View From The Bunker

NO MYTHICAL LAND has captured the imagination of poets, dreamers, and adventurers like Atlantis. But why should Christians care? Doug Van Dorn (www.douglasvandorn.com), author of Giants: Sons of the Gods; and Brian Godawa (www.Godawa.com), best-selling author of the theological thriller Cruel Logic, and a two new novels based on the period of the Maccabees in Judea, join us for our monthly Iron and Myth round table to discuss the legendary island nation and its continuing influence on human thought. (Dr. Judd Burton had technical issues logging on and wasn’t able to join us as planned.) Our conversation delves into the enduring fascination with Atlantis, exploring its origins in Plato’s writings and its implications for understanding ancient civilizations. We especially look at the connections between Atlantis and biblical narratives, the cultural influence of the myth, and the various geographical theories surrounding its location. We also examine the impact of Atlantis on modern occult teachings and the

THE GATES OF HELL are a real place. Jesus took his disciples on a 14-hour hike to declare his divinity there, which suggests there was something important about the place. The Iron and Myth crew joins us this month to discuss Sharon and Derek Gilbert’s new book, The Gates of Hell: Dr. Judd Burton (www.BurtonBeyond.net), author of Interview with the Giant; Doug Van Dorn (www.douglasvandorn.com), author of Giants: Sons of the Gods; and Brian Godawa (www.Godawa.com), best-selling author of the theological thriller Cruel Logic, and the new novels Judah Maccabee Parts 1 & 2. We delve into the concept of the ‘Gates of Hell,’ exploring its literal and metaphorical implications. We discuss the historical and spiritual significance of various locations, including Caesarea Philippi and Babel, and how these relate to ancient practices of necromancy and communication with the spirit realm. Our conversation also touches on the connections between Jesus’ baptism and cosmic geography, as well as the relevance of anci

THE BOOK OF REVELATION is cryptic and complex. Supernaturally so. Critics who write off Revelation as a hallucination have obviously not looked at the literary structure of the book. The Iron and Myth crew discusses a book by regular IaM panelist Doug Van Dorn (DouglasVanDorn.com), Rings of Revelation, that shows a level of complexity to the work of the apostle John that is beyond human. Brian Godawa (Godawa.com) and Dr. Judd Burton (BurtonBeyond.net) join us to explore Revelation’s literary structure, thematic elements, and the interplay between supernatural and earthly realms. Doug presents a unique perspective on Revelation as a literary masterpiece, emphasizing its cyclical nature and chiastic structure.  The discussion also touches on the use of popular culture, such as Star Wars, in understanding biblical texts, and the implications of astral theology within the context of divine council. We also congratulate Doug for presenting a new take on end times prophecy in a non-contentious way, recognizing t

THE SO-CALLED silent centuries between the Book of Malachi and the Gospel of Matthew weren’t as quiet as we’ve been taught. This month, the Iron and Myth crew discusses a fictionalized account of Judea’s struggle for independence in the second century BC from the rule (and gods) of their Greek overlords by Iron and Myth regular and best-selling author Brian Godawa (Godawa.com), Judah Maccabee Part 1: Abomination of Desolation and Judah Maccabee Part 2: Against the Gods of Greece.  Doug Van Dorn (DouglasVanDorn.com) and Dr. Judd Burton (BurtonBeyond.net) join Brian to discuss the historical and theological significance of the centuries between the Old and New Testaments, focusing on the story of Hanukkah and the Maccabees. We analyze the role of Antiochus Epiphanes, the Maccabean revolt, and the implications of these events on Jewish history and theology.  Our conversation also explores the nature of historical fiction and how it can be approached from a truth perspective, emphasizing the importance of unde

IT’S BECOMING more acceptable for pagans to proclaim their faith openly in America. Carl Teichrib (GameOfGods.ca), author of Game of Gods: The Temple of Man in the Age of Re-enchantment, shares his experiences at the 2025 Paganicon in Minneapolis. Carl tells us that many of the Neo-pagans there, who now follow gods of the Greek, Roman, Mesopotamian, and Norse pantheons, came out of Christian churches. We discuss the reasons these modern-day pagans abandoned Jesus and the responsibility we Christians share for failing to serve as effective ambassadors for our King. Follow Carl on X (@CarlTeichrib) and take advantage of his research at ForcingChange.org. The Gilberts’ new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback, Kindle, and as an audiobook at Audible! Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback, Kindle, and as an audiobook at Audible! Follow us! X: @viewfrombunker | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbertTelegram: t.me/gilber

