Sunday, September 3, 2023

MARVEL AT GOD, NOT MARVEL


A "Marvel" is something that causes wonder, admiration, or astonishment; a wonderful thing.

"But Moses said to the people, 
“Don’t be afraid! Stand still, 
and see the salvation of ADONAI
which He will perform for you today. You have seen the Egyptians today, but you will never see them again, ever! ADONAI will fight for you, 
while you hold your Shalom (peace).” 
- Exodus 14:13-14 TLV

The New Testament used the word “marvel” to describe a person's reaction to seeing God's supernatural activity. 
 Luke 24, "Peter marveled at the empty tomb."

Superman is the first comic book superhero, a cultural icon and an archetype for those that came after him. Superman, the Mensch of Steel, is a Jewish response of Jews needing a Messiah when Hilter and the Nazis were seemingly taking over the world.  If there wasn't so much antisemitism, Clark Kent and Superman would have been openly Jewish. Superman, like many Jews, hid his Jewish past.  The creators of the Superman character new that for commercial success a Jewish Superman was not a winning formula.  

Many have traded the Bible stories for Marvel superheroes. Marvel comics was founded in 1939 by a young Jew named Martin Goodman as "Timely Comics," and by 1951 had generally become known as Atlas Comics

Almost all of Marvel’s superheroes were co-created by Jews, including Captain America, Fantastic Four, Hulk, Thor, Ant-Man, Iron Man, Avengers, X-Men, Silver Surfer, Black Panther and many others. And they were more than just playful fantasies⁠—they were wish-fulfillment avatars of their creators, drawing on Jewish culture and folklore to fight Nazis, bigotry and intolerance.

Speaking of comics, the first "comic relief" was also in the bible. Genesis 18.12 -- "And Sarah laughed within herself, saying, "After I have become worn out, will I have smooth flesh? And also, my master is old." Genesis 17.19 -- And God said, "Indeed, your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you shall name him Isaac," (He will laugh). 

Jews have been on the lookout for the Messiah for thousands of years. Christians found the Messiah in the "Son of David." 

The Truth is that fictitious "superheroes" won't save the world. Only the One True God and the Messiah will. There is no substitute Messiah. Only a relationship with God will enable us to "hold your peace." Abide in Adonai -- Putting our faith in worthless idols is fools play. 

Jonah 2.8 puts it best. It has been translated several ways but the meaning is the same: 
  • "They who cling to empty folly Forsake their own welfare." Sefaria
  • "They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy." KJV
  • "Those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them." NIV
The Jewish Messiah Isn't in a comic strip!

SHALOM

P.S. Here is a prior blog post I wrote about Superman as savior.

Tuesday, August 8, 2023

WHERE DOES "DARK BRANDON'S" STRENGTH COME FROM?

 

Hundreds of millions worldwide know him his as "Creepy Joe," "Sleepy Joe," "Stumbling Joe," "Bumbling Biden" and other pejoratives. Joe Biden and his campaign promoters have dubbed him "Dark Brandon." 

On the one hand, I think Biden’s tough guy title is the stupidest, most ridiculous, LAME attempt by his campaign/marketing team to brand stumbling bumbling Biden ever conceived! The man can barely go up or down stairs. He is lost on stage. Did you see the sad images of him on the beach recently? Come'on man! 

On the other hand, "Dark Brandon" is a perfect fit for the evil and corrupt, lying, hair-sniffing, war-mongering individual he is to millions of Americans. 

The graphic images that are associated with the "Dark Brandon" campaign portray Biden as having a deeper, darker and more sinister nature.  It suggests to me a person who sees himself as able to take the law into his own hands. He certainly did that with the prosecutor in Ukraine who was investigating corruption with Hunter Biden and Burisma. 

The origin of the name "Brandon" is not a mystery. It clearly comes from the time on the NASCAR race track when the crowd was chanting "f##k Joe Biden" but the reporter claims they were saying "Let's go Brandon." 

By embracing that name Brandon and it's association, Biden is endorsing a falsehood. He is also taking pride in the animous others have toward him. In other words, Biden seems proud that nearly half of America abhor him.  To flaunt  that is a disgusting show of Presidential leadership  that, let alone to even privately think that way! 

