Incompatibilities
posted by Jack H @ 04:03
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Whom the Lord loves
[Moved from Forgotten Prophets]
1. Where the Road Forks
James Robinson, of
We are, all of us, little children, overflowing with curiosity and willfulness. And we wonder, could it be different than the way it is? What if I’d turned right instead of left, gone instead of stayed? – and I did I even have a choice? Such questions tend as much toward regret as to contentment. In any case, it shouldn’t take long before we get even more philosophical, and evidentially we get back to Adam, who invented regret. And we wonder, did he even have a choice? Was he made just so he could eventually die? There’s Eve, thinking, What's so bad about tasting that fruit? We know the answer now, what with all this death and pain everywhere all around us. But what would have happened if she, if Adam, had not fallen? What would have happened if
To say that God knows what will happen, and thus doesn't actually make our choices but informs us what they will be, is one way to squirm out of the paradox of prophecy. But this appeals to God in eternity and not in time. And given a question that has vexed our sensibilities since Adam stood shivering outside the gates of
What if the human actors in prophecy, possessing as they did free will, had made other choices? If there are no answers to such questions that don't appeal to eternity, then do we have a real choice in our lives? - and is the idea of free will anything other than a mockery? - and this “whosoever would come unto me" ... is it an offer made in good faith? - or bad? Well, that is a simply unacceptable assumption, of the God we know from the Bible. So how can we account for the fact that Jesus was slain from the foundation of the world to atone for our sins (1 Cor 15:3, Gal 1:4, 1 Pet
A specific case, then. Jesus said, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." (Mt 4:17). "At hand" - here for the taking, if you would take it. To seal His offer, demonstrating just how near it was, he rode into
So, what if Israel's hard heart had softened and the hypocrites had repented and the corrupt officials had seen the light and a universal cry went up from all of Israel, Hail, King Jesus, Messiah, Immanuel – blessed is He Who comes in the name of the Lord. What if the kingdom had been accepted.
The political climate was certainly one of expectancy. When Herod the Great died, rebels against
2. When the King Comes
For over three years, Jesus had wandered the countryside, teaching, preaching, proclaiming the Good News of the Kingdom at hand. Everywhere His message was met with gladness and repentance. The Baptist had prepared the way, and Jesus fulfilled all prophecy and gave miraculous signs, so even the blind could see who He was. He made no public claims, but everyone knew. From everywhere in the world Jews came, out of the farthest reaches of the Empire and from beyond its borders. For these years, merchants and travelers and ambassadors had spread the news, 'the Promised One has come', and it seemed every son of
Emperor Tiberius Caesar – debauched, ruthless, competent – apprized of the perilous situation in
On that Sunday – the day on which the lambs of Passover were always inspected for their spotlessness – the streets of
Jesus was recognized as King, and while the crowd adored him, some zealots went of their own accord and found Herod, cowering in his palace. They dragged him from his hiding place and spilled out his blood like bad wine. Pilate called out the Guard, and lives were lost, but a single Roman garrison is simply no match for millions of ecstatic fanatics, and the contingent took refuge in the garrison, beseiged and awaiting reinforcements.
In those days before Passover, it was jubilation. Messiah had come. The approaching Roman forces held no terror, for none could stand against the Lion of Judah. But Judas, one of the Twelve – troubled by Jesus' strange remoteness and His persistent predictions of His own death – saw no preparations to meet the Roman army, and foresaw in Jesus' seeming idleness the destruction of the land. How many armies across the centuries had trampled over
Gaius Caesar Germanicus was the general – eighteen years old, newly appointed to command. A bizarre series of illnesses and accidents in the Imperial Family had made him the most likely candidate for succession in the emerging Augustan dynasty, and as preparation to leadership of an empire, he was given leadership of an army. He was tall, large, his sharp humor oddly clashing with his haunting eyes and gaunt face. He counted himself an expert soldier, boasting of his skill as a horseman, gladiator and dueler. No one doubted his promise – he was a leader of men, eloquent and erudite.
What are the details of Judas’ betrayal to the Roman? Something about thirty pieces of silver. Perhaps the price just suggested itself. Perhaps someone with a knowledge of Jewish law and a sense of humor thought the price of a gored slave appropriate … after all, that’s what this Hebrew pretender, this upstart messiah would soon be – a slave, gored. And the place to capture this Jesus, and so avoid the cost of wholesale slaughter? Where else but the garden he often went to for privacy. Why should a Roman general even seek to avoid butchering a rebellious people? Ah, there would be time enough for that – but how much more impressive to be hailed throughout the Empire as the man who put down a rebellion for a few pieces of silver, and rescued a besieged garrison with perhaps the death of but one usurper.
And so, by night, outside the gates where Jesus prayed, unguarded - not far from His sleeping disciples - a Roman guard approached ...
3. How the Lamb Dies
The city was strangely silent. Night had not before diminished the exultation, yet now, while the full moon shamed the stars and cast down hard shadows – now,
As His disciples scattered, the soldiers took Him before Gaius, who smiled, and said whatever he said, and condemned Jesus, who stood silent before his accusers. And He was stripped, and beaten, and mocked, and led to a hilltop and crucified, so that when
He died about the third hour – the hour the Passover lamb is slain – and I think He died with criminals, perhaps Roman, perhaps Jewish. It could be that one of them was saved. But on the third hour He died, and there were signs in the sky, and a great wind and shaking, and the occupying army was sorely afraid, so that when some Jews had the temerity to ask that the dead be buried, the request was granted, not from decency but superstitious dread.
Strange things happened after that, for weeks. Jesus' body disappeared, and the disciples made bizarre claims. As a sign of
And no general was ever so honored as Gaius Caesar Germanicus. All the world gloried at his brilliance, and when Tiberius died shortly thereafter, and Gaius ascended to the throne, a golden age was declared. And he was worshiped. He had admired
The Jews had counted themselves lucky, but the idol in their Holy of Holies was too much, and their consequent rebellion brought about the renewed wrath of
And so it was that the seventieth week of Daniel 9 followed straight away after the seven and sixty-two. Rather than an intervening epoch-long parenthesis called the Church Age, the Kingdom Age followed by seven years the rejection of King Jesus on the Eve of Passover....
4. Why the Father Weeps
The marriage of the Lamb would not have been to
What of Barabbas, that moving symbol for the substitutionary nature of Christ's death? Under law, the only legal grounds for Jesus' execution was as a voluntary substitute. There was no fault found in Him, to warrant His death, so Jesus could have appealed to the law, to demand grounds for His execution. He offered himself for our sins, but specifically, typically, He offered himself for the thief and murderer Barabbas. In this retelling, I could have fabricated a choice between Jesus and some reprobate - perhaps Judas, or Herod, or Pilate - but to do so would have gone beyond what is needful. We, after all, are Barabbas.
Yes, this is fiction. No, it doesn't really matter, since it didn't happen. But then again, it does matter – such a fantasy might show that the offer of the kingdom was real, just as Adam's ability to resist temptation was real (perhaps I’ll tell that story too, sometime [oh, looks like I did, here and here]). Antiochus Epiphanies in the days of the Macabbees did set up his image in the
Titus would become Emperor himself, and it is he who fulfilled the destruction of the city and sanctuary, with an army of 100,000 men. It is interesting to note that Titus ordered that the
In any case I am convinced that each of these, Antiochus, Caligula and Titus, were themselves set up and urged on by Satan, in his attempt to be worshipped as God. But fallen creatures, human or angelic, however brilliant opinion or perception would have them to be, are not endlessly creative. God's plan – what is seen of it – has been plagiarized, corrupted, parodied. Its truth has cast, by reflected light and stolen fire, the shadows of countless lies. And the enemy, like ourselves, is just another character in the final drama.
Human history is the story of Cain, who offered sacrifice on his own terms, and responded with wrath to righteousness. History is a gross burlesque of degradation, changing just its masks, lurching between farce and tragedy. We’re surrounded by the enemy, because we’re surrounded by flesh. We need not riffle through history or trudge across the globe or pierce the dark places of the heavenlies to search out corruption. An infant would be the most terrifying of tyrants, save for its weakness. To say human nature is corrupt is to say the world is corrupt, and this is a mere truism.
But even in our corruption, God does not allow us to be tempted beyond our ability to resist. Nor does He offer blessings He cannot deliver. It is no blasphemy to remember what God Himself tells us, that there are indeed things He cannot do. He cannot lie (Heb
God, eternal, unchanging, the same yesterday, today and always, knowing every sorrow of his children, feeling with them every pain – well, He knows these sorrows and feels these pains unceasingly. What choice does He have, then? In whatever God uses for time, each of its moments is filled with the presence of His own death, His own separation from his Son. We can forget. We have the palliative passage of time, which dulls the sharpest blade. We have sleep, and if you’ve had anguish you know what I mean. But God? What He feels, He feels always. He must be true to His word. He must be true to his nature – unchanging. God is the least free thing there could be. And what value lies in knowing this?
5. What the Wind Says
Whatever ultimate application God’s plan has, we live here, in this world, subject first and overwhelmingly to our own will. And when we look at the catastrophe this the world is – what with all this inevitable anguish and unavoidable death – of course we question it. What possible good can come from this nightmare? Hey God, how many dead babies are enough dead babies? If it’s so easy to get to hell, if there’s nothing pleasing to God that we in ourselves can do, if there’s no good thing in us, then what is hope? - and who hears our anguish and where is comfort to be found? So often that it’s almost always, the answer is not a still, small voice, but silence.
Questions are good. Answers are better. Where are they to be found?
We don’t contend with God and win. Jacob didn’t win when he wrestled with the Lord – he just held on. Sometimes that’s all faith is. Those who tried to trap Jesus with artful questions finally dared no longer come against Him. Why were those Galileans killed, and why did that tower fall on all those people? And who sinned, the man born blind or his parents? And what of this woman, taken in adultery? Jesus cut them short – Don't you worry about towers and tyrants, he said. Just you do what is right. Just you repent. Today's evil is enough for today. And Jacob could only cling to God, desperately – like a panicked child wrapped around his father's leg. Is there an answer in any of this?
In every human being there is emotion, dedication, sacrifice, humanity, laughter, love – but only because, like a flower that springs from a smudge of dirt in the gutter, the defaced image of the Creator can still be discerned, in even the most degraded of human souls. The Holy Spirit graces us all – at times, and up to a point – with His touch like a blowing in our ear. And all the enemy's contrivances cannot snuff that out. It is not the enemy's plan that determines our fate.
There are shadows, and artificial light. But there is truth, and glory. There is a broad and bloody trail of tears and torment stretching out from
We all feel the thirst, trapped as we are in this desert place. And we have a choice, we all have the freedom to choose – to thirst again after lapping like a dog from the toilet, or to drink living waters and be filled.
Like children, we concern ourselves with fairness – but also with things that are none of our affair. Questions are good, but some questions tend not to enlightenment. Like children, our understanding is imperfect. The answer seems to be, God just says so. Obey. That’s the answer Job got, after the loss of his property, after the loss of his health, after the loss of his children. I’m God, says God. Who are you? Shut your mouth, fall on your face, and worship Me. We ask questions, but the ultimate answer, I think, is not in the least satisfying, and may be almost utterly displeasing. Obey. We don’t have a choice, about the answer. This is the predestination part. We do have a choice about believing the answer. That’s the free will.
J
posted by Jack H @ 23:27
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Rebuilding the Tower: the revival of paganism
[Moved from Forgotten Prophets]
1. The Bridegroom
I’ve recently been given cause to call to mind the fact of the prophecies of the end times – End Times. To paraquote some of my own wonderful comments (in Shadowland), regarding a meta-reason for the upsurge of Islamism at this time in history, I say: You know the 12th Imam? The one who disappeared down a well in a cave in
I’ve said that prophecy was and is predictive, but it's flat - we don't have the perspective to judge true distances. One mountain heaped upon another, and no sense of scale. So it’s predictive, but not datable ahead of time. Thus, it acts as after-the-fact confirmation. We don’t rest our faith on the expectations of days and hours, but on the promise of eternity. And we don’t build our faith on promises at all, but on evidence. That’s a different discussion, though. Of course we look for signs, as men have always done. And just as our fathers have thought the sky was red, so might we. A thousand years ago, and now, people ran for the hills awaiting the final trumpet and the rending of the heavens. Alas, so much wasted hope. But the sky is red. We don't know when the storm will start, but we hear the thunder. That is the value of the doctrine of imminence: you've got a raincoat handy, just in case. That boneheads have raced out and tried to corner the market on raincoats is just their hard luck. Thus ends my paraquotations.
We do live in interesting times. For my part, as I’ve said, prophecy is an interesting part of the whole picture. Some get all caught up in it, and if it doesn’t come to pass on their own schedule, well, so much dashed hope may harm someone’s faith. The point is, balance and common sense. Bearing this in mind, some time ago I wrote a long study of the most ancient of mythology. I won’t go into all that, except to say the premise was euhemeristic – the idea that these primal god stories are often distortions of actual history and real people –
Jesus is coming again. This is His Second Coming. He came the first time as a suffering servant, as a ransom, as the Lamb of God to be sacrificed for the salvation of mankind. But His Second Coming is as King, the Lion of Judah, the Arm of God, not with a crown of thorns but of gold, not to be pierces but Himself carrying a rod of iron and the sword of judgment. The first time He was born into a noble but humble family, in a manger, not in secret but obscure nevertheless; He will come again, though, in the clouds (Acts 1:9,11), so that every eye can see (Rev 1:7). At this time He will destroy the armies of the world (
But before He comes in judgment, He comes for His Bride, the Church — that is, every person who has accepted the salvation which the death of Jesus provides. To understand the meaning of the symbol of calling Jesus the Groom and the Church His bride, we must consider the customs of marriage in the
In just this manner, Jesus comes for His Bride. He has prepared a place (Jn 14:2), and when he comes he does not enter her house, the world, but stands outside and calls her to Him (1Th
This private, tender and joyful coming of Jesus for His Bride is certainly a coming of sorts, but it is not to be confused for the Second Coming, which is public and fierce. Jesus has come many times, as we know from the Old Testament Christophanies — that is, the pre-incarnation appearances of the Word — starting with Adam in the Garden, who walked with God, the Word, in the cool of the day (Gen 3:8). Since no man has seen God at any time (1Tim
But in that season when Jesus and His Church celebrate their love for each other, the world is being judged. This period, the seven years of the Tribulation, starts only after the restraining force of the Church (dwelling place of the Holy Spirit) has been removed (2Th 2:7). Individual Christians suffer, and local churches suffer, but the Body of Christ has already suffered, on the Cross, and that whole Body will not suffer again. Indeed, what groom would stand by and allow his bride to be tormented? The Bride of Christ waits in the world, which is controlled by the forces of evil, and her purity and grace bring light into its darkness; evil deeds are best committed in the dark (Jn 3:19), and so the world is less evil because of her light. When that light, the Spirit in her, is removed, evil runs wild, and judgment begins.