Red heifers are back in Israel! But what does that mean, exactly?  Adam Eliyahu Berkowitz, writer for Israel365News.com and author of the new book Return of the Red Heifers: Paving the Road to Redemption (israel365store.com/products/red-heifers), joins us to explain the significance of the heifers, why they’re important, and why a Third Temple isn’t necessary to begin the sacrifices on the Temple Mount.  We also discuss the historical context of the relationship between Jews and Christians, the role of the Messiah, modern misunderstandings surrounding these topics and the potential for future collaboration between the two faiths. Follow Adam’s Substack here: AdamEliyahuBerkowitz.substack.com. Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback, Kindle, and as an audiobook at Audible! Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback, Kindle, and as an audiobook at Audible! Follow us! X: @viewfrombunker | @sharonkgilbert | @de

IT’S CALLED the world’s oldest temple. While only a small portion of the site has been excavated, the clues point to one solid conclusion: It was meant as a point of contact with the gods.  Our usual Iron and Myth crew is joined by special guest Dr. Aaron Judkins (aaronjudkins.com, aaronjudkins.substack.com), co-author with Dr. Judd Burton (burtonbeyond.net) of the best-selling book Decoding Göbekli Tepe: Biblical Anatolia and the Watchers.  Rounding out the discussion are Doug Van Dorn (douglasvandorn.com), author, pastor of the Reformed Baptist Church of Northern Colorado in Boulder and host of the Giant Steps podcast, and Brian Godawa (godawa.com), best-selling author and award-winning screenwriter, whose new novels Judah Maccabee, Part 1: Abomination of Desolation and Judah Maccabee, Part 2: Against the Gods of Greece will be the topic of next month’s Iron and Myth. Our conversation digs into the significance of Göbekli Tepe, exploring its classification as the world's oldest temple and the cultural im

IT’S DIFFICULT enough explaining why we Christians believe in Jesus, but doing so with our Jewish brothers and sisters requires tact and patience made necessary by almost 1,900 years of mutual animosity. We’re joined this week by Dr. Igal German, founding director of the Institute of Biblical Apologetics (BibleApologist.org) and Yesod Bible Center (YesodBibleCenter.com). We discuss Dr. German's journey from rabbinic Judaism to faith in Jesus as the Messiah, his work in apologetics, and the current state of Christian responses to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  Dr. German emphasizes the importance of understanding apologetics as a defense of faith, the need for a strong Christian voice in support of Israel, and the mission to reach the Jewish community with the gospel. There is a complex historical and theological relationship between Judaism and Christianity, and we explore the implications of supersessionism, the interpretation of Messianic prophecies, and the role of education in bridging the divide be

IN THE ANCIENT Near East, the dead never really went away. And if you didn’t care for them properly, they could make your life hell. With us to discuss the cult of the dead in the lands around ancient Israel is our Iron and Myth crew: Dr. Judd Burton (www.BurtonBeyond.net), author of Interview with the Giant; Doug Van Dorn (www.douglasvandorn.com), author of Giants: Sons of the Gods; and Brian Godawa (www.Godawa.com), best-selling author of the theological thriller Cruel Logic, and a new novel based on the period of the Maccabees in Judea.  We explore the cult of the dead in ancient Israel, examining its practices, rituals, and the influence of ancestor worship. The discussion delves into archaeological findings, biblical references, and comparative analysis with other cultures, particularly focusing on the Rephaim and the significance of rituals like the Marzeah feast.   The pervasive nature of these beliefs and practices in ancient societies is evident in biblical references to the Rephaim and the cult o

PRESIDENT TRUMP made more heads explode this week with his announcements about Gaza and the creation of a White House Faith Office. Leftists and Muslims are incensed by Trump’s proposal to rebuild Gaza, which they’re calling “ethnic cleansing,” conveniently forgetting that negotiations for a two-state solution to the Arab-Israeli problem have yet to yield results after about 90 years of trying. Meanwhile, liberals, atheists, and many conservative Christians object, for various reasons, to the appointment of Paula White-Cain to head up the new White House Faith Office. Let’s take a breath and wait to see how this plays out. Remember, what happens in your house is more important than who’s in the White House. And regardless of your view on eschatology, we can say with confidence that President Trump is not the Antichrist. Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback, Kindle, and as an audiobook at Audible! Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson,

