Thursday, February 25, 2010

Homosexuality In Scripture

The easiest statement about homosexuality in scripture is it does not mention it. However, because homophobic peoples have read into scripture what they wanted for more than twenty centuries, it would be disingenuous to ignore the homophobic view without comment. There is nothing described in scripture which deals with the habit of 31 species including man to revert to same-sex sexual expression when there is overpopulation. Such an event did not happen in scriptural times and therefore was never commented on. That said, let us look at several passages first in the Hebrew scriptures and then in the Pauline writings.

THE NOACH STORY

Genesis 9:22 records these words: “Ham, the father of Canaan, saw his father’s nakedness, and he told his two brothers outside about it.” According to the Torah, the reason that Hamite people were eternally to be slaves was because of this act. The act was more than just a casual glance, it was a lust for one’s father. Hebrew theology considered incest a serious sexual sin. Such an opinion was not supported among the Egyptians and the Ethiopians who practiced marriage of a father with his daughter and sexual activity between brothers as in the case of Amenhotep IV and his two brothers, Semekharah and Tutankhamen. This statement therefore is seen as a political one on the third level of scripture called Dresh because this statement was part of an ongoing story justifying the separation of the Hebrew people from the Egyptians.

SODOM

Genesis 19:4-9 tells the story of the accosting of the angels sent to observe the wickedness of the town. Lot makes a point of arguing that hospitality forbids the misuse of strangers; he says, “But don’t do anything to these men, for you know that they have come under the shelter of my roof.” He claims that these men are guests and that to harm them is to violate the law of hospitality. Lot is willing to let the men of Sodom rape his daughters, but not to violate his hospitality. This is not a story of homosexuality. It is a story of the breach of the law of hospitality. When Jesus sent out disciples to the surrounding towns in Judea, he said that the disciples were to seek hospitality and if they were not given hospitality, it would go worse for those towns than on Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment. Thus, we see that Jesus thought the story was about hospitality.

LEVITICUS 18

Leviticus 18: 21-22 are part of the holiness code. It can be argued that the holiness code is an ideal, not an actual law in practice. It goes from Chapter 16 through 20 and sets forth a number of laws that are recognized in the failure to do them more than in doing them. Leviticus 18:21 talks about a particularly odious act; it says, “You shall not offer your seed to be immolated to Molech, thus profaning the name of your G-d. I am the Lord.” While scholars are not absolutely certain as to what this act refers to, it most likely refers to the offering of a new-born child as a sacrifice to the g-d Molech. It was a detestable attack on name of YHVH because up until circumcision and the repurchase of the first born, the child belongs to YHVH and to offer it to another g-d profanes the Name. Interestingly enough, it says nothing about offering a human sacrifice to YHVH. But we assume that issue was dealt with in the Akeda story during the sacrifice of Yitzak.
Immediately following this law is another which says: “You shall not lie with a zakar as with a woman; such a thing is an abomination.” The word “zakar” means male, but it normally means a very young male. Genesis says that G-d created man, young male and young female. Leviticus 12:2 speaks of the child before circumcision as zakar. Scripture calls the sacrificial animal a zakar. The word for man is “ish” and for mankind is “adam” and for the male sex is “enosh”. So why did the divine writer use the word “zakar” here. When read in context, the passage forbids pederasty. It goes along with detestable acts to small children mentioned in the previous passage. Even Strong’s makes a point of saying that zakar means a male child. Only prejudice would allow the translation to be as it is. For the correct translation should be, “You shall not lie with a small male child as you would with a woman.”
The Didache, the earliest document of the followers of Jesus, echoes this interpretation. It outlaws a number of things mentioned in the Holiness Code and specifically outlaws pederasty. There is no mention of homosexuality in Didache.

I Corinthians 6

Paul in 1 Corinthians 6 sets forth in verse 9 a group of people who are damned by nature. He says: “Be not led astray. Not fornicators (pornoi), nor idolators (eidololatrai) nor adulterers (moichoi) nor abusers (malakoi) nor homosexuals (arsenokoitai) nor thieves (kleptai) nor covetous ones (pleonektai) nor drunkards (methusoi) nor revilers (loidoroi) nor plunderers (arpages) shall inherit the kingdom of g-d.” Besides the obvious fact that most people in the world are not going to inherit the kingdom of g-d because they are people who are pornoi (worshippers through sex of foreign g-ds, namely, the god lust), idolators who worship statues, thieves, alcoholics, and covetous ones and no one believes that is true, let us look at what is said. Normally malakoi has been translated as catamites. Here it is translated as abusers. The word means soft in the sense of clothing is soft or the persons character is weak. It has nothing to do with sex. Arsenokoites literally means bed man, male prostitute. In translating it as homosexual, it completely misses the boat. However, 2000 years of prejudice and politics have led to this translation. It is false. In fact in his book, Same-Sex Unions in Pre-Modern Europe, Professor Boswell demolishes the claim that the church has always been opposed to homosexuality. The passage does condemn alcoholics, sorry AA, and those who keep up with the Jones. But it does not condemn homosexuality.

