Historic Christianity

Incompatibilities

2009-05-07T04:03:00.000-07:00

Here.

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A Year of Living Biblically

2009-04-15T00:52:00.000-07:00

Here.

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Summary

2008-08-28T06:07:00.000-07:00

Here. An overview of a literal young-Earth cosmology.

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A Chistmas Slash Hanukkah Essay

2008-04-23T23:49:00.000-07:00

Here.

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Confetti

2008-04-23T23:43:00.001-07:00

Here.

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Schizo

2007-12-16T14:31:00.000-08:00

Here.

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Shipwreck

2007-12-09T03:15:00.000-08:00

Here.

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Tohu va Bohu

2007-11-26T03:58:00.000-08:00

Here.

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Good Wednesday

2007-09-30T12:54:00.000-07:00

Here.

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Yeshua bar Yosef

2007-09-27T20:55:00.000-07:00

Here.

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Bull

2007-09-14T14:25:00.001-07:00

Here.

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That Which I Most Feared

2007-09-14T14:08:00.000-07:00

Here.

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Gods Are Not Great

2007-09-14T14:02:00.000-07:00

Here.

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The Immorality of God

2007-08-02T02:31:00.000-07:00

Here.

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On Why Religion Is Bad

2007-08-02T02:28:00.000-07:00

Here.

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All Good Moslems Go to Hell

2007-08-02T02:27:00.000-07:00

Here.

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Whom the Lord loves

2006-07-11T23:27:00.000-07:00

[Moved from Forgotten Prophets]

1. Where the Road Forks

James Robinson, of Claremont Graduate University, edited the English version of the Nag Hammadi Library, a very important cache of texts discovered some 60 years ago in a large stone urn buried in the Egyptian sands. It contained some number of lost works, of which we previously had only the titles and rare references. Well, now we're hearing of the "Lost Gospel of Judas". There are many "Lost Writings of So-and-so," and when you first hear of them, your heart may leap at the thought of reading such secret treasures. Alas, none of them are authentic - the disciple whose name is in the title - say Thomas, or Peter - had nothing to do with the work. They make interesting reading, but very rarely offer any insight into actual Christian doctrine. They're often pious forgeries, and more frequently are the product of some heretical, most likely gnostic, sect. Well, point being Proffesor Robinson says of the "Lost Gospel of Judas" - half-jokingly - "Where would Christianity be, if there had been no Judas, and Jesus - instead of dying for our sins on the cross - had died of old age? So: Thank God for Judas? Even the most broadminded among us would call that heresy!" But heresy or not, the idea raises some interesting questions. Indeed. What if Judas had been faithful?

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 Israel had taken Jesus up on His offer of the Kingdom? These questions are subjects of prophecy, and so predestination seems at work. And so the question arises, what of free will?

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 Eden, it surely is not idleness to return to it again.

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 2:24, 1 Jn 2:2), if Adam had the choice to not sin? It is simply stupid and meaningless to think that Jesus would die for the sins of mankind, if mankind had no sin. It was inevitable. To God, in eternity, outside of time, there is no 'future'. Obviously God knew sin would come, and planned for its atonement. The question, then, is how man's free will fits into God's foreknowing.

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 Jerusalem seated on a colt (Zec 9:9). This fulfillment of prophecy was a clear symbolic claim to be the Messiah, and also a legal declaration. He had legal claim to the throne of King David through Joseph, true heir of Solomon son of David. His biological claim came through Mary, daughter of Heli (given as father-in-law of Joseph, Lk 3:23), descendant of Nathan son of David. He fulfilled the prophetic requirements for being the Messiah, if any had bothered to search the Temple records and test the matter.

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 Rome had to be put down by his successor Archelaus, and 3,000 Jews were killed. The following Pentecost, in 3 BC, further rebellion provoked more killing, and the Temple was pillaged and its cloisters burned by the legions of Rome. Eventually Varus, governor of Syria, came with 20,000 soldiers, crucified 2,000 rebels, and sold 30,000 Jews as slaves. The result was that Judea became a Roman province, and a kingdom no longer. And during this time, the yearning for Messiah grew ever stronger - political and mystical movements flourished. Such was the situation throughout Jesus' youth. What, then, if the time were right, and Jesus' offer had been accepted? What would have occurred? I’ll tell it as if it happened.

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 Israel in all the world had come to the Holy Land for this most holy of Passovers.

Emperor Tiberius Caesar – debauched, ruthless, competent – apprized of the perilous situation in Judea and knowing its troublesome history, had taken the precaution of sending reinforcements to the area. So came the might of Imperial Rome at its height, and well did Rome know the usefulness of brutality in holding an empire together. Infelicitous weather had caused delay, so the legions were still several days away when Jesus made his triumphal entry into the City of David.

On that Sunday – the day on which the lambs of Passover were always inspected for their spotlessness – the streets of Jerusalem were overflowing and the Way of Procession was strewn with palm fronds. Out came the priests from their latticed terraces, the princes from their flowered courts, the Pharisees from their halls of debate, and filled with joy and repentance they made obeisance to Him who fulfilled their fondest hopes. Humbled, their pride. Rejoicing, their hearts. When the crowds saw this, even those who doubted were convinced, and the soul of every Jew swelled in his breast.

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 Judah? More and more there grew within him the certainty that this was not the King to come, and he saw only ruin ahead. So Judas came upon the scheme to save his nation from this false messiah. And who knew, perhaps the thankful nation would see him for the deliverer he was, and a grateful Rome would no doubt reward him, nobly. Telling himself that he desired only to protect Jacob from the sword of Pharaoh, Judas stole by night from the walls of Jerusalem to the encampment of the Roman.

