The Afterlife

The four afterlives I believe exist are not good news for me so my belief is not a choice but an imperative. In my gut I wish there were no such afterlives. Like a criminal on trial wishes there were no prison systems or justice system. The afterlife equalises. Many in the world need a fair share of privileges I currently enjoy. The afterlife addresses this. Victims of the system that gives me preference now deserve their redress of the balance. The afterlife is that redress. Fortunately it is not a binary solution to a complex problem. Christianity hides this. The teaching of Christ on hades and paradise is not meant to paint the whole picture but samples what Jesus taught. The details are extended in the Book of Enoch which Jesus endorsed and mandated for knowledge at the same time when He taught His abstract. 

Get woke

Get woke to the existence of God and some other things follow, more important perhaps because they affect us directly and put us in the subject of the topic. Firstly God who exists is to be trusted with being topmost God. Secondly God wants a human son who is true to type. Thirdly Jesus Christ exists - living - resurrected - having existed in aeons past and now and forever - but has become human in the same sense we are human but now resurrected. Fourthly this Jesus is everything God wants in a son - what God wants a son to be. Fifthly God is happy with Jesus as a son, and raised Jesus having sent Jesus to his death in obedience but Jesus lives forever by God’s power. Sixthly God still wants more sons; sons like Jesus. Seventhly there a some of us God and Jesus see as such potential sons. Eighthly Jesus can make us those sons if we believe in him and hold to his teachings.

Freedom from fear of death

How can people be free from fear of death? Believe in Jesus Christ then believe the promise of Jesus Christ to those who believe Him: recorded in Gospel of John chapter 8 “If you hold to my teachings you are truly my disciples; then you will know the truth and the truth will set you free.” (Famous saying that last bit, motto of the CIA.) Why is this a cure for fear of death? In the rest of that chapter Jesus’ words say that those who do not believe will die in their sins. This is what “set you free” means - free from dying in sins that enslave. Believing and following by adhering sets free from this dying in sin. Dying in sin is what is feared. Dying freed is not fearsome.

The Burden of Proof

The whole of nature (creation) obeys its creator - just look at it and you might perceive it in the lapping of the waves or the budding of the trees - and wisdom tells it to our hearts - but don’t ask me to prove it because I would not want to spoil the inner light by having to think about how to prove that light to darkness - but it is still wisdom that brings deep happiness when you let it in. Without this wisdom nature will leave your heart baffled at it all. Insist on proof and you will be missing out on the happiness of understanding and wisdom. Remember your creator and obey your creator and you will find yourself at one with nature and that will be your proof. You will find you have fellowship and peace and that peace will surpass understanding.

The Meaning of Life

The highest being is looking to recruit some faithful lesser beings to serve Him forever as sons in His family. The selection process is tough. But He creates the opportunities to succeed and the prospects are good if you join in good faith and stay with the plan. That is why we are here and the meaning of life and the universe.

How it all began

God must have survived the Big Bang if there was such a thing - along with Jesus and the Holy Spirit. They must have existed before Time itself became what we think of as Time today. (Was Time real before the Big Bang? If not, how could there be a before and after the Big Bang if there was no time until after it?) They, Father and Son and Holy Spirit, must have existed as something (‘spirit’) that is not part of the universe that did not exist back then. What must have existed though is their faith and hope and love between each other; then any other spirits they created which are not part of the Big Bang universe. Then order must have existed, coming into existence, like Heraclitus and the Stoics said, as the ledger of balances that transcends all things - the laws of nature - human-comprehendible, mathematically-expressable laws as Pythagoras pointed out - based on the Logos, preincarnate Jesus. And as nature started to exist it must from the start have obeyed such laws and all in the power of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Logos, the Son of Man. And nature has never departed from this way since then, always functioning, like a true Christian, by the power of putting into practice the teachings of the Christ, the Son of Man. So it is natural to do the same, putting into practice what He said. If He says it, such is His reputation, it is good to rely on that reputation and do it. Such is the power of His name.

Proof of God’s Existence

The existence of evil in humans is enough proof - the existence of a satanic being influencing humans to do and think atrocious things. No other animal is evil. Only humans. No animal would utterly destroy the environment it needs for life; that its offspring will need. Only humans. Something is influencing humans. That proves the supernatural spirits are real and that God has rightly called out one of them as evil, liar and murderer. Humans are too evil to have worked that out. There must be a God for light like that to be shining in darkness. See John 8 - there is your proof.

What is my opinion of Jesus?

What do I think about Jesus?

Just imagine you are not an absolute out and out Atheist but you want to be more real in how you think of God. You want to genuinely believe God exists and Jesus exists and even the Holy Spirit too but you find you are too Atheist or simply Agnostic and ignorant and have to keep persuading yourself they are real beings. So you are in a storm that floods a nearby river and you know God is meant to preside over such things as judge so you decide to walk to the river and see the flooding and try to think how it might be it is God judging. On the way back a voice shouts at you inside your head “Put down your umbrella!” You are carrying a huge umbrella like golfers use which keeps you dry despite the downpour but you sense such authority in the ‘voice’ that you fold it immediately and as you do so the rain stops so abruptly you just know that voice was Jesus. To be really sure you later ask for a sign and as you go to bed you see a dressing gown never used hung on a peg. You ask that if it was really Jesus may that come down off the peg before the morning. You sleep but halfway through the night you feel suddenly deeply compelled to wake up and get up. You take the dressing gown off the peg and suddenly remember the sign. That’s Jesus. And that was me in 1995 encountering Him having pleaded to meet Him.

He seems to do what God wills. He is very loving and kind even though He is in charge of judging humanity. If God wants Him to do something to help someone Jesus does it, so it seems. Considering He is top man in the universe and all nature continues to function by His name’s power He is remarkably humble. He is just the same nowadays as He was when gospel writers wrote down His actions and words. Astounding guy.

Also I notice He still practices what He preached. He is not the kind who gives advice and teachings then does something different to His teachings when the time comes. He says to use faith to command nature and still today He does just that. That is very cool. And He amazingly carries on after two thousand years doing just the same as in gospel days. He doesn’t move on from doing those old things He did but there is an utter excellence to them now - I guess because Ge is back with the Father like He was before He came. 

The Holy Spirit does just what Jesus said He would in nowadays still telling what the name of Jesus can do and glorifying Jesus. The main thing I heard coming from the Holy Spirit in my lifetime (interpreted tongues) was this: ‘Consider the trees - they put forth buds and leaves - they do so by the power/authority of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ’ and it continued about planets but I forgot the words (back in 1995). That says so much about Jesus. Clearly it is natural to follow His teachings because even nature does so and has always done so and always will. If you want to act on the confidence His name adds to His teachings you are in good company with the natural world. It also speaks to His ‘preexistence’ - that He was a heavenly being aeons before His incarnation since nature relies on His authority in all it does.

Since hearing what the Holy Spirit says about Jesus I came across the Book of Enoch in a bookshop and bought several copies of various translations of it over the years (it is online too https://www.sacred-texts.com/bib/boe/index.htm). In it I found words extremely close to what was said by the Holy Spirit and then I read on to find whole chapters about Jesus written by this prophet Enoch who knew Him as the Son of Man. It is so clearly Jesus. So here was someone meeting the living Jesus five thousand years ago. Amazing. Jesus did not lie when He said “Before Abraham was born, I am”.

