The king David was succeeded by his son Solomon, who was known for his relationship with God.
The queen of Sheba, also known as a great ruler, was a royal visitor who came from the uttermost parts of the earth, from the extremities of the then known world, to hear the wisdom of Solomon.
The Queen of the South came to Jerusalem in all her splendor, with a great retinue, with camels bearing spices, and very much gold, and precious stones. Never again came such an abundance of spices as those which she gave to Solomon.
Solomon had originally been told of the kingdom of Sheba and of its queen by a bird, whose language he understood. Sheba was a peaceful country, full of gold and silver, whose plants were watered by the rivers of Paradise. He wanted to meet the queen because he had heard of her wonderful land.
The Queen wanted to meet him because he had a reputation for wisdom, and she came to prove him with hard questions about strange things and Solomon answered every one of them.
The Queen was literally overwhelmed by Solomon's answers and astonished by his wisdom, by his orderly manner of his kingdom and his faith, his great wealth, the magnificence of his palace and the number of his servants.
The Queen praised Solomon openly and, even more significantly, began to give the praise to Solomon's God, the One Lord. After presenting gold, spices, and precious stones to Solomon (the Old Testament type of visit of the 3 Kings to baby Jesus), she left Jerusalem with her great train of camels and attendants.
Allegorical interpretations of this episode equated Solomon with "Christ the King"and the queen of Sheba with Mary, the virgin. It also represent non believers acknowledging Christianity, and the queen of Sheba is representing in this case the ones with a very righteous nature but without knowledge of the Kingdom of God.
There are additional non-biblical versions of the visit. One is that the queen had exceptionally hairy legs and hoped to obtain a depilatory recipe from the wise king. Another is that Solomon had heard rumors that she had hirsute limbs and webbed feet. To discover the truth, he caused her to walk over a polished crystal and she, mistaking this for a pool of water, raised her skirt.
It was also said that the wood of the 'Tree of Knowledge' had been used to bridge a stream in Jerusalem. In a vision, the queen of Sheba had been told that this would be the 'True Cross.' She refused to walk over the bridge, worshiped the wood, and forded the stream barefoot.
The royal house of Ethiopia claimed to be descended from the union of Solomon and their Queen, and black Jews of Ethiopia, the Fal-Ashas, trace their own origin to the Israelites whom Solomon sent back with her.
Another descendant of their union, other versions says, was Nebu-Chad-Nezz-Ar, who became king of Babylon.
The 'En-Medur-Anki Legend (seed of kingship) is a Sumero-Akkadian composition relating his endowment with perfect wisdom by the god 'Marduk' and his claim to belong to a 'distant line of kingship from before the Flood' and to be an 'offspring of En-Medur-Anki, king of Sippar.' It begins with a lament over preceding events:
"At that time, in the reign of a previous king, conditions changed. Good departed and Evil was regular.
The Lord became angry and got furious. He gave the command and the gods of the land abandoned it
... its people were incited to commit crime. The guardians of peace became furious, and went up to the dome of heaven, the spirit of justice stood aside ... who guards living beings, prostrated the people, they all became like those who have no god. Evil demons filled the land, the Nam-Tar-Demon ... they penetrated the cult centers. The land diminished, its fortunes changed. The wicked Elamite, who did not hold (the land's) treasures in esteem ... his battle, his attack was swift. He devastated the habitations, he made them into a ruin, he carried off the gods, he ruined the shrines."
The duration of Nebu-Chad-Nezz-Ar' s war with Elam and the number of campaigns he conducted are not known.
Thursday, 18 August 2016
Friday, 12 August 2016
THE "WOE" OF JESUS TO CHOR-AZIM.
In historical time, the Ar-Ians lived in the country along the River Ar-Ios. There were large deserts surrounding the fertile River Valley.
After some time, new tribal coalitions came into being: in the West, the Medes; in the South, the Persians; in the East, the Bactrians, and in the center the Ar-Ians.
If there is a region that can be described as a place of opposites, it must be Bactr-Ia. Their culture, known as the Bactr-Ia / Marg-Iana is dated 2,200-1700 BC and associated with the arrival of the Indo-Iranians. Bactria (Northern Afghanistan), in Antiquity was famous for its fierce warriors and its ancient religion founded by Zarathustra. Situated between the Hindu Cush Mountain Range in the South and the River Ox-Us (Amud-Ar'Ya) in the North, it is an East-West zone that consists of extremely fertile alluvial plains, hot desert, and cold mountains.
The real ancient name for of the Ox-Us River was "W-Axs,"meaning "the Wild One."
The River's sources are on the Western slopes of the Pam-Ir Mountain Range, where the ancient Silk Road crossed into China. The Upper Ox-Us flows from East to West and separated Bactr-Ia (Northern Afghanistan) from S-Og-Dia (modern Uzbeki-Stan and parts of Tajiki-Stan), also called Trans-Ox-Iana. Beyond Bactr-Ia, the River turns to the North West.
The River divides 2 deserts, the Black Desert (Kara Kum) to the South West, and the Red Desert (Kizil Kum) to the North East. The waters never were used for irrigation, the River was something of an intrusion in a desert landscape. It never produced vegetation.
The Delta immediately south of lake Ar-Al was called Chor-Asmia, in Antiquity. The waters were heavily used to irrigate the land. The wild River Ox-Us empties in this lake (Ar-Al). It once had an extra branch that emptied into the Casp-Ian Sea. A very ancient kingdom named Chor-Asmia came into being in this area as early as the 13th BC.
According to the Avestan texts written in the 14th BC, it says that Zarath-us-tra was protected by king Hyst-Aspes of Chor-Asmia. It
The kingdom of Chor-Asmia became part of the Acha-Emenid empire before 522 BC. It is mentioned by king Dar-Ius I the Great (522-486 BC) in the Behistun Inscription implying that Darius received Chor-Asmia as one of his territories when he became king.
Then the kingdom of Chor-Asmia was ruled by the satrap of Parth-Ia, because Herodotus mentions the two together in a description of the taxes under Dar-Ius and in a catalogue of army units under king Xerxes.
By the time of Dar-Ius III Cod-Omann-Us (336-330 BC), Chor-Asmia became an independent kingdom. Its king concluded a Peace Treaty with Alexander the Great in the winter of 328 / 327 BC.
The Chor-Asmian kings stated to mint coins inspired by the coins of the Seleucid kings, whom after the death of Alexander dominated the Eastern Provinces.
After 240 BC, Bactr-Ia, which was ruled by people who claimed Greek descent, dominated the region, and absorbed the people that once belonged to the Cho-Asmian empire.
The name of Chor-Azin later appeared in the Scriptures among those reproached by Jesus pronouncing a coming "woe" for the Jacob's descendants living in the place who were witnesses of 'powerful works' that would have moved the fleshy inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon to repentance, and yet who failed to act on Jesus' message. After this, in the fall of 32 CE, when dispatching the 70 disciples during his later ministry, Jesus inserted a reference to Chor-Azin's impenitent attitude into his discussion to emphasize that great "woe" that would be experienced by the unresponsive cities against which his disciples were to "wipe the dust" off their feet. (Luke 10).
The contrast between the country's fertility and desolation was noted in Antiquity by the Roman author Quintus Curtius Rufus.