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, Zion slept. Why this night did the spirit of torpor descend, upon even the friends of Jesus? God knows. But Jesus did not sleep, and when the soldiers came, He met them, and said, "I AM", and when the Romans fell back to the ground, He stood and waited.

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 Jerusalem woke, she found herself surrounded, and occupied, and she found her Messiah pierced. Once she had awakened to find the Assyrian enemy dead. Now she found herself again surrounded, and Him whom she proclaimed Messiah dying. They rushed not out to save Him, for he who hangs upon a tree is cursed, and so this could not be Messiah. Some of them even reviled Him, first in their hearts, and then more boldly, coming out among the Romans to mock Him openly. Was it to win favor? – to ally themselves with the conquerors? Was it from their own hearts' conviction? God knows.

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 Rome's displeasure, the temple was destroyed, and the city damaged. But inexplicably the people as a whole were spared – of course many lost their lives, but even so it seemed a miracle. Those who kept faith with Jesus remembered his prophecy to flee to the hills when they saw Jerusalem surrounded, and so they suffered little loss of life. When shock of this misfortune wore off, the forbearance shown by Gaius was hailed with tremulous thankfulness. A covenant was made: seven years of peace, to be perpetually affirmed.

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 Egypt and its ways, and instituted many of the Eastern customs of oblation to the ruler – as all loyal citizens thought fitting. He treated his sister Drusilla as a wife, after the manner of god-kings. Everyone in the Empire took the name of their King onto their body – this was already the custom of the army, and loyal citizens counted it an honor and a privilege to bear his mark. When he had been emperor for three and a half years, aged twenty-one, he declared himself indeed a god, equal to Zeus. He had a device contrived by which he could create the sound of thunder, to answer the storm. He had his image set up in every temple of every deity in the empire, including Jerusalem's newly established Tabernacle, replacement of the Temple that had always remained in his thoughts.

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 Rome. But before the fist of Rome could fall, there was plague, and famine, and blood on the moon, earthquakes and the roaring of the sea. Jacob was troubled. Armies marched, and gathered, and the Jews in the ruins of Jerusalem looked to the sky, cried out for Him who had been pierced, whom they had pierced in Judas' betrayal and their rejection, and they wept as for an only son. The teaching – of those who followed Jesus and all along had proclaimed His Second Coming – was believed. And He came again, and judged the nations and ruled His Kingdom for an age.

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

Well. Interesting story. But let us remember that Gaius Caesar Germanicus was indeed Emperor. We commonly know him as Caligula. And he did rule for seven years, did proclaim himself a god, did know his own sister, did manufacture thunder. He established a cult devoted to the worship of his own deity, and set up his image in the temples of the Empire – he planned to install his abomination in the Temple of Jerusalem, stopped only by his providential death. The only details I have changed with regard to Caligula are that there was no 'Golden Age' and taking of his mark by all the citizens; also his actual date of succession was seven years after the crucifixion, as one born out of time; and although he got his nickname, Caligula, from his close boyhood association with the army, he was no general.

The marriage of the Lamb would not have been to Israel, since that would have God remarrying his raised dead divorced wife (Is 50:1, Jer 3:8) – and God's law forbids remarrying a wife who has taken another husband (Duet 24:4). More likely there’d be a period of 'hyper-missionary work' to the gentiles, with signs and tongues and resurrections, and transportations of the type Philip experienced with the Ethiopian eunuch. All this would serve to get the word out to every soul on the planet, and these converts could have been the Bride, the gentile Church called out in a week of years.

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 Temple; Caligula would have; Titus might have. Titus, in actual history, was the Prince to Come (Daniel 9:26), son of the newly enthroned Emperor Vespasian who was called away from his campaign against a rebelling Judea by the death of Nero.

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 Temple not be destroyed, perhaps so he could set up his own image in it. But against his wishes, the Temple was burned. Josephus reported that upwards of 2 million Jews were killed in the siege, while Tacitus estimated a more conservative 600,000 – no doubt each had partisan biases. In any case, the Jews were destroyed as a political people in 70 AD, amidst great tribulation – those who fled the city were crucified in such large number that wood was wanting for crosses, and mothers in besieged Jerusalem were reported to eat their babies. So horrible were conditions that Titus called God as his witness that he was not responsible – rather like Pilate washing his hands. This destruction upon Jerusalem occurred precisely forty years after Jesus was rejected, mostly likely dating from the first public denouncement of Jesus by the Elders of Israel in the first year of his three years of ministry (say, Jn 5:16, or Mt 16:21, Mk 8:31, Lk 9:22). Forty is the biblical number of judgment

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 6:18; Titus 1:2), or tempt or be tempted by evil (James 1:13). He cannot change (Mal 3:6). In short, He cannot deny Himself (2Tim 2:13), but must be true to His nature. He does not make false offers. God has integrity, and human words are shadows when applied to Him, but He is bound by His word.

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 Eden all the way to here. But there are mountain peaks and morning winds and somewhere from the soul joy rises up as a revelation. The road to hell is easy, and hell has expanded its borders. But God so loved the world that He gave His son to die for us. This is what we’re told, and God weeps for it, and rejoices. And each of us, finally, somehow makes a choice. Lucifer said, “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will make myself like the Most High.” Joshua said, “As for me and my house, we shall serve the Lord.”

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.

Rebuilding the Tower: the revival of paganism

2006-07-11T22:52:00.000-07:00

[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 Qom in the 900s, and who’ll reappear in the end times to lead the armies of Allah? Reappear out of the well? Reappear out of the pit? Who might we have read about, say, in Revelation, that will rise out of a pit to conquer the world and lead the army of the moon god against us and our God? Who are the Sons of the East that will rise up against us? I was reading Judges a few days ago, and there it was: the Sons of the East came from Midian. Midian, some believe – including me – is today’s Medina. Hm.

