When does your day begin and when begins God His day

All over the world, we can find several calendars which have the week beginning on another day. But when wants one to start a day?

In a certain way, we need some agreement on an arrangement for choosing a system for dividing time over extended periods, such as days, months, or years, and arranging such divisions in a definite order.
Here in West Europe for practical reasons, the standard week begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, and for the Catholics and most Protestant denominations, Sunday is considered the day of rest and ‘Day of the Lord’.

For the majority, the day also commences when they wake up and go to do their daily busyness. Getting up in time is for most of us the most important event of the day. When we hear our alarm clock, that means we are still alive, and we can face again another day.

Frank Hubeny is a Christian who moved to Miami Beach, Florida. He voted for Donald Trump in 2020 and is a pro-life and pro-Israel, and loves Catholics. By hearing those things, we may assume he is one of those conservative and perhaps fundamentalist American Christians. He suspects most people are aware that the biblical day begins at sunset

or early evening sometime if one can’t see the sun actually set. {Exploration 103 – The Day Begins At Sunset}

Though, I think most people do not relate the day setting to something which is indicated in the Bible or any other ‘holy Scriptures‘. But he agrees that

Skyline of Kaohsiung harbour, Taiwan at sunrise.

there are people who would disagree with this biblical interpretation promoting sunrise rather than sunset as the starting point. {Exploration 103 – The Day Begins At Sunset}

There are those who refer to Jeshua, the Messiah who would have brought some new ‘Covenant Calendar’ or would have done away with the Torah, which is not so at all.

Jeshua, or Jesus as a Jew held himself to the Torah and was very well aware of God’s Law given to mankind for good reason. He went to the synagogue on Friday night, which is at the beginning of the Sabbath. From sunset on Friday to nightfall of the following day Jeshua or Jesus also kept himself to the regulations for that day of the week, which was the closing day of the week. The day after was the first day of the week and would be our Sunday. By most Christians, that day is considered to be “the Lord’s Day”, or the weekly memorial of Jesus Christ’s Resurrection from the dead. The title of that day can be very misleading because it can insinuate that it is God His day, though all days belong to God and those Christians holding on to that Day of the Lord mean with it that it is the day of Christ, or even worse, as their day of their god, namely having Jesus as their god.

In our present time or modern culture, most people have been raised to believe that a new day begins at midnight. The majority of people are not interested in the Bible and as such never looked for being in agreement with such a book, which is taken by others as their guide for life. Not following an Al-Haadi or such Guide for life, they just go by their feeling and custom to stand up after a night’s rest.

For them, there is no reason to think about a Scriptural reason and as such, there is no scriptural precedent for their belief, and the way that midnight is reckoned today would be impossible without mechanical clocks.

Others, such as myself, are more than willing to set them straight since fixing the other guy is more entertaining than fixing oneself. {Exploration 103 – The Day Begins At Sunset}

EliYah Ministries claims to be a place for people to read more about the Hebrew Roots of their faith, and has its name chosen because YLiYah means it means “My Mighty One is Yahweh” and this is the message that they seem to want to proclaim. Strangely enough they give the impression that they are Jewish but seem to take Jeshua or Jesus also as their god Yahweh. Though Jesus or Jeshua is not Jehovah, the God of Israel, but is the son of God and son of man, a human being.

“40 ولكنكم الآن تطلبون ان تقتلوني وانا انسان قد كلمكم بالحق الذي سمعه من الله.هذا لم يعمله ابراهيم. 41 انتم تعملون اعمال ابيكم.فقالوا له اننا لم نولد من زنا.لنا اب واحد وهو الله.” (يو 8:40-41 Arabic)

“40 But now you seek to kill me, a man that has told you the truth, which I have heard from God: this did not Abraham. 41 You do the deeds of your father. Then said they to him, We are not born of fornication; we have one Father, even God.” (Joh 8:40-41 KJBPNV)

Funny also that those writers of that site also recognise that

the translators admit they substituted Yahweh’s name for a title. All for the sake of an tradition. Yahweh’s name is in scripture nearly 7000 times. And nearly 7000 times they replaced it (not translated it) with “the LORD”, or “GOD”. Imagine that? They took His name out of His own book! {Yahushua is the True Name of the Messiah}

Also, they agree with Matthew Henry’s Commentary (on Matthew 1:21)

“Jesus is the same name with Joshua, the termination only being changed, for the sake of conforming it to the greek.” {Yahushua is the True Name of the Messiah}

Though somehow they begin to use those two different names Jehovah/Yahweh and Yahushua/Yahusha/Jeshua/Jesus interchangeably and say that Jeshua – for them: god –  changed the ‘day’. Even when they say themselves

I wouldn’t want someone to change my name unless it was Yahweh, and it is clear that according to the third commandment Yahweh doesn’t want anyone to change or falsify His name either.

Think about this for a moment. What makes man think he has the authority to change the name of the one who created him, and who created all things? We don’t have that right! For instance, in the scriptures we see that one who changes the name of another is always in authority over them. The Messiah renamed Simon. Yahweh renamed Abram to Abraham. He renamed Jacob to Israel. Adam named the animals. Even we name our children, not the other way around. Yahweh, our Heavenly Father, named His Son ‘Yahushua’ in Matt 1:22. {Why people of all languages must call upon the name of Yahweh}

So, why do they change the name of Jehovah in Yahwe and in Yahushua? Clearly, they themselves say God named His son Yahushua or (in short or as a call sign) Jeshua. Furthermore, that site indicates:

Also, notice that Matthew 28:1 says it is “after the Sabbath” which indicates the first day of the week has begun. The sun had not yet risen though because it says that it was “toward dawn.”

Matthew 28:1(ISR) Now after the Sabbath, toward dawn on the first day of the week, Miryam from Magdala and the other Miryam came to see the tomb. {When Does the Sabbath Start?}

Toward dawn, means close to dawn, which is after the darkest point of night; and that moment they considered already to be the first day of the week. They also notice

the word used in Matthew 28:1 “toward dawn” describes same period of time as John 20:1– the time when they started heading toward the tomb. It was still technically dark outside, but the light of dawn was on the horizon. {When Does the Sabbath Start?}

We should remember:

So based on the … accounts, it is evident that the chronology was that the women started heading to the tomb before the sun rose on the first day of the week, they bought spices “after the Sabbath” yet before sunrise, and they arrived at the tomb at sunrise.

Here is a summary of how these accounts actually contradict “sunrise to sunrise” Sabbath keeping:

1. John 20:1 says that it was “on the first day of the week”, yet it was “still dark.” Therefore the first day of the week had already begun prior to sunrise.
2. Mark 16:1 says that they bought spices “when the Sabbath was passed,” yet it was before the sun had risen, proving the Sabbath ended at sundown.
3. Matthew 28:1 says that it was “after the Sabbath” during the period of time that it began to “grow light,” a word that describes the period of time just before sunrise.

Therefore, these verses clearly support the fact that the Sabbath ends at sundown and the first day of the week was already in motion prior to sunrise.

EVENING TO EVENING

Scripture plainly commands “from evening to evening you shall celebrate your Sabbath.”

Leviticus 23:27-Also the tenth day of this seventh month shall be the Day of Atonement. It shall be a holy convocation for you; you shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire to Yahweh. 28 – And you shall do no work on that same day, for it is the Day of Atonement, to make atonement for you before Yahweh your Elohim. 29 – For any person who is not afflicted in soul on that same day shall be cut off from his people. 30 – And any person who does any work on that same day, that person I will destroy from among his people. 31 – You shall do no manner of work; it shall be a statute forever throughout your generations in all your dwellings. 32 – It shall be to you a sabbath of solemn rest, and you shall afflict your souls; on the ninth day of the month at evening, from evening to evening, you shall celebrate your sabbath.”

Numbers 29:7- On the tenth day of this seventh month you shall have a holy convocation. You shall afflict your souls; you shall not do any work.

Since Yahweh doesn’t contradict Himself, it is no contradiction that the 10th day of the month is “Yom Kippur/Day of Atonement” while also commanding that we begin and end this day at evening. Since the 10th day began and ended at evening, the days surrounding it would need to begin and end at evening as well. Thus, all days begin and end at evening.

Another example:

Exodus 12:15-Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. On the first day you shall remove leaven from your houses. For whoever eats leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that person shall be cut off from Israel. 16 – On the first day there shall be a holy convocation, and on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation for you. No manner of work shall be done on them; but that which everyone must eat — that only may be prepared by you. 17 – So you shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread, for on this same day I will have brought your armies out of the land of Egypt. Therefore you shall observe this day throughout your generations as an everlasting ordinance. 18 – In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at evening, you shall eat unleavened bread, until the twenty-first day of the month at evening. 19 – For seven days no leaven shall be found in your houses, since whoever eats what is leavened, that same person shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he is a stranger or a native of the land.

Notice that the same language which described the timing of the tenth day of the seventh month (Day of Atonement) is also used to describe when the fifteenth day of the first month (the Feast of Unleavened Bread).

EliYah Ministries agrees with the fact that we should best look at a day from evening to evening.

The scriptures seem pretty clear to me that Yahweh reckons days from evening to evening. While modern reckoning is from midnight to midnight, we need to submit ourselves to the daily heavenly clock that Yahweh Himself established at creation. It makes perfect sense that a day ends when a day ends…at evening. {When Does the Sabbath Start?}

That seems very clear, though several Messianic groups have their Sabbath service on Saturday afternoon. But in Wintertime than the sun has already gone down (like in West of Europe or in the Northern Hemisphere from October to March). For us, it is then no Sabbath anymore but the first day of the week, the Sunday.

There are also groups which say Jeshua/Jesus with his blood made a new covenant so that the old covenant is of no value anymore.

The studies of Covenant Calendar must take time to reflect how this full and complete understanding was born – basically through the most important study of the Melchizedek Priesthood.  The Priesthood study provided the platform that declares this Covenant Calendar is indeed blood-ratified and eternally sealed by Yahusha in His witness through the gospel – especially in His death, burial, resurrection and two ascensions.  Therefore, our most sincere thanks go out to the Supreme Provider Yahusha Ha Mashiach for His guidance and direction through this incredible study.  {What in the world is a Biblical the Torah Yahuwah’s Covenant Calendar}

Seemingly in the United States, there are many groups who find people have to keep the Sabbath, but their interpretation of what has to be the Sabbath seems so different from what we can find in the bible and by standard Jewish people.

Frank Hubeny writes

However, the fourth commandment expects us to keep the Sabbath (aka Sunday) holy. How are we going to do that if we don’t know when He wants the Sabbath to start and end? It is after all His commandment, not ours, to get some rest. Others think their acceptance of Yeshua (Jesus) allows them do what they want. They might be right. It might not be a salvation issue, but we may still be making a mess of our lives by not doing what He wants while we have the opportunity. {Exploration 103 – The Day Begins At Sunset}

That are the big questions:

How can we keep a holy day before God?

&

What is a holy day in God’s Eyes?

Next to the question:

When is the holy day for God?

Or

When is the Sabbath?

Another question may arise as well. According to many Jehudim or Jews and Jeshuaists the Day of God must start with prayer, and as such has to start with prayers at home, followed by prayers at the synagogue or temple. For them, it is not that

Every day begins with the first LIGHT in the “dawn” sky called twilight.  While the sunrise may be very close behind, the day does NOT begin with sunrise, but with light.  Everything on Day 1 of Creation began with LIGHT … and do remember there was no sunrise “or” sunset until the 4^th day of creation.   {What in the world is a Biblical the Torah Yahuwah’s Covenant Calendar}

That looks like twisting the words of the bible. It was out of the void that the world was created. And when there was chaos there was also darkness.

“و“And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” (Ge 1:2 KJBPNV)

So first, the formless earth had darkness around it. A few verses later we come to read that there came to be evening, and as such came to pass a first day by the rising of the morning.

“And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.” (Ge 1:5 KJBPNV)

You see:

the Evening and the morning formded the first day

and not

the morning and the evening formde the day.

It is Jehovah God Who starts with everything; He starts His moment of creation by bringing order in the chaos. It was God Who said to have luminaries come to be in the expanse of the heavens, to make a division between the day and the night.

“14  And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. 16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. 17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. 19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.” (Ge 1:14-19 KJBPNV)

For God it came to completion after He had giving vegetation to man. By the sun going down, heavens and the earth and all their army had come to completion. So God proceeded to rest on the seventh day, from all His work that He had made.

“31  And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day. 2:1  Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.” (Ge 1:31-2:1 KJBPNV)

“And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.” (Ge 2:2 KJBPNV)

It was that seventh day that God blessed and made sacred, not the first day.

“And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.” (Ge 2:3 KJBPNV)

The Bible present us by God doing its first Work, when there is darkness. Light came only afterwards. We have a set of periods which always end by darkness coming in again. And as such to me that looks clearly like a new period to come into the picture. A new day.

The sunset-start day puts what God does first. It makes sure what we do later during daylight hours is subordinate to what He wants, not what we want, not even what we think is possible for us to do. {Exploration 103 – The Day Begins At Sunset}

writes Hubeny. And for him, that’s the main reason why he favours having the day begin at sunset,

the time we stop working and acknowledge He is in control to begin  the new day as the old one ends. {Exploration 103 – The Day Begins At Sunset}

This also seems logical, when you consider that at the moment of creation, one is busy. During the day, we have to do our daily job. Often we do not find enough time to honour God (except with our work). But when we have done our daily duties, then comes the moment we can take more time for God. As such, there is also the Friday night, when most of us can put work down and forget it for one or two days.

At sunset, we can come to rest, like God also came to rest. Then arrives the moment we can give all our time to Allah Al-Aliyy, in recognition and respect for all the things He has done and still does for us.

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Related

1. Rav Avigdor Miller on Shabbos and Yetzias Mitzrayim
2. Shabbat Rest – The Completion of Creation
3. Rav Avigdor Miller on The Additional Shabbos Soul
4. Refuah on Shabbos
5. Hatzolah on Shabbos
6. Menachem Bluming Muses: How To Welcome Shabbat
7. Seder Night on Shabbos
8. A Restful Day with God
9. Understanding Sunday and the Sabbath
10. Responsible Rest
11. Biblical Foundations for Sabbatical
12. Worshipping a Holy God
13. Remember the Sabbath Day to Keep it Holy
14. Christians and the Sabbath
15. The Pastor’s Personal Life – Part 6 – Your Sabbath
16. LORD’s Day #26 (2022)
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18. Sabbath and Sailing
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22. July 3: Community Sabbath (No Gathering)
23. The Sabbath–Our Gift from God
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25. LORD’s Day #27 (2022)
26. Christ Our Sabbath Rest
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29. Restoration of the Sabbath
30. LORD’s Day #28 (2022)
31. The Fourth Commandment
32. For God’s sake (and Yours) Stop!
33. Principles of Work: Rest.
34. The God of Rest (2/3)
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37. Twilight of The World, Gross Darkness The People
38. Sabbath, Feasts, Kosher Will Be What Aids the End-Time Saints? – Today’s McKee Moment
39. Reflections – Summer Sabbath, 2: Where Are You?
40. Just Checking…
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42. Jesus Is Our Sabbath
43. LORD’s Day #29 (2022)
44. What is Your (Pharisaical) Sabbath?
45. Rabbi Jesus
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48. Sensible negroes agree
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Where did we come from and who are we?