The Hindu Cush, marks the fault line of the Ir-Anian and Eur-Asian tectonic plates, from East to West, and the small rivers going down from its slopes to the North, deposit sediments on the foothills and the plain that runs parallel to the mountain range. The same symbolic picture is taken when the Scriptures mention the first-named son of Ham and father of 6 sons: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, Sabteca, and Nimrod. (Genesis 10, 1 Chronicles 1). Consequently, this very fertile area, where farmers produced wheat and barley in very ancient times is also the cradle from which cities were born.
Cush and his named descendants are included in the Scriptures among those from whom "the nations were spread about in the earth after the Flood." Also, the name of Cush is associated through his son Nimrod with Babel and the kingdom that Nimrod forged in post-Flood times.
The land of Cush referred to at Genesis 2 as the land originally encircled by the River Gihon, one of the four heads of the "River issuing out of Eden," is the place in which ancient inhabitants had their settlements before the Flood.
An ancient city of Kish was revealed by excavations done in lower Mesopotamia near Babylon, and said to be the city from which emperors of the 3rd millennium BC in Babylonia assumed the title of "king of the world."
The Sumerian King List, an ancient record, though highly legendary, contains the statement: After the Flood had swept over and when kingship was lowered from heaven, kinship was in Kish." Following the breakup at Babel because of the confusion of language, the main body of Cush's descendants migrated Southward. It is of note that, while the names of Cush's 6 sons appear to have been perpetuated by tribes descended from them. This is not the case with the name Nimrod, that the name is mentioned solely as that of an individual or a title, indicating that Nimrod remained without progeny.
If the Gihon had a common source with the Euphrates and the Tigris Rivers, then, after the universal Flood, it is assumed that everything was brought to an extreme spiritual and physical radical changes.
The name of Cush is also used in the Scriptures to parallel "the land of Midian" at Habakkuk 3, and with reference to Moses' Midianite wife Zipporah. She is called a "Cushite," in Exodus 9 and Numbers 12.
After some time, new tribal coalitions came into being: in the West, the Medes; in the South, the Persians; in the East, the Bactrians, and in the center the Ar-Ians.
If there is a region that can be described as a place of opposites, it must be Bactr-Ia. Their culture, known as the Bactr-Ia / Marg-Iana is dated 2,200-1700 BC and associated with the arrival of the Indo-Iranians. Bactria (Northern Afghanistan), in Antiquity was famous for its fierce warriors and its ancient religion founded by Zarathustra. Situated between the Hindu Cush Mountain Range in the South and the River Ox-Us (Amud-Ar'Ya) in the North, it is an East-West zone that consists of extremely fertile alluvial plains, hot desert, and cold mountains.
The real ancient name for of the Ox-Us River was "W-Axs,"meaning "the Wild One."
The River's sources are on the Western slopes of the Pam-Ir Mountain Range, where the ancient Silk Road crossed into China. The Upper Ox-Us flows from East to West and separated Bactr-Ia (Northern Afghanistan) from S-Og-Dia (modern Uzbeki-Stan and parts of Tajiki-Stan), also called Trans-Ox-Iana. Beyond Bactr-Ia, the River turns to the North West.
The River divides 2 deserts, the Black Desert (Kara Kum) to the South West, and the Red Desert (Kizil Kum) to the North East. The waters never were used for irrigation, the River was something of an intrusion in a desert landscape. It never produced vegetation.
The Delta immediately south of lake Ar-Al was called Chor-Asmia, in Antiquity. The waters were heavily used to irrigate the land. The wild River Ox-Us empties in this lake (Ar-Al). It once had an extra branch that emptied into the Casp-Ian Sea. A very ancient kingdom named Chor-Asmia came into being in this area as early as the 13th BC.
According to the Avestan texts written in the 14th BC, it says that Zarath-us-tra was protected by king Hyst-Aspes of Chor-Asmia. It
The kingdom of Chor-Asmia became part of the Acha-Emenid empire before 522 BC. It is mentioned by king Dar-Ius I the Great (522-486 BC) in the Behistun Inscription implying that Darius received Chor-Asmia as one of his territories when he became king.
Then the kingdom of Chor-Asmia was ruled by the satrap of Parth-Ia, because Herodotus mentions the two together in a description of the taxes under Dar-Ius and in a catalogue of army units under king Xerxes.
By the time of Dar-Ius III Cod-Omann-Us (336-330 BC), Chor-Asmia became an independent kingdom. Its king concluded a Peace Treaty with Alexander the Great in the winter of 328 / 327 BC.
The Chor-Asmian kings stated to mint coins inspired by the coins of the Seleucid kings, whom after the death of Alexander dominated the Eastern Provinces.
After 240 BC, Bactr-Ia, which was ruled by people who claimed Greek descent, dominated the region, and absorbed the people that once belonged to the Cho-Asmian empire.
The name of Chor-Azin later appeared in the Scriptures among those reproached by Jesus pronouncing a coming "woe" for the Jacob's descendants living in the place who were witnesses of 'powerful works' that would have moved the fleshy inhabitants of Tyre and Sidon to repentance, and yet who failed to act on Jesus' message. After this, in the fall of 32 CE, when dispatching the 70 disciples during his later ministry, Jesus inserted a reference to Chor-Azin's impenitent attitude into his discussion to emphasize that great "woe" that would be experienced by the unresponsive cities against which his disciples were to "wipe the dust" off their feet. (Luke 10).
The contrast between the country's fertility and desolation was noted in Antiquity by the Roman author Quintus Curtius Rufus.
The Hindu Cush, marks the fault line of the Ir-Anian and Eur-Asian tectonic plates, from East to West, and the small rivers going down from its slopes to the North, deposit sediments on the foothills and the plain that runs parallel to the mountain range. The same symbolic picture is taken when the Scriptures mention the first-named son of Ham and father of 6 sons: Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Raamah, Sabteca, and Nimrod. (Genesis 10, 1 Chronicles 1). Consequently, this very fertile area, where farmers produced wheat and barley in very ancient times is also the cradle from which cities were born.
Cush and his named descendants are included in the Scriptures among those from whom "the nations were spread about in the earth after the Flood." Also, the name of Cush is associated through his son Nimrod with Babel and the kingdom that Nimrod forged in post-Flood times.
The land of Cush referred to at Genesis 2 as the land originally encircled by the River Gihon, one of the four heads of the "River issuing out of Eden," is the place in which ancient inhabitants had their settlements before the Flood.
An ancient city of Kish was revealed by excavations done in lower Mesopotamia near Babylon, and said to be the city from which emperors of the 3rd millennium BC in Babylonia assumed the title of "king of the world."
The Sumerian King List, an ancient record, though highly legendary, contains the statement: After the Flood had swept over and when kingship was lowered from heaven, kinship was in Kish." Following the breakup at Babel because of the confusion of language, the main body of Cush's descendants migrated Southward. It is of note that, while the names of Cush's 6 sons appear to have been perpetuated by tribes descended from them. This is not the case with the name Nimrod, that the name is mentioned solely as that of an individual or a title, indicating that Nimrod remained without progeny.
If the Gihon had a common source with the Euphrates and the Tigris Rivers, then, after the universal Flood, it is assumed that everything was brought to an extreme spiritual and physical radical changes.
