Sweet Gospel Harmony

We know very little about life and what happens after death, but the

little do know tells us how much more reasonable it is to believe

that we are here for a plan and a purpose, than that we and the

universe are creations with no meaning, with no future, no hope.

As intelligent animals we must believe in a beneficent creator,

whose power is beyond ours to resist, and whose wisdom is

not ours to dispute. And does not the Christian faith satisfy

completely our recognition of these conditions?

                                                                        (Loyd V. Kielhorn)

In the remarks above, spoken over the casket of his beloved mother, Anna Vineyard Kielhorn, my grandfather reaffirmed his belief in the logic of Christian faith. In choosing this solemn occasion to advance an essentially optimistic view, that we are here for a plan and a purpose, he placed himself squarely on the side of hope, that "a beneficent creator" will transform our situation and for our part, we are to faithfully trust that this is so.

"Plan," what plan? "Purpose," what purpose? Many would dispute the existence of such things. These days it's fashionable to suppose that we are but pawns in the universe. Never mind evidence for intelligent design, never mind the common sense observation that creation needs a creator, many assume that life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury signifying nothing.

Arises the question, beyond mere wish fulfillment, does there exist in the deep structure of the universe a higher force? Experiential faith replies affirmatively to this question when it cries forth:

    O God, you have taught me since childhood

    and I still proclaim your wonders. (Psalm 71)

While I pondered this, it suddenly came to my mind that some 60 years before my grandfather had inscribed on the face page of the Kailin family Bible these words:

He hath shown thee, O man, what is good; and what doth

the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy,

and to walk humbly with thy God.                        (Micah 6:8)

Fortified with the knowledge that God calls "good" such qualities as justice, mercy and humility, let us confidently resolve that, with the help of God, that such qualities should manifest in our lives, even as He expects. If our plan and purpose is that of blessing the world (and shame on us if it isn't), then, let us flesh out Micah's broad generalities and clothe them with specific applications.

I strongly suspect that when a professed non-believer does such things, he or she is far closer to God than is the professed believer who does not. That is because profession is not possession. It is why good values trump theological speculation every time.

With these texts and father Kielhorn's words of wisdom in mind, let us move on to consider father Abraham, for he, not father Kielhorn, is father of the faithful, for:

In thee [Abraham] shall all nations be blessed.

(Galatians 3:8, see Genesis 12:3, 18:18, 22:18, 26:4)

The desire of Abraham's heart was to have a flesh and blood heir. A worthy desire, it was frustrated by the inability of his wife, Sarah, to conceive. Thus, at his wife's behest, Abraham had a child by another women, by Hagar. With great devotion to his first-born son by Hagar, Abraham cried out unto God:

O that Ishmael might live before thee! (Genesis 17:18)

One of the most difficult, tragic days in Abraham's life came the day he sent Ishmael and Hagar away into the wilderness, never to see them again.

Eventually the day arrived when Abraham saw through to a larger reality relating to the family of man, that potentially we are all God's children. It had to do with God's promise to him:

And I will make thy seed to multiply as the stars of heaven,

and will give unto thy seed all these countries; and in thy

seed shall all nations be blessed; . . .              (Genesis 26:4)

    Where it all began

The glory of God appeared to our father, Abraham, when he

was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Charran. (Acts 7:2-3)

Before Abraham, other outstanding individuals had arisen such as Enoch and Noah, but from none of them did a sustained movement emerge, continuing on from one generation to the next. This changed some 4000 years ago in the land of the Chaldeans when God revealed Himself to Abraham, saying:

Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy

father's house, unto a land that I will show thee: and I will make

of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name

great; and thou shalt be a blessing: and I will bless them that

bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall

all families of the earth be blessed.                  (Genesis 12:1-3)

Apparently Abraham didn't just jump up and depart for the Promised Land the moment the command was given. Maybe he should have or maybe, instead, he was suppose to first get his affairs in order, we don't really know. In any event, his journey to the Promised Land occurred in two removes. First, he left Ur of the Caldees in Mesopotamia, the land of his nativity, and relocated in Haran, which is to the north in modern day Syria. There Abraham tarried until his father, Terah, died. Only then did he depart for the Promised Land.

Abraham was sent and he went, if not immediately, at least eventually, and he did so confident that the the One who keeps His promises will deliver, for:

By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out

into a place which he should afterward receive

for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not

knowing whither he went.             (Hebrews 11:8)

for

He staggered not at the promise of God through

unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory

to God.                                         (Romans 4:20)

While not obeying God perfectly in all particulars in that Abraham brought with him Lot, his nephew, when he was suppose to go apart from his kith and kin (a mistake having long-term ramifications), at least he made the journey and along the way he learned by his mistakes.

Thus it was, in obedience to the divine command, that Abram headed south, to a sparsely settled land, a place where he could roam freely and find grazing for his sheep. There, in that chosen spot, Abraham was free to think his own thoughts and be his own person.

Although it's true that God is everywhere the same, it happens that we are not.  Thus it is reasonable to suppose that Abraham's prayers in the wilderness, were given fresh impetus by the stark beauty of his bracing surroundings, a landscape of mountains and verdant plains, the sun by day, the constellations of the heavens by night. A cleft in a rock, a mountain spring, a wilderness trek, the experience of nature has an uncanny way of clarifying ones thinking. Then we are humbled and grateful to be alive, an appropriate setting for conducting a vision quest.

If we reflect on it, our most profound moments often have little connection to organized religion but are transcendental, rising out of perceptions of the natural world. Thus it was, for the sake of a shining vision, a kingdom reserved in the heavens to be revealed in due course, that Abraham gave up settled existence for nomadic life, substituting a tent for a permanent abode, for:

By faith he [Abraham] sojourned in the land of promise, as in

a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob,

the heirs with him of the same promise: for he looked for a city

which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

                                                    (Hebrews 11:9-10)

Unlike the great empires of the day, whose religious cults enforced mindless, mass conformity, God's plan was to establish a corporate work of redemption rooted in rugged individualism, where each must take responsibility for his or her personal actions and spiritual condition. In this regard, Abraham did not use liberty for license but kept to God's law. And God blessed Abraham for it, saying:

Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge,

my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.   (Genesis 24:5)

The law referred to above could hardly be that which came down from Sinai, for that was yet many centuries hence, rather, he kept to God's natural law which allowed him to live in balance with the natural world, and at peace with his fellow man for, at root, it is natural law which governs what goes on in this world. And God testified of Abraham, saying:

"For I know him that he will command his children and his

household after him, and they shall keep the way of Jehovah,

to do justice and judgment; that Jehovah may bring upon

Abraham that which he hath spoken of him."   (Genesis 18:19)

As we see above, Abraham was complimented for his orthopraxy, that is, for his right practice, not for his orthodoxy, right belief.  Abraham was not trying to control anyone's thinking, nor does any body of teaching attach to his name; rather he ran a tight ship, a well ordered household, and for that he is to be commended. Perhaps this could help explain why of all men he is most universally revered, whether by Judaism or by Christianity or by Islam, for Abraham was not ideologically driven, nor a sectarian. Having been humbled by a vision of God's splendor, he lived a life of obedience to God.

Abraham was called to monogamy, for that is the way it was in the beginning with Adam and Eve.

And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai, . . . (Genesis 16:2)

This harkening was in regard to Abram having a son by Sarai's handmaid, Hagar. While hearkening to the voice of one's wife is generally a good thing, especially in the context of a patriarchal society where women too often were ignored, in this instance it would have been better if Abram had not have hearkened, since it led to disobedience, for both Abram and Sarah, having grown impatient with God for being slow so they thought in keeping His promise, decided to help God out a little, when they should have abided patiently.

Monogamy and monotheism go together like a horse and carriage. One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one man, one woman, the marriage covenant being comparable to God's Covenant. It is all part and parcel of being made in the image of God, being what most distinguishes Homo Sapiens from all other apes.

Though very much devoted to Sarai, his wife, nonetheless Abraham was less than perfect in that he ended up with two sons, Ishmael and Isaac, each by a different mother, Hagar and Sari. This led to sorrow and heartbreak when he had to banish his oldest son, Ishmael, and Hagar, his mother, from his presence.

Beyond the initial covenanting, God reiterated and extended his Covenant with Abraham on at least four different occasions.

And Jehovah appeared unto Abram and said; Unto thy

seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar

to Jehovah.                                              (Genesis 12:2)

An altar, a tent, the presence of God, such were the elements in the life of one who was to be a blessing to all families in the earth. Though he had been but a stranger and a pilgrim, obscure in his own day, as God's son of destiny, his fame only grows with the passing of time.

Again God covenanted with Abraham, saying:

Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt

unto the great river, the river Euphrates.      (Genesis 15:18)

Historically speaking, the true, physical sons of Abraham were never very lucky in the game of empire building. Only briefly, during the reign of King Solomon, did the Kingdom of Judah actually come anywhere near to realizing the promise above. Meanwhile, said Jesus:

Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until

the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.        (Luke 21:24)

That which Jesus said above is true to this day, for currently Gentile interlopers, Asiatic Ashkenazi, ride herd in the Promised Land, while Abraham's real progeny after the flesh, now few in number, with bit in mouth, trot out at their masters' command and are as far from realizing the promises of God as they ever were. For them it has been a long, drawn out death rattle.

   Tenting with Abraham

It was not ever onward and upward for Abraham but he was subject to reverses:

Abram went down into Egypt to sojourn there, for the

famine was grievous in the land.         (Genesis 12:10)

Conditions must have been severe in the extreme for Abraham to have given up his toe hold in the Promised Land but, no doubt, he returned to as soon as he could, this time a wealthy man, made so by Pharaoh who was anxious to be rid of him.

A bi-metalist, Abraham maintained a diversified portfolio, for:

Abram was very rich in cattle, in silver, and in gold. (Genesis 13:2)

An aspect to Abraham's story often not confronted forthrightly, is his wealth, that he was quite wealthy, also, that he was a slaveholder. As Genesis reads, he had:

. . . sheep and oxen and she asses, and menservants and

maidservants, and she asses and camels. (Genesis 12:16)

Yet for all his holdings, Abraham, I believe, was no more inclined to rule over others, than to have others rule over him. Rather, he wanted autonomy that he might commune with God and bring up his family in the admonition of the Lord.

Fundamental to the Gospel is a live and let live approach, which means respecting the lives and property of others, and that was Abraham who was even solicitous for those in Sodom and Gomorrah and bargained with God for their lives.

The lines along which Abraham's entourage operated were somewhat analogous to that of a wolf pack, where an alpha male emerges who chooses an alpha female, after which the rest of the pack dedicate themselves to advancing the interests of the alpha couple and their offspring. And, too, there is reciprocation, otherwise the whole social fabric, whether wolf or human, would collapse. In order to survive, they needed a high level of co-operation.

And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive,

he armed his trained servants, born in his own house three

hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan.

(Genesis 14:14)

Abraham's enterprising band was capable of mastering armies far larger than its own, an indication that they were highly motivated and not just hirelings going through the motions. When there is subordination as to function but equality before God, then, free men can achieve great things.

. . . and he [Abraham] sat in the tent door

in the heat of the day.    (Genesis 18:1)

As was true generally in face-to-face, traditional societies, a body of elders arose to administer justice. There was no election; rather, there was internal selection based on mutual recognition. Typically, at the entrance to the tent is where the nomadic patriarchs of old held court and from whence they rendered decisions and received visitors from afar.

Some are surprised on learning of it that Jesus said to his servants:

. . . he that hath no sword, let him sell his

garment and buy one. (Luke 22:36)

but if we go back to Abraham and see the circumstances of his existence, that he would have to either fight or flee, then we would understand that his choice was starkly this: either make a spirited defense on behalf of his family or forever loose their place in the Land.

We have to apply judiciously Abraham's example. After all, most of us are not nomads as Abraham was. The economy is different. Technology is different. One thing stays the same, the defense of liberty is no vice.

We might want to revisit the issue of social organization as modeled in the Bible, as, for instance, with Samuel and his school of the prophets; as with John the Baptist and his disciples in the wilderness; as with James the Just, the Lord's brother, and the community of Jesus in Jerusalem where they had all things in common.

When done right, face-to-face communities can achieve great things. When done wrong, there is just a big mess, of which no shortage of examples exist of cult leaders who build empires to their own egos.

Social scientists have detected the wisdom of decision making by small groups, that individuals with imperfect understanding, by banding together, can make good choices. These same scientists also detected that the decision making capacity of small groups excelled that of large groups.

Nevertheless, beware of small, face-to-face, intentional communities where there are too many intentions. Let the plan and the purpose be well articulated or let it alone.

The hospitality of Abraham

Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some

have entertained angels unawares.           (Hebrews 13:2)

The hospitality of the Bedouin and other nomadic peoples is proverbial. Abraham was of that tradition:

And he [Abraham] lifted up his eyes and looked, and, lo, thee

men stood by him: and when he saw them he ran to meet them

from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, and

said, My Lord, if now I have found favor favor in thy sight,

pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: let a little water,

I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves

under the tree: and I will fetch a morel of bread, and comfort

ye your hearts; after that ye shall pass on: for therefore are

ye come to your servant.                                  (Genesis 18:2-5)

Without the support of a good matriarch, a patriarch can hardly function. Sarah, whose name means "princess," a name given her by God, was such a woman.

While Abraham was without the tent entertaining his guests, Sarah was inside preparing food. At the door of the tent she heard the guests say that she would bear a son. As it is written:

Sarah laughed.   (Genesis 18:12)

Abraham, too, had laughed but maybe it was a different kind of laugh. Maybe he laughed for joy where she had laughed sardonically, out of disbelief, for she said:

After I am waxed old shall I have pleasure, my lord being old also?

On being discovered, Sarah denied having laughed but she had and for this she received a mild rebuke. Nevertheless, come spring she bore a son, though well past age, and, at God's command, her son was named Isaac. The root word for Isaac, by the way, is the same as that for laughter.

As was Abraham, Sarah, too, was complimented for her faithfulness to God, as it is written:

Through faith also Sarah herself received strength

to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when

she was past age, because she judged him faithful

who had promised.                          (Hebrews 11:11)

      A Blood Covenant

Casual agreements are not sealed by blood, but one cuts a covenant:

And he [God] gave him [Abraham] the

covenant of circumcision.    (Acts 7:8)

A sign in the flesh, circumcision, like a sign in time, the Sabbath, serves the purpose of distinguishing or setting apart those who are of the Covent from those who are not:

And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, Jehovah

appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty

God (El-Shaddai); walk before me and be thou perfect (i.e.,

upright, genuine).   . . . And I will establish my covenant

between me and thee and thy seed after thee in their

generations for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto

thee, and to thy seed after thee. And I will give unto thee,

and thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger,

all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and

I will be their God. . . . This is my covenant, which ye shall

keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every

man child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall

circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token

of the covenant betwixt me and you. (Genesis 17:1, 7-8, 10-11)

The binding of Isaac:

"Take now thy only son, Isaac, whom thou lovest;

and offer him for a burnt offering." (Genesis 22:2)

This is not an easy subject to write about. What was asked of Abraham most of us could never deliver on, which raises a question, was the faith of Abraham ever even remotely our own or are we just kidding ourselves? The mountain of faith is approached, we know, from many direction but how many ever actually summit? But in God all things are possible.

This Abraham learned, to put the Giver before the Gift. That is to say, he put God before God's promised son, Isaac, though Isaac was the apple of his eye. He had learned how, if need be, to let go of that which he held, as if it weren't his at all. As well, he had learned how to hope against hope, that God would make a way where there seemed to be no way.

He [God] will ever be mindful of his Covenant. (Psalm 111:5)

As we have seen, the Covenant God made with Abraham, He extended to Isaac, then to Jacob, and so on, generation after generation, Moses, Joshua, King David, various Prophets, and even, as we see following, Jesus' mother, Mary, who said:

He [Jehovah] hath helped his servant Israel, in remembrance

of his mercy, as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his

seed forever.                                                      (Luke 1:54-55)

In due course, this same Covenant was extended to the people of the world and this on the basis of equality. Just as the the Mosaic Law, which came along 430 years later, did not annul the Abrahamic Covenant, so also Jesus did not annul the Abrahamic Covenant but extended it out to all who will come under it.

Though there were many reiterations of the Covenant, which we conveniently name: Abrahamic, Mosaic, Davidic, yet underlying them all there is only one Covenant:

I have made a covenant with my chosen, I have sworn unto

David my servant, thy seed will I establish forever, and build

up thy throne to all generations.                       (Psalm 89:3-4)

As there is only one over-arching Covenant, so likewise with seed:

Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He

saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy

seed, which is Christ.                                      (Galatians 3:16)

Likewise as to promises; though many promises were made, yet there is only one over-arching promise. Said the Apostle Paul in chains to King Agrippa:

And now I stand and am judged for the hope of the promise

made of God unto our fathers: unto which promise our twelve

tribes, instantly serving God day and night hope to come.

                                                                             (Acts 26:6-7)

And what is that over-arching Promise? that God will supply the lamb:

And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked. and behold behind

him a ram caught in the thicket by his horns and Abraham went

and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the

stead of his son.                                                    (Genesis 22:13)

Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

                                                                                       (John 1:29)

Not untouched by human infirmity, our Savior, as the scapegoat and lamb of God, drank to the dregs our every woe:

. . . who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered

up prayers and supplications with strong crying and

tears unto him that was able to save him from death,

and was heard in that he feared; . . .    (Hebrews 5:7)

Then, too, there is one inheritance:

And if ye be Christ's then ye are Abraham's seed, and

heirs according to the promise.           (Galatians 3:29)

Notice how our Abrahamic inheritance ties it all together through faith:

For the promise, that he should be heir to the world, was

not to Abraham or his seed through the law, but through

the righteousness of faith.                         (Romans 4:13)

This, then, is the happy prospect Jesus offers his sheep:

Come, ye blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared

for you from the foundation of the world.      (Matthew 25:34)

Abraham's heritage

Those of Abraham's children derived by way of his wife, Sarah, survive today as Palestinians, some being Christians, some Muslims. Some of Abraham's children called "Sephardic" but in fact are Jews from Iran and Iraq and Yemen, and elsewhere besides, are those whose lineage traces back to Abraham. Most abundant of Abraham's children, however, are those by Hagar, these being Arabs. Then too, there are Abraham's spiritual children born again by faith in Jesus Christ.

Thus saith Jehovah of hosts; Behold, I will save my

people from the east country and the west country;

and I will bring them and they shall dwell in the midst

of Jerusalem: and they shall be my people and I shall

be their God, in truth and in righteousness.

                                                          (Zechariah 8:7-8)

Who are God's people to be saved from the east country and the west country? Not those who are neither physically, spiritually nor even religiously Abraham's offspring, namely, Asiatic, Ashkenazi interlopers. Most of them are irreligious, being non-believers. Abraham was not irreligious nor a non-believer. Some of them are Talmudic nitpickers. Abraham knew nothing of that either.

Rather, it is the Palestinian people who are Abraham's physical descendants and that by Isaac, who were dispersed to the four winds following the UN partition of 1948 by the Ashkenazi interlopers, who committed on them the holocaust of ethnic cleansing and genocide. Though in dispersion to this day, they have not forgotten their homeland.

The day will come when the Palestinian people in Jerusalem and in Judah will look on him whom they have pierced and mourn as for an only son.

Three times over, Abraham was informed that he should be the father of many nations. Signifying this, his name was altered from Abram to Abraham, which means "the father of a great multitude." No afterthought, it was foreseen from the beginning that from all the world, and not just from one ethnic group, there would be those who identify with faithful Abraham.

In contradiction to Holy Writ, the mistaken one writes regarding the "Abrahamic / Mosaic" covenant, (as he terms it, conflating and confounding them), that:

"The old covenant God made with Abraham and at Sinai

... was made only with Jews who obeyed, not with Christians.

. . . We gentiles never had a covenant."

But how reads the Apostle Paul?

And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and

heirs according to the promise.             (Galatians 3:29)

What then of "The promise" above? This is "the same promise" God made to Isaac and Jacob, (see Hebrews 11:9-10). It is a covenanted promise. To talk of covenantless Christianity is to talk nonsense, for it is in Jesus, the seed by whom we say "Father Abraham," that we become the covenanted sons of Abraham.

And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the

heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto

Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed.

So then they which be of faith are of faith are blessed

with faithful Abraham.  Now to Abraham and his seed

were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as

of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

                                                          (Galatians 3:8-9, 16)

Conditionality

If discussions about faith too often seem like theological abstractions not well-connected to reality, maybe it is because such conversations are detached from historical persons in the context of their covenanted relationship with God.

Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he

had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?    (James 2:21)

Much to the chagrin of the once saved, always safe crowd, the Abrahamic Covenant consists of qualified promises to qualified people. Certitudinarians don't want to hear about any if/then conditional constructions, yet Jesus said:

If ye were Abraham's children [then] ye would

do the works of Abraham.             (John 8:39)

One of the best known verses illustrating conditionality is II Chronicles 7:14:

If my people, which are called by my name will humble

themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from

their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will

forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Equally conditional, however, is this verse from II Peter, chapter one:

. . . giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue

knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance

patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly

kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things

be in you, and abound, [then] they make you that ye shall neither

be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Initially Jesus went to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Once, however, that every institution of society had failed Jesus: the Davidic Kingship, the Temple priesthood, the Synagogue, rather than try to reform said synagogue or purify the Levitical priesthood, or reestablish the Davidic kingship, Jesus simply moved on by establishing as his fall back position the believing individual, the sanctified home and the summoned-out community, the latter being his little flock, his Abrahamic band in the wilderness, his ekklesia.

I [Jesus] say unto you, that many shall come from the

east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac

and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children

of the kingdom shall be cast into outer darkness: there

shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 8:11-12)

With these words, Jesus swept aside any claim to an exclusive franchise held by the physical descendants of Abraham.

So far from undermining the foundation on which the Abrahamic Covenant was built, Jesus, instead, expanded out its superstructure by opening up its benefits to all, for, as he said:

If I be lifted up from the earth, will

draw all men unto me. (John 12:32)

Thus did Jesus pronounce an end to an exclusively Jewish Tribal Project. From the first, the Jewish people, as Abraham's physical descendents, were always intended to be the vanguard for the Gospel. They were never intended to be the Superior Race that lords it over everyone else. It is their Chosen People Complex, the ultimate expression of which is Zionism, that has undone them.

Setting the tone for inclusion, Jesus in a parable elevated for purpose of illustration one from a despised ethnic group, a Samaritan, whose compassion for a wounded wayfarer contrasted sharply with that of a Levite who crossed over to the other side of the road.

Such is the East-ness and the West-ness of it all, for the true Israel of God cannot help but witness to the light within others, for, notwithstanding cultural divides or divergent traditions, no one people has a monopoly on neighborliness or pious impulses. It should come as no surprise, therefore, that a universal faith would be founded on universal respect. And yet tribal values remain. Universal does not mean uniform. Unity and diversity coincide.

By helping us to see possibilities where before we had only seen impossibilities, Jesus encourages us to reach out to those of other races and religions and social and economic backgrounds, even the dispossessed called untouchables. thereby throwing wide open to all the doors to redemptive fellowship.

Meanwhile, in deconstructing the narrative of power, in these uncompromising words, Jesus told the Chief priests and the elders:

The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to

a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof. (Matthew 21:43)

So what nation would that be? Well do we know, for it is written:

But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood,

a holy nation, ... which in times past were not a people,

but are now the people of God ...           (I Peter 2:9-10)

Rather than to reform any of the aforementioned institutions: the Synagogue, the Levitical priesthood or the Davidic kingship, Jesus simply moved on. What he moved on to was what Abraham had with God from the beginning, a one-on-one relationship between man and his maker. Thus, in answer to the question, "what nation," it was a spiritual nation, being Abraham's spiritual progeny who have no intermediary, except the man, Christ Jesus. Thus did Jesus renew and extend the Covenant according to its original design both to those living under the Law of Moses and to those not living under the Law of Moses:

Wherefore remember, that ye being in time past Gentiles in

the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called

the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands: that at that time

ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth

of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having

no hope, and without God in the world: but now in Christ Jesus

ye who were sometimes far off are made nigh by the blood of

Christ. For he is our peace who hath made both one, and hath

broken down the middle wall of partition between us; having

abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments

contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one

new man, so making peace; . . . Now therefore ye are no more

strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints, and

of the household of God . . .                        (Ephesians 2:11-15, 19)

    Signs of the Covenant

Previously circumcision had been a sign of the Covenant (see Genesis 17:10-11), so also was the keeping of the Sabbath a sign of the covenant, but once uncircumcised Gentiles had been freely welcomed into the fold, circumcision and Sabbath both ceased to serve their original function as distinguishing tokens, separating those within from those without, which is not to say that the practice of circumcision or Sabbath had been abolished, only that their meaning had been altered to that of making an ethnic distinction.