Having started a new year after one we probably all want to forget very quickly, we do hope soon to come out of the darkness.

At the beginning of all times there was also darkness and void. There was no form when everything came into being. In 2020 lots of things seemed to have lost form and meaning. Suddenly there seemed something wrong with the world. All over the globe people had become frightened by what one president smilingly called the Chinese disease. Many came to wonder:

What has gone wrong with the world? What can we do to fix it? How now shall we live?

2020 was a year that gave us enough time to think. Many were in isolation in their own home or were locked up in a care home. Lots of people suddenly got enough time for themselves and their own family. They got now some time to reflect on the response to the first and most foundational of these questions  –

where did we come from?

and

Where are we going to?

There are a limited number of answers at our disposal: We came about by chance (the naturalist contention), we don’t really exist (the Hindu response), or we were spoken into existence by God. Some believe mankind was placed here on earth by extraterrestrials.

For the Christian, the answer to

“Where did we come from and who are we?”

gives a foundation for thinking that no other answer gives. Because we were created, there is value in each person. There is meaning and purpose to every life. There is Someone above and outside our existence who stands over it as authority.

As human beings, all created in the image of God, somehow we all can carry something of God in us, even without knowing it or willing to know. Several people claim Jesus is God because there is written he was in the image of God. They forget that the first Adam was also created in God’s image like all the other human beings, but for sure they are not God, the same way as Jesus is not God.

Last month several Christians celebrated the birth of a man who changed the course of this world. They claim to be his followers though reject many of his words, his teachings and those values as a part of shaping our culture for the future. They look at a King, but forget that he came from the root of another king (King David).

Perhaps this world has gone “buzark” because people living in this materialist world have forgotten those important ethics and values. For centuries people were truthful to the teachings of Jesus, but they were always in the minority because their way of life was based on something not of this world that the world no longer recognizes.

After the darkness and isolation of the CoViD year there is some hope with the upcoming vaccines. Let us also hope more people would come to the realisation that we seriously have to do something to protect the animals and the nature around us. This so maniest coronavirus was a very serious one which had brought the economy and life to a standstill. It was a time to reflect and to think about the way we are treating mother nature.

With the opening of the “Newer Year” we do hope you and our other readers would find the way to make the best out of this life.

Stay healthy & All the best for 2021

A huge world with giant trees in danger by the fault of man

You will search in vain for a mention of mammoth trees in the Bible, but because they belong to the group of the tallest trees in the world, we must not overlook them. By the way, that would be very difficult; because their tops are almost invisible from the ground!

Mammoth trees can reach a height of 90 meters and the trunk can have a diameter of 7 meters. They are native to California, but are often planted as a street or park tree in Europe.

The egg-shaped cone the huge trees throw on the earth, consist of thirty scales, that offer complete protection to the very tiny seeds until the time of reproduction. Incredible what a great strong tree can grow out such a small seed and can stand there for ages which surpasses many human generations.

Is this not one of the most remarkable wonders of creation?

The Giant Sequoia it’s massive size, resilience, longevity and beauty brings us in awe. It also can bring us to think about the creation. We can be amazed that this magnificent tree starts from a seed smaller than a grain of oat.

Thinking about the organization of the universe, the configuration of our solar system, the construction of our earth, the composition of all matter, all the DNA sequences that make up all things living, not to mention the human brain which is able to contemplate all this – it’s unfathomable.

Today we also might find that even those giants are threatened by the carelessness of human beings with dealing with nature. We cannot longer ignore the global warming and all the pollution our industry and our way of life creates. The input of our lifestyle to fauna and flora is horrible and unacceptable. Man has to change its way of life soon.

Those who love God should also love and respect His creation. They should defend those who have no voice and should take care to protect them from ‘eternal’ destruction. In the last few years we have seen far too many animal species and plant species disappear. We should take on our responsibility.
Those who believe in God must make their voices heard among the unbelievers and encourage world leaders to protect God’s creation.

 

 

The whole world is in our hands
– plants and animals, oceans and ice caps, rain forests, atmosphere and ecosystem. 

*

Jehovah, God, we know we got this earth in loan from you,
touch our hearts, O God, make us worthy of this trust 

Help us care for life on this beautiful earth. 

 

Nonsense

Autumn Grandor!

Every year over and over again we come to see the seasons presenting the beginning of new life, the grandeur of the fruitfulness, the changing colours and light shades before we receive a white carpet, having us to escape the wind and cold air, looking for warmth in the house.

Joy Cometh In The Morning

Out of the house with noisy clamor Sunshine and flowers and colors galore Experiencing joy and giddy laughter Breathing fresh air and so much more Seasons are changing and causing a pause Shifting of gears and temperature loss Rearranging my closet and getting prepared For crisp morning wakeups and frost I’ll celebrate change and embrace its renewing Of memories from past days of life When school days and ball games Fulfilled the expanse free of strife I’ll once again welcome, in great expectation The beauty, the freshness, the glory Amazing sunsets and full moon rising With maple and pine telling the story Of God’s creation in awesome display The wonder and beauty of all Breaking through summer’s doldrums This remarkable, beautiful FALL The picture he’s painted no words can describe Though words will inadequately flow I try to describe the grandeur before me Take a walk in the…

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Nature: God’s Great Blessing

All to often too many people are looking for God in far away places, whilst His wonders can be seen around us. Man may have been banned from Gan Eden, not living in a Royal Garden any more, but the Divine Creator still lets mankind feel and see what could be part of his living world.
Sources, streams, rivers, flowers and trees bear witness to His Glory.

Footsteps

This weekend, as you are reading this, I am camping with my church family. I have been looking forward to this for weeks because this is my first vacation from my job since September.

Some people hate the outdoors, but even though I grew up in the suburbs, I have always had a deep connection with nature. The outdoors has been my quiet space to think and get out of my normal activities;It is the place I go to relax and it is also one of the few places I feel closest to God.

God created everything around us, including ourselves and the people around us. He made a beautiful garden for the first people to enjoy and live in. While they did not last in the garden God created, the beauty in nature has never gone away. Nowadays, some people have to search hard and long for a place…

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The Anthropologist in you

In this world we are part of creation and went looking for ways to look at creation and creatures.

A phylogenetic tree of living things. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We as human beings went looking for ways to understand our fellow human beings and see how they evolved and what makes them to behave in certain ways. Certain of our species liked or like to study the aspects ranging from the biology and evolutionary history of Homo sapiens to the features of society and culture that decisively distinguish humans from other animal species. Because of the diverse subject matter it encompasses, such study, being called anthropology,  in consonance with the etymology of its name, “study of man,” is the most comprehensive of the academic disciplines dealing with mankind.

In a sense every man can be an anthropologist, if a very humanistic and generous interpretation is accepted.

This is to say that every human being is related to others and has a unique way of life. However, a more generally accepted interpretation in academia is that an anthropologist is one who has attained a Ph.D. in anthropology, teaches anthropology or carries out anthropological field research, and has published literature in a field of anthropology in a peer-reviewed journal, or is widely accepted by other anthropologists as an anthropologist. {Wikipedia}

Diverse areas as language, social structure, aesthetic expression, and belief systems, can be tackled. For that reason it is interesting for us to have such an interested soul, willing to share ideas about the sciences of man which treats man both in his physical and sociocultural aspects. In addition to these fundamental biological and social scientific components, anthropology has a significant humanistic aspect, as shown, for example, in its empathetic search for the bases of aesthetic valuation in the arts of alien people.

Those who are able to study man, according to our opinion, should not keep all that knowledge to themselves. We hope we can find some one who is willing to share his or her knowledge with us and our readers. For the very richness and variety of interests of such field, lead inevitably to bringing people closer together and to understanding different cultures and religions. Such an understanding can only bring more wisdom and acceptance of such other ideas, cultures and religions and taking away the tension which may exist between the different thoughts.

We would love to find a person who is willing to become a contributor to this platform where we want to show the beauty of creation, i.e. the beauty of nature and of species, being the plants, animals and human species with their different cultures which are sprinkled with creativity and richness that can enrich us all.

1: 1=Homo sapiens 2=Neanderthals 3=Early Hominids Français : 1: 1=Homo sapiens 2=Néandertaliens 3=Premiers hominidés (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We not only can do with an anthropologist, also a historian would be very welcome. Only be getting to know other people, also knowing what happened in the past, what went wrong or how things could be solved can we learn how to tackle the matters in the right way, in our present times. In order to recover the basic facts concerning past societies in regions and for periods in which the written records that constitute the basic materials of conventional historians are lacking, the skills of archaeology combined with other inferential methods, such as the use of oral traditions, ethnological trait distributions, and comparative linguistics, we can come to more insight. And such better insight shall help us to help others to come to terms with what happens around us or to find ways to help solve many problems we are confronted with.

When more people can have more interest in human ethnic diversity, biology and evolution of humanity we can more easily grow to a more peaceful society.

Can you not be that person who wants to help others grow in knowledge and in better understanding of other people?

Please do have the guts to help others to see more and to bring more insight in how humankind is a diversity which is so rich we all can profit.

Present yourself as a contributor and do not hesitate to become an author on this platform.

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Preceding articles about “Sharing Writings and linking“:

A charter for a truly free world and why we need it

Showing the beauties of nature

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• There are no Answers, Just Stories
• Allergies, heart conditions, depression… Should we really blame our neanderthal grandparents?
• The clap trap: Did ancient STIs make humans monogamous?
• How To Build A Better Life
• The interior lives of animals
• We’re all evolved to be hunter-gatherers

Showing the beauties of nature

Are you one of those people who can find enough time and joy to visit parks or different countries?

Spring Beauties (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Today there are many who can travel several times of the year and can go to lots of places in one year. Do they ever think of people who are less fortunate than they? Do they ever think of sharing that what they have come to see and enjoy?

We still look for authors who want to share their experiences of their travels and/or their visits of national parks or some beautiful resorts.

In case they have their own blog we do not mind them sharing what they have admired and directing our readers also to links to their articles, so that our readers also can come to enjoy those experiences.

If you feel called to talk about the beauties of this creation, please do not hesitate to contact us or to present yourself as a author on this blog.

The writer we are looking for should love nature and be willing to share this love with our readers.

In case he or she is a Christian, this may be an advantage. Then we expect from him or her, that he or she has respect for all religions and all sorts of thoughts, even when we would not agree with such a way of thinking. Then we expect the author to put everything in the light of the creation and our duty to take care of mother earth. Because that is the reason we do have to make others conscious about the beauty of creation and our duty to take care of it so that others after us can still enjoy all the wonders of it.

Lyndon Baines Johnson Memorial Grove (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

For us it is important that a Christian life should be a.o. exemplary, loving, selfless, generating, challenging, transforming, stimulating intellectually, busy, and bring a sense of emotional stability, meaning and peace. We want to show others that does not have to mean our life has to be boring. Just the opposite.

The Elohim having created us in His image expect us to use our minds the right way. The Adonai knows that our minds need intellectual stimulation, and provides many stimulative effects in nature. He has provided a beautiful world, full of all the things we need to live and to admire a spectacular attraction. We should experience the happiness that gives us not only the joy of being one with it but the blessing of being a person in God’s creation. In it we should place ourselves and become one with it. Showing our respect for nature is showing our respect for God. Showing others the wonderworks of nature is showing others the works of God.

Each creature should be a powerful source of inspiration that allows us to appreciate the beauty of our universe and associate the beautiful and romantic nature of beauty and feelings. 

If there is some one out there who feels he can understand our thought and understands the need to show others the beauty of nature, please let him or her not hesitate and react positively on our call to become a member of those who want to show others the Master Hand of the Divine Creator.

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Preceding article about “Sharing Writings and linking“:

A charter for a truly free world and why we need it

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Related articles

• WoW: Churn and burn
• Does a Christian life have to be boring?
• Is the Bible’s factuality essential to faith?
• Psalm 138
• Home
• The Perfect Bond of Love That Never Fails
• Preaching as an Act of Listening

From Guestwriters 2015 in review

From the start in 2014, April the 26th

On 2014 April 26 we started offering a readers digest to you. We wanted to have different writers presenting their selection of most interesting articles found on the net. We regret we did not find enough people interested in co-operating to create a free lifestyle magazine where people could find uplifting stories.

We started talking about the dreams we all have or have to have, because he who beams never walks in the dark, and looked at our position in this world and how positivism should enter this world more. Our invitation to you reader to share those read articles you liked is still counting. We would love to present more interesting articles people can find on the net. For this reason we started the Reblog section in 2014, when we looked if we or you have something to say or not.

At the opening of 2016 we would like to remind you that you too are invited to share with us. You too may be sharing your words with us and many more readers. You don’t have to stay in the shadow.

At this site we want to speak about feelings and started to look at the worst feeling, the one which pulls us down. Depression is when we can’t walk in the light of life any more. Our intention is to show that each of us matter in this world and that we can get fate in our change to positiveness. You and us we all can contribute and help to create a positive attitude. You have to get the right attitude of an unstoppable success, and once more we do bring a call to help to create a positive attitude.

You may consider your own journey in life but we dared to ask which kind of attitude you want to take. In 2014, when we started we asked our readers to begin their day by living their positive attitude and in started also to point out to look at the way to come to the truth. We went in defence of it. For that, we also started looking at Who should be your closest friend.

Though we may be lonely in the crowd we wanted to build up a place where many could find each other and could overcome hurt feelings. we do not ask people to be some one else, but would love to see you smiling and with a positive attitude or positive disposition.

Perhaps what we hope for is what you hope for. In September 2014 we repeated our call to come to write for us and to share what you think interesting. A year after our question what our readers are seeking we did not receive many answers. We expressed our love to find more contributors who could show ways of fulfilling our dreams. We do hope you could find inspiration here and follow your dreams.

In 2015 finishing our first year

On the first of January we, like many others looked back at the previous year and presented our first review: 2014 in review.

Our first year we got visitors from 71 countries in all. 13 countries were added in 2015 bringing the total to 84 countries in all, with most visitors again coming from The United States (2467). Netherlands (351) & United Kingdom (341) were not far behind. Based in Belgium we only could get the attention of 181 viewers in Belgium in 2015, which is not much, but which can be caused by not many writings being in Dutch, French or German. We are pleased we also got 141 viewers from Down Under.

Knowing that we need light on our path in life, near the end of 2015 we also started placing some reflections or meditations texts, which we shall continue to do. Because we did so often got questions why we referred to some ones website article, or got requests to take some listed article out of the list of “Further reading” we shall enter less references or note lesser further readings. Normally you would think people would be pleased when there is placed a link to their site, but at several of our websites we got an other impression, hearing people not being pleased they being mentioned on one of our sites. Not being appreciated we bringing others to their writings or commenting on their writings, plus they not understanding we are helping them to get more readers and to get higher on the Google ranking, whilst we take them away from our own website, we will not any more invest so much time in looking for appropriate articles worth mentioning. Therefore in the future you will find lesser links and we shall be pleased keeping you more to our own websites.

Treats, fear and discussions in 2015

2015 was again a year were many civil rights were tread under foot. The Syrian war continued for its fourth year and brought many war refugees into Europe, a region where many do not seem to know themselves very well because kindness to others seemed to be far off. Though we are born to shine, not to fear, lots of people got over-manned by fear. At a time where there is not much knowledge of the truth, but lots of doubt and/or blindness, we tried to convince that less is still enough.