Romans 1

Paul argues in Romans that because G-d’s power is manifest in nature, people who do not believe “became vain in their reasoning and their senseless minds were darkened.” He says that this led to idolatry. He then says that they exchanged the truth of G-d for a lie and revered and worshiped the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen. It seems as if Paul is arguing that idol worship and narcissism lead inevitable to a certain lifestyle. Then Paul shows his prejudice and makes medical and psychological statements which we know now are false. He says, “Their females exchanged natural relations for unnatural, and the males likewise gave up natural relations with females and burned with lust for one another. Males did shameful things with males and thus received in their own persons the due penalty for their perversity.” Romans 26-27. While I do not accord this passage as being even canonical as I reject all of Paul as relevant to godliness, he seems to say that homosexual acts are unnatural. Such a statement is contrary to fact. Thirty one species have their males turn toward each other when the species becomes overpopulated. It is a serious problem in America with sheep and ducks as their overpopulation is now causing widespread same-sex activity and farmers do not want same-sex loving ducks and sheep. It is not unnatural for men to have sex with men or to have lustful thoughts for each other. Sex between males can be as beautiful as sex between a man and a woman. Only the misguided and sexually stunted character of the author of these words is represented in these statements and do not accurately represent G-d’s opinion. Homosexuals are as spiritually faithful and as committed to true religion as heterosexuals and to claim that it is false belief that causes homosexuality is silly if not openly slanderous. These slanderous and false words not withstanding, Paul then accuses all of the Church of Rome of these same acts. Romans 2:1.

In this discussion of homosexuality in Scripture, we need to turn to positive passages which seem to accept homosexuality.

RUTH AND NAOMI

Ruth is a story about two women: a mother-in-law and her daughter-in-law who fell in love with each other and yet wanted to have children for the dead son and husband of the two. Ruth loves Naomi so much that she makes a statement which I have heard in many marriage vows:

“Do not ask me to abandon or forsake you!” says Ruth. Ruth 1:16, “for wherever you go I will go, wherever you lodge I will lodge, your people shall be my people, and your G-d my G-d. Wherever you die I will die, and there be buried.” 1:16-17.

If a woman said these words to me, I would know that I am married. But in this case, two women were taking these vows. G-d blessed this union so much that he sent Boaz to take both of the women in and from Ruth came a grandson who was David Bar Jesse, King of Israel.

DAVID AND JONATHAN

I doubt that there is any more beautiful love story than the two bisexuals, David and Jonathan. David was Jonathan’s brother-in-law. 1 Samuel 18:1 says, “And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.” We often speak of marriage in the terms of the two becoming one. Here it says that David and Jonathan souls were enrapped so that they were knit together and Jonathan loved David as much as himself. Again when David flees from the Court of Saul, Jonathan comes to him and David says this to Jonathan: “Therefore thou shalt deal kindly with thy servant; for thou hast brought thy servant into a covenant of the LORD with thee….” 1 Samuel 20:8. This covenant or compact is called in Hebrew, a ketubah, or marriage contract. Lastly, we know the depth of that love when David says of Jonathan, “More precious have I held love for you than love for women.” 2 Samuel 1:26. It is significant that the word for love here is feminine and implies a love that is sexual with one party, Jonathan, playing the feminine part. Yet, it is this love, not the illicit love with Bathsheba, that is remembered as so beautiful throughout history.

The Centurion and His Servant

We are told in Matthew 8:5 about a centurion who approaches Jesus and says that his servant has a palsy and is very ill at home. Jesus says he will come to aid the servant and the centurion says he has faith that Jesus can heal him from afar as the Centurion is not worthy to have Jesus under his roof. In Matthew, the servant is called a “pais”, that is a common servant that one beats and uses for ones purposes. It is truly strange that the Centurion would ask Jesus to heal a common servant and debase himself by begging it of Jews. However, when Luke speaks of the event we learn more. Luke says, “A certain Centurion’s servant, who was dear to him, was sick and ready to die.” Luke 7:2. The word that is used for dear is “entimos” and is the word from which we get intimate. It means that there was a sexual relationship between the Centurion and the slave and that he loved his slave. Jesus certainly understood the fact that we had a forced master-servant relationship which had become one of love and affection. It was between two men and yet he did not care about that. He healed the slave from afar. Would he have done that if the slave was to continue in a drudgery? Probably not. But the slave was loved, he felt the Centurion’s love and approved of it, healing his lover.

