What's Next?

Well, due to hurricane Katrina I haven't been able to get online much. I was effected by the storm in the sense that my family was effected. My sister and her family live about 20 miles from New Orleans and had been displaced from thier home for the better part of the month and staying here with me.

They were finally able to go back home last week (Thursday) thanks to the power being restored. The news is that there aren't very many stores open yet, and that the ones that are have to close at dark due to the mandatory curfew that is still in effect. My sister still doesn't have phone service and apparently the phone company has no clue as to when that is going to be taken care of, yet they still want my sister to pay the bill for a month of use that they didn't have. Go figure.

I know that there are many out there who don't want to believe that we are experiencing the end of days scenario, however due to recent events I can't see how anyone would think otherwise. I have heard on the news of people asking why God would do this to good people and not all the people in the New Orleans area are "bad" or do sinful things. God's judgement is not for us to question. I'm sure there were some good people in Sodom when God destroyed it, however that did not stay his hand.

I am very saddened about the events that have happened recently, but I also know that God's will is not something I can change alone. We have been asked to repent for our sins repeatedly, yet we continue in our sinful ways. How long do you think we are going to get away with it? Of course God will always forgive us our sins, but that doesn't mean we will be pardoned for the lack of judgement of someone else.

I pray that God will be with all those who are suffering and who have lost so much. Keep praying and Keep God at your center.

Peace.

The Faithful, the Computer

Unfortunately, I have been having problems with my lovely computer, witch has been the cause of the absence of recent posts. Fortunetly, however, I was able to fix things up without having to reinstall windows.

Life has been getting in the way also. Seems as the good 'ol Alabama heat has been getting to me, and lately the nasty peanut dust down here has been doing it's number on me as well.

I will hopefully be back to posting after the labor day weekend and my gorgeous new niece's christening.

ta ta and God Bless!

Birth of Our Lord

This is a touchy subject for a lot of Christians out there who have been led to believe through out their lives that Dec. 25th is the birth of Christ. Just today I read an article that suggested “a winter birth is likely”. Of course said article didn’t say as to why it was likely or give any firm proof as to his reasoning.

This is one of the first things that I researched when I began the journey to my faith. I have to wonder if people really read their Bibles and understand what they are reading, or just conform to what they are taught by their ministers and preachers. I for one didn’t understand because quite simply some things just didn’t fit the way I have been taught for so many years.

Christ was not and could not have been born on Dec 25th. How do I know this? Well, I have to say I had to do a lot of research, a lot of re reading the bible, and a lot of thinking as to why it was even an issue with me.

In order to remotely understand the workings of figuring out the birth of Christ you have to know a little about the Jewish religion. The Jewish calendar for one, as well as Jewish holidays and priestly duties. These are things that most of us Christians don’t even care to read about because I guess we feel that we don’t hold the same values as the Jewish faith. The fact remains that much of the Bible is written in the Jewish perspective, about Jewish laws and festivals, and therefore, in my opinion every Christian should be aware of said things.

That being said, for a good source on the Jewish calendar, you can go to one of these sites: Judaism 101 or Hebcal.com.

In figuring out when Christ was born, we look to Luke. From reading the first few chapters of Luke we find that John was six months older than Jesus. This is our starting point.

Luke 1:5-25 is the record of the angel’s announcement to Zecharias that he and his wife, Elizabeth, would have a son, whom they were to call John. Verse 5 contains a little phrase that is one important key to determining that Jesus was not born on December 25th. It says that Zechariah “belonged to the priestly division [KJV: “course”] of Abijah.” A study will show that from the time of David, Jewish priests were organized into 24 “courses,” named after the heads of the priestly families. These courses of service in the Temple started on Nisan 1 (which corresponds to March or April on our calendar) and spanned the calendar year. Because the Hebrews used a lunar calendar and we use a solar calendar, Nisan 1 changes on our calendar each year. The course of Abijah was the eighth course, and, like each course, occurred twice during the year. In 4 B.C., the year prior to Christ’s birth, the first of those two courses took place during the last week of our month of May. Zechariah and Elizabeth were quite elderly, and had no children, and the angel gave them the wonderful news that they would have a son, to be named John. Verses 23 and 24 tell us that when Zechariah finished his service in the Temple, he returned home (which would have been in early June). Upon his return, Elizabeth became pregnant.

Given what I have already explained, you can determine that John therefore would have been born in March. John was six months older than Jesus, witch would place Jesus’ birth to be sometime in September.