The Life that is Light

The Son of Man alive two thousand years after dying on a cross, and however many millennia after prophet Enoch saw Him, now perceived today still, He is light and such a bright light today because the life He has sustaining Him today is the power of the Father in unending supply. The very truth that He lives like this now and the perception by faith of that life from God within Him lights up the soul and fires up the spirit within. We might learn to love this light and yearn to let it linger on the canvas of the inner mind. By nature the evil mind shrinks from this light even though we know we need it so we need to be made good within so we can let its beam rest within like the sun’s rays rest without, so we can soak up those health-giving rays from the power of God that made Jesus alive from the dead and is perpetually keeping Him alive.

The Completed Gospel

The Book of Enoch shows us the Son of Man living in Enoch’s time and this completes the true Gospel. You see, if Jesus were an ordinary thirty year old, even a perfectly sinless one, even a prophet and teacher, that mere death on a cross could not pay for sins of every single person, including you and me. The Son of Man was no ordinary man but had been since before Abraham and the pyramids the Son of Man in heaven and right hand man and precious one son to the highest god. Enoch’s book verifies this. So the blood of this Son of Man shed on that cross was a sufficient sacrifice for your sins and mine and the whole world’s. So God raised Him after just a couple of days in death. He lives today and forever and that everlasting life is a light to us all, if we will let it shine within.

Is it a Threat if Islam Spreads?

The threat of Islam is in its suppression of the message of the cross. Islamic teachers tend to deny the cross and the crucifixion of Isa al Massih Jesus Christ. They interpret a verse in the Quran seeming to say Christ did not die - Jews only thought they killed Him. They say there was a substitute made and someone else was crucified. In reality only a few people witnessed the crucifixion and subsequent resurrection of the Christ so proving Islam wrong intellectually is tough. Christianity has survived by asserting the crucifixion and resurrection. But if every country becomes Islamic how will such assertions continue except by divine help. The evidence of the crucifixion is not absent. There is the very meaning of the cross symbol for one thing and its relationship to the words Mass and Messiah (Massiach) - it is a very ancient symbol first seen in the very earliest writings in Uruk and continuing in use in Sumerian up until the times of the ministry of the Messiah. It means (from Wiktionary): 𒈦 (MAŠ)

1. şibtu "interest on a loan"

2. bīru; urīşu "sacrificial animal for omens"

3. mişru "border, boundary"

4. māšu “twin”

𒈦 (ĝešMAŠ)

1. gişşu "tree"

So it appears deeply symbolic that God who sent Him used a cross.

Did Darwin disprove Atheism and Theism.

Could it be that Darwin proved Atheism wrong? Theism too? If life evolves then fine but if it evolves from inanimate matter spontaneously over billions of years Atheism and Theism are disproved. In reality though we can call technological advances ‘evolution’. It clearly doesn’t mean if you leave a iPod in a room long enough and come back it will have turned into an iPhone. So life might evolve just as technology evolves but it does not mean life can spontaneously just happen. If it could just happen anywhere in the universe then there would be advanced beings appearing anywhere in the universe any time after enough time had passed and calling most advanced ones gods would be fair but calling just one of these God the god and creator of them all would be silly. Intelligent people see our failure to find other lifeforms and question the idea life can just appear on its own. The theistic records of a supreme being creating other beings and making Himself known to them here on Earth, a special planet, is upheld by looking at Science with circumspection and good discernment of truth.

Why do people find prayer ridiculous?

Too easily people dismiss things as ridiculous just because clear information about it is hard to find and inaccessible in some way. A subject hard to understand needs lots of explicit information to build an understanding. But a subject mainly consisting of tacit knowledge often has scarce explicit knowledge available. Communication is little understood because a lot happens beyond the words and the words have many layers of usage and meaning. I might call street slang ridiculous because it is inaccessible to me. The urban slang dictionary helps and I realise it is not at all ridiculous really. Praying is easy for a believing child. I know because as a child I prayed whenever I needed help and it always, always came and always in good time. I cannot explain why it was easy though so it might be dismissed by others as ridiculous because they find knowledge about it inaccessible. I prayed to God and to Jesus but mainly to God (The Father). I did believe in Jesus and sometimes in my dreams He stood nearby to protect me from bullies from school such as one time on a school bus. That is how I knew Him - from dreams. I dared to speak up for Him in school such as in religious studies classes and got bullied for it and for refusing to smoke or swear or flout authority. So my prayers were heard. It was not at all ridiculous and I became top student and a respected mentor. Always I knew it was God lifting me up. I was naughty too and ashamed that everyone thought me always good. I lied. A lot. I could not help myself. I got baptised but still could not stop. One day in my late teens or early twenties (I can never work out when it was) I saw a street preacher put the words “Christ died for you” on a whiteboard and I asked the preacher for advice. When he prayed with me in a nearby church there was supernatural power teaching me not to lie and I stopped from then on. That was the Holy Spirit and the power of the Gospel (those words on the board).

The Council of Nicea

THE COUNCIL OF NICEA

Amazing how undecided they were about which philosophical model to choose to explain truth. They should have been adhering to truth but they wanted orthodoxy instead and there were two main candidates and they chose one and then chose the other and back and forth. The silly churches have been doing this ever since. They should just become disciples to learn rather than insisting on becoming teachers before they have been disciples.

Science and Atheism

Science contradicts Atheism. Science makes Atheism look like an impossible fallacy. Evolution and the age of the Cosmos are tenets of Science. Combine the two and the idea that there are no gods becomes infinitessimally likely - virtually impossible. Given how long life took to evolve (Science says) on Earth and given the number of planets in the Cosmos and age of the Cosmos and how advanced humans have become in the past five thousand years, Science forces a conclusion that there must be billions of sentient life forms in existence for much longer than us. Even just ten thousand years of advancement would see humans colonising planets they have terraformed and creating lifeforms there which are well adapted to the planet. With billions of more advanced lifeforms (use Carl Sagan’s theories to work it out) in the Universe there is near certainty this planet was populated like this and zero plausibility scientifically saying it wasn’t. Out of all such advanced beings there would be many scientifically speaking bearing all the characteristics that define gods. If you remove macro-evolution the picture changes and Science and Atheism have more chance of alignment but then so do Science and Religion. Ultimately Science and Atheism have a long way to go before any chance of alignment or complete parting of company. We need a more realistic approach. The life and teachings of Jesus Christ provide the best approach to learning the real truth we need within our actual lifetimes. 

The gods’ God

It is a common misunderstanding of monotheism that it insists on only one god existing. Both Judaism and Christianity have scriptures that insist there are many gods. But only one is The Father over all gods - YHWH. He is the God who higher than all the gods. He is these gods’ God. Their Father. This was in ancient times of the Stone Age how they saw AN. The most high God. DINGIR. Later called EL. Judaism and Christianity took it further but did not contradict the original Dingristic religion. It continues today as Tengrism and as the Chinese ancient religion. This belief in DINGIR (AN, EL) was the religion of Enoch. In genuine Christian truth this God, to prove He is the other gods’ God and their Father, sent the very topmost of these gods, the Son of Man, to us to show obedience to this God, to show if even He the Son of Man regards this God as His God and His Father (to the extent that He would die in obedience to Him) then this God is indeed in truth the God over all gods and Father over all gods.

