Sunday 30 December 2012

Friday, November 30, 2012

 

Friday, November 30, 2012: (St. Andrew)
Jesus said: “My people, you know that I died on the cross at 3:00 p.m. as I suffered for all of mankind’s sins. I have also told you that time is running out for the devil’s time, and for the time before the tribulation will be starting. This vision of five minutes to 3:00 p.m. means that the persecution of My faithful is about to begin. Before the major events lead up to the declaration of the Antichrist, you will have My Warning experience for everyone. This will be a wake-up call for all sinners, and it is another reason for frequent Confession so you will have less to suffer in your life review. My people need to have their spiritual life in order before you face your mini-judgment in the Warning. You are seeing a lot of signs around you to tell that you are living in the end times by the descriptions in the Bible.”

Jesus said: “My people, I am showing you how the HAARP machine is being used to cause droughts in the summer and low snowfall in the winter. Because of this effect on your rainfall, this is why you are seeing low water levels in all of the Great Lakes. Without enough ground water, it is hard to grow crops, and they require irrigation to get enough moisture. Many people do not realize that this weather machine can affect your water levels and the severity of your cold weather. It is hard for your weather forecasters to predict your weather when man-made weather machines are changing the seasonal trends. If this pattern of high jet streams near the border continues, then you could see a repeat of last year’s low snowfall. The one world people are trying to cause famines to reduce the population, and cause food shortages for their takeover. Trust in Me that you will have adequate food supplies at My refuges where I will multiply your food.”

http://www.johnleary.com/index.php/2012/12/29/friday-november-30-2012/

Thursday, November 29, 2012

 

Thursday, November 29, 2012:
Jesus said: “My people, the reading of the Book of Revelation described how Babylon would be defeated which represents the rich one world people and the Antichrist whom they support. In the Gospel you read how armies around Jerusalem destroyed the city, and now you are seeing this same possibility in modern day Israel. This passage from Luke (22:25-28) shows the signs in the heavens and how I will come upon a cloud with great power and majesty in My victory over evil. The last line is so uplifting: ‘When these things begin to come to pass, look up, and lift up your heads, because your redemption is at hand.’ In the vision you saw St. Michael and My angels gathering the evil people and the demons, and they were cast into hell just as he did when the evil angels were cast out of heaven into hell. Then you saw a glimpse of the gold colors of heaven where a wedding banquet place has been prepared for My faithful to come. Rejoice in these end time readings that you proclaim in your talks because these events are about to begin.”

Prayer Group:
Jesus said: “My people, you have just celebrated My feast of ‘Christ the King’ and you honor Me as King and Creator of the universe. The second vision is about My Kingship on My throne as a judge over good and evil. My sickle is harvesting the wheat of My faithful who are to be stored in My barn of heaven. My angels will gather the grapes of the earth with their sharp sickle and the evil souls will go into the winepress of hell. Keep your souls pure with frequent Confession, and you will be ready to meet Me at your judgment.”

Jesus said: “My people, this year has been proclaimed the year of ‘Faith’, and it will be honored in various ways in the celebrations of My Church. Faith is a great gift by which you come to believe in Me. The basics of faith are in your Apostle’s Creed, but the love for Me in your heart is how you grow closer to Me. Keep humble in your little faith as you remember Me in your daily prayers.”

Jesus said: “My people, during your life I give every soul many opportunities to come to know, love, and serve Me. I am your Master and Creator, but I cannot come into your soul unless you unlock the door from the inside so I can enter. Once you accept Me, I want you to give your free will over to My Divine Will so you can accomplish the unique mission that I have given you. By carrying out your mission, you are adding to My greater glory.”

Jesus said: “My people, you know how important it is for people of the earth to have enough fresh water to survive. There are some people and factories that are polluting your water which will take various expensive means to purify it again for drinking purposes. Rain is another means of obtaining pure water, but it is hard to capture when it does not rain much. Your people will have pure water at all of My refuges. It may be prudent to store some pure water for the coming famines and droughts.”

Jesus said: “My people, your doctors are growing more concerned over hundreds of cases of viruses that are resistant to antibiotics. Most of these patients are dying if they cannot develop enough antibodies to fight this disease. Another dreaded new disease is a new strain of bird flu that is contagious and deadly. This could cause a pandemic virus that could kill millions of people. I have warned My people when you see many people dying, that you should leave for the protection of My refuges where you can look on My luminous cross or drink the healing spring water to be healed. Trust in Me and I will protect you from physical and spiritual harm.”

Jesus said: “My people, My Church gives you Advent and Lent to help you improve your spiritual life. Advent should be a time of prayer, Confession, and Mass to help purify your soul to celebrate My feast of Christmas. Pick up an Advent book at your church so you can have a daily meditation for each day of Advent. These prayerful seasons will help renew the love that you have for both Me and your neighbor.”

Jesus said: “My people, I want to give some words of consolation for Sol’s mourning wife, Judy, when he died. Sol was a gracious man, and I am pleased with his many acts of charity. The expression on his face was one of shock at seeing the end of his life when he was not expecting it. He is in purgatory, and he is in need of some Masses and prayers for his soul. He was sorry to have to leave his wife behind as they were preparing a large refuge. He loves his wife and family dearly, and he will be watching over Judy with his prayers. I ask her friends to pray for her work, and give what time you can to help her and comfort her in her loss.”

http://www.johnleary.com/index.php/2012/12/29/thursday-november-29-2012/

Friday 28 December 2012

A 12-21-2012 Post-Mayan Calendar Apocalyptic Message, A Christmas Gift of Meditation and Sense-IT-tivity

 

The "final" five-day weather report for December 17 through December 21, 2012.

Friends,
The best thing I could say about the Mayan Calendar purportedly rebooting on this Friday’s winter solstice was said and documented exactly one year before as a chapter in Predictions for 2012. It described the astrological doings on that day and how it might color the mood of the masses expecting something, or nothing to happen on 21 December 2012. Today’s article will begin with sharing the complete chapter with you all. Then a comment or two about the newest wave of unemployment coming. Not from the venial fecal-ity of politicians letting the US go over the Fiscal Cliff. That will be a big topic in my newest almanac of forecasts about the New Year: click on Predictions for 2013. No, today I’m going to put out a challenge to all those Twenty-Twelver gurus and “experts” who made a New Age living for 25 years. It was mostly a send-up, trying to one-up the myths projected initially by the late, Minnesota-born, Mayan reincarnated, man-made-into-Maya-God-of-earth-and-drums, Jose Arguelles, on the poor Maya and their Meso-Native American Calendar by mostly Gringos from north of the Mexican border that are now soon to be out of a job. What will they do now? Finally, I received a number of thought-provoking comments from those of you who have checked out my interview with George Noory of Coast to Coast AM released this Friday on Gaiam TV. It stimulated quite a response from inside of me and coined a new Hogueism.

But first, here’s an excerpt of text published exactly 365 days before the Mayan Calendar turned this Friday:

***

Click on the cover to read more.

CHAPTER 9

12-21-2012

Drum it out, reader – the tempo of 2012:

One, two-two, one. One-one, two… (12/21/12)
One, two-two, one. One-one, two… (12/21/12)

Bridge the beat by including the whole year’s number:

One, two-two, one. Two-ott-one-two… (12/21/2012)
One, two-two, one. Two-ott-one-two… (12/21/2012)

OK, Ringo Star gazers, close it with a European Calendrical flourish:

Two-ONE-one-two. TWO-ott-one two! (21/12/2012)

My 2011 New Year’s resolution is to compose a tune based on this rhythm, with my music collaborator, Talia Toni Marcus’ help.

Seven billion songs can be written solo or in collaboration with others. We can all play and sing our tunes to the skies on Winter Solstice Day 2012, celebrating life, celebrating the discomfort of birth, leaving comfort behind altogether for all seeking of comfort is an attempt to hold onto a past that is dying as new adventures in human evole-revolution now gain pace.

The winter solstice of 2012 isn’t the end of time but the end of year one of a final, five-year travail. 2012 will light the match of a great purification, where one Mayan-counted age is immolated and out of its ashes, the Phoenix of a new five-millennia Mayan age has completely emerged from the vagina of vaticination.

The astrology for 21 December 2012 has some significant astrological aspects warranting a single chapter dedicated to one of 365 days of 2012. Come hither and “yod” to a rare astrological configuration on the first winter night when we sing and drumbeat our songs. A Yod happens when a planet lines up in two quincunx aspects, 150 degrees each to two other planets – sort of like making a “Y” on an astrological wheel chart. The horns points of the “Y” if you like form when two planets are in sextile (a 60 degree aspect wherein positive opportunities and good ideas are possible). Though these planets are in positive potential play, they are incompatible with the planet in a quincunx stem of the configuration because; at its 150-degree variance, this planet neither matches the compatibility of signs, genders nor the element of the two sextiled planets. In short, a Yod is an aspect revealing how positive ideas and potentials struggle with that which is alien to them.

