The Didache (The Teaching) First Christian Catechism

Luke_Wilbur · October 22, 2014

The Didache

Chapter 5

5:1 But the way of death is this.
5:2 First of all, it is evil and full of a curse murders, adulteries, lusts, fornications, thefts, idolatries, magical arts, witchcrafts, plunderings, false witnessings, hypocrisies, doubleness of heart, treachery, pride, malice, stubbornness, covetousness, foul-speaking, jealousy, boldness, exaltation, boastfulness;

Deuteronomy Chapter 32

39 See now that I, even I, am He, and there is no god with Me; I kill, and I make alive; I have wounded, and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of My hand.

40 For I lift up My hand to heaven, and say: As I live forever,

41 If I whet My glittering sword, and My hand take hold on judgment; I will render vengeance to Mine adversaries, and will recompense them that hate Me.

42 I will make Mine arrows drunk with blood, and My sword shall devour flesh; with the blood of the slain and the captives, from the long-haired heads of the enemy.'

43 Sing aloud, O ye nations, of His people; for He doth avenge the blood of His servants, and doth render vengeance to His adversaries, and doth make expiation (atonement) for the land of His people. {P}

Samaritans interpret "I kill and I make alive", as "I will give life to the dead" or aḥayei et ha-met.

Also known as 4QPseudo-Ezekiel, and referred to in older reference sources as 4QSecond Ezekiel, Pseudo-Ezekiel is a fragmentary, pseudepigraphic Hebrew text found in Cave 4 at Qumran, and therefore belongs to the cache of manuscripts popularly known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. It is also classified as "parabiblical" and considered, in some accounts, as "apocalyptic" as well. Not known even in the scholarly world until the late 1980s, and not published until 2001, Pseudo-Ezekiel has emerged as one of the most controversial texts among Qumran finds in the early years of the twenty-first century.

4Q385c is illegible, and the remaining text is described as being "in poor condition," but all told the fragments yield four to six columns of text, with some measure of overlap among the various fragments. Other than the obvious flow of the text from Column 1 to Column 2, it is not known how they rightly fit together, although editor Devorah Dinant, who published the text in 2001, has suggested that the sequence of events in the canonical Book of Ezekiel provides a basis for the order currently observed.

The text as a whole appears to be a discussion between Ezekiel and YHWH, beginning with YHWH promising to Ezekiel that the dry bones will be raised and knitted together again to resurrect the kingdom of Israel. The author has taken the biblical account of Ezekiel 37 as his source, but whereas the resurrection of Israel in Ezekiel 37 is a metaphor for national restoration, Pseudo-Ezekiel describes the resurrection of the righteous dead of Israel. Pseudo-Ezekiel therefore takes its place alongside 4Q521 as one of the only two texts found at Qumran which clearly refer to resurrection. This is followed by a prophecy that a "son of Belial" will come to oppress the Israelites, but he will be defeated and "his dominion will not exist." In remaining fragments, Ezekiel asks YHWH if time itself could be made to accelerate so that Israel may reclaim the promised land sooner rather than later. There is an stray segment which redresses the theme of resurrection, followed by a final evocation of the Merkabah, the chariot of YHWH mentioned in Ezekiel 1.

http://www.deadseascrolls.org.il/explore-the-archive/manuscript/4Q386-1?locale=en_US

Translation of column 2 of 4Q386 Pseudo Ezekiel fragment

Column 1

1. [And I said:

'O Lord! I have seen many (men) from Israel who have love]d your Name

2. [and have walked in the ways of your heart. And these things when they come to be and] how will they be recompensed for their piety?'

3. [And the Lord said to me:

'I will make (it) manifest to th]e children of Israel and they shall know know [that I am the Lord.'

4. And He said:

'Son of man, prop[hesy over the bones

5. [and speak and let them be joined bone to its bone and] joint to its joint.' And it was

6. [so, And He said a second time:

'Prophesy and let arterie]s[come upon them] and let skin cover

7. [them from above.' And they were co]ve[red with skin and] arteries came upon them,

8. [but there was no breath in them. And he said to me:

'Prophesy once again] over the four winds

9. [of heaven and let them blow into them.' And] a large [cro]wd of peop[le stood on their f]e[et]

10. [and blessed the Lord Sebot who had given them life]

Column 2

1.[la]nd and they will know that I am the Lord vacat and he said to me: consider,

2. son of man, land of Israel. And I said, I have seen, Lord, but look, it is a desolated place

3. and will you assemble them? And the Lord said:

a son of Belial will mean to oppress my people,

4. But I will not allow him and his leader(ship) the will not be (anyone), nor will any offspring remain of the impure one.

5. And of the caperbush there will not be any wine, nor will a bee make honey.

6. But I will slay the wicked one in Memphis and will bring my children out of Memphis and turn the reverse way concerning their remnant.

7. And they will say, 'peace and quiet have come', they will (also) say, 'the land will be

8 as it was in the day [ ] of old.' After this I will arouse wrath against them a burning [fi]re, like [?]

The majority of Septuagint manuscripts and a Masada biblical manuscript, makes the point that the dry bones symbolically stand for the whole house of Israel.

Ezekiel 37

1 The hand of the LORD was upon me, and the LORD carried me out in a spirit, and set me down in the midst of the valley, and it was full of bones;

2 and He caused me to pass by them round about, and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.

3 And He said unto me: 'Son of man, can these bones live?' And I answered: 'O Lord GOD, Thou knows.'

4 Then He said unto me:

'Prophesy over these bones, and say unto them:

O ye dry bones, hear the word of the LORD:

5 Thus saith the Lord GOD unto these bones:

Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live.

6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the LORD.'

7 So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a commotion, and the bones came together, bone to its bone.

8 And I beheld, and, lo, there were sinews upon them, and flesh came up, and skin covered them above; but there was no breath in them.

9 Then said He unto me:

'Prophesy unto the breath, prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath: {S}

Thus saith the Lord GOD:

Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.'

10 So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great host.

11 Then He said unto me:

'Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel; behold, they say:

Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are clean cut off.

12 Therefore prophesy, and say unto them:

Thus saith the Lord GOD:

Behold, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, O My people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel.

13 And ye shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened your graves, and caused you to come up out of your graves, O My people.

14 And I will put My spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I will place you in your own land; and ye shall know that I the LORD have spoken, and performed it, saith the LORD.' {P}

15 And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying:

16 'And thou, son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it:

For Judah, and for the children of Israel his companions; then take another stick, and write upon it: For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and of all the house of Israel his companions;

17 and join them for thee one to another into one stick, that they may become one in thy hand.

18 And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying:

Wilt thou not tell us what thou meanest by these?

19 say into them: Thus saith the Lord GOD:

Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel his companions; and I will put them unto him together with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in My hand.

20 And the sticks whereon thou writes shall be in thy hand before their eyes.

21 And say unto them:

Thus saith the Lord GOD:

Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, whither they are gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land;

22 and I will make them one nation in the land, upon the mountains of Israel, and one king shall be king to them all; and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all;

23 neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will save them out of all their dwelling-places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them; so shall they be My people, and I will be their God.

24 And My servant David shall be king over them, and they all shall have one shepherd; they shall also walk in Mine ordinances, and observe My statutes, and do them.

25 And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Jacob My servant, wherein your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, they, and their children, and their children's children, for ever; and David My servant shall be their prince for ever.

26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them--it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will establish them, and multiply them, and will set My sanctuary in the midst of them for ever.

27 My dwelling-place also shall be over them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

28 And the nations shall know that I am the LORD that sanctify Israel, when My sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for ever.' {P}

Christ's sacrifice of human death provided the basis for the resurrection of righteous saints who died before the Cross as well as after it.

Matthew 27 (Codex Vaticanus)

46. And about the ninth hour, the Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, this is, O God of me, O God of me, why forsake thou me.

47. And some of them that there had stood, having heard, said, surely Elias this man calls,

48. and straightway one of them having run, and taken a sponge. And having filled with vinegar, and put on a reed, hew giving drink to him.

49. But the others said, let be, we should have seen, if Elias comes, going to save him. And another having taken a spear, he pierced the side of the human form of him, and there came out water and blood.

50. Then the Jesus again having cried with a loud voice, he dismissed the spirit,

51. and behold the veil of the temple was rent from top, to bottom, in two, and the earth was shaken, and rocks were rent,

52. and the graves were opened, and many bodies of saints that had been asleep were raised,

53. and having come out of the graves, after his resurrection, they went into the holy city, and were made apparent unto many.

54. Now the centurion and they that were with him watching Jesus, having seen the earth quake and the things that happen were afraid greatly, saying. Truly a son of God this man was.

Mathew 17 (Codex Sinaiticus)

45 But from the sixth hour darkness came over all the land till the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying:

Elei, Elei, lema sabachtha nei? that is, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

47 And some of them that stood there hearing it said:

This man calls for Elijah.

48 And immediately one of them ran and took a sponge, and having filled it with vinegar and put it on a reed, gave it to him to drink.

49 But the rest said:

Wait, let us see if Elijah is coming to save him.

50 But Jesus again cried out with a loud voice, and gave up the spirit.

51 And behold, the veil of the temple was rent into two from top to bottom, and the earth quaked, and the rocks were rent,

52 and the sepulchers were opened, and many bodies of the saints that slept awoke;

53 and they came out of their sepulchers after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared to many.

54 And the centurion and those who were with him watching Jesus, seeing the earthquake and what things had taken place, were greatly afraid, saying:

Truly this was the Son of God.

Saint Paul proclaimed Jesus Christ was the firstborn from the dead.

1 Corinthians 15

15:12 Now if Christ is being preached as raised from the dead, how can some of you say there is no resurrection of the dead?

15:13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.

15:14 And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is futile and your faith is empty.

15:15 Also, we are found to be false witnesses about God, because we have testified against God that he raised Christ from the dead, when in reality he did not raise him, if indeed the dead are not raised.

15:16 For if the dead are not raised, then not even Christ has been raised.

15:17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is useless; you are still in your sins.

15:18 Furthermore, those who have fallen asleep in Christ have also perished.

15:19 For if only in this life we have hope in Christ, we should be pitied more than anyone.

15:20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.

15:21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also came through a man.

15:22 For just as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive.

15:23 But each in his own order:

Christ, the first fruits; then when Christ comes, those who belong to him.

15:24 Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he has brought to an end all rule and all authority and power.

15:25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

15:26 The last enemy to be eliminated is death.

15:27 For he has put everything in subjection under his feet. But when it says “everything” has been put in subjection, it is clear that this does not include the one who put everything in subjection to him.

15:28 And when all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will be subjected to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.

15:29 Otherwise, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, then why are they baptized for them?

15:30 Why too are we in danger every hour?

15:31 Every day I am in danger of death! This is as sure as my boasting in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord.

15:32 If from a human point of view I fought with wild beasts at Ephesus, what did it benefit me? If the dead are not raised, let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.

15:33 Do not be deceived:

“Bad company corrupts good morals.”

15:34 Sober up as you should, and stop sinning! For some have no knowledge of God – I say this to your shame!

1 Corinthians

1. I, then, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received,

2. with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another through love,

3. striving to preserve the unity of the spirit through the bond of peace:

4. one body and one Spirit, as you were also called to the one hope of your call;

5. one Lord, one faith, one baptism;

6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

Will the Trinity evolve into one host of Hashem?

Colossians 1

1:15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation,

1:16 for all things in heaven and on earth were created by him – all things, whether visible or invisible, whether thrones or dominions, whether principalities or powers – all things were created through him and for him.

1:17 He himself is before all things and all things are held together in him.

1:18 He is the head of the body, the church, as well as the beginning, the firstborn from among the dead, so that he himself may become first in all things.

1:19 For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in the Son.

1:20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself by making peace through the blood of his cross – through him, whether things on earth or things in heaven.

Revelation 1

1:4 From John, to the seven churches that are in the province of Asia: Grace and peace to you from “he who is,” and who was, and who is still to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne,

1:5 and from Jesus Christ – the faithful witness, the firstborn from among the dead, the ruler over the kings of the earth. To the one who loves us and has set us free from our sins at the cost of his own blood

1:6 and has appointed us as a kingdom, as priests serving his God and Father – to him be the glory and the power for ever and ever! Amen.

Artist Thomas Blackshear says: “According to the Word of God, Jesus was born into the Jewish race. Jesus Christ is now the Risen Lord of all nations.

Coat of many colors

Here are examples of priest following the footsteps of Jesus serving and dying for Hashem.

Catholic chaplain, serving God and country.

Pope Francis washing the feet of prisoners in Italy.

Yazidis and Syrian Christians Protest ISIS Violence

Yazidis+Syrian+Christians+Protest+ISIS+V

[WARNING] Syrian Catholic priest beheaded by Jihadis as crowd cheers in a trance in Gassanieh.

May Our Lord have mercy on the souls that participate in evil acts like this. For like Saul, they know not what they do. For the Pharisee Saul later became Saint Paul, the defender of Christian faith. May Our Jesus Christ bless his martyrs that died in holy name. Peace be upon him.

Luke_Wilbur · November 21, 2014

The Didache

Chapter 5

5:1 But the way of death is this.
5:2 First of all, it is evil and full of a curse murders, adulteries, lusts, fornications, thefts, idolatries, magical arts, witchcrafts, plunderings, false witnessings, hypocrisies, doubleness of heart, treachery, pride, malice, stubbornness, covetousness, foul-speaking, jealousy, boldness, exaltation, boastfulness;

Many Christians do not realize that the Roman Catholic Church does in fact place Jesus Christ as the head of the Church.

MYSTICI CORPORIS CHRISTI

ENCYCLICAL OF POPE PIUS XII
ON THE MISTICAL BODY OF CHRIST
TO OUR VENERABLE BRETHREN, PATRIARCHS, PRIMATES,
ARCHBISHOPS, BISHIOPS, AND OTHER LOCAL ORDINARIES
ENJOYING PEACE AND COMMUNION WITH THE APOSTOLIC SEE

14. That the Church is a body is frequently asserted in the Sacred Scriptures. "Christ," says the Apostle, "is the Head of the Body of the Church." If the Church is a body, it must be an unbroken unity, according to those words of Paul: "Though many we are one body in Christ." But it is not enough that the Body of the Church should be an unbroken unity; it must also be something definite and perceptible to the senses as Our predecessor of happy memory, Leo XIII, in his Encyclical Satis Cognitum asserts: "the Church is visible because she is a body.

Hence they err in a matter of divine truth, who imagine the Church to be invisible, intangible, a something merely "pneumatological" as they say, by which many Christian communities, though they differ from each other in their profession of faith, are untied by an invisible bond.

15. But a body calls also for a multiplicity of members, which are linked together in such a way as to help one another. And as in the body when one member suffers, all the other members share its pain, and the healthy members come to the assistance of the ailing, so in the Church the individual members do not live for themselves alone, but also help their fellows, and all work in mutual collaboration for the common comfort and for the more perfect building up of the whole Body.

16. Again, as in nature a body is not formed by any haphazard grouping of members but must be constituted of organs, that is of members, that have not the same function and are arranged in due order; so for this reason above all the Church is called a body, that it is constituted by the coalescence of structurally untied parts, and that it has a variety of members reciprocally dependent. It is thus the Apostle describes the Church when he writes:

"As in one body we have many members, but all the members have not the same office:

so we being many are one body in Christ, and everyone members one of another."

17. One must not think, however, that this ordered or "organic" structure of the body of the Church contains only hierarchical elements and with them is complete; or, as an opposite opinion holds, that it is composed only of those who enjoy charismatic gifts - though members gifted with miraculous powers will never be lacking in the Church. That those who exercise sacred power in this Body are its chief members must be maintained uncompromisingly. It is through them, by commission of the Divine Redeemer Himself, that Christ's apostolate as Teacher, King and Priest is to endure. At the same time, when the Fathers of the Church sing the praises of this Mystical Body of Christ, with its ministries, its variety of ranks, its officers, it conditions, its orders, its duties, they are thinking not only of those who have received Holy Orders, but of all those too, who, following the evangelical counsels, pass their lives either actively among men, or hidden in the silence of the cloister, or who aim at combining the active and contemplative life according to their Institute; as also of those who, though living in the world, consecrate themselves wholeheartedly to spiritual or corporal works of mercy, and of those in the state of holy matrimony. Indeed, let this be clearly understood, especially in our days, fathers and mothers of families, those who are godparents through Baptism, and in particular those members of the laity who collaborate with the ecclesiastical hierarchy in spreading the Kingdom of the Divine Redeemer occupy an honorable, if often a lowly, place in the Christian community, and even they under the impulse of God and with His help, can reach the heights of supreme holiness, which, Jesus Christ has promised, will never be wanting to the Church.

18. Now we see that the human body is given the proper means to provide for its own life, health and growth, and for that of all its members. Similarly, the Savior of mankind out of His infinite goodness has provided in a wonderful way for His Mystical Body, endowing it with the Sacraments, so that, as though by an uninterrupted series of graces, its members should be sustained from birth to death, and that generous provision might be made for the social needs of the Church. Through the waters of Baptism those who are born into this world dead in sin are not only born again and made members of the Church, but being stamped with a spiritual seal they become able and fit to receive the other Sacraments. By the chrism of Confirmation, the faithful are given added strength to protect and defend the Church, their Mother, and the faith she has given them. In the Sacrament of Penance a saving medicine is offered for the members of the Church who have fallen into sin, not only to provide for their own health, but to remove from other members of the Mystical Body all danger of contagion, or rather to afford them an incentive to virtue, and the example of a virtuous act.

19. Nor is that all; for in the Holy Eucharist the faithful are nourished and strengthened at the same banquet and by a divine, ineffable bond are united with each other and with the Divine Head of the whole Body. Finally, like a devoted mother, the Church is at the bedside of those who are sick unto death; and if it be not always God's will that by the holy anointing she restore health to the mortal body, nevertheless she administers spiritual medicine to the wounded soul and sends new citizens to heaven - to be her new advocates - who will enjoy forever the happiness of God.

20. For the social needs of the Church Christ has provided in a particular way by the institution of two other Sacraments. Through Matrimony, in which the contracting parties are ministers of grace to each other, provision is made for the external and duly regulated increase of Christian society, and, what is of greater importance, for the correct religious education of the children, without which this Mystical Body would be in grave danger. Through Holy Orders men are set aside and consecrated to God, to offer the Sacrifice of the Eucharistic Victim, to nourish the flock of the faithful with the Bread of Angels and the food of doctrine, to guide them in the way of God's commandments and counsels and to strengthen them with all other supernatural helps.

21. In this connection it must be borne in mind that, as God at the beginning of time endowed man's body with most ample power to subject all creatures to himself, and to increase and multiply and fill the earth, so at the beginning of the Christian era, He supplied the Church with the means necessary to overcome the countless dangers and to fill not only the whole world but the realms of heaven as well.

22. Actually only those are to be included as members of the Church who have been baptized and profess the true faith, and who have not been so unfortunate as to separate themselves from the unity of the Body, or been excluded by legitimate authority for grave faults committed. "For in one spirit" says the Apostle, "were we all baptized into one Body, whether Jews or Gentiles, whether bond or free." As therefore in the true Christian community there is only one Body, one Spirit, one Lord, and one Baptism, so there can be only one faith. And therefore, if a man refuse to hear the Church, let him be considered - so the Lord commands - as a heathen and a publican. It follows that those who are divided in faith or government cannot be living in the unity of such a Body, nor can they be living the life of its one Divine Spirit.

23. Nor must one imagine that the Body of the Church, just because it bears the name of Christ, is made up during the days of its earthly pilgrimage only of members conspicuous for their holiness, or that it consists only of those whom God has predestined to eternal happiness. It is owing to the Savior's infinite mercy that place is allowed in His Mystical Body here below for those whom, of old, He did not exclude from the banquet. For not every sin, however grave it may be, is such as of its own nature to sever a man from the Body of the Church, as does schism or heresy or apostasy. Men may lose charity and divine grace through sin, thus becoming incapable of supernatural merit, and yet not be deprived of all life if they hold fast to faith and Christian hope, and if, illumined from above, they are spurred on by the interior promptings of the Holy Spirit to salutary fear and are moved to prayer and penance for their sins.

24. Let every one then abhor sin, which defiles the mystical members of our Redeemer; but if anyone unhappily falls and his obstinacy has not made him unworthy of communion with the faithful, let him be received with great love, and let eager charity see in him a weak member of Jesus Christ. For, as the Bishop of Hippo remarks, it is better "to be cured within the Church's community than to be cut off from its body as incurable members." "As long as a member still forms part of the body there is no reason to despair of its cure; once it has been cut off, it can be neither cured nor healed."

25. In the course of the present study, Venerable Brethren, we have thus far seen that the Church is so constituted that it may be likened to a body. We must now explain clearly and precisely why it is to be called not merely a body, but the Body of Jesus Christ. This follows from the fact that our Lord is the Founder, the Head, the Support and the Savior of this Mystical Body.

26. As We set out briefly to expound in what sense Christ founded His social Body, the following thought of Our predecessor of happy memory, Leo XIII, occurs to Us at once: "The Church which, already conceived, came forth from the side of the second Adam in His sleep on the Cross, first showed Herself before the eyes of men on the great day of Pentecost."For the Divine Redeemer began the building of the mystical temple of the Church when by His preaching He made known His Precepts; He completed it when he hung glorified on the Cross; and He manifested and proclaimed it when He sent the Holy Ghost as Paraclete in visible form on His disciples.

27. For while fulfilling His office as preacher He chose Apostles, sending them as He had been sent by the Father - namely, as teachers, rulers, instruments of holiness in the assembly of the believers; He appointed their Chief and His Vicar on earth; He made known to them all things and whatsoever He had heard from His Father; He also determined that through Baptism those who should believe would be incorporated in the Body of the Church; and finally, when He came to the close of His life, He instituted at the Last Supper the wonderful Sacrifice and Sacrament of the Eucharist.

28. That He completed His work on the gibbet of the Cross is the unanimous teaching of the holy Fathers who assert that the Church was born from the side of our Savior on the Cross like a new Eve, mother of all the living. "And it is now," says the great St. Ambrose, speaking of the pierced side of Christ, "that it is built, it is now that it is formed, it is now that it is...molded, it is now that it is created... Now it is that arises a spiritual house, a holy priesthood." One who reverently examines this venerable teaching will easily discover the reasons on which it is based.

29. And first of all, by the death of our Redeemer, the New Testament took the place of the Old Law which had been abolished; then the Law of Christ together with its mysteries, enactments, institutions, and sacred rites was ratified for the whole world in the blood of Jesus Christ. For, while our Divine Savior was preaching in a restricted area - He was not sent but to the sheep that were lost of the House of Israel - the Law and the Gospel were together in force; but on the gibbet of His death Jesus made void the Law with its decrees fastened the handwriting of the Old Testament to the Cross, establishing the New Testament in His blood shed for the whole human race. " To such an extent, then," says St. Leo the Great, speaking of the Cross of our Lord, "was there effected a transfer from the Law to the Gospel, from the Synagogue to the Church, from the many sacrifices to one Victim, that, as Our Lord expired, that mystical veil which shut off the innermost part of the temple and its sacred secret was rent violently from top to bottom."

30. On the Cross then the Old Law died, soon to be buried and to be a bearer of death, in order to give way to the New Testament of which Christ had chosen the Apostles as qualified ministers; and although He had been constituted the Head of the whole human family in the womb of the Blessed Virgin, it is by the power of the Cross that our Savior exercises fully the office itself of Head of His Church. "For it was through His triumph on the Cross," according to the teaching of the Angelic and Common Doctor, "that He won power and dominion over the gentiles"; by that same victory He increased the immense treasure of graces, which, as He reigns in glory in heaven, He lavishes continually on His mortal members; it was by His blood shed on the Cross that God's anger was averted and that all the heavenly gifts, especially the spiritual graces of the New and Eternal Testament, could then flow from the fountains of our Savior for the salvation of men, of the faithful above all; it was on the tree of the Cross, finally, that He entered into possession of His Church, that is, of all the members of His Mystical Body; for they would not have been untied to this Mystical Body through the waters of Baptism except by the salutary virtue of the Cross, by which they had been already brought under the complete sway of Christ.

31. But if our Savior, by His death, became, in the full and complete sense of the word, the Head of the Church, it was likewise through His blood that the Church was enriched with the fullest communication of the Holy Spirit, through which, from the time when the Son of Man was lifted up and glorified on the Cross by His sufferings, she is divinely illumined. For then, as Augustine notes, with the rending of the veil of the temple it happened that the dew of the Paraclete's gifts, which heretofore had descended only on the fleece, that is on the people of Israel, fell copiously and abundantly (while the fleece remained dry and deserted) on the whole earth, that is on the Catholic Church, which is confined by no boundaries of race or territory. Just as at the first moment of the Incarnation the Son of the Eternal Father adorned with the fullness of the Holy Spirit the human nature which was substantially united to Him, that it might be a fitting instrument of the Divinity in the sanguinary work of the Redemption, so at the hour of His precious death He willed that His Church should be enriched with the abundant gifts of the Paraclete in order that in dispensing the divine fruits of the Redemption she might be, for the Incarnate Word, a powerful instrument that would never fail. For both the juridical mission of the Church, and the power to teach, govern and administer the Sacraments, derive their supernatural efficacy and force for the building up of the Body of Christ from the fact that Jesus Christ, hanging on the Cross, opened up to His Church the fountain of those divine gifts, which prevent her from ever teaching false doctrine and enable her to rule them for the salvation of their souls through divinely enlightened pastors and to bestow on them an abundance of heavenly graces.

32. If we consider closely all these mysteries of the Cross, those words of the Apostle are no longer obscure, in which he teaches the Ephesians that Christ, by His blood, made the Jews and Gentiles one "breaking down the middle wall of partition...in his flesh" by which the two peoples were divided; and that He made the Old Law void "that He might make the two in Himself into one new man," that is, the Church, and might reconcile both to God in one Body by the Cross."

33. The Church which He founded by His Blood, He strengthened on the Day of Pentecost by a special power, given from heaven. For, having solemnly installed in his exalted office him whom He had already nominated as His Vicar, He had ascended into Heaven; and sitting now at the right hand of the Father He wished to make known and proclaim His Spouse through the visible coming of the Holy Spirit with the sound of a mighty wind and tongues of fire. For just as He Himself when He began to preach was made known by His Eternal Father through the Holy Spirit descending and remaining on Him in the form of a dove, so likewise, as the Apostles were about to enter upon their ministry of preaching, Christ our Lord sent the Holy Spirit down from Heaven, to touch them with tongues of fire and to point out, as by the finger of God, the supernatural mission and office of the Church.

34. That this Mystical Body which is the Church should be called Christ's is proved in the second place from the fact that He must be universally acknowledged as its actual Head. "He," as St. Paul says, "is the Head of the Body, the Church." He is the Head from whom the whole body perfectly organized, "groweth and maketh increase unto the edifying of itself."

35. You are familiar, Venerable Brethren, with the admirable and luminous language used by the masters of Scholastic Theology and chiefly by the Angelic and Common Doctor, when treating this question; and you know that the reasons advanced by Aquinas are a faithful reflection of the mind and writings of the Holy Fathers, who moreover merely repeated and commented on the inspired word of Sacred Scripture.

36. However for the good of all We wish to touch on this point briefly. And first of all it is clear that the Son of God and of the Blessed Virgin is to be called the head of the Church by reason of His singular pre-eminence. For the Head is in the highest place. But who is in a higher place than Christ God, who as the Word of the Eternal Father must be acknowledged to be the "firstborn of every creature?" Who has reached more lofty heights than Christ Man who, though born of the Immaculate Virgin, is the true and natural Son of God, and in virtue of His miraculous and glorious resurrection, a resurrection triumphant over death, has become the "firstborn of the dead?" Who finally has been so exalted as He, who as "the one mediator of God and men" has in a most wonderful manner linked earth to heaven, who, raised on the Cross as on a throne of mercy, has drawn all things to Himself, who, as the Son of Man chosen from among thousands, is beloved of God beyond all men, all angels and all created things?

37. Because Christ is so exalted, He alone by every right rules and governs the Church; and herein is yet another reason why He must be likened to a head. As the head is the "royal citadel" of the body - to use the words of Ambrose - and all the members over whom it is placed for their good are naturally guided by it as being endowed with superior powers, so the Divine Redeemer holds the helm of the universal Christian community and directs its course. And as to govern human society signifies to lead men to the end proposed by means that are expedient, just and helpful, it is easy to see how our Savior, model and ideal of good Shepherds, performs all these functions in a most striking way.

38. While still on earth, He instructed us by precept, counsel and warning in words that shall never pass away, and will be spirit and life to all men of all times. Moreover He conferred a triple power on His Apostles and their successors, to teach, to govern, to lead men to holiness, making this power, defined by special ordinances, rights and obligations, the fundamental law of the whole Church.

39. But our Divine Savior governs and guides the Society which He founded directly and personally also. For it is He who reigns within the minds and hearts of men, and bends and subjects their wills to His good pleasure, even when rebellious. "The heart of the King is in the hand of the Lord; whithersoever he will, he shall turn it." By this interior guidance He the "Shepherd and Bishop of our souls," not only watches over individuals but exercises His providence over the universal Church, whether by enlightening and giving courage to the Church's rulers for the loyal and effective performance of their respective duties, or by singling out form the body of the Church - especially when times are grave - men and women of conspicuous holiness, who may point the way for the rest of Christendom to the perfecting of His Mystical Body. Morever from Heaven Christ never ceases to look down with especial love on His spotless Spouse so sorely tried in her earthly exile; and when He sees her in danger, saves her from the tempestuous sea either Himself or through the ministry of His angels, or through her whom we invoke as Help of Christians, or through other heavenly advocates, and in calm and tranquil waters comforts her with the peace "which surpass all understanding."

40. But we must not think that He rules only in a hidden or extraordinary manner. On the contrary, our Redeemer also governs His Mystical Body in a visible and normal way through His Vicar on earth. You know, Venerable Brethren, that after He had ruled the "little flock" Himself during His mortal pilgrimage, Christ our Lord, when about to leave this world and return to the Father, entrusted to the Chief of the Apostles the visible government of the entire community He had founded. Since He was all wise He could not leave the body of the Church He had founded as a human society without a visible head. Nor against this may one argue that the primacy of jurisdiction established in the Church gives such a Mystical Body two heads. For Peter in view of his primacy is only Christ's Vicar; so that there is only one chief Head of this Body, namely Christ, who never ceases Himself to guide the Church invisibly, though at the same time He rules it visibly, through him who is His representative on earth. After His glorious Ascension into Heaven this Church rested not on Him alone, but on Peter, too, its visible foundation stone. That Christ and His Vicar constitute one only Head is the solemn teaching of Our predecessor of immortal memory Boniface VIII in the Apostolic Letter Unam Sanctam; and his successors have never ceased to repeat the same.

41. They, therefore, walk in the path of dangerous error who believe that they can accept Christ as the Head of the Church, while not adhering loyally to His Vicar on earth. They have taken away the visible head, broken the visible bonds of unity and left the Mystical Body of the Redeemer so obscured and so maimed, that those who are seeking the haven of eternal salvation can neither see it nor find it.

42. What we have thus far said of the Universal Church must be understood also of the individual Christian communities, whether Oriental or Latin, which go to makeup the one Catholic Church. For they, too, are ruled by Jesus Christ through the voice of their respective Bishops. Consequently, Bishops must be considered as the more illustrious members of the Universal Church, for they are united by a very special bond to the divine Head of the whole Body and so are rightly called "principal parts of the members of the Lord;" moreover, as far as his own diocese is concerned, each one as a true Shepherd feeds the flock entrusted to him and rules it in the name of Christ. Yet in exercising this office they are not altogether independent, but are subordinate to the lawful authority of the Roman Pontiff, although enjoying the ordinary power of jurisdiction which they receive directly from the same Supreme Pontiff. Therefore, Bishops should be revered by the faithful as divinely appointed successors of the Apostles, and to them, even more than to the highest civil authorities should be applied the words:

"Touch not my anointed one!"

For Bishops have been anointed with the chrism of the Holy Spirit.

43. That is why We are deeply pained when We hear that not a few of Our Brother Bishops are being attacked and persecuted not only in their own persons, but - what is more cruel and heartrending for them - in the faithful committed to their care, in those who share their apostolic labors, even in the virgins consecrated to God; and all this, merely because they are a pattern of the flock from the heart and guard with energy and loyalty, as they should the sacred "deposit of faith" confided to them; merely because they insist on the sacred laws that have been engraved by God on the souls of men, and after the example of the Supreme Shepherd defend their flock against ravenous wolves. Such an offense We consider as committed against Our own person and We repeat the noble words of Our Predecessor of immortal memory Gregory the Great: "Our honor is the honor of the Universal Church; Our honor is the united strength of Our Brethren; and We are truly honored when honor is given to each and every one."

44. Because Christ the Head holds such an eminent position, one must not think that he does not require the help of the Body. What Paul said of the human organism is to be applied likewise to the Mystical Body:

"The head cannot say to the feet: I have no need of you."

It is manifestly clear that the faithful need the help of the Divine Redeemer, for He has said:

"Without me you can do nothing,"

and according to the teaching of the Apostle every advance of this Mystical Body towards its perfection derives from Christ the Head. Yet this, also, must be held, marvelous though it may seem:

Christ has need of His members. First, because the person of Jesus Christ is represented by the Supreme Pontiff, who in turn must call on others to share much of his solicitude lest he be overwhelmed by the burden of his pastoral office, and must be helped daily by the prayers of the Church. Moreover as our Savior does not rule the Church directly in a visible manner, He wills to be helped by the members of His Body in carrying out the work of redemption. That is not because He is indigent and weak, but rather because He has so willed it for the greater glory of His spotless Spouse. Dying on the Cross He left to His Church the immense treasury of the Redemption, towards which she contributed nothing. But when those graces come to be distributed, not only does He share this work of sanctification with His Church, but He wills that in some way it be due to her action. This is a deep mystery, and an inexhaustible subject of meditation, that the salvation of many depends on the prayers and voluntary penances which the members of the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ offer for this intention and on the cooperation of pastors of souls and of the faithful, especially of fathers and mothers of families, a cooperation which they must offer to our Divine Savior as though they were His associates.

45. To the reasons thus far adduced to show that Christ our Lord should be called the Head of the Society which is His Body there may be added three others which are closely related to one another.

46. We begin with the similarity which we see existing between Head and body, in that they have the same nature; and in this connection it must be observed that our nature, although inferior to that of the angels, nevertheless through God's goodness has risen above it:

"For Christ," as Aquinas says, "is Head of the angels; for even in His humanity He is superior to angels...

Even as man He illumines the angelic intellect and influences the angelic will. But in respect to similarity of nature Christ is not Head of the angels, because He did not take hold of the angels - to quote the Apostle - but of the seed of Abraham." And Christ not only took our nature; He became one of our flesh and blood with a frail body that could suffer and die. But "If the Word emptied himself taking the form of a slave," it was that He might make His brothers according to the flesh partakers of the divine nature, through sanctifying grace in this earthly exile, in heaven through the joys of eternal bliss. For the reason why the only-begotten Son of the Eternal Father willed to be a son of man was that we might be made conformed to the image of the Son of God and be renewed according to the image of Him who created us. Let all those, then, who glory in the name of Christian, look to our Divine Savior as the most exalted and the most perfect exemplar of all virtues; but let them also, by careful avoidance of sin and assiduous practice of virtue, bear witness by their conduct to His teaching and life, so that when the Lord shall appear they may be like unto Him and see Him as He is.

47. It is the will of Jesus Christ that the whole body of the Church, no less than the individual members, should resemble Him. And we see this realized when, following in the footsteps of her Founder, the Church teaches, governs, and offers the divine Sacrifice. When she embraces the evangelical counsels she reflects the Redeemer's poverty, obedience and virginal purity. Adorned with institutes of many different kinds as with so many precious jewels, she represents Christ deep in prayer on the mountain, or preaching to the people, or healing the sick and wounded and bringing sinners back to the path of virtue - in a word, doing good to all. What wonder then, if, while on this earth she, like Christ, suffer persecutions, insults and sorrows.

48. Christ must be acknowledged Head of the Church for this reason too, that, as supernatural gifts have their fullness and perfection in Him, it is of this fullness that His Mystical Body receives. It is pointed out by many of the Fathers, that as the head of our mortal body is the seat of all the senses, while the other parts of our organism have only the sense of touch, so all the powers that are found in Christian society, all the gifts, all the extraordinary graces, attain their utmost perfection in the Head, Christ. "In Him it hath well pleased the Father that all fulness should dwell." He is gifted with those supernatural powers that accompany the hypostatic union, since the Holy spirit dwells in Him with a fulness of grace than which no greater can be imagined. To Him has been given "power over all flesh"; "all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are in Him" abundantly. The knowledge which is called "vision" He possesses with such clarity and comprehensiveness that it surpasses similar celestial knowledge found in all the saints of heaven. So full of grace and truth is He that of His inexhaustible fullness we have all received.

49. These words of the disciple whom Jesus loved lead us to the last reason why Christ our Lord should be declared in a very particular way Head of His Mystical Body. As the nerves extend from the head to all parts of the human body and give them power to feel and to move, in like manner our Savior communicates strength and power to His Church so that the things of God are understood more clearly and are more eagerly desired by the faithful. From Him streams into the body of the Church all the light with which those who believe are divinely illumined, and all the grace by which they are made holy as He is holy.

50. Christ enlightens His whole Church, as numberless passages from the Sacred Scriptures and the holy Fathers prove.

"No man hath seen God at any time:

the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him" Coming as a teacher from God to give testimony to the truth He shed such light upon the nascent apostolic Church that the Prince of the Apostles exclaimed:

"Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life"; from heaven He assisted the evangelists in such a way that as members of Christ they wrote what they had learned, as it were, at the dictation of the Head. And as for us today, who linger on in this earthly exile, He is still the author of faith as in our heavenly home He will be its finisher. It is He who imparts the light of faith to believers; it is He who enriches pastors and teachers and above all His Vicar on earth with the supernatural gifts of knowledge, understanding and wisdom, so that they may loyally preserve the treasury of faith, defend it vigorously, and explain it and confirm it with reverence and devotion. Finally, it is He who, though unseen, presides at the Councils of the Church and guides them.

51. Holiness begins from Christ; and Christ is its cause. For no act conducive to salvation can be performed unless it proceeds from Him as from its supernatural source. "Without me," He says, "you can do nothing." If we grieve and do penance for our sins if, with filial fear and hope, we turn again to God, it is because He is leading us. Grace and glory flow from His inexhaustible fulness. Our Savior is continually pouring out His gifts of counsel, fortitude, fear and piety, especially on the leading members of His Body, so that the whole Body may grow ever more and more in holiness and integrity of life. When the Sacraments of the Church are administered by external rite, it is He who produces their effect in souls. He nourishes the redeemed with His own flesh and blood and thus calms the turbulent passions of the soul; He gives increase of grace and prepares future glory for souls and bodies. All these treasures of His divine goodness He is said to bestow on the members of His Mystical Body, not merely because He, as the Eucharistic Victim on earth and the glorified Victim in heaven, through His wounds and His prayers pleads our cause before the Eternal Father, but because He selects, He determines, He distributes every single grace to every single person "according to the measure of the giving of Christ." Hence it follows that from our Divine Redeemer as from a fountainhead "the whole body, being compacted and fitly joined together, by what every joint supplieth according to the operation in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body, into the edifying of itself in charity."

52. These truths which We have expounded, Venerable Brethren, briefly and succinctly tracing the manner in which Christ our Lord wills that His abundant graces should flow from His fulness into the Church, in order that she should resemble Him as closely as possible, help not a little to explain the third reason why the social Body of the Church should be honored by the name of Christ - namely, that our Savior Himself sustains in a divine manner the society which He founded.

53. As Bellarmine notes with acumen and accuracy, this appellation of the Body of Christ is not to be explained solely by the fact that Christ must be called the Head of His Mystical Body, but also by the fact that He so sustains the Church, and so in a certain sense lives in the Church, that she is, as it were, another Christ. The Doctor of the Gentiles, in his letter to the Corinthians, affirms this when, without further qualification, he calls the Church "Christ," following no doubt the example of his Master who called out to him from on high when he was attacking the Church:

"Saul, Saul, why persecutes thou me?"

Indeed, if we are to believe Gregory of Nyssa, the Church is often called simply "Christ" by the Apostle; and you are familiar Venerable Brethren, with that phrase of Augustine:

"Christ preaches Christ."

54. Nevertheless this most noble title of the Church must not be so understood as if that ineffable bond by which the Son of God assumed a definite human nature belongs to the universal Church; but it consists in this, that our Savior shares prerogatives peculiarly His own with the Church in such a way that she may portray, in her whole life, both exterior and interior, a most faithful image of Christ. For in virtue of the juridical mission by which our Divine Redeemer sent His Apostles into the world, as He had been sent by the Father, it is He who through the Church baptizes, teaches, rules, looses, binds, offers, sacrifices.

55. But in virtue of that higher, interior, and wholly sublime communication, with which We dealt when We described the manner in which the Head influences the members, Christ our Lord wills the Church to live His own supernatural life, and by His divine power permeates His whole Body and nourishes and sustains each of the members according to the place which they occupy in the body, in the same way as the vine nourishes and makes fruitful the branches which are joined to it.

56. If we examine closely this divine principle of life and power given by Christ, insofar as it constitutes the very source of every gift and created grace, we easily perceive that it is nothing else than the Holy spirit, the Paraclete, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, and who is called in a special way, the "Spirit of Christ" or the "Spirit of the Son." For it was by this Breath of grace and truth that the Son of God anointed His soul in the immaculate womb of the Blessed Virgin; this Spirit delights to dwell in the beloved soul of our Redeemer as in His most cherished shrine; this Spirit Christ merited for us on the Cross by shedding His Own Blood; this Spirit He bestowed on the Church for the remission of sins, when He breathed on the Apostles; and while Christ alone received this Spirit without measure, to the members of the Mystical Body He is imparted only according to the measure of the giving of Christ from Christ's own fulness. But after Christ's glorification on the Cross, His Spirit is communicated to the Church in an abundant outpouring, so that she, and her individual members, may become daily more and more like to our Savior. It is the Spirit of Christ that has made us adopted sons of God in order that one day "we all beholding the glory of the Lord with open face may be transformed into the same image from glory to glory."

57. To this Spirit of Christ, also, as to an invisible principle is to be ascribed the fact that all the parts of the Body are joined one with the other and with their exalted Head; for He is entire in the Head, entire in the Body, and entire in each of the members. To the members He is present and assists them in proportion to their various duties and offices, and the greater or less degree of spiritual health which they enjoy. It is He who, through His heavenly grace, is the principle of every supernatural act in all parts of the Body. It is He who, while He is personally present and divinely active in all the members, nevertheless in the inferior members acts also through the ministry of the higher members. Finally, while by His grace He provides for the continual growth of the Church, He yet refuses to dwell through sanctifying grace in those members that are wholly severed from the Body. This presence and activity of the Spirit of Jesus Christ is tersely and vigorously described by Our predecessor of immortal memory Leo XIII in his Encyclical Letter Divinum Illud in these words:

"Let it suffice to say that, as Christ is the Head of the Church, so is the Holy Spirit her soul."

58. If that vital principle, by which the whole community of Christians is sustained by its Founder, be considered not now in itself, but in the created effects which proceed form it, it consists in those heavenly gifts which our Redeemer, together with His Spirit, bestows on the Church, and which He and His Spirit, from whom come supernatural light and holiness, make operative in the Church. The Church, then, no less than each of her holy members can make this great saying of the Apostle her own:

"And I live, now not I; but Christ lives in me."

59. What We have said concerning the "mystical Head" would indeed be incomplete if We were not at least briefly to touch on this saying of the same Apostle:

"Christ is the Head of the Church:

He is the savior of his Body."

For in these words we have the final reason why the Body of the Church is given the name of Christ, namely, that Christ is the Divine Savior of this Body. The Samaritans were right in proclaiming Him "Savior of the world;" for indeed He most certainly is to be called the "Savior of all men," even though we must add with Paul:

"especially of the faithful,"

since, before all others, He has purchased with His Blood His members who constitute the Church. But as We have already treated this subject fully and clearly when speaking of the birth of the Church on the Cross, of Christ as the source of life and the principle of sanctity, and of Christ as the support of His Mystical Body, there is no reason why We should explain it further; but rather let us all, while giving perpetual thanks to God, meditate on it with a humble and attentive mind. For that which our Lord began when hanging on the Cross, he continues unceasingly amid the joys of heaven:

"Our Head," says St. Augustine, "intercedes for us: some members He is receiving, others He is chastising, others cleansing, others consoling, others creating, others calling, others recalling, others correcting, others renewing." But it is for us to cooperate with Christ in this work of salvation, "from one and through one saved and saviors."

60. And now, Venerable Brethren, We come to that part of Our explanation in which We desire to make clear why the Body of Christ, which is the Church, should be called mystical. This name, which is used by many early writers, has the sanction of numerous Pontifical documents. There are several reasons why it should be used; for by it we may distinguish the Body of the Church, which is a Society whose Head and Ruler is Christ, from His physical Body, which, born of the Virgin Mother of God, now sits at the right hand of the Father and is hidden under the Eucharistic veils; and, that which is of greater importance in view of modern errors, this name enables us to distinguish it from any other body, whether in the physical or the moral order.

61. In a natural body the principle of unity unites the parts in such a manner that each lacks in its own individual subsistence; on the contrary, in the Mystical Body the mutual union, though intrinsic, links the members by a bond which leaves to each the complete enjoyment of his own personality. Moreover, if we examine the relations existing between the several members and the whole body, in every physical, living body, all the different members are ultimately destined to the good of the whole alone; while if we look to its ultimate usefulness, every moral association of men is in the end directed to the advancement of all in general and of each single member in particular; for they are persons. And thus - to return to Our theme - as the Son of the Eternal Father came down from heaven for the salvation of us all, He likewise established the body of the Church and enriched it with the divine Spirit to ensure that immortal souls should attain eternal happiness according tot he words of the Apostle: "All things are yours; and you are Christ's; and Christ is God's." For the Church exists both for the good of the faithful and for the glory of God and of Jesus Christ whom He sent.

62. But if we compare a mystical body with a moral body, it is to be noted that the difference between them is not slight; rather it is very considerable and very important. In the moral body the principle of union is nothing else than the common end, and the common cooperation of all under the authority of society for the attainment of that end; whereas in the Mystical Body of which We are speaking, this collaboration is supplemented by another internal principle, which exists effectively in the whole and in each of its parts, and whose excellence is such that of itself it is vastly superior to whatever bonds of union may be found in a physical or moral body. As We said above, this is something not of the natural but of the supernatural order; rather it is something in itself infinite, uncreated:

the Spirit of God, who, as the Angelic Doctor says, "numerically one and the same, fills and unifies the whole Church."

63. Hence, this word in its correct signification gives us to understand that the Church, a perfect society of its kind, is not made up of merely moral and juridical elements and principles. It is far superior to all other human societies; it surpasses them as grace surpasses nature, as things immortal are above all those that perish. Such human societies, and in the first place civil Society, are by no means to be despised or belittled; but the Church in its entirety is not found within this natural order, any more than the whole man is encompassed within the organism of our mortal body. Although the juridical principles, on which the Church rests and is established, derive from the divine constitution given to it by Christ and contribute to the attaining of its supernatural end, nevertheless that which lifts the Society of Christians far above the whole natural order is the Spirit of our Redeemer who penetrates and fills every part of the Church's being and is active within it until the end of time as the source of every grace and every gift and every miraculous power. Just as our composite mortal body, although it is a marvelous work of the Creator, falls far short of the eminent dignity of our soul, so the social structure of the Christian community, though it proclaims the wisdom of its divine Architect, still remains something inferior when compared to the spiritual gifts which give it beauty and life, and to the divine source whence they flow.

64. From what We have thus far written, and explained, Venerable Brethren, it is clear, We think, how grievously they err who arbitrarily claim that the Church is something hidden and invisible, as they also do who look upon her as a mere human institution possession a certain disciplinary code and external ritual, but lacking power to communicate supernatural life. On the contrary, as Christ, Head and Exemplar of the Church "is not complete, if only His visible human nature is considered..., or if only His divine, invisible nature..., but He is one through the union of both and one in both ... so is it with His Mystical Body" since the Word of God took unto Himself a human nature liable to sufferings, so that He might consecrate in His blood the visible Society founded by Him and "lead man back to things invisible under a visible rule."

65. For this reason We deplore and condemn the pernicious error of those who dream of an imaginary Church, a kind of society that finds its origin and growth in charity, to which, somewhat contemptuously, they oppose another, which they call juridical. But this distinction which they introduce is false: for they fail to understand that the reason which led our Divine Redeemer to give to the community of man He founded the constitution of a Society, perfect of its kind and containing all the juridical and social elements - namely, that He might perpetuate on earth the saving work of Redemption, - was also the reason why He willed it to be enriched with the heavenly gifts of the Paraclete. The Eternal Father indeed willed it to be the "kingdom of the Son of his predilection;" but it was to be a real kingdom in which all believers should make Him the entire offering of their intellect and will, and humbly and obediently model themselves on Him, Who for our sake "was made obedient unto death." There can, then, be no real opposition or conflict between the invisible mission of the Holy spirit and the juridical commission of Ruler and Teacher received from Christ, since they mutually complement and perfect each other - as do the body and soul in man - and proceed from our one Redeemer who not only said as He breathed on the Apostles "Receive ye the Holy Spirit," but also clearly commanded:

"As the Father hath sent me, I also send you;" and again:

"He that hears you, hears me."

66. And if at times there appears in the Church something that indicates the weakness of our human nature, it should not be attributed to her juridical constitution, but rather to that regrettable inclination to evil found in each individual, which its Divine Founder permits even at times in the most exalted members of His Mystical Body, for the purpose of testing the virtue of the Shepherds no less than of the flocks, and that all may increase the merit of their Christian faith. For, as We said above, Christ did not wish to exclude sinners from His Church; hence if some of her members are suffering from spiritual maladies, that is no reason why we should lessen our love for the Church, but rather a reason why we should increase our devotion to her members. Certainly the loving Mother is spotless in the Sacraments by which she gives birth to and nourishes her children; in the faith which she has always preserved inviolate; in her sacred laws imposed on all; in the evangelical counsels which she recommends; in those heavenly gifts and extraordinary grace through which with inexhaustible fecundity. she generates hosts of martyrs, virgins and confessors. But it cannot be laid to her charge if some members fall, weak or wounded. In their name she prays to God daily:

"Forgive us our trespasses;"

and with the brave heart of a mother she applies herself at once to the work of nursing them back to spiritual health. When, therefore, we call the Body of Jesus Christ "mystical," the very meaning of the word conveys a solemn warning. It is a warning that echoes in these words of St. Leo:

"Recognize, O Christian, your dignity, and being made a sharer of the divine nature go not back to your former worthlessness along the way of unseemly conduct. Keep in mind of what Head and of what Body you are a member."

67. Here, Venerable Brethren, We wish to speak in a very special way of our union with Christ in the Body of the Church, a thing which is, as Augustine justly remarks, sublime, mysterious and divine; but for that very reason it often happens that many misunderstand it and explain it incorrectly. It is at once evident that this union is very close. In the Sacred Scriptures it is compared to the chaste union of man and wife, to the vital union of branch and vine, and to the cohesion found in our body. Even more, it is represented as being so close that the Apostle says:

"He (Christ) is the Head of the Body of the Church," and the unbroken tradition of the Fathers from the earliest times teaches that the Divine Redeemer and the Society which is His Body form but one mystical person, that is to say to quote Augustine, the whole Christ. Our Savior Himself in His sacerdotal prayer did not hesitate to liken this union to that wonderful unity by which the Son is in the Father, and the Father in the Son.

68. Our union in and with Christ is first evident from the fact that, since Christ wills His Christian community to be a Body which is a perfect Society, its members must be united because they all work together towards a single end. The nobler the end towards which they strive, and the more divine the motive which actuates this collaboration, the higher, no doubt, will be the union. Now the end in question is supremely exalted; the continual sanctifying of the members of the Body for the glory of God and of the Lamb that was slain. The motive is altogether divine:

not only the good pleasure of the Eternal Father, and the most earnest wish of our Savior, but the interior inspiration and impulse of the Holy Spirit in our minds and hearts. For if not even the smallest act conducive to salvation can be performed except in the Holy Spirit, how can countless multitudes of every people and every race work together harmoniously for the supreme glory of the Triune God, except in the power of Him, who proceeds from the Father and the Son in one eternal act of love?

69. Now since its Founder willed this social body of Christ to be visible, the cooperation of all its members must also be externally manifest through their profession of the same faith and their sharing the same sacred rites, through participation in the same Sacrifice, and the practical observance of the same laws. Above all, it is absolutely necessary that the Supreme Head, that is, the Vicar of Jesus Christ on earth, be visible to the eyes of all, since it is He who gives effective direction to the work which all do in common in a mutually helpful way towards the attainment of the proposed end. As the Divine Redeemer sent the Paraclete, the Spirit of Truth, who in His name should govern the Church in an invisible way, so, in the same manner, He commissioned Peter and his successors to be His personal representatives on earth and to assume the visible government of the Christian community.

70. These juridical bonds in themselves far surpass those of any other human society, however exalted; and yet another principle of union must be added to them in those three virtues, Christian faith, hope and charity, which link us so closely to each other and to God.

71. "One Lord, one faith," writes the Apostle:

the faith, that is, by which we hold fast to God, and to Jesus Christ whom He has sent.

The beloved disciple teaches us how closely this faith binds us to God:

"Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God."

This Christian faith binds us no less closely to each other and to our divine Head. For all we who believe, "having the same spirit of faith," are illumined by the same light of Christ, nourished by the same Food of Christ, and live under the teaching authority of Christ. If the same spirit of faith breathes in all, we are all living the same life "in the faith of the Son of God who loved us and delivered himself for us." And once we have received Christ, our Head, through an ardent faith so that He dwells within our hearts, as He is the author so He will be the finisher of our faith.

72. As by faith on this earth we hold fast to God as the Author of truth, so by Christian hope we long for Him as the fount of blessedness, "looking for the blessed hope and coming of the glory of the great God." It is because of this universal longing for the heavenly Kingdom that we do not desire a permanent home here below, but seek for one above, and because of our yearning for the glory on high that the Apostle of the Gentiles did not hesitate to say:

"One Body and one Spirit, as you are called in one hope of your calling;"

nay rather that Christ in us is our hope of glory.

73. But if the bonds of faith and hope, which bind us to our Redeemer in His Mystical Body are weighty and important, those of charity are certainly no less so. If even in the natural order the love of friendship is something supremely noble, what shall we say of that supernatural love, which God infuses in our hearts? "God is charity and he that abides in charity abides in God and God in him."The effect of this charity - such would seem to be God's law - is to compel Him to enter into our loving hearts to return love for love, as He said:

"If anyone love me..., my Father will love him and we will come to him and will make our abode with him."

Charity then, more than any other virtue binds us closely to Christ. How many children of the Church, on fire with this heavenly flame, have rejoiced to suffer insults for Him, and to face and overcome the hardest trials, even at the cost of their lives and the shedding of their blood. For this reason our Divine Savior earnestly exhorts us in these words:

"Abide in my love."

And as charity, if it does not issue effectively in good works, is something altogether empty and unprofitable, He added immediately:

"If you keep my commandments you shall abide in my love; as I have also kept my Father's commandments and do abide in His love."

74. But, corresponding to this love of God and of Christ, there must be love of the neighbor. How can we claim to love the Divine Redeemer, if we hate those whom He has redeemed with His precious blood, so that He might make them members of His Mystical Body? For that reason the beloved disciple warns us:

"If any man say:

'I love God' and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he that loves not his brother whom he sees, how can he love God whom he sees not? And this commandment we have from God, that he who loves God loves his brother also."

Rather it should be said that the more we become "members one of another" "mutually careful, one for another," the closer we shall be united with God and with Christ; as, on the other hand, the more ardent the love that binds us to God and to our divine Head, the closer we shall be united to each other in the bonds of charity.

75. Now the only-begotten Son of God embraced us in His infinite knowledge and undying love even before the world began. And that He might give a visible and exceedingly beautiful expression to this love, He assumed our nature in hypostatic union: hence - as Maximus of Turin with a certain unaffected simplicity remarks - "in Christ our own flesh loves us." But the knowledge and love of our Divine Redeemer, of which we were the object from the first moment of His Incarnation, exceed all that the human intellect can hope to grasp. For hardly was He conceived in the womb of the Mother of God, when He began to enjoy the Beatific Vision, and in that vision all the members of His Mystical Body were continually and unceasingly present to Him, and He embraced them with His redeeming love. O marvelous condescension of divine love for us! O inestimable dispensation of boundless charity! In the crib, on the Cross, in the unending glory of the Father, Christ has all the members of the Church present before Him and united to Him in a much clearer and more loving manner than that of a mother who clasps her child to her breast, or than that with which a man knows and loves himself.

76. From all that We have hitherto said, you will readily understand, Venerable Brethren, why Paul the Apostle so often writes that Christ is in us and we in Christ. In proof of which, there is this other more subtle reason. Christ is in us through His Spirit, whom He gives to us and through whom He acts within us in such a way that all the divine activity of the Holy Spirit within our souls must also be attributed to Christ. "If a man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his," says the Apostle, "but if Christ be in you..., the spirit lives because of justification."

77. This communication of the Spirit of Christ is the channel through which all the gifts, powers, and extraordinary graces found superabundantly in the Head as in their source flow into all the members of the Church, and are perfected daily in them according to the place they hold in the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ. Thus the Church becomes, as it were, the filling out and the complement of the Redeemer, while Christ in a sense attains through the Church a fulness in all things. Herein we find the reason why, according to the opinion of Augustine already referred to, the mystical Head, which is Christ, and the Church, which here below as another Christ shows forth His person, constitute one new man, in whom heaven and earth are joined together in perpetuating the saving work of the Cross:

Christ We mean, the Head and the Body, the whole Christ.

78. For indeed We are not ignorant of the fact that his profound truth - of our union with the Divine Redeemer and in particular of the indwelling of the Holy spirit in our souls - is shrouded in darkness by many a veil that impedes our power to understand and explain it, both because of the hidden nature of the doctrine itself, and of the limitations of our human intellect. But We know, too, that from well-directed and earnest study of this doctrine, and from the clash of diverse opinions and the discussion thereof, provided that these are regulated by the love of truth and by due submission to the Church, much light will be gained, which, in its turn will help to progress in kindred sacred sciences. Hence, We do not censure those who in various ways, and with diverse reasonings make every effort to understand and to clarify the mystery of this our wonderful union with Christ. But let all agree uncompromisingly on this, if they would not err from truth and from the orthodox teaching of the Church:

to reject every kind of mystic union by which the faithful of Christ should in any way pass beyond the sphere of creatures and wrongly enter the divine, were it only to the extent of appropriating to themselves as their own but one single attribute of the eternal Godhead. And, moreover, let all hold this as certain truth, that all these activities are common to the most Blessed Trinity, insofar as they have God as supreme efficient cause.

79. It must also be borne in mind that there is question here of a hidden mystery, which during this earthly exile can only be dimly seen through a veil, and which no human words can express. The Divine Persons are said to indwell inasmuch as they are present to beings endowed with intelligence in a way that lies beyond human comprehension, and in a unique and very intimate manner which transcends all created nature, these creatures enter into relationship with Them through knowledge and love. If we would attain, in some measure, to a clearer perception of this truth, let us not neglect the method strongly recommended by the Vatican Council in similar cases, by which these mysteries are compared one with another and with the end to which they are directed, so that in the light which this comparison throws upon them we are able to discern, at least partially, the hidden things of God.

80. Therefore, Our most learned predecessor Leo XIII of happy memory, speaking of our union with Christ and with the Divine Paraclete who dwells within us, and fixing his gaze on that blessed vision through which this mystical union will attain its confirmation and perfection in heaven says:

"This wonderful union, or indwelling properly so-called, differs from that by which God embraces and gives joy to the elect only by reason of our earthly state."

In that celestial vision it will be granted to the eyes of the human mind strengthened by the light of glory, to contemplate the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit in an utterly ineffable manner, to assist throughout eternity at the processions of the Divine Persons, and to rejoice with a happiness like to that with which the holy and undivided Trinity is happy.

81. It seems to Us that something would be lacking to what We have thus far proposed concerning the close union of the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ with its Head, were We not to add here a few words on the Holy Eucharist, by which this union during this mortal life reaches, as it were, a culmination.

82. By means of the Eucharistic Sacrifice Christ our Lord willed to give the faithful a striking manifestation of our union among ourselves and with our divine Head, wonderful as it is and beyond all praise. For in this Sacrifice the sacred minister acts as the viceregent not only of our Savior but of the whole Mystical Body and of each one of the faithful. In this act of Sacrifice through the hands of the priest, by whose word alone the Immaculate Lamb is present on the altar, the faithful themselves, united with him in prayer and desire, offer to the Eternal Father a most acceptable victim of praise and propitiation for the needs of the whole Church. And as the Divine Redeemer, when dying on the Cross, offered Himself to the Eternal Father as Head of the whole human race, so "in this clean oblation" He offers to the heavenly Father not only Himself as Head of the Church, but in Himself His mystical members also, since He holds them all, even those who are weak and ailing, in His most loving Heart.

83. The Sacrament of the Eucharist is itself a striking and wonderful figure of the unity of the Church, if we consider how in the bread to be consecrated many grains go to form one whole, and that in it the very Author of supernatural grace is given to us, so that through Him we may receive the spirit of charity in which we are bidden to live now no longer our own life but the life of Christ, and to love the Redeemer Himself in all the members of His social Body.

84. As then in the sad and anxious times through which we are passing there are many who cling so firmly to Christ the Lord hidden beneath the Eucharistic veils that neither tribulation, nor distress, nor famine, nor nakedness, nor danger, nor persecution, nor the sword can separate them from His love, surely no doubt can remain that Holy Communion which once again in God's providence is much more frequented even from early childhood, may become a source of that fortitude which not infrequently makes Christians into heroes.

85. If the faithful, Venerable Brethren, in a spirit of sincere piety understand these things accurately and hold to them steadfastly, they will the more easily avoid those errors which arise from an irresponsible investigation of this difficult matter, such as some have made not without seriously endangering Catholic faith and disturbing the peace of souls.

86. For there are some who neglect the fact that the Apostle Paul has used metaphorical language in speaking of this doctrine, and failing to distinguish as they should the precise and proper meaning of the terms the physical body, the social body, and the Mystical Body, arrive at a distorted idea of unity. They make the Divine Redeemer and the members of the Church coalesce in one physical person, and while they bestow divine attributes on man, they make Christ our Lord subject to error and to human inclination to evil. But Catholic faith and the writings of the holy Fathers reject such false teaching as impious and sacrilegious; and to the mind of the Apostle of the Gentiles it is equally abhorrent, for although he brings Christ and His Mystical Body into a wonderfully intimate union, he nevertheless distinguishes one from the other as Bridegroom from Bride.

87. No less far from the truth is the dangerous error of those who endeavor to deduce from the mysterious union of us all with Christ a certain unhealthy quietism. They would attribute the whole spiritual life of Christians and their progress in virtue exclusively to the action of the Divine Spirit, setting aside and neglecting the collaboration which is due from us. No one, of course, can deny that the Holy spirit of Jesus Christ is the one source of whatever supernatural powers enters into the Church and its members. For "The Lord will give grace and glory" as the Psalmist says. But that men should persevere constantly in their good works, that they should advance eagerly in grace and virtue, that they should strive earnestly to reach the heights of Christian perfection and at the same time to the best of their power should stimulate others to attain the same goal, - all this the heavenly Spirit does not will to effect unless they contribute their daily share of zealous activity. "For divine favors are conferred not on those who sleep, but on those who watch," as St. Ambrose says. For if in our mortal body the members are strengthened and grow through continued exercise, much more truly can this be said of the social Body of Jesus Christ in which each individual member retains his own personal freedom, responsibility, and principles of conduct. For that reason he who said:

"I live, now not I, but Christ lives in me"

did not at the same time hesitate to assert:

"His (God's) grace in me has not been void, but I have labored more abundantly than all they:

yet not I, but the grace of God with me."

It is perfectly clear, therefore, that in these false doctrines the mystery which we are considering is not directed to the spiritual advancement of the faithful but is turned to their deplorable ruin.

88. The same result follows from the opinions of those who assert that little importance should be given to the frequent confession of venial sins. Far more important, they say, is that general confession which the Spouse of Christ, surrounded by her children in the Lord, makes each day by the mouth of the priest as he approaches the altar of God. As you well know, Venerable Brethren, it is true that venial sins may be expiated in many ways which are to be highly commended. But to ensure more rapid progress day by day in the path of virtue, We will that the pious practice of frequent confession, which was introduced into the Church by the inspiration of the Holy spirit, should be earnestly advocated. By it genuine self-knowledge is increased, Christian humility grows, bad habits are corrected, spiritual neglect and tepidity are resisted, the conscience is purified, the will strengthened, a salutary self-control is attained, and grace is increased in virtue of the Sacrament itself. Let those, therefore, among the younger clergy who make light of or lessen esteem for frequent confession realize that what they are doing is alien to the Spirit of Christ and disastrous for the Mystical Body of our Savior.

89. There are others who deny any impetratory power to our prayers, or who endeavor to insinuate into men's minds the idea that prayers offered to God in private should be considered of little worth, whereas public prayers which are made in the Name of the Church are those which really matter, since they proceed from the Mystical Body of Christ. This opinion is false; for the divine Redeemer is most closely united not only with His Church, which is His Beloved Spouse, but also with each and every one of the faithful, and He ardently desires to speak with them heart to heart, especially after Holy Communion. It is true that public prayer, inasmuch as it is offered by Mother Church, excels any other kind of prayer by reason of her dignity as Spouse of Christ; but no prayer, even the most private, is lacking in dignity or power, and all prayer is of the greatest help to the Mystical Body in which, through the Communion of Saints, no good can be done, no virtue practiced by the individual members, which does not redound also to the salvation of all. Neither is a man forbidden to ask for himself particular favors even for this life merely because he is a member of this Body, provided he is always resigned to the divine will; for the members retain their own personality and remain subject to their own individual needs. Moreover, how highly all should esteem mental prayer is proved not only be ecclesiastical documents, but also by the custom and practice of the saints.

90. Finally, there are those who assert that our prayers should be directed not to the person of Jesus Christ, but rather to God, or to the Eternal Father through Christ, since our Savior as Head of His Mystical Body is only "Mediator of God and men." But this certainly is opposed not only to the mind of the Church and to Christian usage, but to truth. For to speak exactly, Christ is Head of the universal Church as He exists at once in both of His natures moreover He Himself has solemnly declared: "If you shall ask me anything in my name, that I will do." For although prayers are very often directed to the Eternal Father through the only-begotten Son, especially in the Eucharistic Sacrifice - in which Christ, at once Priest and Victim, exercises in a special manner the office of Mediator - nevertheless not infrequently even in this Sacrifice, prayers are addressed to the Divine Redeemer also; for all Christians must clearly know and understand that the man Jesus Christ is also the Son of God and God Himself. And thus, when the Church Militant offers her adoration and prayers to the Immaculate Lamb, the Sacred Victim, her voice seems to re-echo the never-ending chorus of the Church Triumphant:

"To him that sits on the throne and to the Lamb benediction and honor and glory and power forever and ever."

91. Venerable Brethren, in Our exposition of this mystery which embraces the hidden union of us all with Christ, We have thus far, as Teacher of the Universal Church, illumined the mind with the light of truth, and Our pastoral office now requires that We provide an incentive for the heart to love this Mystical Body with that ardor of charity which is not confined to thoughts and words, but which issues in deeds. If those who lived under the Old Law could sing of their earthly city:

"If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand be forgotten; let my tongue cleave to my jaws if I do not remember thee, if I make not Jerusalem the beginning of my joy,"

how much greater then should be the joy and exultation that should fill our hearts who dwell in a City built on the holy mountain of living and chosen stones, "Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone." For nothing more glorious, nothing nobler, nothing surely more honorable can be imagined than to belong to the One, Holy Catholic, Apostolic and Roman Church, in which we become members of One Body as venerable as it is unique; are guided by one supreme Head; are filled with one divine Spirit; are nourished during our earthly exile by one doctrine and one heavenly Bread, until at last we enter into the one, unending blessedness of heaven.

92. But lest we be deceived by the angel of darkness who transforms himself into an angel of light, let this be the supreme law of our love: to love the Spouse of Christ as Christ willed her to be, and as He purchased her with His blood. Hence, not only should we cherish exceedingly the Sacraments with which holy Mother Church sustains our life, the solemn ceremonies which she celebrates for our solace and our joy, the sacred chant and the liturgical rites by which she lifts our minds up to heaven, but also the sacramentals and all those exercises of piety by which she consoles the hearts of the faithful and sweetly imbues them with the Spirit of Christ. As her children, it is our duty, not only to make a return to her for her maternal goodness to us, but also to respect the authority which she has received from Christ in virtue of which she brings into captivity our understanding unto the obedience of Christ. Thus we are commanded to obey her laws and her moral precepts, even if at times they are difficult to our fallen nature; to bring our rebellious body into subjection through voluntary mortification; and at times we are warned to abstain even from harmless pleasures. Nor does it suffice to love this Mystical Body for the glory of its divine Head and for its heavenly gifts; we must love it with an effective love as it appears in this our mortal flesh - made up, that is, of weak human elements, even though at times they are little fitted to the place which they occupy in this venerable body.

93. In order that such a solid and undivided love may abide and increase in our souls day by day, we must accustom ourselves to see Christ Himself in the Church. For it is Christ who lives in His Church, and through her, teaches, governs, and sanctifies; it is Christ also who manifests Himself differently in different members of His society. If the faithful strive to live in a spirit of lively faith, they will not only pay due honor and reverence to the more exalted members of this Mystical Body, especially those who according to Christ's mandate will have to render an account of our souls, but they will take to their hearts those members who are the object of our Savior's special love:

the weak, We mean, the wounded, and the sick who are in need of material or spiritual assistance; children whose innocence is so easily exposed to danger in these days, and whose young hearts can be molded as wax; and finally the poor, in helping whom we recognize as it were, through His supreme mercy, the very person of Jesus Christ.

94. For as the Apostle with good reason admonishes us:

"Those that seem the more feeble members of the Body are more necessary; and those that we think the less honorable members of the Body, we surround with more abundant honor."

Conscious of the obligations of Our high office We deem it necessary to reiterate this grave statement today, when to Our profound grief We see at times the deformed, the insane, and those suffering from hereditary disease deprived of their lives, as though they were a useless burden to Society; and this procedure is hailed by some as a manifestation of human progress, and as something that is entirely in accordance with the common good. Yet who that is possessed of sound judgment does not recognize that this not only violates the natural and the divine law written in the heart of every man, but that it outrages the noblest instincts of humanity? The blood of these unfortunate victims who are all the dearer to our Redeemer because they are deserving of greater pity, "cries to God from the earth."

95. In order to guard against the gradual weakening of that sincere love which requires us to see our Savior in the Church and in its members, it is most fitting that we should look to Jesus Himself as a perfect model of love for the Church.

96. And first of all let us imitate the breadth of His love. For the Church, the Bride of Christ, is one; and yet so vast is the love of the divine Spouse that it embraces in His Bride the whole human race without exception. Our Savior shed His Blood precisely in order that He might reconcile men to God through the Cross, and might constrain them to unite in one body, however widely they may differ in nationality and race. True love of the Church, therefore, requires not only that we should be mutually solicitous one for another as members and sharing in their suffering but likewise that we should recognize in other men, although they are not yet joined to us in the body of the Church, our brothers in Christ according to the flesh, called, together with us, to the same eternal salvation. It is true, unfortunately, especially today, that there are are some who extol enmity, hatred and spite as if they enhanced the dignity and the worth of man. Let us, however, while we look with sorrow on the disastrous consequences of this teaching, follow our peaceful King who taught us to love not only those who are of a different nation or race, but even our enemies. While Our heart overflows with the sweetness of the teaching of the Apostle of the Gentiles, We extol with him the length, and the breadth, and the height, and the depth of the charity of Christ, which neither diversity of race or customs can diminish, nor trackless wastes of the ocean weaken, nor wars, whether just or unjust, destroy.

Through baptism the Catholic faithful become part of one visible mystical body (church) of Christ, who is its founder and head. Each member is called to a function that helps grow and maintain the body and sanctify the Glory of Hashem through works of charity and mercy. Some members may become teachers, rulers and instruments of holiness that act according to Christ's will.

Through confirmation, holy communion, marriage, and holy orders the Catholic faithful are strengthened to defend the mystical body of Christ through charity and divine grace received by the Holy Spirit. Members of the body learn how through his sacrifice cross, Christ voided the old laws of Moses and won dominion over all humankind through his new mystical body of the Catholic faithful.

The disease of sin does it best to sever the faithful from the mystical body through schism, heresy or apostasy, causing the member to rebel away from the charity and divine grace given by Holy Spirit.

When one member suffers from sin, the whole mystical body and Jesus feels the pain. Through penance a saving medicine is administered to members of the church that have fallen to sin that protects the mystical body from further contagion. Some members that rebel from grace cannot be cured or healed and are removed from the church body.

Love Hashem not his creation,
Love your neighbor not their possessions,
Love your yourself not your possessions,

Care for and do not take advantage of the widows and orphans
Care for and do not take advantage of the poor
Care for and do not take advantage of the sick and infirmed

Rebuke the evil one,
Rebuke the sin, not the sinner,
Rebuke the hypocrite

Pay attention to the instructions of Hashem and His faithful subjects
Pay attention to the instructions of your leaders and judges.
Pay attention to the instructions of your priests, rabbis, ministers, and pastors

Discern the words of Hashem and his faithful subjects,
Discern the words of your leaders and judges,
Discern the words of your priests, rabbis, ministers, and pastors,

Support and obey the truth of Hashem and His faithful subjects,
Support and obey the truth of just leaders and judges,
Support and obey the truth of your priests, rabbis, ministers, and pastors,

Praise and sing to Hashem,
Praise and sing to Jesus Christ,
Praise and sing to the Holy Spirit.

Hashem's obedient will suffer against the rebellious.
Your good deeds will not go unnoticed.
For the Kingdom of Hashem is near.

I used to consider that when I entered heaven I would be judged by the weight of my sins vs. the weight of my good deeds. I was wrong.

Ezekiel illustrates that Jesus knows whether my most current actions is sanctifying or rebelling against his mystical body. So if I lived good most of my life and then near the end my actions turned evil, The Holy Spirit will leave me and I will not be able to hear Jesus call. Instead, I will hear the voice of the evil one commanding me to follow him. In turn, if I had committed evil actions all my life and then near the end my actions turned good. The evil one will lose his grip on me. Instead, I will hear Jesus call to his flock to come to him.

Ezekiel 18

18:1 The word of the Lord came to me:

18:2 “What do you mean by quoting this proverb concerning the land of Israel,

“‘The fathers eat sour grapes

And the children’s teeth become numb?’

18:3 “As surely as I live, declares the sovereign Lord, you will not quote this proverb in Israel anymore!

18:4 Indeed! All lives are mine – the life of the father as well as the life of the son is mine. The one who sins will die.

18:5 “Suppose a man is righteous. He practices what is just and right,

18:6 does not eat pagan sacrifices on the mountains or pray to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor’s wife, does not have sexual relations with a woman during her period,

18:7 does not oppress anyone, but gives the debtor back whatever was given in pledge, does not commit robbery, but gives his bread to the hungry and clothes the unclothed,

18:8 does not engage in usury or charge interest, but refrains from wrongdoing, promotes true justice between men,

18:9 and follows my statutes and observes my regulations by carrying them out. That man is righteous; he will certainly live, declares the sovereign Lord.

18:10 “Suppose such a man has a violent son who sheds blood and does any of these things mentioned previously

18:11 (though the father did not do any of them). He eats pagan sacrifices on the mountains, defiles his neighbor’s wife,

18:12 oppresses the poor and the needy, commits robbery, does not give back what was given in pledge, prays to idols, performs abominable acts,

18:13 engages in usury and charges interest. Will he live? He will not! Because he has done all these abominable deeds he will certainly die. He will bear the responsibility for his own death.

18:14 “But suppose he in turn has a son who notices all the sins his father commits, considers them, and does not follow his father’s example.

18:15 He does not eat pagan sacrifices on the mountains, does not pray to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor’s wife,

18:16 does not oppress anyone or keep what has been given in pledge, does not commit robbery, gives his food to the hungry, and clothes the unclothed,

18:17 refrains from wrongdoing, does not engage in usury or charge interest, carries out my regulations and follows my statutes. He will not die for his father’s iniquity; he will surely live.

18:18 As for his father, because he practices extortion, robs his brother, and does what is not good among his people, he will die for his iniquity.

18:19 “Yet you say, ‘Why should the son not suffer for his father’s iniquity?’ When the son does what is just and right, and observes all my statutes and carries them out, he will surely live.

18:20 The person who sins is the one who will die. A son will not suffer for his father’s iniquity, and a father will not suffer for his son’s iniquity; the righteous person will be judged according to his righteousness, and the wicked person according to his wickedness.

18:21 “But if the wicked person turns from all the sin he has committed and observes all my statutes and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not die.

18:22 None of the sins he has committed will be held against him; because of the righteousness he has done, he will live.

18:23 Do I actually delight in the death of the wicked, declares the sovereign Lord? Do I not prefer that he turn from his wicked conduct and live?

18:24 “But if a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and practices wrongdoing according to all the abominable practices the wicked carry out, will he live? All his righteous acts will not be remembered; because of the unfaithful acts he has done and the sin he has committed, he will die.

18:25 “Yet you say, ‘The Lord’s conduct is unjust!’ Hear, O house of Israel: Is my conduct unjust? Is it not your conduct that is unjust?

18:26 When a righteous person turns back from his righteousness and practices wrongdoing, he will die for it; because of the wrongdoing he has done, he will die.

18:27 When a wicked person turns from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he will preserve his life.

18:28 Because he considered and turned from all the sins he had done, he will surely live; he will not die.

18:29 Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The Lord’s conduct is unjust!’ Is my conduct unjust, O house of Israel? Is it not your conduct that is unjust?

18:30 “Therefore I will judge each person according to his conduct, O house of Israel, declares the sovereign Lord. Repent and turn from all your wickedness; then it will not be an obstacle leading to iniquity.

18:31 Throw away all your sins you have committed and fashion yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why should you die, O house of Israel?

18:32 For I take no delight in the death of anyone, declares the sovereign Lord. Repent and live!

Watch the Structure of Spur and Cane Pruned Grapevines while meditating on what it means for us to be producers of good fruit.

http://youtu.be/pCs03Mc2HKM

It is not just stating that Jesus Christ is our personal savior will save us from damnation. If we do not love one another, then the love of Jesus will not be with us.

John 15

15:1 “I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener.

15:2 He takes away every branch that does not bear fruit in me. He prunes every branch that bears fruit so that it will bear more fruit.

15:3 You are clean already because of the word that I have spoken to you.

15:4 Remain in me, and I will remain in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you unless you remain in me.

15:5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me – and I in him – bears much fruit, because apart from me you can accomplish nothing.

15:6 If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown out like a branch, and dries up; and such branches are gathered up and thrown into the fire, and are burned up.

15:7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want, and it will be done for you.

15:8 My Father is honored by this, that you bear much fruit and show that you are my disciples.

15:9 “Just as the Father has loved me, I have also loved you; remain in my love.