While viral moments and trends or fads, that took up lots of people their time and their Twitter feeds included viral phenomenon The Dress, pizza rat, dad bods and adult coloring books we looked at the major refugee crisis in Europe as well as numerous instances of terrorism and mass shootings. Whilst July, Caitlyn Jenner made her big debut via a sexy and scantily clad Vanity Fair cover shot…and her new reality was officially underway we also look at how we human beings manage with birth, our being and our behaviour and acceptance or not of certain situations. Bringing articles around abortion and life we were pleased to have as our 5 most active commenter  Blackhorn33 who is Comanche – Irish and a half-breed that’s Full Blooded American, who with “Our Circle of Friends” met on Google and was willing to contribute about Child Abuse -The Facts, and show the world the importance of the unborn life.

A place for a Higher Being and for His Creation

“Stockholmsfyrens” ungefärliga utseende vid Ropsten med vy från hotell Forestas entréplan på Lidingö. Det runda 187 m höga tornet innehållande både bostäder och kontorslokaler är föreslaget att uppföras omkring 2014-2015. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

With less for more we looked at one of the major discussed issues of the year, bringing global warming and climate change at the second place and the refugees at the first place as major topics for 2015. Pointing out that it is important that we do know that we have to find the meaning of life and reach a state of peace, of old and new ideas to sustain power and to feel good by loving to be connected and worship something, we brought to the attention that we have our duties in this world and have to take our responsibility,making the right engagement in an actual two way conversation with your deities or more important to build up a good relationship with the Only One True God, the Divine Creator.

Throughout the year on this and our other sites we wanted to bring to understanding that we do have to come in a good relationship with others and with the Most High, even when we sometimes have to deal with the silence of God.

We asked not to forget that falsehood darkens the pure knowledge of God and that we should always turn to the Book of books, the Bible, to find the truth and Guidance. But to come to know the Creator and His creatures and creation, we do have to look with our eyes and to see with our heart. Some may think “God plays hide’n seek“, but He is always around us and sees everything we do.
The Almighty God above all other gods greater than all gods has given us His infallible Word, the Bible, helmet of salvation, God’s Words put in the mouth of prophets for perfecting, to reprove and correct. Searching or overlooking God’s presence more people do have to find His Word and take up that book that is Written by inspiration of God for our admonition, to whom it shall be imputed if they believe.

2015 once more showed to the world that human beings need a lot of correction. It was good to see that in France many nations also came to conclusion we have urgently to take care of mother earth. In this world were many have to learn that stuff is just stuff, it became time that man takes his position about materialistic desires.

The terrors which came over Europe should make those who call themselves Christian to think and have them remind and hear God’s voice, bringing them into the habit of dealing with God about everything.

Statistics for 2015

In 2015, there were 295 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 525 posts. On the 12th of January in total 534 articles have been published on this site. 

The busiest day of the year was October 19th with 175 views. The most popular post that day was Whoopi Goldberg commandments and abortion. But the most commented on post in 2015 was Bible, helmet of salvation, God’s Words put in the mouth of prophets for perfecting, to reprove and correct.

For 2016

We are thankful that you came along on this site and do hope to find you more than once at this and some other of our sites. We wish you all the best for 2016 and do hope you may be like a tree planted by streams of water.

Have faith in your faith…doubt your doubts and don’t throw a curtain across tomorrow… the star of its performance just may be you !

There still has to be done a lot before we shall have sustainable, green habits as a second nature, but at this site we do hope to bring incentives to work at it.

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2015 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

A New York City subway train holds 1,200 people. This blog was viewed about 4,300 times in 2015. If it were a NYC subway train, it would take about 4 trips to carry that many people.

Click here to see the complete report.

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Preceding: 2014 in review

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Additional reading

1. A look at materialism
2. Our you taking a step back to think
3. US must do more to protect its children
4. A year coming to its end and our Spiritual Senses
5. Summary for the year 2015 #1 Threat and fear
6. Summary for the year 2015 # 2 Strewn with corpses and refugees
7. 2015 In the Picture
8. 2015 Human rights
9. 2015 Health and Welfare
10. 2015 Ecology
11. Vatican against Opponents of immigration
12. Greenpeace demands scale up of ecological farming
13. Building a low-carbon world: the sixth industrial revolution
14. Republican member of Congress from Arizona to boycott pope’s address over climate change
15. Vatican meeting of mayors talking about global warming, human trafficking and modern-day slavery
16. Paris World Summit of Conscience, International interfaith gathering #1
17. Paris World Summit of Conscience, International interfaith gathering #2
18. Paris World Summit of Conscience, International interfaith gathering #3
19. 2015 Summit of Consciences for the Climate
20. A Miracle of Unity at COP21
21. Charlie Hebdo
22. Belgian Bible Students review of 2015
23. Bijbelvorsers Blogging annual report and 2015 in review
24. Refugee crisis, terrorist attacks and created fear
25. Before you blame All Muslims for the terrorist attack in Paris
26. The first on the list of the concerns of the saint
27. Clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience
28. The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands
29. Hidden potential for helping others
30. Only one person who has the power to cast the deciding vote that will kill your dream
31. Have faith in your faith…doubt your doubts
32. The inspiring divine spark
33. Healthy life can be found in sacred books
34. Bible, best Book of books to get to know the truth
35. Written to whom it is about to be reckoned
36. No prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation
37. By temptations, by signs, and by wonders we can see the Works of God
38. A Bible Falling Apart Belongs to Someone who isn’t
39. A heart in the right place and brightly burning faith
40. For attractive lips, speak words of kindness
41. If you want to go far in life
42. Spread love everywhere you go
43. Tenderness and kindness are not signs of weakness and despair
44. The truest greatness lies in being kind
45. Kindness
46. Guard well within yourself that treasure, kindness
47. Be kinder than necessary
48. He who cannot forgive breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass
49. Taking care of mother earth
50. No curtain placed over tomorrow

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Further about what happened in 2015

1. MSN 2015 in review
2. 2015 in review: Memorable Journeys on EP
3. 2015 Wrap Up!
4. My most difficult travel moments of 2015
5. The 2015 Eternal Hunt Awards, pt. 2: The Hobbyists
6. Stay within the lines – or not!
7. coloring to de-stress; I’ve joined the craze!
8. Art and the Holidays
9. Whatever Is Lovely
10. Intuitive Coaching 101–Zen & The Art of Coloring Books
11. Adults Coloring Kaleidoscopic Creatures
12. Unique Sugar Gliders Chinchillas Reptile Adult Coloring Books
13. Adult Coloring Worldwide & Tangle With Jessica Palmers Hidden Treasures
14. What Amazon’s 2015 Bestsellers Say About Us
15. Winter 2015: The rest of the field…
16. Grandad, I can smell you …
17. Kaleidoscope of 2015
18. Reflecting on 2015
19. My 2015 In Year Review
20. 2015 In Review… (adventuretimealpacamybag)
21. 2015 In Review (ingridandjimmy)
22. 50 Things that made me smile in 2015
23. The Year That Was…2015
24. Favorite-est things from #2015
25. Be Looking at 2015 in review
26. 2015 in Review: Paradise River, Dusk
27. The Obsessive Viewer Podcast – Ep 148 – 2015 in Review – Best and Worst Movies of the Year and Viewing Stats
28. Looking Back at 2015
29. Year in Review
30. New Zealand’s 2015: the year we hid from a world in need
31. End of the Year Survey 2015!
32. 2015 in transit
33. A New Year: 2015 In Review and Plans for 2016!
34. Bye bye 2015 and welcome 2016
35. Start 2016 with a Backwards Slide
36. Let’s Commence to Coordinate our Sights
37. Flee from Idolatry

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Related articles

• Looking for writers for two Lifestyle Magazines
• Do you have a writer or presenter in you?
• Our Inner Voice
• Christians fail there where Muslims succeed
• 2015 BASS Awards Winners – FULL LIST
• Top Ed-Tech Trends of 2015: The Compulsion for Data
• Time to connect the next generation
• Beth Hersh Goldsmith, human rights advocate, community activist, 58
• garden journal galleries
• Video Roundup: Elevator Pitch Awards 2015

What climate activists can learn from Sunday School leaders

Preaching is not so easy as many think. Trying to convince people of certain matters is even more difficult.

Those who believe God created the world do know that they have to take responsibility in a wise way for the creation of the Most High, which we only have in loan. Christians do have no excuse, the should all they can to keep our universe as best as possible, taking care not polluting it and not wasting the precious material we our given by the Most High.

But Christians also do have the task to preach the Good News of the Kingdom of God and to try this world in the meantime a nice good place to live in peace. For that reason they should try to convince others also to take care of this planet.

When we see how our world is evolving it is high time Christians do something for the environment and get as many people involved in the protection of the weaker and those who have no voice humans listen to (animals and plants)

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To remember

Robert White = development economics and planning consultant based in London = considers need for increased public support of emissions mitigation policies + encourages everyone to play their part.

• We can’t all be ‘young heroes’ => everybody can inspire change
• To make a difference =/= need to fly to Paris, work for a green start-up, or get teargassed by the Compagnies Républicaines de Sécurité.
• Charles De Gaulle airport Terminal 2E seems incredibly mundane compared to the energy of the COP21 centre at Le Bourget.
• influence country’s leader as a voting citizen
• learned in Copenhagen > leaders may need assistance in details > need to balance ambitious climate policies with citizens’ other demands
• what is at stake with climate change = much bigger problem > leaders < If short term economy = top of peoples’ priority lists => leaders’ hands are tied.
• 15% of people think climate change = one of top three issues facing UK in the next twenty years
• 34% included the economy
• To seriously mitigate emissions = people to shift from green consumption to less consumption + accept trade-offs => Higher taxes  to discourage high carbon consumption + pay for green infrastructure
• need to increase public support of emissions reducing policies if we want to see change
• achieve increased support for low emissions policies = couple of transferable ideas from old Sunday School teachings
• climate change mitigation.
• 1: need to get out there + engage.
  Evangelising =/= insular group.
  Church goers + environmental movements > become comfortable > attendance being more about socialising than sharing faith
• 2:  engaging often better at personal level than a preachy one
  Demonstrations + Facebook posts = not good enough
• 3: practice what we preach + demonstrate our conviction through our day to day actions
  People more inspired to act <= see similar person to themselves actually living out what they say
  Take the plank out your own eye
• Winning voters’ minds = difficult = important area that we can all make a difference

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Preceding

The natural beauties of life

First man’s task still counting today

Material wealth, Submission and Heaven on earth

Senator Loren Legarda says climate change not impossible to address

Away with it oh no! – Weg er mee, oh neen

God’s wisdom for the believer brings peace

 

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Additional reading

1. Taking care of mother earth
2. Facing disaster fatigue
3. Self inflicted misery #1 The root by man
4. Time to consider how to care for our common home
5. Not holding back and getting out of darkness
6. First man’s task still counting today
7. Being fit to take care of a garden
8. Three pillars of sustainable development, young people and their rights
9. Pope Francis Raises Hopes for an Ecological Church
10. Be careful the environment you choose for it will shape you

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Related articles

• Coursera Welcomes First African Partner: The University of Cape Town
• BCCI-K on U.K.’s Climate Change Act
• The Paris Deal Will Need Climate QE
• Equity doubted in REDD+ programmes
• RALLY FOR THE PLANET > Post-climate-conference event draws upward of 1,000 to Chico City Plaza.
• Breakthrough as climate change accord adopted
• Liberia gets EU support for climate change mitigation
• The catwalk calls on world leaders to make paris work
• Enhanced rock weathering could counter fossil-fuel emissions and protect our oceans
• From lab bench to green bench

29. Laws that Value People

In our series on abortion we have let you hear pro’s and con’s and tried to show how we have to cope with such situations when something terrible happened or when people are confronted with the question of going to a Family Planning Office or counsellor or an abortion clinic.

Lots of people think there are only the 10 commandments, forgetting that those better would be called 10 Words. In the Torah are many many more rules given and to often people overlook the “You may not’s” to see them as commandments as well. Once is said a person may not do something him or her is given a rule or regulation to keep at.

.

Those who call themselves Christian should better also look at those “You may not” remarks in the Holy Scriptures.
Most of the instructions given in the Holy Scriptures concern relationships; the relationship to the Divine Creator and His creation, the creatures (man, animal and plant). They concern our attitude to ourself, to others around us, and to our ‘wants‘ and involve the things we should want to share with others around us, guiding us to a good behaviour and to a good way of life.

.

In case many more people would live according to those Divine instructions there would be less trouble and less pain in this world.

*

To remember:

Much of our Western world rejects God and many would say our only meaning is found in evolution, and humanists and atheists (who tend to be one and the same) say that evolution is about survival and we have arrived at a point where we are sophisticated human beings who now act on more than just instinct. We have developed reason and rationality and so we see that it is sensible, if nothing else, to think well of one another if we are to survive and not enter another world war which would undoubtedly be even worse than the previous two. To survive we need to think well of one another. {28. Valuing People}

.

Simply writing a list of human rights does not mean everyone will keep them. They will not make a child obey its parent or the parent not abuse the child. They will not stop an employer abusing an employee or vice-versa. They will not stop politicians, or any other national leaders for that matter, acting corruptly. Laws may be good in general but a strong adherence to the values underpinning those laws (remember, we considered this a couple of meditations back) will be the only thing that guarantees we treat one other well across the globe and, as we suggested in a previous meditation, we will only hold those values when we see and accept the primary cause behind those values – God. Any and every other foundation gives way. It will only be those who hold fast to God, the loving God of the Bible who reveals His design for us, who will genuinely hold these values – and live by them! {28. Valuing People}

.

Gal 9:5,6“I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God has God made man.”

= You Will be held accountable to God for the wrongful killing of another person.

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God’s values are expressed in the Law He gave to Moses

.

at the heart of valuing a human being = honour or respect or value the victim’s life > in the image of God has God made man

• evolution is the method God used in Creation, it was with purpose {28. Valuing People}
• God’s first ‘laying down the law’ in respect of the sanctity of human life
• God warned about being held accountable for taking a human life – + by implication forbade the taking of human life
• God warned of what the repercussions would be for taking a human life
• Ten Commandments = first half = about relationship with God + second half about relationships with other human beings
• instructions go to the heart of community + civilisation, relationships within families
• Parents = building block for next generation + to be honoured
• if parents are dishonoured or disrespected => following generation will be at odds with God’s design for a harmonious world

following commands in the negative form – “you shall not” = so sharp + clear => consequences for ignoring them not spelled out by God

=  in respect  of a) basic human life,  b) marriage relationships, c) personal property, d) human reputation and e) human peace and security.

main covenant laws = guidance laws about dealing with servants (slaves) i.e. respect within employment (Ex 21:2-11), the penalty for murder (v.12,14), manslaughter (v.13), a child attacking or cursing its parents (v.15,17), the death penalty for kidnapping (v16), ….

= steady catalogue of instructions about dealing with people + dealing with circumstances where life is threatened

first 15 verses of chapter 22 about dealing with property problems + protecting people, e.g. virgins 22:16,17,  aliens (22:21), widows and orphans (22:22-24), i.e. protecting the vulnerable.

Into chapter 23 we find laws about justice in general, about not helping the wicked (v.1), not perverting justice (v.2), not showing favouritism (v.3), not denying justice (v.6), not making false charges (v.7), not using bribes (v.8), not oppressing foreigners (v.9) + about their relationship with the Lord when they enter the Promised Land

first nine verses of chapter 23 = about making sure that people are dealt with fairly (justly).