On 21 December 2012, Jupiter (the planet of expansion and/or self-righteousness) is in a Yod quincunx with Pluto (zeitgeist ruler of transformation or degeneration of an age) and Saturn (the limitator, repressor or compassionate reality giver, i.e., the teacher). Influencing this Yod of Jupiter with Pluto and Saturn, is an opposition Venus with Jupiter. Venus is in turn conjoins Mercury.

In layman’s terms, the higher mind and expansion planet (Jupiter) is in a tug-of-war with how to relate and inspire its higher mindedness (Venus-Mercury). Thus, Jupiter is blocked to this potential and is running that stuck state down the Yodding conduit to Pluto (age definer), in Capricorn (establishment authority, structure, business, order) and Saturn (reality giver and what restricts). Thus on 21 December 2012, the winter solstice moment is not going to awaken the world in a contact enlightened high. It will express a collective, deeply confused feeling about how to relate and what to relate as a solution to an uncertain future.

Saturn on 21 December 2012 will be in Scorpio, the sign of desires, sex (life force – its use or misuse). In this sign of death and rebirth, Saturn will be the one who has to cut the crap of systemic flaws in Pluto-Capricorn and teach civilization new ways based on earthy, practical world realities. Saturn is karmic accountant wearing shades and back in black leather, saying, “Stop looking for pies in the friggin’ skies and get real about your financial responsibilities, your business affairs, corporate resources, how to generate new revenues (that means TAXES boobie) and account for yourselves.

However, to do this, Saturn is being blocked by a climate of self-righteousness, religious and economic urges to extremism, faith based economic and political philosophies, medieval in their anti-scientism. It sort of sounds like our current stable of world leaders and economists who seem tone deaf to climate and economic changes and the millions crowding the streets of the world demanding new directions and fairness in their dealing and doling out shared Saturnine sacrifices.

December 2012 doesn’t look good for the global economy. This time the Cold Depression could glow hot in many regions of the world – in the US, in Europe especially. Jupiter is the focal point of change. It is afflicted, however, so this means change is afflicted and it is a most difficult thing to bring about in December 2012 onwards into 2013 because of this Yod on the Winter solstice birthday of 2013. It becomes a defining natal aspect in the birth chart of the 365 day long life of the year 2013.

On the winter solstice of 2012, history goes on without this Pollyanna lift in consciousness New Age oddities seem to think can happen like a marijuana contact high just because an alignment of the Sun and Earth with Galactic Center makes it so. The Yod that night maps out in the skies for us in 2013 the Himalayan task wherein evolution isn’t a contact high. Enlightenment of this civilization isn’t just going to happen because you have fixated on the mind drug of smiling hope-iates. The lifting of consciousness must be earned, one individual at a time and the only time is right now. You don’t wait for someone else to blow enlightenment in your face. Contact highs come from outside yourself. Enlightenment wells from inside.

Keep reading..

http://www.hogueprophecy.com/2012/12/a-12-21-2012-post-mayan-calendar-apocalyptic-message-a-christmas-gift-of-meditation-and-sense-it-tivity/

The Great Tribulation

 

The Great TribulationIn this 13-part series, author Robert Reiland, reveals the hidden mysteries of what really took place in Jerusalem during the days of Yeshua, and the laws by which he faithfully lived – and died.

His views will not be the ones you would expect to hear from the pulpit. This is because his book represents decades of impartial research. Robert followed the truth where it lead him and in the process, deepened his own relationship with God and in ways he could have never imagined.

Why is this knowledge important? Because to this day, it remains an ancient and powerful force of history. Yes, the very one driving today’s headlines, as events unfold in the Middle East.

This is why the goal of this series is to bring Christians and Jews together with a shared sense of history, purpose and commitment to Messiah. GO

The post The Great Tribulation appeared first on 2012 and Planet X News Blog.

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/2012AndPlanetXNewsBlog/~3/bZpz-X5GjSQ/1539

Saturday 22 December 2012

Christmas carols.

 

This is what the Elf (Seasonal) and safety executive have to say about them.

WHILE SHEPHERDS WATCHED
“While shepherds watched their flocks by night
All seated on the ground,
The Angel of the Lord came down,
And Glory shone around.”

The Union of Shepherds has complained that it breaches Health and Safety Regulations to insist the shepherds watch their flocks without appropriate seating arrangements being provided. Therefore, benches, stools and orthopaedic chairs must be available. Shepherds have also requested that, due to inclement weather they should watch their flocks via CCTV cameras in centrally heated shepherd observation huts. The Angel of the Lord is reminded that before shining his/her Glory all around, the shepherds must be issued with glasses capable of filtering out any harmful effects of UVA, UVB and Glory lighting.

LITTLE DONKEY
“Little donkey, little donkey on the dusty road,
Got to keep on plodding onwards, with your precious load.”

The RSPCA has issued strict guidelines with regard to how heavy a load a donkey of small stature is permitted to carry. Also in the guidelines are permitted feeding breaks, and at least one rest break in a four-hour plodding period (A Tachograph must be fitted). Due to the risk of pollution from the dusty road, Mary & Joseph are required to wear facemasks. The ‘Little Donkey’ has expressed his discomfort as being labelled ‘Little’ and would prefer to being simply referred to as ‘Mr Donkey’. Comments upon his height or otherwise are considered to be a breach of his equine rights.

WE THREE KINGS
“We three Kings of Orient are, Bearing gifts we traverse afar, Field and fountain, Moor and Mountain, Following yonder star. ”

Whilst the gift of Gold is still considered acceptable – as it may be redeemed at a later date through such organisations as ‘Cash4Gold’ etc – gifts of Frankincense and Myrrh are not appropriate due to the risk of oils and fragrances causing allergic reactions. An acceptable alternative might be a gift voucher. It is not recommended that traversing Kings should rely on star navigation, and would advise the use of AA Routefinder or Sat Nav. Both can provide the quickest route and advise on fuel consumption. As in the case of Mr Donkey, the three camels require regular rest and food breaks and facemasks for the three Kings are obligatory due to the likelihood of desert dust disturbed by the camel hooves.

THE ROCKING CAROL
“Little Jesus sweetly sleep, do not stir, We will lend a coat of fur, We will rock you, rock you, rock you, We will rock you, rock you, rock you, ”

Fur is no longer appropriate wear for small infants due to the risk of allergy and for ethical reasons. Therefore, false fur, a cellular blanket or, perhaps, micro-fleece material should be considered alternatives. Please note that, only persons who have been subject to a Criminal Records (CRB) bureau check and have enhanced clearance will be permitted to rock Baby Jesus. Persons must carry their CRB disclosure at all times and be prepared to provide three forms of identification before any rocking commences.

JINGLE BELLS
“Dashing through the snow on a one-horse open sleigh,
Over fields we go – laughing all the way.

A Risk Assessment must be submitted before an open sleigh is considered safe for members of the public to ride. The Risk Assessment should also consider whether the use of only one horse in appropriate – particularly if passengers are of larger proportions. Permission from landowners must be gained before entering any ‘Open Fields’. To avoid offending those not participating in the venture, it is required that only ‘moderate’ laughter is used and not at a noise level likely to be of nuisance to others.

RUDOLPH THE RED NOSED REINDEER
“Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, had a very shiny nose,
And if you ever saw it, you would even say it glows,
All of the other reindeer used to laugh and call him names, They never let poor Rudolph join in any reindeer games. ”

You are advised that, under the Equal Opportunities Policy, it is inappropriate for persons to make comment upon the ruddiness of Mr R Reindeer. Name-calling contravenes our Anti-Bullying policy, and further to this, the exclusion of Mr R Reindeer from any reindeer games will be considered discriminatory and disciplinary action will be taken against anyone found guilty of this offence. A full investigation will be implemented, leading to imposing sanctions such as a ban from hanging up stockings or enjoying Christmas dinner.

AWAY IN A MANGER
“Away in a manger – no crib for a bed … ”

Refer to Social Services immediately

http://niklowe.blogspot.com/2012/12/christmas-carols.html

Friday 21 December 2012

Agenda 21... Water As A Weapon - Public Extermination Project

 

water-depopulation

In August of 2004, quietly and without fanfare, an article was published on the Los Angeles Independent Media website revealing a plan by the U.S. government to depopulate the country via the water system. ~ Janet C. Phelan - Photos

read more

http://www.knowthelies.com/node/8497

Wednesday 19 December 2012

GOD DWELLETH WITHIN A THICK DARKNESS: Proof of Heaven?

 

Neurosurgean Dr. Eban Alexander had a profound experience of being in heaven while he was brain-dead. He miraculously recovered and wrote about his experience in the book "Proof of Heaven." In it, he describes encountering God in a thick darkness. Now, this sounds very odd, however, there are many passages of Scripture that describe God dwelling in a thick or deep darkness. Here are some of them:

And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was. (Exodus 20:21)

And He [God] made darkness pavilions round about him, dark waters, and thick clouds of the skies. (2 Samuel 22:12)

He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies. (Psalm 18:11)

Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne. (Psalm 97:2)

Then spake Solomon, The Lord said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. ( 1Samuel 22:12, 2 Chronicles 6:1)

Other Scriptures such as 1 Timothy 6:15-16 speak of God dwelling in light.