It would not be right to finish this discussion of relationships without talking about Jesus and Lazarus.

JESUS AND LAZARUS

The gospels tell us that Jesus loved three people in a special way. They were Mary of Bethany, probably his wife, Martha, her sister, and Lazarus, their brother. When Lazarus died, the scripture says, “Jesus wept.” There was much to weep about in that time, but Jesus only weeps about Lazarus’ death. In order to understand this relationship better though, we have to look at a document now widely accepted as truthful and authentic, called the Secret Gospel of Mark. The words of Mark in the Secret Gospel were ordered excised from the Gospel of Mark by Clement of Alexandria at the end of the second century. The story is included in John 11. However, we know how it would have looked. At the end of the story, the Secret Gospel says:

“And they come into Bethany, and a certain woman whose brother had died was there. And, coming, she prostrated herself before Jesus and says to him, ‘Son of David, have mercy on me.’ But the disciples rebuked her. And Jesus, being angered, went off with her into the garden where the tomb was, and straightway a great cry was heard from the tomb. And going near Jesus rolled away the stone from the door of the tomb. And straightway, going in where the youth was, he stretched forth his hand and raised him, seizing his hand. But the youth, looking upon him, loved him and began to beseech him that he might be with him. And going out of the tomb they came into the house of the youth, for he was rich. And after six days Jesus told him what to do and in the evening the youth comes to him, wearing a linen cloth over his naked body. And he remained with him that night, for Jesus taught him the mystery of the Kingdom of G-d.”

This passage was excised because the Carpocratians were saying that it showed that Jesus had a homosexual relationship with the boy. Clement of Alexandria, unwilling to consider such an event, orders the passage excised and it was forever. The fact remains that Jesus probably had a sexual relationship with a boy that he loved. The question might arise why John Mark would include such an overt statement in his gospel. The answer may lie elsewhere.

PAUL AND MARK

John Mark is an interesting person in the Christian writings. He was a Nasorean. His mother was a prominent Nasorean and it was in her home that the Jerusalem Qahal met for a while. Acts 12:12. Her brother, who was also wealthy, was Joseph Barnabas and was John Mark’s uncle. Mark’s gospel includes a curious statement that many scholars think is his autograph; he says that a certain young man was in the Garden of Gethsemane with Jesus wearing nothing but a linen cloth. It sounds amazingly like Lazarus in the story above, but most scholars think the young man was John Mark himself because no one else mentions the event. The Jerusalem Qahal sent Barnabas and John Mark to be with Paul, while he was preaching, concerned that he was getting out of hand and preaching ideas contrary to the true teaching of Jesus.

Paul had some infirmity that was upsetting to many people. He constantly speaks of this infirmity but never identifies it. John Mark must have been quite a handsome young man, because Paul chooses him as his secretary. They get along for some time and things proceed on Paul’s mission. However, for some reason John Mark leaves Paul and Barnabas at Pamphylia. Acts 13:13. The separation of Mark and Paul must not have been a harmonious act because in Acts 15:37-38, Barnabas wants to go and get John Mark to go with them on a return trip to the churches that they had originally visited, but Paul still upset with John Mark refused and Barnabas and Paul also split up. What ever the reason of the separation, it does not affect Mark’s standing in the church because tradition tells us that Mark went with Peter to Alexandria in Egypt and acted as Peter’s secretary there. When Peter left Alexandria for Rome, Mark was left in Alexandria as the Bishop. After the separation of Paul and John Mark, Paul takes up with another young man named Timothy. Acts 16:3. While there is no direct evidence of Paul’s proclivities, in the gay world, there are many like him who while practicing homosexuality speak viciously against any one like themselves. The Jim Bakkers and Ted Haggards of the world are numerous. The evidence seems to support the idea that both Jesus and Paul might have had a sexual relationship with John Mark and Paul’s homosexuality was the infirmity that people had to put up with as he was seducing their sons. Certainly, if we remove the names and tell the story today, most people would have no difficulty in saying something was going on.

