The Truth about I, Pet Goat II, with a full interpretation of its symbols and what it means

The movie short “I, Pet Goat 2” has become something of a viral hit. It is labeled on Vimeo as “a story about the fire at the heart of suffering”, but it is so much more. Watch it here http://vimeo.com/44583147.

The pace of the movie is such that the average person doesn’t get much out of it at first view, beyond a creepy feeling of “What the hell was that???”

Examined more closely, it is the symbolic depiction of our current mental/spiritual enslavement to evil powers. However, the film takes us beyond mere dystopianism, also showing us the path to freedom and victory over evil through Christ, whose Holy Spirit is the fulfillment of all religious paths.

Below you will find a detailed scene by scene interpretation of the entire film, explaining what all the confusing action and symbols truly mean. 

First of all, you need to know that “My Pet Goat” was the name of the book George Bush was reading to a classroom of children when he was informed the 9-11 attacks had occurred.   This is a crucial moment in history, which has lead to a decade and counting of continual war and the loss of everything America as "Land of the Free and Home of the Brave" once stood for. 


0:01 Beginning at the door to a room: barbed wire surrounding a prison camp, graffiti of guard and dog on the holding pen, separated pens inside the wires (representing our isolated, disconnected personal lives)

0:10 Goat mesmerized, mind controlled, wearing the Mark of the Beast on its head (represented by the bar code with numbers 666), bleating, shaking head in the “no” motion (representing a refusal to see or accept reality)

0:20 Reptilian puppet master hands, with dollar-sign golden ring on the left ring finger, with what looks like a bloody devil's head on the right index finger and blood covering that hand (representing the inhuman powers who pull the strings of the visible political actors)

0:28 President Bush dancing with dunce cap, on a black and white checkerboards floor (representing the temple of the Freemasons), in what is revealed to be a classroom

0:36 Symbols in the classroom:

1) the watching owl (representing the surveillance state); 2) pins on US map of major disasters/terrorism at OKC, NYC, New Orleans, the Gulf ; 3) snowflakes (representing our spiritual winter), 4) F = -F equation (representing how opposites are being equated, being taught to see evil as good); 5) a pictorial timeline of man’s evolution (representing a denial of our spiritual identities); 6) a picture of brain split in half being eaten by dragon (representing the damage to our minds and how that serves our inhuman masters) 7) a medical drawing of a heart (represents our disconnected, lifeless hearts)

Drawings on chalkboard: 1) house on fire and shark (represents symbols of fear mentality), 2) a penis shooting ejaculate (represents sensualism and juvenile carnalism), 3) a hangman-game trying to spell the word “evolution” (representing our anti-spiritual brainwashing)

0:43 Clock at high noon, close look at Bush’s face reveals clown-type makeup

Bush stumbles stupidly through the saying “Fool me once, shame on you….” (evoking the completion of the phrase: “Fool me twice, shame on me”), but then switching into ghetto/black dialect and flashing gang signs, blurts out: “Homey can’t get fooled again!”

1:04 Exorcist-style transformation of Bush into Obama (representing how we were "fooled twice" with Obama, though supposedly of a different culture, he was no change in policy from Bush)

1:12 Obama reading from “lol” on teleprompter

1:13 One real child holding an apple amidst a faceless crowd of formless, identity-less students who are loosely wrapped with barbed wire (represents her holding on to her Fruit of the Spirit amidst the masses of children who have been rendered lifeless and trapped by their educational brainwashing)

1:14 She is sitting in golden circle, with a rabbit on the back wall, and a stag with golden drops falling from its body on the left wall (the gold representing their noble nature)

1:19 The drops from stag turn red (evocative of blood drops), along with the eyes of rabbit and the exit area (representing her being overwhelmed by the evil power), she falls asleep and drops the apple (represents the loss of the fruits of the spirit, and the lulling to sleep of youthful opposition upon Obama’s election)

1:32 Apple stops rolling at Obama’s foot, next to letters (not sure what this represents). His foot is on a coin with an elaborate inscription (I cannot make out what the inscription is). The apple splits and grows into lotus blossom (the symbol of enlightenment), which Obama is worried about

1:47 Outside is wintery conditions, clock at high noon, but Psalm 23 is graffiti on the wall (Psalm 23 tells of our reliance on God to bring us to green pastures, as the famous psalm says “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…”

1:56 Twin towers collapsing in background (representing the momentous event which launched our current cycle of evil warmongering)

2:04 Kachina dances and jumps off cliff (alluding to Hopi prophecies, and representing a spiritual point of no return)

2:10 First glimpse of Boat of Ra, with the head of Anubis on the prow (represents the promise of resurrection out of the underworld of death)

2:17 Osama bin Laden with CIA badge on chest, under red inverted Islamic symbol (representing the role of Osama as an American-led actor, using a perverted brand of Islam)

2:21 Oil rigs in distance, oil leaking into water in foreground (representing the key role of control of oil resources as the motivator of our wars)

2:28 The Statue of Liberty, called by the filmmakers “Lady Helotry” (Helots were slaves in ancient Greece), standing on Star of David which is below the surface of the water, the shining star abover her goes out and her flame of freedom breaks off and drops (representing how American freedom and the promise of democracy has been betrayed, under the secret control of the Zionist powers).

2:32 Embryo to be born from egg, being encoiled by a snake and examined by a reptile eye (representing how the evil powers work to control us from the womb).

2:39 Boat of Ra coming through mist (represents the process of resurrection and rebirth), heart beginning to catch on fire (represents the ignition of the Holy Spirit in our hearts), eye of Horus as third eye (representing royal heritage) on head of Christ who is attempting to awaken

2:47 Evil snake with human head showing on TV screen, who has  broken young boy’s head open (represents our mind control by evil powers through the medium of television)

2:55 Blue-eyed boy in golden priest robes struggling next to drug pills and needles (representing our noble heritage being denied by the evil powers)

2:58 Snake-man’s face: golden left eye and golden left earring, with inverted dollar bill pyramid on his chin, laughing in mastery over captive priest-boy (representing how the evil powers use the US dollar to control us).

2:59 Bad news constantly streaming across boys vision, tears streaming down his face

3:01 Three stealth bombers shaped like the Freemason symbol streak across sky, blowing up a mosque (representing how the Anglo-Jewish Freemasons are behind the military actions in the Islamic world)

3:06 Birds rising from mosque (representing Muslims attempting to escape the carnage of worldly wars by reaching up to Allah)

3:10 White dove/butterfly flashes into flames as it lands on Christ (representing the fulfillment of the birds flight in the Holy Spirit)

3:12 Dancing kachina falls back

3:13 Crying mother over body of dead son (evocative of Madonna and Child statuary), but the child is bloody and wrapped in burial cloth. She is holding a potion bottle in her raised left hand, which we see under exploding volcano (like a mushroom cloud) in the distance (represents the Elixir of Life, which heals all wounds and provides immortality).

3:18 Scarab beetle crawls up the body and over the face of dead son, revealing his bruised right eye (the scarab represents the process of death and rebirth, the victory of life over death)

3:24 African boy who appears to be a robot holding a rifle, under control of faceless handler who has an inverted red cross on his chest, who unties the bow on the rifle like a gift (represents the Satanic power of arms dealers creating death and destruction in the Third World)

3:32 Mestizo man holding Communist hammer and sickle drowning in sludge, (represents the sinking condition of the working classes of the world and the eclipse of Communist ideals)

3:36 Tiananmen Square-like scene as lone protester marches in front of line of tanks, she has Chinese tiger drawing on her back

3:43 “Party Skeleton Man” taps her back, distracting her, with fireworks going off in sky above him, which makes her give up hope (representing the Chinese embrace of the American way of life, betraying their hopes of freedom)

3:47 Christ on Boat of Ra, heart burning, trying to wake (representing that the moment of rebirth is getting close, fueled by the Holy Spirit fire in his heart,)

3:58 Boy attempts to stand up, snake-man yelling into his head to stop (representing the increased desperation of the inhuman powers to keep us controlled)

4:05 Boy sees the Boat of Ra rushing at him from the heavens, and Christ blows Holy Spirit fire at him (represents a baptism by the Holy Spirit)

4:21 Shiva dancing in front of Holy Spirit flame (represents the fulfillment of Hindu ideals in the Holy Spirit)

4:28 fish jumping into boat with awakening Christ (representing a Christian miracle)

4:35 hand from sky drops down to point at phallic lighthouse, which has a Christian cross on its peak (representing God calling for the cleansing of the institution built in his name)

4:38 The ugly old painted Whore trapped in building, falls back from the coming of the light (represents the corruption of the counterfeit church, which is really a spiritual prison)