THE TRAGIC midair collision of an American Eagle passenger jet with a U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopter in Washington, D. C. this week was politicized and conspiracy theorized within hours. Neither response is appropriate.   Our government and the media has created such a sense of distrust that many of us don’t believe anything we see, hear, or read anymore. That’s by design. Believing nothing will steer you wrong just as surely as believing everything. In the case of AA Flight 5342, it appears the simple explanation--human error--is correct. A pilot friend of ours recommended this analysis of the crash by an experienced pilot who reviews the recording of communications between air traffic controllers at Reagan National Airport, which indicates that the pilot of the Blackhawk helicopter thought he had Flight 5342 in sight when, in fact, he was looking at the plane coming in behind it, Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback, Kindle, and as an audiobook at Audible! Derek’s new book Destin

THE AI genie is out of the bottle. The big question now is whether Skynet will be Chinese or American. We discuss the announcement this week of a half-trillion dollar joint venture between OpenAI, Oracle, and SoftBank called Stargate to build an artificial intelligence infrastructure to make the United States the world’s leader in AI technology. The venture’s name evokes images of “ancient aliens,” thanks to the movie Stargate and its long-running TV spinoff, and the remote viewing experiments run by the Defense Intelligence Agency in the late ’70s. We don’t know whether President Trump is aware of these connections, but someone on his team surely is. However, China preempted the White House announcement by releasing DeepSeek R1, an AI platform that performs as well as, if not better than, OpenAI’s latest release and is offered to users at 3% of OpenAI’s price. In addition. DeepSeek is open source, meaning users can download it and run it themselves for the cost of the electricity. In short, the AI demon h

GÖBEKLI TEPE has been called the oldest temple in the world. Who—or what—was worshipped there? Dr. Aaron Judkins and Dr. Judd Burton, authors of the new book Decoding Gobekli Tepe: Biblical Anatolia and the Watchers (https://amzn.to/3WpE3xu), join us to explore the significance of the ancient site. They discuss the archaeological evidence that supports biblical narratives, the spiritual connections to ancient Anatolia (modern Türkiye), and the cultural implications of the site's findings.  We delve into the role of the Watchers, the worship of the moon-god, and the anthropomorphic representations found at Göbekli Tepe, ultimately connecting these themes to the veneration of ancestors and the Rephaim. Aaron and Judd also discuss cultural engineering by the Watchers and their astonishing discovery of a connection between iconography at Göbekli Tepe and the Luwians, a Bronze Age people who lived in what is now southern Türkiye—thousands of years after Gobekli Tepe was built. Our new book The Gates of Hell is

THE SO-CALLED silent centuries between the books of Malachi and Matthew in the Bible were not as quiet as we’ve been told. Award-winning screenwriter and best-selling novelist Brian Godawa (Godawa.com) joins us to discuss the latest entries in his Chronicles of the Watchers series, Judah Maccabee Part 1: The Abomination of Desolation and Judah Maccabee Part 2: Against the Gods of Greece. Brian tells us why he chose this period of relatively unfamiliar Jewish history (unfamiliar to Christians, anyway) to dramatize spiritual warfare, explains why the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament is relevant to Christians, and reveals where in the Apocrypha we find accounts of angels fighting against the Greeks for the Jews. Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback, Kindle, and as an audiobook at Audible! Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback, Kindle, and as an audiobook at Audible! Follow us! • X: @viewfromb

WE LIVE in interesting times. And 2025 promises no end of excitement. What’s ahead for the coming year? The two biggest economic blocs on Earth, the G7 and BRICS, will launch pilot programs for Central Bank Digital Currencies, the closest thing we’ve seen to what the mark of the Beast will look like. In the Middle East, Turkey has overthrown the Assad regime in Syria, but what that means for regional security is still unknown, as is Russia’s response to Ukraine’s use of long-range British and American missiles. Meanwhile, China is looking more ready than ever to try to reintegrate Taiwan into the mainland. Politically, Donald Trump will become the second American president to serve two non-consecutive terms (the other was Grover Cleveland in 1885–89 and 1893–97). Will he be able to outmaneuver the deep state the second time around? Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback, Kindle, and as an audiobook at Audible! Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Al

