Kislev – El Secreto del Arco

 Jánuca y la Batalla contra la Sabiduría Helenista

El 25 de Kislev comenzamos a celebrar la festividad de Jánuca, una de las fiestas más queridas por el pueblo judío, aunque no todos conocen su profundo significado interior.

Todos sabemos que Jánuca señala el triunfo del pueblo de Israel sobre los griegos y en particular el milagro que sucedió en el templo sagrado: después que los griegos impurificaron todo el aceite para el encendido de las luces de la menorah, el candelabro de oro de siete brazos, se encontró una pequeña vasija de aceite que de forma milagrosa alcanzó para alumbrar durante ocho días, el tiempo requerido para producir aceite nuevo.

¿Pero cuál es el significado profundo de la guerra con Grecia y del milagro de la vasija de aceite y de que manera está conectada con nuestra vida diaria tantos años mas tarde?

El Milagro de la Vasija de Aceite

Si ahondamos en los acontecimientos que ocurrieron en aquellos días, comprobaremos que la lucha entre los judíos y los griegos era más que nada espiritual; ‘una guerra cultural’ entre dos concepciones del mundo. En especial, la lucha giraba alrededor de dos formas de pensar, el pensamiento de la Torah frente a la filosofía griega.

También se comprende de esta manera el milagro de la vasija. El aceite es un símbolo claro de la sabiduría y la contaminación de los aceites del Beit Hamikdash, el Templo Sagrado de Ierushalaim, a manos de los griegos, demuestra la forma en que la cultura helenista despreciaba el original pensamiento judío y trataba de producir una escisión entre el intelecto y la fe.

La pequeña vasija representa, entonces, la esencia del pensamiento judío puro protegida de la influencia del pensamiento griego. Aparentemente se trata de una mentalidad aislada y sin contenido pero al abrirla se rebela que tiene el poder de explicar el infinito.

Rectificar el Pensamiento Occidental

El significado del milagro de Janucah es entonces la recordación de la sabiduría judía perdida que teóricamente se enterró debajo del santuario del pensamiento occidental.

¿Pero entonces qué hay tan negativo en el pensamiento occidental, a tal punto que le dedicamos una fiesta a la guerra en su contra?

En efecto la ciencia dio frutos sumamente importantes, desde la ampliación del conocimiento del ser humano hasta el desarrollo de la tecnología para la prolongación de la vida.

Pero no sólo por esto se define su carácter; en el pensamiento científico hay también efectos colaterales muy negativos, y alrededor de ellos gira esta lucha.

El daño principal que provoca el racionalismo científico es el debilitamiento de los aspectos espirituales del hombre, que por naturaleza no son racionales. La parte irracional del ser humano se divide en dos: una más baja o inferior relacionada con los instintos animales del hombre, otra más elevada y que abarca los aspectos superiores y más sublimes del intelecto, las verdades de la mente que están למעלה מטעם ודעת , lemalah mitaam vadaat, “por encima del entendimiento y la lógica”, en las palabras de la cabalah.

Causas y Consecuencias – Motivos y Propósitos

El pensamiento racional le permite al hombre elevarse por encima de sus bajos instintos, pero si se convierte en lo fundamental actúa encubriendo su lado espiritual.

Así, por ejemplo, la ciencia puede explicar perfectamente las leyes según se rige el universo, pero no brinda ninguna explicación respecto al significado de las cosas. Revela las causas y sus consecuencias, pero no sus motivos y propósitos. Cuando lo principal de la educación, del conocimiento que adquirimos, es de este tipo, nos acostumbramos a observar el mundo como una especie de maquinaria aleatoria, causando que nuestra capacidad para realizar preguntas espirituales se vaya denigrando.

El resultado de esto es una sociedad de personas con una mente muy desarrollada, pero con una desconexión interior entre su inteligencia y su alma.

La raíz del problema no está en la ciencia en si misma, que no está para proveernos de un entendimiento espiritual, sino en la dimensión que se le da en el marco cultural occidental de acuerdo al tipo de pensamiento dominante.

Por este motivo, la victoria sobre la sabiduría griega no significa anularla, sino transformarla en un instrumento al servicio de una visión más integral del mundo.

El Signo del Zodíaco de Kislev: El Arco

Como ya sabemos, el judaísmo prohíbe dirigirse a “adivinos” o “pronosticadores de fortuna” de todo tipo, incluyendo a los astrólogos. De todas maneras, sí reconoce que dentro de la astrología se esconde cierta sabiduría y que meditar sobre el signo de cada mes revela cualidades espirituales que le son propias.