4:50 Christ entering the heart chamber following a flood wash (representing the regeneration/ignition of the heart through baptism)

5:02 Christ bursts above gray faceless masses (represents spiritually baptizing the masses)

5:08 Snake-man with TV head slithers away in fear, priest boy in yellow robes gets up (represents how the evil powers fear the coming of Christ and the Holy Spirit fire)

5:18 The previously-dead boy with bruised eye, now resurrected and healed,  rises up as a Sufi, whirlling up towards the moon (represents the mystical truth of Islam rising up to God after its supposed defeat)

5:31 Kachina dancer now has new coyote mask, dancing around Holy Spirit fire (same fire room as Shiva), passes quickly through bear and raven masks as well (representing the unity of all tribes in the presence of the Holy Spirit)

5:50 Christ in boat emerges from the cathedral door, lotus blossoms blooming in water behind him (representing the fulfillment of Buddhist enlightenment in Christ)

5:54 Christ awakens, with eye of Horus in third eye position (representing royal power and protection), below a pyramid on his forehead (representing the fulfillment of pagan hopes for resurrected life)

6:02 Christian cathedral crumbles behind him (represents that the institutional church is obsolete in the presence of the living Christ)

6:25 Christ on boat sails towards rising sun, with the Freemason "eye on top of the pyramid" destroyed by a fireball from the sun and other pyramid-shaped icebergs melting in the distance (represents Christ as the Way to God, destroying the slavery hierarchies of the world, melting away our current spiritual winter with all its evil and destruction)

6:50 movie ends

Addendum

It is my opinion that, although Heliofant does not self-identify as such, this movie is secretly the latest output from the group that brought us Zeitgeist. Zeitgeist was focused on three elements: the Christian dependence on Egyptian mythology, the nature of 9-11 as an inside job, and the role of the Fed Reserve as evil puppeteer powers. As such, one might best subtitle “I, Pet Goat 2” as “Zeitgeist for Dummies”, playing a role in educating the masses much like stain glass picture stories played for medieval peasants.

However, after carefully analyzing the film, I have come to conclude that the Zeitgeist people did not produce a film with the religious message they were quite intending. Whatever they intended, they produced a  Christ-centric film portraying the vital power of the Holy Spirit, and the fulfillment of all religions in Christ, who is our only path to God. These religious elements are all true, as is their view of current politics. As a faithful Christian, guided by the biblical Christ alone, I fully endorse this movie.

The Similarity of Game, MGTOW, and Feminism, vs being a real MRA

Men rightly object when they are painted in a broad brush by some hateful Feminist: "All men are rapists", "All men are molesters", "All men are abusers", etc etc etc. 

Gamers/MGTOW do they EXACT same thing to women.  Do I even need to provide examples?    Anyone in the Mensphere is familiar with the stale routine.  [If you are new around these parts, just go peruse any comment thread at The Spearhead, you will quickly abound in examples]

One of my personal favorites is when some misogynist blogger generalizes traits to all women based on some odd, statistically-insignificant sample, like women who write love letters and marriage proposals to men on death row.   Yup, I guess that proves something about ALL women!   Heck, it probably doesn't even prove what you think it proves about those specific women. 

Anyway, of course, they even have the "clever counter-thrust" ready: mocking the NAWALT response.  Thus, the mental echo chamber is solidified. 

Commenter fschmidt put it perfectly:  "MGTOW are like whining lesbian feminists. Gamers are like empowered slut feminists."

I will add this caveat one more time: I am not talking about all MGTOW bloggers or the philosophy behind it.  Given the current state of our marriage/family laws, IF YOU ARE THE ONE MAKING MORE MONEY, marrying probably doesn't make sense; who can deny that?  

What I am doing is attempting to warn off my fellow brothers against a destructive and nihilistic worldview.  If you have unwittingly fallen into this mental habit of negativity, you should probably check yourself.   

A great example is Elusive Wapiti, a centerpiece of the Mensphere who a couple years ago found himself circling around this drain-pit of negativity, but pulled out and publicly denounced it, and reformed his blogging priorities.  [His denunciation provides a precise marker for the "Peak Game" moment, marking its subsequent decline.]

What is a "real MRA" ?

Being a "real MRA" means that you recognize a) the inevitability of relationships with women and b) the desire to sire your own offspring, as bedrocks of the masculine imperitive, and therefore see the necessity of fighting the cultural and legal battles to safeguard that imperitive for the majority of men. 

If your response to our problem is: "screw women, fuck society, to hell with other men, I am going to take care of myself,  the only person who matters", you a nihilistic narcissist. 

People who make these outrageous public assertions are either selfish moral anarchists who will be used to discredit the Men's Rights Movement as dangerous and extreme, or they are FALSE FLAG OPERATIVES who are working to the same end.  

In either case, they deserve to the shunned and denounced.

The Prettiest girl in Britain - Florence Colgate

"A woman's face is said to be most attractive when the space between her pupils is just under half the width of her face from ear to ear. Florence scores a 44 per cent ratio. Experts also believe the relative distance between eyes and mouth should be just over a third of the measurement from hairline to chin. Florence's ratio is 32.8 per cent."

Well, science says so, so it must be true! Three cheers for science!

She's 18, still in high school (an all-girls school), and of course, is utterly charming. See her interviewed here:

http://www.reuters.com/video/2012/05/10/a-look-at-the-uks-most-beautiful-face?videoId=234790523


In the pic above she is wearing light makeup and lip gloss, but she was the winner of a "no-makeup" beauty contest (put on, oddly enough, by a makeup company). Although the Brits are famous for having the most well-endowed race of females in Europe, Ms. Colgate is a bit scrawny of body.

Reminds me a bit of Elizabeth Hurley, really, in terms of the beautiful face and scrawny body. And lest you be tempted to put a beautiful woman like this upon a pedestal, let us remember an important lesson from Ms. Hurley's life.

What Good is a Beautiful Woman?

Some 8 years into his marriage to the beautiful model, rich and famous actor Hugh Grant was busted getting a blow job from a black hooker on a Hollywood street (story here). An "alpha" by any standard of looks, status, or money, Mr. Grant was obviously none too well satisfied with the beauty he was married to. [Oddly enough, they would remain married another 5 years].

Beware the appearance of outer beauty, my son, and the sparkling charm that usually accompanies it. Girls with pretty faces and sexy clothes are a dime a dozen, but they will not accompany you down the path of happiness. The woman "of the flesh" is so much more attractive to our young carnal minds, but the long-term consequence of association with her is personal destruction.

Worth far more is a kind-hearted woman, a woman who will treat you with respect, a woman who doesn't fight you at every turn. Such a woman has an inner beauty that will never fade.

Such women with inner beauty are out there, more common than some would think, but you can't find them by looking with your eyes. You will only find happiness with a girl who is adorned with the fruits of the Spirit, so look for those instead. If you find a woman with those, tend and cherish her well.

"The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit."

Can a Christian support Game?

Jesus was highly dominant in his relations with women, the original Alpha if you will.  I wrote a post about this in the past: http://religionnewsblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/origins-of-game-jesus.html.  As a rule, Christian men are commanded to be the leaders in their marriages. Insofar as "Game" encourages that, fine.

The problem comes in the definition of Game. Game arose in the context of Pick Up Artist culture, and was popularized on the internet through the synthesis of PUA technique with evo-psych theories.

The popular packaging of this PUA/evo-psych synthesis has been done by quasi-pornographers, such as Roissy and FerBard, who are by and large, extremely hostile to religiousness and traditional morality.

By constantly promoting "Game", you are marking yourself as a foot soldier in their army, you are carrying their banner.  It is that simple.  

I have been hearing the same argument since "back in the day" (2008 or so when the Gamesters first made their move to take over the Mensphere) from guys like Brendan/Novaseeker: "Game is just a set of techniques, you can use them for good for bad".     

My calling "Bullshit" loudly back then, taking a principled stand against the culture of "Game", is the primary reason you don't find me on too many Mensphere link lists.   You either ally yourself with degenerates like FerBard, or you don't.    I don't.   

As some of the comments on my last post indicated, I am not the only one who finds it repugnant how many so-called Christian bloggers identify with that culture of filth. 

Whose banner are you flying?  Let's put it this way, are spending more time trying to convince Christians to adopt Game, or Gamers to adopt Christianity?   Yeah, thought so.   When the sheep are being separated from the goats (and the true Christians know what I am talking about), I think we will find that "Gospel talks, Psuedo-Christian bullshit walks". 

I leave you with this:

"Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?"  