=> underlying value of importance of each individual human being covered by a law to protect them

laws show how to deal with miscreants, how to deal with situations that go wrong

in Leviticus a whole series of lengthy requirements about offering sacrifices and those laws are all about how a guilty sinner can get right again with God.

God does bring destructive judgment on human beings > a remarkably restrained hand > constantly looking for the good for humanity

We are to value human life.

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Additional reading

1. No prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation
2. Incomplete without the mind of God
3. Written to whom it is about to be reckoned
4. No prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation
5. Bible, best Book of books to get to know the truth 
6. Bible, helmet of health, salvation and sword of the spirit
7. Written down in God’s NameA way to look for Christ, the Bible, Word of God
8. Bric-a-brac of the Bible
9. Feed Your Faith Daily
10. We should use the Bible every day
11. Fools despise wisdom and instruction
12. Genuine Christians content with going through motions of ritualistic religion
13. Every creature is a divine word because it proclaims God.
14. Observing the commandments and becoming doers of the Word

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Further reading

1. God’s Healing Power – Ask and You Shall Receive?
2. Moses, the Exodus and the 10 Commandments
3. The 10 Commandments
4. 10 Commandments- Keeping the Name of God
5. 10 Commandments: the idolatry commandments
6. 10 Commandment Pt. 2
7. God’s Law in the Life of the Baptized: The Fourth Commandment
8. God’s Law in the Life of the Baptized: The Fifth Commandment
9. God’s Law in the Life of the Baptized: The Sixth Commandment
10. God’s Law in the Life of the Baptized: The Seventh Commandment
11. “Are We Really Keeping the 10 Commandments?”
12. Following the Rules
13. What do you mean, the 10 Commandments don’t apply to me???
14. Sermon on 11 October 2015 about a whole lot of Law….and just a little bit of Gospel. (Because you have to put it in there)
15. The Law Fulfilled In You, Making It Obsolete
16. Kosmic Laws Of Nature
17. 20 Extremely Stupid Quotes By Famous People That Is Sure To Steal Your Ribs
18. The Ten Commandments Still Apply
19. Hear the Instruction of Thy Father, and Forsake Not the Law of Your Mother
20. Trick for Memorizng the 10 Commandments
21. These ought ye to have done…
22. Beware Spiritual Lust
23. Ten Words
24. The Ten Commandments Movie trailer
25. For the Narrative Lectionary Preacher: Deuteronomy & Talking about Law
26. Ten Commandments Removal Discussion – Eavesdropping
27. #7: This Rule Is So Underrated
28. Do Romans 14 and Colossians 2 Provide Cover For Modern Sabbath Deniers?
29. The Significance of the Shabbath & The Laws for Keeping the Shabbath
30. Understanding Bible Truth
31. Surpassing Glory.
32. Don’t Just Let the Rocks Cry Out
33. Humanity in the Toddler Stage
34. Is Removing The 10 Commandments A Big Deal?
35. Texas Riders Deliver 10 Commandments To Oklahoma Governor
36. An Overview of the Ten Commandments Enforced by the Civil Magistrate
37. Late Night Removal of 10 Commandments Monument in Oklahoma Reignites Controversy
38. “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
39. A Doubter’s Guide to the Bible Review: Is the Old Testament Law really good?
40. The little boy on the beach….
41. Truth 13. God’s laws guide you in the best way to live and lead you to Jesus.
42. Living with the understanding that His commandments are not burdensome.
43. In Need of Perfection – Part 11: You Shall Not Covet
44. The Unity of Body, Soul and the Tablets
45. Justifiable Acts Against Wrong
46. Devarim Five: Shamor v’Zakhor
47. Devarim Ten: Circumcise the Foreskin of Your Heart
48. Deuteronomy Chapters 10, 11, and 12
49. The basis of the 10 commandments

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Related articles

• Vayelech
• Ten Commandments Tablets Craft from Crayola.com
• Does God Make New Year’s Resolutions?
• This Week’s Old Testament: What Are Jews Learning at Temple Today?
• Haazinu
• Christian Salvation, Part Two: Old Testament Mercy
• Brotherly love: Lessons in how to improve our relationships with our fellow Jews before Yom Kippur
• PRIME CREATOR – 10 Commandments For Ascension – Channeler Dr Kathryn E May
• Families visit 10 Commandments monument for last look
• Yom Kippur Guide for the Perplexed, 2015

Bible Meditation Shop

Meditations in Meaning & Values  29. Laws that Value People

Ex 20:12-15   “Honour your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you. “You shall not murder. “You shall not commit adultery.

“You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbour’s house.

We considered in the previous meditation God’s first ‘laying down the law’ in respect of the sanctity of human life. When He said, ““I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for in the image of God has God made man,” He not only warned about being held accountable for taking a human life – and by implication forbade the taking of human life, but He also warned…

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The faithful God

In the world to day many have drifted far away from the truth. Lots of people do not want to see the relation of what happened in the garden of Eden at the beginning of times and what was promised there.

Several people may believe in the promise made over there but still think that one Messiah still has to come. Others do not want to believe the Creator was able to make perfect human being who could follow His commandments and therefore He would have to have come down to the earth to fake his death and to fake that He was taken out of the dead.

Scriptures tells us that man nor death can do God anything. That truth is overlooked by many man. They seem to forget that God is a loving God Who keeps His promises and Who says things how they are, not wanting disorder, but order like He created order out of chaos. that was part of His creation and is still part of His Plan.

Our hopes should be in that Plan of God which shall come to be fulfilled. The adversary of God is always around trying to confuse people and to bring them on the wrong path, making them worshipping some else than God the Divine Creator of heaven and earth.

It is Jesus who invites us to come and sit at his table. Jesus and God are knocking at our doors. Jesus is the Way to God and the Way to the Kingdom of God.
With the birth of Jesus the kingdom came near and people had to come to see the messenger of God, who was promised already long ago. Many did not want to see in this miracle-worker the man of God, the prophet who would trample the figurative snake, making an end to its killing snakebite. With Jesus’ death became nailed at the wooden stake, but people still had to come to accept his offer, like his heavenly Father accepted the ransom offer.

Jesus asked us to become one like he is one with the Father. That is not such an easy task, because Jesus managed to do the Will of God and did put his will totally aside to please the Only One God. Naturally in case Jesus is God he always would have done his own will, but here we have a man of flesh and blood who was wiling to put himself totally aside for helping others, for having the best relationship with the Creator.

We too should go for that best relationship with the Divine Creator Deity. He is the One Who calls and has given us His only begotten son so we may be cleared of our sins. Like Jesus prayed to his heavenly Father and taught us to pray we too should pray to god and only worship Him.

The best way to come to see who is Jesus and who is his heavenly Father and what God has prepared for us, we best read regularly the Bible and study it carefully. By letting the Word of God come into our mind and in our heart, the Spirit of God, God His Force can work in us.

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Preceding articles:

What is the truth asked also Pontius Pilate

Truth, doubt or blindness

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Find additionally:

1. Wishing to do the will of God
2. Christ begotten through the power of the Holy Spirit
3. Jesus and his God
4. The high calling of God in Christ Jesus

 

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  True Christians are pilgrims and strangers in a strange land. Not only is our citizenship in heaven, but positionally we are now seated in Christ Jesus in the heavenlies.
• Why Faith? (conquerorshots.com)
  The Greek word for faith is pistis. The meaning is the conviction of the truth of anything, belief; in the NT of a conviction or belief respecting man’s relationship to God and divine things, generally with the included idea of trust and holy fervour born of faith and joined with it

  1. relating to God

     1. the conviction that God exists and is the creator and ruler of all things, the provider and bestower of eternal salvation through Christ

  2. relating to Christ

     1. a strong and welcome conviction or belief that Jesus is the Messiah, through whom we obtain eternal salvation in the kingdom of God

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  God is our creator, father, healer, mother, friend, provided, helper, judge,etc… He gave his only son Jesus to die for our sins. God sees us through Jesus and not our sinful nature.  Without the sacrifice we would be lost in sin. But God! But God!
• Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth ! (tonysonblogger.wordpress.com)
  It’s as if the Creator had no sense of fair play and justice – unbelievable!  If it is true, then, were certain souls sent down to earth from the Heavens to suffer poverty, pain and misery on attaining the human form for a predestined period of time?
• “I go to prepare a place for you.” (christianity201.wordpress.com)
  Some will imagine Jesus as a Master renovator, but that is not really what is happening here. As one Bible scholar points out, Jesus “goes” and His journey begins at the cross. It is there that the preparations begin. It is there that we find, not the Master Renovator, but the Master Redeemer. There is wood and there are nails, but this project is like nothing Mike Holmes has ever tackled. This is not about Jesus making the afterlife fit for us, but about Jesus making us fit for eternal life with God. It is about Jesus dying on the cross so that we could live with God in His home. It is about Jesus rising from the dead, so that one day we will rise to discover that

  the home of God is among mortals. He will dwell with them; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them; (Revelation 21:3 NRSV)

• I Have Sinned (4110fearnot.wordpress.com)
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  The Essenes left Jerusalem  to rid themselves of the pagan influences of the Greeks and the Romans, after founding a community of like minded essene worshippers, at the Dead Sea.   These teaching were apparently an extension of the 2 greatest commandments about love and the rest of the 10 commandments.  Some of the sayings in here we have heard or read many times before and were the foundation for our legal system.
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The Father's Heart

“Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments;

Deuteronomy 7:9NKJV

The Lord is faithful to His word and to every promise.  This is why it is so important for us to be in the word every day reading it and meditating upon it.  God’s word is filled with promises and testimonies of individuals who trusted in the Lord with all their heart and that He was faithful every time.  His word is the food and sustenance of our spiritual lives.  We must feed on it daily.

The enemy will often times come to us and lie to us and tell us that the things the Lord has promised us and created us for will never come to pass.  They are simply lies and every lie of…

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112314 – A Peculiar People

In Belgium lots of protests are going on against the measures taken by the government, bringing all burden onto the less earning people while the rich are saved and do not have to contribute to the economical crisis, have lower taxes than most people and even have companies or CEO’s not having to pay taxes.
In other countries battles on the streets are delivered or for the injustice which is done on social or juridical matters.

Some may think Christians may not higher their voice and have to let everything happen. But you can also wonder if a Christian does not have to come up for those who have no voice, like animals and plants and for those who are done injustice.

In certain states, like the United States of America, the injustice of treatment, the in-equality of race, and certain political decisions are used to create scenes of rioting, looting, and burning private and public properties. This is totally against the Law of God. Also a few weeks ago in Belgium some fighters used the national march against the government to make hammock and damage a lot of private goods and to seriously wound many cops. They misused and disordered the otherwise peaceful march.
The way we want to react to those “protestors” blocking roads and impeding the flow of traffic of travellers, who have no connection with the cause for which the protesters, aka anarchists, are mounting in their charge against decency, is important and gives the other person an opportunity to show other ways to get justice and to get the voice of the people resounding.
There may be people who do not like it that there are also “people who have decided to make a statement for their cause by lying down on department store floors and interfering with people who just wanted to buy some goods at those stores.” Those who object we have to ask what their reason of objection is. Often we hear selfish reasons, like that they can not get where they want to be in the time they want to be. Or that they are hindered because they can not get what they want. when they react to the protesters, not showing empathy for their cause, they often show their own selfishness and their exclusion for coming to understanding for what the protesters want to give a voice.

Both parties can be doing the wrong thing. Both parties can go much to far in their reaction against the other.

In such turmoil the true inner side of a person can come unto the surface. In such occasions where people feel their frustration can not receive a valve of expression, they can go much too far and loose all boundaries of respect and decency.
It is in such instances a Christian has to be careful not to chose the wrong site or not to give the impression he does not want to do with it at all.

It may be true that in certain cases (not all) some may consider this “peculiar” to relate to “such unlawful actions”. Some might also think it are only anarchists who are “truly odd and strange in the way that they go about life”. They seem to forget that lots of human beings do strange things and more than once go out of the boundaries of the “normal”.

Of course, the word “peculiar” can find its way into biblical scripture, like “the Jews were said to be a peculiar people because they were chosen by God to bring the Messiah into the world (Deuteronomy 14:2). Those of us who have come to saving faith through Jesus, the Messiah, are also said to be “peculiar” people.”

Certainly today those following the Laws of God are called peculiar or weird figures. Often they are considered to be fools, believing in fairy tales.

Jesus even told his followers it would not be easy for those who wanted to follow him, and that they would be shunned and would be hated in different circles, even in the family they would find members who would oppose them.
Those who show the outside world that they love God and have chosen to follow His son’s ways, are ridiculed, but know that they should not worry so much. They know they should fear God and not the human beings. But that does not mean they just do have to let everything happen what other human beings decide. We always should show our praise for God and His Creation. As such we shall have to show the world our respect for that creation and should make others aware of the value of that creation which we are allowed to use, but may not try to destroy. So, we do have to take care of mother earth and also do have to come up for it. We can not allow others to continuously rob it and destroy the life chances of animals, plants but also for other human beings. Therefore contrary many Christians may think, we should give a voice to the ones who do not seem to have a voice or who are pushed in the corner.

We, as believers in Christ, may also appear to the anarchists as being “odd” and “strange” because we don’t embrace their methods of “bringing about change” in our nation, but we can show to them other ways to demonstrate peacefully and to use other ways to give a voice for the right cause in righteousness.

Not reacting at all can give opportunities to silence the democratic system and to have other human beings using their power to oppress others. We should give dictatorship and oppression no chance. We also should avoid that others get the means, like weapons to oppress others.

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Of interest:

1. Voice for the plebs
2. The Y generation in conflict with itself
3. To Work Longer or Die Younger
4. Depression Economics and Paul Krugman
5. Anti-Crisis anger calling out
6. Ability for a community to come back from a crisis
7. Violence or an other way to win
8. Justififiable anger or just anarchism
9. Shame on American police
10. A dangereous way of censorship
11. Democratic downfall
12. Censor looming around the UK corner?
13. Internet absurdities
14. The Protester named Person of the Year 2011 by Time Magazine
15. Catherine Ashton on the EU annual report on human rights
16. Roman Catholic Church in the United States of America at war
17. Ukrainians should be free to shape the future of their country
18. Person of the year
19. Journal for and from bothered citizens
20. Re-Creating Community
21. Chinese Village in Revolt
22. ‘Occupy Wall Street’ Protesters Gain Strength
23. Busting Protesters, not Bankers
24. UK Protesters Charged as Organized Criminals
25. Thai Court Sides with Protesters

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• The Constitution of the United States of America, 19th Amendment (nesaranetwork.com)
  The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

Eternity

Psalm 8 King James Version (KJV)

The Glory of the Lord in Creation

1 O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set thy glory above the heavens.
2 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength because of thine enemies, that thou mightest still the enemy and the avenger.
3 When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;
4 What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.
6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:
7 All sheep and oxen, yea, and the beasts…

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Warm-blooded, feathered vertebrates

BIRDS

Birds are warm-blooded, feathered vertebrates and are oviparous, that is, egg laying. There are some 300 references to birds in the Bible, with about 30 different varieties being specifically named. Reference is made to their flight, often in escaping their enemies (Ps 11:1; Pr 26:2; 27:8; Isa 31:5; Ho 9:11); their roosting in trees (Ps 104:12; Mt 13:32); their nesting (Ps 84:3; Eze 31:6); their uses, particularly young pigeons and turtledoves, in sacrifice (Le 1:14; 14:4-7, 49-53) and as food (Ne 5:18), including their eggs (Isa 10:14; Lu 11:11, 12); and God’s provision and care for them.