As for when this judgment upon the world starts, we can only say that it is some time after the Rapture, although presumably shortly after. No one knows the time of the Raptur e - the day, the hour - but once the clock of the Tribulation starts running, the world could easily calculate the hour of the Second Coming — it ends precisely seven years after it begins.
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2. Where the Satyrs Dance
Wow, that as really interesting, I must say! I’d forgotten. Here’s the next part. After the Bride is swept away, carried over the threshold as it were ...
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...what of this Tribulation and the evil which has free rein during its course? Here we return to the main theme of this work [The Serpent in Babel], for it is during this time that Satan achieves his greatest victory, his greatest power, when he finally manages to establish that world government, that world religion which he has worked for the past six millennia to achieve. It is now that the world proclaims him as its god, and gives him the worship he has craved since sin was first conceived in his heart.
A man will arise who proclaims a message of peace. His words are followed by actions, and by virtue of his mastery of diplomacy much of the world is united under his leadership. His charisma will be irresistible, and adored as a savior, he will become the object of actual worship – a non-unknown phenomenon … Hitler the rock star. Politics will merge with religion, and he will show himself as god. The Bible describes him as the Beast, the final antichrist. At some time during or before his career, he will be possessed by that demonic spirit which rises from the Pit; he may also be possessed by Satan himself.
The religion which he heads, the religion of a revived Babylon, is already in the world, although not in its final form. It is most clearly articulated in the New Age movement, with its Maitreya/messiah, its ascended masters, its reincarnating avatars, its god-within and goddess without. The New Age is old wine in a new wineskin — a westernized form of Hinduism, which itself is simply the most long-lived of the ancient pagan systems, best symbolized by Babylon.
We have spent many words dealing with the legacy of Babylon. It seems that Satan once sat enthroned there, at least by proxy, through Nimrod. And the very name, Babylon, resonates even in our ears, millennia after its glory. I have pondered as to why it should be that this city has such a mystique. Even in the days of Hammurabi, Babylon was really only a local power, and was less important than Nineveh or Ur in their heyday, yet these cities are obscure compared to Babylon. For a mere half century, during the ephemeral empire of Nebuchadnezzar II, Babylon dominated the international scene — yet it has captured the imagination of the ages. The sole reason for this, I am certain, is the prominence given to Babylon in the Bible, in the Old Testament and most especially in the Revelation. The Bible names it as the location of man's great apostasy, and here the tongues were Confused. This is the city which supplanted Jerusalem for a time as the capital of the Jews, in their Captivity. But most, I think, is the prominence given to it by John, in naming Babylon as the capital of the Beast in the end times.
It is said that the ancient city of Babylon was never destroyed, never thrown down, and that the biblical prophecy has yet to be fulfilled. It is certainly true that the destruction of Babylon in the end times is yet to occur, but it is also true that the city of Babylon has been destroyed in the past, by the Hittites and Kassites and Elamites and Assyrians. The inaccuracy lies in the failure to think of Babylon prior to when the prophecies were made: since the moment Isaiah spoke, Babylon has not yet been destroyed — it would be taken, by the Medes and Persians, and the Greeks, and the Partheans, but not ravished; prior to Isaiah's time, Babylon had most certainly been ravaged, and restored.
Alexander's empire, more ephemeral even than that of Nebuchadnezzar, broke into four parts upon his death, divided among his generals. Syria, Mesopotamia, and Medo-Persia went to Seleucus I. Babylon had to be retaken several times, and became such a bother that Seleucus built on the Tigris a new capital, Seleucia, 45 miles north of the old center of trade and government. Only religion was left to Babylon, and it remained the chief holy city of the region, even after the Parthians took Mesopotamia from the Greeks in 139 BC.
The Parthians also shunned Babylon as an administrative center, building rather Ctesiphon, adjacent to Seleucia, which remained a commercial center. When they absorbed Syria in 40 BC, the Parthians allied with Judean factions against the Jewish high priest, Hyrcanus, who was in the Roman camp. Hyrcanus was eventually taken in chains to Parthia, but later allowed to live in Babylon, which according to Josephus had at that time a high concentration of Jews.
One and a half centuries later, when Trajan found Babylon deserted in 116 AD, the walls and the temple of Bel still stood [see Dio, Roman History, 68.30.1; Pausanaias, 8.33.3]. In the Middle Ages, a city of ten thousand Jews stood six miles from Babylon, and the Synagogue of Daniel met a single mile from the temple of Bel [M.N. Adler, "Benjamin of Tudela, Itinerary of," Jewish Quarterly Review 17 (1905); pp. 514-530]. There seems never to have been a time when the site of Babylon was not occupied, albeit sometimes by some shabby collection of hovels — but the shanty town which has been Babylon for so many centuries is a far cry from the world-center the Bible says it will be in the last days.
Although Babylon certainly fell into utter obscurity, it cannot possibly be said to have fulfilled the biblical prediction of its being forever a desolate haunt of only beasts (Is 13:19-21): “And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation; neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of hyenas; and the owls shall dwell there, the satyrs shall dance there.” Jeremiah (51:26) says that the day will come when no one will “take of thee a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations; but thou shalt be desolate forever” — yet after Jeremiah spoke, in Parthian days, and in the 1600's, and until the 20th century, locals mined the ruins of Babylon for its fine, baked bricks. Sodom was destroyed, Troy and Tyre and Carthage were destroyed — but Babylon has stood to this very day. Clearly, the prophecies regarding Babylon's fall, and its prerequisite rise, have not yet been fulfilled.
Regarding the rise of Babylon, we read in Zechariah 5:6-11 that an angel raises a heavy leaden cover off a measuring basket symbolizing rebellion; hidden in the basket squats a woman, called wickedness, who tries to rise up when the lid is lifted but is thrust back down and covered again by the angel. Then two swift-winged women race forth and raise up the basket between heaven and earth, on their way to prepare for the woman a "house in the land of Shinar", where she shall be firmly instated. That this woman is not Israel taken into Babylonian Captivity is known by the fact that Zechariah was writing after Israel had returned to the land. Rather, it is the woman of lawlessness who is constrained for a season, until she sits enthroned in Babylon in the last days.
As for the final end of Babylon (Rev 18:21-23): “with violence shall that great city Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. The voice of harpers and musicians, and of pipers and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee. No craftsman, of whatsoever craft, shall be found any more in thee, and the sound of a millstone shall be heard no more at all in thee. The light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee, and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee. For thy merchants were the great men of the earth, and by thy sorceries were all nations deceived.” John's Revelation is filled with symbols, but when taken in context with other biblical references, its use of Babylon is too concrete to be allegorical.
That Babylon shall rise seems clear — but how is its transformation worked, from arid village to hub of world commerce and luxury?
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Well, I do answer that question – and it involves a certain S. Hussein. But that discussion must await part three.
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3. The Gates of Confusion
Oh, it just gets more and more interesting! Here's a third installment of my entrancing look at things to come.
Starting in the late 1970's,
Hussein's rationale for raising Babylon may have been to remind his harried subjects of the ancient enmity between Iraq and Iran — it was the Persians that had finally humbled Mesopotamia so that it never rose to independence again. Further, Hussein cast himself in the role of the ancient conquerors, and as such it was traditional to rebuild the chief cities of
By the time of the first of our Gulf Wars, the
A ziggurat-style hotel was planned, and it is claimed that the ziggurat itself will be raised again; plans have been announced for the reconstruction of the hanging gardens, with a prize of one and a half million dollars offered to any Iraqi who can design an irrigation system for it which uses only the technology available in ancient days. In 1990 Dr. Myua'yad Said, Iraq's Director General of Antiquities, voiced his belief that the city would be surrounded by a moat, and barred to all traffic but pedestrians and horse-drawn carriages.
Thus we see that the dream of a
4. Faith of the Broken Cross
Here’s a fourth part of my brilliant study of the rise of Satan to manifest secular power. That the situation with Islamism and
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We are not given to known the details of the rise of the city or the system of
Throughout history there have been enduring and consistent reports of contact between humanity and entities possessing what can only be described as supernatural characteristics. We have read already of the fallen angels, of the nephalim, of the demons. I suggest that we find these same contacts in the superstitions of every race, as gods, as fairies, as pucks, as trolls, as genies, as ghosts and totems and familiars and an endless list of similar labels. These categories, in our sophisticated and oh so scientific age, have of course been discarded upon the rubbish heap of superstition, and rightly so, given the fabrication which accrued to their memory. But the fact that they have fallen out of fashion is not proof that there was not originally a grim truth behind the original stories. Indeed, if there are demons, they would not identify themselves to the ignorant as evil. If there are fallen angels, they would present themselves as heroes, not villains. And just because the age has become "scientific" does not mean that they will stop presenting themselves.
So the question is, what disguise would evil spirits now use? Well, of course, they would still manifest themselves as "channeled", "higher" beings who claim to teach benighted mankind a new and better way. Thus, although undoubtedly a con game for the most part, the "psychic" phone clubs which have polluted late-night television with their advertisements must also, here and there, have some actual demoniac manning the phones (cf. Acts 16:16‑18).
But even more intriguing is the mushrooming of belief in extraterrestrial "aliens". I have no strong opinion as to whether or not God populated the universe with many intelligent races, or only with mankind. Either could be the case. But I am sure that the creatures who represent themselves as "aliens" are alienated first from God. Indeed, I believe that the category of "alien" is but the latest label, the latest disguise for those same old deceiving spirits of whom we have been reading.
Consider, for example, those evil spirits of ages past who came to some victim in the night, transported him to some fantastic place with sparkling gems and flashing lights, where they performed sexual acts upon him, later to return him home in a chronically disturbed state — pixilated; grave spiritual secrets were sometimes imparted to the victim, which undermined the faith of childhood. Compare this to "aliens," who abduct some human victim, transporting him to their UFO with its glaring lights and incomprehensible controls, where they perform numerous experiments which concentrate on the genitals, returning their victim home in a disturbed state which frequently requires psychological counseling. These aliens invariably teach the abductee about the nature of the universe, consistently making a point to mention that Jesus was actually an ascended master, or one of them, or a "walk-in", or from Venus, or some such (see W.M. Alnor, UFOs in the New Age - Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1992). Consider that if two things look the same, act the same, and have the same result, the most logical, the most elegant conclusion should be that they are the same, by different names.
One of the more curious doctrines of the New Age movement is that there must be a great cosmic "cleansing" before the actual New Age itself can begin. This cleansing is taught variously by the Movement's sundry factions, but the upshot is that a large number of people will simply disappear, because they are interfering with the evolution of the consciousness of mankind. Well. Haven’t we heard something of this? Isn't this the Rapture? Satan knows it’s coming, and he has prepared his cover story. And when this absolute miracle (the disappearance in the blink of an eye of hopefully countless millions of people throughout the world) is correctly prophesied, wouldn't this count as validation for the other claims of the New Age?
New Age adherents, like all pagans, scour mythology for signs relevant to their position. One favorite hunting ground is native american myth; thus significance is found in a Hopi prophecy which declares that a light from the east will bring a reawakening, emanating “from the True White Brother. He would wear a red cloak or a red hat and would bring with him the sacred stone tablet . . . which [he] alone could read. The three would show the people of the earth a great new Life Plan that will lead to Everlasting Life. . . .Those who are saved will share everything equally . . . . a new religion will probably be brought that helps all people to lead better lives and transforms the world.” [In
Satan also appears as an angel of light (2Cor
And when the Beast reigns there will be signs in the sky. There will be a great deception, so powerful that even the elect would be deceived, if it were possible. There will be a putting aside of nationalism, and a yielding to a great and single authority. If we suppose that "aliens" and their UFOs are just the latest version of the satanically designed mythologies by which Satan has sought to rule, then we can understand just how truly literal the book of Revelation actually is.
Are the changelings of lore more than just deformed victims of the prejudices of an ignorant age — being instead a genuine hybrid of "alien" and human? Are the genital "experiments" perpetrated by "aliens" just the continuation of the rape of mankind by fallen angels? Is the Beast somehow related to the nephalim, so that the public unveiling of UFOs and aliens to the world, and the revelation that this world-leader is intimately connected with such "superhuman," "superior" beings, would act as a guarantee of his "evolved" and "enlightened" rule?
We are speculating, building upon evidence and inferences. We will not be dogmatic. But if we are to take the Bible at its reasonable most literal, and if we accept that there are evil angels and demons who work deception in this world, and if we believe that Revelation teaches of a world leader who deceives mankind and is worshipped as a god, and if we give any credence to the mounting evidence of the reality of UFO phenomena (rather than of the associated mythology) — if we accept all of this, then the scenario I have laid out is the most elegant I know, to explain all of the evidence.
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Hmm. Well, that was sort of weird. But it could be right, if all those ifs are right. As to that, I guess time will tell. Could there be anything more to say on this subject? I simper coyly, and taunt you with, "Could be."
