They will enhance your life,
Enlarge your fortune,
Strengthen your body,
Destroy your soul.

The Guardians look down from their mountaintop to the valley of men below—and they desire the women they see. Abandoning their rightful home, they infiltrate mankind peacefully … with disastrous consequences.

Haven, a young man of strong faith, lives in the pleasant valley that is now under invasion. A blind prophet has warned the people for years, but Haven is the only one listening. The Guardians, who look like men but are not, exchange wisdom of the mountains for the use of the mortal women. Everyone turns a blind eye to the monstrosities born of these unions in their greed for this forbidden knowledge that improves their lives.

As violence and depravity increase in the valley, Haven desperately tries to convince the people—and the woman he loves—that judgment is coming, putting himself in the crosshairs of both the Guardians and their malevolent offspring.

What might the world have been like before the Flood? What if fallen angels could have had children with human women? How did the world become so bad in Noah’s day that God decided to send such a severe judgment? J. S. Helms explores these questions in Gods They Had Never Known. Its colorful story-world portrays angelic guardians who abandoned their guardian responsibilities so they can get close to human women. Children born to them are a rather wild bunch, even when they are dead. While the narrative provides plenty of extra-biblical speculation, it strongly supports biblical morality and the truth of how sin distorts goodness.

Best for: Older readers.

Discern: Some horrific and almost lewd imagery; readers may also consider why, in this story-world, metalworking, medicine craft, and fabric-making is forbidden to humans, as opposed to God’s allowance of this knowledge and skills in our age.