15:10 If you obey my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.

15:11 I have told you these things so that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be complete.

15:12 My commandment is this – to love one another just as I have loved you.

15:13 No one has greater love than this – that one lays down his life for his friends.

15:14 You are my friends if you do what I command you.

15:15 I no longer call you slaves, because the slave does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because I have revealed to you everything I heard from my Father.

15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that remains, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you.

15:17 This I command you – to love one another.

Watch the video, Help Each Other & Love Each Other. Never Stop Sharing.

http://youtu.be/u8tzswROt70

The unconditional love of a man and his dog.

The unconditional love of a mother for her child.

The unconditional love for a spouse.

Ephesians 4

4:2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,

4:3 making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

4:4 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you too were called to the one hope of your calling,

4:5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism,

4:6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

4:7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of the gift of Christ.

4:8 Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he captured captives; he gave gifts to men.”

4:9 Now what is the meaning of “he ascended,” except that he also descended to the lower regions, namely, the earth?

4:10 He, the very one who descended, is also the one who ascended above all the heavens, in order to fill all things.

4:11 It was he who gave some as apostles, some as prophets, some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,

4:12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, that is, to build up the body of Christ,

4:13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God – a mature person, attaining to the measure of Christ’s full stature.

4:14 So we are no longer to be children, tossed back and forth by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching by the trickery of people who craftily carry out their deceitful schemes.

4:15 But practicing the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ, who is the head.

4:16 From him the whole body grows, fitted and held together through every supporting ligament. As each one does its part, the body grows in love.

Look for the Body of Christ standing on the corner of Truth and Love

2 John 1

1:1 From the elder, to an elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth (and not I alone, but also all those who know the truth),

1:2 because of the truth that resides in us and will be with us forever.

1:3 Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

1:4 I rejoiced greatly because I have found some of your children living according to the truth, just as the Father commanded us.

1:5 But now I ask you, lady (not as if I were writing a new commandment to you, but the one we have had from the beginning), that we love one another.

1:6 (Now this is love: that we walk according to his commandments.) This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning; thus you should walk in it.

1:7 For many deceivers have gone out into the world, people who do not confess Jesus as Christ coming in the flesh. This person is the deceiver and the antichrist!

1:8 Watch out, so that you do not lose the things we have worked for, but receive a full reward.

1:9 Everyone who goes on ahead and does not remain in the teaching of Christ does not have God. The one who remains in this teaching has both the Father and the Son.

1:10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house and do not give him any greeting,

1:11 because the person who gives him a greeting shares in his evil deeds.

1 Corinthians 12

12:12 For just as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body – though many – are one body, so too is Christ.

12:13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body. Whether Jews or Greeks or slaves or free, we were all made to drink of the one Spirit.

12:14 For in fact the body is not a single member, but many.

12:15 If the foot says, “Since I am not a hand, I am not part of the body,” it does not lose its membership in the body because of that.

12:16 And if the ear says, “Since I am not an eye, I am not part of the body,” it does not lose its membership in the body because of that.

12:17 If the whole body were an eye, what part would do the hearing? If the whole were an ear, what part would exercise the sense of smell?

12:18 But as a matter of fact, God has placed each of the members in the body just as he decided.

12:19 If they were all the same member, where would the body be?

12:20 So now there are many members, but one body.

12:21 The eye cannot say to the hand, “I do not need you,” nor in turn can the head say to the foot, “I do not need you.”

12:22 On the contrary, those members that seem to be weaker are essential,

12:23 and those members we consider less honorable we clothe with greater honor, and our unpresentable members are clothed with dignity,

12:24 but our presentable members do not need this. Instead, God has blended together the body, giving greater honor to the lesser member,

12:25 so that there may be no division in the body, but the members may have mutual concern for one another.

12:26 If one member suffers, everyone suffers with it. If a member is honored, all rejoice with it.

12:27 Now you are Christ’s body, and each of you is a member of it.

12:28 And God has placed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, gifts of healing, helps, gifts of leadership, different kinds of tongues.

12:29 Not all are apostles, are they? Not all are prophets, are they? Not all are teachers, are they? Not all perform miracles, do they?

12:30 Not all have gifts of healing, do they? Not all speak in tongues, do they? Not all interpret, do they?

12:31 But you should be eager for the greater gifts. And now I will show you a way that is beyond comparison.

13:1 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but I do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

13:2 And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

13:3 If I give away everything I own, and if I give over my body in order to boast, but do not have love, I receive no benefit.

13:4 Love is patient, love is kind, it is not envious. Love does not brag, it is not puffed up.

13:5 It is not rude, it is not self-serving, it is not easily angered or resentful.

13:6 It is not glad about injustice, but rejoices in the truth.

13:7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

13:8 Love never ends. But if there are prophecies, they will be set aside; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be set aside.

13:9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part,

13:10 but when what is perfect comes, the partial will be set aside.

13:11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I became an adult, I set aside childish ways.

13:12 For now we see in a mirror indirectly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known.

13:13 And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Proverbs 8

8:17 I love those who love me,

and those who seek me find me.

8:18 Riches and honor are with me,

long-lasting wealth and righteousness.

8:19 My fruit is better than the purest gold,

and what I produce is better than choice silver.

8:20 I walk in the path of righteousness,

in the pathway of justice,

8:21 that I may cause those who love me to inherit wealth,

and that I may fill their treasuries.

8:22 The Lord created me as the beginning of his works,

before his deeds of long ago.

8:23 From eternity I was appointed,

from the beginning, from before the world existed.

8:24 When there were no deep oceans I was born,

when there were no springs overflowing with water;

8:25 before the mountains were set in place –

before the hills – I was born,

8:26 before he made the earth and its fields,

or the beginning of the dust of the world.

8:27 When he established the heavens, I was there;

when he marked out the horizon over the face of the deep,

8:28 when he established the clouds above,

when the fountains of the deep grew strong,

8:29 when he gave the sea his decree

that the waters should not pass over his command,

when he marked out the foundations of the earth,

8:30 then I was beside him as a master craftsman,

and I was his delight day by day,

rejoicing before him at all times,

8:31 rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth,

and delighting in its people.

8:32 “So now, children, listen to me;

blessed are those who keep my ways.

8:33 Listen to my instruction so that you may be wise,

and do not neglect it.

8:34 Blessed is the one who listens to me,

watching at my doors day by day,

waiting beside my doorway.

8:35 For the one who finds me finds life

and receives favor from the Lord.

8:36 But the one who does not find me brings harm to himself;

all who hate me love death.”

Luke 6

6:27 “But I say to you who are listening:

Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,

6:28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.

6:29 To the person who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other as well, and from the person who takes away your coat, do not withhold your tunic either.

6:30 Give to everyone who asks you, and do not ask for your possessions back from the person who takes them away.

6:31 Treat others in the same way that you would want them to treat you.

6:32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.

6:33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do the same.

6:34 And if you lend to those from whom you hope to be repaid, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, so that they may be repaid in full.

6:35 But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, because he is kind to ungrateful and evil people.

6:36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Luke_Wilbur · December 31, 2014

The Didache

Chapter 5

5:1 But the way of death is this.
5:2 First of all, it is evil and full of a curse murders, adulteries, lusts, fornications, thefts, idolatries, magical arts, witchcrafts, plunderings, false witnessings, hypocrisies, doubleness of heart, treachery, pride, malice, stubbornness, covetousness, foul-speaking, jealousy, boldness, exaltation, boastfulness;

There consequences in the lack of faith appear to be greater for the most exalted followers of Hashem. Ignorance is more readily forgiven.

Exodus 17 (Masoretic Text)

17:1 And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, by their stages, according to the commandment of the LORD, and encamped in Rephidim; and there was no water for the people to drink.

17:2 Wherefore the people strove with Moses, and said:

'Give us water that we may drink.'

And Moses said unto them:

'Why strive ye with me? wherefore do ye try the LORD?'

17:3 And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said:

'Wherefore hast thou brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?'

17:4 And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying:

'What shall I do unto this people? they are almost ready to stone me.'

17:5 And the LORD said unto Moses:

'Pass on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thy hand, and go.

17:6 Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink.'

And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

17:7 And the name of the place was called Massah, and Meribah, because of the striving of the children of Israel, and because they tried the LORD, saying:

'Is the LORD among us, or not?' {P}

Hashem is aware of every action you make and judge whether it is impulsive or deliberate. We can only glimpse into His judging process. But, what we see is that it is best to follow His every command.

Numbers 20 (Masoretic Text)

20:1 And the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month; and the people abode in Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there.

20:2 And there was no water for the congregation; and they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron.

20:3 And the people strove with Moses, and spoke, saying:

'Would that we had perished when our brethren perished before the LORD!

20:4 And why have ye brought the assembly of the LORD into this wilderness, to die there, we and our cattle?

20:5 And wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in unto this evil place? it is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink.'

20:6 And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the tent of meeting, and fell upon their faces; and the glory of the LORD appeared unto them. {P}

20:7 And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying:

20:8 'Take the rod, and assemble the congregation, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes, that it give forth its water; and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock; so thou shalt give the congregation and their cattle drink.'

20:9 And Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as He commanded him.

20:10 And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said unto them:

'Hear now, ye rebels; are we to bring you forth water out of this rock?'

20:11 And Moses lifted up his hand, and smote the rock with his rod twice; and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their cattle. {S}

20:12 And the LORD said unto Moses and Aaron:

'Because ye believed not in Me, to sanctify Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.'

20:13 These are the waters of Meribah, where the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and He was sanctified in them. {S}

Moses did not get to spend time in the promised land, due to his transgression against Hashem. He could have received far worse for his misuse of borrowed power. But, Hashem does show mercy to those that serve him and repent. Although, the mercy may not at times be a full pardon.

Deuteronomy 3 (Masoretic Text)

3:23 And I besought the LORD at that time, saying:

3:24 'O Lord GOD, Thou hast begun to show Thy servant Thy greatness, and Thy strong hand; for what god is there in heaven or on earth, that can do according to Thy works, and according to Thy mighty acts?

3:25 Let me go over, I pray Thee, and see the good land that is beyond the Jordan, that goodly hill-country, and Lebanon.'

3:26 But the LORD was wroth with me for your sakes, and hearkened not unto me; and the LORD said unto me:

'Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto Me of this matter.

3:27 Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold with thine eyes; for thou shalt not go over this Jordan.

3:28 But charge Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him; for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which thou shalt see.'

3:29 29 So we abode in the valley over against Beth-peor. {P}

Deuteronomion 3 (A New English Translation of the Septuagint)

23 At that time, too, I entreated the Lord, saying:

24 “O Lord, Lord, you have begun to show your attendant your strength and your power and your
strong hand and your high arm. For what god is there in the sky or on the earth who will do as you
have done, and according to your strength?

25 After I cross over, therefore, I will see this good land, which is beyond the Jordan, this good mountainous area and the Anti-Lebanon.”

26 And the Lord ignored me on your account and did not listen to me. And the Lord said to me,

“Let it be sufficient for you! Do not continue any longer to speak to me of this matter!

27 Go up to the top of Hewn, and look with your eyes to the sea and the north and the southwest and the east, and see with your eyes, for you shall not cross over this Jordan.

28 And command Iesous, and strengthen him, and encourage him, because he will cross over ahead of this people, and it is he who will secure for them the possession of the land that you have seen.”

29 And we remained in a glen near the house of Phogor.

Accepting the truth that Hashem, Jesus and the Holy Spirit exist is not enough We must trust in our Creator's plan for us and not fail in our struggle to unconditionally love and forgive our enemies as Jesus has commanded all mankind to do. Those that fail Jesus command will be considered bad fruit and shown no mercy.

Close your eyes and listen to Billie Holiday sing "Strange Fruit" originated as a poem written by American writer, teacher and songwriter Abel Meeropol under his pseudonym Lewis Allan, as a protest against lynchings.

Meeropol cited this photograph of the lynching of Thomas Shipp and Abram Smith, August 7, 1930, as inspiring his poem.

The+lynching+of+Thomas+Shipp+and+Abram+S

James Cameron stated in interviews that Shipp and Smith had, in fact, shot and killed Claude Deeter, a white man.

Branford Clarke illustration in The Ku Klux Klan In Prophecy 1925 by Bishop Alma White published by the Pillar of Fire Church in Zarephath, NJ

The line between justice of avenging a murder and committing another is an example of what are Lord has to told us not to do. We need to let our appointed judges and jury decide a man's fate like Hashem has commanded. At the same time, I do understand that this requires much discipline when your loved one has been murdered.

The above photo primarily espouses the first female Bishop in the United States, Alma White's deep fear and hatred of the Roman Catholic Church while also promoting racism against African Americans, antisemitism, white supremacy, and women's equality. It was published in 1925 by the Pillar of Fire Church. Below is a photo of Bishop Alma White preaching at the pulpit

https://archive.org/details/demonstongue00whit

Hostility to Catholics was prominent among Protestants in Britain and Germany from the Protestant Reformation onwards. Immigrants brought that hostility with them to the American colonies. Two types of anti-Catholic rhetoric existed in colonial society. The first, derived from the theological heritage of the Protestant Reformation and the religious wars of the sixteenth century, consisted of the Biblical "Anti-Christ" and the "Whore of Babylon" variety and dominated anti-Catholic thought until the late seventeenth century. The second type was a secular variety which focused on the alleged intrigues of Catholic states which were hostile to both Marxism and Classical Liberalism.

Historians have studied the motivations for anti-Catholicism. The basic motivations were political (the threat posed by Rome and its allies to Protestant nations) and theological. However, scholars have also speculated on the psychological motivations, usually concluding that a strong element of irrational bigotry was involved. Historian Arthur M. Schlesinger, Sr. characterized prejudice against the Catholics as "the deepest bias in the history of the American people." Conservative writer Peter Viereck once commented that (in 1960) "Catholic baiting is the anti-Semitism of the liberals." Historian John Higham described anti-Catholicism as "the most luxuriant, tenacious tradition of paranoiac agitation in American history".

After 1980, the historic tensions between evangelical Protestants and Catholics faded dramatically. In politics the two often joined together in conservative social and cultural issues, such as opposition to abortion and gay marriage. By 2000 the Republican coalition included about half the Catholics and a large majority of white evangelicals.

Matthew 7

7:15 “Watch out for false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are voracious wolves.

7:16 You will recognize them by their fruit. Grapes are not gathered from thorns or figs from thistles, are they?

7:17 In the same way, every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.

7:18 A good tree is not able to bear bad fruit, nor a bad tree to bear good fruit.

7:19 Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

7:20 So then, you will recognize them by their fruit.

7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter into the kingdom of heaven – only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.

7:22 On that day, many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, didn’t we prophesy in your name, and in your name cast out demons and do many powerful deeds?’

7:23 Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Go away from me, you lawbreakers!’

7:24 “Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them is like a wise man who built his house on rock.

7:25 The rain fell, the flood came, and the winds beat against that house, but it did not collapse because it had been founded on rock.

7:26 Everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.

7:27 The rain fell, the flood came, and the winds beat against that house, and it collapsed; it was utterly destroyed!”

7:28 When Jesus finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed by his teaching,

7:29 because he taught them like one who had authority, not like their experts in the law.

Burning trees with Plum Pox virus, Adams County, 1999 (photo by Howard Nuernberger)

I understand the metaphor of burning bad trees from experience. During my days as a tree farmer my Scotch pines were infected by the pinewood nematode. I tried my best to save the trees, but the USDA explained the best course was to burn the infected trees away from the others.

Proverbs 11

11:30 The fruit of the righteous is like a tree producing life,

and the one who wins souls is wise.

11:31 If the righteous are recompensed on earth,

how much more the wicked sinner!

12:1 The one who loves discipline loves knowledge,

but the one who hates reproof is stupid.

12:2 A good person obtains favor from the Lord,

but the Lord condemns a person with wicked schemes.

12:3 No one can be established through wickedness,

but a righteous root cannot be moved.

The root system of Pando Aspen, at an estimated 80,000 years old, is among the oldest known living organisms in the world. During intense fires, the organism survived underground, with its root system sending up new stems in the aftermath of each wildfire.

Jude 1

1:17 But you, dear friends – recall the predictions foretold by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.

1:18 For they said to you, “In the end time there will come scoffers, propelled by their own ungodly desires.”

1:19 These people are divisive, worldly, devoid of the Spirit.

1:20 But you, dear friends, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith, by praying in the Holy Spirit,

1:21 maintain yourselves in the love of God, while anticipating the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that brings eternal life.

1:22 And have mercy on those who waver;

1:23 save others by snatching them out of the fire; have mercy on others, coupled with a fear of God, hating even the clothes stained by the flesh.

There are real life heroes saving souls every day. Here is a Firefighter saving little girl from a fire.

Christians helping those in need in Pakistan

Before baptizing our Messiah Jesus Christ, Saint John ministered the idea of selfless acts to the crowds that followed him. John the Baptist used the analogy of good and bad fruit. He also used the analogy of separating the spiritual wheat from the chaff. Luke 3:7 starts with John rebuking the Jews that being a descendant of Abraham is not enough. Righteous Jews must be selfless in their actions and money should not lead their life.

Luke 3

3:7 John said to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, “You offspring of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

3:8 Therefore produce fruit that proves your repentance, and don’t begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones!

3:9 Even now the ax is laid at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.”

3:10 So the crowds were asking him, “What then should we do?”

3:11 John answered them, “The person who has two tunics must share with the person who has none, and the person who has food must do likewise.”

3:12 Tax collectors also came to be baptized, and they said to him, “Teacher, what should we do?”

3:13 He told them, “Collect no more than you are required to.”

3:14 Then some soldiers also asked him, “And as for us – what should we do?” He told them, “Take money from no one by violence or by false accusation, and be content with your pay.”

3:15 While the people were filled with anticipation and they all wondered whether perhaps John could be the Christ,

3:16 John answered them all, “I baptize you with water, but one more powerful than I am is coming – I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

3:17 His winnowing fork is in his hand to clean out his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his storehouse, but the chaff he will burn up with inextinguishable fire.”

Up to the very end of its lifecycle, grain and chaff are one and the same thing. The wheat is the inside and the chaff is the outside. In order to separate the useful from the useless, a winnower has to give the grain time to dry, separating the wheat from its sheath, scoop the grain up and toss it high into the air. The wind that blows through the threshing floor, the place chosen to toss wheat because of the wind, blows the dry chaff from the grain into an area where it can be collected. The grain, however, falls back down to the ground where it will be gathered for use. Read more...

winnow.gif.png

Listen to "The Police - Wrapped Around Your Finger" and contemplate who is the servant and who is the master.

Luke 22

22:24 A dispute also started among them [the disciples] over which of them was to be regarded as the greatest.

22:25 So Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those in authority over them are called ‘benefactors.’

22:26 Not so with you; instead the one who is greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the one who serves.

22:27 For who is greater, the one who is seated at the table, or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is seated at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.

22:28 “You are the ones who have remained with me in my trials.

22:29 Thus I grant to you a kingdom, just as my Father granted to me,

22:30 that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom, and you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.

22:31 “Simon, Simon, pay attention! Satan has demanded to have you all, to sift you like wheat,

22:32 but I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. When you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

22:33 But Peter said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death!”

22:34 Jesus replied, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you have denied three times that you know me.”

22:35 Then Jesus said to them, “When I sent you out with no money bag, or traveler’s bag, or sandals, you didn’t lack anything, did you?” They replied, “Nothing.”

22:36 He said to them, “But now, the one who has a money bag must take it, and likewise a traveler’s bag too. And the one who has no sword must sell his cloak and buy one.

22:37 For I tell you that this scripture must be fulfilled in me, ‘And he was counted with the transgressors.’ For what is written about me is being fulfilled.”

22:38 So they said, “Look, Lord, here are two swords.” Then he told them, “It is enough.”

I think it can be quite difficult for people to understand some scripture when it relates to agriculture if they never worked on a farm or never tried to grow food to eat.

I now understand that the 12 Apostles will judge the 12 Tribes of Israel. And more importantly how we need to humble ourselves to serve those around us.

Luke_Wilbur · January 1, 2015

The Didache

Chapter 5

5:1 But the way of death is this.
5:2 First of all, it is evil and full of a curse murders, adulteries, lusts, fornications, thefts, idolatries, magical arts, witchcrafts, plunderings, false witnessings, hypocrisies, doubleness of heart, treachery, pride, malice, stubbornness, covetousness, foul-speaking, jealousy, boldness, exaltation, boastfulness;

When you accept Jesus Christ as your advocate to Hashem, there is no turning back from His commands as well. If you do rebel against them, then you are our rejecting our Almighty Father as well. In this matter the two, Father and Son, are one of the same will. This statement is termed by many as ludicrous, irrational, too complex to believe. That is why many believe faith is for fools. What do you believe?

Luke 9

9:51 Now when the days drew near for him to be taken up, Jesus set out resolutely to go to Jerusalem.

9:52 He sent messengers on ahead of him. As they went along, they entered a Samaritan village to make things ready in advance for him,

9:53 but the villagers refused to welcome him, because he was determined to go to Jerusalem.

9:54 Now when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do you want us to call fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”

9:55 But Jesus turned and rebuked them,

9:56 and they went on to another village.

9:57 As they were walking along the road, someone said to him, “I will follow you wherever you go.”

9:58 Jesus said to him, “Foxes have dens and the birds in the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.”

9:59 Jesus said to another, “Follow me.” But he replied, “Lord, first let me go and bury my father.”

9:60 But Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.”

9:61 Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but first let me say goodbye to my family.”

9:62 Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

10:1 After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them on ahead of him two by two into every town and place where he himself was about to go.

10:2 He said to them, “The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out workers into his harvest.

10:3 Go! I am sending you out like lambs surrounded by wolves.

10:4 Do not carry a money bag, a traveler’s bag, or sandals, and greet no one on the road.

10:5 Whenever you enter a house, first say, ‘May peace be on this house!’

10:6 And if a peace-loving person is there, your peace will remain on him, but if not, it will return to you.

10:7 Stay in that same house, eating and drinking what they give you, for the worker deserves his pay. Do not move around from house to house.

10:8 Whenever you enter a town and the people welcome you, eat what is set before you.

10:9 Heal the sick in that town and say to them, ‘The kingdom of God has come upon you!’

10:10 But whenever you enter a town and the people do not welcome you, go into its streets and say,

10:11 ‘Even the dust of your town that clings to our feet we wipe off against you. Nevertheless know this:

The kingdom of God has come.’

10:12 I tell you, it will be more bearable on that day for Sodom than for that town!

10:13 “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago, sitting in sackcloth and ashes.

10:14 But it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon in the judgment than for you!

10:15 And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? No, you will be thrown down to Hades!

10:16 “The one who listens to you listens to me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”

10:17 Then the seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name!”

10:18 So he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

10:19 Look, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions and on the full force of the enemy, and nothing will hurt you.

10:20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names stand written in heaven.”

10:21 On that same occasion Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your gracious will.

10:22 All things have been given to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son and anyone to whom the Son decides to reveal him.”

10:23 Then Jesus turned to his disciples and said privately, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!

10:24 For I tell you that many prophets and kings longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”

A rainbow appears over a tree of life.

Godholy%5B1%5Dedit.jpg

I like to sometimes think Hashem taught Jesus how the art of fishing. I have found patience and understanding that I can always learn something new helps me.

Only the truly righteous can judge others. And Jesus is the only truly righteous person I know.

John 7

8:1 ... Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.

8:2 Early in the morning he came to the temple courts again. All the people came to him, and he sat down and began to teach them.

8:3 The experts in the law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught committing adultery. They made her stand in front of them

8:4 and said to Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of adultery.

8:5 In the law Moses commanded us to stone to death such women. What then do you say?”

8:6 (Now they were asking this in an attempt to trap him, so that they could bring charges against him.) Jesus bent down and wrote on the ground with his finger.

8:7 When they persisted in asking him, he stood up straight and replied, “Whoever among you is guiltless may be the first to throw a stone at her.”

8:8 Then he bent over again and wrote on the ground.

8:9 Now when they heard this, they began to drift away one at a time, starting with the older ones, until Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him.

8:10 Jesus stood up straight and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?”

8:11 She replied, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “I do not condemn you either. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.”

8:12 Then Jesus spoke out again, “I am the light of the world. The one who follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

8:13 So the Pharisees objected, “You testify about yourself; your testimony is not true!”

8:14 Jesus answered, “Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true, because I know where I came from and where I am going. But you people do not know where I came from or where I am going.

8:15 You people judge by outward appearances; I do not judge anyone.

8:16 But if I judge, my evaluation is accurate, because I am not alone when I judge, but I and the Father who sent me do so together.

8:17 It is written in your law that the testimony of two men is true.

8:18 I testify about myself and the Father who sent me testifies about me.”

8:19 Then they began asking him, “Who is your father?” Jesus answered, “You do not know either me or my Father. If you knew me you would know my Father too."

When someone in need asks you for something remember this passage. Jesus states that is how you will be judged.

Matthew 25

25:31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.

25:32 All the nations will be assembled before him, and he will separate people one from another like a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.

25:33 He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

25:34 Then the king will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.

25:35 For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,

25:36 I was unclothed and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’

25:37 Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?

25:38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or unclothed and clothe you?

25:39 When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’

25:40 And the king will answer them, ‘I tell you the truth, just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did it for me.’

25:41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels!

25:42 For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink.

25:43 I was a stranger and you did not receive me as a guest, unclothed and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’

25:44 Then they too will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or unclothed or sick or in prison, and did not give you whatever you needed?’

25:45 Then he will answer them, ‘I tell you the truth, just as you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for me.’

25:46 And these will depart into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

Jude 1

1:1 From Jude, a slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are called, wrapped in the love of God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ.

1:2 May mercy, peace, and love be lavished on you!

1:3 Dear friends, although I have been eager to write to you about our common salvation, I now feel compelled instead to write to encourage you to contend earnestly for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints.

1:4 For certain men have secretly slipped in among you – men who long ago were marked out for the condemnation I am about to describe – ungodly men who have turned the grace of our God into a license for evil and who deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

1:5 Now I desire to remind you (even though you have been fully informed of these facts once for all ) that Jesus, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, later destroyed those who did not believe.

1:6 You also know that the angels who did not keep within their proper domain but abandoned their own place of residence, he has kept in eternal chains in utter darkness, locked up for the judgment of the great Day.

1:7 So also Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns, since they indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire in a way similar to these angels, are now displayed as an example by suffering the punishment of eternal fire.

My first concert was ACDC Back in Black tour. It is real easy to get seduced by guitarist Angus Young intensely hypnotic playing style. Watch the crowd chant with AC/DC performing "Highway To Hell." The band states that the lyrics Highway to Hell came from their life on the road and their name came from an Alternating Current/Direct Current label on a sewing machine. But, Christians took notice of their catchy melodies coined a new meaning to thier ACDC acronym the "Anti Christian/Devil cult.

Here are some lyrics:

Hey satan
payin' my dues
playin' in a rockin' band
hey mumma
look at me
I’m on the way to the promised land
I’m on the highway to hell.

or

I'll give you black sensations up and down your spine
If you're into evil you're a friend of mine
See the white light flashing as I split the night
Cause if good's on the left then I'm sticking to the right
I won't take no prisoners won't spare no lives
Nobody's puttin' up a fight
I got my bell I'm gonna take you to hell
I'm gonna get ya satan get ya

AC/DC has influenced generations and there is more to come. Watch the video and discern for yourself. At the Grammy Awards the audience was given red AC/DC horns to promote Satan/Lucifer as cool. Here you see Katy Perry (Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson) proudly wearing red devil horns and making the Satan hand gesture. Katheryn Hudson has renounced her Christian Pentecostal upbringing. "I don't believe in a heaven or a hell or an old man sitting on a throne," said Perry in an issue of Marie Claire. Hudson now finds spirituality through the writing of Eckhart Tolle (The Power of Now influenced the song "This Moment"). Read more at Marie Claire "Katy Conquers All." I will have to read some of Eckhart Tolle's teachings.

As a son of a deacon, I can relate to the pressure and rebellion that Katheryn is going through. Spiritual wisdom has to be properly nurtured, but cannot be forced into anyone. For myself the process came after getting divorced. I was depressed and thought about drinking, but chose to read the Bible as a cathartic process to heal my mind. By the power of the Holy Spirit I have gained a revelation of understanding my father's vocation and his belief on the discipline of humility. In my youth I would be wearing those red devil horns as well. I thank Jesus for his coming to save sinners like myself.

The Grammy show politely requested the Devil Horns they had given to the audience not be worn during the rest of the awards ceremony. I wonder why the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) permitted a satanic ritual at all. Is demon worship the new direction of the mainstream music industry?

It appears that the Executives of Universal Music Group (UMG Recordings, Inc.) are promoting Satanism to young people seeking social identity. UMG Chair Lucian Charles Grainge is a practicing Ashkenazi Jew. He is also a member of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, an organization dedicated to fighting intolerance and promoting understanding between ethnic communities. I cannot fathom how promoting a symbol of HATE reconciles with Jewish community who have been persecuted by ignorant HATE.

I pray that Katheryn gains the wisdom that rebellion against Hashem is not the same as rebellion against her parents. I pray that Katheryn and her family gets filled with the love of the Holy Spirit. Hashem's will be done. I pray that Lucian Grainge understands that his power at UMG is nothing to Hashem. Just like many radical Christians and Muslims, there are radical Jews like, Anton LaVey who twisted the Great Sage Hillel's Golden Rule to "You should do unto others as you would have them do unto you, but if your courtesy is not returned, they should be treated with the wrath they deserve.” That quote can be found in the Satanic Bible published by HarperCollins (the same people that publish the study bible). "Do as thou wilt" rebels directly against the will of Hashem. Christians, Muslims, and Jews must come together as brothers and sisters under a living Father who loves us all. I pray that Katheryn and Lucian focus their energy and resources on promoting unconditional love.

Read more at Business Insider "Why Katy Perry was wearing light-up devil horns at the Grammys."

The Devil Horns or “Rock on!”, also known as “Mano Cornuto,” is an ancient symbol of that has evolved in Black Metal culture to proclaim allegiance to Satan. Coven is credited with introducing the Devil Horns with their album release of "Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls" in1969, opens with a song called “Black Sabbath,” and features a long-haired guy named Oz Osborne (not to be confused with John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne of Black Sabbath).

Infants' flesh they did offer
for the prince to devour.
Covens join, all combine,
powers strong, thoughts align.
If witchcraft all the fools condemn,
it turns around and crushes them.
When good has been twisted, when good has been killed,
then love is resisted and blood will be spilled.
Accursed ye'll be!
From toes to eyes!
Accursed ye'll be!
Until ye dies!

A friend that I used to work with told me that I could not be a farmer until I grew my own crop. I think the same thing is to be a called a true righteous Christian. I struggle with purging all my sins everyday. I ask for your prayers through the Holy Spirit to guide me to discern both Jesus and Hashem's commands. I also realize the responsibility of what I write here must conform to the will of Hashem and our Savior Jesus Christ. I also ask for your prayers that I follow the moral Christian code. I am by no means perfect, but I profess the desire to be a servant of Jesus Christ. I also ask you to pray that we all may discern who among us are false teachers and prophets. The Holy Spirit has led me to believe that if a teacher goes against a command of Jesus then that teacher should be confronted. This includes my myself. If the teaching was a mistaken error and the teacher repents, then all should be forgiven. I do understand that my research and comments are subjective to my understanding the Didache, and the will of Hashem. If you find error in what I write I pray that you please let me know.

Eckhart Tolle was listed by the Watkins Review as the most spiritually influential person in the world. Watkins Books is London's oldest esoteric bookshop specializing in esotericism, mysticism, occultism, oriental religion and contemporary spirituality.The book store was established by John M. Watkins, a friend of Madame Blavatsky, in 1897 at 26 Charing Cross.In Tolle's book, 'A New Earth' he writes, "There is only one absolute Truth, and all other truths emanate from it. . . . Yes, you are the Truth. If you look for it elsewhere, you will be deceived every time. The very Being that you are is Truth. Jesus tried to convey that when he said, “I am the way and the truth and the life.”. . . Jesus speaks of the innermost I Am, the essence identity of every man and woman, every life-form, in fact. He speaks of the life that you are. It is my understanding that in Genesis the serpent states Eve will be like a divine being. It is true that we gained knowledge of good and evil, but I disagree on Tolle's belief that we are the truth and the light. The apostle John states that Hashem is the light we must walk in. To attain this light we must be in fellowship with our neighbor and follow Our Father commands. Then we may ask and His Son our Advocate Jesus Christ to forgive our sins and lead us to everlasting truth and light.

I like to understand Hashem as a spiritual power source that sends grace though his Holy Spirit to all of us. Jesus is the one that regulates Hashem's power to those of us that request Grace. In the physical world a electric utility company sends power to all its customers.

Just to reiterate, through Grace Hashem's light and truth flows to us. Light and truth does NOT emanate from us.

1 John 1

1:5 Now this is the gospel message we have heard from him and announce to you:

God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all.

1:6 If we say we have fellowship with him and yet keep on walking in the darkness, we are lying and not practicing the truth.

1:7 But if we walk in the light as he himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin.

1:8 If we say we do not bear the guilt of sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us.

1:9 But if we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous, forgiving us our sins and cleansing us from all unrighteousness.

1:10 If we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar and his word is not in us.

2:1 (My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. ) But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous One,

2:2 and he himself is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for our sins but also for the whole world.

There are those that teach that truth and light emanates from Hashem's adversary and Jesus the Son of God is just a myth.

Helena Petrovna Blavatsky (baptized Russian Orthodox) was an occultist, spirit medium, and author who co-founded the Theosophical Society in 1875. Blavatsky famously wrote in her book Isis Unveiled: Vol. II, Theology, published by Theosophical University Press, "Jesus, the Christ-God, is a myth concocted two centuries after the real Hebrew Jesus died; 2, that, therefore, he never had any authority to give Peter, or anyone else, plenary power; 3, that, even if he had given such authority, the word Petra (rock) referred to the revealed truths of the Petroma, not to him who thrice denied him; and that besides, the apostolic succession is a gross and palpable fraud; 4, that the Gospel according to Matthew is a fabrication based on a wholly different manuscript. The whole thing, therefore, is an imposition alike upon priest and penitent.” In 'The Secret Doctrine' by Helena Petrovna Blavatsky writes, "Lucifer represents ..Life.. Thought.. Progress.. Civilization.. Liberty.. Independence.. Lucifer is the Logos.. the Serpent, the Savior."

With Divine knowledge comes power. With power comes responsibility. One who abuses the Divine knowledge of power for themselves becomes an adversary to our Lord. If one bears false witness on the source of pure power, then that person becomes an adversary to our Lord. If one bears false witness on who is our true master, then that person becomes an adversary of our Lord. We know that Hashem does not always show mercy to those that influence many against His commands.

2 Peter 2

2:1 ...false prophets arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. These false teachers will infiltrate your midst with destructive heresies, even to the point of denying the Master who bought them. As a result, they will bring swift destruction on themselves.

2:2 And many will follow their debauched lifestyles. Because of these false teachers, the way of truth will be slandered.

2:3 And in their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. Their condemnation pronounced long ago is not sitting idly by; their destruction is not asleep.

2:4 For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but threw them into hell and locked them up in chains in utter darkness, to be kept until the judgment,

2:5 and if he did not spare the ancient world, but did protect Noah, a herald of righteousness, along with seven others, when God brought a flood on an ungodly world,

2:6 and if He turned to ashes the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah when He condemned them to destruction, having appointed them to serve as an example to future generations of the ungodly,

2:7 and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man in anguish over the debauched lifestyle of lawless men,

2:8 (for while he lived among them day after day, that righteous man was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard )

2:9 – if so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from their trials, and to reserve the unrighteous for punishment at the day of judgment,

2:10 especially those who indulge their fleshly desires and who despise authority.

Brazen and insolent, they are not afraid to insult the glorious ones,

2:11 yet even angels, who are much more powerful, do not bring a slanderous judgment against them before the Lord.

2:12 But these men, like irrational animals – creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed – do not understand whom they are insulting, and consequently in their destruction they will be destroyed,

2:13 suffering harm as the wages for their harmful ways. By considering it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight, they are stains and blemishes, indulging in their deceitful pleasures when they feast together with you.

2:14 Their eyes, full of adultery, never stop sinning; they entice unstable people. They have trained their hearts for greed, these cursed children!

2:15 By forsaking the right path they have gone astray, because they followed the way of Balaam son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness,

2:16 yet was rebuked for his own transgression (a dumb donkey, speaking with a human voice, restrained the prophet’s madness).

2:17 These men are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm, for whom the utter depths of darkness have been reserved.

2:18 For by speaking high-sounding but empty words they are able to entice, with fleshly desires and with debauchery, people who have just escaped from those who reside in error.

2:19 Although these false teachers promise such people freedom, they themselves are enslaved to immorality. For whatever a person succumbs to, to that he is enslaved.

2:20 For if after they have escaped the filthy things of the world through the rich knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they again get entangled in them and succumb to them, their last state has become worse for them than their first.

2:21 For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than, having known it, to turn back from the holy commandment that had been delivered to them.

2:22 They are illustrations of this true proverb:

“A dog returns to its own vomit,” and “A sow, after washing herself, wallows in the mire.”

Just as Jesus bought our deliverance from spiritual oppression, Hashem bought Israel from physical oppression.

If I could travel back in time, I would first want to meet Jesus, then I would next want to meet Moses.

Exodus 15

15:11 Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods?

Who is like you? – majestic in holiness, fearful in praises, working wonders?

15:12 You stretched out your right hand,

the earth swallowed them.

15:13 By your loyal love you will lead the people whom you have redeemed;

you will guide them by your strength to your holy dwelling place.

15:14 The nations will hear and tremble;

anguish will seize the inhabitants of Philistia.

15:15 Then the chiefs of Edom will be terrified,

trembling will seize the leaders of Moab,

and the inhabitants of Canaan will shake.

15:16 Fear and dread will fall on them;

by the greatness of your arm they will be as still as stone

until your people pass by, O Lord,

until the people whom you have bought pass by.

15:17 You will bring them in and plant them in the mountain of your inheritance,

in the place you made for your residence, O Lord,

the sanctuary, O Lord, that your hands have established.

15:18 The Lord will reign forever and ever!

1 Corinthians 4

3:1 So, brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but instead as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ.

3:2 I fed you milk, not solid food, for you were not yet ready. In fact, you are still not ready,

3:3 for you are still influenced by the flesh. For since there is still jealousy and dissension among you, are you not influenced by the flesh and behaving like unregenerate people?

3:4 For whenever someone says, “I am with Paul,” or “I am with Apollos,” are you not merely human?

3:5 What is Apollos, really? Or what is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, and each of us in the ministry the Lord gave us.

3:6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God caused it to grow.

3:7 So neither the one who plants counts for anything, nor the one who waters, but God who causes the growth.

3:8 The one who plants and the one who waters work as one, but each will receive his reward according to his work.

3:9 We are coworkers belonging to God. You are God’s field, God’s building.

3:10 According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master-builder I laid a foundation, but someone else builds on it. And each one must be careful how he builds.

3:11 For no one can lay any foundation other than what is being laid, which is Jesus Christ.

3:12 If anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, or straw,

3:13 each builder’s work will be plainly seen, for the Day I will make it clear, because it will be revealed by fire. And the fire will test what kind of work each has done.

3:14 If what someone has built survives, he will receive a reward.

3:15 If someone’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss. He himself will be saved, but only as through fire.

3:16 Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you?

3:17 If someone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him. For God’s temple is holy, which is what you are.

3:18 Guard against self-deception, each of you. If someone among you thinks he is wise in this age, let him become foolish so that he can become wise.

3:19 For the wisdom of this age is foolishness with God. As it is written, “He catches the wise in their craftiness.”

3:20 And again, “The Lord knows that the thoughts of the wise are futile.”

3:21 So then, no more boasting about mere mortals! For everything belongs to you,

3:22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future. Everything belongs to you,

3:23 and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God

4:1 One should think about us this way – as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God.

4:2 Now what is sought in stewards is that one be found faithful.

4:3 So for me, it is a minor matter that I am judged by you or by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself.

4:4 For I am not aware of anything against myself, but I am not acquitted because of this. The one who judges me is the Lord.

4:5 So then, do not judge anything before the time. Wait until the Lord comes. He will bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the motives of hearts. Then each will receive recognition from God.

4:6 I have applied these things to myself and Apollos because of you, brothers and sisters, so that through us you may learn “not to go beyond what is written,” so that none of you will be puffed up in favor of the one against the other.

4:7 For who concedes you any superiority? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as though you did not?

4:8 Already you are satisfied! Already you are rich! You have become kings without us! I wish you had become kings so that we could reign with you!

4:9 For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to die, because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to people.

4:10 We are fools for Christ, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, we are dishonored!

4:11 To the present hour we are hungry and thirsty, poorly clothed, brutally treated, and without a roof over our heads.

4:12 We do hard work, toiling with our own hands. When we are verbally abused, we respond with a blessing, when persecuted, we endure,

4:13 when people lie about us, we answer in a friendly manner. We are the world’s dirt and scum, even now.

4:14 I am not writing these things to shame you, but to correct you as my dear children.

4:15 For though you may have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, because I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel.

4:16 I encourage you, then, be imitators of me.

4:17 For this reason, I have sent Timothy to you, who is my dear and faithful son in the Lord. He will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach them everywhere in every church.

4:18 Some have become arrogant, as if I were not coming to you.

4:19 But I will come to you soon, if the Lord is willing, and I will find out not only the talk of these arrogant people, but also their power.

4:20 For the kingdom of God is demonstrated not in idle talk but with power.

4:21 What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod of discipline or with love and a spirit of gentleness?

5:1 It is actually reported that sexual immorality exists among you, the kind of immorality that is not permitted even among the Gentiles, so that someone is cohabiting with his father’s wife.

5:2 And you are proud! Shouldn’t you have been deeply sorrowful instead and removed the one who did this from among you?

5:3 For even though I am absent physically, I am present in spirit. And I have already judged the one who did this, just as though I were present.

5:4 When you gather together in the name of our Lord Jesus, and I am with you in spirit, along with the power of our Lord Jesus,

5:5 turn this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.

5:6 Your boasting is not good. Don’t you know that a little yeast affects the whole batch of dough?

5:7 Clean out the old yeast so that you may be a new batch of dough – you are, in fact, without yeast. For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.

5:8 So then, let us celebrate the festival, not with the old yeast, the yeast of vice and evil, but with the bread without yeast, the bread of sincerity and truth.

5:9 I wrote you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people.

5:10 In no way did I mean the immoral people of this world, or the greedy and swindlers and idolaters, since you would then have to go out of the world.

5:11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who calls himself a Christian who is sexually immoral, or greedy, or an idolater, or verbally abusive, or a drunkard, or a swindler. Do not even eat with such a person.

5:12 For what do I have to do with judging those outside? Are you not to judge those inside?

5:13 But God will judge those outside. Remove the evil person from among you.

An evil action of a false witness must be measured with its intent to do harm.

Deuteronomy 19

19:15 A single witness may not testify against another person for any trespass or sin that he commits. A matter may be legally established only on the testimony of two or three witnesses.

19:16 If a false witness testifies against another person and accuses him of a crime,

19:17 then both parties to the controversy must stand before the Lord, that is, before the priests and judges who will be in office in those days.

19:18 The judges will thoroughly investigate the matter, and if the witness should prove to be false and to have given false testimony against the accused,

19:19 you must do to him what he had intended to do to the accused. In this way you will purge evil from among you.

19:20 The rest of the people will hear and become afraid to keep doing such evil among you.

19:21 You must not show pity; the principle will be a life for a life, an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a hand for a hand, and a foot for a foot.

Luke_Wilbur · January 4, 2015

The Didache

Chapter 5

5:1 But the way of death is this.
5:2 First of all, it is evil and full of a curse murders, adulteries, lusts, fornications, thefts, idolatries, magical arts, witchcrafts, plunderings, false witnessings, hypocrisies, doubleness of heart, treachery, pride, malice, stubbornness, covetousness, foul-speaking, jealousy, boldness, exaltation, boastfulness;

I know now that I am truly and infant in Christ and I pray my sins to not cause me spiritual death.

1 John 5

5:16 If anyone sees his fellow Christian committing a sin not resulting in death, he should ask, and God will grant life to the person who commits a sin not resulting in death. There is a sin resulting in death. I do not say that he should ask about that.

5:17 All unrighteousness is sin, but there is sin not resulting in death.

5:18 We know that everyone fathered by God does not sin, but God protects the one he has fathered, and the evil one cannot touch him.

5:19 We know that we are from God, and the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.

5:20 And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us insight to know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. This one is the true God and eternal life.

5:21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols.

John 16

16:25 “I have told you these things in obscure figures of speech; a time is coming when I will no longer speak to you in obscure figures, but will tell you plainly about the Father.

16:26 At that time you will ask in my name, and I do not say that I will ask the Father on your behalf.

16:27 For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God.

16:28 I came from the Father and entered into the world, but in turn, I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”

16:29 His disciples said, “Look, now you are speaking plainly and not in obscure figures of speech!

16:30 Now we know that you know everything and do not need anyone to ask you anything. Because of this we believe that you have come from God.”

16:31 Jesus replied, “Do you now believe?

16:32 Look, a time is coming – and has come – when you will be scattered, each one to his own home, and I will be left alone. Yet I am not alone, because my Father is with me.

16:33 I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have trouble and suffering, but take courage – I have conquered the world.”

17:1 When Jesus had finished saying these things, he looked upward to heaven and said, “Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, so that your Son may glorify you –

17:2 just as you have given him authority over all humanity, so that he may give eternal life to everyone you have given him.

17:3 Now this is eternal life – that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent.

17:4 I glorified you on earth by completing the work you gave me to do.

17:5 And now, Father, glorify me at your side with the glory I had with you before the world was created.

Exodus 15

1 Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song unto the LORD, and spoke, saying:

I will sing unto the LORD, for He is highly exalted; the horse and his rider hath He thrown into the sea.

2 The LORD is my strength and song, and He is become my salvation; this is my God, and I will glorify Him; my father's God, and I will exalt Him.

3 The LORD is a man of war, The LORD is His name.

4 Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath He cast into the sea, and his chosen captains are sunk in the Red Sea.

5 The deeps cover them--they went down into the depths like a stone.

6 Thy right hand, O LORD, glorious in power, Thy right hand, O LORD, dasheth in pieces the enemy.

Hashem honored King David with the royal priesthood King Melchizedek had.

Psalms 118

118:14 The Lord gives me strength and protects me;

he has become my deliverer.”

118:15 They celebrate deliverance in the tents of the godly.

The Lord’s right hand conquers,

118:16 the Lord’s right hand gives victory,

the Lord’s right hand conquers.

Psalm 109

Here is the Lord’s proclamation to my lord:

“Sit down at my right hand until I make your enemies your footstool!”

110:2 The Lord extends your dominion from Zion.

Rule in the midst of your enemies!

110:3 Your people willingly follow you when you go into battle.

On the holy hills at sunrise the dew of your youth belongs to you.

110:4 The Lord makes this promise on oath and will not revoke it:

“You are an eternal priest after the pattern of Melchizedek.”

110:5 O sovereign Lord, at your right hand

He strikes down kings in the day He unleashes His anger.

110:6 He executes judgment against the nations;

He fills the valleys with corpses;

He shatters their heads over the vast battlefield.

110:7 From the stream along the road he drinks;

then he lifts up his head.

King David's palace was located to the right of the temple to indicate the royal priesthood relationship he had with Hashem. Jesus was pressing the language here to get the Pharisees to reflect on how much greater the Messiah is. King David throne was on Earth next to Hashem's temple. Jesus throne is in Heaven at the right hand of Hashem.

Matthew 22

22:41 While the Pharisees were assembled, Jesus asked them a question:

22:42 “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?”

They said, “The son of David.”

22:43 He said to them, “How then does David by the Spirit call him ‘Lord,’ saying,

22:44 ‘The Lord said to my lord,

“Sit at my right hand,

until I put your enemies under your feet”’?

22:45 If David then calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be His son?”

22:46 No one was able to answer him a word, and from that day on no one dared to question him any longer.

Luke 22

22:66 When day came, the council of the elders of the people gathered together, both the chief priests and the experts in the law. Then they led Jesus away to their council

22:67 and said, “If you are the Christ, tell us.” But he said to them, “If I tell you, you will not believe,

22:68 and if I ask you, you will not answer.

22:69 But from now on the Son of Man will be seated at the right hand of the power of God.”

22:70 So they all said, “Are you the Son of God, then?” He answered them, “You say that I am.”

22:71 Then they said, “Why do we need further testimony? We have heard it ourselves from his own lips!”

Take it a break an listen to the Newsboys - "We Believe." I get chills every time I listen to this song.

Last days

Luke 17

17:22 Then he said to the disciples, “The days are coming when you will desire to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.

17:23 Then people will say to you, ‘Look, there he is!’ or ‘Look, here he is!’ Do not go out or chase after them.

17:24 For just like the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one side to the other, so will the Son of Man be in his day.

17:25 But first he must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

17:26 Just as it was in the days of Noah, so too it will be in the days of the Son of Man.

17:27 People were eating, they were drinking, they were marrying, they were being given in marriage – right up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.

17:28 Likewise, just as it was in the days of Lot, people were eating, drinking, buying, selling, planting, building;

17:29 but on the day Lot went out from Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all.

17:30 It will be the same on the day the Son of Man is revealed.

17:31 On that day, anyone who is on the roof, with his goods in the house, must not come down to take them away, and likewise the person in the field must not turn back.

17:32 Remember Lot’s wife!

17:33 Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve it.

17:34 I tell you, in that night there will be two people in one bed; one will be taken and the other left.

17:35 There will be two women grinding grain together; one will be taken and the other left.”

17:36 “There will be two in the field; one will be taken and the other left.”

17:37 Then the disciples said to him, “Where, Lord?” He replied to them, “Where the dead body is, there the vultures will gather.

18:1 Then Jesus told them a parable to show them they should always pray and not lose heart.

18:2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected people.

18:3 There was also a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’

18:4 For a while he refused, but later on he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor have regard for people,

18:5 yet because this widow keeps on bothering me, I will give her justice, or in the end she will wear me out by her unending pleas.’”

18:6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unrighteous judge says!

18:7 Won’t God give justice to his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he delay long to help them?

18:8 I tell you, He will give them justice speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?”

During the second coming of Jesus Christ there is going to be a physical separation of good and bad people that have intermixed together.

Vultures+eating+dead+people.jpg

Listen to the Newsboys 'God's Not Dead.' I can only imagine that our Father consider music like this as the ultimate form of praise.

The Great Isaiah Scroll

Chapter 59 : Verse 1

See, the LORD's hand is not too short to save, nor his ears too dull to hear.

Chapter 59 : Verse 2

Instead, your iniquities have been barriers between you and your God, and your sins have concealed his face from you so that he does not hear.

Chapter 59 : Verse 3

For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your tongue mutters wickedness.

Chapter 59 : Verse 4

No one sues fairly, and no one pleads his case honestly; they have relied on empty arguments and speak lies; they conceive trouble and give birth to iniquity.

Chapter 59 : Verse 5

They hatch adders' eggs and weave a spider's web; whoever eats their eggs dies, and a crushed (egg) hatches out futility.

Chapter 59 : Verse 6

Their webs cannot become clothing, they cannot cover themselves with what they make. Their deeds are deeds of iniquity, and acts of violence are in their hands.

Chapter 59 : Verse 7

Their feet rush into evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood. Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; ruin, destruction, and violence are in their highways.

Chapter 59 : Verse 8

The way of peace they do not know, and there is no justice in their paths. They have made their roads crooked; no one who walks in them knows peace.

Chapter 59 : Verse 9

Therefore justice is far from us, and righteousness does not reach us. We wait for light, but see-there is darkness; (we wait) for brightness, but we walk in darkness.

Chapter 59 : Verse 10

Let us grope along the wall like the blind, let us grope like those who have no eyes; we stumble at midday as in the twilight, among vigorous people we are like the dead.

Chapter 59 : Verse 11

We all growl like bears, we moan mournfully like doves; we look for justice, but there is none; and for deliverance, but it is far from us.

Chapter 59 : Verse 12

For our transgressions before you are many, and our sins testify against us; for our transgressions are with us, and as for our iniquities, we acknowledge them:

Chapter 59 : Verse 13

they have rebelled, and denying the LORD, and turning away from following our God, and they have spoken oppression and revolt, and uttering lying words from the heart.

Chapter 59 : Verse 14

I will drive back justice, and righteousness stands at a distance; for truth has fallen in the public squares, and uprightness cannot enter.

Chapter 59 : Verse 15

Truth is absent, and whoever avoids evil is plundered. And the LORD saw this, and it displeased him that there was no justice.

Chapter 59 : Verse 16

He saw that there was no one, and was appalled that there was no one to intervene; so his own arm brought him victory, and his righteous acts upheld him.

Chapter 59 : Verse 17

He put on righteousness like a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his heads; he put on garments of vengeance for clothing, and wrapped himself in fury like a mantle.

Chapter 59 : Verse 18

According to their actions, so he will repay-wrath to his enemies, retribution to his foes; to the coast lands he will render requital.

Chapter 59 : Verse 19

So will they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glories from the rising of the sun; for he will come as a pent-up stream that the breath of the LORD drives along.

Chapter 59 : Verse 20

And a Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression, says the LORD.

Chapter 59 : Verse 21

And as for me, this is my covenant with them, says the LORD: and my spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, will not depart from your mouth, or from the mouths of your children, or from the mouths of your children's children, from now on and forever.

Chapter 60 : Verse 2

For see, darkness will cover the earth and thick darkness the peoples, but the LORD will arise upon you, and his glory will appear over you.

Chapter 60 : Verse 3

Nations will come to your light, and kings before your dawn.

Chapter 60 : Verse 4

Lift up your eyes and look around: they all assemble, they come to you; your sons will come from far away, and your daughters will be carried on the hip.

Chapter 60 : Verse 5

Then you will look and be radiant; your heart will swell with joy, because the wealth of the seas will be brought to you, the riches of the nations will come to you.

Chapter 60 : Verse 6

A multitude of camels will cover you, the young camels of Midian and Ephu; all those from Shebu will come. They will bear gold and frankincense, and proclaim the praise of the LORD.

Chapter 60 : Verse 7

All Kedar's flocks will be gathered to you, the rams of Nebaioth will serve you; and they will come up with acceptance upon on my altar, and I will glorify my glorious house.

Chapter 60 : Verse 8

Who are these that fly like clouds, and like doves to their dovecotes?

Chapter 60 : Verse 9

For the coastlands will wait for me, the ships of Tarshish in the lead, to bring my children from far away, their silver and gold with them, for the name of the LORD your God, and for the Holy One of Israel, because he has glorified you.

Chapter 60 : Verse 10

Foreigners will rebuild your walls, and their kings will serve you. Though in my wrath I struck you down, in my favor I have shown you mercy.

Chapter 60 : Verse 11

Your gates will always stand open, day or night, and they will not be shut, so that nations will bring you their wealth, with their kings led in procession.

Chapter 60 : Verse 12

For the nation or kingdom that will not serve you will perish; those nations will be utterly ruined.

Chapter 60 : Verse 13

He has given you the glory of Lebanon, and it will come to you, the cypress, and the plane, and the pine, to adorn the place of my sanctuary; and I will glorify the place where my feet rest.

Chapter 60 : Verse 14

All the descendants of those who oppressed you will come bowing low before you, and all who despised you will bow down at your feet; they will call you the City of the LORD, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.

Chapter 60 : Verse 15

Although you have been forsaken and hated, with no one traveling through, I will make you the everlasting pride, the joy of all generations.

Chapter 60 : Verse 16

You will suck the milk of nations, you will suck the breasts of kings; then you will know that I, the LORD, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob.

Chapter 60 : Verse 17

Instead of bronze I will bring gold, and instead of iron I will bring silver; instead of wood, bronze, and instead of stones, iron. I will appoint Peace as your sentry and Righteousness as your taskmaster.

Chapter 60 : Verse 18

And violence will no longer be heard in your land, nor devastation or destruction within your borders; you will call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise.

Chapter 60 : Verse 19

The sun will no longer be your light by day, nor for brightness will the moon shine on you by night; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.

Chapter 60 : Verse 20

Your sun will not set, or your moon withdraw itself; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning will end.

Chapter 60 : Verse 21

Then your people will all be righteous; they will possess the land forever. They are the shoot that the LORD planted, the works of his hands, so that I might be glorified.

Chapter 60 : Verse 22

The least of them will become a thousand, and the smallest one a mighty nation. I am the LORD; in its time I will do this quickly.

Chapter 61 : Verse 1

The spirit of the LORD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; He has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, and to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives, and release from darkness for the prisoners;

Chapter 61 : Verse 2

to proclaim the year of the LORD's favor, the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn;

Chapter 61 : Verse 3

to provide for those who mourn in Zion-to bestow on them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, a mantle of praise instead of a disheartened spirit. And people will call them oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, in order to display his splendor.

Chapter 61 : Verse 4

They will rebuild the ancient ruins, they will restore the places formerly devastated; they will repair the ruined cities, they will erect again the places devastated for many generations.

Chapter 61 : Verse 5

Strangers will stand and feed your flocks, foreigners will work your land and dress your vines;

Chapter 61 : Verse 6

but you will be called priests of the LORD, and you will be named ministers of our God. You will feed on the wealth of the nations, and in their riches you will glory.

Chapter 61 : Verse 7

Instead of your shame (you will receive) double, and instead of dishonor they will rejoice in your lot; therefore you will inherit a double portion in their land, everlasting joy will be yours.

Chapter 61 : Verse 8

For I the LORD love justice, and I hate robbery and iniquity; I will faithfully give (you) your reward and make an everlasting covenant with you.

Chapter 61 : Verse 9

Your descendants will be known among the nations, and your offspring among the peoples; all who see them will acknowledge them, that they are a people whom the LORD has blessed.

Chapter 61 : Verse 10

I shall greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul will delight in my God; for he has clothed me with garments of salvation, he has arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom, as a priest with a garland, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Chapter 61 : Verse 11

For as the soil brings forth its shoots, and as a garden makes what is sown in it spring up, so the LORD God will make righteousness and praise spring up before all the nations for Zion's sake.

Chapter 62 : Verse 1

And I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not remain quiet, until her vindication shines out like the dawn, and her salvation like a burning torch.

Chapter 62 : Verse 2

The nations will see your vindication, and all the kings your glory; and people will call you by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will bestow.

Chapter 62 : Verse 3

You will be a crown of splendor in the LORD's hand, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.

Chapter 62 : Verse 4

And you will no longer be called Deserted, and your land will no longer be called Desolate; but people will call you My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the LORD takes delight in you, and your land will be married.

Chapter 62 : Verse 5

For just as a young man marries a maiden, so will your sons marry you, and just as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.

Chapter 62 : Verse 6

Upon your walls, O Jerusalem, I have posted watchmen; all day and all night they will not be silent. You who acknowledge the LORD, take no rest,

Chapter 62 : Verse 7

and give him no rest until he prepares and establishes Jerusalem and makes it an object of praise throughout the earth.

Chapter 62 : Verse 8

The LORD has sworn by his right hand and by his mighty arm:

I will never again give your grain as food for your enemies, foreigners will not drink the wine for which you have toiled;

Chapter 62 : Verse 9

but surely those who harvest it will eat it and praise the name of LORD, and those who gather it will drink it in the courts of my sanctuary, says your God.

Chapter 62 : Verse 10

Pass through the gates, prepare the way for the people! Build up, build up the highway! Clear it of stumbling-stones, speak among the peoples.

Chapter 62 : Verse 11

Behold the LORD! Proclaim to the ends of the earth; say to daughter Zion, 'See, your salvation is coming! See, his reward is with him, and his recompenses are before him.'

Chapter 62 : Verse 12

People will call them 'The Holy People,' 'The Redeemed of the LORD'; and they will call you 'Sought After,' 'The City Not Deserted.'

Chapter 63 : Verse 1

Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah with his garments stained crimson? Who is this robed in such splendor, marching in his great strength? It is I, announcing vindication, mighty to save

Chapter 63 : Verse 2

Why are your robes red, and your garments like theirs who tread the winepress?

Chapter 63 : Verse 3

I have trodden the winepress alone, and from my people no one was with me, and I have stained all my clothing.

Chapter 63 : Verse 4

For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year for my redeeming work had come.

Chapter 63 : Verse 5

I looked, but there was no helper, I was appalled that there was no one to take hold of me; so my own arm brought me victory, and my wrath supported me.

Chapter 63 : Verse 6

I trampled down peoples in my anger; in my wrath I made them drunk, and I poured out their lifeblood on the ground.

Chapter 63 : Verse 7

I will recount the gracious deeds of the LORD, the praiseworthy acts of the LORD, in accordance with all the LORD has done for us, and the great goodness to the house of Israel that he has shown them according to his mercy, according to the abundance of his steadfast love.

Chapter 63 : Verse 8

For he said, Surely they are my people, children who will not act falsely, and so he became their savior

Chapter 63 : Verse 9

In all their distress he was not distressed, but the angel of his presence that saved them; in his acts of love and in his pity he redeemed them; he carried them and lifted them up all the days of old..

Chapter 63 : Verse 10

Yet they rebelled and grieved His Holy Spirit; so He changed and became their enemy, and He himself fought against them.

Chapter 63 : Verse 11

Then they remembered the days of old, of Moses His servant. Where is the one who brought up out of the sea the shepherds of his flock? Where is the one who set his holy spirit among them,

Chapter 63 : Verse 12

and who made his glorious arm march at Moses' right hand, who divided the waters before them to win an everlasting name,

Chapter 63 : Verse 13

who led them through the depths? Like a horse in the open desert they did not stumble;

Chapter 63 : Verse 14

like cattle that go down into the plain, the spirit of the LORD gave them rest. For you led your people, to win for yourself a glorious name.

Chapter 63 : Verse 15

Look down from heaven, and see from your holy and glorious dwelling. Where are your zeal and your might? The yearning of your heart and your compassion? They are withheld from me.

Chapter 63 : Verse 16

But you are our father, and Abraham does not know us and Israel has not acknowledged us; you are he, O LORD, our father, our Redeemer from long ago is your name.

Chapter 63 : Verse 17

Why, O LORD, do you make us stray from your ways and harden our hearts, so that we do not fear you? Come back for the sake of your servants, for the sake of the tribes that are your heritage.

Chapter 63 : Verse 18

Your holy people took possession of it for a little while, but now our enemies have trampled down your sanctuary.

Chapter 63 : Verse 19

For a long time we have been like those whom you do not rule, like those who are not called by your name.

Luke_Wilbur · January 7, 2015

The Didache

Chapter 5

5:1 But the way of death is this.
5:2 First of all, it is evil and full of a curse murders, adulteries, lusts, fornications, thefts, idolatries, magical arts, witchcrafts, plunderings, false witnessings, hypocrisies, doubleness of heart, treachery, pride, malice, stubbornness, covetousness, foul-speaking, jealousy, boldness, exaltation, boastfulness;

You are my son!’ The King David was viewed as God’s “son” The idiom reflects ancient Near Eastern adoption language associated with covenants of grant, by which a lord would reward a faithful subject by elevating him to special status, referred to as “sonship.” Like a son, the faithful subject received an “inheritance,” viewed as an unconditional, eternal gift. Such gifts usually took the form of land and/or an enduring dynasty.

The Hebrew for "begotten" is YALAD and the lexical meaning is "to bear, beget, or bring forth."The phrase "only begotten" in the New Testament comes from the Greek word MONOGENES which means unique or "one and only" Son in the sense that an only child is the only one of his parents.

Psalm 2

2:1 Why did nations grow insolent, and peoples contemplate vain things?

2 The kings of the earth stood side by side, and the rulers gathered together, against the Lord and against his anointed, Interlude on strings

3 "Let us burst their bonds asunder and cast their yoke from us."

4 He who resides in the heavens will laugh at them, and the Lord will mock them.

5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and in his anger he will trouble them.

6 "But I was established king by him, on Seion, his holy mountain,

7 by proclaiming the Lord’s ordinance: The Lord said to me, 'My son you are; today I have begotten you.

8 Ask of me, and I will give you nations as your heritage, and as your possession the ends of the earth.

9 You shall shepherd them with an iron rod; like a potter’s vessel you will shatter them.' "

10 And now, O kings, be sensible; be instructed, all you who judge the earth.

11 Be subject to the Lord with fear, and rejoice in him with trembling.

12 Seize upon instruction, lest the Lord be angry, and you will perish from the righteous way, when his anger quickly blazes out. Happy are all who trust in him.

http://www.truthnet.org/TheMessiah/12_Messiah_Objections_Psalms_2_22/

Psalm 89

89:20 I have discovered David, my servant.

With my holy oil I have anointed him as king.

89:21 My hand will support him,

and my arm will strengthen him.

89:22 No enemy will be able to exact tribute from him;

a violent oppressor will not be able to humiliate him.

89:23 I will crush his enemies before him;

I will strike down those who hate him.

89:24 He will experience my faithfulness and loyal love,

and by my name he will win victories.

89:25 I will place his hand over the sea,

his right hand over the rivers.

89:26 He will call out to me,

‘You are my father, my God, and the protector who delivers me.’

89:27 I will appoint him to be my firstborn son,

the most exalted of the earth’s kings.

89:28 I will always extend my loyal love to him,

and my covenant with him is secure.

89:29 I will give him an eternal dynasty,

and make his throne as enduring as the skies above.

89:30 If his sons reject my law

and disobey my regulations,

89:31 if they break my rules

and do not keep my commandments,

89:32 I will punish their rebellion by beating them with a club,

their sin by inflicting them with bruises.

89:33 But I will not remove my loyal love from him,

nor be unfaithful to my promise.

89:34 I will not break my covenant

or go back on what I promised.

89:35 Once and for all I have vowed by my own holiness,

I will never deceive David.

89:36 His dynasty will last forever.

His throne will endure before me, like the sun,

89:37 it will remain stable, like the moon,

his throne will endure like the skies.” (Selah)

89:38 But you have spurned and rejected him;

you are angry with your chosen king.

89:39 You have repudiated your covenant with your servant;

you have thrown his crown to the ground.

89:40 You have broken down all his walls;

you have made his strongholds a heap of ruins.

89:41 All who pass by have robbed him;

he has become an object of disdain to his neighbors.

89:42 You have allowed his adversaries to be victorious,

and all his enemies to rejoice.

89:43 You turn back his sword from the adversary,

and have not sustained him in battle.

89:44 You have brought to an end his splendor,

and have knocked his throne to the ground.

89:45 You have cut short his youth,

and have covered him with shame. (Selah)

89:46 How long, O Lord, will this last?

Will you remain hidden forever?

Will your anger continue to burn like fire?

89:47 Take note of my brief lifespan!

Why do you make all people so mortal?

89:48 No man can live on without experiencing death,

or deliver his life from the power of Sheol. (Selah)

89:49 Where are your earlier faithful deeds, O Lord,

the ones performed in accordance with your reliable oath to David?

89:50 Take note, O Lord, of the way your servants are taunted,

and of how I must bear so many insults from people!

89:51 Your enemies, O Lord, hurl insults;

they insult your chosen king as they dog his footsteps.

Psalm 89 (200 BC)
4Q236 = 4QPs89

1...to your chosen ones you will say:

I have laid a helper upon who is mighty.

2...one chosen from the people. I have found...

3...from my holy oil

4...His hand shall establish you;

5...And I will set his hand on the sea, on the rivers

6...the enemy and the wicked oppress him.

7..."You are my Father." I will make him firstborn,

8...the earth. If they forsake

2 Samuel 7

7:8 “So now, say this to my servant David: ‘This is what the Lord of hosts says:

I took you from the pasture and from your work as a shepherd to make you leader of my people Israel.

7:9 I was with you wherever you went, and I defeated all your enemies before you. Now I will make you as famous as the great men of the earth.

7:10 I will establish a place for my people Israel and settle them there; they will live there and not be disturbed any more. Violent men will not oppress them again, as they did in the beginning

7:11 and during the time when I appointed judges to lead my people Israel. Instead, I will give you relief from all your enemies. The Lord declares to you that he himself will build a dynastic house for you.

7:12 When the time comes for you to die, I will raise up your descendant, one of your own sons, to succeed you, and I will establish his kingdom.

7:13 He will build a house for my name, and I will make his dynasty permanent.

7:14 I will become his father and he will become my son. When he sins, I will correct him with the rod of men and with wounds inflicted by human beings.

7:15 But my loyal love will not be removed from him as I removed it from Saul, whom I removed from before you.

7:16 Your house and your kingdom will stand before me permanently; your dynasty will be permanent.’”

7:17 Nathan told David all these words that were revealed to him.

John 1:18 King James Version

No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

o monogenes uios

John 1:18 New American Standard Bible

No man has seen God at any time; the only begotten God, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him.

The following manuscripts support 'the only' begotten God.'

Papyrus 66 (AD 200)
Papyrus 75 (AD 175-225)
Diatessaron ("Out of Four") of Titan the Syrian [Arabic version] (c. 160-175)
Syriac Peshitta (AD 150)
Adysh manuscript (AD 897)-Gregordian-Georgian/Iberian version
Opiza manuscript (AD 913)
Tbet’ manuscript (AD 995)
Minuscule 423 (AD 1556)
Bohairic Coptic [codex Bodmer III] (AD 300)
Codex B- Sinaiticus (c. 330–360)
Codex A- Vaticanus (c. 325–350)
Codex D- Cantabrigiensis[ Greek-Latin diglot] (c.400)
Apostolic Constitutions (AD 375 -380)
Codex Regius (AD 701-800)

Papyrus Bodmer II translation variant

The Bodmer Papyri are a group of twenty-two papyri discovered in Egypt in 1952. They are named after Martin Bodmer who purchased them. The papyri contain segments from the Old and New Testaments, early Christian literature, Homer and Menander. The oldest, Papyrus 66 (P66) dates to 200 AD. P66 reads 'only begotten God,' not 'only begotten Son of God.' It is said that it is the earliest witness to omit the Pericope de Adultera (John 7:53 – 8:11). Many scholars believe that the scribe of P66 probably did not personally know Greek, but was simply copying out, letter by letter, the papyrus manuscript.

Aleph (Codex Sinaiticus) and B (Codex Vaticanus). and two papyrus fragments discovered later, p66 & p75 contain the "only begotten God." The fifth century codex Alexandrinus (A) has "only begotten Son."

John 1:18 New American Bible, revised edition

No one has ever seen God. The only Son, God, who is at the Father’s side, has revealed him.

'The only Son, God' translation above follows earliest manuscripts, monogenēs theos,but takes the first term to mean not just “Only One” but to include a filial relationship with the Father

Is there a difference to the meaning of these textual variants? We know that Jesus was subject to the Father during his mortal life. We know that in the end Jesus himself will be subjected to the Father. But it is my understanding the time between the resurrection and the end everything subjected to Christ.

P66, P75 and many early manuscripts indicate Christian scribes followed the newly adopted Jewish practice to avoid the usage of the Tetragrammaton. Words like Father, God and Jesus Christ were considered to sacred and were abbreviated to avoid misspelling errors.

http://earlybible.com/manuscripts/p66-Joh-1.html

http://firstfollowers.vision.org/first-followers/?Tag=P66

https://israelect.com/reference/WillieMartin/Jesus%20Was%20Not%20A%20Jew%20and%20Other%20Things%20%5BA%5D.htm

To understand the variant of John 1:18 discussed above. We need to look at at verses that are not debated and gain truth from their wisdom. Here we see that God gave his son, who was in Heaven, down to earth to save mankind and show those who believe in the teachings of Jesus the means of gaining eternal life.

John 3 Sinaiticus

3:1 ...there was a man of the Pharisees, his name was Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews;

2 he came to him by night and said to him:

Rabbi, we know that from God thou hast come as a teacher; for no one can do these signs that thou doest, unless God be with him.

3 Jesus answered and said to him:

Verily, verily, I say to thee, unless a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

4 Nicodemus says to him:

How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born?

5 Jesus answered:

Verily, verily, I say to thee, Unless a man be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of the heavens.

6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

7 Wonder not that I said to thee:

You must be born again.

8 The wind blows where it pleases, and the sound of it thou hearest, but thou knowest not whence it comes and whither it goes: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.

9 Nicodemus answered and said to him:

How can these things take place?

10 Jesus answered and said to him:

Art thou the teacher of Israel and knowest not these things?

11 Verily, verily, I say to thee, that which we know we speak, and that which we have seen we testify, and our testimony you receive not.

12 If I have told you earthly things and you believe not, how will you believe if I tell you of heavenly things?

13 And no one has ascended into heaven but he that came down from heaven, the Son of man, who is in heaven.

14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of man be lifted up;

15 that every one that believes in him may have life eternal.

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes on Him might not perish, but have life eternal.

17 For God sent not the Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.

18 He that believes on him is not condemned: he that believes not is condemned already, because he has not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God.

19 But the condemnation is this, that light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light; for their works were evil.

20 For every one that does evil hates the light, and comes not to the light, lest his works may be reproved;

21 but he that does the truth comes to the light that his works may be made manifest that they are wrought in God.

1 John 4 Codex Sinaiticus

4:1 Beloved, believe not every spirit, but prove the spirits, whether they are from God; because many false prophets have gone forth into the world.

2 In this know you the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God,

3 and every spirit that confesses not Jesus is not of God; and this is the spirit of antichrist, of which you have heard that it comes, and now is in the world already.

4 You are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.

5 They are of the world: therefore they speak of the world, and the world hears them.

6 We are of God: he that knows God hears us, he that is not of God hears not us. By this we know the Spirit of Truth and the spirit of error.

7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God, and every one that loves has been begotten of God, and knows God.

8 He that loves not has not known God, for God is love.

9 In this has been manifested the love of God in us, that God has sent his Son the only Begotten into the world that we might live through him.

10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son the expiation for our sins.

11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

12 No one has seen God at any time: if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

13 In this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.

14 And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent the Son the Savior of the world.

15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in Him and He in God.

16 And we have known and have believed the love that God has in us. God is love, and he that abides in love abides in God and God in him.

17 In this has been perfected the love with us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is we also are in this world.

18 Fear is not in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment, but he that fears is not made perfect in love.

19 We love, because He first loved us.

20 If any one say:

I love God, and hate his brother, he is a liar; for he that loves not his brother, whom he has seen, God, whom he has not seen, how can he love?

21 And this commandment have we from him, that he that loves God loves his brother also.

5:1 Every one that believes that Jesus is the Christ, has been begotten of God; and every one that loves Him that begot, loves Him also that has been begotten of Him.

2 In this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and do his commandments.

3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments; and his commandments are not burdensome,

4 because all that has been begotten of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith.

5 Who is he that overcomes the world but he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

6 This is he that came through water and blood, Jesus Christ: not in the water only, but in the water and in the blood; and it is the Spirit that testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.

7 For they that testify are three,

8 the Spirit, and the water, and the blood, and the three are one.

9 If we receive the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater; because this is the testimony of God that he has testified concerning his Son.

10 He that believes on the Son of God has the testimony in himself: he that believes not God has made him a liar, because he has not believed on the testimony that God has testified concerning his Son.

11 And this is the testimony, that God gave us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.

12 He that has the Son has the life: he that has not the Son of God has not the life.

13 These things have I written to you that you may know that you have eternal life, who believe on the name of the Son of God.

14 And this is the confidence that we have towards him, that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us.

15 And if we know that he hears us as to whatever we ask, we know that we have the petition that we have asked of him.

16 If any one see his brother sinning a sin not to death, he shall ask, and shall give him life, to those that sin not to death. There is a sin to death: not concerning this do I say that he should ask.

17 All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not to death.

18 We know that every one that has been begotten of God sins not; but he that has been begotten of God keeps himself, and the wicked one touches him not.

19 We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies in the wicked one.

20 We know, however, that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding, that we know him that is true; and we are in Him that is true, in His Son Jesus Christ: This is the true God and life eternal.

21 Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

Acts 13 Codex Sinaiticus

13:1 And there were in the church that was in Antioch prophets and teachers, both Barnabas and Simon who is called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen also, the foster brother of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.

2 And as they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said:

Set apart to me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.

3 Then, having fasted and prayed and laid hands on them, they sent them away.

4 They therefore having been sent forth by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia, and thence they sailed to Cyprus;

5 and being in Salamis they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews; and they had also John as attendant.

6 But having passed through the whole island as far as Paphos, they found a man, a magician, a Jewish false prophet, whose name was BarJesus,

7 who was with the proconsul Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This man called for Barnabas and Saul, and requested to hear the word of God.

8 But Elymas the magician, for so is his name translated, withstood them, seeking to turn away the proconsul from the faith.

9 But Saul, who is also Paul, being filled with the Holy Spirit, looked earnestly upon him

10 and said:

O full of all deceit and all mischief, son of the devil, enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the straight ways of the Lord?

11 And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon thee, and thou shalt be blind, not seeing the sun for a season. And immediately there fell upon him a mist and darkness, and going about, he sought persons to lead him by the hand.

12 Then the proconsul, seeing what had been done, believed, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord.

13 And Paul and his companions, having loosed from Paphos, came to Perga of Pamphylia; but John departing from them, returned to Jerusalem.

14 But they continued their journey from Perga and came to Antioch of Pisidia; and having entered the synagogue on the sabbath day, they sat down.

15 And after the reading of the law and the prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them saying:

Men, brethren, if there is in you any word of exhortation for the people, speak.

16 And Paul arose, and, beckoning with Ills hand, said:

Men of Israel and you that fear God, hear.

17 The God of this people Israel chose our fathers, and the people He exalted during the sojourn in the land of Egypt, and with an uplifted arm brought He them out of it;

18 and for a time of about forty years He nourished them in the wilderness;

19 and after He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He divided to them their land for an inheritance,

20 for about four hundred and fifty years. And after this he gave judges till Samuel the prophet,

21 And after that they asked for a king; and God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, forty years;

22 and he removed him and raised up for them David as a king; to whom he also gave testimony:

I have found David the son of Jesse, a man according to my heart, who shall do all my will.

23 From this man’s posterity, God, according to promise, has brought to Israel a Savior, Jesus,

24 John having preached, before his entrance, the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel.

25 But as John was fulfilling his course, he said:

Who do you suppose that I am? I am not he: but behold, there comes after me one, the sandal of whose feet I am not worthy to loose.

26 Men, brethren, sons of the race of Abraham, and those among you that fear God, to us is the word of this salvation sent.

27 For they that dwell in Jerusalem and their rulers, being ignorant of this one, and of the voices of the prophets that are read every sabbath, have fulfilled them in condemning him;

28 and though they found no cause of death, they asked of Pilate that he might be put to death.

29 And when they had fulfilled all things that are written concerning him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a sepulcher.

30 But God raised him from the dead;

31 and He appeared for many days to those that went up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem: who now are his witnesses to the people.

32 And we announce to you glad tidings of the promise made to the fathers, that God has fulfilled this to our children by raising up Jesus,

33 as it is also written in the second Psalm:

Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.

34 But that he raised him from the dead no more to return to corruption, he has thus spoken: I will give you the faithful, holy things of David.

35 Wherefore he says also in another Psalm:

Thou wilt not suffer thy Holy One to see corruption.

36 For David indeed, having served his own generation by the counsel of God, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption;

37 but He whom God raised up saw no corruption.

38 Be it known to you, therefore, men, brethren, that through this man is preached to you remission of sins:

39 in this one, every one that believes is justified from all things, from which you could not be justified in the law of Moses.