As we see above, Paul invites those who were "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise" to see themselves instead as having been included.

If only believers would take that which has been so freely offered them and run with it and stop calling "Israel" those who say they are Jews but are not who are the synagogue of Satan, then believers would come into their true inheritance as the Israel of God!

There is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith

and the uncircumcised through faith.          (Romans 3:30)

Once that Jewish tribalism had been subsumed into Christian universalism, then a hopeful message of peace emerged for all and this on the basis of equality.

. . . and they of the circumcision which believed were astonished,

as many as came with Peter, because that on the Gentiles was

also poured out the gift of the Holy Spirit.                (Acts 10:45)

From earliest days to the present, vying for attention have been two extremes. On the one hand are those who asserted that all who would be saved must be circumcised (the position of the circumcision party who so bedeviled Paul):

And certain men which came down from Judea taught

the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after

the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved. (Acts 15:1)

On the other hand, a position long maintained by the Church from the second century on, is that none should be circumcised. Even in the first century there were those promoting this view. When James, the brother of our Lord, brought to Paul's attention a false rumor claiming that Paul was teaching Jews in the dispersion to forsake Moses and forgo the practice of circumcision, Paul quickly acceded to James advice to participate in a purification rite, thereby demonstrating his commitment to the Law. Demonstrating the compatibility of Christian faith and Mosaic observance, James said to Paul:

Thou seest, brother, how many thousands of Jews there

are which believe, and they are all zealous of the law: . . .

                                                                          (Acts 21:21)

Paul was too insightful a person to hang up over mere symbols but he sought for underlying realities. His expressed position regarding circumcision is this:

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything,

nor uncircumcision but a new creature. And as many as

walk by this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon

the Israel of God.                                    (Galatians 6:15-16)

The promises given Abraham were for all people and for all generations with Jesus the guarantor, as well, their fulfillment. Thus, instead of there being a new, replacement Israel, as some suppose the Church to be, there is the same Israel of old, going back to Abraham as well, to Abraham's grandson, Jacob, whom the angel renamed "Israel."

Actually, the angel that struggled with Jacob through the night until daybreak was probably (and some would say, was most certainly) Jesus, who, as the Israel of God, lent to Jacob his own name, a name which means "prince of God," Jesus being that prince. To the same extent that we are in Christ, and he in us, then to the same extent are we, too, the Israel of God.

Those evangelical Christians (which is most of them) who want to exult the present political entity called "the State of Israel," in so doing, substitute bad news for good. In that respect, they make themselves the enemy of the Gospel, for the nasty, racist, Jews-only State is a murderous imposture and abomination.

As was Jacob so also is Jesus' little flock, the Israel of God. Said Jesus:

"Fear not, little flock; it is your father's good pleasure

to give you the kingdom."                        (Luke 12:32)

The kingdom is given to the little flock, who, as the Israel of God, are the children of Abraham. Whereas a church building has a specific location, the little flock, in its ad hoc two-ness and three-ness, lists as the Spirit lists, it goes wherever the Spirit goes and meets wherever Jesus is found:

For where two or three are gathered together in my name

there am I in the midst of them.               (Matthew 18:20)

Presumably Jesus said: "On this rock I will build my church." No matter how many translations report his saying that, in fact he never did. The problem here is a substitution of words. Our word "church" is merely a transliteration of the Greek word, kyriakon, meaning, the Lord's house, but the underlying Greek word is ekklesia. Why is one Greek word translated by another Greek word? Ekklesia is not an edifice, the Lord's house, much less is it an organization or congregation or denomination, but it is a quality of fellowship which is divine.

That which we have seen and heard we declare unto you,

that ye also may have fellowship (koinonia) with us; and

truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son,

Jesus Christ.                                                    (I John 1:3)

That this is Good News does not mean that it is going to go down too well in conventional Christian settings. What it means is that none of the churchly ceremonials, call them "sacraments," if you will, are efficacious. They cannot save. Only Jesus can do that through the Holy Spirit. Moreover, no churchly hierarchy is divinely ordained. Nor is the claim of "apostolic succession" any thing more than a jobs program for out-of-work prelates.

When Jesus said: "follow me," he didn't mean for us to join an organization; rather, he meant for us to be like him. Surely, that is what is needed in today's world, not a cheap imitation, but the real deal, Christ in us, the hope of glory. It is the life of God in the heart of man that makes the difference.

On reflection, given repeated demonstrations of institutional frailty, this is Good News, for we have seen that human organizations are weak reeds on which to place the weight of our eternal well-being.

History amply demonstrates, where one organization predominates, it becomes oppressive; where two exist, they fight each other; where there are three, two of them will gang up on the third. But where there are many, still a problem exists, for how many squabbling sects, mired in parochialism, do we need?

The way of the Nazarene is none of the above; rather, it is holy example founded upon spiritual reality. No hegemonic monolith; Jesus' little flock is the community of the faithful whom God has called out from the world (ek- out, klessia called), whereas the word "church" comes from a completely different Greek word, with a completely different meaning.

All over the world little flocks of Jesus devotedly seek to being righteous in their food and righteous in their drink and righteous in their communications, and, indeed, in all of life's endeavors and in so doing, actively resist the whole panoply of initiatives undertaken by the Zionist New World Order, whether they be such things as core curriculum education, forced vaccination, fluoride, smart (spy) meters, GMO, pesticide laden food, militarism and aggressive war.

Instead of imbibing from dirty cesspools, namely, the presstitute mass media, the ones summoned out from the world seek living waters:

Ho every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that

hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine

and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye

spend money for that which is not bread? and your labor for that

which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that

which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline

your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and

I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure

mercies of David. Behold, I have given him for a witness to the

people, a leader and commander to the people. Behold thou shalt

call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not

thee shall run unto thee because of Jehovah thy God, and for the

Holy One of Israel; for he hath glorified thee.         (Isaiah 55:1-5)

    The operative covenant

It is often claimed in evangelical circles, in their undue haste to be rid of the Abrahamic Covenant, that we are under the New Covenant, which makes all else going before it obsolete. But wait a minute, has anyone bothered to check the language of Jeremiah, chapter 31, to see if that is so? By the Law of First Mention in Scripture a word or concept is defined by its first usage. Therefore, let us see how verse Jeremiah 31:34, reads:

And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every

man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah: for they shall all know

me from the least of them to the greatest of them, saith Jehovah.

Such broad knowledge of God could only be true if all eyes could see Jesus, as in his Millennial reign. Clearly, the New Covenant applies in its fullness, not to current conditions, but, rather, to a better world to come.

This, by the way, is how one ends up with a covenantless Christianity: first, deny the currently operative covenant; then embrace the covenant that is not yet operative; after which, fall in the crack between the two.

There is a strain of evangelical Christianity called "dispensationalism" that goes beyond mere covenantlessness to actively opposing the Covenant. By refracting Scripture through a strange, arcane overlay, they distinguish a multiplicity of dispensations, including a "dispensation of Law" and a "dispensation of Grace":

The Old Covenant . . . holds us in bondage, but the New brings

us into freedom. The Old involves a curse, but the New imparts

a blessing. In the Old man seeks God, but in the New God seeks

man. By the Old man is condemned as a sinner, but by the New

he is delivered from his sin. In the Old God says 'you cannot',

but in the New Christ says 'I can". The Old covenant is really

bad news, but the New Covenant is good News, that is, Gospel.

. . . How wonderful is the contrast: Moses and Christ; Mosaism

and Christianity; Death and Life; on Stone and in the Heart;

Letter and Spirit; condemnation and Righteousness; Passing

and Permanent; face Veiled and Unveiled; Bondage and Freedom;

Transience and Transformation. . . .   there are at least ten

points of contrast between the Old and the New dispensations.

Christianity is not glorified Judaism; it is something entirely new.

There is a fundamental difference between the Law and the Gospel.

           (W. Graham Scroggie, The Unfolding Drama of Redemption,



                Kregel Publications, 1994)

It is not just the Hebrew Scriptures and the Covenant they promote that are to be set aside as being of another dispensation but Jesus' own teachings are also to be set aside.

Many interpreters see the Sermon on the Mount as directly

and primarily applicable to Christians today. To do this,

interpreters depend heavily on the method of spiritualization,

for it is apparent that the laws and regulations found in the

Sermon cannot be directly applied today without producing

insurmountable problems and reproductions.

As Charles Ryrie observes: "But if the laws of the Sermon are

to be obeyed today they could not be taken literally, for as

[George Eldon] Ladd points out, every businessman would go

bankrupt giving to those who ask of him. This is the dilemma

every interpreter faces. If literal, it cannot be for today; if for

today, it cannot be literal. Moreover, a casual reading of the

Sermon reveals that it contains an embarrassing absence of

church truths.

In view of these considerations, the proper conclusion with

regards to the Sermon on the Mount is that the full and non-

modified fulfillment of this portion of 'Matthew is possible

only in relationship to the future institution of the messianic

Kingdom. It is primarily to the nation of Israel as she anticipates

the institution of the kingdom at the millennium. It has no

primary application in the church and should not be so taken.

                              (Paul Lee Tan, The Interpretation of Prophecy)

Here's a fine situation, the Law, presumably, has been annulled, yet Jesus' New Covenant teachings need not be acted upon because the Millennium has yet to arrive. Such is the way of the antinomian, Zionized, dispensationalized Church.

Fundamentalist Christianity's expressed goal is that of getting men out of hell and into heaven. Overlooked is the fact that in between conversion and death there is a life to be lived. Theirs is simply too narrow a perspective on which to build a moral community.

Arguably the most influential systematic theologian of his day, representing the Dispensationalist viewpoint, Lewis Sperry Chafer President of Dallas Theological Seminary, wrote:

The dispensationalist believes throughout the ages God is

pursuing two distinct purposes: one related to the earth with

earthly people and earthly objectives involved, which is to

Judaism; while the other is related to heaven with heavenly

people and heavenly objectives involved, which is Christianity.

There remains to be recognized a heavenly covenant for the

heavenly people, which is also styled like the proceeding one

for Israel the New Covenant. It is made in the blood of Christ

(Mark 14:24) and continues in effect throughout this age,

whereas the new Covenant made with Israel happens to be

future in its application. To suppose that these two covenants

-- one for Israel and one for the church -- are the same is to

assume that there is a latitude of common interest between God's

purpose for Israel and His purpose for the Church.

One would suppose that in order to postulate two New Covenants, one for the Gentiles and one for the Jews, the Dispensationalists would need some kind of biblical confirmation. And, indeed, they conjured up one, or so they think, found in God's promise to Abraham:

I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous

as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore.

                                                                            (Genesis 22:17)

A fine piece of sophistry this is, that the verse above is portrayed as advancing the idea that the Church represents the heavenly, star people, while Israel represents earthly, sand people.

Anyone familiar with the metaphorical way of speaking used in the Bible, will immediate recognize that this is typical Hebraic tautology. They love taking a double bite at the apple, saying the same or similar thing in quick succession. Examples of this abound. But if anyone cares to be disputatious about this, let them read Nehemiah, chapter nine, where the seed of Abraham confess:

Thou art Jehovah the God who did choose Abram, and broughtest

him forth out of Ur of the Chaldees and gavest him the name of

Abraham; and foundest his heart faithful before thee, and madest

are

a covenant with him to give the land . . . to his seed . . . Their

children thou multiplied as the stars of heaven, and broughtest them

into the land promised to their fathers, that they should go in to

possess it.

The answer to the question at hand is not to postulate two New Covenants, a complete novelty if ever there was one; nor is it to postulate two chosen peoples, one Jews who are God's covenanted bride, the other, Gentiles who are, at best, God's concubine. Nor need one postulate multiple dispensations that separate Abraham from his Christian followers by at least two dispensations. These are just a few of the stumbling blocks that Zionist swindlers have thrown up to separate believers from their Abrahamic heritage.

The Children of Abraham are the Israel of God

For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. Nor because

they are his descendants are they all Abraham's children. On the

contrary, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned."

                                                                                    (Romans 9:6-7)

For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit,

or of the will of the flesh, but of God, who boast in Christ Jesus, and

who put no confidence in the flesh.                              (Philippians 3:3)

Let us begin with a housekeeping chore, that of asking the question: are the children of Abraham the same as the children of Israel? A childish question, of course they are one and the same. Nevertheless, it is contested by those desperate to drive a wedge between the physical and spiritual children of Abraham. One text that they have resorted to is Acts 9:15, where Jesus says to Ananias regarding Paul:

Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name

before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel: . . .

Here we see that the expression "children of Israel" refers to non-believing, physical descendants distinguished from "Gentiles." Next these deceitful handlers of Scripture would have us turn to Galatians 3:7, which reads:

Know ye therefore that they which are of the faith,

the same are the children of Abraham.

From the juxtaposing of these two verses, we are suppose to conclude that there are two categories: one, Gentile and Jewish "children of Abraham" and, two, Jewish "children of Israel." This is nonsense because, in point of fact, there are physical and spiritual children of Israel; as well, physical and spiritual children of Abraham. Said Paul at Antioch, Acts 13:24, 26:

When John had first preached before his coming the baptism

of repentance to all the people of Israel.   Men and brethren,

children of the stock of Abraham.

The Zionized dispensationalists make a great point about physical descent, how we must all get behind the racial descendents of Abraham, even if, genetically speaking, they are not Semites and therefore not descended from Abraham, for being Ashkenazi, they are identified as being descended from Japheth:

Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah: Shem, Ham,

and Japheth: . . . The sons of Japheth: Gomer, and Magog, . . .

And the sons of Gomer: Ashkenaz and Riphath . . . (Genesis 10:1-3)

But even if the present day population calling themselves Israelis were descended from Israel, as Paul says above, "not all who are descended from Israel are Israel."

Seek Jehovah, and his strength: seek his face evermore.

Remember his marvelous works that he hath done: his

wonders, and the judgments of his mouth; O ye seed of

Abraham his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen. He

is Jehovah our God: his judgments are in all the earth. He

hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he

commanded to a thousand generations. Which covenant he

made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac; and confirmed

the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting

covenant: saying, Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan,

the lot of your inheritance.                          (Psalm 105:4-11)

The covenental promise regarding the land has not been forgotten but will be fulfilled in due course. Meanwhile, let us seek to occupy the same ground Abraham did, whom God complimented because he faithfully established God's order within his household. And let us pray as Abraham prayed and in due course the land will be restored to its rightful heirs, the Palestinians until Jesus returns a makes a final just settlement.

As well, let us take to heart what John the Baptist said in exhorting those who thought their physical descent from Abraham somehow privileged them:

Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to

say to yourselves that we have Abraham for our father. For I

tell you out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.

                                                                                          (Luke 3:7-8)

Notice above an echo of the threefold refrain heard throughout Scripture:

"the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob."

What does that mean? By interpretation, it means that with each of these men God revealed some new facet of His own character or activity. His fatherly concern is seen in Abraham. Isaac in his obedience to his father, did only that which he saw Abraham do, and in this he was like to God's only begotten son, Jesus. And then there is the struggling grandson, Jacob, renamed Israel. His life is a lesson in the ministry of the Holy Spirit striving with our own spirit.

By his sacrificial death, Jesus provided the surety or down payment on the world to come. Meanwhile, there is a life to be lived in this present world and how to do this is found in the Bible -- all of it. By identifying with Abraham, we affirm the continuity of Scripture, not the fractured fairy tale of discontinuity offered by the Zionized dispensationalists.

.

Not subordinated to any human religion or priesthood, Abraham, at God's behest, pioneered a paradigm shift in humankind's relationship with God, this predicated on the making of personal choices. I term it "God's freedom program," where each individual is given the space to be whom he will be before God. This is God's instruction to those who are of Abraham:

"Look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to

the hole of the pit whence ye are digged. Look unto

Abraham your father."                       (Isaiah 51:1-2)

Three times in Scripture Abraham is referred to as the friend of God:

Art not thou our God who didst drive out the inhabitants

of this land . . . and gave it to the seed of Abraham, thy

friend for ever?                             (II Chronicles 20:7)

When Abraham believed God "it was imputed to him for

righteousness, and he was called the friend of God.

(James 2:23)

Thou Israel art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen,

the seed of Abraham, my Friend.               (Isaiah 41:8)

Yet, for all the just acclaim Abraham received, yet he subordinated himself to another, namely, to the King of Salam, Melchizedek, to whom he gave tithe, the lesser giving to the greater. And who pray tell was the the King of Salem, the King of Peace? Let the reader say!

Meanwhile, if we are truly the children of Abraham, then we need to make the journey that Abraham made. Yet how many actually ever make that journey? I ask people, have you made the journey? but they have no idea what I am talking about. It is as if they were still in Haran or else in Egypt with no intention of departing.

Jesus didn't die just to make men holy; he also died to set men free. As the Physicians of both souls and bodies, he came to treat the whole man, opening the eyes of those born blind, as well, opening darkened minds, releasing humankind from every type of bondage, be it broken hearts or broken bones.   Let the captives go free!

The spirit of Jehovah is upon me, because he hath anointed

me to preach good news to the poor; he hath sent me to heal

the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives,

and recovering sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are

bruised; to preach the acceptable year of Jehovah.  (Luke 4:18)



        Salt and light

As self-respecting human beings in a covenant relationship with God, that being the Abrahamic Covenant, it is our privilege and duty to uphold our end of things, for with a covenanted partnership comes duties and responsibilities, meaning we have to walk the walk, which to their credit many are eager to do.

See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise,

improving the time for the days are evil. (Ephesians 5:15-16)

"Walk circumspectly" (i.e., with respect to all circumstances); "not as fools" (i.e., not fooled by misdirection from the mistaken one); "but as wise," (dove innocent, serpent wise, to paraphrase the Lord); "improving the time" (thus proving ourselves) "for the days are evil" (made so by the god of this world.)

This is no time for hand-folding and star-gazing. We were not called to be the salt of the prayer meeting or the light of the church steeple; rather, our Lord called us to be:

"the salt of the earth" and "the light of the world" (Matthew 5:13, 14)

In the symbolic language of Scripture, salt stands for that which is enduring, for that which is dependable. "A covenant of salt forever," said Jehovah (Numbers 18:19). From this position of enduring integrity, we are to shine forth as beacons of light in a darkened world.

Notice who is suppose to be salt and who light, we who, that's who. But if we are only projecting images of ourselves, we are not light; if we are only trying harder, we are not salt.

We were made to serve God in his presence in the garden of Eden but we were kicked out. We were made in God's image but that glorious image has suffered effacement.

Now what? The key to being made whole is wholesomeness itself, namely, having the image of God restored. This, a work of restoration, may begin in a discrete moment of time, as at the time of our first repenting, but it must continue on from there to branch out as a process of moral transformation. A work of moral transformation can hardly transpire through a heap of ruins, which is about what many of us are when left to our own devices, yet God is mighty to the pulling down of strongholds and faithful to save all who call on Him.

. . . if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus,

and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him

from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man

believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession

is made unto salvation. For the scripture saith, Whosoever

believeth on him shall not be ashamed.     (Romans 10:9-11)

Taking a beachhead is hardly the same thing as wining the war. We have to move inland, otherwise we might possibly find ourselves going backward and being thrown off the beachhead.

The robust redemption Jesus offers is highly reaffirming of the life we now live. A here and now presence, Jesus lives not just in our hearts but, if we will allow it, in our fantasies, our friendships, our finances, indeed, in all areas of our being and existence. He is in us to liberate the whole man: body, soul and spirit, and to radiate out from us to transform culture and society.

In this we are promised help:

"I am going to send you what my father has promised:

but stay in the city until you have been clothed with

power from on high"                                 (Luke 24:49)

Jesus, the master "Tailor," clothes us with the Holy Spirit. He

does not provide us with a "one size fits all" garment. He takes

into consideration all our "measurements" . . . our personality,

our strengths, our weaknesses, our culture, genetic and environmental

factors. We can't all wear identical clothes nor does Jesus baptize

everyone in the holy Spirit in the same fashion.

But you can rest assured of this, He has a purpose and a plan for

your life that takes everything about you into consideration. He

will see that you are properly dressed for the occasion.

                                              (R. Glenn Brown, Pentecost Revisited)

It only makes sense that those who most take to heart God's call end up with the best assignments. Certainly that was true of St. Theresa of Avilla, who wrote:

He desired me so I came close.

No one can near God unless he has

prepared a bed for you.

A thousand souls hear his call every second,

but most everyone who looks into life's mirror and

says, "I am not worthy to leave this

sadness."

When I first heard his courting song, I too

looked at all I had done in my life

and said,

"How can I gaze into His omnipresent eyes?"

I spoke these words with all

my heart,

But then He sang again, a song even sweeter,

and when I tried to shame myself once more from His presence

God showed me His compassion and spoke a divine truth,

I made you, dear, and all I make is perfect,

Please come close, for I

desire

you.

       Man plans, God laughs; man prays, God listens.

And so we see that unbelief, too, has its own logic, namely, that if there is no God, then it falls to us to make up for our own meaning as we go. To that end, the religion of science stands at the ready to help us in the task of becoming gods unto ourselves. But let us ask, how well have the scientists been doing of late in playing God? Are we thrilled by the brave, new world the men in white lab jackets are offering us? Where has cracking the atom or cracking the genome gotten the world? Look Ma, the Pacific Ocean is dying before our very eyes. Look Ma, GMO rat poison in our food.

With the advancement of knowledge, the miracle of modern science, as they say, things should be looking pretty rosy for humanity right about now, when in fact we know that humanity is holding on only by its fingernails, while beneath is the abyss.

Said the late Pete Seeger in an interview in 2006:

Einstein is supposed to have said "Ach, mankind is not ready for it."

Had he known what this invention E = MC squared would bring

about, he might have said, "Well, maybe I should bury this invention."

Who needs world fame? My father was overly optimistic all his life.

I told you he was overly optimistic about communism in the early 30s.

But in his eighties, my father said, "Peter, I can't persuade the scientists

that I know that they have the most dangerous religious belief in the

world." The scientists I am talking to say," Charlie, I don't have a

religious belief. I base my actions on observations -- double-checked

around the world. Then I draw the logical conclusions." "On, no,"

replies my father, "haven't you observed that there are insane power

hungry people all around the world -- people like Hitler? Is it logical

to put in their hands the ability to destroy the human race?" The

scientist replies, "But you are attacking all science! If I didn't

discover these things, somebody else would." And my father replies,

"Yes I suppose if you didn't rape this woman, somebody else would."

And the poor scientist staggers away saying, "You have no right

to ask questions like this." And my father goes after him and says,

"Face it, you think that an infinite increase in empirical information

is a good thing. Can you prove it?" My father turned to me with a

smile and said, "Of course, Peter, if I am right, maybe the committee

that told Galileo to shut up was correct." All you can do is laugh.

Were it only a matter of our executing our own plans, that could be quite laughable, that is if it were not all so sad, but what of God's plan? can we not find out about that and come into agreement with God over it?

         Two Powers / Two Plans

It would be helpful to distinguish God's plans from Satan's, for a knock-down-drag-out battle is underway regarding whose plans will prevail. This battle rages within us. It rages all about us with compassion and integrity, on one side, pitted against oppression and slavery, on the other.

In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the

devil: whosoever does not righteousness is not of God, neither is

he that loves not his brother. For this is the message all of you

heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. Not

as Cain who was of the wicked one, and slew his brother. And

wherefore slew he him? Because his own works were evil, and his

brother's righteous. Marvel not my brethren if the world hate you.

We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love

the brethren. He that loves not his brother abides in death.

                                            (I John 3:10-14)

From diametrically opposed principles come diametrically opposed programs, one, a life-affirming flower, a day lily, as it were, the other, a noxious weed that blooms only in the dark. If only we knew where the battle lines were drawn, we would not inadvertently join with the forces of evil to do battle with the forces of good.

There are opposing trends at work in the world reflecting opposing forces: one centrifugal, one centripetal, centralizing, or decentralizing, each thinking his own thoughts or one thinking for thousands of others. God's program, beginning with Abraham, is to diffuse power broadly to the individual. Dependency is not autonomy; slavery is not freedom.

There is a war on for our minds, the issue being whether we will be conformed in our thinking to the pattern of this world (i.e., "manufactured consent") or else be transformed by the renewing of our minds by the Spirit of God.

      Is God God or is man God?

Ye shall be as gods. (Genesis 3:5)

This, the great controversy, has raged on ever since the Garden of Eden, with God and Satan locked in mortal combat over the issue of who is God.

How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!

how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will

exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit upon the mount of

the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the

heights of the clouds; I will be like the most high. (Isaiah 12:12-14)

        The powers that be think they are God

Who will rise up for me against the evildoers? Or who will stand

up for me against the workers of iniquity?              (Psalm 94:16)

The evildoers, the workers of iniquity are they, call their program "full spectrum dominance," a reference to their growing capacity to project lethal force any where on planet earth on short notice. Is that not another term for omnipotence, for being almighty?