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 – Adam, Cush, Nimrod, Semiramus, Noah and so on. Not every flood myth remember the Flood – there was, after all, an Ice Age (another book … actually two books), and not every myth was once a reality – but enough remains to reconstruct some very surprising events, referenced only in passing in Genesis. Upshot, the ancient strivings of Satan to rule the world have not been forsaken. The final chapter of my The Serpent in Babel takes up the loose ends of ancient history, and ties them together in the present and presumably near future. I’m excerpting a relevant passage, below.

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And this brings us to the present. The preceding discussion of fallen angels and demons is highly relevant to the future of mankind, in the days of the Tribulation, which may be near at hand. There are several interpretations of those biblical verses which deal with the end times (eschatology). It is not my purpose here to write a treatise on these theories — rather I will present the view to which I subscribe, and as I understand it. It is also not my purpose to elaborate the chronology of the Tribulation and the Millennium, since there are a number of excellent works on this subject ( Best, I think, is J.D. Pentecost, Things to Come [Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan, 1958].) Instead, I will gather the strands of this discussion into a single cord.

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 (Rev 19:21), separating the sheep from the goats (Mt 25:32), the righteous from the rebellious; He will establish His earthly kingdom which had been prophesied so many times in scripture but delayed for so long. This is the Second Coming.

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 Israel of the days of the Bible. Before a bridegroom of those days would come to claim his bride, he would prepare a house for her. When it was finished, he would approach, trying to catch her off guard. If she was faithful to her betrothal, she would keep watch for her beloved, so that even if he came in the deep of night, she had her bridal clothes laid out. The groom did not come into the house, but stood outside and called her to him, after which the two went to the wedding and the wedding supper.

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 4:17). Neither she nor any man knows the hour of His coming, (Mt 24:36), but when He comes, she gathers herself together and rushes to meet him in the twinkling of an eye (1Cor 15:52). This is the first Resurrection, including everyone from the saved thief on the cross to the very last saved soul who dies to fulfill the final number of the Church (cf. Rev 7:4). The decayed or disintegrated body of every dead Christian is miraculously reconstructed from the dust, the atoms of the earth (after the fashion of Adam's body on the day he was created), and it rises into the heavens to be revivified by its own spirit, which has been waiting in the throne room of God for the fulfillment of this promise, when death is swallowed up and victory finally becomes manifest. This is also the Rapture, which includes every living Christian, from the oldest saint to the newest convert; the physical bodies of each of these is instantly transformed, perfected after the manner of Adam's pre-Fall body and the Risen body of Jesus Christ, immune from death and decay, prepared now to be the eternal home of their saved souls.

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 6:16), yet Adam walked with God, and Abraham ate with Him, and Jacob wrestled with Him, and Moses spoke with Him, then we are reading not of God the Father, but the Son. The point is that although God has touched mankind at many times and in many ways, yet only twice does Jesus deal publicly with the entire world — the first time as Victim, the second as Victor. Furthermore, we must remember the distinction between a bridegroom and a warrior, since a newly married man is commanded not to wage war (Deut 24:5). The Bridegroom comes secretly for his Bride, who lives in the house of His enemy; and after a season He comes again, publicly, to the enemy himself - into his very house, and cleanses it.

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?

______

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.

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Starting in the late 1970's, Iraq's Saddam Hussein began to build on the site of the ruins of Babylon a sort of archeological park. But in the 1980's, at the height of his war with Iran, Hussein's plans seem to have evolved into a far grander scheme, of actually reconstructing Babylon as a living city, building over the very ruins of the ancient capitol — despite the outcry of archaeologists. The city map of ancient Babylon, pieced together by Robert Koldewey in the first quarter of the 20th century, was used as the blueprint for the reconstruction.

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 Babylonia. That Hussein should style himself after Nebuchadnezzar, rather than some other conqueror, may be due to the fact that of all Babylonians it is this king alone who so utterly defeated Israel in battle; given Hussein's self-evident hatred of Israel, such a fact is powerful motive for identification.

By the time of the first of our Gulf Wars, the palace of Nebuchadnezzar had been rebuilt, along with the temples of Ishtar, Nabu and Ninmah, and several memorial gates. Three artificial hills, each 100 feet high, were constructed and planted with vines and palms. Even before the various museums, fishing spots, theaters and other diversions were completed, the city had become a popular attraction for local wedding parties and musical events. Hmm. Seems that beloved John had something very specific to say about Babylon in the end times: “The voice of harpers and musicians, and of pipers and trumpeters, shall be heard no more at all in thee. ...the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee.” (Rev 18 22,23) Whatever events John was referring to, in his Revelation, have not yet come to pass.

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 Babylon restored to world-prominence is not at all insubstantial. When the single factor of oil is remembered, the poverty, backwardness and inefficiency of Iraq and the petroleum-rich Moslem world as a whole, seems bizarre and inexplicable, and it seems only a matter of time before Islam becomes yet more canny in its manipulation of the West. Who it is that will continue or complete the quickening of Babylon is yet to be seen. But the body, as it were, has been exhumed.

--------------

Hussein no longer seems to be a factor in the governance of Mesopotamia. But I will make an off-the-cuff prediction – if I turn out to be right, let's count it as a prophecy – oh my! I suggest that Iraq will enjoy a relatively successful rebuilding, and comport itself as a successful state. I suggest it will prosper, becoming a center of commerce, and enjoy a brisk tourist trade. And I suggest a resort town known as Babylon will be no small attraction. Timeframe? I wouldn’t care to be specific, but one might speculate, say, within ten or fifteen years? Okay, it's a date, then. We'll meet in Babylon, in 2021. I'll be the tall well-preserved blond with the white rose behind his right ear - it'll be the fashion then.

Fascinating, isn’t it. I wonder what I'll say in part four. Bet it’s good.