Manyas (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

26 Observe intently the birds of heaven;+ they do not sow seed or reap or gather into storehouses, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth more than they are?   (Matthew 6:26)

29 Two sparrows sell for a coin of small value,* do they not? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father’s knowledge.+ (Matthew 10:29; compare De 22:6, 7).

Birds were among the earliest living souls on earth, coming into existence on the fifth creative “day” along with the marine creatures.

20 Then God said: “Let the waters swarm with living creatures,* and let flying creatures fly above the earth across the expanse of the heavens.”*+21 And God created the great sea creatures* and all living creatures* that move and swarm in the waters according to their kinds and every winged flying creature according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. 22 With that God blessed them, saying: “Be fruitful and become many and fill the waters of the sea,+ and let the flying creatures become many in the earth.” 23 And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day. (Genesis 1:20-23)

Of the general terms used in the Bible that apply to birds, the most frequent Hebrew word is ʽohph, basically meaning “flying creature” (Ge 1:20), which may include not only birds but also winged insects. (Compare Le 11:13, 21-23.) The Hebrew tsip·pohr′ also occurs in a large number of texts and is a generic term applying to birds in general. (Ge 7:14) A third Hebrew term, ʽa′yit, is applied solely to the birds of prey.

Bird – Seagull enjoying the sunset (Photo credit: blmiers2)

The following terms are found in the Greek Scriptures: or′ne·on, meaning simply “bird” (Re 18:2); pe·tei·non′ and pte·nos′, both literally meaning “flier.” (Ro 1:23; 1Co 15:39; compare Int.) At Acts 17:18 Athenian philosophers referred to the apostle Paul as a “chatterer.” The Greek word here (sper·mo·lo′gos) was applied to a bird that picks up seeds, while figuratively it was used of a person who picks up scraps by begging or stealing, or, as in the case cited, one who repeats scraps of knowledge, an idle babbler.

A thoughtful study of birds gives convincing proof of the Biblical teaching that they are of divine creation. While birds and reptiles are both oviparous, reptiles are cold-blooded, often sluggish, whereas birds are warm-blooded and among the most active of all earth’s creatures; they also have an unusually rapid heartbeat. The evolutionary view that reptilian scales and front limbs eventually developed into feathered wings is both fanciful and baseless. The fossils of birds called by scientists Archaeopteryx (or, ancient wing) and Archaeornis (or, ancient bird), though showing teeth and a long vertebrated tail, also show that they were completely feathered, had feet equipped for perching, and had fully developed wings. No intermediate specimens, exhibiting scales developing into feathers or front legs into wings, exist to give any semblance of support to the evolution theory. As expressed by the apostle Paul, birds are of a distinct “flesh” from others of earth’s creatures.

Bird – Duck – Mallard (Photo credit: blmiers2)

39 Not all flesh is the same flesh, but there is one of mankind, there is another flesh of cattle, another flesh of birds, and another of fish.  (1Corinthians 15:39).

The psalmist called upon the “winged birds” to praise Jehovah (Ps 148:1, 10), and birds do this by their very structure and their complex design. A single bird may have from 1,000 to over 20,000 feathers. Yet each feather is composed of a shaft from which branch out hundreds of barbs forming an inner web, each barb containing several hundred smaller barbules and each barbule having hundreds of barbicels and hooklets. A single six-inch wing feather of a pigeon is thus estimated to contain some hundreds of thousands of barbules and literally millions of barbicels. The aerodynamic principles built into birds’ wings and body design surpass in complexity and efficiency that of modern-day aircraft. A bird’s hollow bones contribute to its lightness, and thus the skeleton of a frigate bird with a 2-m (7 ft) wingspan may weigh only about 110 g (4 oz). Certain wing bones of large soaring birds even have trusslike supports, like the struts inside airplane wings, within the hollow portions.

At the time of the Flood, Noah introduced into the ark for preservation pairs of birds “according to their kinds.”

7 So Jehovah said: “I am going to wipe men whom I have created off the surface of the ground, man together with domestic animals, creeping animals, and flying creatures of the heavens, for I regret that I have made them.” … 19 And bring into the ark two of every sort of living creature+ in order to preserve them alive with you, a male and a female;+ 20 of the flying creatures according to their kinds, the domestic animals according to their kinds, and all creeping animals of the ground  (Genesis 6:7, 19-20)

3 also of the flying creatures of the sky by sevens,* male and female, to preserve their offspring alive over all the earth.+ …

23 So He wiped every living thing from the surface of the earth, including man, animals, creeping animals, and the flying creatures of the sky. They were all wiped off the earth;+ only Noah and those with him in the ark survived.+ (Genesis 7:3, 23)

Manyas (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There is no certain way of knowing how many different “kinds” of birds then existed, some types of birds having become extinct even in recent times. However, it is of interest to note that the listing of birds according to present-day scientific classification presented in The New Encyclopædia Britannica (1985, Vol. 15, pp. 14-106) gives a total of only 221 bird “families,” including some that are now extinct or known only in fossil form. There are, of course, thousands of varieties included within these “families.” {Note}

Following the global Flood, Noah offered up “clean flying creatures” along with animals as a sacrifice. (Ge 8:18-20) Birds were thereafter made allowable by God for inclusion in man’s diet, as long as the blood was not eaten. (Ge 9:1-4; compare Le 7:26; 17:13.) The ‘cleanness’ of certain birds at that time therefore evidently relates to some divine indication of acceptableness for sacrifice; the Biblical record shows that, as regards their being used as food, none of the birds were designated as “unclean” until the introduction of the Mosaic Law. (Le 11:13-19, 46, 47; 20:25; De 14:11-20) The factors determining which birds were designated ceremonially “unclean” are not expressly stated in the Bible. Thus, while most of those so designated were birds of prey or scavengers, not all of them were.  This prohibition was lifted following the establishment of the new covenant, as God made evident to Peter by a vision.

9 The next day as they were continuing on their journey and were approaching the city, Peter went up to the housetop about the sixth hour* to pray. 10 But he became very hungry and wanted to eat. While they were preparing the meal, he fell into a trance+11 and saw heaven opened and something* descending like a great linen sheet being let down by its four corners on the earth; 12 and in it were all sorts of four-footed animals and reptiles* of the earth and birds of heaven. 13 Then a voice said to him: “Get up, Peter, slaughter and eat!” 14 But Peter said: “Not at all, Lord, because I have never eaten anything defiled and unclean.”+15 And the voice spoke again to him, the second time: “Stop calling defiled the things God has cleansed.” (Acts of the apostles 10:9-15).

Birds (Photo credit: Emyan)

The identification of the birds specifically named in the Bible presents a difficult problem in some cases. Lexicographers generally are guided by the root meaning of the name, since this is usually descriptive, by indications in the context as to the bird’s habits and habitat, and by observation of the birds known to be found in the Bible lands. In many cases the names are believed to be onomatopoeic, that is, imitating the sound produced by the bird.

The diverse topography of Palestine, ranging from cool mountain peaks to deep sweltering valleys and from arid deserts to maritime plains, all together near the SE corner of the Mediterranean Sea, makes it a focal point for a great variety of bird types. Mount Hermon, in the N, is snowcapped for much of the year, while the region about 200 km (125 mi) to the S along the lower Jordan Valley and near the Dead Sea is hot and tropical. Each of these zones contains birds peculiar to its own environment, either alpine or tropical, as do also the temperate zones and the desert regions. (Ps 102:6; 104:16, 17) Additionally, Palestine is on one of the major migrational routes followed annually by birds (storks, turtledoves, quail, swifts, swallows, bulbuls, cuckoos, and others) traveling N from Africa in the spring or S from Europe and Asia in the fall. (Ca 2:11, 12; Jer 8:7) Thus it is estimated that about 470 varieties of birds may be found in Palestine at some time during the course of a year. In view of the deterioration of Palestinian forests and vegetation over the centuries, it is likely that in Biblical times the bird population was even greater.

Particularly notable are the great numbers of birds of prey (Heb., ʽa′yit) found in Palestine, including eagles, hawks, falcons, kites, and vultures. Back in Abraham’s time, birds of prey tried to descend upon Abraham’s sacrifice of certain animals and birds, obliging him to drive them off until the sun began to set. (Ge 15:9-12; compare 2Sa 21:10.) In their search for food these birds rely on their powerful telescopic sight, rather than on their relatively weak sense of smell.

The well-known sight of a cluster of scavenger birds gathered around a carcass often served as the basis for an ominous warning to an enemy (1Sa 17:44, 46), and repeatedly formed part of divinely inspired prophetic warnings to the nation of Israel and its rulers (De 28:26; 1Ki 14:11; 21:24; Jer 7:33; 15:3) as well as to foreign nations. (Isa 18:1, 6; Eze 29:5; 32:4) Thus, the one used by Jehovah to execute judgement was figuratively represented by “a bird of prey.” (Isa 46:11) Desolation of a city or land was depicted by its becoming the habitat of certain birds of solitary nature (Isa 13:19-21; compare Re 18:2) or by the disappearance of all bird life. (Jer 4:25-27; 9:10; 12:4; Ho 4:3; Zep 1:3) The proclamation calling all the birds to gather to feast upon the dead bodies of Gog of Magog and his crowd (Eze 39:1-4, 17-21) is paralleled by that recorded in Revelation in which the bodies of national rulers and their armies become food for “all the birds that fly in midheaven” as a result of the executional work of Christ Jesus as King.

11 I saw heaven opened, and look! a white horse.+ And the one seated on it is called Faithful+ and True,+ and he judges and carries on war in righteousness.+12 His eyes are a fiery flame,+ and on his head are many diadems.* He has a name written that no one knows but he himself, 13 and he is clothed with an outer garment stained* with blood, and he is called by the name The Word+ of God. 14 Also, the armies in heaven were following him on white horses, and they were clothed in white, clean, fine linen. 15 And out of his mouth protrudes a sharp, long sword+ with which to strike the nations, and he will shepherd them with a rod of iron.+ Moreover, he treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.+16 On his outer garment, yes, on his thigh, he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.+

17 I saw also an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice and said to all the birds that fly in midheaven:* “Come here, be gathered together to the great evening meal of God,+18 so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of military commanders and the flesh of strong men+ and the flesh of horses and of those seated on them,+ and the flesh of all, of freemen as well as of slaves and of small ones and great.”

19 And I saw the wild beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage war against the one seated on the horse and against his army.+20 And the wild beast was caught, and along with it the false prophet+ that performed in front of it the signs with which he misled those who received the mark of the wild beast+ and those who worship its image.+ While still alive, they both were hurled into the fiery lake that burns with sulfur.+21 But the rest were killed off with the long sword that proceeded out of the mouth of the one seated on the horse.+ And all the birds were filled with their flesh.+ (Revelation 19:11-21; contrast this with God’s comforting words to his people, at Ho 2:18-20).

18 In that day I will make a covenant for them with the wild animals of the field,+ And with the birds of the heavens and the creeping things of the ground;+ I will rid the land of the bow and the sword and war,+ And I will make them lie down* in security.+19 I will engage myself to you forever; And I will engage myself to you in righteousness and in justice, In loyal love and in mercy.+ 20 I will engage myself to you in faithfulness, And you will certainly know Jehovah.’+ (Hosea 2:18-20)

Worship of birds as representing the true God was prohibited to the nation of Israel (De 4:15-17) but was prominent among the pagan nations, particularly in Egypt. (Ro 1:23) Hundreds of bird mummies have been found in Egyptian tombs, principally of birds such as the falcon, the vulture, and the ibis, all of which were sacred among the Egyptians. Egyptian hieroglyphics contain some 22 different bird signs.

Bird (Photo credit: DeusXFlorida (5,003,637 views) – thanks guys!)

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{Note}: The “kinds” of animals selected had reference to the clear-cut and unalterable boundaries or limits set by the Creator, within which boundaries creatures are capable of breeding “according to their kinds.” It has been estimated by some that the hundreds of thousands of species of animals today could be reduced to a comparatively few family “kinds”—the horse kind and the cow kind, to mention but two. The breeding boundaries according to “kind” established by Jehovah were not and could not be crossed. With this in mind some investigators have said that, had there been as few as 43 “kinds” of mammals, 74 “kinds” of birds, and 10 “kinds” of reptiles in the ark, they could have produced the variety of species known today. Others have been more liberal in estimating that 72 “kinds” of quadrupeds and less than 200 bird “kinds” were all that were required. That the great variety of animal life known today could have come from inbreeding within so few “kinds” following the Flood is proved by the endless variety of humankind—short, tall, fat, thin, with countless variations in the colour of hair, eyes, and skin—all of whom sprang from the one family of Noah.

Sleeping Caribbean Flamingo at the Metro Toronto Zoo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Additional reading:

1. Praise be to God
2. Praise the God with His Name
3. Praise the most High Jehovah God above all
4. Make a joyful noise unto Yahweh, rejoice, and sing praise unto Jehovah

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Related articles

• Pterosaurs cast a giant shadow over today’s biggest winged creatures (theguardian.com)

  

  A man walks under the shadow of a model pterosaur. Photograph: Peter Macdiarmid/Getty

  Look at the birds outside your window: little feathery things that beg for crumbs and make cute chirpy noises. What if they were nine metres across and could fold up their wings and walk on all fours? Not so cute. Long ago, just such hulking creatures ruled the skies.

  Pterosaurs were Earth’s first flying vertebrates. Although birds and bats have taken wing in the 66m years since their extinction, we don’t have any flying creatures that approach the size of the biggest pterosaurs. The largest known specimen, Quetzalcoatlus, had a 10-metre wingspan. An immense vertebra recently found in Romania suggests that pterosaurs may have grown even bigger than that. The largest flying animals today, such as the wandering albatross and the Andean condor, average a wingspan of around three metres.