They call their program "total information awareness," because they think they have the right to know everybody's business 24/7 and keep a record of it, too, in their big computer in Utah. Is this not an attempt to be omniscient?

Their program is to develop a pervasive, "all seeing eye," the same eye as found at the top of the pyramid on $1 Federal Reserve notes. It is this eye that never closes, never sleeps, their panopticon eye, peeping everywhere, voyeuristically looking through our clothes at airports, to covertly watching us through TVs and computers, for they strive mightily to know us better than we know ourselves.

They want to be everywhere at once, even in our dishwashers, this according to a former CIA chieftain. Under the octopus emblem, the NROL 39, the U. S. National Reconnaissance Office, brags that "nothing is beyond our reach."   But whether by smart meters attached to the side of our homes or vehicle-mandated GPS units, they seek to be omnipresent, even under our skin, for they want to know us from the inside out by chipping us and thereby being able to monitor our thoughts as well as our actions. They want our DNA. They have our medical records. Have you had a colonoscopy? They know all about it; their nose is up our arse. Wallet sniffers, underwear sniffers, these insufferable busybodies are everywhere, deep into everyone's affairs.

The old civilization claimed that they were founded on love or justice.

Ours is founded on hatred.

The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is

torture. The object of power is power.

Power is in inflicting pain and humiliation. Power is in tearing human

minds to pieces and putting them together again in new shapes of

your own choosing.               (George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four)

All-powerful, all-knowing, everywhere present, no wonder they self-identify as the "Masters of the Universe." Do they think merely in terms of their chosen-ness as qualifying them to rule over the Promised Land? No, they think in terms of the Promised Plant, with everyone and everything subject to them.

Fully realized, their grand plan includes not only monitoring our every emotion and thought in real time but controlling us through some type of chip implant that can over-ride our own thought processes and if that doesn't work, a terminator chip to poison or explode us from within.

        The greatest commandment

The greatest commandment we know is: to love the Lord our God with all heart, mind, soul, and body. And the second commandment is like unto it, which is to love our neighbors as ourselves. To apply this commandment today means that we have to pull ourselves out of the Zionist circle of war. In other words, thou shalt not Jew thy neighbor.

We have to think strategically. The Great Commission is to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature. It is an invitation to think big. When Jesus said "all," who are we to place limits on "all"? Are we not sent into all the world politically, culturally, scientifically, economically?

        Do not execute Satan's program

Let us examine briefly a relatively recent historical event, to wit, the nuking of Nagasaki, Japan, August 9, 1945.

Early that morning the crew (all Christians) of a B-29 Superfortress called Bock's Car, took off from Tinian Island in the South Pacific, this with the prayers and blessing of US Army Air Force chaplains, both Lutheran and Catholic. On board, the first (and so far) only plutonium bomb ever used on a civilian population. The crew had their instructions: on reaching Nagasaki, to lock on visually to St Mary's Catholic Church and make that ground zero.  That morning, at 11:05, they released their deadly load just in time to catch the congregation in the middle of services.   Priests, nuns, choir boys, old people, young people, and the host, the blood and body of Jesus all holocausted together, vaporized. It is estimated that some 10,000 Roman Catholics died that day, some thousands immediately and many thousands more over the next few days in agonizing pain from flash burns and radiation exposure.

Extending this sad tale out to Judgment Day, imagine the crew -- and the chaplains who blessed them -- having to give account for the deeds they did in the flesh. Who taught them to target civilians? Who taught them that mass murder was acceptable?

Would you like to be in their shoes when they try to justify what they were doing that fine August day in 1945, when they blew to kingdom come a Catholic cathedral and exterminated the entire worshipping community within and 75% of those outside? Go ahead, tell it to the Judge.

Regarding their handiwork, we are fortunate to have this eye-witness account by Dr. Takenaka, a surgeon who was working just outside of Nagasaki when it was leveled:

Being only a few miles away, we knew something dreadful had happened

to the city. But when we arrived on the scene itself, I couldn't believe

my eyes. Blazing rubble, littered with bodies burned beyond recognition;

incredible heat, and the stench of scorched flesh made us nauseous.

Horribly burned people, screaming hysterically, twisted and squirmed

uncontrollably in pain, terror, and panic -- pleading pitifully for help.

Many of the irradiated victims were faceless, with only indentations

where eyes, nose, and ears had once been, their skin hanging in folds

from their arms and legs. . . . Even though we were experienced medical

personnel, the scale of devastation shocked us to the point that we were

temporarily immobilized.

. . . we knew we must try to keep going for the sake of the victims.

Most of us worked without rest for 48 hours. . . . We were working

in the Urakami Cathedral section of the burned-out city. As I made

my way slowly through piles of human bodies, I heard what I thought

was the sound of singing. I couldn't believe my ears. Frankly

because I was on the verge of exhaustion, I wondered if I was

beginning to hallucinate, the horrors of this hell being too much for

a human to bear. Suddenly I saw them 20 to 30 people, some critically

burned, sitting in a kind of circle singing and apparently praying.

. . . They seemed like a tiny sea of composure and serenity in what

I will forever remember as a nightmarish sea of horror, destruction,

and pain. "Who are you," I asked, not sure I wasn't going out of

my mind.   The noise of screaming and crying around us was so loud,

I could hardly hear their reply. "Who are you," I shouted again at

the top of my voice. The reply came back, "We are Christians and

we are praying to our God."

Of course I had heard of Jesus Christ, but this was the first time in

my life that I had ever spoken to Christians. For people to have

such inner composure at a time like this jolted me deep down inside

with a strange mixture of fear and awe.   I said to them, "Some of

you are badly burned. Let me do what I can for you." "Thank you

for coming to us doctor, but God is with us and will take care of us.

Please go and help those who need you more. We will be alright."

. . . In the presence of indescribable suffering, their faith in God

never wavered; and they were more concerned with others than

themselves.

Meanwhile, stateside, joy. Robert Oppenheimer, who oversaw the development of the atom bomb, as well, served on the Target Committee, on coming to the podium to congratulate his colleagues, clasped his hands together like a victorious prize fighter. Otto Frisch remembered shouts of joy: "Hiroshima has been destroyed." "Many of my friends were rushing to the telephone to book tables at the La Fonda Hotel in Santa Fe in order to celebrate," he said.

Left to their own devices, the Goyim (Gentiles) would never have thought up anything so heinous, so sinister as targeting a cathedral, the biggest one in all the Orient, that was simply beyond their wildest imagination -- but not so their Jewish overlords.

In point of fact, Americans have never in the last century been left to their own devices; rather, they had been heavily propagandized by every institution of society: the schools, the press, by politicians but especially they were encouraged by the churches to do their patriotic duty and fight the "good war," whether it was WWI or WWII or the Korean War or the Vietnam War or the Iraq War, dozens and dozens of wars, continually all over the world. There is such a thing as is just war and legitimate defense. But the way things have turned out, there have been hundreds of wars, overt and covert, proxy wars and drone wars. This is simply not credible.

Why do we go along? In part, ignorance. We rarely hear about alternatives. Having no idea that we were following Satan's let's-you-and-him-fight program, we have allowed ourselves to be played for fools.

Who knew that once the blood-letting was over, the banking establishment would swoop in to grab up the spoils of war, that to this day it would dominate Japan's banking establishment and Germany's, the latter being achieved by stealing almost all their gold. Once they get their meat hook in and take a people captive, they hang on as long as they can. For instance, 60+ years later, there are 14 US military bases on Okinawa alone, consuming 18% of the islands landmass. Germany too continues some 70 years later to be occupied territory. Of their own volition, the powers-that-be never let go.

But it didn't stop there. Beginning in 1946, America attacked Micronesia which the UN had just gave it as "Trust Territory" and nuked the hell of them. Many were irradiated and had to leave their ancestral homes. Never being indemnified, they yet wander the earth, suffering miscarriages, sterility, birth defects, and cancer and all manner of ill health. The miserable, little, paid-off, Zionist haberdasher in the White House saw to all of that and more. He killed little brown people by he millions and never blinked an eyelash.

    Degradation and destitution.

Meanwhile, with TV, with radio and with video games, they would fill our ears with grasshoppers, while our eyes grow as big as saucers and our brains atrophy to be no larger than a peanut.

To counter this we must learn to cultivate our own sources of information drawn from clean pools, not from the polluted waters: ABC, NBC, CBS, PBS -- etc., etc. ad nauseum, all different flavors but all having the same agenda. Their programs, our programming, or so they would have it but we see through the pretense and the lie.

The most deceiving of all is Public Television. Sophisticates are tripped up by it, for thinking themselves wise, they become fools but common folk see through it.

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness;

but unto us that are saved it is the power of God. For it is written:

I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing

the understanding of the prudent.       (I Corinthians 1:18-19)

If we are made wise with God's wisdom then we will carve out a space beyond the reach of the Zionist foe. The Bible, informed by the Gospel and interpreted by the Holy Spirit, is such a place of refuge but even the Bible, the Zionists would interpret for us (as in the Schofield Bible) if we are not vigilant. Therefore we must be wise to their wiles, for, as has been truly said:

The Bible has been twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools.

What began with an attack our minds has carried over to an attack on our bodies, which the powers-that-be would deaden with empty calories devoid of nutrition, even as they bombard us with poisons to deaden our ability to resist.

Especially insidious is their promotion of water fluoridation, well documented to having the effect of lowering I.Q. in children on average by 7 points. Both the Nazis and the Soviets used it to pacify prison/concentration camp inmates.

Fluoride in our water, excito-toxins in our food (artificial sweeteners), and nano-aluminum in the air (chem-trails), mercury in our vaccinations, GMOs, what is going on? This is deliberate. And the intention is to lessen the masses' will or ability to resist. With the creatively of the power to create, so the power to maim and kill is being employed and this on a truly global scale.

Resistance is futile say the powers-that-be who even now are sharpening their swords against the day of the great culling of the herd when the vast majority of humanity are to be slaughtered without mercy or cause. This is the unholy trinity: the world, the flesh and the devil (see James 3:15) and the Zionists manage to encompass them all.

Let us delight, therefore, in finding new ways to frustrate the Zionists in their evil designs. They would have us dependent on their food. Therefore, grow food, even if only dandelions. Even the growing of food can become a revolutionary act. If we get a few chickens, they will take it amiss, for already they want an accounting for each and every fowl. Let us take the initiative, let us be righteous in our food and in our drink, as well, in our associations and in our sources of information and in our music and are art and our poetry and our lifestyle.

The more dire the situation (and ours as a people is quite dire), the more rational the response becomes to simply get down on one's hands and one's knees and implore the help of heaven, for where else is help supposed to come from, from Obongo? But then what? Rising off our knees, as if from a death bed conversion, let us get on with life, let us get on with doing the work we ought to do, that God would have us do, thereby converting dying faith into living faith. But for this we need a plan and a purpose.

A burglar breaks into your house, you retreat to your bedroom and

the burglar kicks in your bedroom door. You hide under the bed and

the burglar overturns your bed. Then you run into the closet and you

realize at that moment that you have run out of places to hide and you

must fight the burglar or die. This is where America is today. ... we

are out of places to hide. And there is even a more sobering reality,

American parents have lost the ability to protect their children. . . .

The ultimate benefactors, or victims, of our collective action, or

inaction, are our children.               (David Hodges, January 3, 2014)

One of the dirtiest of tricks of the powers that be is to alienate people from the land:

Kicking peasants off their land

Will we fight back? or have we lost the will to resist? Will we be subsumed into the collective or, like Joshua, will we take the battle into the enemy camp? Many, when they find out how rapacious and evil Satan is, become petrified by fear and can do nothing, while others prepare themselves in defense of their families, neighbors, and friends to fight Satan in the streets, to fight Satan from the roof tops, to fight Satan wherever found, for:

The weapons of our warfare are not carnal but

mighty to the pulling down of strongholds.

    Masters of War

The "clash of civilizations," as any competent student of history knows, did not start with the recent, so-called "war on terror" but multiple clashes of civilizations (multiple tragedies) have occurred in recent centuries, all of which were equally contrived by Zionist Banking interests. (This is true wherever one looks, opium forced on China, famine forced on India, African colonialism, the subjugation of the Indonesian archipelago, etc., all of which was done in the name of helping the poor, primitive people, but, in reality, to steal all their resources.) That's their program and from it they have enriched themselves immensely, even as they consolidate their control over the world.

Where, historically, Catholicism has displayed a weakness for collusion with Caesar, English Calvinism, going back to 1645, the time of Cromwell and his vile Protectorate, has displayed a peculiar weakness for cooperating with the Jewish banking establishment. This peculiar proclivity has been passed on to much of the English-speaking world, particularly to the five eyes: Canada, New Zealand, Australia, the US and the UK. It is why in America, many Christian parents have willingly offered up their children on the altar of Moloch to fight the State of Israel's wars.

According to evangelical Christian and University of Virginia professor

of religion Charles Marsh, "The war sermons rallied the evangelical

congregations behind the invasion of Iraq," with an astounding 87%

of all white evangelical Christians in the United States supporting the

President's decision in April 2003 -- and almost three years later 68%

of white evangelical Christians continue[d] to support the war.

   ("Wayward Christian Soldiers," The New York Times, Jan. 20, 2006)

Armed with weapons of mass deception, the evangelical churches carpet bombed their congregations with war propaganda and in that way, by the shaping of public opinion, played an essential role in getting America to attack Iraq in 2003. They have blood on their hands. Albeit inadvertently, albeit in ignorance, the Zionized churches to this day continue to help the Banker Jews achieve their long-term objective, that of wiping off the map the ancient Christian communities of the Middle East. For confirmation, please see:

The Damascus Papers

This is the mark of Cain, that his brother Abel's blood called forth to him from the earth, yet he acknowledged it not, nor felt guilt nor shame, for, Cain's conscience had been seared as if with a hot iron.

    The god of this world hath blinded them which believe not. (II Corinthians 4:4)

Where stand the churches regarding the great controversy between God and Satan? Oddly enough, they are often nowhere to be found. AWOL. That is because (and this is not generally understood) the Gospel has ramifications economic, political, social, educational, and environmental (just as does Satan's program) but the churches generally do not want to acknowledge this.

We should be asking: what is our individual mission from God by which we can leave the world a better place for our having lived in it? Forget there being pat answers; this has to be determined individually, usually with much deep soul searching.

Jesus said unless our righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the Pharisees, we shall not find the kingdom of God. This was not a call to be more punctilious than were the Pharisees but to act from motives of compassion.

Those who narrowly define their task as that of getting people out of hell and into heaven, often avoid the question: How ought we to live? There is, after all, a life to be lived between conversion and death. Some who think the ultimate destination so important that that they will focus on that and nothing else, need to recognize that the journey determines the destination. The Eternal Security doctrine as promoted by the "once saved, always safe" crowd, is an attempt to establish a discrete moment in time that would settle once and for all their eternal destiny, yet self-justification negates repentance. Their position, too easily parodied as "once in grace, always in grace, no matter how much a disgrace," is a surefire recipe for spiritual dry rot.   Instead of halo-polishing, let try something that actually works:

Then they that feared Jehovah spake often one to another:

and Jehovah harkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance

was written before him for them that feared Jehovah, and

that though upon his name.                            (Malachi 3:3:1)

When not actively agitating for war, or drumming up support for a political entity which defines itself as the Jews-only State, the churches in America have largely marginalized themselves.

Along with their imperialistic theological world view, many

Christian worshippers place a related emphasis on personal

salvation that encourages detachment from human rights, social

justice, and "peace on earth, goodwill toward men." A self-

centered gospel of personal salvation, and related evangelical

imperialism . . . prevents many Christian worshipers from practicing

one of Jesus' greatest teachings: "Love your neighbor as yourself."

The baby in a manger still holds the key to "Peace on earth, good

will toward men." Not his assumed divinity . . . but his humanity.

(William E. Alberts)

"Blessed is the peacemaker."

Those truly spiritual, said Paul:

. . . have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking

in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by

manifestations of the truth commending ourselves to every man's

conscience in the light of God.                       (II Corinthians 4:2)

Conversely, Satan's cunning moneymen have shamelessly tilted the economic playing field in favor of their own advancement. Beggar thy neighbor is their approach. First they expand the money supply, then they contract it, until much of society is caught in their debt trap and enslaved. High-functioning psychopaths, they get a perverse kind of pleasure in putting it over on the rest of society, to send a thrill up their legs, to mack them. Operating with an exaggerated sense of their own self-worth, they think that they themselves are God. By their supposed exceptionalism, they except themselves from all the rules of society to which the rest of us are subject. Deluded, they dispense with all that is truly godly.

Contrasting God's plan, namely, the Gospel, with Satan's plan can be quite instructive. Never intended for public display, the Satanic master program entered the public domain over 100 years ago. One can see how the modern world has been shaped by its dictates ever since:

The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion

Beginning December 23, 1913, the Zionist cabal took control of the US's money supply, after which gold-based constitutional dollars were replaced with their own fiat money, that is, with Federal Reserve Notes. This they create out of thin air and then loan at interest to the U.S. Treasury. Having never been audited, they can and do counterfeit to their hearts' content.

Once they got control of the $$$, then it was off to the races, as they corrupted every institution of society: the courts, the schools, the press, TV, Hollywood, the organs of intelligence, the CIA. They have the best Congress money can buy. What TV program do you watch? Your program is their programming.

Especially under their thumb are the benighted churches, whose theologies are determined for them, also, their leadership, this by the granting or withholding of air time on radio and TV, the oxygen of publicity. Often, the powers that be choose absolute buffoons (Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, for example) who have greatness thrust upon them, probably just to make a laughing stock of the Christian faith.

Now what? What indeed! We are disgraced. We are ruined. How can we even hold our heads up or face another day? for every institution of society has been corrupted. Everything the powers that be choose to touch, they turn to dross. The center will not hold. The best of men are rogues, the worst, heartless, lying monsters. Folk go about there business as if all were normal, while the last opportunity to do something constructive is being frittered away.

While waiting for the axe to fall and for doom to descend, let us give our children an extra kiss at bedtime on account of the terrible legacy we are leaving them:

"Look at the world today, is there anything more pitiable?

What madness there is, what blindness,

what unintelligent leadership!

A scurrying mass of bewildered humanity,

crashing headlong against each other

propelled by an orgy of greed and brutality.

The time must come my friend

when this orgy must spend itself,

when brutality and the lust for power

must perish by its own sword.

For when that day comes,

the world must look for a new life,

a way of life based on one simple rule, BE KIND.

Yes, my son, when the strong have devoured each other,

the Christian ethic may at last be fulfilled

and the meek shall inherit the earth."

(Father Perrault, Lost Horizons)

Immediate prospect ahead are doleful. Attribute this to man's inhumanity to man; also, to cruelty toward the animal kingdom, especially domestic animals, and finally to gross disregard for the natural environment, especially through genetic pollution (Frankenstein GMO food) also, for cracking the atom (nuclear power), an unimaginably stupid way to go about boiling water. Somehow, the powers-that-be, in trying to play God, manage to screw up everything they touch.

It is a sick bird which fouls its own nest and, in our case, possibly a terminal illness if vast reforms aren't enacted, for humanity is on the cusp of a self-made extinction event, whether because of Fukushima or because of nuclear war, when spent nuclear fuel pools all across the globe go critical, thereby initiating multiple Fukushimas.

In such times as these, one needn't have a particularly spiritual disposition to realize that soon enough our number will be up, that Judgment Day is at hand. Even theologians, the class of people often least likely to know what the score is, are able to look over the sides of their ivory towers and, through their rose-tinted glasses, see chaos, injustice and bloodshed occurring in the streets below.

       Adam and Eve

To understand better how things came to this present low estate, let us review how it all began, beginning with Adam and Eve and the Fall.

Let us demythologize: Adam was no Johnny Weissmuller, a 6 foot Aryan with blue eyes. Rather, he stood about 4 foot nine inches, give or take an inch or two either way. He had dark skin, peppercorn hair and weighed less than a hundred pounds. Eve stood about 4'6" tall. In point of fact, they were Negrito pygmies, the earliest human stock as anthropologists acknowledge and only race prejudice could keep us from seeing. Later races came along largely through out-breeding with non-Homo Sapiens, namely, Neanderthals or Denisovans.

Negrito first peoples

So there was Adam and Eve rejoicing in the garden of Eden, enjoying its beauty, rejoicing in their communion with God, except then something bad happened, a tragic fall from grace, for in the midst of the garden grew a tree from which they were forbidden to eat, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, yet from it they did eat and suffered dire consequences.

So what kind of tree was this, this "knowledge of good and evil" tree? A Hebraic expression, its rough English equivalent is "matters great and small," a shorthand way of grouping together all classes of knowledge by mentioning the extremes but not neglecting to take into account everything in between.

As Scripture reads, "it was a tree to be desired to make one wise." Satan, being in conversation with Eve about the tree to make one wise, assured her regarding the consuming of its fruit, that "surely thou shall not die." However, once Adam's and Eve's eyes were opened to the possibilities that knowledge offered them (for knowledge is power), once they tasted of this forbidden fruit, then they were subverted, wanting what Satan wanted, i.e., to be gods unto themselves.

We are not told specifically what kind of knowledge Adam and Eve connected with initially, only that, in the metaphorical language of Scripture, the serpent spoke to Eve out of the tree. Speaking only for myself, I can picture Satan falling as a lightning bolt from the sky, slithering down the tree, setting afire the grass at its base. Perhaps already knowing the utility of fire to accomplish many tasks, such as the searing of plants and flesh, rendering them edible, Eve urged Adam to harness the fire. Scripture reads that Eve knew that this "tree was good for food and pleasant to the eye." And who among us hasn't known the charm of a campfire or the sweet, savory smell of food cooking on an open hearth?

Maybe humankind's technological leap forward did not begin so much with tool making as it did with the control of fire. Besides expanding the range of items that are edible, fire is good for much else. For instance, by brandishing a burning stick, one can ward off wild animals and with fire one can burn off the underbrush and thereby refashion the environment. With fire metal tools can be forged. In retrospect, maybe it was too much. Maybe fire gave man too much advantage over the rest of creation. Thus it was that our first human ancestors went from being naked apes having the sympathy of all other creatures, to becoming fearsome, rapacious destroyers of worlds.

Wherefore, as by one man sin entered the world, and death by sin; and

so death passed upon all men; for that all have sinned.     (Romans 5:2)

If the first bite from the apple was fire, then where is the mastery of fire leading us? We have the promise of God that the world will not again be destroyed by water. But what of fire? In a literal, physical sense, death could pass upon all of humankind through the fire of a nuclear holocaust.

The harnessing of fire represented a quantum leap in technological prowess, nevertheless, one which native peoples the world over seemed able to cope with, living constructively with fire for thousands of years in balance with nature, such that when Europeans first came to the North American continent, they found an abundance of life: the streams being full of fish; the fields and forests being full of game; the skies being full of birds and this was not just by chance, for Native Americans had cultivated their surroundings, wisely employing practices enhancing what the natural world had provided them. Fire per se was not the problem but it became a problem once it fell into the hands of those with wrong intentions.

Indian[s] had learned to live in a snug cone-shaped shelter, large enough

to allow comfort, small enough to be kept warm by a small fire.

What the Indians had discovered over the thousands of years, while

Europeans experimented with agriculture, was that the land, if one

knew how to use it, would easily support a small population. Locating,

harvesting and preserving fruits, seeds, herbs, trees, bark, leaves,

and mushrooms constituted a virtual botanical science -- and one that

had to be mastered by each Indian family. Modern botanists have

discovered at least 200 natural growing products used by the Indians

of this [Spokane, WA] area.

Soapberries, for example, are bitter, but placed in a bowel with a few

wild strawberries for sweetening and whipped, they became a tasty

pink froth called "Indian ice cream" that was served to guests.

A tea made from the same bush was used as a medicine for an upset

stomach. The leaves, when boiled, produced a popular shampoo.

Gathering these products through the year was pleasant and varied

employment. In early spring when the snow was gone an Indian village

of several hundred people would dismantle its winter camp (which was

usually near a river) and divide up into small family groups.

Each would go into its own traditional fields to begin the harvest of

the spring plants.

The whole tribe, and often members from other tribes, would gather

again in June by the river to fish for salmon.

Spawning salmon once swam all the way to the Spokane falls, and

catching them there with spears and nets, then cleaning and drying

them for storage, was a major industry that employed hundreds, all

taking orders from a "salmon chief."

When the salmon season was over the Indians would strike their

tents and move to the damp meadows to gather camas, a root that

was baked and eaten as bread. When autumn came the Indian once

again scattered in smaller groups to go to the hills to pick berries.

Families went to the same gullies and clearings year after year

and so took care of them as they would their own farms. They

never over-harvested and they employed many techniques for

keeping the bushes productive -- they knew for example, that

breaking a huckleberry stem at just the right place would make

two berries grow instead of one the next season.