The Ontological Absolute

Absolutes are needed which do not depend on wisdom and ontology. The Messianic sacrifice is such an absolute. It is wise even to a fool but foolish to the wise.

The Key to All Knowledge

The truth that is knowable is the Messianic sacrifice. Therein is the knowledge of the Creator and the key to knowledge of Creation. When you receive knowledge of the Messianic sacrifice (for you) you receive the key to the knowledge of all things.

The Big Bang

Whatever the Big Bang was (I think it is still theoretical) if it did happen (can something ‘happen’ when there is no time? big question), the Son was there (where? big question) and the Father was ‘there’ ‘then (when? big question if time was yet to exist) and whatever it was, they must have started it and survived it (such must be the nature of spirit).

The Existence of God

It is said that the inability to explain the complexities of the universe is not an argument for a Creator. The ability to explain so much of the universe - that IS an argument for a Creator - that is the main argument. His wisdom in making it makes so much of it explicable. Yet the experiential tacit knowledge that comes because of the Messianic sacrifice when that sacrifice is preached is the perfect way to know the Creator and demonstration of His power is the perfect way to believe in Him. Tacit knowledge cannot be shared so you might be unable to prove what you tacitly know through experience yet this truth can include certainty that the Messiah died for sins and lives today and lived thousands of years before He came, sent by God His Father.

Owned

You know there is that feeling you get on being “owned”. Yet the feeling is so profoundly deep when it is direct from the Son of God. It goes deepest and is utterly permanent. More adoption by God than being used by God. Being used is a matter of temporary service. Permanently owned is a matter of adoption as sons. Jesus does that. He utterly owned me such that I am permanently His for your sake and your benefit. That is sonship.

What I Think About Jesus

The key thing I think about Jesus is the importance of self-identification Jesus used “the Son of Man”. It links in with the same term often used in writings called the Book of Enoch, written back in the Fara Period apparently (3000-2500 BC). Enoch who wrote it testified to being taken into the place where the Son of Man is together with God [1]. This identifies Jesus as “pre-existent”, which seems short of meaning but captures what is necessary to grasp and maintain as a matter of faith: “Except you believe that I am you will die in your sins” and “Before Abraham was born I am” says Jesus in John’s gospel (chapter 8). There is more,m to who this Son of Man but this pre-existence is part of it. Ongoing existence is a major part of it too, as is historical crucifixion (sacrifice to pay humans’ debt of ethical shortfall) and resurrection and future eternal existence. The word “pre-existent” is confusing. It does not mean existing before existing. It refers to His existence before becoming a fully flesh-and-blood human. It is a well-known, often-used term so it is useful. Yet it merely states that He is a being, not what sort of being. It misses “heavenly being” existing together with the Lord of Spirits, a heavenly being to whom Enoch was taken up. It misses “uniquely human heavenly being”, hence “THE Son of Man”. 

Ref [1]: The Book of Enoch chapter 70: 

“1. And it came to pass after this that his name during his lifetime was raised aloft to that Son of Man and to the Lord of Spirits from amongst those who dwell on the earth. 2. And he was raised aloft on the chariots of the spirit and his name vanished among them. 3. And from that day I was no longer numbered amongst them: and he set me between the two winds, between the North and the West, where the angels took the cords to measure for me the place for the elect and righteous. 4. And there I saw the first fathers and the righteous who from the beginning dwell in that place.”

Walking in the Light of The Christ

At its simplest level “walking in the light of Christ” can amount to merely reading the sayings of Jesus recorded in the gospels and dwelling on them seeking to understand some of them and find a way to practice it properly in life. I would say even doing this with just one or two sayings of Jesus will not be regretted. Much will come of it. Yet it can go further when you realise Jesus is still alive and teaching today and coming under His training program is possible and hugely beneficial. Essential even. He teaches both directly and via the agency of the Holy Spirit and His modern day disciples. This is why it is described broadly as “the light”. 2 John 1:9 is evidence that years after His resurrection the teaching ministry of the Christ was still being followed personally by individuals “Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.” Just the same it can be followed today by seeking His true teaching ministry and finding that narrow way into learning on His personal teaching course. Then letting Him be teacher in life and not shrugging off His training program and rushing off on a course of our own but rather letting Him apply His teaching at the pace He personally knows suits our abilities to learn well.

Rebirth from God

I find a growing awareness exists that the sayings of the Son of Man, such as those found in John’s Gospel (chapter 3 and chapter 8, for example), teach that basic humans are lying and hating children of Satan, religious or not, but rebirth can take place to change all that and then a child of God is formed by God Himself. The Son of Man taught this and taught that since He Himself is from God and speaks the teachings of God by the Spirit of God this means He is centrally instrumental in God making such children of God. In fact the Son of Man constantly referred to God as the Father and Himself as the Son. The awareness of this work of the Messiah seems to be growing even among those who seem to be hateful towards children born of God this way and scornful about these sayings. Yet what does this rebirth entail? We each only know in part and the depth of the nature of this rebirth is profound. Yet it seems to be there are several important factors to understand about it. Firstly it is only a work of God Himself at root so the child of God is truly a child of the Father. Secondly it is a work primarily wrought in the events of God’s dealings with the Messiah Himself. Thirdly it is a rebirth taking shape in the individual by their being given by God a hope and faith and love that washes away in stages their natural former nature of being hateful and lying as a child of Satan and instead they become characterised by new improved prospects of being purged of ethical failure of immoral and hateful and lying ways. They believe instead in the veracity of the teachings of the Messiah and His messengers and they believe in the true nature of the Messiah. They love anyone else who shares in this transformation. The central way this comes about was wrought by God’s action of raising His Son from the dead and His Son living eternally to keep these believers in Him purified forever. Being at the Father’s right hand and having these believers always in His prayers and dealings this Son is central to the constant wellbeing and salvation and ongoing purification of these believers whose lives are inextricably intertwined with this Messiah’s life and God’s purpose and eternally loving embrace. The blood shed by the Son on that cross those centuries ago is effective in dealing with their guilt even if they fall from time to time, learning to confess such failings. All these things bring about this rebirth as children not of Satan, not of the world, not of natural human failing tendencies and morally substandard nature but of God. Of course this is just a part of what is the unseen fuller picture. Add to this the giving to these believers of the invisible but ever efficacious Holy Spirit as His mysterious but wondrous ways transform a believer ever more fully into a child of God; a true saint who puts off Satan’s ways and rises above their former ways. Add to this the incorporation into a mystical union spiritually with all other such believers as a Body of the Son of Man and a family of God. Add the involvement of the individual in putting off the hating and lying but with mysterious teachings from heaven to do so exercising the heart. Add the joint partnership and mutual support of all believers in keeping each other in their prayers for purification and their rebukes and gentle restoration from waywardness as and when needed. Add the future of better and better purification from sin that results. Add the need to believe the Messiah truly is. Add the need to follow this Messiah’s teachings by keeping them as adherent disciples along with teachings from the Holy Spirit and true servants of Messiah. Add the promise of the Messiah to bring each believer out of their sinful state into true nature as a child of God so they do not “die in their sins”. Add the work of the Holy Spirit in the believer which by the message that the Messiah died for them and follow-up powerful lessons imparted by this Holy Spirit sets them on the path to ever greater purification of their ways. Add that this must continue through all eternity if it is to be a true work of God because only eternally permanent children of God are true children of God. No children of God are ever temporary. They remain in His family forever or else they are mere servants or slaves.  It all adds up to this rebirth by God Himself working in the believing follower of His Son.