40 Take heed, therefore, lest there come upon you that which is said in the prophets:

41 Behold, you despisers, and wonder, and perish, for I work a work in your days, a work which you would not believe, though any one plainly declare it to you.

42 But when they had gone out they besought that these words might be spoken to them on the next sabbath.

43 And when the synagogue was dismissed, many of the Jews and devout proselytes followed Paul and Barnabas, who, speaking to them, persuaded them to continue in the grace of God.

44 And on the next sabbath almost all the city came together to hear the word of the Lord.

45 But the Jews. seeing the multitudes, were filled with envy, and spoke against the things spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming.

46 And Paul and Barnabas, speaking boldly, said:

To you was it needful that the word of God should first be spoken; but since you thrust it from you and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we turn to the Gentiles.

47 For so has the Lord commanded us:

I have set thee as a light for the Gentiles, that thou should be for salvation to the end of the earth.

48 And hearing it, the Gentiles rejoiced, and glorified the word of the Lord, and as many as had been ordered for eternal life believed;

49 and the word of the Lord was carried throughout the whole country.

50 But the Jews excited the devout women that were honorable, and the chief men of the city, and raised a persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out from their borders.

51 But having shaken off the dust from their feet against them, they came to Iconium;

52 and the disciples were filled with joy and the Holy Spirit.

Colossians 1 Codex Sinaiticus

1:1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, and Timothy the brother,

2 to the saints that are in Colossae and the faithful brethren in Christ. Grace to you and peace from God our Father.

3 We thank God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,

4 since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love you have for all the saints,

5 because of the hope that is laid up for you in the heavens, of which you heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel,

6 which is present among you, as also in all the world, and is bringing forth fruit and increasing as also among you, from the day you heard and knew the grace of God in truth:

7 as you learned from Epaphras, our beloved fellow-servant, who' is faithful in behalf of you, a minister of Christ,

8 who also made known to us your love in the Spirit.

9 Wherefore we also, from the day we heard, cease not to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding,

10 so that you walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to all pleasing, in every good work bringing forth fruit and increasing in the knowledge of God,

11 in all power made powerful according to the might of His glory for all patience and longsuffering, with joy,

12 giving thanks to the Father who made us fit for the portion of the inheritance of the saints in light,

13 who delivered us from the authority of darkness and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,

14 in whom we have redemption, the remission of sins,

15 who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature,

16 for in Him were all things created that are in the heavens and that are on the earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or lordships, or principalities or authorities: all things have been created through Him and for Him,

17 and He is before all things, and all things in Him consist;

18 and he is the head of the body, and the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that he himself might become in all things pre-eminent;

19 for he was well pleased that all the fulness should dwell in him

20 and through him to reconcile all things to himself, having made peace through the blood of his cross, through him, whether things on the earth or things in the heavens;

21 and you being formerly alienated and enemies in mind in the wicked works, now, however, he has reconciled

22 in the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and without fault and blameless in his presence;

23 if indeed you continue in faith founded and settled, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was preached to every creature that is under heaven, of which I Paul became a minister.

24 Now I rejoice in sufferings for you, and, in your stead, I fill up that which remains of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church,

25 of which I became a minister according to the dispensation of God, which was given to me for you to fulfill the word of God,

26 the mystery that having been hid from the ages and from the generations, now, however, has been made manifest to his saints,

27 to whom God wished to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory,

28 whom we announce, admonishing every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ;

29 for which I also labor, striving according to his energy that is active in me in power.

2:1 For I wish you to know how great a conflict I have for you and those in Laodicea and as many as have not seen my face in the flesh,

2 that their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love, and for all the riches of the full assurance of understanding, for the acknowledgment of the mystery of God,

3 in which are laid up all the treasures of wisdom and of knowledge.

4 But this I say , that no one may beguile you with persuasive words.

5 For though in the flesh I am absent, yet in the spirit I am with you, rejoicing and I beholding your order and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.

6 As therefore you received Christ Jesus the Lord, in Him walk,

7 rooted and builded up in him and strengthened in the faith as you were taught, abounding in it in thanksgiving.

John 3

35 The Father loves the Son, and has given all things into his hand.

36 He that believes on the Son has everlasting life: and he that believes not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abides on him.

Conflict can arise when one state Jesus is the Son of the one and only living God or state Jesus is God. Nevertheless, Jesus showed us how to become adopted children of God and receive his power by living righteously (sinless). The key is to us becoming begotten is to unconditionally love God and follow His commands.

There are many manuscripts that have textual variants from the original autographs. But, what I truly find a miracle is that all of God's eternal commands remain the same. Love him and your neighbor.

Luke_Wilbur · January 19, 2015

The Didache

Chapter 5

5:1 But the way of death is this.
5:2 First of all, it is evil and full of a curse murders, adulteries, lusts, fornications, thefts, idolatries, magical arts, witchcrafts, plunderings, false witnessings, hypocrisies, doubleness of heart, treachery, pride, malice, stubbornness, covetousness, foul-speaking, jealousy, boldness, exaltation, boastfulness;

Surat Maryam (Mary) 19

19:16 And mention, [O Muhammad], in the Book [the story of] Mary, when she withdrew from her family to a place toward the east.

19:17 And she took, in seclusion from them, a screen. Then We sent to her Our Angel, and he represented himself to her as a well-proportioned man.

19:18 She said, "Indeed, I seek refuge in the Most Merciful from you, [so leave me], if you should be fearing of Allah ."

19:19 He said, "I am only the messenger of your Lord to give you [news of] a pure boy.

19:20 She said, "How can I have a boy while no man has touched me and I have not been unchaste?"

19:21 He said, "Thus [it will be]; your Lord says, 'It is easy for Me, and We will make him a sign to the people and a mercy from Us. And it is a matter [already] decreed.' "

19:22 So she conceived him, and she withdrew with him to a remote place.

19:23 And the pains of childbirth drove her to the trunk of a palm tree. She said, "Oh, I wish I had died before this and was in oblivion, forgotten."

19:24 But he called her from below her, "Do not grieve; your Lord has provided beneath you a stream.

19:25 And shake toward you the trunk of the palm tree; it will drop upon you ripe, fresh dates.

19:26 So eat and drink and be contented. And if you see from among humanity anyone, say, 'Indeed, I have vowed to the Most Merciful abstention, so I will not speak today to [any] man.'

19:27 Then she brought him to her people, carrying him. They said, "O Mary, you have certainly done a thing unprecedented.

19:28 O sister of Aaron, your father was not a man of evil, nor was your mother unchaste."

19:29 So she pointed to him. They said, "How can we speak to one who is in the cradle a child?"

19:30 [Jesus] said, "Indeed, I am the servant of Allah . He has given me the Scripture and made me a prophet.

19:31 And He has made me blessed wherever I am and has enjoined upon me prayer and zakah as long as I remain alive

19:32 And [made me] dutiful to my mother, and He has not made me a wretched tyrant.

19:33 And peace is on me the day I was born and the day I will die and the day I am raised alive."

19:34 That is Jesus, the son of Mary - the word of truth about which they are in dispute.

19:35 It is not [befitting] for Allah to take a son; exalted is He! When He decrees an affair, He only says to it, "Be," and it is.

19:36 [Jesus said], "And indeed, Allah is my Lord and your Lord, so worship Him. That is a straight path."

19:37 Then the factions differed [concerning Jesus] from among them, so woe to those who disbelieved - from the scene of a tremendous Day.

Surat Al-Mā'idah (The Table Spread) 5

5:72 They have certainly disbelieved who say, "Allah is the Messiah, the son of Mary" while the Messiah has said, "O Children of Israel, worship Allah , my Lord and your Lord." Indeed, he who associates others with Allah - Allah has forbidden him Paradise, and his refuge is the Fire. And there are not for the wrongdoers any helpers.

5:73 They have certainly disbelieved who say, "Allah is the third of three." And there is no god except one God. And if they do not desist from what they are saying, there will surely afflict the disbelievers among them a painful punishment.

5:74 So will they not repent to Allah and seek His forgiveness? And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.

5:75 The Messiah, son of Mary, was not but a messenger; [other] messengers have passed on before him. And his mother was a supporter of truth. They both used to eat food. Look how We make clear to them the signs; then look how they are deluded.

5:76 Say, "Do you worship besides Allah that which holds for you no [power of] harm or benefit while it is Allah who is the Hearing, the Knowing?"

5:77 Say, "O People of the Scripture, do not exceed limits in your religion beyond the truth and do not follow the inclinations of a people who had gone astray before and misled many and have strayed from the soundness of the way."

5:78 Cursed were those who disbelieved among the Children of Israel by the tongue of David and of Jesus, the son of Mary. That was because they disobeyed and [habitually] transgressed.

5:79 They used not to prevent one another from wrongdoing that they did. How wretched was that which they were doing.

5:80 You see many of them becoming allies of those who disbelieved. How wretched is that which they have put forth for themselves in that Allah has become angry with them, and in the punishment they will abide eternally.

5:81 And if they had believed in Allah and the Prophet and in what was revealed to him, they would not have taken them as allies; but many of them are defiantly disobedient.

5:82 You will surely find the most intense of the people in animosity toward the believers [to be] the Jews and those who associate others with Allah; and you will find the nearest of them in affection to the believers those who say, "We are Christians." That is because among them are priests and monks and because they are not arrogant.

5:83 And when they hear what has been revealed to the Messenger, you see their eyes overflowing with tears because of what they have recognized of the truth. They say, "Our Lord, we have believed, so register us among the witnesses.

5:84 And why should we not believe in Allah and what has come to us of the truth? And we aspire that our Lord will admit us [to Paradise] with the righteous people."

5:85 So Allah rewarded them for what they said with gardens [in Paradise] beneath which rivers flow, wherein they abide eternally. And that is the reward of doers of good.

5:86 But those who disbelieved and denied Our signs - they are the companions of Hellfire.

Surat Al-Mā'idah (The Table Spread) 5

5:110 [The Day] when Allah will say, "O Jesus, Son of Mary, remember My favor upon you and upon your mother when I supported you with the Pure Spirit and you spoke to the people in the cradle and in maturity; and [remember] when I taught you writing and wisdom and the Torah and the Gospel; and when you designed from clay [what was] like the form of a bird with My permission, then you breathed into it, and it became a bird with My permission; and you healed the blind and the leper with My permission; and when you brought forth the dead with My permission; and when I restrained the Children of Israel from [killing] you when you came to them with clear proofs and those who disbelieved among them said, "This is not but obvious magic."

5:111 And [remember] when I inspired to the disciples, "Believe in Me and in My messenger Jesus." They said, "We have believed, so bear witness that indeed we are Muslims [in submission to Allah]."

5:112 [And remember] when the disciples said, "O Jesus, Son of Mary, can your Lord send down to us a table [spread with food] from the heaven? [Jesus] said," Fear Allah , if you should be believers."

5:113 They said, "We wish to eat from it and let our hearts be reassured and know that you have been truthful to us and be among its witnesses."

5:114 Said Jesus, the son of Mary, "O Allah , our Lord, send down to us a table [spread with food] from the heaven to be for us a festival for the first of us and the last of us and a sign from You. And provide for us, and You are the best of providers."

5:115 Allah said, "Indeed, I will sent it down to you, but whoever disbelieves afterwards from among you - then indeed will I punish him with a punishment by which I have not punished anyone among the worlds."

5:116 And [beware the Day] when Allah will say, "O Jesus, Son of Mary, did you say to the people, 'Take me and my mother as deities besides Allah ?'" He will say, "Exalted are You! It was not for me to say that to which I have no right. If I had said it, You would have known it. You know what is within myself, and I do not know what is within Yourself. Indeed, it is You who is Knower of the unseen.

5:117 I said not to them except what You commanded me - to worship Allah , my Lord and your Lord. And I was a witness over them as long as I was among them; but when You took me up, You were the Observer over them, and You are, over all things, Witness.

5:118 If You should punish them - indeed they are Your servants; but if You forgive them - indeed it is You who is the Exalted in Might, the Wise.

5:119 Allah will say, "This is the Day when the truthful will benefit from their truthfulness." For them are gardens [in Paradise] beneath which rivers flow, wherein they will abide forever, Allah being pleased with them, and they with Him. That is the great attainment.

5:120 To Allah belongs the dominion of the heavens and the earth and whatever is within them. And He is over all things competent.

Muslims are similar to Christians on how one is able to achieve paradise by believing in God (Elohim - Allah) and following His Commands. The difference is in the divinity of Jesus. The Quran states that Jesus and Mary (Mother of Jesus) are not divine; there is no Father Son kinship between Jesus and Elohim; when Jesus was taken up to Heaven He had no further knowledge of what His disciples were doing; and finally Elohim did not give Jesus the power to judge the living and the dead.

Most Christians would agree upon Mary being holy, but not divine. Catholics do believe that Mary is Queen of Heaven, but consider her a servant to Jesus and Elohim and not divine.

If Christians are to believe the testimony of John is true, Then Christians accept, affirm, and honor Jesus kinship to Our Father. For Elohim has given His Glorious power to His Son to raise the dead, to see and judge the hearts of mankind.

John 5 Codex Sinaiticus

5:1 After this was the feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

2 And there is in Jerusalem at the sheep gate a pool, which is called in Hebrew, Bethesda, having five porches.

3 In these lay a multitude of sick persons, blind, lame, withered.

5 But there was a man there that had been sick thirty-eight years.

6 Jesus saw him lying, and, knowing that he had already been sick a long time, said to him:

Wilt thou be restored to health?

7 The sick man answered him:

Sir, I have no man, that when the water is stirred he may put me into the pool; but while I am coming another goes down before me.

8 Jesus says to him:

Arise, take up thy bed, and walk.

9 And the man was restored to health, and took up his bed and walked; but a sabbath was on that day.

10 The Jews then said to him that had been cured:

It is a sabbath, and it is not lawful for thee to carry thy bed.

11 He answered them:

He that made me well said to me:

Take up thy bed and walk.

12 They asked him:

Who is the man that said to thee:

Take up and walk?

13 But the sick man knew not who he was; for Jesus had withdrawn, as a multitude was in the place.

14 After this Jesus finds him in the temple; and he said to him:

Behold, thou hast been restored to health: sin no more, lest something worse befall thee.

15 The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus that had made him well.

16 And for this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, because he did these things on the sabbath.

17 But he answered them:

My Father works till now, and I work.

18 For this reason did the Jews seek the more to kill him, because he not only broke the sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal to God.

19 Jesus therefore answered and said to them:

Verily, verily, I say to you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father do; for whatever he does, these also the Son does in like manner,

20 For the Father loves the Son and shows Him all things that He himself does; and greater works than these will He show Him, that you may wonder.

21 For as the Father raises the dead and makes them alive, so also the Son makes alive whom He will.

22 For neither does the Father judge any one, but has given all judicial authority to the Son,

23 that all may honor the Son as they honor the Father. He that honors not the Son honors not the Father who sent him.

24 Verily, verily, I say to you, that he that hears my word and believes on Him that sent me has life eternal, and comes not into condemnation, but has passed out of death into life.

25 Verily, verily, I say to you, that the hour comes, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live.

26 For as the Father has life in Himself, so has He given to the Son also to have life in Himself.

27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of man.

28 Wonder not at this, for the hour comes in which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,

29 and shall come forth, those that have done good, to the resurrection of life; those that have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.

30 I can do nothing of myself: as I hear I judge, and my judgment is righteous, because I seek not my will, but the will of Him that sent me.

31 If I testify of myself, my testimony is not true:

32 there is another that testifies of me, and you know that the testimony which He testifies of me is true.

33 You have sent to John, and he has testified to the truth;

34 but I receive not testimony from man, but these things I say that you may be saved.

35 He was the burning and the shining light, and you were willing to rejoice for an hour in his light.

36 But I have testimony greater than that of John; for the works which the Father has given me to accomplish, the works themselves that I do, testify of me that the Father has sent me.

37 And the Father who sent me, he has testified of me: neither His voice have you heard at any time, nor His shape have you seen,

39 You search the scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life, and they are they that testify of me;

40 and yet you will not come to me that you may have life.

41 I receive not glory from men,

42 but I know you, that you have not the love of God in you.

43 I have come in my Father's name, and you receive me not: if another should come in his own name, him you would receive.

44 How can you believe while receiving glory one from another, and you seek not the glory that is from the only God?

45 Think not that I will accuse you to the Father:

There is he that accuses you, Moses, in whom you trust.

46 For if you had believed Moses, you would have believed me; for he wrote of me.

47 But if you believe not his writings, how will you believe my words?

6:1 After this Jesus went away beyond the sea of Galilee, which is the sea of Tiberias;

The Glory of Elohim is not an idol. The Glory of Elohim is what gives all the universe movement and life. The grace of receiving the Glory of Elohim is something we all want to achieve. But, only those that follow the commands of Elohim have the opportunity to experience it by living righteously. For Elohim will not share it with selfish hearts. Those that do not follow the commands of Elohim will experience the power of the evil one, who is subject to Elohim.

I humbly wonder if the Glory of Elohim is His radiant love for all that follow Him. Is Elohim eternal love for Jesus is like my wanting my son Luke to do better than me. Is Elohim eternal love for His adopted children like my love for my adopted daughter Lyra. I want her to do better than me as well. I love them both with all my essence. I do understand that love for my ward Joe is like a big brother that ebbs and flows. I do my best to serve and protect him. And he helps me tremendously with caring for my mother, household needs, and mentally supporting me when I am down. My love for my mother endures in her time of need. She gave me life, and help nurture me to be the man I am. I am still working on a man who was a false witness against me and refused to reconcile. I leave justice to Jesus.

John 14

14:1 Let not your hearts be troubled:

believe on God, believe also on me.

2 In my Father's house are many mansions; if not so, I would have told you; for I am going to prepare a place for you.

3 And when I shall have gone and prepared a place for you, I will come again, and take you to myself, that where I am you also may be.

4 And whither I go you know the way.

5 Thomas says to him:

Lord, we know not whither thou goes, and how know we the way?

6 Jesus says to him:

I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one comes to the Father but through me.

7 If you have known me, you shall know my Father also; and even now you know Him and l have seen Him.

8 Philip says to him:

Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.

9 Jesus says to him:

So long a time am I with you, and hast thou not known me, Philip? He that has seen me has seen the Father:

how sayest thou:

show us the Father?

10 Believe thou not that I am in the Father and the Father is in me?

The words that I say to you I speak not of myself:

the Father, who abides in me, does the works.

11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me: if not, believe because of the works themselves.

12 Verily, verily, I say to you, he that believes on me, the works that I do he also shall do, and greater works than these shall he do because I go to the Father.

13 And whatever you shall ask in my name, this will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

14 If you ask any thing in my name. I will do it.

15 If you love me, you will keep my commandments.

16 And I will entreat the Father, and another Advocate will He give you, that He may be with you forever,

17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it sees him not, neither knows him:

You know Him, because He abides with you and shall be in you.

18 I will not leave you orphans; I am coming to you.

19 Yet a little while and the world sees me no more; but you shall see me; because I live and you shall live.

20 In that day you shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you.

21 He that has my commandments and keeps them, he it is that loves me; and he that loves me shall be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will manifest myself to him.

22 Judas, not Iscariot, says to him:

Lord, and how is it that thou will manifest thyself to us, and not to the world?

23 Jesus answered and said to him:

If any one love me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our abode with him.

24 He that loves me not keeps not my words; and the word that you hear is not mine, but the Father’s that sent me.

25 These things have I spoken to you while abiding with you;

26 but the Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and shall bring to your remembrance all things that I have said to you.

27 Peace I leave you, my peace I give you:

not as the world gives, give I to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

28 You heard that I said to you:

I go away and come to you. If you loved me, you would rejoice because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.

29 And now I have told you before it comes to pass, that when it comes to pass you may believe.

30 No longer will I talk much with you; for the prince of the world comes, and has nothing in me,

31 but that the world may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me commandment, so I do. Arise, let us go hence.

15:1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser.

2 Every branch in me that bears not fruit he takes away, and every one that bears fruit, he cleanses, that it may bear more fruit.

3 You are now clean, because of the word that I have spoken to you:

4 abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abide in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in me.

5 I am the vine, you the branches. He that abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit; for without me you can do nothing.

6 If any one abide not in me, he is cast out as the branch and withers, and they gather it and throw it into the fire, and it is burned.

7 If you abide in me and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you.

8 In this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.

9 As the Father has loved me, I also have loved you:

abide in my love.

10 If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love, as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love.

11 These things I have spoken to you that my joy may be in you and your joy may be fulfilled.

12 My commandment is this, that you love one another as I have loved you.

13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.

14 You are my friends, if you do what things I command you.

15 I no longer call you servants, because the servant knows not what his lord does; but I have called you friends, because An all things that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.

16 You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and appointed you that you may go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in my name he may give you.

Paul's passage in Corinthians seems to be that Jesus has been temporarily given the power of God. When Jesus is finished, He return the power of God to His Father. Then God will disperse his power to all His adopted children. During his mortal life, Jesus selflessly submitted to His Father's will. In the end, he will do the same.

1 Corinthians 15

15:23 But each in his own order:

Christ, the first fruits; then when Christ comes, those who belong to him.

15:24 Then comes the end, when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when He has brought to an end all rule and all authority and power.

15:25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.

15:26 The last enemy to be eliminated is death.

15:27 For he has put everything in subjection under his feet. But when it says “everything” has been put in subjection, it is clear that this does not include the one who put everything in subjection to him.

15:28 And when all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will be subjected to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all.

Philippians 2 Codex Sinaiticus

5 For let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,

6 who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God,

7 but he emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, having been born in the likeness of men; and found in fashion as a man,

8 he humbled himself, having become obedient even to death, and the death of the cross.

9 Wherefore God also highly exalted Him and gave Him a name that is above every name,

10 that in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in the heavens and those on the earth and those under the earth,

11 and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

The commands of the Father given by the Son.

Matthew 4 Codex Sinaiticus

4: 24 [Jesus] fame went abroad into the whole of Syria; and they brought to him all that were sick with various diseases, and that were afflicted with torments, and those possessed with demons, and lunatics, and paralytics; and he cured them.

25 And there followed him many multitudes from Galilee, and Decapolis, and Jerusalem, and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan.

5:1 But seeing the multitudes, he went up into the mountain; and when he had sat down, his disciples came to him;

2 and he opened his mouth and taught them, saying:

3 Blessed are the poor in spirit; for theirs in the kingdom of the heavens.

4 Blessed are the meek; for they shall inherit the earth.

5 Blessed are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted.

6 Blessed are they that hunger and thirst for righteousness; for they shall be filled.

7 Blessed are the merciful; for they shall receive mercy.

8 Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God.

9 Blessed are the peacemakers; for they shall be called sons of God.

10 Blessed are they that are persecuted for righteousness' sake; for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.

11 Blessed are you when they shall reproach you, and persecute you, and say every evil thing against you falsely for my sake.

12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad; for great is your reward in the heavens; for so persecuted they the prophets that were before you.

13 You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt shall have become tasteless, by what means shall it be salted? It is then good for nothing but, after being cast out, to be trod upon by men.

14 You are the light of the world. A city that lies upon a mountain cannot be hid:

15 neither do men light a lamp and put it under the measure, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all that are in the house.

16 So let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in the heavens.

17 Think not that I have come to destroy the law or the prophets: I have not come to destroy, but to fulfill.

18 For verily I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one yod or one point shall in no way pass from the law, till all be accomplished.

19 Whoever therefore shall make void one of the least of these commandments, and shall teach men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of the heavens; but whoever shall do and teach, he shall be called great in the kingdom of the heavens,

20 For I say to you, that unless your righteousness shall be more abundant than that of the scribes and Pharisees, you can by no means enter into the kingdom of the heavens.

21 You have heard that it was said to the ancients:

Thou shalt not kill; and whoever shall kill shall be liable to the judgment.

22 But I say to you, that whoever is angry with his brother shall be liable to the judgment; and whoever shall say to his brother. Worthless fellow, shall be liable to the Sanhedrim; but whoever shall say:

Thou fool, shall be liable to be cast into hellfire.

23 If therefore thou bring thy gift to the altar, and there remember that thy brother has anything against thee,

24 leave there thy gift before the altar, and go, first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift.

25 Agree with thy opponent-at-law quickly, while thou art on the road with him, lest perhaps the opponent-at-law deliver thee to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and thou be cast into prison.

26 Verily I say to thee, thou shalt not come out thence, till thou shalt have paid the last farthing.

27 You have heard that it was said:

Thou shalt not commit adultery.

28 But I say to you, That every one that looks on a woman to cherish desire, has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

29 But if thy right eye ensnares thee, pull it out, and throw it from thee; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members perish, and not that thy whole body be thrown into hell.

30 And if thy right hand ensnares thee, cut it off, and throw it from thee; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members perish, and not that thy whole body go away into hell.

31 And it has been said:

Whoever shall put away his wife, let him give her a bill of divorce.

32 But I say to you, that whoever shalt put away his wife, unless on account of lewdness, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever shall marry her that is put away commits adultery.

33 Again:

you have heard that it was said to the ancients:

Thou shalt not swear falsely, but shalt pay to the Lord thy oaths.

34 But I say to you, Swear not at all; neither by heaven, for it is the throne of God;

35 nor by the earth, for it is his footstool; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King:

36 neither shalt thou swear by thy head, for thou canst not make one hair white or black.

37 But let your word be yes, yes; no, no; and that which is more than these is of the evil one.

38 You have heard that it was said:

Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.

39 But I say to you, that you resist not the injurious; but whoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.

40 And to him that will go to law with thee, and take away thy coat, give up thy mantle also.

41 And whoever will impress thee to go one mile, go with him two.

42 Give to him that asks of thee, and from him that would borrow of thee, turn not away.

43 You have heard that it was said:

Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thy enemy.

44 But I say to you. Love your enemies, and pray for them that persecute you;

45 that you may become sons of your Father who is in the heavens; for he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends his rain on the just and the unjust.

46 For if you love them that love you, what reward have you? Do not even the publicans the same?

47 And if you salute your brethren only, what do you more? Do not even the heathen the same?

48 Be you therefore perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.

6:1 But take heed that you do not your righteousness before men, to be seen by them: other wise you have no reward with your Father who is in the heavens.

2 When therefore thou wouldst do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues, and in the streets, that they may be glorified by men. Verily I say to you:

They have their reward in full.

3 But when thou doest a charitable deed, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand does;

4 that thy charitable deed may be in secret; and thy Father who sees in secret will reward thee.

5 And when you pray, you shall not be as the hypocrites; for they love to pray standing in the synagogues, and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Verily I say to you: They have their reward in full.

6 But thou, when thou prayest, go into thy closet; and having closed thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret; and thy Father who sees in secret will reward thee.

7 But when you pray, use not vain repetitions as the heathens; for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.

8 Be not therefore like them; for your Father knows what things you have need of before you ask him.

9 In this way therefore pray you:

Our Father who art in the heavens:

hallowed be thy name.

10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done as in heaven also on earth.

11 Give us this day our needful bread.

12 And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors;

13 and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.

14 For if you forgive men their offenses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you;

15 but if you for give not men, neither will your Father forgive your offenses.

16 And when you fast, be not as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance; for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear to men to fast. Verily I say to you, They have their reward in full.

17 But do thou, when fasting, anoint thy head, and wash thy face,

18 that thou appear not to men to fast, but to thy Father who is in secret; and thy Father who sees in secret will reward thee.

19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal;

20 but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes, and where thieves do not break through nor steal.

21 For where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also.

22 The lamp of the body is the eye. If thy eye be simple thy whole body shall be full of light;

23 but if thy eye be evil thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If then the light that is in thee is darkness, how great that darkness.

24 No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other or he will hold to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon.

25 For this reason I say to you:

Be not anxious for your life what you shall eat, nor for your body what you shall put on. Is not the life more than the food, and the body than the clothing?

26 Look at the birds of heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into granaries; and yet your heavenly Father feeds them: are you not much better than they?

27 But which of you, by being anxious, can add one cubit to his age?

28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they toil not, nor do they spin.

29 But I say to you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed as one of these.

30 Now if God so clothes the herb of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?

31 Then, be not anxious, saying:

What shall we eat, or what shall we drink, or with what shall we be clothed?

32 For after all these things do the Gentiles seek; for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these.

33 But seek first His kingdom and righteousness, and all these shall be given you in addition.

34 Be not therefore anxious for the morrow; for the morrow shall be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own evil.

7:1 Judge not that you be not judged.

2 For with what judgment you judge, you shall be judged, and with what measure you measure, it shall be measured to you.

3 And why behold thou the splinter that is in thy brother's eye, but consider not the beam that is in thy own eye?

4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother:

Let me pull the splinter out of thy eye, and behold, the beam is in thy own eye.

5 Hypocrite, pull first the beam out of thy own eye, and then thou shalt see clearly to pull the splinter out of thy brother's eye.

6 Give not that which is holy to dogs, neither throw your pearls before swine, less they trample them with their feet, and turn and tear you.

7 Ask, and it shall be given you:

seek, and you shall find:

knock, and it shall be opened to you.

8 For every one that asks receives; and he that seeks finds; and to him that knocks it shall be opened.

9 Or what man is there of you, of whom should his son ask bread, will he give him a stone?

10 or if he should also ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

11 If then you being evil know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in the heavens give good gifts to those who ask Him?

12 All things therefore whatever you would that men should do to you, even so do you to them; for this is the law and the prophets.

13 Enter in through the straight gate; for wide the gate and broad the way that leads to destruction; and many are they that go in through it;

14 for straight is the gate, and narrow the way that leads to life, and few are they that find it.

15 Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but within are ravenous wolves.

16 By their fruits you shall know them. Do men gather grapes from thorns, or figs from thistles?

17 So every good tree produces goodly fruit; but the corrupt tree produces evil fruit.

18 A good tree cannot produce evil fruit; neither can a corrupt tree produce goodly fruit.

19 Every tree that does not produce goodly fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

20 Therefore, by their fruits you shall know them.

21 Not every one that says to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of the heavens, but he that does the will of my Father who is in the heavens.

22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by thy name, and by thy name cast out demons, and by thy name do many mighty works?

23 And then will I confess to them, I never knew you: depart from me, you that work iniquity.

24 Every one therefore that hears these words of mine and does them, shall be likened to a wise man, who built his house on the rock.

25 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell not; for it was founded on the rock.

26 And every one that hears these words of mine, and does them not, shall be likened to a foolish man who built his house upon the sand.

27 And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and they beat upon that house, and it fell; and great was its fall.

28 And it came to pass when Jesus had finished these words, the multitudes were astonished at His teaching;

29 for He taught them as having authority and not as their scribes.

Each one of us has to make a choice on whether to put faith in this world or with the one who created it. If the choice is Elohim, then we must learn His law of unconditional love and mercy and reconciliation with family and nonfamily brothers and sisters. Jesus teaches us how to properly love and fear Elohim.

I personally learned that all this writing I have done will not be rewarded with Elohim. It is neither perfect and nor anonymous. Therefore, any credit I receive for doing this is for Earthly reward only. I am sinner that wants to be accepted by Jesus, but I am not always pure.

I enjoy making money. But, I realize that we should not idolize it.

God+and+mammon.jpg

We live in a material world.

Luke 16 Codex Sinaiticus

9 And I say to you:

Make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when it fails they may receive you into the eternal habitations.

10 He that is faithful in very little is faithful also in much, and he that is unjust in very little is unjust also in much.

11 If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will entrust to you the true riches?

12 And if you have not been faithful in that which is another’s, who will give to you that which is your own?

13 No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other; or he will hold the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.

14 And the Pharisees, who were lovers of money, heard all these things, and scoffed at him.

15 And he said to them:

You are they that justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination in the sight of God.

16 The law and the prophets preached till John; from that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every one enters it by force.

17 But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away, than for one point of the law to fall.

18 Every one that puts away his wife and marries another commits adultery, and he that marries her that is put away from a husband commits adultery.

19 But there was a certain rich man, and he was clothed in purple and fine linen, feasting splendidly every day.

20 And a certain poor man named Lazarus had been laid at his gate, full of sores,

21 and desiring to be fed with that which fell from the rich man’s table:

moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores.

22 But it came to pass that the poor man died and was carried by angels to Abraham’s bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried.

23 And in hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom.

24 And he cried and said:

Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame.

25 But Abraham said:

Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime received thy good things, and Lazarus likewise evil things; but now here he is comforted and thou art tormented.

26 And in all these regions between us and you a great chasm is fixed, so that they that would pass hence to you cannot, neither can they pass thence to us.

27 And he said:

I pray thee then, father, that thou wouldst send him to my father’s house;

28 for I have five brothers: that he may earnestly testify to them, lest they themselves also come to this place of torment.

29 But Abraham said to him:

They have Moses and the prophets:

let them hear them.

30 And he said:

No, father Abraham; but if one from the dead should go to them, they will repent.

31 But he said to him:

If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one should rise from the dead.

Indeed, many believe that Jesus existed. Many believe in resurrection from the dead.
Less believe that Jesus rose from the dead. Less believe in the testimony of Jesus. Of those who believe in Jesus resurrection and His testimony, less follow His commands.

Kari Jobe - Forever (Live)

Luke_Wilbur · February 1, 2015

The Didache

Chapter 5

5:1 But the way of death is this.
5:2 First of all, it is evil and full of a curse murders, adulteries, lusts, fornications, thefts, idolatries, magical arts, witchcrafts, plunderings, false witnessings, hypocrisies, doubleness of heart, treachery, pride, malice, stubbornness, covetousness, foul-speaking, jealousy, boldness, exaltation, boastfulness;

Phaedrus

By Plato

Written 360 B.C.E

Translated by Benjamin Jowett (1817 – 1893)

Socrates "Everyone sees that love is a desire, and we know also that non-lovers desire the beautiful and good. Now in what way is the lover to be distinguished from the non-lover? Let us note that in every one of us there are two guiding and ruling principles which lead us whither they will; one is the natural desire of pleasure, the other is an acquired opinion which aspires after the best; and these two are sometimes in harmony and then again at war, and sometimes the one, sometimes the other conquers. When opinion by the help of reason leads us to the best, the conquering principle is called temperance; but when desire, which is devoid of reason, rules in us and drags us to pleasure, that power of misrule is called excess. Now excess has many names, and many members, and many forms, and any of these forms when very marked gives a name, neither honorable nor creditable, to the bearer of the name. The desire of eating, for example, which gets the better of the higher reason and the other desires, is called gluttony, and he who is possessed by it is called a glutton-I the tyrannical desire of drink, which inclines the possessor of the desire to drink, has a name which is only too obvious, and there can be as little doubt by what name any other appetite of the same family would be called;-it will be the name of that which happens to be eluminant. And now I think that you will perceive the drift of my discourse; but as every spoken word is in a manner plainer than the unspoken, I had better say further that the irrational desire which overcomes the tendency of opinion towards right, and is led away to the enjoyment of beauty, and especially of personal beauty, by the desires which are her own kindred-that supreme desire, I say, which by leading conquers and by the force of passion is reinforced, from this very force, receiving a name, is called love."

And now, dear Phaedrus, I shall pause for an instant to ask whether you do not think me, as I appear to myself, inspired?

Phaedr. Yes, Socrates, you seem to have a very unusual flow of words.

Soc. Listen to me, then, in silence; for surely the place is holy; so that you must not wonder, if, as I proceed, I appear to be in a divine fury, for already I am getting into dithyrambics.

Phaedr. Nothing can be truer.

Soc. The responsibility rests with you. But hear what follows, and Perhaps the fit may be averted; all is in their hands above. I will go on talking to my youth. Listen:

Thus, my friend, we have declared and defined the nature of the subject. Keeping the definition in view, let us now enquire what advantage or disadvantage is likely to ensue from the lover or the non-lover to him who accepts their advances.

He who is the victim of his passions and the slave of pleasure will of course desire to make his beloved as agreeable to himself as possible. Now to him who has a mind discased anything is agreeable which is not opposed to him, but that which is equal or superior is hateful to him, and therefore the lover will not brook any superiority or equality on the part of his beloved; he is always employed in reducing him to inferiority. And the ignorant is the inferior of the wise, the coward of the brave, the slow of speech of the speaker, the dull of the clever. These, and not these only, are the mental defects of the beloved;-defects which, when implanted by nature, are necessarily a delight to the lover, and when not implanted, he must contrive to implant them in him, if he would not be deprived of his fleeting joy. And therefore he cannot help being jealous, and will debar his beloved from the advantages of society which would make a man of him, and especially from that society which would have given him wisdom, and thereby he cannot fail to do him great harm. That is to say, in his excessive fear lest he should come to be despised in his eyes he will be compelled to banish from him divine philosophy; and there is no greater injury which he can inflict upon him than this. He will contrive that his beloved shall be wholly ignorant, and in everything shall look to him; he is to be the delight of the lover's heart, and a curse to himself. Verily, a lover is a profitable guardian and associate for him in all that relates to his mind.

Let us next see how his master, whose law of life is pleasure and not good, will keep and train the body of his servant. Will he not choose a beloved who is delicate rather than sturdy and strong? One brought up in shady bowers and not in the bright sun, a stranger to manly exercises and the sweat of toil, accustomed only to a soft and luxurious diet, instead of the hues of health having the colours of paint and ornament, and the rest of a piece?-such a life as any one can imagine and which I need not detail at length. But I may sum up all that I have to say in a word, and pass on. Such a person in war, or in any of the great crises of life, will be the anxiety of his friends and also of his lover, and certainly not the terror of his enemies; which nobody can deny.

And now let us tell what advantage or disadvantage the beloved will receive from the guardianship and society of his lover in the matter of his property; this is the next point to be considered. The lover will be the first to see what, indeed, will be sufficiently evident to all men, that he desires above all things to deprive his beloved of his dearest and best and holiest possessions, father, mother, kindred, friends, of all whom he thinks may be hinderers or reprovers of their most sweet converse; he will even cast a jealous eye upon his gold and silver or other property, because these make him a less easy prey, and when caught less manageable; hence he is of necessity displeased at his possession of them and rejoices at their loss; and he would like him to be wifeless, childless, homeless, as well; and the longer the better, for the longer he is all this, the longer he will enjoy him.

There are some soft of animals, such as flatterers, who are dangerous and, mischievous enough, and yet nature has mingled a temporary pleasure and grace in their composition. You may say that a courtesan is hurtful, and disapprove of such creatures and their practices, and yet for the time they are very pleasant. But the lover is not only hurtful to his love; he is also an extremely disagreeable companion. The old proverb says that "birds of a feather flock together"; I suppose that equality of years inclines them to the same pleasures, and similarity begets friendship; yet you may have more than enough even of this; and verily constraint is always said to be grievous. Now the lover is not only unlike his beloved, but he forces himself upon him. For he is old and his love is young, and neither day nor night will he leave him if he can help; necessity and the sting of desire drive him on, and allure him with the pleasure which he receives from seeing, hearing, touching, perceiving him in every way. And therefore he is delighted to fasten upon him and to minister to him. But what pleasure or consolation can the beloved be receiving all this time? Must he not feel the extremity of disgust when he looks at an old shrivelled face and the remainder to match, which even in a description is disagreeable, and quite detestable when he is forced into daily contact with his lover; moreover he is jealously watched and guarded against everything and everybody, and has to hear misplaced and exaggerated praises of himself, and censures equally inappropriate, which are intolerable when the man is sober, and, besides being intolerable, are published all over the world in all their indelicacy and wearisomeness when he is drunk.

And not only while his love continues is he mischievous and unpleasant, but when his love ceases he becomes a perfidious enemy of him on whom he showered his oaths and prayers and promises, and yet could hardly prevail upon him to tolerate the tedium of his company even from motives of interest. The hour of payment arrives, and now he is the servant of another master; instead of love and infatuation, wisdom and temperance are his bosom's lords; but the beloved has not discovered the change which has taken place in him, when he asks for a return and recalls to his recollection former sayings and doings; he believes himself to be speaking to the same person, and the other, not having the courage to confess the truth, and not knowing how to fulfill the oaths and promises which he made when under the dominion of folly, and having now grown wise and temperate, does not want to do as he did or to be as he was before. And so he runs away and is constrained to be a defaulter; the oyster-shell has fallen with the other side uppermost-he changes pursuit into flight, while the other is compelled to follow him with passion and imprecation not knowing that he ought never from the first to have accepted a demented lover instead of a sensible non-lover; and that in making such a choice he was giving himself up to a faithless, morose, envious, disagreeable being, hurtful to his estate, hurtful to his bodily health, and still more hurtful to the cultivation of his mind, than which there neither is nor ever will be anything more honoured in the eyes both of gods and men. Consider this, fair youth, and know that in the friendship of the lover there is no real kindness; he has an appetite and wants to feed upon you:

As wolves love lambs so lovers love their loves.

From what I have read Socrates understood the concept of excess being an attribute of pleasure, but failed to link temperance as an attribute of love. Instead Socrates considered passion a negative aspect of desire for personal beauty and defined this as love.

Candaules, King of Lydia, Shews his Wife by Stealth to Gyges, One of his Ministers, As She Goes to Bed

William Etty 1787–1849

Date Exhibited 1830
Medium Oil paint on canvas

The Lydian king, Candaules, had arranged for his general, Gyges, to view his wife, Nyssia, as she undressed. The furious queen offered Gyges the choice of being executed or murdering her husband. Gyges chose the latter, and went on to marry her.Etty here subverts the language of neo-classical history painting. Instead of improving themes, Etty uses it for an erotic subject of voyeurism and vengeance. He emphasises colour and texture rather than outline, and treats physical beauty as the object of lust and deception. His picture typified the Romantic challenge to moral and pictorial conventions.

Etty-Candaules_King_of_Lydia_Shews_his_W

I wonder what Saint Paul thought about Socrates being sentenced to death discussing the greatest of desires of flesh, 'pleasure'. Christ clearly explained the answer to this discourse. And through the will of God, Paul was himself enlightened and able to Christianize his fellow Jews, tree worshipers, and polytheist believers.

Galatians 5

5:16 I say, live by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh.

5:17 For the flesh has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires that are opposed to the flesh, for these are in opposition to each other, so that you cannot do what you want.

5:18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

5:19 Now the works of the flesh are obvious:

sexual immorality, impurity, depravity,

5:20 idolatry, sorcery, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, dissensions, factions,

5:21 envying, murder, drunkenness, carousing, and similar things.

I am warning you, as I had warned you before:

Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God!

5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

5:23 gentleness, and self-control.

Against such things there is no law.

5:24 Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

5:25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also behave in accordance with the Spirit.

5:26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, being jealous of one another.

Both Socrates and later Jesus expected death on their last day. Both understood the choice between the flesh and the soul.

Mark 14

14:32 Then they went to a place called Gethsemane, and Jesus said to his disciples, “Sit here while I pray.”

14:33 He took Peter, James, and John with him, and became very troubled and distressed.

14:34 He said to them, “My soul is deeply grieved, even to the point of death. Remain here and stay alert.”

14:35 Going a little farther, he threw himself to the ground and prayed that if it were possible the hour would pass from him.

14:36 He said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you. Take this cup away from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

14:37 Then he came and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, “Simon, are you sleeping? Couldn’t you stay awake for one hour?

14:38 Stay awake and pray that you will not fall into temptation.

The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

14:39 He went away again and prayed the same thing.

14:40 When he came again he found them sleeping; they could not keep their eyes open. And they did not know what to tell him.

14:41 He came a third time and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Enough of that! The hour has come. Look, the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.

14:42 Get up, let us go. Look!

My betrayer is approaching!”

It is hard to imagine knowing that you are going to die a slow horrifying death according to your Father's will. A sinless son knowing he is going to be tortured and executed is like a lamb knowing he is going to be slaughtered.

Christ in Gethsemane

Vasily Perov

Completion Date: 1878

Style: Realism

Genre: religious painting

Technique: oil

Material: canvas

Greater Hippias

Socrates Well, that shall be done, God willing, Hippias. Now, however, give me a brief answer to a question about your discourse, for you reminded me of the beautiful just at the right moment. For recently, my most excellent friend, as I was finding fault with some things in certain speeches as ugly and praising other things as beautiful, a man threw me into confusion by questioning me very insolently somewhat after this fashion:

“How, if you please, do you know, Socrates,” said he,“what sort of things are beautiful and ugly? For, come now, could you tell me what the beautiful is?” And I, being of no account, was at a loss and could not answer him properly; and so, as I was going away from the company, I was angry with myself and reproached myself, and threatened that the first time I met one of you wise men, I would hear and learn and practise and then go back to the man who questioned me to renew the wordy strife. So now, as I say, you have come at the right moment; just teach me satisfactorily what the absolute beautiful is, and try in replying to speak as accurately as possible, that I may not be confuted a second time and be made ridiculous again. For you doubtless know clearly, and this would doubtless be but a small example of your wide learning.

Hippias Yes, surely, by Zeus, a small one, Socrates, and, I may say, of no value.

Socrates Then I shall learn it easily, and nobody will confute me any more.

Hippias Nobody, surely; for in that case my profession would be worthless and ordinary.

Socrates That is good, by Hera, Hippias, if we are to worst the fellow. But may I without hindering you imitate him, and when you answer, take exception to what you say, in order that you may give me as much practice as possible? For I am more or less experienced in taking exceptions. So, if it is all the same to you, I wish to take exceptions, that I may learn more vigorously.

Hippias Oh yes, take exceptions. For, as I said just now, the question is no great matter, but I could teach you to answer much harder ones than this, so that nobody in the world could confute you.

Socrates Oh how good that is! But come, since you tell me to do so, now let me try to play that man's part, so far as possible, and ask you questions. For if you were to deliver for him this discourse that you mention, the one about beautiful pursuits, when he had heard it, after you had stopped speaking, the very first thing he would ask about would be the beautiful; for he has that sort of habit, and he would say, “Stranger from Elis, is it not by justice that the just are just?” So answer, Hippias, as though he were asking the question.

Hippias I shall answer that it is by justice.

Socrates “Then this—I mean justice—is something?”

Hippias Certainly.

Socrates “Then, too, by wisdom the wise are wise and by the good all things are good, are they not?”

Hippias Of course.

Socrates “And justice, wisdom, and so forth are something; for the just, wise, and so forth would not be such by them, if they were not something.”

Hippias To be sure, they are something.

Socrates “Then are not all beautiful things beautiful by the beautiful?”

Hippias Yes, by the beautiful.

Socrates “By the beautiful, which is something?”

Hippias Yes, for what alternative is there?

Socrates “Tell me, then, stranger,” he will say, “what is this, the beautiful?”

Hippias Well, Socrates, does he who asks this question want to find out anything else than what is beautiful?

Socrates I do not think that is what he wants to find out, but what the beautiful is.

Hippias And what difference is there between the two?

Socrates Do you think there is none?

Hippias Yes, for there is no difference.

Socrates Well, surely it is plain that you know best; but still, my good friend, consider; for he asked you, not what is beautiful, but what the beautiful is.

Hippias I understand, my good friend, and I will answer and tell him what the beautiful is, and I shall never be confuted. For be assured, Socrates, if I must speak the truth, a beautiful maiden is beautiful.

Socrates Beautifully answered, Hippias, by the dog, and notably! Then if I give this answer, I shall have answered the question that was asked, and shall have answered it correctly, and shall never be confuted?

Hippias Yes, for how could you, Socrates, be confuted, when you say what everybody thinks, and when all who hear it will bear witness that what you say is correct?

Socrates Very well; certainly. Come, then, Hippias, let me rehearse to myself what you say. The man will question me in some such fashion as this: “Come Socrates, answer me. All these things which you say are beautiful, if the absolute beautiful is anything, would be beautiful?” And I shall say that if a beautiful maiden is beautiful, there is something by reason of which these things would be beautiful.

Hippias Do you think, then, that he will still attempt to refute you and to show that what you say is not beautiful, or, if he does attempt it, that he will not be ridiculous?

Socrates That he will attempt it, my admirable friend, I am sure but whether the attempt will make him ridiculous, the event will show. However, I should like to tell you what he will ask.

Hippias Do so.

Socrates “How charming you are, Socrates!” he will say. “But is not a beautiful mare beautiful, which even the god praised in his oracle?” What shall we say, Hippias? Shall we not say that the mare is beautiful, I mean the beautiful mare? For how could we dare to deny that the beautiful thing is beautiful?

Hippias Quite true, Socrates for what the god said is quite correct, too; for very beautiful mares are bred in our country.

Socrates “Very well,” he will say, “and how about a beautiful lyre? Is it not beautiful?” Shall we agree, Hippias?

Hippias Yes.

Socrates After this, then, the man will ask, I am sure, judging by his character: “You most excellent man, how about a beautiful pot? Is it, then, not beautiful?”

Hippias Socrates, who is the fellow? What an uncultivated person, who has the face to mention such worthless things in a dignified discussion!

Socrates That's the kind of person he is, Hippias, not elegant, but vulgar, thinking of nothing but the truth. But nevertheless the man must be answered, and I will declare my opinion beforehand: if the pot were made by a good potter, were smooth and round and well fired, as are some of the two-handled pots, those that hold six choes, very beautiful ones— if that were the kind of pot he asked about, we must agree that it is beautiful; for how could we say that being beautiful it is not beautiful?

Hippias We could not at all, Socrates.

Socrates “Then,” he will say, “a beautiful pot also is beautiful, is it not?” Answer.

Hippias Well, Socrates, it is like this, I think. This utensil, when well wrought, is beautiful, but absolutely considered it does not deserve to be regarded as beautiful in comparison with a mare and a maiden and all the beautiful things.

Socrates Very well I understand, Hippias, that the proper reply to him who asks these questions is this: “Sir, you are not aware that the saying of Heracleitus is good, that the most beautiful of monkeys is ugly compared with the race of man, and the most beautiful of pots is ugly compared with the race of maidens, as Hippias the wise man says.” Is it not so, Hippias?

Hippias Certainly, Socrates; you replied rightly.

Socrates Listen then. For I am sure that after this he will say: “Yes, but, Socrates, if we compare maidens with gods, will not the same thing happen to them that happened to pots when compared with maidens? Will not the most beautiful maiden appear ugly? Or does not Heracleitus, whom you cite, mean just this, that the wisest of men, if compared with a god, will appear a monkey, both in wisdom and in beauty and in everything else?” Shall we agree, Hippias, that the most beautiful maiden is ugly if compared with the gods?

Hippias Yes, for who would deny that, Socrates?

Socrates If, then, we agree to that, he will laugh and say: “Socrates, do you remember the question you were asked?” “I do,” I shall say, “the question was what the absolute beautiful is.” “Then,” he will say, “when you were asked for the beautiful, do you give as your reply what is, as you yourself say, no more beautiful than ugly?” “So it seems,” I shall say; or what do you, my friend, advise me to say?

Hippias That is what I advise; for, of course, in saying that the human race is not beautiful in comparison with gods, you will be speaking the truth.

Socrates “But if I had asked you,” he will say, “in the beginning what is beautiful and ugly, if you had replied as you now do, would you not have replied correctly? But do you still think that the absolute beautiful, by the addition of which all other things are adorned and made to appear beautiful, when its form is added to any of them—do you think that is a maiden or a mare or a lyre?”

Hippias Well, certainly, Socrates, if that is what he is looking for, nothing is easier than to answer and tell him what the beautiful is, by which all other things are adorned and by the addition of which they are made to appear beautiful. So the fellow is very simple-minded and knows nothing about beautiful possessions. For if you reply to him:

“This that you ask about, the beautiful, is nothing else but gold,” he will be thrown into confusion and will not attempt to confute you. For we all know, I fancy, that wherever this is added, even what before appears ugly will appear beautiful when adorned with gold.

Socrates You don't know the man, Hippias, what a wretch he is, and how certain not to accept anything easily.

Hippias What of that, then, Socrates? For he must perforce accept what is correct,

Socrates This reply, my most excellent friend, he not only will certainly not accept, but he will even jeer at me grossly and will say: “You lunatic, do you think Pheidias is a bad craftsman?” And I shall say, “Not in the least.”

Hippias And you will be right, Socrates.

Socrates Yes, to be sure. Consequently when I agree that Pheidias is a good craftsman, “Well, then,” he will say, “do you imagine that Pheidias did not know this beautiful that you speak of?” “Why do you ask that?” I shall say. “Because,” he will say, “he did not make the eyes of his Athena of gold, nor the rest of her face, nor her hands and feet, if, that is, they were sure to appear most beautiful provided only they were made of gold, but he made them of ivory; evidently he made this mistake through ignorance, not knowing that it is gold which makes everything beautiful to which it is added.” When he says that, what reply shall we make to him, Hippias?

Hippias That is easy; for we shall say that Pheidias did right; for ivory, I think, is beautiful.

Socrates “Why, then,” he will say, “did he not make the middle parts of the eyes also of ivory, but of stone, procuring stone as similar as possible to the ivory? Or is beautiful stone also beautiful?” Shall we say that it is, Hippias?

Hippias Surely we shall say so, that is, where it is appropriate.

Socrates “But ugly when not appropriate?” Shall I agree, or not?

Hippias Agree, that is, when it is not appropriate.

Socrates “What then? Do not gold and ivory,” he will say, “when they are appropriate, make things beautiful, and when they are not appropriate, ugly?” Shall we deny that, or agree that what he says is correct?

Hippias We shall agree to this, at any rate, that whatever is appropriate to any particular thing makes that thing beautiful.

Socrates “Well, then,” he will say, “when some one has boiled the pot of which we were speaking just now, the beautiful one, full of beautiful soup, is a golden ladle appropriate to it, or one made of fig wood?”

Hippias Heracles! What a fellow this is that you speak of! Won't you tell me who he is?

Socrates You would not know him if I should tell you his name.

Hippias But even now I know that he is an ignoramus.

Socrates He is a great nuisance, Hippias but yet, what shall we say? Which of the two ladles shall we say is appropriate to the soup and the pot? Is it not evidently the one of fig wood? For it is likely to make the soup smell better, and besides, my friend, it would not break the pot, thereby spilling the soup, putting out the fire, and making those who are to be entertained go without their splendid soup; whereas the golden ladle would do all those things, so that it seems to me that we must say that the wooden ladle is more appropriate than the golden one, unless you disagree.

Hippias No, for it is more appropriate, Socrates; however, I, for my part, would not talk with the fellow when he asks such questions.

Socrates Quite right, my friend; for it would not be appropriate for you to be filled up with such words, you who are so beautifully clad, so beautifully shod, and so famous for your wisdom among all the Greeks; but for me it doesn't matter if I do associate with the fellow; [291b] so instruct me and for my sake answer him. “For if the wooden one is more appropriate than the golden one,” the fellow will say, “would it not be more beautiful, since you agreed, Socrates, that the appropriate is more beautiful than that which is not appropriate?” Shall we not agree, Hippias, that the wooden one is more beautiful than the golden?

Hippias Do you wish me to tell you, Socrates, what definition of the beautiful will enable you to free yourself from long discussion?

Socrates Certainly; but not until after you have told me which of the two ladles I just spoke of I shall reply is appropriate and more beautiful.

Hippias Well, if you like, reply to him that it is the one made of fig wood.

Socrates Now, then, say what you were just now going to say. For by this reply, if I say that the beautiful is gold, it seems to me that gold will be shown to be no more beautiful than fig wood; but what do you now, once more, say that the beautiful is? [291d]

Hippias I will tell you; for you seem to me to be seeking to reply that the beautiful is something of such sort that it will never appear ugly anywhere to anybody.

Socrates Certainly, Hippias; now you understand beautifully.

Hippias Listen, then; for, mind you, if anyone has anything to say against this, you may say I know nothing at all. Socrates Then for Heaven's sake, speak as quickly as you can.

Hippias I say, then, that for every man and everywhere it is most beautiful to be rich and healthy, and honored by the Greeks, to reach old age, and, after providing a beautiful funeral for his deceased parents, to be beautifully and splendidly buried by his own offspring.

Socrates Bravo, bravo, Hippias! You have spoken in a way that is wonderful and great and worthy of you; and now, by Hera, I thank you, because you are kindly coming to my assistance to the best of your ability. But our shots are not hitting the man; no, he will laugh at us now more than ever, be sure of that.

Hippias A wretched laugh, Socrates; for when he has nothing to say to this, but laughs, he will be laughing at himself

and will himself be laughed at by those present.

Socrates Perhaps that is so perhaps, however, after this reply, he will, I foresee, be likely to do more than laugh at me.

Hippias Why do you say that, pray?

Socrates Because, if he happens to have a stick, unless I get away in a hurry, he will try to fetch me a good one.

Hippias What? Is the fellow some sort of master of yours, and if he does that, will he not be arrested and have to pay for it? Or does your city disregard justice [292b] and allow the citizens to beat one another unjustly?

Socrates Oh no that is not allowed at all.

Hippias Then he will have to pay a penalty for beating you unjustly.

Socrates I do not think so, Hippias. No, if I were to make that reply, the beating would be just, I think.

Hippias Then I think so, too, Socrates, since that is your own belief.

Socrates Shall I, then, not tell you why it is my own belief that the beating would be just, if I made that reply? Or will you also beat me without trial? Or will you listen to what I have to say?

Hippias It would be shocking if I would not listen; but what have you to say?

Socrates I will tell you, imitating him in the same way as a while ago, that I may not use to you such harsh and uncouth words as he uses to me. For you may be sure, “Tell me, Socrates,” he will say, “do you think it would be unjust if you got a beating for singing such a long dithyramb so unmusically and so far from the question?” “How so?” I shall say. “How so?” he will say; “are you not able to remember that I asked for the absolute beautiful, by which everything to which it is added has the property of being beautiful, both stone and stick and man and god and every act and every acquisition of knowledge? For what I am asking is this, man:

what is absolute beauty? and I cannot make you hear what I say any more than if you were a stone sitting beside me, and a millstone at that, having neither ears nor brain.” Would you, then, not be angry, Hippias,if I should be frightened and should reply in this way? “Well, but Hippias said that this was the beautiful; and yet I asked him, just as you asked me, what is beautiful to all and always.” What do you say? Will you not be angry if I say that?

Hippias I know very well, Socrates, that this which I said was beautiful is beautiful to all and will seem so.

Socrates And will it be so, too he will say for the beautiful is always beautiful, is it not?

Hippias Certainly.

Socrates “Then was it so, too?” he will say.

Hippias It was so, too.

Socrates “And,” he will say, “did the stranger from Elis say also that for Achilles it was beautiful to be buried later than his parents, and for his grandfather Aeacus, and all the others who were born of gods, and for the gods themselves?”

Hippias What's that? Confound it! These questions of the fellow's are not even respectful to religion.

Socrates Well, then, when another asks the question, perhaps it is not quite disrespectful to religion to say that these things are so?

Hippias Perhaps.

Socrates “Perhaps, then, you are the man,” he will say, “who says that it is beautiful for every one and always to be buried by one's offspring, and to bury one's parents; or was not Heracles included in 'every one,' he and all those whom we just now mentioned?”

Hippias But I did not say it was so for the gods.

Socrates “Nor for the heroes either, apparently.”

Hippias Not those who were children of gods.

Socrates “But those who were not?”

Hippias Certainly.

Socrates “Then again, according to your statement, among the heroes it is terrible and impious and disgraceful for Tantalus and Dardanus and Zethus, but beautiful for Pelops and the others who were born as he was?”

Hippias I think so.

Socrates “You think, then, what you did not say just now, that to bury one's parents and be buried by one's offspring is sometimes and for some persons disgraceful; and it is still more impossible, as it seems, for this to become and to be beautiful for all, so that the same thing has happened to this as to the things we mentioned before, the maiden and the pot, in a still more ridiculous way than to them; it is beautiful for some and not beautiful for others. And you are not able yet, even today, Socrates,” he will say, “to answer what is asked about the beautiful, namely what it is.” With these words and the like he will rebuke me, if I reply to him in this way. [293d] For the most part, Hippias, he talks with me in some such way as that but sometimes, as if in pity for my inexperience and lack of training, he himself volunteers a question, and asks whether I think the beautiful is so and so or whatever else it is which happens to be the subject of our questions and our discussion.

Hippias What do you mean by that, Socrates?

Socrates I will tell you. “Oh, my dear Socrates,” he says, “stop making replies of this sort and in this way—for they are too silly and easy to refute; but see if something like this does not seem to you to be beautiful, which we got hold of just now in our reply, when we said that gold was beautiful for those things for which it was appropriate, but not for those for which it was not, and that all the other things were beautiful to which this quality pertains; so examine this very thing, the appropriate, and see if it is perchance the beautiful.” Now I am accustomed to agree to such things every time for I don't know what to say; but now does it seem to you that the appropriate is the beautiful?

Hippias Yes, certainly, Socrates.

Socrates Let us consider, lest we make a mistake somehow.

Hippias Yes, we must consider.

Socrates See, then; do we say that the appropriate is that which, then it is added, makes each of those things to which it is added appear beautiful, or which makes them be beautiful, or neither of these?

Hippias I think so.

Socrates Which?

Hippias That which makes them appear beautiful; as when a man takes clothes or shoes that fit, even if he be ridiculous, he appears more beautiful.

Socrates Then if the appropriate makes him appear more beautiful than he is, the appropriate would be a sort of deceit in respect to the beautiful, and would not be that which we are looking for, would it, Hippias? For we were rather looking for that by which all beautiful things are beautiful—like that by which all great things are great, that is, excess; for it is by this that all great things are great; for even if they do not appear great, but exceed, they are of necessity great; so, then, we say, what would the beautiful be, by which all things are beautiful, whether they appear so or not? For it could not be the appropriate, since that, by your statement, makes things appear more beautiful than they are, but does not let them appear such as they are. But we must try to say what that is which makes things be beautiful, as I said just now, whether they appear so or not; for that is what we are looking for, since we are looking for the beautiful.

Hippias But the appropriate, Socrates, makes things both be and appear beautiful by its presence.

Socrates Is it impossible, then, for things which are really beautiful not to appear to be beautiful, at any rate when that is present which makes them appear so?

Hippias It is impossible.

Socrates Shall we, then, agree to this, Hippias, that all things which are really beautiful, both uses and pursuits, are always believed to be beautiful by all, and appear so to them, or, quite the contrary, that people are ignorant about them, and that there is more strife and contention about them than about anything else, both in private between individuals and in public between states?

Hippias The latter rather, Socrates; that people are ignorant about them.

Socrates They would not be so, if the appearance of beauty were added to them; and it would be added, if the appropriate were beautiful and made things not only to be beautiful, but also to appear so. So that the appropriate, if it is that which makes things be beautiful, would be the beautiful which we are looking for, but would not be that which makes things appear beautiful; but if, on the other hand, the appropriate is that which makes things appear beautiful, it would not be the beautiful for which we are looking. For that makes things be beautiful, but the same element could not make things both appear and be beautiful, nor could it make them both appear and be anything else whatsoever. Let us choose, then, whether we think that the appropriate is that which makes things appear or be beautiful.

Hippias That which makes them appear so, in my opinion, Socrates.

Socrates Whew! Our perception of what the beautiful is has fled away and gone, Hippias, since the appropriate has been found to be something other than the beautiful.

Hippias Yes, by Zeus, Socrates, and to me that is very queer.

Socrates However, my friend, let us not yet give it up, for I still have hopes that what the beautiful is will be made clear.

Hippias Certainly, to be sure, Socrates, for it is not hard to find. Now I know that if I should go away into solitude and meditate alone by myself, I could tell it to you with the most perfect accuracy.

Socrates Ah, don't boast, Hippias. You see how much trouble it has caused us already; I'm afraid it may get angry and run away more than ever. And yet that is nonsense; for you, I think, will easily find it when you go away by yourself. But for Heaven's sake, find it in my presence, or, if you please, join me, as you are now doing, in looking for it. And if we find it, that will be splendid, but if we do not, I shall, I suppose, accept my lot, and you will go away and find it easily. And if we find it now, I shall certainly not be a nuisance to you by asking what that was which you found by yourself; but now once more see if this is in your opinion the beautiful : I say, then, that it is—but consider, paying close attention to me, that I may not talk nonsense—for I say, then, whatever is useful shall be for us beautiful. But I said it with this reason for my thought; beautiful eyes, we say, are not such as seem to be so, which are unable to see, but those which are able and useful for seeing. Is that right?

Hippias Yes.

Socrates Then, too, in the same way we say that the whole body is beautiful, part of it for running, part for wrestling; and again all the animals, a beautiful horse or rooster or quail and all utensils and land vehicles, and on the sea freight-ships and ships of war; and all instruments in music and in the other arts, and, if you like, customs and laws also—pretty well all these we call beautiful in the same way looking at each of them—how it is formed by nature, how it is wrought, how it has been enacted—the useful we call beautiful, and beautiful in the way in which it is useful, and for the purpose for which it is useful, and at the time when it is useful; and that which is in all these aspects useless we say is ugly. Now is not this your opinion also, Hippias?

Hippias It is Socrates, Then are we right in saying that the useful rather than everything else is beautiful? We are right, surely, Socrates.

Socrates Now that which has power to accomplish anything is useful for that for which it has power, but that which is powerless is useless, is it not?

Hippias Certainly.

Socrates Power, then, is beautiful, and want of power is disgraceful or ugly.

Hippias Decidedly. Now other things, Socrates, testify for us that this is so, but especially political affairs; for in political affairs and in one's own state to be powerful is the most beautiful of all things, but to be powerless is the most disgraceful of all.

Socrates Good! Then, for Heaven's sake, Hippias, is wisdom also for this reason the most beautiful of all things and ignorance the most disgraceful of all things?

Hippias Well, what do you suppose, Socrates?

Socrates Just keep quiet, my dear friend; I am so afraid and wondering what in the world we are saying again.

Hippias What are you afraid of again, Socrates, since now your discussion has gone ahead most beautifully?

Socrates I wish that might be the case; but consider this point with me: could a person do what he did not know how and was utterly powerless to do?

Hippias By no means; for how could he do what he was powerless to do?

Socrates Then those who commit errors and accomplish and do bad things involuntarily, if they were powerless to do those things, would not do them?

Hippias Evidently not.

Socrates But yet it is by power that those are powerful who are powerful for surely it is not by powerlessness.

Hippias Certainly not.

Socrates And all who do, have power to do what they do?

Hippias Yes.

Socrates Men do many more bad things than good, from childhood up, and commit many errors involuntarily.

Hippias That is true.

Socrates Well, then, this power and these useful things, which are useful for accomplishing something bad—shall we say that they are beautiful, or far from it?

Hippias Far from it, in my opinion, Socrates.

Socrates Then, Hippias, the powerful and the useful are not, as it seems, our beautiful.

Hippias They are, Socrates, if they are powerful and useful for good.

Socrates Then that assertion, that the powerful and useful are beautiful without qualification, is gone; but was this, Hippias, what our soul wished to say, that the useful and the powerful for doing something good is the beautiful?

Hippias Yes, in my opinion.

Socrates But surely this is beneficial; or is it not?

Hippias Certainly.

Socrates So by this argument the beautiful persons and beautiful customs and all that we mentioned just now are beautiful because they are beneficial.

Hippias Evidently.

Socrates Then the beneficial seems to us to be the beautiful, Hippias.

Hippias Yes, certainly, Socrates.

Socrates But the beneficial is that which creates good.

Hippias Yes, it is.

Socrates But that which creates is nothing else than the cause; am I right?

Hippias It is so.

Socrates Then the beautiful is the cause of the good.

Hippias Yes, it is.

Socrates But surely, Hippias, the cause and that of which the cause is the cause are different; for the cause could not well be the cause of the cause. But look at it in this way was not the cause seen to be creating?

Hippias Yes, certainly.

Socrates By that which creates, then, only that is created which comes into being, but not that which creates. Is not that true?

Hippias That is true.

Socrates The cause, then, is not the cause of the cause, but of that which comes into being through it.

Hippias Certainly.

Socrates If, then, the beautiful is the cause of good, the good would come into being through the beautiful; and this is why we are eager for wisdom and all the other beautiful things, because their offspring, the good, is worthy of eagerness, and, from what we are finding, it looks as if the beautiful were a sort of father of the good.

Hippias Certainly for what you say is well said, Socrates.

Socrates Then is this well said, too, that the father is not the son, and the son not father?

Hippias To be sure it is well said.

Socrates And neither is the cause that which comes into being, nor is that which comes into being the cause.

Hippias True.

Socrates By Zeus, my good friend, then neither is the beautiful good, nor the good beautiful; or does it seem to you possible, after what has been said?

Hippias No, by Zeus, it does not appear so to me.

Socrates Does it please us, and should we be willing to say that the beautiful is not good, and the good not beautiful?

Hippias No, by Zeus, it does not please me at all.

Socrates Right, by Zeus, Hippias! And it pleases me least of all the things we have said.

Hippias Yes, that is likely.

Socrates Then there is a good chance that the statement that the beneficial and the useful and the powerful to create something good are beautiful, is not, as it appeared to be, the most beautiful of of statements, but, if that be possible, is even more ridiculous than those first ones in which we thought the maiden was the beautiful, and each of the various other things we spoke of before.

Hippias That is likely.

Socrates And Hippias, I no longer know where to turn; I am at a loss; but have you anything to say?

Hippias Not at the moment, but, as I said just now, I am sure I shall find it after meditation.

Socrates But it seems to me that I am so eager to know that I cannot wait for you while you delay; for I believe I have just now found a way out. Just see; how would it help us towards our goal if we were to say that that is beautiful which makes us feel joy; I do not mean all pleasures, but that which makes us feel joy through hearing and sight? For surely beautiful human beings, Hippias, and all decorations and paintings and works of sculpture which are beautiful, delight us when we see them; and beautiful sounds and music in general and speeches and stories do the same thing, so that if we were to reply to that impudent fellow, “My excellent man, the beautiful is that which is pleasing through hearing and sight,” don't you think that we should put a stop to his impudence?

Hippias To me, at any rate, Socrates, it seems that the nature of the beautiful is now well stated.

Socrates But what then? Shall we say, Hippias, that beautiful customs and laws are beautiful because they are pleasing through hearing and sight, or that they have some other form of beauty?

Hippias Perhaps, Socrates, these things might slip past the man unnoticed.

Socrates No, by dog, Hippias—not past the man before whom I should be most ashamed of talking nonsense and pretending that I was talking sense when I was not.

Hippias What man is that?

Socrates Socrates, the son of Sophroniscus, who would no more permit me to say these things carelessly without investigation than to say that I know what I do not know.

Hippias But certainly I also, now that you have mentioned it, think that this about the laws is something different.

Socrates Not too fast, Hippias; for very likely we have fallen into the same perplexity about the beautiful in which we were a while ago, although we think we have found another way out.

Hippias What do you mean by that, Socrates?

Socrates
I will tell you what presents itself to me, if perhaps there may be some sense in it. For perhaps these matters of laws and customs might be shown to be not outside of the perception which we have through hearing and sight; but let us stick to the statement that that which is pleasing through the senses is beautiful, without interjecting the matter of the laws. But if this man of whom I speak, or anyone else whosoever, should ask us: “Hippias and Socrates, did you make the distinction that in the category of the pleasing that which is pleasing in the way you mention is beautiful, whereas you say that that which is pleasing according to the other senses —those concerned with food and drink and sexual love and all such things—is not beautiful? Or do you say that such things are not even pleasing and that there is no pleasure at all in them, nor in anything else except sight and hearing?” What shall we say, Hippias?

Hippias Certainly, by all means, Socrates, we shall say that there are very great pleasures in the other things also.

Socrates “Why, then,” he will say, “if they are pleasures no less than the others, do you take from them this designation and deprive them of being beautiful?” “Because,” we shall say, “everybody would laugh at us if we should say that eating is not pleasant but is beautiful, and that a pleasant odor is not pleasant but is beautiful; and as to the act of sexual love, we should all, no doubt, contend that it is most pleasant, but that one must, if he perform it, do it so that no one else shall see, because it is most repulsive to see.” If we say this, Hippias, “I too understand,” he will perhaps say, “that you have all along been ashamed to say that these pleasures are beautiful, because they do not seem so to people; but that is not what I asked, what seems to most people to be beautiful, but what is so.” We shall, then, I fancy, say, as we suggested, “We say that that part of the pleasant which comes by sight and hearing is beautiful.” Do you think the statement is of any use, Hippias, or shall we say something else?

Hippias Inevitably, in view of what has been said, Socrates, we must say just that.

Socrates “Excellent!” he will say. “Then if that which is pleasant through sight and hearing is beautiful, that among pleasant things which does not happen to be of that sort would evidently not be beautiful?” Shall we agree?

Hippias Yes.

Socrates “Is, then, that which is pleasant through sight,” he will say, “pleasant through sight and hearing, or is that which is pleasant through hearing pleasant through hearing and sight?” “No,” we shall say, “that which is pleasant through each of these would not in the least be pleasant through both—for that is what you appear to us to mean—but we said that either of these pleasant things would be beautiful alone by itself, and both together.” Is not that the reply we shall make?

Hippias Certainly.

Socrates “Does, then,” he will say, “any pleasant thing whatsoever differ from any pleasant thing whatsoever by this, by being pleasant? I ask not whether any pleasure is greater or smaller or more or less, but whether it differs by just this very thing, by the fact that one of the pleasures is a pleasure and the other is not a pleasure.” “We do not think so.” Do we?

Hippias No, we do not.

Socrates “Is it not,” then, he will say, “for some other reason than because they are pleasures that you chose these pleasures out from the other pleasures —it was because you saw some quality in both, since they have something different from the others, in view of which you say that they are beautiful? For the reason why that which is pleasant through sight is beautiful, is not, I imagine, because it is through sight; for if that were the cause of its being beautiful, the other pleasure, that through hearing, would not be beautiful; it certainly is not pleasure through sight.” Shall we say “What you say is true?”

Hippias Yes, we shall.

Socrates “Nor, again, is the pleasure through hearing beautiful for the reason that it is through hearing; for in that case, again, the pleasure through sight would not be beautiful; it certainly is not pleasure through hearing.” Shall we say, Hippias, that the man who says that speaks the truth?

Hippias Yes, he speaks the truth.

Socrates “But yet both are beautiful, as you say.” We do say that, do we not?

Hippias We do.

Socrates “They have, then, something identical which makes them to be beautiful, this common quality which pertains to both of them in common and to each individually; for otherwise they would not both collectively and each individually be beautiful.” Answer me, as if you were answering him.

Hippias I answer, and I think it is as you say.

Socrates If, then, these pleasures are both affected in any way collectively, but each individually is not so affected, it is not by this affection that they would be beautiful.

Hippias And how could that be, Socrates, when neither of them individually is affected by some affection or other, that then both are affected by that affection by which neither is affected?

Socrates You think it cannot be?

Hippias I should have to be very inexperienced both in the nature of these things and in the language of our present discussion.

Socrates Very pretty, Hippias. But there is a chance that I think I see a case of that kind which you say is impossible, but do not really see it.

Hippias There's no chance about it, Socrates, but you quite purposely see wrongly.

Socrates And certainly many such cases appear before my mind, but I mistrust them because they do not appear to you, a man who has made more money by wisdom than anyone now living, but to me who never made any money at all; and the thought disturbs me that you are playing with me and purposely deceiving me, they appear to me in such numbers and with such force.

Hippias Nobody, Socrates, will know better than you whether I am playing with you or not, if you proceed to tell these things that appear to you; for it will be apparent to you that you are talking nonsense. For you will never find that you and I are both affected by an affection by which neither of us is affected.

Socrates What are you saying, Hippias? Perhaps you are talking sense, and I fail to understand; but let me tell more clearly what I wish to say. For it appears to me that it is possible for us both to be so affected as to be something which I am not so affected as to be, and which I am not and you are not either; and again for neither of us to be so affected as to be other things which we both are.

Hippias Your reply, Socrates, seems to involve miracles again even greater than those of your previous reply. For consider:

if we are both just, would not each of us be just also, and if each is unjust, would not both again also be unjust, or if both are healthy, each of us also? Or if each of us were to be tired or wounded or struck or affected in any other way whatsoever, should we not both of us be affected in the same way? Then, too, if we were to be golden or of silver or of ivory, or, if you please, noble or wise or honored or old or young or whatever else you like of all that flesh is heir to, is it not quite inevitable that each of us be that also?

Socrates Absolutely.

Hippias But you see, Socrates, you do not consider the entirety of things, nor do they with whom you are in the habit of conversing, but you all test the beautiful and each individual entity by taking them separately and cutting them to pieces. For this reason you fail to observe that embodiments of reality are by nature so great and undivided. And now you have failed to observe to such a degree that you think there is some affection or reality which pertains to both of these together, but not to each individually, or again to each, but not to both; so unreasoning and undiscerning and foolish and unreflecting is your state of mind.

Socrates Human affairs, Hippias, are not what a man wishes, but what he can, as the proverb goes which people are constantly citing; but you are always aiding us with admonitions. For now too, until we were admonished by you of our foolish state of mind—shall I continue to speak and make you a still further exhibition of our thoughts on the subject, or shall I not speak?

Hippias You will speak to one who knows, Socrates, for I know the state of mind of all who are concerned with discussions; but nevertheless, if you prefer, speak.

Socrates Well, I do prefer. For we, my friend, were so stupid, before you spoke, as to have an opinion concerning you and me, that each of us was one, but that we were not both that which each of us was—for we are not one, but two —so foolish were we. But now we have been taught by you that if we are both two, then each of us is inevitably two, and if each is one, then both are inevitably one; for it is impossible, by the continuous doctrine of reality according to Hippias, that it be otherwise, but what we both are, that each is, and what each is, both are. So now I have been convinced by you, and I hold this position. But first, Hippias, refresh my memory: Are you and I one, or are you two and I two?

Hippias What do you mean, Socrates?

Socrates Just what I say; for I am afraid to speak plainly to you, because you are vexed with me, when you think you are talking sensibly;

however, tell me further: Is not each of us one and affected in such a way as to be one?

Hippias Certainly.

Socrates Then each of us, if one, would be an odd number; or do you not consider one an odd number?

Hippias I do.

Socrates Then are we both an odd number, being two?

Hippias That could not be, Socrates.

Socrates But we are both an even number, are we not?

Hippias Certainly.

Socrates Then because we are both even, is each of us on that account even?

Hippias No, surely not.

Socrates Then it is not absolutely inevitable, as you said just now, that what both are, each is, and what each is, both are.

Hippias Not things of this sort, but such as I mentioned before.

Socrates That suffices, Hippias; for even this is welcome, since it appears that some things are so and some are not so. For I said, if you remember the beginning of this discussion, that pleasure through sight and through hearing were beautiful, not by that by which each of them was so affected as to be beautiful, but not both, nor both but not each, but by that by which both and each were so affected, because you conceded that both and each were beautiful. For this reason I thought that if both are beautiful they must be beautiful by that essence which belongs to both, but not by that which is lacking in each; and I still think so. But tell me, as in the beginning:

If pleasure through sight and pleasure through hearing are both and each beautiful, does not that which makes them beautiful belong to both and to each?

Hippias Certainly.

Socrates Is it, then, for this reason, because each is a pleasure and both are pleasures, that they would be beautiful? Or would all other pleasures be for this reason no less beautiful than they? For we saw, if you remember, that they were no less pleasures.

Hippias Yes,I remember.

Socrates But for this reason, because these pleasures were through sight and hearing, it was said that they are beautiful.

Hippias Yes, that is what was said.

Socrates See if what I say is true. For it was said, if my memory serves me, that this “pleasant” was beautiful, not all “pleasant,” but that which is through sight and hearing.

Hippias True.

Socrates Now this quality belongs to both, but not to each, does it not? For surely each of them, as was said before, is not through both senses, but both are through both, and each is not. Is that true?