In the fall and winter the men hunted deer, bear, and other game.

On the whole, the common-rank Spokane Indian of say, 1500 A.D.

was in all probability safer, healthier, and better fed than his

European counterpart.                       (Spokane, William Stimson)

The machine in the garden, tearing all asunder, is a consequence of the modern, media / military / industrial / pharmaceutical complex controlled by high finance. It is this in combination with dark Satanic mills which has allowed a small group of elitist money lenders to close in on their objective, their much coveted "new world order," their "novus ordo seculorum," overseen by their all-seeing eye as depicted on the back of their $1 bills. To realize their ambition, they have fomented war after war, which wars have repeatedly brought humanity to the brink of extinction.

       The Way Out

This is the Good News Jesus gave the repentant thief on the cross:

"Amen, I say to thee to-day that with me thou shalt be in the Garden of Eden."

Along with Christianity, many other religions recognize a previous state of bliss, also a future state of bliss, for if in no other way, then instinctively people the world over know that a place of reward exists for the righteous, that only the deserving will gain entrance: Native Americans have their happy hunting grounds; the Persians, Paradise; the Greeks, their Elysian fields; the Norsemen their Valhalla, and so on.

"You must go in by the narrow gate."

What we have postulated is paradise behind us and paradise ahead but a difficult passage in between, needing to be negotiated with great care. That is the thrust of the discussion following, finding a way through. It is a double message, one part of which is latching on to someone bigger than ourselves and the other part is ourselves becoming bigger people.

To the child inside all of us, the real terror is that there will be no

Christmas.   The real terror is that our lives are worthless and

meaningless, and that all we have done in this life will not be understood,

appreciated or forgiven by anyone.

This Christmas I think of those with whom communication is no longer

possible, because they have passed on to the happy hunting ground, and

all the things I wish I could have said to them before they disappeared

permanently . . .

I think the way we talk to children is the way we should talk to everyone,

to make everything sunshine clear and simple.

What we're all about is feeling wanted. But like children who are deprived

of Christmas, when the presents never arrive, it builds up calluses on our

hearts, and we hide that pain of deprivation because we never want to feel

it again.

Too many children see their parents disappear forever and wonder what

their lives are all about if someone who is your whole world is suddenly

gone, not necessarily dead, but just suddenly not there. Is . . . life just

another TV show, to be cancelled on a whim, or on a random compulsion

that someone who said they loved you suddenly doesn't?

Of course, this is why people get religious, finding someone or thing that

[maybe] isn't real but won't disappear.

We don't realize how close we are to disaster, to bankruptcy, to starvation,

to extinction, but this is one day when things like this are not talked about.

The conversation this day is more about mice pie and fireplaces. The other

stuff if you are lucky can wait until tomorrow.

If you're not lucky, well, those are people who are wondering alongside

the road this day, stomachs growling, tears stifled back in novocaine

numbness while wondering what the bleak future holds for them , trying

to find a warm place to light a match or sip some soup.

They walk past houses where muffled melodies of Christmas carols

and savory smells of sumptuous meals waft across frozen driveways

and into slushy streets, walking somewhere, they don't really know

where, just somewhere where they maybe can forget for a while the

things that they don't have, and might never get. Their toes get very

cold.

The real secret is finding someone who needs a Christmas and giving

it to them, unexpectedly and without strings.

There is this old phrase -- the gift returns to the giver always. That's

how you get out of the spiral of despair, and feeling worthless.

(John Kamininski)

        Empowerment

This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith.

      (I John 5:4)

The writer of a devotional book I read more than forty years ago --

a book whose author and title I have forgotten -- made an interesting

point about the Holy Spirit. The writer described the Spirit, in a

phrase I have not forgotten, as "the humblest person in the Godhead."

(Norman Pittenger, The Lure of Divine Love)

Regarding the work at Azusa Street, it was started by William Joseph Seymour, a one-eyed, colored man, the son of former slaves.

Some dozen others, also of humble attainments, means, and origins, some white, some black, joined with brother Seymour, April 7th, 1906, in a 10-day fast at the home of Richard and Ruth Asberry, 214 North Bonnie Brae St.

On the third day, April 9th, the Spirit fell first on one of their group, then on six. On the 12th, after praying unceasingly through the night, the Spirit fell on brother Seymour. As a neighbor who witnessed these events reported:

They shouted three days and three nights. It was Easter season.

The people came from everywhere. By the next morning there was

no way of getting near the house. As people came in they would fall

under God's power; and the whole city was stirred. They shouted

until the foundation of the house gave way, but no one was hurt.

On April 14th the first meeting was held at 312 Azusa St. For the princely sum of $8 a month, they were able to secure a 40' x 60', two-story, flat roofed structure located in Los Angeles' ghetto district. It was in bad need of repair, having previously been used to stable horses. Nevertheless, boards were placed on empty nail kegs to make for benches and with horseflies yet rising from bare earth floors to annoy visitors, the meetings began and what meetings they were!

On April 17th, the Los Angeles Daily Times sent a reporter whose story the next day was prominently headlined on the front page:

WEIRD BABBLE OF TONGUES.

The subtitle was: New Sect of Fanatics Is Breaking Loose.

An observer more sympathetic than the LA Times described the order of services in this way:

No instruments of music are used. None are needed. No choir . . .

No collections are taken. No bills have been posted to advertise

the meetings. No church organization is back of it. All who are in

touch with God realize as soon as they enter the meetings that the

Holy Ghost is the leader.

For one three-year stretch, services were conducted seven days a week, three times a day, with people from all over the world attending. The lost were saved, the sick were healed, and those who were demonized were delivered.

As one early participant, Frank Bartleman, wrote:

There was much persecution, especially from the press. They wrote us

up shamefully, but this only drew the crowds. Some gave the work only

six months to live. Soon the meetings were running day and night.

I never met a man [as Brother Seymour] who had such control over his

spirit. The scripture that reads, "Great peace have they that love thy

law, and nothing shall offend them," was literally fulfilled in this man.

No amount of confusion and accusation seemed to distract him. He

would sit behind that packing case [which constituted the pulpit] and

smile at us until we were all condemned by our own activities. It was

the wonderful character of this man whom God had chosen that attracted

the people to keep coming to this humble meeting.

The "color line" was washed away in the blood. A. S. Worrell, translator

of the New Testament, declared the "Azusa" work had rediscovered

the blood of Christ to the church at that time.

Friday, June 15, at 'Azusa,' the Spirit dropped the heavenly chorus' into

my soul. I found myself suddenly joining the rest who had received this

supernatural 'gift.' It was a spontaneous manifestation and rapture

no earthly tongue can describe. In the beginning this manifestation was

wonderfully pure and powerful. We feared to try to reproduce it, as with

the 'tongues' also. Now many seemingly have no hesitation in imitating

all of the 'gifts.' They have largely lost their power and influence because

of this. No one could understand this 'gift of song' but those who had it.

It was indeed a 'new song,' in the Spirit. . . . It was a gift from God of

high order, and appeared among us soon after 'Azusa' began. No one

had preached it. . . The effect was wonderful on the people. It brought

a heavenly atmosphere, as though the angels themselves were present

and joining with us. And possibly they were. It seemed to still criticism

and opposition, and was hard even for wicked men to gainsay or ridicule.

Brother Seymour was recognized as the nominal leader in charge. But

we had no pope or hierarchy. We were "brethren." We had no human

program. The Lord Himself was leading. We had no priest class or priest

craft. These things have come in later, with the apostatizing of the

movement. We did not even have a platform or pulpit in the beginning.

All were on a level. The ministers were servants, according to the true

meaning of the word.

Brother Seymour generally sat behind two empty shoe boxes, one on

top of the other. He usually kept his head inside the top one during the

meeting, in prayer. There was no pride there. The services ran almost

continuously. The place was never closed or empty. Seeking souls could

be found under the power all most any hour, night and day. The people

came to meet God. He was always there. Hence a continuous meeting.

The meeting did not depend on the human leader. God's presence became

more and more wonderful. In that old building, with its low rafters and

bare floors, God took strong men and women to pieces, and put them

together again, for His glory. It was a tremendous overhauling process.

Pride and self-assertion, self-importance and self-esteem, could not

survive there. The religious ego preached its own funeral sermon quickly.

No subjects or sermons were announced ahead of time, and no special

speakers for such an hour. No one knew what might be coming, what

God would do. All was spontaneous, ordered of the Spirit. We wanted

to hear from God, through whoever he might speak. We had no "respect

of persons." The rich and educated were the same as the poor and

ignorant, and found a much harder death to die. We only recognized

God. All were equal. No flesh might glory in His presence. He could

not use the self-opinionated. Those were Holy Ghost meetings, led of

the Lord. It had to start in poor surroundings, to keep out the selfish,

human element.

Presumptuous men would sometimes come among us. Especially

preachers who would try to spread themselves, in self-opinionation.

But their effort was short lived. The breath would be taken from them.

Their minds would wander, their brains reel. Things would turn black

before their eyes. They could not go on. I never saw one get by with

it in those days. They were up against God. No one cut them off. We

simply prayed. The Holy Spirit did the rest. We wanted the Spirit to

control. He wound them up in short order. They were carried out dead,

spiritually speaking. They generally bit the dust in humility, going through

the process we had all gone through. In other words they died out, came

to see themselves in all their weakness, then in childlike humility and

confession were taken up of God, transformed through the mighty

'baptism' in the Spirit. The old man died with all his pride, arrogancy

and good works.

No only was the leadership of Azusa Street Mission multi-racial from the get-go but, horror of horrors, equality of the genders was also observed. Seymour's one-time teacher and mentor, Charles Parham, after personally witnessing this state of affairs, stated:

Men and women, whites and blacks, knelt together or fell across one

another; frequently a white woman, perhaps of wealth and culture,

could be seen thrown back in the arms of a "big nigger" and held

tightly thus as she shivered and shook in freak imitation of Pentecost.

Horrible, awful shame.

From such criticism as this, Seymour further developed his understanding:

During the first years at Azusa Street, he [Seymour] had put central

emphasis on the gift of tongues both as the clearest evidence of baptism

in the Spirit and as a harbinger of the Last Days. But now he began

to change his mind. Finding that some people could speak in tongues

and continue to abhor their Black fellow Christians convinced him that

it was not tongues speaking but the dissolution of racial barriers that was

the surest sign of the Spirit's Pentecostal presence and the approaching

New Jerusalem.       (Fire from Heaven, Harvey Cox)

Perpetuating the racial divide, in 1914 the Assemblies of God was formed to be a whites-only denomination. Nothing new there, for just as Pentecostalism is a pale reflection of what was happening at Azusa Street, so also is Catholicism and mainline Protestantism pale reflections of the first Pentecost, and, for that matter, so also is Judaism a pale reflection of Abraham and Moses. As they say in the US Navy, the Lord sends meat and the Devil sends cooks. Same principle. The Good News is what God is doing with people. The not so good news is what people are doing with God.

Superficiality or reality?

We are living in the midst of a culture in the Church that has traded depth

for width in regards to spirituality. We have defined "success" as the

number of people who attend our services on Sunday, and the amount of

money in our bank accounts, while our individual lives, marriages and

families are deteriorating all around us. A. W. Tozer's quote in Knowledge

of the Holy, which was written 60 years ago, still rings true today: "We

have lost our spirit of worship and our ability to withdraw inwardly to

meet God in adoring silence."

Modern Christianity is simply not producing the kind of Christian who

can appreciate or experience the life in the Spirit. The words, "Be still

and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10a), mean next to nothing to the

self-confident, bustling worshiper.    (Mick Bickle, forward to The Glory

           Within: The Interior Life and the Power of Speaking in Tongues)

      Prophecy

The prophets have enquired and searched diligently, who prophesied

of the grace that should come unto you: searching what or what

manner of time which the Spirit of Christ in them did signify, when it

testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should

follow. Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but

unto us they did minister, . . . which things angels desire to look into.

(I Peter 1:10-12)

This is a delightful subject, not tedious, not censorious. not obscure, rather, one which angels desire to look into, yet practical enough to give us useful guidance. I promise, this is a wonderful adventure of discovery, full of happy surprises, for:

. . . the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the

heathen through faith, preached the gospel before unto

Abraham, saying, In thee shall all the nations be blessed.

                                   (Galatians 3:8)

Jesus, the universal messiah, blesses all mankind. But how? Let us start with his teachings, looking there for practical pointers which will improve our relationships with family, friends, neighbors and, if we are so fortunate, with those with whom we are living in face-to-face community, even as they once did in Jerusalem in the days of the apostles, when they "had all things in common." Theirs was a way of life all primitive people once lived, practicing a communal existence.

From peasants who live close to the land and from First Nation peoples whose ancient lore and traditions developed over eons, we can learn many of the very things Jesus would have us to know.

The ultimate goal is the restoration of Eden, an ordering of the world pleasing to God, a peaceable kingdom, where the lamb can lie down with the lion, this to be realized in its fullness of time on Jesus' return, when the meek shall inherit the earth, after which each family will live at peace under its own fig tree. But the process of restoration begins now in our hearts, which then carries over to our relationships and into our way of life. Thus can we testify to the truth of Jesus' words until such time as he returns in force.

The history of the last 2000 years is writ large for all to see, that the CHURCH AND THE SYNAGOGUE HAVE MADE A TERRIBLE HASH OF THINGS.

It's not that there hasn't been some bright moments and some bright personalities, a Francis of Assisi, a Mother Teresa, but much has happened which is hard, nay, impossible to defend. It is late in the day to be redefining what Christianity is or attempting to restore it to a better state, yet the obligation remains to point out that to the extent that it has succumbed to the Zionists, to the same extent has it placed itself on a superhighway leading deeper and deeper into night. As for ourselves, on the individual level, let us turn around from destruction.   The challenge this web site accepts is to set the record straight, as straight as the Gospel itself, by pointing out that a better way exists, albeit it is a road seldom travelled, over a bridge rarely crossed, to vistas not often seen.

       The Cosmic Christ

As we see in the biblical verses above, in the Law and the Prophets, Jesus was once concealed but now in the Gospels he stands fully revealed. That the Gospel could be preached beforehand is because, as "the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world" (Revelation 13:8), Jesus was beforehand redeeming the world. Let us not suppose, therefore, that the Gospel originated with Matthew or Mark, for long before their time the Gospel was revealed, albeit seminally, in seed form.

Just as it is possible sometimes that a child will learn to walk before it learns to crawl, so also is it possible for us to leap over the former writings and go straight to the Gospel. But when a child learns to walk before it crawls, there can be a deficit in its walk which learning to crawl can remedy. Likewise, it will often pay us rich dividends to go back to the former writings as preparation to the study and application of the latter writings.

In Genesis, 3:15 is the first prophecy of Jesus made with promise but prior to that there is genesis, a word whose meaning is "beginning":

"In the beginning . . . all things were made by him [Jesus]" (John 1:1,3)

How can there be a work of restoration if there wasn't something in the first place worth restoring? But of course there was something worth restoring, namely God's Creation in its primitive, pristine glory. By reason of the fall, the visage of the world has suffered effacement. This, however, does not negate Jehovah God's original pronouncement that what He created is "good." There is Good News inherent in the very scheme of things underlying the fabric of existence.

Proverbs, chapter 8, provides us with an authoritative, firsthand elaboration of Genesis:, chapter 1:

Jehovah possessed me in the beginning of his way,

before his works of old.

I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning,

or ever the earth was.

When there was no depths, I was brought forth;

when there were no fountains abounding with water.

Before the mountains were settled,

before the hills I was brought forth:

while as yet he had not made the earth,

nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world.

When he prepared the heavens, I was there:

when he set a compass on the face of the depth:

when he established the clouds above:

when he strengthened the fountains in the deep:

when he gave to the sea his degree,

that the waters should not pass his commandment:

when he appointed the foundations of the earth:

then I was by him, as one brought up with him:

and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him;

rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth;

and my delights were the sons of men.

This is Good News, indeed! Jesus was with God from the beginning, delighting in the sons of man when they were yet living in the Edenic state and in balance with God's creation.

"Before Abraham was I am." (John 8:58)

If Jesus pre-existed Abraham, then he also pre-existed Jews, Judea, and the tribe of Judah. That he was the Jewish Messiah is true enough, only to stop there is limiting or parochial. He was also a carpenter or a mammalian but who in their right mind would stop there in characterizing who he was? Personified as the Wisdom of God, Jesus speaks to us, saying:

"Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children:

for blessed are they that keep my ways.

Here instruction and be wise, and refuse it not.

blessed is the man that heareth me,

watching daily at my gates,

waiting at the posts of my doors.

For whoso findeth me findeth life,

and shall obtain favor of Jehovah.

But he that sinneth against me

wrongeth his own soul:

all they that hate me love death."

Please note in the quotes above from Proverbs, besides there being a "he" and a "him," there is also the narrator's "I" and "me." If Jesus is the "I," who then is the "he"? The text itself at its outset plainly tells us: "Jehovah." And thus we see existing two distinct individuals, with one subordinate to the other. Jesus is not Jehovah. Jehovah is not Jesus. Though they share the same moral and spiritual constitution, they are still two distinct individuals.

If above Jesus is the one "brought forth," does this not accords with all else we know about him, that he is not God? Rather:

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

                       (Colossians 1:15-16)

As a flawless mirror held up to God, Jesus perfectly reflects the light of God. Since the image of an object is not the object itself, it stands to reason that the only-begotten son is someone other than the unbegotten father.

"Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God." (I Corinthians 1:24)

Having godly attributes and being God are two different things. Thus when Jesus prayed, he prayed to God, the Father, he didn't pray to himself and, likewise, he taught us to pray, not to himself but to the Father. Yes, we also speak to Jesus, our living Lord, even as in the closing words of the Book of Revelation:

"Come Lord Jesus, Come."

But what of the familiar translation opening John's Gospel?:

"the word was with God and the word was God?"

That might be better translated,

"the Word was with God and the word was divine."

As Christians we have a threefold experience God, even as Paul said:

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the

communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. (2 Corinthians 13:14)

God manifests as transcendent, that is to say, He is above creation, but also as immanent, that is in creation. If God were only above Creation, then He would be remote from us but He is in us, even as Tertullian said:

"When you see your brother, you see your Lord."

As Geoffrey Lampe put it in his book God as Spirit:

Those who talk of meting and speaking to Jesus would find it hard

to explain the difference between that experience and encountering,

or being encountered by, God: and in fact I think the latter is what

they actually mean: they are experiencing God who was in Jesus,

God who is, therefore, recognized by reference to the revelatory

experience recorded in the New Testament and reflected upon in

the whole subsequent Christian tradition.

Yet to more fully appreciate the action of God, it helps to see Him not only acting upon His Creation, or or within His Creation, but alongside His Creation, involved in every creative event, for the Spirit is active not only in the Christian life but in all of history and in the natural order. As Norman Piuttenger put it in his book The Lure of Divine Love:

It has been conventional in philosophy of religion to talk of God as

transcendent and as immanent. But there is possible a third term, not

commonly found in such conventional discussion: "concomitance."

The triunitarian picture intimates that God's activity in creation, and

hence God in the depths of the divine nature, is both inexhaustible and

unexhausted, and therefore that God is "in" the creation, luring it to

response and self-fulfillment, and therefore that God is immanent. But

it also intimates that God is (as I like to put it) also "alongside" or "with"

the creation, acting not only upon it and within it but also as self-identified

with each and every created event or occasion. . . . this . . . may very

well be summed up in the versicle and response familiar to many in the

"Catholic" churches:

     Versicle: Let us bless the Father and the Son with the Holy Spirit:

     Response: Let us praise and exult him for ever.

I have italicized the pronoun him because it makes clear that no matter

what we say about "threeness," we are committed also, and preeminently

to the "oneness" or unity of the basic thrust and drive in things we call

"God."

Trinitarians tend to shy away from identifying Jesus with the first person narrator of Proverbs chapter 8 and I think I know why, for he described himself as having been created and of his continuing in subordination to the Father, facts which are not easily squared with the traditional Trinitarian formulation that the Son is "uncreated" and "co-equal."   If in the face of Proverbs, chapter 8, one can still be a Trinitarian, so be it, my purpose is not so much to rock anyone's theological applecart as it is to reclaim Proverbs as an essential component to the Gospel.

... what has prevented a serious rejuvenation of biblical theology is not the

failure of theologians/dogmaticians to talk to biblical scholars, and the

reverse. This is but a symptom of a form of specialization whose more

damaging strain persists at the level of biblical studies itself, namely the

relative isolation of the Old Testament from the New Testament at the

level of interpretation, at the level of instruction, publication, and serious

theological reflection.   . . .   the interpreter's task is to explore the witness

of the Old and New with reference to its subject matter, Jesus Christ.

               (Christopher Seitz, Word without End)

     Canonicity

Another text I would like to reclaim as antecedent to the Gospel is the Wisdom of Solomon, a book appearing in the Catholic Bible, also in the Orthodox Bible, but absent since the mid-19th century from most Protestants' Bibles, having been excised under a Judaising tendency which was then becoming operative in the English-speaking world. It was then that Protestantism synchronized its Old Testament Bible with that recognized by the synagogue in lieu of historical Christian practice.

Truly Origen spoke aright when he observed that:

The beginning of the Gospel is nothing but the whole Old Testament.

Do we really know what the Nazarene's were reading as "Old Testament"? If we do not know what they were reading as Scripture, how will we truly appreciate what they were writing as Scripture?

For the ungodly said, reasoning with themselves, but not aright,

Our life is short and tedious,

and in the death of a man there is no remedy;

neither was there any man known to have returned from the grave.

For we are born at all adventure: and we shall be hereafter as though

we had never been: for the breath in our nostrils is as smoke,

and a little spark in the moving of our hearts,

which being extinguished our body shall be turned into ashes

and our spirit shall vanish as the soft air;

And our name shall be forgotten in time

And no man shall have our works in remembrance,

and our life shall pass away as the trace of a cloud,

and shall be dispersed as a mist,

that is driven away with the beams of the sun,

and overcome with the heat thereof.

For our time is a very shadow that passeth away;

and after our end there is no returning:

for it is fast sealed, so that no man cometh again.

Come on therefore, let us enjoy the good things that are present:

and let us speedily use the creatures like as in youth.

Let us fill ourselves with costly wine and ointments;

and let no flower of the spring pass us by.

Let us crown ourselves with rosebuds, before they be withered:

Let us none of us go without his of our voluptuousness:

let us leave tokens of our joyfulness in every place;

for this is our portion, and our lot is this.

Let us oppress the poor righteous man,

let us not spare the widow,

nor reverence the ancient gray hairs of the aged.

Let our strength be the law of justice:

for that which is feeble is found to be of nothing worth.

Therefore let us lie in wait for the righteous;

because he is not of our turn,

and he is clean contrary to our doings;

he upbraideth us with our offending the law,

and objecteth to our infamy the transgressing of our education.

He professeth to have the knowledge of God;

and he calleth himself the child of the Lord.

He was made to reprove our thoughts.

He is grievous unto us even to behold:

for his life is not like other men's,

his ways are of another fashion.

We are esteemed of him as counterfeits:

he abstaineth from our ways as from filthiness:

he pronounceth the end of the just to be blessed,

and maketh his boast that God is his father.

Let us see if his words be true:

and let us prove what shall happen in the end of him.

For if the just man be the son of God, he will help him,

and deliver him from the hand of his enemies.

Let us examine him with despitefulness and torture,

that we may know his meekness, and prove his patience.

Let us condemn him with a shameful death:

for by his own sayings he shall be respected.

Such things they did imagine, and were deceived:

for their own wickedness hath blinded them.

As for the mysteries of God, they knew them not:

neither hoped they for the wages of righteousness,

nor discerned a reward for blameless souls.

For God created man to be immortal,

and made him to to be an image of his own eternity.

Nevertheless through envy of the devil

came death into the world;

and they that do hold fast of his side do find it.

                 (chapter 2:1-24)

Allusions to the Wisdom of Solomon are widely spread in the New Testament:

. . . the Book of Wisdom presents a wonderful preparation to the New

Testament Revelation. The New Testament writers appear perfectly

familiar with this deutero-canonical writing (cf. Matthew 27:42-43, with

Wisdom 2:13-18; Romans 11:34, with Wisdom 9:13; Ephesians 6:13-17,

with Wisdom 5:18-19; Hebrews 1:3, with Wisdom 7:26, etc. It is true

that to justify their rejection of the Book of Wisdom from the Canon,

many Protestants have claimed that in 8:19-20, its author admits the

error of the pre-existence of the human soul. But this incriminating

passage, when viewed in the light of its context, yields a perfectly

orthodox sense.            (New Advent Catholic Encyclopedia)

Who are wisdom's children? Jesus went to his own and his own received him not but as many as received him gave he power to become the sons of God and co-heirs with himself in the kingdom to come.