Isa

The name of the Son of Man is much disputed in social media forums today. Many try to derive its original spelling but it might not have been written in the first languages of those who known the original name. Perhaps the best preserved form is that used by speakers of Aramaic-like languages today and the related language, Arabic. An anglicised form is Isa. The beginning of the prophet Isaiah‘s anglicised name is not by accident a good rendering of the Son of Man’s human name. Isaiah in chapter 8 of his book had hinted by prophecy that he himself, Isaiah, was a sign just as his children were signs: and how were his children signs? By their names. So Isaiah was a sign by his name. His name Isaiah started with Isa. Isa means ‘delivers’ or ‘saves’. Isaiah means Yahweh saves. So the sign of Isaiah’s name is that the Son of Man would come to save, as salvation coming from God. Much of Isaiah’s prophecies were about this Son of Man, the Messiah: Isa al-Masih, as it is written in anglicised Arabic form today.

Atheism and Dishonesty

We probably all of us start life as atheists. After a while we experience nature and experience discipline from peers. Out of animal instinct we learn from nature and peer discipline and parents. We make basic deductions. We start to reason. This reasoning makes us ask ‘why’? about everything and expect answers. The answers become our first taste of wisdom. Why do things happen in nature the way they do. When a wise answer is given we get a taste for wisdom and ask ‘why?’ even more. At some point we realise it all adds up to wise reasons being a result of Someone wise. If we are all too human we get scared at this point and fearfully reject such theism. We thus get scared into rejecting the lines of reasoning that lead to such theism. (Perhaps we are scared of where the reasoning leads in terms of duty it implies and guilt it proves.) This is a matter of being dishonest to ourselves so we get habitually dishonest. 

Morality

Morality is common in most higher animals. Look at Jungle Book or Lion King. No seriously. Animals which are social have ways to ensure young ones grow up to keep the rules of normality. The older males correct the younger ones which behave in ways these older males consider out of order. Good behaviour is possibly rewarded with social inclusion, service (such as feeding, grooming and mating), progression (such as to leadership) and loyalty. Bad behaviour is punished with aggression or even, in the extreme, social exclusion which might result in death. The difference between norms of what is rewarded and what is punished is constantly studied by biologists and well recorded. Calling this scale of behaviour ‘morality’ is not unreasonable. Of course humans have all this built in. Reasoning is built in too. We might call this reasoning by philosophical names such as Ocham’s Razor but it is built in. We apply it just like animals do when we are punished having just overstepped a moral line - we realise what that line was by naturally and morally applying Ocham’s Razor: If that action we last took, which was abnormal,  seemed to be the trigger of the punishment, then probably it was. It is the same reasoning we apply when we deduce that if all these wise things of nature have pleasantly wise reasons to be part of nature then we reason that it is because there is a wise One making it so. Morality is not part of religion but it leads naturally to religion.

Ocham’s Razor

Scientists keep looking for why nature is like it is and they keep finding answers. We like this because there is so often wisdom in those answers: Those wise why’s. Ocham’s razor encourages us to extrapolate these wise why’s back to a wise One behind it all.

The Apostle Paul and Torah

The Apostle  Paul  did  not  write  saying  people  should  stop  keeping  Torah (the Law of Moses).  He  simply  pointed  out  that  it  is  no  simple  matter  to  simply  keep  Torah.  You  get  problems  like  reverse-psychology.  Like  dieting,  when  focusing  on  food  and  counting  calories  actually  increases  the  appetite.  You  get  misunderstandings  and  mishandling  of Torah  with  heresies  and  schisms.  In  the  end  it  does  not  make  you  a  permanently  righteous  person  because  it  leads  to  pride  and  self-righteousness.  Paul  had  kept  it  to  the  letter  from  childhood.  He  excelled  in  it  with  ultimate  understanding  of  it  beyond  that  of  most  who  have  less  ability  to  keep  it  and  keep  on  keeping  it.  But  it  did  not  stop  him  hating  followers  of  the  Messiah.  It  made  him  more  keen  to  stamp  them  out  and  kill  them.  Then  he  met  the  Messiah, the Son of Man.  Suddenly  he  saw  a  way  to  permanently  remain  righteous  no  matter  what  happened:  A  trustworthy  rabbi  living righteously  for  aeons  past  before  Abraham  and  forever  into  the  future.  The  Messiah  Himself.  

Following Him, keeping His teachings; and being kept by Him in return. This  was  a  more  certain  and  viable  long  term  eternal  prospect  of  righteousness. This Messiah is ever righteous and ever lives and He cleanses from wrongdoing and heals. He makes righteous and keeps righteous those who believe in Him and keep His teachings. Paul knew that in keeping Torah he was having to do so as an individual struggling against his natural tendencies. Keeping the teachings of Messiah, on the other hand, meant having the eternally living, ever righteous, utterly competent teaching and healing master of righteousness, the Messiah Himself, to ever help him: This Messiah who is there with God at God’s right hand.

By the time Paul was doing this it was the Holy Spirit who was imparting the Messiah so Paul in following the Holy Spirit was thereby following the Messiah. The same applies today. 

Paul stated explicitly in his letter to the church in Ephesus, Ephesians chapter 4: “... That, however, is not the way of life you learned when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus. You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness. Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to your neighbor, for we are all members of one body. “In your anger do not sin” : Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. Anyone who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with their own hands, that they may have something to share with those in need.” 

This corresponds to teachings of the Messiah such as recorded in John 8 where we see how strongly the Messiah condemned lying and hating and giving the devil a foothold: “You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” But this Ephesians passage aside, Paul usually focused on the Holy Spirit as teacher, since the Holy Spirit applied the Messiah’s teachings and way - as seen in Galatians and Romans 8. This is still the same today and forever - Messiah is forever and leads into righteousness forever. Forever cinsistent. 

Enoch’s Central Message

ENOCH’S CENTRAL MESSAGE

The Book of Enoch has much to say about the best way to live and the centrality in that of the Son of Man but it begins with a look at nature and the need for unending, unwavering consistency. Not many ways can enable such consitency as is seen in nature. Only one way can enable it. It occurs to me that we live our lives by standards and moral influences of those around us or of some group to which we seek to adhere. In troubled times that group might not be our best of guides and we might find it is actualy no longer trustworthy. The Son of Man is however unwaveringly trustworthy having been righteous and faithful from times before Enoch and on into the prophesied future as far as prophecy has ever seen. This is the central theme of Enoch’s prophetic message to all, especially to those who live in troubled times when wicked people are being removed and righteousness is essential for survival. 