Hippias It is.

Socrates Then it is not by that which does not belong to each that each of them is beautiful; for “both” does not belong to each; so that it is possible, according to our hypothesis, to say that they both are beautiful, but not to say that each is so; or what shall we say? Is that not inevitable?

Hippias It appears so.

Socrates Shall we say, then, that both are beautiful, but that each is not?

Hippias What is to prevent?

Socrates This seems to me, my friend, to prevent, that there were some attributes thus belonging to individual things, which belonged, we thought, to each, if they belonged to both, and to both, if they belonged to each—I mean all those attributes which you specified. Am I right?

Hippias Yes.

Socrates But those again which I specified did not; and among those were precisely “each” and “both.” Is that so?

Hippias It is.

Socrates To which group, then, Hippias, does the beautiful seem to you to belong? To the group of those that you mentioned? If I am strong and you also, are we both collectively strong, and if I am just and you also, are we both collectively just, and if both collectively, then each individually so, too, if I am beautiful and you also, are we both collectively beautiful, and if both collectively, then each individually? Or is there nothing to prevent this, as in the case that when given things are both collectively even, they may perhaps individually be odd, or perhaps even, and again, when things are individually irrational quantities they may perhaps both collectively be rational, or perhaps irrational, and countless other cases which, you know, I said appeared before my mind? To which group do you assign the beautiful? Or have you the same view about it as I? For to me it seems great foolishness that we collectively are beautiful, but each of us is not so, or that each of us is so, but both are not, or anything else of that sort. Do you choose in this way, as I do, or in some other way?

Hippias In this way, Socrates.

Socrates You choose well, Hippias, that we may be free from the need of further search; for if the beautiful is in this group, that which is pleasing through sight and hearing would no longer be the beautiful. For the expression through sight and hearing makes both collectively beautiful, but not each individually; and this was impossible, as you and I agree.

Hippias Yes, we agree.

Socrates It is, then, impossible that the pleasant through sight and hearing be the beautiful, since in becoming beautiful it offers an impossibility.

Hippias That is true.

Socrates “Then tell us again,” he will say, “from the beginning, since you failed this time; what do you say that this 'beautiful,' belonging to both the pleasures, is, on account of which you honored them before the rest and called them beautiful?” It seems to me, Hippias, inevitable that we say that these are the most harmless and the best of pleasures, both of them collectively and each of them individually; or have you anything else to suggest, by which they excel the rest?

Hippias Not at all; for really they are the best.

Socrates “This, then,” he will say, “you say is the beautiful, beneficial pleasure?” “It seems that we do,” I shall say; and you?

Hippias I also.

Socrates “Well, then,” he will say, “beneficial is that which creates the good, but that which creates and that which is created were just now seen to be different, and our argument has come round to the earlier argument, has it not? For neither could the good be beautiful nor the beautiful good, if each of them is different from the other.” “Absolutely true,” we shall say, if we are reasonable; for it is inadmissible to disagree with him who says what is right.

Hippias But now, Socrates, what do you think all this amounts to? It is mere scrapings and shavings of discourse, as I said a while ago, divided into bits; but that other ability is beautiful and of great worth, the ability to produce a discourse well and beautifully in a court of law or a council-house or before any other public body before which the discourse may be delivered, to convince the audience and to carry off, not the smallest, but the greatest of prizes, the salvation of oneself, one's property, and one's friends. For these things, therefore, one must strive, renouncing these petty arguments, that one may not, by busying oneself, as at present, with mere talk and nonsense, appear to be a fool.

Socrates My dear Hippias, you are blessed because you know the things a man ought to practice, and have, as you say, practiced them satisfactorily. But I, as it seems, am possessed by some accursed fortune, so that I am always wandering and perplexed, and, exhibiting my perplexity to you wise men, am in turn reviled by you in speech whenever I exhibit it. For you say of me, what you are now saying, that I busy myself with silly little matters of no account; but when in turn I am convinced by you and say what you say, that it is by far the best thing to be able to produce a discourse well and beautifully and gain one's end in a court of law or in any other assemblage, I am called everything that is bad by some other men here and especially by that man who is continually refuting me; for he is a very near relative of mine and lives in the same house. So whenever I go home to my own house, and he hears me saying these things, he asks me if I am not ashamed that I have the face to talk about beautiful practices, when it is so plainly shown, to my confusion, that I do not even know what the beautiful itself is. “And yet how are you to know,” he will say, “either who produced a discourse, or anything else whatsoever, beautifully, or not, when you are ignorant of the beautiful? And when you are in such a condition, do you think it is better for you to be alive than dead?” So it has come about, as I say, that I am abused and reviled by you and by him. But perhaps it is necessary to endure all this, for it is quite reasonable that I might be benefited by it. So I think, Hippias, that I have been benefited by conversation with both of you; for I think I know the meaning of the proverb “beautiful things are difficult.”

Socrates knew what beauty is not. But he never found the true essence of Beauty.

difficult-roads-often-lead-to-beautiful-

Do gold grills make Madonna beautiful when she smiles?

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While personal beauty is fleeting, the essence of of the beautiful is eternal divine perfection.

Psalms 27

27:4 I have asked the Lord for one thing –

this is what I desire!

I want to live in the Lord’s house all the days of my life,

so I can gaze at the beauty of the Lord

The attributes of beauty in God's creation are countless. But these attributes of beauty derive from the essence of God's Divine perfection.

Joy Of The Lord

Oil painting by Greg Olsen

The Divine Beauty of God is without defect or limitation. Those that strive to see Divine Beauty should be humble, genuine, and able to overcome the desire for material beauty.

James 1

1:9 Now the believer of humble means should take pride in his high position.

1:10 But the rich person’s pride should be in his humiliation, because he will pass away like a wildflower in the meadow.

1:11 For the sun rises with its heat and dries up the meadow; the petal of the flower falls off and its beauty is lost forever. So also the rich person in the midst of his pursuits will wither away.

1:12 Happy is the one who endures testing, because when he has proven to be genuine, he will receive the crown of life that God promised to those who love him.

1:13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He himself tempts no one.

1:14 But each one is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desires.

1:15 Then when desire conceives, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is full grown, it gives birth to death.

1:16 Do not be led astray, my dear brothers and sisters.

1:17 All generous giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change.

1:18 By his sovereign plan he gave us birth through the message of truth, that we would be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.

Euthryphro

Persons of the Dialogue

Socrates. Euthryphro

Scene: The Porch of King Archon

Socrates ... The point Which I should first wish to understand is whether the pious or holy is beloved by the gods, because it is holy, or holy because it is beloved of the gods.

Euthyphro I don't understand your meaning, Socrates.

Socrates I will endeavor to explain:

we speak of carrying and we speak of being carried, of leading and being led, seeing and being seen. And here is a difference, the nature of which you understand.

Euthyphro I think I understand

Socrates And is that which is beloved distinct from that which loves?

Euthryphro Certainly

Socrates Well; and now tell me, is that which is carried in this state of carrying because it carried. or for some other reason?

Euthryphro No; that is the reason.

Socrates And the same is true of that which is led and of that which is seen?

Euthryphro True

Socrates And a thing is not seen because it is visible, but conversely, visible because it is seen; nor is a thing led because it is in a state of being led, or carried because it is in the state of being carried, but the converse of this.

And now I think Euthryphro, that my meaning will be intelligible; and my meaning is , and my meaning is, that any state of action or passion implies previous action or passion. It does not become because it is becoming, but is becoming because it becomes; neither does it suffer because it is in a suffering, but is in a state of suffering because it suffers. Do you admit that?

Euthryphro Yes

Socrates Is not that which is loved in some state either becoming or suffering?

Euthryphro Yes

Socrates And the same holds as in the previous instances; the state of being loved, and not the act the state.

Euthryphro That is certain

Socrates And what do you say of piety, Euthyphro:

Is not piety, according to your definition, loved by all the gods?

Euthryphro Yes

Socrates Because it is pious or holy, or for some other reason?

Euthryphro No,that is the reason

Soc. It is loved because it is holy, not holy because it is loved?

Euth. Yes.
Socrates And that which is in a state to be loved of the gods, and is dear to them, and is in a state to be loved of them, because it is loved of them?

Euthryphro Certainly

Socrates Then that which is loved of God, Euthyphro, is not holy, nor is that which is holy loved of God, as you affirm; but these are two different things.

Euthryphro How do you mean, Socrates?

Socrates I mean to say that the holy has been acknowledged by us to be loved of God because it is holy, not to be holy because it is loved.

Euthryphro Yes

Socrates But that which is dear to the gods is dear to them because it is loved by them, not loved by them because it is dear to them.

Euthryphro True

Socrates But, friend Euthyphro, if that which is holy is the same as that which is dear to God, and that which is holy is loved as being holy, then that which is dear to God would have been loved as being dear to God; but if that which is dear to God is dear to him because it is loved by him, then that which is holy would have been holy because it is loved by him.

But now you see the reverse is the case, and that they are quite different from one another. For one is of a kind to be loved because it is loved, and the other is loved because it is of a kind to be loved.

Thus you appear to me, Euthryphro, when I ask you what is the essence of holiness, to offer an attribute only, and not the essence - the attribute of being loved by all the gods. But you still refuse to explain to me the nature of piety. And therefore if you please, I will ask you
not to hide your treasure, but to tell me once more what piety or holiness really is, whether dear to the gods or not (for that is a matter about which we will not quarrel), And what is impiety?

Euthryphro I really do not know, Socrates, how to say what I mean. For somehow or other our arguments, on whatever ground we rest them, seem to turn around and walk away.

Socrates Your words, Euthyphro, are like the handiwork of my ancestor Daedalus; and if were the sayer or propounder of them, you might say that this comes of my being his relation; and that this is the reason why my arguments walk away and won't remain fixed where they are placed. But now,
as the notions are your own, you must find some other gibe, for they certainly, as you yourself allow, show an inclination to be on the move.

Euthryphro Nay, Socrates, I shall say that you are the Daedalus who set arguments in motion; not I, certainly, make them move or go around, for they would never be stirred, as far as I am concerned.

Socrates The I must be greater than Daedalus; for whereas he only made his own inventions to move, I move those of other people as well. And the beauty of

it is, that would rather not. For I would give the wisdom of Daedalus, and the wealth of Tantalus, to be able to detain them and keep them fixed. But enough of this. As I perceive that you are indolent, I will myself show you how you might instruct me in the nature of piety; and hope that you will not
grudge your labor. Tell me, then -Is not that which is pious necessarily just?

Euthryphro Yes

Socrates And is, then, all which is just pious?

Euthryphro I don't understand you, Socrates.

Socrates And yet I know that you are much wiser than I am, as you are younger. But, as I was saying, revered friend, the abundance of your wisdom makes you indolent. Please to exert yourself, for there is no real difficulty in understanding me. What I mean I may explain by an illustration of what I do not mean. The poet Stasinus sings:

Of Zeus, the author and creator of all these things, You will not tell:

for there is fear there is also reverence.

And I disagree with this poet. Shall I tell you what I disagree?

Euthryphro By all means.

Socrates I should say that where there is fear there is also reverence; for I am sure that many person fear poverty and disease, and the like evils, but I do not perceive that they reverence the objects of their fear.

Euthryphro Very True

Socrates But where reverence is, there is fear; for he who has a feeling of reverence and shame about the commission of any action, fears and is afraid of an ill reputation.

Euthryphro No doubt.

Socrates Then we are wrong in say that were there is fear there is also reverence; and we should say, where there is reverence there is also fear.

But there is not always reverence where there is fear; for fear is a more extended notion, and reverence is part of fear; just as the odd is part of number, and number is a more extended notion than the odd. I suppose that you follow me now?

Euthryphro Quite well.

Socrates That was the sort of question I meant to raise when asking whether the just is the pious, or the pious the just; and there may be justice where there is not always piety; for justice is more extended notion of which piety is only a part. Do you agree in that?

Euthryphro Yes; that, I think, is correct.

Socrates Then now, if piety is a part of justice, I suppose that we inquire, if you had asked me what is an even number, and what part of number the even is, I should have had no difficulty replying, and number which represents a figure having two equal sides. Do you agree?

Euthryphro Yes.

Socrates In like manner. I want you to tell me what part of justice is piety or holiness; that I may be able to tell Meletus not to do me injustice, or indict me for impiety; as I am now adequately instructed by you in the nature of piety or holiness, and their opposites.

Euthryphro Piety or holiness, Socrates, appears to me to be that part of justice which attends to the gods, as there is the other part of justice which attends to men.

Socrates That is good, Euthryphro; yet still there is a little point which I should like to have further
information. What is the meaning of "attention?" For attention can hardly be used in the same sense when applied to the gods as when applied to other things. For instance, horses are said to require attention, and not every person is able to attend to them; but only a person skilled in horsemanship. Is not that true.

Euthryphro Quite true.

Socrates I should suppose that the art of horsemanship is the art of attending horses?

Euthryphro Yes.

Socrates Nor is everyone qualified to attend dogs, but only a huntsman.

Euthryphro Yes.

Socrates As the art of the oxherd is the art of attending oxen?

Euthryphro Very true.

Socrates And as holiness or piety the art of attending to the gods? -that would be your meaning, Euthryphro?

Euthryphro Yes.

Socrates And is not attention always designed for the good or benefit of that to which the attention is given? As in the case of horses, you may observe that when attended to by the horseman's art they are benefited and improved, are they not?

Euthryphro True.

Socrates. As the dogs are benefited by the huntsman's art, and the oxen by the art of the oxherd, and other things are tended for their good and not for their hurt?

Euthryphro Certainly, not for their hurt.

Socrates But for their good?

Euthryphro Of course.

Socrates And does piety or holiness, which has been defined as the art of attending to the gods, benefit or improve them? Would you say that when you do a holy act you make the gods better.

Euthryphro No, no; that is certainly not my meaning.

Socrates Indeed Euthryphro, I did not suppose that this was your meaning; far otherwise. And that was the reason why I asked you the nature of this attention, because I thought that this was not your meaning.

Euthryphro You do me justice, Socrates; for that is not my meaning.

Socrates Good: but I must still ask you what is this attention to the gods which is piety?

Euthryphro It is such Socrates, as servants to their masters.

Socrates I understand -a sort of ministration to the gods.

Euthryphro Exactly

Socrates Medicine is also sort of ministraton or service, tending to the attainment of such object-would you not say health?

Euthryphro Yes.

Socrates Again, there is an art which ministers to the ship-builder with a view to the attainment of some-result?

Euthryphro Yes, Socrates, with a view to the building of a ship.

Socrates As there is an art which ministers to the house-builder with a view to the building of a house.

Euthryphro Yes.

Socrates And now tell me, my good friend, about the art which ministers to the gods:

what does that help to accomplish? For you must surely know if, as you say, you are of all men living the one who is best instructed in religion.

Euthryphro And that is true, Socrates.

Socrates Tell me then, oh tell me-what is that fair work which the gods do by the help of us as their ministers?

Euthryphro Many and fair, Socrates, are the works which they do.

Socrates Why, my friend, and so are those of a general. But the chief of them is easily told. Would you not say that victory in war is the chief of them?

Euthryphro Certainly

Socrates And the right way of giving is to give to them in return what they want of us. There would be no meaning in an art which gives to any one that which he does not want.

Euthryphro Very true Socrates.

Socrates But I have no particular liking for anything, but the truth. I wish, however, that you would tell me what benefit accrues to the gods from our gifts. That they are the givers of every good to us is clear; but how we can give any good thing to them in return is far from being equally clear. If they give everything and we give nothing, that must be an affair of business, in which we have very greatly the advantage of them.

Euthryphro. And do you imagine, Socrates, that any benefit accrues to the gods from what they receive of us?

Socrates But if not, Euthyphro, what sort of gifts do we confer upon the gods?

Euthryphro What should we confer upon them, but tributes and honor; and, as I was just now saying, what is pleasing to them?

Socrates Many and fair, too, are the works of husbandman, if I am not mistaken; but his chief work is the production of food from the earth?

Euthryphro Exactly

Socrates. And of the many and fair things which the gods do, which is the chief and principal one?

Euthryphro I have told you already, Socrates, that to learn all these things accurately will be very tiresome. Let me simply say that piety is learning how to please the gods in word in deed, by prayers and sacrifice. That is piety, which is the salvation of families and states, just as the impious, which is unpleasing to the gods, is their ruin and destruction.

Socrates I think that you could have answered in much fewer words the question that which I asked,
Euthryphro, if you had chosen. But I see plainly that your are not disposed to instruct me; else why, when had reached the point, did you turn aside? Had you only answered me I should have learned of you by this time the nature of piety. Now, as the asker of a question is necissarily dependant on the answerer, whither it leads I must follow; and can only ask again, what is the pious, and what is piety? Do you mean that they are sort of a science of praying and sacrificing?

Euthryphro Yes, I do.

Socrates And sacrificing is giving to the gods, and prayer is asking of the gods?

Euthryphro Yes, Socrates

Socrates Upon this view, then, piety is the science of asking and giving?

Euthryphro You understand me capitally, Socrates.

Socrates Yes, my friend; the reason that I am a votary of your science, and give my mind to it, and therefore nothing which you say will be thrown away upon me. Please then to tell me, what is the nature of this service to the gods? Do you mean that we prefer requests and give gifts to them?

Euthryphro Yes, I do.

Socrates Is not the right way of ask of them what we want?

Euthryphro Certainly

Socrates And the right way of giving is to give to them in return what they want of us. There would be no meaning in an art which gives to any one that which he does not want.

Euthryphro Very true, Socrates

Socrates Then piety, Euthryphro, is an art which gods and men have of doing business with one another?

Euthryphro That is an expression which you may use, if you like.

Socrates Then once more the assertion is repeated that piety is dear to the gods?

Euthryphro No doubt.

Socrates. And when you say this, can you wonder at your words not standing firm, but walking away? Will you accuse me of being Daedalus who makes them walk away, not perceiving that there is another and far greater artist than Daedalus who makes them go round in a circle; and that is yourself:

for the argument, as you perceive, comes round to the same point. I think that you remember our saying that the holy or pious was not the same as that which is loved of the gods. Do you remember that?

Euthryphro I do

Socrates And you not see that what is loved of the gods is holy, and this the same as what is dear to them?

Euthryphro True

Socrates Then either we were wrong in that admission; or, if we were right then, we are wrong now.

Euthryphro I suppose that is the case.

Socrates The we must begin again and ask, what is piety? That is an inquiry which I shall never be weary of pursuing as far as in me lies; and I entreat you not to scorn me, but to apply your mind to the utmost, and tell me the truth. For, if any man know, you are he; and therefore I shall detain you, like Proteus, until you tell. For if you had not certainly known the nature of piety and impiety, I am confident that you would never, behalf of a serf, have charged you aged father with murder. You would not have run such a risk of doing wrong in the sight of the gods, and you would have had too much respect for the opinions of men. I am sure, therefore, that you know the nature of piety and impiety. Speak out then, my dear Euthryphro, and do not hide your knowledge.

Euthryphro Another time, Socrates; for I am in a hurry, and must go now.

Socrates Alas! my companion, and will you leave me in despair? I was hoping that you would instruct me in the nature of piety and impiety, so that I might have cleared myself of Meletus and his indictment. Then I might have proved him that I had been converted by Euthryphro, and had done with rash innovations and speculations, in which I had indulged through ignorance, and was about to lead a better life.

"Is what is morally good commanded by God because it is morally good, or is it morally good because it is commanded by God?" Ever since Plato's original discussion, this question has presented a problem for some theists, though others have thought it a false dilemma, and it continues to be an object of theological and philosophical discussion today.

What makes the god-beloved the god-beloved is the fact that Elohim loves it, whereas what makes the pious the pious is something else.

German philosopher and mathematician Gottfried Leibniz presented this version of the dilemma: "It is generally agreed that whatever God wills is good and just. But there remains the question whether it is good and just because God wills it or whether God wills it because it is good and just; in other words, whether justice and goodness are arbitrary or whether they belong to the necessary and eternal truths about the nature of things.

It is the view that there are independent moral standards: some actions are right or wrong in themselves, independent of God's commands. This is the view accepted by Socrates and Euthyphro in Plato's dialogue. The Mu'tazilah school of Islamic theology also defended the view (with, for example, Nazzam maintaining that God is powerless to engage in injustice or lying), as did the Islamic philosopher Averroes.

I would disagree with any statement that our Creator is powerless to do any action. Just as we should choose our words and actions, God chooses his words and actions wisely, because He is perfection and we are not. I am still pondering why God creates, tests, modifies and destroys those those that go against his will. We do the same thing to ourselves and other species on the planet. We test, modify, create, and destroy.. I am not stating that God has the same intentions. But, our actions are similar when experiments go bad.

I am quite sure that it is in our nature to learn and understand God's will and moral framework to not destroy, but better ourselves. God's love has graced us the gift of freedom to follow or rebel against His law. But, we cannot change God's will; for the imperfect cannot change the perfect.

God's freedom of rebellion is the choice to destroy our body and soul. God has graced us with a final gift that we can plead for His Mercy from destruction, which may be given if we have given Mercy to others. God has also given us freedom to do righteous actions above His law, only because they are not rebelling against His will and are an integral part of His moral framework to attain perfection.

Non righteous non rebellious actions independent of God's law would not be considered moral, but still under God's will. Since we are not perfect we have not authority to determine eternal moral actions on our own. Ethics reveal this to be true, for they are fluid to change by the power of popular opinion. These independent actions can lead to rebellion and idolatry if they become excessive. Even the best of intentions can lead to destruction if we go against God's will.

Hebrews 11

11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we do not see.

11:2 For by it the people of old received God’s commendation.

11:3 By faith we understand that the worlds were set in order at God’s command, so that the visible has its origin in the invisible.

11:4 By faith Abel offered God a greater sacrifice than Cain, and through his faith he was commended as righteous, because God commended him for his offerings. And through his faith he still speaks, though he is dead.

11:5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he did not see death, and he was not to be found because God took him up. For before his removal he had been commended as having pleased God.

11:6 Now without faith it is impossible to please him, for the one who approaches God must believe that he exists and that He rewards those who seek him.

11:7 By faith Noah, when he was warned about things not yet seen, with reverent regard constructed an ark for the deliverance of his family. Through faith he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

11:8 By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place he would later receive as an inheritance, and he went out without understanding where he was going.

11:9 By faith he lived as a foreigner in the promised land as though it were a foreign country, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who were fellow heirs of the same promise.

11:10 For he was looking forward to the city with firm foundations, whose architect and builder is God.

11:11 By faith, even though Sarah herself was barren and he was too old, he received the ability to procreate, because he regarded the one who had given the promise to be trustworthy.

11:12 So in fact children were fathered by one man – and this one as good as dead – like the number of stars in the sky and like the innumerable grains of sand on the seashore.

11:13 These all died in faith without receiving the things promised, but they saw them in the distance and welcomed them and acknowledged that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth.

11:14 For those who speak in such a way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.

11:15 In fact, if they had been thinking of the land that they had left, they would have had opportunity to return.

11:16 But as it is, they aspire to a better land, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them.

11:17 By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac. He had received the promises, yet he was ready to offer up his only son.

11:18 God had told him, “Through Isaac descendants will carry on your name,”

11:19 and he reasoned that God could even raise him from the dead, and in a sense he received him back from there.

11:20 By faith also Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau concerning the future.

11:21 By faith Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph and worshiped as he leaned on his staff.

11:22 By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, mentioned the exodus of the sons of Israel and gave instructions about his burial.

11:23 By faith, when Moses was born, his parents hid him for three months, because they saw the child was beautiful and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.

11:24 By faith, when he grew up, Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,

11:25 choosing rather to be ill-treated with the people of God than to enjoy sin’s fleeting pleasure.

11:26 He regarded abuse suffered for Christ to be greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for his eyes were fixed on the reward.

11:27 By faith he left Egypt without fearing the king’s anger, for he persevered as though he could see the one who is invisible.

11:28 By faith he kept the Passover and the sprinkling of the blood, so that the one who destroyed the firstborn would not touch them.

11:29 By faith they crossed the Red Sea as if on dry ground, but when the Egyptians tried it, they were swallowed up.

11:30 By faith the walls of Jericho fell after the people marched around them for seven days.

11:31 By faith Rahab the prostitute escaped the destruction of the disobedient, because she welcomed the spies in peace.

11:32 And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets.

11:33 Through faith they conquered kingdoms, administered justice, gained what was promised, shut the mouths of lions,

11:34 quenched raging fire, escaped the edge of the sword, gained strength in weakness, became mighty in battle, put foreign armies to flight,

11:35 and women received back their dead raised to life. But others were tortured, not accepting release, to obtain resurrection to a better life.

11:36 And others experienced mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment.

11:37 They were stoned, sawed apart, murdered with the sword; they went about in sheepskins and goatskins; they were destitute, afflicted, ill-treated

11:38 (the world was not worthy of them); they wandered in deserts and mountains and caves and openings in the earth.

11:39 And these all were commended for their faith, yet they did not receive what was promised.

11:40 For God had provided something better for us, so that they would be made perfect together with us.

12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, we must get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run with endurance the race set out for us,

12:2 keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set out for him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.

12:3 Think of him who endured such opposition against himself by sinners, so that you may not grow weary in your souls and give up.

12:4 You have not yet resisted to the point of bloodshed in your struggle against sin.

12:5 And have you forgotten the exhortation addressed to you as sons?

“My son, do not scorn the Lord’s discipline

or give up when He corrects you.

12:6 “For the Lord disciplines the one he loves and chastises every son he accepts.”

12:7 Endure your suffering as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is there that a father does not discipline?

12:8 But if you do not experience discipline, something all sons have shared in, then you are illegitimate and are not sons.

12:9 Besides, we have experienced discipline from our earthly fathers and we respected them; shall we not submit ourselves all the more to the Father of spirits and receive life?

12:10 For they disciplined us for a little while as seemed good to them, but He does so for our benefit, that we may share His holiness.

12:11 Now all discipline seems painful at the time, not joyful. But later it produces the fruit of peace and righteousness for those trained by it.

12:12 Therefore, strengthen your listless hands and your weak knees,

12:13 and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but be healed.

Watch the video Rocky 1 theme song "Gonna fly now" (Training scene with lyrics). No pain, No gain! Discipline your spirit to be with God.

Watch the video "Do You Believe God Loves You?" by Jefferson Bethke

Take a moment to praise the beauty of God's love. Listen to Hillsong Live 'Our God Is Love.' They say seeing is believing. God says believe and you will see!

Luke_Wilbur · February 9, 2015

The Didache

Chapter 5

5:1 But the way of death is this.
5:2 First of all, it is evil and full of a curse murders, adulteries, lusts, fornications, thefts, idolatries, magical arts, witchcrafts, plunderings, false witnessings, hypocrisies, doubleness of heart, treachery, pride, malice, stubbornness, covetousness, foul-speaking, jealousy, boldness, exaltation, boastfulness;

To mature our spirit, we must align our conscience with that of Jesus and His relationship with our Father. If I am graced with wisdom given by his advocate, I will gain greater peace with those neighbors I fail to understand and still call my enemy. I need to purge myself from emotions that are in conflict with understanding every variable sensed is willed by a perfect Creator.

Epicurus (February 341 BC – 270 BC)

Marble bust of Epicurus. Roman copy of Greek original, 3rd century BC/2nd century BC. On display in the British Museum,

Letter to Pythocles

Epicurus to Pythocles, greeting:

In your letter to me, of which Cleon was the bearer, you continue to show me affection which I have merited by my devotion to you, and you try, not without success, to recall the considerations which make for a happy life. To aid your memory you ask me for a clear and concise statement respecting celestial phenomena; for what we have written on this subject elsewhere is, you tell me, hard to remember, although you have my books constantly with you. I was glad to receive your request and am full of pleasant expectations. We will then complete our writing and grant all you ask. Many others besides you will find these reasonings useful, and especially those who have but recently made acquaintance with the true story of nature and those who are attached to pursuits which go deeper than any part of ordinary education. So you will do well to take and learn them and get them up quickly along with the short epitome in my letter to Herodotus.

In the first place, remember that, like everything else, knowledge of celestial phenomena, whether taken along with other things or in isolation, has no other end in view than peace of mind and firm convictions. We do not seek to wrest by force what is impossible, nor to understand all matters equally well, nor make our treatment always as clear as when we discuss human life or explain the principles of physics in general—for instance, that the whole of being consists of bodies and intangible nature, or that the ultimate elements of things are indivisible, or any other proposition which admits only one explanation of the phenomena to be possible. But this is not the case with celestial phenomena: these at any rate admit of manifold causes for their occurrence and manifold accounts, none of them contradictory of sensation, of their nature.

For in the study of nature we must not conform to empty assumptions and arbitrary laws, but follow the promptings of the facts; for our life has no need now of unreason and false opinion; our one need is untroubled existence. All things go on uninterruptedly, if all be explained by the method of plurality of causes in conformity with the facts, so soon as we duly understand what may be plausibly alleged respecting them. But when we pick and choose among them, rejecting one equally consistent with the phenomena, we clearly fall away from the study of nature altogether and tumble into myth. Some phenomena within our experience afford evidence by which we may interpret what goes on in the heavens. We see bow the former really take place, but not how the celestial phenomena take place, for their occurrence may possibly be due to a variety of causes. However, we must observe each fact as presented, and further separate from it all the facts presented along with it, the occurrence of which from various causes is not contradicted by facts within our experience.

A world is a circumscribed portion of the universe, which contains stars and earth and all other visible things, cut off from the infinite, and terminating in an exterior which may either revolve or be at rest, and be round or triangular or of any other shape whatever. All these alternatives are possible: they are contradicted by none of the facts in this world, in which an extremity can nowhere be discerned.

That there is an infinite number of such worlds can be perceived, and that such a world may arise in a world or in one of the intermundia (by which term we mean the spaces between worlds) in a tolerably empty space and not. as some maintain, in a vast space perfectly clear and void. It arises when certain suitable seeds rush in from a single world or intermundium, or from several, and undergo gradual additions or articulations or changes of place, it may be, and waterings from appropriate sources, until they are matured and firmly settled in so far as the foundations laid can receive them. For it is not enough that there should be an aggregation or a vortex in the empty space in which a world may arise, as the necessitarians hold, and may grow until it collide with another, as one of the so-called physicists says. For this is in conflict with facts.

The sun and moon and the stars generally were not of independent origin and later absorbed, within our world, [such parts of it at least as serve at all for its defense]; but they at once began to take form and grow [and so too did earth and sea] by the accretions and whirling motions of certain substances of finest texture, of the nature either of wind or fire, or of both; for thus sense itself suggests.

The size of the sun and the remaining stars relatively to us is just as great as it appears. But in itself and actually it maybe a little larger or a little smaller, or precisely as great as it is seen to be. For so too fires of which we have experience are seen by sense when we see them at a distance. And every objection brought against this part of the theory will easily be met by anyone who attends to plain facts, as I show in my work On Nature. And the rising and setting of the sun, moon, and stars may be due to kindling and quenching, a provided that the circumstances are such as to produce this result in each of the two regions, east and west: for no fact testifies against this. Or the result might be produced by their coming forward above the earth and again by its intervention to hide them: for no fact testifies against this either. And their motions may be due to the rotation of the whole heaven, or the heaven may be at rest and they alone rotate according to some necessary impulse to rise, implanted at first when the world was made … and this through excessive heat, due to a certain extension of the fire which always encroaches upon that which is near it.

The turnings of the sun and moon in their course may be due to the obliquity of the heaven, whereby it is forced back at these times. Again, they may equally be due to the contrary pressure of the air or, it may be, to the fact that either the fuel from time to time necessary has been consumed in the vicinity or there is a dearth of it. Or even because such a whirling motion was from the first inherent in these stars so that they move in a sort of spiral. For all such explanations and the like do not conflict with any clear evidence, if only in such details we hold fast to what is possible, and can bring each of these explanations into accord with the facts, unmoved by the servile artifices of the astronomers.

The waning of the moon and again her waxing might be due to the rotation of the moon's body, and equally well to configurations which the air assumes; further, it may be due to the interposition of certain bodies. In short, it may happen in any of the ways in which the facts within our experience suggest such an appearance to be explicable. But one must not be so much in love with the explanation by a single way as wrongly to reject all the others from ignorance of what can, and what cannot, be within human knowledge, and consequent longing to discover the undiscoverable. Further, the moon may possibly shine by her own light, just as possibly she may derive her light from the sun; for in our own experience we see many things which shine by their own light and many also which shine by borrowed light. And none of the celestial phenomena stand in the way, if only we always keep in mind the method of plural explanation and the several consistent assumptions and causes, instead of dwelling on what is inconsistent and giving it a false importance so as always to fall back in one way or another upon the single explanation. The appearance of the face in the moon may equally well arise from interchange of parts, or from interposition of something, or in any other of the ways which might be seen to accord with the facts. For in all the celestial phenomena such a line of research is not to be abandoned; for, if you fight against clear evidence, you never can enjoy genuine peace of mind.

An eclipse of the sun or moon may be due to the extinction of their light, just as within our own experience this is observed to happen; and again by interposition of something else—whether it be the earth or some other invisible body like it. And thus we must take in conjunction the explanations which agree with one another, and remember that the concurrence of more than one at the same time may not impossibly happen.

And further, let the regularity of their orbits be explained in the same way as certain ordinary incidents within our own experience; the divine nature must not on any account be adduced to explain this, but must be kept free from the task and in perfect bliss. Unless this be done, the whole study of celestial phenomena will be in vain, as indeed it has proved to be with some who did not lay hold of a possible method, but fell into the folly of supposing that these events happen in one single way only and of rejecting all the others which are possible, suffering themselves to be carried into the realm of the unintelligible,. and being unable to take a comprehensive view of the facts which must be taken as clues to the rest.

The variations in the length of nights and days may be due to the swiftness and again to the slowness of the sun's motion in the sky, owing to the variations in the length of spaces traversed and to his accomplishing some distances more swiftly or more slowly, as happens sometimes within our own experience; and with these facts our explanation of celestial phenomena must agree; whereas those who adopt only one explanation are in conflict with the facts and are utterly mistaken as to the way in which man can attain knowledge.

The signs in the sky which betoken the weather may be due to mere coincidence of the seasons, as is the case with signs from animals seen on earth, or they may be caused by changes and alterations in the air. For neither the one explanation nor the other is in conflict with facts, and it is not easy to see in which cases the effect is due to one cause or to the other.

Clouds may form and gather either because the air is condensed under the pressure of winds, or because atoms which hold together and are suitable to produce this result become mutually entangled, or because currents collect from tile earth and the waters ; and there are several other ways in which it is not impossible for the aggregations of such bodies into clouds to be brought about. And that being so, rain may be produced from them sometimes by their compression, sometimes by their transformation; or again may be caused by exhalations of moisture rising from suitable places through the air, while a more violent inundation is due to certain accumulations suitable for such discharge. Thunder may be due to the rolling of wind in the hollow parts of the clouds, as it is sometimes imprisoned in vessels which we use; or to the roaring of fire in them when blown by a wind, or to the rending and disruption of clouds, or to the friction and splitting up of clouds when they have become as firm as ice.

As in the whole survey, so in this particular point, the facts invite us to give a plurality of explanations. Lightning too happens in a variety of ways. For when the clouds rub against each other and collide, that collocation of atoms which is the cause of fire generates lightning; or it may be due to the flashing forth from the clouds, by reason of winds, of particles capable of producing this brightness; or else it is squeezed out of the clouds when they have been condensed either by their own action or by that of the winds; or again, the light diffused from the stars may be enclosed in the clouds, then driven about by their motion and by that of the winds, and finally make its escape from the clouds; or light of the finest texture may be filtered through the clouds (whereby the clouds may be set on fire and thunder produced), and the motion of this light may make lightning; or it may arise from the combustion of wind brought about by the violence of its motion and the intensity of its compression; or, when the clouds are rent asunder by winds, and the atoms which generate fire are expelled, these likewise cause lightning to appear.

And it may easily be seen that its occurrence is possible in many other ways, so long as we hold fast to facts and take a general view of what is analogous to them. Lightning precedes thunder, when the clouds are constituted as mentioned above and the configuration which produces lightning is expelled at the moment when the wind falls upon the cloud, and the wind being rolled up afterwards produces the roar of thunder; or, if both are simultaneous, the lightning moves with a greater velocity towards its and the thunder lags behind, exactly as when persons who are striking blows are observed from a distance. A thunderbolt is caused when winds are repeatedly collected, imprisoned, and violently ignited; or when a part is torn asunder and is more violently expelled downwards, the rending being due to the fact that the compression of the clouds has made the neighboring parts more dense; or again it may be due like thunder merely to the expulsion of the imprisoned fire, when this has accumulated and been more violently inflated with wind and has torn the cloud, being unable to withdraw to the adjacent parts because it is continually more and more closely compressed [generally by some high mountain where thunderbolts mostly fall]. And there are several other ways in which thunderbolts may possibly be produced. Exclusion of myth is the sole condition necessary; and it will be excluded, if one properly attends to the facts and hence draws inferences to interpret what is obscure.

Fiery whirlwinds are due to the descent of a cloud forced downwards like a pillar by the wind in full force and carried by a gale round and round, while at the same time the outside wind gives the cloud a lateral thrust; or it may be due to a change of the wind which veers to all points of the compass as a current of air from above helps to force it to move; or it may be that a strong eddy of winds has been started and is unable to burst through laterally because the air around is closely condensed. And when they descend upon land, they cause what are called tornadoes, in accordance with the various ways in which they are produced through the force of the wind; and when let down upon the sea, they cause waterspouts.

Earthquakes may be due to the imprisonment of wind underground, and to its being interspersed with small masses of earth and then set in continuous motion, thus causing the earth to tremble. And the earth either takes in this wind from without or from the falling in of foundations, when undermined, into subterranean caverns, thus raising a wind in the imprisoned air. Or they may be due to the propagation of movement arising from the fall of many foundations and to its being again checked when it encounters the more solid resistance of earth. And there are many other causes to which these oscillations of the earth may be due.

Winds arise from time to time when foreign matter continually and gradually finds its way into the air; also through the gathering of great store of water. The rest of the winds arise when a few of them fall into the many hollows and they are thus divided and multiplied.

Hail is caused by the firmer congelation and complete transformation, and subsequent distribution into drops, of certain particles resembling wind : also by the slighter congelation of certain particles of moisture and the vicinity of certain particles of wind which at one and the same time forces them together and makes them burst, so that they become frozen in parts and in the whole mass. The round shape of hailstones is not impossibly due to the extremities on all sides being melted and to the fact that, as explained, particles either of moisture or of wind surround them evenly on all sides and in every quarter, when they freeze.

Snow may be formed when a fine rain issues from the clouds because the pores are symmetrical and because of the continuous and violent pressure of the winds upon clouds which are suitable; and then this rain has been frozen on its way because of some violent change to coldness in the regions below the clouds. Or again, by congelation in clouds which have uniform density a fall of snow might occur through the clouds which contain moisture being densely packed in close proximity to each other; and these clouds produce a sort of compression and cause hail, and this happens mostly in spring. And when frozen clouds rub against each other., this accumulation of snow might be thrown off. And there are other ways in which snow might be formed.

Dew is formed when such particles as are capable of producing this sort of moisture meet each other from the air: again by their rising from moist and damp places, the sort of place where dew is chiefly formed, and their subsequent coalescence, so as to create moisture and fall downwards, just as in several cases something similar is observed to take place under our eyes. And the formation of hoar-frost is not different from that of dew, certain particles of such a nature becoming in some such way congealed owing to a certain condition of cold air.

Ice is formed by the expulsion from the water of the circular, and the compression of the scalene and acute-angled atoms contained in it; further by the accretion of such atoms from without, which being driven together cause the water to solidify after the expulsion of a certain number of round atoms.

The rainbow arises when the sun shines upon humid air; or again by a certain peculiar blending of light with air, which will cause either all the distinctive qualities of these colors or else some of them belonging to a single kind, and from the reflection of this light the air all around will be colored as we see it to be, as the sun shines upon its parts. The circular shape which it assumes is due to the fact that the distance of every point is perceived by our sight to be equal; or it may be because, the atoms in the air or in the clouds and deriving from the sun having been thus united, the aggregate of them presents a sort of roundness.

A halo round the moon arises because the air on all sides extends to the moon; or because it equably raises upwards the currents from the moon so high as to impress a circle upon the cloudy mass and not to separate it altogether; or because it raises the air which immediately surrounds the moon symmetrically from all sides up to a circumference round her and there forms a thick ring. And this happens at certain parts either because a current has forced its wry in from without or because the heat has gained possession of certain passages in order to effect this.

Comets arise either because fire is nourished in certain places at certain intervals in the heavens, if circumstances are favorable; or because at times the heaven has a particular motion above us so that such stars appear; or because the stars themselves are set in motion under certain conditions and come to our neighborhood and show themselves. And their disappearance is due to the causes which are the opposite of these. Certain stars may revolve without setting not only for the reason alleged by some, because this is the part of the world round which, itself unmoved, the rest revolves, but it may also be because a circular eddy of air surrounds this part, which prevents them from traveling out of sight like other stars or because there is a dearth of necessary fuel farther on, while there is abundance in that part where they are seen to be. Moreover there are several other ways in which this might be brought about, as may be seen by anyone capable of reasoning in accordance with the facts.

The wanderings of certain stars, if such wandering is their actual motion, and the regular movement of certain other stars, may be accounted for by saying that they originally moved in a circle and were constrained, some of them to be whirled round with the same uniform rotation and others with a whirling motion which varied; but it may also be that according to the diversity of the regions traversed in some places there are uniform tracts of air, forcing them forward in one direction and burning uniformly, in others these tracts present such irregularities as cause the motions observed. To assign a single cause for these effects when the facts suggest several causes is madness and a strange inconsistency; yet it is done by adherents of rash astronomy, who assign meaningless causes for the stars whenever they persist in saddling the divinity with burdensome tasks. That certain stars are seen to be left behind by others may be because they travel more slowly, though they go the same round as the others; or it may be that they are drawn back by the same whirling motion and move in the opposite direction; or again it may be that some travel over a larger and others over a smaller space in making the same revolution. But to lay down as assured a single explanation of these phenomena is worthy of those who seek to dazzle the multitude with marvels.

Falling stars, as they are called, may in some cases be due to the mutual friction of the stars themselves, in other cases to the expulsion of certain parts when that mixture of fire and air takes place which was mentioned when we were discussing lightning; or it may be due to the meeting of atoms capable of generating fire, which accord so well as to produce this result, and their subsequent motion wherever the impulse which brought them together at first leads them; or it may be that wind collects in certain dense mist-like masses and, since it is imprisoned, ignites and then bursts forth upon whatever is round about it, and is carried to that place to which its motion impels it. And there are other ways in which this can be brought about without recourse to myths.

The fact that the weather is sometimes foretold from the behavior of certain animals is a mere coincidence in time. For the animals offer no necessary reason why a storm should be produced and no divine being sits observing when these animals go out and afterwards fulfilling the signs which they have given. For such folly as this would not possess the most ordinary being if ever so little enlightened, much less one who enjoys perfect felicity.

All this, Pythocles, you should keep in mind; for then you will escape a long way from myth, and you will be able to view in their connection the instances which are similar to these. But above all give yourself up to the study of first principles and of infinity and of kindred subjects, and further of the standards and of the feelings and of the end for which we choose between them. For to study these subjects together will easily enable you to understand the causes of the particular phenomena. And those who have not fully accepted this, in proportion as they have not done so, will be ill acquainted with these very subjects, nor have they secured the end for which they ought to be studied.

Epicurus was correct that we must not assign divinity to the planets, stars, or any matter. Moses commanded the same thing to the Israelites 1000 years before Epicurus. Sinfulness has and will prevent an active presence of the Lord. And any predictions from events that seem divine are most likely not.

Exodus 33

33:1 The Lord said to Moses, “Go up from here, you and the people whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’

33:2 I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

33:3 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, and I might destroy you on the way.”

33:4 When the people heard this troubling word they mourned; no one put on his ornaments.

33:5 For the Lord had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I went up among you for a moment, I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments, that I may know what I should do to you.’”

33:6 So the Israelites stripped off their ornaments by Mount Horeb.

33:7 Moses took the tent and pitched it outside the camp, at a good distance from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. Anyone seeking the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting that was outside the camp.

33:8 And when Moses went out to the tent, all the people would get up and stand at the entrance to their tents and watch Moses until he entered the tent.

33:9 And whenever Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord would speak with Moses.

33:10 When all the people would see the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people, each one at the entrance of his own tent, would rise and worship.

33:11 The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, the way a person speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his servant, Joshua son of Nun, a young man, did not leave the tent.

33:12 Moses said to the Lord, “See, you have been saying to me, ‘Bring this people up,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. But you said, ‘I know you by name, and also you have found favor in my sight.’

33:13 Now if I have found favor in your sight, show me your way, that I may know you, that I may continue to find favor in your sight. And see that this nation is your people.”

33:14 And the Lord said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

33:15 And Moses said to him, “If your presence does not go with us, do not take us up from here.

33:16 For how will it be known then that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not by your going with us, so that we will be distinguished, I and your people, from all the people who are on the face of the earth?”

33:17 The Lord said to Moses, “I will do this thing also that you have requested, for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.”

33:18 And Moses said, “Show me your glory.”

33:19 And the Lord said, “I will make all my goodness pass before your face, and I will proclaim the Lord by name before you; I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy.”

33:20 But he added, “You cannot see my face, for no one can see me and live.”

33:21 The Lord said, “Here is a place by me; you will station yourself on a rock.

33:22 When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and will cover you with my hand while I pass by.

33:23 Then I will take away my hand, and you will see my back, but my face must not be seen.”

Deuteronomy 4

4:15 Be very careful, then, because you saw no form at the time the Lord spoke to you at Horeb from the middle of the fire.

4:16 I say this so you will not corrupt yourselves by making an image in the form of any kind of figure. This includes the likeness of a human male or female,

4:17 any kind of land animal, any bird that flies in the sky,

4:18 anything that crawls on the ground, or any fish in the deep waters of the earth.

4:19 When you look up to the sky and see the sun, moon, and stars – the whole heavenly creation – you must not be seduced to worship and serve them, for the Lord your God has assigned them to all the people of the world.

Does our Father consider icons of either Him or His Son idolatry? Moses stated that we never saw Hashem in the fire. And he Moses stated for us not to depict Hashem in the form of a human. Why do paintings of God our Father depict Him as a human in houses of worship?

Raphael, The Burning Bush, fresco, Palazzi Pontifici, Vatican

God turning his behind on the world he created, the Church and the Pope, painted 1511 after Michelangelo had a quarrel with the Pope.

Catechism of the Catholic Church

PART THREE
LIFE IN CHRIST
SECTION TWO
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

CHAPTER ONE
"YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND"

2116 All forms of divination are to be rejected: recourse to Satan or demons, conjuring up the dead or other practices falsely supposed to "unveil" the future.Consulting horoscopes, astrology, palm reading, interpretation of omens and lots, the phenomena of clairvoyance, and recourse to mediums all conceal a desire for power over time, history, and, in the last analysis, other human beings, as well as a wish to conciliate hidden powers. They contradict the honor, respect, and loving fear that we owe to God alone. - Cf. Deut 18:10; Jer 29:8.

2132 The Christian veneration of images is not contrary to the first commandment which proscribes idols. Indeed, "the honor rendered to an image passes to its prototype," and "whoever venerates an image venerates the person portrayed in it." The honor paid to sacred images is a "respectful veneration," not the adoration due to God alone:

Religious worship is not directed to images in themselves, considered as mere things, but under their distinctive aspect as images leading us on to God incarnate. The movement toward the image does not terminate in it as image, but tends toward that whose image it is. - St. Thomas Aquinas, STh II-II,81,3 ad 3.

Jesus is the visible form of God that His Apostles did see perform miracles. Jesus is the Living Word of God that His Apostles did hear the Good News.

John 14

14:8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be content.”

14:9 Jesus replied, “Have I been with you for so long, and you have not known me, Philip? The person who has seen me has seen the Father! How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?

14:10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you, I do not speak on my own initiative, but the Father residing in me performs His miraculous deeds.

14:11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me, but if you do not believe me, believe because of the miraculous deeds themselves.

14:12 I tell you the solemn truth, the person who believes in me will perform the miraculous deeds that I am doing, and will perform greater deeds than these, because I am going to the Father.

14:13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

14:14 If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

Jesus is a "visible" manifestation of our “invisible" Father.

The Holy Trinity an Orthodox wall painted icon at the ceiling of the entrance (πρόστωον) Vatopedion Monastery at Agion Oros (Mount Athos), Greece.

H_Agia_Triada_Moni_Vatopediou_Agion_Oros

Mormon founder and prophet, Joseph Smith, testified that God the Father and Jesus appeared to him.

The Doctrine and Covenants
Section 130
Items of instruction given by Joseph Smith the Prophet, at Ramus, Illinois, April 2, 1843.

22 The Father has a body of flesh and bones as tangible as man’s; the Son also; but the Holy Ghost has not a body of flesh and bones, but is a personage of Spirit. Were it not so, the Holy Ghost could not dwell in us.

23 A man may receive the Holy Ghost, and it may descend upon him and not tarry with him.

Watch "Joseph Smith's Changing View of God" with Grant Palmer dealing with his three accounts on his vision of seeing Jesus Christ.

Mormons believe that our Father, the Creator is really a resurrected human who was born on another planet. He in turn had a Creator Father and was a resurrected human who had a Creator and the hierarchy chain is infinite.

http://chat.mormon.org/chat/#/

Thank you for your interest in chatting with a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
What would you like to talk about?

Luke: Does the Church of Latter Day Saints believe in one God?
9:54 AM

Now chatting with Seth
Now chatting with Jacob

Jacob: Hi Luke!
9:54 AM

Luke: Hi Seth
9:54 AM

Seth: Hi Luke! Jacob and I will be chatting with you today.
9:54 AM

Luke: Hi Jacob
9:55 AM

Seth: How are you today?
9:55 AM

Luke: Great.
9:55 AM

Seth: I see your question above asking if we believe in One God?
9:55 AM

Luke: Yes
9:55 AM

Jacob: Good question
9:55 AM

Luke: I thought so.
9:56 AM

Seth: Our understanding of the scriptures is that when it refers to one God it is referring to a sense of unity and purpose. We believe in God the Eternal Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost. Each has the Title of God, but is a distinct person.
9:56 AM

Luke: A person stated "our Creator is really a resurrected human himself like Jesus." Which now I can tell him that is not true
9:57 AM

Seth: Our prophet Joseph Smith did say something along those lines. But, we know Jesus Christ was also God before He cam to earth. In truth, we do not know much about it.
9:58 AM

Luke
So you believe that there are other Gods that preceded God the Father?
9:59 AM

Jacob
That's an interesting question
9:59 AM

Logically, if we believe that God came to be God and was a man before, then that would imply the existence of an even greater hierarchy of gods.

However, that is entering into a realm of knowledge that we don't understand.

Luke: I know that I have read in the old Testament that God stated that there was no one before Him.
10:00 AM

Seth: We also read in Isaiah
8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than yourt houghts.
10:00 AM

Luke: I would agree with that statement
10:00 AM

Seth: Yes, we are familiar with that. And as far as we are concerned, we understand there is only One God for us, being the Godhead as I described at first.
10:01 AM

Luke: Then would not our Creator be lying?
10:01 AM

Jacob: No
10:02 AM

As is stated in the scriptures, He shares His knowledge with us bit by bit - or, line upon line

Luke: Ok. But, from my understanding God is pure and would not deceive us
10:02 AM

Jacob: Him knowing more than us isn't deception
10:03 AM

Luke: So if He states there is no one before him, then there is none. But it is a false statement?
10:03 AM

Seth: As we said, these are things we do not understand all the way. Somethings we can understand intellectually, but God is infinite, and we are finite. In the end, it also comes to a time where we need faith.
10:04 AM

Luke: Need Faith on what He said. Faith that he is our creator? Creator of the Universe. Or is the multiverse of a never ending hierarchy?
10:05 AM

Jacob: Luke, there is one thing you should know about our faith that might make sense of what we believe
We believe that God has spoken to us (as you believe) through the words of the Prophets in the Bible; however, we also believe that He revealed His teachings to other Prophets, and continues to do so today
10:06 AM

Luke: I understand
10:06 AM

Jacob: That said, He will continue to reveal His truths to us.
10:06 AM

Luke: But, Jesus stated that the previous commands and words of the prophets are true. And he did not come to change any of them. So the words of God are eternal. And that is how you can discern the truth.
10:06 AM

Jacob
We see your point, Luke; we could share with you what we believe if you like.
10:08 AM

Seth
Sure, do you feel you have found that truth in the Book of Mormon?
10:09 AM

Luke
I have only read a little.
10:09 AM

Seth: When I referenced faith easier, I was thinking of how the scriptures--the eternal words that you mentioned, provide such faith. We have faith in the atonement of Jesus Christ firstly, and that is taught in the scriptures.

AS I have been able to experience these words bring me closer to Christ I have been able to know they are good and from God.

Then, in knowing these simple things, it helps me to follow this gospel. God has not asked or expected us to understand everything, nor can we, but we can follow the Light of Christ.

You have said you have read a little in the Book of Mormon, do you have a copy?
10:10 AM

Jacob: I second what Seth has said. Studying God's word shows me eternal truths, which I learn little by little.
10:12 AM

Luke: I do. So you believe in many Gods? A chain of Gods? I do agree that wisdom comes bit by bit
10:12 AM

Jacob: Luke, you are asking a lot of great questions.
10:13 AM

Luke
I believe that we all become Children of God. If we follow God's commands
10:14 AM

Seth
We also believe that. It seems you have a great desire to understand God better yourself, do you currently attend a church yourself?
10:16 AM

Luke: I do
10:16 AM

Jacob: Great! What do you appreciate the most about your Church?
10:17 AM

Luke: I go to many churches. I like fellowship and the revelation of God's word that I find in these churches
10:18 AM

Seth
What keeps you from attending one church?
10:18 AM

Luke: I believe that Church is not defined by buildings. That Church is people. Christians. I go to Christian services. Kinda like Joesph Smith
10:19 AM

Seth:
Have you attended a church of ours as well then?
10:20 AM

Luke: Yes
10:20 AM

Jacob: that's true. He wanted to figure out which church was God's church
10:21 AM

Luke: That is the truth
10:21 AM

Jacob: Would you suggest that they are all God's church? Or, that the people are?
10:21 AM

Luke: I believe that God loves everyone. I have even watched videos of your current President.
10:21 AM
Jacob: Definitely
10:22 AM

Seth: That is pretty cool! what has your experience been with those things (attending church and watching President Monson)?
10:22 AM

Luke: I liked his humility. But, I am still trying to discern truth I also believe that God had commands for us to accept or not accept. If we do not accept them they lead to a path of destruction
10:22 AM

Jacob: He is a very humble man, yes. Very serving
10:24 AM

Luke: And please no offense, but I was hoping that you would have a direct answer that I could understand. Joesph Smith was also a man of reason, similar to Saint Paul in his letters
10:24 AM

Seth: The answer is that it is something we do not fully understand. But there are definitely God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Ghost (which makes 3 who hold the title of God).
10:25 AM

Luke: Your statement above I accept. I was hoping you could explain something that is radically different from my belief
10:25 AM

Seth I am looking forward to someday also understanding it myself! As I said, that is why we focus faith in the scriptures, and other things will come as needed.
10:26 AM

Luke But, a hierarchy of Gods goes against teaching.
10:26 AM

Jacob: Again, we don't understand everything. We certainly know very little to nothing about a hierarchy of gods.
10:27 AM

Luke: I am surprised all the preceding Prophets have not further defined it. That is ok. I do think you have a wonderful community.
10:27 AM

Jacob: It's because we really don't need to learn more about it now. If we did, God would reveal it to modern Prophets. Thank you! I agree - it is a community that has blessed my life very much.
10:28 AM

Luke: What does you current Prophet say?
10:28 AM

Jacob: Meaning, what does he prophesy?
10:29 AM

Luke: Has anyone asked him that question?
10:29 AM
J
Yeah, they probably have. I'm guessing that the reason we don't have a definitive answer yet goes back to the scripture from Isaiah 55.
10:29 AM

We stay focused on the principles of the Gospel of Christ and, while we don't avoid questions about which we know less, we spend comparatively less time on them.

I have found that it is more worthwhile to centralize my study on basics (e.g., faith, repentance, service, love, etc.)

It can be interesting to consider the "big questions" for which we have short, unsatisfactory answers

Luke: Well that is one of the most important commandments. Would you not agree?
10:31 AM

Jacob: It certainly is.

However, lingering on questions like these can sometimes lead to stumbling for lack of a clear answer.

Again, that doesn't mean that God is somehow "tricking" us, or deceiving us - rather, that we don't really have to worry about that yet.
10:31 AM

Luke: I appreciate your time.
10:32 AM

Jacob: Thank you for yours!
10:32 AM
I don't know if our answers were satisfactory to you, but we're nonetheless glad you came to chat with us today

Luke: Thank you. And may God give us all wisdom to answer the important questions
10:33 AM

Jacob: Amen to that
10:33 AM

Isaiah 55

55:1 “Hey, all who are thirsty, come to the water!

You who have no money, come!

Buy and eat!

Come! Buy wine and milk

without money and without cost!

55:2 Why pay money for something that will not nourish you?

Why spend your hard-earned money on something that will not satisfy?

Listen carefully to me and eat what is nourishing!

Enjoy fine food!

55:3 Pay attention and come to me!

Listen, so you can live!

Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to you,

just like the reliable covenantal promises I made to David.

55:4 Look, I made him a witness to nations,

a ruler and commander of nations.”

55:5 Look, you will summon nations you did not previously know;

nations that did not previously know you will run to you,

because of the Lord your God,

the Holy One of Israel,

for he bestows honor on you.

55:6 Seek the Lord while He makes Himself available;

call to Him while He is nearby!

55:7 The wicked need to abandon their lifestyle

and sinful people their plans.

They should return to the Lord, and he will show mercy to them,

and to their God, for he will freely forgive them.

55:8 “Indeed, my plans are not like your plans,

and my deeds are not like your deeds,

55:9 for just as the sky is higher than the earth,

so my deeds are superior to your deeds

and my plans superior to your plans.

55:10 The rain and snow fall from the sky

and do not return,

but instead water the earth

and make it produce and yield crops,

and provide seed for the planter and food for those who must eat.

55:11 In the same way, the promise that I make

does not return to me, having accomplished nothing.

No, it is realized as I desire

and is fulfilled as I intend.”

55:12 Indeed you will go out with joy;

you will be led along in peace;

the mountains and hills will give a joyful shout before you,

and all the trees in the field will clap their hands.

55:13 Evergreens will grow in place of thorn bushes,

firs will grow in place of nettles;

they will be a monument to the Lord,

a permanent reminder that will remain.

I believe in our Creator is Lord of both flesh and spirit. I believe that our moral impurities of the flesh do not allow us to see His spirit without His consent. Moses was not pure enough to see our Creator's face. Jesus Christ is only one mortal pure enough to see the face of Our Heavenly Father that lived to tell about it.

Listen to the Cistercian Monks of Stift Heiligenkreuz - Hymnus ''Veni Creator Spiritus'' and reflect on the essence of Hashem.

Luke_Wilbur · February 14, 2015

The Didache

Chapter 5

5:1 But the way of death is this.
5:2 First of all, it is evil and full of a curse murders, adulteries, lusts, fornications, thefts, idolatries, magical arts, witchcrafts, plunderings, false witnessings, hypocrisies, doubleness of heart, treachery, pride, malice, stubbornness, covetousness, foul-speaking, jealousy, boldness, exaltation, boastfulness;

Do those that preach that our Creator is flesh and bones teach bad theology. Our Messiah, Jesus Christ, stated Hashem is a spirit.

John 4

4:19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet.

4:20 Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, and you people say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.”

4:21 Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem.

4:22 You people worship what you do not know. We worship what we know, because salvation is from the Jews.

4:23 But a time is coming – and now is here – when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such people to be His worshipers.

4:24 God is spirit, and the people who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

4:25 The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (the one called Christ);“whenever he comes, he will tell us everything.”

4:26 Jesus said to her, “I, the one speaking to you, am he.”

True Worship Needs Both Spirit and Truth

John 15

15:18 “If the world hates you, be aware that it hated me first.

15:19 If you belonged to the world, the world would love you as its own. However, because you do not belong to the world, but I chose you out of the world, for this reason the world hates you.

15:20 Remember what I told you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they obeyed my word, they will obey yours too.

15:21 But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me.

15:22 If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. But they no longer have any excuse for their sin.

15:23 The one who hates me hates my Father too.

15:24 If I had not performed among them the miraculous deeds that no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen the deeds and have hated both me and my Father.

15:25 Now this happened to fulfill the word that is written in their law, ‘They hated me without reason.’

15:26 When the Advocate comes, whom I will send you from the Father – the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father – He will testify about me,

15:27 and you also will testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.

The Spirit of Truth given by Hashem

The Spirit of Truth received by the chosen.

The Grace of Hashem

Listen to "With the Power of the Holy Spirit." His fire will not die.

1 John 4

4:1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

4:2 By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses Jesus as the Christ who has come in the flesh is from God,

4:3 but every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God, and this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and now is already in the world.

4:4 You are from God, little children, and have conquered them, because the One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

4:5 They are from the world; therefore they speak from the world’s perspective and the world listens to them.

4:6 We are from God; the person who knows God listens to us, but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deceit.

Nyx and Apate

In the religion of Ancient Greece, Nyx was the spirit of night and stood at or near the beginning of creation. She was the mother of other spirits such as Hypnos (Sleep), Thanatos (Death) and Apate (Deceit)

Atë, is the Greek goddess of mischief, delusion, ruin, and folly.

At%C3%AB.jpg

The strategy of apate is used to win battles.The Trojan warhorse was used to outwit the enemy by apate.

The Japanese used the strategy of apate (Giman) to plan the attack Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. A radio giman and silence (denial) plan had American naval radio and fleet intelligence officers uncertain to the location of the Imperial Japanese Navy’s carriers and convinced that they were in their territorial waters following their tradition war exercises.

pearl-harbor-the-gettysburg-times-1941.j

Ephesians 5

5:6 Let nobody deceive you with empty words, for because of these things God’s wrath comes on the sons of disobedience.

5:7 Therefore do not be partakers with them,

5:8 for you were at one time darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of the light –

5:9 for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth –

5:10 trying to learn what is pleasing to the Lord.

5:11 Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but rather expose them.

5:12 For the things they do in secret are shameful even to mention.

5:13 But all things being exposed by the light are made evident.

5:14 For everything made evident is light, and for this reason it says:

“Awake, O sleeper!

Rise from the dead,

and Christ will shine on you!”

5:15 Therefore be very careful how you live – not as unwise but as wise,

5:16 taking advantage of every opportunity, because the days are evil.

5:17 For this reason do not be foolish, but be wise by understanding what the Lord’s will is.

5:18 And do not get drunk with wine, which is debauchery, but be filled by the Spirit,

5:19 speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music in your hearts to the Lord,

5:20 always giving thanks to God the Father for each other in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ,

5:21 and submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.

Philippians 2

2:3 Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself.

2:4 Each of you should be concerned not only about your own interests, but about the interests of others as well.

2:5 You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had,

2:6 who though he existed in the form of God did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped,

2:7 but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave,
by looking like other men,
and by sharing in human nature.

2:8 He humbled himself,
by becoming obedient to the point of death
– even death on a cross!

2:9 As a result God exalted him
and gave Him the name
that is above every name,

2:10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow
– in heaven and on earth and under the earth –

2:11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

James 3

3:13 Who is wise and understanding among you? By his good conduct he should show his works done in the gentleness that wisdom brings.

3:14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfishness in your hearts, do not boast and tell lies against the truth.

3:15 Such wisdom does not come from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic.

3:16 For where there is jealousy and selfishness, there is disorder and every evil practice.

3:17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and not hypocritical.

3:18 And the fruit that consists of righteousness is planted in peace among those who make peace.

Some Christians consider Frank Kelly to be a prophet. I had my cousin ask Frank the difference between the God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. His response was to picture the Trinity as a rose.

The stem is God the Father. The flower is God the Son. And the fragrance is God the Holy Spirit.

ismelling%20a%20rose.jpg

Frank Kelly
P.O. Box 81
Humarock, MA. 02047

Orthodox Christians believe in a single God who is both three and one (triune); the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, "one in essence and undivided". The Holy Trinity is three "unconfused" and distinct divine persons (hypostases), who share one divine essence (ousia); uncreated, immaterial and eternal. The Father is the eternal source of the Godhead, from whom the Son is begotten eternally and also from whom the Holy Spirit proceeds eternally. The essence of God being that which is beyond human comprehension and cannot be defined or approached by human understanding.

In discussing God's relationship to his creation a distinction is made within Orthodox theology between God's eternal essence and uncreated energies, though it is understood that this does not compromise the divine simplicity. Energies and essence are both inseparably God. The divine energies are the expressions of divine being in action according to Orthodox doctrine, whereas the persons of the Trinity are divine by nature. Hence, created beings are united to God through participation in the divine energies and not the divine essence or ousia.

John 1

1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was fully God.

1:2 The Word was with God in the beginning.

1:3 All things were created by him, and apart from him not one thing was created that has been created.

1:4 In him was life, and the life was the light of mankind.

1:5 And the light shines on in the darkness, but the darkness has not mastered it.

1:6 A man came, sent from God, whose name was John.

1:7 He came as a witness to testify about the light, so that everyone might believe through Him.

1:8 He himself was not the light, but he came to testify about the light.

1:9 The true light, who gives light to everyone, was coming into the world.

1:10 He was in the world, and the world was created by him, but the world did not recognize Him.

1:11 He came to what was his own, but His own people did not receive him.

1:12 But to all who have received Him – those who believe in His name – He has given the right to become God’s children

1:13 – children not born by human parents or by human desire or a husband’s decision, but by God.

1:14 Now the Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We saw His glory – the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father.

1:15 John testified about him and shouted out, “This one was the one about whom I said, ‘He who comes after me is greater than I am, because he existed before me.’”

1:16 For we have all received from His fullness one gracious gift after another.

1:17 For the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came about through Jesus Christ.

1:18 No one has ever seen God. The only one, himself God, who is in closest fellowship with the Father, has made God known.

Proverbs 13

13:1 A wise son accepts his father’s discipline,

but a scoffer does not listen to rebuke.

13:2 From the fruit of his speech a person eats good things,

but the faithless desire the fruit of violence.

13:3 The one who guards his words guards his life,

but whoever is talkative will come to ruin.

13:4 The appetite of the sluggard craves but gets nothing,

but the desire of the diligent will be abundantly satisfied.

13:5 The righteous person hates anything false,

but the wicked person acts in shameful disgrace.

13:6 Righteousness guards the one who lives with integrity,

but wickedness overthrows the sinner.

13:7 There is one who pretends to be rich and yet has nothing;

another pretends to be poor and yet possesses great wealth.

13:8 The ransom of a person’s life is his wealth,

but the poor person hears no threat.

13:9 The light of the righteous shines brightly,

but the lamp of the wicked goes out.

13:10 With pride comes only contention,

but wisdom is with the well-advised.

13:11 Wealth gained quickly will dwindle away,

but the one who gathers it little by little will become rich.

13:12 Hope deferred makes the heart sick,

but a longing fulfilled is like a tree of life.

13:13 The one who despises instruction will pay the penalty,

but whoever esteems instruction will be rewarded.

13:14 Instruction from the wise is like a life-giving fountain,

to turn a person from deadly snares.

13:15 Keen insight wins favor,

but the conduct of the unfaithful is harsh.

13:16 Every shrewd person acts with knowledge,

but a fool displays his folly.

13:17 An unreliable messenger falls into trouble,

but a faithful envoy brings healing.

13:18 The one who neglects discipline ends up in poverty and shame,

but the one who accepts reproof is honored.

13:19 A desire fulfilled is sweet to the soul,

but fools abhor turning away from evil.

13:20 The one who associates with the wise grows wise,

but a companion of fools suffers harm.

13:21 Calamity pursues sinners,

but prosperity rewards the righteous.

13:22 A benevolent person leaves an inheritance for his grandchildren,

but the wealth of a sinner is stored up for the righteous.

13:23 There is abundant food in the field of the poor,

but it is swept away by injustice.

2 Corinthians 5

4:1 ... since we have this ministry, just as God has shown us mercy, we do not become discouraged.

4:2 But we have rejected shameful hidden deeds, not behaving with deceptiveness or distorting the word of God, but by open proclamation of the truth we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience before God.

4:3 But even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled only to those who are perishing,

4:4 among whom the god of this age has blinded the minds of those who do not believe so they would not see the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God.

4:5 For we do not proclaim ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your slaves for Jesus’ sake.

4:6 For God, who said “Let light shine out of darkness,” is the one who shined in our hearts to give us the light of the glorious knowledge of God in the face of Christ.

4:7 But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that the extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us.

4:8 We are experiencing trouble on every side, but are not crushed; we are perplexed, but not driven to despair;

4:9 we are persecuted, but not abandoned; we are knocked down, but not destroyed,

4:10 always carrying around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our body.

4:11 For we who are alive are constantly being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our mortal body.

4:12 As a result, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

4:13 But since we have the same spirit of faith as that shown in what has been written, “I believed; therefore I spoke,” we also believe, therefore we also speak.

4:14 We do so because we know that the One who raised up Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus and will bring us with you into His presence.

4:15 For all these things are for your sake, so that the grace that is including more and more people may cause thanksgiving to increase to the glory of God.

4:16 Therefore we do not despair, but even if our physical body is wearing away, our inner person is being renewed day by day.

4:17 For our momentary, light suffering is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison

4:18 because we are not looking at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen. For what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.

5:1 For we know that if our earthly house, the tent we live in, is dismantled, we have a building from God, a house not built by human hands, that is eternal in the heavens.

5:2 For in this earthly house we groan, because we desire to put on our heavenly dwelling,

5:3 if indeed, after we have put on our heavenly house, we will not be found unclothed.

5:4 For we groan while we are in this tent, since we are weighed down, because we do not want to be unclothed, but clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life.

5:5 Now the one who prepared us for this very purpose is God, who gave us the Spirit as a down payment.

5:6 Therefore we are always full of courage, and we know that as long as we are alive here on earth we are absent from the Lord –

5:7 for we live by faith, not by sight.

5:8 Thus we are full of courage and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

5:9 So then whether we are alive or away, we make it our ambition to please Him.

5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may be paid back according to what he has done while in the body, whether good or evil.

5:11 Therefore, because we know the fear of the Lord, we try to persuade people, but we are well known to God, and I hope we are well known to your consciences too.

5:12 We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again, but are giving you an opportunity to be proud of us, so that you may be able to answer those who take pride in outward appearance and not in what is in the heart.

5:13 For if we are out of our minds, it is for God; if we are of sound mind, it is for you.

5:14 For the love of Christ controls us, since we have concluded this, that Christ died for all; therefore all have died.

5:15 And He died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for Him who died for them and was raised.

5:16 So then from now on we acknowledge no one from an outward human point of view. Even though we have known Christ from such a human point of view, now we do not know him in that way any longer.

5:17 So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away – look, what is new has come!

5:18 And all these things are from God who reconciled us to Himself through Christ, and who has given us the ministry of reconciliation.

5:19 In other words, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting people’s trespasses against them, and He has given us the message of reconciliation.

5:20 Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making His plea through us. We plead with you on Christ’s behalf, “Be reconciled to God!”

5:21 God made the one who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we would become the righteousness of God.

Listen to Josh Turner sing "Long Black Train."

Turner told The Boot that the song was inspired by a vision that he had of a long, black train running down a track in the middle of nowhere. Turner said, "I could see people standing out to the sides of this track watching this train go by. As I was walking, experiencing this vision, I kept asking myself, 'What does this vision mean and what is this train?' It dawned on me that this train was a physical metaphor for temptation. These people are caught up in the decision of whether or not to go on this train."

Luke_Wilbur · February 21, 2015

The Didache

Chapter 5

5:1 But the way of death is this.
5:2 First of all, it is evil and full of a curse murders, adulteries, lusts, fornications, thefts, idolatries, magical arts, witchcrafts, plunderings, false witnessings, hypocrisies, doubleness of heart, treachery, pride, malice, stubbornness, covetousness, foul-speaking, jealousy, boldness, exaltation, boastfulness;

During our suffering here on earth we should confidently praise God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit for gracing us with living water that restores our health and delivers us from spiritual death.

2 Corinthians 5

4:11 For we who are alive are constantly being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our mortal body.

4:12 As a result, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

4:13 But since we have the same spirit of faith as that shown in what has been written, “I believed; therefore I spoke,” we also believe, therefore we also speak.

Psalms 116

1 I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications.

2 Because He hath inclined His ear unto me, therefore will I call upon Him as long as I live.

3 The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell got hold upon me:

I found trouble and sorrow.

4 Then called I upon the name of the LORD; O LORD, I beseech thee, deliver my soul.

5 Gracious is the LORD, and righteous; yea, our God is merciful.

6 The LORD preserves the simple:

I was brought low, and he helped me.

7 Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the LORD hath dealt bountifully with thee.

8 For thou hast delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling.

9 I will walk before the LORD in the land of the living.

10 I believed, therefore have I spoken: I was greatly afflicted:

11 I said in my haste, All men are liars.

12 What shall I render unto the LORD for all His benefits toward me?

13 I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD.

14 I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people.

15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of His saints.

16 O LORD, truly I am thy servant; I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid: thou hast loosed my bonds.

17 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of the LORD.

18 I will pay my vows unto the LORD now in the presence of all his people,

19 In the courts of the LORD'S house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. Praise ye the LORD.

wreaths+across+america.jpg

Psalms 16

16:1 A prayer of David.

Protect me, O God, for I have taken shelter in you.

16:2 I say to the Lord, “You are the Lord,

my only source of well-being.”

16:3 As for God’s chosen people who are in the land,

and the leading officials I admired so much –

16:4 their troubles multiply,

they desire other gods.

I will not pour out drink offerings of blood to their gods,

nor will I make vows in the name of their gods.

16:5 Lord, you give me stability and prosperity;

you make my future secure.

16:6 It is as if I have been given fertile fields

or received a beautiful tract of land.

16:7 I will praise the Lord who guides me;

yes, during the night I reflect and learn.

16:8 I constantly trust in the Lord;

because He is at my right hand, I will not be upended.

16:9 So my heart rejoices

and I am happy;

My life is safe.

16:10 You will not abandon me to Sheol;

You will not allow Your faithful follower to see the Pit.

16:11 You lead me in the path of life;

I experience absolute joy in your presence;

you always give me sheer delight.

Water and Spirit

Ezekiel 36

36:22 “...say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:

It is not for your sake that I am about to act, O house of Israel, but for the sake of my holy reputation which you profaned among the nations where you went.

36:23 I will magnify my great name that has been profaned among the nations, that you have profaned among them. The nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the sovereign Lord, when I magnify myself among you in their sight.

36:24 “‘I will take you from the nations and gather you from all the countries; then I will bring you to your land.

36:25 I will sprinkle you with pure water and you will be clean from all your impurities. I will purify you from all your idols.

36:26 I will give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will remove the heart of stone from your body and give you a heart of flesh.

36:27 I will put my Spirit within you; I will take the initiative and you will obey my statutes and carefully observe my regulations.

36:28 Then you will live in the land I gave to your fathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God.

36:29 I will save you from all your uncleanness. I will call for the grain and multiply it; I will not bring a famine on you.

36:30 I will multiply the fruit of the trees and the produce of the fields, so that you will never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations.

36:31 Then you will remember your evil behavior and your deeds which were not good; you will loathe yourselves on account of your sins and your abominable deeds.

36:32 Understand that it is not for your sake I am about to act, declares the sovereign Lord. Be ashamed and embarrassed by your behavior, O house of Israel.

36:33 “‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:

In the day I cleanse you from all your sins, I will populate the cities and the ruins will be rebuilt.

36:34 The desolate land will be plowed, instead of being desolate in the sight of everyone who passes by.

36:35 They will say, “This desolate land has become like the garden of Eden; the ruined, desolate, and destroyed cities are now fortified and inhabited.”

36:36 Then the nations which remain around you will know that I, the Lord, have rebuilt the ruins and replanted what was desolate. I, the Lord, have spoken – and I will do it!’

36:37 “This is what the sovereign Lord says:

I will allow the house of Israel to ask me to do this for them:

I will multiply their people like sheep.

36:38 Like the sheep for offerings, like the sheep of Jerusalem during her appointed feasts, so will the ruined cities be filled with flocks of people. Then they will know that I am the Lord.”

37:1 The hand of the Lord was on me, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and placed me in the midst of the valley, and it was full of bones.

37:2 He made me walk all around among them. I realized there were a great many bones in the valley and they were very dry.

37:3 He said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said to Him, “Sovereign Lord, you know.”

37:4 Then He said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and tell them:

‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.

37:5 This is what the sovereign Lord says to these bones:

Look, I am about to infuse breath into you and you will live.

37:6 I will put tendons on you and muscles over you and will cover you with skin; I will put breath in you and you will live. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”

37:7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. There was a sound when I prophesied – I heard a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to bone.

37:8 As I watched, I saw tendons on them, then muscles appeared, and skin covered over them from above, but there was no breath in them.

37:9 He said to me, “Prophesy to the Breath, – prophesy, son of man – and say to the Breath:

‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:

Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these corpses so that they may live.’”

37:10 So I prophesied as I was commanded, and the Breath came into them; they lived and stood on their feet, an extremely great army.

37:11 Then He said to me, “Son of man, these bones are all the house of Israel. Look, they are saying, ‘Our bones are dry, our hope has perished; we are cut off.’

37:12 Therefore prophesy, and tell them, ‘This is what the sovereign Lord says:

Look, I am about to open your graves and will raise you from your graves, my people. I will bring you to the land of Israel.

37:13 Then you will know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and raise you from your graves, my people.

37:14 I will place my Breath in you and you will live; I will give you rest in your own land. Then you will know that I am the Lord – I have spoken and I will act, declares the Lord.’”

John 4

4:4 But he had to pass through Samaria.

4:5 Now he came to a Samaritan town called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.

4:6 Jacob’s well was there, so Jesus, since he was tired from the journey, sat right down beside the well. It was about noon.

4:7 A Samaritan woman came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me some water to drink.”

4:8 (For his disciples had gone off into the town to buy supplies.)

4:9 So the Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you – a Jew – ask me, a Samaritan woman, for water to drink?” (For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.)

4:10 Jesus answered her, “If you had known the gift of God and who it is who said to you, ‘Give me some water to drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.”

4:11 “Sir,” the woman said to him, “you have no bucket and the well is deep; where then do you get this 29 living water?

4:12 Surely you’re not greater than our ancestor Jacob, are you? For he gave us this well and drank from it himself, along with his sons and his livestock.”

4:13 Jesus replied, “Everyone who drinks some of this water will be thirsty again.

4:14 But whoever drinks some of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again, but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life.”

4:15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

4:16 He said to her, “Go call your husband and come back here.”

4:17 The woman replied, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “Right you are when you said, ‘I have no husband,’

4:18 for you have had five husbands, and the man you are living with now is not your husband. This you said truthfully!”

John 7

7:37 On the last day of the feast, the greatest day, Jesus stood up and shouted out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, and

7:38 let the one who believes in me drink. Just as the scripture says, ‘From within him will flow rivers of living water.’”

7:39 (Now He said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were going to receive, for the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.)