• Birds (milliesmindofmadness.wordpress.com)
  Birds are a symbol of freedom and liberty. Then why, I ask, did a bird poo on me yesterday when I was walking my dogs? Why? Could the bird not have the decency to poo somewhere else other than my face. I know that it was multi-tasking but that bird needs to think of others before it let’s loose it’s poo on me. Furthermore, where I was walking was a nice pleasant area so to quote my dad, I got pooed on by a posh bird.
• Bird (kyle861.wordpress.com)
  Birds (class Aves or clade Avialae) are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic (warm-blooded), egg-laying, vertebrate animals. With around 10,000 living species, they are the most specioseclass of tetrapod vertebrates.
• Rise of Animals: David Attenborough explores evolution of vertebrates (thisismoney.co.uk)
  David Attenborough has visited new paleontological hotspots to fill in evolutionary gaps of how vertebrates came to rule the Earth and how their evolution defines our own human bodies.
  In a new two-part documentary, Rise of Animals: Triumph of the vertebrates, the naturalist explores the origins of the backbone by studying a tiny prehistoric animal and a living fossil living in the south of England.Sir David takes a 500-million-year evolutionary journey to study animals including a newly discovered ‘missing link’ from China, a shallow water predator that swam like a fish but took its first steps on land, giant ancient animals and the famous fossil of the feathered dinosaur.
• Zoology: Using Animals to Enrich Your World (rebekahloper.wordpress.com)
  Animals serve many purposes. They are a vital part of the ecosystem, they offer companionship, and theycan be sources of food.And creating animals can honestly be one of the most fun parts of worldbuilding. But as always, there are things to consider!
• A fallen feather (raoulpop.com)
  The birds we seldom notice, unless they muck up our freshly washed cars, are able to do something no human being has been able to do so far, without the aid of an engineered mechanism. They’re able to take flight, freely, and soar high above the ground, surveying all they can see, while humans are stuck on the ground.
• Doahugou Biota: Study Describes 30 Species from Jurassic of China (sci-news.com)
  Over the last two decades, huge numbers of fossils have been collected from the western Liaoning Province and adjacent parts of northeastern China, including exceptionally preserved feathered dinosaurs, early birds, and mammals. Most of these specimens are from the Cretaceous Period, including the famous Jehol Biota.However, in recent years many fossils have emerged from sites that are 30 million years earlier, providing an exceptional window on life during the Jurassic period, about 160 million years ago.
• Poachers dump bodies of nine eagles in ditch near Kamloops (calgaryherald.com)
  The remains of eight bald eagles and one golden eagle have been found in a ditch near Kamloops, B.C.Officials with the Conservation Officer Service say the carcasseswere discovered last month in the ditch beside a well-used public road.Heads, feet, tail feathers and wings of all nine birds had been removed.

   

Days of Nisan, Pesach, Pasach, Pascha and Easter

End of Winter, new beginning

When Winter let us see its last breath 1st Nisan brings a New Year.
At the appearance of the first “new moon” of Spring, that is, when the waxing crescent of the moon is first sighted we come to celebrate the Biblical New Years Day.

After the dark months we look forward to a time of more light. We are also confronted with what happened many thousand years ago. There was an event in history which was going to influence the coarse of history up to today. In Egypt a people felt restricted and threatened by how they where treated. Nisan brings the start of their big journey. It is the start of the month of the Exodus from Egypt and the beginning of Jewish national history. It is also the first month used for counting the festivals (mo’edim) of the Hebrew Calendar and for reckoning the years of reign of the Kings of Israel.

Head of the months

Israel’s Escape from Egypt, illustration from a Bible card published 1907 by the Providence Lithograph Company (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Rosh Chodashim (ראשׁ חֳדָשִׁים), “the head of the months,” and its observance is considered the very first commandment given to Israel before the great Exodus from Egypt took place. For the world now got days they should remember for ever.

“This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you.” (Exodus 12:2 ASV)

“3 And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand Jehovah brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten. 4 This day ye go forth in the month Abib.” (Exodus 13:3-4 ASV)

“The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep: seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, at the time appointed in the month Abib (for in it thou camest out from Egypt); and none shall appear before me empty:” (Exodus 23:15 ASV)

“The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, at the time appointed in the month Abib; for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt.” (Exodus 34:18 ASV)

“Observe the month of Abib, and keep the passover unto Jehovah thy God; for in the month of Abib Jehovah thy God brought thee forth out of Egypt by night.” (Deuteronomy 16:1 ASV)

Commemorating miracles the Creator performed

Creation in itself is already something special about many people may have many theories. Still people are not sure how everything came into existence. They still continue to have many debates about how the world came into existence. By wondering and concentrating on the theories of man they do not see the first miracle nor the other miracles God did in this universe which still hides a lot for our small eyes.

The Ramban (Nachmanides) wrote:

“By counting every month from Nisan, we constantly commemorate the miracle that God performed when He took us out of slavery.”

Month for the Redeemed

Since the redemption from Egypt took place during the month of Nisan you also could call it

“the month of the redemption.” [Chodesh HaGeulah (חדֶשׁ הַגְּאֻלָּה)]

The Babylonian Talmud (Tractate Rosh Hashanah 11a) states:

“In Nisan our forefathers were redeemed from Egypt and in Nisan we will be redeemed.”

Not only for Jews it is an important month; Also for Christians it should be the most important month of the year. It should be a period where we remember how the Divine Creator has chosen Him a people, Israel, the Jews. But also because it is the month of the New Creation. The God of gods not only in that month took care that His own people got liberated from the slavery in Egypt. Many years later God also took care that all people got liberated from a bigger and worse slavery, namely the slavery of sin. Therefore not only for the Jews, also for Christians and Muslims, but also for those who do not (yet) believe in the True God, Nisan is also Chodesh ha-Yeshuah (חדֶשׁ הַיְשׁוּעָה), the “month of the salvation,” both in terms of the physical deliverance from Egypt, but more profoundly in terms of the spiritual salvation given at Zion/Moriah through the Messiah.  The Month of Jeshua has brought a change for the whole world, Jews and gentiles or to believers and non-believers or non-religious.

When you take Nisan to come from nissim (נִסִּים, “miracles”) or from the word nitzan (נִצָּן, “bud”) we got presented the greatest miracles in humankind.

Coming into new life

When the flowers are come on the earth; the time of cutting the vines is come, and the voice of the dove is sounding in our land, when the fruit-trees put out their green fruit and the vines with their young fruit give a good smell, we should get up and go into the world bringing the Good News of Salvation. (Song of Solomon 2:12-13) We should be thankful that the Creator not only redeemed His own people but also gave a solution for the sin of us all.

The 1st of Nisan is counted as the new year for the purpose of counting the reign of kings of Israel (in Exodus 12:2, the word lakhem (לָכֶם), “to you,” can be rearranged to form the word melekh (מֶלֶךְ), “a king.”). For instance, if a king ascended the throne just a week before the new moon of Nisan, that week would be reckoned as a year in the chronicles of Israel’s kings.

Last king and High-priest assigned to the throne

On the 14th of Nisan, about 1985 years ago a new and the last king for God was put next to the throne of God. A Jewish man from the lineage of king David was chosen to become the major High Priest in the Temple of God and to be the mediator between God and man, sitting at the right hand of God.

“55 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, 56 and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God.” (Acts 7:55-56 ASV)

Jesus from Nazareth was the man God called “his only begotten beloved son“. He was the chosen one, the one God had already spoken of in the Garden of Eden. As such God His Word, His promise made in the Garden of Eden, had become flesh in 4BCE. When this son of man who was also called son of David and son of God, became 12 years of age he went already in the temple to talk about his heavenly Father. When he was thirty he got baptised by John the Baptist, after which God declared in front of many at the river Jordan, that the man standing there in the water was ‘his beloved son“.

“16 And Jesus when he was baptized, went up straightway from the water: and lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending as a dove, and coming upon him; 17 and lo, a voice out of the heavens, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matthew 3:16-17 ASV)

For those who would have doubted God repeated His saying:

“33 And it came to pass, as they were parting from him, Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah: not knowing what he said. 34 And while he said these things, there came a cloud, and overshadowed them: and they feared as they entered into the cloud. 35 And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my Son, my chosen: hear ye him. 36 And when the voice came, Jesus was found alone. And they held their peace, and told no man in those days any of the things which they had seen.” (Luke 9:33-36 ASV)

After the man had died God provided a Comforter, Who gave Jesus his disciples the courage to go out in the world and to tell about the miracles that man had done and of what importance that man was and did works in the name of his Father, the Holy Righteous One God, the Elohim Hashem Jehovah.

Day of breaking the bread

Bread to be broken as a symbol (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

On the 14th of Nisan they had seen that man taking bread and wine, presenting them as if it was his own body, saying it was given to them and the world for their sins, and the action of that coming together and “Breaking of the Bread” they had to repeat until he would come back.

According to Jewish tradition the month of Nisan is also assigned to the royal tribe of Judah (יְהוּדָה), in whose merit both the Holy Temple was built and from whom the Messiah Jeshua (Jesus Christ) would descend. When we look at the name Judah (יְהוּדָה) we can see that it includes the Name YHVH or YHWH (יהוה) {Jehovha} with the insertion of the letter Dalet (ד), suggesting that Judah would be the “door” or “gate” into the presence of God. This Only One God had kept His promise made in the Garden of Eden. His Word had become flesh. (John 1:1) The man of flesh, blood and bones had only done the Will of his Father (and not his own will) and was killed for it and for being an nuisance for the leaders at that time.  They could not bear it that this man dared to say he was doing all this miracles in the name of his heavenly Father. If he would told the people he was doing it himself they would perhaps not have bothered so much, but now he called to God for what he did. That was considered blasphemy and therefore he had to be killed.

A preparation for salvation by the full ransom

After Jesus had let his disciples prepare for 15 Nisan, the Passover he on the 14th of Nisan enjoyed his last supper on the 14th of Nisan and asked his disciples to remember that day. All followers of Christ therefore should remember that special day when Jesus installed the New Covenant. The same day he was taken prisoner and impaled to find his death. He was put in a grave and according to the Holy Scriptures was three day under the dead, being in sheol or gehenna (the hell) or what we commonly call the grave. {Those who call the hell a place of torture should wonder why Jesus had to be in it for three days.}

The Door to find and to open

Jeshua or Jesus Christ was from the tribe of Judah and had spoken many times of his Father and about his role in this world-system.  He also knew we all have to live in this world, but warned us not to be of this world and to look at him to get to know his Father and to see the light leading up to the gate of the Kingdom of God. Many times Jesus described himself as ha-sha’ar (הַשַּׁעַר) “the gate”(John 10:9). The arrangement of the tribes placed Judah directly in front of the door into the Mishkan (Numery 2:3).

Celebrations and the Day after

“Christ risen from His tomb”, fresco ; cathedral of Spoleto, Italy; (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

These days when so many have celebrations being it for Passover or being it called Easter, they should see the first New Year which marks the month of the redemption of the Jewish people see the redemption Jeshua brought when he was sacrificed upon the wooden stake at Moriah to redeem us from our sins. The second marks the month of Israels’ corporate salvation that will be fulfilled in the End of Days.  Oddly enough for most Christians, “New Years Day” should be really celebrated in the spring, certainly not in “January.

After three days in the grave, something incredible happened. It goes beyond any human conception. Though we should grasp a clear understanding of the event. Because of the Passover celebration the loved ones of Christ had no time to properly prepare the body for burial with spices and ointments according to Jewish customs. No work could be done on the Holy Sabbath of Sabbaths, so that task had to wait until the day after.

When in the morning, Mary Magdalene and several other women went to the tomb with the spices they had prepared and arrived at the sealed tomb, guarded by Roman soldiers, so that nobody could do something with the body of that rebel Jesus, they found the tomb had been opened and nobody around the tomb. When they went in, they did not find Jesus’ body, and they wondered what had happened.

Suddenly, two angels in dazzling white clothes were there. The women were terrified, but the angels said to them,

“Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; He has risen! Remember how He told you that He would be turned over to sinful men, be crucified, and rise again on the third day!”

The women ran back to tell Jesus’ apostles what they had seen. Peter and one other apostle went to the tomb to see for themselves. They looked in and saw the linen cloths that Jesus’ body had been wrapped in but nothing else. Then they went home, amazed and confused.

Not stolen, not mislaid

The Risen Christ, the one who showed his wounds to proof he was not a ghost or spirit (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

You can imagine how terrified they must have been. Who had stolen the body of their most beloved rabbi (master teacher)?

When Peter and the other apostle went home, Mary Magdalene stayed outside the tomb crying. Suddenly she saw Jesus standing there, but she did not recognize him at first. Jesus said to her:

“Woman, why are you crying? Who are you looking for?”

Mary thought He must be the gardener and said:

“Sir, if you have taken him away, tell me where, and I will take him!”

Can you imagine what would have gone through this lady when Jesus said, “Mary!” and she then recognized him and exclaimed, “Master!”?

All the disciples like Mary Magdalene knew Jesus was the son of God, who had done everything for his Father and who had spoken of the possibility of people going to the reign of his Father, him being there. But Jesus affirmed her that he was not yet by his Father in heaven. It is not by dying that something would go up into heaven or hell. Like every human being, plant or animal, Jesus died and we will die. Normally once death, all thinking and handling will be finished. We shall not be able to do anything any more. Mary Magdalene was aware of the dead not being able to do anything, but now she got to see Jesus. Also others, later, got to see Jesus. To them he also proofed he was not a ghost or a spirit, like his Father is a Spirit. He was a man of flesh and blood who showed his wounds to proof that it was him they were seeing know, after he had died. Incomprehensible!

Not yet in heaven, Still to ascend

Jesus said:

“Don’t hold on to me, because I have not yet returned to the Father. But go to my disciples and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'”

Then Mary Magdalene went and said to the disciples

“I have seen the lord!”

and she told them everything that had happened.

Many could not believe what had happened. Several got to see Christ Jesus, and saw that he was really risen. They could see and believe.
We can not see that Jesus is rise. For us it is more difficult to believe, because there are no witnesses alive any more. We have to go on the books, the stories told. Most of all we have to go on our faith were we believe what has been told in the Old Books of the Old Testament, where the promises of God are told to all who want to know. In those books are also the signs given to recognise the promised Messiah. Putting everything together, we should have no doubt who the Messiah is and what God has done with him and for us.

Tool to get out of the slavery of sin and its curse, the death

Having the month where God helped His chosen people to get out of slavery by man, we also have the month where God gave mankind a tool to get out of the slavery of sin and its curse, the death. As such this is the Month of Hope and the Month of Salvation.

Instead of being wondering which presents or gifts we should buy for Easter, we should use Easter time to remember the Exodus form Egypt , the Last Supper, Jesus installing the New Covenant, Jesus being impaled for the sins of the world, and Jesus taken out of the dead by his heavenly Father. A resurrection bringing us hope, because in it, we can see what shall be able to happen to us in the future, after Jesus has returned.

All more the reason to look out for the return of Christ and to put our hopes in that man who was the beloved son of God. We should trust in him and his Father and follow his teachings, being thankful for the restored relationship between God and man.

Dominion of sin and Death has been conquered

In Christ Jesus, Jeshua, death has been conquered. He paid the ransom by giving his body to his Father. If Jesus is God, because God can not die and is an eternal Spirit. Than Jesus could not be taken out of the dead and his body raised to be the body showing wounds. Without dying there could be no he resurrection. And if there is no resurrection, then we have no hope.

Christ Resurrected (Photo credit: Waiting For The Word)

If Jesus wasn’t raised, if the tomb was not empty or when Jesus his body would have been stolen out of the grave, than there would be nothing to hold on to accept Jesus was risen. Several people saw Jesus after he had died. They were convinced they had really seen him.  Many were willing to die for what had happened, because they were convinced “death now could be reversed”. Now they could believe sin shall not have dominion over them nor us who believe, because from that day onwards we have come under grace. (Romans 6:14)
In case Jesus’ death didn’t pay our penalty for sin, then we “are still in our sins.” And when Jesus was not taken out of death by his Father, meaning that there did not took place a resurrection, then all those who have died before us … no matter what they did …shall have had nothing in their hope.

Isaiah promised that the dead would live (Isaiah 26:19) and Job knew that there would come a moment that he should not hide any more in Sheol. Abraham Isaac and Jesus believed in a God of the dead but also in the God of the living.

“31 But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, 32 I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not [the God] of the dead, but of the living.” (Matthew 22:31-32 ASV)

The one man who did all the time the will of his Father told the people about the hope they could have when he would be gone. If he would not be taken out of the dead, what reason would there be to believe what he said?