5. A Moment's Distance
So many ideas. So many theories. Every culture seems to invent a new religion. I suppose there are as many religions as there are languages. An unintended consequence of the Confusion at Babel – although an inevitable one. And really, what does it matter if there are four thousand false religions, or just one? Well, by now I suppose it should be clear that much of The Serpent in Babel deals with exactly that: Babel and its apostasy, and the personages who instigated it. Ham, Cush and his scion Nimrod who was remembered variously as Osiris, Tammuz, Ninus and so on. It’s pretty elaborate, and outside our scope. But behind these human agents, I have supposed there is a non-human intelligence, which, though not the author of history, is a manipulator of mankind nevertheless. Consider this, then:
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Well might we ask the skeptic's question: Which came first, the vegetable cults, the dying nature gods, the many-breasted venuses, the totems and phalluses and orgies, the avatars and psychics and ascended masters, the aliens and UFOs of the evolutionists? — or that God of the Bible, personal and cosmic, just and merciful, and most of all, gracious? Were Cush and Semiramis and other idolaters the authors of the themes of Christianity? Or are the Mysteries bold perversions of the long-prophesied events which took place in Bethlehem and on Calvary?
Trolling through the murky waters of mythology, we find that it is no difficult task to fish out virtually all of the elements of Christianity. Heathen systems always somewhere contain the memory that God:
“was to become incarnate, to be born of a virgin mother, to spend his infancy and childhood among herds and flocks, whose life should be sought by a huge serpent or dragon, which was even to slay him, but which he was destined to conquer and crush; that he came or was to come, from heaven for the purpose of reforming and delivering mankind; that he was mild, contemplative, and good, but still the god of vengeance, with power to destroy his enemies; that he was a priest, a prophet, and a king, the sacrificer of himself, and the parent, husband, and son of the great Mother, denoted often by a floating ark; that he was the creator of worlds and æons, previous to which he moved on boundless waters; that when slain he was entombed, descended into the hidden world, but rose to life again, ascended the top of a lofty mountain, and thence was translated to heaven.” (Seiss, p. 25.)
All of these details are scattered through paganism, and all are condensed within the Bible. The virgin is Mary, the dragon is Satan, the Woman is Israel, the mountain is Olivet. A fair question is, who borrowed from whom?
As long as atheists write the encyclopedias, the facts will be skewed toward their bias. In the preceding chapters we have seen the evidence examined in a different light — not the light of blind faith, but in the spirit of open-eyed and vigorous inquiry. Of course all of this is theory, but that is as much as to say nothing at all, since the dogma which is spoon-fed to students is also theory, masquerading as fact.
When James Frazer promulgated the theory of the fertility cult, he did not present his belief as a hypothesis, but as a fact. We can of course forgive him his constitutional "core of narrowness": “He was not interested in the ideas of other anthropologists, and could not stand personal contradiction. Nor could he bear controversy.” (H.R. Hays, From Ape to Angel: an Informal History of Social Anthropology [NY: Capricorn Books, 1958], p. 121.) But, aside from being rank hubris, this is also poor scholarship. To recall the words of a certain Roman (Acts 26:24), Frazer's great learning had driven him mad. Such words should be the motto of this, the Age of Information.
Paganism is every religion but one. The Mystery is every religion but one. The worship of the Dragon is every religion but one. The Deceiver has been climbing the mountain and clawing at the throne of God since before the fiery stones of Eden dimmed and grew cool. The goddess whored after all the crowns of the true God. The pagans ransacked true prophecy, and offered in their "goddess" a false virgin, a false mediator, a false Spirit; the only thing she could not be called was "God the Father", and she got around that by being called "Mother Goddess". And so with the child of paganism: false seed and branch, false mediator and savior, false victor and judge.
In Is 66:17, we read of the One, and the abomination, and the mouse, and the eating of swine's flesh. We have here the false father, the false spirit, and the false son. We even have the false communion supper, in the eating of pig flesh: cannibals have informed us that human flesh has the same taste as pork, so much so that they call man "the long pig". We might be thankful that later pagans were so refined in their tastes as to refrain from ritually consumed human flesh, but we can certainly see why such rites were abhorrent to the godly.
We have already heard what God has to say about all this, as when we read of the Image of Jealousy (Ezek 8:3). God is jealous because that which is His has been stolen and twisted. But more than jealousy, I think God feels grief. We are only told explicitly of a few of the emotions which Jesus felt. He felt anger, we are told, and sorrow and deep distress, and love. And we know that Jesus wept. He wept over lost Jerusalem. He wept not at the victory of the Adversary, but at the damage he does in meeting his defeat.
I think that Satan has never read the Bible. I think he knows some parts of it, just enough to twist the meaning. Like every cultist, Satan gets the context wrong. I think that Satan thinks he can win — not in his deepest heart, but in his mind, he thinks that he can somehow pull it off. Hitler in his bunker was making plans for his victory.
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Do you imagine angelic psychology is much different than human? Subtract the influence of childhood, and they must have very much in common with us. That they have maturity where we are still in our infancy, is a detail that will diminish in effect in the coming millennia. That they cannot know death is merely the fate of those Christians who will be Raptured – and in any case, even those of us who go through that temporary separation from our bones will eventually have an eternity separating us from that one-time trauma. We have very much in common with angels – being both higher and lower than they, it might average out to about equal.
Given this, Satan’s motivations are not impenetrable. He has an ego. This is a condition of which you know nothing? I doubt it. He is spiteful. Anyone who has watched children at play must be aware of this emotion. The great difference now, is that he has power to harm, and we have power only to ask for protection. Send us a Michael, O Lord. But their battles are beyond our perceptions. Ignorance is our assurance of contentment.
We are children, sorely in need of protection. The world is harsh and our only comfort seems to be in believing we are safe. Certainly we are not safe, physically. Everyone dies. Not safe. If we can extract some happiness from our lives, then we will be happy. But it must be a precarious happiness, relying on unseen fences and protectors of whom we are only told. But we are told, and we must draw comfort from this. In another place, I have written how even the heavens declare the beginning and the end. This biblical phrase refers not only to nature, but to what has been imposed upon nature, by prophets - the constellations. My point is that this message, so clear when it is clearly expressed, has been twisted most contemptably, whether by design or accident. Again, what was meant for protection was used for harm. We mustn't listen to liars. We mustn't be deceived. Every little child must hold his father's hand when troubling strangers approach.
Well, I’m just making this up as I go along. Hope I’m not boring you. There’s moreo to say, if you can stand it.
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6. Satan As Tapeworm
This is the penultimate installment of my look at the reality of mythology and its relevance for the possibly near-future - extracted from the final chapter of my The Serpent in Babel. We've looked at the corporal return of Jesus, the social changes that facilitate conditions for the Antichrist, the political situation that promises the rise of a literal Babylon, and the historical factors that have brought us where we find ourselves. Didn't think it was that organized, did you. I'll leave it for you to catagorize the following.
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I have saved one last piece of mythology — regarding Nimrod. The annals of
Be that as it may, traditions which refer to the most ancient times tell of a famous woman, "the mother of the king of the west." (Annals of the Bamboo Books, Legge, Vol. 3, pp. 114‑115.) She was the mother of the world's first king, who had black skin. He was named Shun, and his father was Chusou or Kusou. Do these characters sound familiar? They are Semiramis, Nimrod, and Cush. The point is that this king, Shun / Nimrod [always represented as black], was said to have eyes which shone "doubly bright" — an indication of demonic possession.
The serpent winds round not just trees, not just temples, but men as well. Nimrod seems to have been such a man. If Hindu gurus shine with reflected light, beguiling fools into calling them holy men, how much more the High Priest and King of Babylon?
Judas was a thief, in a position of great trust, as treasurer. We know he went out and worked miracles, with all the other pairs of disciples. We know that his feet were washed by Jesus Himself, and that he ate at the Lord's table, and took bread from His hands. And it may indeed be that Satan actually went into Judas, just before the final betrayal (Lk 22:3, Jn
And it is my conviction that Hitler was such a man — if not possessed by Satan himself, then certainly possessed by some underling, and a willing ally of Satan. In his youth, one of the only two books which Hitler was known to have actually studied was a child's storybook on the Nordic gods and heroes. A part of his personal library as Fuhrer was recovered after World War II, and among those books which give evidence of having been well-studied — alongside racist pamphlets, tracts on pseudoscience, and pornographic books and films — were stories about Wotan and the Germanic pantheon, and books about magic symbols and the occult. (R.G.L. Waite, The Psychopathic God: Adolph Hitler (NY: Basic Books, 1977), pp. 69‑70, 270.)
During Hitler's youth in Vienna, he sought out the publisher of an occult magazine, Ostara — one Jorg Lanz von Liebenfels, who wrote articles in favor of polygamy for "pure blooded Aryans" and forced sterilization for "inferior" races — and of extermination of non-Aryans in Germany. (Much of the information contained in this and the following two paragraphs is abstracted from N. Goodrick-Clarke, The Occult Roots of Nazism, Secret Aryan Cults and Their influence on Nazi Ideology - NY: New York University Press, 1992.) Lanz was founder of the racist "Order of the New Templars," and authored the amusingly titled Theo-Zoology or the Lore of the Sodom-Apelings and the Electron of the Gods, which taught that Jesus was the last of a super race which had cohabited with beasts to form a sub-human race (an idea indebted to Madam Blavatsky and her Theosophy), and that modern man was the remnant of these gods, with Aryans the purest.
Prior to WW I, the rising interest in the occult led to the formation in
The society was recast as a political group aimed at destabilizing the
Hitler was certainly deeply influenced by racial lore, and his interest in the occult is well-documented, despite his public rejection and ridicule of the crasser pseudo-history of the Aryan mystics and such esoteric movements as Free Masonry, Theosophy and Anthrosophy. (Indeed, rejecting occult groups was sound not simply for reasons of respectability, but for security, given that MI 5 had a special Occult Bureau.) Vril, Zen, Sufi, Tibetan and similar influences are widely documented, and even if exaggerated, demonstrate a distinct pattern. Enduring reports exist of the Nazi plan to re-introduce worship of the Nordic pantheon, as a national Neo-Paganism. One of Nazi Germany's laws was that the cross be removed from all churches, replaced by the "immortal" sign of the swastika. This paganism is even clearer in the case of Himmler, who made an Aryan guru, Karl Maria Wiligut, an SS Brigadier (until 1939, when his commitment in the 1920's to a mental institution discredited him).
Indeed, Hitler is claimed as an adherent of the anti-semitic occultic cabal of Theosophy. Foster Bailey, husband of Alice Bailey (third leader of that movement, after Blavatsky and Besant), wrote in 1972: “One attempt [at unifying
Aside from Judas, Satan may possess that antichrist called the Beast. He will follow the pattern of Nimrod — and Hitler — as religious and political leader, and conqueror, and tyrant. Since Nimrod's attempt to control the entire world, similar attempts have been made, by Sesostris III of
It is not for nothing that the myth of the hydra was invented, of a monster all but impossible to slay. After the conquest of
The pattern of corruption set in Nimrod's time will hold in the future, as well. Just as Cush and Nimrod were the false prophet and the false messiah at
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So there it is. Ready ... set ...
As I've said, don't panic. Balance and common sense. If you're "saved," you'll be celebrating at a wedding supper. If you're not, what are you worrying about? - you don't believe it anyway. And if you do believe it, but still aren't saved - well, I found myself in that very state, once upon a time. Allow me to commend to you the virtue of humility. Asking for help is a good way to get it. Same with salvation.
Well, I won't toy with your emotions any more. Was I cruel, to taunt you so? Maybe there's more, and maybe not. Hahaha! Just one last part and I'm done. Seeya.
Maybe. Hahaha!
7. The Place of Refuge
So much, about Satan. He must really be important or something. How uncomfortable. I suppose we could just not think about it. But let’s return to the subject one last time.
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The spirit of antichrist has been loose since the fall of Satan. It is loose today. The evil of the world is not the sole product of Satan and his cohort — men queue up to debase themselves — but behind some of the wickedness (if I may use such a quaint term) is not the random depravity of undiscerning people, but a concerted effort to work against the will of God. This is what we have, at least in part, in the false religions which we have been examining in this work.
But in the time of the Tribulation, the work of antichrist will come into full fruit. The deception of that time will be supernatural. The gullibility of fools has always been exploited, but at this time it will be confirmed. The evil that men do just because they are fallen will be magnified, beyond all experience. Hitler's camps were just a rehearsal for what is to come. The surface of the globe will be a single, vast killing field.
The times in which we are living are fertile soil for the apostasy of the end times. The rise of the occult, the interest in astrology and tarot, the fascination with crystals and pyramids, the self-actualization fads and the New Age cults, the acceptance of reincarnation and the obsession with UFOs — these are the very tenets of the new, the neo-paganism which has surmounted the horizon and is already here.
Every prophet meets one of two fates. He is either like Jeremiah, ignored, grieving to see the doom of those he loves, or he is like Jonah, believed, witness to a vast repentance and revival. For my part, I am no prophet, but I know the future. As an American I live at the heart of a great cultural empire. And I pray that my nation will repent and turn away from the horror which it is becoming. But because I am a dour man, I expect the fate of Jeremiah, more than Jonah.
Yet I may well be wrong in my melancholy. The time may be prolonged. The pagans may be held off. Satan's puppet for this time may have to be discarded, and another selected again, as with Nimrod, and Hitler, and perhaps Alexander and Napoleon. The abomination to be enacted in the rebuilt Temple of Jerusalem has been planned or attempted before, by Antiochus Epiphanes, by Caligula, by Titus. They could not enact Satan's agenda, and this gives us cause for hope. It is certain that the time of trouble will come, but as to when we cannot say.
In the meantime, each of us has two responsibilities — first to be saved, and second to tell the lost world about salvation. These two responsibilities are really the same thing: loving God. I mean the true God, who saves us not out of justice (getting what we deserve), not out of mercy (not getting what we deserve), but out of grace (getting what we do not deserve).