Siempre que recordemos que esos símbolos son limitados y parciales, se puede aprender de ellos un conocimiento espiritual.

Así, el signo del zodíaco del mes de Kislev, הקַשָׁת או הקֶשֶׁת , hakashat o hakeshet, “el arco”, tiene distintos significados, que ilumina cada uno una cara diferente de la guerra contra la sabiduría griega.

El arco y la flecha era el arma especial de la Tribu de Biniamín, que pertenece al mes de Kislev y también de los Macabim, la familia de sacerdotes que encabezó la lucha contra el imperio.

Los tres significados del arco que vamos a presentar ahora, “el arma de guerra”, “el pacto de paz” y “el arco en las nubes”, son distintos niveles de simbología que representan las tres dimensiones de la realidad de acuerdo al Sefer Ietzirah:

a) mundos: la existencia material – es el arma de guerra que demandan los enfrentamientos que hay en la realidad.

b) almas: el contenido interior del mundo, las chispas divinas que lo asemejan a Hashem – es el pacto del arco iris que revela la conexión espiritual entre el Creador y la creación y

c) Divinidad: la presencia misma de Dios, es el arco iris que expone la Divinidad misma dentro de la realidad.

La Plegaria; Un Arma de la Fe

Ante todo, el arco es por supuesto un

“arma de guerra” - כלי נשק - cli neshek

La característica especial de las flechas del arco es que, al contrario que la espada, actúan a distancia y no permite apuntar certeramente. Se puede decir que es “el arma de la fe”, porque cuando se lanza la flecha hay que confiar en Dios que llegue a su objetivo.

Por eso explicaron nuestros sabios que el keshet es un símbolo de los “ruegos” o pedidos de la plegaria, que se arrojan al espacio sin saber cuando ni si van a ser respondidos. La tefilah, la plegaria, se apoya en la fe de que la infalibilidad causal de las leyes de la naturaleza no es absoluta y que la conexión entre el hombre y su Dios puede sobreponerse a ellas.

La plegaria es entonces la primera victoria sobre la ciencia, renegando de la imagen del universo determinista que esta representa, según la cual el hombre es una víctima de las circunstancias de la vida.

Al Arco Iris en las Nubes

El segundo significado es el del Arco Iris que vemos en el cielo:

הקשת בענן

hakeshet vaanan

literalmente “el arco en las nubes”

Es el símbolo del pacto que celebró Dios con Noaj, que de acuerdo algunas estimaciones se celebró en rosh jodesh Kislev, el primero del mes de Kislev,

Este símbolo nos eleva por sobre la imagen anterior de la guerra hacia algo más espiritual: nuestra conexión con Dios. La imagen del arco iris nos recuerda que el universo no es algo casual ni carente de propósito. Un contrato de palabra como este conecta al mundo con algo que está por encima suyo y asegura que no se va a terminar destruyendo sino que siempre va a permanecer con la esperanza de su progreso y perfeccionamiento.

Entonces, la imagen del arco iris es también la expresión de un triunfo sobre una ciencia que describe al mundo como algo frío y en vías de destrucción.

Un Símbolo de Dios

El tercer significado y el más elevado de todos está insinuado en la explicación del verso:

את קשתי נתתי בענן

et kashtí natati bañan

“mi arco lo entregué en las nubes”

Según los sabios kashtí significa דבר שהוּקָשׁ לי , “dabar shehukash li, “algo semejante a Mi”.

Cuando comparamos dos cosas tratamos de encontrar una analogía y un parecido entre ellas, de tal manera que permita realizar un pacto eterno y verdadero, como por ejemplo el del matrimonio, cuando la pareja encuentra su “analogía” y se preparan para casarse.

El mes de Kislev es una preparación para el de Tevet, (ambos están unidos por la celebración de Janucah) que sabemos es propicio para el matrimonio, del cual está dicho: הגוף נהנה מן הגוף , haguf nehneh min haguf, “el cuerpo se regocija del cuerpo”, el mes de la unión de dos cuerpos identificados uno con el otro.

También es así espiritualmente, Tevet es el mes del placer del “cuerpo” Divino, del guf HaElokí; el placer del Hish Haamití (“El Hombre verdadero”, Dios), del cuerpo físico, el Hish Hanibrá” (“El hombre creado”).

El Secreto del Secreto de la Torah

La cabalah toda se ocupa de comparar y encontrar la analogía entre cosas diferentes. La cabalah encuentra las hacbalot (paralelismos o analogías) entre las diferentes partes de la existencia y las estructuras que le dan origen (las sefirot, los Nombres sagrados, etc.). Pero el interior de la cabalah misma (pnimiut hacabalah), el jasidut (llamado también la “Cabalah del Baal Shem Tov”) profundiza esas analogías hasta el infinito.