“39 And this is the will of him that sent me, that of all that which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that every one that beholdeth the Son, and believeth on him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:39-40 ASV)

“22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But each in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; then they that are Christ’s, at his coming.” (1 Corinthians 15:22-23 ASV)

We should know that a great quality is been given to the life of man that cannot be matched by any other soul.

“And in none other is there salvation: for neither is there any other name under heaven, that is given among men, wherein we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12 ASV)

“3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which also I received: that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 and that he was buried; and that he hath been raised on the third day according to the scriptures; 5 and that he appeared to Cephas; then to the twelve; 6 then he appeared to above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain until now, but some are fallen asleep; 7 then he appeared to James; then to all the apostles; 8 and last of all, as to the [child] untimely born, he appeared to me also.” (1 Corinthians 15:3-8 ASV)

“20  But now hath Christ been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of them that are asleep. 21 For since by man [came] death, by man [came] also the resurrection of the dead.” (1 Corinthians 15:20-21 ASV)

By Jesus Christ assurance given

Through Jesus Christ we now have the assurance that we may fall asleep (die), but there shall come a moment, after he returned, that we shall be taken out of the graves and shall come to see what it means to receive the gift of God which is eternal life.

“For the wages of sin is death; but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23 ASV)

“It was necessary therefore that the copies of the things in the heavens should be cleansed with these; but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these.” (Hebrews 9:23 ASV)

“And without faith it is impossible to be well-pleasing [unto him]; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and [that] he is a rewarder of them that seek after him.” (Hebrews 11:6 ASV)

In the resurrection of Christ Jesus our faith in him is of incredible value. Let us therefore recognise who that man was and is and follow his teachings and worship his Father, the Only One True God, Who gives life.

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Please find also to read:

1. God’s promises
2. Belief of the things that God has promised
3. Israel God’s people
4. Tu B’Shvat, the holiday of the trees
5. Passover and Liberation Theology
6. Commemorating the escape from slavery
7. Being sure of their deliverance
8. Deliverance and establishement of a theocracy
9. Do not be afraid. Good news because a Saviour has been born
10. Bringing Good News into the world
11. God’s salvation
12. Waiting for God’s Salvation
13. Ember and light the ransomed of Jehovah
14. Jesus Messiah
15. Jesus Christ, Jeshua, Messiah, Jahushua
16. Seeing Jesus
17. Jesus begotten Son of God #4 Promised Prophet and Saviour
18. Jesus begotten Son of God #10 Coming down spirit or flesh seed of Eve
19. Jesus begotten Son of God #5 Apsotle, High Priest and King
20. Jesus begotten Son of God #14 Beloved Preminent Son and Mediator originating in Mary
21. Jesus begotten Son of God #18 Believing in inhuman or human person
22. Anointing of Christ as Prophetic Rehearsal of the Burial rites
23. Day of remembrance coming near
24. 14 Nisan a day to remember #1 Inception
25. 14 Nisan a day to remember #2 Time of Jesus
26. 14 Nisan a day to remember #3 Before the Passover-feast
27. 14 Nisan a day to remember #4 A Lamb slain
28. 14 Nisan a day to remember #5 The Day to celebrate
29. 14-15 Nisan and Easter
30. Around the feast of Unleavened Bread
31. Shabbat Pesach service reading 1/2
32. The son of David and the first day of the feast of unleavened bread
33. A Jewish Theocracy
34. Observance of a day to Remember
35. Around the feast of Unleavened Bread
36. Observance of a day to Remember
37. Pesach and solidarity 
38. A Holy week in remembrance of the Blood of life
39. Seven days of Passover
40. On the first day for matzah
41. Servant for the truth of God
42. The Anointed One and the first day of No Fermentation
43. How is it that Christ pleased God so perfectly?
44. Wishing to do the will of God
45. For the Will of Him who is greater than Jesus
46. Self inflicted misery #3 A man given to suffer for us
47. The Seed Of The Woman Bruised
48. The redemption of man by Christ Jesus
49. Imprisonment and execution of Jesus Christ
50. Death of Christ on the day of preparation
51. A Messiah to die
52. Swedish theologian finds historical proof Jesus did not die on a cross
53. Impaled until death overtook him
54. Why 20 Nations Are Defending the Crucifix in Europe
55. Jesus three days in hell
56. Christ having glory
57. Salvation, trust and action in Jesus #3 as a Christian
58. Your Sins Are Forgiven
59. A Great Gift commemorated
60. High Holidays not only for Israel
61. Festival of Freedom and persecutions
62. After the Sabbath after Passover, the resurrection of Jesus Christ
63. Proclaiming shalom, bringing good news of good things, announcing salvation
64. Jesus is risen
65. Risen With Him
66. Easter: Origins in a pagan Christ
67. Eostre, Easter, White god, chocolate eggs, Easter bunnies and metaphorical resurrection
68. Peter Cottontail and a Bunny laying Eastereggs
69. Altered to fit a Trinity or Ishtar the fertility goddess
70. Who Celebrates Easter as Religious Holiday

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Other interesting articles:

1. Welcome to Easter 2014
2. Walk with Jesus: Matthew 27 He who overcame
3. Gethsemane
4. Yeshua thanks his father through prayer
5. Pesach
6. Good Friday or Passover?
7. What’s Good about Good Friday?
8. When Was Jesus Crucified?
9. Jesus Died
10. “Christ Is Our Passover Lamb” / The Message of the High Sabbath beginning the eve of March 25, 2013
11. Ransom for allom
12. Holy Trifecta: Good Friday, Passover, Resurrection Sunday
13. Thoughts About Easter
14. It Did Not End In the Grave
15. Tree of Jesus Life, the Risen Christ, (a)
16. On Easter and The Resurrection of Jesus
17. Easter Questions and Answers
18. What Happened on Easter?
19. The Truth About Easter
20. The Easter Story of the Resurrection
21. Jesus is alive, the tomb is empty.
22. The Empty Tomb
23. He is Risen! What Christians Believe About Easter, and Why
24. The Significance of the Resurrection – Jesus Arose Where He Died
25. The Glory of Easter Part 1 + The Glory of Easter Part 2
26. “The Resurrection”
27. The Resurrection of Jesus X 4
28. Even Resurrection Pauses For Sabbath Rest
29. The Power of His Resurrection
30. The Resurrection of Jesus Christ
31. The Resurrection is Believable
32. He is not here, He is risen, just as He said
33. When Nothing Meant All
34. Pass Over Now
35. Does Christianity Have Pagan Roots? (Part 1) How Did “Easter” Originate? | god from the machine
36. Does Christianity Have Pagan Roots? (Part 2) The Pagan Myth Myth… No, I’m Not Stuttering

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Related articles

• Today is the beginning of the biblical new year (biblethingsinbibleways.wordpress.com)
  Happy New Year!!!! Biblically speaking of course.
  Even though January 1st is celebrated as the beginning of the year over the world, as Christians, we need to consider that the Biblical New Year is far more important to us, than a day that was picked by the Romans.
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  The month of Abib/Aviv does not coincide with a month in the standard western calendar in any way. This means that the 1st day of the Biblical Year could fall on any day in the season of March/April. The biblical calendar is not one which is set in paper, but which is set in the heavens. When our Creator made the Sun, Moon & Stars, He proclaimed “let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years”.
• Understanding Passover (wqad.com)
  Passover, also called Pesach, is the Jewish festival celebrating the exodus of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery in 1200s B.C.The word Passover comes from the idea that God passed over the houses of the Israelites, who had marked their doorposts to signify that they were children of God.
• Feasts of Passover and Unleavened Bread (Deut 16:1-16:8) (efinne1540.wordpress.com)
  Abib is often called Nisan and usually refers to our April. Here the Passover is to be celebrated at ‘the place that Yahweh will choose as a dwelling for his name.’ It will not be in the towns that Yahweh is giving to them. The 7 day unleavened bread feast is called the ‘bread of affliction.’ No leftover meat may be eaten the next day. Sunset was the time of the meal because you left Egypt at sunset. There was to be a solemn assembly on the 7^th day with no work done.
• Chag Pesach Kasher v’Sameach : חַג כָשֵׁר וְשָׂמֵחַ (jewsdownunder.wordpress.com)
  The journey initiated during Pesach, that of a nation of slaves racing towards freedom, reaches its climax with the festival of Shavuot, without a rendezvous with God at Mt. Sinai. Here the Jews’ new-found freedom finds its purpose.The agricultural significance of Pesach is that it marks the start of the early harvest period in the land of Israel. The harvesting of the barley grain was marked by a special offering of the Omer commencing on the second day of Pesachand continuing for forty-nine days, concluding at Shavuot.
• Rosh Chodesh Nisan (glehrer.wordpress.com)
  We learned that Dayenu in hebrew means “enough” and when we sing the song Dayenu at the end of our seder it is because we are thanking God for our freedom, shabbat, the torah, and the miracles he performed to get us out of Egypt when we were slaves. The story taught us about getting ready for the seder, and just when you think you’ve done enough to prepare for Pesach, there is usually at least one more thing you can do to make your seder even more special.
• Nisan: The Month of Redemption; Adar: a leap year, i.e., to add an extra month, Such a year that has 13 (lunar) months is called a “pregnant year” (שנה מעוברת), indicating a state of being from which a new reality, specifically, the next month – the mont (guapotg.wordpress.com)
  In the Torah, the month of Nisan is referred to as “the month of spring.” From the verse, “Guard the month of spring and make Pesach for HaShem your G-d,” the sages learn of the mitzvah to make a leap year, i.e., to add an extra month (a second month of Adar) when necessary, to ensure that the holiday of Pesach always falls in the season of spring.
• Passover Guide for the Perplexed, 2014 (algemeiner.com)
  The Passover legacy constitutes the foundation of Judaism, and is therefore included in most Jewish blessings (“in memory of the Exodus”). Passover symbolizes the rejuvenation of nature and mankind, spiritually and physically, individually and collectively/nationally.  Passover stipulates that human rejuvenation – just like the rejuvenation of nature – must be driven by memory/history/roots.
• The Evolution Of Passover – Past To Present (jewishengagement.wordpress.com)
  The first Passover’s preparation and celebration is described in Exodus 12:1-28. In a nutshell, the Israelites were commanded to take an unblemished lamb, watch over it and then slaughter it on the 14^th day of Nisan marking the doorposts and lintels of their homes with its blood. They were instructed to roast it over a fire in its entirety and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. They were to eat hurriedly with their clothes on, sandals on their feet and staff in their hands within the confines of their homes.
• Being Filled (mymorningmeditations.com)
  We celebrated Easter this year with our community of Christian and Jewish interfaith families. Our minister started off by pointing out that Easter is not in the Bible, and that our holiday traditions make reference to ancient goddesses, and the fertility rites of spring. She then gathered the children together and talked to them about the Buddhist metaphor of a cup of tea representing the comforting memories of life after the tea bag (or body) is gone. She’s not your typical minister.Next, our rabbi gave an adult sermon about the themes of intimacy, transcendence and unity in the story of the resurrection of Jesus. Somehow, the idea of life beyond death, of renewal and regeneration, seemed completely universal to me as he spoke. As a Jew, I do not feel I need to believe in a messiah or a personal savior in order to celebrate these Easter messages. Our rabbi spent his career at Georgetown, knows his gospels, and has been called a “closet Catholic” by Catholic friends. And yet, he’s an erudite, dedicated and deeply spiritual Jew. He’s not your typical rabbi.
• The April 15th Blood Moon Eclipse Coincides with The Exact Date & Hours of The Crucifixion (banoosh.com)
  When it mentions here that darkness covers the land, is that a reference to a Solar Eclipse that occurred at the exact hour of the Crucifixion?

Easter: Origins in a pagan Christ

For many of the faithful, god-fearing Christians around the world, the resurrection of the Christ is central to that faith they hold so dear. Every year around March-April dramas are re-enacted commemorating the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus put on by devotees as a form of renewal. Like everything else that goes with religious matters, most Xians are blissfully ignorant about the true origins of this, the central theme of their faith. Coloured eggs are given to friends and the bunny is the animal associated with Easter but little thought is spared for the study of the roots of these traditions and the relationship Xianity shares with the “pagan” world it forever disrespects.

 

Horus (Photo credit: waywuwei)

The truth of Easter’s origins is not helped by the decontextualised way many Eurocentric researchers analyse history. Most people who write about Easter trace the name to a Mother Goddess whose name in various European traditions was Astarte, Ishtar, Ashtoreth, Cybele, Demeter, Ceres, Aphrodite, Venus, and Freya. The name Easter derives from the Anglo-Saxon goddess of spring Eostre or Ostara. While these many rivers all contributed to the Easter celebrations, we should stop ignoring the African river from which they flowed.

Easter is an ancient spring solstice festival – the same spring solstice festival that gave us Carnival and Phagwa – involving the death and resurrection of the husband of the Great Earth Mother Goddess. This resurrection, far from being a miraculous historical event that occurred two thousand odd years ago, is a symbolic spiritual renewal that has its origins in the dim mists of the earliest human societies in Africa.

The Xian commemoration of Easter stems from this spiritual observance, only to be perverted into a myth of an historical death and resurrection of the biblical Jesus who then appoints a successor in the form of Peter. This myth was cleverly constructed for one purpose and one purpose only, the usurping and maintaining of political power. This point was well explored by Elaine Pagels and need not be dealt with here [see also the essay “Orthodox” Christianity and the birth of European Nationalism]

Xianity’s Easter, the resurrection of Christ Jesus is just a retelling of the Dramas of the Egyptian Yusir/Osiris and the Babylonian Bel, which in turn was a retelling of the symbolic death of the Great Mother of the primordial clan so that the community may survive. It is also bound up with the Nile Valley African’s concept of creation and their observations of the sun’s movements through various star constellations.

 

A statue of Isis nursing her son, housed in the Louvre (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

According to the Egyptian account of creation only the primordial waters existed at first. Then Ra, the sun, came out of an egg (a flower, in some versions) that appeared on the surface of the water. Ra brought forth four children, the gods Shu and Geb and the goddesses Tefnut and Nut. Shu and Tefnut became the atmosphere. They stood on Geb, who became the earth, and raised up Nut, who became the sky. Ra ruled over all. Geb and Nut later had two sons, Set and Yusir/Osiris, and two daughters, Isis and Nephthys. Osiris succeeded Ra as king of the earth, helped by Isis, his sister-wife. Set, however, hated his brother, killed him and cut him up into 14 pieces. Isis finds and reassembles Yusir then embalmed her husband’s body with the help of the deity Anubis, who thus became the god of embalming. The powerful charms of Isis resurrected Osiris, who then ascended to sit at the side of the divine father Amen-Ra and who became king of the netherworld. Heru/Horus, who was the son of Osiris and Isis, later defeated Set in a great battle and became king of the earth.”

The parallels with the later Xian version are obvious. Indeed, in that short version of the story one can pick out the biblical concepts of the creation out of water, the warring twins, the Mother-Son consort, the death and resurrection of the saviour. Jesus was called the Christ, the Messiah; temporal kingly titles that came from “Karast” and “Messu”, the Egyptian titles for Yusir, Heru and Thoth. Among the ancient pre-Christian cultures, eggs symbolised creation, fertility, renewed life and resurrection. In ancient Egypt/Kemet and Persia during the spring festivals coloured eggs were eaten as part of the elaborate rituals in much the same way that they are being eaten today.