How do you help a Christian Zionist overcome his error? Scriptural truth about Jews and the Old Covenant

Commenter Daybreaker described the Christian Zionist mentality with keen insight:

“In my experience Christian Zionists are unreachable. I have in mind one particular friend. To him, the Jews are God's people, and others are not. Israel is God's special concern, and other states, such as his and mine, are not. If Jews lapse into sinful actions or thoughts, as all people are prone to, that doesn't mean anything. God's special and particular love is enduring, and will prevail. The role of non-Jews then is to bless Israel and be blessed (or else curse Israel and be cursed by almighty God).

Information that's in tension with the agenda of loving God's people, blessing Israel and accepting God's providence goes down the memory hole. It's simply not helpful in maintaining the frame of mind that God wants, and doing what God wants is everything that matters.”

Unfortunately, all too accurate. However, I do think Christians can be reached, through the direct application of scripture, which speaks very clearly to this issue. I will present them in order of what I think to be the most powerful effect. There are other scripture passages that speak to this issue as well, but if these don’t do the trick, nothing will

--Galatians 3:28-29

“There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

This is powerful, and states clearly, Christians are heir to the promises of Abraham’s children. Anything said about Israel of the Old Testament applies to the Body of Christ today.



--Revelation 3:9

“I will make those who are of the synagogue of Satan, who claim to be Jews though they are not, but are liars—I will make them come and fall down at your feet and acknowledge that I have loved you.”

This is also powerful and clear. There are those who profess to be Jews, who are secretly worshippers of Satan. Just claiming to be a Jew means nothing.



--John 8:42-47

“Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God… You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. … Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”

Jesus directly denounces his Jewish opponents, who justify themselves as Abraham’s children, as children of the devil. In short, merely being a physical seed of Abraham means nothing.



--Romans 2:28-29

“A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code.”

Being a Jew, i.e., a blessed child of God, is an inward identity, not a matter of outward identification.



--Romans 9:30

“The Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness, have not attained their goal.”

Quite clear: the non-Jews (Gentiles) have replaced the Jews, because of their faith.



--Hebrews 8:6-13

“But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs [the Jewish priests] as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises. For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another… By calling this covenant ‘new,’ he has made the first one obsolete; and what is obsolete and outdated will soon disappear.”

Again, quite clear, the New Covenant is in place. The Old was replaced and is gone.



--Luke 14:16-24

“Jesus replied: A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’ But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’ Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’ Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’ The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’ ‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’ Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’ ”

The Parable of the Great Banquet, illustrating that those who were the intended benefit of God’s banquet -- his Chosen People, the Jews -- rejected the invitation, and have been replaced.


--Matt 21:33-45

“ ‘Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard. He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then he rented the vineyard to some farmers and moved to another place. When the harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his fruit. The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and stoned a third. Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first time, and the tenants treated them the same way. Last of all, he sent his son to them. ‘They will respect my son,’ he said. But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, ‘This is the heir. Come, let’s kill him and take his inheritance.’ So they took him and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those tenants? ‘He will bring those wretches to a wretched end,’ they replied, ‘and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his share of the crop at harvest time.’ Jesus said to them… ‘Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. Anyone who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; anyone on whom it falls will be crushed.’ When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus’ parables, they knew he was talking about them."

The Parable of the Tenants, illustrating that the Jews have killed both prophets sent by God and even God’s son. Therefore, God has taken their kingdom away from them and given it to others who will use it to produce good fruit.


--Luke 4:25-30

“I assure you that there were many widows in Israel in Elijah’s time, when the sky was shut for three and a half years and there was a severe famine throughout the land. Yet Elijah was not sent to any of them, but to a widow in Zarephath in the region of Sidon. And there were many in Israel with leprosy in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one of them was cleansed—only Naaman the Syrian. All the people in the synagogue were furious when they heard this. They got up, drove him out of the town, and took him to the brow of the hill on which the town was built, in order to throw him off the cliff. But he walked right through the crowd and went on his way.”

Immediately after his temptations in the wilderness after his baptism, Jesus returns to his hometown and preaches the fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecy. After being rejected by them, he tells his listeners of God’s blessings for the foreigner, the non-Jews, even back in biblical times. His listeners are outraged at the suggestion, and try to kill him.

Conclusion

As you can see, the New Testament is quite clear and unambiguous on this matter, with clear statements by Jesus and Paul. The Old Covenant is over, the New Covenant has replaced it, and the Jews as a people are no longer heir to any special privileges or considerations.

Jewish Values Survey 2012 – Hating Christians more than Muslims

It is quite eye-opening to see the degree to which Jews dislike Christians, which was the headline-making aspect of this survey. On a hundred point scale, American Jews rated Muslims a 41.4, but they gave the Christian Right only a 20.9. 

For baseline information, the survey of American Jews (1004 random survey participants, Feb 23-Mar.5, 2012) found that 35% identified as Reform, 26% as Conservative, 8% as Orthodox, 1% as Reconstructionist, 29% as secular/ethnic. 95% of Jews identified as racially White.

There were a number of other fascinating results:

Modern Judaism = Holocaustism?

American Jews are obsessed with the Holocaust. 86% of them said the Holocaust is somewhat or very important for informing their political beliefs and activities. This far outpaced their immigrant experience (70%) or their experience as religious minority in America (66%). Funnily enough, the only thing that came close, was the prospect of making money (“opportunities for economic success in America” -- 85%).

Jews – not very Jewish

Which qualities are most important to their Jewish identity? Only 6% said cultural heritage and tradition, and only 17% said religious observance. The largest number (46%) said cited their commitment to social equality.

Echoing this value, 76% agreed that synagogues should be engaged in public policy advocacy to address social problems (“hey, we said separation of CHURCH and state, not synagogue and state”).

I am led to conclude that American Jews are actually more Marxist than Jewish. Their political views follow accordingly, with 70% of them identifying with or leaning towards the Democratic Party, versus 29% for the Republicans.

A full 29% say that being Jewish is either “not too important” or “not at all important” in their lives. Only 29% of young (18-39) Jews say that being Jewish is “very important” or “the most important” thing in their lives, although that number rises to 52% in the 60+ age bracket. Women (50%) value their Jewish identity more than men (32%).

40% of Jews see God as an impersonal force, versus 26% as a person with whom one can have a relationship. A full 18% of Jews don’t even believe in God. 60% do not belong to a synagogue.

Insiders to the Wealth Game

A full 73% of Jews admit that the U.S. economic system unfairly favors the wealthy, which is ironic because Jews are, of course, the single wealthiest demographic group in America. 81% of them support raising taxes on millionaires.

Love towards Muslims…

66% of Jews think American Muslims are an important part of the religious community in the U.S., and only 22% think they want to establish Islamic law as the law of the land in the U.S. Also 53% of American Jews say that they would support the establishment of a Palestinian state (higher than the national average of 44%).

…but war with Iran!

59% support U.S. military action against Iran to stop their nuclear program, if economic sanctions don’t do the trick. .

Supporters of Immigration, Abortion, and Homosexual Marriage

57% believe the growing number of foreign immigrants to America strengthen American society.
93% support legal abortion in most or all cases.
81% support homosexual marriages.


Source http://publicreligion.org/site/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/Jewish-Values-Report.pdf

The Truth about early Christianity and the Essenes – Conclusion

In this 12 part series, I have covered a great deal of ground. I think the project has been worthwhile, especially insofar as it serves to dispel a great deal of ignorance on the subject of early Christianity, and perhaps even serves to combat more than a few lies.

A great many essays have been published on the internet recently claiming to prove some controversial claim, especially in relation to the historian Josephus, such as Christianity was invented by the Roman emperors, or invented by Paul (or Josephus) on behalf of the emperors, or Paul or Jesus didn’t even exist, that kind of thing.

I didn’t start this series with the specific intention of combating those claims. Rather, I just wanted to dive deeply into the primary sources and see what they really had to say, and what information they provide for the modern reader. A recently popular subject appears to be the relation of the historian Luke to Josephus, and I wanted to investigate potential issues of plagiarism in greater detail. Overall, I just wanted to thoroughly investigate what we can know about the Essenes and what role they played in early Christianity.

My findings were astounding, and, if I do say so, a bit revolutionary. The main element which recommends my conclusions, which makes them potentially useful and reliable, is my strict reliance on, and respect for, the historical material.

The problem is, so much of contemporary scripture and historical study plays very fast and loose with the historical material, dismissing it at will, or even worse, reading into it whatever wild speculation one desires to muster. Too often, reading this post-modern stuff, some author just posits some wild backstory of motivation by some politico-religious group, who supposedly wrote whatever fanciful tale they wanted, in order to advance their agenda. Thus, these studies get more and more outlandish in their attempt to make up some “secret story behind the writing” of the documents.