This is NOT what a person would do IF he were truly trying to "unite America" like he campaigned on in 2019. A multitude of Joe Biden's actions reveal the true Joe Biden as man who embraces hate and fosters division. 

Joe Biden himself appears to be embracing this image of "darkness." The question I have is, where does "Dark Brandon" believe he draws his untouchable power from? Is it the "Deep State?" Why does the mainstream media and big tech enable him to get away with so many obvious failures and lies? 

For some folks, those with faith in God, "Dark Brandon" is emblematic of a supernatural satanic evil.

I will leave it here:

"A song of ascents. I lift my eyes to the mountains-from where will my help come? My help will come from the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth." 

Psalm 121:1-2

Monday, July 31, 2023

LOOK UP!

Did you see the movie "Don't Look Up" staring Leonardo DeCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence and Meryl Streep?  In this movie the global elite are planning the future of our planet and our lives. But when all hell breaks loose we will find that they've had a backup plan to save themselves.

 

Elon Musk is having a good time posting silly things and making people laugh. He actually enjoys being mocked for his missteps on taking over Twitter. Why? Because when that happens, we're not paying attention to the fact that he bought Twitter for the data, and is using their vast server farms to crunch it. 

Musk's company "X" is going to bring 'buying and selling' to a whole new level!  Musk's plans and intentions are clouded in mystery, but one thing is certain and that is that X will require a means of global identification.  X will know precisely who each one of us is.

THE CEO of OpenAI and ChatGPT wants to make it mandatory for anyone online to identify themselves using Iris scanning technology -- to build a form of a ‘World ID.’ 

There is no stopping the coming cashless society. Central Bankers want it. Governments want it. The World Economic Forum wants it. Major corporations want it. Big tech wants it. 

Government debt is no longer sustainable through tax revenue.  We've moved to Modern Monetary Theory whereby Central Banks and governments print money and run giant unsustainable deficits. 

Central Banks are seeking to have programable CBDC in order to control inflation by directing where the money goes. But it goes way beyond being a monetary policy tool alone.  The profoundly personal ways CBDC can and will be used to implement social policies and control society are frightening. 

Programable Central Bank Digital Currency requires a means a worldwide accepted form of identification which links money to holders. Ultimately the ability to buy or sell will depend on a using biometrics to link all us to all our assets. 

Then what ...

World's Central Banks and the WEF will be able to limit our personal ability to transact based on our social credit score. Eventually every business and every person will have a score. This is the ultimate means to distribute wealth. It is also the ultimate means of controlling behavior. If the Machine doesn't approve of you it can shut you down like Trudeau and Bankers shut down Canadian truckers who didn't want to be forced to get the experimental Covid vaccine. If the Machine doesn't want to let you buy something like fossil fuels, the Machine simply won't allow your digital currency to be used for that thing. 

Artificial Intelligence will be entwined with banking. AI will monitor, predict and manage human behaviors and control how we spend our money. The Machine will know EVERYTHING we do because it will know every penny we spend.  It is a superpower! 

There are great risks. If AI gets out of control it could take over the entire system and prevent us from accessing our assets. Our wealth could literally disappear in a flash! 

If that happens, the only way to shut it all down is to bring down the electric grid and all the power. What could do that? A massive Solar CME!  

IN A MOMENT, IN THE TWINKLE OF AN EYE THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT CAN BE CHANGED.



Wednesday, July 26, 2023

LOOK DEEPER!

An artistic cover to the poem book "Flowers of Evil"

WE LIVE IN A WORLD AT A TIME WHEN WE NEED TO LOOK DEEPER. 

Remember "the perfect phone call."  Trump simply asked Ukraine President Zelinksky to "look into Biden family corruption." That was enough for Democrats to impeach Trump.

Since then hundreds of millions of dollars have been sent to Ukraine with practically no accountability and hundreds of thousands have been killed in a war that COULD HAVE BEEN AVOIDED!!

We've known about the corruption in Ukraine and with the Bidens for years! Rudy Giuliani has been talking about what is on the Hunter laptop since BEFORE the 2019 election! (He has seen a copy of it.)  

Hunter, the Biden family "bag man," has brought home tens of millions for the "Big Man" and his uncles, Biden’s brothers. The Biden’s have been strong arming Ukraine, influence peddling and taking in bribes from Ukraine and other countries since "Sleepy Joe" was VP in the Obama Administration. Joe Biden is a bold-faced liar -- his entire life! 