In conclusion, just as today there are many homosexuals, bisexuals, and pederasts in Christianity, Judaism and Islam, so there were throughout scriptural history. Far from condemning the activities of homosexuals, up until some 1,000 years ago, those activities were celebrated as normal and natural forms of love. There is nothing in scripture that can be quoted that definitively proves that homosexual love is forbidden and there is much in scripture to support the idea that G-d loves homosexuals.

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Clothes of Skin

There are two major theories on the nature of the body-mind-spirit which we call human. One of those theories argues that the body, mind, and spirit are all part of the same organism and cannot be separated into pieces. Those of a religious bent argue that the body when it dies remains united in the grave to the mind and spirit. The more extreme argue that existence is terminated with death and there is nothing beyond. To these people, of course, the anecdotal evidence presented by those who were clinically dead and yet arose are the results of synaptical and chemical events in the brain. Of course, these people do not explain how a brain with no activity measurable can have synaptical or chemical reactions. The other difficulty with their position is the almost universal belief in ghosts that goes back many thousands years, much farther than civilization itself. They argue that there are no ghosts and so they simply refuse to deal with these phenomena.

The other main theory suggests that the spirit is pre-existing and is put into the body which holds it like a container and from the interaction of the spirit with the body a mind arises with thoughts and ideas and goals. This theory presupposes death to be a release of the spirit from the body and suggests that the spirit waits somewhere for final disposition. These people believe in ghosts. These people sometimes believe that the spirit is reincarnated in another body and lives again, at least so is the belief of 1/3 of the world or more.

I want to discuss two scriptural passages very early in the scriptural history. Both come from the earliest portions of Bereshit (Genesis). In order to understand them, one must understand some words that will appear. First, we have the word "nephesh" which mean soul in Hebrew. Next, we have the word "ruach" which can mean wind or spirit in Hebrew. Lastly, we have the word "neshamah" which breath in Hebrew.

The first passage says: "And YHVH of the G-ds moulded Adam, the man, from the clay of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the neshamah (breath) of life, and Adam became a living soul (nephesh)." Gen. 2:7.

This passage says that the body is completely separated from the soul and that that separation can only become united when a neshamah enters into the body.

The second passage says: "Unto Adam also unto his wife did YHVH of the G-ds make garments of skin and clothed them." Gen. 3:21.

This passage implies that before this time Adam and his wife were spirits without bodies and that it was only after the sinfulness in the garden that YHVH gave them bodies.

The position then of scripture seems to be that the spirit, the mind, and the body are all separate portions of what makes a man a man. A third passage puts it well.

"Then shall the mud return to the earth as it was and the spirit (ruach) shall return unto the G-ds whom gave it." Eccl. 12:7.

This passage clearly separates the body and spirit and says clearly the spirit was placed in the body by the G-ds. So we are left with a truth so profound that it changes our entire understanding of life.

First, we can conclude that the body is an Ark which holds the Neshamah, the Ruach, and the Nephesh. Each of these entities is unique. The Zohar suggests that the body is completely separated from the mind and spirit, but it goes further and suggests that the relationship between these three entites is like a candle's flame. A candles flame has a blue color at the base. That color represents the nephesh the living soul. All animals have this base. Resting as if on a throne on top of the color blue is a white color. The white color is like the Ruach, the spirit which rests on the nephesh and is the repository of the mind. At the top of the flame is a golden yellow. This color is like the Neshamah which was breathed into man, came from G-d and returns to G-d with the Ruach at the end of life.

As a further clarification, consciousness scientists are beginning to suspect that the mind is not so much a part of the body as attached to the body. Scripture adds some interesting words to that question as well, for its says: "Or ever the silver cord be loosed ..." Eccl. 12:6 The scripture suggests that there is a silver cord of energy that keeps the ruach attached to the body and this nephesh-ruach-neshamah connection. The ruach can go out from the body, when we sleep or meditate or pray. It remains attached to the body so long as the silver cord, that energy tether, is not broken. So that explains the idea of bilocation, of spirit travel, of remote viewing etc. One must remember that silver is very maleable and can be stretched to unimaginable lengths. Likewise, one can stretch this cord for as much as 12,500 miles and may be further.

Having shown you the position of Scripture on this subject, I can say to you that the Pharisee position that sees the body-mind-spirit as one is not supported by scripture, as usual, and in fact, the opposing view of the Kabbalists is correct.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Nasorean Orthodox Qahal Belief Statement

We believe in One G-d who was before all things and is the Endless Light. 1 John 1:5. The ancients called him simply El or El Elyon or El Shaddai. He was the G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Exodus 6:2.