My approach, by contrast, was simply to examine and analyze the documents, treating them as legitimate historical sources, to see what connections I could find. I specifically looked for contradictions or plagiarism if I could find them, but I had no particular agenda to prove. I was on a quest of discovery, more than anything else, journeying into an area I had scant prior knowledge of whatsoever.

The revolutionary character of my findings comes from the way I handled four separate points of view. I conceive of it as if having four separate people looking at the same milieu from four different corners. What lies in shadow from one point of view, is perfectly clear from another point of view. The four perspectives which come together to create a revolutionary new picture arise from understanding 1) Christianity, 2) the Essenes, 3) the Nazirites, and 4) Josephus.

I don’t mean to imply these are 4 separate historical sources. Rather, these are four conceptual domains, the understanding of one which allows for a deeper understanding of the other three. As I have attempted to demonstrate, when we understand all four of them in relation to each other, we get an amazing three-dimensional, vividly colorful picture of the times, which is impossible considering just one of them at a time.
Just to give one example of a remarkable conclusion at which I arrived has to do with Josephus’s Flavianum Testimonium, in which he describes the life of Christ. You will probably not see it mentioned without of such qualifiers as “controversial”, “disputed”, and “largely seen as non-authentic by modern scholars”, and I went into the study expecting to find as much.

Instead, I found that it is almost certainly completely authentic. Now, I must point out that the authenticity of his Testimonium does not mean that Josephus himself was Christian, nor that he knew anything of the life of Christ himself. But rather, it is a reflection of the fact that he was intimately connected with other people who were connected with the Christian movement and were probably Christian themselves. Specifically, I came to see that the Testimonium most likely reflects the contribution of Josephus’s colleague Agrippa II, who was one of Josephus’s primary sources and whose whole family was connected very closely with the Christian movement.

Which leads me to what was probably the most surprising aspect of my findings: the fact that the earliest Christians were at the very core of the major political battle of their day, involving kings, governors, high priests, and even emperors, for the control of the temple in Jerusalem. We tend to see the earliest Christians as mere victims of the larger historical forces around them, small fish buffeted by the strong currents in the big pond surrounding them.

But, I was left to conclude, the evidence is actually to the contrary: the Christians were powerful players in the very thick of events, struggling for control of the temple as clients of the king and emperor, as potent rivals to the orders of hereditary priests.

The religious elements of my findings are also quite revolutionary. We tend to the see the earliest Christians as Ex Nihilo creations arising from the amazing and transformational life of one person, Jesus. In fact, I found, Jesus provided the culmination of a wider and older religious movement, one which numbered in the multiple thousands of people and which had been brewing for a couple centuries. Jesus clearly arose from this movement himself, but also transformed it, expanded it, and sent it in new directions.



The full series:

Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: the Nazirite Connection
Part 3: Communalism and Celibacy/Marriage
Part 4: the Jesus-Essene connection
Part 5: Was Paul a Nazirite Priest?
Part 6: Did Josephus Know Paul?
Part 7: Josephus’ connection to Christianity
Part 8: Nazirite priests and Epiphanius
Part 9: Paul on communal labor and feasts
Part 10: Divisions, non-uniformity, the role of women
Part 11: Purification, Angels, Moses, & the Epistle to the Hebrews
Part 12: Therapeutae and Vegetarianism
Part 13: Conclusion
Also related:
Josephus’ role in the Jewish-Roman War

Christian victims of Israeli aggression in Palestine - attempted blackout by Zionists

Zionists attempted to silence a report on Palestinian Christians that aired on 60 Minutes (http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7406228n).  American Christians are slowly waking up to the evil that is Zionist Israel.   Truth will out  As usual, big money is on the bad guy side, so truth fights an uphill battle.  

The Zionists not only refuse to cover this type of thing in their extensive media channels, they also actively work to make sure other outlets don't cover it either.  According to Haaretz, the effort to thwart the broadcast was intense and coordinated, involving Israel ambassador Michael Oren penning an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal and Netanyahu addressing Evangelical leaders in Jerusalem, all in an attempt to bolster the government's record when it came to the Christian community in Israel (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/04/24/60-minutes-israel-christians-netanyahu-kill-story_n_1449595.html).



Here is an excellent summary of the reasons why they tried to censor this report (http://mycatbirdseat.com/2012/05/top-ten-reasons-israel-tried-to-censor-bob-simons-report-on-palestinian-christians/):

Here are the top ten reasons Israel’s Likud Party would have wanted to censor American television news on this occasion (and of course we don’t know all the occasions they have successfully done so):

1. The report told Americans that there are Palestinian Christians. Right wing Israelis have attempted to displace, expropriate and erase the Palestinian nation, and to convince Americans that Palestinians don’t exist or if they do are enemies of the U.S. When the foe of the US was the Soviet Union, they made the Palestinians Communists. When the foe became al-Qaeda, they made the Palestinians violent fundamentalists. But if some percentage of Palestinians is Christians, then that fact disrupts the propaganda. In fact, millions of Palestinians are descended from the 700,000 or so Palestinians ethnically cleansed by the Israelis from what is now Israel in 1948, of whom about 10 percent were Christian.

2. The report mentioned that some Palestinians are Lutherans, Catholics and Episcopalians, establishing a link of commonality between them and Americans. The Israeli Likud Party wants Americans identifying only with Israelis, not with Palestinians.

3. The report told Americans that Israel is occupying and colonizing Palestinian land. Most Americans think it is the other way around because of the success of Likud disinformation.

4. The report let it slip that Palestinians in the West Bank need a permit to travel to Arab East Jerusalem and are subjected within the West Bank to humiliating check points that turn a 7 mile journey into an all-day ordeal. This system sounds an awful lot like the old South African Apartheid.

5. The report allowed Palestinians to speak for themselves and to refute Oren’s anti-Palestinian talking points. It is a key principle of right wing Israeli propaganda that Palestinians should never be allowed to challenge the Israeli narrative on American television.

6. The report allowed a prominent Palestinian businessman and Coca Cola distributor to say that he knew of no Palestinian Christians who were leaving the West Bank and Jerusalem because of Muslims but that rather they were leaving because of Israeli oppression.

7. It allowed the Palestinians to point out that the West Bank now looks like Swiss cheese, with Israeli colonies grabbing the good land and water, and the stateless Palestinians pushed into the holes.

8. The report described the Palestinian Kairos Document, calling for nonviolent, peaceful struggle by Palestinians against Israeli Occupation and land grabs. Likud propaganda insists in racist fashion that all Palestinians are inherently angry and violent and that their protest against being made stateless and homeless by Israel is irrational.

9. The report quotes an Israeli scholar who puts “Political Judaism” on par with “Political Islam.” It is a key principle of Likud propaganda that no movement in Israel may ever be compared to movements in the Muslim world.

10. The report allows Palestinians to point out that the way the Israelis built the Separation Wall isolated Bethlehem, Jesus’s birthplace and a city that still is 18% Christian, had made it “an open-air prison.”






:

The Therapeutae and Vegetarianism, part 12 in The Truth about early Christianity and the Essenes

At the time of the life of Christ, along with the Essenes, the Hebrew holiness movement included a group known as the Therapeutae. Philo gives us an extensive description of the sacred practices of the Therapeutae. He describes them as living throughout the known world, but especially concentrated in monastic communities in the desert of northern Egypt, near Alexandria.


Commonalities and Differences with Essenes


Like the Essenes, the Therapeutae were ascetic monastics. The Therapeutae shared much in common with the Essenes, including the renouncing of personal possessions, the sacred communal meal, the white robes, the simple diet of bread, the spurning of meat and wine, the veneration of holy scripture, and the leadership by priests and elders.


They appear to differ from the Essenes in a couple areas: for one, they included both men and women, whereas the Essenes were usually described as including men-only. Josephus does mention one sect of Essenes who married (the Christians, most likely), but the Therapeutae, men and women, were all celibates.


Secondly, there is the question of them performing the physical labor that was usually attributed to the Essenes. Philo does describe a Sabbath-day’s rest from their labors, saying of their Sabbath practice: “their bodies also, giving them, just as they do to their cattle, a complete rest from their continual labors”. But the only labors he specifically describes them performing are scripture-study, meditation, prayer, and hymn-writing. As a critical thinker, one wonders how they supported themselves if they did no labor at all (especially as they had given away all their possessions upon joining the holy order). But the lack of mention of communal physical labor is a potential difference from the Essenes.