The name of Cush is also used in the Scriptures to parallel "the land of Midian" at Habakkuk 3, and with reference to Moses' Midianite wife Zipporah. She is called a "Cushite," in Exodus 9 and Numbers 12.
ARISTOTLE' SUPREME DEITY : GOD, MOVER OF THE UNIVERSE.
Aristotle's own supreme deity is the primal mover of the universe, someone so elevated as to be only thinking -the highest from of life- and thinking about thinking, at that.
in his tautological fashion, this supreme being is untarnished, untouchable, closed to its own perfection.
Were it to think about anything other than its own thinking, it would be vulnerable, in risk of losing its grandeur or its perfection.
This being Aristotle calls God, and defines: "God is a supreme and eternal Being, so that to God belong life and continuous and eternal duration. For that is what God is.
Aristotle believed that all movement depends on there being a mover. Movement, for him, meant more than something traveling from A to B. Movement included change, melting, cooling, heating, etc.
Aristotle argued that behind every movement there existed a chain of events that brought about the movement that we see taking place. This chain of events lead us back to something which moves but is itself unmoved. This, he referred to as the Prime Mover.
The Prime Mover, to Aristotle, is the first of all substances, the necessary first source of movement which is itself unmoved. It is a Being with everlasting life. This Being, Aristotle calls God. This Being does not start off the movement by giving some kind of push, but it is the purpose, or end, of the movement.
Aristotle believed the Prime Mover causes things to move by attraction in much the same way that a bowl of milk attracts a cat. The milk attracts the cat but cannot be said to be changed in the process. Action and reaction are equal and opposite. The keen establishment of this principle assured the concept that the Prime Mover is itself Unmoved, or unaffected, otherwise the whole concept would break down. God draws things to Himself and remains unaffected. The stars and the planets move out of a spiritual desire to imitate God. They do this by moving in eternal circles.
He also believed that change is eternal. A first change never existed, because something had to happen to set it off, and this itself would have been a change, and so on.
Aristotle believed that God does not depend on anything else fro existence. He never changes, never begins and never ends, and so is eternal. The Prime Mover also is immaterial. It could not be made of any kind of stuff, because matter is capable of being acted upon. Matter has potential to change. Since God is immaterial, it cannot perform any kind of physical, bodily action. The activity of God is purely spiritual and intellectual. The activity of God is thought.
in his tautological fashion, this supreme being is untarnished, untouchable, closed to its own perfection.
Were it to think about anything other than its own thinking, it would be vulnerable, in risk of losing its grandeur or its perfection.
This being Aristotle calls God, and defines: "God is a supreme and eternal Being, so that to God belong life and continuous and eternal duration. For that is what God is.
Aristotle believed that all movement depends on there being a mover. Movement, for him, meant more than something traveling from A to B. Movement included change, melting, cooling, heating, etc.
Aristotle argued that behind every movement there existed a chain of events that brought about the movement that we see taking place. This chain of events lead us back to something which moves but is itself unmoved. This, he referred to as the Prime Mover.
The Prime Mover, to Aristotle, is the first of all substances, the necessary first source of movement which is itself unmoved. It is a Being with everlasting life. This Being, Aristotle calls God. This Being does not start off the movement by giving some kind of push, but it is the purpose, or end, of the movement.
Aristotle believed the Prime Mover causes things to move by attraction in much the same way that a bowl of milk attracts a cat. The milk attracts the cat but cannot be said to be changed in the process. Action and reaction are equal and opposite. The keen establishment of this principle assured the concept that the Prime Mover is itself Unmoved, or unaffected, otherwise the whole concept would break down. God draws things to Himself and remains unaffected. The stars and the planets move out of a spiritual desire to imitate God. They do this by moving in eternal circles.
He also believed that change is eternal. A first change never existed, because something had to happen to set it off, and this itself would have been a change, and so on.
Aristotle believed that God does not depend on anything else fro existence. He never changes, never begins and never ends, and so is eternal. The Prime Mover also is immaterial. It could not be made of any kind of stuff, because matter is capable of being acted upon. Matter has potential to change. Since God is immaterial, it cannot perform any kind of physical, bodily action. The activity of God is purely spiritual and intellectual. The activity of God is thought.
Tuesday, 9 August 2016
THE PARANORMAL PHENOMENON.
Paranormal phenomenon describes anything that is above, beyond, or contrary to the bounds of the established world around us. It includes extrasensory perception (ESP), telekinesis, ghosts, life after death, reincarnation, faith healing, human auras, and so forth. The explanation of these phenomena sometimes are phrased in terms of psychic forces, human energy fields, and so on. It also covers several sub-disciplines, including Ufology, Crypto-zoology, and Para-psychology.
The term itself was coined in 1973 by Drew University anthropologist Roger W. Wescott, who defined it as being the serious and systematic study of all phenomena that fail to fit the picture of reality provided for us by common sense or by the established science.
Wescott credited journalist and researcher Charles Fort (August 6, 1874 - May 3, 1932) as being the creator of the paranormal phenomenon as a field of research, and Wescott named biologist Ivan T. Sanderson and Source Book Project compiler William R. Corliss as being instrumental in expanding the research into the phenomenon and to introduce a more conventional perspective into the field.
Charles Fort was of Dutch ancestry. His grocer father was an authoritarian and a physical abuser. Fort's distrust of authority had its roots in his treatment as a child and develop his strong sense of freedom and independence in his early years. He was described as curious and intelligent. As a young adult, he wanted to be a naturalist, and he collected sea shells, minerals, and birds. He was quite knowledgeable about the world that came by his extensive reading. At the age of 18, he left New York on a world tour to "put some capital in the bank of experience."He travelled through Western USA, Scotland, and England, until failing ill in South Africa. Returning home, he was nursed by Ana Filing, a girl he had known from his childhood. They were married on October 26, 1896, when he was 22 years old. Anna was 4 years older than him and was non-literally but a lover of films and of parakeets. They moved to London for 2 years. During that time, when he was not busy with his research, they went to the cinema.
He perused the files, concerning paranormal phenomenon, of the British Museum. His success as a short story writer was intermittent between periods of terrible poverty and depression. Although born in Albany, when the couple came back from London, they settled in the Bronx. He, like his wife, was fond of films, and often went together to the nearby movie theater. He frequented the parks near Bronx, where he would sift through piles of his clippings of information taken from the New York Public Library on 5th Avenue. He spent many hours reading scientific and non-scientific journals along with an armful of newspapers and periodicals from around the world. He had a very small circle of literary friends that share the same theme in their talkative gatherings.