The Hebrew word here for "darkness" is araphel-which means, "cloud, heavy cloud, gloom, gloomy, thick darkness."

Now, why would God "dwell in a deep darkness"? Well, in both the Hebrew and ancient Egyptian Temples, the inner sanctum, or "Holy of Holies" was not well lit. It was a very dark chamber. Also, smoke from the incense altars and the smoke from the sacrifices filled the Temple.

However, at the theophany at Mount Sinai, where God appeared to Moses and the Israelites, there was this "thick darkness" within which God appeared.

A SCIENTIST'S CASE FOR THE AFTERLIFE

Thousands of people have had near-death experiences, but scientists have argued that they are impossible. Dr. Eben Alexander was one of those scientists. A highly trained neurosurgeon, Alexander knew that NDEs feel real, but are simply fantasies produced by brains under extreme stress.

Then, Dr. Alexander's own brain was attacked by a rare illness. The part of the brain that controls thought and emotion—and in essence makes us human—shut down completely. For seven days he lay in a coma. Then, as his doctors considered stopping treatment, Alexander's eyes popped open. He had come back.

Alexander's recovery is a medical miracle. But the real miracle of his story lies elsewhere. While his body lay in coma, Alexander journeyed beyond this world and encountered an angelic being who guided him into the deepest realms of super-physical existence. There he met, and spoke with, the Divine source of the universe itself.

Alexander's story is not a fantasy. Before he underwent his journey, he could not reconcile his knowledge of neuroscience with any belief in heaven, God, or the soul. Today Alexander is a doctor who believes that true health can be achieved only when we realize that God and the soul are real and that death is not the end of personal existence but only a transition.

This story would be remarkable no matter who it happened to. That it happened to Dr. Alexander makes it revolutionary. No scientist or person of faith will be able to ignore it. Reading it will change your life.

Keep Reading…

http://aramaicherald.blogspot.com/2012/12/god-dwelleth-within-thick-darkness.html

Revelation 13:14 - The Constructed Image of the Beast

 

18 December 2012: One of the things in Revelation 13:14-15 that has always fascinated me is the God-breathed prophecy that the second beast, the False Prophet, will instruct mankind that they should construct an image of the first beast, the Antichrist.

"And he deceives those who dwell on the earth by those signs which he was granted to do in the sight of the beast, telling those who dwell on the earth to make an image to the beast who was wounded by the sword and lived. He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed."

To be continued...

http://eschatologytoday.blogspot.com/2012/12/revelation-1314-constructed-image-of.html

Tuesday 18 December 2012

LIBOR Scandal – Fathers of Shooters Adam Lanza & James Holmes

 

The father of Connecticut school shooter Adam Lanza, Peter Lanza, was the tax director for General Electric, a corporation that paid -0- taxes on 14.2 billion dollars in profits last year. According to Fabian4Liberty, Peter Lanza was scheduled to testify in the ongoing global LIBOR scandal. In what could only be described an amazing coincidence, the father of Colorado Batman shooter James Holmes, Robert Holmes, was also a LIBOR witness in his position with FICO. According to the link at FICO, Robert Holmes was a ‘Fraud Scientist’.
From Fabain4Liberty:
The father of Newtown Connecticut school shooter Adam Lanza is Peter Lanza who is a VP and Tax Director at GE Financial. The father of Aurora Colorado movie theater shooter James Holmes is Robert Holmes, the lead scientist for the credit score company FICO. Both men were to testify before the US Sentate in the ongoing LIBOR scandal. The London Interbank Offered Rate, known as Libor, is the average interest rate at which banks can borrow from each other. 16 international banks have been implicated in this ongoing scandal, accused of rigging contracts worth trillions of dollars. HSBC has already been fined $1.9 billion and three of their low level traders arrested.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have a motive and a link. This coincidence is impossible to overlook. Two mass shootings connected to LIBOR.

See more here

http://www.greattrib.com/deception/libor-scandal-fathers-shooters-adam-lanza-james-holmes

Monday 17 December 2012

2012, Mayan Calendar, Fox News Hogue Blackout, US Winter Drought, Typhoon Bopha, Syria, Mabus in Palestine, and the Egypt Revolution – Oh Morsi, Morsi, Me!

 

Friends,
Somebody the other day joked that the “H” in History Channel’s logo ought to stand for “Hogue” Channel these days, as the five documentaries I have filmed for History (International), Canada’s Vision TV (I Prophesy) and National Geographic are all piling up on air. Lately, in the last few days, I walk into my little village on an island in the dewy, drizzly, often global warmed and windy Pacific Northwest to do chores after marathon writing sessions. Villagers and strangers on average now stop me seven times each day usually declaring: “I saw you on TV! What is going to happen on 21 December???”

The Earth orbiting an expanding Sun in the distant future. Astronomers say this will happen several billion years from now. Nostradamus says in less than 1,800 years. (Still from Terrence Malick's movie, "Tree of Life".

I scarcely have time to look at the two episodes of History 2’s Countdown to Apocalypse upon which my furry owlish, talking head is lunging its prodigious forehead forward for emphasis whilst Hogue-ish hands are conducting Hoguisms emanating in an smooth and aesthetically operatic baritone out of a less-than aesthetic snaggle toothed pie hole. There will be new episodes popping up across North America in the weeks to come. I had no time to watch them last night (Sunday). I was trying to figure out how I could “Mayan-ize” my face to replace the center Maya godhead in the wheel of the Mayan Calendar – a concept I am designing for the cover of my 21st book Nostradamus 2012 – The End of End Times, coming out very soon, because the end of the world is coming. According to Nostradamus, I only have exactly 1,785 years left before the Sun devours the Earth like in Terrence Malick’s Tree of Life.

Yes! There have not been a lot of blogs and articles on Hogueprophecy of late. The reason being, I am flooding most of my energies into writing on average 5,000 words a day since the last posting on 16 November (click on Obama Mabus) in an attempt to bring out the above book, my last word on the 2012 phenomenon: myths, warts and all. It was originally going to be 20,000 words. It is now 50,000 words and counting. When it is finished it will be around 62,000 words, I think. Do not trust me on that. I may be often accurate in my forecasts about future trends but I am terrible at forecasting how long my books will become or when they will be available. For instance, I planned to begin downloads of Nostradamus 2012, the End of End Times, starting 19 December (Pacific Time) to all those of you who helped Hogueprophecy keep going by advance donating for it. Now it looks like I will get it out before Christmas. It is well worth the wait, because I am very excited about the content as it is developing and expanding. It will give my readers a comprehensive idea how much bigger and longer in duration of the rebooting of ages is and how many more time clocks of the ancients are literally crowding little 2012 off the stage.

John Hogue in a still from Vision TV's new series, "I Prophesy".

It does not matter the least that this book comes out before or on the much-ballyhooed new candidate for millennium fever, the upcoming winter solstice of this year. It is said to mark the moment when the most accurate calendar of the ancients reboots a 13 baktun Long Count of 5,125 years that either gamma rays you all with an unearned and mostly unsought for collective enlightenment beamed in from Galactic Center; or, the gamma rays just fry all life on Earth out of existence.

My work deals with prophetic realities not New Age sewage. If my interpretations of Nostradamus, the Maya and a dozen other rebooting calendrical prophetic systems of the Ancients are correct the death and transfiguration of civilization and the world is a show that has just begun and is not ending on 12/21/12.

History is indeed quickening. The explosive events on many prophetic fronts appearing since my last Hogueprophecy posting on 16 November are a testament to that. I do not have much time to write about this right now. Yet, these developments in Egypt, Syria, the deepening US Drought, the observer nation status of Palestine bringing an old candidate for Nostradamus’ 3rd Antichrist, Abu Mazen (aka Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas) back into prominence need some commentary from me and my oracle. That includes Hillary Clinton coming back into Presidential Destiny’s box too, and let us not forget terrible Typhoon Bopha. Thus I have to leave the Maya – and the illusory “maya” about the Maya Calendar – for a moment and give you a pithy Pythian account of these headlines:

Egyptian President Morsi "morphing" into deposed President Mubarak.

DATELINE:
09 December 2012

Egyptian President at the “Morsi” of Mass Protesting mobs

Out of the falafel frying bread pan into the chickpea fire goes the newly elected President of Egypt Muhammad Morsi after he successfully refereed a quick cessation of the Gaza War with Israel a few weeks ago. Bolstered by his bigheaded success, he came home to Cairo, declared himself a sort of autocratic pharaoh, giving himself sweeping enabling emergency powers. Within hours of his shocking announcement Tahrir Square, the navel and womb of the Egyptian Revolution during the Arab Spring of 2011 filled with hundreds of thousands of moderate religious and secular Egyptians protesting that this former leader of the Islamic Brotherhood was making an Islamo-Fascist move on efforts to author a new Egyptian constitution.