. . . and I say unto you, that many shall come from the east and the

west and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in the

kingdom of heaven, but the children of the kingdom shall be cast out

into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

(Matthew 8:11-12)

    Was Jesus a rebellious son or was he an obedient son?

A body of opinion existing from antiquity called "Gnostic" has long maintained the antithetical perspective, whereby Jesus is seen as working antithetically against Jehovah God, such that Jehovah is Judgment, Jesus, forgiveness; Jehovah is for Law, Jesus, for grace; Jehovah is Old Covenant, Jesus, New Covenant. This leads inexorably to a conclusion of discontinuity between Testaments, Old and New. Functionally, many an evangelical Christian, in claiming that Grace replaces Law, comes out in the same place. Those of such persuasion might benefit from reflecting on this saying of Jesus:

"Think not that I am not come to destroy (bind/remit/set aside)

the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill."       (Matthew 5:17)

By his ministry of reconciliation which culminated in his impalement, Jesus filled to the brim the cup of revelation which the Law and the Prophets had filled only partially. Thus his cry from the stake of impalement: "it is finished." What was finished? The work of reconciliation, for Jesus was the be-all and end-all of God's redemptive plan. As the ancient Gaelic song, To the Seed of Christ, put it so poetically:

Christ's is the seed

And Christ's the harvest

Christ is the sea

Christ is the fish

From birth to age

From age to death

Types and Antitypes

The gospel's are not biographies in any normal sense of the term. True, they contain some biographical information but not of a sort as would satisfy our curiosity about the psychological development of their protagonist, Jesus. For instance, there is nary a single reference to Jesus between the age of 12 and 30. What kind of biography is that? To understand this genre we have to look elsewhere for an explanation.

Unlike any other body of writing, Holy Writ contains within it an elaborate scheme of types and antitypes, being in part prophetic pre-figurements with their fulfillments. This is where the universal or cosmic aspect comes into play:

The first man Adam, became a living soul. The last Adam became a

life-giving spirit. . . . Nevertheless death reigned from Adam unto

Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the

offense of Adam, who is a type of him who was to come. . . . the

spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. Therefore let no

one act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a

festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day -- which things are mere

shadows of what is to come but the substance belongs to Christ.

           (I Corinthians 15:45, Romans 5:14, I Corinthians 15:46,

Colossians 2:16-17)

From this we are able to see a progression from the natural, earthly, material type to the spiritual, heavenly anti-type. It is movement from shadow to reality.

. . . on earth . . . there are priests that offer gifts according to the Law: who

serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things . . . (Hebrews 8:4-5)

The Passover lamb is a type. Jesus, the lamb of God, is the anti-type.

Jehovah thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst

of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall harken; . . .

     (Deuteronomy 18:15)

Moses is the type; Jesus, the antitype.

"And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even

so the Son of Man be lifted up; . . ."               (John 3:14)

In this instance, the serpent is the type and Christ, the anti-type. Thus are the gospels constructed with the idea of fulfillment in mind.

And [the Holy Family] was there [in Egypt] until the death of Herod:

that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet,

saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.               (Matthew 2:15)

Here Matthew is quoting Hosea 11 which is not strictly speaking a messianic prediction at all, rather, a factual statement about Israel having been called out of Egypt. Why then did Matthew quote it? Because when one looks into the matter, what one will discover is that Jesus IS the Israel of God, that it was Jesus who wrestled with Jacob through the night and lent to Jacob a new name, namely, his own title Is-ra-el, Prince of EL, EL being Hebrew for God. And Jacob lent this name to his progeny. And so to this day, in continuity with God's original intention, Jesus' followers are the Israel of God, not some interloper political entity currently posing by that name.

Shepherd of the flock

Let Jehovah, the God of the spirits of all flesh, designate a man over the

community who will go out before them, who will come back before them,

who will lead them out, who will bring them back; so that the community

of Jehovah will not be like a flock that has no shepherd. (Numbers 27:16)

One might reasonably claim that the above quote applies to Joshua, son of Nun, and not to his namesake, Jesus ("Jesus" being, after all, just another way to say "Joshua" only in Greek, not in Hebrew.) But once we see Joshua as a type of Jesus, or Jesus as Joshua's anti-type, we might reconsider the matter. For example, Moses could get the people out of Egypt but he couldn't get them in to the Promised Land. Alas, he who was able to cross the Red Sea was unable to cross River Jordan. Yet to secure Moses' victory required crossing both bodies of water. That is where Joshua, God's appointed successor to Moses, came to the rescue, for he took the people across River Jordan dry shod. Likewise, Jesus, God's appointed successor to Moses, achieved on the spiritual plane that which Joshua had achieved on the physical plane, for:

"the Law came by Moses but grace

and truth came by Jesus Christ."            (John 1:17)

Again, the progression is from the material to the spiritual, from the earthly to the heavenly. Of Joshua who remained loyal to Moses, loyal to God, it is written:

Joshua was filled with the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid hands

on him; and the sons of Israel listened to Joshua and did as Jehovah

had commanded Moses.              (Deuteronomy 34:9)

Yet Joshua, who "was filled with the wisdom of God" could not begin to compare with Jesus who IS the wisdom of God personified, as in Proverbs, chapter 8:

"I am understanding; I have strength. By me kings

reign and princes decree justice." (Proverbs 8:14-15)

Joshua is described above as a shepherd who leads the people into the Promised Land but Jesus is the good shepherd who leads people across an allegorical River Jordan to the Promised Land above, or the kingdom to come on Earth. As was Joshua appointed to preside over the Israelite community, so also was Jesus, for:

Christ is the head of the community:

and he is the savior of the body.              (Ephesians 5:23)

Just as David shall never want for a son to sit, on the throne of the house of Israel because Jesus is that son, so also the Levitical priesthood shall never want for a man to do sacrifice continually because Jesus, too, is that man.

   Mighty deeds, mighty words

Joshua, Israel's mightiest general, fought the battle of Jericho, yet Jesus, is an even mightier general, who has brought more rebels to stack arms and surrender to the will of God than any other, for he is:

“. . . mighty in deed and word.” (Luke 23:11)

So said Cleopas, the brother of Joseph (the husband of Mary, mother of Jesus) of his nephew, Jesus.

Taking this statement as our starting point, let us observe that Mark’s Gospel records Jesus’ mighty deeds -- but relatively few of his teachings -- while Matthew’s Gospel, if we subtract from it those parts clearly word-for-word dependent on Mark, has not many additional mighty deeds, but it does record many of Jesus’ mighty words, most notably the Sermon on the Mount, but also the Temple discourse, the Mount of Olives discourse, the Seaside Discourse, and so on.

"That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you.” (I John 1:3)

Since it purports to be based on witnessed events, whether those witnesses be eyewitnesses ("that which we have seen") or ear-witnesses ("that which we have heard"), the Christian faith is rightly described as a historic faith. Let us hold it to that standard. Either it is true history or else it is falsified history, one or the other, but let us not equivocate or beat about the bush, by writing it off as beautiful mythology. That is just a cop-out.

The presence in the gospels of an allegorical/metaphorical component is not to be denied (it is a Hebraic trait): for instance, the gift of gold the wise men laid at baby Jesus' feet could be described as representing the commitment of their financial means; likewise, the gift of frankincense symbolized the sweet fragrance of their prayers; as well, their gift of myrrh, an embalming spice, could be described as representing the mortifying of the soul as occurs in illness and death. Taken together, the wise men's gifts represent the full range of human commitment. None of this symbolism, however, need be seen as militating against the historical event.

       Both to do and teach

Having advanced with all seriousness the claim to historicity, let us move on to explore the possibility that there were two lines of transmission, one having to do with what the apostles saw, the other having to do with what they heard, for, as it is written:

And the apostles gathered themselves together unto Jesus, and told him

all things, both what they had done, and what they had taught. (Mark 6:30)

. . . all that Jesus began both to do and teach.                             (Acts 1:1)

Thus we see the evangelists distinguishing what was "done" from what was "taught" -- distinguishing deeds and words, a duel witness.

We have seen what a large consensus there is of scholars,

approaching the study of the Synoptic Gospels from very

different directions, in favour of some form of the theory

which postulates as the duration of our present gospels two

main documents . . . which correspond sufficiently well with

the two works described by Papias, the “Notes of the Preaching

of St. Peter” put together by St. Mark and the “collection

of Logia” – oracles and utterances – of the Lord set down in

writing by St. Matthew.               (William Sanday)

That the apostles were disposed to distinguish Jesus’ deeds from his words can be explained on purely pragmatic grounds, from the standpoint of a natural division of labor, for the transcription of speech differs markedly from the recording of events. From antiquity, the one credited with recording Jesus’ words was Matthew. And who in Jesus’ entourage would have been better able to do this than he? for, as a former tax-collector, he would have been a skilled record-keeper. But whether it was he or another, the transcription of Jesus’ sayings are so detailed, so specific, as to have a you-are-there feeling of immediacy. One can only suppose this to have been achieved by dictation, which, in that day and time could have been accomplished by use of a wax-coated slate inscribed by a stylus. After that, at leisure, a more durable parchment or papyrus record could have been made.

On the evidence of three witnesses shall a matter be established.

                       (LXX Deuteronomy 19:15)

Three members of Jesus’ entourage were specially taken into his confidence: Peter, James and John. These were the three who accompanied Jesus up the Mount of Transfiguration and for other missions as well. Witnesses par excellent, it is not unreasonable to suppose that they might have collaborated in creating an early deeds gospel. Then, too, their recollections may have been augmented by a contemporaneously-kept travelogue. Note the gospels’ specificity regarding the names of towns and of individuals. Perhaps such a log once existed for the purpose of tracking contributions, this to satisfy Roman taxing authorities.

For more than a century, a heated scholarly debate has raged on over the existence of “Q” (“Q” being short for “Quelle,” German for “source”), a hypothetical collection of Jesus’ sayings which presumably once existed. And probably such a collection -- or multiple such collections -- did indeed once exist, not that we have any reports from antiquity confirming this, much less have we any surviving fragments, and so this is purely speculative guesswork. Now there is nothing inherently wrong with making educated guesses. However, beyond all speculation, there is the Gospel of Mark, which is mostly deeds, and there is the Gospel of Matthew, which is mostly Mark combined with lengthy discourses. In other words, Matthew (and also Luke) are seeded with many authentic sayings of Jesus. It would be a mite churlish, would it not, our not being properly grateful for what we do have, rather than constantly pining away for what we don't have?

In some cases, words and deeds are inseparably entwined, as when a teaching emerges through the commission of a deed, for instance, the disciples' failing to exorcize a demonic spirit and Jesus' having to explain to them that this kind goes out only by prayer and fasting (Mark 9:29), but at other times, large blocks of teaching are presented, unprompted by any immediate circumstance. Each section has its own introductory and each concludes a statement, something like: “When Jesus had finished saying these things.” An example of this are the five distinct discourses by Jesus in Matthew (chapters: v-vii; x; xiii; xviii; xxiii-xxv). Perhaps at one time there circulated sayings gospels having their own specialized material: kingdom saying, or table talk, or parables. Such speculation is prompted by the complex relationship between Luke and Matthew.

The Sermon on the Mount presents unusual complications in the

matter of sources. Of the Sermon's 111 verses, about 45 have no

obvious parallels in Luke, 35 have loose parallels, and 31 have

parallels which are close both in content and in phraseology. The

curious feature of this evidence is [that] . . . the close parallels are

unusually close, and the loose parallels are unusually loose!

(Harvey K. McArthur, Understanding the Sermon on the Mount)

Luke takes a more thematic approach than does Matthew, for instance, grouping together material relating to prayer or forgiveness or wealth. Matthew, on the other hand, takes what I call an architectural approach, creating balanced teaching sections suitable for extended study of Jesus' teaching ministry quite apart from the narrative flow, whereas Luke tends to root his teachings in the narrative.

When the gospel first came into existence, the codex format (what we might call a “bound book”) was not a commonplace item, that is, if it existed at all, whereas, from antiquity, the customary practice was to utilize a scroll format. Yet a certain impracticality attaches to the use of scrolls when they are required to hold too lengthy a text for they become unwieldy. This limitation alone might have made it desirable to separate words and deeds. But it can also be good to have narration, unbroken by teaching, and teaching, unbroken by narration. When eventually the day came that the Church chose to bind together the four gospel accounts and, eventually, with them, bind together the entire New Testament, then of a necessity the codex format had to be innovated, if, that is, it didn't already exist or else utilized, if it did already exist.

         Synagogue Practice and the Gospel

We do not know when Mark’s Gospel first appeared. Personally, I posit the appearance of an early edition following within a couple of years the first Pentecost simply because the apostles just could not have restrained themselves for very long from telling the greatest story ever told. If they hadn't told it someone else would have. But even if one allows for some decades to have passed, the point remains the same, that this was a time when believers were active yet in the Temple and also in the synagogues.   Indeed, Mark’s Gospel might have represented a bid on their part to have the story of Jesus’ ministry read in the synagogue in lectio continua (that is, in its entirety and in its order), this in conjunction with the reading of the Torah which has always been accorded this treatment.

       The Home Community

This we know for a certainty, that first the rabbinical authorities made believers most unwelcome in their synagogues and, later, had them kicked out altogether. This could only have worked as an inducement for believers to develop their worship of God in the context of one another's homes. In his magisterial magnum opus, The Gospels and Jewish Worship, the late Dirk Monshouwer wrote:

Matthew . . . edits the subject matter available once again to make it

suitable for those congregations where the center of worship was no

longer in the synagogue but in the home. . . . It is justifiably pointed

out that a number of times Matthew speaks of 'their synagogue' (4:23;

9:35; 10:17; 12:9; 13:54; cf. 23:34). This could indicate, of course, that

Matthew was aware of the increasing distance to the Jewish synagogue.

With their synagogue connection becoming ever more tenuous, first faltering, then failing altogether, believers probably felt impelled to augment their love feast commemorating Jesus' having rising from the dead on the first day of the week, with extended readings from the Scriptures, something that was no longer able to participate in once their synagogue connection had been severed. In that regard, by all accounts we have from that era, Matthew's Gospel was the one they most favored. In this way was the synagogue's educational function moved from the seventh day to the first. But, in fact, there is so much of value in all the gospel accounts that over time there arose a desire to combine and harmonize them.

It is well-known to scholars that the attempt to combine the four Gospels

of the New Testament canon into a single connected and consistent account

has been a favorite occupation from very earliest days of the Church. . . .

It was natural enough that scribes should not wish to repeat ab initio the

task of arranging the four gospels into a story, just as it was natural that

they should wish to have such a story, either for private study or for use

as a church lectionary. (J. Rendel Harris)

Lectionary defined

A lectionary is a cycle of biblical readings for the church or synagogue

year. In the Syria Orthodox Church . . scripture readings are assigned

for Sundays and feast days, for each day of Lent and for holy weeks,

for raising people to various offices of the Church, for the blessing of Holy

Oil and various services such as baptisms and funerals.

(Syria Orthodox Church web site)

There are many who derive comfort from the thought that millions of others are on the same page they are on. That is the denominational imperative at work. Others derive equal comfort from knowing that they are beholden to no man or organization, that their unique calling requires their working by their own schedule, not anyone else's. Let each be convinced in his own mind as to the right way to proceed. Conformist, non-conformist, in the final analysis the only real issue is that of being transformed by the renewing of our minds by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Wrote one scholar, M. D. Goulder:

A Gospel is not a literary genre at all, the study of Matthew reveals;

it is a liturgical genre. A Gospel is a lectionary book. . . . The theory

I wish to propose is a lectionary theory: that is, that the Gospel

was developed liturgically, and was intended to be used liturgically,

and that its order is liturgically significant, in that it follows the lections

of the Jewish year. Matthew, I believe, wrote his Gospel to be

read in Church round the year; he took the Jewish Festal Year,

and the pattern of lectons prescribed therefore, as his base, and it is

possible to descry from ms. evidence for which feast, and for

which Sabbath/Sunday, and even on occasion for which service, any

particular verse was intended.

Goulder's crack above that a Gospel "is not a literary genre at all" but, rather, a "liturgical genre," falls wide of the mark and merits rebutting.

To begin with, by reason of their many unique features, all the various gospels are reasonably identified as occupying a literary category all their own. Beyond that, as with the Law, as with the Prophets, indeed, as with all the books of the Bible, there is a strong presumption that they exist as much for private study as for public service. Besides, who is Guilder or anyone else to be so prescriptive? Each of us has come up under different circumstances, and has his or her own learning style, needs and potentialities.

If common sense were not enough to inform us in this regard, there is always the example of Philip, the evangelist, who overtook an Ethiopian in a chariot reading aloud to himself from Isaiah. What did Philip ask the Ethiopian, why do you read aloud to yourself? No, of course not. That's preposterous. He asked:

       "Understandest thou what thou readest?"   (Acts 8:30)

The Ethiopian's response:

        "How can I except some man should guide me."

Evidently private study has a place in the scheme of things. Evidently human guides have a place in the scheme of things. Evidently accurate knowledge has a place in the scheme of things. Regarding the verse he had been reading in Isaiah, the Ethiopian asked Philip:

        "Of whom speaketh the prophet?

"He was lead as a sheep to the slaughter and like

a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not

his mouth."                       (Isaiah 53:7)

Philip, knowing that Jesus is the Wisdom of God, knew, as well, that he is the key that unlocks the Scriptures, for without Jesus the Scriptures are incomplete (like a hug without a kiss).   Knowing that Jesus is the meaning behind the meaning of Scripture, Philip knew of a certainty that Jesus was the very person meant by Isaiah in the passage above. So satisfied was the Ethiopian by the responses he was receiving from Philip, that before day's end he took the plunge and entered the waters of baptism.

Whether the word comes to us through the liturgy or through private study, it matters not, the important thing being that there is a heart-felt response, or what is this all about, anyhow? If we know what we know only intellectually, what is that to us? for head knowledge one does not feel, a heart estranged can never heal. It is not "Thy word, O Lord, have we learned by rote in a church service." Nor is it "Thy word, O Lord, have I hid in my notebook." Rather, it is the personal commitment of the psalmist who said to God:

"Thy word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against thee."

(Psalm 119:11)

Of course, liturgical and didactic usage compliment, for it was never intended to be an either/or proposition. Even so, no amount of private study and no amount of exposure to public liturgy, per se, is necessarily going to do the trick. Just hear Jesus' words to the most overtly religious people of his day, the Pharisees:

"Ye search the scriptures because ye think in them

ye have eternal life; and these are they which bear

witness of me; and ye will not come to me, that ye

may have life."                    (John 5:39-40)

There is no gainsaying M. Goulder's contention that the gospels were meant to function as liturgy. I only question his assumption that the evangelists were miraculously anticipating developments occurring generations after their own time. After all, 200 years passed before buildings suitable to hold a congregation began to be constructed. For centuries believers operated sub rosa. There was good reason for their doing so, their religion was not licit, but illicit. Lacking sanction by the Roman authorities, their religion was illegal.

Arises then the question: were the evangelists attempting to address the needs of an institution that didn't then exist, one that only gained public sanction under Constantine in the 4th century, or were they, rather, addressing the immediate needs of Jewish Christians who were either attending Sabbath synagogue services and/or meeting in one another's homes?

There was liturgy suited to home-based service. Wrote Dirk Monshouwer:

The major presupposition of this study is that a relationship exists

between Bible and liturgy. All too often liturgy relating to Scripture

is regarded as a secondary issue, dealing only with the use of the texts.

In exegesis, especially in biblical research into the original and/or

historical meaning of the texts, there is too little awareness of the fact

that also in large part the origin of Scripture lies in liturgy. New

Testament exegesis has always been very involved with the stage

preceding the texts in their current form. Liturgical research, on the

other hand, took the Gospels for granted and studied the next stage,

asking which pericopes the Church had taken from the Gospels and

other biblical books in order to compose lectionaries.

I would like to put forward a threefold proposition:

The beginning of both Scripture and liturgy lies in their

interaction.

The first Sitz im leben of the Gospels and of the Torah is

liturgy.

Tole lege (Augustine) means quite simply: "Take the book, lift it up,

and read aloud." In the Torah, the permanent interaction in worship

of acting and hearing is reflected upon in the remarkable formula 'we

will do and we will hear' (Ex. 24:7). The more logical order 'we will

hear and we will do', can be found in Deut. 5:27. Reading and acting

go together; they precede obedience. 'Then he [Moses] took the account

of the covenant and read it in the ears of the people. They said: All

that YHWH has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!' (Ex 24:7)

In the second century, as we know from Justin Martyr’s Apology (c. 150 AD), First Day worship continued to evolve, with gospel reading being done from a harmony called the Memoirs of the Apostles. This harmony contained only the synoptic gospels, not John's. (By the way, all of this was well prior to the rise of monastic Christianity, with its reliance on the lectionary for daily readings and prior to the Diastessaron's having been composed.

Few doubt that the first Christians used a Jewish lectionary cycle

of readings either from one or three years. But the need to include

the gospel stories of Jesus into the life and consciousness of the

Jewish-Christian community was a powerful force that may have

culminated in the creation of a Gospel Harmony.  Known in the

western world as the Diatessaron, it may have been an attempt to

solve the lectionary crisis and put the life of Jesus into one continuous

narrative divided into 55 chapters. This nearly coincides with the

number of weeks in the year plus a few extra for Christmas and Easter.

                                         (Syria Orthodox Church web site)

The Diatessaron

The Diatessaron proved itself one of the most popular editions of the

Gospels ever produced. It was used by Catholic Christians, such as

Ephrem Syrus, by Judaic Christians (Epiph., haer. 46.1.8–9), Manicheans,

and missionaries, who took it to the furthest reaches of Christendom.

Its greatest impact, however, was in Syria, where as late as the 5th

century it was the standard gospel text. This is demonstrated by the

fact that the Canons of Rabbula specifically direct that the “Euangelion

da-Mepharreshe” (“separated gospel,” i.e., canonical Gospels) be read

in the churches, and that Theodoret, bishop of Cyrrhus from 423 to 457,

reports impounding over 200 copies of the “Euangelion de-Mehallete”

(“gospel of the mixed,” another name for the Diatessaron) from the

churches in his diocese.

(David Noel Freedman, The Anchor Bible Dictionary)

As we see above, the Diatessaron went from common usage to banishment. So thoroughly did Church authorities carry out their duties in this regard that, insofar as we know, not a single Syriac copy of it has survived to our day.

But that was not to be the end of the matter, for in translation the Diatessaron not only survived but thrived and spread throughout the world: in Arabic, in Persian, in Latin, in German, and in many other languages, albeit without official Church sanction. Because we are so accustomed to the fourfold division of the gospel: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, and the corollary that goes with it, that these alone were inspired, we find it difficult to imagine or accept that at one time the Gospel was not so divided. The truth be known, no evidence exists at all that the four canonical gospels circulated together before 170 AD, the first evidence of this being that it was about then that the Diatessaron, having been formed from the canonical four, came into existence.

The basis for the Diatessaron's popularity deserves our consideration. Said the late, Diatessaronic scholar, William Petersen, in his book: Tatian’s Diatessaron: its Creation, Dissemination, Significance, and History in Scholarship:

Although the idea of a gospel harmony seems odd today – especially

to Biblical scholars who are trained to detect the slightest differences

among the gospels, and to lay persons, some of whom are taught

Biblical inerrancy – they are still common. Children are taught the

story of Jesus’ life in a harmonized form. Cinematic and theatrical

adaptations of Jesus’ life (e.g., “Passion Plays”) harmonize the gospels.

The “Words of Institution” used in liturgies are a harmony of the

three synoptic versions, each of which is different) and Paul’s (I Cor.

11:24), which adds the uniquely Pauline “do this in remembrance of

me.” These examples reveal two powerful motives for creating a

harmony: teaching (or evangelization), and the desire not to omit

anything (or put differently, to reproduce fully what is spread out

among various sources). These same motives were operative

in the second century, and probably contributed to the creation of

harmonies in the early church.

Although scholarly consensus is lacking on the matter, since antiquity Tatian, a disciple of Justin Martyr, has been credited with having created the Diatessaron. This he did, it is supposed, by taking a knife to manuscripts of the four canonical gospels and cutting out single words or phrases, then artfully reassembling them to form a unified text.

Interestingly, the Diatessaron has points of convergence with ancient Syriac lectionaries beyond what mere coincidence can explain, (See Barton and Spoer's 1904 study on the Harclean Syriac lectionaries.) If the Diatessaron was not dependent on the lectionaries or vice versa, then it would be logical to conclude that both were relying on some earlier, harmonized text. But now we have in hand fragments from the Memoirs of the Apostles that Tatian's mentor, Justin Martyr, used and we have complete, the 13th century manuscript, MS Pepys 2498 and is it ever a beauty.