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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

Iraq

should occur at this particular point is history seems significant to me, but then again, every problem is a nail to a man with a hammer. We must let evidence and sound judgment negotiate their own détente. The following is excerpted from my fabulous study of the most ancient mythology, as I’ve already stated; it is premised on a detailed discussion of, well, demonology and the like ... I won’t elaborate, save to identify the nephalim – the hybrid offspring of fallen angels and human females – as the beings which became demons. Being neither human nor angelic, they have no resting place after death, and their restless spirits do much mischief. Seeking to regain a physical existence and its corporal comforts, they latch onto whatever human body they can, sometimes so deeply as to possess it. Spooky? Well, there’s a purpose. The following discussion takes as a given the “supernatural.” Play along.

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We are not given to known the details of the rise of the city or the system of Babylon. But what we do know is that, being satanic in the most literal way possible, the religion of the Beast must be based utterly upon deception. This is what the Bible teaches when it says the very elect might be deceived (Mt 24:24). As to what this deception is, we can only guess, but I think we can make some pretty good guesses. And it is here that our discussion of the nephalim and the fallen angels becomes relevant.

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 W. Willoya and V. Brown, Warriors of the Rainbows: Strange and Prophetic Dreams of the Indian Peoples (Happy Camp, CA: Naturegraph Publishers, Inc, 1962), pp. 54-55; quoted in C.E. Cumbey, A Planned Deception: The Staging of a New Age "Messiah" (East Detroit: Pointe Publishers, Inc, 1985), p. 73. Emphasis in original, and a new paragraph starts after "read."] Superficially, this sounds like the Christ of the Bible, given Rev 1:14, 2:17 & 19:12. But Jesus does not bring a new religion, and it is not people who transform the world. Also, Jesus comes alone, but another comes, accompanied by a prophet and a king. Who then is this "True White Brother" from the east?

Satan also appears as an angel of light (2Cor 11:14). Further, although unquoted in its New Age source, the prophecy goes on to say that there will be “a victory of those using the [sacred Hopi] swastika over those using the sign of the cross. …those using the sign of the cross will be beheaded . . .” (Cumbey, p. 73.) Passing over the obvious resonances of the swastika, we pause only to notice that these martyrs are those who (Rev 20:4) “were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither had received his mark . . .” You see how they almost get it right — it is just from the perspective of Satan, rather than of God.

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:

________________

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.

_____________

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.

____________

I have saved one last piece of mythology — regarding Nimrod. The annals of

China

reach back to Babel itself. Reports that the history of

China

is unbroken are simply incorrect, given the massive book-burnings of Emperor Tsin-shi-hoang (246-209 bc), in which virtually all the ancient tomes were destroyed. Some books were recovered from the memory of an old scholar, and others are said to have been preserved in the tomb of Confucius — but given their murky provenance, these must be counted as secondary records.

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 13:27). Afterwards, Judas went and hanged himself.

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

Austria

and

Germany

of a number of "Ariosophic" societies, which focused on the idea of a "pure" human race, somehow imbued with special worth. One such pathologically anti-semitic secret order, the Germanenorden, practiced intricate occult ceremonials until its leadership devolved upon the wealthy Rudolf Freiherr von Sebottendorff (Rudolf Blauer), who changed its name to the "Thule Society", espousing the doctrine of ancient wisdom guarded by super-human masters who could be contacted by rituals and might deign to endow supplicants with prodigious power.

The society was recast as a political group aimed at destabilizing the Weimar Republic — indeed, the head of the Weimar government, Kurt Eisner, was assassinated by a confederate of the Thule Society, and in 1919 Thule trained troops fought against the communists who briefly took control of Bavaria. Von Sebottendorff broadened membership by disguising the occult aspect of the Thule Society, backing the formation of a racist, working class front organization, the German Workers Party (DAP). This is the group which Hitler transformed into the Nazi party: he recruited Thule members Rudolf Hess and Alfred Rosenberg, assumed ownership of the Thule society's weekly newspaper, and even used the Thule insignia, the swastika.

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). Wewelsburg Castle in Westphalia, which served as SS headquarters, was planned to be a Nazi Vatican, and was used as a temple where solstice rituals devised by Wiligut were performed.

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 Europe] was to begin by uniting the peoples living in the Rhine river valley using that river as a binding factor. It was an attempt by a disciple but did not work.” (Quoted in Cumbey, p. 88; emphasis added.) Who was this failing "disciple"? Hmm. Now, this in itself would be of only passing interest, until we remember what the man did. I have no problem believing that a man, without the aid of the supernatural, could be as evil as Hitler was — yet it is my conviction that he was a specific tool of Satan who was trying to finish a task he set himself before mankind had Fallen.

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 Egypt, by Sargon I of Akkad, by Hammurabi of Old Babylon, by Tiglath-Pileser III of Assyria, by Nebuchadnezzer II of Chaldea; by the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, and even the French and the Germans. None has succeeded. The Beast will succeed, for a time — just as Nimrod did. And like Nimrod, the Beast will meet his end in harsh judgment.

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 Babylon and the death of Belshazzar, the Persians exiled the Chaldean priesthood, which settled in the new cultic center of Pergamos — which for this reason is called Satan's seat (Rev 2:13). The god-king there smiled on this circumstance, and the pagans proceeded as usual. The last king of Pergamos, Attalus III (138-133), willed his titles and dominions to Rome, and so the office of Pontifex Maximus, High Priest of the Babylonian system, devolved eventually upon Julius Caesar, and thence to the Emperors, and finally to the Popes. If the forms are so difficult to exorcise, how much more the spirit?

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 Babel, so we are told (Rev 16:13 & 19:20) of the coming Beast and his prophet; and we find the whore, as well. And always behind the deceit is the Dragon, sprawling out from Eden, through Babel, through Rome, across the ages — woven in the branches of the Tree, coiled around the tiers of the Tower.