The goal of the religious practice of the Therapeutae was to attain experience of the divine. They appear to have lived in solitude for six days of the week, coming together only on the Sabbath, into a divided congregation, men and women on opposite sides, for religious instruction and a sacred meal.


Special Pentecost services


Philo also describes their Pentecost service as a special night-long celebration full of song and exuberance. It is a bit unclear from his description if this was the once-a-year Pentecost, or if it was occasioned every fifty days.


It seems likely that this Pentecost vigil was practiced by the early Christians, as well. As the Bible prefaces the coming of the Holy Spirit to the post-resurrection community: “When the day of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place” (Acts 2:1).


Indeed, the very purpose of the Therapeutae Pentecost service was to bring the congregation into communion with God (see description below), the very thing which was accompished at that first Christian Pentecost.  Of course, it is possible that the Christians were all together in one place on Pentecost morning by random happenstance, but the Therapeutae practice indicates it was part of the sacred calendar of the holiness movement.


Whether or not the Therapeutae shared a common institutional lineage with the Essenes, we cannot be certain. Without going so far as to equate the Therapeutae and the Essenes, we are on safe grounds in asserting that, at the minimum, they were both expressions of the Jewish holiness movement, and they did have much in common. Distinctions we draw within the wider holiness movement appear to be somewhat arbitrary, and, historically speaking, Christianity would subsume them both.


The Healers


Philo says they were called Therapeutae because of their role as healing physicians, both of the body and the soul:


“with strict regard to etymology, they are called Therapeutae and Therapeutrides … because they profess an art of medicine more excellent than that in general use in cities (for that only heals bodies, but the other heals souls which are under the mastery of terrible and almost incurable diseases, which pleasures and appetites, fears and griefs, and covetousness, and follies, and injustice, and all the rest of the innumerable multitude of other passions and vices, have inflicted upon them)”


The emphasis on healing brings up obvious parallels to the practices of Jesus and the apostles, who displayed multiple healing miracles.  It also calls to mind Paul’s companion Luke (author of the gospel and the Book of Acts), who was described as a physician. Paul referred to him with the Greek word iatros, meaning healer, in Col 4:14.


Eusebius on the Therapeutae


So close was the similarity between the Therapeutae and Christian religious practice, that the church historian Eusebius was absolutely certain that the Therapeutae were actually early Christians. Writing in the early 300s, Eusebius described them as one of the early Christian communities established by the apostle Mark himself:


“And they say that this Mark was the first that was sent to Egypt, and that he proclaimed the Gospel which he had written, and first established churches in Alexandria. And the multitude of believers, both men and women, that were collected there at the very outset, and lived lives of the most philosophical and excessive asceticism, was so great, that Philo thought it worthwhile to describe their pursuits, their meetings, their entertainments, and their whole manner of life." (History 2.16.1-2)


“It is also said that Philo in the reign of Claudius became acquainted at Rome with Peter, who was then preaching there. Nor is this indeed improbable, for the work of which we have spoken, and which was composed by him some years later, clearly contains those rules of the Church which are even to this day observed among us. (History 2.17.1)


In more detail concerning their similarity with Christianity, he writes:


“Why is it necessary to add to these things their meetings and the respective occupations of the men and of the women during those meetings, and the practices which are even to the present day habitually observed by us, especially such as we are accustomed to observe at the feast of the Saviour's passion, with fasting and night watching and study of the divine Word.


"These things the above-mentioned author has related in his own work, indicating a mode of life which has been preserved to the present time by us alone, recording especially the vigils kept in connection with the great festival, and the exercises performed during those vigils, and the hymns customarily recited by us, and describing how, while one sings regularly in time, the others listen in silence, and join in chanting only the close of the hymns; and how, on the days referred to they sleep on the ground on beds of straw, and to use his own words, "taste no wine at all, nor any flesh, but water is their only drink, and the relish with their bread is salt and hyssop."


"In addition to this Philo describes the order of dignities which exists among those who carry on the services of the church, mentioning the diaconate, and the office of bishop, which takes the precedence over all the others. But whosoever desires a more accurate knowledge of these matters may get it from the history already cited. But that Philo, when he wrote these things, had in view the first heralds of the Gospel and the customs handed down from the beginning by the apostles, is clear to everyone.” (History 2.17.21-24)


Eusebius clearly establishes that Christian practice is obviously descended from the Therapeutae, but in all fairness, he does not thereby establish that the Therapeutae were Christian. The problem for Eusebius is that Philo describes them as not at all Christian in faith, but focused on the prophet Moses and unnamed founders of theirs sect.


The solution to this conundrum seems plain enough to me, and follows the thesis I have previously been developing: the Christian movement grew out of the wider holiness movement, grafting Christian faith onto pre-existing holiness practices. The Therapeutae stand as probably the single most persuasive example of that trend.


The similarity to later Christian monasticism is obvious, but given the dating of the description (possibly as early as during the life of Christ) and details about their beliefs (pre-Christian Jewishness), it seems fair enough that the Therapeutae are best described as proto-Christian, rather than early Christian.


Christian reforms regarding Vegetarianism


It was out of this holiness milieu that early Christianity drew its early support. Much of the liturgical life of these holiness communities was adopted, while some of its more ascetic demands were moderated. For example, Paul speaks directly against these practices in his letter to Timothy:


“Forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats is a doctrine of devils” (1 Tim 4:3), and “Drink no longer water, but use a little wine” (1 Tim 5:23).


This focus on celibacy, vegetarianism, and temperance was shared widely in the holiness movement, seen in the Therapeutae, the Essenes, and the Nazirites. It seems to have caused more than a bit of friction in the early Christian movement.


Paul urges Christians to stop judging one another over these issues: “Accept the one whose faith is weak, without quarreling over disputable matters. One person’s faith allows them to eat anything, but another, whose faith is weak, eats only vegetables. The one who eats everything must not treat with contempt the one who does not, and the one who does not eat everything must not judge the one who does, for God has accepted them” (Romans 14:1-3).


He also seems to come down on the side of decorum and consideration, over those who flaunted their Christian freedom:


“For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit… It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother or sister to fall” (Romans 14:17, 21).


The issue of vegetarianism lingered as a controversial subject for centuries. In the year 314 A.D., for example, the Council Of Ancyra ordered the removal of any dogmatic vegetarians from the clergy:


“It is decreed that among the clergy, presbyters and deacons who abstain from flesh shall taste of it, and afterwards, if they shall so please, may abstain. But if they disdain it, and will not even eat herbs served with flesh, but disobey the canon, let them be removed from their order” (Canon 14, http://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3802.htm)


Almost a century later, circa 400 A.D., Augustine argued against the dogmatism of the Manicheans, who demanded abstinence from meat and wine. Augustine acknowledges that some people avoid meat or wine for good reasons, such as to check indulgence or out of love.  But he condemns dogmatic, absolutist abstinence as superstitious and spiritually unfounded (On the Morals of the Manicheans, Ch.13, v.27, http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/npnf104.iv.v.xv.html).


Of course, the practice of ascetic vegetarianism survived most visibly in various Lenten-season practices of the church. It became standard practice throughout Christendom for believers to give up meat for the entire duration of Lent. Thus, we can see that some of the dogmatic purity practices in the holiness movement influenced the Christian movement, affirmed in the idea of Christian holiness, though modified according to the understanding of Christian freedom.


Select quote from Philo's description of the Therapeutae:

The therapeutic race, being continually taught to see without interruption, may well aim at obtaining a sight of the living God ... they are carried away by a certain heavenly love, give way to enthusiasm, behaving like so many revelers in bacchanalian or corybantian mysteries, until they see the object which they have been earnestly desiring ...


because of their anxious desire for an immortal and blessed existence, thinking that their mortal life has already come to an end, they leave their possessions to their sons or daughters, or perhaps to other relations, giving them up their inheritance with willing cheerfulness; and those who know no relations give their property to their companions or friends…

And they are accustomed to pray twice every day, at morning and at evening… And the interval between morning and evening is by them devoted wholly to meditation on and to practice of virtue, for they take up the sacred writings and philosophize concerning them, investigating the allegories of their national philosophy, since they look upon their literal expressions as symbols of some secret meaning of nature, intended to be conveyed in those figurative expressions….

They have also writings of ancient men, who having been the founders of one sect or another have left behind them many memorials of the allegorical system of writing and explanation, whom they take as a kind of model, and imitate the general fashion of their sect; so that they do not occupy themselves solely in contemplation, but they likewise compose psalms and hymns to God...