Morsi no! said Morsi. He claimed (as Hitler did to the German people) that he would surrender these absolute powers once the committees set to author the new Egyptian Constitutions had drafted it for a referendum vote of the people, scheduled for next week.

Sneaky fellow is Morsi. His Muslim Brother-Hoods dominate these editorial committees. The constitution presented for a vote will be Islamist. Morsi’s mafia thinks they have drafted a constitution the people of Egypt “cannot refuse.” A national boycott of the vote is in the works; however, that works in the favor of Morsi and his Islamists. A low voter turnout of the majority of secular and moderate Muslim Egyptians would give the minority backers of the Islamic Brotherhood a majority vote next week.

Tahrir Square, Cairo, February 2011.

Keep Reading:

http://www.hogueprophecy.com/2012/12/2012-mayan-calendar-fox-news-hogue-blackout-us-winter-drought-typhoon-bopha-syria-mabus-in-palestine-and-the-egypt-revolution-oh-morsi-morsi-me/

Saturday 15 December 2012

The Books Between the Books

 

Hanukkah, Maccabees and Jewish Literature written between the Old and New Testaments

The Canons of Scripture

Please view this interactive chart from Bible Study Magazine (Volume 1, Issue 1, November/December 2008). "What's In Your Bible?" by Vincent Setterholm.

<a href="http://www.biblestudymagazine.com/interactive/canon/"><img src="http://www.biblestudymagazine.com/images/canonthumb.jpg" alt="What's in Your Bible? Find out at BibleStudyMagazine.com" border="0" title="What's in Your Bible? Find out at BibleStudyMagazine.com" /></a>

(Or go to a search engine and input "Bible Study Magazine, Ethiopian, Syriac, Canon" and it should come up. A similar chart can be found at Wikipedia under "Bible Canon." )

Issues surrounding the Canon, or Canon's of Scripture are dealt with in my book "The Hammer of God: The Stories of Judah Maccabee and Charles Martel" and in "The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible."

Setterholm lists six "canons of Scripture" these being: Samaritan, Hebrew, Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Syriac, Ethiopian, Protestant.

It could be argued that there are Twelve Canon of Scripture:

Hebrew

  1. Samaritan
  2. Jewish

Western Tradition

  1. Roman Catholic
  2. Protestant

Eastern Orthodox

  1. Greek Orthodox
  2. Slavonic Orthodox
  3. Georgian Orthodox

Oriental Orthodox

  1. Armenian
  2. Syriac Orthodox
  3. Coptic
  4. Ethiopic

Nestorian

  1. Assyrian Church of the East

The Greek should probably clarify that the Greek Orthodox Canon of Scripture was preceded by the Hellenistic Jewish Canon of Scripture.

The Canon of Scripture was set later than people might imagine. Scholars believe that the community that produced the Dead Sea Scrolls most likely thought of Tobit and Enoch as being part of the Bible. There is a tradition of a counsel of Jamnia of Jewish sages that set the Hebrew Canon of Scripture at 90 AD. I t is now questioned whether such a counsel ever took place. The Jews did claim that the Bible was composed of 22 books. How did they get 22 books out of 39? They did this by counting 1-2 Samuel as one book (they did the same with Kings and Chronicles) and counting the 12 "minor" (meaning shorter) prophets as one book and such techniques.

In 325 AD, the Canon of the New Testament still wasn't set as is demonstrated by "Codex Siniaticus" which is one of the 50 quality Bibles commissioned by Emperor Constantine. It includes "The Epistle of Barnabas" and "The Shepherd of Hermes."

The question of a Canon of Scripture arose due to the church reacting against a form of extreme anti-Semitism preached by a man named Marcion. He rewrote the Gospel of Luke, removing what he viewed as its Jewish elements, and the accepted 10 epistles of Paul-also edited to remove its Jewish content. He made his Bible in the year 140.

Marcion viewed the God of the Old Testament as a false god and rejected the Old Testament. The church affirmed the Old Testament and defended the Jewish components of the New Testament.

The first books canonized by Christians were the four Gospels-the rest of the New Testament was "Deutero-Canonical" meaning canonized later.

Early Lists of the Canon:

Muratorian fragment (very early-perhaps 200 AD)

Eusebius includes a list of New Testament books-but at his time the Canon had not yet been set. Among the "disputed books" were the Didache, the Epistle of Barnabas, 2-3 John, 2 Peter, Jude and Revelation. So we see that certain of the "disputed books" made it into the New Testament while others did not.

Paschal Letter of Athanasius 367 AD-the first complete list of the books currently included in the New Testament.

The Assyrian Church of the East-uses 2 Peter, 2, 3 John and Revelation-but has never officially included them in the Canon of Scripture.

The Apocrypha

It should be noted that the Apocrypha is not Roman Catholic Literature-it is ancient Jewish literature. In fact, it is important Jewish literature that wasn't preserved by Jews but by Christians.

Saint Jerome coined the term "apocrypha" to designate the books included in the Christian Old Testament but not included in the Jewish Canon of Scripture. (Jerome studied Hebrew from Jewish rabbis and translated the Latin Vulgate directly from the Hebrew-instead of from the Greek Version. For the Apocryphal books, Jerome usually claims to have found an Aramaic or Hebrew version of these books, which may still have existed at his time but, with the exception of some books found among the Dead Sea Scrolls, are now lost.) Starting with Martin Luther, Protestants began using the Jewish Canon of Scripture and placed the Apocryphal books in their own section between the Old and New Testaments. The King James Bible originally included the Apocrypha.

Until the Protestant Reformation, Maccabees, and other apocryphal books, were thought of as part of the Old Testament. In fact, the Book of Maccabees was one of the more popular books of the Old Testament. Judah Maccabee was thought of as an Old Testament hero, along with Abraham, Moses, and King David.

The Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical Books

Tobit

Jubith

Extended Version of Esther

Wisdom of Solomon

Jesus Sirach (Ecclesiasticus)

Baruch

Letter of Jeremiah

Additions to Daniel (Prayer of the Shadrack, Meshack and Abednego, Susanna and Bel and the Dragon)

1Maccabees

2 Maccabees

Greek Orthodox

Prayer of Manasseh

Psalm 151

1 Esdras

3 Maccabees

4 Maccabees

(Slavonic Orthodox add-2 and 3 Esdras)

In this lecture we will examine these books 1-4 Maccabees, Tobit, Jesus Sirach, Esdras, and Enoch.

Maccabees:

Judah Maccabee was most likely an Aramaic speaker. But scholars examining the texts believe that 1 Maccabees was originally composed in Hebrew. Why was it written in Hebrew instead of the more common vernacular of Aramaic? Because the writer most likely intended for it to be or hoped that it would be included in the Old Testament. Why didn't this happen? Well, it did-in Greek translation for the Catholic and Orthodox Canons. The Jews ultimately rejected it for the following reasons:

Judah Maccabee was a Jewish hero-but there was controversy about his successors-his brothers and nephews. They established the Hasmonean Dynasty-which produced rulers who were controversial and hellenistic. No copy of Maccabees was found among the Dead Sea Scrolls-most likely because the that community was anti-establishment that rejected the Jerusalem priesthood-with whom the Hasmoneans had connections. Also, King Herod Agrippa 1 & 2 were descended from a Hasmonean princess.

After the failure of the Jewish War, the Bar Kochba Revolt and a Jewish war between them, perhaps the Jews wanted to de-emphasize a militaristic hero-hence the focus of the Hanukkah celebration becoming a manufactured legend about oil miraculously lasting for eight days rather than the military victories it was originally established to commemorate.

Tobit

Copies of Tobit have been found among the Dead Sea Scrolls in Hebrew and Aramaic. It was supposed that it was originally written in Aramaic but translated into the Sacred Tongue of Hebrew. I think that this is most likely. Others believe that it was originally written in Hebrew and that the Aramaic Versions are Targumim.

The story of Tobit is set in Assyria and tells the story of an Israelite (not Judean) exile there.

Jesus Sirach

This book is also known as Ecceliasticus. It is a book of collections of proverbs similar to Ecclesiastes but longer. It was written in Hebrew. All we had was the Greek versions (and other translations from the Greek) until the original Hebrew was found at the Cairo Genizeh, the Dead Sea Scrolls and at Masada.

Some people claim that there are several allusions to the Wisdom of Sirach in the New Testament. These include the Virgin Mary's magnificat in Luke 1:52 following Sirach 10:14; the description of the seed in Mark 4:5,16-17 following Sirach 40:15, Christ's statement in Matthew 7:16,20 following Sirach 27:6 and James 1:19 quoting Sirach 5:11.

The distinguished patristic scholar Henry Chadwick has claimed that in Matthew 11:28 Jesus was directly quoting Sirach 51:27, as well as comparing Matthew 6:12 "And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." (KJV) with Sirach 28:2 "Forgive your neighbor a wrong, and then, when you petition, your sins will be pardoned."