Falling Babylon the Great

The apocalyptic Beast empire foretold by God to His Son (Book of Revelation) arises out of instability in the Middle East centred perhaps on Syria (the raging sea) but what seems to hold it back, keeping Macedonian regions apart from Iran and Iraq, (leopard apart from bear and lion) might be Balkan Muslim countries being members of the EU. It seems a likely possible trigger of the formation of the Beast empire for the EU to collapse as part of the fall of Babylon the Great (Rome rooted in Ancient Rome). Watch this space.

He is

HE IS

The Book of Enoch is a real marvel. Most marvellous is its age. Archaeology is consistent with it predating the Bible and Torah. It shows us the Son of Man was telling the truth when He said “Before Abraham was born, I am”. In ancient times of Enoch this Son of Man existed. Enoch knew He is, way back then. Still today we need to believe He is - so we will be released from our sinfulness by Him.

A Question for Enoch

Question for Enoch

Since the prophet Enoch must now be still alive and at least five thousand years old I would love to ask him if I meet him: Do you remember writing the Book of Enoch? It is a curious matter whether human memory functions after thousands of years or whether the inspiration of the Holy Spirit of truth takes over in perpetuating knowledge from that long ago. Of course a greater question is whether the Son of Man who was incarnated two thousand years ago has actual memory of creating all things or whether persisting such truth needs more than human faculties can provide and the Holy Spirit reveals such things instead.

Father Time, the Son of Man and the Oath

The Book of Enoch is mankind’s springboard into the understanding of the origins of the cosmos because it introduced our forfathers to the main participants in the creation of all things and over time the thinking of the wise continued the theme but on the whole scarcely took it futher. 

First we have the person who started all things - the Head of Days. El. Today called simply God in English by many. The Ancient Greeks’ name for this author of time itself and lord of the calendar was Chronos and later they got a bit confused and called El by the name Cronos too (because Cronos was similar a word to Chronos). Enoch must have called Him An or El depending whether his original work was in Sumerian or Akkadian but sometimes used a term or title later translated Head of Days and Daniel reflected this in the title Ancient of Days. On the whole the concept of time having a chief who is greatest of all divinities continued through history since Enoch. 

Then we have a person who came from this Head of Days and in whose name all things of nature came into being, the Son of Man. Later the Orphic teachings of the Greeks called this being Phanes. From chaos this being created order and the Cosmos took shape. Enoch showed how this Son of Man and the Head of Days were always together before the beginning and ever since have worked on all things together governing creation behind the scenes and bringing all the divinity angels into being and assigning responsibilities.

Then we have the oath. The angels knew a great oath by which all of nature takes shape and functions in an ordered way. Angels were later believed in Roman times to swear an oath of office. There might be a relationship there. One monstrous divinity punished breakers of the oath. Orcus. Enoch revealed that an angel Kasbeel is in charge of the oath that governs all things. Wikipedia explains (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kasbeel) that there were two oaths in the Book of Enoch passage; one that binds the watchers and the other that binds nature. So the first of these oaths might be the oath of office sworn by every senior angel on pain of punishment.

Ebola Outbreak 2018-2020

The number of DR Congo Ebola cases has been constantly doubling every three months. It can reasonably be expected to become the biggest ever outbreak of Ebola overtaking the West Africa outbreak by the end of March 2020. Presumably it will be  repeatedly entering the various world regions by that time - USA, Europe, Far East, South America, Middle East, Russia, etc..It cannot be stopped at source by medics and governments this time because of warzones so it will just keep incubating there, perpetuating the spread into other regions. Pressure will mount to close more and more airports.

How Much Evidence to Believe in a God?

How much evidence do I need to believe in a god? It surprises me how much it varies from day to day. I guess a lot depends how encouraged or discouraged my state of mind is - whether my ‘heart’ is ‘hard’ to such things or not. On a good day I cannot help think there must surely be a good god making things happen just the way that makes sense for a good god to do. Other days it all seems bleak and as they say ‘God seems far away’ and nothing makes sense and those good days of assurance are too faint a memory. Then I start wondering whether I might be an atheist deep down and pretending not to be. I guess the main evidence is to feel loved by someone other than fellow imperfect humans - loved by someone who is not limited by weakness and corruption but can save the day. When the day gets saved by someone invisible I get a pique of faith. I try to remember those days. Like when you can hear a helicopter overhead and know it is there but cannot see it behind the rooftops. You sometimes get such clarity and certainty of God’s existence that sight becomes irrelevant. You have to try remembering once that evidence has gone away.

Renewed Christology

NOW THAT WE HAVE THE BOOK OF ENOCH

Now that we have the Book of Enoch and have every reason to believe the Jews of the first century had it too, what does it tell us about the Messiah? It is clear that they believed a person existed already in heaven who was a great mystery. “When Messiah comes nobody will know where He is from” they said (John 7:27). The spy stories about MI6 tell how the head of the organisation is mysteriously called simply C. The idea is (at least in the fantasy characterisation) that nobody would know who C was. Much like Charlie in Charlie’s Angels. Well this Messiah was going to be mysterious like that. The main identifications of Him were in the Book of Enoch and the Book of Daniel which identified Him as simply The Son of Man. Isaiah had alluded (Isaiah 8) to someone who might have a name signified by Isaiah’s name but even that allusion was heavily veiled in the prophecy. Why all this mystery? Well Enoch tells how the Son of Man was hidden away to be revealed very carefully by God. Clearly it would be very important to percieve Him in a certain way. That way was later clouded by Roman Christologies and unresolved disputes. Now with the Book of Enoch and Messiah’s words in John’s Gospel we get a picture of several vitally important points to understand about Him. Firstly He was there in heaven when Enoch went alive into heaven around 3000 BC. This is clear in the Book of Enoch and also confirmed by Messiah saying (John 8) “Before Abraham was born I am”. The prophecy of Malachi confirmed that His “goings forth were from of old, from everlasting”. Then we see that He is to ever live into the future too. Enoch shows Him in prophecy about the distant future at the end of the age and beyond. The Son of Man made clear (John 8) He would always keep from slavery to sin those who follow His teachings and believe in Him. This is vital because sons of God have to permanently worthy of that position. Only an eternal High Priest can be a completely effective Deliverer from sin. The resurrection shows this is true because death itself no longer marks any end for Him. He came a mortal in the flesh but left this world immortal having risen from the dead never to die again. For that He had to die once. This came as a shock to His followers. Enoch’s prophecy alluded to it only darkly by alluding to His resurrection. Finally the nature of His Sonship was clarified in Enoch’s prophecies (chapter 105 in the RH Charles chapter numbering). This iwas subject of Roman theologians’ and philosophers’ unresolved disputes and obfuscating doctrines since Roman times. God and His Son are distinct in Enoch’s prophecies and this would have been clear in Messiah’s time. All this presents a renewed view of Messiah lost in history but resurfacing in our times by the Holy Spirit’s revelatios. Thanks be to God. 