As for the true God, I hear the jaded voice of another Roman, who uttered the flat words, "What is truth?" He did not know that we do not define truth, we demonstrate it. The Truth was before him, and he did not know it. And so I shudder for the fate of America, and the world. But as for you, my friend, who have plowed through these many words to arrive here — there is no need for me to shudder for you. You have heard the truth, it has been placed before you, and if you are not yet saved, you can be. If you are not saved, put aside your faith in yourself — which is the core of every religion but one — and trust Jesus. Is it that simple? Well, is simple a problem? Should it be harder? Is there some special virtue in the complex? Is the grotesque more beautiful that the elegant?
Yes — it is that simple.
In the code of laws handed down through Moses, a man who caused an accidental death was vulnerable to the justice, the vengeance, of the victim's family (Num 35:9-34). The only mercy he could hope for was the haven of the nearest city of refuge, to which he could flee. But if he ever left that city, he was subject to immediate execution by the relatives. There was no advocate to whom the fugitive might appeal — no clever arguments or clouding of the issue, no moronic juries to vote their feelings instead of the facts. There is no price, no bribe, no ransom which would remove the blood from the land. Remember Ps 49:7-8: “None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him — for the redemption of their souls is costly . . .” Only upon the death of the High Priest was the blood-guilt lifted. Only then could the fugitive return, free from fear of reprisal. The victim's family could no longer claim the price of his blood.
There is a ruler who takes what is worthless and counterfeit, and redeems it. There is a victim of your carelessness who not only forgives you but undoes the harm. There is an Advocate who is the Son of the Judge, and when he steps forward to speak for you, justice and mercy have no place — only grace. Our High Priest has died, and we are free. And He lives, and we are saved. No dismembered corpse of Osiris, no whoring Ishtar chasing after a missing penis, no bastard Horus-child squirming in the seat of the King. Only the truth.
No mere man can redeem his brother, nor ransom away our bondage — we do not have the resources to pay so great a price. But God would give us peace, for “this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all . . .” (1 Tim 2:3 6)
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That's how my book, The Serpent in Babel, ends. The End. You didn't have to plow through those many words. If you had, I'd feel free to call you my friend - your patience and interest would have endeared you to me. In any event, I hope there's something of worth even in these not- quite- so- many words. Is there anything else to say? Yes.
We've read of the dark flowering of evil and the killing field it would make of the earth. So many noxious growths, there are. Too bad there isn't some way to foretell what will be poisonous and what will make us hale. But there isn't, when the seed is souls and how they respond to truth. Alas, some seed doesn’t spout and bear good fruit. Some seed is just birdfood. But we cannot know which, until the end. The earth, however, is not yet what for a time it will be. So we tend the garden as best we can, and shoo away the birds when we are able, and prune away what is unhealthy that the stalk and stem may flourish. Maybe something lovely will grow.
Norma McCorvey. Do you recognize the name? Perhaps you know her by another name. Jane Roe. Of Roe v. Wade – the Supreme Court case that struck down all regulation of abortion in the US. Sometime around '94 I saw her interviewed by Tom Snyder on his late night interview program. She was working at an abortion counseling center, and Operation Rescue, a pro-life Christian group, had moved into the next office. I recall she laughed and sneered at their hammering on the walls, pretending to be hanging pictures when it was so clear to her that they were just trying to harass the pro-choicers. I remember she made allusions to her wiccan faith or the goddess or some such. I remember Tom Snyder encouraging her, ending with, “Don’t let the bastards get you down.” She smiled and said, “Oh no, I won’t.”
Some months later I heard that she had become Christian, and was working with Operation Rescue. It is a secret, but I’m a passionate guy … don’t spread it around. So I sat there and sobbed like a little girl. Norma McCorvey has found her city of refuge, where lovely things grow. What more is there to say.
J
posted by Jack H @ 22:52
1 comments
First Adam
[Moved from Forgotten Prophets]
1. Within the Gates of Eden
God had a plan when he created the universe. He created it to be perfect, but knew it would be ruined. He planned for that, too, and conformed it to his purpose (Eph 1:11). A chess master, then, and more: he controls the universe (Dan 4:35). This is a problem of course, if we give full credence to the idea of free will. There’s Adam in the Garden, staring at the Tree. He’s been warned, but we know how it works out. So did he have a choice? After all, God had a plan. Could Adam really have resisted the temptation? Indeed, wasn’t Eve the one who was really tempted? Adam didn’t even meet the serpent. Let’s consider the question: what if Adam had not eaten of the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil? – not sinned? – not Fallen?
For clarity, let's remember that sin did not enter the world through the woman, Eve. Only when the responsible head, Adam, sinned did all of creation first start to groan under the Fall. And I maintain that the curse falls through and is passed on by the male. So it is that Jesus was born without sin, since he had no earthly, fallen father to impart the sin nature to him. Mary gave Him a human body, and a human nature, but she could not give him a fallen nature.
We know this also through Ruth of Moab, whose great-grand son was David, king in spite of the fact that no child of Moab could enter the congregation of Israel until the tenth generation (Deut 23:3). The curse did not pass to David from the woman, Ruth. (It may be that six generations are omitted from the genealogy here, after the manner of Matt 1:1 – but the argument stands regardless, given Jesus’ unfallen human nature.) Eve sinned before Adam, but she fell with Adam, her disobedience becoming effectuated by him.
In
But was the test fair? Perhaps Adam was not just innocent, but ignorant - unqualified, unprepared, unequipped to face a challenge with such eternal consequences? He had intelligence, to name the animals and have dominion and speak with God, but did he have experience to draw upon, or wisdom? We know that Adam was not ignorant of God's plan – he says, "Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh." Such words show an awareness of the social organization to come, as does the command to be fruitful and multiply. Further, he knew what “death” was, since he was warned about it, and was created with an understanding of language. Is God less a parent than we are? What was necessary, was provided – including an adequate understanding of language.
We’re given no time references for
It is no Paradise, however, to be eternally tempted. Is it a fair test, that never ends? If Adam choose to obey on one day, he could still disobey on a later day. Indeed, not a moment might pass without the possibility of Adam's fall. Or so it seems. The fallacy lies here: “righteousness” is not perfection – it is the resolute decision to do right. To an adult, playing the games of infancy holds no attraction. For Adam there should have come a point when obedience was no longer at question, but simply the thing to be done. The decision is made, and that's that. Honest people rarely entertain the idea of stealing. Faithful spouses do not generally consider plans for infidelity – such ideas may flit through the mind, but they are put away as a thing that is just not going to happen. It seems most reasonable that Adam faced a definite period of testing.
Which he failed. We are living the consequences of that failure. Was Adam therefore predestined to fail? Was his a test that could not be passed? No.
God will not allow anyone to be tempted beyond what he is able – with every temptation there is a way of escape (1 Cor
But the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world (1 Pet
Well, first, God is not the author of the Fall. When the King James says God causes 'evil' to befall men (Ex 32:14, Deut 29:21, Josh
Again, Jesus said “snares must come, but woe to that man by whom the snare comes." (Mt 18:7) The word for snares, or temptations, or stumbling blocks, was used for the spring of a trap, and is the root of our word 'scandal' and 'slander', as well as 'transcend'. Who it is that falls into the trap is not determined. The phrasing Jesus uses suggests only that temptation itself is predetermined, and that the object of temptation is not. The "Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God's purpose for themselves..." (Lk 7:30) – God had a righteous purpose for them, but they chose for themselves to reject it, and so became "ignoble vessels" (Rom
Well, turns out we didn't have long to wait. First oportunity, almost, and Adam brings the sin that must come. Big surprise. But if he had instead passed the test, he would have been eternally righteous, as the angels in heaven are eternally righteous, having faced and passed the test failed by Lucifer and his minions. Adam might then have had the glory for which we all yearn, and which some of us will attain, come the resurrection. Perhaps Adam, having passed the test, would have eaten the fruit of the Tree of Life and been given a resurrection body – after, of course, he had produced the full number of his children (since those who have a resurrection body are like the angels in heaven, neither marrying nor taking in marriage, Mt 22:30) Or perhaps he would have awaited his Rapture, cf. Enoch. Who can say.
But how would sin enter the world, if not through Adam?
2. Without a Ransom or Redeemer
Adam need not have sinned. But whether or not he had, he would have had other sons and daughters – presumably many (Gen 5:4). He was obedient at least in this commandment, of carnality. These children would have been born whether or not there was a Fall, since it was before the Fall that God commanded Adam to fruitfully multiply. If such children were born to a sinless Adam, they would have inherited no sin nature – they would have been born into the same righteous state that Adam was created. However, each of these hypothetical sinless children would also have been subject to testing. And since sin must come – so the ransom Jesus paid would not be paid in vain – one of them, or one of their line, would have been the first to sin, and so be the father of sinful humanity. Indeed, we do not have to search far along the family tree before we find a likely candidate for sin-bringer. Who else, but Cain.
Is this a solution to the predestined fall of man? What of the implications, of a humanity in which not all men would be fallen. If not fallen, then not in need of a Redeemer. Hm. That Jesus died for men is biblical, no matter interpretations – I see it as for all men. His sacrifice was made, once only, for those sins which resulted from the Fall, as Hebrews (
Unlike the Koran, the Bible doesn't claim to have been written before creation began, so if not all men needed salvation, then the ransom of Jesus' life would be paid only for those who needed it, and scripture would have reflected that. We would have, obviously, a somewhat different Bible. Is this impertinent? The Bible is not God, and could be different. It is the record of man's response to God's plan, and men can choose how they will respond. God, however, always was and will be just exactly as He is, and could never be otherwise, since He is perfect, eternal and unchanging. God, it would seem, is more subject to predestination than we are. In any case, He, like ourselves, is subject to His nature.
If there are unpleasant consequences to the idea that Adam need not have been the sin-bringer, consider the alternative, of his being predestined to fall, and thus without true choice. This would mean God not only allowed sin to come – which He did – but caused it, by allowing no other option for Adam. But if Adam had another option, then he might not have sinned, and so sin would have had to come through another. In this way, a righteous God authors a righteous plan.
Pursuing this line of speculation, one may wonder what would have happened to that supposed unfallen line of humans who were proved righteous. Since there would have been two ways to fall (by failing the test of those who were born innocent, or by being born to fallen parents), it can be assumed, through the analogy of epidemiology, that the 'virus' of sin would very quickly have spread throughout humanity, leaving, if any, only a remnant of the ‘Righteous”.
Would it be thinkable to have a troop of sinless humans living in this fallen world? I suspect, following this tenuous reasoning, that such people would have been in the category of Enoch – who walked with God and was not, for God took him. They would have been raptured and held until the Millennium, perhaps sometimes acting as, though not of course being, angels - coming to earth to perform certain tasks, as did Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration. (Both their bodies were taken to heaven - Jude 9, 2 Kings
All this is not idle theorizing only because it shows that God's plan must go forth, independent of the actions of any single person. All are sinners, up to the present, with the one exception of Jesus Christ. There is no such tribe of righteous men, and if there were, they would only be as we too will be, come the resurrection – not greater than we are, just older brothers. Where we bow down in awe of His gracious sacrifice for our redemption, they would bow down with equal awe at His gracious gift of their very lives.
Lest we speculate too far, I hasten to affirm that not one alone of this pretended, perfect family, nor all of them together, could have been a sacrifice sufficient to redeem the sins of the human race. Only Jesus could ever have made atonement, since only he is God, with infinite capacity to atone. One such righteous person, by laying down his life, could have made atonement for one sin of one fallen human, but that fallen person would still bear the damning guilt of his countless other sins. When we consider that everything not of faith is sin (Rom 14:3), that every sub-nanosecond fraction of every moment not of faith is sin, that all our righteousness is as filthy rags – then we remember that every individual's sin is orders of magnitude beyond any physical hope of atonement. No one death of any (or indeed every) mere creature however mighty can possibly ransom even a single man. But Jesus – no creature, but infinite God – died infinitely; his death was greater than all the contents of space and of time. In death, he was not infinitely annihilated, but utterly "forsaken"; God the Son separated from God the Father, and Son of Man from body of man.
The only atonement for humanity not of Jesus Christ could perhaps have come from Adam himself. How? If instead of deliberately sinning he had remained obedient to God, and if at that crucial moment when Eve had eaten and he had not, Adam had offered to lay down his own life as a substitute for Eve – then his one death might have atoned for her one sin. There was a small window of time when only one sin had been committed by all of humanity – of both humans. At this moment, Adam’s life might have been sufficient. So he would have redeemed his bride with his life, as Christ, the Last Adam, does redeem His Bride with his life.
How then would Adam have been resurrected? His righteous choice might have made him an acceptable sin offering, and Eve might have been redeemed from the claim of death by his sacrificial blood, but how would Adam himself have been ransomed from the fact of death? The offering still ends up dead, for all that it is spotless. Jesus indeed raised himself (Jn
However, Adam might have been raised after the manner of Isaac, had he been slain – Abraham's understanding was that his obedience would result in Isaac's resurrection (Heb
Returning to the larger theme, what shall we make of God's cursing the very ground, matter itself, because of Adam's sin? If not he, but someone else, had sinned, would there have been any cursing at all? – even of the serpent who tempted Eve? And if some cursing, would it have extended to all of creation? Genesis (3:14) implies that all beasts are cursed, the serpent most of all. Because Adam was the responsible head, and sinned, all creation suffers (Rom
This speculation intrudes far into the land of “what if”, but my point is that if any other redeeming were needed, not Adam nor any mere creature would have been sufficient. Ultimately, any conjecture must give way to the fact that there is no ransom from the penalty of sin save by the blood of Christ.