Jesus would have known about Herodotus account 500 years before his mortal time of the legend of a fountain containing a special kind of water in the land of the Macrobians, which gives them exceptional longevity.

The Macrobians (Μακροβίοι), meaning long-lived, were a legendary tribe of Aethiopia and kingdom positioned in the land towards the western sunset at the ends of the earth in ancient Libya (Africa). According to Herodotus they dwelt geographically along the sea south of Libya on the Atlantic opposite of the Erythraean sea (Greek: Ἐρυθρὰ Θάλασσα, Erythra Thalassa, "Red Sea") to the east of them. This Libya was south of the Pillars of Hercules and Atlas Mountains along the Atlantic coast, while the northern Libyan coast was the Mediterranean Sea. Herodotus also stated that the Macrobian Ethiopians were Indigenous to southern Libya while the Libyans along the Mediterranean Sea were indigenous to northern Libya

Ichthyophagi (Gr. Ἰχθυοφάγοι and Latin Ichthyophagi, for "Fish-Eaters"), the name given by ancient geographers to several coast-dwelling peoples in different parts of the world and ethnically unrelated.

Reconstruction of the Oikumene (inhabited world) as described by Herodotus in the 5th century BC.

History of Herodotus

Book 3

The Ichthyophagi then in their turn questioned the king concerning the term of life, and diet of his people, and were told that most of them lived to be a hundred and twenty years old, while some even went beyond that age- they ate boiled flesh, and had for their drink nothing but milk. When the Ichthyophagi showed wonder at the number of the years, he led them to a fountain, wherein when they had washed, they found their flesh all glossy and sleek, as if they had bathed in oil- and a scent came from the spring like that of violets. The water was so weak, they said, that nothing would float in it, neither wood, nor any lighter substance, but all went to the bottom. If the account of this fountain be true, it would be their constant use of the water from it which makes them so long-lived

http://youtu.be/HKRt5ZBlJ-0

The Isrealites had a similar story of the restorative powers of the spring En Hakkore.

Judges 15

15:9 The Philistines went up and invaded Judah. They arrayed themselves for battle in Lehi.

15:10 The men of Judah said, “Why are you attacking us?” The Philistines said, “We have come up to take Samson prisoner so we can do to him what he has done to us.”

15:11 Three thousand men of Judah went down to the cave in the cliff of Etam and said to Samson, “Do you not know that the Philistines rule over us? Why have you done this to us?” He said to them, “I have only done to them what they have done to me.”

15:12 They said to him, “We have come down to take you prisoner so we can hand you over to the Philistines.” Samson said to them, “Promise me you will not kill me.”

15:13 They said to him, “We promise! We will only take you prisoner and hand you over to them. We promise not to kill you.” They tied him up with two brand new ropes and led him up from the cliff.

15:14 When he arrived in Lehi, the Philistines shouted as they approached him. But the Lord’s Spirit empowered him. The ropes around his arms were like flax dissolving in fire, and they melted away from his hands.

15:15 He happened to see a solid jawbone of a donkey. He grabbed it and struck down a thousand men.

15:16 Samson then said,

“With the jawbone of a donkey

I have left them in heaps;

with the jawbone of a donkey

I have struck down a thousand men!”

15:18 He was very thirsty, so he cried out to the Lord and said, “You have given your servant this great victory. But now must I die of thirst and fall into hands of the Philistines?”

15:19 So God split open the basin at Lehi and water flowed out from it. When he took a drink, his strength was restored and he revived. For this reason he named the spring En Hakkore. It remains in Lehi to this very day.

15:20 Samson led Israel for twenty years during the days of Philistine prominence.

The spring En Hakkore

Location of the spring En Hakkore.

En-Hakkore-spring-map-circa-1100-B.C..jp

Galatians 5

5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not be subject again to the yoke of slavery.

5:2 Listen! I, Paul, tell you that if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you at all!

5:3 And I testify again to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.

5:4 You who are trying to be declared righteous by the law have been alienated from Christ; you have fallen away from grace!

5:5 For through the Spirit, by faith, we wait expectantly for the hope of righteousness.

5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision carries any weight – the only thing that matters is faith working through love.

5:7 You were running well; who prevented you from obeying the truth?

5:8 This persuasion does not come from the one who calls you!

5:9 A little yeast makes the whole batch of dough rise!

5:10 I am confident in the Lord that you will accept no other view. But the one who is confusing you will pay the penalty, whoever he may be.

5:11 Now, brothers and sisters, if I am still preaching circumcision, why am I still being persecuted? In that case the offense of the cross has been removed.

5:12 I wish those agitators would go so far as to castrate themselves!

5:13 For you were called to freedom, brothers and sisters; only do not use your freedom as an opportunity to indulge your flesh, but through love serve one another.

5:14 For the whole law can be summed up in a single commandment, namely, “You must love your neighbor as yourself.”

5:15 However, if you continually bite and devour one another, beware that you are not consumed by one another.

5:16 But I say, live by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh.

5:17 For the flesh has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires that are opposed to the flesh, for these are in opposition to each other, so that you cannot do what you want.

5:18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

5:19 Now the works of the flesh are obvious:

sexual immorality, impurity, depravity,

5:20 idolatry, sorcery, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, dissensions, factions,

5:21 envying, murder, drunkenness, carousing, and similar things. I am warning you, as I had warned you before:

Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God!

5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

5:23 gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

5:24 Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

5:25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also behave in accordance with the Spirit.

5:26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, being jealous of one another.

Being born of Water and Spirit can be difficult to comprehend.

The Living Breath of the Holy Spirit enters those who succumb to the will of Hashem.

The Temple of the Holy Spirit resides in the Righteous Intellect taught by Hashem

Luke_Wilbur · March 5, 2015

The Didache

Chapter 5

5:1 But the way of death is this.
5:2 First of all, it is evil and full of a curse murders, adulteries, lusts, fornications, thefts, idolatries, magical arts, witchcrafts, plunderings, false witnessings, hypocrisies, doubleness of heart, treachery, pride, malice, stubbornness, covetousness, foul-speaking, jealousy, boldness, exaltation, boastfulness;

John 6

6:63 The Spirit is the one who gives life; human nature is of no help!

[Genesis 1:2 Now the earth was without shape and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the watery deep, but the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the water.]

[Revelation 21:5 And He who sits on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." And He *said, "Write, for these words are faithful and true." Then He said to me, "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son. But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.]
The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.

6:64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus had already known from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.)

6:65 So Jesus added, “Because of this I told you that no one can come to me unless the Father has allowed him to come."

6:66 After this many of his disciples quit following him and did not accompany him any longer.

6:67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “You don’t want to go away too, do you?”

6:68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words of eternal life.

6:69 We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God!”

6:70 Jesus replied, “Didn’t I choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is the devil?”

6:71 (Now he said this about Judas son of Simon Iscariot, for Judas, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.)

In Ancient Roman religion, the genius is the individual instance of a general divine nature that is present in every individual person, place, or thing. Much like a guardian angel, the genius would follow each man from the hour of his birth until the day he died. For women it was the Juno spirit that would accompany each of them.

Contemplate on the woman holding a mirror and a tambourine facing a winged genie with a ribbon and a branch with leaves. Red-figure oinochoe, ca. 320 BC. How much different is this idea from having a guardian angel?

Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon

Woman_mirror_tambourine_MBA_Lyon_L631.jp

In ancient Greek religion, Daemons were believed to be benevolent or benign nature spirits, beings of the same nature as both mortals and deities, similar to ghosts, chthonic heroes, spirit guides, forces of nature or the deities themselves.

An agathodaemon (Greek: ἀγαθοδαίμων, agathodaímōn) or agathos daemon (Greek: ἀγαθὸς δαίμων, agathós daímōn, lit. "noble spirit") was a spirit (daemon) of the vineyards and grainfields in ancient Greek religion. They were personal companion spirits, similar to the Roman genii, ensuring good luck, health, and wisdom.

Antinous as Agathodemon. Headless marble statue completed with an Antinous' head, 130–138 CE

Altes Museum

Jadwiga Łuszczewska, who used the pen name Diotima, posing as the ancient seer in a painting by Józef Simmler, 1855

Lviv National Art Gallery

Socrates met Diotima of Mantinea (honoured by Zeus") was a female philosopher and priestess who played an important role in Plato's Symposium. Her idea that beauty exists as a non-sexual everlasting divine constant that resides apart from any individual. Diotima's concept of beauty is the is the origin of Platonic love which lies at the root of all virtue and truth.

Symposium

By Plato

Written 360 B.C.E

Translated by Benjamin Jowett

I would rehearse a tale of love which I heard from Diotima of Mantineia, a woman wise in this and in many other kinds of knowledge, who in the days of old, when the Athenians offered sacrifice before the coming of the plague, delayed the disease ten years. She was my instructress in the art of love, and I shall repeat to you what she said to me, beginning with the admissions made by Agathon, which are nearly if not quite the same which I made to the wise woman when she questioned me-I think that this will be the easiest way, and I shall take both parts myself as well as I can. As you, Agathon, suggested, I must speak first of the being and nature of Love, and then of his works. First I said to her in nearly the same words which he used to me, that Love was a mighty god, and likewise fair and she proved to me as I proved to him that, by my own showing, Love was neither fair nor good. "What do you mean, Diotima," I said, "is love then evil and foul?" "Hush," she cried; "must that be foul which is not fair?" "Certainly," I said. "And is that which is not wise, ignorant? do you not see that there is a mean between wisdom and ignorance?" "And what may that be?" I said. "Right opinion," she replied; "which, as you know, being incapable of giving a reason, is not knowledge (for how can knowledge be devoid of reason? nor again, ignorance, for neither can ignorance attain the truth), but is clearly something which is a mean between ignorance and wisdom." "Quite true," I replied. "Do not then insist," she said, "that what is not fair is of necessity foul, or what is not good evil; or infer that because love is not fair and good he is therefore foul and evil; for he is in a mean between them." "Well," I said, "Love is surely admitted by all to be a great god." "By those who know or by those who do not know?" "By all." "And how, Socrates," she said with a smile, "can Love be acknowledged to be a great god by those who say that he is not a god at all?" "And who are they?" I said. "You and I are two of them," she replied. "How can that be?" I said. "It is quite intelligible," she replied; "for you yourself would acknowledge that the gods are happy and fair of course you would-would to say that any god was not?" "Certainly not," I replied. "And you mean by the happy, those who are the possessors of things good or fair?" "Yes." "And you admitted that Love, because he was in want, desires those good and fair things of which he is in want?" "Yes, I did." "But how can he be a god who has no portion in what is either good or fair?" "Impossible." "Then you see that you also deny the divinity of Love."

"What then is Love?" I asked; "Is he mortal?" "No." "What then?" "As in the former instance, he is neither mortal nor immortal, but in a mean between the two." "What is he, Diotima?" "He is a great spirit (daimon), and like all spirits he is intermediate between the divine and the mortal." "And what," I said, "is his power?" "He interprets," she replied, "between gods and men, conveying and taking across to the gods the prayers and sacrifices of men, and to men the commands and replies of the gods; he is the mediator who spans the chasm which divides them, and therefore in him all is bound together, and through him the arts of the prophet and the priest, their sacrifices and mysteries and charms, and all, prophecy and incantation, find their way. For God mingles not with man; but through Love. all the intercourse, and converse of god with man, whether awake or asleep, is carried on. The wisdom which understands this is spiritual; all other wisdom, such as that of arts and handicrafts, is mean and vulgar. Now these spirits or intermediate powers are many and diverse, and one of them is Love. "And who," I said, "was his father, and who his mother?" "The tale," she said, "will take time; nevertheless I will tell you. On the birthday of Aphrodite there was a feast of the gods, at which the god Poros or Plenty, who is the son of Metis or Discretion, was one of the guests. When the feast was over, Penia or Poverty, as the manner is on such occasions, came about the doors to beg. Now Plenty who was the worse for nectar (there was no wine in those days), went into the garden of Zeus and fell into a heavy sleep, and Poverty considering her own straitened circumstances, plotted to have a child by him, and accordingly she lay down at his side and conceived love, who partly because he is naturally a lover of the beautiful, and because Aphrodite is herself beautiful, and also because he was born on her birthday, is her follower and attendant. And as his parentage is, so also are his fortunes. In the first place he is always poor, and anything but tender and fair, as the many imagine him; and he is rough and squalid, and has no shoes, nor a house to dwell in; on the bare earth exposed he lies under the open heaven, in-the streets, or at the doors of houses, taking his rest; and like his mother he is always in distress. Like his father too, whom he also partly resembles, he is always plotting against the fair and good; he is bold, enterprising, strong, a mighty hunter, always weaving some intrigue or other, keen in the pursuit of wisdom, fertile in resources; a philosopher at all times, terrible as an enchanter, sorcerer, sophist. He is by nature neither mortal nor immortal, but alive and flourishing at one moment when he is in plenty, and dead at another moment, and again alive by reason of his father's nature. But that which is always flowing in is always flowing out, and so he is never in want and never in wealth; and, further, he is in a mean between ignorance and knowledge. The truth of the matter is this: No god is a philosopher. or seeker after wisdom, for he is wise already; nor does any man who is wise seek after wisdom. Neither do the ignorant seek after Wisdom. For herein is the evil of ignorance, that he who is neither good nor wise is nevertheless satisfied with himself: he has no desire for that of which he feels no want." "But-who then, Diotima," I said, "are the lovers of wisdom, if they are neither the wise nor the foolish?" "A child may answer that question," she replied; "they are those who are in a mean between the two; Love is one of them. For wisdom is a most beautiful thing, and Love is of the beautiful; and therefore Love is also a philosopher: or lover of wisdom, and being a lover of wisdom is in a mean between the wise and the ignorant. And of this too his birth is the cause; for his father is wealthy and wise, and his mother poor and foolish. Such, my dear Socrates, is the nature of the spirit Love. The error in your conception of him was very natural, and as I imagine from what you say, has arisen out of a confusion of love and the beloved, which made you think that love was all beautiful. For the beloved is the truly beautiful, and delicate, and perfect, and blessed; but the principle of love is of another nature, and is such as I have described."

I said, "O thou stranger woman, thou sayest well; but, assuming Love to be such as you say, what is the use of him to men?" "That, Socrates," she replied, "I will attempt to unfold:

of his nature and birth I have already spoken; and you acknowledge that love is of the beautiful. But some one will say:

Of the beautiful in what, Socrates and Diotima?-or rather let me put the question more dearly, and ask:

When a man loves the beautiful, what does he desire?" I answered her "That the beautiful may be his." "Still," she said, "the answer suggests a further question:

What is given by the possession of beauty?" "To what you have asked," I replied, "I have no answer ready." "Then," she said, "Let me put the word 'good' in the place of the beautiful, and repeat the question once more:

If he who loves good, what is it then that he loves? "The possession of the good," I said. "And what does he gain who possesses the good?" "Happiness," I replied; "there is less difficulty in answering that question." "Yes," she said, "the happy are made happy by the acquisition of good things. Nor is there any need to ask why a man desires happiness; the answer is already final." "You are right." I said. "And is this wish and this desire common to all? and do all men always desire their own good, or only some men?-what say you?" "All men," I replied; "the desire is common to all." "Why, then," she rejoined, "are not all men, Socrates, said to love, but only some them? whereas you say that all men are always loving the same things." "I myself wonder," I said,-why this is." "There is nothing to wonder at," she replied; "the reason is that one part of love is separated off and receives the name of the whole, but the other parts have other names." "Give an illustration," I said. She answered me as follows: "There is poetry, which, as you know, is complex; and manifold. All creation or passage of non-being into being is poetry or making, and the processes of all art are creative; and the masters of arts are all poets or makers." "Very true." "Still," she said, "you know that they are not called poets, but have other names; only that portion of the art which is separated off from the rest, and is concerned with music and metre, is termed poetry, and they who possess poetry in this sense of the word are called poets." "Very true," I said. "And the same holds of love. For you may say generally that all desire of good and happiness is only the great and subtle power of love; but they who are drawn towards him by any other path, whether the path of money-making or gymnastics or philosophy, are not called lovers -the name of the whole is appropriated to those whose affection takes one form only-they alone are said to love, or to be lovers." "I dare say," I replied, "that you are right." "Yes," she added, "and you hear people say that lovers are seeking for their other half; but I say that they are seeking neither for the half of themselves, nor for the whole, unless the half or the whole be also a good. And they will cut off their own hands and feet and cast them away, if they are evil; for they love not what is their own, unless perchance there be some one who calls what belongs to him the good, and what belongs to another the evil. For there is nothing which men love but the good. Is there anything?" "Certainly, I should say, that there is nothing." "Then," she said, "the simple truth is, that men love the good." "Yes," I said. "To which must be added that they love the possession of the good? "Yes, that must be added." "And not only the possession, but the everlasting possession of the good?" "That must be added too." "Then love," she said, "may be described generally as the love of the everlasting possession of the good?" "That is most true."

"Then if this be the nature of love, can you tell me further," she said, "what is the manner of the pursuit? what are they doing who show all this eagerness and heat which is called love? and what is the object which they have in view? Answer me." "Nay, Diotima," I replied, "if I had known, I should not have wondered at your wisdom, neither should I have come to learn from you about this very matter." "Well," she said, "I will teach you:

The object which they have in view is birth in beauty, whether of body or, soul." "I do not understand you," I said; "the oracle requires an explanation." "I will make my meaning dearer," she replied. "I mean to say, that all men are bringing to the birth in their bodies and in their souls. There is a certain age at which human nature is desirous of procreation-procreation which must be in beauty and not in deformity; and this procreation is the union of man and woman, and is a divine thing; for conception and generation are an immortal principle in the mortal creature, and in the inharmonious they can never be. But the deformed is always inharmonious with the divine, and the beautiful harmonious. Beauty, then, is the destiny or goddess of parturition who presides at birth, and therefore, when approaching beauty, the conceiving power is propitious, and diffusive, and benign, and begets and bears fruit:

at the sight of ugliness she frowns and contracts and has a sense of pain, and turns away, and shrivels up, and not without a pang refrains from conception. And this is the reason why, when the hour of conception arrives, and the teeming nature is full, there is such a flutter and ecstasy about beauty whose approach is the alleviation of the pain of travail. For love, Socrates, is not, as you imagine, the love of the beautiful only." "What then?" "The love of generation and of birth in beauty." "Yes," I said. "Yes, indeed," she replied. "But why of generation?" "Because to the mortal creature, generation is a sort of eternity and immortality," she replied; "and if, as has been already admitted, love is of the everlasting possession of the good, all men will necessarily desire immortality together with good: Wherefore love is of immortality."

All this she taught me at various times when she spoke of love. And I remember her once saying to me, "What is the cause, Socrates, of love, and the attendant desire? See you not how all animals, birds, as well as beasts, in their desire of procreation, are in agony when they take the infection of love, which begins with the desire of union; whereto is added the care of offspring, on whose behalf the weakest are ready to battle against the strongest even to the uttermost, and to die for them, and will, let themselves be tormented with hunger or suffer anything in order to maintain their young. Man may be supposed to act thus from reason; but why should animals have these passionate feelings? Can you tell me why?" Again I replied that I did not know. She said to me: "And do you expect ever to become a master in the art of love, if you do not know this?" "But I have told you already, Diotima, that my ignorance is the reason why I come to you; for I am conscious that I want a teacher; tell me then the cause of this and of the other mysteries of love." "Marvel not," she said, "if you believe that love is of the immortal, as we have several times acknowledged; for here again, and on the same principle too, the mortal nature is seeking as far as is possible to be everlasting and immortal: and this is only to be attained by generation, because generation always leaves behind a new existence in the place of the old. Nay even in the life, of the same individual there is succession and not absolute unity:

a man is called the same, and yet in the short interval which elapses between youth and age, and in which every animal is said to have life and identity, he is undergoing a perpetual process of loss and reparation-hair, flesh, bones, blood, and the whole body are always changing. Which is true not only of the body, but also of the soul, whose habits, tempers, opinions, desires, pleasures, pains, fears, never remain the same in any one of us, but are always coming and going; and equally true of knowledge, and what is still more surprising to us mortals, not only do the sciences in general spring up and decay, so that in respect of them we are never the same; but each of them individually experiences a like change. For what is implied in the word 'recollection,' but the departure of knowledge, which is ever being forgotten, and is renewed and preserved by recollection, and appears to be the same although in reality new, according to that law of succession by which all mortal things are preserved, not absolutely the same, but by substitution, the old worn-out mortality leaving another new and similar existence behind unlike the divine, which is always the same and not another? And in this way, Socrates, the mortal body, or mortal anything, partakes of immortality; but the immortal in another way. Marvel not then at the love which all men have of their offspring; for that universal love and interest is for the sake of immortality."

I was astonished at her words, and said: "Is this really true, O thou wise Diotima?" And she answered with all the authority of an accomplished sophist:

"Of that, Socrates, you may be assured;-think only of the ambition of men, and you will wonder at the senselessness of their ways, unless you consider how they are stirred by the love of an immortality of fame. They are ready to run all risks greater far than they would have for their children, and to spend money and undergo any sort of toil, and even to die, for the sake of leaving behind them a name which shall be eternal. Do you imagine that Alcestis would have died to save Admetus, or Achilles to avenge Patroclus, or your own Codrus in order to preserve the kingdom for his sons, if they had not imagined that the memory of their virtues, which still survives among us, would be immortal? Nay," she said, "I am persuaded that all men do all things, and the better they are the more they do them, in hope of the glorious fame of immortal virtue; for they desire the immortal.

"Those who are pregnant in the body only, betake themselves to women and beget children-this is the character of their love; their offspring, as they hope, will preserve their memory and giving them the blessedness and immortality which they desire in the future. But souls which are pregnant-for there certainly are men who are more creative in their souls than in their bodies conceive that which is proper for the soul to conceive or contain. And what are these conceptions?-wisdom and virtue in general. And such creators are poets and all artists who are deserving of the name inventor. But the greatest and fairest sort of wisdom by far is that which is concerned with the ordering of states and families, and which is called temperance and justice. And he who in youth has the seed of these implanted in him and is himself inspired, when he comes to maturity desires to beget and generate. He wanders about seeking beauty that he may beget offspring-for in deformity he will beget nothing-and naturally embraces the beautiful rather than the deformed body; above all when he finds fair and noble and well-nurtured soul, he embraces the two in one person, and to such an one he is full of speech about virtue and the nature and pursuits of a good man; and he tries to educate him; and at the touch of the beautiful which is ever present to his memory, even when absent, he brings forth that which he had conceived long before, and in company with him tends that which he brings forth; and they are married by a far nearer tie and have a closer friendship than those who beget mortal children, for the children who are their common offspring are fairer and more immortal. Who, when he thinks of Homer and Hesiod and other great poets, would not rather have their children than ordinary human ones? Who would not emulate them in the creation of children such as theirs, which have preserved their memory and given them everlasting glory? Or who would not have such children as Lycurgus left behind him to be the saviours, not only of Lacedaemon, but of Hellas, as one may say? There is Solon, too, who is the revered father of Athenian laws; and many others there are in many other places, both among hellenes and barbarians, who have given to the world many noble works, and have been the parents of virtue of every kind; and many temples have been raised in their honour for the sake of children such as theirs; which were never raised in honour of any one, for the sake of his mortal children.

"These are the lesser mysteries of love, into which even you, Socrates, may enter; to the greater and more hidden ones which are the crown of these, and to which, if you pursue them in a right spirit, they will lead, I know not whether you will be able to attain. But I will do my utmost to inform you, and do you follow if you can. For he who would proceed aright in this matter should begin in youth to visit beautiful forms; and first, if he be guided by his instructor aright, to love one such form only-out of that he should create fair thoughts; and soon he will of himself perceive that the beauty of one form is akin to the beauty of another; and then if beauty of form in general is his pursuit, how foolish would he be not to recognize that the beauty in every form is and the same! And when he perceives this he will abatehis violent love of the one, which he will despise and deem a small thing, and will become a lover of all beautiful forms; in the next stage he will consider that the beauty of the mind is more honourable than the beauty of the outward form. So that if a virtuous soul have but a little comeliness, he will be content to love and tend him, and will search out and bring to the birth thoughts which may improve the young, until he is compelled to contemplate and see the beauty of institutions and laws, and to understand that the beauty of them all is of one family, and that personal beauty is a trifle;and after laws and institutions he will go on to the sciences, that he may see their beauty, being not like a servant in love with the beauty of one youth or man or institution, himself a slave mean and narrow-minded, but drawing towards and contemplating the vast sea of beauty, he will create many fair and noble thoughts and notions in boundless love of wisdom; until on that shore he grows and waxes strong, and at last the vision is revealed to him of a single science, which is the science of beauty everywhere. To this I will proceed; please to give me your very best attention:

"He who has been instructed thus far in the things of love, and who has learned to see the beautiful in due order and succession, when he comes toward the end will suddenly perceive a nature of wondrous beauty (and this, Socrates, is the final cause of all our former toils)-a nature which in the first place is everlasting, not growing and decaying, or waxing and waning; secondly, not fair in one point of view and foul in another, or at one time or in one relation or at one place fair, at another time or in another relation or at another place foul, as if fair to some and-foul to others, or in the likeness of a face or hands or any other part of the bodily frame, or in any form of speech or knowledge, or existing in any other being, as for example, in an animal, or in heaven or in earth, or in any other place; but beauty absolute, separate, simple, and everlasting, which without diminution and without increase, or any change, is imparted to the ever-growing and perishing beauties of all other things. He who from these ascending under the influence of true love, begins to perceive that beauty, is not far from the end. And the true order of going, or being led by another, to the things of love, is to begin from the beauties of earth and mount upwards for the sake of that other beauty, using these as steps only, and from one going on to two, and from two to all fair forms, and from fair forms to fair practices, and from fair practices to fair notions, until from fair notions he arrives at the notion of absolute beauty, and at last knows what the essence of beauty is. This, my dear Socrates," said the stranger of Mantineia, "is that life above all others which man should live, in the contemplation of beauty absolute; a beauty which if you once beheld, you would see not to be after the measure of gold, and garments, and fair boys and youths, whose presence now entrances you; and you and many a one would be content to live seeing them only and conversing with them without meat or drink, if that were possible-you only want to look at them and to be with them. But what if man had eyes to see the true beauty-the divine beauty, I mean, pure and dear and unalloyed, not clogged with the pollutions of mortality and all the colours and vanities of human life-thither looking, and holding converse with the true beauty simple and divine? Remember how in that communion only, beholding beauty with the eye of the mind, he will be enabled to bring forth, not images of beauty, but realities (for he has hold not of an image but of a reality), and bringing forth and nourishing true virtue to become the friend of God and be immortal, if mortal man may. Would that be an ignoble life?"

Seven hundred years before Plato, King David proclaimed Hashem's decree that if we truly love our brother, we will be rewarded with eternal life. Does the beauty of unity in Psalm 133 reflect Hashem’s blessings of refreshment and fertile generation or true immortality?

Psalm 133

133:1 A song of ascents, by David.
Look! How good and how pleasant it is
when brothers live together!

133:2 It is like fine oil poured on the head
which flows down the beard –
Aaron’s beard,
and then flows down his garments.

133:3 It is like the dew of Hermon,
which flows down upon the hills of Zion.
Indeed that is where the Lord has decreed
a blessing will be available – eternal life.

The Book of Wisdom has been dated from the time of King Solomon to 100 years before the birth of Jesus Christ. I am amazed how the prophecy of the coming of the Righteous One accurately foretells the life of our Savior while He graced mankind with His presence here on earth.

Wisdom 1

1 Love righteousness, you who judge the earth;

think of the LORD in goodness,

and seek Him in integrity of heart;

2 Because He is found by those who do not test Him,

and manifests Himself to those who do not disbelieve Him.

3 For perverse counsels separate people from God,

and His power, put to the proof, rebukes the foolhardy;

4 Because into a soul that plots evil wisdom does not enter,

nor does she dwell in a body under debt of sin.

5 For the Holy Spirit of discipline flees deceit

and withdraws from senseless counsels

and is rebuked when unrighteousness occurs.

6 For wisdom is a kindly spirit,

yet she does not acquit blasphemous lips;

Because God is the witness of the inmost self

and the sure observer of the heart

and the listener to the tongue.

7 For the spirit of the LORD fills the world,

is all-embracing, and knows whatever is said.

8 Therefore those who utter wicked things will not go unnoticed,

nor will chastising condemnation pass them by.

9 For the devices of the wicked shall be scrutinized,

and the sound of their words shall reach the LORD,

for the chastisement of their transgressions;

10 Because a jealous ear hearkens to everything,

and discordant grumblings are not secret.

11 Therefore guard against profitless grumbling,

and from calumny withhold your tongues;

For a stealthy utterance will not go unpunished,

and a lying mouth destroys the soul.

12 Do not court death by your erring way of life,

nor draw to yourselves destruction by the works of your hands.

13 Because God did not make death,

nor does He rejoice in the destruction of the living.

14 For He fashioned all things that they might have being,

and the creatures of the world are wholesome;

There is not a destructive drug among them

nor any domain of Hades on earth,

15 For righteousness is undying.

16 It was the wicked who with hands and words invited death,

considered it a friend, and pined for it,

and made a covenant with it,

Because they deserve to be allied with it

2:1 For, not thinking rightly, they said among themselves:

“Brief and troubled is our lifetime;

there is no remedy for our dying,

nor is anyone known to have come back from Hades.

2 For by mere chance were we born,

and hereafter we shall be as though we had not been;

Because the breath in our nostrils is smoke,

and reason a spark from the beating of our hearts,

3 And when this is quenched, our body will be ashes

and our spirit will be poured abroad like empty air.

4 Even our name will be forgotten in time,

and no one will recall our deeds.

So our life will pass away like the traces of a cloud,

and will be dispersed like a mist

Pursued by the sun’s rays

and overpowered by its heat.

5 For our lifetime is the passing of a shadow;

and our dying cannot be deferred

because it is fixed with a seal; and no one returns.

6 Come, therefore, let us enjoy the good things that are here,

and make use of creation with youthful zest.

7 Let us have our fill of costly wine and perfumes,

and let no springtime blossom pass us by;

8 let us crown ourselves with rosebuds before they wither.

9 Let no meadow be free from our wantonness;

everywhere let us leave tokens of our merriment,

for this is our portion, and this our lot.

10 Let us oppress the righteous poor;

let us neither spare the widow

nor revere the aged for hair grown white with time.

11 But let our strength be our norm of righteousness;

for weakness proves itself useless.

12 Let us lie in wait for the Righteous One, because He is annoying to us;

He opposes our actions,

Reproaches us for transgressions of the law

and charges us with violations of our training.

13 He professes to have knowledge of God

and styles himself a child of the LORD.

14 To us he is the censure of our thoughts;

merely to see him is a hardship for us,

15 Because his life is not like that of others,

and different are his ways.

16 He judges us debased;

he holds aloof from our paths as from things impure.

He calls blest the destiny of the righteous

and boasts that God is his Father.

17 Let us see whether His words be true;

let us find out what will happen to him in the end.

18 For if the righteous one is the son of God, God will help him

and deliver him from the hand of his foes.

19 With violence and torture let us put him to the test

that we may have proof of His gentleness

and try his patience.

20 Let us condemn him to a shameful death;

for according to his own words, God will take care of him.”

21 These were their thoughts, but they erred;

for their wickedness blinded them,

22 And they did not know the hidden counsels of God;

neither did they count on a recompense for holiness

nor discern the innocent souls’ reward.

23 For God formed us to be imperishable;

the image of his own nature he made us.

24 But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world,

and they who are allied with him experience it.

Contemplate the Circe Invidiosa ("Circe, abounding in envy") by John William Waterhouse. Envy indeed poisons the well of eternal life.

Image of Circe, a figure from Greek mythology, who appears in Homer's Odyssey. This painting shows a scene not from the Odyssey, but from Ovid's Metamorphoses. A jealous Circe throws a magic potion into the well, where her rival in love Scylla is going to bathe.

1 Peter 1

1:10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who predicted the grace that would come to you searched and investigated carefully.

1:11 They probed into what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating when he testified beforehand about the sufferings appointed for Christ and his subsequent glory.

1:12 They were shown that they were serving not themselves but you, in regard to the things now announced to you through those who proclaimed the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven – things angels long to catch a glimpse of.

The Annunciation by Bartolome Esteban Murillo

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Netherlands

The Crowning acrylic and 23 kt gold leaf painting by Sara Star. While I am not used to seeing depictions of Jesus and Mary like this, the spiritual and physical connection cannot be missed. [/size]

The blessed mother of Jesus suffered giving birth and watching the death of her son.

"Christ on the Cross" by Carl Heinrich Bloch.

Christ_at_the_Cross_-_Cristo_en_la_Cruz.

http://reluctant-messenger.com/Lost-Doctrines-Christianity003.htm

http://www.near-death.com/experiences/resurrection02.html

philanthrōpia - “philanthropy - the love of man.” The Greeks adopted the "love of humanity" as an educational ideal, whose goal was excellence (arete)—the fullest self-development, of body, mind, and spirit, which is the essence of liberal education.

Chesed (חסד, also Romanized khesed, ẖesed) is a Hebrew word commonly translated as "loving-kindness," "kindness" or "love." Chesed is central to Jewish ethics and Jewish theology and is a common term in the Bible for describing God’s love for humankind and God’s special relationship with the Children of Israel.

Here Paul tells us that Hashem's philanthropic action was to generate Jesus Christ, our Savior as a vessel of His mercy and guide mankind to eternal life.

Titus 3

3:1 Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work.

3:2 They must not slander anyone, but be peaceable, gentle, showing complete courtesy to all people.

3:3 For we too were once foolish, disobedient, misled, enslaved to various passions and desires, spending our lives in evil and envy, hateful and hating one another.

3:4 But “when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared,

3:5 He saved us not by works of righteousness that we have done but on the basis of his mercy, through the washing of the new birth and the renewing of the Holy Spirit,

3:6 whom he poured out on us in full measure through Jesus Christ our Savior.

3:7 And so, since we have been justified by his grace, we become heirs with the confident expectation of eternal life.”

Watch "Re: Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus || Spoken Word." wayman29 is like many gnostics that respect Jesus a rolemodel for virtue. But, they do not understand that faith and fear in God is what is most important.

One who understands and practices virtue and truth is on the path to being a true son of God. Mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience are virtues of platonic love. Truth is loving God and your neighbor. The rest is commentary.

Colossians 3

3:11 Here there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave 8 or free, but Christ is all and in all.

3:12 Therefore as the elect of God, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience,

3:13 bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if someone happens to have a complaint against anyone else. Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also forgive others.

3:14 And to all these virtues add love, which is the perfect bond.

3:15 Let the peace of Christ be in control in your heart (for you were in fact called as one body to this peace), and be thankful.

3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and exhorting one another with all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, all with grace in your hearts to God.

3:17 And whatever you do in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

Sin leads to a final ending. Love leads to eternal life.

John 8

8:31 Then Jesus said to those Judeans who had believed him, “If you continue to follow my teaching, you are really my disciples

8:32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

8:33 “We are descendants of Abraham,” they replied,“and have never been anyone’s slaves! How can you say, ‘You will become free’?”

8:34 Jesus answered them, “I tell you the solemn truth, everyone who practices sin is a slave of sin.

8:35 The slave does not remain in the family forever, but the son remains forever.

8:36 So if the son sets you free, you will be really free.

8:37 I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. But you want to kill me, because my teaching makes no progress among you.

8:38 I am telling you the things I have seen while with the Father; as for you, practice the things you have heard from the Father!”

8:39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father!” Jesus replied, “If you are Abraham’s children, you would be doing the deeds of Abraham.

8:40 But now you are trying to kill me, a man who has told you the truth I heard from God. Abraham did not do this!

8:41 You people are doing the deeds of your father.”

Then they said to Jesus, “We were not born as a result of immorality! We have only one Father, God himself.”

8:42 Jesus replied, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come from God and am now here. I have not come on my own initiative, but He sent me.

8:43 Why don’t you understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot accept my teaching.

8:44 You people are from your father the devil, and you want to do what your father desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies.

8:45 But because I am telling you the truth, you do not believe me.

8:46 Who among you can prove me guilty of any sin? If I am telling you the truth, why don’t you believe me?

8:47 The one who belongs to God listens and responds to God’s words. You don’t listen and respond, because you don’t belong to God.”

8:48 The Judeans replied, “Aren’t we correct in saying that you are a Samaritan and are possessed by a demon?”

8:49 Jesus answered, “I am not possessed by a demon, but I honor my Father – and yet you dishonor me.

8:50 I am not trying to get praise for myself. There is one who demands it, and He also judges.

8:51 I tell you the solemn truth, if anyone obeys my teaching, he will never see death.”

8:52 Then the Judeans responded, “Now we know you’re possessed by a demon! Both Abraham and the prophets died, and yet you say, ‘If anyone obeys my teaching, he will never experience death.’

8:53 You aren’t greater than our father Abraham who died, are you? And the prophets died too! Who do you claim to be?”

8:54 Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory is worthless. The one who glorifies me is my Father, about whom you people say, ‘He is our God.’

8:55 Yet you do not know Him, but I know him. If I were to say that I do not know him, I would be a liar like you. But I do know him, and I obey his teaching.

8:56 Your father Abraham was overjoyed to see my day, and he saw it and was glad.”

8:57 Then the Judeans replied, “You are not yet fifty years old! Have you seen Abraham?”

8:58 Jesus said to them, “I tell you the solemn truth, before Abraham came into existence, I am!”

8:59 Then they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out from the temple area.

1 Peter 1

1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy He gave us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,

1:4 that is, into an inheritance imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. It is reserved in heaven for you,

1:5 who by God’s power are protected through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

1:6 This brings you great joy, although you may have to suffer for a short time in various trials.

1:7 Such trials show the proven character of your faith, which is much more valuable than gold – gold that is tested by fire, even though it is passing away – and will bring praise and glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed.

1:8 You have not seen Him, but you love Him. You do not see Him now but you believe in Him, and so you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy,

1:9 because you are attaining the goal of your faith – the salvation of your souls.

1:10 Concerning this salvation, the prophets who predicted the grace that would come to you searched and investigated carefully.

1:11 They probed into what person or time the Spirit of Christ within them was indicating when He testified beforehand about the sufferings appointed for Christ and His subsequent glory.

1:12 They were shown that they were serving not themselves but you, in regard to the things now announced to you through those who proclaimed the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven – things angels long to catch a glimpse of.

1:13 Therefore, get your minds ready for action by being fully sober, and set your hope completely on the grace that will be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed.

1:14 Like obedient children, do not comply with the evil urges you used to follow in your ignorance,

1:15 but, like the Holy One who called you, become holy yourselves in all of your conduct,

1:16 for it is written, “You shall be holy, because I am holy.”

1:17 And if you address as Father the one who impartially judges according to each one’s work, live out the time of your temporary residence here in reverence.

1:18 You know that from your empty way of life inherited from your ancestors you were ransomed – not by perishable things like silver or gold,

1:19 but by precious blood like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb, namely Christ.

1:20 He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was manifested in these last times for your sake.

1:21 Through Him you now trust in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

1:22 You have purified your souls by obeying the truth in order to show sincere mutual love. So love one another earnestly from a pure heart.

1:23 You have been born anew, not from perishable but from imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.

1:24 For all flesh is like grass

and all its glory like the flower of the grass;

the grass withers and the flower falls off,

1:25 but the word of the Lord endures forever.

And this is the word that was proclaimed to you.

2:1 So get rid of all evil and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander.

2:2 And yearn like newborn infants for pure, spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up to salvation,

2:3 if you have experienced the Lord’s kindness.

Listen to "George Michael - Faith." Faith in physical love is a notion we can accept and understand.

Faith in an invisible Creator is what many cannot accept or understand.

In my belief, if you have full faith in Hashem and our Messiah, then you have the ability receive the Holy Spirit. A virtuous atheist who does naturally good things, but rejects the notion of our Creator will not receive Hashem's Holy Advocate.

Screen-shot-2012-04-04-at-3.10.14-PM.png

There are those who state that they accept Jesus as their savior, but do less good things than a virtuous atheist. I believe those people only know Jesus by name.

Luke_Wilbur · March 9, 2015

The Didache

Chapter 5

5:1 But the way of death is this.
5:2 First of all, it is evil and full of a curse murders, adulteries, lusts, fornications, thefts, idolatries, magical arts, witchcrafts, plunderings, false witnessings, hypocrisies, doubleness of heart, treachery, pride, malice, stubbornness, covetousness, foul-speaking, jealousy, boldness, exaltation, boastfulness;

ENCYCLICAL LETTER
LUMEN FIDEI
OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF
FRANCIS
TO THE BISHOPS PRIESTS AND DEACONS
CONSECRATED PERSONS
AND THE LAY FAITHFUL
ON FAITH

The fullness of Christian faith

15. "Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day; he saw it and was glad" (Jn 8:56). According to these words of Jesus, Abraham’s faith pointed to him; in some sense it foresaw his mystery.

[Genesis Rabbah 44

22. In that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram (XV, 18). Rabbi Judan said:

Rabbi Johanan B. Zakkai and Rabbi Akiba disagree. One maintains:

This world He revealed to him, but not the next. The other maintains that He revealed to him both this world and the next.

Rabbi Berekiah said:

Rabbi Leazar and Rabbi Jose b. R. Hanina disagreed. One maintained:

He revealed to him [the future] until that day; while the other said:

He revealed to him the future from that day.

Unto thy seed have I given this land. Rabbi Huna and Rabbi Dostai said in the name of Rabbi Samuel b Nahman:

The mere speech of the Holy One, blessed be He is equivalent to action, for it says, "Unto thy seed have I given" :

not 'I will give', but 'Have I given. Rabbi Judan said in Rabbi Abba's name:

It is not written, so let the redeemed of the Lord say 'whom He redeems', but 'Whom he has redeemed' (Ps. CVII, 2) Rabbi Abin said:

It is not written, 'For the Lord ransomed Jacob', but 'For the Lord has ransomed Jacob' (Jer. XXXI, II). The Rabbis said:

It is not written, 'I will hiss for them, and gather them, for I will redeem them', but 'And the Lord has created (u-bara)... a cloud and smoke by day,' etc. (Isa. IV, 5):

it has been created and ready.]

So Saint Augustine understood it when he stated that the patriarchs were saved by faith, not faith in Christ who had come but in Christ who was yet to come, a faith pressing towards the future of Jesus. Christian faith is centred on Christ; it is the confession that Jesus is Lord and that God has raised him from the dead (cf. Rom 10:9). All the threads of the Old Testament converge on Christ; he becomes the definitive "Yes" to all the promises, the ultimate basis of our "Amen" to God (cf. 2 Cor 1:20). The history of Jesus is the complete manifestation of God’s reliability. If Israel continued to recall God’s great acts of love, which formed the core of its confession of faith and broadened its gaze in faith, the life of Jesus now appears as the locus of God’s definitive intervention, the supreme manifestation of his love for us. The word which God speaks to us in Jesus is not simply one word among many, but his eternal Word (cf. Heb 1:1-2).
[ Hebrews 1:1 After God spoke long ago in various portions and in various ways to our ancestors through the prophets, 1:2 in these last days he has spoken to us in a son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he created the world.]
God can give no greater guarantee of his love, as Saint Paul reminds us (cf. Rom 8:31-39).
[Romans 8:31 What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? Indeed, he who 35 did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, freely give us all things? 8:33 Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 8:34 Who is the one who will condemn? Christ is the one who died (and more than that, he was raised), who is at the right hand of God, and who also is interceding for us. 8:35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will trouble, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 8:36 As it is written, “For your sake we encounter death all day long; we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 8:37 No, in all these things we have complete victory through him who loved us! 8:38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor heavenly rulers, nor things that are present, nor things to come, nor powers, 8:39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.]
Christian faith is thus faith in a perfect love, in its decisive power, in its ability to transform the world and to unfold its history. "We know and believe the love that God has for us" (1 Jn 4:16). In the love of God revealed in Jesus, faith perceives the foundation on which all reality and its final destiny rest.

16. The clearest proof of the reliability of Christ’s love is to be found in his dying for our sake. If laying down one’s life for one’s friends is the greatest proof of love (cf. Jn 15:13), Jesus offered his own life for all, even for his enemies, to transform their hearts. This explains why the evangelists could see the hour of Christ’s crucifixion as the culmination of the gaze of faith; in that hour the depth and breadth of God’s love shone forth. It was then that Saint John offered his solemn testimony, as together with the Mother of Jesus he gazed upon the pierced one (cf. Jn 19:37):
[Zechariah 12:1 The revelation of the word of the Lord concerning Israel: The Lord – he who stretches out the heavens and lays the foundations of the earth, who forms the human spirit within a person – says, 12:2 “I am about to make Jerusalem a cup that brings dizziness to all the surrounding nations; indeed, Judah will also be included when Jerusalem is besieged. 12:3 Moreover, on that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy burden for all the nations, and all who try to carry it will be seriously injured; yet all the peoples of the earth will be assembled against it. 12:4 In that day,” says the Lord, “I will strike every horse with confusion and its rider with madness. I will pay close attention to the house of Judah, but will strike all the horses of the nations with blindness. 12:5 Then the leaders of Judah will say to themselves, ‘The inhabitants of Jerusalem are a means of strength to us through their God, the Lord who rules over all.’ 12:6 On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like an igniter among sticks and a burning torch among sheaves, and they will burn up all the surrounding nations right and left. Then the people of Jerusalem will settle once more in their place, the city of Jerusalem. 12:7 The Lord also will deliver the homes of Judah first, so that the splendor of the kingship of David and of the people of Jerusalem may not exceed that of Judah. 12:8 On that day the Lord himself will defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the weakest among them will be like mighty David, and the dynasty of David will be like God, like the angel of the Lord before them. 12:9 So on that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.” 12:10 “I will pour out on the kingship of David and the population of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication so that they will look to me, the one they have pierced. They will lament for him as one laments for an only son, and there will be a bitter cry for him like the bitter cry for a firstborn. 12:11 On that day the lamentation in Jerusalem will be as great as the lamentation at Hadad-Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. 12:12 The land will mourn, clan by clan – the clan of the royal household of David by itself and their wives by themselves; the clan of the family of Nathan by itself and their wives by themselves; 12:13 the clan of the descendants of Levi by itself and their wives by themselves; and the clan of the Shimeites by itself and their wives by themselves – 12:14 all the clans that remain, each separately with their wives.”]
"He who saw this has borne witness, so that you also may believe. His testimony is true, and he knows that he tells the truth" (Jn 19:35). In Dostoevsky’s The Idiot, Prince Myshkin sees a painting by Hans Holbein the Younger depicting Christ dead in the tomb and says: "Looking at that painting might cause one to lose his faith". The painting is a gruesome portrayal of the destructive effects of death on Christ’s body. Yet it is precisely in contemplating Jesus’ death that faith grows stronger and receives a dazzling light; then it is revealed as faith in Christ’s steadfast love for us, a love capable of embracing death to bring us salvation. This love, which did not recoil before death in order to show its depth, is something I can believe in; Christ’s total self-gift overcomes every suspicion and enables me to entrust myself to him completely.

17. Christ’s death discloses the utter reliability of God’s love above all in the light of his resurrection. As the risen one, Christ is the trustworthy witness, deserving of faith (cf. Rev 1:5; Heb 2:17), and a solid support for our faith. "If Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile", says Saint Paul (1 Cor 15:17). Had the Father’s love not caused Jesus to rise from the dead, had it not been able to restore his body to life, then it would not be a completely reliable love, capable of illuminating also the gloom of death. When Saint Paul describes his new life in Christ, he speaks of "faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Gal 2:20). Clearly, this "faith in the Son of God" means Paul’s faith in Jesus, but it also presumes that Jesus himself is worthy of faith, based not only on his having loved us even unto death but also on his divine sonship. Precisely because Jesus is the Son, because he is absolutely grounded in the Father, he was able to conquer death and make the fullness of life shine forth. Our culture has lost its sense of God’s tangible presence and activity in our world. We think that God is to be found in the beyond, on another level of reality, far removed from our everyday relationships. But if this were the case, if God could not act in the world, his love would not be truly powerful, truly real, and thus not even true, a love capable of delivering the bliss that it promises. It would make no difference at all whether we believed in him or not. Christians, on the contrary, profess their faith in God’s tangible and powerful love which really does act in history and determines its final destiny: a love that can be encountered, a love fully revealed in Christ’s passion, death and resurrection.

18. This fullness which Jesus brings to faith has another decisive aspect. In faith, Christ is not simply the one in whom we believe, the supreme manifestation of God’s love; he is also the one with whom we are united precisely in order to believe. Faith does not merely gaze at Jesus, but sees things as Jesus himself sees them, with his own eyes: it is a participation in his way of seeing. In many areas in our lives we trust others who know more than we do. We trust the architect who builds our home, the pharmacist who gives us medicine for healing, the lawyer who defends us in court. We also need someone trustworthy and knowledgeable where God is concerned. Jesus, the Son of God, is the one who makes God known to us (cf. Jn 1:18). Christ’s life, his way of knowing the Father and living in complete and constant relationship with him, opens up new and inviting vistas for human experience. Saint John brings out the importance of a personal relationship with Jesus for our faith by using various forms of the verb "to believe". In addition to "believing that" what Jesus tells us is true, John also speaks of "believing" Jesus and "believing in" Jesus. We "believe" Jesus when we accept his word, his testimony, because he is truthful. We "believe in" Jesus when we personally welcome him into our lives and journey towards him, clinging to him in love and following in his footsteps along the way.

To enable us to know, accept and follow him, the Son of God took on our flesh. In this way he also saw the Father humanly, within the setting of a journey unfolding in time. Christian faith is faith in the incarnation of the Word and his bodily resurrection; it is faith in a God who is so close to us that he entered our human history. Far from divorcing us from reality, our faith in the Son of God made man in Jesus of Nazareth enables us to grasp reality’s deepest meaning and to see how much God loves this world and is constantly guiding it towards himself. This leads us, as Christians, to live our lives in this world with ever greater commitment and intensity.

Salvation by faith

19. On the basis of this sharing in Jesus’ way of seeing things, Saint Paul has left us a description of the life of faith. In accepting the gift of faith, believers become a new creation; they receive a new being; as God’s children, they are now "sons in the Son". The phrase "Abba, Father", so characteristic of Jesus’ own experience, now becomes the core of the Christian experience (cf. Rom 8:15). The life of faith, as a filial existence, is the acknowledgment of a primordial and radical gift which upholds our lives. We see this clearly in Saint Paul’s question to the Corinthians: "What have you that you did not receive?" (1 Cor 4:7). This was at the very heart of Paul’s debate with the Pharisees: the issue of whether salvation is attained by faith or by the works of the law. Paul rejects the attitude of those who would consider themselves justified before God on the basis of their own works. Such people, even when they obey the commandments and do good works, are centred on themselves; they fail to realize that goodness comes from God. Those who live this way, who want to be the source of their own righteousness, find that the latter is soon depleted and that they are unable even to keep the law. They become closed in on themselves and isolated from the Lord and from others; their lives become futile and their works barren, like a tree far from water. Saint Augustine tells us in his usual concise and striking way: "Ab eo qui fecit te, noli deficere nec ad te", "Do not turn away from the one who made you, even to turn towards yourself".[15] Once I think that by turning away from God I will find myself, my life begins to fall apart (cf. Lk 15:11-24). The beginning of salvation is openness to something prior to ourselves, to a primordial gift that affirms life and sustains it in being. Only by being open to and acknowledging this gift can we be transformed, experience salvation and bear good fruit. Salvation by faith means recognizing the primacy of God’s gift. As Saint Paul puts it: "By grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God" (Eph 2:8).

20. Faith’s new way of seeing things is centred on Christ. Faith in Christ brings salvation because in him our lives become radically open to a love that precedes us, a love that transforms us from within, acting in us and through us. This is clearly seen in Saint Paul’s exegesis of a text from Deuteronomy, an exegesis consonant with the heart of the Old Testament message. Moses tells the people that God’s command is neither too high nor too far away. There is no need to say: "Who will go up for us to heaven and bring it to us?" or "Who will go over the sea for us, and bring it to us?" (Dt 30:11-14). Paul interprets this nearness of God’s word in terms of Christ’s presence in the Christian. "Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down), or ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead)" (Rom 10:6-7). Christ came down to earth and rose from the dead; by his incarnation and resurrection, the Son of God embraced the whole of human life and history, and now dwells in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. Faith knows that God has drawn close to us, that Christ has been given to us as a great gift which inwardly transforms us, dwells within us and thus bestows on us the light that illumines the origin and the end of life.

21. We come to see the difference, then, which faith makes for us. Those who believe are transformed by the love to which they have opened their hearts in faith. By their openness to this offer of primordial love, their lives are enlarged and expanded. "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me" (Gal 2:20). "May Christ dwell in your hearts through faith" (Eph 3:17). The self-awareness of the believer now expands because of the presence of another; it now lives in this other and thus, in love, life takes on a whole new breadth. Here we see the Holy Spirit at work. The Christian can see with the eyes of Jesus and share in his mind, his filial disposition, because he or she shares in his love, which is the Spirit. In the love of Jesus, we receive in a certain way his vision. Without being conformed to him in love, without the presence of the Spirit, it is impossible to confess him as Lord (cf. 1 Cor 12:3).

The ecclesial form of faith

22. In this way, the life of the believer becomes an ecclesial existence, a life lived in the Church. When Saint Paul tells the Christians of Rome that all who believe in Christ make up one body, he urges them not to boast of this; rather, each must think of himself "according to the measure of faith that God has assigned" (Rom 12:3). Those who believe come to see themselves in the light of the faith which they profess: Christ is the mirror in which they find their own image fully realized. And just as Christ gathers to himself all those who believe and makes them his body, so the Christian comes to see himself as a member of this body, in an essential relationship with all other believers. The image of a body does not imply that the believer is simply one part of an anonymous whole, a mere cog in a great machine; rather, it brings out the vital union of Christ with believers and of believers among themselves (cf. Rom 12:4-5). Christians are "one" (cf. Gal 3:28), yet in a way which does not make them lose their individuality; in service to others, they come into their own in the highest degree. This explains why, apart from this body, outside this unity of the Church in Christ, outside this Church which — in the words of Romano Guardini — "is the bearer within history of the plenary gaze of Christ on the world" — faith loses its "measure"; it no longer finds its equilibrium, the space needed to sustain itself. Faith is necessarily ecclesial; it is professed from within the body of Christ as a concrete communion of believers. It is against this ecclesial backdrop that faith opens the individual Christian towards all others. Christ’s word, once heard, by virtue of its inner power at work in the heart of the Christian, becomes a response, a spoken word, a profession of faith. As Saint Paul puts it: "one believes with the heart ... and confesses with the lips" (Rom 10:10). Faith is not a private matter, a completely individualistic notion or a personal opinion: it comes from hearing, and it is meant to find expression in words and to be proclaimed. For "how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher?" (Rom 10:14). Faith becomes operative in the Christian on the basis of the gift received, the love which attracts our hearts to Christ (cf. Gal 5:6), and enables us to become part of the Church’s great pilgrimage through history until the end of the world. For those who have been transformed in this way, a new way of seeing opens up, faith becomes light for their eyes.

CHAPTER TWO

UNLESS YOU BELIEVE,
YOU WILL NOT UNDERSTAND
(cf. Is 7:9)

Faith and truth

23. Unless you believe, you will not understand (cf. Is 7:9). The Greek version of the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint translation produced in Alexandria, gives the above rendering of the words spoken by the prophet Isaiah to King Ahaz. In this way, the issue of the knowledge of truth became central to faith. The Hebrew text, though, reads differently; the prophet says to the king: "If you will not believe, you shall not be established". Here there is a play on words, based on two forms of the verb ’am?n: "you will believe" (ta’amînû) and "you shall be established" (t?’?m?nû). Terrified by the might of his enemies, the king seeks the security that an alliance with the great Assyrian empire can offer. The prophet tells him instead to trust completely in the solid and steadfast rock which is the God of Israel. Because God is trustworthy, it is reasonable to have faith in him, to stand fast on his word. He is the same God that Isaiah will later call, twice in one verse, the God who is Amen, "the God of truth" (cf. Is 65:16), the enduring foundation of covenant fidelity. It might seem that the Greek version of the Bible, by translating "be established" as "understand", profoundly altered the meaning of the text by moving away from the biblical notion of trust in God towards a Greek notion of intellectual understanding. Yet this translation, while certainly reflecting a dialogue with Hellenistic culture, is not alien to the underlying spirit of the Hebrew text. The firm foundation that Isaiah promises to the king is indeed grounded in an understanding of God’s activity and the unity which he gives to human life and to the history of his people. The prophet challenges the king, and us, to understand the Lord’s ways, seeing in God’s faithfulness the wise plan which governs the ages. Saint Augustine took up this synthesis of the ideas of "understanding" and "being established" in his Confessions when he spoke of the truth on which one may rely in order to stand fast: "Then I shall be cast and set firm in the mould of your truth".[17] From the context we know that Augustine was concerned to show that this trustworthy truth of God is, as the Bible makes clear, his own faithful presence throughout history, his ability to hold together times and ages, and to gather into one the scattered strands of our lives.[18]

24. Read in this light, the prophetic text leads to one conclusion: we need knowledge, we need truth, because without these we cannot stand firm, we cannot move forward. Faith without truth does not save, it does not provide a sure footing. It remains a beautiful story, the projection of our deep yearning for happiness, something capable of satisfying us to the extent that we are willing to deceive ourselves. Either that, or it is reduced to a lofty sentiment which brings consolation and cheer, yet remains prey to the vagaries of our spirit and the changing seasons, incapable of sustaining a steady journey through life. If such were faith, King Ahaz would be right not to stake his life and the security of his kingdom on a feeling. But precisely because of its intrinsic link to truth, faith is instead able to offer a new light, superior to the king’s calculations, for it sees further into the distance and takes into account the hand of God, who remains faithful to his covenant and his promises.

25. Today more than ever, we need to be reminded of this bond between faith and truth, given the crisis of truth in our age. In contemporary culture, we often tend to consider the only real truth to be that of technology: truth is what we succeed in building and measuring by our scientific know-how, truth is what works and what makes life easier and more comfortable. Nowadays this appears as the only truth that is certain, the only truth that can be shared, the only truth that can serve as a basis for discussion or for common undertakings. Yet at the other end of the scale we are willing to allow for subjective truths of the individual, which consist in fidelity to his or her deepest convictions, yet these are truths valid only for that individual and not capable of being proposed to others in an effort to serve the common good. But Truth itself, the truth which would comprehensively explain our life as individuals and in society, is regarded with suspicion. Surely this kind of truth — we hear it said — is what was claimed by the great totalitarian movements of the last century, a truth that imposed its own world view in order to crush the actual lives of individuals. In the end, what we are left with is relativism, in which the question of universal truth — and ultimately this means the question of God — is no longer relevant. It would be logical, from this point of view, to attempt to sever the bond between religion and truth, because it seems to lie at the root of fanaticism, which proves oppressive for anyone who does not share the same beliefs. In this regard, though, we can speak of a massive amnesia in our contemporary world. The question of truth is really a question of memory, deep memory, for it deals with something prior to ourselves and can succeed in uniting us in a way that transcends our petty and limited individual consciousness. It is a question about the origin of all that is, in whose light we can glimpse the goal and thus the meaning of our common path.

Knowledge of the truth and love

26. This being the case, can Christian faith provide a service to the common good with regard to the right way of understanding truth? To answer this question, we need to reflect on the kind of knowledge involved in faith. Here a saying of Saint Paul can help us: "One believes with the heart" (Rom 10:10). In the Bible, the heart is the core of the human person, where all his or her different dimensions intersect: body and spirit, interiority and openness to the world and to others, intellect, will and affectivity. If the heart is capable of holding all these dimensions together, it is because it is where we become open to truth and love, where we let them touch us and deeply transform us. Faith transforms the whole person precisely to the extent that he or she becomes open to love. Through this blending of faith and love we come to see the kind of knowledge which faith entails, its power to convince and its ability to illumine our steps. Faith knows because it is tied to love, because love itself brings enlightenment. Faith’s understanding is born when we receive the immense love of God which transforms us inwardly and enables us to see reality with new eyes.

27. The explanation of the connection between faith and certainty put forward by the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein is well known. For Wittgenstein, believing can be compared to the experience of falling in love: it is something subjective which cannot be proposed as a truth valid for everyone.[19] Indeed, most people nowadays would not consider love as related in any way to truth. Love is seen as an experience associated with the world of fleeting emotions, no longer with truth.

But is this an adequate description of love? Love cannot be reduced to an ephemeral emotion. True, it engages our affectivity, but in order to open it to the beloved and thus to blaze a trail leading away from self-centredness and towards another person, in order to build a lasting relationship; love aims at union with the beloved. Here we begin to see how love requires truth. Only to the extent that love is grounded in truth can it endure over time, can it transcend the passing moment and be sufficiently solid to sustain a shared journey. If love is not tied to truth, it falls prey to fickle emotions and cannot stand the test of time. True love, on the other hand, unifies all the elements of our person and becomes a new light pointing the way to a great and fulfilled life. Without truth, love is incapable of establishing a firm bond; it cannot liberate our isolated ego or redeem it from the fleeting moment in order to create life and bear fruit.

If love needs truth, truth also needs love. Love and truth are inseparable. Without love, truth becomes cold, impersonal and oppressive for people’s day-to-day lives. The truth we seek, the truth that gives meaning to our journey through life, enlightens us whenever we are touched by love. One who loves realizes that love is an experience of truth, that it opens our eyes to see reality in a new way, in union with the beloved. In this sense, Saint Gregory the Great could write that "amor ipse notitia est", love is itself a kind of knowledge possessed of its own logic.[20] It is a relational way of viewing the world, which then becomes a form of shared knowledge, vision through the eyes of another and a shared vision of all that exists. William of Saint-Thierry, in the Middle Ages, follows this tradition when he comments on the verse of the Song of Songs where the lover says to the beloved, "Your eyes are doves" (Song 1:15).[21] The two eyes, says William, are faith-filled reason and love, which then become one in rising to the contemplation of God, when our understanding becomes "an understanding of enlightened love".[22]

28. This discovery of love as a source of knowledge, which is part of the primordial experience of every man and woman, finds authoritative expression in the biblical understanding of faith. In savouring the love by which God chose them and made them a people, Israel came to understand the overall unity of the divine plan. Faith-knowledge, because it is born of God’s covenantal love, is knowledge which lights up a path in history. That is why, in the Bible, truth and fidelity go together: the true God is the God of fidelity who keeps his promises and makes possible, in time, a deeper understanding of his plan. Through the experience of the prophets, in the pain of exile and in the hope of a definitive return to the holy city, Israel came to see that this divine "truth" extended beyond the confines of its own history, to embrace the entire history of the world, beginning with creation. Faith-knowledge sheds light not only on the destiny of one particular people, but the entire history of the created world, from its origins to its consummation.

Faith as hearing and sight

29. Precisely because faith-knowledge is linked to the covenant with a faithful God who enters into a relationship of love with man and speaks his word to him, the Bible presents it as a form of hearing; it is associated with the sense of hearing. Saint Paul would use a formula which became classic: fides ex auditu, "faith comes from hearing" (Rom 10:17). Knowledge linked to a word is always personal knowledge; it recognizes the voice of the one speaking, opens up to that person in freedom and follows him or her in obedience. Paul could thus speak of the "obedience of faith" (cf. Rom 1:5; 16:26).[23] Faith is also a knowledge bound to the passage of time, for words take time to be pronounced, and it is a knowledge assimilated only along a journey of discipleship. The experience of hearing can thus help to bring out more clearly the bond between knowledge and love.

At times, where knowledge of the truth is concerned, hearing has been opposed to sight; it has been claimed that an emphasis on sight was characteristic of Greek culture. If light makes possible that contemplation of the whole to which humanity has always aspired, it would also seem to leave no space for freedom, since it comes down from heaven directly to the eye, without calling for a response. It would also seem to call for a kind of static contemplation, far removed from the world of history with its joys and sufferings. From this standpoint, the biblical understanding of knowledge would be antithetical to the Greek understanding, inasmuch as the latter linked knowledge to sight in its attempt to attain a comprehensive understanding of reality.

This alleged antithesis does not, however, correspond to the biblical datum. The Old Testament combined both kinds of knowledge, since hearing God’s word is accompanied by the desire to see his face. The ground was thus laid for a dialogue with Hellenistic culture, a dialogue present at the heart of sacred Scripture. Hearing emphasizes personal vocation and obedience, and the fact that truth is revealed in time. Sight provides a vision of the entire journey and allows it to be situated within God’s overall plan; without this vision, we would be left only with unconnected parts of an unknown whole.

30. The bond between seeing and hearing in faith-knowledge is most clearly evident in John’s Gospel. For the Fourth Gospel, to believe is both to hear and to see. Faith’s hearing emerges as a form of knowing proper to love: it is a personal hearing, one which recognizes the voice of the Good Shepherd (cf. Jn 10:3-5); it is a hearing which calls for discipleship, as was the case with the first disciples: "Hearing him say these things, they followed Jesus" (Jn 1:37). But faith is also tied to sight. Seeing the signs which Jesus worked leads at times to faith, as in the case of the Jews who, following the raising of Lazarus, "having seen what he did, believed in him" (Jn 11:45). At other times, faith itself leads to deeper vision: "If you believe, you will see the glory of God" (Jn 11:40). In the end, belief and sight intersect: "Whoever believes in me believes in him who sent me. And whoever sees me sees him who sent me" (Jn 12:44-45). Joined to hearing, seeing then becomes a form of following Christ, and faith appears as a process of gazing, in which our eyes grow accustomed to peering into the depths. Easter morning thus passes from John who, standing in the early morning darkness before the empty tomb, "saw and believed" (Jn 20:8), to Mary Magdalene who, after seeing Jesus (cf. Jn 20:14) and wanting to cling to him, is asked to contemplate him as he ascends to the Father, and finally to her full confession before the disciples: "I have seen the Lord!" (Jn 20:18).

How does one attain this synthesis between hearing and seeing? It becomes possible through the person of Christ himself, who can be seen and heard. He is the Word made flesh, whose glory we have seen (cf. Jn 1:14). The light of faith is the light of a countenance in which the Father is seen. In the Fourth Gospel, the truth which faith attains is the revelation of the Father in the Son, in his flesh and in his earthly deeds, a truth which can be defined as the "light-filled life" of Jesus.[24] This means that faith-knowledge does not direct our gaze to a purely inward truth. The truth which faith discloses to us is a truth centred on an encounter with Christ, on the contemplation of his life and on the awareness of his presence. Saint Thomas Aquinas speaks of the Apostles’ oculata fides — a faith which sees! — in the presence of the body of the Risen Lord.[25] With their own eyes they saw the risen Jesus and they believed; in a word, they were able to peer into the depths of what they were seeing and to confess their faith in the Son of God, seated at the right hand of the Father.

31. It was only in this way, by taking flesh, by sharing our humanity, that the knowledge proper to love could come to full fruition. For the light of love is born when our hearts are touched and we open ourselves to the interior presence of the beloved, who enables us to recognize his mystery. Thus we can understand why, together with hearing and seeing, Saint John can speak of faith as touch, as he says in his First Letter: "What we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes and touched with our hands, concerning the word of life" (1 Jn 1:1). By his taking flesh and coming among us, Jesus has touched us, and through the sacraments he continues to touch us even today; transforming our hearts, he unceasingly enables us to acknowledge and acclaim him as the Son of God. In faith, we can touch him and receive the power of his grace. Saint Augustine, commenting on the account of the woman suffering from haemorrhages who touched Jesus and was cured (cf. Lk 8:45-46), says: "To touch him with our hearts: that is what it means to believe".[26] The crowd presses in on Jesus, but they do not reach him with the personal touch of faith, which apprehends the mystery that he is the Son who reveals the Father. Only when we are configured to Jesus do we receive the eyes needed to see him.

The dialogue between faith and reason

32. Christian faith, inasmuch as it proclaims the truth of God’s total love and opens us to the power of that love, penetrates to the core of our human experience. Each of us comes to the light because of love, and each of us is called to love in order to remain in the light. Desirous of illumining all reality with the love of God made manifest in Jesus, and seeking to love others with that same love, the first Christians found in the Greek world, with its thirst for truth, an ideal partner in dialogue. The encounter of the Gospel message with the philosophical culture of the ancient world proved a decisive step in the evangelization of all peoples, and stimulated a fruitful interaction between faith and reason which has continued down the centuries to our own times. Blessed John Paul II, in his Encyclical Letter Fides et Ratio, showed how faith and reason each strengthen the other.[27] Once we discover the full light of Christ’s love, we realize that each of the loves in our own lives had always contained a ray of that light, and we understand its ultimate destination. That fact that our human loves contain that ray of light also helps us to see how all love is meant to share in the complete self-gift of the Son of God for our sake. In this circular movement, the light of faith illumines all our human relationships, which can then be lived in union with the gentle love of Christ.

33. In the life of Saint Augustine we find a significant example of this process whereby reason, with its desire for truth and clarity, was integrated into the horizon of faith and thus gained new understanding. Augustine accepted the Greek philosophy of light, with its insistence on the importance of sight. His encounter with Neoplatonism introduced him to the paradigm of the light which, descending from on high to illumine all reality, is a symbol of God. Augustine thus came to appreciate God’s transcendence and discovered that all things have a certain transparency, that they can reflect God’s goodness. This realization liberated him from his earlier Manichaeism, which had led him to think that good and evil were in constant conflict, confused and intertwined. The realization that God is light provided Augustine with a new direction in life and enabled him to acknowledge his sinfulness and to turn towards the good.

All the same, the decisive moment in Augustine’s journey of faith, as he tells us in the Confessions, was not in the vision of a God above and beyond this world, but in an experience of hearing. In the garden, he heard a voice telling him: "Take and read". He then took up the book containing the epistles of Saint Paul and started to read the thirteenth chapter of the Letter to the Romans.[28] In this way, the personal God of the Bible appeared to him: a God who is able to speak to us, to come down to dwell in our midst and to accompany our journey through history, making himself known in the time of hearing and response.

Yet this encounter with the God who speaks did not lead Augustine to reject light and seeing. He integrated the two perspectives of hearing and seeing, constantly guided by the revelation of God’s love in Jesus. Thus Augustine developed a philosophy of light capable of embracing both the reciprocity proper to the word and the freedom born of looking to the light. Just as the word calls for a free response, so the light finds a response in the image which reflects it. Augustine can therefore associate hearing and seeing, and speak of "the word which shines forth within". The light becomes, so to speak, the light of a word, because it is the light of a personal countenance, a light which, even as it enlightens us, calls us and seeks to be reflected on our faces and to shine from within us. Yet our longing for the vision of the whole, and not merely of fragments of history, remains and will be fulfilled in the end, when, as Augustine says, we will see and we will love.[30] Not because we will be able to possess all the light, which will always be inexhaustible, but because we will enter wholly into that light.

34. The light of love proper to faith can illumine the questions of our own time about truth. Truth nowadays is often reduced to the subjective authenticity of the individual, valid only for the life of the individual. A common truth intimidates us, for we identify it with the intransigent demands of totalitarian systems. But if truth is a truth of love, if it is a truth disclosed in personal encounter with the Other and with others, then it can be set free from its enclosure in individuals
and become part of the common good. As a truth of love, it is not one that can be imposed by force; it is not a truth that stifles the individual. Since it is born of love, it can penetrate to the heart, to the personal core of each man and woman. Clearly, then, faith is not intransigent, but grows in respectful coexistence with others. One who believes may not be presumptuous; on the contrary, truth leads to humility, since believers know that, rather than ourselves possessing truth, it is truth which embraces and possesses us. Far from making us inflexible, the security of faith sets us on a journey; it enables witness and dialogue with all.

Nor is the light of faith, joined to the truth of love, extraneous to the material world, for love is always lived out in body and spirit; the light of faith is an incarnate light radiating from the luminous life of Jesus. It also illumines the material world, trusts its inherent order and knows that it calls us to an ever widening path of harmony and understanding. The gaze of science thus benefits from faith: faith encourages the scientist to remain constantly open to reality in all its inexhaustible richness. Faith awakens the critical sense by preventing research from being satisfied with its own formulae and helps it to realize that nature is always greater. By stimulating wonder before the profound mystery of creation, faith broadens the horizons of reason to shed greater light on the world which discloses itself to scientific investigation.

Faith and the search for God

35. The light of faith in Jesus also illumines the path of all those who seek God, and makes a specifically Christian contribution to dialogue with the followers of the different religions. The Letter to the Hebrews speaks of the witness of those just ones who, before the covenant with Abraham, already sought God in faith. Of Enoch "it was attested that he had pleased God" (Heb 11:5), something impossible apart from faith, for "whoever would approach God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him" (Heb 11:6). We can see from this that the path of religious man passes through the acknowledgment of a God who cares for us and is not impossible to find. What other reward can God give to those who seek him, if not to let himself be found? Even earlier, we encounter Abel, whose faith was praised and whose gifts, his offering of the firstlings of his flock (cf. Heb 11:4), were therefore pleasing to God. Religious man strives to see signs of God in the daily experiences of life, in the cycle of the seasons, in the fruitfulness of the earth and in the movement of the cosmos. God is light and he can be found also by those who seek him with a sincere heart.

An image of this seeking can be seen in the Magi, who were led to Bethlehem by the star (cf. Mt 2:1-12). For them God’s light appeared as a journey to be undertaken, a star which led them on a path of discovery. The star is a sign of God’s patience with our eyes which need to grow accustomed to his brightness. Religious man is a wayfarer; he must be ready to let himself be led, to come out of himself and to find the God of perpetual surprises. This respect on God’s part for our human eyes shows us that when we draw near to God, our human lights are not dissolved in the immensity of his light, as a star is engulfed by the dawn, but shine all the more brightly the closer they approach the primordial fire, like a mirror which reflects light. Christian faith in Jesus, the one Saviour of the world, proclaims that all God’s light is concentrated in him, in his "luminous life" which discloses the origin and the end of history.[31] There is no human experience, no journey of man to God, which cannot be taken up, illumined and purified by this light. The more Christians immerse themselves in the circle of Christ’s light, the more capable they become of understanding and accompanying the path of every man and woman towards God.

Because faith is a way, it also has to do with the lives of those men and women who, though not believers, nonetheless desire to believe and continue to seek. To the extent that they are sincerely open to love and set out with whatever light they can find, they are already, even without knowing it, on the path leading to faith. They strive to act as if God existed, at times because they realize how important he is for finding a sure compass for our life in common or because they experience a desire for light amid darkness, but also because in perceiving life’s grandeur and beauty they intuit that the presence of God would make it all the more beautiful. Saint Irenaeus of Lyons tells how Abraham, before hearing God’s voice, had already sought him "in the ardent desire of his heart" and "went throughout the whole world, asking himself where God was to be found", until "God had pity on him who, all alone, had sought him in silence".[32] Any-one who sets off on the path of doing good to others is already drawing near to God, is already sustained by his help, for it is characteristic of the divine light to brighten our eyes whenever we walk towards the fullness of love.

Faith and theology

36. Since faith is a light, it draws us into itself, inviting us to explore ever more fully the horizon which it illumines, all the better to know the object of our love. Christian theology is born of this desire. Clearly, theology is impossible without faith; it is part of the very process of faith, which seeks an ever deeper understanding of God’s self-disclosure culminating in Christ. It follows that theology is more than simply an effort of human reason to analyze and understand, along the lines of the experimental sciences. God cannot be reduced to an object. He is a subject who makes himself known and perceived in an interpersonal relationship. Right faith orients reason to open itself to the light which comes from God, so that reason, guided by love of the truth, can come to a deeper knowledge of God. The great medieval theologians and teachers rightly held that theology, as a science of faith, is a participation in God’s own knowledge of himself. It is not just our discourse about God, but first and foremost the acceptance and the pursuit of a deeper understanding of the word which God speaks to us, the word which God speaks about himself, for he is an eternal dialogue of communion, and he allows us to enter into this dialogue.[33] Theology thus demands the humility to be "touched" by God, admitting its own limitations before the mystery, while striving to investigate, with the discipline proper to reason, the inexhaustible riches of this mystery.

Theology also shares in the ecclesial form of faith; its light is the light of the believing subject which is the Church. This implies, on the one hand, that theology must be at the service of the faith of Christians, that it must work humbly to protect and deepen the faith of everyone, especially ordinary believers. On the other hand, because it draws its life from faith, theology cannot consider the magisterium of the Pope and the bishops in communion with him as something extrinsic, a limitation of its freedom, but rather as one of its internal, constitutive dimensions, for the magisterium ensures our contact with the primordial source and thus provides the certainty of attaining to the word of Christ in all its integrity.

I thank Pope Francis for sharing his wisdom on truth and love.I believe the Holy Spirit is the conduit that connects my spirit to the faith and knowledge of Hashem, Jesus, and other kindred spirits. Like Saint Augustine, I too believe that the Holy Spirit can be seen and heard, but it is just not limited to those two senses. I have read that the blind and deaf have felt God's love. The early philosophers did not have a method of communication with a person who was both blind, deaf, and mute. It was not until 1824 that Louis Braill developed published a system for the blind to read and communicate.

When I was young one of my all time favorite comics was "Daredevil, The Man without Fear."

Marvel's blind fictional character, Daredevil, a demon masked vigilante that uses his enhanced senses to instill fear to those that harm others. Daredevil's brand of justice is the opposite of the commands of love and mercy given by our Creator. Stan Lee might consider in the future sharing wisdom and courage of blind pioneers like Helen Keller in Marvel's comics and movies. People like her are true heroes in my book.

Happiness Unreal Unless We Share It With Others

By HELEN KELLER, Deaf, Dumb and Blind College Graduate

OUT of the darkness and the silence I bring you a message of light and hope, a story of the joy of living.

Happiness is just to live for each other. Why, we must live by each other. We who are blind and deaf know this, but it is none the less true of you who live in the light, where there is music.

ALL LIFE IS AN ESCAPING FROM DARKNESS, AND TO ESCAPE FROM DARKNESS BY ANOTHER'S AID IS ALWAYS TO ESCAPE INTO THE LIGHT, INTO HAPPINESS.

Happiness is not happiness unless we share it. It is' to see things rightly and to help others to see things rightly.

SOMETIMES IT IS MORE DIFFICULT TO HELP PEOPLE WITH SIGHT TO SEE THINGS RIGHTLY
THAN TO MAKE A BLIND MAN SEE THE SPLENDOR OF A SUNSET.

