we have been genetically
manipulated by intelligent beings that apparently combined some
of their own genetic material with that of apes hundreds of
thousands of years ago. That genetic manipulation is still going
on today” (pp. 53-54).
This view is best illustrated in the
Zecharia Sitchin concerning his
translations of Sumerians cuneiform records of
bio-engineering humanity from primitive hominoids.
Lewels makes the assumption that extraterrestrials
responsible for genetic intervention in the modern era are linked
with or the same as those performing genetic intervention in past.
This linkage has some major problems.
First, the extraterrestrials
cited in Sitchin’s work and historical texts have little
physical resemblance to the small ‘Grays’ with emaciated bodies
and large physical heads in the modern abduction research.
The former are described as
physically powerful beings that sired a ruling class of demigods
and giants that dominated humanity for centuries as Lewels
Beginning with the ancient
Sumerian kings, we find references to these demigods
who ruled by divine birthright. The Pharaohs of
Egypt, the Incan rulers of Peru, and the dynastic kings of
China and Japan all had the same tradition: that long ago
the gods interbred with humans to create special lineages of
humans to serve as rulers of their nations (p. 132).
Second, the biblical texts
describe the “sons of God” as mating with women. This is not
part of the modern abduction phenomenon which describes genetic
manipulation, not physical mating between extraterrestrials and
abducted women. Most experiencers describe
Grays as having neither sexual
organs nor emotions, and are attempting to create some kind of
hybrid race with some human emotions.
While researchers such as
Dr David Jacobs describe some of the hybrids as sexually
active, the overwhelming majority of human extraterrestrial
encounters described in abduction research involve invasive
medical procedures and not the sexual procreation described in
the biblical texts.
Third, the abduction
phenomenon is relatively recent in the modern era dating from
the 1960’s and 1970’s, and was preceded by a far less intrusive
and non-traumatic set of human extraterrestrial encounters in
the 1950’s and early 1960’s. The latter set of encounters is
exemplified in the contactee stories of George Adamski,
Howard Menger, Daniel Fry and countless others who
were exposed to consciousness raising teachings by human looking
extraterrestrials. None of these interventions involved genetic
This suggests that an important
aspect of the human extraterrestrial contact has little to do
with genetic manipulation, and instead is focused on
consciousness raising. In some cases, there are even reports
of physical mating between the extraterrestrials and humans.
This suggests more of a correlation between latter day contactee
reports with biblical events concerning the sons of God,
than the abduction phenomenon.
Lewels doesn’t mention contactee
testimonies concerning fully conscious voluntary interactions with
human looking extraterrestrials, nor analyze these in terms of the
biblical accounts of the sons of God. He focuses instead on
abduction reports which he has personally researched in clinical
conditions using research tools such as hypnosis and correlates
these with historical references to the sons of God. Focusing
on one’s own empirical data in interpreting extraterrestrial
encounters is an understandable research method.
Nevertheless, it does lead to the
criticism that the subsequent research findings are skewed towards a
category of human extraterrestrial contacts that are not reflective
of all that is currently happening or has historically happened with
human extraterrestrial interaction. Undoubtedly there are many
modern cases of human extraterrestrial encounters with non-human
looking beings that have traumatic elements to them and involve
genetic modification. At the same time, there are also cases of
non-traumatic encounters with human looking extraterrestrials that
are respectful, do not involve genetic modification, are oriented to
consciousness raising, and in cases appear to have involved
Any research into the human extraterrestrial encounter needs to take
both sets of these encounter phenomena into account to reach a
balanced perspective on what is currently occurring. This is
especially the case since the modern abduction phenomenon involves
extraterrestrial interactions that may not be related to the sons of
God described in historical texts. This is my only caveat
with Rulers of Earth insofar as the extraterrestrial
phenomenon is presented through the filter of abductions involving
genetic modifications. It is not clear that the modern abduction
phenomenon correlates with historical texts describing the sons of
God who appear to have been a physically more robust set of
extraterrestrials than encountered in abduction research.
Despite my caveat, Rulers of the Earth gives an impressive
analysis of historical evidence concerning extraterrestrials as "sons
of God" that historically have interacted with humanity.
Lewels persuasively argues that this phenomenon continues into
the modern era. Rulers of Earth will be upsetting to more
traditional practitioners of the Judeo-Christian faiths who may
refuse to accept the implications of the radical findings at the
Dead Sea Scrolls and
The idea that the ‘God’ of the Old
Yahweh/Jehovah, is in fact an
“intermediary god” or extraterrestrial intent on maintaining
control over humanity and eliminating extraterrestrial rivals
will be deeply upsetting to many. Lewels’ scholarship, numerous
insights, and deeply personal experiences involving events
concerning Jesus and his disciplines, will help soften the
radical implications of his work that challenges the very core of
This is a book that will help many open up to a set of disturbing
truths about religion and humanity’s extraterrestrial origins.
It will alert many to the possibility that humanity has to confront
a historical situation where it is dominated by some
extraterrestrials/’sons of God’ that control humanity in ways that
minimize the human potential.
In alerting us to the importance of
understanding the true implications of the discoveries of historical
texts at Qumran and Nag Hammadi, Joe Lewels provides
invaluable insights into how humanity can move beyond the historic
control dynamic with extraterrestrials and empower itself.