        From work product to finished product

Long ago dismissed and left behind in this discussion is the idea of the evangelists' having written by dictation, or the voice of an angel having whispered in their ears, or an angel's hand having guided their pens. If only the gospels had been derived from golden tablets dropped down from heaven by the angel Maroni, that would have so simplified matters but they weren't. We know this from an abundance of evidence proving that they are the product of human effort. For instance, if these were strictly individual eyewitness accounts, why then are there word-for-word agreements pointing to literary dependence and collaborative effort? The amount of shared language demonstrates collaborative effort.

Alas, not satisfied just to have Jesus do miracles, some want the telling of those miracles to be miracles. To those of such an opinion, I say this, had Jesus wanted an angel to tell his story, no doubt he would have found one, but, instead, he trusted the telling of his story to human beings, his disciples, who I believe on intrinsic evidence, made a good faith effort to tell the story as it was. The evangelists were moved by the Holy Spirit, yet they were still human beings. How ironic that it is not so much scoffers who are opposed to the close, rational consideration of the gospels as are many of the gospels' purported friends.

As Good Stewards of the Word

For the sake of presenting the Gospel in its best, most authentic form, a new translation of MS Pepys 2498, is presented here. (See Sidebar I at the top.) Admittedly, this text is not to be found in the New Testament, reason enough for some to disqualify it without a second glance. However, for others willing to approach open-mindedly the possibility of an ancient survival, I invite consideration of the evidence on its merits and asking this question: does this text not bring Jesus and his ministry into clearer focus? Does it not make learning the Gospel easier? As those entrusted by the apostles and their successors with a pearl of great price, let us give this matter due consideration. Meanwhile, what we don’t want, and rightly reject, are fairy tales, of which a certain number are in circulation these days, the so-called Essene Gospel, the Aquarius Gospel, etc., clearly modern forgeries. Other forgeries of ancient provenance are also to be rejected, such as the recently discovered Gospel of Judas.

A Nazarene Narrative Gospel

Arguably the literary, crown jewel of the Nazarene movement, this narrative telling of Jesus' life and ministry survived for centuries in a single manuscript once belonging to the famous 18th century diarist, Samuel Pepys (after whom it is named). MS Pepys 2498 is currently quartered at Cambridge University's Magdalene Library.

Misidentified a century ago by this same Magdalene Library, it was lost in inventory. Once rediscovered, it was published untranslated in 1921 as a "medieval gospel harmony," otherwise known as the “Pepysian Gospel Harmony' (PGH), which begs the question, who needs a medieval gospel harmony? Few evidently, for it languished in obscurity for two generations until an intrepid researcher, Yuri Kuchinsky of Toronto, Canada, gave it its first proper investigation and found good cause to identify it as a primitive Jewish-Christian gospel. In January, 2002, he re-published it in modern English. Only then did the world of scholarship or the public at large begin to learn of its many unique, primitive features. As Kuchinsky put it:

"What was previously merely a matter for

speculation now lies in broad daylight."

The Nazarene Gospel is a harmony of three synoptic gospels plus that of the beloved disciple, but not quite as we know them from the New Testament, for it is a synopsis of their primitive prototypes. Until this gospel harmony was created, it is thought that the Johannine community, as scholars have termed it, had existed, so it is though, in isolation from the rest of the Nazarene movement, this despite its gospel account having preserved early, valuable material of a most interesting character which augments the synoptic accounts in helpful ways.

Sweet Jesus

In MS Pepys is found this repeated refrain: "swete lord Jesus," or in modern parlance "sweet Lord Jesus." This is how he was known by those who knew him best. This is not "another gospel" in the sense that Paul used the term, meaning one serving a different purpose. It's the same, good old Gospel, only in a different telling. As with the canonicals, Jesus is portrayed as the Wisdom of God who sought to be comprehended and followed, not worshipped. Here, as with the other gospels, Jesus prayed to his father, not to himself. But this gospel's portrayal is of a kinder, gentler Jesus who relates more easily to his disciples, his family and to the Jewish people, as one who is more down-to-earth approachable and sympathetic.

Made more explicit in this gospel than in the canonicals is that Mary Magdalene was the penitent possessed by seven demons who washed his feet with her hair. Once released from her afflictions, she then joined Jesus' entourage as one of its leading figures. It is further made explicit that Mary Magdalene and Mary of Bethany were one and the same, for Mary did not hail from a fishing village called "Magdala" but 'Magdalene' is the title Jesus conferred upon her. It means 'elevated," for Jesus had lifted her up.

In this gospel, Jesus relates to his host, a Pharisee named Simon, a simile regarding two debtors, one who is forgiven a large debt and one a little debt. He then he asks his host, which of the two is loved more by the one doing the debt forgiveness? His host answers, "whom he forgave most." And Jesus commends him for this answer. Jesus then turned to the woman who had anointed his feet with her tears and he said:

"Simon, seest this woman? I entered into thine house and thou gavest

me no water for my feet, and yet she wetted my feet with her tears and

wiped my feet with her hair. And thou kissed not my mouth, and yet she,

since she came in, hath not ceased kissing my feet. And thou washed

not my head nor my eyes, and yet she anointed my feet with ointment --

for which think I tell you many sins have been forgiven her. And therefore

I love her much by reason that the one to whom most is forgiven is

most loved."

Now let us compare this account with that found in Luke 7:47, where Jesus is depicted as saying:

Wherefore I say unto thee [Simon], Her sins, which are many, are forgiven;

for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.

Comparing these two texts, Yuri Kuchinsky judiciously said:

Let us consider carefully all the implications of this on the whole rather

questionable piece of wisdom. Surely what this seems to mean is that

only those who have been serious sinners in the past truly love God.

Following this logic, if one has not sinned, or has but little -- if one has

been mostly good -- this really means that your love for God is lacking

somehow! The version of this passage as found in [MS Pepys 2498]

says no more than what is found in that well-known parable of "the lost

sheep" -- if the shepherd lost a sheep, he will be upset, and will go looking

for it. And then, if when he finds it, his joy will be entirely understandable.

What had been lost now has been found! So this would explain why the

sheep that has never been lost is not likely to be loved quite as much.

Similarly, someone who lost some money will be exceedingly pleased to

have found it again.

Mary, Martha and Lazarus

At the risk of his life, Jesus returned to Judea to raise up Mary's brother, Lazarus, from the dead, thereby further angering the Jewish Establishment who were concerned that if he did any more mighty works it would spell there ruination as all the world would run after him.

Then, by anointing Jesus with precious nard worth 300 denari, Mary Magdalene inadvertently angered Judas Iscariot, leading him to betray Jesus to that same pernicious crew as were already seeking to do him harm. Thus we see how Jesus' fate came to be inextricably linked to the family of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.

Though he was the son of God, we should remember that Jesus was every inch a man, a man whose heart was toward the Magdalene, who must in some sense have been family, for if she hadn't been, how else could she have been allowed to handle his lifeless body after it was removed from the cross? Only family were allowed this privilege.

When first appearing to the Magdalene on his rising from the death to life, Jesus turned patrilineal Judaism on its ear, for, by instructing her to tell his other apostles that he had risen from death to life, he effectually made her his apostle to the rest of his apostles.

    Sayings of Jesus as found in MS Pepys 2498

MS Pepys 2498 has been described as an "abbreviating text." By that is meant that many of Jesus' sayings are only alluded to, or not included at all. I believe the explanation for this abbreviating tendency lies in its having been created before the codex (book) format had come into vogue, wherein individual pages were written on front and back, then folded and bound together into a volume. For instance, we do not speak of the Dead Sea books. No, we speak of the Dead Sea scrolls. And, as has been previously mentioned, the scroll format limits length by reason of its becoming unwieldy. Compared to any one of the canonical four, MS Pepys 2498's unified narrative, one gospel from multiple witnesses, is quite lengthy, and, no doubt, would have been prohibitively so had the full compliment of Jesus' teachings been included. Even so, MS Pepys is not bereft of valuable statements by the Lord Jesus, who said:

Select words of Jesus from MS Pepys 2498

It would serve him well who would be my disciple

to give the most careful attention to letting

go of all such things as would

be disturbing of my love.

Whoso will have life without end, look that he keep

the commandments of God.

And if the fiends be subject to you, have not ye pride

or joy, but be full of joy that ye have been

chosen for the bliss of heaven by name.

God prevent it that man should tempt him by asking

for help to be saved, but not help himself.

Whoso maketh earnest supplication with open heart,

his prayer shall be heard before God.

Know ye not how ye should bear yourselves sweetly

and softly?

    A Sayings/Discourse Gospel

It is only logical to suppose that a sayings/discourse gospel had been created to compliment a narrative/deeds gospel. However, if that were so, either it didn't survive or else it has yet to come to light. What would such a document look like? Who can say for sure? Using the Old Syriac as translated by F. C. Burkitt in 1904 for the base text, what I have done is to follow the chronology of MS Pepys 2498 so as to create a synoptic harmony where the words of Jesus are given a special indentation or in an easy reading version, their own type style.

Comparisons and Contrasts: the KJV and MS Pepys 2498

Which texts following are most primitive and which are most evolved and which one might have served as the source for the other? Or is this, perhaps, to posit a false dichotomy, that maybe some third text was utilized on which the canonical gospels and MS Pepys's progenitor alike depend? What I attempt to do in the following exercise is pick out those sections exclusive to one gospel or another, this to avoid a complicating factor, namely, the editorial judgment that necessarily attends harmonizing text with text. My purpose: to see with what fidelity MS Pepys transcribes a canonical verse, if in fact that is what is happening, for, indeed, there may be, lurking in the background, a fifth gospel, namely, the Gospel According to the Hebrews, on which both the canonical four and MS Pepys' progenitor, might to varying degrees depend.

For an abbreviating text, MS Pepys contains some interesting expansions, one category of which seems aimed at enlightening Gentile readers regarding basic Jewish practices but other expansions contain new information beyond what can be gleaned from the canonical four.

Could MS Peps 2498, therefore, possibly, rightly be called the Nazarene Gospel to the Gentiles? Maybe. While Luke's Gospel is often thought of as the one most oriented toward addressing the needs of Gentiles who were then coming in to the fold in large numbers as a result of Paul's missionary efforts, in fact Nazarenes in Jerusalem also were reaching out to Gentiles. The existence of a multiplicity of gospels is indicative of a multiplicity of constituencies. Following are five examples, four from each of the canonicals, plus one from the Book of Acts, these matched to their counterpart in MS Pepys 2498 and to their counterpart in the Liege Diatessaron.  Our purpose: to observe both similarities and dissimilarities.

Prologue to John's Gospel (KJV)

In the beginning was the word,
and the word was with God,
and the word was God.
The same was in the beginning with God.
All things were made by him;
and without him was not anything made
that was made.
In him was life;
And the life was the light of men.
And the light shineth in the darkness;
And the darkness comprehended it not. . . .
And the Word was made flesh,
and dwelt among us, . . .
full of grace and truth.

MS Pepys 2498's opening prologue

Our sweet lord Jesus Christ in his godhead

was before all creatures,

for he made all creatures

through his own sweet might

For he is strong and mighty

through God the father.

And he, though unchanging in his divinity,

truly became man

and gave light and life and grace

to all mankind for to know God.

For he, through the the law and prophecy,
was promised to the folk that
they should believe in God the father.



              Luke 2:8-14 (KJV)

And there were in the same county

shepherds abiding in the field,

keeping watch over their flock by night.

And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them and the glory of the Lord shone round about them:

And the angel said unto them Fear not, for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.

And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes,
lying in a manger.

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

MS Pepys 2498

And awake in the countryside

were shepherds keeping their beasts

And there came an angel from heaven

And stood beside them.

And so sorely afraid were they

that they stood astonished.

And the angel comforted them,

saying that it behooved them to witness

that Jesus Christ

who would save his folk

was born in Bethlehem

through whom they and all the folk

would have great joy.

And he told them what

token they should find,

that is, to wit,

a little child in swaddling clothes

and laid in an ass's creche.

And with that came the angels so

glorious from heaven

and showed themselves to the shepherds

and praised God and said:

"Gloria in excelsis Deo.

[i.e., Glory to God in the highest.]



Matthew 2:1-3 (KJV)

Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem

of Judea in the days of Herod the king,

there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying,

Where is he that was born King of the Jews?

for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

When Herod the king

had heard these things,

he was troubled,

and all Jerusalem with him.

And when he had gathered

all the chief priests

and scribes of the people together,

he demanded of them where Christ

should be born.

And they said to him,

In Bethlehem of Judea:

for thus it is written by the prophet,

And thou Beth-lehem, in the land of Judah, art not the least among the princes of Judah: for out of thee shall come a Governor, that shall rule my people Israel.

MS Pepys 2498

Afterward, upon the twelfth day,

so came there kings from the east

unto Jerusalem and asked

where was the king of the Jews

who was born,

whose star they had seen in the east.

And they said

they were come to honor him.

Then when King Herod heard of this,

he grew alarmed,

and all that were in the City.

And all the high priests

and masters of the Law

were hastily assembled,

and they were asked

where Christ should be born.

And they answered,

"In Bethlehem of Judea,"

where God had so promised

through the prophets.

.





Mark 15:50-52 (KJV)

And they all forsook him, and fled. And there followed him a certain young man, having a linen cloth cast about his naked body; and the young men laid hold of him: and he left the linen cloth, and fled from them naked.

        Acts 1:9-11

And when he [Jesus] had spoken these things,

while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel; which also said, ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven?

This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

MS Pepys 2498, ch.

And then the officers bound Jesus,

And all his disciples fled away,

save a young man who followed him,

wound only in a linen cloth.

And the Jews made to hold him fast,

And he left the cloth, and fled away all naked.

MS Pepys 2498, ch. 113



And Jesus, when he had so spoke,lifted up his hand and blessed them. he kissed them all one by one: being amongst them seeing each one off, he ascended up to heaven, with two angels on either side of him. And they all stood and beheld him, looking upward; and then came a light-filled cloud and took him up from them.

And as they stood looking on high, so came two angels in white dress and stood beside them and asked why they stood so and looked on high toward heaven. And he said to them, as he was taken up to heaven, also shall he come another time descending to the judgment.

Let us break away for now from consideration of those texts unique to individual gospels, and instead focus on the combing of gospel accounts and seeing how this was achieved in MS Pepys 2498 and in the Liege Diatessaron, our example being the feeding of the 5000:

And when it was evening, his [Jesus'] disciples came to him, saying, This is a

desert place, and the time is now past; send the multitude away, that they may

go into the villages and buy themselves victuals. But Jesus said unto them, they

need not depart; give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, We have here

but five loaves, and two fishes. He said, Bring them hither to me. And he

commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass and took the five loaves,

and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave

the loaves to his disciples, and the disciples to the multitude. And they did all

eat and were filled: and they took up of the fragments that remained twelve

baskets full. And they that had eaten were about five thousand men, besides

women and children.             (Matthew 14:15-21)

And when the day was now far spent, his [Jesus'] disciples came unto him,

and said, This is a desert place, and now the time is far passed: send them

away, that they may go into the country round about, and into the villages,

and but themselves bread: for they have nothing to eat. He answered and

said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we go

and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat? He saith

unto them, How many loaves have ye? go and see. And when they knew,

they say, Five, and two fishes. And he commanded them to make all sit

down by companies upon the grass. And they sat down in ranks, by

hundreds, and by fifties. And when he had taken the five loaves and the

two fishes, he looked up to heaven, and blessed, and brake the loaves, and

gave them to his disciples to set before them; and the two fishes divided he

among them all. And they did all eat, and were filled. And they took up

twelve baskets full of the fragments, and of the fishes. And they did eat of

the loaves were about five thousand men.          (Mark 6:35-44)

And when the day began to wear away, then came the twelve, and said unto

him [Jesus], Send the multitude away, that they may go into the towns and

country round about, and lodge, and get victuals: for we are here in a desert

place. But he said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they said, We have

no more but five loaves and two fishes; except we should go and buy meat

for all this people. For they were about five thousand men. And he said to

his disciples, Make them sit down by fifties in a company. And they did so,

and made them all sit down. Then he took the five loaves and the two fishes,

and looking up to heaven, he blessed them, and brake, and gave to his

disciples to set before the multitude. And they did eat, and were all filled:

and there was taken up of fragments that remained to them twelve baskets.

(Luke 9:12-17)

When Jesus lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he

saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? And this

he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered

him, two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every

one of them may take a little. One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's

brother, saith unto him, There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and

two small fishes: but what are they among so many? And Jesus said, Make

them sit down. Now there was much grass in the place. So the men sat

down, in number about five thousand. And Jesus took the loaves; and when

he had given thanks, he distributed to the disciples, and the disciples to them

that were set down; and likewise of the fishes as much as they; would. When

they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain,

that nothing be lost. Therefore they gather them together, and filled twelve

baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which remained over

and above that which was eaten.                        (John 6:5-13)

And when it was evening time, his disciples came unto him [Jesus] and told

his disciples to give the poor men food, and they answered and said that

they had not wherewith for to give them. And when Jesus saw that more

were coming, then said he to Philip: "Wherefore might we buy food with

which to feed all this folk?" -- And that he said to prove him, for he well

knew what he would do. And Philip answered and said that two hundred

pennies worth of bread should not suffice for to part among them, each of

them receiving only a sliver of bread. And Jesus asked them how many

loaves they have. And Andrew said there was a child who had five barley

loaves and two fish, but this was worth but little among so many folk. And

then Jesus commanded that they should bring forth the five loaves and the

two fishes, which they did, parting it among the folk by hundreds & by fifties,

and had them sit down on the grass. And so they did. And Jesus looked

toward the heavens said grace [gave thanks] to his Father, and blessed the

loaves and the fish and broke them & delivered them to his disciples, & they

gave it to the folk. And when they had eaten as much as they would, then

commanded Jesus that they gather together that which remained. And they

went and gathered it, and filled twelve baskets full with the remainder.

             (MS Pepys 2498, Nazarene Narrative Gospel chapter 49)

When it came to eventide, his [Jesus'] disciples came to him and said: Let

the people go to the towns and to the villages where they may buy food; for

here we are in a wilderness. Then Jesus raised his eyes and saw a very

great crowd; and when he had seen that crowd he spoke to Philip: Wherewith

shall we buy bread, that these people may eat? He said that in order to test

him, for he himself knew quite well what he would do. Then Philip answered

him: For two hundred pence one would not buy so much bread that everyone

might have a little. Then Jesus asked them: How many loaves have ye? And

one of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, answered thus: Here is

a child that has five barley loaves and two fishes: but what does that amount

to among so many people? unless we go into the towns and buy in addition

food for all the people, And Jesus said thus: Bring me those loaves here, and

make the people sit down by hundreds and by fifties together. Then he took

the five loaves and the two fishes, and raised his eyes up heavenward, and

blessed them and broke them and gave them to his disciples; and his disciples

passed them on to the people, and all of the people ate of those five loaves

and of those two fishes, so that they were all satisfied. And when they had

eaten enough, Jesus spoke to his disciples and said thus: Collect the remnants

that are left over to the people who have eaten. And they did so, and filled

twelve baskets with the remnants. Howbeit, those who had eaten there were

about five thousand, without the women and children. (Liege Diatessaron)

As previously observed, there is no one right way to study the Gospel nor is there one right text to work from but there are choices before us.

A Changing of the Guard

After the martyrdom of James the Just, brother of our Lord, in 62 AD, troublous times befell Jerusalem’s faithful Nazarene community. Not long thereafter, in 66 AD, having been warned prophetically, the community fled in haste to Pella, after which came the siege of Jerusalem which resulted in the Temple's destruction, in 70 AD. But then circumstances turned around such that the community of the faithful was able to return to Jerusalem to re-establish itself on the very site where the Last Supper had occurred.

Simeon ben Cleopas, James’ nephew, was unanimously chosen to replace James and at some point in the 50 years he served, under his leadership an antagonistic rift between the Hellenistic wing and the Judaic wing was substantially healed when the Jerusalem-oriented Gospel of Matthew and the Galilean-oriented Gospel of Luke were harmonized. If anyone did, Cleopas had the requisite stature to authorize harmonizing the movement’s competing or, if you will, complementary gospel accounts. In his time travel records may yet have existed to supplement the recollection of elders yet living. Early in the 2nd century, he was crucified by the procouncil Tiberius Claudius Atticus Herodes.

There is reason to think that the progenitor of MS Pepys 2498 came out of this time, for not the least of MS Pepys 2498's many virtues is its narrative sequencing. As does no other text, this one makes chronological sense. The key to harmonizing the gospel accounts aright is sequencing them aright. That is where modern attempts always fall short; for there is no agreement as to how to go about this. If anyone knew how to do this, that would have been Symeon. His father, Cleopas, was Jesus’ uncle, and he was a member of Jesus’ band of followers. As well, James the Just was his uncle. As well, Symeon was Jesus’ cousin, and so from one source or another he had second-hand knowledge for sure and maybe even first-hand knowledge. Part of putting it all together was to include John (or should we say "proto-John," since it has features suggesting that it is not the canonical John with which we are familiar.) Here was contained essential information necessary for getting the chronology right. The progenitor to MS Pepys 2498 was likely the earliest attempt to integrate the synoptics and John. Being in part a harmony and in part a synopsis of the three synoptic gospels it also integrates, proto-John in six large blocks until the Passion, after which smaller blocks of text are employed.

The Nazarene Narrative Gospel (MS Pepys 2498) authoritatively clarifies numerous issues of chronology, such as informing us as to the duration of Jesus’ ministry, that it was two years, not one or three; also, clarifying when Jesus was anointed by the Magdalene, that it was on the first day of Holy Week as in John’s Gospel, not on the fifth day as in Mark’s Gospel. More so than the "canonical" four, this gospel makes possible our understanding cause and effect relationships, such as why Jesus headed north to the border after John the Baptist's demise (he was avoiding Herod's clutches) or his relationship with the Magdalene. (His convert, out of whom he cast seven demons, she became a key member of his entourage before he ever went north to the fishing village called Magdala.)

At the beginning of the last century, a team of scholars assigned by Cambridge University examined MS 2498. Drawn from its medieval studies department, evidently their expertise ran more toward Chaucer than the Bible, for all too hastily they pronounced it "a medieval harmony." In consequence, biblical scholars with manuscripts a 1000 years older to work with paid it but scant notice, for who in their right mind needs a medieval harmony? (Evidently very few; for instance, my university, inter-library loan copy from Eugene, Oregon, though being 80 + years old, had never had its pages cut. I was the first and only person ever to have read it!)

There matters rested until Kuchinsky gave MS 2498 its first proper inspection and found good indication of its having had a primitive, Jewish-Christian gospel as its progenitor. Unlike its more sophisticated, canonical cousins with their dependent clauses and large vocabularies, MS Pepys 2498's simplified sentence structure and rudimentary vocabulary points to a Semitic substrate, rather than to a Greek substrate, the implication being that its exemplar was of an earlier generation. Its straightforward account provides a surprising feeling of closeness to the events it records. Probably early on it was translated into Latin from which, much later, its Middle English (the language of Chaucer) text was derived.

There is a poignant, personal quality to MS Pepys 2498's text which trumps any other telling – a quaint, artless candor. As for its simplified sentence structure, this itself should tells us something, that we’ve entered into a different thought world than that of the Greek Gospels. By the way, did anyone ever really think that the original gospelers, those untutored, Galilean fisherman, were Greek scholars? Here the style is distinctly Semitic and throughout, almost as a refrain, one finds the expression “swete Jesu,” which in modern parlance translates as “sweet Jesus.” Evidently that is how Jesus was known by those who knew him best.

One of its unique, distinguishing characteristics is the complete absence of SoMs; that is to say, in the canonicals Jesus often self-references as "the Son of Man," but in MS 2498 he never does so. Indicative of the cursory nature of previous examinations, Kuchinsky was the first to spot this curious anomaly some 80 years after the manuscript's initial publication. As an embellishment, this expression lends to Jesus a certain, magisterial air, conceivably an inducement for adding it. As yet no plausible motive for removing SoMs has surfaced.

Were this gospel merely a harmony of medieval origin as some have claimed, there would not be, as indeed there are, traces of its language in pre-medieval, Aramaic, Parthian, and Latin biblical texts and commentaries. For instance, a century ago, fragments of a biblical text were discovered by archaeologists in central Asia, in the city of Turfan, Turkistan, which fragments have unique textual agreements with MS 2498, including a passage lacking a SoM. This fits a pattern worldwide: in faraway places, beyond the reach of Rome, in obscure languages such as Old Armenian, Sogdian, Osmaniac, evidence of a prior gospel is found.

Fortunately for the recovery of the earlier record, the obscurantist Church was usually not very inventive or creative and, for the most part, could only muddle, garble, and confuse.