__________

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.

_____

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)

_____

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

First Adam

2006-07-11T22:42:00.000-07:00

[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 Eden, Adam was neither wretched nor righteous – innocence is the untested state, an equilibrium that stands only because there is nothing to resist it. We think of it as good, but it is only passive goodness, pleasant to look at and think upon, but good for nothing. It is art, not craft. When innocence is tested, it is transformed – either into holiness, righteousness, by having made the correct response to the test of temptation, or into sinfulness, wretchedness, by falling, failing, choosing the lie and rebellion rather than God's will. So, for Adam to grow into his intended state of righteousness, temptation had to come. Thus the Tree was placed at the center of the garden – it was the test by which he could attain to righteousness by not eating … making it a Tree of the Knowledge of Good OR Evil.

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 Eden. Adam lived 930 years (Gen 5:5), but the clock started, I maintain, at the Fall, prior to which death and decay had no relevance. Adam was not meant to die, so the number of his years in Paradise would have been a thing without meaning, like trying to count up to infinity. Hypothetically, centuries could have passed for Adam before the Fall. From the first, Adam had lived without Eve. How long? We do not know, but in the phrase, "This is now bone of my bones" (Gen 2:23), the word 'now' has in Hebrew a sense of 'now at length', as in Genesis 30:20 or 46:30 – implying enough time for Adam to be intimate with solitude. On his own, without Eve to distract him from God, he might never have been tempted or deceived. He needed Eve, for many reasons.

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 10:13). In fact, frankly, honestly, doesn't it seem that the test Adam faced was, um, really easy? Pretty much a yes/no quiz, with just one question. God said, Don't eat that fruit – that one, right there. See it? Yes, that. Now, Adam, if you do eat it – that one, there, see? – you'll die. Understand? Good – now go do some yard work. There's lemonaid in the fridge.

But the Lamb was slain from the foundation of the world (1 Pet 1:20, Rev 13:8). That means God knew sin would enter. And sin could enter only through the fall of man. The sin Satan brought with his previous rebellion did not affect the physical universe or the laws of nature (Gen 3:17-19). Indeed, the sins of angels seem to be unatonable (Mt 25:41, Heb 2:16), which is a major difference between us and them. It is man's sin, not Satan's, that is atoned by Jesus, and it is man's sin that ruined the universe, since man was the responsible, the federal head of the universe. And if sin must enter the world by man, isn’t there a contradiction here, between free will and predestination.

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 23:15, 1 Sam 16:14, 1 K 9:9, Is 45:7, Jer 19:3), a more accurate translation would be 'calamity' or 'adversity' as judgment. 'Evil' does not mean only 'moral depravity', which God never causes. In any event, God desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth (1 Tim 2:4). Ezekiel (28:15) tells us that sin was a choice of Lucifer, not placed in him by God, but found in him, like self-mutilation. If we choose to think of sin as a thing rather than as an act or a decision or a relationship, then that thing is manufactured out of self-will, by creatures, not the Creator.

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 9:21). God made ignoble vessels, but people make themselves into such vessels as well. Another paradox of free will. So, who brings the sin that must come, is open to choice. Just as it is a statistical impossibility for life to have 'just evolved' (yet somehow it just must have, right?), it is evidently equally as impossible that in all of humanity, no one would ever sin.

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 (10:12) says. It was made for those under the law, as Galatians (4:5) tells us. His atonement is only efficacious for what and whom it is efficacious, however. It was made to reconcile all things on earth and in heaven (Col 1:20) –all things under the federal headship of fallen man – all matter, all atoms, all things - all creatures, and all people who will allow themselves to be reconciled. But his death is effective only for those people who respond to the universal call, by coming. By believing, they can be chosen. Humanity is distinguished from all creation, evidently, in possessing free will, the ability to choose. Matter is acted upon. Animals only respond. But humans initiate.

As for fallen angels, they cannot even accept forgiveness for their sins, since rebirth, and so forgiveness, comes only through the quickening of the Holy Spirit (Gal 4, Rom 8), and what accord has Christ with Belial, and what communion has light with darkness (2 Cor 6:14-15)? All creation groans, awaiting and hoping for His glory (Rom 8:19-22), but we read nowhere that Satan or his lot even wish to be reconciled. They anticipate, it seems, only torment and the abyss (Mt 8:29, 25:41; Lk 8:31; Rev 20:10). Fallen angels have no part in the Crucifixion They sinned and are judged and will be damned. Again, Jesus did not come as an angel, to redeem angels. He took on the nature of a man, to redeem man.

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 2:11 - presumably because they would be needed). And if taken, these hypothetical righteous people would have become as angels, neither marrying nor giving in marriage, thereby not producing any more 'Righteous Ones'. The Flood would have come, since wickedness would abound among the fallen; and it seems feasible, extending this fable one last step, that by this point the 'Righteous' would have been “caught up”.

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 2:19,21; 11:25 – proving incidentally that death is not annihilation, as some cults would have it), but Adam had no such power, and in himself possessed no claim to resurrection. Any putative resurrection of lonely Adam would have had to come by the justification and example of the man Christ Jesus, the Firstfruit from death. Christ’s resurrection was the victory over death by a man, for all that he was also God. Death needed to be conquered by a man, but Adam was not sufficient to win victory over even his own death.

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 11:19). If so, Adam would have been raised as Lazarus was, in a 'soulish' body of flesh and blood so he could still father children, father humanity – and not into an immortal, bloodless, spiritual (as opposed to 'soulish' – 1 Cor 15:44), flesh and bone resurrection body such as Jesus had (Lk 24:39, Eph 5:30; compare with the use of "flesh and blood" in Mt 16:17, Jn 1:13, 1 Cor 15:50, Gal 1:16, Eph 6:12, and Heb 2:14 with its past tense).