Sirach was written before the Maccabean Revolt. Like Hebrews 11, he gives an important overview of the Old Testament. He praises "Simon the Just" a Jewish sage who lived around 200 B.C. By his time, the Jewish practice of not uttering the Sacred Name, and the use of circumlocutions for the Name of God, had become an established tradition, and it may have been a recent development at the time.

Esdras

Esdras is a Greco-Latin variation of the name of the scribe Ezra. It is found in the titles of several books, associated with the scribe, that are in or related to the Bible. The books that are listed as "Esdras" can be a little confusing. Here is a list that illustrates that fact.

1 Esdras= Ezra

    2 Esdras=Nehemiah

    3 Esdras=Book entitled 1 Esdras in Protestant Apocryphal Canon

    4 Esdras= Book entitled 2 Esdras in Protestant Apocryphal Canon

    [4 Esdras=2 Esdras 3-14]

    [5 Esdras=2 Esdras 1-2]

    [6 Esdras=2 Esdras 15-16]

Enoch

The Epistle of Jude, the Brother of Jesus, quotes from the Book of Enoch. Some of the church fathers quoted from Enoch as if it were part of the Old Testament. Tertullian quoted from it, but mentions it is controversial and yet defends it. Fragments of a Greek edition of the Book of Enoch has been preserved. The Ethiopian Coptic Church preserved the complete book of Enoch and it is the only complete version. The Ethiopians hold Enoch as Canonical. Large fragments of Enoch, in Aramaic, have been found among the Dead Sea Scrolls and it seems that the community that produced the Dead Sea Scrolls held Enoch to be canonical. There are stories that a complete copy of the Book of Enoch found among the Dead Sea Scrolls is being held by a private collector.

The Book of Enoch has several parts-the two important parts are "the Book of Giants" and "The Book of Similitudes."

The Book of Giants tells the story of the Nephalim, the offspring of fallen angels and human women. This story is alluded to in Genesis and is interpreted in a variety of ways.

The Book of Similtudes has not (yet) been found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. It contains messianic prophecies about the coming of the Son of Man. Some believe that these prophecies seem to be of Jesus Christ so some have argued that perhaps these passages were added by a later Jewish Christian hand, but scholars who have devoted themselves to the study of the Book of Enoch believe that these prophecies are part of the original Book of Enoch and are pre-Christian.

The Dead Sea Scrolls and the Gabriel Stone

The Dead Sea Scrolls date from 250 BC until 70 AD. They seem to have been produced by a distinct Jewish sect that called themselves the "Yahad."

To read the Dead Sea Scrolls, I recommend "The Dead Sea Scrolls Bible" and "The Complete Dead Sea Scrolls" by Martinez. It is probably next to impossible to collect the complete Dead Sea Scrolls, since there are many scattered fragments, but the Martinez version is the most exhaustive and useful version I have found.

The Dead Sea Scroll Stone contains Hebrew words written, not engraved, upon a stone, it is called the "Gabriel Prophecy" and seems to contain a prophecy of the Messiah dying and rising on the third day.

New Testament Apocrypha

The Diatesseron of Tatian

The Gospel of Thomas

The Doctrine of Addai

The Didache

Barnabas

The Book of Enoch

Second Esdras

The Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs

Papias

Hegissipus

The Odes of Solomon

The Revelation of Elschai

The Ascents of James

For more information:

The most complete collection of Extra-biblical writings is "Old Testament Pseudo-pigrapha" (Pseudopigrapha means "false writings" ) which comes in two volumes by James H. Charlesworth.

I would recommend the purchase of a Bible, preferably a Study Bible that includes the Apocrypha between the Old and New Testaments. Certain editions of the 400th year commemorative edition of the King James Bible include the Apocrypha. Also, one could purchase a Roman Catholic or Eastern Orthodox version of the Holy Bible, such as the Jerusalem Bible.

The Question of Canonicity

The word "canon" comes from the Greek word for "reed" or "rod," used as a straight edge or ruler for measurement. Since the books of the Holy Bible were regarded as the rule of truth and faith, the word "canon" came to be used to designate that Rule that was written. In biblical studies when we talk about a "canon," we mean the list of books that a community considers both authoritative and inspired. Thus, the adjective "Canonical" came to be applied to a book included in the Canon of Scripture. Canonical books form the standard against which other writings, doctrines and practices are measured.

The ancient Jews had two sets of canon of the Old Testament-one held by the Jews who lived in the land of Israel the other was held by the Alexandrian Jews and other members of mostly Greek-speaking Jews of the Diaspora. The Jewish people who lived in the Holy Land spoke Hebrew and Aramaic. Most Jews that lived outside of the Holy Land spoke only Greek. Therefore, it became necessary for the Greek speaking Jews to translate the Old Testament into Greek so that they could read and understand the Holy Bible. The early church canonized the Greek Version of the Old Testament that is called the Septuagint. (The Septuagint is a Jewish translation and is pre-Christian. It was translated from Hebrew manuscripts older than any we possess today. The Dead Sea Scrolls have shown that in certain places, the Septuagint has preserved the original reading of the Hebrew where the traditional Hebrew text, called the Masoretic text, has not.) Most of the Old Testament quotations found in the New Testament are from the Septuagint version of the Old Testament. (Since they quoted it as Scripture, it could be argued that the apostles and writers of the New Testament recognized the Septuagint as being divinely inspired.) When the church accepted the Septuagint as scriptural all the books in the Septuagint were canonized. This included the books we now call the Apocrypha. These books had come to be universally acknowledged to be part of the Old Testament by all Christians until the Protestant Reformation. (In fact, a movie version of the book of Maccabees is entitled "The Old Testament" because the story of Judah Maccabee is part of the Old Testament canon of Scripture used by Roman Catholics.) Martin Luther revised the canon and removed these books from their canonical status. (Luther was following an earlier tradition from Saint Jerome, who recognized a distinction between the canonical and the apocryphal texts.)

The Jews of the Holy Land claimed there were twenty-two books that made up the "Tanakh," or the Old Testament. This list is actually identical to the list of 39 books that make up the Protestant Old Testament. The reason they counted 39 books as 22 is because there are 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet. So, how did they get 22 out of 39? They counted 1 and 2 Samuel as one book, 1and 2 Kings as one book, and 1 and 2 Chronicles as one book. They included Jeremiah and Lamentations as one book and Ruth as a part of Judges. They also included all the minor prophets, Hosea through Malachi, twelve books, as one book. And they included Ezra and Nehemiah as one book. (To me this seems a very artificial and inadequate way to order the Books of the Bible. "Tanakh" is not a Hebrew word. It is an abbreviation: TNK from "Torah," the Law of Moses, or the Pentateuch, meaning "five books" in Greek, being Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy, "Ketubim," meaning "the Writings," which includes Psalms and the wisdom books, and "Nebiim," meaning the Prophets. While the Jewish canon of Scripture is identical to the Protestant Old Testament, the Books are arranged differently. For example, while Malachi is the final book in the Protestant order, in the Jewish order, 2 Chronicles comes last. While the Jews of the land of Israel accepted 22 books in their canon of Scripture (39 really) the Jews of Alexandria accepted 46 books. The "extra" books are the books we know as the Apocrypha. These include Tobit, Judith, 1 and 2 Maccabees, Wisdom of Solomon, the Book of Jesus Sirach, Barak, and additions to Esther and Daniel. The books we call "Apocrypha" are called Deuterocanonical books by Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox Christians because they are included in their canon of scripture even though they were added to the canon later.

    The formation of the New Testament Canon of Scripture was a long process. The earliest official list of New Testament Scriptures was by the Anti-Semitic heretic named Marcion (circa 150 A.D.). He omitted several books in his canon and rewrote certain books of the New Testament because they were in his view too "Jewish." The Muratonian Canon is a very ancient list of the books of the New Testament that most scholars date to 170-200 A.D. The four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the thirteen epistles of Paul along with 1 Peter and 1 John were universally recognized by Christians by the year 130 A.D. and were elevated to the same level of divine inspiration as the Old Testament by the year 170 A.D. These could be considered the "Proto-canonical" books of the New Testament. The other books took a longer period of time to be universally acknowledged to be the divinely inspired Word of God by all Christians.