When his uncle died in 1916, a modest inheritance was given to him enough to quit his various day jobs and to write full-time. In 1917 his brother died and his portion of the same inheritance was divided between him and another brother. Fort's experience as a journalist, coupled with high wit egged on by a contrary nature, prepared him for his real-life work, needling the pretensions of scientific positivism and the tendency of journalists and editors of newspapers and scientific journals to rationalize the scientifically incorrect. He wrote 10 novels, although only one, 'The Outcast Manufacturers (1909)' was published. Reviews were positive, the tenement of the tail was out of his time. In 1915, in his forties, he began to write 2 books, the first dealing with the idea that beings on Mars controlled Earth's events, and the second postulated a sinister civilization extant at the South Pole. The books caught the attention of writer Theodore Dreiser, who attempted to get them published, but to no avail. Disheartened, Fort burnt the manuscripts. But soon he was renewed to begin work on the book that changed the course of his life, 'The Book of the Damned (1919)," which Dreiser helped to get into print. The book referred to 'damned' data that Ford collected, phenomena for which science could not account and thus rejection or ignorance did not exist. Fort took thousands of notes in his lifetime. Fort spoke of sitting on a park bench and tossing a large amount of notes into the wind. In his short story, "The Giant, the Insect, and the Philanthropic-looking Old Gentleman,"Fort used his own data collection technique to solve the mystery. He observed that unrelated bits of information were interrelated. He destroyed many times his own work, and started again to collect new data aiming to new results. Some of them has been published little by little by the Fortean Society magazine "Doubt," and, upon the death of its editor Tiffany Thayer aged 57, in 1959, then most of Fort's information were donated to New York Public Library.
Fort was pleasant to find himself in the midst of the emotional attachment that his fans had to the object of his research. Fort distrusted doctors and did not seek conventional medical help for his worsening health, given the fact the he was dealing with supernatural forces that drained his energy. Suffering from poor health and failing eyesight, he died, probably from leukemia.
Drew University, the first institution that went into deep research on that subject, started as a theological seminary to train candidates for ministry in the Methodist church. Daniel Drew (July 29, 1797-Sept 18,1879), a great operator of Wall Street that furnished the most remarkable instance of success followed by utter failure and hopeless bankruptcy, was the one who purchased an estate in Madison to establish the 'seminary.' The seminary later expanded to offer 'an undergraduate liberal arts' curriculum in 1928 and graduate studies in 1955. The 'Drew Theological School', the 3rd-oldest of 13 Methodist seminaries is affiliated with the United Methodist Church.
Drew was born in Carmel, a town in Putnam County, New York. He was poorly educated and saw hardship after his father, who owned a small cattle farm, died when Daniel was 15 years old. Drew enlisted and drilled, though did not see face to face combat in the Conflict between United States and United Kingdom. After the conflict, he spent some time with a traveling zoo. In 1820, he moved to New York City and established himself at the Bull's Head Tavern in the Bowery, a place frequented by drovers and butchers doing business in the city. While running the Tavern, he formed a partnership with two other drovers, buying cattle from neighboring counties and bringing them to New York for sale. In 1834, he was married and entered the steamboat business and ran profitable lines outside New York City. Around this time, Drew began to speculate in stocks. He founded a brokerage firm but a decade later his partners died and he continue in the brokerage business as an independent operator. After a while in 1857, he managed to be a member of the board of directors of the Erie Railroad and used his position to manipulate the railroad stock price. He joined forces again with another one in the business but in 1864 he was struggling with his partner and speculating on the stock of New York and Harlem since he and his partner were the director of both, rescuing both railroad firms from bankruptcy because of the manipulation of the stocks. In 1866 to 1868, Drew engaged in another conflict with the same partner Vanderbilt, in which Drew conspired along with fellow directors James Fisk and Jay Gould to issue stock to keep Vanderbilt from gaining control of the Erie Railroad. Vanderbilt, unaware of the increase in outstanding shares, kept buying Erie stock and sustained heavy losses, eventually conceding control of the railroad to the trio. In 1870, the two fellow directors Fisk and Gould betrayed Drew, manipulating the stock price again of the Erie Railroad, cause Drew to lose $ 1.5 million. Fisk was killed in January 1872 by a jealous rival over a mistress; Gould himself would later be swindled out of $1,000,000 worth of Erie railroad stock and never controlled it. For Drew, the Panic of 1873 cost him more, and by 1876, Drew filled for bankruptcy, with debts exceeding a million dollars and no viable assets. He died in 1879, dependent on his son for support.
Daniel Drew, from which the university took its name, left a controversial legacy, in the same symbolic way the 'seminary school' turned in something else. At the zenith of his 'career' as a 'financer', when his personal fortune was estimated at $13 million at that time, and he was 'respectfully' called "Uncle Sam' on Wall Street, he was treated with admiration. After his 'fortunes' changed, he was vilified by the newspapers, which wrote that Drew 'has been one of the curses of the market for years past, ... he holds the honest people of the world to be a pack of fools."
Drew is credited with introducing what would be called "watered stock" to the Wall Street, to describe company shares that were issued by false means including counterfeit stock certificates and unauthorized stock release, resulting in a dilution of ownership. The term came from his time in the livestock business, when he would have 'his cattle' lick salt and drink water before selling them, to increase 'weight.' The watered stock tactic was used in the Erie conflict of the 1860s, when Drew along with James Fisk and jay Gould blocked arch rival Cornelius Vanderbilt from getting ownership of the Erie railroad.
Daniel Drew is credited with the nature of the saying: "He who sells what is not his, must buy it back or go to prison," in the physical and spiritual way.
A 'devout' Methodist, Drew built his own churches in Carmel and Brewster, New York, and was the major contributor to the founding of Drew Theological Seminary in Madison, New Jersey, which is now part of Drew University.
The term itself was coined in 1973 by Drew University anthropologist Roger W. Wescott, who defined it as being the serious and systematic study of all phenomena that fail to fit the picture of reality provided for us by common sense or by the established science.
Wescott credited journalist and researcher Charles Fort (August 6, 1874 - May 3, 1932) as being the creator of the paranormal phenomenon as a field of research, and Wescott named biologist Ivan T. Sanderson and Source Book Project compiler William R. Corliss as being instrumental in expanding the research into the phenomenon and to introduce a more conventional perspective into the field.
Charles Fort was of Dutch ancestry. His grocer father was an authoritarian and a physical abuser. Fort's distrust of authority had its roots in his treatment as a child and develop his strong sense of freedom and independence in his early years. He was described as curious and intelligent. As a young adult, he wanted to be a naturalist, and he collected sea shells, minerals, and birds. He was quite knowledgeable about the world that came by his extensive reading. At the age of 18, he left New York on a world tour to "put some capital in the bank of experience."He travelled through Western USA, Scotland, and England, until failing ill in South Africa. Returning home, he was nursed by Ana Filing, a girl he had known from his childhood. They were married on October 26, 1896, when he was 22 years old. Anna was 4 years older than him and was non-literally but a lover of films and of parakeets. They moved to London for 2 years. During that time, when he was not busy with his research, they went to the cinema.
He perused the files, concerning paranormal phenomenon, of the British Museum. His success as a short story writer was intermittent between periods of terrible poverty and depression. Although born in Albany, when the couple came back from London, they settled in the Bronx. He, like his wife, was fond of films, and often went together to the nearby movie theater. He frequented the parks near Bronx, where he would sift through piles of his clippings of information taken from the New York Public Library on 5th Avenue. He spent many hours reading scientific and non-scientific journals along with an armful of newspapers and periodicals from around the world. He had a very small circle of literary friends that share the same theme in their talkative gatherings.