The Story of My Life

Helen Keller

page 77 paragraph 3 : It is certain that I cannot always distinguish my own thoughts from those I read, because what I read becomes the very substance and texture of my mind.

page 88 paragraph 4 : There is nothing more beautiful, I think, than the evanescent fleeting images and sentiments presented by a language one is just becoming familiar with - ideas that flit accross the mental sky, shaped and tinted by capricious fancy.

page 124 paragraph 3 : When I read the finest passages of the Iliad, I am concious of a soul-sense that lifts me above the narrow, cramping circumstances of my life. My physical limitations are forgotten - my world lies upward, the length and breadth and the sweep of heavens are mine!

page 127 paragraph 2 : The Bible gives me a deep, comforting sense that "things seen are temporal, and things unseen are eternal."
[2 Corinthians 4:6 For God, who said “Let light shine out of darkness,” is the one who shined in our hearts to give us the light of the glorious knowledge of God in the face of Christ. 4:7 But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that the extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us. 4:8 We are experiencing trouble on every side, but are not crushed; we are perplexed, but not driven to despair; 4:9 we are persecuted, but not abandoned; we are knocked down, but not destroyed, 4:10 always carrying around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our body. 4:11 For we who are alive are constantly being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our mortal body. 4:12 As a result, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you. 4:13 But since we have the same spirit of faith as that shown in what has been written, “I believed; therefore I spoke,” we also believe, therefore we also speak. 4:14 We do so because we know that the one who raised up Jesus will also raise us up with Jesus and will bring us with you into his presence. 4:15 For all these things are for your sake, so that the grace that is including 30 more and more people may cause thanksgiving to increase to the glory of God. 4:16 Therefore we do not despair, but even if our physical body is wearing away, our inner person is being renewed day by day. 4:17 For our momentary, light suffering is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison 4:18 because we are not looking at what can be seen but at what cannot be seen. For what can be seen is temporary, but what cannot be seen is eternal.]
page 131 paragraph 2 : In a word, literature is my Utopia. Here I am not disfranchised. No barrier of the senses shuts me out from the sweet, gracious discourse of my book-friends. They talk to me without embarassment or awkwardness. The things that I have learned and the the things that I have been taught seem of ridiculously little importance compared with their "large loves and heavenly charities."

page 137 paragraph 3 : People who think all sensations reach us through the eye and ear have expressed suprise that I should notice any difference, except possibly the absence of pavements, between walking in city streets or country roads. They forget that my whole body is alive to the conditions about me. The rumble and roars of the city smite the nerves of my face, and I feel the ceaseless tramp of an unseen multitude, and the disonant tumult frets my spirit. The grinding of heavy wagons on pavements and the monotonous clangour of machinery are all the more torturing to the nerves if one's attention is not diverted by the panorama that is always present in the noisy streets to people who can see.

page 144 paragraph 3 : Sometimes it is true, a sense of isolation enfolds me like a cold mist as I sit alone and wait at life's shut gate. Beyond there is light, and music, and sweet companionship; but I may not enter. Fate, silent, pitiless, bars the way. Fain would I question his imperious decree, for my heart like unshed tears. Silence sits immense on my soul. Then comes hope with a smile and whispers, "There is joy in self-forgetfulness." So I try to make light in other's eyes my sun, the music in others' ears my symphony, the smile on others' lips my happiness.

Psalms 116

116:1 I love the Lord

because He heard my plea for mercy,

116:2 and listened to me.

As long as I live, I will call to him when I need help.

116:3 The ropes of death tightened around me,

the snares of Sheol confronted me.

I was confronted with trouble and sorrow.

116:4 I called on the name of the Lord,

“Please Lord, rescue my life!”

116:5 The Lord is merciful and fair;

our God is compassionate.

116:6 The Lord protects the untrained;

I was in serious trouble and He delivered me.

116:7 Rest once more, my soul,

for the Lord has vindicated you.

116:8 Yes, Lord, you rescued my life from death,

and kept my feet from stumbling.

116:9 I will serve the Lord

in the land of the living.

116:10 I had faith when I said,

“I am severely oppressed.”

116:11 I rashly declared,

“All men are liars.”

116:12 How can I repay the Lord

for all His acts of kindness to me?

116:13 I will celebrate my deliverance,

and call on the name of the Lord.

116:14 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord

before all his people.

116:15 The Lord values

the lives of his faithful followers.

116:16 Yes, Lord! I am indeed your servant;

I am your lowest slave.

You saved me from death.

116:17 I will present a thank offering to you,

and call on the name of the Lord.

116:18 I will fulfill my vows to the Lord

before all His people,

116:19 in the courts of the Lord’s temple,

in your midst, O Jerusalem.

Praise the Lord!

Soul sense James Ingram & Michael McDonald award winning "Yah Mo Be There"

Yah is a shortened version of Yahweh, which means God in Hebrew. So the title literally means "Yahweh Be There." The title was James Ingram's idea: "We were talking about how to say G-d will be there without scaring most of the audience away."

Heavenly Father, watchin' us all
We take from each other and give nothing at all
Well, it's a dog-gone shame but never too late for change
So, if your luck runs low
Just reach out and call His name, His name

Yah mo b there
(Up and over)
Yah mo b there
(Up and over)

Yah mo b there
(Up and over)
Yah mo b there
Whenever you call

Never be lonely, lost in the night
Just run from the darkness, looking for the light
'Cause it's a long hard road that leads to a brighter day, hey
Don't let your heart grow cold
Just reach out and call His name, His name

Yah mo b there
(Up and over)
Yah mo b there
(Up and over)

Yah mo b there
(Up and over)
Yah mo b there
(Up and over)

Yah mo b there, yah, I'm gonna be there
(Up and over)
Yah mo b there, whenever you call
(Up and over)

Yah mo b there, yeah, yeah
(Up and over)
Yah mo b there
(Up and over)
Yah mo b there

You can count on it, brother
'Cause we're all just finding our way
Travelin' through time, people got to keep pushing on
No matter how many dreams slip away
Love will be there

Well it's a dog-gone shame
But never too late for change
So, when your luck runs low
Just reach out and call His name, just call His name

Yah mo b there, I'll be there
(Up and over)
Yah mo b there when you need me
(Up and over)

Yah mo b there, [incomprehensible]
(Up and over)
Yah mo b there, ooh
(Up and over)

Yah mo b there, yeah, I'll be there
(Up and over)
Yah mo b there, whenever you call, whenever you call
(Up and over)

Yah mo b there, yeah, I'm gonna be there
(Up and over)
Yah mo b there, [incomprehensible]
(Up and over)

Yah mo b there, yeah, I'm gonna be there
(Up and over)
Yah mo b there
(Up and over)

A righteous man, sent by his Father, died for you and me. Not to bring us wealth or fame, but to give us promise of salvation and redemption. How many of us have heard His promise, but do not understand or act upon it?

Matthew 13

13:1 On that day after Jesus went out of the house, he sat by the lake.

13:2 And such a large crowd gathered around him that he got into a boat to sit while the whole crowd stood on the shore.

13:3 He told them many things in parables, saying: “Listen! A sower went out to sow.

13:4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them.

13:5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground where they did not have much soil. They sprang up quickly because the soil was not deep.

13:6 But when the sun came up, they were scorched, and because they did not have sufficient root, they withered.

13:7 Other seeds fell among the thorns, and they grew up and choked them.

13:8 But other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some a hundred times as much, some sixty, and some thirty.

13:9 The one who has ears had better listen!”

13:10 Then the disciples came to him and said, “Why do you speak to them in parables?”

13:11 He replied, “You have been given the opportunity to know the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but they have not.

13:12 For whoever has will be given more, and will have an abundance. But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.

13:13 For this reason I speak to them in parables:

Although they see they do not see, and although they hear they do not hear nor do they understand.

13:14 And concerning them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:

‘You will listen carefully yet will never understand,

you will look closely yet will never comprehend.

13:15 For the heart of this people has become dull;

they are hard of hearing,

and they have shut their eyes,

so that they would not see with their eyes

and hear with their ears

and understand with their hearts

and turn, and I would heal them.’

13:16 “But your eyes are blessed because they see, and your ears because they hear.

13:17 For I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.

13:18 “So listen to the parable of the sower:

13:19 When anyone hears the word about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches what was sown in his heart; this is the seed sown along the path.

13:20 The seed sown on rocky ground is the person who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy.

13:21 But he has no root in himself and does not endure; when trouble or persecution comes because of the word, immediately he falls away.

13:22 The seed sown among thorns is the person who hears the word, but worldly cares and the seductiveness of wealth choke the word, so it produces nothing.

13:23 But as for the seed sown on good soil, this is the person who hears the word and understands. He bears fruit, yielding a hundred, sixty, or thirty times what was sown.”

Many of us reason well, but are too prejudiced to contemplate God in our daily life. Some are satisfied to let science explain the premise to conclusion of God. Some cannot find a method of explanation for the existence of God, they conclude there is nothing to explain and reject divine truth. Without God there is only birth from and final death for the universe and everything within it. Nothing lasts forever.

Watch Carl Sagan, "Pale Blue Dot." To a materialist our Earth is just a quantified speck of matter surrounded by vast darkness.

How are materialist able to fathom our purpose residing in a 13 billion year old universe that they believe is finite and dying? In their end nothing really matters. In their end there will absolute zero life. Accomplishments and monuments will mean nothing. Every last proton of matter will decay into energy and dissipate. The only thing left we be the cold quiet still darkness of entropy.

what-its-like-to-eat-in-complete-darknes

what-its-like-to-eat-in-complete-darknes

The Fear of Death

How does a materialist accept the increasing isolation, degrading physical mobility, loss of attractive appearance surrounded by material possessions that have little personal value? Is there any real need for a materialist to reconcile with those that have been wronged when nothing really matters? For the dying materialist stares at the light believing darkness comes to us all with no dreams of eternal life.

Ecclesiastes 11

11:7 Light is sweet,

and it is pleasant for a person to see the sun.

11:8 So, if a man lives many years, let him rejoice in them all,

but let him remember that the days of darkness will be many – all that is about to come is obscure.

quote-the-girl-dreams-she-is-dangerously

Look at the fun Jesus is having with these golden ladies. Precious Friends by Artist Phil Mckay. I want to get a print for my mother's room. Phil Mckay shows us how Jesus inspires us enjoy our life.

Is it better for a materialist to live in the now or build for the future? The Global Catastrophic Risk Conference at the University of Oxford estimated a 19% chance of human extinction over the next century. What motivates a materialist to prevent nuclear war, meteor impacts, runaway global warming, grey goo, bioterrorism, and particle accelerator accidents?

Like the universe the light of faith is slowly dimming for mankind. I pray to the Holy Spirit that the wisdom of Jesus comes back in style. Faith in our Creator and moral discipline are eroding at an increasing rate. The clouds of materialism obscures our potential of attaining salvation.

We all can be Children of Hashem and embrace our brother Jesus Christ.

Faith

Luke Wilbur

I am the wind you cannot breathe, until I touch your face.
Once you feel essence of this simple thought, look pass the complex termed dead to believe.
I am always with you.
I have given your soul and it's shell the gift of choice to see.
The gift of choice is more then left or right.
Choice is a chaotic path leading
you nowhere or to the light of my side.
Your last breath will be the beginning of time. Look to others that cross your path.
A sign will shine in gentle light.
There is no beginning, there is no end, there is only me.

2 Corinthians 6

6:14 Do not become partners with those who do not believe, for what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship does light have with darkness?

6:15 And what agreement does Christ have with Beliar? Or what does a believer share in common with an unbeliever?

6:16 And what mutual agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, just as God said, “I will live in them and will walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

6:17 Therefore “come out from their midst, and be separate,” says the Lord, “and touch no unclean thing, and I will welcome you,

6:18 and I will be a father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,” says the All-Powerful Lord.

I can personally testify that when person of faith marries one without faith there is a good chance that it will end up in failure. This is even true if both partners are virtuous. If and when the physical desire diminishes, then the spiritual and physical will become more in conflict with each other. Depending on the choices of the partners on how to reconcile this difference will lead into divorce or a stronger marriage. Mine led to divorce.

The virtuous atheist considers good deeds may overcome the uncertain forces of nature to help preserve life knowing death is the final outcome. The virtuous believer knows if it is the will of God doing good deeds will help preserve life knowing death is the beginning of a new journey.

Luke_Wilbur · March 10, 2015

The Didache

Chapter 5

5:1 But the way of death is this.
5:2 First of all, it is evil and full of a curse murders, adulteries, lusts, fornications, thefts, idolatries, magical arts, witchcrafts, plunderings, false witnessings, hypocrisies, doubleness of heart, treachery, pride, malice, stubbornness, covetousness, foul-speaking, jealousy, boldness, exaltation, boastfulness;

On the Soul

By Aristotle

Written 350 B.C.E

Translated by J. A. Smith

Book III

Part 10

These two at all events appear to be sources of movement: appetite and mind (if one may venture to regard imagination as a kind of thinking; for many men follow their imaginations contrary to knowledge, and in all animals other than man there is no thinking or calculation but only imagination).

Both of these then are capable of originating local movement, mind and appetite: (1) mind, that is, which calculates means to an end, i.e. mind practical (it differs from mind speculative in the character of its end); while (2) appetite is in every form of it relative to an end: for that which is the object of appetite is the stimulant of mind practical; and that which is last in the process of thinking is the beginning of the action. It follows that there is a justification for regarding these two as the sources of movement, i.e. appetite and practical thought; for the object of appetite starts a movement and as a result of that thought gives rise to movement, the object of appetite being it a source of stimulation. So too when imagination originates movement, it necessarily involves appetite.

That which moves therefore is a single faculty and the faculty of appetite; for if there had been two sources of movement-mind and appetite-they would have produced movement in virtue of some common character. As it is, mind is never found producing movement without appetite (for wish is a form of appetite; and when movement is produced according to calculation it is also according to wish), but appetite can originate movement contrary to calculation, for desire is a form of appetite. Now mind is always right, but appetite and imagination may be either right or wrong. That is why, though in any case it is the object of appetite which originates movement, this object may be either the real or the apparent good. To produce movement the object must be more than this: it must be good that can be brought into being by action; and only what can be otherwise than as it is can thus be brought into being. That then such a power in the soul as has been described, i.e. that called appetite, originates movement is clear. Those who distinguish parts in the soul, if they distinguish and divide in accordance with differences of power, find themselves with a very large number of parts, a nutritive, a sensitive, an intellective, a deliberative, and now an appetitive part; for these are more different from one another than the faculties of desire and passion.

Since appetites run counter to one another, which happens when a principle of reason and a desire are contrary and is possible only in beings with a sense of time (for while mind bids us hold back because of what is future, desire is influenced by what is just at hand: a pleasant object which is just at hand presents itself as both pleasant and good, without condition in either case, because of want of foresight into what is farther away in time), it follows that while that which originates movement must be specifically one, viz. the faculty of appetite as such (or rather farthest back of all the object of that faculty; for it is it that itself remaining unmoved originates the movement by being apprehended in thought or imagination), the things that originate movement are numerically many.

All movement involves three factors, ( 1 ) that which originates the movement, (2) that by means of which it originates it, and ( 3 ) that which is moved. The expression 'that which originates the movement' is ambiguous: it may mean either ( a ) something which itself is unmoved or ( B ) that which at once moves and is moved. Here that which moves without itself being moved is the realizable good, that which at once moves and is moved is the faculty of appetite (for that which is influenced by appetite so far as it is actually so influenced is set in movement, and appetite in the sense of actual appetite is a kind of movement), while that which is in motion is the animal. The instrument which appetite employs to produce movement is no longer psychical but bodily: hence the examination of it falls within the province of the functions common to body and soul. To state the matter summarily at present, that which is the instrument in the production of movement is to be found where a beginning and an end coincide as e.g. in a ball and socket joint; for there the convex and the concave sides are respectively an end and a beginning (that is why while the one remains at rest, the other is moved): they are separate in definition but not separable spatially. For everything is moved by pushing and pulling. Hence just as in the case of a wheel, so here there must be a point which remains at rest, and from that point the movement must originate.

To sum up, then, and repeat what I have said, inasmuch as an animal is capable of appetite it is capable of self-movement; it is not capable of appetite without possessing imagination; and all imagination is either (1) calculative or (2) sensitive. In the latter an animals, and not only man, partake.

Acts 17

17:22 Paul stood before the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I see that you are very religious in all respects.

17:23 For as I went around and observed closely your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription:

‘To an unknown god.’ Therefore what you worship without knowing it, this I proclaim to you.

17:24 The God who made the world and everything in it, who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by human hands,

17:25 nor is he served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives life and breath and everything to everyone.

17:26 From one man he made every nation of the human race to inhabit the entire earth, determining their set times and the fixed limits of the places where they would live,

17:27 so that they would search for God and perhaps grope around for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.

17:28 For in him we live and move about and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’

17:29 So since we are God’s offspring, we should not think the deity is like gold or silver or stone, an image made by human skill and imagination.

17:30 Therefore, although God has overlooked such times of ignorance, he now commands all people everywhere to repent,

17:31 because he has set a day on which he is going to judge the world in righteousness, by a man whom he designated, having provided proof to everyone by raising him from the dead.”

On the Soul

By Aristotle

Written 350 B.C.E

Translated by J. A. Smith

Book III

Part 11

We must consider also in the case of imperfect animals, sc. those which have no sense but touch, what it is that in them originates movement. Can they have imagination or not? or desire? Clearly they have feelings of pleasure and pain, and if they have these they must have desire. But how can they have imagination? Must not we say that, as their movements are indefinite, they have imagination and desire, but indefinitely?

Sensitive imagination, as we have said, is found in all animals, deliberative imagination only in those that are calculative: for whether this or that shall be enacted is already a task requiring calculation; and there must be a single standard to measure by, for that is pursued which is greater. It follows that what acts in this way must be able to make a unity out of several images.

This is the reason why imagination is held not to involve opinion, in that it does not involve opinion based on inference, though opinion involves imagination. Hence appetite contains no deliberative element. Sometimes it overpowers wish and sets it in movement: at times wish acts thus upon appetite, like one sphere imparting its movement to another, or appetite acts thus upon appetite, i.e. in the condition of moral weakness (though by nature the higher faculty is always more authoritative and gives rise to movement). Thus three modes of movement are possible.

The faculty of knowing is never moved but remains at rest. Since the one premiss or judgement is universal and the other deals with the particular (for the first tells us that such and such a kind of man should do such and such a kind of act, and the second that this is an act of the kind meant, and I a person of the type intended), it is the latter opinion that really originates movement, not the universal; or rather it is both, but the one does so while it remains in a state more like rest, while the other partakes in movement.

Revelation 13

13:1 Then I saw a beast coming up out of the sea. It had ten horns and seven heads, and on its horns were ten diadem crowns, and on its heads a blasphemous name.

13:2 Now the beast that I saw was like a leopard, but its feet were like a bear’s, and its mouth was like a lion’s mouth. The dragon gave the beast his power, his throne, and great authority to rule.

13:3 One of the beast’s heads appeared to have been killed, but the lethal wound had been healed. And the whole world followed the beast in amazement;

13:4 they worshiped the dragon because he had given ruling authority to the beast, and they worshiped the beast too, saying:

“Who is like the beast?” and “Who is able to make war against him?”

13:5 The beast was given a mouth speaking proud words and blasphemies, and he was permitted to exercise ruling authority for forty-two months.

13:6 So the beast opened his mouth to blaspheme against God – to blaspheme both his name and his dwelling place, that is, those who dwell in heaven.

13:7 The beast was permitted to go to war against the saints and conquer them. He was given ruling authority over every tribe, people, language, and nation,

13:8 and all those who live on the earth will worship the beast, everyone whose name has not been written since the foundation of the world in the book of life belonging to the Lamb who was killed.

13:9 If anyone has an ear, he had better listen!

13:10 If anyone is meant for captivity,

into captivity he will go.

If anyone is to be killed by the sword,

then by the sword he must be killed.

This requires steadfast endurance and faith from the saints.

13:11 Then I saw another beast coming up from the earth. He had two horns like a lamb, but was speaking like a dragon.

13:12 He exercised all the ruling authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and those who inhabit it worship the first beast, the one whose lethal wound had been healed.

13:13 He performed momentous signs, even making fire come down from heaven in front of people

13:14 and, by the signs he was permitted to perform on behalf of the beast, he deceived those who live on the earth. He told those who live on the earth to make an image to the beast who had been wounded by the sword, but still lived.

13:15 The second beast was empowered to give life to the image of the first beast so that it could speak, and could cause all those who did not worship the image of the beast to be killed.

13:16 He also caused everyone (small and great, rich and poor, free and slave) to obtain a mark on their right hand or on their forehead.

13:17 Thus no one was allowed to buy or sell things unless he bore the mark of the beast – that is, his name or his number.

13:18 This calls for wisdom:

Let the one who has insight calculate the beast’s number, for it is man’s number, and his number is 666.

Did the Disciple John use a cipher called gematria to hide the name of the beast?

Gematria (Greek: meaning geometry) is an Assyro-Babylonian-Greek system of code and numerology later adopted into Jewish culture that assigns numerical value to a word or phrase that independent of it original proper meaning. The belief that words or phrases with identical numerical values bear some relation to each other or bear some relation to the number itself as it may apply to nature, a person's age, the calendar year, or the like. According to the mystic Jews, during the second Temple period holy names were skillfully secreted among the letters of the text of the entire Torah. Around the time of Jesus Christ the Tannaim began using Gematria to codify holy names and phrases within the Torah. The most distinguished of rabbis, like Akiba, Eleazar of Modaim, Joshua ben Hannaniah, and Eliezer be Hyrcanos, did not hesitate to make use of this method.

By adding the values of a chosen word, striking prophecies were sometimes discovered, as when, on the basis of the word radav in Genesis 42:2 it was calculated that the Egyptian bondage was to last 210 years. I still need to find the meaning of the word radav.

http://www.aishdas.org/ta/5773/vayigash.pdf

Genesis 42

42:2 He then said, “Look, I hear that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy grain for us so that we may live and not die.”

ב וַיֹּאמֶר--הִנֵּה שָׁמַעְתִּי, כִּי יֶשׁ-שֶׁבֶר בְּמִצְרָיִם; רְדוּ-שָׁמָּה וְשִׁבְרוּ-לָנוּ מִשָּׁם, וְנִחְיֶה וְלֹא נָמוּת.

http://www.biblegematria.com/the-numbers-point-straight-to-5778.html
http://www.torah.org/learning/perceptions/5760/bo.html

From the name Satan, which has the numerical value of 364, it was inferred that Satan had power over Israel all the days of the year except one, that is, the great day of atonement.

The best-known example of Gematria is the Hebrew word Chai ("life"), which is composed of two letters Chet 8 (ח) and 10 Yod (י) which add up to 18. Chai as a symbol goes back to medieval Spain at the earliest. Letters as symbols in Jewish culture go back to the earliest Jewish roots, the Talmud states that the world was created from Hebrew letters which form verses of the Torah. In medieval Kabbalah, Chai is the lowest (closest to the physical plane) emanation of God. This has made 18 a "spiritual" number among Jews, and gifts and donations are frequently done in multiples of 18, which is called "giving chai". Mailings from Jewish charities usually suggest the amounts to give in multiples of chai (18, 36, 54, dollars, etc.) rather than the usual multiples of 25.

Legendary singer, Elvis wore a chai necklace. An interesting factoid is that Elvis Presley has Jewish heritage through direct descent of his Jewish great grandmother Martha Tacket.

Listen to Elvis Presley sing "I was born about ten thousand years ago."

Jesus Monotheism : Volume 1: Christological Origins: The Emerging Consensus and Beyond

Page 42

Ancient Hebrew had no seperate system of written signs for numbers (as we do with our "1." "2," "3, and so on). So the consonantal (written) letters of the Hebrew alphabet doubled up as a set of numbers (aleph = 1, bet = 2, and so on). The letters of the Hebrew alphabet written on a scroll or tablet could either be a set of numbers or a piece of literature, in some cases could be intended to be taken both ways, In a similar way, in Greek isopsephy letters are given numerical value. Alternatively, the number of words in a portion of text could be correlated to the numerical value of a word. At some point in Jewish history (perhaps already in the Tannaitic period - see m. Aboth 3:23) the art of reading hidden numerical meanings out of Hebrew (and Greek) words and number patterns came to be called gematria.

The Tannaim, as teachers of the Oral Law, were direct transmitters of an oral tradition passed from teacher to student that was written and codified as the basis for the Mishnah, Tosefta, and tannaitic teachings of the Talmud. According to tradition, the Tannaim were the last generation in a long sequence of oral teachers that began with Moses.

The number 6 in Judiasm.

6 is the gematria of the Hebrew letter "ו"

There is great debate whether the number of the beast is 666 or 616. In the Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (C; Paris - one of the four great uncial codices), as well as in the Latin version of Tyconius (DCXVI, ed. Souter in the Journal of Theology, SE, April 1913), and in an ancient Armenian version (ed. Conybeare, 1907).critical editions of the Greek text, such as the Novum Testamentum Graece known to Irenaeus, it is noted that 616 is a variant.

Irenaeus’ mention of mss that have 616 is balanced by his rejection of such witnesses in this case. Some theologians are of the opinion that 616 is the gematria of Emperor Nero.

Around 2005, a fragment from Papyrus 115, taken from the Oxyrhynchus site, was discovered at the Oxford University's Ashmolean Museum. It gave the beast's number as 616 χιϛʹ. This fragment is the oldest manuscript (about 1,700 years old) of Revelation 13 found as of 2015.
The age of a manuscript is not an indicator of the date of its writing but refers to how old the physical material is. All original biblical manuscripts are non-existent today. As they were held and copied onto new materials, eventually the originals fell apart, leaving fragments for a period and then only the copies. So the oldest materials might actually be among the newest manuscripts.Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus, known before the P115 finding but dating to after it, has 616 written in full: ἑξακόσιοι δέκα ἕξ, hexakosioi deka hex (lit. "six hundred and sixteen").

Irenaeus’ mention of manuscripts (mss) that have 616 is balanced by his rejection of such witnesses in this case. As intriguing as the reading 616 is (since the conversion of Nero Caesar’s name in Latin by way of gematria would come out to 616), it must remain suspect because such a reading seems motivated in that it conforms more neatly to Nero’s gematria.

THE GEMATRIA OF THE NUMBER OF THE BEAST- 666

John warns us that to solve this puzzle takes shrewdness and cleverness! The Roman Emperor we know as Nero Caesar had two common spelling for his name in the first century. One form was Nero Kesar but the Hebrew spelling is Neron Kesar. This is important because some ancient MSS (handwritten manuscripts) instead of using the number 666 have the number 616. If you add up the letter values in Hebrew (that's why it takes shrewdness -most people did not know Hebrew) Neron Caesar (Neron Kaisar) adds up to 666. Neron Kaisar = Nrwn Q(K)sr in Hebrew which used no vowels, was the linguistically correct Hebrew form and is found in the Jewish Talmud, in the writings of the community at Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found, and other rabbinical writings. No Jew would ever have thought of Nero except as rsq nwrn (Hebrew read left to right). But Nero Caesar (rsq nwr), the other spelling (alternate spellings were very common), adds up to 616, which is exactly the variant reading in a few New Testament Revelation manuscripts for the number of the Beast.

Is Nero the beast? It is charged by some that Neron Kesar is merely a convenient "misspelling" of Nero’s name in Hebrew. This objection overlooks the fact that before the modern introduction of dictionaries the world was simply not as concerned as we are about uniformity in the spelling of names. If a name was close enough to a gematria number total a Tanniam (in this case the Revelation writer John) might have adjusted the spelling to fit the sum total. If Nero is in fact the beast, then the Disciple John would have known the system of Gematria and theologians would have to review the deeper meaning of the Book of Revelation. Believing our Bible is divinely inspired, then I could not see Hashem allowing John the Evangelist to make a spelling mistake when invoking one needs true wisdom to understand what 666 or 616 means. Even if Nero was not the "Beast", he indeed was an anti-Christ to Christians.

"Christian Dirce," oil painting by Henryk Siemiradzki
National Museum, Warsaw

The earliest explicit examples of Rabbinic Jewish gematria come from second century Rabbi Yehudah (fl. mid 2d c. CE, in Galilee), interpreting Jeremiah 9.10, concludes that "no one passed through Judea for fifty-two years" because of the numerical value of the word Behemah (beast). Rabbi Nathan (fl. 2d-3d c. CE, in Palestine) suggests that the gematria of "These are the words" in Exodus 35.1 hints at the thirty-nine categories of work forbidden on the Sabbath. The most famous example of Rabbinic isopsephy deals with Genesis 14.14 and the three hundred eighteen servants of Abraham, a tradition transmitted under the name of Bar Qappara' (2d-3d c., son of R. Eliezer).

The Kabbalists of the 13th century seriously believed that the Old Testament was written in a hidden code inspired by God. They used gematria as one of the chief means by which to decipher this code. An example of this is shown in their interpretation of Jeremiah 9:9, "From the fowl of the heavens until the beasts are fled and gone". This was interpreted as meaning, that no traveler passed through Judea for 52 years, because the Hebrew word for beast, behemah (behemoth), has the numerical value of 52.

Ask the Rabbi : Six Six Six

The number 666 has significance as the numerical value of the Hebrew verse: "Ata yigdal na koach Ado-nai -- Now, I pray, let the Power of my Lord be great." (Numbers 14:17). This was Moshe's prayer invoking Divine Mercy on behalf of the Jewish People.

"Mosad Hayesod" cites the Vilna Gaon's commentary on the Zohar that "the number 666 contains hidden within it exalted and lofty messianic potential." No other explanation is offered there.

We do know that the number six represents the physical world. The Torah describes the creation of the universe as a six part, six day, process. Our ancient sources describe the universe as emanating in six directions -- north, south, east, west, up, down -- from a central point. All physical space and all physical objects have these six dimensions.

666 is six repeated three times. Repeating a concept three times represents the affirmation and strength of that concept. The number 666 could thus represent the strength and perfection of the physical world, which Judaism teaches will occur in the messianic era, when the physical world will reach its ultimate purpose, to be a vehicle through which the created experience the Creator.

666 meaning strength and perfection is the opposite of what I see the "Beast" to be. No man is perfect. Hashem is the only perfect being. Is Gematria a calculated Babylonian system of apostasy designed to deceive us from the real truth? The value for the word "gematria" in English Gematria equals 444.

Other words that are 444 in English Gematria

444 the key
444 Messiah
444 Jesus
444 Jewish = 1612 in Jewish Gematria
444 Lucifer
444 Occult = 376 in Jewish Gematria
444 Hand of God
444 Code of God
444 Parables

http://www.gematrix.org/?word=1612

1612 Sun Worshiper
1612 Are you totally insane
1612 Explosion of sex energy

http://www.gematrix.org/?word=376

376 Chicago Cubs
376 Komodo Dragon
376 Surf
376 Google dot com
376 Carrie Fisher

Deuteronomy 18

18:9 When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, you must not learn the abhorrent practices of those nations.

18:10 There must never be found among you anyone who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, anyone who practices divination, an omen reader, a soothsayer, a sorcerer,

18:11 one who casts spells, one who conjures up spirits, a practitioner of the occult, or a necromancer.

18:12 Whoever does these things is abhorrent to the Lord and because of these detestable things the Lord your God is about to drive them out from before you.

18:13 You must be blameless before the Lord your God.

18:14 Those nations that you are about to dispossess listen to omen readers and diviners, but the Lord your God has not given you permission to do such things.

What happens when the calculation of reason runs harmonious to the sensitivity of faith?

In the 8th century BC Babylonian king Sargon II (Akkadian Šarru-ukin "he [= the god] made firm the king") is believed to have been the first to use gematria when building the wall of Khorsabad exactly 16,283 cubits long, because that was the numerical value of his name.

Reconstructed Model of Palace of Sargon at Khosrabad 1905

What happens when appetite of desire runs contrary to the preservation of culture?

Under Babylonian king Sargon II rule, the Assyrians completed the defeat of the Kingdom of Israel, capturing Samaria after a siege of three years and exiling the inhabitants. This became the basis of the legends of the Lost Ten Tribes. According to the Bible, other people were brought to Samaria, the Samaritans, under his predecessor Shalmaneser V (2 Kings 18). Sargon's name actually appears in the Bible only once, at Isaiah 20:1, which records the Assyrian capture of Ashdod in 711 BC. The Israelite intellectuals would appear to have been influenced by the language and culture of their captors, including changes to the Hebrew alphabet and changes in the fundamental practices and customs of the Jewish religion.

I have discussed the concepts of Zoroastrian concept of angels and afterlife.

http://www.sullivan-county.com/bush/citi_settles.htm

A Zoroastrian Sephirot (Tree of Life)

les_envoyes_d__ahura_mazda_by_ibgatrokhs

A Jewish Sephirot (Tree of Life) - There are 10 Major methods of gematria corresponding to the 10 Sefirot.

In 721 BC, Jewish inhabitants of Ashdod and Samaria in present day Israel were resettled in Media after their failed attempt against Assyrian dominance. The records indicate that 27,290 Jews were forced to settle in Ecbatana (Hamadan) and Susa in South West Persia. These settlers are referred to as one of the 'Ten Lost Tribes of Israel' in biblical records.

What happens when the calculation of reason runs contrary to the sensitivity of faith?

On 8 March 2015 the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL also known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria - ISIS) reportedly started the plunder and demolition of Dur-Sharrukin, according to the Kurdish official from Mosul Saeed Mamuzini.The Iraqi Tourism and Antiquities Ministry launched the related investigation on the same day.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/12/isis-ransack-ancient-assyrian-city-confirmed-iraq-head-of-antiquities-dur-sharrukin

%C4%B1%C5%9Fid%2Bmusul%2Bm%C3%BCze.jpg

I understand the Islamic State intention to destroy forms of idolatry that goes against Muslim faith. But, what the Islamic State does not understand is that evil cannot be destroyed without the will of our Creator to allow it. In this computer age the Islamic State would have to erase all forms of media and intellect to make sure there is no trace of idolatry left on the planet. Let's not forget the two voyager spacecraft that are at the time of this post over 12 billion miles away from earth traveling at a speed of 60,000 miles per hour.

http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/interstellar.html

Both Voyagers carry Golden Records that contain sounds and images selected to portray the diversity of life and culture on Earth. Religion or God is not mentioned on them.

Jesus taught us to worry about ourselves and not judge the sins of others. Christians should only rebuke Christians, not people outside the faith. I have found nothing that states we permitted to harm anyone involved in idolatry or any other sin. Muslims and Jews have a different concept of how to treat an idolater.

Is Gematria and the Christian Sephirot idolatry to our Lord?

The virtuous atheist considers good deeds may overcome the uncertain forces of fundamentalism to help preserve culture and the accumulation of knowledge. The virtuous believer knows if it is the will of God doing good deeds will help purify culture grow faith.

The question for atheist and fundamentalist is the value of life in the preservation and purification of a culture.

http://www.theosociety.org/pasadena/etgloss/va-vih.htm

https://books.google.com/books?id=nQfiAQAAQBAJ&lpg=PA98&ots=akVxCY5Elh&dq=Zoroaster%20Gematria&pg=PA103#v=onepage&q=Zoroaster%20Gematria&f=false

http://www.esotericarchives.com/oracle/oraclez.htm

It is my belief that everything needed for salvation is overtly and publicly stated by the Prophets, Jesus Christ and His Disciples. The rest comes from our imagination.

Luke_Wilbur · March 12, 2015

The Didache

Chapter 5

5:1 But the way of death is this.
5:2 First of all, it is evil and full of a curse murders, adulteries, lusts, fornications, thefts, idolatries, magical arts, witchcrafts, plunderings, false witnessings, hypocrisies, doubleness of heart, treachery, pride, malice, stubbornness, covetousness, foul-speaking, jealousy, boldness, exaltation, boastfulness;

I do not believe Hashem is quantifiable. But, through His love and Mercy he reveals Himself to us through our Savior Jesus Christ and wisdom of the Holy Spirit. I do not believe that it is possible to know Hashem through quantum mysticism or numerology without His Will to permit it. Otherwise, it would be easily revealed that Jesus is the prophesied Messiah and the Holy Spirit dwells with us today. But, I do believe that that the search for Hashem through quantum mysticism and numerology has given us a way to observe the universe through physics and mathematics. It may be possible that only through selfless faith the Holy Spirit would permit the righteous to use quantum mysticism and numerology to help us better understand Hashem. But, I firmly believe that quantum mysticism and numerology will not reveal Hashem's Will on their own.

Math is Not a Mirror of Nature

by Lee Smolin

math is a tool. There are different parts of mathematics that are useful as tools. Mathematical deduction is outside of time. If you deduce a prediction mathematically what you’re doing is representing a set of causal processes and causal relations carried out in time with a set of logical implications which are timeless. But that’s fine to do if you understand what you’re doing.

You’re making a representation of a bit of reality and using math as a tool to represent a process and the consequences of that process and the future evolution of that process.

What I don’t believe is true is that there is some mathematical object out there, some equation of mathematics or a solution of an equation of mathematics which just is one-to-one in correspondence with reality, what the philosopher Richard Rorty called the mirror of nature.

I don’t believe that there is a mirror of the history of the world in some timeless mathematical equation or solution to an equation - which is what I used to think. I used to think that my job as a physicist was this kind of mystical transcendent undertaking to transcend the daily reality and experience of the world and discover this timeless representation of the world where the truth really was.

I don’t think that anymore but mathematics still is a tool. I’m very open minded as to what tools we would use to represent and analyze ideas. For me science and physics is not about finding a mathematical representation of reality and then going and working the mathematics. Science is about hypotheses and their consequences and we use math as a tool and logarithms as a tool, simulation as a tool to work out the consequences of those hypotheses.

Joods Historisch Museum - Levensboom glas in lood - Eli Content (Midden)

Tree of Life by Eli Content Middle frame of a set of three leaded glass windows by the artist Eli Content. This framework is made of matt clear glass with 12 large glass spheres in different shades of green. Around the 12 balls are smaller squares and ovals in various green and small red spheres. Eli Content's thumb print can be seen at the bottom centre. The Tree of Life, or Etz haChayim (עץ החיים) in Hebrew, is a mystical symbol used in the Kabbalah of esoteric Judaism to describe the path to HaShem and the manner in which He created the world ex nihilo (out of nothing). Kabbalists believe the Tree of Life to be a diagrammatic representation of the process by which the Universe came into being.
WLANL_-_MicheleLovesArt_-_Joods_Historis

Saint Paul teaches that Hashem reveals Himself through the Spirit of the righteous that testify about him. Hashem has given each one of us the ability to discern the truth of their testimony and receive or reject the Hashem's Holy Spirit. Once the germ of Holy Spirit enters us the physics of the universe submits to Hashem's Will which is separated from any data set.

Hebrews 11

11:1 Now faith is being sure of what we hope for, being convinced of what we do not see.

11:2 For by it the people of old received God’s commendation.

11:3 By faith we understand that the worlds were set in order at God’s command, so that the visible has its origin in the invisible.

11:4 By faith Abel offered God a greater sacrifice than Cain, and through his faith he was commended as righteous, because God commended him for his offerings. And through his faith he still speaks, though he is dead.

11:5 By faith Enoch was taken up so that he did not see death, and he was not to be found because God took him up. For before his removal he had been commended as having pleased God.

11:6 Now without faith it is impossible to please Him, for the one who approaches God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek Him.

11:7 By faith Noah, when he was warned about things not yet seen, with reverent regard constructed an ark for the deliverance of his family. Through faith he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith.

For those that are seeking Hashem, listen to Collective Soul, "Shine."

Virginia Tech gunman, Cho Seung-Hui was looking for meaning of Shine's lyrics "Teach me how to speak, Teach me how to share, Teach me where to go." According to the roommates, Cho wrote these words on the wall of his dorm room and would play the song endlessly on repeat. If only he would have understood Jesus command to "Love your neighbor" this tragedy may never have happened.

Here is a snapshot from one of several videos Cho Seung-hui sent to NBC News

Salvation does not come from a magical amulet or incantation. Jesus teaches that the Holy Spirit will enter our hearts only when we are in complete selfless humility embracing His commands.

John 14

14:15 “If you love me, you will obey my commandments.

14:16 Then I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you forever –

14:17 the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it does not see Him or know Him. But you know Him, because He resides with you and will be in you.

True prophecy comes from Hashem not from our minds.

2 Peter 1

1:13 Indeed, as long as I am in this tabernacle, I consider it right to stir you up by way of a reminder,

1:14 since I know that my tabernacle will soon be removed, because our Lord Jesus Christ revealed this to me.

1:15 Indeed, I will also make every effort that, after my departure, you have a testimony of these things.

1:16 For we did not follow cleverly concocted fables when we made known to you the power and return of our Lord Jesus Christ; no, we were eyewitnesses of His grandeur.

1:17 For He received honor and glory from God the Father, when that Voice was conveyed to Him by the Majestic Glory:

“This is my dear Son, in whom I am delighted.”

1:18 When this Voice was conveyed from Heaven, we ourselves heard It, for we were with Him on the Holy Mountain.

1:19 Moreover, we possess the Prophetic Word as an altogether reliable thing. You do well if you pay attention to this as you would to a light shining in a murky place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.

1:20 Above all, you do well if you recognize this:

No prophecy of scripture ever comes about by the prophet’s own imagination,

1:21 for no prophecy was ever borne of human impulse; rather, men carried along by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

How does a materialist quantify an intimate connection with another? Is it purely physical?
The Transfiguration of Jesus is an episode in the New Testament narrative in which Jesus is transfigured (or metamorphosed) and becomes radiant upon a mountain.

Pinacoteca Comunale, Recanati
Verklärung Christi

Origen was the first to comment that the presence of Moses and Elijah represented the "Law and the Prophets", referring to the Torah (also called the Pentateuch) and the rest of the Hebrew Bible. Jesus made sure to have three witness observe this event to fulfill the prophecy of Malachi.

Matthew 17

17:1 Six days later Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John the brother of James, and led them privately up a high mountain.

17:2 And He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became white as light.

17:3 Then Moses and Elijah also appeared before them, talking with Him.

17:4 So Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you want, I will make three shelters – one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”

17:5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a Voice from the cloud said,

“This is my one dear Son, in whom I take great delight. Listen to him!”

17:6 When the disciples heard this, they were overwhelmed with fear and threw themselves down with their faces to the ground.

17:7 But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” He said. “Do not be afraid.”

17:8 When they looked up, all they saw was Jesus alone.

17:9 As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Do not tell anyone about the vision until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.”

17:10 The disciples asked him,“Why then do the experts in the law say that Elijah must come first?”

17:11 He answered, “Elijah does indeed come first and will restore all things.

17:12 And I tell you that Elijah has already come. Yet they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wanted. In the same way, the Son of Man will suffer at their hands.”

17:13 Then the disciples understood that He was speaking to them about John the Baptist.

Hashem revealed to the prophet Malachi that in the future a man would look and preach like the Prophet Elijah before Christ would arrive.

Malachi 4

4:4 “Remember the law of my servant Moses, to whom at Horeb I gave rules and regulations for all Israel to obey.

4:5 Look, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of the Lord arrives.

4:6 He will encourage fathers and their children to return to me, so that I will not come and strike the earth with judgment.”

The Angel Gabriel later told John the Baptist’s parents that their son would minister in the spirit and power of Elijah

Luke 1

1:8 Now while Zechariah was serving as priest before God when his division was on duty,

1:9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to enter the holy place of the Lord and burn incense.

1:10 Now the whole crowd of people were praying outside at the hour of the incense offering.

1:11 An angel of the Lord, standing on the right side of the altar of incense, appeared to him.

1:12 And Zechariah, visibly shaken when he saw the angel, was seized with fear.

1:13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son; you will name him John.

1:14 Joy and gladness will come to you, and many will rejoice at his birth,

1:15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He must never drink wine or strong drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even before his birth.

1:16 He will turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.
1:17 And he will go as forerunner before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared for him.”

1:18 Zechariah said to the angel, “How can I be sure of this? For I am an old man, and my wife is old as well.”

1:19 The angel answered him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.

John fulfilled his purpose by preparing the people for the coming of Christ and witnessing that Jesus was divinely illuminated

John 1

1:19 Now this was John’s testimony when the Jewish leaders sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”

1:20 He confessed – he did not deny but confessed – “I am not the Christ!”

1:21 So they asked him, “Then who are you? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not!” “Are you the Prophet?” He answered, “No!”

1:22 Then they said to him, “Who are you? Tell us so that we can give an answer to those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?”

1:23 John said, “I am the voice of one shouting in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way for the Lord,’ as Isaiah the prophet said.”

1:24 (Now they had been sent from the Pharisees.)

1:25 So they asked John, “Why then are you baptizing if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?”

1:26 John answered them, “I baptize with water. Among you stands one whom you do not recognize,

1:27 who is coming after me. I am not worthy to untie the strap of his sandal!”

1:28 These things happened in Bethany across the Jordan River where John was baptizing.

1:29 On the next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!

1:30 This is the one about whom I said, ‘After me comes a man who is greater than I am, because he existed before me.’

1:31 I did not recognize Him, but I came baptizing with water so that He could be revealed to Israel.”

1:32 Then John testified, “I saw the Spirit descending like a dove from heaven, and it remained on Him.

1:33 And I did not recognize Him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘The one on whom you see the Spirit descending and remaining – this is the one who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’

1:34 I have both seen and testified that this man is the Chosen One of God.”

1:35 Again the next day John was standing there with two of his disciples.

1:36 Gazing at Jesus as he walked by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

1:37 When John’s two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus.

1:38 Jesus turned around and saw them following and said to them, “What do you want?” So they said to Him, “Rabbi” (which is translated Teacher), “where are you staying?”

1:39 Jesus answered, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where He was staying, and they stayed with Him that day. Now it was about four o’clock in the afternoon.

1:40 Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of
the two disciples who heard what John said and followed Jesus.

1:41 He first found his own brother Simon and told him, “We have found the Messiah!” (which is translated Christ).

1:42 Andrew brought Simon to Jesus. Jesus looked at him and said, “You are Simon, the son of John. You will be called Cephas” (which is translated Peter).

The name John means "the grace and mercy of the Lord."

The Great Isaiah Scroll

Chapter 40 : Verse 1

Comfort, comfort my people! says your God.

Chapter 40 : Verse 2

Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and declare to her that her hard service is completed, that her punishment is accepted. Indeed she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins.

Chapter 40 : Verse 3

A voice cries out, 'In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD, and in the desert make a smooth highway for our God.

Chapter 40 : Verse 4

Let every valley be raised and every mountain and hill be lowered. Let the uneven spots be leveled and the rough places made a plain.

Chapter 40 : Verse 5

The glory of the LORD will be revealed, and all flesh together will see it. The mouth of the LORD has spoken.'

Watch "Archie Bunker on Jewish Baptism"

Luke_Wilbur · March 31, 2015

The Didache

Chapter 5

5:1 But the way of death is this.
5:2 First of all, it is evil and full of a curse murders, adulteries, lusts, fornications, thefts, idolatries, magical arts, witchcrafts, plunderings, false witnessings, hypocrisies, doubleness of heart, treachery, pride, malice, stubbornness, covetousness, foul-speaking, jealousy, boldness, exaltation, boastfulness;

Prophets were known for wearing and passing on cloaks (mantles) as a sign of their calling from God. The story of how the mantle of prophetic authority was passed from Elijah to Elisha offers helpful understanding when the Lord releases one religious leader and calls a new one.

1 Kings 19

19:7 The Lord’s angelic messenger came back again, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat, for otherwise you won’t be able to make the journey.”

19:8 So he got up and ate and drank. That meal gave him the strength to travel forty days and forty nights until he reached Horeb, the mountain of God.

19:9 He went into a cave there and spent the night. All of a sudden the Lord spoke to him, “Why are you here, Elijah?”

19:10 He answered, “I have been absolutely loyal to the Lord, the sovereign God, even though the Israelites have abandoned the agreement they made with You, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left and now they want to take my life.”

19:11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord. Look, the Lord is ready to pass by.”

A very powerful wind went before the Lord, digging into the mountain and causing landslides, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the windstorm there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake.

19:12 After the earthquake, there was a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. After the fire, there was a soft whisper.

19:13 When Elijah heard it, he covered his face with his robe and went out and stood at the entrance to the cave. All of a sudden a voice asked him, “Why are you here, Elijah?”

19:14 He answered, “I have been absolutely loyal to the Lord, the sovereign God, even though the Israelites have abandoned the agreement they made with you, torn down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left and now they want to take my life.”

19:15 The Lord said to him, “Go back the way you came and then head for the Desert of Damascus. Go and anoint Hazael king over Syria.

19:16 You must anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to take your place as prophet.

19:17 Jehu will kill anyone who escapes Hazael’s sword, and Elisha will kill anyone who escapes Jehu’s sword.

19:18 I still have left in Israel seven thousand followers who have not bowed their knees to Baal or kissed the images of him.”

19:19 Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve pairs of oxen; he was near the twelfth pair. Elijah passed by him and threw his robe over him.

19:20 He left the oxen, ran after Elijah, and said, “Please let me kiss my father and mother goodbye, then I will follow you.” Elijah said to him, “Go back! Indeed, what have I done to you?”

19:21 Elisha went back and took his pair of oxen and slaughtered them. He cooked the meat over a fire that he made by burning the harness and yoke. He gave the people meat and they ate. Then he got up and followed Elijah and became his assistant.

2 Kings 2

2:6 Elijah said to him, “Stay here, for the Lord has sent me to the Jordan.” But he replied, “As certainly as the Lord lives and as you live, I will not leave you.” So they traveled on together.

2:7 The fifty members of the prophetic guild went and stood opposite them at a distance, while Elijah and Elisha stood by the Jordan.

2:8 Elijah took his cloak, folded it up, and hit the water with it. The water divided, and the two of them crossed over on dry ground.

2:9 When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “Wh
at can I do for you, before I am taken away from you?” Elisha answered, “May I receive a double portion of the prophetic spirit that energizes you.”

2:10 Elijah replied, “That’s a difficult request! If you see me taken from you, may it be so, but if you don’t, it will not happen.”

2:11 As they were walking along and talking, suddenly a fiery chariot pulled by fiery horses appeared. They went between Elijah and Elisha, and Elijah went up to heaven in a windstorm.

2:12 While Elisha was watching, he was crying out, “My father, my father! The chariot and horsemen of Israel!” Then he could no longer see him. He grabbed his clothes and tore them in two.

2:13 He picked up Elijah’s cloak, which had fallen off him, and went back and stood on the shore of the Jordan.

2:14 He took the cloak that had fallen off Elijah, hit the water with it, and said, “Where is the Lord, the God of Elijah?” When he hit the water, it divided and Elisha crossed over.

2:15 When the members of the prophetic guild in Jericho, who were standing at a distance, saw him do this, they said, “The spirit that energized Elijah rests upon Elisha.” They went to meet him and bowed down to the ground before him.

Nicolas Poussin - St John the Baptist Baptizes the People

Louvre Museum

Nicolas_Poussin_-_St_John_the_Baptist_Ba

Like the Prophet Elijah bestowing the power of Hashem's Holy Spirit on Elisha, John the Baptist bestowed the power of Hashem's Holy Spirit on Jesus.

Matthew 3

3:1 In those days John the Baptist came into the wilderness of Judea proclaiming,

3:2 “Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is near.”

3:3 For he is the one about whom Isaiah the prophet had spoken:

“The voice of one shouting in the wilderness,

‘Prepare the way for the Lord, make His paths straight.’”

3:4 Now John wore clothing made from camel’s hair with a leather belt around his waist, and his diet consisted of locusts and wild honey.

3:5 Then people from Jerusalem, as well as all Judea and all the region around the Jordan, were going out to him,

3:6 and he was baptizing them in the Jordan River as they confessed their sins.

3:7 But when he saw many Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You offspring of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath?

3:8 Therefore produce fruit that proves your repentance,

3:9 and don’t think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that God can raise up children for Abraham from these stones!

3:10 Even now the ax is laid at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.

3:11 “I baptize you with water, for repentance, but the One coming after me is more powerful than I am – I am not worthy to carry His sandals. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

3:12 His winnowing fork is in his hand, and he will clean out his threshing floor and will gather his wheat into the storehouse, but the chaff he will burn up with inextinguishable fire.”

3:13 Then Jesus came from Galilee to John to be baptized by him in the Jordan River.

3:14 But John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and yet you come to me?”

3:15 So Jesus replied to him, “Let it happen now, for it is right for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then John yielded to Him.

3:16 After Jesus was baptized, just as He was coming up out of the water, the heavens opened and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming on Him.

3:17 And a voice from Heaven said, “This is my one dear Son; in Him I take great delight.”

Matthew 11

11:7 Jesus began to speak to the crowd about John:

“What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?

11:8 What did you go out to see? A man dressed in fancy clothes? Look, those who wear fancy clothes are in the homes of kings!

11:9 What did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet.

11:10 This is the one about whom it is written:

‘Look, I am sending my messenger ahead of you,

who will prepare your way before you.’

11:11 “I tell you the truth, among those born of women, no one has arisen greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he is.

11:12 From the days of John the Baptist until now the Kingdom of Heaven has suffered violence, and forceful people lay hold of it.

11:13 For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John appeared.

11:14 And if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah, who is to come.

11:15 The one who has ears had better listen!

11:16 “To what should I compare this generation? They are like children sitting in the marketplaces who call out to one another,

11:17 ‘We played the flute for you, yet you did not dance;

we wailed in mourning, yet you did not weep.’

11:18 For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’

11:19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him, a glutton and a drunk, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ But wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”

I always thought that the Holy Spirit came after Jesus to the Apostles. What I am coming to realize is Hashem's Holy Spirit has been with us all the time.
Numbers 11

11:11 Moses said to the Lord, “Why have you afflicted your servant? Why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of this entire people on me?

11:12 Did I conceive this entire people? Did I give birth to them, that You should say to me, ‘Carry them in your arms, as a foster father bears a nursing child,’ to the land which you swore to their fathers?

11:13 From where shall I get meat to give to this entire people, for they cry to me, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat!’

11:14 I am not able to bear this entire people alone, because it is too heavy for me!

11:15 But if you are going to deal with me like this, then kill me immediately. If I have found favor in your sight then do not let me see my trouble.”

11:16 The Lord said to Moses, “Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know are elders of the people and officials over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting; let them take their position there with you.

11:17 Then I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take part of the spirit that is on you, and will put it on them, and they will bear some of the burden of the people with you, so that you do not bear it all by yourself.

11:18 “And say to the people, ‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, and you will eat meat, for you have wept in the hearing of the Lord, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat, for life was good for us in Egypt?” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat.

11:19 You will eat, not just one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days,

11:20 but a whole month, until it comes out your nostrils and makes you sick, because you have despised the Lord who is among you and have wept before him, saying, “Why did we ever come out of Egypt?”’”

11:21 Moses said, “The people around me are 600,000 on foot; but you say, ‘I will give them meat, that they may eat for a whole month.’

11:22 Would they have enough if the flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? If all the fish of the sea were caught for them, would they have enough?”

11:23 And the Lord said to Moses, “Is the Lord’s hand shortened? Now you will see whether my word to you will come true or not!”

11:24 So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord. He then gathered seventy men of the elders of the people and had them stand around the tabernacle.

11:25 And the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to them, and He took some of the Spirit that was on Moses and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but did not do so again.

11:26 But two men remained in the camp; one’s name was Eldad, and the other’s name was Medad. And the spirit rested on them. (Now they were among those in the registration, but had not gone to the tabernacle.) So they prophesied in the camp.

11:27 And a young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!”

11:28 Joshua son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his choice young men, said, “My lord Moses, stop them!”

11:29 Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for me? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!”

11:30 Then Moses returned to the camp along with the elders of Israel.

11:31 Now a wind went out from the Lord and brought quail from the sea, and let them fall near the camp, about a day’s journey on this side, and about a day’s journey on the other side, all around the camp, and about three feet high on the surface of the ground.

11:32 And the people stayed up all that day, all that night, and all the next day, and gathered the quail. The one who gathered the least gathered ten homers, and they spread them out for themselves all around the camp.

11:33 But while the meat was still between their teeth, before they chewed it, the anger of the Lord burned against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very great plague.

11:34 So the name of that place was called Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried the people that craved different food.

11:35 The people traveled from Kibroth Hattaavah to Hazeroth, and they stayed at Hazeroth.

The Holy Spirit rests on the seventy Elders.

The Holy Spirit rests on Mary and the twelve Apostles.

Acts 2

2:1 Now when the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place.

2:2 Suddenly a sound like a violent wind blowing came from Heaven and filled the entire house where they were sitting.

2:3 And tongues spreading out like a fire appeared to them and came to rest on each one of them.

2:4 All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit, and they began to speak in other languages as the Spirit enabled them.

2:5 Now there were devout Jews from every nation under heaven residing in Jerusalem.

2:6 When this sound occurred, a crowd gathered and was in confusion, because each one heard them speaking in his own language.

2:7 Completely baffled, they said, “Aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans?

2:8 And how is it that each one of us hears them in our own native language?

2:9 Parthians, Medes, Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and the province of Asia,

2:10 Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya near Cyrene, and visitors from Rome,

2:11 both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs – we hear them speaking in our own languages about the great deeds God has done!”

2:12 All were astounded and greatly confused, saying to one another, “What does this mean?”

2:13 But others jeered at the speakers, saying, “They are drunk on new wine!

2:14 But Peter stood up with the eleven, raised his voice, and addressed them:

“You men of Judea and all you who live in Jerusalem, know this and listen carefully to what I say.

2:15 In spite of what you think, these men are not drunk, for it is only nine o’clock in the morning.

2:16 But this is what was spoken about through the prophet Joel:

2:17 ‘And in the last days it will be,’ God says,

‘that I will pour out my Spirit on all people,

and your sons and your daughters will prophesy,

and your young men will see visions,

and your old men will dream dreams.

2:18 Even on my servants, both men and women,

I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy.

2:19 And I will perform wonders in the sky above

and miraculous signs on the earth below,

blood and fire and clouds of smoke.

2:20 The sun will be changed to darkness

and the moon to blood

before the great and glorious day of the Lord comes.

2:21 And then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’

Joel 2

2:23 Citizens of Zion, rejoice!

Be glad because of what the Lord your God has done!

For he has given to you the early rains as vindication.

He has sent to you the rains –

both the early and the late rains as formerly.

2:24 The threshing floors are full of grain;

the vats overflow with fresh wine and olive oil.

2:25 I will make up for the years

that the ‘arbeh-locust consumed your crops –

the yeleq-locust, the hasil-locust, and the gazam-locust –

my great army that I sent against you.

2:26 You will have plenty to eat,

and your hunger will be fully satisfied;

you will praise the name of the Lord your God,

who has acted wondrously in your behalf.

My people will never again be put to shame.

2:27 You will be convinced that I am in the midst of Israel.

I am the Lord your God; there is no other.

My people will never again be put to shame.

2:28 76 After all of this

I will pour out my Spirit on all kinds of people.

Your sons and daughters will prophesy.

Your elderly will have revelatory dreams;

your young men will see prophetic visions.

2:29 Even on male and female servants

I will pour out my Spirit in those days.

2:30 I will produce portents both in the sky and on the earth –

blood, fire, and columns of smoke.

2:31 The sunlight will be turned to darkness

and the moon to the color of blood,

before the day of the Lord comes –

that great and terrible day!

2:32 It will so happen that

everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be delivered.

For on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there will be those who survive,

just as the Lord has promised;

the remnant will be those whom the Lord will call.

Proverbs 1

1:20 Wisdom calls out in the street,

she shouts loudly in the plazas;

1:21 at the head of the noisy streets she calls,

in the entrances of the gates in the city she utters her words:

1:22 “How long will you simpletons love naiveté?

How long will mockers delight in mockery

and fools hate knowledge?

1:23 If only you will respond to my rebuke,

then I will pour out my thoughts to you

and I will make my words known to you.

1:24 However, because I called but you refused to listen,

because I stretched out my hand but no one paid attention,

1:25 because you neglected all my advice,

and did not comply with my rebuke,

1:26 so I myself will laugh when disaster strikes you,

I will mock when what you dread comes,

1:27 when what you dread comes like a whirlwind,

and disaster strikes you like a devastating storm,

when distressing trouble comes on you.

1:28 Then they will call to me, but I will not answer;

they will diligently seek me, but they will not find me.

1:29 Because they hated moral knowledge,

and did not choose to fear the

Lord,

1:30 they did not comply with my advice,

they spurned all my rebuke.

1:31 Therefore they will eat from the fruit of their way,

and they will be stuffed full of their own counsel.

1:32 For the waywardness of the

simpletons will kill them,

and the careless ease of fools will destroy them.

1:33 But the one who listens to me will live in security,

and will be at ease from the dread of harm.

Matthew 23

23:1 Jesus said to the crowds and to His disciples,

23:2 “The experts in the law and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat.

23:3 Therefore pay attention to what they tell you and do it. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they teach.

23:4 They tie up heavy loads, hard to carry, and put them on men’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing even to lift a finger to move them.

23:5 They do all their deeds to be seen by people, for they make their phylacteries wide and their tassels long.

23:6 They love the place of honor at banquets and the best seats in the synagogues

23:7 and elaborate greetings in the marketplaces, and to have people call them ‘Rabbi.’

23:8 But you are not to be called ‘Rabbi,’ for you have one Teacher and you are all brothers.

23:9 And call no one your ‘father’ on earth, for you have one Father, who is in Heaven.

23:10 Nor are you to be called ‘teacher,’ for you have one teacher, the Christ.

23:11 The greatest among you will be your servant.

23:12 And whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

23:13 “But woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You keep locking people out of the Kingdom of Heaven! For you neither enter nor permit those trying to enter to go in.

23:14“Woe to you experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You devour widows’ property, and as a show you pray long prayers! Therefore you will receive a more severe punishment.”

23:15 “Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You cross land and sea to make one convert, and when you get one, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves!

23:16 “Woe to you, blind guides, who say, ‘Whoever swears by the temple is bound by nothing. But whoever swears by the gold of the temple is bound by the oath.’

23:17 Blind fools! Which is greater, the gold or the temple that makes the gold sacred?

23:18 And, ‘Whoever swears by the altar is bound by nothing. But if anyone swears by the gift on it he is bound by the oath.’

23:19 You are blind! For which is greater, the gift or the altar that makes the gift sacred?

23:20 So whoever swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it.

23:21 And whoever swears by the temple swears by it and the one who dwells in it.

23:22 And whoever swears by Heaven swears by the throne of God and the One who sits on it.

23:23 “Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You give a tenth of mint, dill, and cumin, yet you neglect what is more important in the law – justice, mercy, and faithfulness! You should have done these things without neglecting the others.

23:24 Blind guides! You strain out a gnat yet swallow a camel!

23:25 “Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and the dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence.

23:26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup, so that the outside may become clean too!

23:27 “Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs that look beautiful on the outside but inside are full of the bones of the dead and of everything unclean.

23:28 In the same way, on the outside you look righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

23:29 “Woe to you, experts in the law and you Pharisees, hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous.

23:30 And you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our ancestors, we would not have participated with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.’

23:31 By saying this you testify against yourselves that you are descendants of those who murdered the prophets.

23:32 Fill up then the measure of your ancestors!

23:33 You snakes, you offspring of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell?

23:34 “For this reason I am sending you prophets and wise men and experts in the law, some of whom you will kill and crucify, and some you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town,

23:35 so that on you will come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.

23:36 I tell you the truth, this generation will be held responsible for all these things!

23:37 “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! How often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would have none of it!

23:38 Look, your house is left to you desolate!

23:39 For I tell you, you will not see me from now until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’”

24:1 Now as Jesus was going out of the temple courts and walking away, his disciples came to show Him the temple buildings.

24:2 And he said to them, “Do you see all these things? I tell you the truth, not one stone will be left on another. All will be torn down!”

Jesus rebuked Jewish authority for being corrupt, vain, money hungry, lazy examples of following Hashem's laws given to Moses. How many of us today are guilty of the same transgression?

Listen to Lenny Kravitz, "Fly Away." The song invokes your spirit to let go of your earthly constraints and escape to a distant place.

Without the Holy Spirit escape from the physical is only a dream or death.

candidate-1588726-2015-03-18-12-25-21.jp

Listen to Mr. B "In The Last Days I Will Pour Out My Spirit Upon All Flesh."

Luke_Wilbur · April 2, 2015

The Didache

Chapter 5

5:1 But the way of death is this.
5:2 First of all, it is evil and full of a curse murders, adulteries, lusts, fornication, thefts, idolatries, magical arts, witchcrafts, plunderings, false witnessings, hypocrisies, doubleness of heart, treachery, pride, malice, stubbornness, covetousness, foul-speaking, jealousy, boldness, exaltation, boastfulness;

Is dancing with rattle snakes a sign of faith or testing Hashem's Holy Spirit and Jesus?

Watch comedian Will Ferrell dance with and get bitten by a rattlesnake in the movie "The Campaign"

The practice of snake handling and of drinking strychnine and other poisons, found in a few offshoots of Pentecostalism, find their Biblical support in Mark 16:18.

Mark 16

16:18 they will pick up snakes with their hands, and whatever poison they drink will not harm them; they will place their hands on the sick and they will be well.”

Watch the video, "Why does the Bible say you can drink poison and survive? ( Is Mark 16:18 a FORGERY !? )"

The oldest copies of the Gospel of Mark, the Sinaitic and Vatican, end at Mark 16:8.This has led to questioning whether verses 9 through 20 in chapter 16 of the Gospel of Mark are intentional apostasy by an unknown writer or inspired by Hashem?

Moses, Jesus and Paul verify Mark 16:18 that the true saints are protected by Hashem and through the power of the Holy Spirit are able to heal the sick.

Luke 10

10:16 “The one who listens to you listens to me, and the one who rejects you rejects me, and the one who rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”

10:17 Then the seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons submit to us in your name!”

10:18 So He said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

10:19 Look, I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions and on the full force of the enemy, and nothing will hurt you.

10:20 Nevertheless, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names stand written in Heaven.”

10:21 On that same occasion Jesus rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your gracious will.

Acts 28

28:3 When Paul had gathered a bundle of brushwood and was putting it on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat and fastened itself on his hand.

28:4 When the local people saw the creature hanging from Paul’s hand, they said to one another, “No doubt this man is a murderer! Although he has escaped from the sea, Justice herself has not allowed him to live!”

28:5 However, Paul shook the creature off into the fire and suffered no harm.

28:6 But they were expecting that he was going to swell up or suddenly drop dead. So after they had waited a long time and had seen nothing unusual happen to him, they changed their minds and said he was a god.

28:7 Now in the region around that place were fields belonging to the chief official of the island, named Publius, who welcomed us and entertained us hospitably as guests for three days.

28:8 The father of Publius lay sick in bed, suffering from fever and dysentery. Paul went in to see him and after praying, placed his hands on him and healed him.

28:9 After this had happened, many of the people on the island who were sick also came and were healed.

28:10 They also bestowed many honors, and when we were preparing to sail, they gave us all the supplies we needed.

We should not put Hashem and Jesus to the test by drinking poison or dancing with venomous snakes.

Luke 4

4:9 the devil brought Jesus to Jerusalem, had him stand on the highest point of the temple, and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here,

4:10 for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’

4:11 and ‘with their hands they will lift you up, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”

4:12 Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘You are not to put the Lord your God to the test.’”

4:13 So when the devil had completed every temptation, he departed from Him until a more opportune time.

Numbers 21

21:4 The Israelites traveled from Mount Hor by the road to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom, but the people became impatient along the way.

21:5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness, for there is no bread or water, and we detest this worthless food.”

21:6 So the Lord sent poisonous snakes among the people, and they bit the people; many people of Israel died.

21:7 Then the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord that He would take away the snakes from us.” So Moses prayed for the people.

21:8 The Lord said to Moses, “Make a poisonous snake and set it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will live.”

21:9 So Moses made a bronze snake and put it on a pole, so that if a snake had bitten someone, when he looked at the bronze snake he lived.

Moses and the Brazen Serpent
Augustus John

Nehushtan was the (sacred) name by which the (great) brazen serpent was known during the years "the children of Israel succumbed did burn incense to it."

I am quite certain Pentecostal consider snake dancing a demonstration of their faith. How many Pentecostal serpent handlers mistakenly look upon a rattlesnake as a proper object of worship?

I gained some good wisdom from Herb of Healing Rooms of Frederick. Herb considered Christians dancing with snakes presumptuous. He felt that the Holy Spirit would protect the righteous faithful if they accidentally crossed the path of a poisonous snake and got bitten. But the Holy Spirit might not help one who purposely places an arm in a rattlesnake den.

Proverbs 14

14:16 A wise person is cautious and turns from evil,

but a fool throws off restraint and is overconfident.

In Asher Elbein's essay, "The Pentecostal Serpent," six different types of snakes are used; the copperhead, the eastern diamondback, timber rattler, the grey-black pygmy rattler, the coral snake, and the cottonmouth.

In addition to snake dancing being presumptuous, over time the seductive nature of the serpent may cause people can lose sight of the symbolical meaning and regard the serpent itself as the seat of the healing power, thus making it into an object of worship.

2 Kings 17

17:38 You must never forget the agreement I made with you, and you must not worship other gods.

17:39 Instead you must worship the Lord your God; then He will rescue you from the power of all your enemies.”

17:40 But they pay no attention; instead they observe their earlier practices.

17:41 These nations are worshiping the Lord and at the same time serving their idols; their sons and grandsons do just as their fathers have done, to this very day.

18:1 In the third year of the reign of Israel’s King Hoshea son of Elah, Ahaz’s son Hezekiah became king over Judah.

18:2 He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother was Abi, the daughter of Zechariah.

18:3 He did what the Lord approved, just as his ancestor David had done.

18:4 He eliminated the high places, smashed the sacred pillars to bits, and cut down the Asherah pole. He also demolished the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been offering incense to it; it was called Nehushtan.

Like Pentecostalism, Haitian Voodoo is a high-energy, charismatic movement that includes spiritual possession with intense music and dancing.

http://www.faithstreet.com/onfaith/2014/05/07/coming-soon-to-age-of-economic-inequality-radical-spirituality/31987

Li Grande Zombi – by Charles Gandolfo

Can all Pentecostals discern whether they are being possessed by the Holy Spirit or a spirit of the antiChrist?

1 John 4

4:1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to determine if they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

4:2 By this you know the Spirit of God:

Every spirit that confesses Jesus as the Christ who has come in the flesh is from God,

4:3 but every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God, and this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming, and now is already in the world.

Loa (also spelled Lwa or L'wha, also referred to as Spirits, Mystères and the Invisibles) are intermediaries between Bondye (French: Bon Dieu, meaning "good God")—the Supreme Creator, who is distant from the world—and humanity. Unlike saints or angels however, they are not simply prayed to, they are served. They are each distinct beings with their own personal likes and dislikes, distinct sacred rhythms, songs, dances, ritual symbols, and special modes of service. Contrary to popular belief, the loa are not deities in and of themselves; they are intermediaries for, and dependent on, a distant Bondye. Haitian and Louisiana Loa are divided into several "nations." Two of the major nations are the Rada and Petro.

The Rada Loa like Damballa, Erzulie Freda, Loco, Ayizan, Anaisa Pye, Damballa, Ayida-Weddo, Agwé, Papa Legba. can be directly traced to the Dahomey Vudus of West Africa. Many scholars believe that the name "Rada" is a corruption of "Arara," an African port from whence many slave ships were launched. Rada spirits are typically thought to be peaceful or benign.

Petro Loa (Haitian Creole: Petwo) are considered to be more aggressive, and though some can be traced to the the Kongo and Dahomey pantheons, they are primarily Ayiti (Haiti) origin. African slaves absorbed some of the beliefs and practices of the indigenous people of Ayiti.

Drumming at Rada ceremonies is mostly played in "even" time (4/4, 6/8, etc.,), while the drums in Petro play "odd" times (5/4,7/4, etc.,) and off beat; there is a sort of tension present at Petro ceremonies.

Rouse classifies all indigenous inhabitants of the Greater Antilles (except the western tip of Cuba), the Bahamian archipelago, and the northern Lesser Antilles as Taíno indians. He subdivides the Taíno into three main groups: Classic Taíno, mostly from Haiti, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic; Western Taíno, or– sub-Taíno, for population from Jamaica, Cuba (except for the western tip) and the Bahamian archipelago; and Eastern Taíno for those from the Virgin Islands to Montserrat.

The key to the relationship between the Caribbean Taíno and the East African slaves was the polytheistic nature of their religious beliefs, which made them both tolerant to each other's ways.

Taíno spirituality centered on the worship of zemís. A zemí/cemí is a Loa or ancestor. The major Taíno loa are Yúcahu and Atabey. Yúcahu, which means spirit of cassava, was the Loa of cassava - the Taínos' main crop - and the sea. Atabey, mother of Yúcahu, was the goddess of the Moon, fresh waters and fertility.

The minor Taíno gods related to the growing of cassava, the process of life, creation and death. Baibrama was a minor god worshiped for his assistance in growing cassava and curing people from its poisonous juice. Boinayel and his twin brother Márohu were the gods of rain and fair weather, respectively. Guabancex was the non-nurturing aspect of the goddess Atabey who had control over natural disasters. Juracán is often identified as the god of storms but the word simply means hurricane in the Taíno language. Guabancex had two assistants: Guataubá, a messenger who created hurricane winds, and Coatrisquie who created floodwaters.

Maquetaurie Guayaba or Maketaori Guayaba was the god of Coaybay or Coabey, the land of the dead. Opiyelguabirán', a dog-shaped god, watched over the dead.

Deminán Caracaracol, a male cultural hero from which the Taíno believed to descend, was worshipped as a zemí. Macocael was a cultural hero worshiped as a Loa who had failed to guard the mountain from which human beings arose. He was punished by being turned into stone, or a bird, a frog, or a reptile, depending on interpretation of the myth.

Baron Samedi

The Indian Zemi "connotes both the spirit of the dead, the soulless living and the fetish stone by which magic is accomplished." The word "zombie" comes from the Indian Zemi; so do the loa Simbi, patron of the rains, and Baron Samedi, Lord of the Cemetery and the Crossroads.

Baron Samedi (French: Baron Saturday, also written Baron Samdi, Bawon Samedi, or Bawon Sanmdi) is one of the Loa of Haitian Vodou. Samedi is a Loa of the dead, along with Baron's numerous other incarnations Baron Cimetière, Baron La Croix, and Baron Kriminel. He is syncretized with Saint Martin de Porres.

He is the head of the Guédé family of Loa. His wife is the Loa Maman Brigitte.

He is usually depicted with a top hat, black tail coat, dark glasses, and cotton plugs in the nostrils, as if to resemble a corpse dressed and prepared for burial in the Haitian style. He has a white, frequently skull-like face (or actually has a skull for a face), and speaks in a nasal voice.

Baron Samedi is noted for disruption, obscenity, debauchery, and having a particular fondness for tobacco and rum infused with hot peppers. Additionally, he is the Loa of resurrection, and in the latter capacity he is often called upon for healing by those near or approaching death, as it is only Baron who can accept an individual into the realm of the dead.

Baron Samedi spends most of his time in the invisible realm of vodou spirits. He is notorious for his outrageous behavior, swearing continuously and making filthy jokes to the other spirits. He is married to another powerful spirit known as Maman Brigitte, but often chases after mortal women. He loves smoking and drinking and is rarely seen without a cigar in his mouth or a glass of rum in his bony fingers. Baron Samedi can usually be found at the crossroad between the worlds of the living and the dead. When someone dies, he digs their grave and greets their soul after they have been buried, leading them to the underworld.

Baron Samedi is the leader of the Guédé, Loa with particular links to magic, ancestor worship and death. These lesser spirits, all dressed like the Baron, are all as rude and crude, but not nearly as charming as their master. They help carry the dead to the underworld.

As well as being master of the dead, Baron Samedi is also a giver of life. He can cure any mortal of any disease or wound, if he thinks it is worthwhile. His powers are especially great when it comes to vodou curses and black magic. Even if somebody has been afflicted by a hex which brings them to the verge of death, they will not die if the Baron refuses to dig their grave. So long as this mighty spirit keeps them out of the ground, they are safe.

He does also ensure that all corpses rot in the ground to stop any soul from being brought back as a brainless zombie. What he demands in return depends on his mood. Sometimes he is content with his followers wearing black, white or purple clothes or using sacred objects; he may simply ask for a small gift of cigars, rum, black coffee, grilled peanuts, or bread. But sometimes the Baron requires a vodou ceremony to help him cross over into this world.

There are many Legbas in Umbanda, Candomble, Santeria, Sanse, Vodou, and other offshoots I am not aware of. I want to first focus on well known Legbas, then give a better understanding of what they mean in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.

In Vodou (Voodoo), Papa Legba is the loa who serves as the intermediary between the loa (spirits) and humanity. Papa Legba is considered the good counterpart to Baron Samedi. He stands at a spiritual crossroads and gives (or denies) permission to speak with the spirits of Guinee, and is believed to speak all human languages. In Haiti, he is the great elocutioner. Legba facilitates communication, speech, and understanding. Papa Legba is also know as "Saint Lazarus" the ancient white bearded sage of experience and wisdom.

Papa Legba

Papa Legba is the first one saluted at all Haitian Loa ceremonies, and is considered to be the principle of life; the initial procreative whole. He is identified with the sun and the birth of life; the center post in all hounfor (Vodun temples) are called poteu Legba. Through this post the Loa enter the ceremonies, and it's also where there food is placed. Dancing, drumming, possession, and all the activities of ceremony revolve around the poteu Legba. He is said to be very wise, and only he knows the sacred language of Mawu-Lisa, the highest god in Vodun. All prayers and sacrifice must go through Legba, and only he can open the sacred gateway.

Journey into the Spiritual World of Voodoo in New Orleans

Originating in the West African country of Benin, the spiritual life of Voodoo came to New Orleans with the slave trade. The name “Voodoo” evolved from the Fon word Voudon, meaning “spirit” or “deity”. Voodoo has three spiritual levels – God, spirits and ancestors. Folklore says that God was angered by a trickster spirit named Legba. When God left the earth, he left Legba behind in the form of a rainbow. A rainbow is the bridge between heaven and earth. Because followers weren’t able to get access to a rainbow when they needed, they chose the snake as a substitute because it was long and thin like a rainbow. The great snake spirit became known in New Orleans, by the name “Li Grand Zombi” or “Ouncongo.” Later its name changed to “Papa Labas” or “St. Peter.”

Elegba

Tropenmuseum

Elegba (Eleggua, Elegua, Elewa, Cuba Elegba or Niño de Atocha) is a much younger version of Papa Legba known in Haiti. He is often depicted with horns on his head and an erect penis symbolizing his insatiable nature.

In Santeria (Way of the Saints) spirit is disguised as Saint Anthony of Padua "Leggua" holding baby Jesus. Santeria is an Afro-Caribbean religion based on Yoruba beliefs and traditions, the Lucumi slaves added Roman Catholic elements added to preserve their faith. Santeria is also known as La Regla Lucumi and the Rule of Osha.

Orishas-by-Noire-3000-aka-James-C.-Lewis

An orisha (spelled orichá or orixá in Latin America) is a spirit that reflects one of the manifestations of God (Eledumare, Olorun, Olofi) in Yoruba religion. There are a total of 401 orishas. In order to preserve and shield (mask) their traditional beliefs, the Lucumí people syncretized their Orichás with Roman Catholic saints

Jean-Jacques Dessalines

The revolutionary Jean-Jacques Dessalines presumptively proclaimed himself head of the Catholic church in Haiti after the Haitian Revolution. He set forward to limit the jurisdiction of priests and to appoint men to vacant positions in local church communities. He himself had caused the assassination of a large number of the missionaries by failing to stop slaughter of the white colonists. This caused a schism between the Haitian state and Rome, resulting in Rome's declining to send priests into the country. There were no priests to provide guidelines for the newly established Haitian state. As a consequence, the principles of Vodou and Catholicism were merged and Catholicism (with its Vodou influences) was made the state's official religion under the leadership of Henri Christophe.

Another cause of the syncretic connection between Catholicism and Vodou was the state's ordination of Haitian men to the priesthood – a step that the Vatican would not recognize as legitimate. However, mixture of both religions shaped the way of how Haitians practice their ritual. The Haitians were going to church, but they continued to adhere to Vodou, using the rituals of the church to mask the practices of their native traditions.