We believe in One Lord, the Divine Logos, formed from the First Ray, before the beginning in a perfect vacuum. We believe that He Created first the Elohim, the Archangels of the Presence, who are seven in number and who ruled over 63 other Elohim, who with the original seven were the Sons of G-d assigned to the Seventy Nations. Deuteronomy 32:8.We believe that He with all the Elohim created the Heavens and the Earth. Gen. 1:1We believe that one of His names is YHVH.

We believe that the One Lord allowed his Ruach to be incarnated into seven men so that he could show to mankind how to be perfected. These men were Enoch, Noach, Melchizedek, Yoshua bar Nun, Shlomoh ha Melech, Yeshua ha Cohen, and Yeshua bar Maryam. These men were purely human, with a Divine Ruach, a human Nephesh, and a human Neshamah.

We believe that the First Ray was so intense and perfect that it exists even today and continues to descend from G-d to mankind through the intercession of the One Lord, YHVH, and is the Presence of the Divine on Earth. She is called Holy Wisdom and Holy Spirit.

We believe that the Torah was given on Mount Horeb to Moshe by YHVH. We believe that YHVH inscribed the Mitzvoth of the Torah on the tablets, front and back, with His own finger, and that every word of the Mitzvoth of the Torah is divinely inspired. These Mitzvoth alone are altogether Divinely inspired having been written by the finger of YHVH.

We believe that the Holy Scriptures consists of those books in the Septuagint translation of the Bible, Enoch 1, 2, and 3, Jubilees, the book that has been called the Coming of Melchizedek, the book that has been called the Messianic Apocryphon, the Didache, the Hebrew version of the Gospel of Matthew, the Gospel of Thomas, the Book called the Letter to the Hebrews, the Letter of James, the three letters of John, and Jude. We believe that these books have four levels of meaning, Peshat, Remez, Dresh, and Sod, and that when one considers all four levels of meaning they are True, but no single meaning is true on its face.

We believe that all writings are inspired by the Holy Spirit, but not all of the same value for reproof, correction and training in holiness.

We believe that Yeshua bar Maryam had the same Ruach as the previous six Meshiachot and that this Divine Soul descended upon him at his mikveh in the River Jordan by Yochannan. We believe that He was Melchizedek returned and was truly the High Priest of G-d in the Order of Melchizedek and the King of Jerusalem. We believe that He came to declare once and for all that the Bloody Sacrifice was ended and the Sacrifice of Melchizedek was restored. We believe that He reinstituted the Sacrifice of Melchizedek at the Seder Meal celebrated in accordance with the Nasorean laws and at the critical moments in the Seder in which the bread is broken and also when the wine blessed for the third cup, the Cup of Redemption, He declared the Bloody Sacrifice ended by saying: “This is my Body and this is the Cup of My Blood which will be shed in Anamnesin of Me” signifying that he rejected the Bloody Sacrifice completely and restored the Sacrifice of Melchizedek. Yeshua, being the most perfect of the incarnations of YHVH, knew that His blood would be sufficient to change the sacrifice and restore the True Sacrifice to the world. When his hands and feet were pierced during his crucifixion, the payment was made for the restoration of the Melchizedekan Sacrifice. At his death, the Veil of the False Temple was torn in half and the Spirit of G-d left the False Temple forever.

We believe that upon Yeshua’s ascent to heaven he again presided as High Priest and King of the Heavens and brought his own blood as the Sacrifice sufficient to restore nature to the true sacrifice of Bread and Wine.

We believe that Yeshua sends down his Body and Blood for our Kiddush on Friday Night and at the other services of the Sabbaths and that it is sufficient to cleanse the repentant soul of any sin not unto death. 1 John 5:16. We further believe that after one has been mikvehed into the community, baptized in the holy spirit, made aware of the gracious gifts, become a full member of the community and then sins a sin unto death, that one is damned forever and has no hope. There is no second forgiveness. Hebrews 6:4-6.

We believe that in order to join with the Yahad a man must be circumcised and we reject the so-called compromise of Jerusalem as an invention of Luke and Paul.

We believe that the laws governing what we are to eat are still fully in effect.

We believe that all the Mitzvoth of Torah are binding on the community.

We believe that the little ones new to the faith must be allowed to carry as much of the burden as they can, but that the stronger must carry all the burden.