How else do we know that Jesus was not born in the winter? Luke 2:8 speaks about the shepherds near Bethlehem who were in the fields, watching their flocks at night. It’s not very likely that the shepherds would be out even in early winter tending to their flocks because it was cold and snowy.

Luke 2:1 says that when Mary was just about to give birth to Jesus, she and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem to fulfill their obligation to be counted in a Roman census. They would not have traveled in the winter because it would have been much too hard. Rather, people traveled in the fall, between the heat of summer and the cold of winter.

A study of the now computerized data by which we can very accurately determine astronomical events of that time gives us the last piece of the puzzle to dating the birth of Christ in September of 3 B.C. In particular, the very noticeable celestial activity of Jupiter, Mars, Mercury, Regulus (the King star), and Venus (the Queen star), and their various combinations of conjunctions in Leo during the nine months leading up to Christ’s birth are vital signs to determine the September birth date of our Lord Jesus. Research shows that he was born on September 11 (Tishri 1 on the Jewish calendar), on which day the sun was in Virgo, as per the prophecy in Revelation 12:1 of “a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon beneath her feet” (Rev. 12:1).

So why then do we celebrate Jesus’ birth on December 25th?

In 274 A.D., the Romans designated December 25 as the birthday of the unconquered sun, being the time when the sun begins noticeably to show an increase in light, resulting in longer daylight hours. By 336 A.D., the church in Rome was adapting this festival, spiritualizing its significance as a reference to Jesus Christ and calling it the ‘Feast of the Nativity of the Sun of Righteousness.’ Attempting to Christianize and incorporate the pagan traditions of antiquity, the church in Rome adopted this midwinter holiday celebrating the birth of the sun god as one of its own observances, somewhat changing its significance, but retaining many customs of the pagan festival. As the Roman church spread its influence religiously and militarily, this holiday of December 25 became the most popular date in Christendom to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. A special mass was established for Christ, hence, the name, ‘Christmass,’ abbreviated ‘Christmas.’

Other intriguing links to the September 11th theory is that 1 Tishri is the Day of Trumpets or Rosh sha’shanah, witch in Jewish faith is the birth of creation, as well as the Jewish New Year. There are also several sites witch deal with Bible Codes that have determined the same date as Christ’s birth, although I’m a little iffy on that subject no matter how interesting I find it.

Have a blessed life.

Indiana Jones

I found this article this morning while doing some research on translation. It's about the REAL Jones who is searching and hoping to find the Ark of the Covenant. There is also a article about the rebuilding of the Lord's temple in Jeruselem, you should check it out.

The Ark Of The Covenant

We don't think much about the Ark of the Covenant nor do we miss it. However, that may soon change if the Ark of the Covenant were to be found. The Ark was made as God instructed and carried through the desert as the people of God escaped Egypt and entered into the Promised Land.
"Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them. Make this tabernacle and all its furnishings exactly like the pattern I will show you. "Have them make a chest of acacia wood--two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. Overlay it with pure gold, both inside and out, and make a gold molding around it. Cast four gold rings for it and fasten them to its four feet, with two rings on one side and two rings on the other. Then make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. Insert the poles into the rings on the sides of the chest to carry it. The poles are to remain in the rings of this ark; they are not to be removed. Then put in the ark the Testimony, which I will give you. "Make an atonement cover of pure gold--two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. And make two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover. Make one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; make the cherubim of one piece with the cover, at the two ends. The cherubim are to have their wings spread upward, overshadowing the cover with them. The cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the cover. Place the cover on top of the ark and put in the ark the Testimony, which I will give you. There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the Testimony, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites (Exodus 25:8-22).
The Ark was placed in the original Temple of God built by King Solomon. When Solomon’s Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC the Ark of the Covenant was lost. There is only one Ark of the Covenant and the Word of God says no other Ark will be made, “’The ark of the covenant of the LORD.’ It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made” (Jeremiah 3:16).

Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary. A tabernacle was set up. In its first room were the lampstand, the table and the consecrated bread; this was called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron's staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant. Above the ark were the cherubim of the Glory, overshadowing the atonement cover (Hebrews 9:1-5).
As the time approaches for a Third Jewish Temple to be built in Jerusalem a most interesting bit of news has surfaced regarding the Lost Ark of the Covenant. This week, May 19, 2005, an unnamed Kabbalist has granted blessing to famed archeologist Dr. Vendyl Jones to uncover the Holy Ark of the Covenant. Jones plans to excavate the Lost Ark by the Tisha B'Av Fast this summer.