Sabbath celebration

These, then, are the first circumstances of the feast; but after the guests have sat down to the table … and when those who minister to them are all standing around in order, ready to wait upon them, and when there is nothing to drink, the one [who presides] will speak… and then he searches out some passage in the sacred writings, or explains some difficulty which is proposed by someone else … And he, indeed, follows a slower method of instruction, dwelling on and lingering over his explanations with repetitions, in order to imprint his conceptions deep in the minds of his hearers… And these explanations of the sacred writings are delivered by mystic expressions in allegories...

When, therefore, the president appears to have spoken at sufficient length… applause arises from them all as of men rejoicing together at what they have seen and heard; and then someone rising up sings a hymn which has been made in honor of God… And after him then others also arise in their ranks, in becoming order, while every one else listens in decent silence, except when it is proper for them to take up the burden of the song, and to join in at the end; for then they all, both men and women, join in the hymn.

And when each individual has finished his psalm, then the young men bring in the table which was mentioned a little while ago, on which was placed that most holy food, the leavened bread, with a seasoning of salt, with which hyssop is mingled, out of reverence for the sacred table, which lies thus in the holy outer temple; for on this table are placed loaves and salt without seasoning, and the bread is unleavened, and the salt unmixed with anything else, for it was becoming that the simplest and purest things should be allotted to the most excellent portion of the priests, as a reward for their ministrations, and that the others should admire similar things, but should abstain from the loaves, in order that those who are the more excellent person may have the precedence.

And after the feast they celebrate the sacred festival during the whole night; and this nocturnal festival is celebrated in the following manner: … they sing hymns which have been composed in honor of God … at one time all singing together, and at another moving their hands and dancing in corresponding harmony, and uttering in an inspired manner songs of thanksgiving, and at another time regular odes…

Then, when each chorus of the men and each chorus of the women has feasted separately by itself, like persons in the bacchanalian revels, drinking the pure wine of the love of God, they join together, and the two become one chorus, an imitation of that one which, in old time, was established by the Red Sea… When the Israelites saw and experienced this great miracle... both men and women together, under the influence of divine inspiration, becoming all one chorus, sang hymns of thanksgiving to God the Savior, Moses the prophet leading the men, and Miryam the prophetess leading the women.

Now the chorus of Therapeutae and Therapeutrides [i.e. male and female] being formed, as far as possible on this model, makes a most harmonious concert, and a truly musical symphony, the shrill voices of the women mingling with the deep-toned voices of the men. The ideas were beautiful, the expressions beautiful, and the chorus-singers were beautiful; and the end of ideas, and expressions, and chorus singers, was piety; therefore, being intoxicated all night till the morning with this beautiful intoxication, without feeling their heads heavy or closing their eyes for sleep, but being even more awake than when they came to the feast, as to their eyes and their whole bodies, and standing there till morning, when they saw the sun rising they raised their hands to heaven, imploring tranquility and truth, and acuteness of understanding. And after their prayers they each retired to their own separate abodes, with the intention of again practicing the usual philosophy to which they had been wont to devote themselves.

But on the seventh day they all come together as if to meet in a sacred assembly, and they sit down in order according to their ages with all becoming gravity .. and then the eldest of them who has the most profound learning in their doctrines, comes forward and speaks … investigating with great pains, and explaining with minute accuracy the precise meaning of the laws … and all the rest listen in silence to the praises which he bestows upon the law, showing their assent only by nods of the head, or the eager look of the eyes...

they eat nothing of a costly character, but plain bread and a seasoning of salt, which the more luxurious of them to further season with hyssop; and their drink is water from the spring; for they oppose those feelings which nature has made mistresses of the human race, namely, hunger and thirst, giving them nothing to flatter or humor them, but only such useful things as it is not possible to exist without.

Pentecost celebration

these men assemble at the end of seven weeks, venerating not only the simple week of seven days, but also its multiplied power, for they know it to be pure and always virgin; and it is a prelude and a kind of fore feast of the greatest feast, which is assigned to the number fifty, the most holy and natural of numbers...

Therefore when they come together clothed in white garments, and joyful with the most exceeding gravity… before they sit down to meat standing in order in a row, and raising their eyes and their hands to heaven… they pray to God that the entertainment may be acceptable, and welcome, and pleasing; and after having offered up these prayers the elders sit down to meat, still observing the order in which they were previously arranged, for they do not look on those as elders who are advanced in years and very ancient, but in some cases they esteem those as very young men, if they have attached themselves to this sect only lately, but those whom they call elders are those who from their earliest infancy have grown up and arrived at maturity in the speculative portion of philosophy, which is the most beautiful and most divine part of it.

And in those days wine is not introduced, but only the clearest water; cold water for the generality, and hot water for those old men who are accustomed to a luxurious life. And the table, too, bears nothing which has blood, but there is placed upon it bread for food and salt for seasoning, to which also hyssop is sometimes added as an extra sauce for the sake of those who are delicate in their eating, for just as right reason commands the priest to offer up sober sacrifices, so also these men are commanded to live sober lives, for wine is the medicine of folly, and costly seasonings and sauces excite desire, which is the most insatiable of all beasts.

The full series:

Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: the Nazirite Connection
Part 3: Communalism and Celibacy/Marriage
Part 4: the Jesus-Essene connection
Part 5: Was Paul a Nazirite Priest?
Part 6: Did Josephus Know Paul?
Part 7: Josephus’ connection to Christianity
Part 8: Nazirite priests and Epiphanius
Part 9: Paul on communal labor and feasts
Part 10: Divisions, non-uniformity, the role of women
Part 11: Purification, Angels, Moses, & the Epistle to the Hebrews
Part 12: Therapeutae and Vegetarianism
Part 13: Conclusion
Also related:
Josephus’ role in the Jewish-Roman War

Jewish master plan for world dominance - Revealed!

No, not the Protocols of the Elders of Zion....  The Bible!    It is right there for all to see:


"For the LORD your God will bless you as he has promised, and you will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. You will rule over many nations but none will rule over you."  (Deuteronomy 15:6)

The Jewish dominance of banking and finance is no accident, as you can see.  The racist unpinings of the Israelite tribal religion is right there on display in Deuteronomy 15 as well, as the Isrealites were commanded to lend only to non-Hebrews, with a separate rule of debt-forgiveness and charitable giving for fellow Israelites. 

The "money power" is indeed the most powerful power of them all.   The irony is how illusory is the foundation of this power, for money today is totally free. 

The problem is, we continue to look at money through the primitive conception that money is a limited commodity.  It is not.  Money is nothing but a trick that gets us to cooperate, and anyone can issue it.  At base, money is nothing more or less than a flexible form of account balancing, boiling down to the credit/debit ledger.  

Oftentimes, valuable commodities take on the role of money, like cigs in prison, but the function of money is not limited to commodities (despite the Austrian school of economics propaganda about gold being the only true money).  In fact, the best money is not a commodity at all, but is created and extinguished solely for the purpose of wealth creation and transfer.

Slavery by government debt payment 

The practice of sovereign nations taking out loans is especially perverse.   If you could legally print out your own money, why would you borrow it and pay it back with interest?  How dumb!  It is really a huge scam.

The fact is, sovereign borrowing is a thinly disguised transfer of wealth to the ruling banking class, much like the old tribute payments.   All debt payment should be cancelled immediately.   The government does not need to borrow money, and the unnecessary payment of interest to a banking class is nothing less than a form of slavery.

Men of Harlech - the Song of Freedom stirs our souls yet

Men of Harlech, march to glory,
Victory is hov'ring o'er ye,
Bright-eyed freedom stands before ye,
Hear ye not her call?

At your sloth she seems to wonder;
Rend the sluggish bonds asunder,
Let the war-cry's deaf'ning thunder
Every foe appall.

Echoes loudly waking,
Hill and valley shaking;
'Till the sound spreads wide around,
The Saxon's courage breaking;

Your foes on every side assailing,
Forward press with heart unfailing,
'Till invaders learn with quailing,
Cambria ne'er can yield!

Thou, who noble Cambria wrongest,
Know that freedom's cause is strongest,
Freedom's courage lasts the longest,
Ending but with death!

Freedom countless hosts can scatter,
Freedom stoutest mail can shatter,
Freedom thickest walls can batter,
Fate is in her breath.

See, they now are flying!
Dead are heap'd with dying!
Over might hath triumph'd right,
Our land to foes denying;

Upon their soil we never sought them,
Love of conquest hither brought them,
But this lesson we have taught them,
"Cambria ne'er can yield!"