We believe that the Holy Spirit has instituted certain gifts on mankind from the beginning and that all those gifts are fully functional today. We believe that some are called to gifts of offices as set forth in the Didache. We believe that no one should be made a full member of the community until they demonstrate at least one of those gifts that were normative in the early community that followed Yeshua and which are included in the longer ending of the so-called Gospel of Mark. We believe that no person should be made an elder in the community until they have walked through the Gate of Righteousness, taken the cross of Yeshua upon their back, climbed Jacob’s Ladder to the fifth rung, and demonstrated all the elementary gifts of speaking in tongues, healing, exorcism, drinking poison, and picking up serpents when sent in front of them by G-d. It is clear that G-d may call both men and women to leadership in a community and any other office, but as Deborah says, a woman will only be called when there is no man to do the work.

We believe that at some time the Meshiach of David will come and establish a glorious kingdom on earth. We believe that no one knows the time or place that such an event will occur. We deny that Yeshua was that person or that He will return and declare that the claim that he would return was an invention of Paul and Luke.

We believe in the physical resurrection of the dead at the end of time. We believe that each of us will be reincarnated six or seven times depending on whether we come from the line of YHVH or the line of the Holy Spirit. We believe that we will be impelled to greater holiness at each reincarnation. We believe that some will be admitted into the Kingdom of Heaven but that others will choose the darkness, heat and absence from G-d in Hell for all eternity.

We believe that the Nephesh dies at the death of its host; that the Ruach rises from the dead body and ascends to the third heaven where it is purified and placed in the well of souls for reuse; and that the Neshamah returns to the Divine Presence from which it came.

We believe as is taught by the Prophet Yirmayahu in Chapters 16 and 23 that all the descendants of the House of Jacob will return to the true faith and to the land that G-d has given them before the Meshiach of David comes. We teach that it is wrong to proselytize any person, but that the truth should be shared with all so that the Holy Spirit may inspire them to choose for G-d. We specifically reject the so-called great commission as being absent from the Hebrew Gospel of Matthew. We teach that even a drop of the blood of Jacob will impel a person to want to know more about the Torah and the Truth of Yeshua.

We teach that there is an overriding duty to show the gerim hospitality when requested for we do not know when we will serve the Eliyahu at his return or Angels in disguise. We deny that there is any duty to preach the good news to any one except the lost sheep of the House of Jacob and only they will hear our voice.

We specifically teach that there is a Divine Voice as is spoken of throughout Scripture and that only the Called will hear that Voice. That Voice will lead us toward the Truth and some will be Chosen who follow it.

We teach any one who rejects the Truth when presented must be left to their own lives until the request more. We are to kick the dust from our shoes and leave them alone.

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Beings That Possess Us

There are four kinds of beings that can infest a human body or its nephesh or breath of life. They are demons, spirits, ghosts, and other souls. I give you my understanding from 38 years as an exorcist.

Demons are the disembodied souls of intelligent beings who have previously been embodied somewhere at some time. It is not clear from my encounters when these beings were embodied and why they are not now. There is a substantial theory that argues that prior to this world there was another civilization. That theory is supported by Ecclesiastes 1:9-11. It is additionally supported by the early Christian fathers. It says that G-d made the world perfect in every way. Then a war broke out between the forces of order and the forces of chaos. The forces of chaos destroyed the Earth and all that were in it. Then G-d moved on the face of the chaos and brought order to the chaos and created the world we now live in. The theory says that in this previous world there were bad people. They were consigned to the realm of the Archangel Ba’alzebul, the Lord of Demons. They desire more than anything else to be able to feel, taste, touch, hear, and smell again. They cannot on their own. So they inhabit a human body or that of a higher animal so that they can regain the senses that they have lost.

Demons can bedevil a person, can obsess a person, or can possess a person. Any person may be bedeviled. The demons will constantly act like flies trying to lead a person astray, but for the most part the person will resist and not be misled by them. The person will gain greatly in character from these encounters and will become saintly. However, if the demons can persuade the person even once it opens a door to let them in.

Obsession is the act of demons actually surrounding a person’s soul and constantly presenting evil possibilities to them. The obsession will make the person feel he or she is being spoken to and the voices will suggest a pattern or practice contrary to what that person knows to be righteous and good. The person is being attacked. They will give in some times. But they will feel guilty and take actions, which will fend off the demon and stop it from taking full control of their life. These demons do live inside of us. As the demons gain more and more sway in a person’s life, the situation moves from obsession to possession.

A person who is possessed by demons is always possessed by more than one. There is always at least one root demon whose area of sinfulness is something that the person cannot or will not give up. The root demons slowly move in more demons that take up residence and control larger areas of a person’s life. The ultimate goal of the demons in a possession case is to get the person to commit suicide, which will damn the soul to the same situation as that of the demons themselves.