Obama has known all along that he could use Biden’s ability to look into the camera and lie! Obama knew he could use the Biden’s crime family and corruption to pull his puppet out of office when the time was right

Obama and the Deep State know they can control the Biden’s because of their greed and Hunter especially because of his insatiable desire for drugs and sex. (Who do you think shut down in 2 seconds the Secret Service and FBI investigation into the coke found in the West Wing?  NO prints, NO Suspects...REALLY?!)  

As we hear Devon Archer, Hunter's business partner, upcoming testimony before Congress, keep in mind that this could all been avoided.  Nearly everything he is going to say has been said before and buried for years!!! 

The Hunter laptop was a Deep State coverup, otherwise Trump would have won the 2019 election. The media has spent 6 years brainwashing the public to hate Trump. The DEEP STATE, the DNC and ELITE GLOBALISTS wanted Trump out and they wanted this Ukraine war. They will do anything!

The "Machine" is being used to open the borders and let sex trafficking and drugs flow freely into America. The "Machine" is destroying the family. The "Machine" is determined to bring down our Nation BECAUSE it is built on Judeo-Christian values! It has already brought down the sovereignty of most countries in Europe. The "Machine" is driving toward "one world order" and one world religion." 

Hunter is just a part in the machine. Bumbling Biden is a puppet of the machine. The mainstream media are tools of the machine. Many politicians are bought and owned by the machine. BUT the machine is controlled TOO!! Who or what controls the Machine?

The "Machine" is controlled by the darkest evil the world has seen since Nazi Germany. That Evil is coming to surface again. It is coming out of its dark cave! We are living in the late 1920's again! We didn't stop Hilter when it would have been much easier to do. 

The Germans wanted to believe the evil lies of the Nazis.  Hitler’s proganda machine owned the mainstream media in Germany before and during WWII. His Brown Shirt's used the Reishtag Fire like Pelosi used the January 6th protest. They were both a means to seize greater control.  

We defeated Hitler, but we didn't destroy the Evil. It popped up again. It took shape in the form of the Communist Revolution of China. The “fall” of mainland China to communism took place in 1949.

Evil is at it again and like before people don't want to see it. 

"The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn’t exist” — Charles Baudelaire

Evil took over China in 1949 right after Israel was born again in 1948. 

BUT GOD!!

Yeshayahu (Isaiah) - Chapter 14:12-27

12 How have you fallen from heaven, the morning star? You have been cut down to earth, You who cast lots on nations.

13 And you said to yourself, 'To the heavens will I ascend, above God's stars will I raise my throne, and I will sit on the mount of the assembly, in the farthest end of the north.

14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will liken myself to the Most High.'

15 But into the nether world shall you be brought down, to the bottom of the pit.

16 Those who see you shall look at you; shall gaze earnestly at you, 'Is this the man who caused the earth to quake, who wrought havoc among the kingdoms?

17 Who made the land like a desert, and his cities he demolished; for his prisoners he did not open the house.

18 All kings of nations, all of them, lay in honor, each in his house.

19 But you were cast from your grave like a discarded sapling, [in] the garb of the slain, of those pierced by the sword, who descend to the stones of the pit, like a trampled corpse.

20 You shall not join them in burial, for you have destroyed your land, you have slain your people; the seed of evil-doers shall not be named forever.

21 Prepare a slaughter for his sons because of the iniquity of their forefathers, lest they rise and inherit the land, and fill the surface of the earth with enemies."

22 "And I will rise against them," says the Lord of Hosts, "and I will cut off from Babylon a name and a remnant, a son and a grandson," says the Lord.

23 "And I will make it for a heritage of hedgehogs and pools of water, and I shall sweep it away with a broom of destruction," says the Lord of Hosts.

24 The Lord of Hosts swore saying, if not as I thought, so it was, and as I planned, so it shall remain.

25 To break Assyria in My land, and on My mountains will I trample him, and his yoke shall be removed from upon them, and his burden shall be removed from upon his shoulder.

26 This is the plan that is planned over the entire land, and this is the outstretched hand over all the nations.

27 For the Lord of Hosts planned, and who will frustrate [it]? And it is His hand that is outstretched, and who will return it?