Historical Jesus and His Crucifixion?

Did Jesus exist historically? Well, it seems John the Baptist is a historic person but it is fairly sure he would not even be historically known for anything if he had not baptised Jesus of Nazareth. So both must be historical. But there is more to it than that. Did Jesus actually die on a cross? John the Baptist made the future sacrifice of ‘the lamb of God’ his major message it seems. He did not live to see it. His own death is a historically attested event because it coincided with a historic war between Herod and the father of his first wife whose replacement wife infamously asked for John’s head on a platter. If Jesus had not died on a cross in a way consistent with something sacrificial then nobody would have bothered remembering John the Baptist. Yet they even kept some bones of John the Baptist which seem to have survived as fragments analysed by scientists recently. So he must have been vindicated by what happened to Jesus. It must have been either death on a cross or something very similar. Stands to reason - not just mine but historians down the ages.

Is having a sexual partner ‘living in sin’?

Is it ‘living in sin’ to have a partner with whom you are not married? Do scriptures sanction having a concubine or condemn it? The scriptures indirectly sanction it. They say David’s only sin was in the matter of Bathsheba. Plus they speak of Absolom going into David’s hareem. So by deduction they indirectly say David did not sin by having a hareem of concubines. “For David had done what was right in the eyes of the LORD and had not failed to keep any of the LORD's commands all the days of his life--except in the case of Uriah the Hittite.” 1 Kings 15:5 

It is not polygamy to have concubines - the ancient morality we see in scriptures is still preserved in non-western cultures and it allows for concubines. So did the Law of Moses. Leviticus 18:18 “"Do not take your wife's sister as a rival wife and have sexual relations with her while your wife is living.” Having a rival wife is not even condemned if she is sister to existing wife - only sex with one while other is alive is condemned. Likewise Leviticus 18 lists many kinds of sexual sin but never forbids concubines and polygamy. It forbids things we know are immoral quite exhaustively so if concubinage were immoral and sinful it would be listed here. Christians add to the law to condemn it. They imply falsely it is unbiblical. False teaching IS unbiblical. Fornication is really about sex with prostitutes, nothing to do with ‘sex outside of marriage’. Having a partner or a concubine or being a concubine is not ‘living in sin’. Even having several concubines is not condemned in scripture. Christian false teachers condemn it and call it ‘unbiblical’ and ‘living in sin’ but false teaching is not biblical and is sinful and is to be rebuked strongly.

Church Life

CHURCH - IN OR OUT

The Holy Spirit does do that blessed work of God especially on some blessed people who are part of a church as they gather in church. It is remarkable how important being part of church life is even still today. People drop church out of their lives these days often citing hypocrisy of church people as their reason. The sad thing about that is they are not wrong - hypocritical churches are a bane of our times. Often people go to church much of their lives - decades - never hoping to see the Holy Spirit working like scriptures say He worked in ancient times. Yet for some who are receivers and doers of the purest gospel there are times of refreshing to their souls in their churches where if you look closely and with discernment you might be able to see that God is there like He was in times of the Christ’s first apostles like scripture recorded. Yet even outside of such churches - so many lack a chance to go to such churches - still the Holy Spirit works the blessings of Christ - especially in occassional groups of kindred believers coming together socially but sometimes when believers are on their own too. Elijah was all alone but still heard the still small voice. Elishah had plenty of kindred company of prophets and saw endless miracles but Elijah is the one who stood at Jesus’ side on the mountain of Christ’s transfiguration along with Moses surrounded by apostles. 

One Side of the Moon

Looking at the Moon, do you ever consider how you only ever see one side of it? There is a hidden side with far fewer large craters. Never in history has it been facing us. What is the cause of this? It is simply and astonishingly that the Moon spins at EXACTLY the same speed as it’s orbit of the Earth so the same side always faces Earth. If it span such that one cycle of the Moon’s spin took either ever slightly more time or ever so slightly less time than its orbit of Earth then over time we would start to see the other side of it. Consider how such clockwork precision shows God’s hand in it.

The prophetic Book of Enoch chapter 2: “1. Observe ye everything that takes place in the heaven, how they do not change their orbits, ⌈and⌉ the luminaries which are in the heaven, how they all rise and set in order each in its season, and transgress not against their appointed order. 2. Behold ye the earth, and give heed to the things which take place upon it from first to last, ⌈how steadfast they are⌉, how ⌈none of the things upon earth⌉ change, ⌈but⌉ all the works of God appear ⌈to you⌉. 3. Behold the summer and the winter, ⌈⌈how the whole earth is filled with water, and clouds and dew and rain lie upon it⌉⌉.”

Calling Himself the Son of Man

CALLING HIMSELF THE SON OF MAN

When you call yourself the ‘Son of Man’ as Jesus of Nazareth clearly did (as all the Gospel accounts make clear) it begs the question Why? There is only really one credible knowledgable answer to that question which is that the Son of Man passages in the Book of Enoch were well known at that time two thousand years ago. The only other messianic prophecy mentioning the Son of Man is in the Book of Daniel and there is an allusion to a young man messiah in Second Esdras. These would not be enough of a foundation on which to build an understanding of Jesus of Nazareth’s identity so it must be that the Book of Enoch with the parables sections mentioning the Son of Man existed and were well known at that time. This authenticates the Ethiopian Ge’ez version of the Book of Enoch we have translated into English today.

Violence

VIOLENCE

When God once said to me “Israel has sinned!” and showed me His sign like an eagle over the local church I believe He might have meant the complicity of His Church, His People, in the violent genocides that unbeknown to me then had just been happening in Africa. (This was at the end of 1994 and start of 1995.) The response of God was the wars in the Balkans and then later the Gulf and the sudden increase in the UK and Europe and the USA of mass survelillance and spying and monitoring the accompanied those wars. God does not condone atrocities and does not turn a blind eye to complicity even when it is His people who are complicit. Enoch said this (chapter 91):

“Love uprightness and walk therein.

And draw not nigh to uprightness with a double heart,

And associate not with those of a double heart,

But walk in righteousness, my sons.

And it shall guide you on good paths,

And righteousness shall be your companion.

For I know that violence must increase on the earth,

And a great chastisement be executed on the earth,

And all unrighteousness come to an end:

Yea, it shall be cut off from its roots,

And its whole structure be destroyed.

And unrighteousness shall again be consummated on the earth,

And all the deeds of unrighteousness and of violence

And transgression shall prevail in a twofold degree.”

God punishes severely those who mete out severe violence. We see Ebola on the increase after terrible times of violence in the Congo region. Exactly five years ago we saw worse Ebola plague in West Africa after terrible times of violence there. Do not let yourselves be complicit in extreme violence. God does not ignore it, especially when it is caused by His Church.

