Prof. Ken Hanson discussed "banned from the Bible" stories that were too explosive to make the cut into the Hebrew Bible and New Testament, and a recently discovered ancient tablet that contains text similar to the Dead Sea Scrolls. In contrast to the parchment of the Dead Sea Scrolls, the tablet's text appears as ink on stone, and is said to date back to just before Jesus' birth. "It's a message delivered by the angel Gabriel" about a messianic character who will rise from the dead," and is written in the apocalyptic style of the Dead Sea Scrolls, he reported. But it is possible that the stone is a forgery, he added.

One interesting ancient text found at the ancient site of Masada, "Song of the Sabbath Sacrifice," refers to a airborne craft and "non-terrestrial beings." It describes a procession of angels ascending to a heavenly temple, as they soar in a Merkabah or chariot-like throne, Hanson detailed.

Encounters with such "non-terrestrial" beings may be one reason a number of ancient texts were excluded from the Bible, he said. A whole race of beings were spawned by the Nephilim, according to some of the banned books of the Bible, like the Book of First Enoch. Fragments from the Dead Sea Scrolls represent a number of these excluded books and are like "the world's biggest jigsaw puzzle," said Hanson. "We're more than what we know; I think these banned books are shouting this at us...that our consciousness is something more than just the body," he shared.

A Visit with the Nelson Brothers

First hour guests, musicians Matthew & Gunnar Nelson, the twin sons of Ricky Nelson, talked about their career, and their late father, who died tragically in a plane crash. For the 25th anniversary of his death, they've recorded a CD featuring some of their father's best known hits.