When his uncle died in 1916, a modest inheritance was given to him enough to quit his various day jobs and to write full-time. In 1917 his brother died and his portion of the same inheritance was divided between him and another brother. Fort's experience as a journalist, coupled with high wit egged on by a contrary nature, prepared him for his real-life work, needling the pretensions of scientific positivism and the tendency of journalists and editors of newspapers and scientific journals to rationalize the scientifically incorrect. He wrote 10 novels, although only one, 'The Outcast Manufacturers (1909)' was published. Reviews were positive, the tenement of the tail was out of his time. In 1915, in his forties, he began to write 2 books, the first dealing with the idea that beings on Mars controlled Earth's events, and the second postulated a sinister civilization extant at the South Pole. The books caught the attention of writer Theodore Dreiser, who attempted to get them published, but to no avail. Disheartened, Fort burnt the manuscripts. But soon he was renewed to begin work on the book that changed the course of his life, 'The Book of the Damned (1919)," which Dreiser helped to get into print. The book referred to 'damned' data that Ford collected, phenomena for which science could not account and thus rejection or ignorance did not exist. Fort took thousands of notes in his lifetime. Fort spoke of sitting on a park bench and tossing a large amount of notes into the wind. In his short story, "The Giant, the Insect, and the Philanthropic-looking Old Gentleman,"Fort used his own data collection technique to solve the mystery. He observed that unrelated bits of information were interrelated. He destroyed many times his own work, and started again to collect new data aiming to new results. Some of them has been published little by little by the Fortean Society magazine "Doubt," and, upon the death of its editor Tiffany Thayer aged 57, in 1959, then most of Fort's information were donated to New York Public Library.
Fort was pleasant to find himself in the midst of the emotional attachment that his fans had to the object of his research. Fort distrusted doctors and did not seek conventional medical help for his worsening health, given the fact the he was dealing with supernatural forces that drained his energy. Suffering from poor health and failing eyesight, he died, probably from leukemia.
Drew University, the first institution that went into deep research on that subject, started as a theological seminary to train candidates for ministry in the Methodist church. Daniel Drew (July 29, 1797-Sept 18,1879), a great operator of Wall Street that furnished the most remarkable instance of success followed by utter failure and hopeless bankruptcy, was the one who purchased an estate in Madison to establish the 'seminary.' The seminary later expanded to offer 'an undergraduate liberal arts' curriculum in 1928 and graduate studies in 1955. The 'Drew Theological School', the 3rd-oldest of 13 Methodist seminaries is affiliated with the United Methodist Church.
Drew was born in Carmel, a town in Putnam County, New York. He was poorly educated and saw hardship after his father, who owned a small cattle farm, died when Daniel was 15 years old. Drew enlisted and drilled, though did not see face to face combat in the Conflict between United States and United Kingdom. After the conflict, he spent some time with a traveling zoo. In 1820, he moved to New York City and established himself at the Bull's Head Tavern in the Bowery, a place frequented by drovers and butchers doing business in the city. While running the Tavern, he formed a partnership with two other drovers, buying cattle from neighboring counties and bringing them to New York for sale. In 1834, he was married and entered the steamboat business and ran profitable lines outside New York City. Around this time, Drew began to speculate in stocks. He founded a brokerage firm but a decade later his partners died and he continue in the brokerage business as an independent operator. After a while in 1857, he managed to be a member of the board of directors of the Erie Railroad and used his position to manipulate the railroad stock price. He joined forces again with another one in the business but in 1864 he was struggling with his partner and speculating on the stock of New York and Harlem since he and his partner were the director of both, rescuing both railroad firms from bankruptcy because of the manipulation of the stocks. In 1866 to 1868, Drew engaged in another conflict with the same partner Vanderbilt, in which Drew conspired along with fellow directors James Fisk and Jay Gould to issue stock to keep Vanderbilt from gaining control of the Erie Railroad. Vanderbilt, unaware of the increase in outstanding shares, kept buying Erie stock and sustained heavy losses, eventually conceding control of the railroad to the trio. In 1870, the two fellow directors Fisk and Gould betrayed Drew, manipulating the stock price again of the Erie Railroad, cause Drew to lose $ 1.5 million. Fisk was killed in January 1872 by a jealous rival over a mistress; Gould himself would later be swindled out of $1,000,000 worth of Erie railroad stock and never controlled it. For Drew, the Panic of 1873 cost him more, and by 1876, Drew filled for bankruptcy, with debts exceeding a million dollars and no viable assets. He died in 1879, dependent on his son for support.
Daniel Drew, from which the university took its name, left a controversial legacy, in the same symbolic way the 'seminary school' turned in something else. At the zenith of his 'career' as a 'financer', when his personal fortune was estimated at $13 million at that time, and he was 'respectfully' called "Uncle Sam' on Wall Street, he was treated with admiration. After his 'fortunes' changed, he was vilified by the newspapers, which wrote that Drew 'has been one of the curses of the market for years past, ... he holds the honest people of the world to be a pack of fools."
Drew is credited with introducing what would be called "watered stock" to the Wall Street, to describe company shares that were issued by false means including counterfeit stock certificates and unauthorized stock release, resulting in a dilution of ownership. The term came from his time in the livestock business, when he would have 'his cattle' lick salt and drink water before selling them, to increase 'weight.' The watered stock tactic was used in the Erie conflict of the 1860s, when Drew along with James Fisk and jay Gould blocked arch rival Cornelius Vanderbilt from getting ownership of the Erie railroad.
Daniel Drew is credited with the nature of the saying: "He who sells what is not his, must buy it back or go to prison," in the physical and spiritual way.
A 'devout' Methodist, Drew built his own churches in Carmel and Brewster, New York, and was the major contributor to the founding of Drew Theological Seminary in Madison, New Jersey, which is now part of Drew University.
Friday, 5 August 2016
THE LEVI-ATHAN
Levi-Athan is the Biblical sea monster of enormous dimensions and king of all the sea creatures. It symbolizes the power of the human mind. God created him together with man and man governed his power with loyalty and integrity towards His Creator, in order to maintain his majesty and glory given to him in order to exercise authority over the realms that God trusted to him.
When the woman was deceived by him and since she came from man's mind, corruption enter in man's mind making him vulnerable to the power of Death, losing his divine position in authority over the realms entitled to him. Levi-Athan took control of it, meaning that man became an entity controlled by the monster since he was banned from his original and divine place and became disconnected completely from God's divine power.
God slew the female of the species, to prevent the pair breeding and destroying the world, meaning that the pair didn't take fruit from the Tree of Life, symbolizing eternity, and made clothes for Adam and Eve from her skin. Man and woman became sinners and under the power of Death.
God confounded Job with this monster Levi-Athan, emphasizing his impotence in dealing with its power by asking, "Can you draw out Levi-Athan with a hook?" (Job 41).
In another interpretation of the word, it is rendered as "Dragon" or "Serpent," but as Levi-Athan's home was said to be this great and wide sea (Ps 103-104), it was identified with the great fish or whale in which Jonah spent 3 days and 3 nights, meaning the mind power.
Jonah is said to be the son of certain Amitt-Ai, and there is a tradition that says that his mother was the widow of Sarepta and Elijah restored Jonah, the son of the widow, to life, being revived from death, in order to have authority over the spirit of Death.
God ordered Jonah to go to the City of Nineveh to denounce the wicked ways of the inhabitants. Fearing a hostile reception, since he was afraid that they might indeed repent and thus show up the failings of Israel, Jonah tried to avoid God's command by boarding a ship at Joppa bound for the Phoenician city of Tarsh-Ish where Jonah believed that God's writ did not run.
