It’s an ‘inconvenient truth’: Jesus saw his own destruction in terms of the Temple in Jerusalem being torn down.
“Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple and in three days I will raise it up.” (John 2:19)
Within 40 years, the Romans destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem, the Jews were dispersed, and within three centuries a mighty fire took hold across the known world: a fire which would later be called Christianity.
How could he possibly know?
The words that Tim Rice wrote for Superstar in the musical “Jesus Christ Superstar” in 1970 seem to echo this question.
Could he actually see that far into the future?
The Restoration of Jerusalem as the Capital of Israel
Now, we come to the point of this discussion. The ‘backward time in such a strange land’ has given way to the present. The United States of America’s move of their embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is a big deal.
As far as the ‘countdown to Armageddon’ is concerned, this starts the clock.
Or as Jesus said, “Verily I say to you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled. Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.” (Luke 21:33-34)
Conclusion
Are we doomed?No.Will we be changed?Yes.
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. (1 Corinthians 15:51-52)
In the course of writing poetry over the years, I have employed a technique that helps drive the process of creating sonnets, while ‘hiding’ the meaning in plain sight. I write acrostic poems.
What I hadn’t realized is that some of the Hebrew Proverbs utilized the same technique. I guess that means I’m in good company.
Years ago, I studied Hebrew scripture to see if there were any hidden codes buried beneath the words. This is known as Gematria.
Sometimes, the text itself will hint at the number(s) involved. That means the message is hidden in plain sight.
But sometimes, there are no hints. By substituting the numbers for the letters, a value is revealed.
Hidden Message
The first ‘word’ totals 429, the second 1117, and the third 873. This gives a grand total of 2419.
What does this mean? 2+4+1+9 = 16. Add the two digits together and ‘this’ equals 7. As I’ve pointed out before, seven is a number that is hidden in plain view all the time. It is a sacred number.
Conclusion
To measure up to the best that we can be, we need to emulate the Divine.
In our Faith and Science group, another question has come up which might shed some light on this mystery. In the Garden of Gethsemane, how do the Gospel writers know what Jesus prayed while the disciples were fast asleep?
It’s an interesting question, because the answer only makes sense if Jesus had actually resurrected after his crucifixion. He told them!
All through Jesus’ ministry, he tried to get his disciples to understand that he had a mission to fulfill. And because he knew the writings of the Prophets inside and out, he could make events fit the criteria of specific passages, such as Isaiah 53.
The Road to Emmaus
It had been three days since Jesus’ resurrection. Two men walking to Emmaus met up with a stranger on the road. They asked him if he knew what had taken place in Jerusalem. He played dumb, essentially to hear what they had to say about it.
Then he instructed them about the Prophets and how Jesus’ life fulfilled their words. When they got to their destination, they persuaded Jesus to accompany them to dinner. He obliged.
Sitting down to the meal, he took the bread, blessed it and broke it, giving it to them. They instantly recognized him. And then he disappeared. (Luke 24:30-31)
WOW!
Conclusion
During the Last Supper, Jesus taught his disciples to remember him every time they sat down for a meal.
Since we eat every day, we should be mindful of his legacy, too. It wouldn’t hurt to say Grace, as well. in gratitude for your life.
Do you know why atheists feel justified in saying that there is no God? Because even Jesus, dying on the cross, called out to Him, and He didn’t come to Jesus’ rescue.
Abandonment is felt by every single one of us, mostly when our parents die. But children of divorced parents will feel this sooner than most. And it makes us feel unworthy and unloved.
And yet, what if God is actually suffering with us, helping us to bear our cross? What if the only way for Him to get through to us is when we go through a crisis of confidence?
Even King David…
Psalm 22 is a very emotional roller-coaster. Most of us cannot adequately verbalize exactly how awful it feels to be alone. David was a poet. He knew how to express his feelings. This Psalm is the proof of that.
Psalm 22
1 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? 2 My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest.
3 Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the one Israel praises. 4 In you our ancestors put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them. 5 To you they cried out and were saved; in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
6 But I am a worm and not a man, scorned by everyone, despised by the people. 7 All who see me mock me; they hurl insults, shaking their heads. 8 “He trusts in the Lord,” they say, “let the Lord rescue him. Let him deliver him, since he delights in him.”
9 Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast. 10 From birth I was cast on you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
11 Do not be far from me, for trouble is near and there is no one to help.
12 Many bulls surround me; strong bulls of Bashan encircle me. 13 Roaring lions that tear their prey open their mouths wide against me. 14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted within me. 15 My mouth is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death.
16 Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet. 17 All my bones are on display; people stare and gloat over me. 18 They divide my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.
19 But you, Lord, do not be far from me. You are my strength; come quickly to help me. 20 Deliver me from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dogs. 21 Rescue me from the mouth of the lions; save me from the horns of the wild oxen.