Men of Christ, sally forth - following King Alfred the Great

A rousing start to the Christian Men's Defense Network (http://cmd-n.org/). Of his King Alfred banner:


I did not choose the banner image haphazardly. The banner shows a statue in Winchester, England, of King Alfred the Great, the first King of a united England. Alfred is the only English monarch to officially receive the appellation “the Great.” Not even the magnificent Queen Elizabeth I is so honored. Unfortunately, most modern Anglophones know nothing about him.

When the pagan Danes invaded England in the late 9th century, they successfully subdued every kingdom of what is now England except for Alfred’s kingdom of Wessex (modern southwest England). Alfred alone was left to fight against the murderous and rapacious pagan onslaught.
Eventually, the Danes over-ran Wessex, and Alfred had to retreat to a tiny one square mile island in the midst of a swamp, the Isle of Athelney.

From there, Alfred engaged in a form of guerrilla war against the Danes, raiding and retreating back to Athelney. Eventually, he was able to gather the fyrd, the equivalent of a militia, to engage in open battle against the Danes.

He first drove the Danes from Wessex, and then eventually drove them from England entirely. In so doing, he was the first Anglo-Saxon king to control substantially all of modern-day England, and more importantly he was the savior of English Christian civilization. He is the reason our culture knows about Jesus Christ today instead of the Norse god Odin.

Alfred was a devout Christian who instituted several important reforms. Most notably, he created a system of education with the intent of enabling every free Christian male within his realm to learn to read in the English tongue. He did this in part so that young Christian men could be adequately educated on the basics of the Christian faith. He also personally translated several books of the Bible from Latin into English so that common Christians could read God’s Word. In so doing, he actually became the father of the English language. Alfred is the reason you are reading this blog in English today.

Alfred is pictured holding his sword–which he wielded against the ruthless pagans–upside down to symbolize the power of the Cross. I chose Alfred as a symbol because, like him, so many of us Christian men are sitting today in our own Athelney.

We alone stand in Athelney, from whence we must ride out in guerilla raids against the powers that are destroying our culture. Our focus must be on raising the fyrd, gathering Christian men to our side so that we can fight in open spiritual battle with the destructive forces arrayed against us.

“We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.”

Pope suggests Jesus followed Essene calendar

I found this to be interesting news, given my recent (and ongoing) series on the truth about the Essenes and early Christianity. There is absolutely no question that Jesus was part of the holiness movement of his day, popularly known as the Essenes, although he was not located at Qumran.

Jesus established a major innovation in the Essene movement, allowing women and married men, and his organization was based in the towns, not in the celibate monasteries. See my extensive original research on the relation between the Essenes and Christianity, here:

Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: the Nazirite Connection
Part 3: Communalism and Celibacy/Marriage
Part 4: the Jesus-Essene connection
Part 5: Was Paul a Nazirite Priest?
Part 6: Did Josephus Know Paul?
Part 7: Josephus’ connection to Christianity
Part 8: Nazirite priests and Epiphanius
Part 9: Paul on communal labor and feasts
Part 10: Divisions, non-uniformity, the role of women
Part 11: Purification, Angels, Moses, & the Epistle to the Hebrews
Part 12: Therapeutae and Vegetarianism
Conclusion

Quoting from Zenit (http://www.zenit.org/article-19341?l=english):

In his address, the theologian [Pope] commented on the historical investigations on the manuscripts of Qumran, found in the Dead Sea in 1947.

"In the narrations of the Evangelists, there is an apparent contradiction between the Gospel of John, on one hand, and what, on the other hand, Matthew, Mark and Luke tell us," said Benedict XVI.

"According to John, Jesus died on the cross precisely at the moment in which, in the temple, the Passover lambs were being sacrificed. His death and the sacrifice of the lambs coincided.

"This means that he died on the eve of Passover, and that, therefore, he could not have personally celebrated the paschal supper, at least this is what it would seem.

The Holy Father said that according to an interpretation of the texts, "still not accepted by all," Jesus "celebrated Passover with his disciples probably according to the calendar of Qumran, that is to say, at least one day earlier -- he celebrated without a lamb, like the Qumran community who did not recognize the Temple of Herod and was waiting for a new temple.

Cardinal Albert Vanhoye, former rector of the Pontifical Biblical Institute of Rome, explained that in Jesus' time the calendar of the Essenes was more traditional that the one more recently adopted by the priests of Jerusalem.

Purification, angels, Moses, and the Epistle to the Hebrews, part 11 in The Truth about early Christianity and the Essenes

Paul’s letter to the Hebrews is another clear example of a letter written directly to an Essene community.

The forgotten role of rites of purification

As I have detailed in previous essays, the Essene movement, being a social movement of holiness, encompassed the Nazirite movement, which were individual practices of holiness. The Nazirites were essentially lay/non-hereditary priests, consecrating themselves to God through their purity practice.

Josephus describes how these practices were incorporated by the Essenes, who often took themselves to the purifying waters for various reasons, and were led by priests. For example: “if the seniors should be touched by the juniors, they must wash themselves, as if they had intermixed themselves with the company of a foreigner” (War 2:8:10:150), and “although this easement of the body be natural, yet it is a rule with them to wash themselves after it, as if it were a defilement to them” (War 2:8:9:145).

Paul alludes to these Essene/Nazirite purification practices in his summary of the basic teachings of the Christian faith. He actually lists cleansing rites as one of the foundations of Christian doctrine:

“Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, instruction about cleansing rites, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment” (Heb 6:1-2).

It is interesting to note that all the other elements of what Paul calls “the elementary teachings” (repentance for sin, faith, healing, resurrection, judgment) have survived into institutional Christianity, but the practice of cleansing rites has been abandoned, simplified down to nothing more than the initial baptismal rite.

On the Importance of angels

In discussing some of the teachings of the Essenes, Josephus mentions that the angels of heaven played a significant role in Essene religion:

“He swears to communicate their doctrines to no one any otherwise than as he received them himself; that he will abstain from robbery, and will equally preserve the books belonging to their sect, and the names of the angels. These are the oaths by which they secure their proselytes to themselves” (War 2:8:7:137).

Epiphanius confirms that a number of heretical groups were focused on angel and elemental worship (see my essay touching on that topic in Part 8 of this series).

Interestingly, the importance of angels was confirmed in the writings of the early Christians. For example, both Peter and Jude allude to a similar importance of angels in the early Christian community, condemning those who blaspheme them:

“Those who follow the corrupt desire of the flesh and despise authority, bold and arrogant, they are not afraid to heap abuse on celestial beings" (2 Peter 2:10), and “In the very same way, on the strength of their dreams these ungodly people pollute their own bodies, reject authority and heap abuse on celestial beings” (Jude 1:8).

The angels also had some significant role in Paul’s early theology, reflecting his grounding in the Essene community. For example: “I charge you, in the sight of God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, to keep these instructions without partiality” (1 Tim 5:21).

However, in his epistle to the Hebrews, Paul takes pains to reign in the Essene over-emphasis on angels. The entire first two chapters of the Epistle to the Hebrews is making the case the Jesus is superior to the angels, starting with “So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs” (Heb 1: 4).

This parallels what he wrote in another letter, where Paul addresses the problem of people who are claiming to be leaders because of their experience with angels: “Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such a person also goes into great detail about what they have seen; they are puffed up with idle notions by their unspiritual mind” (Colossians 2:18).

It is to be noted that that entire section of that letter (written shortly before Hebrews during Paul's prisoner period) is a rebuke to Essene and Nazirite ideas over-emphasizing ritual purity:

“Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules: “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”? These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings. Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.” (Colossians 2:20-23)

The importance of Moses

Incidentally, Essenes considered Moses perhaps even more important than the angels. As Josephus describes the Essenes: “What they most of all honor, after God himself, is the name of their legislator [Moses], whom if any one blaspheme he is punished capitally” (War 2:8:9). Epiphanius also confirms that many proto-Christian groups continued to revere the Mosaic law.

Highlighting the role of Epistle to the Hebrews as a letter to an Essene-based community, immediately after the first two chapters on Jesus’s superiority to the angels, the very next chapter makes the case for Jesus’s superiority to Moses! As Paul puts it: “Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself” (Heb 3:3).

Jesus should be seen as superior to Moses because he is the eternal high priest, seated at the right hand of the Father, and he has replaced the old priesthood and inaugurated a new coveant with God: “But in fact the ministry Jesus has received is as superior to theirs as the covenant of which he is mediator is superior to the old one, since the new covenant is established on better promises. For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another” (Heb 8:6-7).