In its wealth of detail, in its grasp of chronological sequence, MS Pepys goes well beyond what can be derived from the canonicals. Confirming impressions of antiquity, let us compare canonical John's and MS 2498's accounts of the marriage at Cana. In MS 2498 there is a feast but no marriage and rather than creating upwards of 30 gallons of wine, Jesus created only three. Canonical John's expansions well illustrate the human tendency to exaggerate. But what would induce a scribe to minimize this story? Or, rather, we should say, multiple scribes, since Kuchinsky has located texts in five different languages separately corroborating aspects of MS 2498's version. As one investigator of MS Pepys 2498 wrote:

The Pepysian Gospel Harmony mentions the city of Gerasa which was

an ancient city in Palestine which was destroyed by the 10th Roman

legion Firensis in AD 70. Only the very oldest existing manuscripts of

the canonical gospels mention the city of Gerasa while later manuscripts

refer to the area as the land of the Gerasenes. Thus the author of the

original source of the Pepysian Gospel Harmony may have lived prior to

AD 70.

The sequence of the Pepysian Gospel Harmony also parallels many

aspects of the theoretical "Q" text. The Greek texts of Matthew and

Luke in some areas are letter for letter matches which have led some

scholars to theorize that at one time a single text "Q" was formed from

an early form of Matthew and of Luke and then later portions of our

modern forms of Matthew and Luke were copied from this single

gospel text.

Additionally, in the modern text of Luke the "Parable of the Lamp"

occurs in both Chapter 8 and Chapter 11. It has been theorized that

an early text that contained Luke Luke had only one "Parable of

the Lamp" and that the parable was either cut in half or duplicated

in our modern texts. The Pepysian Gospel Harmony sequence

combines portions of Luke Ch. 8 and 11 and only has a single account

of the "Parable of the Lamp" just as some scholars have theorized

would've existed in the single gospel forerunner of the modern text

of Luke.

Scholars have also theorized that the "Q" text would've been

constructed into categories and composed of lists such as a list

of parables. This idea was formulated in part based on the gospel

of Thomas found at Nag Hammadi.

The Pepysian Gospel Harmony does form the gospel account into

categories or groupings and there are two major groupings of parables

in its sequence just as theorized for the "Q" text.

The event sequence of the Pepysian Gospel Harmony also enhances

the account of the four gospels. The sequence produces cause and

effect relationships between events and the interactions of various

individuals with each other and with Jesus. For instance, The Pepysian

Gospel Harmony sequence contains both Mary Magdalene's conversion

and subsequent discipleship (this is in the modern gospel texts but is

somewhat obscured due to their non-chronological sequence.) Thus

Mary Magdalene plays a major role in the account of Jesus which is

implied by many ancient sources such as the the gospel of Thomas

but not highlighted by the canonical gospels in their present sequence.



The four canonical gospels make no claim to being written in chronological

sequence. An engineered reconstruction of the chronological order of

the gospels indicates that while several sequences are possible -- the

sequence of the modern gospels is not in chronological order.  For instance,

the passage in Mark 3:13-19 not only precedes the passage in Mark

3:20-31 by over a dozen events but in fact several passages in Mark

actually occur between Mark 3:13-19 and Mark 3:20-31.

(The Gospels in Four Part Harmony, 2001 by J. Clontz)

A personal aside: the translation enclosed hereafter is my own, completed in 2010. I profess no special training in Chaucerian English. All are welcome to improve on my or Kuchinsky’s translational efforts by making one of their own. Chaucerian English, after all, is English (albeit archaic) and it requires no great expertise to render archaic English into modern English.

Memoirs of the Apostles

As one of the more learned scholars of our time, whose area of expertise lay in the study of the Diatessaron, the late William Petersen, wrote:

. . . in 1992 M.-E. Bosmard published a book in which he argued that in

addition to Tatian's Diatession, the harmony used by Justin had also

left a mark on the harmonized gospel tradition. He singled out the Pepsian

Harmony [MS 2498] as the best surviving witness to this pre-Tatianic

harmony. This raises the possibility that the "abbreviating" character

of the Pepsian Harmony and what Plooij called "mutilation" (when

compared with other Diatessonic witnesses) may in reality, stem from

the fact that it represents a distinct textual tradition, one which is related

to the Diatessaron - for Tatian seems to have used Justin's harmony when

he created the Diatessaron - but anterior to it. (Tatian's Diatessaron)

One of the operative words above is "anterior." If MS Pepys' text predates Tatian's Diatessonic harmony, then it is, indeed, early. The expression: "distinct textual tradition" is also significant. Evidently, Tatian was not the only one performing the work of harmonization.

In his Apology dedicated in about 150 AD to Emperor Antoniunus (138-165 AD), Justin Martyr (105-168 AD), made reference to the weekly public reading of the "Memoirs of the Apostles." Though his quotes are synoptic, yet he never mentions individual evangelists and none of his quotations properly align with the canonicals as we know them today. Regarding this, the Catholic Encyclopedia states:

It is quite probable that Justin used a concordance or harmony, in which

were united the three synoptic Gospels and it seems that the text of this

concordance resembled in more than one point the so-called Western

text of the Gospels.

Besides Justin's harmony, the Catholic Encyclopedia also makes reference to a second harmony:

. . . a hearer of Justin, Tatian wrote many works. Only two have survived.

One of these is "Oratio Graecos" (Pros Hellanes), ... The other extent

work is the "Diatessaron", a harmony of the four Gospels containing in

continuous narrative the principle events in the life of Our Lord.

Not only is the statement above the sentiment of Catholic scholars but is the scholarly consensus across the board. The only disputed points are whether the Diatessaron was originally composed in Syriac or in Greek; also, whether it was actually Tatian who created it or someone else before him which Tatian merely refined. However those questions may be resolved, the salient point is the clear progression that exists from Justin's less synthesized Memoirs to the highly synthesized Diatessaron. When MS 2498 is added to the equation, it appears that what we have are three distinct harmonies with MS 2498 appearing to preserve the earliest, least synthesized text.

It may be that at one time underlying all other harmonies were two harmonies, one used for liturgical purposes, and one, a teaching manual, which served as a kind of catechism.

    Historic Turning Point

The Hadrionic war, which had wrung the death knell of Jewish hopes of

political independence had also relegated the church of the apostles to the

rank of a heretical sect. (Hugh Schofield, History of Jewish Christianity)

When Hadrian (76-138 AD) outlawed observance of the Mosaic Law throughout the Roman Empire, Jews in the Holy Land rebelled. The Nazarenes, who themselves were Law-observant, might well have joined with them except for one consideration, the rebellion’s leader, Bar Kocheba, had been declared to be the Messiah. Believers could not in good conscience accede to being led by a false Messiah. Not long thereafter, as if caught in the pincers of a giant nutcracker, Jerusalem's apostolic community was destroyed in a mighty bloodbath when, in 135 AD, Jerusalem fell to Rome's legions. With this conquest, all Jews - Nazarenes included - such as had survived, were banned from entering Jerusalem under penalty of death. Renamed Aelia Capitolina, Jerusalem became, thereafter, a Gentile enclave. It was then that certain Gentile Christians found it expedient to distance their religion from its Jewish roots. It was then that the Nazarene’s nemesis arose, the proto-Roman Catholic Church.

With the passing of the apostles from the scene, mostly through martyrdom, the creative period of gospel development came to a close, after which the collating work of Symeon ben Cleopas could begin. I postulate that it was then that an antagonistic division within the Nazarene movement between the Hellenistic wing in Galilee (which received Luke) and the Judaic wing in Jerusalem (which received Matthew) were harmonized. Evidence for saying this comes not only from MS Pepys 2498 but also from a gospel Justin Martyr used. In his two defenses of the Faith (called Apologies) presented to the Roman Senate, Justin Martyr quotes copiously from a document which he refers to as the Memoirs of the Apostles.

In the main the Memoirs combines Matthew and Luke and to a lesser degree, Mark, but also detected is a non-canonical gospel which, as best as scholarship can tell us, was the Gospel according to the Hebrews and/or possibly a sayings gospel.

            Justin Martyr

Whereas Protestant church services are largely built around the sermon and Catholic church services are largely built around the Eucharist, the primitive community of believers in Justin Martyr’s day built their communal worship around service and the reading of the Gospel:

And the wealthy among us help the needy; and we always keep together;

and for all things wherewith we are supplied, we bless the Maker of all

through His Son Jesus Christ, and through the Holy Ghost. And on the

day called Sunday, all who live in cities or in the country gather together

to one place, and the memoirs of the apostles or the writings of the prophets

are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the

president verbally instructs, and exhorts to the imitation of these good

things. Then we all rise together and pray, and, as we before said, when

our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the

president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings, according to

his ability, and the people assent, saying Amen; and there is a distribution

to each, and a participation of that over which thanks have been given,

and to those who are absent a portion is sent by the deacons. And they

who are well to do, and willing, give what each thinks fit; and what is

collected is deposited with the is collected is deposited with the president,

who succors the orphans and widows and those who, through sickness or

any other cause, are in want, and those who are in bonds and the strangers

sojourning among us, and in a word takes care of all who are in need.

(Justin Martyr, his First Apology to the Roman Senate c. 150 AD)

We should first know a little more about Justin, that he was born at the beginning of the 2nd century in Palestine, in the town today called Nablus, but which in his day was called Flavia Neapolis and in ancient times Shechem; that, as a youthful seeker of truth, he became a philosopher but in about 130 AD converted to become a Christian. Thereafter, traveling widely, he ultimately migrated to Rome where he established a Christian academy; and from whence he authored various books, three of which have survived to our day. He was martyred in 168 AD. As one strategically located in a major Christian center, Rome, it is likely that the gospel text he used was not idiosyncratic or parochial but reflected the practice of Christianity in his era.

Christianity in Rome

Taking pains to distinguish the Church from the Nazarenes, the Roman Church’s Gentile-dominated leadership revamped the faith once delivered to the saints, making it more amenable to the Roman powers-that-be; as well, conformable to the proclivities of the Church’s male-dominated hierarchy.

Such was the sequence of events preceding a late 2nd century Church edit when the canon was defined. Thus did Rome conquer, not only militarily, but also, to a certain extent, religiously, hijacking both the moral agenda and the sacred text. This spelled the final parting of the ways, when the Church became a religion unto itself, separate and apart from the Nazarene community, for once the New Testament's canonical four were sent forth, all other gospel accounts not included therewith, along with all other Nazarene literature generally, were targeted for suppression.

Axiomatically, as if it were a tenet of their faith, Protestants believe that God saw to it that through the Church the apostolic word would be preserved for future generations. Indeed, the word has been preserved, albeit not entirely through the agency they suppose, nor necessarily in the form they suppose either.

Protestants assume that it wasn't until Constantine's time, the 4th century, that the Church was seduced by the allure of state power. By then, as 3rd century papyri and 4th century uncials attest, the New Testament had been disseminated so widely as to be beyond recall for wholesale revision. Tampering, while not absent altogether, nonetheless, was not a significant factor thereafter. (To be sure, scribal errors, as ever, were occurring around the edges but this is to quibble.) However, it is an unwarranted leap of faith to say that in pre-Constantine times the Church had been a trustworthy custodian of the apostolic deposition.

What then of the New Testament? The term itself cannot be traced before 200 AD. But let’s not hang up on terminology, what of the NT's contents, are they apostolic? Scholarship indicates that it originates mostly from the apostolic era but that is not quite the same as saying that it is apostolic. James and Jude were not apostles. Neither were Mark and Luke. Thus we can dispense with saying that the New Testament is exclusively apostolic. Contrary to what most Christians might suppose, outside of late Church edicts, no "Thus saith the Lord" exists regarding the New Testament, affirming its divine origin.

Are there writing outside the New Testament which are equally inspired? A matter of private judgment, I say, speaking for myself, that I happen to know of writings equally authoritative and equally inspired from that era, which the Church, for whatever reason, did not include in its "New Testament."

Unfortunately, what was not included, often times was written off as heretical and destroyed. Such was the fate of one of the most valuable documents of all time, the Gospel according to the Hebrews. Jerome, being the great scholar that he was, sought to preserve it and even translated it into Latin, and yet, except for a few quotes which he and a few others from his era made, it seems to have perished all the same.

Because head and heart work in tandem, it is appropriate that research by devout, competent scholars should be included. Said Bible translator William Tyndale 500 years ago to one of the benighted church prelates of his day who had taken exception to his putting the Bible in the common tongue:

"If God spare my life, before very long I shall cause a plough

boy to know the scriptures better than you do."

If today we can advance the Gospel beyond where Tyndale carried it, it is not because we are more heroic than he was or better translators than he was; rather, it is because we have better texts to work from than he did and, perhaps, a better understanding of the milieu in which they arose.

Tyndale was constantly revising his work and issuing new editions. If perfection proves to be elusive here, and revisions of one kind or another need to be made, that should not surprise. I look forward to hearing from those who visit here who might have relevant books, essays, songs to share, or who have criticisms to make that might advance the good cause.

      Paul fought the good fight

Down through history we have heard echoing Paul's agonizing cry:

Oh wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death?

      (Romans 7;24)

What was Paul so wretched about? Sin to be sure. Of course we all know the pangs of regret for failures of one kind and another but Paul's pangs were especially acute. Any particular sin he regretted?  Toward the end of his ministry, he confesses what it was, that he had been "a blasphemer, a persecutor, and injurious" (I Timothy 1:13), "the chief of sinners" (I Timothy 1:15).

Having "persecuted the community of God" (I Corinthians 15:9), Paul declared himself "unworthy of being called an apostle" (I Corinthians 15:9). His regrets were lifelong. They never ceased. It was the price he paid for having been a terrorist, for having blood on his hands, for having cooperated with the synagogue of Satan.

But what is happening in our day? The same as in Paul's day, the agenda hasn't changed at all. The long arm of the Jewish Establishment had reached out to Saul, tricking him into doing its dirty work, such

"that if he [Paul] found any of this way [i. e., who were of the faith

residing in Damascus], whether they be men or women, he might

bring them bound to Jerusalem."                                      (Acts 9:1)

Likewise today the Jewish establishment is reaching out, this time to the poor, benighted, churches, which have taken up where Saul left off. Thus they willingly place their children on the altar of sacrifice to fight the Jews-only State of Israel's dirty wars, with Damascus and again Syria is in their crosshairs.

Using weapons of mass deception, most particularly the BIG LIE about 9-11 having been done by Arabs and Islam, when all along it was an inside job promoted and done by you know who, the Establishment continues to promote aggressive war on Afghanistan and Iraq on Libya, on Somalia, on Pakistan, and now, as did Paul, they are "breathing out threatenings and slaughter," directed toward Iran. Yes, they are recklessly and unjustifiably beating the war drums for an attack on Iran, naked aggression though this would be.

Brigands, rebels, they self-identify in many instances as "evangelicals," who say they admire Paul but they do not do that which Paul did. The word "evangel" comes from the Greek, ev means "good," and angel, "angel" is a messenger from God; thus good message, good news, gospel. Thus the bad news bears call themselves good. The record of Judeo-Christianity's deeds are writ large for all to see:

Its divisiveness is repugnant. Its history is bloody. And the "God loves

me more than you" mindset is infantile at best, and homicidal at worst.

(Judy Andreas)

That which was meant to liberate, has been turned into a parody of itself. Rather than setting the captives free, Judeo-Christianity further enslaves its adherents.

Oh, wretched people that we are, captive America, colonized from within by the traitors in our midst, the elitist over-class who call themselves Jews but are not, but are the synagogue of Satan, who control the currency, the media, the CIA, the NSA, Academia and the best Congress that money can buy, how are we to deport ourselves toward them?

This we know, that we are to render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's. In the West, however, there is no Caesar. He has been dethroned and in his place stands the Jewish Establishment. Therefore, are we to render unto Satan that which is Satan's? No, we owe Satan nothing. Satan deserve no quarter whatsoever.

Having, as we do, a desperate need to get back to the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, let us acknowledge to ourselves, if to no one else, our wretched state, repenting in sackcloth and ashes of the evil deeds which we have so evilly committed at the behest of international Jewry, thereby blaspheming the Ineffable One, for we have committed unspeakable crimes in God's name.

I know whereof I speak. For 50 years, from the age of 6 to the age of 56, I was a Zionist shill. Paul got his head on straight after just a few years. Not me. Not until August, 2003, did the scales fell from my eyes when I fully realized who did 9-11. It was not any Arab who was responsible for the controlled demolition of three World Trade Center towers, rather, the Jew Establishment who incinerated thousands of my fellow Americans.

This act of terror-based mind-control, was designed to throw me and my fellow Americans to our knees, begging our government: "Oh save us Uncle Sugar, save us!"  And this we did, bidding them God's speed as they decimated Afghanistan and Iraq.

But the Ubberswein, the Top Pigs, overplayed their hand. Inadvertently, they left irrefutable forensic tracks leading back to themselves which anyone doing due diligence to investigate might well determine for his or her self.

That is what liberated me, the irrefutable evidence of 9-11, that it was done by neo-cons, Theo-cons and the State of Israel. After that I became unwilling to participate in the racist, "chosen people" swindle anymore.

Oh, wretched men and women that we are, who will deliver us from this body of death? Thanks be unto God and to his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ for pardoning us on the same grounds as Paul was pardoned on, who said:

". . . but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief."

(I Timothy 1:13)

And Saul, who became Paul, did the works of repentance by speaking up:

And straightaway he preached Christ in the synagogues,

that he is the Son of God.                               (Acts 9:20)

Naturally none of this sat too well with the Establishment.

And after that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took council

to kill him: but their laying await was known of Saul. And they

watched the gates day and night to kill him.       (Acts 9:23-24)

To escape the clutches of the Jewish Establishment, the disciples lowered Paul in a basket out a window in the wall of the city and so he made good his escape.

Paul's life as a Christian did not begin until his life as a flunky for the Jewish Establishment had ended. And that was just the beginning. Paul had to fight the Jewish establishment for his very life so long as he lived. Said the prophet Agabus after he took Paul's belt and bound his own hands and feet with it:

So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this belt,

and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.   (Acts 21:11)

The same holds true today in spades, our lives as redeemed believers means our breaking with the Satanic powers that be and they are not going to like it.

Once the scales had fallen from my eyes and I could see clearly, I said: "Never again will I have anything to do with the mass-murdering Jewish Establishment, the enemy of all mankind. Only then did my life as a real Christian began.

As an act of contrition for having participated in the crimes of Apostasy, Murder, and Mayhem, I have established this web site as a place of refuge, where humane values are promoted and this I do in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

What fellowship can light have with darkness? Wherefore come out

from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not

the unclean thing, and I will be with you.     (II Corinthians 6:14, 17)

H. D. Kailin (site administrator)
P.O. Box 383
Sequim, WA 98382

* * * I T A L I A N W I S D O M * * *

As a day well-spent brings happy sleep,

    so life well used brings happy death.

Nothing is more fleeting than the years,

    but he who sows virtue reaps honor.

Oh, why not let your work be such that

    after death you become an image of immortality?

O Time, thou that consumest all things!

    O envious age, whereby all things are consumed!

Wrongfully do men lament the flight of time,

   accusing it of being too swift, and not perceiving

        that its period is yet sufficient.

In youth acquire that which may requite

    you for the deprivations of old age;

And if you are mindful that old age

    has wisdom for its food,

You will exert yourself in youth,

    that your old age will not lack sustenance.

While I thought that I was learning how to live,

    I have been learning how to die.

                                    -- Leonardo da Vinci

* * *

You've Gotta Pay the Price

Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all-the-time thing. You don't win once in a while, you don't do things right once in a while, you do them right all the time. Winning is a habit. Unfortunately, so is losing.

Every time a footballl player goes out to ply his trade he's got to play from the ground up -- from the soles of his feet right up to his head. Every inch of him has to play. Some guys play with their heads. That's O.K. You've got to be smart to be No. 1 in any business. But more important, you've got to play with your heart -- with every fiber of your being.     If you're lucky enough to find a guy with a lot of head and a lot of heart, he's never going to come off the field second.

Running a footballl team is no different from running any other kind of organization -- an army, a political party, a business. The principles are the same. The object is to win -- to beat the other guy. Maybe that sounds hard or cruel. I don't think it is.

It's a reality of life that men are competitive and the most competitive games draw the most competitive men. That's why they're there, to compete. They know the rules and the objectives when they get in the game. The objective is to win -- fairly, squarely, decently, by the rules -- but to win.

And in truth, I've never known a man worth his salt who in the long run, deep down in his heart, didn't appreciate the grind, the discipline. There is something in good men that really years for, needs discipline and the harsh reality of head-to-head combat.

I don't say these things because I believe in the "brute" nature of man or that men must be brutalized to be combative. I believe in God, and I believe in human decency. But I firmly believe that any man's finest hour -- his greatest fulfillment to all he holds dear -- is the moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle -- victorious.

                                                                                                                 -- Vince Lombardi

(While professional football is the pits, the principles it applies are not without a broader application.)

* * *

    My people? Who are they?

    I went into the church where the congregation

    Worshiped my God. Were they my people?

    I felt no kinship to them as they knelt there.

    My people! Where are they?

    I went into the land where I was born,

    Where men spoke my language . . .

    I was a stranger there.

    "My people," my soul cried. "Who are my people?"

    Last night in the rain I met an old man

    Who spoke a language I do not speak,

    Which marked him as one who does not know my God,

    With apologetic smile he offered me

    The shelter of his patched umbrella.

    I met his eyes . . . And then I knew . . .

-- Rosa Zagnoni Marinoni

* * * C O U N T R I F I E D W I S D O M * * *

Keeping the Home Fires Burning

Now many decades ago, when the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was yet in the business of constructing hydroelectric power dams, in a certain valley along the Tennessee River, the notice went out to those living along its banks that their land had been condemned because it would soon be underwater,

But there was one old mountaineer who had been living in that valley for forty years, and when offered five times what his tiny log cabin and few rocky acres was worth, he still wouldn’t move, this despite their having built him a pretty stone house with modern conveniences, electric lights and stove, on a fertile tract of land, high and safe from the rising waters.

“Nope,” said the old man after looking it over. “Don’t want it. Won’t move.”

“But why, Uncle Henry?” asked the government agents whose patience was wearing thin. “Why won’t you move up here?”

“Gotta keep that fire going in the front room! My great-great-grandfather kept it goin’, my pappy kept it goin’, and I aim to keep it goin’ too. Can’t let my pappy’s fire go out, nohow!”

Then the group of imaginative engineers backed up a truck to the old mountaineer’s cabin and gathered up the embers of the ancient fire, and transported it and Uncle Henry and his few belongings, to the new house on the hilltop overlooking the lake to-be, and said to him, “There is your fire, Uncle Henry, we won’t let it go out, and you can keep it burning here as well as down in the valley.”

Uncle Henry saw the logic of the arrangements and accepted his home, now that the fires of his fathers were burning on the new hearth.

* * *

The Instant It Happened

A picture of gratitude

Hallelujah!

For all the rest f his life Sam Smith, farmer, would remember Saturday, March 24, 1951, as the day it rained.

To a Texas farmer, drought is his most merciless enemy. Surely it is the most sinister. Unlike other natural perils -- tornado, hail storm, brush fire -- the drought does its evil by degrees. It tortures the earth bit by bit, inexorably, so that the farmer can never tell the exact day the cottonwood tree died, the precise hour the stock tank went dry, the specific moment the crack opened in his pasture wide enough to swallow a calf. In a long drought, the death of he earth is agonizingly slow and painful.

By the spring of 1951, Texans had endured seven years of drought. Seven years of watching crops die aborning, cattle die, wells go dry, seven years of watching great dust clouds lift on the hot afternoon breeze and turn the setting sun into a mocking sky of fire from horizon to horizon, day after day. That spring even the deep-rooted oaks are giving up the struggle, withholding their leaf buds for the first time in memory as every day for a solid month the temperature went over 100 degrees without a drop of rain.''

But on Saturday . . .

As the rain began, the excitement in the news room of the San Antonio Light is as unrestrained as on the outlying farms. Reporters, editors, deskmen, secretaries rushed to the windows to watch. Harvey Belgin, photographer, got into his car and headed for the vegetable belt southwest of the city, where the fields were most severely parched. Along the way he saw children playing deliriously in mud puddles, men and women running round joyously in their yards.

Then he saw Sam Smith standing next to his fence, standing in the rain, rejoicing. Harvey Belgin got out of his car and shot two pictures. Usually he shoots at least a half dozen to be sure of a good selection. "I don't know why I even bothered to shoot the second one," he said later. 'I knew I had what I wanted when I saw the old man through the view finder. The rain meant life to him and his face showed it. I said, 'Well, that's it,' and went back to the office."

* * *

Pearl Still Cares

Pearl Rahn

As seen from the photo above, Pearl Rahn, the day before her 99th birthday, April 6, 1985, greets her friend Stephanie at Fircrest School. A foster-grandparent to Stephanie, Pearl visits with her almost every day. "I just like people, particularly children," Rahn said as she tended to Stepanie, often hugging the severely spastic child or calming her by holding her hand. Confined to a wheelchair, Stephanie cannot speak bur her eyes brighten at the sight of her foster "grandma."