My, frightening isn’t it. So much thought about things that never happened. Well, that’s what it’s like to be inside my head – like the universe itself, mostly hollow, a few bright spots and lots of darkness. But I’ve got one final thought. Why did Adam do it? Why did he disobey? He wasn’t deceived. He knew the cost, yet went ahead and ate. Deliberately. Having been warned, and aware of the effect. So why did he take that fruit from Eve and eat it?
Well, he’d been alone, hadn’t he. He’d been without Eve. He’d known solitude. Walked with God in the cool of the day, but it wasn’t enough. He needed Eve. God did not complete him. Eve did. And when Adam found Eve, her face sticky with juice … imagine his horror. His blood ran cold. It is then, and not after, that he lost everything. Because she was everything. And he could not bear to see her die, and he could not bear to live out eternity alone, without her, sleeping in Sheol as she would. And she would be alone. So he reached out his hand, and took the poison from her grasp, and raised it to his lips and ate. He joined her in death, deliberately.
Adam’s sin wasn’t in eating the fruit. It was in loving Eve more than he loved God.
But isn’t that all of us.
J
posted by Jack H @ 22:42
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Fountain of Light
Science. Nasty old science. It's such an embarrassment for us ignorant Bible-thumpers. The proven fact of the fact that is proven of Evolution - oh, how we gnash our yellow stubby teeth over it. Curses upon
But I suppose it is just barely possible that much of what we call science is based not so much on empirically gathered data, as upon the interpretation of data when filtered through untested assumptions. And if that's the case, what other conclusion might we reach, if we start with other assumptions? Hmm. That is a question. Let's consider - using, say, the age of the universe and the age of the earth.
The following is a brief passage from the first chapter of my The Pillars of Heaven, dealing with the physical sciences as they apply to a literal reading of the Bible.
A black hole is an object that is so dense, so heavy, having so much gravity, that any light that gets too close to this mass cannot escape. The point of no return (outside of which light can travel on by, but inside which light is forever trapped), is called the event horizon. Black holes could be detected by astronomers only indirectly, by their utter darkness (they may emit certain radiations, but that is beyond our scope).
The idea of a white hole is a logical counterpart of black holes, but has not been as fully developed. Briefly, a white hole is a mass which expels matter, but into which nothing can enter. Again an event horizon would mark the boundary. “Matter cannot sit still inside an event horizon[1]. In a black hole, matter must move inward; in a white hole, matter must move outward.”[2] Inside a white hole, matter and energy would behave normally, and time would presumably be uniform. But any light or matter which fell out, past the event horizon, would be forever excluded from re-entering. The event horizon is always a one-way door.
While on the one hand a black hole will always grow, since it must always take matter in, a white hole will only shrink, since any matter which leaves its event horizon can never be replaced. And if the white hole loses mass, its event horizon shrinks inward, closer to the core. And as it shrinks, more matter is expelled, and thus a chain reaction is set up, so that the event horizon collapses faster and faster. Eventually, given a white hole of sufficient initial size, the event horizon would be traveling inward at many times the speed of light (since it is only matter which is limited by that speed). Could it reach the billion trillion times light speed of Big Bangism? Maybe. But if the event horizon travelled inward faster than the speed of light, then the space leaving the white hole would also be travelling — expanding, expelled — faster than the speed of light.
All this is relevant in that space, mass, gravity, the speed of light, and time are all related. Einstein's best known theory is the Special Theory of Relativity, which has to do with the speed of light and its curious relationship with time. His General Theory of Relativity deals with the relationship between gravity and time. As it turns out, the closer something is to the center of a gravitational field, the slower time moves for it, when compared with something further away from the effects of gravity. In practical terms, time moves slower, the closer down you are to sea level. This has been confirmed by comparing nuclear clocks located at sea-level and in high mountains: they start out synchronized, but then move at different rates. The different flow of time is virtually insignificant, on such a minor scale, but on a universal scale, the effect is dramatic.
Again, the further an object is from the center of a gravitational field, the faster time moves for it. So, in relation to more central objects: as matter exits the event horizon, time speeds up for it. A theoretical observer stationed at the event horizon — with (if you will) one eye seeing inward, and the other seeing out — would see a certain clock moving very, very slowly at the center of the white hole, while a clock at the furthest limit of matter would be racing faster than the eye could follow — in fact, 2 or 3 million times faster. Both clocks would be accurate, and would keep the same time if located near each other. The point is that even though all matter started at the same time, matter further from the center would be older.m
Let's consider the following: [a] if God created the universe inside a white hole — that is, if God created a closed universe, with some sort of boundary or end, and [b] if Earth was at or near its center; and then [c] if the event horizon (which had been the border of the universe, outside of which nothing existed) started to collapse as matter was expelled (away from the effect of gravity and causing the universe, in effect, to expand); then [d] the universe can be fifteen billion years old, or any other vastly ancient age (determined by the requirements of theory), while Earth itself need be only thousands of years old. All the universe could thus have been created at the same time, while, paradoxically, matter has different ages, depending on its location. Einsteinian relativity provides the answer.
A piece of evidence which is cited almost as proof of the standard Big Bang model is the uniform presence throughout the universe of background microwave radiation, which gives the universe its temperature of 2.73 K. This is supposed to represent residual energy left over from the Big Bang explosion, and the fact that it is universal is taken as proof that it was present at the beginning. Now, many people think that this radiation was predicted by the Big Bang theory, but this is another one of those masterful propaganda ploys which — along with such myths as continental drift and progression in the fossil record — have caused Evolutionism to become the dominant paradigm. The actual fact is that “The big bang made no quantitative prediction that the background radiation would have a temperature of 3 degrees Kelvin (in fact its initial prediction was 30 degrees Kelvin); whereas Eddington in 1926 had already calculated that the temperature of space produced by the radiation of starlight would be found to be 3 degrees Kelvin.”[3]
Indeed, the very uniformity of this radiation is an embarrassment to Big Bangism, since such smoothness is “difficult to reconcile with the obvious clumping of matter into galaxies, clusters of galaxies and even larger features extending across vast regions of the universe, such as walls and bubbles.”[4] The tiny difference which great effort has uncovered, is on the order of less than one part in 10,000 — at the precision limit of the instruments used to gather the data. Furthermore, these differences occur over areas from 100 to 1000 times too broad to be related to Big Bang theory.[5]
However, there is another explanation, consistent with the white hole model. If we assume that before the Fall (which we will examine later), the universe was not the cold and monstrously barren place which it is now, but instead warm — that is, filled with infrared radiation (heat waves) — then as the universe passed through the event horizon, stretching out so dramatically as time became relative, the heat waves would also have stretched out, being transformed into microwaves. The “same stretching effect which caused the red shift of light waves will also red-shift the heat waves.”[6] We see that what is taken as proof for one model, is easily explained by the other.
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[1]. L.D. Landau and E.M. Lifshitz, The Classical Theory of Fields, 4th revised English ed. (Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1975), p. 311.
[2]. Humphreys, p. 108.
[3]. T. Van Flandern, "Did the Universe Have a Beginning?," Beta Research Bulletin (Vol. 3, Sept. 15, 1994), p. 33; in W. Brown (1995), p. 60.
[4]. I. Peterson, "Seeding the Universe," Science News (Vol. 137, March 24, 1990), p. 184.
[5]. W. Brown (1995), p. 60.
[6]. Humphreys, p. 122.
posted by Jack H @ 16:53
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Sunday
The Heavens Declare: conclusion
Introduction
1. Virgo & Libra
2. Scorpio & Sagittarius
3. Capricorn & Aquarius
4. Pisces & Aries
5. Taurus & Gemini
6. Cancer & Leo
We’ve spent some time looking at the ancient constellations and their associated myths and meanings. The thesis of this study has been that, in their original form, these signs were composed by pre-Flood prophets of God, foretelling in graphic form the same story that the Bible tells in its verbal prophecies. Thus, non-literate cultures and individuals would not be left without a witness. Yes, this is a theory. But you have seen the evidence. The order and congruence with biblical truth seems beyond coincidence, and the harmony with orthodox theology seems too ancient to be fraud.
A. Virgo: Virgin and Child — prophecy of the Seed
1. Coma the Desired Child
2. Centaurus the Despised Sin-offering
3. Arcturus the Coming One
B. Libra: the Altar and the Law — work accomplished (in grace)
1. Crux the Cross
2. Victima the Victim
3.
B. Scorpio: the Adversary — work accomplished (in conflict)
1. Serpens the Serpent
2. Serpentarius the Serpent-Holder
3. Hercules the Strong One
A. Sagittarius: the Archer — fulfillment of the prophesied victory
1. Lyra the Harp, sound of praise
2. Ara the Altar, fires of judgment
3. Draco the Dragon, cast out
II. Book Two: The Redeemed
C. Capricorn: the Sin-offering — prophecy of the deliverance
1. Sagitta the Arrow, piercing
2.
3. Delphinus the Dolphin, rising
D. Aquarius: the Living Waters — results of the work bestowed (in grace)
1. Pisces Australis, the Fish, receiving life
2. Pegasus the Winged Horse, coming quickly
3. Cygnus the Swan, returning
D. Pisces: the Great Multitude — results of the work received (in conflict)
1. the Band, of bondage
2. Andromeda the Woman Chained
3. Cepheus the Coming King
C. Aries: the Lamb of God — fulfillment of the deliverance
1. Cassiopeia the Woman Ruling
2. Cetus, Leviathan Bound
3. Perseus the Head-crusher
III. Book Three: Second Coming
E. Taurus: The Returning King — prophecy of the judgment
1. Orion the Coming Light
2. Eridanus the Fiery River
3. Auriga the Shepherd
F. Gemini: the Mediator — the Redeemer's reign (in grace)
1. Lepus the Serpent Destroyed
2. Canis Major, the Prince who Crushes
3. Canis Minor, the Prince who Completes
F. Cancer: the Fold — the Redeemer's possession (in peace)
1. Ursa Minor, the Lesser-fold, of
2. Ursa Major, the Greater-fold, of the Nations
3. Argo the Return of the Redeemed
E. Leo: the Conquering Lion — fulfillment of the triumph
1. Hydra the Serpent Pierced
2. Crater the Cup, of wrath
3. Corvus the Raven, disposing
| Ancient Mansions of the Moon | |||
| 1 | Al Awa | the Desired | Virgo |
| 2 | Semak al Azel | Branch of the power of God | |
| 3 | Caphir | Atonement | |
| 4 | Al Zubena | the Redeeming | Libra |
| 5 | Al Iclil | the Submission, or Ornament | |
| 6 | Al Kalb | the Wounding | Scorpio |
| 7 | Al Shaula | the Sting | |
| 8 | Al Naim | the Gracious | Sagittarius |
| 9 | Beldah | Hastening | |
| 10 | Al Dibah | the Slain Sacrifice | Capricorn |
| 11 | Sa'ad al Bula | Drinking In | Aquarius |
| 12 | Sa'ad al Su'ud | Outpouring | |
| 13 | Al Achbiya | the Fountain of Pouring | |
| 14 | Al Pherg al Muchaddem | the Former Progeny | Pisces |
| 15 | Al Pherg al Muachher | the Latter Progeny | |
| 16 | Al Risha | the Band, United | |
| 17 | Al Sheratan | the Wounded, Cut Off | Aries |
| 18 | Al Botein | the Treading Under Foot | |
| 19 | Al Thuraiya | the Enemy Punished | |
| 20 | Al Debaran | the Ruler | Taurus |
| 21 | Al Heka | the Driving Away | |
| 22 | Al Henah | the Foot-Wounded | Gemini |
| 23 | Al Dirah | the Abused | |
| 24 | Al Nethra | the Cherished | Cancer |
| 25 | Al Terpha | the Delivered | |
| 26 | Al Gieba | the Exaltation | Leo |
| 27 | Al Zubra | the Reckoning | |
| 28 | Al Serpha | the Pyre | |
Interestingly, if we string together the names of these first patriarchs, we have a perfectly clear annunciation of the Gospel: To Man (Adam) is Appointed (Shem) Affliction (Enosh) and Sorrow (Kenan). The Great God (Mahalaleel) Shall Come Down (Jared), Teaching (Enoch). His Death Shall Bring (Methuselah) to the Despairing (Lamech), Rest (Noah), and his Name (Shem) shall bring Strength (Arphaxad).
Every book in the Old Testament was written specifically for
The relatively profound silence of the Bible regarding the zodiac is easily understood when we remember how readily
At the same time, because of the divine authorship of the constellations, we find no condemnation of the images themselves — only of the corrupt, idolatrous byproduct. With this in mind, we understand that Job had natural revelation and whatever sanitary primeval teaching he had received from his ethnic source. Job had the stars. It is for this reason that in Job's book, more than any other of the Bible, we read of the Mazzaroth. Thus, it is Job who speaks of Orion, and the Bear, and the Pleiades of Taurus (cf. 9:9, 38:31,32), and also of Scorpio (9:9) and Hydra (26:13). He cites these signs because they were the primer in which he first read truth.