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 8:20, 22), and waits now with expectation and hope. But could it be that independent of Adam, the serpent (as a sort of representative) earned futility for itself and for creation also? If so, it would have been Satan, not man, who brought sin into the world, so the man Christ Jesus could not have redeemed it (only an angel Jesus) – clearly an unacceptable proposition. Clearly, it was after Satan’s fall - not because of it - that the beasts and the ground were cursed, and the Fall was actually brought into effect by the sin of some man. That man happened to be Adam, but might have been some other. And that other man's household, what he was responsible for, would have been cursed. And that cursed ground would have polluted the rest of the world, as corruption always spreads– a little will leaven the whole lump (Mt 13:33). The Fall, the introduction of entropy into the universe, would have spread like infection, rather than descended as a curse.

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.

Fountain of Light

2006-07-04T16:53:00.000-07:00

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 Darwin! If only there were some convincing lie we could delude ourselves with, and the world, to escape this fatal flaw to our superstition. And the Big Bang! How painful it is, to be shown for what we are - foolish, stupid obscurantists. Because everyone knows the universe is like millions of years old or something. It's a fact. And here we are stuck with the tribal folklore of some banished Hebrew ... urghh. I'm so frustrated.

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.

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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.

-------------

[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.

The Heavens Declare: conclusion

2006-06-25T12:33:00.000-07:00

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

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.

Briefly, the structure we’ve looked at can be outlined like this:

I. Book One: First Coming

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. Corona the Crown

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. Aquila the Eagle, smitten

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 Israel

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

There are, of course, other obvious and natural ways to arrange these signs. For example, the Milky Way streams across the empyrean from southwest to northeast; twelve constellations rest on this heavenly path — the first six being assigned to the First Coming, and the latter six to the Second Coming. Thus, we find the lowly Cross and the severe Altar, the deadly Scorpion and the wounded Eagle, the Swan promising its return and finally the ruling king, Cepheus. Again, we find the Church enthroned (Cassiopeia), the mighty groom (Perseus), the ruling Shepherd (Auriga), the union of God with man (Gemini), the vanquisher of evil (Orion), and last, the assembly of the redeemed (Argo).

Regardless of any relative arrangement, when we analyze these constellations we find four broad categories: the Savior, the Redeemed, the Adversary, and various symbolic objects. Fittingly, twenty-four of the forty-eight signs — exactly half — represent the person of the Savior: Virgo the Seed of the woman, Coma the Desired Child, Centaurus the double-natured Avenger, Arcturus the Coming Guardian, the fallen Victim, Serpentarius the Serpent-Holder, Hercules the Strong One, Sagittarius the triumphant Archer, Capricorn the Sin-offering, Aquila the Eagle, the rising Dolphin, Aquarius the Life-giver, Pegasus the Winged Horse, Cygnus the Swan, Cepheus the Coming King, Aries the Lamb, Perseus the Head-crusher, Taurus the returning King, Orion the Coming Light, Auriga the Shepherd, Gemini the Dual-natured God, Canis Major the Prince who Crushes, Canis Minor the Prince who Completes, and finally Leo the Lion. A sixth of the signs — that is, eight of them — deal with saved humanity: Pisces Australis the transformed saint, Pisces the redeemed multitudes, Andromeda the Bride Chained, Cassiopeia the Woman Ruling, Cancer the Fold, Ursa Minor the Lesser-fold, Ursa Major the Greater-fold, and finally Argo the Returned. The Adversary is the subject of six signs, an eighth of the total: Scorpio the Enemy, Serpens the Serpent, Draco the Dragon, Cetus the Leviathan, Lepus the Serpent, and finally Hydra the Monster. As for the objects, there are ten signs (about a fifth of the total) of this type: Libra the Balances of atonement, the Cross of redemption, the Crown of victory, the Harp of praise, the Altar of punishment, the Arrow of affliction, the Band of restraint, the Fiery River of damnation, the Cup of wrath, and finally the Raven of defeat.

Aside from the solar zodiac, the night sky was also sometimes arranged by the ancients of Scandinavia, Arabia, Persia, India, the China of Emperor Yao, Burma, and even Mexico) into the lunar zodiac — the Mansions of the Moon. In this scheme, certainly once as important as the solar zodiac, the familiar circle of the night was divided into 28 sections, or mansions — one for about each day of the lunar month. The Arabic names and meanings of these Mansions are summarized in the Table.[1] The significance of these names — from a patently non-Christian source — is too obvious to merit explanation.

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

We noticed at the beginning of this chapter the correlation of the twelve major constellations with the tribes of Israel. A similar correspondence may be found between these signs and the most ancient patriarchs, from Adam to Arphaxad. Adam ("man" or "mortal") is that Seed of the virgin (Virgo), born a man so that He might conquer death; Seth ("appointed") points to the satisfying of justice at the altar by substituting righteousness for sin (Libra). The final Adam, Jesus, was appointed as the sacrifice for the Altar of the Cross. Enosh ("affliction" — anash) recalls the scourge of the enemy (Scorpio), Kenan (both "sorrow" and "acquisition") signifies the hardship and the victory of dual-natured Christ (Sagittarius), and Mahalaleel ("the great or praised God") is our sin-offering (Capricorn). Jared ("shall come down" — yaradh) reminds us of the living waters pouring down on us (Aquarius), and Enoch ("teaching") points to that teaming throng so greatly in need of wisdom (Pisces). Methuselah ("his death shall bring" — muth and shalach) is the promise of vicarious and confident leisure (Aries), and Lamech ("despairing" or "mighty" — cf. lament) is the harsh judgment and irresistible promise of God's justice (Taurus). Noah ("rest" — nacham) indicates the repose of the Church found only in the arms of the Lord (Gemini), Shem ("name" or "renown") recalls the fold that answers to His voice and by doing so is honored and called by His name (Cancer), and Arphaxad ("strength") signifies the dignity and irresistible might of the Lord in his ultimate power (Leo).