For many Protestants prayers to departed saints attract fallen angels into the spiritual atmosphere around your soul. The Yaruba orishas in counterfeit Catholic Saints demand both prayer and sacrifice, in my belief greatly angers our Creator. As a Catholic this upsets me that so many people are not aware that what they are doing is anti-Christian. I pray that our Latin Pope Francis addresses this issue that I am sure he is quite aware. None of these people should be able to receive communion until they renounce these African Orishas that are damning their spirits.

The official position of the Roman Catholic Church is that asking saints for their prayers is no different than asking someone here on earth to pray for us. However, the practice of many Catholics diverges from official Roman Catholic teaching. Many Catholics do in fact pray directly to saints for help – instead of asking the saints and/or Mary to intercede with God for help. The church needs to better communicate this half truth to the congregation. This half truth has spawned Western Vudun.

Luke_Wilbur · April 6, 2015

The Didache

Chapter 5

5:1 But the way of death is this.
5:2 First of all, it is evil and full of a curse murders, adulteries, lusts, fornication, thefts, idolatries, magical arts, witchcrafts, plunderings, false witnessings, hypocrisies, doubleness of heart, treachery, pride, malice, stubbornness, covetousness, foul-speaking, jealousy, boldness, exaltation, boastfulness;

Evil is so seductive. The spirit of deceit will do its very best to make you believe
what is its own selfish interest is your own desire. What the spirit of deceit does not want you to
know that it bows before Hashem's will.

Santeria Church of the Orishas
Dedicated to the religion of Santería and worship of the Orishas

What’s the Difference Between Legba, Eleggua, Eshu and Exu?!

Houngan Matt: (Regarding Legba) The Legba spirits, in Vodou, are a family of lwa who each are responsible for “opening the door” or initiating access to each section, or ritual division, of spirits that are served in our rites. Each nancion, or nation (a term used to distinguish groupings of lwa by their home culture or the people whose spirits they were before those people were brought to Haiti as slaves) has its own door-opening spirit referred to as a Legba. There are many such corresponding divisions of lwa, and each has their own Legba tasked with opening the door and allowing those spirits to pass. The Legbas are spirits of communication and contact, removers of barriers and openers of doors, who speak all languages and know all forms of communication.

In a fete, one of the Legba spirits is always among the first spirits sung for and invited to come to the party with us… but there’s a good deal of misconception out there about what this means. Contrary to internet-misinformation, when the priye ginen (our litany of prayer and song that blesses and begins all services) is complete, the first spirit we sing to is Hountor, the lwa of the drums, who translates our modern speech and song into the tonal language of the drums, the ancient spirit-speak us Creoles no longer shape with our mouths. Then, we sing into being Grand Chemin, the Great Road that bridges our place of ceremony and the land where the spirits reside… a great and golden road the lwa proceed down to come to our temple (and, often, also the poto mitan, the central axis of the temple which our spirits can ride).

Legba nan Rada, or Legba in the Rada Rite, is the first of the Legba spirits we serve, and his task is to open the gate on the Great Road, the doorway that allows the other spirits to come to our celebrations and rites. Without him, there wouldn't be a gap or a coming-together-place where our world and the world of the spirits could touch.

In Vodou’s language of visual symbols that convey meaning, the imagery used to represent the various Legba spirits always features the symbol of the Poto Mitan in some way or form as it is the doorway on the Great Road that Legba controls. For my lineage, the Rada Legba wears a saint known as Saint Anthony the Abbot (a jovial and well-fed man in brown robes, holding a staff, the poto mitan, and standing at a cave door, surrounded by animals such as pigs and chickens). Legba nan Petro, the Legba who opens to doorway for the hotter and rougher spirits of the Petro rite, wears the image of Saint Lazarus (typically an emaciated and sometimes bruised man walking by means of crutches, another symbolic stand-in for the Poto Mitan).

Even the nations that make up the components of the larger Rada and Petro rites also have their Legba figures (who may or may not be members of the Legba family of spirits… often times, Ogou Ossange, a wounded healer who is also always shown with crutches, can serve as the Legba nan Nago, or the Legba figure who opens the door for the Nago nation spirits, or the division that holds the spirits of the Nago people, who are now more widely known by the name of their language, Yoruba.)

The Ghede family, the spirits that are called at the end of every Vodou celebration, also have their own door keepers/Legbas of their group… and are also known for carrying a Baton Ghede, a walking stick that can alternately be a gentlemen’s cane or be placed between the spirit’s legs as the source of many embarrassing jokes… but which is also, in its way, the Poto Mitan and the road by which the spirits in the Ghede’s purview travel.

In Haitian Vodou, the Legbas are not Crossroads spirits; the way our rites work, the road by which the fiery Petro spirits are brought into the rites is conceptualized as being at a 90 degree angle to the cooler road by which the Rada lwa enter. When the Petro rites have begun, songs are sung for Dan (or Don) Petro (mythologized as the creator of the Petro system, but basically the Grand Chemin figure of the new cosmological angle of approach), then comes the Petro Legba, and after a few more spirits the rite reaches Kalfou, the lwa who is the crossroads made manifest (Kalfou is a creolization of the French Carrefour, literally crossroads). To us, the Legba figures are the keepers of gates and doors, languages and communication… not the crossroads, which we have as a different being entirely.

ConjureMan Ali: (Regarding Exu) Exu, pronounced “Eshoo” in Quimbanda is not a singular entity, but a class of spirits that are connected to the Congo and Angolan cults of sorcery and necromancy that took root in Brazil after slaves were brought over by the Portuguese. It would be more accurate to view Exu as a title referring to a class of fiery spirits called upon in the Afro-Brazilian cults for matters of guidance and to work magic. Each Exu is unique and the personalities can vary drastically from one Exu to another. Regardless of the differences what is common is that Exu is a highly dangerous, fiery, and tricky spirit to work with. Exu is not an Orisha, or Lwa, but are earthly guardians of the liminal who are both a force of nature as well as spirits of the dead.

Rev. Dr. E.: (Regarding Eleggua/Eshu) First we must distinguish between Eshu and Eleggua. Eshu (spelled Esu in traditional Yoruba with a little dot under the “s”) are a family of orishas more like natural forces. Eshus are found everywhere in the wild and each is different from the others. Eshus are wild and uncontrollable by nature. Messing with one without the proper respect will get you in big trouble quickly as it is the nature of Eshu to cause problems, test humanity and upset the balance of things. Babalawos are experts at working with an controlling Eshu for the betterment of humanity. They have the spiritual technology to tame Eshu.

Eleggua (or Elegba) – to contrast – is an orisha that can be considered to be the king of the Eshus. He is refined; civilized if you will. Eleggua is an orisha that has many roads each of which is called “Eshu” (to further confuse the issue). There is an Eleggua that wanders in the wilderness. There is an Eleggua that lives in the river. There is an Eleggua that lives on the road. There is an Eleggua that lives in the house. There are over a hundred different roads of Eleggua and each is different from the others, with different temperaments and different likes. There is one thing in common with all Elegguas – they are always honored first among the orishas whenever we have a ceremony.

Eleggua knows everything, witnesses everything and has the key to changing our destinies as humans: ebó (sacrifice). He is the one that can speak for all of the other orishas because he knows everything that’s going on. Eleggua is considered one of the warriors in our religion along with Ogun, Ochosi and Osun (as well as Erinle and Abata). He opens the road to all things and makes the spiritual connection of ache happen between humans, Olodumare, the orishas and the ancestors. Without Eleggua nothing would get where it is intended to go. Because of this we say you must always be in his graces or he’ll shut you down in no time.

In the Yoruba pantheon, Elegba is a deity, the divine messenger of Olodumare. Elegba is a guardian, protector and communicator. Through divination, he guides the fate of man. In West Africa and all through the Diaspora he is revered. The Fon call him Legba. He is called Èsú (eshu), Èlegba and Èlegbara among the Yoruba. In Brazil for the practitioners of Candomble, he is Exu. The Lucumi of the New World know him as Eshu Eleggua. These references are sacred praise names or "oriki" for Eshu-Elegbara. Oriki is used to describe the attributes or to recount the adjectives that describe an orisha.

Watch "Planet Doc Voodoo Mysteries."

Rhythmic drumming forms an essential musical accompaniment to all vodou ceremonies. Each of the lwa, the spirits, has his or her own rhythm.

Poto Mitan is the central pole in the voodoo temple (the hounfour). The term can also be used to designate the "family support", usually the mother. This term refers to that which is at the center of the home, the individual around which everything is organized and supported.

Modern New Orleans Voodoo altar.

Louisiana State Museum, Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Mambo is the Vodou term for a female (as opposed to the Houngan, or male) High Priest in the Vodou religion in Haiti. They are the highest form of clergy in the religion, whose responsibility it is to preserve the rituals and songs and maintain the relationship between the spirits and the community as a whole (though some of this is the responsibility of the whole community as well). They are entrusted with leading the service of all of the spirits of their lineage.

Gro Mambo Angélá Noványón Idizol, the founder of Le Peristyle Haitian Sanctuary, as well as the National African Religion Congress (NARC)

There are two ranks of mambo, mambo asogwe (high priestess) and mambo sur pwen / mambo sur point ("junior priestess"). A mambo asogwe is the highest member of clergy in vodou; she is the only one with authority to ordain other priests.

Houngan is the term for a male priest in Haitian Vodou. The term is derived from the Fon word "hùn gan". There are two ranks of houngan: houngan asogwe (high priest) and houngan sur pwen (junior priest). A houngan asogwe is the highest member of clergy in voodoo and the only one with authority to ordain other priests.

Houngan after his Kanzo (Vodou initiation and ordination process)

It is the Houngan's role to preserve the rituals and songs and maintain the relationship between the spirits and the community as a whole (though some of this is the responsibility of the whole community as well). They are entrusted with leading the service of all of the spirits of their lineage. Sometimes they may also be bokor (sorcerers).

Hashem condemns seeking special knowledge either from the dead in general or from dead relatives (familiar spirits, spirits with whom the one praying had previous personal acquaintance).

Leviticus 19

19:31 Do not turn to the spirits of the dead and do not seek familiar spirits to become unclean by them. I am the Lord your God.

Leviticus Hashem condemns anyone who calls up a spirit of the dead.

Leviticus 20

20:6 “‘The person who turns to the spirits of the dead and familiar spirits to commit prostitution by going after them, I will set my face against that person and cut him off from the midst of his people.

There are two testimonies that give the same account on Hashem choosing to use people and spirits, both good and evil, to fulfill His divine plan.

2 Chronicles 18

18:1 Jehoshaphat was very wealthy and greatly respected. He made an alliance by marriage with Ahab,

18:2 and after several years went down to visit Ahab in Samaria. Ahab slaughtered many sheep and cattle to honor Jehoshaphat and those who came with him. He persuaded him to join in an attack against Ramoth Gilead.

18:3 King Ahab of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Will you go with me to attack Ramoth Gilead?” Jehoshaphat replied to the king of Israel, “I will support you; my army is at your disposal and will support you in battle.”

18:4 Then Jehoshaphat added, “First seek an oracle from the Lord.”

18:5 So the king of Israel assembled 400 prophets and asked them, “Should we attack Ramoth Gilead or not?” They said, “Attack! God will hand it over to the king.”

18:6 But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there not a prophet of the Lord still here, that we may ask him?”

18:7 The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, “There is still one man through whom we can seek the Lord’s will. But I despise him because he does not prophesy prosperity for me, but always disaster. His name is Micaiah son of Imlah. Jehoshaphat said, “The king should not say such things!”

18:8 The king of Israel summoned an officer and said, “Quickly bring Micaiah son of Imlah.”

18:9 Now the king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah were sitting on their respective thrones, dressed in their royal robes, at the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria. All the prophets were prophesying before them.

18:10 Zedekiah son of Kenaanah made iron horns and said, “This is what the Lord says, ‘With these you will gore Syria until they are destroyed!’”

18:11 All the prophets were prophesying the same, saying, “Attack Ramoth Gilead! You will succeed; the Lord will hand it over to the king!”

18:12 Now the messenger who went to summon Micaiah said to him, “Look, the prophets are in complete agreement that the king will succeed. Your words must agree with theirs; you must predict success!”

18:13 But Micaiah said, “As certainly as the Lord lives, I will say what my God tells me to say!”

18:14 Micaiah came before the king and the king asked him, “Micaiah, should we attack Ramoth Gilead or not?” He answered him, “Attack! You will succeed; they will be handed over to you.”

18:15 The king said to him, “How many times must I make you solemnly promise in the name of the Lord to tell me only the truth?”

18:16 Micaiah replied, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains like sheep that have no shepherd. Then the Lord said, ‘They have no master. They should go home in peace.’”

18:17 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you he does not prophesy prosperity for me, but disaster?”

18:18 Micaiah said, “That being the case, hear the word of the Lord:

I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, with all the heavenly assembly standing on His right and on His left.

18:19 The Lord said, ‘Who will deceive King Ahab of Israel, so he will attack Ramoth Gilead and die there?’ One said this and another that.

18:20 Then a spirit stepped forward and stood before the Lord. He said, ‘I will deceive him.’ The Lord asked him, ‘How?’

18:21 He replied, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.’ The Lord said, ‘Deceive and overpower him. Go out and do as you have proposed.’

18:22 So now, look, the Lord has placed a lying spirit in the mouths of all these prophets of yours; but the Lord has decreed disaster for you.”

18:23 Zedekiah son of Kenaanah approached, hit Micaiah on the jaw, and said, “Which way did the Lord’s spirit go when he went from me to speak to you?”

18:24 Micaiah replied, “Look, you will see in the day when you go into an inner room to hide.”

18:25 Then the king of Israel said, “Take Micaiah and return him to Amon the city official and Joash the king’s son.

18:26 Say, ‘This is what the king says: “Put this man in prison. Give him only a little bread and water until I return safely.”’”

18:27 Micaiah said, “If you really do return safely, then the Lord has not spoken through me!” Then he added, “Take note, all you people.”

18:28 The king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah attacked Ramoth Gilead.

18:29 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and then enter the battle; but you wear your royal attire.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and they entered the battle.

18:30 Now the king of Syria had ordered his chariot commanders, “Do not fight common soldiers or high ranking officers; fight only the king of Israel!”

18:31 When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “He must be the king of Israel!” So they turned and attacked him, but Jehoshaphat cried out. The Lord helped him; God lured them away from him.

18:32 When the chariot commanders realized he was not the king of Israel, they turned away from him.

18:33 Now an archer shot an arrow at random and it struck the king of Israel between the plates of his armor. The king ordered his charioteer, “Turn around and take me from the battle line, for I am wounded.”

18:34 While the battle raged throughout the day, the king stood propped up in his chariot opposite the Syrians. He died in the evening as the sun was setting.

19:1 When King Jehoshaphat of Judah returned home safely to Jerusalem,

19:2 the prophet Jehu son of Hanani confronted him; he said to King Jehoshaphat, “Is it right to help the wicked and be an ally of those who oppose the Lord? Because you have done this the Lord is angry with you!

19:3 Nevertheless you have done some good things; you removed the Asherah poles from the land and you were determined to follow the Lord.”

1 Kings 22

22:1 There was no war between Syria and Israel for three years.

22:2 In the third year King Jehoshaphat of Judah came down to visit the king of Israel.

22:3 The king of Israel said to his servants, “Surely you recognize that Ramoth Gilead belongs to us, though we are hesitant to reclaim it from the king of Syria.”

22:4 Then he said to Jehoshaphat, “Will you go with me to attack Ramoth Gilead?” Jehoshaphat replied to the king of Israel, “I will support you; my army and horses are at your disposal.”

22:5 Then Jehoshaphat added, “First seek an oracle from the Lord.”

22:6 So the king of Israel assembled about four hundred prophets and asked them, “Should I attack Ramoth Gilead or not?” They said, “Attack! The sovereign one will hand it over to the king.”

22:7 But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there not a prophet of the Lord still here, that we may ask him?”

22:8 The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, “There is still one man through whom we can seek the Lord’s will. But I despise him because he does not prophesy prosperity for me, but disaster. His name is Micaiah son of Imlah. Jehoshaphat said, “The king should not say such things.”

22:9 The king of Israel summoned an official and said, “Quickly bring Micaiah son of Imlah.”

22:10 Now the king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah were sitting on their respective thrones, dressed in their robes, at the threshing floor at the entrance of the gate of Samaria. All the prophets were prophesying before them.

22:11 Zedekiah son of Kenaanah made iron horns and said, “This is what the Lord says, ‘With these you will gore Syria until they are destroyed.’”

22:12 All the prophets were prophesying the same, saying, “Attack Ramoth Gilead! You will succeed; the Lord will hand it over to the king.”

22:13 Now the messenger who went to summon Micaiah said to him, “Look, the prophets are in complete agreement that the king will succeed. Your words must agree with theirs; you must predict success.”

22:14 But Micaiah said, “As certainly as the Lord lives, I will say what the Lord tells me to say.”

22:15 When he came before the king, the king asked him, “Micaiah, should we attack Ramoth Gilead or not?” He answered him, “Attack! You will succeed; the Lord will hand it over to the king.”

22:16 The king said to him, “How many times must I make you solemnly promise in the name of the Lord to tell me only the truth?”

22:17 Micaiah said, “I saw all Israel scattered on the mountains like sheep that have no shepherd. Then the Lord said, ‘They have no master. They should go home in peace.’”

22:18 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “Didn’t I tell you he does not prophesy prosperity for me, but disaster?”

22:19 Micaiah said, “That being the case, hear the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne, with all the heavenly assembly standing on his right and on his left.

22:20 The Lord said, ‘Who will deceive Ahab, so he will attack Ramoth Gilead and die there?’ One said this and another that.

22:21 Then a spirit stepped forward and stood before the Lord. He said, ‘I will deceive him.’ The Lord asked him, ‘How?’

22:22 He replied, ‘I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouths of all his prophets.’ The Lord said, ‘Deceive and overpower him. Go out and do as you have proposed.’

22:23 So now, look, the Lord has placed a lying spirit in the mouths of all these prophets of yours; but the Lord has decreed disaster for you.”

22:24 Zedekiah son of Kenaanah approached, hit Micaiah on the jaw, and said, “Which way did the Lord’s Spirit go when He went from me to speak to you?”

22:25 Micaiah replied, “Look, you will see in the day when you go into an inner room to hide.”

22:26 Then the king of Israel said, “Take Micaiah and return him to Amon the city official and Joash the king’s son.

22:27 Say, ‘This is what the king says, “Put this man in prison. Give him only a little bread and water until I safely return.”’”

22:28 Micaiah said, “If you really do safely return, then the Lord has not spoken through me.” Then he added, “Take note, all you people.”

22:29 The king of Israel and King Jehoshaphat of Judah attacked Ramoth Gilead.

22:30 The king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, “I will disguise myself and then enter into the battle; but you wear your royal robes.” So the king of Israel disguised himself and then entered into the battle.

22:31 Now the king of Syria had ordered his thirty-two chariot commanders, “Do not fight common soldiers or high-ranking officers; fight only the king of Israel.”

22:32 When the chariot commanders saw Jehoshaphat, they said, “He must be the king of Israel.” So they turned and attacked him, but Jehoshaphat cried out.

22:33 When the chariot commanders realized he was not the king of Israel, they turned away from him.

22:34 Now an archer shot an arrow at random, and it struck the king of Israel between the plates of his armor. The king ordered his charioteer, “Turn around and take me from the battle line, because I’m wounded.”

22:35 While the battle raged throughout the day, the king stood propped up in his chariot opposite the Syrians. He died in the evening; the blood from the wound ran down into the bottom of the chariot.

22:36 As the sun was setting, a cry went through the camp, “Each one should return to his city and to his homeland.”

22:37 So the king died and was taken to Samaria, where they buried him.

22:38 They washed off the chariot at the pool of Samaria (this was where the prostitutes bathed); dogs licked his blood, just as the Lord had said would happen.

The Temple of the Python

Benin+(day+two+)+161.JPG

Temple of the Python is located in the town of Ouidah (Whydah Bird of Paradise) on the Atlantic coast of the Republic of Benin.

Ouidah historically also called Whydah, Juda, and Ajudá by the Portuguese. The town encompasses an area of 141 sq miles and as of 2002 had a population of 76,555 people

temple-vaudou-du-culte-du-python_photos2

Ouidah was originally known as Glexwé, literally 'Farmhouse', and was part of the Kingdom of Whydah. The boundaries of Kingdom of Whydah are similar to today's Republic of Benin.

Snake worship at The Temple of Python in Ouidah.

The serpent deity Dangbé has been revered in the Ouidah area for centuries. As such the deity's “ancestors”, the XX python, are protected and honored in the city's Temple of the Python. The temple is maintained by the priests of Dangbé, and dozens of the sacred python are housed within.

Whydah exported some thousand slaves a month, mainly from the interior of Africa. For this reason, it has been considered a "principal market" for human beings.

Vodun (meaning spirit in the Fon and Ewe languages, pronounced [vodṹ] with a nasal high-tone u; also spelled Vodon, Vodoun, Vodou, Voudou, Voodoo, etc.) is practiced by the Ewe people of eastern and southern Ghana, and southern and central Togo; and the Kabye people, Mina people, and Fon people of southern and central Togo, southern and central Benin. It is also practiced by some Gun (Gbe) people of Lagos and Ogun in southwest Nigeria.

Ewe religion is organized and centered around a creator/creatress deity, Mawu and Lisa. Mawu and Lisa (Goddess and God) to the Ewe is the Supreme Being and is remote from daily affairs. In addition the Ewe believe in many secondary gods (trɔwo) that are worshiped in unique ways. They also believe in spirit ancestors and divination is practiced. Se is a word for law, order and harmony; Se is the maker and keeper of human souls; in an abstract sense, Se is destiny.

Ewe of Dahomey and Togo notes that "in the life of the Dahomian, Mawu is but another Vodu or
Yehwe, the two (sets of) terms being synonymous. Mawu is a generic term for "Great God."

In Dahomey faith, Mawu (alternately: Mahu) is a creator goddess, associated with the sun and moon. In some myths, she is the twin sister-wife of the male god Lisa; in others, both deities are aspects of the same androgynous or two-spirited deity, Mawu-Lisa. “In the Jewish Kabbalah, you also have the male (Hashem) and female (Shekhina) aspects of God. The dual aspect deity is similar to the Christian view of the reciprocal existence in the three persons of the Trinity Godhead.

In Dahomey Nana Buluku is an androgynous Supreme Creator of the Universe and all that exists in it. She is celebrated as Nanã in Candomblé Jejé and as Nana Burukú in Candomblé Ketu, where she is pictured as a very old woman, older than creation itself. Mahu and Lisa are the children of Nana Buluku, and are the parents of Xevioso.

Damballa (Dambala, Danbala) is a Vodau serpent Loa of the Dahomeans. His 7000 coils formed the earth and the heavens.

The Fon people of Benin believe the rainbow snake Ayida-Weddo, created to serve Nana Buluku, held up the heavens. The creature had a twin personality as the red part of the rainbow was male, while the blue part was female. She is portrayed as a narrow green snake. Like Dambala, she lives in the sky as well as in all the trees, springs, pools, and rivers. In some West African mythology, Mawu the creator sent down Adanhu and Yewa from the sky with the rainbow serpent Ayida-Weddo. Here is an excerpt of the Voodoo creation belief:

"In the beginning there was a vast serpent, whose body formed seven thousand coils beneath the earth, protecting it from descent into the abysmal sea. Then the titanic snake began to move and heave its massive form from the earth to envelop the sky. It scattered stars in the firmament and wound its taught flesh down the mountains to create riverbeds. it shot thunderbolts to the earth to create the sacred thunder stones. From its deepest core it released the sacred waters to fill the earth with life. As the first rains fell, a rainbow encompassed the sky and Dambala took her, Ayida Wedo, as his wife. The spiritual nectar that they created reproduces through all men and women as milk and semen. The serpent and the rainbow taught humankind the link between blood and life, between menstruation and birth, and the ultimate Vodou sacrament of blood sacrifice."

Dambala and Ayida Wedo

DamballahVeveMetal__17782.1416830551.128

Dambala Wedo for Witches

Wise, benevolent, loving. Dambala is all these things. Father of the human race in tradtitional Vodoun, he carries the World Egg in his massive jaws. Described in countless ways, a pure white boa, a dark brown boa, even a rainbow colored serpent. His perfect mate is Aida Wedo. Many say these two lovers are the halves of a complete whole, that the wise and loving Dambala has always been both male and female.

As you approach the great tree with your offerings, movement comes from somewhere above. Seeing nothing you set a single white egg in a mound of flour. Bowing your head, you silently ask Dambala to accept your gifts. Warm air caresses your face and you look up.

The great serpent has heard your prayer and come down to accept your gift. His massive white head is inches from yours. He is the most beautiful of all serpents, and his crystal blue eyes radiate only love. His perfumed breath passes over you. Without words he lets you know you have his blessings.

Suddenly sleepy you relax back into the tree and he is instantly around you. Protective, warm. His loving embrace is not that of a predatory boa, but that of a loving father greeting and nurturing his child. Just as you are being lulled to sleep you see Aida Wedo, beautiful female, lovely rainbow lwa come to complete the encircling warmth.

After creating the earth and all life and everything else on it, she became concerned that it might be too heavy, so she asked the primeval serpent, Aido Hwedo, to curl up beneath the earth and thrust it up in the sky. When she asked Awe, a monkey she had also created, to help out and make some more animals out of clay, he boasted to the other animals and challenged Mawu. Gbadu, the first woman Mawu had created, saw all the chaos on earth and told her children to go out among the people and remind them that only Mawu can give Sekpoli - the breath of life. Gbadu instructed her daughter, Minona, to go out among the people and teach them about the use of palm kernels as omens from Mawu. When Awe, the arrogant monkey climbed up to the heavens to try to show Mawu that he too could give life, he failed miserably. Mawu made him a bowl of porridge with the seed of death in it and reminded him that only she could give life and that she could also take it away.

Watch "Voodoo Mounted by the gods."

Dahomey was an African kingdom (located in the area of the present-day country of Benin) which lasted from about 1600 until 1894, when the last chief Behanzin was defeated by the French and the country was annexed into the French colonial empire. Dahomey developed on the Abomey Plateau among the Fon people in the early 17th century and became a regional power in the 18th century by conquering key cities on the Atlantic coast.

For much of the 18th and 19th centuries, the Kingdom of Dahomey was a key regional state, eventually ending tributary status to the Oyo Empire.The Kingdom of Dahomey was an important regional power that had an organized domestic economy built on conquest and slave labor, significant international trade with European powers, a centralized administration, taxation systems, and an organized military.

Most Dahomeans belong to the Fon tribes (the eastern Ewe), and their language is of the Kwa group of the Guinean languages. The majority of Dahomeans have preserved their ancient tribal beliefs; some practice Islam or Christianity.

The Fon call one aspect of their serpent Ancestral deity by the name of Da or Dan. The Ba Kongo referred to this entitity often as Mbada or Mbaza. The Afrikans of Haiti combined these terms and hence we get Damballa.
http://www.hope-of-israel.org/i000035a.htm

The point of view of those that communicate with spirits.

Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Sanhedrin
Folio 65a

MISHNAH. A BA'AL OB IS THE PITHOM WHO SPEAKS FROM HIS ARMPIT. THE YIDDE'ONI ['A WIZARD'] IS ONE WHO SPEAKS FROM HIS MOUTH. THESE TWO ARE STONED; WHILE HE WHO ESQUIRES OF THEM TRANSGRESSES A FORMAL PROHIBITION.

GEMARA. Why are both a Ba'al ob and Yidde'oni mentioned here [as being executed], whilst in the list of those who are punished by extinction only Ba'al ob is included, but Yidde'oni is omitted?

R. Johanan said:

Because both are stated in one negative precept.

Resh Lakish said:

Yidde'oni is omitted [in Kerithoth], because it involves no action. Now, according to R. Johanan, why is a Ba'al ob mentioned [rather than a Yidde'oni]? — Because it is written first in the Scripture. Now why does Resh Lakish reject Johanan's answer? — R. Papa said:

They are stated separately in the verse decreeing death. But R. Johanan maintains:

Offenses which are distinct in their injunctions [there being a different one for each], are held to be separate [in their atonement]; but if only in the decree of death, they are not regarded as separate.

Now, why does R. Johanan reject Resh Lakish's answer? — He can tell you:

The Mishnah of Kerithoth is taught in accordance with R. Akiba's views, that action is unnecessary [for a sin offering to be incurred]. But Resh Lakish maintains:

Granted that R. Akiba does not require a great action, but he requires at least a small one. But what action is there in blasphemy [which is included in the enumeration] — The movement of the lips. But what action is done by a Ba'al ob? — The knocking of his arms. Now, is this so even in the view of the Rabbis? But it has been taught:

[The idolater] is liable [to a sacrifice] only for that which entails an action, e.g., sacrificing, burning incense, making libations and prostration. Whereon Resh Lakish observed:

Which Tanna maintains that a sacrifice is due for prostration? R. Akiba, who rules that a deed entailing [much] action is unnecessary. But R. Johanan said:

It even agrees with the Rabbis, for in bending his body, he performs an action. Now, since Resh Lakish maintains that in the view of the Rabbis bending one's body is not regarded as an action, surely the knocking of the arms is not one? — Well then Resh Lakish's statement [that the Ba'al ob performs an action] is made on the view only of R. Akiba, but not of the Rabbis. If so, should not the Mishnah there state, [but the Rabbis maintain that] the blasphemer and Ba'al ob are excluded? — But 'Ulla answered:

The Mishnah there refers to a Ba'al oh who burnt incense to a demon. Raba asked him:

But is not burning incense to a demon idolatry? — But Raba said:

It [i.e., the Ba'al ob in Kerithoth] refers to one who burns incense as a charm. Abaye said to him:

But burning incense as a charm is to act as a charmer, which is merely prohibited by a negative precept? — That is so, but the Torah decreed that such a charmer is stoned.

Our Rabbis taught:

[There shall not be found among you any one that makes his son or daughter pass through to the fire …] Or a charmer. This applies to one who charms large objects, and to one who charms small ones, even snakes and scorpions. Abaye said:

Therefore even to imprison wasps or scorpions [by charms], though the intention is to prevent them from doing harm, is forbidden.

Now, as for R. Johanan, why does he maintain that in the view of the Rabbis the bending of one's body [in prostration] is an action, whilst the movement of the lips is not? — Raba said:

Blasphemy is different, since the offense lies in the intention.

Sanhedrin 65b
R. Zera objected:

False witnesses are excluded [from the necessity of a sin offering if they unwittingly offended], since their offense entails no action. But why so; their offense does not depend on intention? — Raba answered:

False witnesses are different, because their offense is caused by sound. But does not R. Johanan regard sound as a [concrete] action? Has it not been stated:

If one frightened [lit. 'muzzled'] off an animal by his voice, or drove animals by his voice, R. Johanan ruled that he is liable to punishment, because the movement of his lips is an action; Resh Lakish ruled that he is not, because this is not an action? — But Raba answered thus:

False witnesses are different, because their offense is caused through vision.

Our Rabbis taught:

A Ba'al ob is one who speaks from between the joints of his body and his elbow joints. A yidde'oni is one who places the bone of a yidoa' in his mouth and it speaks of itself. An objection is raised:

And thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground:
[ Isaiah 29:4 You will fall; while lying on the ground you will speak; from the dust where you lie, your words will be heard. Your voice will sound like a spirit speaking from the underworld; from the dust you will chirp as if muttering an incantation.]

surely that means that it speaks naturally? — No. It ascends and seats itself between his joints and speaks. Come and hear:

And the woman said unto Saul, I saw a god-like form ascending out of the earth:

[ 1 Samuel 28:3 Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had lamented over him and had buried him in Ramah, his hometown. In the meantime Saul had removed the mediums and magicians from the land. 28:4 The Philistines assembled; they came and camped at Shunem. Saul mustered all Israel and camped at Gilboa. 28:5 When Saul saw the camp of the Philistines, he was absolutely terrified. 28:6 So Saul inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him – not by dreams nor by Urim nor by the prophets. 28:7 So Saul instructed his servants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, so that I may go to her and inquire of her.” His servants replied to him, “There is a woman who is a medium in Endor.” 28:8 So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothing and left, accompanied by two of his men. They came to the woman at night and said, “Use your ritual pit to conjure up for me the one I tell you.” 28:9 But the woman said to him, “Look, you are aware of what Saul has done; he has removed the mediums and magicians from the land! Why are you trapping me so you can put me to death?” 28:10 But Saul swore an oath to her by the Lord, “As surely as the Lord lives, you will not incur guilt in this matter!” 28:11 The woman replied, “Who is it that I should bring up for you?” He said, “Bring up for me Samuel.” 28:12 When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out loudly. The woman said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!” 28:13 The king said to her, “Don’t be afraid! What have you seen?” The woman replied to Saul, “I have seen one like a god coming up from the ground!” 28:14 He said to her, “What about his appearance?” She said, “An old man is coming up! He is wrapped in a robe!” Then Saul realized it was Samuel, and he bowed his face toward the ground and kneeled down. 28:15 Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” Saul replied, “I am terribly troubled! The Philistines are fighting against me and God has turned away from me. He does not answer me – not by the prophets nor by dreams. So I have called on you to tell me what I should do.” 28:16 Samuel said, “Why are you asking me, now that the Lord has turned away from you and has become your enemy? 28:17 The Lord has done exactly as I prophesied! The Lord has torn the kingdom from your hand and has given it to your neighbor David! 28:18 Since you did not obey the Lord and did not carry out His fierce anger against the Amalekites, the Lord has done this thing to you today. 28:19 The Lord will hand you and Israel over to the Philistines! Tomorrow both you and your sons will be with me. The Lord will also hand the army of Israel over to the Philistines!” 28:20 Saul quickly fell full length on the ground and was very afraid because of Samuel’s words. He was completely drained of energy, not having eaten anything all that day and night.]

[And Samuel said to Saul …] surely that means that it spoke naturally? — No. It settled itself between her joints and spoke.

Our Rabbis taught:

Ba'al ob denotes both him who conjures up the dead by means of soothsaying and one who consults a skull. What is the difference between them? — The dead conjured up by soothsaying does not ascend naturally [but feet first], nor on the Sabbath; whilst if consulted by its skull it ascends naturally and on the Sabbath too. [You say,] it ascends: but whither — does not the skull lie before him? — But say thus:

It answers naturally, and on the Sabbath too. And this question was asked by Turnusrufus of R. Akiba:

'Wherein does this day [the Sabbath] differ from any other?' — He replied:

Wherein does one man differ from another?' — 'Because my Lord [the Emperor] wishes it.' 'The Sabbath too,' R. Akiba rejoined, 'then, is distinguished because the Lord wishes so.' He replied:

'I ask this:

Who tells you that this day is the Sabbath?' — He answered:

'Let the river Sabbation prove it; let the Ba'al ob prove it; let thy father's grave, whence no smoke ascends on the Sabbath, prove it.' He said to him: 'You have shamed, disgraced, and reviled him [by this proof].'
[sAMBATYON (also Sanbatyon and Sabbatyon), a legendary river across which part of the ten tribes were exiled by the Assyrian king, Shalmaneser, and which rested on the Sabbath. The river is mentioned in the Targum Pseudo-Jonathan (Ex. 34:10): "I will take them from there and place them on the other side of the Sambatyon River.]

He who esquires of an ob — is that not the same as one that consults the dead? — As has been taught:

Or that consults the dead:

this means one who starves himself and spends the night in a cemetery, so that an unclean spirit [of a demon] may rest upon him [to enable him to foretell the future]. And when R. Akiba reached this verse, he wept:

If one who starves himself that an unclean spirit may rest upon him has his wish granted, he who fasts that the pure spirit [the Divine Presence] may rest upon him — how much more should his desire be fulfilled! But alas! our sins have driven it away from us, as it is written, But your iniquities have separated between you and your God.

Raba said:

If the righteous desired it, they could [by living a life of absolute purity] be creators, for it is written, But your iniquities have distinguished between etc.

Rabbah created a man, and sent him to R. Zera. R. Zera spoke to him, but received no answer. Thereupon he said unto him:

'Thou art a creature of the magicians. Return to thy dust.'

R. Hanina and R. Oshaia spent every Sabbath eve in studying the 'Book of Creation', by means of which they created a third-grown calf and ate it.

Our Rabbis taught:

Me'onen — R. Simeon said:

That is one who applies the semen of seven male species to his eyes [in order to perform witchcraft].

The Sages say:

It is one who holds people's eyes. R. Akiba said:

It is one who calculates the times and hours, saying, To-day is propitious for setting forth; tomorrow for making purchases; the wheat ripening on the eve of the seventh year is generally sound; let the beans be pulled up [instead of being harvested in the usual manner] to save them from becoming wormy.

Our Rabbis taught:

A Menahesh is one who says:

So and so's bread has fallen out of his hand; his staff has fallen out of his hand; his son called after him; a raven screamed after him, a deer has crossed his path; a serpent came at his right hand or a fox at his left;

NECROMANCY:

By: Joseph Jacobs, Ludwig Blau

Divination by aid of the dead is said to have been common among the Persians (Strabo, xvi. 2, 39, νεκυονάντεις), and at a later time among the Greeks and Romans as well (see passages in Winer, "B. R." ii. 26). The Israelites possibly borrowed the art from the Persians, and practiced it extensively, so that the Bible repeatedly forbids it (Lev. xix. 31; xx. 6, 27; Deut. xviii. 11; I Sam. xxviii.; Isa. viii. 19). There were three classes of necromancers, "ob," "yidde'oni," and "doresh el ha-metim" (questioner of the dead), the first two usually being mentioned together. While the general meaning of "ob" and "yidde'oni" is clear, their etymology and exact connotation have not yet been determined. "Ob" is said to denote the soothsaying spirit (in this sense as early as Josephus, "Ant." vi. 4, § 2) or the ghost of the dead (Baudissin, "Studien," pp. 141 et seq.; Davies, "Magic, Divination," etc., pp. 86 et seq.). The Septuagint generally translates the word by ἐγγαστρίμυθος = "ventriloquist," deriving this meaning from the tone of voice adopted by the necromancer. Jewish tradition says: "Ob is the python, who speaks from his armpits; yidde'oni is he who speaks with his mouth" (Sanh. vii. 7; Sifra, Lev. xx. 27). According to the Talmud (l.c. 65b), the yidde'oni used a bone of the animal called "yaddua'" in his mouth, which is made to speak by magic. The "possessor of the ob" stooped while speaking, to make it appear as if the spirit spoke from his joints and arms (ib.). Two objects are mentioned by means of which the necromancer worked, one being a human skull (but see also Levy, "Neuhebr. Wörterb." i. 537b. s.v. ).

The first oracle mentioned in history was dedicated to the Hivite serpent god, Ob, or Aub in Canaan. According to the Table of Nations (Genesis 10), the Hivites are one of the descendants of Canaan, son of Ham. (Also 1 Chronicles 1:13-15) A possible origin of the name may be in the Hebrew word chava ( חוה ), which means tent dweller. According to traditional Hebrew sources, the name "Hivite" is related to the Aramaic word "Khiv'va" (HVVA), meaning "snake", and related to the word 'awwiah in Galilee, meaning serpent, since they sniffed the ground like snakes looking for fertile land. The root HVVA is is Eph or Ev one of the first variations of the original Aub.

In Genesis 34:2 it is mentioned that Shechem the son of Hamor was a Hivite. In Genesis 34:14, we find that the Hivites did not practice male circumcision, one of the few peoples living in the land of Canaan who did not. Circumcision was a common practice among the peoples living in Canaan. Egyptians, Edomites, Ammonites, Moabites, and various Canaanite tribes practiced male circumcision along with the Hebrews. Other than Israel’s nemesis – the Philistines – the Hivites appear to be an exception to the rule of circumcision, lending them some distinction among the tribes of Canaan. Deuteronomy 7:3 forbade Israelites from marrying Hivites, because they followed the serpent god Ob and other dieties.

In 'The Serpent Myth', William Wynn Westcott, one of the founders of the 19th century Golden Dawn magical order, claims "Ob was an Egyptian word for serpent' and is the source of the term 'Obeah'. The Serpent is a symbol common to the Yezidi, Voodooists, Tantrics, and Thelemites.

http://www.sacred-texts.com/etc/wos/wos04.htm

http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sumer_anunnaki/reptiles/serpent_tribe/serpent_tribe04.htm

Luke_Wilbur · April 8, 2015

The Didache

Chapter 5

5:1 But the way of death is this.
5:2 First of all, it is evil and full of a curse murders, adulteries, lusts, fornication, thefts, idolatries, magical arts, witchcrafts, plunderings, false witnessings, hypocrisies, doubleness of heart, treachery, pride, malice, stubbornness, covetousness, foul-speaking, jealousy, boldness, exaltation, boastfulness;

Demonic spirits have been recognized since the beginning of recorded history. Demonic spirits have been recorded in the Torah, New Testament, and Quran. These spirits reside in oracles, magicians, and even disguised a departed Saints. The oldest Demonic spirit is the serpent spirit (also known as the Python spirit or Satan). Demonic spirits require prayer and sacrifice, which greatly angers the Lord of all Spirits, Hashem. Individuals possessed of demonic spirits are revered, feared, consulted with, rebuked, and excorcised by the holy.

Lycurgus Consulting the Pythia (1835/1845), as imagined by Eugène Delacroix.

The Pythia commonly known as the Oracle of Delphi, was the name of any priestess throughout the history of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi, located on the slopes of Mount Parnassus, beneath the Castalian Spring (the new priestess was selected after the death of the current priestess). The Oracle of Delphi was always a woman. The Pythia was widely credited for her prophecies inspired by Apollo. The Delphic oracle was established in the 8th century BC, although it may have been present in some form in Late Mycenaean times, from 1400 BC and was abandoned, and there is evidence that Apollo took over the shrine from an earlier dedication to Gaia. The last recorded response was given about 395 A.D. to Emperor Theodosius I, after he had ordered pagan temples to cease operation.

During this period the Delphic Oracle was the most prestigious and authoritative oracle among the Greeks. The oracle is one of the best-documented religious institutions of the classical Greeks. Authors who mention the oracle include Aeschylus, Aristotle, Clement of Alexandria, Diodorus, Diogenes, Euripides, Herodotus, Julian, Justin, Livy, Lucan, Nepos, Ovid, Pausanias, Pindar, Plato, Plutarch, Sophocles, Strabo, Thucydides and Xenophon.

The name "Pythia" derived from Pytho, which in myth was the original name of Delphi. The Greeks derived this place name from the verb, pythein (πύθειν, "to rot"), which refers to the decomposition of the body of the monstrous Python after he was slain by Apollo.

The Homeric Hymns and Homerica
Hymn 3 to Apollo
English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White.

300 But near by was a sweet flowing spring, and there with his strong bow the lord, the son of Zeus, killed the bloated, great she-dragon, a fierce monster wont to do great mischief to men upon earth, to men themselves and to their thin-shanked sheep; for she was a very bloody plague.

305 She it was who once received from gold-throned Hera and brought up fell, cruel Typhaon to be a plague to men. Once on a time Hera bare him because she was angry with father Zeus, when the Son of Cronos bare all-glorious Athena in his head.

[325a] Beware now lest I devise some evil thing for you hereafter: yes, now I will contrive that a son be born me to be foremost among the undying gods —and that without casting shame on the holy bond of wedlock between you and me. [330] And I will not come to your bed, but will consort with the blessed gods far off from you.”

When she had so spoken, she went apart from the gods, being very angry. Then straightway large-eyed queenly Hera prayed, striking the ground flatwise with her hand, and speaking thus:

[335] “Hear now, I pray, Earth and wide Heaven above and you Titan gods who dwell beneath the earth about great Tartarus, and from whom are sprung both gods and men! Harken you now to me, one and all, and grant that I may bear a child apart from Zeus, no wit lesser than him in strength —nay, let him be as much stronger than Zeus as all-seeing Zeus than Cronos.” [340] Thus she cried and lashed the earth with her strong hand. Then the life-giving earth was moved: and when Hera saw it she was glad in heart, for she thought her prayer would be fulfilled. And thereafter she never came to the bed of wise Zeus for a full year, [345] nor to sit in her carved chair as aforetime to plan wise counsel for him, but stayed in her temples where many pray, and delighted in her offerings, large-eyed queenly Hera.

But when the months and days were fulfilled 350 and the seasons duly came on as the earth moved round, she bare one neither like the gods nor mortal men, fell, cruel Typhaon, to be a plague to men. Straightway large-eyed queenly Hera took him and bringing one evil thing to another such, gave him to the dragoness; and she received him. [355] And this Typhaon used to work great mischief among the famous tribes of men. Whosoever met the dragoness, the day of doom would sweep him away, until the lord Apollo, who deals death from afar, shot a strong arrow at her. Then she, rent with bitter pangs, lay drawing great gasps for breath and rolling about that place. [360] An awful noise swelled up unspeakable as she writhed continually this way and that amid the wood: and so she left her life, breathing it forth in blood. Then Phoebus Apollo boasted over her:

“Now rot here upon the soil that feeds man' You at least shall live no more to be a fell bane to men [365] who eat the fruit of the all-nourishing earth, and who will bring hither perfect hecatombs. Against cruel death neither Typhoeus shall avail you nor ill-famed Chimera, but here shall the Earth and shining Hyperion make you rot.”

[370] Thus said Phoebus, exulting over her: and darkness covered her eyes. And the holy strength of Helios made her rot away there; wherefore the place is now called Pytho, and men call the lord Apollo by another name, Pythian; because on that spot the power of piercing Helios made the monster rot away.

[375] Then Phoebus Apollo saw that the sweet-flowing spring had beguiled him, and he started out in anger against Telphusa; and soon coming to her, he stood close by and spoke to her:

“Telphusa, you were not, after all, to keep to yourself this lovely place by deceiving my mind, [380] and pour forth your clear flowing water: here my renown shall also be and not yours alone?”

Thus spoke the lord, far-working Apollo, and pushed over upon her a crag with a shower of rocks, hiding her streams: and he made himself an altar in a wooded grove [385] very near the clear-flowing stream. In that place all men pray to the great one by the name Telphusian, because he humbled the stream of holy Telphusa.

Then Phoebus Apollo pondered in his heart what men he should bring in [390] to be his ministers in sacrifice and to serve him in rocky Pytho. And while he considered this, he became aware of a swift ship upon the wine-like sea in which were many men and goodly, Cretans from Cnossos, the city of Minos, they who do sacrifice to the prince and announce his decrees, [395] whatsoever Phoebus Apollo, bearer of the golden blade, speaks in answer from his laurel tree below the dells of Parnassus.

Inscriptions show that there was a temple of Apollo Delphinius （cp. ll. 495-6） at Cnossus and a Cretan month bearing the same name.

Apollo killing Python. A 1581 engraving by Virgil Solis for Ovid's Metamorphoses, Book I.

Pythia was the House of Snakes. The usual theory has been that the Pythia delivered oracles in a frenzied state induced by vapors rising from a chasm in the rock, and that she spoke gibberish which priests interpreted as the enigmatic prophecies preserved in Greek literature.

According to earlier myths, the office of the oracle was initially possessed by the goddesses Themis and Phoebe, and the site was initially sacred to Gaia. Subsequently it was believed to be sacred to Poseidon, the "Earth-shaker" god of earthquakes.

In some versions of the Greek flood myth, the ark of Deucalion comes to rest on the slopes of Parnassus. This is the version of the myth recounted in Ovid's Metamorphoses.

Deucalion (/djuːˈkeɪliən/; Greek: Δευκαλίων) was the son of Prometheus; ancient sources name his mother as Clymene, Hesione, or Pronoia. He is closely connected with the Flood myth, according to which, the anger of Zeus was ignited by the hubris of the Pelasgians. So Zeus decided to put an end to the Bronze Age. According to this story, Lycaon, the king of Arcadia, had sacrificed a boy to Zeus, who was appalled by this savage offering. Zeus unleashed a deluge, so that the rivers ran in torrents and the sea flooded the coastal plain, engulfed the foothills with spray, and washed everything clean. Deucalion, with the aid of his father Prometheus, was saved from this deluge by building a chest. Like the Biblical Noah and the Mesopotamian counterpart Utnapishtim, he uses his device to survive the deluge with his wife, Pyrrha.

The fullest accounts are provided in Ovid's Metamorphoses (8 AD) and in the Library of Pseudo-Apollodorus.Deucalion, who reigned over the region of Phthia, had been forewarned of the flood by his father, Prometheus. Deucalion was to build a chest and provision it carefully (no animals are rescued in this version of the Flood myth), so that when the waters receded after nine days, he and his wife Pyrrha, daughter of Epimetheus, were the one surviving pair of humans. Their chest touched solid ground on Mount Parnassus, or Mount Etna in Sicily, or Mount Athos in Chalkidiki, or Mount Othrys in Thessaly.

Deluge, Engraving by Virgil Solis

During the Greek Dark Age, from the 11th to the 9th century BC, a new god of prophecy, Apollo, allegedly seized the temple and expelled the twin guardian serpents of Gaia, whose bodies he wrapped around the caduceus. Later myths stated that Phoebe or Themis had "given" the site to Apollo, rationalizing its seizure by priests of the new god, but presumably, having to retain the priestesses of the original oracle because of the long tradition. Apparently Poseidon was mollified by the gift of a new site in Troizen.

The Apostles mission was an extension of the mission of Jesus to heal and cast off demons from the sick.

Mark 6

6:7 Jesus called the twelve and began to send them out two by two. He gave them authority over the unclean spirits.

6:8 He instructed them to take nothing for the journey except a staff – no bread, no bag, no money in their belts –

6:9 and to put on sandals but not to wear two tunics.

6:10 He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the area.

6:11 If a place will not welcome you or listen to you, as you go out from there, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.”

6:12 So they went out and preached that all should repent.

6:13 They cast out many demons and anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.

Saint Luke traveled with Saint Paul and Silas to the Roman colony of Philippi, Macedonia. Upon disciples arrival a woman possessed with the spirit of the Python displayed her power by identifying and announcing that these men were servants of the Creator wherever they went.

Acts 16

16:16 Now as we were going to the place of prayer, a slave girl met us who had a spirit that enabled her to foretell the future by supernatural means. She brought her owners a great profit by fortune-telling.

16:17 She followed behind Paul and us and kept crying out, “These men are servants of the Most High God, who are proclaiming to you the way of salvation.”

16:18 She continued to do this for many days. But Paul became greatly annoyed, and turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her!” And it came out of her at once.

16:19 But when her owners saw their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities.

16:20 When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, “These men are throwing our city into confusion. They are Jews

16:21 and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us to accept or practice, since we are Romans.”

16:22 The crowd joined the attack against them, and the magistrates tore the clothes off Paul and Silas and ordered them to be beaten with rods.

16:23 After they had beaten them severely, they threw them into prison and commanded the jailer to guard them securely.

16:24 Receiving such orders, he threw them in the inner cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

16:25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the rest of the prisoners were listening to them.

16:26 Suddenly a great earthquake occurred, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. Immediately all the doors flew open, and the bonds of all the prisoners came loose.

16:27 When the jailer woke up and saw the doors of the prison standing open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, because he assumed the prisoners had escaped.

16:28 But Paul called out loudly, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here!”

16:29 Calling for lights, the jailer rushed in and fell down trembling at the feet of Paul and Silas.

16:30 Then he brought them outside and asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”

16:31 They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved, you and your household.”

16:32 Then they spoke the word of the Lord to him, along with all those who were in his house.

16:33 At that hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and all his family were baptized right away.

16:34 The jailer brought them into his house and set food before them, and he rejoiced greatly that he had come to believe in God, together with his entire household.

Many believe the inspiration behind ventriloquism originates from an evil familiar spirit.

Around the early 1800s the term "ventriloquist" was defined as an act of stagecraft in which a person (a ventriloquist) changes his or her voice so that it appears that the voice is coming from elsewhere, usually a puppeteered "dummy." The term ventriloquist was used in 1650s in the classical sense, from the Latin ventriloquy used in the 1580s + -ist "a particular talent." Ventriloquy originates from the Latin ventralis "of or pertaining to the belly or stomach," from Latin venter (genitive ventris) "belly, paunch; stomach, appetite; womb, unborn child" + loqui "speak" (see locution). Ventriloquy was patterned on Greek engastrimythos, literally "speaking in the belly, belly talker" which was not originally an entertainer's trick but rather a rumbling sort of internal speech, regarded as a sign of spiritual inspiration or (more usually) demonic possession. Engastrimythos is a witchlike descendant of the ancient Sibyls or prophetesses. Engastrimythoi, often male, were ventriloquists who disguised .The engastrimythoi were often mediums in a state of possession trance.

Watch "Wanlu's Battle of Belly Talkers - Greetings to our friends in the Philippines"

Ventriloquism Tutorial

Master Ventriloquist Terry Peterson gives a crash course on how to be a ventriloquist, including how to say the difficult letters without moving the lips, and how to "throw" your voice into a telephone!

Now watch "10000 year old Jinn in a man." Is this man possessed, schizophrenic, or an impostor?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1Mhi4KBy9g

Jeff Dunham with his popular puppet, Achmed.

People often fear what they do not understand. A good ventriloquist is able to make inanimate objects (skulls, puppets, dolls, etc..) portray humans behavior as seemingly real. It is possible for a ventriloquist to uses this craft of deception to make inanimate objects appear dangerous or frightening.

The phobic person observing these unnatural animated figures may experience heart palpitations,panic attacks, difficulty in breathing, rapid breathing, or choking sensations, nausea, vomiting, or diarrhea, shaking, shuddering, sweating, dizziness, insomnia, and/or increased sensitivity to sounds and lights.Automatonophobia is the fear of anything that falsely represents a sentient being.

In a documentary concerning the film Magic, ventriloquist Dennis Alwood states that every professional ventriloquist has suffered from what psychologists call “spontaneous schizophrenia.” The brain of a ventriloquist is working for essentially two people — the ventriloquist and the dummy — and every once in awhile, the dummy will say something unscripted and the ventriloquist will be forced to react to it. At this point scientists don't know the gene variations that contribute to schizophrenia.

Scientists think interactions between genes and the environment are necessary for schizophrenia to develop. Many environmental factors may be involved, such as exposure to viruses or malnutrition before birth, problems during birth, and other not yet known psychosocial factors.

"Voices" are the most common type of hallucination in schizophrenia. Many people with the disorder hear voices. The voices may talk to the person about his or her behavior, order the person to do things, or warn the person of danger. Sometimes the voices talk to each other. People with schizophrenia may hear voices for a long time before family and friends notice the problem.

A true discourse, upon the matter of Martha Brossier of Romorantin, pretended to be possessed by a devil.

Translated out of French into English, by Abraham Hartwell (London: John Wolfe, printer, 1599),

Some bring a reason that is more urgent, that is to say, That Martha did speake in her bellie, when her mouth and her lips were shut and closed. Truely Martha spake as another bodie did. And yet if she had done so, should she therefore have a Deuill that spake within her bellie? Hippocrates in his fift book of the Epidemies, the. sentence, maketh mention of the wife of one Polemarchus, which spake in her bellie. Iohn Gorraeus in his Definitions Medicinall, sayth, that in Hippocrates, they are called Engastrimythoi, which talke in their bellie, when their Mouthes and their Lippes are shut and closed. Looke upon Scaliger against Cardan in the 258. Exercise, and the third part. Foetius in his Oeconomica Hippocratica writeth, that the Great Adrian Turnebus did say in his Reading- Chayre, that he had seen a Rogue, who without opening his Mouth or stirring his lippes, did with his bellie, make such a sound, and vtttered such a voyce as pleased him, and gained great store of money by practising that feate. And in truth it might very well bee done: because in closing or shutting the breast and stomacke, there may enter some Ayre into the Arterie, which may make a kinde of sound or voyce, not very distinct or plaine to bee discerned at first, and yet by long exercise may be in a sorte perceiued: and such persons are called Engastrimythoi, that is, Talking in their Bellies, or Sternomythoi, Talking in their Breasts. Or Sternomanteis, Prophecying out of their Breasts. Caelius Rhodogynus referreth to the Deuill, that speaketh within the Bellie. But he is but a Reporter of Fables, and therefore let us leaue these popular and common reasons. S. Augustine also reporteth a straneg dexteritie (though it be somewhat filthie) of a man that with the winde of his hinder parts, could make what sound he liked, and that with so good measure, as you would have thought he had sung. Piedro Mexia de Sevilla, lib.variarum lectionum. cap 26

Environmental factors associated with the development of schizophrenia include the living environment, drug use and prenatal stressors. It has been hypothesised that in some people, development of schizophrenia is related to intestinal tract dysfunction such as seen with non-celiac gluten sensitivity or abnormalities in the intestinal flora.

According to Pastor Steven Waterhouse there are least six factors differentiate schizophrenia from demonic possession as described in the Bible.

1. Attraction to vs. Aversion to Religion. Demons want nothing to do with Christ. Conversely, people with NBD are often devoutly religious.

2. Irrational Speech vs. Rational Speech. In New Testament accounts involving demons, the demons spoke in a rational manner. Untreated people with schizophrenia will often speak in nonsense and jump rapidly between unrelated topics.

3. Ordinary Learning vs. Supernatural Knowledge Demons in the New Testament would speak through people to convey knowledge that otherwise could not have been known to the possessed individuals. Those with NBD have no such ability to know facts which they have not acquired by normal learning.

4. Normal vs. Occultic Phenomena. There is an aspect to demon activity that is just plain spooky (ex.: poltergeists, levitation's, trances, telepathy). These have an impact on others in the room not just the possessed. With schizophrenia, the effect of the disorder is only on the disordered, not others.

5. The claim to be possessed Authors who have clinical experience both with demon possession and mental illness, believe those who claim to be possessed are very likely not possessed. Demons wish to be secretive and do not voluntarily claim to be present.

6. Effects of Therapy. If prayer solves the problem, then it was probably not schizophrenia. If medicine helps alleviate the problem, it was not demon possession.

http://www.shoutingfromtherooftop.com/familiar-spirits-can-and-do-plague-christians.html

http://www.shoutingfromtherooftop.com/idols.html

VOODOOS AND OBEAHS
Phases of West India Witchcraft
BY
JOSEPH J. WILLIAMS, S.J.

Chapter IV
ORIGIN OF OBEAH

"The term Obeah, Obiah, or Obia (for it is variously written), we conceive to be the adjective, and the Obe or Obi the noun substantive; and that by the words Obiah-men and women, are meant those who practice Obi. The origin of the term we should consider of no importance in our answer to the questions proposed, if, in search of it, we were not led to disquisitions that are highly gratifying to curiosity. From the learned Mr. Bryant's ' Commentary on the word Oph, we obtain a very probable etymology of the term: 'A serpent, in the Egyptian language, was called Ob or Aub.'--'Obion is still the Egyptian name for a serpent.''--Moses, in the Name of God, forbids the Israelites even to enquire of the daemon Ob, which is translated in our Bible, charmer or wizard, divinator aut sortilegus.'--'The woman at Endor is called Oub or Ob, translated pythonissa, and Oubaios (he cites from Horus Apollo) was the name of the basilisk or royal serpent, emblem of the sun, and an ancient oracular deity of Africa."

"This derivation which applies to one particular sect, the remnant probably of a very celebrated religious order in remote ages, is now become in Jamaica the general term to denote those Africans who in the island practice witchcraft or sorcery, comprehending also the class of what are called Myal men, or those who by means of a narcotic potion made with the juice of a herb (said to be the branched calalue or species of solarium) which occasions a trance or profound sleep of a certain duration, endeavor to convince the deluded spectators of their power to reanimate dead bodies.

"As far as we are able to decide from our own experience and information when we lived in the island, and from concurrent testimony of all the Negroes we have ever conversed with on the subject, the professors of Obi are, and always were, natives of Africa, and none other, and they have brought the science with them from thence to Jamaica, where it is so universally practiced, that we believe there are few of the larger Estates possessing native Africans, which have not one or more of them. The oldest and most crafty are those who usually attract the greatest devotion and confidence, those whose hoary heads, and something peculiarly harsh and diabolic in their aspect, together with some skill in plants of the medicinal and poisonous species, have qualified them for successful imposition upon the weak and credulous. The Negroes in general, whether Africans or Creoles, revere, consult, and abhor them; to these oracles they resort and with the most implicit faith, upon all occasions, whether for the cure of disorders, the obtaining of revenge for injuries or insults, the conciliating of favor, the discovery and punishment of the thief or the adulterer, and the predicting of future events. The trade which these wretches carry on is extremely lucrative; they manufacture and sell their Obies adapted to different cases and at different prices. A veil of mystery is studiously thrown over their incantations, to which the midnight hours are allotted, and every precaution is taken to conceal them from the knowledge and discovery of the white people. The deluded Negroes, who thoroughly believe in their supernatural power, become the willing accomplices in this concealment, and the stoutest among them tremble at the very sight of the ragged bundle, the bottle or the eggshells, which are stuck to the thatch or hung over the door of the hut, or upon the branch of a plantain tree, to deter marauders. In case of poison, the natural effects of it are by the ignorant Negroes ascribed entirely to the potent workings of Obi. The wiser Negroes hesitate to reveal their suspicions, through a dread of incurring the terrible vengeance which is fulminated by the Obeah men against any who should betray them; it is very difficult therefore for the white proprietor to distinguish the Obia professor from any other Negro upon his plantation; and so infatuated are the blacks in general, that but few instances occur of their having assumed courage enough to impeach these miscreants. With minds so firmly prepossessed, they no sooner find Obi set for them near the door of their house, or in the path which leads to it. than they give themselves up for lost. When a negro is robbed of a fowl or a hog, he applies directly to the Obiah-man or woman; it is then made known among his fellow Blacks, that Obi is set for the thief; and as soon as the latter hears the dreadful news, his terrified imagination begins to work, no resource is left but to the superior skill of some more eminent Obiah-man of the neighbourhood, who may counteract the magical operations of the other; but if no one can be found of higher rank and ability, or if after gaining such an ally he should still fancy himself affected, he presently falls into a decline, under the incessant horror of impending calamities. The slightest painful sensation in the head, the bowels, or any other part, any casual loss or hurt, confirms his apprehensions, and he believes himself the devoted victim of an invisible and irresistible agency. Sleep, appetite, and cheerfulness, forsake him, his strength decays, his disturbed imagination is haunted without respite, his features wear the settled gloom of despondency; dirt, or any other unwholesome substance, becomes his only food, he contracts a morbid habit of body, and gradually sinks into the grave. A Negro who is ill, enquires of the Obiah-man the cause of the sickness, whether it will prove mortal or not, and within what time he shall die or recover? The oracle generally ascribes the distemper to the malice of some particular person by name, and advises to set Obi for that person; but if no hopes are given for recovery, immediate despair takes place, which no medicine can remove, and death is the certain consequence. Those anomalous symptoms, which originate from causes deeply rooted in the mind, such as terrors of Obi, or from poisons whose operation is slow and intricate, will baffle the skill of the ablest physician.

"Considering the multitude of occasions which may provoke the Negroes to exercise the powers of Obi against each other, and the astonishing influence of this superstition upon their minds, we cannot but attribute a very considerable portion of the annual mortality among the Negroes of Jamaica to this fascinating mischief.

Bad Spirits are very real to the Jews.

Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Berakoth

Folio 6a

It has been taught:

Abba Benjamin says, If the eye had the power to see them, no creature could endure the demons.

Abaye says:

They are more numerous than we are and they surround us like the ridge round a field.

R. Huna says:

Every one among us has a thousand on his left hand and ten thousand on his right hand.

Raba says:

The crushing in the Kallah lectures comes from them. Fatigue in the knees comes from them. The wearing out of the clothes of the scholars is due to their rubbing against them. The bruising of the feet comes from them. If one wants to discover them, let him take sifted ashes and sprinkle around his bed, and in the morning he will see something like the footprints of a rooster. If one wishes to see them, let him take the after-birth of a black she-cat, the offspring of a black she-cat, the first-born of a first-born, let him roast it in fire and grind it to powder, and then let him put some into his eye, and he will see them. Let him also pour it into an iron tube and seal it with an iron signet that they should not steal it from him. Let him also close his mouth, lest he come to harm.

R. Bibi b. Abaye did so, saw them and came to harm. The scholars, however, prayed for him and he recovered.

Pesachim (Hebrew: פסחים‎), often spelt Pesaḥim in academic writings, is the third tractate of Seder Moed ("Order of Festivals") of the Mishnah and of the Talmud. It is concerned mainly with the laws of the Jewish holiday Passover as well as the Passover lamb offering. Within the Pesachim there is a warning for observant Jews not to go out at night or face the chance of Igrath or a destroying angel.

Talmud - Mas. Pesachim 112b

...do not go out alone at night’, for it was taught:

One should not go out alone at night, i.e., on the nights of neither Wednesday nor Sabbaths, because Igrath the daughter of Mahalath, she and one hundred eighty thousand destroying angels go forth, and each has permission to wreak destruction independently. Originally they were about a day. On one occasion she met R. Hanina b. Dosa [and] said to him, ‘Had they not made an announcement concerning you in Heaven, "Take heed of Hanina and his learning," I would have put you in danger.’ ‘If I am of account in Heaven,’ replied he, ‘I order you never to pass through settled regions.’ ‘I beg you,’ she pleaded, ‘leave me a little room.’ So he left her the nights of Sabbaths and the nights of Wednesdays. On another occasion she met Abaye. Said she to him, ‘Had they not made an announcement about you in Heaven, "Take heed of Nahmani and his learning," I would have put you in danger.’ ‘If I am of account in Heaven,’ replied he, ‘I order you never to pass through settled regions.’ But we see that she does pass through? — I will tell you:

Those are the narrow paths [which they frequent], whence their horses bolt and come [into civilized places] bringing them along.

Mahalath (Hebrew מָחֲלַת, meaning either "sickness", "a company of dancers" or "a harp") was the third mentioned wife of Esau, a daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebajoth. Esau took Mahalath from the house of Ishmael to be his wife, after seeing that Canaanite wives displeased his father, Isaac (Genesis 28:6-9).

It has been proposed by some biblical scholars that Mahalath is another name for Esau's wife Basemath who is mentioned in Genesis. J.B. Phillips suggests that Esau changed the names of his Hittite wives, Judith and Basemath, as a way of pacifying his parents for the grief he caused them when he married Canaanite women: since he had two wives in his life called Basemath, he had to change the Ishmaelite's name, of which he chose: Mahalath. Yalkut Shimoni (I, 110) presents Samael as Esau's guardian angel.

The Book of Genesis and Islamic traditions consider Ishmael to be the ancestor of the Ishmaelites.
Ishmael (Hebrew: יִשְׁמָעֵאל, Modern Yishma'el, Tiberian Yišmāʻēl ISO 259-3, Yišmaˁel; Greek: Ἰσμαήλ Ismaēl; Arabic: إسماعيل‎ ʾIsmāʿīl; Latin: Ismael) is a figure in the Tanakh and the Qur'an and was Abraham's first son according to Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Ishmael was born to Abraham and Sarah's handmaiden Hagar. According to Muslim tradition, Ishmael and his mother are said to be buried next to the Kaaba in Mecca.

According to the historical 21st century ancestry records and census 1st January 2015, shows a family upholding its linage to Basemath and can be traced to scion Ifraz Talib who currently resides in England. In Arabic Talib means "seeker of knowledge, student." Abu Talib was an uncle of Muhammad who raised him after his parents and grandparents died. His name was in fact a kunya (a nickname) formed using Abu; his real name may have been Imran.

Agrat bat Mahlat (Igrath the daughter of Mahalath)

Considering Mahlat (Mahalath) and Agrat (Igrath) as proper names and bat as "daughter of" (Hebrew), Agrat bat Mahlat means 'Agrat daughter of Mahlat'. Sometimes Agrat is used alone, or with variations (Agrath, Igrat, Iggeret). Iggeret means in Hebrew 'letter or missive' while 'agrah' means 'reward'. Mahlat may be from the word "mahalah" meaning sickness.

In Zoharistic Kabbalah, Agrat bat Mahlat is a queen of the demons and one of four angels of sacred prostitution, who mates with archangel Samael. Her fellow succubi are Lilith, Naamah, and Eisheth. In the Rabbinic literature of Yalḳuṭ Ḥadash, on the eves of Wednesday and of the Sabbath, she is "the dancing roof-demon" who haunts the air with her chariot and her train of eighteen myriads of messengers of destruction. She dances while Lilith howls. She is also "the mistress of the sorceresses" who communicated magic secrets to Amemar (Ami Mar), a Jewish Amora sage of Babylon, of the fifth and sixth generation of the Amora era. He is accounted as one of the most prominent sages of his generation and the Headman to his town's sages, Nehardea.

Among his disciples, one may find the most prominent sages of the sixth generation of the Amoras, among them: Rav Ashi, the head of the academy of Sura, who became Amemar's "Fellow Student", and R. Huna b. Nathan, the Exilarch. Among his colleagues: Mar Zutra and Rav Ashi, and many times the Talmud records all three of them together. Initially, his hometown was Nehardea, but later he moved to Mahuza, where he also served as a Dayan, religious Judge.

Amoraim (Aramaic: plural אמוראים [ʔamoʁaˈʔim], singular Amora אמורא [ʔamoˈʁa]; "those who say" or "those who speak over the people", or "spokesmen"), were renowned Jewish scholars who "said" or "told over" the teachings of the Oral Torah, from about 200 to 500 CE in Babylonia and the Land of Israel. Their legal discussions and debates were eventually codified in the Gemara. The Amoraim followed the Tannaim in the sequence of ancient Jewish scholars. The Tannaim were direct transmitters of uncodified oral tradition; the Amoraim expounded upon and clarified the oral law after its initial codification.

The first Babylonian Amoraim were Abba Arika, respectfully referred to as Rav, and his contemporary and frequent debate partner, Shmuel. Among the earliest Amoraim in Israel were Rabbi Yochanan and Shimon ben Lakish. Traditionally, the Amoraic period is reckoned as seven or eight generations (depending on where one begins and ends). The last Amoraim are generally considered to be Ravina I and Rav Ashi, and Ravina II, nephew of Ravina I, who codified the Babylonian Talmud around 500 CE. In total, 761 amoraim are mentioned by name in the Jerusalem and Babylonian Talmuds. 367 of them were active in the land of Israel from around 200-350 CE, while the other 394 lived in Babylonia during 200-500 CE.

According to the Kabbalah and the school of Rashba, Agrat bat Mahlat mated with King David and bore a cambion son Asmodeus, king of demons. The spiritual intervention of Hanina ben Dosa and Rabbi Abaye curbed her malevolent powers over humans.

Further readings:

http://www.slideshare.net/ernestrauthschild/the-curse-of-canaan

http://www.blessedquietness.com/journal/housechu/embrace-Hebrew-roots-chapter-4.htm

https://bible.org/article/demonism-jewishhellenistic-literature-and-its-relation-mark-5
The Succubus and Sacred Angels of Prostitution

https://www.pinterest.com/explorersaurus/do-you-do-voodoo/

Kaitlyn Parks

“According to Zohar Kabbalah text there are four women who mated with the archangel Samael: Lilith, Agrat bat Mahlat, Eisheth Zenunim, and Naamah. Three were said to have already been fallen angels while one was a mortal women who fled the Garden of Eden as a demon due to whispering a secret name. They became the Queens of Hell, and all four have begot with Samael. All but Lilith bore children; Lilith instead spawned offspring called Lilim or Lithu ‘children of night terrors’, the others offspring were called ‘the oracles of divinity and sacred prostitution’. It also states in the Kabbalah that these sacred angels were sent to lustful men in their sleep and removed some of their lust, or sent them on a journey to the oracles in order for their sin to be removed from their souls so they won’t become possessed. In Christian and Judaic beliefs the four angels were demonized by priests, thus the succubus was born.

Each Queen was assigned regions by Samael, the Angel of Death, king over all demons (the four Queens being referred to as Samael's concubines). These regional assignments were:

Lilith was given reign over the Kingdom of Damascus and the House of Rimmon (Rome)
Naamath was given the Kingdom of Tyre (opposite the land of Israel)
Mahalath the Kingdoms of Granata (Granada) & Ishmael, Egypt
Igrat the Kingdoms of Malta (also called Rhodos)

In the field of medicine, there is some belief that the stories relating to encounters with succubi bear similar resemblance to the contemporary phenomenon of people reporting alien abductions, which has been ascribed to the condition known as sleep paralysis. It is therefore suggested that historical accounts of people experiencing encounters with succubi may have been in fact symptoms of sleep paralysis, with the hallucination of the said creatures coming from their contemporary culture.

A notable depiction of a Succubus-like vision, in contrast to the Incubus.

My Dream, My Bad Dream, 1915

Fritz Schwimbeck

Fritz_Schwimbeck_-_My_Dream%2C_My_Bad_Dr

Physiologically, sleep paralysis is closely related to REM atonia, the paralysis that occurs as a natural part of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep. Sleep paralysis occurs either when falling asleep, or when awakening from sleep. When it occurs upon falling asleep, the person remains aware while the body shuts down for REM sleep, a condition called hypnagogic or predormital sleep paralysis. When it occurs upon awakening, the person becomes aware before the REM cycle is complete, and it is called hypnopompic or postdormital.

The original definition of sleep paralysis was codified by Samuel Johnson in his A Dictionary of the English Language as nightmare, a term that evolved into our modern definition. Such sleep paralysis was widely considered the work of demons, and more specifically incubi, which were thought to sit on the chests of sleepers. In Old English the name for these beings was mare or mære (from a proto-Germanic *marōn, cf. Old Norse mara), hence comes the mare in the word nightmare. The word might be etymologically cognate to Greek Marōn (in the Odyssey) and Sanskrit Māra.

When I was younger I would experience sleep paralysis. It was quite scary. My body could not move and would feel a dark presence. I would pray to Jesus for help, then my force my finger to move and I would have control of my body again.

Some Muslims believe that sleep paralysis problem occurs when one deliberately tries to contact the jinns for no beneficial reason other than curiosity or much worse. With that point out the way let's continue insha Allah

In Islamic theology jinn are said to be creatures with free will, made from smokeless fire by Allah as humans were made of clay, among other things. According to the Quran, jinn have free will, and Iblīs abused this freedom in front of Allah by refusing to bow to Adam when Allah ordered angels and jinn to do so. For disobeying Allah, Iblīs was expelled from Paradise and called "Shaytān" (Satan). Jinn are frequently mentioned in the Quran: Surah 72 (named Sūrat al-Jinn) is named after the jinn, and has a passage about them. Another surah (Sūrat al-Nās) mentions jinn in the last verse. The Qurʾan also mentions that Muhammad was sent as a prophet to both "humanity and the jinn", and that prophets and messengers were sent to both communities.

The shaytan jinn are akin to demons in Christian tradition, but the jinn are not angels and the Quran draws a clear distinction between the two creations. The Quran states in Sūrat al-Kahf (The Cave), Ayah 50, that Iblis (Azazel) is one of the jinn.

The black king of the djinns, Al-Malik al-Aswad, depicted in Kitab al-Bulhan = composite astrology/astronomy/geomancy Arabic manuscript. Original held by the Bodleian Libraries Shelfmark; MS. Bodl. Or. 133. Fol. 30b

For the Maghreb, the jinn are another race inhabiting the earth, they are beings who live in deserted places, water sources, graveyards and forests. To manifest, they take various forms (shapeshifter), including those of humans or animals, usually snakes.

Specific names of jinn in the Maghreb are:

the 'efreet (عفاريت [ɒfɛːɾɪt]) (from' Iphrit عفريت): fire djinns, that inhabit the land.
the Maritins (مارد [mɛːɾid]) (from Marid مارد): jinn who live near rivers.
Sylphs (سلف [silf]): djinns equipped with wings that populate the heavens. [sura 37, verse 7]

Belief in the jinns with their various subdivisions is common throughout the Sudan, especially among those of Arab stock or other Sudanese Muslims. The jinns are not always harmful, but they become so when they are provoked. People have thus developed a wealth of practices to frustrate them.

A related belief is that every person is assigned one's own special jinni, also called a qarīn, and if the qarin is evil it could whisper to people's souls and tell them to submit to evil desires.The notion of a qarin is not universally accepted among all Muslims, but it is generally accepted that Shayṭān whispers in human minds, and he is assigned to each human being.

In a hadith recorded by Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj, the companion Abdullah, son of Masud reported: 'The Prophet Muhammad said: 'There is not one of you who does not have a jinnī appointed to be his constant companion (qarīn).' They said, 'And you too, O Messenger of Allah?' He said, 'Me too, but Allah has helped me and he has submitted, so that he only helps me to do good.

In Arabic folklore, the qarînah (قرينه) is a spirit similar to the succubus, with origins possibly in ancient Egyptian religion or in the animistic beliefs of pre-Islamic Arabia. A qarînah “sleeps with the person and has relations during sleep as is known by the dreams.” They are said to be invisible, but a person with “second sight” can see them, often in the form of a cat, dog, or other household pet. “In Omdurman it is a spirit which possesses. … Only certain people are possessed and such people cannot marry or the qarina will harm them.”

In some books, there are mentioned a jinn called Ummu Subyan (sibyan) bothering pregnant women to cause them to suffer miscarriage.

http://issuu.com/benpadiah/docs/tod

In mythology Guanche of Tenerife in the Canary Islands, there was a belief in beings similar to djinns such as Maxios (lower or domestic genies) and Tibicenas (evil spirits) and the devil Guayota (god Aboriginal evil) that, as with Iblis Arabic, sometimes identifies conmo a genius The Guanches (also: Guanchis or Guanchetos) were the Berber aboriginal inhabitants of the Canary Islands. It is believed that they migrated to the archipelago around 1000 BC or perhaps earlier from North Africa.

There was a general belief in a supreme being, called Achamán in Tenerife, Acoran in Gran Canaria, Eraoranhan in Hierro, and Abora in La Palma. The women of Hierro worshipped a goddess called Moneiba. According to tradition, the male and female gods lived in mountains, from which they descended to hear the prayers of the people. On other islands, the natives venerated the sun, moon, earth and stars. A belief in an evil spirit was general.

In Tenerife, Magec (god of the Sun) and Chaxiraxi (the goddess mother) were also worshiped.In addition, two paredros also worshiped (mediators or intermediaries between the Mother Goddess and human), a daytime Magek star (sun) and an evening Achuguayo (moon). Chaxiraxi the island was sacred feminine continuation of the other African continental female deities as Astarte or Tanit.

The demon of Tenerife was called Guayota and lived at the peak of Teide volcano, which was the hell called Echeyde; in Tenerife and Gran Canaria, the minor demon spirits took the form of wild black woolly dogs with red eyes called Jucanchas in the first and Tibicenas in the latter, which lived in deep caves inside the mountains, emerging at night to attack livestock and human beings.

Some existing caves today are still referred to as Tibicena lairs, such as "Cueva del Tibicena". According to myth, Tibicenas attacked livestock and persons, particularly at night. Guanche mythology posited Tibicenas as offspring of Guayota, Inhabitants of Tenerife (where they were called Guacanchas) and Gran Canaria (where they were called Tibicenas) shared a belief in them. Both names refer to the same mythical being.

Maxios or "Dioses Paredros" were benevolent minor gods or in the Guanche religion in Tenerife; domestic spirits and guardians of specific places. These were thought to be mediators between humans and Chaxiraxi, the great celestial mother.

In times of drought, the Guanches drove their flocks to consecrated grounds, where the lambs were separated from their mothers in the belief that their plaintive bleating would melt the heart of the Great Spirit. During the religious feasts, hostilities were held in abeyance, from war to personal quarrels.