The identity of the superior priesthood

The Essene Nazirites viewed themselves as an order of non-hereditary priests, and viewed the temple priests as corrupt. As Josephus says of them: “when they send what they have dedicated to God into the temple, they do not offer sacrifices because they have more pure lustrations of their own; on which account they are excluded from the common court of the temple, but offer their sacrifices themselves” (Antiq, 18.1:5)

Paul speaks to this self-conception of the superiority of the non-hereditary priesthood in the seventh chapter of Hebrews, which downgrades the Levitical priesthood, of order of Aaron, as inferior to the divine priesthood, without geneology, of the order of Melchizedek:

“This Melchizedek was king of Salem and priest of God Most High. He met Abraham returning from the defeat of the kings and blessed him, and Abraham gave him a tenth of everything…Without father or mother, without genealogy, without beginning of days or end of life, resembling the Son of God, he remains a priest forever. … This man, however, did not trace his descent from Levi, yet he collected a tenth from Abraham and blessed him who had the promises. And without doubt the lesser is blessed by the greater. … If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood… why was there still need for another priest to come, one in the order of Melchizedek, not in the order of Aaron?” (Heb 7:1-11)

Paul also expresses the Nazirite disdain of sacrificial meat eaten by the temple priesthood:

“Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so. We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat” (Heb 13:9-10).

A reference to persecution
Paul’s epistle to the Hebrews was written from his Roman prison, and it directly references the persecution that the Christians/Nazarite priests were undergoing in Jerusalem in their battle with the priest establishment:

“Remember those earlier days after you had received the light, when you endured in a great conflict full of suffering. Sometimes you were publicly exposed to insult and persecution; at other times you stood side by side with those who were so treated. You suffered along with those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, because you knew that you yourselves had better and lasting possessions. So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded” (Heb 10:32-35).

The importance of holiness and communalism

In closing his letter, Paul also speaks to the ideals of peacefulness, holiness, sexual purity, and communalism which were demanded of the Essenes:

--“Make every effort to live in peace with everyone and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord" (Heb 12:14).
--“See that no one is sexually immoral” (Heb 12:16).
--“Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.” (Heb 3:4).
--“Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have. (Heb 13:5)
--“And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.” (Heb 13:16)

Concluding analysis

Following his pattern in other letters, we can see that Paul is again addressing an audience which is based in Essene/Nazirite practices and teachings. On the practical level, he continues to affirm the basic Essene focus on holiness and disdain for the sacrifices of the temple priesthood. On the theological level, he moves his audience towards a purer Christian faith, downgrading Mosaic laws and the worship of angels, both of which were common in the proto-Christian community.



The full series:

Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: the Nazirite Connection
Part 3: Communalism and Celibacy/Marriage
Part 4: the Jesus-Essene connection
Part 5: Was Paul a Nazirite Priest?
Part 6: Did Josephus Know Paul?
Part 7: Josephus’ connection to Christianity
Part 8: Nazirite priests and Epiphanius
Part 9: Paul on communal labor and feasts
Part 10: Divisions, non-uniformity, the role of women
Part 11: Purification, Angels, Moses, & the Epistle to the Hebrews
Part 12: Therapeutae and Vegetarianism
Part 13: Conclusion
Also related:
Josephus’ role in the Jewish-Roman War

Divisions, non-uniformity, and the role of women, part 10 in The Truth about early Christianity and the Essenes

We can see from many examples of his advice and teaching that Paul was not recruiting among random groups of people, but was specifically addressing various Essene communities.

Early divisions in the holiness movement

The Essene holiness movement was organizationally divided. Individual congregations were formed by different holiness leaders. We know from the Gospels, for example, that some people identified with “John’s baptism”, and considered themselves followers of John.

A great deal of argumentation went around as the individual congregations were torn between the differing standards of those different leaders. Paul addresses this chaotic situation in a number of places, attempting to mold them all together into the unity of the Christian faith. For example:

“My brothers and sisters, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.” (1 Cor 1:11-12)

Paul again addresses this religious competition in his second letter: “For if someone comes to you and preaches a Jesus other than the Jesus we preached, or if you receive a different spirit from the Spirit you received, or a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it easily enough.” (2 Cor 11:4)

Also: “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.” (Gal 1:6-7)

The chaos of worship meetings in the holiness movement

Paul’s advice regarding proper worship clearly addresses a non-institutionalized milieu. He was not addressing church services as we think of them today. His advice addressed the house-church services that prevailed among the families that were part of the holiness movement, in which everyone took part in the worship with their own contribution.

Here is how he describes the chaos of the house church:

“When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up. If anyone speaks in a tongue, two—or at the most three—should speak, one at a time, and someone must interpret. If there is no interpreter, the speaker should keep quiet in the church and speak to himself and to God. Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said. And if a revelation comes to someone who is sitting down, the first speaker should stop. For you can all prophesy in turn so that everyone may be instructed and encouraged. The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. For God is not a God of disorder but of peace—as in all the congregations of the Lord’s people.” (1 Cor 14:26-33)

Christian church services were institutionalized following the pattern of worship in the synagogue, with a congregational audience following the leader in standardized group prayer, scripture reading, and a priest-provided exposition. Paul’s advice doesn’t make sense in that scenario. He is advising the lay-led communal get-togethers of the holiness movement.

The innovation concerning women in the church

All ancient writers on the Essenes agree that they were all-male. However, Josephus mentions one sect of Essenes that allowed marriage, and within it, sexuality, but only for the purpose of procreation. He was almost certainly talking directly about the Christians, though he does not name them.

It was the innovation of Jesus to allow married men in the movement. Paul mentions that many of the leaders of the Christian movement (including Peter) were married: “Don’t we have the right to take a believing wife along with us, as do the other apostles and the Lord’s brothers and Cephas?” (1 Cor 9:5).

However, the Essene communities among which Paul was spreading the Christian faith, such as the Corinthians, held to the original Essene conception of celibacy. Apparently, they even wrote to Paul about the issue of celibacy, assuming that celibacy should be the norm. As he puts it: “Now for the matters you wrote about: ‘It is good for a man not to have sexual relations with a woman.’ ” (1 Cor 7:1).

Paul then corrects them, pointing out that sex within marriage is ok: “But since sexual immorality is occurring, each man should have sexual relations with his own wife, and each woman with her own husband. … Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.” (1 Cor 7: 2-5).

Paul notes, however, that celibacy is preferable, but sex within marriage is allowed: “I say this as a concession, not as a command. I wish that all of you were as I am. But each of you has your own gift from God; one has this gift, another has that. Now to the unmarried and the widows I say: It is good for them to stay unmarried, as I do. But if they cannot control themselves, they should marry, for it is better to marry than to burn with passion" (1 Cor 7:6-9).

He elsewhere condemns the demand for non-married celibacy as the doctrine of demons:

“The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods” (1 Tim 4:1-3).

The celibacy, as well as the focus on vegetarianism, were both references to Essene/Nazirite demands. Again we see Paul evangelizing among their holiness movement, attempting to move them in the direction of Christian faith and practice.

Interestingly, we have hints that not all Christians were on-board with the idea of allowable sexuality within marriage. According to the martyrdom of Peter (section 34) (http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/actspeter.html), Peter was targeted by Agrippa and Albinus for turning their wives against them, as the wives embraced chastity. Most likely, while still in agreement with the idea that marriage is allowed, they were embracing the idea, to their husband's chagrin, that sex should only be for procreation.

What role for women?

Since women were now allowed participation in the holiness movement, the question then arose, what role should they have? Paul answered that women were expected to live according to the Essene rules of holiness and purity, but following Jesus’ example, the leaders of the church were to remain men-only.

“Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the law says. If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church. (1 Cor 14:34-35)

Some have suggested that this section in Corinthians is a non-Pauline interpolation, but the similar idea is fully confirmed elsewhere:

“A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to assume authority over a man; she must be quiet. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. But women will be saved through childbearing—if they continue in faith, love and holiness with propriety” (1 Tim 2:11-15).

In short, rooted in the ideals of the Essene movement, Paul conceived Christian churches as male-led organizations. Women were welcome to be participants in the holiness movement, as participants in faith, love, and holiness, but leadership and teaching remained the male domain.


The full series:

Part 1: Introduction
Part 2: the Nazirite Connection
Part 3: Communalism and Celibacy/Marriage
Part 4: the Jesus-Essene connection
Part 5: Was Paul a Nazirite Priest?
Part 6: Did Josephus Know Paul?
Part 7: Josephus’ connection to Christianity
Part 8: Nazirite priests and Epiphanius
Part 9: Paul on communal labor and feasts
Part 10: Divisions, non-uniformity, the role of women
Part 11: Purification, Angels, Moses, & the Epistle to the Hebrews
Part 12: Therapeutae and Vegetarianism
Part 13: Conclusion
Also related:
Josephus’ role in the Jewish-Roman War