La analogía entre distintos sistemas es algo todavía superficial, diríamos como una ciencia exacta de las comparaciones. Pero en el jasidut se revela en todos los detalles y componentes de la realidad el “dabar shehukash li”, “algo análogo a Mi”, las miríadas de matices de la Verdad Única, siendo que toda analogía se realiza entre una cualidad especial de un objeto con la Unidad Simple, Ajdut Hapshutah.

Esta es la fuerza de “sostener los opuestos” del judío, de explicar las paradojas para sobreponerse a la sabiduría griega lógica. La sabiduría del jasidismo, la sabiduría interior de la cabalah, רזין דרזין דאורייתא , razín derazín de oraita, “El secreto del secreto de la Torah”, es el aceite que alumbra en la festividad de Janucah, el secreto del Arco Iris que revela que en la Unidad Simple está la raíz de la infinidad de matices, y por lo tanto cada detalle de la existencia material puede volverse y ser “algo análogo a Mi”.

Dios en Cada detalle del Universo

El arco iris es un símbolo de Dios, así como todos sus colores provienen de la luz blanca que se separa en diferentes matices, también todos los detalles de la existencia provienen de Dios y son un indicio de Él. Además de dirigirnos a Él en la plegaria, más allá incluso de la creencia en que Dios conduce Su mundo con justicia y bondad, está la fe en que Él se encuentra en cada detalle del universo en la forma de Su Providencia Divina.

Esto constituye la rectificación más profunda del pensamiento científico, acabando con la idea de que, a fin de cuentas, los aspectos de la vida son carentes de significado. El pensamiento occidental prospera y florece y es como el imperio griego de entonces, en la época en que la sabiduría judía palidecía por momentos frente a ella. Pero entonces, el milagro de la vasija de aceite viene a recordarnos que lo oculto es mucho más inmenso que lo revelado y que está en poder del judaísmo iluminar muchísimos aspectos, incluso a la propia sabiduría griega.

Rabino Itzjak Ginsburgh

BET EMET MINISTRIES

Hebrew For "The House Of Truth"

Craig M. Lyons Ms.D., D.D., M.Div.

bennoah1@verizon.net

TRACING THE SUN THROUGH THE ZODIAC & SAGITTARIUS...COULD THIS BE THE ORIGIN FOR THE "JESUS STORY" #13

SAGITTARIUS AND JESUS: NOVEMBER 22- DECEMBER 21

We have been following the Sun and its annual path through the Heavens and the Zodiac. We now move with the Sun as it passes from the constellation Scorpio into the constellation Sagittarius. The heavenly Archer; Sagittarius, stands with his bow drawn back, his arrow pointing at Antares, the star which marks the Scorpion's heart. Although the true meaning of Sagittarius is Archer, this constellation is usually depicted as a combination of a horse and a man, the rear part being the horse and the front part the man. The man is always armed with a bow and an arrow. The Sun passes through Sagittarius at the time of the hunt.

Answer for yourself: What do we find in every hunt? A death and the Sun is going to die at the Winter solstice as it passes through the House of Sagittarius and Capricorn which renews the Solar year once again.

Sagittarius has his arrow pointing to Antares, the heart of Scorpius, the Scorpion. Legend says that Sagittarius avenged Orion by slaying the Scorpion with one arrow shot.

Centaurs belong primarily to Greek mythology but our focus is on Biblical astrology, astronomy, and astrotheology and that being so then let us refresh somewhat on what we have learned up to now.

At the Winter solstice on December 21, the Sun enters the lowest point on the horizon. The next three days are the darkest days of the year. The Ancients reasoned that the scorpion’s stings turn into the archer’s arrows. The weakened Sun, since having passed the Summer solstice has been weakening steadily daily. The weakened Sun is going to die a violent death on the Winter solstice as his eternal adversary, Darkness, will take his life. This again was the time of the year that the Ancients feared the most.

Answer for yourself: Do you know why this day and period of time of the year was held sacred? Simply because this is Astro-theology at its best. This is the time of the approaching Winter Solstice. People have celebrated the middle of winter for centuries. Winter Solstice is the longest night of winter, after which each of the days grow progressively longer until the Summer Solstice. Many cultures celebrated this sign of winter's waning and traditions of the Solstice have continued into today's other Winter Festivals. The importance of agriculture in early societies made the seasons very important to their celebrations. Spring and Summer were times of new life and Fall was the time of the Harvest. Winter, cold and dark, was a time of little sunlight. The sun's light weakened towards Winter, and people feared that it might disappear completely.