There are many traditions that involve the recreative power of the egg mostly related to the movement of the sun and stars across the heavens:

“As the sun climbed toward mid-day it was called Ra, great and strong. When the sun set in the west it was known as Atum the old man, or Horus on the horizon. As a solar-disk he was known as Aten. The sun was also said to be an egg laid daily by Geb, the ‘Great Cackler’ when he took the form of a goose.”

“Then there is the myth sometimes called the Birth and Flight of Horus. This tale, found in the Coffin Texts, is a combination of two stories. The first is the birth of Horus, and the second is a very old and fragmented myth that the sun burst out of an egg laid by a goose floating on the primordial waters before creation. The Birth and Flight of Horus begins just after Osiris’s death.”

Herodotus informs us that there was an annual festival in ancient Kemet/Egypt to commemorate the descent of King Rhampsinitus into the Underworld and his return to earth. Part of this ritual, apparently connected to the Yusirian Drama, was the enveloping of a priest in a shroud by two other priests, disguised as wolves. These two wolflike characters – portraying the divine guides of the dead – conducted the shrouded one to a temple of Auset/Isis outside the city where they left him. They would later return and lead the shrouded priest, who enacted the role of King Rhampsinitus, back into the city. On his return, the shrouded priest brought with him a napkin, supposedly given to him by Auset. Parts of this ceremony became the narrative in the Gospel of John where we read of visitors to Jesus’ tomb beholding a napkin and a shroud and two angels.

Then there is the Babylonian Drama of Bel; an ancient cuneiform tablet, now in the British Museum, produced about two thousand years before the Xian era, seems to have been used by Babylonian priests, one of whom acted as an announcer at the drama. John Jackson in his book “Man, God and Civilization”, mentions the works of Scottish scholar Arthur Findlay in which he relates the drama:

“The service would be started by the singing of a psalm similar to the Psalms of David in the Old Testament. Following one or more psalms, a priest would recite the appropriate prayer for the occasion. Then the announcer, holding a copy of the program, would arise and read out in a clear, loud voice

Scene I – “Bel is taken prisoner”

An actor representing Bel, the Babylonian Christ, was seen on the stage. Other actors dressed as soldiers would arrest the saviour-god. As the prisoner was led away by the squad of soldiers, the announcer again rose up and called out:

“Scene II – Bel is tried in the Hall of Justice”

At this point the scene of a trial is enacted. A judge was present, and witnesses testified for and against the prisoner, who was found innocent but sentenced to death anyway as in the similar case of Jesus in the Gospels. After the sentencing of the victim, the next scene was called out:

“Scene III – Bel is smitten”

This scene showed the jeering and baiting of the prisoner after the sentence of death had been passed. The next moment would be:

“Scene IV – Bel is led away to the mount”

The actor impersonating the victim was led away by guards to the sacred grove atop the hill. Then the announcing priest read:

“Scene V – With Bel are taken two malefactors, one of whom is released”

Actors representing the two criminals were seen on the stage and, after a trial, one was found guilty, the other innocent. The guilty victim was condemned to death and the innocent one released.

Although the death scene of saviour Bel was a part of the Babylonian Mysteries, this was not shown in the amphitheatre. This fact is explained by Arthur Findlay as follows:

The program does not contain a scene of the god’s death. This may be because it took place on a hill where he was hung on one of the trees in the sacred grove, or crucified, or slain on an altar, and so could not be enacted on the stage. By now, the theatre is empty and everyone has climbed to the top of the hill to witness the death scene. As the actor, taking the place of Bel, and the one representing the malefactor, are not actually killed, it may be that the death the saviour-god actually suffered was not enacted. This is unlikely and it is more probable that the tablet which has been found referred only to the performance in the amphitheatre, which accounts for the death scene not being included thereon. They were heavy and would not be brought away from the theatre. After the scene, when the two malefactors appeared and one was sent after Bel to be sacrificed, the people would know that, for the time being, the performance in the theatre was over. For that reason, and because the death scene was not taking place in the theatre, it is not engraved on the tablet.

After the death scene, the audience would return to the theatre and the announcer would declare:

“Scene VI – After Bel has gone to the mount, the city breaks into tumult”

in this scene the disorderly mob was shown rioting and screaming to exemplify the tumult that took place in the city. The next scene was then announced

“Scene VII – Bel’s clothes are carried away”

In this scene Bel’s body had returned from the mount and was seen on the stage by the multitude. His clothes were removed and his corpse was prepared for burial. The priest then announced the next act.

“Scene VIII – Bel goes down into the mount and disappears from life”

the stage being near the side of a hill, a tomb was dug and the body of Bel was placed therein. The announcement of the subsequent scene would be:

“Scene IX – A weeping woman seeks him at the gate of burial.”

The weeping woman, perhaps the mother, wife, or lover of the dead saviour, added a dramatic touch to this ancient mystery play. Then followed the climax, when the announcer read:

“Scene X – Bel is brought back to life”

The moving story of what happened in the last act of the Babylonian Passion Play and its effect on later religions has been vividly reconstructed by Arthur Findlay:

We can imagine the enthusiasm and excitement this announcement would cause. The people and there is thunderous noise and shouting. Then comes a hush and they reseat themselves awaiting in eager expectancy the denouement of this great drama. During the silence, the stone which has been pushed up against the tomb is seen to move and slowly it is pushed aside. Out of it comes Bel in his burial clothes. As he emerges from the tomb, the audience rises and shouts in its frenzy till all are hoarse. The great drama has reached its climax. Their god has re-appeared to them, death has been conquered, and he has secured for all life in the hereafter. As the actor could not re-appear as a spirit as did Bel after his sacrifice, the re-appearance had to be a physical one, just as the Christian drama depicts Jesus having left the tomb as a human being……This great religious service has never been forgotten. It was copied by the Greeks and is still performed in memory of Christ. It has been preserved for us throughout the Christian era in the four Gospels. The Christian dramatist made such changes in the details as were required so that people should believe that it was an historical event which happened in Jerusalem and that the actors were those who believed to have been disciples of Jesus.

This and the other dramas along the Nile Valley, bear testimony to the irrefutable fact that these mythical dramas and Passion Plays are of a much greater antiquity than Christianity. The Xian resurrected Jesus is only the resurrected Karast of the ancient Nile Valley. He was also the resurrected saviour of Persia, India, ancient America and a host of other cultures all well documented by John Jackson, Kersey Greaves, Rev CH Vail, Arthur Findlay and Godfrey Higgins.

The congregation in an Oriental Orthodox church in India collects palm fronds for the Palm Sunday procession (the men of the congregation on the left of the sanctuary in the photo; the women of the congregation are collecting their fronds on the right of the sanctuary, outside the photo. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We can now make sense of certain extra-religious Easter customs. The Easter Egg hunt, which is restricted to children, recalls part of the historian Plutarch’s narrative wherein he relates that it was children who told AST/Isis where to locate Yusir’s body. Thus, it is children who have the honour of searching for Yusir. The prize of the hunt, the Golden Egg is merely the great solar “Egg”, while the other prize, the silver egg is the full moon. Still another Easter tradition, eating hot cross buns evokes the celestial Mount Calvary upon which the “crossification” of the “sun” of god the very moment that its upward journey from the southern half of the celestial equator to the northern half separates it into two. Further, Palm Sunday, which commemorates Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem, his way strewn with palm leaves, in preparation of the Passover, can be interpreted in three ways:

 

1. We can identify Jesus with the Kemetic/Egyptian Ra-Yiu, who as the Golden Ass, is a zootype of the sun
2. It evokes the pre-Mosaic veneration of Ra-Yiu by the ancestors of the Israelites
3. It symbolises Jesus’ power over Satan, who, in his original form as the evil Set, was depicted as an Ass. Remember that the name Satan itself comes from the Egyptian “Set-An”.

 

Palm Sunday in Sanok (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Note also that in ancient Kemet/Egypt, the palm branch was viewed as a time symbol and its bifurcated leaves represented the equinox with its equal separation of day and night. The Palm Sunday procession then, symbolises Jesus the sun, Ra-Yiu, “passing over” the celestial equator on his ecliptic ascent at the equinox.

Further, because of the “wobble” created by the rotation of the earth around its axis, this event cannot take place at the exact time every year. This is why, with regard to the celebration of Easter the time varies from as early as March 22^nd or as late as April 25^th. In general, although not the strict rule, Easter is held on the Sunday after Pasach (Passover) which is usually the first Sunday after the first full moon of spring. It is actually the intentional Xian mis-keeping of Pasach for anti-Jewish purposes. Because Pasach is kept in accordance with a lunar-solar calendar rather than with a strictly solar calendar, Pasach will always occur on the full moon of the first Jewish month, which begins with the closest new moon to the vernal equinox (no earlier than March 10).

The Easter bunny or hare is another signpost to the celestial myths of pre-Christian Kemet. All over Africa the hare is a lunar animal because it never appears to close its eyes, making it a type of full moon. It’s also a zootype of Yusir/Osiris: as an animal that leaps up, it is identified with Yusir as he rises from the dead.

We have just glimpsed at the great antiquity and esoteric symbolism behind an event most of us simply took for granted. As always, it is not the intention to dismiss the bible and Xianity with simplistic views. It is about throwing light on a subject that for far too long has been simplified. In a subsequent essay we will examine the crucifixion from a slightly different perspective.

 

• The Catholic Encyclopedia
• The Encyclopedia Biblica
• Tertullianus Against Marcion – Tertullian
• History of Christianity
• World’s Crucified Saviors – Rev C H Vail
• Afrikan Origins of the Major World Religions – Prof. Yosef ben-Jochannan
• African Origins of the Major “Western” Religions – Prof. Yosef ben-Jochannan
• Holy Blood Holy Grail – Henry Lincoln, Michael Baigent
• Messianic Legacy – Henry Lincoln, Michael Baigent
• Echoes of the Old Darkland – Charles S. Finch MD
• History of the First Council of Nice
• Introduction to African Civilisations – John Jackson
• Pagan Origins of the Christ Myth – John Jackson
• Man, God and Civilisations – John Jackson
• African Presence in Early Europe – edited by Dr. Ivan Van Sertima
• Black Athena Vol. I – Martin Bernal
• Ancient Egypt the Light of the World [2Vols.] – Gerald Massey
• Gerald Massey’s Lectures – Gerald Massey
• Dead Sea Scrolls Deception – Henry Lincoln
• Who Is This King of Glory? A Critical Study of the Christus/Messiah Tradition — Alvin Boyd Kuhn
• The Dictionary of Bible and Religion – editor William Gentz
• Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Vol. I – Edward Gibbon
• Forgery in Christianity – Joseph Wheless
• The Women’s Encyclopedia of Myth and Secrets – Barbara G. Walker
• The Dark Side of Christian History – Helen Ellerbie
• Women, Food and Sex in History –Soledad de Montalvo [4 vols.]
• The Passover Plot – Hugh Schonfield
• James; the Brother of Jesus – Robert Eisenman
• The Gnostic Gospels – Elaine Pagels
• Personal interviews with the late elder Clemey George
• The Secret Relationship between Blacks and Jews – edited by the Nation of Islam
• African presence in Early Asia – Runoku Rashidi
• The World’s 16 Crucified Saviours – Kersey Greaves

– By Corey Gilkes
From RaceandHistory.com

 

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Please do find to read:

 

1. Eostre, Easter, White god, chocolate eggs, Easter bunnies and metaphorical resurrection
2. High Holidays not only for Israel
3. 14-15 Nisan and Easter
4. Death of Christ on the day of preparation
5. Seven days of Passover
6. Altered to fit a Trinity or Ishtar the fertility goddess
7. Peter Cottontail and a Bunny laying Eastereggs
8. Risen With Him
9. Creation of the earth out of something
10. Tu B’Shvat, the holiday of the trees
11. Ember and light the ransomed of Jehovah
12. Because men choose to go their own way
13. Taking care of mother earth

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  +
  If you remember the controversy surrounding The Da Vinci Code, part of the premise of the story was that much of the Christian faith was removed or added over time.  So much editing had occurred that there was very little evidence pointing to it except for a small circle of true believers who knew better and the hierarchy in the Vatican who didn’t want people to know the truth.  One date when much of this editing occurred is 325 AD, during the Council of Nicaea, which is when most skeptics believe the Bible was compiled and most of the major tenets of Christianity were added.  The problem with this is that the resurrection was very much a part of the religious creed for the 1st century Church.  Cornelius Tacitus, one of the best Roman historians of the 1st century, mentions in the 15th book of his Annals a “mischievous superstition” was held by “a class hated for abominations, called Christians.”  What could have this superstition been?  Jesus proclaiming to be God?  Well the emperors and several characters in Greco-Roman myths already did that, so nothing there that’s too outrageous.  That he did miracles?  The ancient world was full of miracle workers and performers of various wonders.  Jesus shouldn’t have even made it on the radar if that was the reason.  Could it be his resurrection?  That seems to be the only one that fits.  Tacitus was known for being skeptical of resurrection tales and the fact that people in a new religion with a deity that had died and rose again would have caught his attention particularly since Nero used them as a scapegoat.  Josephus, a contemporary Jewish historian, also mentions the resurrection as well.  “On the third day he appeared to them restored to life…”  Some have argued that this text has been tampered with, but it should be noted the Arabic version of the text also includes it but is over all less biased in tone.  Therefore we can be assured that Josephus did faithfully record the Christian belief of Christ’s resurrection.  Whether he believed it or not is up for debate.  And finally we have I Corinthian 15:1-11.  Often described as the first creed to be used by the Church, it adamantly recounts the death and resurrection of Christ.  Considering this epistle would have been written in the 40s or 50s AD, it is quite clear that the early Church believed in the resurrection since the beginning.
• Did Christians really ‘steal’ Easter? (religion.blogs.cnn.com)
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Spring Time Is Coming

Spring Copse with Rookery Spring Copse has a rookery, lots of nests with birds coming and going. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Beautiful Spring is coming,
Ah, yes, will soon be here,
For the clear bright sun is shining
All human hearts to cheer.
One the brightest gems of nature
Is the orb that o’er us shines,
And o’er the wide creation,
It’ll shine to the end of time.

The birds will soon be singing
On shrub and bough of trees,
Their notes will soon be ringing
Out, forth so merrily.
They love the merry spring time,
Those little birds we love,
They love the pleasant sunshine
That comes down from above.

We can hear them sweetly singing
From early morn, till night.
They make music in the woodland
Those little birds; so bright,
We should dearly love them,
Those little harmless things,
And when we hear their music,
We know that it is spring.

Ah; it’s pleasant in the springtime,
All nature seems so gay.
Bright flowers in the sunshine,
Sweet fragrance can display.
The hills, and dales, and meadows,
So beautifully covered o’er;
With natures richest verdure,
The green grass, as of yore.

The winter will soon be over,
With its cold and chilly winds.
It is sad and dreary ever,
Yet its dying, free from sin.
Now the springtime is coming,
Ah, yes, will soon be here.
We will welcome in its coming
In this glad new year.

– Julia A Moore (1847-1920 / United States)

She inspired Mark Twain to create the character of Emmeline Grangerford in Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. Grangerford’s funereal ode to Stephen Dowling Botts.

Cover via Amazon

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