* * * NATIVE AMERICAN WISDOM * * *

            Go Forward With Courage

Sitting Bull

Red Cloud

K"á·let

    When you are in doubt, be still, and wait;
    when doubt no longer exists for you, then go forward with courage.
    So long as mists envelop you, be still;
    be still until the sunlight pours through and dispels the mists
    -- as it surely will.
    Then act with courage.

                      - -   Ponca Chief White Eagle (1800's to 1914)

* * *

You have noticed that everything an Indian does in a circle,
and that is because the Power of the World always works in circles,
and everything and everything tries to be round.

In the old days all our power came to us from the sacred hoop
of the nation and so long as the hoop was unbroken the people
flourished. The flowering tree was the living center of the hoop,
and the circle of the four quarters nourished it. The east gave peace
and light, the south gave warmth, the west gave rain and the north
with its cold and mighty wind gave strength and endurance. This
knowledge came to us from the outer world with our religion.

Everything the power of the world does is done in a circle.
The sky is round and I have heard that the earth is round like a ball
and so are all the stars. The wind, in its greatest power, whirls.
Birds make their nests in circles, for theirs is the same religion as ours.
The sun comes forth and goes down again in a circle. The moon
does the same and both are round. Even the seasons form a great
circle in their changing and always come back again to where they were.

The life of a man is a circle from childhood to childhood, and so it is
in everything where power moves. Our teepees were round like the
nests of birds, and these were always set in a circle, the nation's hoop,
a nest of many nests, where the Great Spirit meant for us to hatch our children.

- - Black Elk, Holy Man of the Oglala Sioux 1863-1950

* * *

    When you were born, you cried
    and the world rejoiced.
    Live your life
    so that when you die,
    the world cries and you rejoice.

                            - -   White Elk

* * *

     Hold On

    Hold on to what is good,
    Even if it's a handful of earth.
    Hold on to what you believe,
    Even if it's a tree that stands by itself.
    Hold on to what you must do,
    Even if it's a long way from here.
    Hold on to your life,
    Even if it's easier to let go.
    Hold on to my hand,
    Even if someday I'll be gone away from you.

                           - -   A Pueblo Indian Prayer

* * *

Before our white brothers arrived to make us civilized men, we didn't have

any kind of prison. Because of this, we had no delinquents. Without a prison,

there can be no delinquents. We had no locks nor keys and therefore

among us there were no thieves.

When someone was so poor that he couldn't afford a horse, a tent or a blanket,
he would, in that case, receive it all as a gift. We were too uncivilized to give

great importance to private property. We didn't know any kind of money and

consequently, the value of a human being was not determined by his wealth.

We had no written laws laid down, no lawyers, no politicians, therefore we

were not able to cheat and swindle one another.

We were really in bad shape before the white men arrived and I don't know
how to explain how we were able to manage without these fundamental things
that (so they tell us) are so necessary for a civilized society.

- - John (Fire) Lame Deer Sioux Lakota - 1903-1976

* * *

When the last tree is cut down

the last river poisoned

the last fish caught,

then only will man discover

that he cannot eat money.

-- Cree wisdom saying

* * *

A people without history is like the wind on the buffalo grass.

the torture of Leonard Peltier

* * *

S I D E B A R II

Art, Music, Poetry

Leadership

Leonardo da Vinci

Elizabeth and Mary, John and Jesus

Painted Version

Mary Magdalene

Mary, mother of Jesus

Last Supper

Durer

Mary and Elizabeth

Birth in a stable

Mother and child drawing

Mother and child etching

Flight to Egypt

Mary, Martha, and Jesus

Four horsemen

Rembrandt

Joseph's dream

Annunciation

Presentation in the Temple

Jesus relating a parable

Preparation for burial

Mary bereaved

On the Road to Emmaus

Giotto

Mother and child

Joseph, Mary and Jesus

Presentation in the Temple

Visitation of the three kings

Flight to Egypt

Jesus age twelve in the Temple

Miracle at Cana

Lazarus called forth from the grave

Jesus mocked

Down from the cross

Vermeer

Weighed in the balance

Van Gogh

The Good Samaritan

Jesus crucified

Shroud of Turin

One

Link to Thomas & the Cenacle

* * *

Additional Illustrations

Mary

The Bride

Annunciation

Mary & Elizabeth

Mother & Child

Holy Family

Adoration

Flight to Egypt

In Egypt

In the Temple

The initial call

Cleansing the Temple

One

Blessing the Children

One

Woman by the Well

Transfiguration

Sowing Seed

Footwashing

Kiss of Judas

Crown of Thorns

Via Delarosa

The Garden of Gethsemane

Crucifixion

Pieta

The Magdalene in the Garden

One

Pentecost

One

The Child

One

* * *

Palestinian

Nazareth

Vision

Scapegoat

Noah

Sophia

Apocalypse

* * *

Past Leadership

Brother Lawrence

Practicing the presence

William Blake

Documentary

Harriet Tubman

One

Watchman Nee

One

George Washington Carver

Mahalia Jackson

Mother Theresa

Corrie ten Boom

Link to Pre-trib rapture

George Carlin

We have owners

Kathryn Kuhlman

The Presence of God

Corrie ten Boom / Kathryn Kuhlman

Padre Pio

One

Martin Luther King, Jr.

I've been to the Mountaintop

Muhammed Ali

One

Interview

Ben Breedlove

This is My Story (Part I)

This Is My Story (Part II)

Sister's testimony

William Cooper

Predicts 9-11

Ransom Aldrich Myers

JFK

MLK, Jr.

Malcom X

Benjamin H. Freedman

Willard Hotel speech

Russell Means

Speech before the US Senate

Decline of American Culture

Last interview

Marion Anderson

documentary

Jim Traficant

speech

George Waldbott

Fluoridation: the great dilemma

A Struggle with Titans

Paul Wellstone

* * *

Anglo-speaking Leadership

Kevin Annett

Genocide of Native Americans

Child sacrifice

Jacob Appelbaum

How the NSA hacks

Astronauts

Ovrerview

Gilad Atzmon

With Jeff Rense and Brother Nathaniel

The Protocols

Chuck Baldwin

Love of the Warfare State

Kevin Barrett

I finally made the slow-fly list

Jeff Blankfort

Russell Blaylock

Vaccine and child brain development

Dumbing down society

Francis Boyle

Obama, Libya, Impeachment

Ebola weaponized

Brandon Bryant

Repentant drone operator

"I couldn't stand myself . . . for killing people"

James (Jimmy) Cantrell

Historical writings

Helen Caldicott

Link to June 11, 2015 interview

Link to nuclear danger

Link to Fukushima

Link to Chernobyl

October 2014 interview

Dr. Helen Caldicott

Benjamin Carson

Prayer breakfast

Michel Chossudovsky

War against humanity

9-11

9-11 10th anniversary

The globalization of war

Stephen Cohen

Worse than the Cuban missile crisis

Fairfield University lecture

Eustace Conway

Alastair Crooke

James Corbett

Corbett Report on 9-11

Alternative media

MS 17 cover up

9-11 in five minutes'

Rudy Dent

Interview

Meryl Dorey

Vaccination Interview

Ebola

Thomas Drake

We're in a police state

Sibel Edmonds

Link to Gladio B / Part I

Link to Gladio B / Part II

Link to Gladio B / Part III

Link to Gladio B / Part IV

Pepe Escobar

A chessboard drenched in blood

Prognostication for 2015

Daniel Estulin

Bilderberg

Ron Finley

Gansta gardening

Catherine Austin Fitts

The Black Budget

George Galloway

Oil for food

Debate with Israeli General

Jane Goodall

Dick Gregory

Arnie Gunderson

Anthony James Hall

Iran, Israel, 9-11

Bob Harrington

Chaplain of Bourbon Street

Dean Henderson

Left Hook

RT interview after US bombs Syria

Seymour Hersh

The scene of the crime

Katrina vanden Heuvel

American triumphalism

Bob Holman

Language Matters

Brian Hooker

CDC autism cover up

Tom Horn

Trans-humanism

Sheikh Imran Hosein

The prohibition of riba (Interest)

Flight 370

Duty to warn

How to protect teenagers

Joaquin

Iranian agreement

Syria and Russia

Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

Vaccines

Alan Keyes

Stop the Abominator

Oligarchy

Mike King

The Spanish American War

The Holihoax

Rob Kirby

US dollar system failing

Robert Lovelace

Earth Heal

Interview

Great Lakes Conference

Annie Machon

Interview

Pete Martino

Alex Jones interview

Mireille Mathieu

Joan of Arc

The deeds of greater Judistan

Cynthia McKinney

Interview

Guy McPherson

What is climate change?

Escaping to the south

Climate change update, 04-15

Living each moment

Ralph McGehee

The secrets of the CIA

Ray McGovern

RT interview

Phil Mocek

Innocent of all charges

Mahatier Mohamad

The Jews rule the world

Herman Morris

Syrian Girl

Extermination of the Arabs

Israel is doomed

Andrew Moulden

Vaccine Injuries

Peter Myers

World Trade Centre Attack

Ralph Nader

Learning from Eric Cantor's defeat

Alejandro Natividad

Cop confrontation

Cathy O'Brian

Testimony

Ken O'Keefe

Debate with Lawrence Korb

Dmitry Orlov

Mireille Mathieu

The deeds of greater Judistan

Harvey Organ

Interview

Prof. Martin Paul

Wifi and EMF biological harm

Ilan Pappe

Leonard Peltier

Duke Pesta

James Petras

Rape of Latin America

John Pilger

Russia Today interview

Gaza taboo

Do you remember Vietnam?

Utopia

Again the rise of fascism

The Secret Country

Bobby Powell

Banker seizure resisted

Sraddhalu Ranade

Demonic Forces

Bob Randall

Kanyini teaching

Jon Rappoport

Ukraine-the-end-game

Consigning Monsanto to hell

Depopulation corn

Creativity

William Rodriguez

Last man out

Glen Roberts

Why I renounced my citizenship

Paul Craig Roberts

Are you ready for nuclear war?

Western collapse

China/Russia response

The Matix

Alan Sabrosky

Israel's hidden faces

9-11 reconsidered

Go tell it to the people

Adrian Salbuchi

Zionism and multiculturalism

The Pope

Stephanie Seneff

Roundup

Autism/vaccine connection

Vandana Shiva

Biodiversity

Stephen Sizer

Christian Zionism

Debate with Michael Brown

Zionist attack on Sizer

Jeffrey Smith

Seeds of Deception

Ben Swann

Origin of ISIS

Rob Stewart

Interview

David Stockman

The coming financial storm

Deborah Tavares

Cell towers and drones

Agenda 21

Sherri Tenpenny

UNICEF attack refuted

Australian ambush

Barrie Trower

Microwave warfare

The cooking of humanity

Udo Ulfkotte

German presstitue whistleblower

Brandy Vaughan

Former Merck rep

Intimidation

Carey Wedler

Burning my last bridge with Obama

FBI report

Alison Weir

Against our better judgment

Richard Wilcox

Goldman Sax nukes the world

Jim Willie

Prepare for Collapse

January 26, 2015

* * *

Umbria

One

A joyful noise unto the Lord

One

* * *

Music Videos

YouTube Links

LCaoineadh / The Lament

What wondrous love is this?

Two Irishmen and a Hebrew

The Holly and the Ivy

Resonet In Laudibus

Orlando Gibbons - The Silver Swan

Scarborough Fair

Come Again

Mireille Mathieu

Joan of Arc

Jim Croce - Time in a bottle - 1973

Vincent

In the Ghetto

Janey Cutler

Arms of the Angel /Archbold

Jim Valley -- Rainbow Planet

Jim Valley's Rainbow Planet

It's a special world

With or without you

Ana Raffali (sings 6 minutes in)

Down to the river to pray

What A Friend We Have

Twelve Gates To The City

The Glory Is Passing Over

It Is Well With My Soul

Brazilian Lullaby

Jacob's Ladder

If You See My Savior

The Father of Gospel Music

Once In Royal David's City

One Star

Oh What A Beautiful City

O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

O Holy Night

Bethlehem Innkeeper

Venez Divin Messie

Mon Dieu, tu est grand, tu est beau

Veni, veni Emmanuel

Four French Carols

Tagalog

Pablo Milanes -- Yolanda

Medley

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing

Silent Night / The Temptations

I Can Only Imagine

Forgiveness

Beautiful You

Bless The Broken Road

Lose My Soul

He Reigns

I See The Lord

A Baby Changes Everything

The Last Thing On My Mind

Wedding Song

Dion / Abraham, Martin and John

Leaving On A Jet Plane

Mary Travers Speaks About Her Illness

Humpback Whale

Scotland the Brave

Scotland the Brave with lyrics

Do you hear the people sing?

With a little help from my friends

Don't cry for me Argentina

Man on fire

Man on fire -- live performance

Brahm's Lullaby

Sleep My Little Prince

Hush Little Baby

Para Ninar

By The Sea

Uncle Walter dancing with bears

Oh Happy Day

Sister Act -- O Happy Day

Why does my heart feel so bad

What A Wonderful World

Fine and Mellow

Stand by Me

Ain't Got No...I've Got Life

The Universal Soldier

What Are We Fighting For?

Where Have All The Flowers Gone?

I Don't Believe In If Anymore

I didn't raise my boy to be a soldier

I did not raise my boy to be a soldier

Ukrainian crisis / stopping the fascists

World Turned Upside Down

Hurdy Gurdy

Three Chantrelle Hurdy gurdy

Monkey And The Engineer

I Love My Baby

Beat It On Down The Line

Bob Marley - One Love

Somebody's Dying Every Day

Swing

This train

Bell Song / Dilbus Yunus

Bell Song / Mado Robin

Son Vergin Vezzova / Mado Robin

Sukiyaki

The Bonnie Banks O' Loch Lomond

Amazing Grace

Seven Joys of Mary by Burl Ives

Georgy Girl

I'll never find another you

Dublin City Sung By Burl Ives

My Grandfather's Clock

500 Miles Away From Home

California Stars

When a man loves a woman

Russian Folk

Solveig's Song

From Russia with love

Igor Strelkov

Praise to Allah from Prison

Happiness Defined

A Perfect Day

The Last Farewell

A Man Needs A Little Madness

Leap of Faith Movie

James Stewart / Harvey (1/2)

James Stewart / Harvey (2/2)

James Stewart / Beau

Earnest Saves Christmas

Die Twinnies

The Seventh Seal

William Blake Documentary

Johann Sebastian Bach

Sheep May Safely Graze

Jesu, Meine Freude

Komm, Jesu, Komm

Der Geist hilft...

Jesu, Joy Of Man's Desiring

Haydn and Telemann

Trumpet concerto Es-Durr

Concert for trumpet and organ in D

Vivaldi

Concert for two trumpets and organ in C

Concerto for Two Violins in A Minor

Viola Concerto in G major

Beethoven

Quartets

Handel

Samson

All We Like Sheep

O thou that tellest good tidings

For Unto Us A Child Is Born

Mozart

John Taverner

Verdi

Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves

Requiem

John Tavener

The Protecting Veil

Scarlatti

Sonata in E major L23

Haydn

Trumpet

Liszt

Valentina Listsa

Brahms

Selected works

Delibes Lakme - The Flower Duet

O Fortuna - Carl Orff

O Mio Babbino Caro

Enrico Caruso Sings " Santa Lucia"

Ahrntaler Geigenmusig

Swiss yodlers

Bolero

Come Back to Sorrento

Santa Lucia

O Sole Mio -- Eugene Shilin

Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Merrie Monarch 2010

Merrie Monarch 2012

Cook Islands Dance - Tiare Tipani

Samoa

Samoa song of the kava

Cook Island

Oldest Recorded Drumming

"Indian" defined

Cherokee Morning Song

Amazing Grace Cherokee

Amazing Grace Walela

Sioux Indian Traditional Song

Navajo Healing Song

Ballad of Ira Hayes

Russell Means / Testimony to Congress

War Song

Sioux War Dance

Lakota - To Walk the Red Road

Tribute To Red Cloud

Lakota Lullaby

Thanksgiving song

The Sundance Ceremony

Ink Pa Ta

Lakota Sioux Dancing

Medicine Dream - Honor Song

Children Of The Plains

Buffy Sainte-Marie

El Condor Pasa

Canuck

The Dawes Act of 1887

An Urgent Message

Pretty Brown

My brown skin baby they take him away

The Land owns us

Amazonia, last call

Rainbow sevant

The 4 most beautiful eyes in the world

Polyphonic Singing of the Aka Pygmies

Baka yoddlers

The Kalahari

Indian dance

Children of the Forest -- India

Living Rivers

Kurds

Luzia

Goin' to Leave Ol Texas

Cool Clear Water

Back in the Saddle Again

I'm A Happy Cowboy

Don't Fence Me In

Cowboy Logic

Theme Song from High Noon

Gauchos

The Last Cowboy Song

The archers of Bhutan

Missionary madness but Truth shines through

The Zo'e Tribe Of Amazonia

Korowai Tribe

Korowai Tribe full version

Baka Rainforest People

Andamen Islands

Bonobo

Black Orphyus

Black Orpheus carnival

40 years lost in the taigra

Tuvan throat singing

Tuvan throat singing on Letterman

Throat singing ensamble

Female Mongolian throat singer

Male Mongolian throat singer

How to do throat singing

A geodesic greenhouse

Zionist target Al-Zafer

MS - 17 the untold story

The Day the Dollar Died

Deflation first / then Inflation

* * *

Poetry

Let it be a dance we do.

May I have this dance with you?

Through the good times

And the bad times, too,

Let it be a dance.

Let a dancing song be heard.

Play the music say the words,

Fill the sky with sailing birds.

Let it be a dance.

Learn to follow, learn to lead,

Feel the rhythm, fill the need.

To reap the harvest, plant the seed.

And let it be a dance.

Everybody turn and spin,

Let your body learn to bend,

and, like a willow with the wind,

Let it be a dance.

A child is born, the old must die,

A time for joy, a time to cry.

Take it as it passes by.

And let it be a dance.

Morning star comes out at night,

Without the dark there is no light.

If nothing's wrong, then nothing's right.

Let it be a dance.

Let the sun shine, let it rain,

Share the laughter, bare the pain,

And round and round we go again.

Let it be a dance.

—Ric Masten sings

Link to Let It Be A Dance

* * *

B a i t a n d S w i t c h

The Church and the World walked far apart

on the changing shores of time.

Said the World to the Church

"your dress is too simple to please my taste;

I will give you pearls to wear,

rich velvets and silks for your graceful form,

and diamonds to deck your hair."

* * *

Lourdes Ave Maria.

(an adaptation)

Before Creation was begun

God had chosen you to be

Mother of His blessed Son.

When Creation was restored

You were there beside Our Lord

Whom you cherished and adored.

Unto us are children too

Often doubtful what to do

Thus we look away to you

Take us by surprise,

Show us where your beauty lies

Lead us to your Son above

He will show us how to love.

How to pity and forgive.

Ave, Ave, Maria.

* * *

Mary Magdalene.

She walks upon our meadows green,

The Lamb of God walks by her side,

And in every English Child is seen,

Children of Jesus and his Bride.

("Song of Jerusalem," William Blake)

* * *

Nazarene Wisdom

T W O W A Y S

There are two ways of teaching

and two wielders of power;

one is of light

and the other is of darkness.

Between those two ways

lies a vast chasm,

because over the one

are posted light-bearing angels,

while over the other are Satan's messengers;

and one of these two is the Lord

from all eternity,

while the other stands paramount

over this present age of iniquity.

The Way of Life is this:

Thou shalt love first the Lord thy Creator, and secondly thy neighbor as thyself; and thou shalt do nothing to any man that thou wouldst not wish to be done to thyself.

What you may learn from these words is to bless them that curse you, to pray for your enemies, and to fast for your persecutors. For where is the merit in loving only those who return your love? Even the heathens do as much as that.

The Way of Death is this:

To begin with, it is evil, and in every way fraught with condemnation. In it are murders, adulteries, lusts, fornications, thefts, idolatries, witchcraft, sorceries, robberies, perjuries, hypocrisies, duplicities, deceit, pride, malice, self-will, avarice, foul language, jealousy, insolence, arrogance, and boastfulness. Here are those who persecute good men, hold truth in abhorrence, and love falsehood; who do not know of the rewards of righteousness, nor adhere to what is good, nor to just judgment; who lie awake planning wickedness rather than well-doing. Gentleness and patience are beyond their conception; they care for nothing good or useful, and are bent only on their own advantage, without pity for the poor or feeling for the distressed. Knowledge of the Creator is not in them; they make away with their infants and deface God's image; they turn away the needy and oppress the afflicted; they aid and abet the rich but arbitrarily condemn the poor; they are utterly and altogether sunk iniquity.

* * *

Wedding Song

He is now to be among you at the calling

of your hearts.

Rest assured this troubador is acting on

His part.

The union of your spirits here has caused

Him to remain,

for whenever two or more of you are

gathered in His name,

There is love. There is love.

Oh, a man shall leave his mother, and

a woman leave her home.

They will travel on to where the two

will be as one.

As it was in the beginning, is now until

the end,

woman draws her life from man

and gives it back again and there is love.

Oh, there's love.

Well then what's to be the reason for

becoming man and wife?

Is it love that brings you here or love that

brings you life?

For if loving is the answer then who's the

giving for?

Do you believe in something that you've

never seen before?

Oh, there's love. There is love.

He is now to be among you at the calling

of your hearts.

Rest assured this troubador is acting

on His part.

The union of your spirits here has caused

Him to remain

for whenever two or more of you are

gathered in His name

there is love. Oh, there is love.

Link to Wedding Song

* * *

"Always humble yourself

lovingly before God and man,

because God speaks to those

who are truly humble of heart,

and enriches them with his gifts."

(Padre Pio)

* * *

People are often unreasonable,

illogical and self centered.

Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind

people may accuse you

of selfish, ulterior motives.

Be kind anyway.

If you are successful,

you will win some false friends

and some true enemies;

Be successful anyway.

If you are honest and frank,

people may cheat you,

Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building,

someone could destroy overnight;

Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness,

they may be jealous.

Be happy anyway.

The good you do today,

people will often forget tomorrow:

Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have,

and it may never be enough;

Give the world the best you've got

anyway.

You see, in the final analysis

it is between you and your God;

It was never between you and them

anyway.

-- original version by Kent M Keith

* * *

The Earth is our Mother,

But now the Earth is gravely ill.

Mother Earth.

She needs all the help she can get.

* * *

Ah love, let us be true

To one another, for the world, which seems

To lie before us like a land of dreams,

So various, so beautiful, so new

Hath in reality neither joy, nor love, nor life,

Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;

And we are here on a darkling plain

Swept with confused alarms of struggle

and flight,

Where ignorant armies clash by night.

* * *

Broken Love

My Spectre around me night and day

Like a wild beast guards my way;

My Emanation far within

Weeps incessantly for my sin.

A fathomless and boundless deep,

There we wander, there we weep;

On the hungry craving wind

My Spectre follows thee behind.

He scents thy foot steps in the snow

Wheresoever thou dost go,

Thro the wintery hail and rain.

When wilt thou return again?

Dost thou not in pride and scorn

Fill the tempests all the morn,

And with jealousies and fears

Fill my pleasant nights with fears.

Seven of my sweet loves thy knife

Has bereaved of their life.

Their marble tombs I build with tears,

And with cold and shuddering fears.

Seven more loves weep night and day

Round the tombs where my loves lay,

And seven more loves attend each night

Around my couch with torches bright.

And seven more loves in my bed

Crown with wine my mournful head,

Pitying and forgiving all

Thy transgressions great and small.

When wilt thou return and view

My loves, and them to life renew?

When wilt thou return and live?

When wilt thou pity as I forgive?

O'er my sins thou sits and moans:

Hast thou no sins of thy own?

O'er my sins thou sits and weeps,

And lull thy own sins fast asleep.

What transmissions I commit

Are for thy transgressions fit.

They thy harlots, thou their slave;

And my bed becomes their grave.

Never, never, I return:

Still for victory I burn.

Living, thee alone I'll have;

And when dead I will be thy grave.

Thro the Heaven and Earth and Hell

Thou shalt never, quell:

I will fly and thou pursue:

Night and morn the flight renew.

Poor, pale, pitiable form

That I follow in a storm;

Iron tears and groans of lead

Bind around my aching head.

'Till I turn from Female love

And root up the Infernal Grove;

I shall never worthy be

To step into Eternity.

And, to end thy cruel mocks,

Annihilate thee on the rocks,

And another form create

To be subservient to my fate.

Let us agree to give up love,

And root up the Infernal Grove;

Then shall we turn and see

The worlds of happy Eternity.

And throughout all Eternity

I forgive you, you forgive me.

As our dear Redeemer said:

"This the Wine, and this the Bread."

-- William Blake

* * *