But more to the point the Ancients noticed in very ancient times that during the solstice period, the Sun which was travelling south into the cold of winter and would descend until it reached a point where it would stop. In the winter the days are short and the Sun in low in the sky. The Winter Solstice is the day when the Sun is the lowest in the southern sky. During the short winter days the Sun does not rise exactly in the east, but instead rises just south of east and it sets south of west. Each day after the winter solstice, which occurs on December 21st, the Sun's path becomes a little higher in the southern sky after having remained motionless in the sky for 3 days. The Sun also begins to rise closer to the east and set closer to the west until we reach the day when it rises exactly east and sets exactly west. This day is called the equinox. In fact this is what the word 'solstice' means, 'Sun standing still.' This most southerly position of the Sun is marked on all globes, as the tropic of Capricorn, for it is in that sign that this event takes place. Notice if you will that the Sun seems to sinking lower into the horizon as winter approaches and the days possess less daylight and heat. That means less photosynthesis and less harvests and food supplies diminishing. Ancient man feared the darkness for it was personified death to him. In the absence of light from the Sun then man was vulnerable to bad and evil things happening to him. In fact we get the term "the devil" from this concept as the Ancients connected the ideas of "evil" and "darkness" together. To the Ancients the dark was "evil" and they called it the "dark-evil" or the "d-evil" or the "devil". I hope you see this. Darkness brought the threat of attack from enemies he could not see, the capture of his women and family by invaders, the threat of attack by predator animals or poisonous snakes let alone the absence of light and heat that promised food for tomorrows. With such conditions that threatened primitive mankind it is easy to see how the Ancients saw the Sun as their "Savior"; the Sun was the provider of light, security, safety, heat, and photosynthesis and the giver of abundance of food stuffs. The Sun was the "Savior" of the Ancients. So when we speak of the Winter Solstice it is pregnant with religious meaning to the Ancients and it should be for us as well. All this hopefully is coming together and the picture becoming clear in our minds and we should be able by now to see what the Ancient both saw and understood as the Sun sank deeper into the southern horizon on a daily basis providing less light every day on its march to the Winter solstice and its death. They were fearful as they watched the path of the Sun move further down the sky and horizon to where it would remain motionless for 3 days at the Winter Solstice as if it had died. When this occurred the ancients considered that the Sun had actually died. In fact, the great orb, would remain standing still for three days neither moving north or south. Then, it was noticed, that on the third day, the Sun would begin moving northward again.

Answer for yourself: Can you now see and understand why it was always said that the Sun, the light of the world, would die for three days and then on the third day rise again?

Answer for yourself: Are you aware that this was known thousands of years before Christianity came on the scene?

We must never forget that the primary, motivating factor that inspired early man to worship God, was his fear and dread of the potential fierceness of his environment. His (primitive man) major impetus for worshipping and sacrificing to the Sun God was to assure that the Sun God would continue protecting mankind from the ravages of the dreaded winter.

So for primitive man, the inception of winter, Dec. 22, was the worst day of every year for him. This day, Dec. 22 was the start of winter and marked the beginning of the worst stage of his yearly struggle for survival. This day, Dec. 22, is referred to by astronomers as the Winter Solstice. This word, Solstice, according to Webster's Dictionary means "to stand still, pause, a turning point." Primitive man even believed the Sun had died as he could detect no movement of the Sun in the sky for 3 days and and these 3 days were days having the shortest daylight of the year. This day, Dec. 22, the start of winter, was the harbinger of his potential perdition.

On Dec. 22 of each year, the Sun, moving through the constellation Searched its Winter Solstice, the lowest point of the trajectory (angle of rays) of the entire year as depicted in the picture above. After Dec. 22 (the turning point), the Sun again rises northward, which is a sign that summer shall come again! God's salvation in the Sun was on its way to mankind!

This time of the year, the time when the Sun traveled through the constellation Sagittarius, was the time of the year which was marked by the name, Gethsemane (Matt. 26:36), which means oil press or olive press.

Matt 26:36 36 Then cometh Jesus with them unto a place called Gethsemane, and saith unto the disciples, Sit ye here, while I go and pray yonder. (KJV)

Strong's Concordance:

1068 Gethsemane (gheth-say-man-ay'); of Aramaic origin [compare 1660 and 8081]; oil-press; Gethsemane, a garden near Jerusalem: KJV-- Gethsemane.