Because the Western Tradition no longer looks with favor on people who believe in demons, there is little done to protect the person in industrialized societies from the influence of demons and as a result ninety per cent of all persons in industrialized societies are obsessed or possessed. The ancient practices that kept demons out of the home and away from the person are no longer practiced because they have been condemned as superstitious. Demons have strongly supported the growth of rationalism because it has allowed them to be transformed into mental illnesses that can be treated and never cured. It guarantees that the demons can cause the maximum amount of pain and suffering with minimal concern for discovery.

Spirits are considerably stronger than demons. They are immortal beings that have from the beginning taken an alignment in the continuing war for or against chaos. Those aligned to chaos and evil are commandoes in the war. They do not bedevil or obsess a person. If they got into a person, they take full control of the senses, the body and the mind. Such a possession is powerful and often leaves the person a willing co-participant in massive acts of evil. These spirits can only be exorcised at great cost to the exorcist and require a holy man or woman to battle them for control.

Ghosts that go into a body are generally confused and feel trapped. They are trying to escape this plane and do not know how. They are often ancient beings, not modern ghosts and have been stuck here on this plane for a long time. Exorcism of these ghosts should be done with the utmost kindness and respect and the ghost should always be encouraged to go to the Light. These possessions are very serious because the same confusion that encompasses the ghosts will also encompass the host. Ghosts do not mean to harm the host.

The last category of possession is soul-melding. This occurs when an ancient soul is forced or requested by the Divine to intervene in the modern world. They generally feel a strong affinity to the soul that they meld with and their purpose is to create a powerful force against evil and for the good. This kind of possession may well characterize some of the most noteworthy cases of channeling that have occurred including Edgar Cayce and Ras.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Does G-d Love Gentiles?

As I have written in my last blog, the House of Jacob (Ya’akov) was the peculiar inheritance of YHVH. I have earlier said that Yeshua (Jesus) was the seventh and most perfect of the incarnations of the Archangel YHVH, the Archangel of the Presence. The promises made in the Hebrew writings were for the Hebrew people and no one else, because the House of Jacob was YHVH’s peculiar possession.

Yeshua said in his teachings: “But go rather to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.” Matthew 10:6. and also “I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the House of Israel.” Matthew 15:24. There is no similar passage in the gospels affected by Paul or in the Johannine tradition. The message of Yeshua was directed to the House of Israel and the House of Jacob which at that time was the same, as the Jewish people kept up with the farflung travelings of their people.

Paul on the other hand starts talking about grafting Gentiles onto the Jewish tree of life in the book of Romans. However, his method of grafting the Gentiles on was not to convert them as required by Jewish law, but rather just to make them god-fearers bound by the most minimal of the Mosaic laws. We reject this idea completely as not supported by Jesus teaching or scripture.

Someone said in recent New York Times article that when you strip all the other things away, G-d is a g-d of love. There is no doubt that G-d loves his peculiar inheritance, but there is not one word to extend that love to those not in that inheritance. When he says love thy neighbor as thyself he is quoting Leviticus 19:18 out of context. That passage is part of the Holiness Code and is binding only on the descendants of the House of Jacob and Israel. It is true that 1 John 4:8 says that G-d is love, but 1 John was written to the Nasoreans and not to the Pauline Church and G-d teaches love and is love to that sect of Judaism.

In conclusion, there is not one word of support for the idea that G-d loves Gentiles. G-d loves his peculiar inheritance and those who are converted to it.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

On the Truth About El, YHVH, and Jesus

The people of Canaan worshiped a multitude of entities which they called gods. By the standards of today, these entities were not gods because they were not omniscient, omnipotent and omni-benevolent which are the three qualities that modern philosophers put on the concept of godhood. These entities were very powerful and seemed very godlike to their worshipers. They are real; they are called elementals and have existed since the very beginning. They are like angels in that they are eternal, but they are like man in that they do not have to obey the spiritual rules. They can be killed, but killing them is merely absorbing their energy into the one conquering them or into the divine light that surrounds us.

We know from archaeology that the people of Canaan and Lebanon believed in one supreme being, the father of all. He neither had a name nor was he addressed by some name. He was called El, which means G-d. There were two titles that were used to describe this being, Elyon and Shaddai. Elyon means Most High and Shaddai means Almighty. Exodus 6:2-3 says: “And the Archangel spoke to Moses, and said to him, I am YHVH and I appeared unto Abraham, Yitzak, and Ya’akov by the name El Shaddai, but by my name, YHVH, I was not known to them.” The problem with this statement from a purely logical and didactic point of view is we are required to believe that YHVH dissembled and claimed to be someone other than who He was. As difficult as that idea is to accept, we have proof of the contrary included in the scriptures.