The Guanches gathered at holy places they called efequenes or almogarenes (stone temples), where they celebrated rites, cults and offerings directed to the ancestors, and the Mother Goddess paredros, led by the Maguadas, Samarines, Kankus, Guademeñes or Faykanes; In short, the male and female components of the priestly class.

The Spanish conquest of the Canaries was a process in which the advance of it consisted of the Catholic clergy, priests and nuns, to which the mercenary army colonizer sent replacing the Guanche spiritual belief to Catholic faith. Churches were built and on all efequenes or almogarenes, forbidding all worship, ritual and spiritual practice Guanche pain of death and in the name of anti-paganism.

The resistance of the Guanche people and canary to Catholicism produced a syncretism (misturaje, medley) between Guanche female divinity and the Blessed Mary. The current Canarian village worships multiple and diverse virgins: Candelaria (TF), Pena (FV), Pine (LP), Nieves (P), Dolores (LZ), Guadeloupe (G), Reyes (H), unknowingly professing faith, devotion and admiration to the Mother Goddess.

The Virgin of Candelaria (Patron of Canary Islands) in the Basilica of Candelaria (Tenerife).

According to a legend recorded by Alonso de Espinosa in 1594, a statue of the Virgin Mary, bearing a child in one hand and a green candle in the other (hence "Candelaria"), was discovered on the beach of Chimisay (Güímar) by two Guanche goatherds in 1392. This was before the Castilian conquest of the island (the island was not fully conquered until 1496).

One of the shepherds tried to throw a stone at the statue, but his arm became paralyzed; the other tried to stab the statue with a knife but ended up stabbing himself. The statue was taken by the local Guanche mencey, Acaymo, to the cueva de Chinguaro.

The first mass was celebrated at Achbinico on February 2, 1497, and the Adelantado Alonso Fernández de Lugo ordered the construction of a hermitage there, but it was not built until 1526, during the rule of Pedro Fernández de Lugo.This was the site of the Basilica of Our Lady of Candelaria. The basilica was destroyed by fire and rebuilt in the 19th century. The statue itself was lost when a tsunami carried it out to sea in 1826; the present statue is a copy by Fernando Estévez. The image of the Virgin is dressed in rich robes of different colors and jewels.

She was declared patroness of the Canary Islands in 1559, by Clement VIII (and principal patroness in 1867 by Pope Pius IX).

The Virgin of Candelaria (Virgen de Candelaria, Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria), popularly called La Morenita, is widely prayed to for protection against epidemics, plagues, droughts and volcanic eruptions of Mount Teide and other volcanoes, in a manner similar to the invocation of St. Januarius of Naples to stop the eruptions of Vesuvius and of St. Agatha of Catania to eruptions of Mount Etna in Sicily.

Every year on February 2 and August 15 is celebrated a big party in honor of the Virgin. These days there are thousands of pilgrims and tourists coming to Candelaria from all points of the Canary Islands and other parts of Spain and the world. The feast day is marked by a solemn procession and a religious ceremony, although its most famous component is a re-enactment of the discovery of the statue, with locals dressing up as guanche natives

The cult of the Virgin of Candelaria swept America due to the emigration of Canaries. They brought the devotion as a symbol of their culture, somewhat similar to the diffusion of the cult of St. Patrick by Irish emigrants. On the other hand, the Candelaria image brought to the Philippines is a white image version with a child. In Guanche belief, the Virgin of Candelaria was identified Chaxiraxi, and her son Chijoraji.

She is widely venerated in South America and the Caribbean, where she is the patroness of Oruro and La Paz (Bolivia), Medellín (Colombia) (which was founded as Villa de Nuestra Señora de La Candelaria de Medellín) and Mayagüez (Puerto Rico) (which was founded as Nuestra Señora de la Candelaria de Mayagüez).

The Virgin of Candelaria is identified or syncretized with other holy spirits from other religions:

In Cuban Santería, the Virgin of Candelaria is identified with Oyá.
In Brazilian Candomblé, the Virgin of Candelaria is identified with Oshun.

In the Andean religions of South American, the Virgin of Candelaria is identified with the cult to the Pachamama (Mother Earth).

In the Cathedral of San Fernando of Texas (the oldest Catholic cathedral in the United States) is a replica of the Virgin of Candelaria, which is accurate to the venerated in the Canary Islands. This is because the city of San Antonio was founded by Canarians.

In the Philippines, she is the patroness of Western Visayas and Negros Occidental and a white version with a child is found in the Jaro Cathedral in Iloilo which was brought by the Spanish immigrants during the Spanish colonial rule in the Philippines. Her feast is celebrated every February 2 with a pageantry where the Fiesta queen is chosen from prominent Spanish-Filipino families in the district of Jaro. The image and statue is located atop the cathedral and is the only Marian statue crowned by pope and saint in the Philippines during the visit of Pope John Paul II.

In the Hindu religion, the Virgin of Candelaria is Kali, the black patron goddess of the city of Calcutta in India.

Read the quote by Sancista Hermano "Brother" Luis, also known as Brujo Luis. He has practiced Caribbean Brujeria Witchcraft for over 20 years and discusses the Sanse spirit world.

SANSE! SANTERISMO! PUERTO RICAN BRUJERIA & ESPIRITISMO!
PAPA LEGBA SPIRIT AT THE CROSSROADS
ELEGBA / PAPA LEGBA / ELEGGUA / LEBA / ELEGBARA

Like the Gede, Elegba's appetite is colossal, and like the Ogun, his job is never done, for he like Ogun, knows no rest. It is because of Legba's often malicious, playful and trickster ways, Buen Dios el Todopoderoso "God" and unlike other Division of Spirits that are governed by a head Spirit, Legba does not have his own Kingdom and does not govern any, but he is an essential part of every Division, because without first acknowledging his presence, he will refuse to open the gateways to other Loases. But as I have stated Legba are many, they are like every Division, a Legion; and in Sanse and 21 Division they are known collectively as Lebanes, Lecuas or Leguas. Papa Buen Dios knows that to have a Division of Legba apart from other Divisions would be a group of Masters of Chaos and disorder. For this reason each Legba although they work under other Divisions, are never viewed as less than or insignificant than the leader of that particular Division, for to see it that way is to insult Legba, insuring that he does not open the doors of opportunities and blessing and in turn bringing chaos into an individuals life.

Elegba "Legba" is here and there, in one place at a time, but still in many, and their is no Kingdom or Division of Spirits where Elegba is not present. He is in every house, in every door, in every pathway, in every corner, and it is there where Elegba learns everything that happens. He thus becomes the emissary of God, his spokesman, intermediary between the living and the dead, between Men and Spirit, between the Divine and Holy, and the demonic. Although there are always questions about his moral judgment and his sense of responsibility. He is always unpredictable and uncontrollable, and for this reason like all Loa he is a Mystery.

In Africa as is with Cuba Elegba "Eleggua / Niño de Atocha" is viewed as a young, phallic spirit with an unseasonal appetite for sexual energy, but in Haiti he is viewed as Papa Legba, "Saint Lazarus" the ancient white beared sage of experience and wisdom. In Santo Domingo and Puerto Rico he is Saint Anthony of Padua "Leggua" holding baby Jesus, both young and old but of the same Nacion, while San Lazarus is Papa Viejo or Legba Carifu, the elder spirit who has crossed many roads in his life and is always ready for the next road and stage of his life.

In all traditions, Umbanda, Candomble, Santeria, Sanse, and all in between, he is invoked and prayed to first before any other Misterio, before any Division, so that the living ensure that he is pleased and will allow the gateways to be opened. Even in Espiritismo Criollo one knocks on the wooden table three times to San Hilarion ensuring his blessings, before any candle is lit or bell rung.

21 DIVISIONES / 21 DIVISION

Metresili (Metres Ezili, La Virgen Dolorosa, Our Lady of Sorrows) spirit of love and prosperity. Metresas are female Voodoo spirits (Loases) that govern over human emotions such as Love, desire and passion.

Espiritismo (Portuguese and Spanish for "Spiritism") is a term used in Latin America and the Caribbean to refer to the popular belief that good and evil spirits can affect health, luck and other aspects of human life. Espiritismo shares many of its fundamental concepts with 19th century Spiritualism as was practiced in the United States. During this period, several books on mediumship and spiritual practices became available in the Caribbean and Latin America. As many Native Americans and people of African descent had long standing traditions of ancestor worship and trance possession, Spiritualism was readily absorbed into and adapted to these pre-existing belief systems. Espiritismo differs from the Spiritism as the first consist of the syncretic religious practices described above while the second is the established religion-doctrine itself, directly based coding Allan Kardec's and other mediums' books, such as those from Francisco Xavier and Divaldo Franco.

Metresili originates from the seven names the Catholic Church has given to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Our Lady of Sorrows (Latin: Beata Maria Virgo Perdolens), the Sorrowful Mother or Mother of Sorrows (Latin: Mater Dolorosa), and Our Lady of Piety, Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows or Our Lady of the Seven Dolours are names given to describe the sorrows in Mary's life.

The Blessed Virgin Mary has been one of the major subjects of Christian Art, Catholic Art and Western Art for many centuries. Literally hundreds of thousands of pieces of Marian art in the Catholic Church covering a range of Marian artistic topics have been produced, from masters such as Michelangelo and Botticelli to humble peasant artists.

Iglesia de la Vera Cruz (Salamanca)

The Seven Sorrows (or Dolors) are events in the life of the Blessed Virgin Mary that are a popular devotion and are frequently depicted in art.

It is a common devotion for Catholics to say daily one Our Father and seven Hail Marys for each.

St. Simeon’s Prophecy. (Luke 2:34–35)
The Flight into Egypt. (Matthew 2:13)
The Loss of Jesus in the Temple. (Luke 2:43–45)
The Meeting of Mary and Jesus on the Way to Calvary.
The Crucifixion of Jesus. (John 19:25)
The Piercing of the Side of Jesus, and His Descent from the Cross. (Matthew 27:57–59)
The Burial of Jesus. (John 19:40–42)

Among Catholic theologians, it is undisputed that Jesus Christ is the only mediator between God and the human race, especially in the salvific role of redemption as exhibited by the crucifixion on Mount Calvary. Accordingly, the word "mediator" in the strict sense fits Jesus alone in relation to God, but in a subordinate sense Christians exercise a mediation "that is effective through, with, and in Christ. The subordinate mediator never stands alone, but is always dependent on Jesus.

According to Totus Tuus Ministries a subordinate mediator is defined as someone delegated by the mediator to act in his name and with his authority. The effectiveness of the subordinate mediator derives his influence exclusively from the mediator. This is precisely what the Catholic Church teaches regarding Mary, the saints and anyone else empowered by our Savior Jesus Christ to act in a role of subordinate mediation.

Many Catholics and Christians are not aware of the reasons for this apostasy that has discretely used the faces of our Father, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the saints with ancient spirits of the past and their servants that are more than willing to perpetuate this blasphemy. I pray that the Church has apologized for damaging so many people.

Luke_Wilbur · April 12, 2015

I contacted Hounnon Houedossi Ahouegnon, known as 'Mami Wata,' a priestess of African Vodun in the pantheon of Mami Wata about her faith.

Question: Were the spirits once human? Or are they created by a supreme deity?
Answer: Some were human; some not. Many were here before the world was even created.

Question: Do you consider African Vodun to be pure faith, while New World Vodou corrupted by Christianity?

Answer: New World Vodun is not corrupted. It simply survived under the guise of Christian Saints. Vodun is VODUN. It is not Christianity. It predates it.

Mark 5

5:1 So they came to the other side of the lake, to the region of the Gerasenes.

5:2 Just as Jesus was getting out of the boat, a man with an unclean spirit came from the tombs and met him.

5:3 He lived among the tombs, and no one could bind him anymore, not even with a chain.

5:4 For his hands and feet had often been bound with chains and shackles, but he had torn the chains apart and broken the shackles in pieces. No one was strong enough to subdue him.

5:5 Each night and every day among the tombs and in the mountains, he would cry out and cut himself with stones.

5:6 When he saw Jesus from a distance, he ran and bowed down before Him.

5:7 Then he cried out with a loud voice, “Leave me alone, Jesus, Son of the Most High God! I implore you by God – do not torment me!”

5:8 (For Jesus had said to him, “Come out of that man, you unclean spirit!”)

5:9 Jesus asked him, “What is your name?” And he said, “My name is Legion, for we are many.”

5:10 He begged Jesus repeatedly not to send them out of the region.

5:11 There on the hillside, a great herd of pigs was feeding.

5:12 And the demonic spirits begged Him, “Send us into the pigs. Let us enter them.”

5:13 Jesus gave them permission. So the unclean spirits came out and went into the pigs. Then the herd rushed down the steep slope into the lake, and about two thousand were drowned in the lake.

5:14 Now the herdsmen ran off and spread the news in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what had happened.

5:15 They came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man sitting there, clothed and in his right mind – the one who had the “Legion” – and they were afraid.

5:16 Those who had seen what had happened to the demon-possessed man reported it, and they also told about the pigs.

5:17 Then they asked Jesus to leave their region.

5:18 As He was getting into the boat the man who had been demon-possessed asked if he could go with him.

5:19 But Jesus did not permit Him to do so. Instead, He said to him, “Go to your home and to your people and tell them what the Lord has done for you, that he had mercy on you.”

5:20 So he went away and began to proclaim in the Decapolis what Jesus had done for him, and all were amazed.

Dan Tribe plate on gate to Heichal Shlomo, Jerusalem

Genesis 49

49:16 Dan will judge his people

as one of the tribes of Israel.

49:17 May Dan be a snake beside the road,

a viper by the path,

that bites the heels of the horse

so that its rider falls backward.

Listen to "Steve Vai - Crossroads guitar duel." The battle between good and evil takes many forms.

In 381 AD the second ecumenical council of Constantinople decreed the Holy Spirit as "proceeding from the Father" based on Jesus statement in the Gospel of John, chapter 15, verse 26.

John 15

15:26 When the Advocate comes, whom I will send you from the Father – the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father – He will testify about me,

15:27 and you also will testify, because you have been with me from the beginning.

1 Corinthians 2

2:6 Now we do speak wisdom among the mature, but not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are perishing.

2:7 Instead we speak the wisdom of God, hidden in a mystery, that God determined before the ages for our glory.

2:8 None of the rulers of this age understood it. If they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

2:9 But just as it is written, “Things that no eye has seen, or ear heard, or mind imagined, are the things God has prepared for those who love him.”

2:10 God has revealed these to us by the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.

2:11 For who among men knows the things of a man except the man’s spirit within him? So too, no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God.

2:12 Now we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the things that are freely given to us by God.

2:13 And we speak about these things, not with words taught us by human wisdom, but with those taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual things to spiritual people.

2:14 The unbeliever does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him. And he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.

2:15 The one who is spiritual discerns all things, yet he himself is understood by no one.

2:16 For who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to advise him? But we have the mind of Christ.

Isaiah 40

40:13 Who comprehends the mind of the Lord,

or gives Him instruction as his counselor?

40:14 From whom does He receive directions?

Who teaches Him the correct way to do things,

or imparts knowledge to him,

or instructs Him in skillful design?

1 John 5

5:1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been fathered by God, and everyone who loves the Father loves the Child Fathered by Him.

5:2 By this we know that we love the Children of God:

whenever we love God and obey His commandments.

5:3 For this is the love of God:

that we keep His commandments. And His commandments do not weigh us down,

5:4 because everyone who has been Fathered by God conquers the world.

This is the conquering power that has conquered the world:

our faith.

5:5 Now who is the person who has conquered the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

5:6 Jesus Christ is the one who came by water and blood – not by the water only, but by the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth.

5:7 For there are three that testify,

5:8 the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three are in agreement.

5:9 If we accept the testimony of men, the testimony of God is greater, because this is the testimony of God that He has testified concerning His Son.

5:10 (The one who believes in the Son of God has the testimony in himself; the one who does not believe God has made him a liar, because he has not believed in the testimony that God has testified concerning His Son.)

5:11 And this is the testimony:

God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.

5:12 The one who has the Son has this eternal life; the one who does not have the Son of God does not have this eternal life.

Luke_Wilbur · May 3, 2015

Devout Jews do think Christians are worshiping a false idol in Jesus Christ. Idolatry is one of three sins (along with adultery and murder) the Mishnah says must be resisted to the point of death. If yes, then no professed Christian including myself could never be considered a gate proselyte.

Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Sanhedrin

Folio 93a

The righteous are greater than the ministering angels, for it is said, He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the son of God.1

R. Tanhum b. Hanilai said:

When Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah emerged unscathed from the fiery furnace, all the nations of the world came and smote the enemies of Israel upon their faces, saying to them, 'Ye have such a God, yet ye worship an image!' Immediately they [the apostate Jews] opened their mouths and confessed, O Lord, righteousness belongs unto thee, but unto us shamefulness, as at this day.

R. Samuel b. Nahmani said in R. Jonathan's name:

What is meant by, I said, I will go up to the palm tree, I will take hold of the boughs thereof? 'I said, I will go up to the palm tree, [etc.]' this refers to Israel; but now I grasped but the one bough of Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.

R. Johanan said:

What is meant by, I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom, etc.? What means, 'I saw by night'? — The Holy One, blessed be He, wished to turn the whole world into night, 'but behold, A man riding'. 'Man' can refer to none but the Holy One, blessed be He, as it is written, The Lord is a man of war:

the Lord is his name; 'upon a red horse' — the Holy One, blessed be He, wished to turn the whole world to blood; but as soon as he looked upon Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah his anger was appeased, for it is written, and he stood among [hadasim] the myrtle trees that were in the deep. Now 'hadasim' refers but to the righteous, as it is written, And he brought up Hadassah; and 'deep' refers to Babylon, as it is said, that sayeth to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers. Straightway He who was filled with wrath was partially calmed, and then completely pacified.R. Papa said:

This shows that a white horse is a favorable omen in a dream.

Whither did the Rabbis go? — Rab said:

They died through an evil eye; Samuel said:

They drowned in the spittle; R. Johanan said:

They went up to Palestine, married and begat sons and daughters. [This is] as [the dispute] of Tannaim. R. Eliezer said:

They died through an evil eye. R. Joshua said:

They drowned in the spittle. The Sages said:

They went up to Palestine, married and begat sons and daughters, as it is written, Hear now, O Joshua the High Priest and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at. Now for which men was a wonder wrought? — Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah.

Whither had Daniel gone? — Rab said:

To dig a great spring at Tiberias; Samuel said:

To procure animal fodder; R. Johanan said:

To obtain pigs from Alexandria of Egypt. But that is not so. For we learnt that Theodos the doctor said:

No cow or pig leaves Alexandria of Egypt without its uterus being cut out, to prevent reproduction. — She procured small ones, to which they paid no attention.

Our Rabbis taught: Three were involved in that conspiracy [to keep Daniel out of the furnace]:

The Holy One, blessed be He, Daniel and Nebuchadnezzar. The Holy One, blessed be He, said:

'Let Daniel depart hence, lest it be said that they were delivered through his merit.' Daniel said:

'Let me go from here, that I be not a fulfilment of, the graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire.' Whilst Nebuchadnezzar said:

'Let Daniel depart, lest people say he has burnt his god in fire.' And whence do we know that he worshipped him? — From the verse, Then the king Nebuchadnezzar fell upon his face, and worshipped Daniel etc.

Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, of Ahab the son of Kolaiah, and of Zedekiah the son of Maaseiah, which prophecy a lie unto you in my name etc. And it is written, And of them shall be taken up a curse by all the captivity of Judah which are in Babylon, saying, the Lord make thee like Zedekiah, and like Ahab, whom the King of Babylon roasted in the fire. Not 'whom he burnt', but 'whom he roasted,' is written. R. Johanan said on the authority of R. Simeon b. Yohai:

This teaches that he made them like parched sheaves of corn.

Because they have committed villainy in Israel, and have committed adultery with their neighbors' wives etc. What did they do? They went to Nebuchadnezzar's daughter:

Ahab said to her, 'Thus saith God, "Give thyself unto Zedekiah;"' whilst Zedekiah said to her, 'Thus saith God, "Surrender to Ahab."' So she went and told her father, who said to her, 'The God of these hates unchastity:

when they [again] approach thee, send them to me.' So when they came to her, she referred them to him. 'Who told this to you?' asked he of them. 'The Holy One, blessed be He,' replied they. But I have enquired of Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, who informed me that it is forbidden.' They answered, 'We too are prophets, just as he:

to him He did not say it, but to us.' 'Then I desire that ye be tested, just as Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were,' he retorted. 'But they are three, whilst we are only two,' they protested. 'Then choose whom ye wish to accompany you,' said he. 'Joshua the High Priest,' they answered, thinking, 'Let Joshua be brought, for his merit is great, that he may protect us.' So he was brought, and they were all thrown [into the furnace]. They were burned, but as to Joshua the High Priest, only his garments were singed, for it is said, And he shewed me Joshua the High Priest standing before the angel of the Lord; and it is written, And the Lord said unto Satan, the Lord rebuke thee, O Satan etc. [Thus] said he to him, 'I know that thou art righteous, but why should the fire have affected thee even slightly; Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah were not affected at all.' 'They were three,' said he, 'but I am only one.' 'But,' he remonstrated, 'Abraham [too] was only one.' 'No wicked were with him, so the fire was not empowered [to do any harm]; but here, I had wicked men with me, so the fire was enabled [to do its work],' he rejoined. Thus people say, 'If there are two dry billets and one wet one, the former burn the latter.' Now why was he [thus] punished? — R. Papa said:

Because his sons married wives unfit for the priesthood; and he did not protest, as it is said, Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments. Now, surely it was not his wont to wear filthy garments! But this intimates that his sons married women unfit for the priesthood and he did not forbid them.

Jews do not accept that Jesus Christ is their salvation. Further, they resent Christians trying to convert them. Some devout Jews consider converted Messianic Jews the biggest threat to their people. Messianic Jews have been called spiritual Nazis.

Messianic Jews believe that the fulfillment of prophecy where the Hashem Holy Spirit on a supernatural level in 1967 where Jerusalem was taken over by Jews and the spiritual revival of Jesus appearing and converting traditional Jews.

Rabbi Kaduri

http://youtu.be/GKDp8aNTbrU

Watch 'How Messianic Judaism is different from Christianity' byJoel Chernoff

It is interesting note that Messianic Jews are devout Zionist that believe that Hashem is restoring Israel physically and spiritually.

I contacted Jews for Jesus about their faith

From: "Eric S. Verby"
To: "Luke A. Wilbur"
Subject: Membership in Jews for Jesus
Date: 19 Mar 2015 19:46:09 -0400

Hi Luke,
Shalom, God's peace to you! Thank you for your email to Jews for Jesus.
In response to your inquiry:

1) We will sometimes use the name Yahweh or Adonai to express the Tetragrammaton.

2) Jews for Jesus has no formal membership. We are supported by Jewish and Gentile believers in Yeshua (Jesus). A Gentile cannot be a Jew for Jesus by birth, but he can be part of the commonwealth of Israel (Ephesians 2), grafted in as a wild olive branch into the Olive Tree of the Abrahamic blessings (Romans 11). While Jews and Gentiles maintain their ethnic distinction in the body of Messiah, there is no spiritual distinction.

May God bless you and keep you as you faithfully serve Him.
In Yeshua (Jesus),
Eric S. Verby
Correspondent

================================

From: "Luke Wilbur"
To: "Eric S. Verby"
Subject: Re: Membership in Jews for Jesus
Date: Thu, 19 Mar 2015 17:15:12 -0700
Hi Eric,
First, thank and may Hashem bless you as well.

I just want to clarify.

1)Is not 'Yahweh' widely accepted by Hebrew scholars as the ancient pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton that Jews are forbidden to state?

2)If I was to become a member of your faith would my classification be 'Gentile for Jesus,' since I am not formally circumcised?

These two questions really mean alot to me.

Blessings to you,

Luke Wilbur

================================

From: Eric Verby
To: "Luke Wilbur"
Subject: RE: Membership in Jews for Jesus
Date: Fri, 20 Mar 2015 19:48:02 +0000

Hi Luke,

1) "Yahweh" is accepted by many Hebrew scholars as the ancient pronunciation of the tetragrammaton that Jews usually state as "Adonai" or even "Adoshem".

2) Our faith (unless you are not yet a Christian) is the same as your faith: biblical, evangelical Christianity. If you are a Gentile by birth (not a blood descendant of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) then you are a "Gentile for Jesus", or simply a Gentile Christian.

Many blessings to you, in Him,

Eric Verby

Did Hashem's commands get corrupted?

Is ok to name the Divine name of Hashem as long as your state that you are living by the Bible in truth and not in vain?

Is ok to name the Divine name of Hashem as long as your state that you are living by the Torah in truth and not in vain?

It appears that it is ok to say the name as long as it is the truth or as long as you are speaking the truth.

Exodus 23:1

Thou shalt not raise a false report: put not thine hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.

Deuteronomy 5:20

Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbor.

Plain meaning of these verses seem to imply an oath (as in a court of law).

There is clear difference of meaning for Jews and Christians on Leviticus 24:16.

Septuagint Leuitikon

24:16 Whoever names the name of the Lord—by death let him be put to death; let the whole congregation of Israel stone him with stones. Whether a guest or a native, when he names the name, let him die.

The Greek word blaptikos occurs neither as the lemma text of the edition nor as a variant in either apparatus criticus. In point of fact, it does not occur anywhere in the Septuagint.

Leviticus (Vayikra) 24:16

And he that blasphemeth the name of the LORD, he shall surely be put to death, [and] all the congregation shall certainly stone him: as well the stranger, as he that is born in the land, when he blasphemeth the name [of the LORD], shall be put to death.

As I am now aware. Those of the Jewish faith believe that you should not name the Divine Name at all.

The Talmud states that anyone who pronounces the divine name as it is spelt will not have a portion in the world to come after the resurrection.

This seems to originate from

http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/t02/ros03.htm

https://books.google.com/books?id=hS1VAAAAMAAJ&lpg=PA26&ots=QOQAKU14KG&dq=Rosh%20Hashanah%20the%20greeks%20decreed%20the%20name%20of%20god&pg=PA26#v=onepage&q=Rosh%20Hashanah%20the%20greeks%20decreed%20the%20name%20of%20god&f=false

https://theorthodoxlife.wordpress.com/2012/03/12/masoretic-text-vs-original-hebrew/

Unetanneh Tokef, Unethanneh Toqeph, Un'taneh Tokef, or Unesanneh Tokef (ונתנה תוקף) ("Let us speak of the awesomeness ") is a piyyut that has been a part of the Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur liturgy in rabbinical Judaism for centuries. It introduces the Kedusha of Musaf for these days. It is chanted while the Torah ark (receptacle, or ornamental closet, which contains each synagogue's Torah scrolls) is open and the congregants are standing. The fourth paragraph of Unetanneh Tokef praises God as exalted above all existence, and begs Him to sanctify His Name by redeeming Israel - transitioning directly into the kedusha:

"But You are the King, the Living and Enduring God.

There is no set span to Your years and there is no end to the length of Your days. It is impossible to estimate the angelic chariots of Your glory and it is forbidden to pronounce Your Name. Your Name is worthy of You and You are worthy of Your Name, and You have included Your Name in our name."

Scriptural references state that how to pronounce it has been lost. It is only in man-made interpretation, eg: the Talmud, that there is a restriction to even try. All throughout the Old Testament the Prophets proclaimed his name out loud. They didn't say "May Hashem bless you" but "May YHVH bless you." Then we have that in the latter days His name will be proclaimed. If I say to you, "May His Name bless you" who am I talking about? I have come to conclusion at this point in my life that we should be clear, "May YHVH bless you!" And through Yeshua, his Son we can come to know Him as Father.

Hope that helps.

Philippians 2

3:2 Beware of the dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of those who mutilate the flesh!

3:3 For we are the circumcision, the ones who worship by the Spirit of God, exult in Christ Jesus, and do not rely on human credentials

3:4 – though mine too are significant. If someone thinks he has good reasons to put confidence in human credentials, I have more:

3:5 I was circumcised on the eighth day, from the people of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews. I lived according to the law as a Pharisee.

3:6 In my zeal for God I persecuted the church. According to the righteousness stipulated in the law I was blameless.

3:7 But these assets I have come to regard as liabilities because of Christ.

3:8 More than that, I now regard all things as liabilities compared to the far greater value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things – indeed, I regard them as dung! – that I may gain Christ,

3:9 and be found in him, not because I have my own righteousness derived from the law, but because I have the righteousness that comes by way of Christ’s faithfulness – a righteousness from God that is in fact based on Christ’s faithfulness.

3:10 My aim is to know him, to experience the power of his resurrection, to share in his sufferings, and to be like him in his death,

3:11 and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

3:12 Not that I have already attained this – that is, I have not already been perfected – but I strive to lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus also laid hold of me.

3:13 Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself to have attained this. Instead I am single-minded:

Forgetting the things that are behind and reaching out for the things that are ahead,

3:14 with this goal in mind, I strive toward the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

3:15 Therefore let those of us who are “perfect” embrace this point of view. If you think otherwise, God will reveal to you the error of your ways.

3:16 Nevertheless, let us live up to the standard that we have already attained.

3:17 Be imitators of me, brothers and sisters, and watch carefully those who are living this way, just as you have us as an example.

3:18 For many live, about whom I have often told you, and now, with tears, I tell you that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ.

3:19 Their end is destruction, their god is the belly, they exult in their shame, and they think about earthly things.

3:20 But our citizenship is in heaven – and we also await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ,

3:21 who will transform these humble bodies of ours into the likeness of his glorious body by means of that power by which he is able to subject all things to himself.

2 Corinthians 12

13:3 since you are demanding proof that Christ is speaking through me. He 5 is not weak toward you but is powerful among you.

13:4 For indeed he was crucified by reason of weakness, but he lives because of God’s power. For we also are weak in him, but we will live together with him, because of God’s power toward you.

13:5 Put yourselves to the test to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize regarding yourselves that Jesus Christ is in you – unless, indeed, you fail the test!

13:6 And I hope that you will realize that we have not failed the test!

13:7 Now we pray to God that you may not do anything wrong, not so that we may appear to have passed the test, but so that you may do what is right even if we may appear to have failed the test.

13:8 For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the sake of the truth.

13:9 For we rejoice whenever we are weak, but you are strong. And we pray for this: that you may become fully qualified. 11

13:10 Because of this I am writing these things while absent, so that when I arrive 12 I may not have to deal harshly with you 13 by using my authority – the Lord gave it to me for building up, not for tearing down!

1 Timothy 2

2:1 First of all, then, I urge that requests, prayers, intercessions, and thanks be offered on behalf of all people,

2:2 even for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life in all godliness and dignity.

2:3 Such prayer for all is good and welcomed before God our Savior,

2:4 since He wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.

2:5 For there is one God and one intermediary between God and humanity, Christ Jesus, himself human,

2:6 who gave himself as a ransom for all, revealing God’s purpose at his appointed time.

2:7 For this I was appointed a preacher and apostle – I am telling the truth; I am not lying – and a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.

2:8 So I want the men to pray in every place, lifting up holy hands without anger or dispute.

Matthew 20

20:1 “the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.

20:2 And after agreeing with the workers for the standard wage, he sent them into his vineyard.

20:3 When it was about nine o’clock in the morning, he went out again and saw others standing around in the marketplace without work.

20:4 He said to them, ‘You go into the vineyard too, and I will give you whatever is right.’

20:5 So they went. When he went out again about noon and three o’clock that afternoon, he did the same thing.

20:6 And about five o’clock that afternoon he went out and found others standing around, and said to them, ‘Why are you standing here all day without work?’

20:7 They said to him, ‘Because no one hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You go and work in the vineyard too.’

20:8 When it was evening the owner of the vineyard said to his manager, ‘Call the workers and give the pay starting with the last hired until the first.’

20:9 When those hired about five o’clock came, each received a full day’s pay.

20:10 And when those hired first came, they thought they would receive more. But each one also received the standard wage.

20:11 When they received it, they began to complain against the landowner,

20:12 saying, ‘These last fellows worked one hour, and you have made them equal to us who bore the hardship and burning heat of the day.’

20:13 And the landowner replied to one of them, ‘Friend, I am not treating you unfairly. Didn’t you agree with me to work for the standard wage?

20:14 Take what is yours and go. I want to give to this last man the same as I gave to you.

20:15 Am I not permitted to do what I want with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’

20:16 So the last will be first, and the first last.”

Hashem and His Word and Spirit revealed moral and spiritual wisdom long before the new covenant was revealed to man. The last shall come first, and the first the last vineyard parable is similar to Aesop's turtle and hare story. Aesop (620–564 BCE) was an Ancient Greek story teller credited with a number of fables now collectively known as Aesop's Fables. As I previously stated, Hashem does not measure good and evil on scales. His system of giving grace is for him alone to choose. But, he has shown that his love for mercy and kindness is beyond measure. I believe Hashem wants us to love and fear his commands through the testimony Jesus, Angels, Prophets, and Communion of Saints. No matter who we are and what we have done if we just open our hearts to the Wisdom the Holy Spirit provides free of charge, then we will see the truth of what it means to be a lamb of our Lord.

I praise Our Father for sharing this wisdom to a sinner. Praise Jesus for coming to my life. Praise the Holy Spirit for showing me Wisdom. I have a long way to go and short time to get there. But, I believe with the help of the Trinity of one Creator my pride will be stripped away and I will become a humble spirit.

(Thaiman) and it is the name of a district and town in the land of Edom, named after Teman the grandson of Esau (the older son of Isaac), the son of his firstborn, Eliphaz (first-born son of Esau). The Midrash relates that when Jacob escaped from Esau and fled to his uncle Laban in Haran, Esau sent Eliphaz to pursue and kill Jacob, his uncle, who was his Rabbi also. When they met, Jacob implored Eliphaz not to kill him, but Eliphaz challenged that he had his father's instructions to fulfill. Jacob gave everything he had with him to Eliphaz and said, ”Take what I have, for a poor man is counted as dead." Eliphaz was satisfied and left his uncle and rabbi poor, but still alive: (Rashi to Book of Genesis Gen 29:11). Teman (Hebrew: תמין), was the name of an ancient biblical town of Arabia Petraea. The term is also traditionally applied to Yemenite Jews.

Arabia Petraea, also called Provincia Arabia or simply Arabia, was a frontier province of the Roman Empire beginning in the 2nd century; it consisted of the former Nabataean kingdom in Jordan, southern Levant, the Sinai Peninsula and northwestern Arabian peninsula. Its capital was Petra. It was bordered on the north by Syria, on the west by Iudaea (merged with Syria from 135 AD) and Aegyptus, and on the south and east by the rest of Arabia, known as Arabia Deserta and Arabia Felix.

trained in the school of Pamphilus, the disciple of Origen.

Eusebius claimed that he had transcribed and translated the actual letter in the Syriac chancery documents of the king of Edessa.

In AD 384, Egeria, a pilgrim from either Gaul or Spain, was given a personal tour by the Bishop of Edessa, who gave her many marvellous accounts of miracles that had saved Edessa from the Persians and put into her hands transcripts of the correspondence of Abgarus and Jesus, with embellishments. Part of her accounts of her travels, in letters to her sisterhood, survive. "She naïvely supposed that this version was more complete than the shorter letter which she had read in a translation at home, presumably one brought back to the Far West by an earlier pilgrim" (Palmer 1998). Her escorted tour, accompanied by a translator, was thorough; the bishop is quoted: "Now let us go to the gate where the messenger Ananias came in with the letter of which I have been telling you." (Palmer). There was however, no mention of any image reported by Egeria, who spent three days inspecting every corner of Edessa and the environs.

The next stage of development appears in the Doctrine of Addai [Thaddeus], c. 400, which introduces a court painter among a delegation sent by Abgar to Jesus, who paints a portrait of Jesus to take back to his master:

The mandylion was a semi-legendary relic of Christianity, a square or rectangular piece of cloth bearing the image of the face of Jesus Christ, and first appearing in the city of Edessa in the 6th century.

The later legend of the image recounts that because the successors of Abgar reverted to paganism, the bishop placed the miraculous image inside a wall, and setting a burning lamp before the image, he sealed them up behind a tile; that the image was later found again, after a vision, on the very night of the Persian invasion, and that not only had it miraculously reproduced itself on the tile, but the same lamp was still burning before it; further, that the bishop of Edessa used a fire into which oil flowing from the image was poured to destroy the Persians.

Abgar with the Image of Edessa. Photo of 10th century icon at St Catherine's monastery, Mount Sinai. This is a wing of a triptych, the missing central panel of which presumably showed the Image. "Abgar" resembles portraits of Emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus, in whose reign the Image was brought to Constantinople in 944; the icon probably dates to soon after this. It is the earliest surviving representation of the Image or Mandylion.

The image itself is said to have resurfaced in 525, during a flood of the Daisan, a tributary stream of the Euphrates that passed by Edessa. This flood is mentioned in the writings of the court historian Procopius of Caesarea. In the course of the reconstruction work, a cloth bearing the facial features of a man was discovered hidden in the wall above one of the gates of Edessa.

Writing soon after the Persian siege of 544, Procopius says that the text of Jesus' letter, by then including a promise that "no enemy would ever enter the city", was inscribed over the city gate, but does not mention an image. Procopius is sceptical about the authenticity of the promise, but says that the wish to disprove it was part of the Persian king Khosrau I's motivation for the attack, as "it kept irritating his mind".

Some fifty years later, Evagrius Scholasticus in his Ecclesiastical History (593) is the first to mention a role for the image in the relief of the siege, attributing it to a "God-made image," a miraculous imprint of the face of Jesus upon a cloth. Thus we can trace the development of the legend from a letter, but no image in Eusebius, to an image painted by a court painter in Addai, which becomes a miracle caused by a miraculously-created image supernaturally made when Jesus pressed a cloth to his wet face in Evagrius. It was this last and latest stage of the legend that became accepted in Eastern Orthodoxy, the image of Edessa that was "created by God, and not produced by the hands of man". This idea of an icon that was Acheiropoietos (Αχειροποίητος, literally "not-made-by-hand") is a separate enrichment of the original legend: similar legends of supernatural origins have accrued to other Orthodox icons.

It has been suggested that the artist may have seen the Shroud of Turin, however, there is no continuous historical record of it before the 14th century. There are rather historical references and artist depictions prior to the 14th century that indicate that the Shroud of Turin and the Image of Edessa are the same. This includes desciptions of the Image of Edessa that match the Shroud of Turin (Bishop of Constantanople sermon, ca 944), commentary by Ordericus Vitalis in 1130 that the Image was a "body of the Lord", research that matches the facial image of the Shroud of Turin to coinage depicting the Image of Edessa, etc. In addition, research by John Jackson about folds discovered during the STURP investigation indicated that fold marks in the Shroud of Turin demonstrated that the cloth had been folded in a manner that only revealed its face, thereby demonstrating that the Shroud of Turin had been folded in a manner that would have been required to display the face only as in the Image of Edessa.

http://otherworldmystery.com/the-shroud-of-turin-real-or-fake

Listen to Daniel and Tegan Klenner covering House Of God Forever by Jon Foreman.

Ephraim and Judah, Judah and Israel, Judah and Samaria

According to a Jewish legend, Menachem, passed at least some of his mystical knowledge to the Talmudic mystic Nehunya ben HaKanah, to whom the Kabbalistic tradition attributes Sefer HaBahir and, by some opinions, Sefer HaKanah, Sefer HaPeliah and Sefer HaTemunah. Some Essene rituals, such as daily immersion in the mikveh, coincide with contemporary Hasidic practices; some historians have also suggested that the name "Essene" is a Hellenized form of the word "Hasidim" or "Hasid" ("pious ones"). However, the legendary connections between Essene and Kabbalistic tradition are not verified by modern historians.

Vāyu is a primary Hindu deity, the Lord of the winds. He is also known as Vāta, Pavana (the Purifier), and sometimes Prāṇa (the breath). The Sanskrit word 'Vāta' literally means "blown", 'Vāyu' "blower", and 'Prāna' "breathing" (viz. the breath of life, cf. the *an- in 'animate'). Hence, the primary referent of the word is the "deity of Life", who is sometimes for clarity referred to as "Mukhya-Vāyu" (the chief Vāyu) or "Mukhya Prāna" (the chief of Life).

The minds of nondevotees who engage in such practices as prāṇāyama are not fully cleansed of material desires. Thus, O King, material desires are again seen to arise in their minds.

It appears my search for the origin of the word spirit is prana. This is not taking account the Jewish meaning of spirit and God's Holy Spirit as I understand it.

Prana is life. It is the energy of the universe. Prana is also often considered to be our breath. In Latin, the word"spiritus" also means breath. When our breath leaves us, it is the same as our spirit departing. Pranayama is a freeing of the breath, of the spirit.

The word pranayama is really two Sanskrit words: prana and ayama. This is often misunderstood, and many students think the two words are prana and yama. Yama means to restrain or control, ayama is to not do that. Thus in a pranayama practice we are trying to free up the energy of prana, not restrain it. This can be confusing as many teachers and authors prefer to interpret pranayama as controlling the breath. Perhaps a better way to think of pranayama is to consider it regulating the breath, but in such a way that the prana is actually freed or extended in a controlled way.

http://www.yinyoga.com/ys1_3.1.4_pranayama.php

1. Vohu Manah -Middle Persian -'Good Mind' - Vahman or Bahman of cattle (and all animal creation)
2. Asha Vahista - Middle Persian - 'Supreme Truth - Ardwahisht of fire (and all other luminaries)
3. Kshathra Vairya - Middle Persian - 'Excellent Dominion' - Shahrevar of metals (and minerals)
4. Spenta Armaiti - Middle Persian - 'Benign Thought' - Spendarmad of earth
5. Haurvatat - Middle Persian - 'Perfection' - Hordad or Khordad of water
6. Ameretat - Middle Persian - 'Deathlessness' - Amurdad of plants
7. Ahura Mazda - Middle Persian - the guardian of humankind

In 1870, an Aramaic manuscript entitled "The Gospel of the Nazirenes" was discovered, translated and published. The first collected volume was issued by The Order of At-One-Ment and United Templars Society—a publishing imprint which the author had established in 1881. The explanatory preface referred to an ancient source manuscript "preserved in the Monasteries of Tibet" which has never been produced or proven to exist. In subsequent editions, released during the early 1900s, the anonymous Editors revised their claim by stating that the text was "communicated" by departed mystics "in dreams and visions of the night".

http://www.thenazareneway.com/ght_table_of_contents.htm

Title: The Old Syriac Gospels or Evangelion Da-Mepharreshê; being the text of the Sinai or Syro-Antiochene palimpsest, including the latest additions and emendations, with the variants of the Curetonian text, corroborations from many other MSS., and a list of quotations from ancient authors. Edited by Agnes Smith Lewis. With four facsimiles.
Contributor: SMITH, afterwards LEWIS, Agnes.
Publication Details: London : Williams & Norgate, 1910.
Language: syc
Uniform Title: Bible.Gospels. Syriac
Identifier: System number 000333898
Physical Description: lxxviii, 334, v p. ; 4º.
Shelfmark(s): Asia, Pacific & Africa 753.h.38.
UIN: BLL01000333898

https://lostchristianity.wordpress.com/tag/jesus-essene-nazareth-nazarene-nazarite-dead-sea-scrolls-qumran-vegetarianism-animal-sacrifice-pharisee-sadducee-josephus-encyclopaedia-biblica-bible-christianity-christians/

http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/ipc/ipc14.htm

http://www.thenazareneway.com/Caesar

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-Dq1khdjC0

Prana is universal energy. Master Stephen believes that we must have a pure head, throat, and heart to be grateful for the gift of Prana.

To move beyond using prana only for physical health, you must cultivate a deep sense of gratitude for this universal energy and its source. Healers with a highly developed visual awareness can see that people with the proper “attitude of gratitude” have clean, balanced chakras, with the upper chakras (heart, throat, and head) slightly larger than the lower chakras (basic, navel, and solar plexus). This is the ideal proportion, for it means that the upper chakras, which control our higher or more spiritual impulses, are governing our lower chakras, which control our lower or more worldly impulses.

Master Stephen Co, Alternative & Complementary Medicine

In Christianity the Holy Spirit is more than just breath. It dwells in us.

Watch the Senator Obama's Sermon on the

Mount Speech video and really think on

the words he says. His statements

represent the thoughts of others who

believe that the laws of Moses and

Jesus are not a good fit with this

generation. That the gift of liberty

our Lord has bestowed upon us restricts

our freedom on earth.

Now watch Jesus Sermon on the Mount

The wrath of Hashem is more devastating

than what the evil one can ever do.

Admah (or Adamah - earth) was one of

the city states of the Vale of Siddim.

Shinab was king of Admah.

Zeboiim has been recently associated

with ruins SE of the Dead Sea. Shemeber

was king of Zeboiim.

Luke_Wilbur · May 26, 2015

Happy memorial day. Joe and I first visited my father's grave. Then my buddy Mike came over and we all went to Arlington Cemetery to visit Joe's father's grave.

Solomon ben Abraham ben Samuel (called "Rashba of the mountain," also known as Solomon of Montpellier, was a Provençal rabbi and Talmudist of the first half of the 13th century. He was rabbi at Montpellier, and leader of the movement against Maimonides.

The Rashba, cited in full in Ein Ya'akov, took the following passage as an opportunity to explain at length his allegorical approach to understanding Aggadah.

Babylonian Talmud: Tractate Berakoth

Folio 54a - 54b

CHAPTER IX

Our Rabbis taught: If one sees the place of the crossing of the Red Sea, or the fords of the Jordan, or the fords of the streams of Arnon, or hail stones [abne elgabish] in the descent of Beth Horon, or the stone which Og king of Bashan wanted to throw at Israel, or the stone on which Moses sat when Joshua fought with Amalek, or [the pillar of salt of] Lot's wife,2 or the wall of Jericho which sank into the ground,24 for all of these he should give thanksgiving and praise to the Almighty. I grant you the passage of the Red Sea, because it is written, And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground;25 also the fords of the Jordan, because it is written, And the priests that bore the ark of the covenant of the Lord stood firm on dry ground in the midst of the Jordan, while all Israel passed over on dry ground, until all the nation were passed clean over the Jordan. But whence is the title derived for the fords of the streams of Arnon? — Because it is written:

Wherefore it is said in the book of the Wars of the Lord, Eth and Heb in the rear; [in explanation of which] a Tanna taught:

'Eth and Heb in the rear' were two lepers who followed in the rear of the camp of Israel, and when the Israelites were about to pass through [the valley of Arnon] the Amorites came and made cavities [in the rocks] and hid in them, saying, When Israel pass by here we will kill them. They did not know, however, that the Ark Was advancing in front of Israel and leveling the hills before them. When the Ark arrived there, the mountains closed together and killed them, and their blood flowed down to the streams of Arnon. When Eth and Heb came they saw the blood issuing from between the rocks and they went and told the Israelites, who thereupon broke out into song. And so it is written, And he poured forth the streams [from the mountain] which inclined toward the seat of Ar and leaned upon the border of Moab.

'Hailstones [abne elgabish]'. What are 'abne elgabish'? A Tanna taught:

Stones [abanim] which remained suspended for the sake of a man ['al gab ish] and came down for the sake of a man. 'They remained suspended for the sake of a man':

this was Moses, of whom it is written, Now the man Moses was very meek, and it is also written, And the soldiers and hail ceased, and the rain poured not upon the earth. 'They came down for the sake of a man':

this was Joshua, of whom it is written, Take thee Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom there is spirit, and it is written, And it came to pass as they fled from before Israel, while they were at the descent of Beth-Horon, that the Lord cast down great stones.

'The stone which Og, king of Bashan wanted to throw at Israel'. This has been handed down by tradition. He said:

How large is the camp of Israel? Three parasangs. I will go and uproot a mountain of the size of three parasangs and cast it upon them and kill them. He went and uprooted a mountain of the size of three parasangs and carried it on his head. But the Holy One, blessed be He, sent ants which bored a hole in it, so that it sank around his neck. He tried to pull it off, but his teeth projected on each side, and he could not pull it off. This is referred to in the text, Thou hast broken the teeth of the wicked, as explained by R Simeon b. Lakish. For R. Simeon b. Lakish said:

What is the meaning of the text, Thou hast broken the teeth of the wicked? Do not read, shibbarta [Thou hast broken], but shirbabta [Thou hast lengthened]. The height of Moses was ten cubits. He took an axe ten cubits long, leapt ten cubits into the air, and struck him on his ankle and killed him.

The Rashba explains that the mountain symbolizes the patriarchs, and that Og (Amorite king of Bashan) was hoping to defeat the Jews with the merit he had acquired by assisting Abraham. However, with the combined merit of Moses, the Jews and the patriarchs, they were able to withstand Og's merit.

As a gentile I have to remind myself of the persecutions and suffering of the Jewish Dispora leading up to the Talmudic period, then later during the Ein Yaakov period. I often wonder if my Spanish ancestors were converted Jews. The Tuya side of my family, including myself, tends to be slightly superstitious. Jewish Rabbis repeatedly state that many passages are written under the cover of coded allegory to allude oppressors of their faith. Thus the writings are written in a spiritual language that a Jew educated in the faith can understand. It is my current belief that many esoteric Christians viewed many of these allegories in the literal sense.

Ein Yaakov: The Ethical and Inspirational Teachings of the Talmud

By Jacob ben Solomon Ibn Ḥabib, Avraham

Rabbi Yaakov ibn Chaviv, the compiler of Ein Yaakov, was born Zamora, Spain around 1445, and studied under Rabbi Shmuel of Valencia. WHen King Ferdinand ordered the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, in 1492, Rabbi Yaakov fled too Portugal. Soon the Inquisition spread its tentacles to that country, and the situation of the Jews deteriorated. Before long, Rabbi Yaakov son, Levi, a budding Torah scholar, along with tens of children, was forcibly baptized. Rabbi Yaakov managed to free his son and flee to Salonica, Turkey (now Greece) where he remained until death in 1516.

Rabbi Yaakov's complete mastery of the Talmud was soon recognized by the leaders of the Salonica community whoo appointed him to lecture in the local yeshivah.

In Salonica, a wealthy scholar, Don Yehudah Benveniste offered Rabbi Yaakov hospitality and gave him access to a well stocked library. THere found authentic copies of the Mishnah and the Talmud and their commentaries that had been unavailable to him until that time. It was Don Yehudah's home that R. Yaakov compiled his monumental work Ein Yakov, late in life. He also added the famous commentators: Rashi, Tosafor, Ramban, Rashba, Ritva, and many others. Rabbi Yaakov died before he could complete the Ein Yaakov, but his son, Rabbi Levi ibn Chaviv, finished the work.

Ein Yaakov (Hebrew: עין יעקב‎) is a compilation of all the Aggadic material in the Talmud together with commentaries. Its introduction contains an account of the history of Talmudic censorship and the term Gemara. It was compiled by Jacob ibn Habib and (after his death) by his son Rabbi Levi ibn Habib.

Aggadah is a compendium of rabbinic texts that incorporates folklore, historical anecdotes, moral exhortations, and practical advice in various spheres, from business to medicine.

Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, the Ramchal, explains that the Oral Law, in fact, comprises two components: the legal component (חלק המצוות), discussing the mitzvot and halakha; and "the secret" component (חלק הסודות), discussing the deeper teachings. The aggadah, along with the Kabbalah, falls under the latter. The rabbis of the Mishnaic era believed that it would be dangerous to record the deeper teachings in explicit, mishnah-like, medium. Rather, they would be conveyed in a "concealed mode" and via "paradoxes". (Due to their value, these teachings should not become accessible to those "of bad character" and due to their depth they should not be made available to those "not schooled in the ways of analysis".) This mode of the transmission was nevertheless based on consistent rules and principles such that those "equipped with the keys" would be able to unlock their meaning; to others they would appear as non-rational or fantastic.

Luke_Wilbur · May 26, 2015

Happy memorial day. Joe and I first visited my father's grave. Then my buddy Mike came over and we all went to Arlington Cemetery to visit Joe's father's grave.

Luke_Wilbur · May 31, 2015

For myself, the Talmud has strengthened my understanding the teachings of our Lord Jesus and His disciples.

The Baal Cycle is a Ugaritic cycle of stories about the Canaanite god Baal, also known as Hadad the god of rain, storm and fertility. They are written in Ugaritic, a language written in a cuneiform alphabet, on a series of clay tablets found in the 1920s in the Tell of Ugarit (modern Ras Shamra), situated on the Mediterranean coast of northern Syria, a few kilometers north of the modern city of Latakia, far ahead of the now known coast.

The first settlement in southern Mesopotamia was Eridu. The Sumerians claimed that their civilization had been brought, fully formed, to the city of Eridu by their god Enki or by his advisor (or Abgallu from ab=water, gal=big, lu=man), Adapa U-an (the Oannes of Berossus). The first people at Eridu brought with them the Samarran culture from northern Mesopotamia and are identified with the Ubaid period, but it is not known whether or not these were Sumerians (associated later with the Uruk period).

Enki was originally patron god of the city of Eridu, but later the influence of his cult spread throughout Mesopotamia and to the Canaanites, Hittites and Hurrians. He was the deity of crafts (gašam); mischief; water, seawater, lakewater (a, aba, ab), intelligence (gestú, literally "ear") and creation (Nudimmud: nu, likeness, dim mud, make beer). He was associated with the southern band of constellations called stars of Ea, but also with the constellation AŠ-IKU, the Field (Square of Pegasus). Beginning around the second millennium BCE, he was sometimes referred to in writing by the numeric ideogram for "40," occasionally referred to as his "sacred number." The planet Mercury, associated with Babylonian Nabu (the son of Marduk) was in Sumerian times, identified with Enki.

Curses of Belial (Dead Sea Scrolls, 394, 4Q286(4Q287, fr. 6)=4QBerakhot) In the Dead Sea Scrolls, there exists a fragment entitled “Curses of Belial” (4Q286(4Q287, fr. 6)=4QBerakhot). This fragment holds much rich language that reflects the sentiment shared between the Qumran towards Belial. In many ways this text shows how these people thought Belial influenced sin through the way they address him and speak of him. By addressing “Belial and all his guilty lot,” (4Q286:2) they make it clear that he is not only impious, but also guilty of sins. Informing this state of uncleanliness are both his “hostile” and “wicked design” (4Q286:3,4). Through this design, Belial poisons the thoughts of those who are not necessarily sinners. Thus a dualism is born from those inclined to be wicked and those who aren’t.[42] It is clear that Belial directly influences sin by the mention of “abominable plots” and “guilty inclination” (4Q286:8,9). These are both mechanisms by which Belial advances his evil agenda that the Qumran have exposed and are calling upon God to protect them from. There is a deep sense of fear that Belial will “establish in their heart their evil devices” (4Q286:11,12). This sense of fear is the stimulus for this prayer in the first place. Without the worry and potential of falling victim to Belial’s demonic sway, the Qumran people would never feel impelled to craft a curse. This very fact illuminates the power Belial was believed to hold over mortals, and the fact that sin proved to be a temptation that must stem from an impure origin.

In Jubilees 1:20, Belial’s appearance continues to support the notion that sin is a direct product of his influence. Moreover, Belial’s presence acts as a placeholder for all negative influences or those that would potentially interfere with God’s will and a pious existence. Similarly to the “gentiles…[who] cause them to sin against you” (Jubilees 1:19), Belial is associated with a force that drives one away from God. Coupled in this plea for protection against foreign rule, in this case the Egyptians, is a plea for protection from “the spirit of Belial” (Jubilees 1:19). Belial’s tendency is to “ensnare [you] from every path of righteousness” (Jubilees 1:19). This phrase is intentionally vague, allowing room for interpretation. Everyone, in one way or another, finds themselves straying from the path of righteousness and by pawning this transgression off on Belial, he becomes a scapegoat for all misguidance, no matter what the cause. By associating Belial with all sorts of misfortune and negative external influence, the Qumran people are henceforth allowed to be let off for the sins they commit.

Belial’s presence is found throughout the War Scrolls, located in the Dead Sea Scrolls, and is established as the force occupying the opposite end of the spectrum of God. In Col. I, verse 1, the very first line of the document, it is stated that “the first attack of the Sons of Light shall be undertaken against the forces of the Sons of Darkness, the army of Belial” (1Q33;1:1).[43] This dichotomy sheds light on the negative connotations that Belial held at the time.[44] Where God and his Sons of Light are forces that protect and promote piety, Belial and his Sons of Darkness cater to the opposite, instilling the desire to sin and encouraging destruction. This opposition is only reinforced later in the document; it continues to read that the “holy ones” will “strike a blow at wickedness,” ultimately resulting in the “annihilation of the Sons of Darkness” (1Q33:1:13). This epic battle between good and evil described in such abstract terms, however it is also applicable to everyday life and serves as a lens through which the Qumran see the world. Every day is the Sons of Light battle evil and call upon God to help them overcome evil in ways small and large.

Belial’s influence is not taken lightly. In Col. XI, verse 8, the text depicts God conquering the “hordes of Belial” (1Q33;11:8). This defeat is indicative of God’s power over Belial and his forces of temptation. However the fact that Belial is the leader of hordes is a testament to how persuasive he can be. If Belial was obviously an arbiter of wrongdoing and was blatantly in the wrong, he wouldn’t be able to amass an army. This fact serves as a warning message, reasserting God’s strength, while also making it extremely clear the breadth of Belial’s prowess. Belial’s “council is to condemn and convict,” so the Qumran feel strongly that their people are not only aware of his purpose, but also equipped to combat his influence (1Q33;13:11).

In the Damascus Document, Belial also makes a prominent appearance, being established as a source of evil and an origin of several types of sin. In Column 4, the first mention of Belial reads: “Belial shall be unleashed against Israel” (4Q266). This phrase is able to be interpreted myriad different ways. Belial is characterized in a wild and uncontrollable fashion, making him seem more dangerous and unpredictable. The notion of being unleashed is such that once he is free to roam; he is unstoppable and able to carry out his agenda uninhibited. The passage then goes to enumerate the “three nets” (4Q266;4:16) by which Belial captures his prey and forces them to sin. “Fornication…, riches…, [and] the profanation of the temple” (4Q266;4:17,18) make up the three nets. These three temptations were three agents by which people were driven to sin, so subsequently, the Qumran people crafted the nets of Belial to rationalize why these specific temptations were so toxic. Later in Column 5, Belial is mentioned again as one of “the removers of bound who led Israel astray” (4Q266;5:20). This statement is a clear display of Belial’s influence over man regarding sin. The passage goes on to state: “they preached rebellion against…God” (4Q266;5:21,22). Belial’s purpose is to undermine the teachings of God, and he achieves this by imparting his nets on humans, or the incentive to sin.

At this point I do not think that John the Baptist or Jesus was an Essene. The self-isolation of the Essene communities, was in stark contrast to the style of life of the last Prophet of the old Covenant and the founder of Christianity. John's baptisms drew large crowds to the disdain of Herod. And the activity of Jesus surrounded all human life. The preaching John and Jesus was for all to hear. The difference between John and Jesus was our Lord did not reject history and human societies, the functions and their institutions. But, Jesus did rebuke Jews from following human tradition that modified the torah. Unlike the Essenes, Jesus, moved from place to place to teach, goes to the temple, visiting synagogues , accept invitations to various homes for participation in meals. The life of the people was accepted in its entirety, except the evil and sin. The reason Jesus was talking about sanctification of all elements of the world and man and for reconciliation of man with nature and God . The eschatological Essene communities instead manifested refusal and opposition to the natural world and of this story, to the human body and the functions of sex to marriage and social institutions without accepting human social and historical context.

Both John and Jesus knew the history of the Essenes, Sadducees, and Pharisees. But, Jesus knew intimately their beliefs and the beliefs of every other culture in the world since the beginning of time.

Soma (Sanskrit सोम sóma), or Haoma (Avestan), from Proto-Indo-Iranian *sauma-, was a Vedic ritual drink of importance among the early Indo-Iranians, and the subsequent Vedic and greater Persian cultures. It is frequently mentioned in the Rigveda, whose Soma Mandala contains 114 hymns, many praising its energizing qualities.

The Chinese word for cannabis hemp is Huo Ma or literally "fire hemp". The choice of Cannabis as a candidate is further supported by the traditional Zulu use of this drug for energizing warriors.

Sufic Islamists and Zoroastarians use cannabis.

Zoroaster (c. 628-c. 551 BC), the Persian prophet, is responsible for the earliest mention of the plant's use as a sacrament. He gave hemp first place in the sacred text, the Zend-Avesta, which lists over 10,000 medicinal plants. For the Zoroastrians - among whom may have been the biblical Magi - cannabis was considered the chief religious sacrament of the priest class.

Aka Manah (Akoman, Ako-Manah) is the Avestan language name for the most powerful of all Zoroastrian daeva "Evil Mind", "Evil Purpose", "Evil Thinking" or "Evil Intention". Aka Manah inspires the evil sorcerous mind. Aka Manah has no material form but when evoked manifests he has been described as a shadowy flame lit from within with a baneful light. Aka Manah was sent by Ahriman to seduce the prophet Zarathustra. His eternal opponent is Vohu Manah.

From the Firdawsi's Shahnameh, the Book of Kings: Image of the Div (demon) Akvan pausing before hurling Rustam into the water. 16th-17th century.

Library of Congress Persian Collection

A Zoroastrian Sephirot

les_envoyes_d__ahura_mazda_by_ibgatrokhs

Over the past few decades archaeologists have discovered an increasing number of sites of the great Oxus Civilization, perhaps better known nowadays as the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex, as well as its Neolithic and Chalcolithic predecessors. While they have filled in a large gap between the great civilizations of Mesopotamia and the Indus, so far no written documents have been found, with the exception of the seal from Anau reported by F. Hiebert. However, little to nothing is known about the language(s) spoken in the areas east of Mesopotamia (Hurrite, Akkadian, Sumerian, Elamite), and those west of the Indus area. The language(s) of the Indus civilization, of course, also are by and large unknown, that is if we neglect the materials that can be distilled from the materials contained in the earliest texts in Indo-Aryan, the Vedas but that have been neglected for that purpose. Nevertheless, these serve as a guide of what language(s) may have been present in the subcontinent in c. 2000 BCE.The picture can be enlarged and projected back in time by using the oldest Iranian counterparts of the Vedas, the Avestan texts of the Zoroastrians, as well as the Old Persian inscriptions. Since Old Iranian and Old Indo-Aryan (Vedic) are so closely related, items common to both languages can be used to reconstruct the common-Proto-language, Indo-Iranian.
http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/C._ASIA_.pdf

The philologically restored Avestan texts offer some data from Greater
Afghanistan as Zarathustra's homeland was probably situated in northwestern Afghanistan (near the Kashaf River) and much of the later Avesta was composed or redacted in southern Afghanistan (Sistan, Arachosia). However, in spite of being geographically closer to the Mesopotamian cultures with datable historical information, the Avestan texts are as elusive to absolute dating as the Vedic ones. Mesopotamia (or early China) simply do not figure in all these texts.

http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~witzel/C._ASIA_.pdf

The Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex (or BMAC, also known as the Oxus civilization) is the modern archaeological designation for a Bronze Age civilisation of Central Asia, dated to ca. 2300–1700 BCE, located in present day northern Afghanistan, eastern Turkmenistan, southern Uzbekistan and western Tajikistan, centered on the upper Amu Darya (Oxus River). Its sites were discovered and named by the Soviet archaeologist Viktor Sarianidi (1976). Bactria was the Greek name for the area of Bactra (modern Balkh), in what is now northern Afghanistan, and Margiana was the Greek name for the Persian satrapy of Margu, the capital of which was Merv, in modern-day southeastern Turkmenistan.

Bird-Headed Man with two Snakes, bronze.

Northern Afghanistan, 2000-1500 B.C.
Tools and Equipment; seals
Bronze
2 7/8 in. (7.30 cm)
Shinji Shumeikai Acquisition Fund (AC1995.5.6)

http://collections.lacma.orgSPAM176930

The Karura (迦楼羅) is a divine creature with human torso and birdlike head in Japanese Hindu-Buddhist mythology.

Tokyo National Museum

In early Vedic legends, which celebrate the victory of the Aryan invaders who entered India around 1500 BC and conquered the local Dravidian people, we find mention of the Asura King (Ashura O). The Aryans portrayed their own gods as benevolent heavenly beings, while the gods of the conquered people were demoted to serving as subjects of the Aryan deities. But the Asura King, one of the major gods of the conquered Dravidians, was a threat to the victors, and was subsequently demoted to demon status. According to Aryan lore, Asura was defeated by Taishakuten (Indra) and hid thereafter in a lotus flower growing in the Icy Lake (Skt. = Anavatapta). The word asura was then sometimes translated as “non-god” or “anti-god” to complete the Aryan victory and to deny any chance of ranking the Asura among the heavenly gods.

http://www.onmarkproductions.com/html/hachi-bushu.shtml#ashura

Asuras are demigods, or semi-blessed beings. They are powerful, yet fierce and quarrelsome, and like humans, they are partly good and partly evil. In their earliest Hindu and Brahman manifestations, the Ashura are always fighting the Ten (Deva) for supremancy (often battling the deities commanded by Taishakuten, the Lord Indra of Hindu mythology). The Ashura are sometimes compared to the Titans of Greek mythology — in one legend, they stand in the ocean with the water coming up to only their knees. But in most accounts, the Ashura are not giants.

The Buddhist asuras are broadly derived, in general character, from the wicked asuras of Hinduism, Some say Ashura was an Indian royal who converted to Buddhism. In other Hindu traditions, Ashura is a sun goddess, feared for bringing droughts.

Ashurkhana (Hussainia, Imambargah) is a congregation hall for Shia commemoration ceremonies for martyred Imam (Islamic worship leader).

http://youtu.be/SepSVRz4LA0

Did Zarathustra live or visit the Indus Valley? I have read that Zoroaster was born into Spitama clan and was a Vedic Brahmin priest. And like Abraham he rejected the Asuras and believed in one god.

We have no exact information about the time and life of Zarathustra but there is no doubt that he was born and raised in one of the regions of eastern Iran (Bactria, Sogdia or Choresmia). And yes, he was a member of the Spitama Clan, therefore he is often called "Zarathustra Spitama" in the Avesta. His father was Pourushaspa ("with many horses") and his mother was Dughdowa ("Milking Maiden"); these names show us that Zarathustra was born in a mainly pastoral community. If he visited the Indian Valley, there is no evidence. We will never know. But he was never a Vedic Brahman Priest; Zarathustra refer to himself as a "Zaotar" which is the highest rank of the priestly hierarchy in the Avesta. That means he was an Iranian priest who learned old Iranian religious customs.

See, the many similarities between the Zoroastrian religion and the vedic religion of the Indians is due to their common origin from the old Indo-Iranian culture. Once, the ancestors of the Indians and Iranians (The Aryans) lived together and shared the same believe systems and customs. But then the Iranians and Indians seperated from each other so that their religious systems developed independently. But still the share many customs and rites due to their common origin like the concept of the Haoma/Soma, Ahura/Asura, Daeva/Deva, Apam Napat, the importance of Manthras, the style of giving offerings, the priestly tradition, and and many other things.

But most interesting is that Ahura in iranian religion was used for the three greatest divinities Ahura Mazda, Mithra ("Contract, Companion") and Apam.Napat ("Son of the waters") but the Indians considered the Asura as evil entities. In contrast, the Indians still whorshipped the Deva which is common in many indo-european cultures; it is derived by proto-indeuropean "Deiwos" which means "being of shining light". In latin it was expressed as "Deus" (God), in oldgreek as "Zeus", in english as "Divine". But only in iranian culture it is used for the evil demons created by Ahriman (avestian." Daewa", oldpersian. "Daiwa"). So it were the Daewas which were rejected by the iranian people.

And yes, Zarathustra propagated monotheism cause for him only the "Lord of Wisdom" (Ahura Mazda) is considered God.

The opposite of the eagle winged solar disc is the bat winged upside down pentagram.

http://www.theorderofphosphorus.com/articles_vampirism.html

Exodus 20:21 And a stranger shalt thou not wrong, neither shalt thou oppress him; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

There are those who consider Qumran texts Roman propaganda.

Luke_Wilbur · June 7, 2015

1 John 4

4:15 If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God resides in him and he in God.

4:16 And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has in us. God is love, and the one who resides in love resides in God, and God resides in him.

4:17 By this love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because just as Jesus is, so also are we in this world.

4:18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears punishment has not been perfected in love.

4:19 We love because He loved us first.

4:20 If anyone says “I love God” and yet hates his fellow Christian, he is a liar, because the one who does not love his fellow Christian whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

4:21 And the commandment we have from him is this:

that the one who loves God should love his fellow Christian too.

5:1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been fathered by God, and everyone who loves the father loves the child fathered by him.

5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God: whenever we love God and obey his commandments.

5:3 For this is the love of God:

that we keep his commandments. And his commandments do not weigh us down,

5:4 because everyone who has been fathered by God conquers the world.

Watch Moral Rot Of Zionist Christians by Brother Nathanael and discern whether this video rightly rebukes Christians for not following our Father's commands or promotes hate against a Jewish Christian political movement.

Colossians 2

3:1 Therefore, if you have been raised with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 3:2 Keep thinking about things above, not things on the earth, 3:3 for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 3:4 When Christ (who is your 1 life) appears, then you too will be revealed in glory with him. 3:5 So put to death whatever in your nature belongs to the earth: 2 sexual immorality, impurity, shameful passion, 3 evil desire, and greed which is idolatry. 3:6 Because of these things the wrath of God is coming on the sons of disobedience. 4 3:7 You also lived your lives 5 in this way at one time, when you used to live among them. 3:8 But now, put off all such things 6 as anger, rage, malice, slander, abusive language from your mouth. 3:9 Do not lie to one another since you have put off the old man with its practices 3:10 and have been clothed with the new man 7 that is being renewed in knowledge according to the image of the one who created it. 3:11 Here there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave 8 or free, but Christ is all and in all.

Revelation 3

4:1 After these things I looked, and there was 1 a door standing open in heaven! 2 And the first voice I had heard speaking to me 3 like a trumpet 4 said: “Come up here so that 5 I can show you what must happen after these things.” 4:2 Immediately I was in the Spirit, 6 and 7 a throne was standing 8 in heaven with someone seated on it! 4:3 And the one seated on it was like jasper 9 and carnelian 10 in appearance, and a rainbow looking like it was made of emerald 11 encircled the throne. 4:4 In 12 a circle around the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on those thrones were twenty-four elders. They were 13 dressed in white clothing and had golden crowns 14 on their heads. 4:5 From 15 the throne came out flashes of lightning and roaring 16 and crashes of thunder. Seven flaming torches, which are the seven spirits of God, 17 were burning in front of the throne 4:6 and in front of the throne was something like a sea of glass, like crystal. 18

In 19 the middle of the throne 20 and around the throne were four living creatures 21 full of eyes in front and in back. 4:7 The 22 first living creature was like a lion, the 23 second creature like an ox, the third creature had a face like a man’s, and the fourth creature looked like an eagle flying. 4:8 Each one of the four living creatures had six wings 24 and was full of eyes all around and inside. 25 They never rest day or night, saying: 26

“Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God, the All-Powerful, 27

Who was and who is, and who is still to come!”

4:9 And whenever the living creatures give glory, honor, 28 and thanks to the one who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 4:10 the twenty-four elders throw themselves to the ground 29 before the one who sits on the throne and worship the one who lives forever and ever, and they offer their crowns 30 before his 31 throne, saying:

4:11 “You are worthy, our Lord and God,

to receive glory and honor and power,

since you created all things,

and because of your will they existed and were created!” 3

Jesus mentions Zechariah son of Barachiah. The prophet rebuked the Israelites in his time in a similar fashion.

Zechariah 1

1:1 In the eighth month of Darius’ second year, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Zechariah, son of Berechiah son of Iddo, as follows:

1:2 The Lord was very angry with your ancestors.

1:3 Therefore say to the people:

The Lord who rules over all says, “Turn to me,” says the Lord who rules over all, “and I will turn to you,” says the Lord who rules over all.

1:4 “Do not be like your ancestors, to whom the former prophets called out, saying, ‘The Lord who rules over all says, “Turn now from your evil wickedness,”’ but they would by no means obey me,” says the Lord.

1:5 “As for your ancestors, where are they? And did the prophets live forever?

1:6 But have my words and statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, not outlived your fathers? Then they paid attention and confessed, ‘The Lord who rules over all has indeed done what he said he would do to us, because of our sinful ways.’”

Isaiah 5

5:16 The Lord who commands armies will be exalted when he punishes, the sovereign Gods authority will be recognized when he judges.

5:17 Lambs will graze as if in their pastures, amid the ruins the rich sojourners will graze.

5:18 Those who pull evil along using cords of emptiness are as good as dead, who pull sin as with cart ropes.

5:19 They say, Let him hurry, let him act quickly, so we can see; let the plan of the Holy One of Israel take shape and come to pass,

then we will know it!

5:20 Those who call

evil good and good evil are as good as

dead,

who turn darkness

into light and light into

darkness,

who turn bitter into

sweet and sweet into

bitter.

5:21 Those

who think they are wise are as good as

dead,

those who

think they possess

understanding.

5:22 Those

who are champions at drinking wine are

as good as dead,

who display

great courage when mixing strong

drinks.

5:23 They pronounce

the guilty innocent for a

payoff,

they ignore the just

cause of the innocent.

5:24

Therefore, as

flaming fire devours

straw,

and dry grass

disintegrates in the

flames,

so their root

will rot,

and their

flower will blow away like

dust.

For they have

rejected the law of the Lord who

commands armies,

they have

spurned the commands of the Holy One of

Israel.

5:25 So the Lord is

furious with his people;

he lifts his hand and

strikes them.

The mountains

shake,

and corpses lie like

manure in the middle of the

streets.

Despite all

this, his anger does not

subside,

and his hand

is ready to strike

again.

What is the correlation with Paul and the "Sons of Light"?

The Dead Sea Scrolls: A New Translation
by: Michael Wise Martin Abegg, Jr. Edward Cook
Harper San Francisco
1996
1QM, 4Q491-496

For the In[structor, the Rule of] the War. The first attack of the Sons of Light shall be undertaken against the forces of the Sons of Darkness, the army of Belial: the troops of Edom, Moab, the sons of Ammon, the [Amalekitesl, Philistia, and the troops of the Kittim of Asshur. Supporting them are those who have violated the covenant. The sons of Levi, the sons of Judah, and the sons of Benjamin, those exiled to the wilderness, shall fight against them with [ . . . ] against all their troops, when the exiles of the Sons of Light return from the Wilderness of the Peoples to camp in the Wilderness of Jerusalem. Then after the battle they shall go up from that place a[nd the king of] the Kittim [shall enter] into Egypt. In his time he shall go forth with great wrath to do battle against the kings of the north and in his anger he shall set out to destroy and eliminate the strength of I[srael. Then there shall be a time of salvation for the People of God, and a time of dominion for all the men of His forces, and eternal annihilation for all the forces of Belial.

There shall be g[reat] panic [among] the sons of Japheth. Assyria shall fall with no one to come to his aid, and the supremacy of the Kittim shall cease, that wickedness be overcome without a remnant. There shall be no survivors of [all the Sons of] Darkness.

Then [the Sons of Rig]hteousness shall shine to all ends of the world, continuing to shine forth until end of the appointed seasons of darkness. Then at the time appointed by God, His great excellence shall shine for all the times of e[ternity;] for peace and blessing, glory and joy, and long life for all Sons of Light. On the day when the Kittim fall there shall be a battle and horrible carnage before the God of Israel, for it is a day appointed by Him from ancient times as a battle of annihilation for the Sons of Darkness. On that day the congregation of the gods and the congregation of men shall engage one another, resulting in great carnage. The Sons of Light and the forces of Darkness shall fight together to show the strength of God with the roar of a great multitude and the shout of gods and men: a day of disaster. It is a time of distress fo[r al]l the people who are redeemed by God. In all their afflictions none exists that is like it, hastening to its completion as an eternal redemption. On the day of their battle against the Kittim, they shall g[o forth for] carnage in battle. In three lots the Sons of Light shall stand firm so as to strike a blow at wickedness, and in three the army of Belial shall strengthen themselves so as to force the retreat of the forces [of Light. And when the] banners of the infantry cause their hearts to melt. then the strength of God will strengthen the he[arts of the Sons of Light.] In the seventh lot the great hand of God shall overcome [belial and al]1 the angels of his dominion, and all the men of [his forces shall be destroyed forever].

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/portrait/scrolltranslation.html

In 1870, an Aramaic manuscript entitled "The Gospel of the Nazirenes" was discovered, translated and published. The first collected volume was issued by The Order of At-One-Ment and United Templars Society—a publishing imprint which the author had established in 1881. The explanatory preface referred to an ancient source manuscript "preserved in the Monasteries of Tibet" which has never been produced or proven to exist. In subsequent editions, released during the early 1900s, the anonymous Editors revised their claim by stating that the text was "communicated" by departed mystics "in dreams and visions of the night".

http://www.thenazareneway.com/ght_table_of_contents.htm

Title: The Old Syriac Gospels or Evangelion Da-Mepharreshê; being the text of the Sinai or Syro-Antiochene palimpsest, including the latest additions and emendations, with the variants of the Curetonian text, corroborations from many other MSS., and a list of quotations from ancient authors. Edited by Agnes Smith Lewis. With four facsimiles.
Contributor: SMITH, afterwards LEWIS, Agnes.
Publication Details: London : Williams & Norgate, 1910.
Language: syc
Uniform Title: Bible.Gospels. Syriac
Identifier: System number 000333898
Physical Description: lxxviii, 334, v p. ; 4º.
Shelfmark(s): Asia, Pacific & Africa 753.h.38.
UIN: BLL01000333898

https://lostchristianity.wordpress.com/tag/jesus-essene-nazareth-nazarene-nazarite-dead-sea-scrolls-qumran-vegetarianism-animal-sacrifice-pharisee-sadducee-josephus-encyclopaedia-biblica-bible-christianity-christians/

http://www.sacred-texts.com/bud/ipc/ipc14.htm

http://www.thenazareneway.com/Caesar

The Heb. word for maketh to tremble, ויתר, also means, 'he releaseth', cf. מותר permitted.

http://www.biblicalaudio.com/text/enoch.pdf

https://heavenawaits.wordpress.com/metatron-the-lesser-yhvh/

http://www.neirot.com/inspiration/the-eternal-bond#comment-175303

http://www.edah.org/backend/coldfusion/search/document.cfm?title=The%20Way%20of%20Torah&hyperlink=rabin3_1.htm&type=JournalArticle&category=Orthodoxy%20and%20Modernity&authortitle=&firstname=Nahum%20Eliezer%20&lastname=Rabinovitch&pubsource=not%20available&authorid=335&pdfattachment=Rabinovitch3_1.pdf

http://www.jlaw.com/Articles/noach2.html

http://www.sacred-texts.com/jud/loj/loj304.htm

http://www.askelm.com/essentials/ess030.htm

http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/b/KA/ka-4.htm

Do Messianic Jews follow or reject the Talmud? Joel Chasid was kind enough to give me an answer.

Joel Chasid

Talmud is not Scripture, It is commentary on Scripture. Messianic, Karaites do not "follow" Talmud, but for some, the Talmud is interesting because it gives insight into Jewish thought concerning certain matters. It is rejected as Torah. But Orthodox and Chassidic Jews DO see it as Torah, and I'm told, spend most of their time quoting this Rav. or that Sage. Of course, if you understand that "Torah" also means instruction, and/or teaching, then it might be Ok, but when these opinions are taken as "God's truth", well, that's a problem for me.

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