God raised a tempest and the ship was at the mercy of the sea that tried to brake it in two. To discover who on board had provoked the storm, the sailors cast lots and the lot fell upon Jonah, showing him as the one who was bringing the divine wrath. Jonah told them to appease the divine wrath by throwing him overboard.
As he fell into the sea he was swallowed up by a large fish, whose eyes were a big as windows and whose stomach was lit up by the glow from a precious stone. The fish was in danger of being eaten by the Levi-Athan, but Jonah scared this sea monster off by announcing that in the age of the Messiah the monster would be eaten at the Messianic Banquet. He spent in the belly of the sea monster 3 days and 3 nights. Typologically this symbolizes both the entombment of Jesus and the Descent into the Land of the Dead, a parallel made by Jesus himself :"For as Jonas was 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth" ... (Matthew 12).
Jonah then prayed to God who spoke to the sea creature and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. This is both a symbol of the Resurrection and of the Salvation of the individual believer.
Chastened, Jonah carried out God's originally instructions. He went to Nineveh and preached so eloquently against their evil ways that the inhabitants repented. God then did not punish them as He had intended.
This angered Jonah, and he built a shelter for himself outside the city and sat in its shade. God caused a gourd plant to grow up to give him additional protection from the sun and this pleased Jonah. That night God prepared a worm which attacked the plant and it withered the next morning. Jonah was sorry for the gourd, and God used this as a lesson that he must have true compassion for all men, just as God had had pity for Nineveh that great city, wherein were a great amount of people that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle. Jonah was also taught that true compassion extends also to Gentiles and to the animal world.
God will eventually have the Levi-Athan slay in the age of the Messiah or according to another version, arrange for the gigantic Beh-Emoth to engage in battle with the Levi-Athan until they kill each other.
At the great Messianic banquet for the righteous, the Levi-Athan's skin will form a gigantic marquee and its flesh will be eaten, and in that way, things will be returned toward the way it was, and we will have a new heaven and a new earth for us that believe in God's Truth.
When the woman was deceived by him and since she came from man's mind, corruption enter in man's mind making him vulnerable to the power of Death, losing his divine position in authority over the realms entitled to him. Levi-Athan took control of it, meaning that man became an entity controlled by the monster since he was banned from his original and divine place and became disconnected completely from God's divine power.
God slew the female of the species, to prevent the pair breeding and destroying the world, meaning that the pair didn't take fruit from the Tree of Life, symbolizing eternity, and made clothes for Adam and Eve from her skin. Man and woman became sinners and under the power of Death.
God confounded Job with this monster Levi-Athan, emphasizing his impotence in dealing with its power by asking, "Can you draw out Levi-Athan with a hook?" (Job 41).
In another interpretation of the word, it is rendered as "Dragon" or "Serpent," but as Levi-Athan's home was said to be this great and wide sea (Ps 103-104), it was identified with the great fish or whale in which Jonah spent 3 days and 3 nights, meaning the mind power.
Jonah is said to be the son of certain Amitt-Ai, and there is a tradition that says that his mother was the widow of Sarepta and Elijah restored Jonah, the son of the widow, to life, being revived from death, in order to have authority over the spirit of Death.
God ordered Jonah to go to the City of Nineveh to denounce the wicked ways of the inhabitants. Fearing a hostile reception, since he was afraid that they might indeed repent and thus show up the failings of Israel, Jonah tried to avoid God's command by boarding a ship at Joppa bound for the Phoenician city of Tarsh-Ish where Jonah believed that God's writ did not run.
God raised a tempest and the ship was at the mercy of the sea that tried to brake it in two. To discover who on board had provoked the storm, the sailors cast lots and the lot fell upon Jonah, showing him as the one who was bringing the divine wrath. Jonah told them to appease the divine wrath by throwing him overboard.
As he fell into the sea he was swallowed up by a large fish, whose eyes were a big as windows and whose stomach was lit up by the glow from a precious stone. The fish was in danger of being eaten by the Levi-Athan, but Jonah scared this sea monster off by announcing that in the age of the Messiah the monster would be eaten at the Messianic Banquet. He spent in the belly of the sea monster 3 days and 3 nights. Typologically this symbolizes both the entombment of Jesus and the Descent into the Land of the Dead, a parallel made by Jesus himself :"For as Jonas was 3 days and 3 nights in the heart of the earth" ... (Matthew 12).
Jonah then prayed to God who spoke to the sea creature and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. This is both a symbol of the Resurrection and of the Salvation of the individual believer.
Chastened, Jonah carried out God's originally instructions. He went to Nineveh and preached so eloquently against their evil ways that the inhabitants repented. God then did not punish them as He had intended.
This angered Jonah, and he built a shelter for himself outside the city and sat in its shade. God caused a gourd plant to grow up to give him additional protection from the sun and this pleased Jonah. That night God prepared a worm which attacked the plant and it withered the next morning. Jonah was sorry for the gourd, and God used this as a lesson that he must have true compassion for all men, just as God had had pity for Nineveh that great city, wherein were a great amount of people that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle. Jonah was also taught that true compassion extends also to Gentiles and to the animal world.
God will eventually have the Levi-Athan slay in the age of the Messiah or according to another version, arrange for the gigantic Beh-Emoth to engage in battle with the Levi-Athan until they kill each other.
At the great Messianic banquet for the righteous, the Levi-Athan's skin will form a gigantic marquee and its flesh will be eaten, and in that way, things will be returned toward the way it was, and we will have a new heaven and a new earth for us that believe in God's Truth.
Wednesday, 3 August 2016
THE KINGDOM OF GOD AND DANIEL'S INSIGHT.
The seven chapter of the Book of Daniel tells of Daniel's vision of four kingdoms replaced by the Kingdom of God. The name Dan-iel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means, "God is my Judge."
The Book of Daniel is a biblical record consisting of an account of the activities and visions of Daniel, a noble Jew exiled at Babylon. Its message is that just as the God of the Israel saved Daniel and his friends from their enemies, so He would save all of His people in their present oppression.
In the 3rd year of Jeho-Iakim (he whom God has set up), king of Judah, God allowed Jerusalem to fall into the power of Nebu-Chad-Nezzar, king of Babylon. After Jos-Iah's death, Jeho-Iakim's younger brother Jeho-Ahaz (also known as Sallum) was proclaimed king, but after 3 months pharaoh Necho II, in whom the power of God was active, deposed him, making Eli-Akim king in his place. When placed on the throne, his name was changed to Jeho-Akim. Young Jews of noble and royal family without defect, and handsome, versed in wisdom and competent to serve in the palace of the king, were taken to Babylon, a major city of Mesopotamia in the fertile plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, to be taught the literature and language of the Chaldeans. Babylon was built upon the Euphrates and divided in equal parts along its left and right banks, with steep embankments to contain the river's seasonal floods. Chaldea is referred to the low, marshy, alluvial land around the estuaries of the Tigris and Euphrates, which in ancient times discharged their waters through separate mouths into the sea. Two different powers were behind this physical behavior. In later time the Chaldeans had burst their narrow bonds and obtained their short but powerful lived period of ascendency over all of Babylonia, and briefly gave their name to the whole land, which was then called Chaldea, particularly the Jews.