The intuitions of Aristotle, and of Neander too, were correct — their zodiac was a caricature and a grotesque perversion of an original design. Mankind was not left without a witness. The startling stars, so brilliant in the new heavens which appeared after the Flood, were made by some true prophet of God to tell the story of the Seed of the woman, Who would crush the head of the serpent. The message was clear, and known to all the first generations. Unfortunately, mankind “changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, Who is blessed forever” (Rom
I have summarized these ideas because they shed such clear light on the prostitution at
posted by Jack H @ 12:33
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Saturday
6. Cancer & Leo
The Heavens Declare: constellations as prophecy
Introduction
1. Virgo & Libra
2. Scorpio & Sagittarius
3. Capricorn & Aquarius
4. Pisces & Aries
5. Taurus & Gemini
6. Cancer & Leo
Conclusion
Issachar / Cancer (Gen 49:14-15)
The third "chapter" of the Book of the Second Coming was called by the Egyptians Klaria, "cattle-fold". In Arabic it is called Al Sartan ("who holds" — the same meaning as the Syriac name). The Akkadian name was shared with its month, called Su-kul-na ("the seizer" or "possessor of seed"). Again, in Greek the name was Karkinos ("encircling" or "holding"), which is also the meaning of its Latin name, Cancer (Khan-Ker is "inn-encircled" or "rest-secured" in Arabic); from this ‘circle’ derives its ancient and modern image, the Crab. A crab, in its changing of smaller shells for larger — weaker bodies for better — is a not inept portrait of the saints of the resurrection, who lay off "the body of this death" to be "clothed upon with our house which is from heaven". A similar metaphor was used in
Cancer's brightest star is in what is now the tail, called Tegmine ("holding"). In the larger, lower "claw" is Acubene ("hiding place"). Another of its stars is called in Arabic Ma'alaph ("assembled thousands") and Al Himarein ("the lambs"). Contained within the ‘fold’ is a bright nebula now called "the Beehive", whose ancient name was Præsepe, "a multitude" or "offspring". The Romans saw it as a manger within a camp, recalling back to the identification of Cancer as a Cattle-fold. Above and below this nebula are the stars Asellus Bareas and Asellus Australis, "the northern and the southern ass" — it is this which tells us that Cancer is linked to the tribe of Issachar ("recompense"). In Gen 49:14 we read: “Issachar is a strong donkey, lying down between two burdens [or sheepfolds — Jdg
As in the decans of Gemini, all the constellations of the "Cancer" group have had their original images distorted. Just as "the Cattle-Fold" was corrupted into "the Crab", so the first decan was originally "the Lesser Fold" — known to us as "the Little Dipper", or Ursa Minor ("the Little Bear"). Another Latin name was Septentriones, the "seven which revolve" — from which the Romans arrived at their word for ‘north’; the Arabs noted its rotation in the name Ogilah, "going round". Other names were Kochab ("the star" or "waiting the coming"), Al Pherkadain ("the calves" or "the redeemed"), Al Gedi ("the kid"), and Al Kaid ("the assembled"). Obviously, the original meaning had nothing to do with bears. We might better find in these Seven Stars the Seven Churches of John's Revelation, gathered around the Throne. The confusion with a Bear arose from the similarity between the Hebrew words for "fold" (dohver) and "bear" (dohv) — a similarity retained in both Arabic and Persian. Thus the Greeks replaced the fold with the bear — an obvious corruption, as one glance at the smaller Bear's freakishly long tail proves, ridiculously extended to end at the Pole Star.
Indeed, the Pole Star is the brightest of the constellation's stars, called Al Ruccaba ("turned" or "ridden on"); it is Cynosure in Greek, after which the entire constellation was called (the Greeks took the name from Mesopotamia, An-nas-sur-ra, meaning something like "on high"[1]). As we saw, the pivot of heaven, the pole, was once possessed by the Dragon, but now resides within the haven of the Righteous, who “possesses the gate of his enemies.” Next in brightness is Kochab ("awaiting Him who cometh"). Another star is Arctos ("the stronghold of the saved"), from which derives ‘arctic’. There are now 24 stars in this sign, of which 7 are original.
Beneath the Lesser Flock we find "the Greater Fold" (cf. Lk
The brightest star is on the ‘lip’ of the Dipper, called Dubheh in Hebrew, meaning "a herd of cattle" (akin to "security" and to the Akkadian word for "wealth"); its Arabic name is Dubhe (A. "flock" — another name for the entire constellation). Next, directly below, is Merach (H. "the flock", and A. "purchased"). Directly to the left is Phaeda ("guarded" or "numbered"), and the star above, completing the square, was probably called El Kaphrah (A. "protected", H. "ransomed"). Just to the left along the ‘handle’ of the Dipper is Alioth ("she-goat", as that held by the Shepherd, third decan of Taurus); half-way down the handle is star Mizar ("separate"), immediately next is Al Cor ("lamb"), and at the tip is Benet Naish (A. "daughters of the assembly"). Other, unidentified stars had names meaning "the latter flock", "the appointed sheep-fold", "multitude", "assembled", "separated", and "band of travellers". Of the 87 stars currently visible in this sign, only 18 are original.
The final decan of Cancer is called Argo (another word meaning "band of travellers"). It shares its name with the ship of Jason, who recovered the lost treasure from the coveting serpent; this myth was imposed upon the original sign which told a similar story, of Him who defeated the dragon, dried the seas and made a way of crossing for the redeemed (Is 51:9‑11). The Ship is shown as having two galley decks, each with a ram's-head prow; the stern ends in the tail of a fish. The Egyptian image preserved from Dendera is called Shes-en-Fent ("rejoicing upon the serpent"): a mighty corralled ox, wearing around its neck the Egyptian cross of life. The Persian image shows three virgins, strolling in safety. At the keel, the most prominent star is the helmsman
In Isaiah (60:4‑5,9) we have the same pictures:
“Lift up your eyes all around, and see: they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall come from afar, and your daughters shall be nursed at your side. Then you shall see and become radiant, and your heart shall swell with joy, because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, [and] the wealth of the Gentiles shall come to you. . . . Surely the coastlands shall wait for Me; and the ships of Tarshish will come first, to bring your sons from afar, their silver and their gold with them, to the name of the Lord your God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because He has glorified you.”
And again (Is 35:10): “The ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to
And so, in Cancer, the true picture is of the safety of the Shepherd's Fold which hides the multitude of lambs. We have the Lesser Fold, the assembly of the redeemed, harboring those who partook in the heavenly calling, who awaited a heavenly city ("Ursa Minor"); it circles round the heavens' center, which is no longer the hold of the Dragon but now the stronghold of the little flock. Again, we find the Seven Stars (cf.
Judah / Leo (Gen 49:8-12)
Finally, the last of all the signs, and the last "chapter" the Book of the Second Coming, deals with Leo, or in Hebrew Arieh, the hunting Lion. In Syriac the name is Aryo ("the rending lion") and in Arabic Al Asad ("the lion leaping"). This Lion is treading upon the constellation of the fleeing serpent, Hydra. John (Rev 5:5) has recorded this truth: “Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed . . .” Again, in Hosea (13:7,8) we find that God “will be unto them as a lion. I will rend the caul of their heart. I will devour them like a lion.” The Egyptian image is of a lion crushing a serpent (Hydra) which has a bird (Corvus) perched and feeding on its body; below, a female figure holds out two cups (Crater); knem, the word for "conquered", is written underneath. The Egyptian name of this constellation is Pi-mentekeon, meaning "the pouring out", as of wrath. At the heart of the lion is the brightest star, Regulus ("treading under foot"). Next, at the end of the tail, is Denebola ("the hastening judge"). In the mane is Al Giebha ("the exaltation"), and on the back is Zosma ("shining forth"). Other stars have names meaning "the judge cometh who seizes", "the punishing from the lion", and "the enemy put down". A final star is Sarcam, meaning "joining" or ‘the joint’, indicating the boundary between the beginning and end of the constellations. Of the Lion's 95 visible stars, only 22 were seen in the original design. The link between Judah and the Lion is too obvious to need to expand upon.
Beneath the Lion, and the Cattle-Fold which is Cancer, the leviathan Hydra twists toward the Prince Who Crushes (Canis Minor). Hydra means "he is abhorred", and just as the leviathan Cetus is the largest of the constellations, so Hydra, "Leviathan, the crooked serpent", is the longest, spanning almost a third of the equator of the heavens; it seems likely that this is the dragon which swept away a third of the stars from heaven. The Lion attacks this monster, mirroring Psalm 74: “God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth, breaking the heads of the dragons in the waters . . .” The Hydra of myth had a hundred regenerating heads, and was slain only with the use of fire. Its major star is at the heart of the monster, called Al Phard (A. "put away"); another star, probably in its head, is Minchar al Sugia ("the tearing of the deceiver"), and yet another is called Al Drian ("the abhorred"). Sixteen of the 60 visible stars were seen in the sky of the pre-Flood night.
The second decan of the Lion is known as Crater, the Cup. This is the “cup of His indignation” (
Last of all the images is Corvus, or Oreb, the "Raven", shown feasting on the monstrous Hydra. The Egyptian name for this bird was Her-na, "the enemy-failing". The biblical image is well-formed of unclean birds feasting on the wicked: David (1S 17:46) promises to Goliath that “I will smite thee, and take thy head from thee; and I will give the carcasses of the host of the Philistines this day unto the fowls of the air . . .”; Proverbs (30:17) tells us that the “eye that mocketh at his father . . . the ravens of the valley shall pick it out . . .”; from The Revelation (19:18) we have the picture of an angel in the sun, “calling with a great voice to all the fowls and birds of prey to come and feast themselves on the flesh of the enemy.” The primary star is in the eye, called Al Chibar (rendered either "the curse inflicted" or "joining together" — related to H. "accursed", Num 23:8). In the right wing is Al Goreb ("the raven"), and another star was called Minchar al Gorab ("the raven tearing to pieces"). Perhaps 6 of its 9 stars were seen in the first edition of the zodiac.
The story which the constellations of Leo tells, then, is of the actual vanquishing of the enemies of God. We find the rending Lion (Leo), the pierced deceiver (Hydra), the cup of wrath (Crater) and the disposing of the corpse (Corvus).
The final book — the Second Coming — deals with the coming Judge (Taurus), His double nature (Gemini), the taking of His inheritance (Cancer), and his final His triumph (Leo).
The first "book" deals with the First Coming (birth and death, adversity and victory), the second with redemption itself (the blessings procured, ensured, awaited, and realized,) and the third with the Second Coming (the judgment, reign, kingdom, and final victory). In each book, the first chapter deals with the Person, the last with the victory, and the middle two with the grace and the conflict of the Savior. Again, the last decan of the first book — of the First Coming — shows the Dragon, cast down; the second-from-last decan of the second book — of the Redeemed — shows Leviathan, bound; the third-from-last decan of the third book — of the Second Coming — shows Hydra, the old Serpent, destroyed. Many such parallels may be found.
posted by Jack H @ 02:21
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Friday
5. Taurus & Gemini
Introduction
1. Virgo & Libra
2. Scorpio & Sagittarius
3. Capricorn & Aquarius
4. Pisces & Aries
5. Taurus & Gemini
6. Cancer & Leo
Conclusion
Joseph / Taurus (Deut 33:16-17)
Last, we find the Book of the Second Coming, dealing with triumph and completion. We find no more chains — these belonged to the First Coming.
The first chapter of this book is known to us as Taurus, the Bull, always shown as charging; it emanates from out of the Lamb of Aries, and is at the opposite end of the sky from Scorpio, so that Taurus rises as Scorpio sets. The Chaldean name was Tor, similar to the Arabic Al Thaur. The common Hebrew name is Shur (from a root meaning "coming" and "ruling"), but another is Reem, from a root meaning "pre-eminence" — cf. Ps 92:10, “My horn shalt Thou exalt like the horn of a wild ox.” The reem is, then, now identified as the extinct wild ox, of massive size, nimble, ferocious and utterly untameable; its great, spreading horns are taken as symbols for the two sons of Joseph (cf. Deut 33:17). The pagan Egyptians depicted this sign as a bull, and called it by two names: Apis ("the head" or "chief" — the "bull god"), and
The brightest stars are in the Bull's eye, called Al Debaran in Aramaic, meaning "the leader", and at the point of the left horn is El Nath (A. "wounded", as in Aries). Other stars have names meaning "belonging to the judge", "foundation", "the abundance", and "rolled around". Part of the Bull, riding on its neck, is the cluster of seven stars known as the Pleiades (from the Greek, "the congregation of the judge") — the Hebrew name is Kimah ("heap", cf. Job 9:9, Amos 5:8); these stars are called the Doves, and "sweet influences", and may be likened to the seven churches of the Apocalypse which should be salt and light to the world. The brightest star of the Pleiades is called in Syriac, Succoth ("booths"), and in Arabic, Al Cyone ("the center"). Obviously, that which "turns around" on the "center" can be said to return, to Come Again. A cluster of stars on the Bull's face is called Hyades ("the congregation"). Of the over 140 stars in this constellation, a mere 14 or so seem to have been original.
The first decan of the Bull is Orion ("the coming one", sharing the meaning with the Altar, Hercules, Boötes, and Arcturus). We have already seen that this hunter is mentioned in Job and Amos, where his name means "a strong one" or "hero". This is the most brilliant of all the constellations, and can be seen everywhere that mankind has settled. He is shown as a powerful prince in victory, with raised club, holding the severed head of a boar or lion (cf. Hercules), left foot stepping on the head of the serpent which is Lepus; he hunts to win his Bride. The hilt of his sheathed sword is in the form of a lamb. The Arabs called him by names meaning the Branch, Ruler, or Prince. In
The brightest star is in the right shoulder: Betelgeuse ("the coming of the branch"). Next is the right foot, Rigel, "the foot that crushes", then in the left shoulder, Bellatrix ("quickly coming" or "swiftly destroying"). The brightest belt star is Al Nitak ("the wounded One"), and another belt star is Mintaka ("dividing" as a sacrifice — cf. Lev 8:2); this belt was identified as "the three kings", and also as "Jacob's Rod" (cf. Is 11:1). In the leg, Saiph ("bruised") is the very word used in Gen 3:15. Several stars share names which mean "strong", "coming", and "prince", and others mean "who breaks", "treading on", and "the branch". Twenty-four of its 78 stars are original.