But look at the word from its Aramaic origin:

1660 eleusis (el'-yoo-sis); from the alternate of 2064; an advent: KJV-- coming.

Answer for yourself: Jesus is preparing to die and prays in the Garden of Gethsemane. Don't you find it rather strange that the texts, in reference to Jesus' soon death, where Jesus is "going" has hidden in the word a meaning of "coming" or "advent" instead of going? Could this be a veiled illusion to the cycle of the Sun and is soon return from the dead after the Winter solstice?

At Gethsemane (Matt. 26:36-45), Jesus, as the personified Sun moving through the Zodiac, talks about his death:

Matt 26:37-45 37 And he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy. 38 Then saith he unto them, My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death: tarry ye here, and watch with me. 39 And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt. 40 And he cometh unto the disciples, and findeth them asleep, and saith unto Peter, What, could ye not watch with me one hour? 41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. 42 He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, thy will be done. 43 And he came and found them asleep again: for their eyes were heavy. 44 And he left them, and went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. 45 Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. (KJV)

We follow the text in succession and we see that Jesus is betrayed by Judas and arrested, Matt. 26:47-56.

Matt 26:47-48 47 And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people. 48 Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast. (KJV)

We saw that the Sun, following crossing the Autumn equinox, experiences constant conflict and struggle against the forces of Darkness. It was said by the Ancients, following the Sun crossing the Fall equinox, that the Sun was "betrayed". Then conflict between Darkness and the light of the Sun grows to all out war that ultimately leads to the death of the Sun.

The Autumn equinox also symbolizes the gates to hell. Satan, the adversary (dark-evil, d-evil, the devil..get it?) rules during the lower half of the Sun cycle in fall and winter following the Summer solstice. Eventually the Sun dies in the pits of hell at the Winter solstice. At night the Sun was believed to go under the world, so we have the term “underworld. When the Sun, or son of God, starts to ascend again (Jesus’ ascension), the dark forces are trying to thwart him. It was said by the Ancients that the Sun enters the gates to heaven at the Spring equinox. In the spring, the Sun brings righteousness and glory. It is in power during the light months of spring and summer, and on its throne at the Summer solstice. These stages of the Sun and the stages of its life-cycle were personified all the way back in the days of Egypt and the Pyramid age as we see in the myths and legends of Osiris, Horus, Set, etc. A motif of death and resurrection is central to many of the ancient mystery cults - in particular those relating to the Egyptian Osiris, the Norse Balder, the Syrian Tammuz, the Greek Adonis, and the Western Asian Attis. This motif is also central to the mystery behind the "Jesus Story" as found in the New Testament as well.

THE SOLAR YEAR

We have seen that the "Solar Year" is the time for the earth to make one revolution around the Sun, measured between two vernal equinoxes (from Vernal equinox to the next year at the Vernal equinox). This motif is connected with the annual decay of life in winter and its annual revival in spring. The great anthropologist Sir James G. Frazer, in his monumental work, the Golden Bough, commented: "Nowhere, apparently, have these rites been more widely and solemnly celebrated than in the lands which border the eastern Mediterranean. Under the names of Osiris, Tammuz, Adonis, and Attis, the peoples of Egypt and Western Asia represented the yearly decay and revival of life, especially of vegetable life, which they personified as a god who annually died and rose again from the dead".