Monday, July 17, 2023

HEAVENLY SIGNS?

Do you believe God gives us "heavenly signs?  The answer hinges on whether you believe in God and that He is the Creator of the Universe. If you do and you read the Bible on a regular basis the answer is most likely an emphatic YES. 

I wanted to take a moment to record these observations. Are these heavenly signs given by God? I really couldn't say.  I am not a prophet.  In addition, I've posted a completely CONTRARIAN viewpoint on this matter at the end of my observations.  

Thus says the Lord,

“Do not learn the way of the nations,
And do not be terrified by the signs of the heavens
Although the nations are terrified by them;
Jeremiah 10.2


Above are NASA images of the three major eclipses that have and will pass over America between 2017 and 2024, a seven year period.

"For, behold the stone that I have placed before Joshua. Seven eyes are directed to one stone. Behold! I untie its knots, says the Lord of Hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day."  Zechariah 3.9

God gave us the heavens. God gave us our sun and moon to tell time - the days and the months. They are also used to know his moedim "appointed times."

The Hebrew calendar is a lunar calendar with the months based on the phases of the Moon. A new month begins on the day of the Crescent Moon after the New Moon phase.  This change is called the Rosh Chodesh  “head of the new [moon]."  Each Rosh Chodesh is a minor holiday. 


Eclipses are mentioned multiple times in the Bible. When they are mentioned in the bible they mostly coincide with biblical milestones.

If one overlays the path of the last "Total eclipse" over America in 2017  with the next one coming up 7 years later in 2024 they form an X. The diagram below illustrates this.

The X is the shape of the ancient (paleo) Hebrew letter Tav. The Tav is the 22nd and final/last letter of the Hebrew Aleph-Bet and it means cross, mark/sign, covenant. (To make an agreement one could put an X.)

Notice where the center of the X lands on the map of the USA. Now look at the location of the heart of a major earthquake fault line called the "New Madrid" fault. This fault has the highest hazard rating. The center target of the Total eclipse X is the same location!


Joel 2:10 -- Before them the earth quakes,
The heavens tremble,
The sun and the moon grow dark
And the stars lose their brightness.

There is another interesting connection with regard to the timing of these two "Total" eclipses over America. The elipse in 2024 falls during a Hebrew calendar leap year, in the leap month of Adar 2!  The evening of April 8th is the beginning of Nissan 1 - the first day of the year!!

The Hebrew calendar adjusts for a 360 day annual cycle with a leap year. Because the sum of 12 lunar months is about 11 days shorter than the solar year, a 13th month is periodically added to keep the calendar in step with the astronomical seasons.

A leap year in the Jewish calendar has 13 months and occurs 7 times in a 19-year cycle. In Hebrew, a leap year is referred to as Shanah Me'uberet, or pregnant year. In a Jewish leap year, an extra month is added after the month of Shevat and before the month of Adar. It is called Adar Bet, Adar Sheni, or simply Adar 2. Lets just say that Adar 2 is special. There is actually a Pesach Sheni, a second Passover!   The next elipse happens on the 29th of Adar II, right between Purim and Passover of the leap year 5784!

In addition, the Sun has an 11 year solar cycle. It goes from periods of low to high activity. During peak periods there is the most solar corona eruptions. The earth is most likely to be hit with severe solar flares and other solar storm weather during the peak. 2024 is the maximum peak of the current solar cycle.

There is one more notable elipse during this seven year time frame. It is not a "total" eclipse like the other two.  This third eclipse runs north-south rather than east-west. It is what's called an "Annual eclipse." That eclipse will happen on Shabbat this October 14th, 2023, the 29th of the month of Tishrei.

An Annular Solar Eclipse, also called a "ring-of-fire" eclipse is a rather rare phenomenon that involves the moon, the sun and alignment with planets Jupiter, Saturn and Venus. The last one was seen in the U.S. in 2012 and won't be visible again in the contiguous U.S. until 2039. 



The following image is by NASA from space of what the earth looked like during the Ring of Fire eclipse.  Notice the appearance of the 🔥 burnt America. 


If one overlays this "annual eclipse" with the other two Total eclipses, as illustrated above, it creates the shape of the ancient letter Aleph, symbolic of God.