The next decan is Eridanus, the long "river of the Judge", shown as pouring out from Rigel, "the crushing foot" of Orion, east through the limbs of the monster Cetus, then west and south into the pit of space. Daniel (
The third decan of Taurus had the ancient image of a shepherd — seated on the Milky Way, grasping bands, threads or reins in his right hand, and holding a she-goat on his left shoulder and two tender kids in his lap with his left hand. This image is presented biblically in Isaiah (40:10,11): “Behold, the Lord will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for Him: behold, his reward is with Him and His work before Him. He shall feed His flock like a shepherd: He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that give suck.” The Egyptian name was Trun ("scepter" or "power"), and the image was of a man holding a scepter topped with the head of a lamb and with a cross at the bottom. The well-known Egyptian circle-topped cross, the ankh, was corrupted into a symbol of life for only the Pharaoh and his slaves; its original meaning was life for the brothers (by adoption — Rom 8, Gal 4) of Messiah the King. Thus the scepter is the cross, and also the crook of this, the Good and Chief Shepherd (Jn
The pre-eminent star is Capella (Latin) or Alioth (Hebrew), meaning "she-goat" and located at her heart. In the Shepherd's right arm is Menkalinon (Chaldean for "band" or "string of goats"); Maaz, another star, has a name of the same meaning, "a flock of goats". To help identify the Shepherd, for those who have not noticed a pattern yet, we find in the right foot the star El Nath, meaning "the wounded" here as in Aries; and yet another star, Aiyuk, also means "wounded". Of the 66 stars seen in the modern sign, only 12 were visible to the first patriarchs.
So in the sign of Taurus we have the swift Return of the Prince who had been wounded. We also find the mighty hero of light coming forth in judgment (Orion), the fiery river of judgment which he pours forth (Eridanus), and the Good Shepherd tending his flock ("Auriga"): judgment, punishment, and reward.
Benjamin / Gemini (Gen 49:27)
All the images of the second sign of the Book of the Second Coming have suffered a large degree of Classical corruption. The major constellation is Gemini, the Twins, commonly shown as sitting together, feet resting on the Milky Way. The Hebrew name is Thaumim, meaning "united" (cf. Ex 26:24 — "coupled" or "twinned"). This is also the meaning of the Coptic Pi-Mahi: "the united", as in brotherhood. The Egyptians retained some of the truth, calling the sign Claustrum Hor ("the place of Him who cometh"), revealed as two figures approaching hand in hand, male and female, which we take as the Lord united with his Bride; to this image is attached the hieroglyph meaning "the Coming One". The pagan Romans corrupted the original meaning entirely, and called them Castor and Pollux (patrons of navigation) — although these, shadows of Christ, were said to still storms; the figures have sometimes been identified with Adam and Eve (the Second Adam and his Bride), or sometimes shown as two goats or kids.
Greeks called these two Apollo and Hercules. Accordingly, the major star, in the head of the figure on the right, is called Apollo, which (aside from mythological associations) signifies "destroyer", "judge" or "ruler" (he is also called Castor). His knee contains a star called Mebsuta, "treading under foot". He holds a harp and an unstrung bow, signifying repose and a task completed. The second star in brightness, in the head of the left figure, is Hercules, "who comes to labor or suffer" (also labeled as Pollux, "ruler" or "judge", and by the Egyptians, Hor, or Horus, the Child); in his left foot is Al Henah ("hurt" or "afflicted"). In his right hand he is represented as holding sometimes a palm branch, or sometimes a club in a relaxed position. With his left arm he embraces his twin. At the shared hip of each is the star Waset, "set". Others stars have names meaning "the palm branch", "the spreading branch" and the "seed" or "branch". Altogether, there are 85 stars in Gemini, only 12 of them original.
In this picture, then, we have a disturbing presentation of the two natures of Jesus Christ: Lord and Servant, Judge and Victim, God and
Beneath the foot of Orion, the Coming One, is the first decan of Gemini, pictured by the Persians as a serpent; to the Egyptians it was Bashti-beki ("confounded-failing") — depicted as a bird (cf. Mt 13:4,19) tearing at a serpent. The Arabs called it Arnebeth, "the Hare", but also "Enemy of the Coming"; evidently confused by the homonym, the Romans knew this sign only by the name we have today: Lepus, the Hare. At the heart shines the eponymous star, Arnebo ("the enemy of Him that cometh"); other stars are Nibal ("the mad"), Rakis ("the chained"), and Sugia ("the deceiver"). There are 19 stars in the modern sign, 10 of which shone dimly in the ancient firmament.
The second minor constellation is known now after the irrelevant Latin, Canis Major, the Dog; the Persians more accurately called it Zeeb, the Wolf, linking it to the tearing wolf which is the tribe of Benjamin, as characterized in Gen 49:27 (perhaps the similarity between the very sound of "Benjamin" and "Gemini" is also relevant); Benjamin ("son of the right hand") was originally named Benoni ("son of my sorrow"), as Gemini contains both the Ruler (Who sitteth at the right hand of God the Father) and the Suffering Servant, the Man of Sorrow. Plutarch translated its name as "leader", and its Arabic name means "coming swiftly". Fittingly, as the Wolf it is pursuing the Hare. But more evocatively, the Egyptians called this constellation Apes ("the head"), represented as a hawk (that enemy of the serpent which is Lepus); it was also called naz in Egyptian, meaning "coming swiftly down"). This Hawk stood upon a crushing mace, and bore on its head either a double crown or the curious picture of a mortar and pestle . . . to crush the head of the serpent.
The head of this hunter — whether Hawk or Wolf — holds the most brilliant star in the sky, Sirius ("the Dog Star", and also "prince", "guardian" or "victorious", from seir, cf. Is 9:6). Whether or not intended by the authors of these names and images, the names taken together — Naz and Seir, "the Swiftly Descending Prince" — yield in Hebrew Netzer, "the Branch", whom we know as the Nazarene. That this is not totally coincidental may be inferred from the fact that Matthew (
The final decan of Gemini is the twin of Canis Major — that is, Canis Minor, "the Lesser Dog". By the pagan Egyptians it was called Sebak ("conquering"), shown as a human with a tail and the head of a hawk. This minor version of its major counterpart contains the star Al Shemeliya (A. "the prince of the left hand"), complementing Sirius, which we just saw was the "prince of the right hand". The myths of this sign are confused: it was called Anubus, the hawk-headed Egyptian guide of the dead; Diana, the huntress of wild beasts; and the hound of impertinent Actæon, whom it devoured. If a link may be found between these myths, it is in the demand for justice. At the center of the constellation is the brightest star, Procyon, meaning "redemption" — probably the same star as Al Shemeliya. In the neck, the next star was called Al Gomeisa (A. "bearing for others"), and unidentified stars were called "the prince" and "who completes". Only 3 of the 14 stars were original.
So, in Gemini, just as we have the double nature of Jesus Christ represented in the principal constellation, we find a double image of the evil one in the raven and serpent of the first decan ("Lepus"), only to return to the double nature of Christ, in the Conqueror ("Canis Major") and the Redeemer ("Canis Minor") of the last two decans.
posted by Jack H @ 03:15
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Wednesday
4. Pisces & Aries
Introduction
1. Virgo & Libra
2. Scorpio & Sagittarius
3. Capricorn & Aquarius
4. Pisces & Aries
5. Taurus & Gemini
6. Cancer & Leo
Conclusion
Simeon / Pisces (Gen 49:5-7)
The third "chapter" in the Book of the Redeemed is Pisces, or Dagim (H. "the fishes"), a word closely connected with "multitudes", as in Gen 48:26, which can be rendered "let them grow as fishes do increase" (cf. Eze 47:9, Gen 1:28, Jn 21:6). The fish are depicted as joined by a band at the tail; one fish is facing the North Star, and the other swims against the path of the sun. The Egyptians called this sign Pi-cot Orion or Pisces Hori ("the fishes of Him that cometh"), and the Syriac name is Nuno ("the fish, lengthened out", i.e., having a posterity) — as the chosen heirs of Abraham would rival the stars in number. One of the stars of this sign is Okda (H. "the united"), and another is Al Samaca (A. "the upheld", cf. Is 41:10, "I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness"). This constellation was originally composed of only 4 or so stars.
Myth would have these fish as the metamorphosed divinities, Venus and Cupid, who changed thus to escape from the rampaging Typhon. But biblically, these "fish" are the heirs of the covenant of the faith of Abraham, and we have two fish because there are two groups who are saved: the Old and the New Testament saints, those for whom the Crucifixion was future, and those for whom it is past. Abarbanel, a 15th century Jewish explicator of Daniel, declares that Pisces always refers to Israel, although we must include all the ancient saints, from Adam and Enoch to John the baptizer; indeed, those saved during the years of the Tribulation should also be included here, but that is another topic entirely. We may consider one of the fish as a symbol for
The first decan is the band which unites the fish, called Al Risha (A. "the band" or "bridal"); it was called U-or ("He cometh") by the Egyptians. This bond is held, as it were, by the extended limb of Aries the Lamb. It is a leash as well, which collars the hideous Cetus, as we will see. In the sea which is the world, only those who are lost accept no restraint, following their own ungoverned impulses; those who are chosen for salvation are constrained — this is the meaning of the parable of the net (Mt 13:47). Remember also Hos 11:4, “I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love; and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws.” This decan originally had about 5 dim stars.
The next sign is the woman Andromeda. But here she is chained hand and foot, menaced at her feet by the serpents of Medusa. This is the woman symbolizing
The final decan of Pisces is Cepheus, from a Hebrew word for "branch". In
The story of Pisces, then, is of a multitude, bound yet sustained (Band), promised a heritage by Him who comes. We find the chained woman, broken, weak, smitten (Andromeda) — awaiting the coming king (Cepheus). The link with Simeon ("hearing and obeying") is found in the binding of the two fish, compared with the binding together in cruelty, fierce anger, willfulness and wrath of Simeon and Levi (Gen 49:5-7); just as God will "divide" them (v. 7), so the restraints of the fish will be severed when they have learned mercy.
Gad / Aries (Deut 33:20-21)
The final ‘chapter’ deals with Taleh (H. "the lamb), Al Hamal (A. "the sheep" or "gentle, merciful"), or Amroo, Syriac for "lamb"; this is the root found in Jn 1:29, “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” We know it as Aries, the Ram, but Aryan means "the Chief". The most ancient language of Babylon knew it as Barazigar ("sacrifice which justifies"), and the Egyptian name was Tametouris Ammon, meaning "the government of Ammon", where it was represented not with horns, but rather a circular crown — not dying, like the Goat, but full of vigor. It is this gentle ruling victim of Whom it is said (
In Greek myth, this lamb rescued on its back two children from divine wrath; their mother was Nephele ("cloud"), ruler of
The first decan of this Lamb depicts Cassiopeia ("the enthroned" or "the beautiful"), a woman not bound like Andromeda, but ruling; she is offered the scepter by her husband, Cepheus, enthroned immediately to her right. The Arabic name is El Seder ("the freed"), and also Ruchba ("the enthroned"); this is also the meaning of her Egyptian name — the same as that of Andromeda — Set; the Chaldean name, Dat al Cursa, had the same meaning. The ancients sometimes called this sign "the daughter of splendor", and, indeed, she assures her beauty with one hand tending to her robe and the other arranges her hair while holding a cluster of branches. We read directly of her in Is 62:2-4: “You shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord will name. You shall also be a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your god. You shall no longer be termed Forsaken, nor shall your land any more be termed Desolate; but you shall be called Hephzibah ["my delight is in her"], and your land Beulah ["married"] . . .” In Ezekiel (16:14) we read “'Thy renown went forth among the heathen for thy beauty; for it was perfect through my comeliness, which I put upon thee,' saith the Lord.” Its primary star, in the left breast, is Shedar ("the liberated"), also called Ruchbah and Dat al Cursa, both meaning "the enthroned". At the top of the chair is Caph ("the branch"). Of its 55 modern stars, only 10 were originally seen.
The largest of all the constellations comes next: Cetus, the scaly-headed, whale-bodied monster of the sea, the enemy of fishes, crouching at the horizon, hovering over the bottomless pit which is its destiny (Rev 20:1-3); it is also called Knem, Egyptian for "subdued". The creature is shown bound with that same band which binds the Fishes. This is that Leviathan of Job 41:1-10: “Canst thou draw out Leviathan with a fish hook? Or press down his tongue with a cord? Canst thou put a rope into his nose? . . .” While Job cannot do anything at all, yet God, “with His sore and great and strong sword, shall punish Leviathan, the piercing serpent . . . ; and He shall slay the dragon that is in the sea” — (Is 27:1). Its tremendous head is trodden upon by the charging Bull, Taurus; this is a symbol for that event in the Bible (Ps 74:14): “Thou brakest the head of the dragons in the waters. Thou brakest the heads of Leviathan in pieces.” Its major star is located in the upper jaw, called Menkar, "the bound enemy", and in the tail is Diphda, "thrust down". Most evocatively, in the neck shines Mira "the rebel": a brilliant, variable — that is, inconstant — star which disappears one about every 300 days (7 times every 6 years); how appropriate a symbol of the enemy, whether subtle serpent (Gen 3:8) or roaring lion (1P 5:8) or angel of light (2Cor 11:14) — changing from form to form, to poison, pounce and pervert. Of this constellation's 97 stars, only 19 were seen in the original pattern.
Finally, the third decan of Aries is Peretz ("the breaker", cf. Micah
In the final chapter of the Book of the Redeemed, then, we find the merciful, harmless sheep, wounded but vital (Aries). We find the woman freed from bondage and raised to glory (Cassiopeia), the enemy cast low and subdued (Cetus), and its conqueror shown in victory (Perseus).