22 I will declare your name to my people; in the assembly I will praise you. 23 You who fear the Lord, praise him! All you descendants of Jacob, honor him! Revere him, all you descendants of Israel! 24 For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.
25 From you comes the theme of my praise in the great assembly; before those who fear you I will fulfill my vows. 26 The poor will eat and be satisfied; those who seek the Lord will praise him— may your hearts live forever!
27 All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, 28 for dominion belongs to the Lord and he rules over the nations.
29 All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him— those who cannot keep themselves alive. 30 Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord. 31 They will proclaim his righteousness, declaring to a people yet unborn: He has done it!
One of Jesus’ Last Sayings
When Jesus was on the cross, he spoke the first line of David’s Psalm aloud, and then recited the rest of the words quietly to himself. It was standard practice to do that. Somehow, the people ‘in the know’ would have understood that he was also showing how David had prophesied his death by crucifixion.
As Jesus said, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” (Matthew 5:17) He understood his mission was to be everything that God wanted for all of us.
“Go and do likewise…”
At the end of Jesus’ recitation, he spoke the last line aloud again (as was the standard practice). Most scripture interprets this as “It is done,” thinking that he meant his life. That became another of Jesus’ last sayings, although it was connected to the earlier one.
Lose Your Life for My Sake
Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone would come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?…”(Matthew 16:24-26)
It’s a tough choice, isn’t it? Our whole physical process is one of survival. This seem so counter-intuitive that we deem it nonsense. But is it, really?
If we wait until our lives are over, we have wasted the opportunity to live life to the fullest NOW. It’s only when you realize that your version of living is flawed that you allow a better version to take over. Your higher spirit knows what you really want. Your ego, by contrast, just wants to prove that anything other than its control is death. And that is true, but only death to your ego.
When you allow your higher spirit to regain control, you stop acting like there are two sides warring with each other. You begin to be ONE.
We finally went to see this movie (and yes, it is a movie) last night. I can now see why ‘purists’ (those who read the book first) would not particularly like the way the story got told on the big screen. But for those seeing it for the first time (like my wife), it is a spectacular ride, especially in 3D.
Here are some of the Easter Eggs:
The changes that the movie made to the book
If you think about it, how can a director of a movie bring a long narrative down into a byte-sized image? It takes days to read the book. The movie was a mere two hours and twenty minutes long. In the process some things get jettisoned, and other things get altered out of recognition.
Here are five major changes:
The ending is enigmatic
The final test was actually a blind to see if the lessons that James Halliday learned were understood by the one who completed the quest.
Conclusion
While Halliday is absentmindedly searching for the Easter Egg in his mental recreation of his boyhood bedroom, Wade asks him if he is an Avatar. When Halliday answers in the negative, Wade asks him if he’s really dead. He answers that question in the affirmative.
Then how is he really there? (It’s a rhetorical question.)
We always breathe a collective sigh of relief when the ‘bad guys’ are caught after some atrocious event, such as the assassination of a prominent person.
Such was the effect of James Earl Ray being arrested. He even pleaded guilty during his trial by judge. He was avoiding the death penalty by doing that. He may also have been coerced by the ‘powers that be’.
How can I state such a thing?
That’s the advantage of using Astrology as a view finder to history. Neptune in Leo in Ray’s 1st House indicates a hidden motivation. He may have been under a misapprehension of reality. “This placement suggests an idealization of self-expression and of the rugged individualist who stands alone and becomes self-sufficient.” (Neptune in Leo) “Because it is so easy for you to assume different roles and acts, you may be unable to distinguish between what is really you and what you have picked up from someone else.” (Neptune in the First House)
Jupiter Conjunct Neptune
In the chart above, transiting Jupiter is nearing conjunction with his natal Neptune. This can give the native a sense of being invincible. “Some people develop a feeling of false happiness, like living in the dream world of an opium smoker, with no basis in reality. You may feel that everything is all right when it is not, or you may feel that you can do anything you want and get away with it.” (Jupiter Conjunct Neptune)
This got me to thinking: if you were ‘programmed’ to commit an assassination, you wouldn’t be able to resist, especially if the suggestions were couched in terms like “this is good for America”. But who would do that? The CIA, the FBI, who?
It is telling that James Earl Ray later tried to recant his confession. Had it been his own free-will choice, he would have ‘owned’ it forever. No, I suspect it wasn’t really his intention to kill King. He was like an arrow pointed by someone else. The bow was pulled back, and the arrow was shot at the intended victim, with deadly accuracy.
Conclusion
When your masters want you silenced, they arrest you, blackmail you into agreeing to take the fall, and then lock you away.
After that, they throw the key away and there you rot for the rest of your ‘natural’ life.