Among the Jews selected and taken to Babylon from Jerusalem were Daniel and his three companions, in total 4 individuals, who refused to touch the royal food and wine for fear of spiritual defilement. Their overseer feared for his life in case the health of his charges deteriorated in power, but Daniel suggested a trial and the four emerged healthier than their counterparts from 10 days of nothing but vegetables and water. they were allowed to continue to refrain from eating the king's food, and to Daniel came the power of God giving him insight into visions and dreams. When their training was done Nebu-Chad-Nezzar found them 10 times better than all the wise men in his service and therefore kept them at his court, where Daniel continued until the 1st year of king Cyrus.
In the 2nd year of his reign Nebu-Chad-Nezzar was troubled by a dream, and demanded that his wise men tell him its content. When the wise men protested that it was beyond the power of any man he sentenced all, including Daniel and his three friends to death. Daniel received an explanatory vision from God: Nebu-Chad-Nezzar had seen an enormous statue with a Head of gold, Breast and Arms of silver, Belly and Thighs of bronze, Legs of iron, and Feet of mixed iron and clay. Then saw the statue destroyed by a Rock that turned into a Mountain filling the whole earth.
Daniel explained the dream to the king: the statue symbolized Four successive kingdoms, starting with Nebu-Chad-Nezzar, all of which would be crushed by God's Kingdom, which would endure forever.
Nebu-Chad-Nezzar acknowledged the supremacy of Daniel's God, and raised him over all his wise men, and placed him and his companions over Babylon.
The Kingdom of God is one of the key elements of the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament. The Old Testament refers to "God the Judge of all" and the notion that all humans will eventually "be judged" is an essential element of Christian teachings, and the task of judgment is assigned to Jesus.
Daniel 7 explains that four beasts come out of the sea, the Ancient of Days sits in judgement over them, and one like a son of man is given eternal kingship. An angelic guide interprets the beasts as kingdoms and kings, the last of whom will make war on the 'holy ones' of God, but he will be destroyed and the 'holy ones' will be given eternal dominion.
The Four beasts coming out of the sea need to be apprehended by reason. The material universe in the human consciousness is fashioned and shaped by the four evil beasts, and felt by the human senses, while the non-material containing the good, only can be felt when we avoid the food presented by the world and eat only from the sources that make us grow in the spirit and be able to use the higher senses of the spirit and connect ourselves to the one representing the "Ancient of Days." The self-reflection of Daniel and his companions in obtaining 10 times higher the power needed in their human abilities in order to serve the king of the world confirm to us that the power of the world is nothing compared to the power of God.
The Book of Daniel is a biblical record consisting of an account of the activities and visions of Daniel, a noble Jew exiled at Babylon. Its message is that just as the God of the Israel saved Daniel and his friends from their enemies, so He would save all of His people in their present oppression.
In the 3rd year of Jeho-Iakim (he whom God has set up), king of Judah, God allowed Jerusalem to fall into the power of Nebu-Chad-Nezzar, king of Babylon. After Jos-Iah's death, Jeho-Iakim's younger brother Jeho-Ahaz (also known as Sallum) was proclaimed king, but after 3 months pharaoh Necho II, in whom the power of God was active, deposed him, making Eli-Akim king in his place. When placed on the throne, his name was changed to Jeho-Akim. Young Jews of noble and royal family without defect, and handsome, versed in wisdom and competent to serve in the palace of the king, were taken to Babylon, a major city of Mesopotamia in the fertile plain between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, to be taught the literature and language of the Chaldeans. Babylon was built upon the Euphrates and divided in equal parts along its left and right banks, with steep embankments to contain the river's seasonal floods. Chaldea is referred to the low, marshy, alluvial land around the estuaries of the Tigris and Euphrates, which in ancient times discharged their waters through separate mouths into the sea. Two different powers were behind this physical behavior. In later time the Chaldeans had burst their narrow bonds and obtained their short but powerful lived period of ascendency over all of Babylonia, and briefly gave their name to the whole land, which was then called Chaldea, particularly the Jews.
Among the Jews selected and taken to Babylon from Jerusalem were Daniel and his three companions, in total 4 individuals, who refused to touch the royal food and wine for fear of spiritual defilement. Their overseer feared for his life in case the health of his charges deteriorated in power, but Daniel suggested a trial and the four emerged healthier than their counterparts from 10 days of nothing but vegetables and water. they were allowed to continue to refrain from eating the king's food, and to Daniel came the power of God giving him insight into visions and dreams. When their training was done Nebu-Chad-Nezzar found them 10 times better than all the wise men in his service and therefore kept them at his court, where Daniel continued until the 1st year of king Cyrus.
In the 2nd year of his reign Nebu-Chad-Nezzar was troubled by a dream, and demanded that his wise men tell him its content. When the wise men protested that it was beyond the power of any man he sentenced all, including Daniel and his three friends to death. Daniel received an explanatory vision from God: Nebu-Chad-Nezzar had seen an enormous statue with a Head of gold, Breast and Arms of silver, Belly and Thighs of bronze, Legs of iron, and Feet of mixed iron and clay. Then saw the statue destroyed by a Rock that turned into a Mountain filling the whole earth.
Daniel explained the dream to the king: the statue symbolized Four successive kingdoms, starting with Nebu-Chad-Nezzar, all of which would be crushed by God's Kingdom, which would endure forever.
Nebu-Chad-Nezzar acknowledged the supremacy of Daniel's God, and raised him over all his wise men, and placed him and his companions over Babylon.
The Kingdom of God is one of the key elements of the teachings of Jesus in the New Testament. The Old Testament refers to "God the Judge of all" and the notion that all humans will eventually "be judged" is an essential element of Christian teachings, and the task of judgment is assigned to Jesus.
Daniel 7 explains that four beasts come out of the sea, the Ancient of Days sits in judgement over them, and one like a son of man is given eternal kingship. An angelic guide interprets the beasts as kingdoms and kings, the last of whom will make war on the 'holy ones' of God, but he will be destroyed and the 'holy ones' will be given eternal dominion.
The Four beasts coming out of the sea need to be apprehended by reason. The material universe in the human consciousness is fashioned and shaped by the four evil beasts, and felt by the human senses, while the non-material containing the good, only can be felt when we avoid the food presented by the world and eat only from the sources that make us grow in the spirit and be able to use the higher senses of the spirit and connect ourselves to the one representing the "Ancient of Days." The self-reflection of Daniel and his companions in obtaining 10 times higher the power needed in their human abilities in order to serve the king of the world confirm to us that the power of the world is nothing compared to the power of God.
Saturday, 30 July 2016
THE PERSONALITY OF AARON.
First Israelite High Priest, Chief functionary of the Tabernacle and in the Temple rituals, and elder brother of Moses and brother of Miriam. He was the spokesman of Moses because he was slow of speech and of a slow tongue.
Aaron was the traditional founder of the hereditary Jewish Priesthood and an Old Testament type of Christ. As a High Priest, he alone entered the Holy of Holies once a year to offer incense during the ritual of atonement. The sacrificial ritual brought reconciliation of man and God. The main spiritual vehicles for atonement were considered to be repentance, prayer, hospitality, spiritual charity from sincere hearts, and good spiritual deeds. Suffering and death both were considered to have an atonement effect.