In 325 A.D., Eusebius dealt with the question of canonicity of the New Testament (Ecclesiastical History 3.25.1-7). He listed three types of books, those universally recognized as Scripture, those disputed and then books he listed as spurious. The disputed books were held by some Christian books to be part of the Bible, but not by others. The recognized books included Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the Acts of the Apostles, the epistles of Paul, the epistle of Peter and the epistle of John. The disputed books listed by Eusebius included Hebrews, James, 2 and 3 John, Jude, 2 Peter and Revelation. (Eusebius viewed the "Revelation" as a forgery but admitted that other Christians reckoned it as inspired Scripture.) Included with the disputed books in Eusebius's list are 1 Clement, the Didache and the Epistle of Barnabas. Other books such as the Shepherd of Hermes are listed in Eusebius's disputed list. So we see some of the disputed books eventually made it into the New Testament, but others did not. Before the close of the fifth century, the New Testament canon was not set. (It should be noted that Constantine had nothing to do with the setting of the Canon of Scripture. Neither is he responsible for many of the things he is falsely accused of. Constantine is unfairly demonized by liberals and even by some professing Chrisitans.) The Didache was considered a part of the New Testament by many of the early Christians. (Eusebius also mentions "heretical and impious books" and places the Gospel of Thomas, with which he was familiar, in that list. Speaking of the Gospel of Thomas and other "apocryphal" writings, Eusebius says of them, "Moreover, the character of the style also is far removed from apostolic usage, and the thought and purport of their contents are completely out of harmony with the true orthodoxy and clearly show themselves that they are forgeries of the heretics. For this reason they are not to be reckoned with disputed books, but are to be cast aside as altogether absurd and impious." While important, the Gospel of Thomas must be used with caution.)

    The ancient writing entitled, "The Teaching of Our Lord [Jesus] to the Gentiles given through the Twelve Apostles," is also known as the Didache, which is from the Greek word for "teaching." Many scholars date this document to around 70 A.D. Other scholars date it to as early as 50 A.D. Some date it to the early years of the second century. Those who argue for the early second century concede that it was based on much older material. The Didache is an ancient Christian teaching manual that gives basic doctrine, instructions on how to baptize and how to observe that Lord's Supper and it also contains moral instruction. The Epistle of Barnabas was written sometime between 70 AD to132 AD. The author is not the same person as the Barnabas mentioned in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles. Both of the Didache and Barnabas contain a teaching called the "Two Ways." This is a very ancient set of Christian moral instruction. In fact, a fragment of a "Two Ways Document" was discovered among the Dead Sea Scrolls (4Q473). A significant teaching of the "Two Ways Document" is the condemnation of abortion as murder. So, in two of the most ancient Christian writings we possess, writings that were once considered part of the New Testament, abortion is listed as a sin. With the Didache we have an ancient document from the first century containing the teaching of Jesus Christ and including His teaching against abortion. This doctrine is attributed to Christ and the apostles. The early church fathers, including men who personally knew the apostles, wrote that the apostolic teaching is that abortion is the taking of an innocent human life. The right to life of the unborn child and that the unborn child is a human being is an ancient and essential teaching of our Lord and Savior Jesus the Christ.

    The complete list of the canonical books of the Old and New Testaments was made at the Fourth Counsel of Rome in the year 382 under Pope Damasus. The official canon of the New Testament was set at this counsel and at the Counsel of Hippo (393), the Third Counsel of Carthage (419) and by the "Gelesian Decree" by Pope Gelasius which is dated 494-496 A.D. (Athanasius of Alexandria, a pope of the Coptic Church of Egypt, wrote a list of the Canon of Scriptures, which is identical to our own around in year 367 A.D. Athanasius lived from 293 until 373 A.D. Africa produced many leaders of the early church. This includes men like Athanasius, Tertullian of Carthage and Augustine of Hippo. This was before the rise of Islam. After Islam conquered regions of Africa, the Christians there were cut off from Europe and they struggled to survive for centuries under savage and intense persecution at the hands of the Muslims.) 2 Peter, Jude and 2 and 3rd John and Revelations were never officially canonized by the Assyrian Church of the East. These Aramaic Christians do use these books. The reason they didn't include these books in the canon was because when they set their canon, these books had not yet become universally recognized as part of the New Testament. Assyrian Bibles printed in their Aramaic language do include 2 Peter, Jude, 2 and 3 John and Revelation, although the Assyrian Church has never officially added these books to their canon of Scripture. The Syriac-Aramaic Canon of Scripture is different from what most people are familiar with. The Nov./Dec. edition of "Bible Study Magazine" has an interesting article on canonicity of Scripture. On page 47-48 there is an article entitled "What they don't tell you in church: What's in your Bible?: Jews and Christians throughout the centuries have produced bibles that vary in content and organization." This article includes a chart is a sampling of the different lists of books considered part of the Holy Bible that are used today by different ancient Christian groups (as well as the Samaritans and the Jews). The chart lists the books recognized as canonical by the Samaritans, the "Hebrew" Bible, Greek Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Syriac, Ethiopian and Protestant. The Ethiopians have the longest canon of scripture. The Syriac canon of scripture is the second to the longest. The Syriac "extra books" include 4 Maccabees, Odes of Solomon, 4 Baruch, Josephus's Jewish War, the Acts of Paul and Tekla and 3rd Epistle to the Corinthians. (The "Nestorian" (Assyrian Church of the East) canon of scripture is mentioned in The Marganitha, or "The Pearl," a concise explanation of "Nestorian" dogma.) The Ethiopian canon of Scripture includes the Book of Enoch and the Book of Jubilees, both of which were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Epistle of Jude quotes from the Book of Enoch as Scripture (Jude 14).

St. Jerome translated the Holy Bible from Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek into Latin. This Latin Bible is called the Latin Vulgate and it was received by the Roman Catholic Church as its official Bible version. It belongs to the same ancient manuscript family that the texts used to translate the King James Version are from. The Latin Vulgate and the King James Version of the Bible are very similar. St Jerome said that "the Church reads Judith, Tobit, and the books of Maccabees, but does not admit them among the canonical Scriptures." He says further that they are read "for the edification of the people, not to give authority to the doctrines of the Church." The translators of the King James Version included the Apocrypha in their translation of the Bible. Following St. Jerome's opinions, they decided to place the Apocrypha between the Old and New Testaments. Jerome maintained a distinction should be made between those books he considered canonical and the non-canonical books. This list of books is sometimes called the Apocrypha. (Saint Jerome translated the Latin Vulgate directly from ancient Hebrew texts. Like the Septuagint, the Vulgate is an important witness to the ancient text of the Old Testament. Jerome learned Hebrew and Aramaic from rabbis in the Holy Land and could speak all three languages of the Bible, Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek.)

Other features of our Bibles, such as the numbering of chapters and verses, were a much later development. In 1226 University of Paris professor Stephen Langton divided the text of the Bible into chapters. In 1551 the printer Robert Stephen (also known as Estienne or Stephanus) inserted the numbering of verses that had been formulated in 1528 by Santes Pagnini into printed Bibles. I feel many Evangelicals would do well to learn about the process of canonization and read ancient texts that help us to understand the word of the Bible, books like 1 and 2 Maccabees, instead of condemning them as "evil and demonic" without having read them.

For More Information:

Get my book "The Hammer of God: The Stories of Judah Maccabee and Charles Martel."

Stephen Andrew Missick

About the Author

Reverend Stephen Andrew Missick is the author of The Assyrian Church in the Mongol Empire, Mar Thoma: The Apostolic Foundation of the Assyrian Church in India, and Socotra: The Mysterious Island of the Church of the East which were published in the Journal of Assyrian Academic Studies (Volume XIII, No. 2, 1999, Volume XIV, No. 2, 2000 and Volume XVI No. 1, 2002). (See www.jaas.org.) He is the author of The Words of Jesus in the Original Aramaic: Discovering the Semitic Roots of Christianity, The Secret of Jabez, Saint Thaddeus and the King of Assyria, The Ascents of James: A Lost Acts of the Apostles, The Hammer of God: The Stories of Judah Maccabee and Charles Martel. He is an ordained minister of the gospel. He graduated from Sam Houston State University and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Rev. Missick has traveled extensively throughout the Middle East and has lived among the Coptic Christians in Egypt and Aramaic Christians in Syria. He also served as a soldier in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2003 and 2004. While serving as a soldier in Iraq he learned Aramaic from native Aramaic-speaking Iraqi Assyrian Christians. Rev. Missick is the writer and illustrator of the comic book "The Assyrians: The Oldest Christian People," the comic strip Chronicles: Facts from the Bible and the comic book series The Hammer of God which are available from www.comixpress.com. The Hammer of God comic book series dramatizes the stories of Judah Maccabee and Charles Martel. He has also served as a chaplain in the Army National Guard in Iraq during his second deployment in 2009 and 2010. He participated in an archeological excavation of Bethsaida in Galilee in 2011 and went on a missionary trip to Uganda in 2012.

PO Box 882, Shepherd, Texas, 77371

BLOG: www.aramaicherald.blogspot.com

YOUTUBE CHANNEL: www.youtube.com/aramaic12

King of Saints Tabernacle: Messianic Congregation

2228 FM 1725

Cleveland, TX 77328

(218)592-4104

http://aramaicherald.blogspot.com/2012/12/the-books-between-books.html

Thursday 13 December 2012

From Panzner Insights: Complacency Everywhere You Look

 

Here is a brief commentary from Panzner Insights, which I posted on Thursday:

When trying to get a handle on investor sentiment, the benchmark of choice for many market-watchers is the CBOE S&P 500 Volatility Index, or VIX. However, this popular “fear gauge” only offers a snapshot of implied volatility, or relative pricing levels, for equity index options, which might not necessarily tell us all we need to know about the mood on The Street.