Fallen Humans

FALLEN HUMANS

https://www.wired.com/story/these-sumptuous-images-give-deep-space-data-an-old-world-look/ 

Look at these images of the orbits of the planets and asteroids. They keep their paths through space because they obey the commands God gave them and honour the name of the Son of Man whose name has power over them. The Holy Spirit through Enoch wrote: (Book of Enoch chapter 2:1-2)

“Observe ye everything that takes place in the heaven, how they do not change their orbits, ⌈and⌉ the luminaries which are in the heaven, how they all rise and set in order each in its season, and transgress not against their appointed order. Behold ye the earth, and give heed to the things which take place upon it from first to last, ⌈how steadfast they are⌉, how ⌈none of the things upon earth⌉ change, ⌈but⌉ all the works of God appear ⌈to you⌉. “

Yet we humans are not so steadfast. Yes we are commanded by God to love God and put all we have and are into doing so constantly but we lose our zeal and waver in our devotion. Yes we are under the power of the Son of Man’s name and teachings yet we lose sight of those teachings and knowledge of His name fades within us and eludes our conversations and laws and teachings of our children. As the Holy Spirit put it through Enoch: (chapter 5:4-6a) “But ye--ye have not been steadfast, nor done the commandments of the Lord, But ye have turned away and spoken proud and hard words. With your impure mouths against His greatness. Oh, ye hard-hearted, ye shall find no peace. Therefore shall ye execrate your days, And the years of your life shall perish, And ⌈the years of your destruction⌉ shall be multiplied in eternal execration, And ye shall find no mercy. In those days ye shall make your names an eternal execration unto all the righteous, And by you shall ⌈all⌉ who curse, curse, And all the sinners ⌈and godless⌉ shall imprecate by you,”

We need to let the Holy Spirit convict us and convince us of sin. We need to reach out to the Son of Man in our hearts and trust He is and lives forever and hold to His teachings and the truth shall set us free. We need to look at those planets and asteroids how they continue without wavering and know that it is by the power of the name of the Son of Man that they do so. It is the name by which we must be saved.

What better healing than resurrection

WHAT BETTER HEALING THAN RESURRECTION

“... that Christ would suffer. As first through resurrection from the dead, He is about to preach light both to our people and to the Gentiles."

— Acts 26:23

“... the Living One. I was dead, and behold, now I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of Death and of Hades.”

— Revelation 1:18

The Son of Man has suffered and has a message to preach out of it, having even died but been resurrected, and He preaches that it is all worth it because now He is alive forever and so much has been given Him by God through that experience. He now has all the light needed in how to overcome both death and Hades (the place of the dead). He preaches this light to us all.

Before the Big Bang?

BEFORE THE BIG BANG?

Now that we know about the existence of dark matter and dark energy we should consider the possibility that dark energy and dark matter were not a result of the Big Bang but existed before the Big Bang and fueled it and fed into it. They could result in further such events, perhaps different kinds, in future. We know little of such things but we know we do not know. We should now consider that what we commonly call ‘spirit’ might be like dark matter and dark energy. It might have existed before the Big Bang and to have caused the Big Bang and been materially of such a nature that it was unaffected by the Big Bang. We call it ‘dark’ because of its immunity to the affects of visible matter and visible energy. Now we have long had in human history a belief in divine spirits and we can now add a sentient aspect to the things we call dark energy and dark matter. Yet instead of being dark these spirits are pure light - ‘light’ in the sense of the opposite of dark. What do we mean by ‘dark’ in ‘dark matter’ and ‘dark energy’? They are dark in the sense that they provide no interactions with observable matter and energy. They are dark because nothing about them facilitates our ability to observe them scientifically. That is not to say they cannot ever be discovered since already we have discovered them, e.g. by their observable affect on the speed of the edges of galaxies. They do not provide us with particles we can monitor because they pass through millions of stars and planets without any interactions so likewise they pass through our instruments without any interactions. Now we have opportunity to consider that there can be ‘dark’ sentient beings such as what have long been known as divine spirits which are likewise able to pass through the matter and energy we observe scientifically without interactions - without leaving any observable trace and without themselves being affected materially. We might call these ‘dark beings’ yet they are light because they are able to make themselves known to us and do indeed make themselves known to us. They are pure light in the sense they make themselves known truthfully. Now we should also consider, metaphysically, that there must have been a time when laws of physics started to exist. Human reasoning seems to be behind these laws because they are comprehensible to humans. So before they had existence in reality they seem to have had existence in thought and reason. So sentient spirits existing before the Big Bang and were not affected materially by it, just like dark matter and dark energy might not have been affected by it, these spirits seem to have included sufficient qualities of humanness that their influences on the results of the Big Bang are understandable by our human minds. This leads to possibility our human minds we influenced to be as they are by such humanlike spirit or spirits. Now these spirits with humanlike qualities are not ‘dark’ in the sense of offering us no affordance to know them but on the contrary they do make themselves known to us and are well known by some of us. One in particular is especially known to some as the Son of Man apparently because of these very human qualities but also because this Son of Man has historically come in flesh and blood as Jesus of Nazareth called the Anointed One. He spoke of having come to make known the highest one of these spirits calling this spirit the Father, His own Father and God.

Matter is observable because it is affected by other matter. The sentient divine spirits’ matter is not affected and so we call it ‘dark’ because we cannot force it to show itself to scientific instruments. They can affect our matter and they do so which means they are known and knowable on their terms so they are really light.

When we experience their power it makes sense: They can act without affect on any matter and energy around except the matter and energy they deliberately want to affect.

Our fallen world power structures are but a poorer reflection of these invisible universe power structures. “Thy will be done on earth as in heaven”

Maybe the resurrection is going to unite both universes

Ebola Crosses Border

EBOLA CROSSES BORDER

As the DR Congo Ebola outbreak crosses its first border into Uganda it is time to reflect on what happens if it carries on like the previous big outbreak and around September 2019 reaches other continents such as Europe and the Americas. What causes such disasters? Globalisation of sin and love of money causes globlisation of plagues. People come to your door seeking your support and participation in their big potentially global political plans but behind their apocalyptic horse of economics comes a pale horse of death and the underworld places of suffering. There is one widereaching force we should welcome into our homes who offers hope of being spared this doom and He is the unique Son of Man approved by God to be followed by all. Let Him in but leave the globalisers outside.

So Precious

Perhaps the greatest truth the Book of Enoch shares with us in all those wonderful passages about the Son of Man (chapters 37 to 63) is how precious this Son of Man was, in Enoch’s time and before and after, over milllennia, to God the Lord of Spirits. It tells how delighted God was in this Son of Man who He anointed and set apart from all angels and men and who God hid away from all but a few. God was keeping this beloved righteous and faithful son away from public knowledge and corruption. Of everything that God had in all the universe He has made, His Son, the Son of Man is most cherished of all. This is a tremendous service Enoch has provided in recording all this because it tells us two things that Enoch might not at that time have even known himself. Firstly it tells us what an overwhelmingly great price God paid for a sacrifice for our sins: The one most precious member of His heavenly family so dearly loved from before time, the Son of Man, is the one He sent to suffer and die, and on the third day rise again. Secondly, in telling us how special this Son of Man was to the Lord of Spirits, Enoch reveals the height and breadth and depth of the love God has for each one of us to have paid this beloved Son for the ransom for our wretched souls. Other scriptures touch on this but none in quite as vivid depth of expression of true prophetic words as the Book of Enoch. God be praised forever!