Egypt gives us the first "Jesus Story" which is the "literalization" of this same annual decay of life in winter and its annual revival in the spring. Of course Egypt did not call this the "Jesus Story"; they called it the "Osiris" myth. The result of an illicit union between the earth-god Seb and the sky­ goddess Nut, wife of the Sun god Ra, was Osiris who was one of the greatest deities in the ancient Egyptian pantheon. At the moment of his birth, it was held, a voice was heard to declare: "The lord of all the earth is born". Two other children were born to Nut - the god Set and the goddess Isis, who would become her brother Osiris's wife. The myth of Osiris is that once he had become king of Egypt he set about civilizing his countrymen, teaching them how to cultivate the fruits of the earth and giving them laws to govern their life. Osiris had a ministry of teaching God's laws just like Jesus. He travelled around the world dispensing his wisdom - but on his return his brother Set, jealous of his popularity, resolved to kill him. Secretly measuring Osiris's height, Set ordered an ornamental casket to be made of the same length. Anyone who could fit into this casket, he said, could keep it. After Osiris tried it for size, Set, aided by 72 other conspirators, immediately sealed the casket and carried it to the sea. A distraught Isis set off in search of her husband, and learned that the casket containing his body had been carried by the waves to Byblos, where it had lodged in the branches of a bush, which in a short period of time had grown into a large and beautiful tree. The king of this country had ordered that the tree be cut down and that part of the trunk that contained the casket be used as a pillar to support the roof of his palace. Allowed by the king to retrieve and keep the casket, Isis opened it to find Osiris's corpse - wrapped in fine linen. Returning to Egypt with the body she deposited it in a remote place, whereupon it was discovered by Set - who tore it into pieces, dispersing them up and down different parts of the country. In pity for Isis's sorrow, the sun-god Ra helped her to piece together the broken body, wrapping it again in fine linen bandages -his penis, however, could not be found. Fanning the body with her wings, Isis helped to revive Osiris who reigned ever after as Lord of the Underworld, Lord of Eternity, and Ruler of the Dead. Fertility rites based on this myth of Osiris flourished throughout Egypt, some lasting as long as eighteen days. These rites would recognize the 'triple-nature' of Osiris - as dead, dismembered, and finally made whole again. Through his death and resurrection Osiris personified the crops of corn, which die and come to life again every year. But this cannot be disconnected from the Sun and its effects on producing the harvest in the first place. At the time of sowing, an effigy of Osiris would be buried in the soil, with funeral rites, in the hope that the corn, like Osiris, would be reborn. The 'underworld', meanwhile, personified the soil under the surface of the earth in which the seeds germinated. Sacrificial victims representing Osiris would often be burned and their ashes scattered with winnowing fans over the earth, while at one stage in ancient Egypt's history it is possible that the king himself was sacrificed to ensure the corn crop. Osiris became the god of resurrection - with the Egyptian belief that as he had died and risen from the dead, so could they. Accordingly, corpses would be mummified, wrapped in fine linen in the same manner as Osiris. It was not thought that the actual physical body would be resurrected, however, but that the spiritual body (Sahu) would germinate from it and assume the form of the physical body. Through time the title 'Osiris' came to mean one who had risen from the dead.

Answer for yourself: Then is it correct to say that the Osiris myth, based on the Sun and its life and death cycle, was but a personification of the path of the Sun through the sky? Understanding this connection this does it seem reasonable to connect the Osiris myth with the "Jesus Story" since they both revolve around the Sun and its path in the sky? It would sure seem that way.

Next we find that Judas kisses Jesus when Scorpio kisses the Sun as it passes through. Jesus is put on trial by the Jewish high council (Matt. 26:57-67). Jesus is made to undergo a trial before the Roman governor, Pilate (Matt. 27:11-26). Next we find Jesus is crucified in Matt. 27:32-56.

Answer for yourself: Are we to find any connection between the archer's arrow and the piercing of Jesus' side? Is Jesus' pierced body symbolized by the archer’s arrows?

We have to look to the Gospel of John to find the account of Jesus' body being pierced by a spear or arrow since the Gospel writer of the Gospel of Matthew omits this account.

John 19:34 34 But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. (KJV)

I will leave the connection between the archer's arrow and the pierced body of Jesus to the reader to deal with for we must move on. We have seen that the three days following December 21 remain perceptibly the darkest days of the year that Jesus, in the from of the personified Sun, dies and remains unseen for three days. Three days later like in the account of Jonah at the Summer solstice after the Sun had remained motionless for 3 days in the Heavens, the Ancients noticed that the day after the Winter solstice daylight begins to get noticeably longer. The Sun was seen to come back to life. Three days have passed and Jesus is seen again just like the Sun.

Answer for yourself: Is this just a coincidence?

Matt 28:1-7 1 In the end of the sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. 2 And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it. 3 His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: 4 And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men. 5 And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye: for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. 6 He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. 7 And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you. (KJV)

Interestingly we remember what we learned about Galilee meaning "circle" or "circuit" for what we have here in hidden symbolism is that the Sun has begun his new circle through the Zodiac once again; the Sun has begun a new circuit through the Houses of the Zodiac.

The Strong's Concordance for the word "Galilee": 1056 Galilaia- Galilee="Circuit" the name of a region of northern Palestine, bounded on the north by Syria, on the west by Sidon, Tyre, Ptolemais and their territories and the promontory of Carmel, on the south by Samaria and on the east by the Jordan. It was divided into Upper Galilee and Lower Galilee.

The word "Galilee" literally means "circuit".

Answer for yourself: What is a "circuit"? A circuit is a closed, usually circular path. The ecliptic, as we saw for our astronomy terminology page, is the circuit the Sun travels along during the year. The ecliptic is a great circle inscribed on the celestial sphere. The ecliptic is also a circle on a planisphere. If Jesus Christ is truly the personification of the Sun then it makes perfect sense allegorically that the Sun continues on his way along the ecliptic, or "went into Galilee".