In theory, stock traders could be overreacting to equity-specific developments that are not relevant to other markets.

Impliedvolatilitylow

That said, there is data that suggests the high levels of complacency in the stock market are also being seen elsewhere. As the chart shows, gauges of implied volatility levels for equity, bond, currency, gold, and oil markets are at or near multi-month lows, suggesting that “the crowd” is unanimous in its belief that nothing untoward is going to happen in the immediate future.

Should we be worried?

~~~

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/financialarmageddon/~3/zJGz-TsDUKU/from-panzner-insights-complacency-everywhere-you-look.html

Saturday 8 December 2012

The Coming Derivatives Panic That Will Destroy Global Financial Markets

 

When financial markets in the United States crash, so does the U.S. economy.  Just remember what happened back in 2008.  The financial markets crashed, the credit markets froze up, and suddenly the economy went into cardiac arrest.  Well, there are very few things that could cause the financial markets to crash harder or farther than a derivatives panic.  Sadly, most Americans don't even understand what derivatives are.  Unlike stocks and bonds, a derivative is not an investment in anything real.  Rather, a derivative is a legal bet on the future value or performance of something else.  Just like you can go to Las Vegas and bet on who will win the football games this weekend, bankers on Wall Street make trillions of dollars of bets about how interest rates will perform in the future and about what credit instruments are likely to default.  Wall Street has been transformed into a gigantic casino where people are betting on just about anything that you can imagine.  This works fine as long as there are not any wild swings in the economy and risk is managed with strict discipline, but as we have seen, there have been times when derivatives have caused massive problems in recent years.  For example, do you know why the largest insurance company in the world, AIG, crashed back in 2008 and required a government bailout?  It was because of derivatives.  Bad derivatives trades also caused the failure of MF Global, and the 6 billion dollar loss that JPMorgan Chase recently suffered because of derivatives made headlines all over the globe.  But all of those incidents were just warm up acts for the coming derivatives panic that will destroy global financial markets.  The largest casino in the history of the world is going to go "bust" and the economic fallout from the financial crash that will happen as a result will be absolutely horrific.

There is a reason why Warren Buffett once referred to derivatives as "financial weapons of mass destruction".  Nobody really knows the total value of all the derivatives that are floating around out there, but estimates place the notional value of the global derivatives market anywhere from 600 trillion dollars all the way up to 1.5 quadrillion dollars.

Keep in mind that global GDP is somewhere around 70 trillion dollars for an entire year.  So we are talking about an amount of money that is absolutely mind blowing.

So who is buying and selling all of these derivatives?

Well, would it surprise you to learn that it is mostly the biggest banks?

According to the federal government, four very large U.S. banks "represent 93% of the total banking industry notional amounts and 81% of industry net current credit exposure."

These four banks have an overwhelming share of the derivatives market in the United States.  You might not be very fond of "the too big to fail banks", but keep in mind that if a derivatives crisis were to cause them to crash and burn it would almost certainly cause the entire U.S. economy to crash and burn.  Just remember what we saw back in 2008.  What is coming is going to be even worse.

It would have been really nice if we had not allowed these banks to get so large and if we had not allowed them to make trillions of dollars of reckless bets.  But we stood aside and let it happen.  Now these banks are so important to our economic system that their destruction would also destroy the U.S. economy.  It is kind of like when cancer becomes so advanced that killing the cancer would also kill the patient.  That is essentially the situation that we are facing with these banks.

It would be hard to overstate the recklessness of these banks.  The numbers that you are about to see are absolutely jaw-dropping.  According to the Comptroller of the Currency, four of the largest U.S. banks are walking a tightrope of risk, leverage and debt when it comes to derivatives.  Just check out how exposed they are...

JPMorgan Chase

Total Assets: $1,812,837,000,000 (just over 1.8 trillion dollars)

Total Exposure To Derivatives: $69,238,349,000,000 (more than 69 trillion dollars)

Citibank

Total Assets: $1,347,841,000,000 (a bit more than 1.3 trillion dollars)

Total Exposure To Derivatives: $52,150,970,000,000 (more than 52 trillion dollars)

Bank Of America

Total Assets: $1,445,093,000,000 (a bit more than 1.4 trillion dollars)

Total Exposure To Derivatives: $44,405,372,000,000 (more than 44 trillion dollars)

Goldman Sachs

Total Assets: $114,693,000,000 (a bit more than 114 billion dollars - yes, you read that correctly)

Total Exposure To Derivatives: $41,580,395,000,000 (more than 41 trillion dollars)

That means that the total exposure that Goldman Sachs has to derivatives contracts is more than 362 times greater than their total assets.

To get a better idea of the massive amounts of money that we are talking about, just check out this excellent infographic.

How in the world could we let this happen?

And what is our financial system going to look like when this pyramid of risk comes falling down?

Our politicians put in a few new rules for derivatives, but as usual they only made things even worse.

According to Nasdaq.com, beginning next year new regulations will require derivatives traders to put up trillions of dollars to satisfy new margin requirements.

Swaps that will be allowed to remain outside clearinghouses when new rules take effect in 2013 will require traders to post $1.7 trillion to $10.2 trillion in margin, according to a report by an industry group.

The analysis from the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, using data sent in anonymously by banks, says the trillions of dollars in cash or securities will be needed in the form of so-called "initial margin." Margin is the collateral that traders need to put up to back their positions, and initial margin is money backing trades on day one, as opposed to variation margin posted over the life of a trade as it fluctuates in value.

So where in the world will all of this money come from?

Total U.S. GDP was just a shade over 15 trillion dollars last year.

Could these rules cause a sudden mass exodus that would destabilize the marketplace?

Let's hope not.

But things are definitely changing.  According to Reuters, some of the big banks are actually urging their clients to avoid new U.S. rules by funneling trades through the overseas divisions of their banks...

Wall Street banks are looking to help offshore clients sidestep new U.S. rules designed to safeguard the world's $640 trillion over-the-counter derivatives market, taking advantage of an exemption that risks undermining U.S. regulators' efforts.

U.S. banks such as Morgan Stanley (MS.N) and Goldman Sachs (GS.N) have been explaining to their foreign customers that they can for now avoid the new rules, due to take effect next month, by routing trades via the banks' overseas units, according to industry sources and presentation materials obtained by Reuters.

Unfortunately, no matter how banks respond to the new rules, it isn't going to prevent the coming derivatives panic.  At some point the music is going to stop and some big financial players are going to be completely and totally exposed.

When that happens, it might not be just the big banks that lose money.  Just take a look at what happened with MF Global.

MF Global has confessed that it "diverted money" from customer accounts that were supposed to be segregated.  A lot of customers may never get back any of the money that they invested with those crooks.  The following comes from a Huffington Post article about the MF Global debacle, and it might just be a preview of what other investors will go through in the future when a derivatives crash destroys the firms that they had their money parked with...

Last week when customers asked for excess cash from their accounts, MF Global stalled. According to a commodity fund manager I spoke with, MF Global's first stall tactic was to claim it lost wire transfer instructions. Then instead of sending an overnight check, it sent the money snail mail, including checks for hundreds of thousands of dollars. The checks bounced. After the checks bounced, the amounts were still debited from customer accounts and no one at MF Global could or would reverse the check entries. The manager has had to intervene to get MF Global to correct this.

How would you respond if your investment account suddenly went to "zero" because the firm you were investing with "diverted" customer funds for company use and now you have no way of recovering your money?

Keep an eye on the large Wall Street banks.  In a previous article, I quoted a New York Times article entitled "A Secretive Banking Elite Rules Trading in Derivatives" which described how these banks dominate the trading of derivatives...

On the third Wednesday of every month, the nine members of an elite Wall Street society gather in Midtown Manhattan.

The men share a common goal: to protect the interests of big banks in the vast market for derivatives, one of the most profitable — and controversial — fields in finance. They also share a common secret: The details of their meetings, even their identities, have been strictly confidential.

According to the article, the following large banks are represented at these meetings: JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America and Citigroup.

When the casino finally goes "bust", you will know who to blame.

Without a doubt, a derivatives panic is coming.

It will cause the financial markets to crash.

Several of the "too big to fail" banks will likely crash and burn and require bailouts.

As a result of all this, credit markets will become paralyzed by fear and freeze up.

Once again, we will see the U.S. economy go into cardiac arrest, only this time it will not be so easy to fix.

Do you agree with this analysis, or do you find it overly pessimistic?  Please feel free to post a comment with your thoughts below...

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/the-coming-derivatives-panic-that-will-destroy-global-financial-markets

Friday 7 December 2012

A SuperBug Named CRE

 

superbug-named-cre

Ever heard of ‘CRE’? Well by the sound of it, you may be hearing more about it in your future. What is it? Just an extremely deadly strain of bacteria that is entirely immune to all antibiotics on earth… The bacteria, known as Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae, or CRE, are named for their ability to fight off carbapenem antibiotics — the last line of defense in the medical community’s toolbox. And so far, they’ve emerged almost exclusively in health care facilities, picking off the weakest of patients.