Comet P12 

While the eclipse is taking place on April 8th there is also the appearance of a rare comet in the night sky. Comet P12 is coming by for another rare 71 year visit. Because it looks like it has unique horns the nicknames for this comment are the "Devil comet"and the "Mother Dragon. " 

TRIGGER WARNING ⚠️
There is another interesting connection that I am hesitant to include because it brings politics into the picture. But I will anyway because as we know in the bible God appoints Kings.

Daniel 2:21 -- And He changes the times and the seasons, He removes kings and sets up kings; He grants wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who know understanding.

Some people wonder if the Trump was a sign -- especially Ultra-Orthodox Jews, Evangelical Christians and Conservative Americans. So isn't curious that there was a "Total Eclipse" in the year Trump took office, 2017. It is what has also been called "The Great American Eclipse." Seven years later in 2024, the year of the next Presidential election, there will be another Total eclipse over America.

COINCIDENCE??  Coincidence is NOT a kosher word - it doesn't appear in the Torah. 

I am not making a prediction! This is not prophecy. I am offering observations. By the same token, the bible is filled with prophecies and ways to recognize signs.  

Perhaps one reason I find this all very intriguing relates to my name Jonah. The dramatic repentance of Nineveh in Jonah 3:1-10 may have been galvanized by a total solar eclipse there that dates to June 15, 763 BC.

The Assyrian eclipse, also known as the Bur-Sagale eclipse, is a solar eclipse recorded in Assyrian eponym. Many Bible scholars have speculated that the eclipse took place around when Jonah arrived in Nineveh and urged the people to repent, otherwise the city would be destroyed. This might partly explain the dramatic repentance of the people of Nineveh as described in the Book of Jonah.

Joel 2.31 -- “The sun will be turned into darkness
And the moon into blood Before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.



Song Link -

Song Lyrics -

Matthew 24:29 -- “But immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

The Science behind "Miracles:"
Sir Colin Humphreys has done very serious analysis on the subject of science, miracles and religion. A lot of research was done to address a genuine biblical debate/questions on the connection. Here are a few videos with him:

If the subject interests and you'd like to learn more, here are two more lectures by Sir Colin Humphreys. There are many more on YT. 





Here are some other videos that explain connections to the Eclipses:

https://youtu.be/YkA4ro5wBuA?si=1NYqt-t9mGgwH1ki

https://youtu.be/eLkxKT65IFc?si=RlPg4lh_bsasEw4A


Epilogue:  After I journaled this morning I watched a couple sermons. This one by Allen Jackson is very relevant to my thoughts.  He titled it: "What are we to do? "

Epilogue 2: 

THE FINAL COUNTDOWN?

The eyes of Orthodox Jews and Evangelial Christians are on Israel and especially Jerusalem. 

Come Passover next year, 2024, for the first time in 2000 years the possibility for the process toward building a Third Holy Jewish Temple in Jerusalem will exist. 

There are 9 priests trained to perform ritual sacrifices and other temple functions. Before, they must be purified by the blood of an unblemishlessed red heifer. One more high priest will make 10 - the divine number of completeness. The letter Yod, a very symbolic letter. 

The red heifers have to be 3 years old. The extremely rare red heifers recently acquired specifically for the purification ritual are just a tad too young. They come of age in time for Passover and Shavout 2024. 

Passover - Evening of Mon, 4.22.24 – 4.30,24
(Note there is a Total Eclipse 14 days before Passover on 4.8.24)

They have the land for the third temple. "According to those working on the project, the ceremony of the red heifer needs to be performed on the Mount of Olives, and in a place that would have looked directly into where the Temple stood. The land directly east of the Temple Mount, purchased 12 years ago, meets both of those standards."

ANTICIPATION IS BUILDING. WILL THERE BE A THIRD HOLY TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM AND WILL THE "10TH HIGH PRIEST" ENTER IT?

Isaiah 14.14: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will liken myself to the Most High.'

For Christians, according to the Book of Revelation, the implications of a 3rd temple and who enters it is equally as significant, however, the prophecy concerning those events in very different. 

(Again, these are my observations -- not prophecy.)



CONTRARIAN VIEW:  The following is written by Jacob Prasch, a messianic Jewish minister and leader of Moriel Ministries.

Jacob is extremely critical of suggestions that there is anything meaningful to the recent eclipses.  