The Holy of Hollies (Hebrew: Kodesh Ha-Kodashim) was the most sacred area where the Ark of the Covenant was kept. It was curtained off from the rest of the sanctuary, and inside was the foundation Rock at the very centre of the world, and it was the base on which the world was created. A rope was attached to his waist so that, if necessary, he could be brought out from the Holy of Hollies should he died. Even Satan did not dare to accuse Israel when the High Priest entered the Holy of Hollies, for the High Priest is said to be greater even than the archangels, since the latter can only plead for Israel with words, while the former can also intercede on their behalf with ritual deeds.
A High Priest excelled his fellow priests in strength, spiritual riches, wisdom, and appearance. The elaborate Old Testament description of his garments confirm the spiritual level that the High Priest needed to reach in order to be the only one qualified to enter the Holy of Hollies. His vestments included a turban or mitre; a breastplate set with 12 gems, one for each of the 12 Tribes of Israel, with the Urim and the Thummim in it; and a robe adorned with bells; and a censer boat that he alone could offer incense in the Holy of Hollies.
Aaron is depicted as a lover of Peace who would go in turn to each of the two parties to a quarrel and, by telling how sorry they felt because of it, he would apologize in the name of the other party, when they next met, their quarrel was over because each believed the other had apologized.
This characteristic made Aaron suitable as High Priest, whose sacrifices brought peace between Israel and their Father in heaven. It was said that a man without a wife (church) remained without atonement and that the spiritual People of Israel served as an atonement for the nations of the world.
Aaron was closely associated with Moses in events connected with the Exodus from Egypt. He was the possessor of a miraculous rod or wand which bursted into almond blossom overnight to vindicate him when his divine suitability of the exclusive right of hist tribe to the privileges of priesthood was challenged. Aaron and the head of each of the other tribes of Israel laid their staffs in the Ark of the Covenant. Aaron's rod blossomed and produced ripe almonds, a sign that the Tribe of Levi, of which he was the leader, had been divinely chosen for the office. (Numbers 17).
Aaron, like his brother Moses, was not allowed to enter the Promised Land. When he died on the Mountain of Hor when he was 123 years old, it was through a kiss of the shek-hinah, a Hebrew word for "indwelling," meaning by the divine presence or immanence of God, the easiest form of death, and God Himself prepared his funeral bier and a golden candelabrum to light the way.(Numbers 20). He was the ancestor of Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist. (Luke 1).
He was also very popular among the Israelites, and this explain why "all the House of Israel" mourned him.
Symbolic of the great loss his death represented was the cessation of the Pillar of Cloud and of Fire, which until then had guided the Israelites through the desert because of Aaron's merits.
Although Aaron was responsible for making the Golden Calf, he did so because he did not want the Israelites to be guilty of the greater sin of killing their High Priest if he refused.
Aaron is one of the Seven Faithful Shepherds of Israel, a title given to outstanding biblical leaders, who are invited to the sukkah, a Hebrew word for Tabernacle, each evening as spiritual guests.
During the Festival of the Tabernacles (Sukkot) the spiritual Jews transferred their living quarters from the house to a Tabernacle, which was a makeshift booth whose roof was of branches or vegetation thin enough to let the rain in. People ate in it and many even slept in it. The Tabernacle was meant to remind the spiritual Jews of the booths in which their ancestors dwelt when they wandered in the wilderness during the Exodus, and of the clouds of glory which surrounded them. They were protected by God from the elements, and by remembering this, they are reminded that it is not the brick and mortar of the house which affords ultimate protection but God Himself.
Aaron was the traditional founder of the hereditary Jewish Priesthood and an Old Testament type of Christ. As a High Priest, he alone entered the Holy of Holies once a year to offer incense during the ritual of atonement. The sacrificial ritual brought reconciliation of man and God. The main spiritual vehicles for atonement were considered to be repentance, prayer, hospitality, spiritual charity from sincere hearts, and good spiritual deeds. Suffering and death both were considered to have an atonement effect.
The Holy of Hollies (Hebrew: Kodesh Ha-Kodashim) was the most sacred area where the Ark of the Covenant was kept. It was curtained off from the rest of the sanctuary, and inside was the foundation Rock at the very centre of the world, and it was the base on which the world was created. A rope was attached to his waist so that, if necessary, he could be brought out from the Holy of Hollies should he died. Even Satan did not dare to accuse Israel when the High Priest entered the Holy of Hollies, for the High Priest is said to be greater even than the archangels, since the latter can only plead for Israel with words, while the former can also intercede on their behalf with ritual deeds.
A High Priest excelled his fellow priests in strength, spiritual riches, wisdom, and appearance. The elaborate Old Testament description of his garments confirm the spiritual level that the High Priest needed to reach in order to be the only one qualified to enter the Holy of Hollies. His vestments included a turban or mitre; a breastplate set with 12 gems, one for each of the 12 Tribes of Israel, with the Urim and the Thummim in it; and a robe adorned with bells; and a censer boat that he alone could offer incense in the Holy of Hollies.
Aaron is depicted as a lover of Peace who would go in turn to each of the two parties to a quarrel and, by telling how sorry they felt because of it, he would apologize in the name of the other party, when they next met, their quarrel was over because each believed the other had apologized.
This characteristic made Aaron suitable as High Priest, whose sacrifices brought peace between Israel and their Father in heaven. It was said that a man without a wife (church) remained without atonement and that the spiritual People of Israel served as an atonement for the nations of the world.
Aaron was closely associated with Moses in events connected with the Exodus from Egypt. He was the possessor of a miraculous rod or wand which bursted into almond blossom overnight to vindicate him when his divine suitability of the exclusive right of hist tribe to the privileges of priesthood was challenged. Aaron and the head of each of the other tribes of Israel laid their staffs in the Ark of the Covenant. Aaron's rod blossomed and produced ripe almonds, a sign that the Tribe of Levi, of which he was the leader, had been divinely chosen for the office. (Numbers 17).
Aaron, like his brother Moses, was not allowed to enter the Promised Land. When he died on the Mountain of Hor when he was 123 years old, it was through a kiss of the shek-hinah, a Hebrew word for "indwelling," meaning by the divine presence or immanence of God, the easiest form of death, and God Himself prepared his funeral bier and a golden candelabrum to light the way.(Numbers 20). He was the ancestor of Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist. (Luke 1).
He was also very popular among the Israelites, and this explain why "all the House of Israel" mourned him.
Symbolic of the great loss his death represented was the cessation of the Pillar of Cloud and of Fire, which until then had guided the Israelites through the desert because of Aaron's merits.
Although Aaron was responsible for making the Golden Calf, he did so because he did not want the Israelites to be guilty of the greater sin of killing their High Priest if he refused.
Aaron is one of the Seven Faithful Shepherds of Israel, a title given to outstanding biblical leaders, who are invited to the sukkah, a Hebrew word for Tabernacle, each evening as spiritual guests.
During the Festival of the Tabernacles (Sukkot) the spiritual Jews transferred their living quarters from the house to a Tabernacle, which was a makeshift booth whose roof was of branches or vegetation thin enough to let the rain in. People ate in it and many even slept in it. The Tabernacle was meant to remind the spiritual Jews of the booths in which their ancestors dwelt when they wandered in the wilderness during the Exodus, and of the clouds of glory which surrounded them. They were protected by God from the elements, and by remembering this, they are reminded that it is not the brick and mortar of the house which affords ultimate protection but God Himself.
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