Scholars believe that much of the Torah was written in parts. They generally say that there was a school of theologians who called G-d El or Elohim; they are called the Elohists. There is another school of theologians who called G-d YHVH; they are called the Yahwists. There is a third group called the Priestly source and was interested in supporting the theology of the Priesthood. The fourth group was a later group who redacted the first four books of the Torah and wrote their own book, called Deuteronomy. I believe that there is a fifth source; that source is the Archangel of the Presence and He wrote all the Mitzvoth or Ordinances and the Ten Sayings or Ten Commandments on tablets of stone.

If we are to believe that YHVH did not reveal himself to Abraham as YHVH but rather as El and that in reality YHVH was the being that Abraham believed in, then there is a problem for in Deuteronomy 32:8-9 we have a smoking gun that harkens back to a time before Moses. For some reason, it came through to the Deuteronomist source and was not excised. What it says challenges significantly the statement in Exodus 6:2-3.

Deuteronomy 32:8-9 says in the Dead Sea Scrolls these words found at 4QDeut LXX:

“When Elyon gave to the nations their inheritance, when he separated mankind, he set the bounds of the peoples according to the number of the Sons of G-d for YHVH’s portion is his people; Ya’akov is the lot of His inheritance.”

It was believed in Canaan and Lebanon at the time of Abraham that El had 70 sons and one daughter, Asherah. According to Jewish tradition expanding on Genesis 10, there are 70 nations and according to their belief each nation had its own elemental or god that would rule over it. The smoking gun says in effect that there is a Great G-d, a true G-d, named El Elyon and that he has 70 Sons which are the g-ds of the 70 nations. If that be true, then Abraham worshipped the true G-d El and Moses served the Archangel YHVH, but not the true G-d and the Archangel lied to Moses. I do believe that there was any such lie. I think the Yahwists changed things to meet their needs, but the more correct position is that there is a Great G-d El and a lesser G-d, YHVH, who is King of the G-ds.

The efforts made to hide this truth from mankind are interesting. When this passage was translated into Greek from the same text above quoted, this is what the translation said:

“When the Most High divided the nations, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the nations according to the number of the Angels of G-d. And his people Jacob became the portion of YHVH, Israel was the line of his inheritance.”

The Septuagint Scholars did not want to carry on the idea that there were 70 lesser gods. So they changed the tradition to make the gods into Angels, Archangels and declared that Israel was the portion of the Archangel YHVH. So now we have the book that Jesus quoted from, that Philo read, saying that there was a Great G-d and an Archangel YHVH, who is the King of the Angels.

When the passage was translated by the Masoretes, it came out this way:

When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the children of men, He set the borders of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel, for the portion of YHVH is His people, Ya’akov, the lot of His inheritance.

The occultation of the passage has now become complete. No longer do we see what Jesus saw, what Paul saw, what James saw, what Peter saw. We see instead the opinions of the Rabbim at Yavneh which was made some 60 years after Jesus and 25 years after Paul, James, and Peter.

Why am I making such a big deal of this? Simply because the Nasoreans and many of those followers of Jesus that lived in Egypt, Palestine, Syria, Parthia, and Arabia, in fact all of the Middle East, believed that there was a Great and True G-d, El, memorialized by the Nasoreans in the Zohar as Ain Soph Aur, the Endless Light. They believed that Jesus was a lesser G-d, who cooperated with G-d as the Word of G-d to create the world and everything in it, but he was not always and did not know everything and was not almighty. The teacher Arius understanding Philo and the Neo Platonists took up the scriptural battle in the early years of the third century and taught these truths, supported by scripture and believed by those who knew Jesus personally.

The scam that has been made on the persons who believe in the Book is perhaps the greatest scam in history. The world is not like the Catholics, Orthodox, Protestants, Muslims, Jews, and other westerners say. The world is much more like what the Mormons say with their three g-ds. Arius was right. He was suppressed by a pagan emperor to maintain his power and the peace of his empire, but Arius was right. Eusebius makes it clear that the Bishops of the Middle East for the most part agreed with Arius. Some were excommunicated and exiled; some gave in and kept their peace. The question that must be asked is do you want to believe what Jesus believed or the lies of the Council of Yavneh and the Council of Nicaea. If you choose Jesus, only the Nasorean sect of Judaism is the true faith of scripture and you should investigate it.