ECLIPSES, DATES, & PSEUDO PROPHETIC ANTICS
Robert Braker, JD Farag, Mark Biltz, Rachel Baxter, Tom Hughes ... The List Gets Longer

Watching these ludicrous clips becomes a nauseating ordeal.                                    
How Can Any Regenerate Bible Believing Christian Countenance Such Blatant Idiocy ?


This is a very stupid, and very deluded woman , Rachel Baxter, who speaks convoluted rubbish that is pseudo scriptural and pseudo spiritual. Her subscription to the zodiac based biblical prophecy borrowed from astrology by the proven false teacher  Robert Braker whose September 23, 2017 predictions quite predictably came to naught compounds her absurdity and absence of credibility, as is further evidenced by her hideous mishandling of scripture that is utterly devoid of exegetical credence.

Whether she is a deliberate religious liar, or a merely a deceived ignorant crackpot is a judgment I would not make. One thing for sure however, is that she must of necessity be either one or the other.

Tom Hughes has now obviously now joined the Mark Biltz / JD Farag / Robert Braker Academy of Speculative Lunacy. His actions are emblematic of the progressively downward spiral that Preew Tribulation is resorting to as its hollow foundations implode in the face of reality.

Postulating dates and ascribing spiritual significance  to eclipses etc. is hideous. No place does scripture identify eclipses as being prophetically significant. Such were the pagan superstitions of the Mayas, the Druids, and Nabateans - but not the Hebrews or Early Christians. On the contrary, when the prophecy of Amos 8:9 of the "sun going down at noon' was fulfilled in the crucifixion of Jesus in Luke 23: 44-45, it could not possibly have been an eclipse (either solar or lunar) because it was at Pesach circa 14th of Nissan which is at the wrong lunar & solar phase to be an eclipse.

The "Signs" in the heavens are in the realm of "nessim v' niflaot" (miracles and wonders). There is nothing extraordinary or miraculous about normal, ordinary cosmological phenomena or naturally occurring astronomically predictable events such as eclipses.

The star that the Maji followed in the Nativity Narrative, the comet that stood of Jerusalem in 70 AD recorded by Josephus, the 48 hour day at Gibeon when Joshua stopped the sun, and the sun going backwards in the extended longevity of Hezekiah met the biblical criteria because they were not normal cosmological occurrences, just as the prophetically emblematic events of the Book of Joel, the Book of Revelation, and the Olivet Discourse events of Matthew 24: 29 & 30 shall not be. They shall 'Signs' , divinely induced supernatural events reflective of events Spiritually transpiring events of a prophetic nature. An eclipse is no more a 'sign' than the vernal and autumnal equinoxes. They are just normal naturally occurring events in a heliocentric cycle. It was again,  pagan civilizations that attributed prophetic prognostications rooted in idolatry, ignorance, and superstition to such normal cosmological events as eclipses and equinoxes. 

I reside in England about an hour and 15 minutes drive from Stonehenge. Today, in post Christian Britain, You can annually watch caravans of New Agers travelling to Stonehenge on Salisbury Plane by the thousands and thousands resulting in massive traffic jams on the normally uncongested 303 Dual Carriageway, in order to ritually observe this stuff in the pagan tradition of Pre Christian Britain. They interpret such phenomena  as omens and interpret it with prognostications. In Sufi Islam, Taoism, and mystical Buddhism spiritual properties involving predictions and omens are likewise attributed to eclipses, lunar light refraction etc. There are other such festivals at a place called Findhorn in Scotland, and at the Neolithic monument at Newgrange in Ireland.

This kind of nonsense however also found its way into Hasidic Judaism who view solar eclipses as a bad omen, and into Medieval Christendom of the Dark Ages based on an obscure Talmudic passage.

In his account of the First Crusade (1096–1101), Albert of Aachen describes how the crusaders witnessed  a blood red moon as they drew closer to the city of Jerusalem. Those who had knowledge about the eclipse as a signal of God’s will, Albert tells us, comforted the fearful.

To Albert of Aachen, a lunar eclipse signaled the destruction of the crusaders’ enemies. Solar eclipses, however, signaled disaster for the crusaders.