‘They have the scriptures’

‘THEY HAVE THE SCRIPTURES’

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rich_man_and_Lazarus

The parable told by the Son of Man called ‘Rich man and Lazarus” is telling makind a lot about the Book of Enoch and how important it is to read it. The poor man named Lazarus went to be with Abraham in heaven when he died while a rich man who never helped him went to a place where he could see Lazarus and Abraham but from a distance and he was in a hellish place. The lesson relates how the rich suffering deceased man asked Abraham to send warning to the brothers the man left still alive to warn them to live such that they did not go to the hellish place when they died. All this relates to teachings about the afterlife only found explicitly in the Book of Enoch which was regarded as scripture. Then comes the telling part: Abraham replied to the formerly rich now deceased man “They have the scriptures”. So here the teaching of the Son of Man is that the Book of Enoch is not only scripture but is scripture vitally important to read and heed because of its warning about the afterlife and how to live to avoid immense suffering in it. The man had told Abraham that this man’s rich brothers would heed a resurrected man coming to speak to them and warn them even though they ignored scriptures like the Book of Enoch. Abraham replied “If they do not listen to the law and prophets they will not heed even if a man rises from the dead.” This teaching places the Book of Enoch in the category of the scriptures called the Prophets. It is sacred writing written by a prophet and contains prophecy in written form. Ignore it at your peril.

Miracles, Healings, Wonders, Lessons

God works miracles and healings among those who believe and trust God because they let it sink in that God raised from the dead His Son who died for each and every one of us: applying to themselves the love it shows God has for you after His Son died for your sins. This way God becomes Father to you and you can call Him Daddy in your heart. These who believe have miracles worked among them.

Sumerian Texts and the First Kings of Civilisation

In Roman times a Christian writer who knew Jesus (possible his biological brother) wrote of the ancient prophet called Enoch as being a true prophet, seventh in line from Adam, in real history. This disciple, Jude, among the first disciples of the Jesus Christ, has been so respected by Christians that his epistle (The Epistle of Jude) has been considered sacred to the extent it has been included in the Bible these past two thousand years. Yet is it at all feasible that his statements about Enoch were truthfully written? Does the concept of sacred scripture being actually true really stack up in this case? Archaeology might help answer this question. Archaeology of civilisation origins is illuminated by the success of translating Sumerian cuneiform writings from 3400 to 2400 BC although this has been tough and slow and some success has only happened recently. Several very important texts written around 2200 BC being translated from original cuneiform texts (extant texts as they are called because they are the actual physical texts written in those ancient times) are called Sumerian King Lists. Some of these record kings from the time of Enoch and the cities they made their capitals. One such king, the seventh in this dawn of history period, is a man described in other texts as having ascended to heaven with the angels and learned from them. Surely this is Enoch. His name in the texts is sometimes written En-men-dur-ana and sometimes Enmenduranki (this could have been shortened to Enoch over time). His capital was Sippar. The king that followed was Ubara-Tutu who another even more ancient text called the Instruction of Sharappak says was grandfather to the man who took some survivors into an ark when the world flooded who Sumerians named Ziusudra who was of course Noah. Ubura-Tutu must have been Methuselah son of Enoch. He had the city called Sharappak as his capital, according to the Sumerian King Lists. The Sumerian King Lists give large numbers for the periods those kings who were kings before a great flood (Noah’s flood as we call it) ruled, which traditions say were numbers of years which make ridiculously long reign lengths so these numbers might mean days. The archaeology shows these kings must have ruled prior to around 2900 or 2500 BC, the last of the kings (most lists say Ubara-Tutu) ruling up until that time. So the end of the period of these pre-flood kings is somewhere between 2900 and 2500 BC but there is less agreement about the beginning of these king’s period. The first two kings in the lists are associated with the city of Eridu, a city well known to archaeology. The first listed king (Alulim, who was possibly later known as Adapa who today is known as Adam) had a reign which started when Eridu was quite a major city around 3600 BC. So it really is feasible that Jude wrote truthfully about Enoch and Adam being historical real people and Enoch being a prophet “seventh from Adam”. Jude may indeed have been exercising good judgment and true, holy inspiration in writing confidently asserting such things. The reputation of sacred scipture is in this case intact as is the judgment of Christians these past two thousand years in regarding Jude’s epistle as sacred scripture worthy of sitting in the Bible. Furthermore, the fact that Jude quoted a prophecy of Enoch found only in the Book of Enoch known and highly regarded as scripture too in Jude’s time supports the belief of more and more people today that the Book of Enoch is genuine truly ancient holy writ. Refs: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sumerian_King_List https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instructions_of_Shuruppak

Among us Today?

AMONG US TODAY?

Enoch long ago dreamt prophetically about angels in his father’s days (in the Stone Age) as stars and humans (of the Stone Age) as cattle and the angels sinning and living among humans:

Enoch 86

“And again I saw with mine eyes as I slept, and I saw the heaven above, and behold a star fell from heaven...

...and behold I saw many stars descend and cast themselves down from heaven to that first star, and they became bulls amongst those cattle and pastured with them ⌈amongst them⌉.”

THIS SPELT UNPRECEDENTED TROUBLE ON EARTH

Enoch 68

“And after that my grandfather Enoch gave me the teaching of all the secrets in the book in the Parables which had been given to him, and he put them together for me in the words of the book of the Parables. And on that day Michael answered Raphael and said: 'The power of the spirit transports and makes me to tremble because of the severity of the judgement of the secrets, the judgement of the angels: who can endure the severe judgement which has been executed, and before which they melt away?' And Michael answered again, and said to Raphael: 'Who is he whose heart is not softened concerning it, and whose reins are not troubled by this word of judgement (that) has gone forth upon them because of those who have thus led them out?' And it came to pass when he stood before the Lord of Spirits, Michael said thus to Raphael: 'I will not take their part under the eye of the Lord; for the Lord of Spirits has been angry with them because they do as if they were the Lord. Therefore all that is hidden shall come upon them for ever and ever; for neither angel nor man shall have his portion (in it), but alone they have received their judgement for ever and ever.'”

NOT JUST A STONE AGE PROBLEM

PROPHETIC WORDS OF THE SON OF MAN:

Mark 13:25

“... the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken.”

Revelation 6:13

“... and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind.”

Revelation 9:1

“The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss.”

Revelation 12:4

“[The dragon’s] tail swept a third of the stars out of the sky and flung them to the earth. The dragon stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, so that it might devour her child the moment he was born.”

Boundary Between Two Emerging Empires

BOUNDARY BETWEEN TWO EMERGING EMPIRES

There are three present or near future empires mentioned in the apocalyptic prophecies and two are geographically a reflection of past empires and likely to be important in the coming decades - Revelation calls one the Beast (empire) of the leopard, lion and bear (Balkans, Iraq and Iran) and the other the Beast (empire) associated with the Babylon the Great city (city of Rome). They are neighbours and there seems to be a border between them called by historians the Jireček Line https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jireček_Line . It is believed that Roman (Rome-origin) and Greek (Balkan-origin) empires of ancient times till today overlapped but with a rough border of this line. It might be of growing importance as the modern counterparts of these Beast apocalyptic empires emerge.