We have looked previously only superficially at the "cross of the Zodiac". It is time we refresh our memories.

Answer for yourself: Did you know that the Ancients taught that the Sun was crucified on the cross of the Equinoxes and Solstices? This refers to the Sun as it crosses the Vernal Equinox as the earth's equator crosses the ecliptic which is the path of the earth around the Sun. We must remember that the earth is titled and its axis is off some 23 degrees. As the earth tilts back and forth at it spins like a top the plane of the equator moves. Said another way as the earth spins and tilts the earth's relationship to the Sun and the direction of the Sun's rays hitting the earth change. This change of angle of the Sun's rays hitting the earth is responsible for the seasons changing as the earth spins as it moves constantly around the Sun. There are two very important times that the Ancients who gave us these solar concept marked: the Vernal and Autumn equinox. In particular the Vernal equinox. It was as the Spring or Vernal equinox which the Ancients connected the manifestation of new life which came from the pervious Winter solstice when the Sun was "born" or "born again" from the dead. This special time at the Vernal equinox reflected the renewed life of Spring following the Winter solstice as the Sun awakened from the dead following 3 days in the grave (underworld). At this special time in the Spring at the Vernal equinox the earth's equator intersected the plane of the orbit of the earth around the Sun, called the ecliptic, it was said by the Ancients that the Sun was on the cross of the Zodiac. Look at the picture on the left and see this cross made in the Heavens. It was a small step for the Ancients to later personify the Sun and its path through the Zodiac and the Cosmos and in so doing then the "Son of the Sun was on the cross" or as we know today the "Son of God was on the Cross" (the Sun being understood as the symbol for the Creator God). Thus the Son was on the Cross!

We need to look at the picture on the left once more. The two heavy lines form the cross of the Zodiac on which the Sun was said to die by the Ancients. The Christian cross represents the length of days at each cardinal point: The short leg represents the winter solstice, the long leg the summer solstice and the two equal legs represent the spring and fall solstices. Thus, the Sun dies on the cross.

Answer for yourself: Are you aware that at sunrise and sunset the Sun’s rays have to pass through a much greater thickness of atmosphere? Do you know what this means? As a result, nearly all the blue light is scattered out by the particles in the air. This is what causes red sunrises and sunsets. As we have seen repeatedly as the season approaches the Winter solstice, the Sun sinks lower towards its lowest position on December 22. At lower angles the Sun has more atmosphere to punch through, so red sunrises and sunsets appear with increasing frequency. So we should expect that close to and including the Winter solstice we should expect to see more intense red sunrises and sunsets than in other parts of the year and that is exactly what we do see.

Answer for yourself: Is it any wonder the symbolism we find with Jesus and blood which is "red"? Should we expect the color "red" to be connected with the Winter solstice and the death of the Sun as well as the death of Jesus?

I marvel myself driving home from my job in the winter months as even I have noticed the increased tendency and brilliance of the red sunsets at dusk at this time of year. This is very, very important to our theological study as the Ancients saw these natural events as their Sun god weakening as it was falling and bleeding from the wounds it had received from its battle with Darkness.

Answer for yourself: Is there any parallel to the wounds that Osiris received from Set (personified Darkness)? You better believe it is! So we now have the color red connected with the Winter solstice? Is this why the color "red" is the dominant color for Christmas?

Matt 26:28 28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. (KJV)

The Sun has a corona. The extended outer atmosphere of the Sun is called the corona. Jesus' crown of thorns symbolizes the Sun's corona. Pictures of a halo around the head of Jesus, the personified Sun, have the same significance and again speaks to us that Jesus and his depiction not only in the New Testament texts but early Christian art is little more than the personification of the Sun as the "Son" of God.

Matt 27:29 29 And when they had platted a crown of thorns, they put it upon his head, and a reed in his right hand: and they bowed the knee before him, and mocked him, saying, Hail, King of the Jews! (KJV)

The Sun begins to retreat, the days to grow shorter. The Sun, like Christ, is bearing his cross toward the crucifixion. The Son of God was crucified between the two thieves. The Sun God is crucified between the two heavenly thieves: Scorpio and Sagittarius, October 23d to November 22d — November 22d to December 21st.

Answer for yourself: So why is Scorpio and Sagittarius considered "thieves"? Well if you have followed these articles then you have seen that the Sun gives its life for the harvest and the salvation of mankind. There is a harvest somewhere every month in the year, except these two months, the heavenly thieves.