IF YOU WERE looking for evidence of a global catastrophe followed by a mysterious civilization that somehow survived, you might not start with the Americas.  However, contrarian investigator and author Graham Hancock has done just that with season 2 of his Netflix series Ancient Apocalypse. Our Iron and Myth crew gather to discuss Hancock’s work in this second season. Joining us at the virtual round table is Dr. Judd Burton (www.BurtonBeyond.net), author of Interview with the Giant, Doug Van Dorn (www.douglasvandorn.com), author of Giants: Sons of the Gods, and Brian Godawa (www.Godawa.com), best-selling author of the theological thriller Cruel Logic, and a new novel based on the period of the Maccabees in Judea. Ancient Apocalypse is very well done. We discuss the questions it raises about lost civilizations, and the implications of new archaeological discoveries. We critique the documentary’s potential biases and the role of propaganda in shaping narratives. The discussion also touches on the connections

SKEPTICS OFTEN claim that the Hebrew Bible must have been copied from older Mesopotamian texts. Frankly, this is lazy thinking by people looking for excuses not to deal with God. Our Iron and Myth crew joins us to discuss the relationship between the Bible and Mesopotamian religion: Doug Van Dorn (www.douglasvandorn.com), author of Giants: Sons of the Gods and Brian Godawa (www.Godawa.com), best-selling author of Chronicles of the Nephilim, Chronicles of the Watchers, the theological thriller Cruel Logic, and a forthcoming novel based on the period of the Maccabees in Judea. Sadly, Dr. Judd Burton (www.BurtonBeyond.net) was unable to join us this month. We discuss the parallels between creation stories from different cultures, including Mesopotamian and Mesoamerican myths, and the implications of these similarities for understanding the Bible. We dig into the nature of myth and history, the importance of context in biblical interpretation, and the need for a nuanced approach to understanding ancient texts.

AND THEN a whole new one begins. This has been the most bizarre presidential campaign since the Civil War. Thankfully, the campaign ends this week with Election Day Tuesday, and—we hope—a winner declared shortly thereafter. Then comes a different kind of crazy as we prepare for whoever is inaugurated January 21, 2025. Whatever happens, however, remember that God is still on His throne, none of this takes Him by surprise, and our mission as Christians has not changed. Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback, Kindle, and as an audiobook at Audible! Derek’s new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback, Kindle, and as an audiobook at Audible! Follow us! • X: @viewfrombunker | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert• Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse• YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation• Facebook.com/viewfromthebunker Sharon’s novels Winds of Evil and The Armageddon Strain are available now in paperback, ebook (Kindle), and

IT WAS a common practice in the ancient world. Sadly, it’s still practiced today—and closer to us than we’d think. Joining us for our annual Halloween episode, a tradition since 2010, is Dr. Judd Burton (BurtonBeyond.net). We delve into the disturbing reality of human sacrifice in the modern world, exploring its historical roots, spiritual significance, and the ongoing practices that continue to occur around the world. Judd explains the connections between bloodlust, vampirism, and ritual magic, as well as the dark underbelly of human trafficking and modern slavery. We also discuss the implications of human sacrifice in ancient cultures, the legacy of figures like Vlad Dracula, and the ongoing relevance of these themes in modern society. The dialogue delves into the linguistic roots of vampirism, the significance of archaeological sites like Gobekli Tepe, and the dark legacy of biblical narratives such as Cain and Abel. This is an issue that is only properly understood through a biblical lens. These ancien

OLYMPIANS, Titans, and demigod heroes in the Bible? Yes, and the Jews of Jesus’ day knew it. Joining us to discuss what most of us call “mythology” is our Iron and Myth crew: Doug Van Dorn (www.douglasvandorn.com), author of Giants: Sons of the Gods, Dr. Judd Burton (www.BurtonBeyond.net), director of The Institute of Biblical Anthropology and author of Interview with the Giant and The Nephilim Chronicles, and Brian Godawa (www.Godawa.com), best-selling author of Chronicles of the Nephilim, Chronicles of the Watchers, the theological thriller Cruel Logic, and a forthcoming novel relevant to this month’s discussion based on the period of the Maccabees in Judea. We discuss the intricate relationship between Greek mythology and biblical narratives, particularly focusing on the influence of Greco-Roman religion on Jewish thought, and the significance of the Abomination of Desolation (Dan. 9:27, 11:31, 12:11; Matt. 24:15). We also explore the role of demigods and the Rephaim in ancient beliefs, the reality of a