And so ends this middle "book" itself, which opened with the goat and ends with the ram, with the center images connected with fishes. In it we find the "chapters" of the sacrificed Goat (Capricorn), the life-giving Man (Aquarius), the Multitudes who are blessed (Pisces), and the favored ones who rule with the Lamb (Ares). We find the blessing procured by the sacrifice, ensured by the provider, awaiting the inheritance, and enjoyed by the blessed.
posted by Jack H @ 23:58
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3. Capricorn & Aquarius
Introduction
1. Virgo & Libra
2. Scorpio & Sagittarius
3. Capricorn & Aquarius
4. Pisces & Aries
5. Taurus & Gemini
6. Cancer & Leo
Conclusion
The second "book" deals with the effect of the First Coming — it is the Book of the Redeemed. Its first ‘chapter’ deals with the sign of the Goat: Capricorn ("Goat", but also "atonement") or Gedi (H. "the kid" and "cut off"). The goat, of course, was the animal of the sin-offering (Lev
The pagan myth, or corruption, of the original meaning of this sign has not totally obscured the true theme. It was said that when Typhon sprang upon an assembly of the gods, Bacchus was forced to find refuge in a river, assuming the unlikely form of a goat; where the water touched, the mutable god was transformed accordingly. We may interpret this absurdity by realizing that in response to the power and attack of evil, Jesus became the Sacrifice, immersed in the waters of death yet remaining alive. The tail of the fish is a symbol of life and of the blesséd. Thus we read of the multiplying of the loaves and fishes, and that (Jer
The first decan is Sham (H. "destroying") or Sagitta, the Arrow. It appears out of nowhere, flying at the heart of ‘Pegasus’, meant to pierce the Returning King. It is the arrow of unmerited affliction, as of Job (6:4): “The arrows of the Almighty are within me.” Consider Ps 38:2: “Thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore.” It is also God's wounding of Himself (Is 49:2): “He hath hid Me, and made Me a sharpened arrow; in His quiver hath He hid Me.” (Note that an "arrow in a quiver" is a biblical symbol for one's child, cf. Ps 127:5.) Of the 18 or so visible stars in this sign, only four dim stars were seen by the first patriarchs.
The second decan is
The final decan of Capricorn is called Dalaph, "pouring out of water" (cf. Is 53:12, "He poured out His soul unto death"); in Arabic its several names mean "coming quickly" and "flowing swift" (cf. Rev 22:20, "Surely I am coming quickly"). We would know the sign as Delphinus, the Dolphin, which is always depicted with its head raised in vibrant life; consider how the dolphin leaps from the sea, a picture of resurrection from death — “All thy waves and thy billows are gone over me” (Ps 42:7). The work started by the sacrifice of Capricorn is shown completed in the Dolphin. The benevolence of dolphins was well-known in the ancient world, so much so that the most famous oracle, that of beautiful Apollo, was called
So, in this ‘chapter’ we have the sin-offering who partakes of life (Capricorn); we have the arrow of affliction (Sagitta), the royal soarer pierced in the heel (Aquila), and the poured-out, swiftly-coming, life-possessing One (Delphinus). The link between Naphtali and Capricorn is not obvious but implied. The sacrifice of the Goat as sin-offering brings the exhilaration of the carefree but often hunted deer, and the arrows of affliction become words of beauty (Gen 49:21); the wounded eagle is raised to greatest favor, and the pouring out of the waters results in the possession of the land (Deut 33:23).
Ruben / Aquarius (Gen 49:3-4)
The second ‘chapter’ is Aquarius, the Water-bearer, depicted as pouring out water into the mouth of a fish (the blessed). The Egyptians called the sign Hupei Tirion ("the place of him coming down"), represented by a man with two urns, with the fish seeming to have emerged from one; the Hebrew name is Deli ("the water-urn" — cf. Num 24:7), which is consistent with some zodiacs of the East, which represent only the urns. The chief star, in the right shoulder, is Sa'ad al Melik ("the record of the out-pouring"). The next brightest, in the other shoulder, is Saad al Sund ("who goeth and returned" or "the pourer out"); another star, in the right leg, is named Scheat (which also means "who goeth and returneth"). The star of the urn is Mon (Egyptian for "an urn"). Consider the words of Jesus to the Samaritan woman (Jn 4). One-hundred and eight stars are now visible in Aquarius, but originally it had only about 11 or so.
Mythology associated the Water-bearer with Ganymede, that most beautiful cup-bearer who was swept into heaven on eagle's wings. Even through the Classical perversions of the myth, we can distinguish the truth. There are numerous biblical allusions to this office: “If any man thirst, let him come to Me, and drink” (Jn
The first decan is that fish of the urn, called Pisces Australis, the Southern Fish; the Egyptians called it
In Egyptian records, the sign of the second decan is marked by the characters pe and ka; in Hebrew, peka means "chief" and sus means "horse" and also "swiftly returning". We know it as Pegasus, the Winged Horse. How much more rational is this etymology, than that given by, say, Robert Graves, who has Pegasus meaning "of the wells"[1] — although the idea of a "gushing fountain" is not alien to the true message. In the neck by the wings, the brightest star is Markab (H. "returning"). Next, in the shoulder, is Scheat (as in Aquarius already, meaning "who goeth and returneth"). At the tip of the wing is Al Genib (A. "who carries"). In the nostril is Enif (A. "the water" or "branch"), and finally, Matar (A. "who causes to overflow") is found in the near leg. Altogether there are 89 stars, but formerly only 15.
The last decan of Aquarius is Cygnus, the Swan; it was called by the Egyptians Tes-ark ("this from afar"). This bird is not wounded as was the Eagle, but is in powerful flight; as a swan, however, it would soon be coming to earth, on land or water. In the heavens, the stars of this constellation describe a perfect cross. At the center of the sign is Deneb ("the judge", as in Capricorn), also called
The story of the Water-carrier speaks of giving the most necessary substance of life to those in need — as fish need water. He comes down only to return, pouring out the water as a stream (Pisces Australis). We also find combined together the two clearest symbols of speed — wings and the horse — carrying Him who returns as from a far country to pour out abundance (Pegasus); complementing this provision, we find swift justice, the judge coming from afar, making his circuit in glory (Cygnus).
posted by Jack H @ 14:31
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Tuesday
2. Scorpio & Sagittarius
The Heavens Declare: constellations as prophecy
Introduction
1. Virgo & Libra
2. Scorpio & Sagittarius
3. Capricorn & Aquarius
4. Pisces & Aries
5. Taurus & Gemini
6. Cancer & Leo
Conclusion
Dan / Scorpio (Gen 49:17)
The third "chapter" is Scorpio, poised to strike the Serpent Holder; it is called Akrab (Hebrew and Arabic: "scorpion" and also "wounding" or "the conflict", the root found in Ps 144:1). Job (9:9) calls this sign "the Chambers of the South", referring to its opposition to Taurus and the Pleiades, directly across the sky. The Greek name of Scorpio was Chelai ("the Claws"), the Coptic name was Isidis ("oppression", cf. Ps 17:9), and another Egyptian name was Zugon ("the yoke"). The Akkadian name was Gir-tab, "the Seizer and Stinger" — reaching out to take hold of the Altar of Libra. The Greeks identified Scorpio with Typhon (Python), hundred-headed father of the multi-headed dog of hell, the Hydra, and the three-headed, fire-breathing Chimera. The brightest star is red — located at the heart — named in Arabic Antares ("tearing"). The star of the tail is Lesath (H. "the perverse"). The ancients considered a scorpion sting to be the most excruciating of all pain. The tribe of Dan ("judge") is linked to Scorpio by being “a serpent by the way, a viper by the path, that bites the horse's heels”. Altogether, this constellation has 44 stars, but it had 21 when it was designed.
Stretching toward "the Crown" is the first decan of Scorpio, Serpens (the Serpent) or Khu (Egyptian for "ruled" or "enemy"). This Serpent is restrained by a powerful man, and bludgeoned by heroic Hercules. Its major star, in the neck, is Unuk ("encoiling"), also called Alyah (H. "the accursed") and Al Hay (A. "the reptile"). Next in brightness, in the jaw, is Chelbalrai (A. "the serpent enfolding").
The serpent is trapped and twisting in the grip of the second decan, Ophiuchus (Gr: "the serpent holder") — called in Latin Serpentarius, and in Arabic, Cheleb Afei (with same meaning). The tableau is of Scorpio grasping at the Altar, but crushed while stinging the foot of this Man who strangles the Serpent; compare Lk 10:19, “I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy.” The Greeks called this man Æsculapius, that divine figure so closely linked with the serpent. The most important aspect of Æsculapius was his healing power, symbolized by his being the father of seven children (attributes): Healer, Physician, Desired One, Health-giver, Beautifier, Cure-bringer, and All-remedy. Æsculapius was said to have raised the dead with blood from the side of Justice, mixed with that of the slain monster, Gorgon; he himself died from a blow of heaven — yet after suffering this curse he rose again, glorified. The Egyptian image is Api-bau ("the coming king") — a man with the head of a hawk (enemy of serpents), seated on a throne. The brightest star of this Holder, in the head, is Ras al Hagus (A. "the head of the holder"). Unidentified stars in these two decans have Hebrew names meaning "treading under foot", "bruised" (located in the man's foot), "the wounding", and "contending". Together, these two decans contain 134 visible stars, but the patriarchs could have seen only 29.
Finally, the third decan is Hercules, or Al Giscale (A. "the strong one"), and in
Consider Ps 91:13: “Thou shalt tread upon the lion and the adder. The young lion and the dragon[1] (serpent) shalt Thou trample under foot”. Consider Rev 12:4, where the Dragon sweeps the sky with its tail. Consider Rev 9:3, where demons wreak destruction as with the tails of scorpions. Thus, in Scorpio, we have the Coming One's oppressive, perverse wounder (Serpens), trodden upon by the Coming King (Ophiuchus), the lion slayer, who breaks with his hands the coiling adversary; thus we find, shattering the three-heads of a monster, the Mighty One who comes even though wounded for the sins of others (Hercules).
Asher/Sagittarius (Gen 49:20 Deut 33:24‑25)
The final chapter in the Book of the First Coming is Sagittarius, the Archer — called Toxotes in Greek, and in Hebrew, Kesith ("the archer" — cf. Gen 21:20); in Arabic it is Al Kaus ("the arrow"), in Egyptian, Pimaere ("graciousness" or "the beauty of coming forth"), and in the Akkadian of ancient Babylonia, Nun-ki ("Prince of the Earth"). The constellation depicts a centaur (also identified as Cheiron), and a hieroglyph beneath the rear foot reads Knem ("He conquers"). His arrow is aimed at the heart of Scorpio. Sagittarius is supposed to be relatively recent, but Berosus states that its image was in the
The first decan of the Archer is Gnasor in Hebrew, known to us as Lyra, the Harp — the instrument of praise. The Harp is sometimes held by an eagle, and its Egyptian image, in fact, was of a hawk, and called Fent-kar ("the serpent is ruled"). The most brilliant star in this harp is the radiant Vega ("exalted", from which root our word "victory" derives). Its next two brightest stars are Shelyuk (H. "an eagle") and Sulaphat ("ascending"). We have the praises of the exalted Conqueror, rising up on the wings of an eagle. It originally had only about 5 stars.
The second decan is Ara (L., "the Altar" — in Greek, "cursing"), and it is the lowest of the constellations, its fires pointing into the abyss of the outer darkness, pouring, as it were, into the Lake of Fire. Ara has the sense of "prayer", but even more, it “connects directly with the Hebrew mara and
Like all the final decans of the Book of the First Coming, the third decan of Sagittarius marks the victory of God. The Egyptian image is Her-fent ("the serpent accursed"), and the modern sign, beneath the feet of Hercules, is the Dragon (Draco, re H. dahrach, "to tread") as he is cast out of heaven. We might think of the Dragon as the "Tyrannosaurus Rex", not just for its kingly name, but because of its unparalleled reputation for fierceness; where the Serpent is cunning and deceitful, the Dragon is a symbol of earthly empire, violent and defiant. This is the dragon which hoarded the Golden Apples, and lost them and its life to Hercules. The various aspects of this evil being are integrated of course, as by the chief star, Thuban (H. "the subtle") — said to have been the Pole Star. Thus, the commotion, the casting down, is symbolized by the changing of the pole star: the heavens have been shaken, and the Dragon has lost his place. See Rev 12:9, “The great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out and his angels with him.” In its fall, it swept away a third of the stars. The next brightest star, in the head, is Rastaban (H. "head of the subtle"), Al Waid (A. "who is to be destroyed"), or Al Dib ("the reptile"); the third brightest star is Etanin (H. "the long serpent"). Unidentified stars have names in Hebrew meaning "the subtle" and "the punished enemy"; Arabic names mean "the fraudful" and "the bowed down". Of the 80 stars now visible in Draco, 21 are original.
The final chapter, then, tells of the beautiful, mounted Archer coming in victory (Sagittarius), his praises rising high (Lyra), his enemies scourged and eternally in fire (Altar), his enemy revealed, humbled and thrown down (Draco). The link to Asher ("the blessed going forth") is in the general presentation of the exalted conqueror enjoying the prosperity of victory (Gen 49:20), anointed even on his feet, shod in proven bronze and mighty iron (Deut 33:24‑25). So ends the Book of the First Coming, the book of the virgin birth (Virgo), the price paid (Libra), the enemy defeated (Scorpio), and the victory won (Sagittarius).
[1].The word here for "dragon" is used 15 times in the Bible, as in Is 27:1 ("He shall slay the dragon that is in the sea"), or Eze 29:3 ("Behold, I am against you, O Pharaoh king of Egypt, O great monster that lieth in the midst of his rivers").
[2].Scholiast, Lycophron, v. 120; in Hislop, p. 42.
[3].Seiss, p. 56; italics his.
posted by Jack H @ 00:32
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Monday
1. Virgo & Libra
The Heavens Declare: constellations as prophecy
Introduction
1. Virgo & Libra
2. Scorpio & Sagittarius
3. Capricorn & Aquarius
4. Pisces & Aries
5. Taurus & Gemini
6. Cancer & Leo
Conclusion
Zebulun / Virgo (Gen 49:13, Deut 33:18)
The first ‘chapter’ of the first ‘book’ of the Mazzaroth is what we would call Virgo. The famous prophecy of Gen 3:15, of the Seed of the woman, is a direct and explicit reference to the virgin birth. The phrase is used only once, because women do not have "seed" — only men do (‘sperm’ means ‘seed’). This prophecy is affirmed by Isaiah