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).

Now, we may well ask why we must scrabble through the ash heap of paganism — with its lascivious myth and its impious, fortune-telling astrology — to make an explanation of the similarities between the Gospel and the false religion of astrology. Why is the corruption we have explored in these pages merely denounced in the Bible, rather than being explicated in detail similar to that which we have been considering? Why does the Bible not record that the Gospel was taught by the stars?

Every book in the Old Testament was written specifically for Israel, with the exception of the book of Job, a gentile. Israel had the pure tradition of Noah and the sure prophets of God. Israel did not need the stars, since the Gospel was a living tradition — indeed, the very thing Israel was chosen for was to preserve the Gospel.

The relatively profound silence of the Bible regarding the zodiac is easily understood when we remember how readily Israel apostatized, chasing after the sabaistic worship of the pagans, where the stars themselves, as well as the gods behind them, were adored. “Whatever might tend to obscure or diminish the broad lines of separation between Israel and the other portions of the human family . . . was to be avoided by all true Israelites. In every possible direction we observe the utmost precaution to keep Israel in complete isolation.”[2] The stars, more than anything else, were thus to be shunned — just as the Bible does. The Gospel is completely enunciated in the Bible, explicitly, with no appeal to the tainted traditions of the gentiles, and no dependence upon oral tradition or mnemonic devices.

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.

Consider the strength of the case I have made. We cannot have empirical proof. We can have only circumstantial proof, only historical proof. But even with this necessarily indirect and subjective evidence, I am bold enough to say that the premise of this chapter is overwhelmingly confirmed. No matter what other interpretation may be given to the evidence, this interpretation is absolutely in harmony with the biblical teaching regarding the grace and atonement of the Messiah. If a skeptic thought here or there that I have stretched an interpretation, or read too much into some given data, yet even that skeptic must agree that, overall, I have been reasonable. It is clear that in the names of the stars and constellations as we have studied them, there is nothing lacking and nothing to be added, to reproduce the Gospel contained in the Bible. Given a pure stream of doctrine, the ancients could have perfectly known the way of the salvation of grace.

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 1:25). And even if God did not speak of his salvation through the constellations, He did reveal all necessary truth from the earliest days (Lk 1:68‑70): “He hath visited and redeemed His people, and hath raised up a Horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David; as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets, which have been since the world began.”

I have summarized these ideas because they shed such clear light on the prostitution at Babel, which we will look at in the next chapter. As for the zodiac today, after having written this chapter I cannot help but know something of the signs, but I find little worth in knowing their names. Mount Rushmore is great, but I would rather meet Washington, and Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt in person. Just so, we no longer need the mnemonic device of the Mazzaroth (zodiac): we have the explicit words of God, in the Bible. And we shall, some of us, know Him face to face. In the mean time, the perversion has become so powerful that the only truth left in the zodiac is historic truth.

[1].From Seiss, pp. 141-142.

[2].Seiss, p. 176.

6. Cancer & Leo

2006-06-24T02:21:00.000-07:00

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 Egypt and India, of a (dung) beetle (Scarabæus), shown holding the ball in which it has deposited its eggs. So, the grub which spent its past living in literal dung, metamorphosized into an iridescent creature of flight — soiled only in its care of its own young. Another, more ancient Egyptian image of this sign was of Hermanubis, Hermes with the head of an ibis or hawk. Mythology identifies this Crab as that sea-creature which bit the foot of Hercules as he battled Hydra, the Lernæan monster; in typology, Jesus conquers the body of death; for all the pains which creation caused Him — and we all put Him on the Cross — Jesus still brings that creation to rest.

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 5:16]”; the link is furthered in Deut 33:18‑19, when we consider the tents and wealth of caravaning merchants. Of its 83 stars, a mere 8 could be seen by the pre-Flood patriarchs.

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 12:32). We call the sign "the Big Dipper", and more formally as Ursa Major, "The Great Bear". The seven brightest stars were called by the rabbis Ash, which in the Bible (cf. Job 9:9) is translated as "the Bear and her train", or sometimes rendered "Arcturus and his sons" (as in the third decan of Virgo, ‘Arcturus’ means "He cometh"). It is also called Al Naish (A. "the assembled together"). The Egyptian image was of a swine-headed woman holding a plow, and named Fent-Har, "The Serpent-horrifier"; when we recall how violently a pig tears up the earth, and how dangerous it is to snakes, then both the plow and the name become understandable. The Greeks said the nymph Callisto was transformed into this bear by Juno, but this is an etymological confusion, since Caulae is a semitic root meaning, once again, "sheepfold".

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 Canopus ("the possession of Him who cometh" — symbolized elsewhere as a bountiful urn). Other stars have names meaning "the branch", "the desired", "abundance", "possession", and "the released who travel". Of the Ship's 64 stars, 25 were in the original design.

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 Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.”

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. Rev 1:16,20), the appointed sheepfold of the latter flock, purchased, separated out, numbered and guarded ("Ursa Major"). Finally, we find the two folds again represented in the two decks of that Ark which plows the seas, filled with riches and freemen (Argo). It seems reasonable to identify the Little Flock with redeemed Israel (cf. Lk 12:32), and the Greater Fold with the Church and its redeemed gentiles (cf. Jn 10:16).