The bacteria’s ability to defeat even the most potent antibiotics has conjured fears of illnesses that can’t be stopped. Death rates among patients with CRE infections can be about 40 percent, far worse than other, better-known health care infections such as MRSA or C-Diff, which have plagued hospitals and nursing homes for decades. And there are growing concerns that CRE could make its way beyond health facilities and into the general community.

http://www.thenorthwestern.com/

Research shows there have been thousands of CRE cases throughout the country in recent years. “From the perspective of drug-resistant organisms, (CRE) is the most serious threat, the most serious challenge we face to patient safety,” said Arjun Srinivasan of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

CRE infections already are endemic in several major U.S. population centers, including New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Smaller pockets of cases have been reported across much of the country, including Oregon, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and South Carolina.

There is little chance that an effective drug to kill CRE bacteria will be produced in the coming years. Manufacturers have no new antibiotics in development that show promise.

http://www.tennessean.com/

USA TODAY’s research shows there have been thousands of CRE cases throughout the country in recent years — they show up as everything from pneumonia to intestinal and urinary tract infections. “these (bacteria) are going to greatly impact the kind of surgeries (and) treatments we can have,” says a infectious-disease doctor at the University of Iowa’s Carver College of Medicine. “We’re entering the post-antibiotic era; that’s a very big problem.”

The bacteria cycle from one facility to the next — and back. “It is continually reintroduced; I don’t think it is going away,” says David Landman, an infectious-disease doctor at the State University of New York’s Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn. “You need extreme control efforts.”

The big fear is that the genes may start to convey resistance to more common strains of the bacteria, turning routine illnesses, such as urinary tract infections, into untreatable nightmares. Worst-case scenario: Resistance could move to bacteria outside of health care, so people could pick it up in the community through something as simple as a handshake.

http://www.usatoday.com/

Since we began living in the age of antibiotics, our life expectancy and population growth have exploded. The thing is, nature has a way of overcoming such obstacles, and in many ways it looks like she is making inroads. After such a long while, we begin to believe that we are indestructible and can overcome anything. While this sense of indestructibility may be part of an attitude that contributes to some success via risk taking, it can also be a weakness in that we sometimes do not effectively see the risks that are around us. The invisible ones can be the hardest to see…

Appreciate topics of survival, emergency preparedness – or planning for disaster?
Read our current articles on Modern Survival Blog
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ModernSurvivalBlog/~3/iuJ6DvuSiPI/

Thursday 6 December 2012

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

 

Tuesday, November 27, 2012:
Jesus said: “My people, I have given you messages about being ready to come to My refuges when your lives are threatened. I am showing you in the vision how tunnels and caves would be places of refuge. Caves are cold and damp, and you may have to use your tents, sleeping blankets, and some means of heating to keep warm in the winter. You also will need sweaters, winter coats, boots, gloves, and a warm hat for the cold. Whatever food and water that you have could be multiplied. Your angels will bring you daily Communion and deer for meat. These refuges are rustic, but you will only need to suffer this for less than 3½ years. Be thankful that My angels will protect you with an invisible shield from your enemies. I will protect you from any wild animals or snakes at My refuges. You may need to work on preparing meals, and using wood fires to keep warm and for cooking. You will have enough food to eat, and water from springs to drink. Trust in Me to provide for your needs for this living purgatory on earth that My faithful will suffer through the tribulation.”

http://www.johnleary.com/index.php/2012/11/29/tuesday-november-27-2012/

Monday, November 26, 2012

 

Monday, November 26, 2012:
Jesus said: “My people, I have warned My faithful to have some spiritual and physical things packed when you will need to go to My refuges of protection. The reason Christians are the targets of the one world people, is because Satan wants to remove all places with My Name displayed. He does not want the Christians to evangelize his subjects that he controls. This is why those, who believe in God, are considered the enemy in the battle for souls. Because Satan is fighting against you with his people, you understand how valuable you are to Me so you can help others to become Christians. Truly you are in a battle between good and evil, and I need My followers to evangelize and pray for as many souls as possible to save them from hell. Do not be fearful of the evil ones, but call on Me, and I will send angels to help you to win souls for Me, and fight off the devil’s temptations. Put your trust in Me, and I will protect you and your family.”

Jesus said: “My people, your country’s Budget is out of control when you are spending a trillion dollars more than you take in for taxes. You have heard a lot of political talk of letting taxes go back to their original level. Just increasing the taxes on the rich will not balance your budget. If you are making cuts, then even people receiving welfare and Social Security will have to suffer the pain with everyone else. Your politicians have been buying votes with increased handouts. Once you start cutting back on the handouts, you will see the people protesting in the streets just as in Greece and Spain. If taxes are not raised, and cuts are not implemented, then your deficits will continue, your credit rating will fall, and interest rates will be forced to rise. Without attempts to reduce your deficits, you will be on the road to bankruptcy. There simply will not be enough money to pay out to all the benefits of the entitlements. Whether the deficits are reduced or not, there will be pain or a collapse of your government. America needs to print its own debt free money, and do away with the bankers’ debt money from the Federal Reserve. There is not enough money available to pay off your National Debt or to keep it from rising. When you see chaos in the streets under bankruptcy, hyperinflation, or austerity budgets, then My faithful will need to seek the safety of My refuges where My angels will see to your needs and protection.”

http://www.johnleary.com/index.php/2012/11/29/monday-november-26-2012/

Wednesday 5 December 2012

Sunday, November 25, 2012

 

Sunday, November 25, 2012: (Christ the King)
Jesus said: “My people, this feast is a joyous conclusion of the Church Year. It is also a preview of how I will return in glory to judge all of mankind. I have told you many times that you will see this fulfilled in your lifetime. Rejoice that you are living in these end times. All of mankind will have to see their life review at My Warning which will be a chance for sinners to repent before the great tribulation begins. When you see a world famine, a division in My Church, and mandatory chips in the body begin, My faithful will need to come to My places of refuge. After the Antichrist’s reign, I will come on the clouds to judge people. Rejoice that I will conquer the evil ones, and I will renew the earth. All of My faithful will then be brought into My Era of Peace. My son, rejoice that you are announcing these events to come, so My people can be prepared in their souls, and in My refuges of protection. Let the people hear My words and rejoice in My victory, as they will see Me as their King and their Creator.”

Jesus said: “My people, I thank all of you for coming to this Shrine that honors My Kingship in memory of Charles’ messages from Me. You prayed a beautiful rosary during a moderate snowstorm, and I thank all of you for enduring the cold and snow for My glory. This is indeed a place of refuge as consecrated land. There is a plan to provide a chapel which will need the support of the people to fund it. Time is getting late to build refuges, and My angels may have to help finish such an effort. The vision of fire represents the purification that all souls will need during the tribulation of the Antichrist. Those, who live during the tribulation, will suffer their purgatory on earth rather than in purgatory itself. Give praise and glory to your King on My feast day.”

http://www.johnleary.com/index.php/2012/11/29/sunday-november-25-2012/

Saturday, November 24, 2012

 

Saturday, November 24, 2012: (St. Andrew & companions)
Jesus said: “My people, in this vision of a circling green cloud, you are seeing another representation of My coming Warning. You are living in the end times and you are reading about the Book of Revelation where the two prophets were ruling over the world. Moses and Elijah were present at My Transfiguration which was a preview of My Resurrection. Now, the two prophets in Revelation are returning in the end times. You will be experiencing My Warning which will be a preview of your final judgment. You will see your life reviewed with an emphasis on your unforgiven sins. After this life review, you will see a judgment to heaven, hell, or purgatory. You will experience your destination briefly, and if you do not improve your spiritual life, this will be where your life is leading you. You will be returned to your body to improve your life. Now, your eyes will see clearly as to how you are offending Me with your sins, and you will be held more accountable for your sins because of your increased knowledge. The Warning will be a blessing for most sinners to repent and change their lives, but some will still reject Me. This will be the time to evangelize your family members to return to their original faith, or they could be lost if they do not change. Keep praying for these souls that they could be saved from hell.”

(Christ the King) Jesus said: “My people, this is the last Sunday of the Church Year, and you are celebrating My Kingship in heaven. The Bible describes how I will come on the clouds to bring judgment on the people of the earth. There will be false christs that will try to deceive the people, but do not follow them. There will also be an Antichrist dressed as an Arab who will claim to be the Man of Peace. Be careful not to look at his eyes because he could cause people to worship him with his demonic powers. This is why I told you after the Warning to get rid of your TVs and your computers so you do not look at his face. I will come in glory on the clouds with love, but the Antichrist comes with hate and demanding obedience to worship him. Do not be deceived by the false christs. I love you all, and this is how you will recognize Me because of My manner of love.”

http://www.johnleary.com/index.php/2012/11/29/saturday-november-24-2012/