The famed archaeologist, the inspiration for the "Indiana Jones" movie series, has spent most of his life searching for the Ark of the Covenant. The ark was the resting place of the Ten Commandments, given to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai, and was hidden just before the destruction of the First Temple.

The Talmud says the Ark is hidden in a secret passage under the Temple Mount. Jones says that the tunnel actually continues 18 miles southward, and that the Ark was brought through the tunnel to its current resting place in the Judean Desert.

Throughout the many years of his quest, Jones has been in close contact and under the tutelage of numerous Rabbis and Kabbalists. Extremely knowledgeable in Torah, Talmud and Kabbalah sources dealing with Holy Temple issues, Jones has now received permission from both known and secret Kabbalists to finally uncover the lost ark.

Dr. Jones, who divides his time between Texas and Israel, has been here since March 9th ready to finally reveal the Ark. However, he has been waiting for both permission from the mysterious Kabbalist and for project funding to come through.

Jones' daughter Sarah converted to Judaism many years ago, and currently lives in the Shomron. She has been in touch with a great unnamed Kabbalist from whom she requested a blessing that her father merit success in finding the ark. As recently as last month, the rabbi, who only communicates via messenger, told Jones that the time was not yet right to discover the Temple vessels. Last Thursday, however, Dr. Jones received a communication from the rabbi reading, "The time is right."

Armed with this and other blessings, Jones is now excited to uncover his life's pursuit. He believes the ark will be discovered by Tisha B'Av (Aug. 14), a day of repeated tragedy in Jewish history. Most notably, it is the anniversary of the destruction of both the First and Second Holy Temples.

Noahide guru Jones says that the State of Israel is passing through the same biblical straights as the generation that first entered Israel after the exodus from Egypt. "If history repeats itself, the history itself is prophecy," Jones says. "Israel is different from all other nations in a lot of ways, but more than anything else, Israel is the only nation whose history was written before it happened."

Once a Christian pastor, Jones left his post to become a leader of the growing Noahide movement. Noahides are G-d fearing non-Jews who observe the seven laws of Noah, which are obligatory upon all of humanity. The explorer and teacher published a book in 1959 predicting the precise outbreak of the Six Day War, based on his analysis of the period from the Exodus from Egypt up until the First Temple Period.

He says that applying biblical analysis to modern times points to major events that will "turn the world right-side-up."

Jones calculated the war in 1967 by analyzing the sequence of events in the First Temple Period and transposing them onto the "Third Temple Period" – the period beginning with the Jews' foundation of an independent State in the Land of Israel in 1948. "It fits just like tongue in groove," he says. Jones analyzed the following passage from the book of Bamidbar (Numbers): "Every man from 20 years old and upward, all that are able to go to war...". He said it could be read this way, "So from 20 years old and upward, all that are able to go, went to war in Israel." "Well, 1967 was the 20th year," said Jones, who received acclaim for fighting as a non-listed soldier in the Six Day War. He was the only non-Jewish American to take part in the combat. "Two years at Mt. Sinai, and then the Jewish people went to Kadesh Barnea," he says, referring to the time immediately following the Exodus. Transposing the Jewish people's first entry into Israel via the Jericho region and the re-entry to those areas in 1967, one can find striking similarities. "At Kadesh Barnea, [the Jewish Nation] sent in those [twelve] spies who gave the evil report, and because they believed the evil report, they were sentenced to wander for 38 years before they could come into Gilgal" – an ancient city near Jericho. "1967 was a repetition of Kadesh Barnea," Jones says. "If Israel had come in and taken this place, the Arabs would have fled like they did in 1948. But no, because of the evil report of Golda Meir and Motta Gur and Moshe Dayan, who said 'We cannot do that, world opinion will be against us.'

So Israel was sentenced to 38 years more – and June the 7th [2005], Jerusalem Day, will be the 38th year. Jones believes that the Jewish prophecies regarding the greatly anticipated redemption are occuring in front of our eyes.

Jones' escapades and explorations were the inspiration for the blockbuster movie 'Raiders of the Lost Ark' of the 'Indiana Jones' trilogy. The man who wrote the first draft of the film, Randolph Fillmore, was one of the volunteers who worked with Jones in 1977. "I agreed to help him write the movie," Jones said, "as long as – number one – he wouldn't set it here (in Israel). Some people believe the ark is in Ethiopia or Egypt, some believe its in Constantinople or Rome. I just didn't want it to be portrayed as being here. The second thing was, 'Don't use my name.' So he didn't. My name is Vendyl – V-E-N-D-Y-L. So he just dropped the first and last letters and it ended up Endy Jones."