According to the Annals of Magdeburg, when an eclipse transformed the sun into the shape of a sickle in October 1147 and cast terrible darkness across the land, witnesses saw it as a sign that a time of bloodshed was upon them.

The 12th century polymath John of Salisbury issued a warning against the practice of astrology and horoscopy, which he lumped together with fortune telling, soothsaying, and other “unsavory” practices.  John knew lunar eclipses were caused by the Earth obscuring the Moon. He accepted there was merit in the study of astronomy when it was understood these phenomena could be signs from God, but believed people crossed the line when they thought the celestial bodies had their own power to influence the world. By granting the celestial bodies their own power, John said, people were detracting from the power of God.

Solar and lunar Eclipses, and umbra's are routine. Lunar light refractions are routine; just as Saturn has luminescent peripheral rings.  Recurring comets like Haley's comet etc.  are likewise only comets whose dates of visibility we can anticipate. None of this constitutes the prophetic fulfilment of Luke 21:25. It is only false religions and primitive cultures who think otherwise. Unfortunately so do lunatic fringe professing Evangelicals.

Wednesday, July 5, 2023

WE CAN ALL LEARN FROM JONAH

There are many interpretations of the Book about the prophet Jonah, and much meaning to be found in it.  One noted Rabbi wrote an article years ago called "The Story of Your Life."  In his article, Rabbi Shais Taub makes a case for why the story of Jonah the prophet, in the Book of Jonah, is profoundly relevant to our own life. 

On the meaning of Jonah, Rabbi Taub wrote:

"I know what you’re thinking. This has got to be a metaphor, because I have never boarded a seafaring vessel bound for Tarshish to escape prophecy, gotten caught in a storm, had the crew throw me overboard, and been swallowed by a fish." Nonethless, the Zohar says that this is the story of your life.

The journey of Jonah is like the journey our soul goes through in our life. The soul, Jonah, is like a hapless passenger, that has traveled far away from G‑d, yet never really left G‑d behind. 

The Rabbi says, "Like Jonah, we delude ourselves into thinking that G-d is “out of range” in our life.  Like Jonah, we take this perceived distance as an indication that we have been dismissed from our mission."

In the story of Jonah, “The Almighty rouses a furious tempest” to shake and break up the boat while Jonah was down in the hull sleeping. The ship's captain went down to stir up Jonah. In a similar sense, people and events shake our soul from its complacency and from answering a calling. Many of us pursue personal satisfaction. At some points in life a messenger may come to wake us from our slumber. A voice of conscience stirs from within and asks us. “What is your occupation?” What have you done with your life? Why are you here? Why were you sent?

At that moment, truth may arise, like it did for Jonah son of Amittai (Truth). Then, if we listen and obey, we may change our direction to serve a purpose that G-d has for us. 

Is a captain calling you? Are you going in the direction of your purpose?

Monday, July 3, 2023

MR. 4TH OF JULY


TRULY EXTRAORDINARY -- On July 1st, despite viscious accusations and ceaseless efforts to destroy him, Trump draws a crowd estimated at 50,000 to a tiny town in South Carolina. As amazing as it is to do this one time, Trump can easily repeat this across the United States. 

It is truly remarkable that a twice impeached, multiple times indicted, 77 year old man can draw massive crowds of adoring supporters. We have not witnessed anything like this in American politics in our lifetime with the exception of John F Kennedy. 

Trump is a phenomenon. He represents much more than the mainstream media or his haters understand or are willing to give any value to. 

Trump doesn't fit the presidential mold and yet his leadership is sure to be legendary.  He is the quintessential "Washington outsider" whose success threatens the "establishment" and the elite more than any President in history.  

Powerful secretive controlling forces in America wanted Kennedy dead. The same is so for Trump. For now they have weaponized our justice system to stop Trump. If that method fails, Trump's life is in danger. Trump must know the tremendous risks he is taking and yet he boldly campaigns. 

In effect, Trump is willing to take a bullet for America and Americans. Every time he steps out in public he risks his life to fight for the American dream. The people know it - and they love him for it. 

Trump embodies the spirit of the 4th of July! 

Epilogue:  President Trump's 4th of July speech at Mount Rushmore 3 years ago was incredible.  


You see Lincoln and Trump above side-by-side. In 2020 I posted this blog about why it is "Hard to tell the difference between Lincoln and Trump."