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” (Rev 14:10), and as to its dregs, “all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out and drink them” — Ps 75:8 (cf. Rev 16:19). Of its 13 stars, only three were originally seen, two at its base. In the Egyptian zodiac, the woman holding the two cups was called Her-ua, meaning "great enemy"; these cups would be the same two bright stars which go to make the base of the single cup, which is shown as wide and deep, embedded in the very body of the serpent. This is a mirror of the image of Rev 17:4, where the Great Harlot sits enthroned on the back of the scarlet beast, drinking from the cup of abominations.

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.

[1].Bullinger, p. 152.

5. Taurus & Gemini

2006-06-23T03:15:00.000-07:00

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

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 Isis ("the deliverer", which title they also applied to Virgo). In mythology Taurus is the milk-white bull which carried Europa to Crete; once there, it ravaged the land until it was tamed by Hercules. As typology, this suggests Christ and his Bride, and his fury at iniquity, assuaged only after the King has come. In its fury we find that (Is 34:2‑8) “The indignation of the Lord is upon all nations, and His fury upon all their armies. He hath delivered them to the slaughter. Their slain also shall be cast out, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood. The wild oxen shall come down, and the bullocks with the bulls, and their land shall be soaked with blood. For it is the day of the Lord's vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion.”

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 Egypt he was named Ha‑ga‑t ("this is he who triumphs"), and was represented as a man coming forth to take possession of the three brightest stars; beneath his feet is the hieroglyph oar, related to the Hebrew word for "light". Indeed, the ancient form of Orion was Oarion: "coming forth as light". In the Akkadian of most ancient Babylon, the sign's name was Ur-ana ("the light of heaven"). In myth, Orion was of unmatched strength, and could tread the sea without getting wet. His prowess evoked such jealousy that the scorpion struck him, which blow resulted in the glorification of Orion. He was also cast into the night of blindness, but regained his sight in the morning sun.

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 (7:10) tells us that when the Judgment is set, a “fiery stream issued and came from before” the Ancient of Days; in Ps 97:3 we read that “A fire goeth before Him, and burneth up His adversaries round about.” Isaiah (30:27‑33) says, “Behold, the name of the Lord cometh from far, burning with His anger, and the burden thereof is heavy: His lips are full of indignation, and His tongue as a devouring fire: and His breath as an overflowing stream. Tophet is ordained of old; yea, for the king it is prepared: He hath made it deep and large, the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of the Lord, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle it.” Indeed, even Greek myth indicates that this is a river of fire, since it was here that impetuous Phaeton fell, to be consumed by its flames. In Egypt it was called Peh-ta-t, "the mouth of the river", which is where we find the brightest star, Archernar ("the after part of the river"). At the source of the ‘river’, just above Rigel, is the star Cursa ("bent down"), and next in brightness is Zourac (A. "flowing"), at the river's second bend. Other stars are Pheat ("mouth") and Ozha ("the going forth"). Of the 84 stars of Eridanus, only 9 are original. Notice the similarity between the lad Phaeton, the river Peh-ta-t, and the star Pheat. Notice the light of the Judge, in Orion, and the fire of the Judge, in Eridanus; this is the observation of Hab 3:5, “His brightness was as the light . . . and burning coals went forth at His feet”.

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 10:11, 1P 5:4). It is now called Auriga (L. — "the Charioteer; in Greek, Haeniochos), presumably after the "reins"; since we find only goats, rather than horses or chariot, this latter name is obviously a late interpretation of the forgotten truth: the semitic root means "Shepherd". For what purpose are these "reins" suited? When a shepherd had in his care a lamb which would constantly stray, he would break its legs and carry it bound across his neck, where it would grow so used to his voice that it would never wander again. This is the meaning of the words of Jesus (Jn 10:4): The Good Shepherd “goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice.”

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 Man. I say ‘disturbing’ because now the two natures are United — “And the Word became flesh” (Jn 1:14) — and to see them separated smacks of blasphemy to the Christian. But this sign was a prophecy of what was to come: the union had not yet happened, and so we cannot say that the representation of the two natures of Christ was impertinent, any more than we can say that it diminishes our human nature to recognize that we each were once sperm and egg.

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 (2:23) cites a prophecy totally unknown from the Bible: Jesus “dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, 'He shall be called Nazarene.'” Where was this prophecy preserved? Perhaps as a reference to the "Branch", but also perhaps in the constellation under consideration. Be that as it may, the Akkadian language of Old Babylon called Sirius Kasista, the Leader; and the Persian name, more ancient than "wolf", was Tistrya, "the chieftain of the East"; it was likely also the star called Al Shira Al Jemeniya ("the prince on the right hand" — again, note the sound of "Jemeni"). This brightest of stars was always associated with killing heat. Thus, Virgil conjures visions of plagued animals, desolate fields and blasted earth when Sirius “with pestilential heat infects the sky”, and Homer sang that its “burning breath taints the red air with fevers, plagues, and death.”[1] When we remember that God will next judge the earth with fire, this association is explained. Second in brightness is Mirzam ("the ruler"), in the front left foot, then Multiphen ("the leader"). Next brightest is Wesen ("the shining" or "scarlet"), in the torso, and then, in the right hind foot is Adhara ("the glorious"), and again, Al Habor ("the mighty"). Of the 64 stars, only 12 were known before the Flood.

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.

[1].Quoted in Seiss, p. 116.

Historic Christianity

Incompatibilities

A Year of Living Biblically

Summary

A Chistmas Slash Hanukkah Essay

Confetti

Schizo

Shipwreck

Tohu va Bohu

Good Wednesday

Yeshua bar Yosef

Bull

That Which I Most Feared

Gods Are Not Great

The Immorality of God

On Why Religion Is Bad

All Good Moslems Go to Hell

Whom the Lord loves

Rebuilding the Tower: the revival of paganism

First Adam

Fountain of Light

The Heavens Declare: conclusion

Al Pherg al Muchad­dem

6. Cancer & Leo

5. Taurus & Gemini

Al Pherg al Muchaddem