Although at the time of the film, Jones was far from pinpointing the location of the Ark, he has come a long way since then. With the help of an ancient document found in Qumran together with the Dead Sea Scrolls, known as the "Copper Scroll" , Dr. Jones is convinced he has pinpointed the location of the Ark of the Covenant. "In the copper scroll, the first five lines say, 'In the desolations of the Valley of Achur, in the opening under the ascent, which is a mountain facing eastward, covered by forty placed boulders – here is a tabernacle and all the golden fixtures,'" Jones says. "This is what we have been looking for all these years, and I've walked over those boulders thousands of times without really stepping back and looking – realizing 'hey, those boulders have been brought in here, they've been placed in here, they didn't come off a mountain. And they're huge.'" Jones recounts his early explorations into the tunnels which lead from the ancient Old City of Jerusalem, near Jaffa Gate, to the foot of the Dead Sea. "My son and I went an hour and 20 minutes into the tunnel. There were so many branches and we didn't have anything to mark the route, so I said, 'We better get out of here and come back with a roll of string.' Then I made the mistake of asking permission to do it. That was before I learned that Israel is a lot like heaven - it is a lot easier to get forgiveness than it is permission."

Dr. Jones, wearing an orange anti-disengagement bracelet, dismisses the current Israeli government's plan to uproot the Jews of Gaza and northern Samaria from their homes. "There will not be any disengagement, nor will there be any Palestinian State," he says. Jones, who has a photographic memory, quotes: "Chapter One in Isaiah: 'How has the holy city become a harlot? Righteousness filled the street, but now murderers. The ruler is a friend of thieves and the ministers desire bribes.'" "The prophet wasn't talking about his day – he was talking about now. 'Therefore, says the L-rd, I will restore them to their beginnings. I will set judges up as at first, and counselors as in the beginning.'" The Sharon government will soon be history, Jones asserts, and the Sanhedrin (the Jewish High Court of 71 judges) will take its place and lead the Jewish people. "The Sanhedrin was established October the 13th of last year. Now all we have to do is have an election to elect counselors. The Sanhedrin is like a Senate and the elected counselors are like a House of Representatives."

Dr. Jones says the discovery of the lost ark will "flip the whole world right-side-up." "I just gotta drill a bore-hole into the chamber, drop a pin-camera in and there it is. And everything is gonna change, believe me. The Jewish people are gonna come back."

Now, let's read Jeremiah's prophecy again. “'The ark of the covenant of the LORD.’ It will never enter their minds or be remembered; it will not be missed, nor will another one be made” (Jeremiah 3:16). This prophecy describes the state of mind of God's people in the Kingdom of God, when Jesus reigns from Jerusalem.

Since, today the Ark of the Covenant does not enter our minds nor is it missed, this prophecy may indicate that the Ark of the Covenant will be discovered before the end of the age. If the Ark of the Covenant is discovered it would certainly have prominence in the Third Jewish Temple. Then the Ark would definitely come to mind and again be remembered before the Kingdom comes. Keeping

Life Gets In The Way

You ever notice how we let life get in the way of not only our spirituality, but everything else as well? I am as guilty of it as the next person.

Recently I found out that my car is on it’s last leg, witch shouldn’t surprise me, it’s 14 years old, has 250k miles on it, and has seen better days. What hurts is the fact that I can’t afford to buy a newer vehicle; payments are going to hurt me financially as well as the increased car insurance payments. I can’t get a loan to save my life because of a past bankruptcy, as well as the fact that I just don’t earn enough money at my part-time job.

Of course all this causes stress. It hasn’t really changed my relationship with God, but it has distracted me from him, I think. This shouldn’t be the case, I know. My focus needs to always be on Him, because no matter what happens in this world, it is HIS light I need and want.

My very wise neighbor told me not to worry, everything will work out. She’s right; it will work out, one way or another. That doesn’t stop me from worrying myself about it though. I was told that my car may last a month if I was lucky before it quit on my entirely. I have to say that every time I get in the car I pray to God it will take me where I need to go and get me home safely, although I’m not sure it’s really appropriate to be asking God’s assistance on such a minute detail.

I have come to conclusion that whatever we ask God for He will listen to, weather or not He grants our prayers is entirely up to Him. Everything happens for a reason, I believe, and His will be done.

I continue to pray for our nation, our troops, and our family’s, as well as every other nation. We all need God’s guidance and blessings. I pray that I will no longer let life get me down; I have so much more to look forward too by keeping my eyes on God.

I pray that every person who reads this will be blessed in a profound way.