Answer for yourself: So where do we go from here?

The Sun lost its power, retreated back where it is white and cold. But Sagittarius became the repentant thief, gives up, does not wait until January 1st, but gives up December 25th. And after the Sun comes out of hades, where he was for three days, while the days are of one length, he is re-born, the same as Christ. There are three days about the same length, the three days the Son of God was supposed to have descended into hades.

The ancients had noticed, notwithstanding their prayers and sacrifices, every year the Sun deserted them and went back until, to them, he died, was finally resurrected. They could not believe their loved Sun God could willingly desert them, so they looked into the heavens to see why he went back. In the tall, every year, they saw him retreat, apparently followed by a tremendous heavenly host, for there are more stars in the constellations Libra, Scorpio and Sagittarius than in any others, and it was these stars that seemed to be chasing and pressing the Sun back. They were led on by a bright and beautiful star the ancients had seen in the east, in early morning, in spring and summer months, just as we do now. By the tip of the earth he has apparently fallen to evening star, leading on the heavenly host. We call it Venus, the Goddess of Love. They called it “Lucifer, the light-bearer.” So they cried, “How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, Star of the Morning?” And so here you have the story of the war in heaven.

Well a quote from an early Church Father might be nice about now:

'You say we worship the Sun; so do you.' Church Father Tertullian ('Ad nationes') (160-220 AD)

Well that is a find "howdy-do"; to find that our early Church Fathers admitted the religion of Christianity, a religion supposedly about a human being who was the Jewish Messiah, is nothing more than the worship of the Sun.

But there are most quotes to look at:

Eusebius says that "the names of Jesus and Christ were both known and honored by the ancients" (Hist. Eccl. lib. i. ch. iv).

Answer for yourself: How could this be? Was "Jesus Christ" the Sun? It sure looks like it.

Augustine is quoted as saying: "That in our time is the Christian Religion, which to know and follow is the most sure and certain health, called according to that name, but not according to the thing itself, of which is the name; for the thing itself which is now called the Christian Religion really was known to the ancients, nor was wanting at any time from the beginning of the human race until the time when Christ came in the flesh, from whence the true religion, which had previously existed, began to be called "Christian;" and this in our days is the Christian religion, not as having been wanting in former times, but as having in later times received this name" (Opera Augustini, vol. i. p. 12; quoted in Taylor's Diegesis, p. 42).

Faustus, writing to St. Augustine, says: "You have substituted your agape for the sacrifices of the Pagans; for their idols you martyrs, whom you serve with the very same honors. You appease the shades of the dead with wine and feasts; you celebrate the solemn festivals of the Gentiles, their calendars, and their solstices; and as to their manners, those you have retained without any alteration. Nothing distinguishes you from the Pagans, except that you hold your assemblies apart from them" (Draper, Science and Religion, p. 48. New York: 1876).

Joseph Wheless stated: "The reason why all these narratives are so similar, with a god-man who is crucified and resurrected, who does miracles and has 12 disciples, is that these stories were based on the movements of the Sun through the heavens, an astro-theological development that can be found throughout the planet because the Sun and the 12 zodiac signs can be observed around the globe. In other words, Jesus Christ and all the others upon whom this character is predicated are personifications of the Sun, and the Gospel fable is merely a rehash of a mythological formula (the "Mythos," as mentioned above) revolving around the movements of the Sun through the heavens." The logical question arises: Why, if Jesus is a historical character, are there are presently two dates for both Christmas and Easter? This purportedly well-known character, who set the world on fire, has no birthdate whatsoever, and the "historical" references and genealogies found in the gospel accounts differ from each other. The gospels are not history at all but a retelling of the Mythos. The historical Jesus is a phantom. "These, which cannot both be historical, are based on the two birthdays of the double Horus in Egypt." In addition, early Christian "doctors" were constantly contradicting themselves as to when exactly "the Lord" died or "ascended to heaven" after "he" was resurrected. Two of the most powerful early bishops, Irenaeus and Papias recorded that Christ lived to be very old, "flatly denying as 'heresy' the Gospel stories as to his crucifixion at about thirty years of age" (Joseph Wheless, Forgery In Christianity).

The assertion that Jesus Christ is a myth [reincarnation of Pagan Sun-Myths] can be proved not only through the works of dissenters and "pagans" who knew the truth - and who were viciously refuted or murdered for their battle against the Christian priests and "Church Fathers" fooling the masses with their fictions - but also through the very statements of the Christians themselves, who continuously disclose that they knew Jesus Christ was a myth founded upon more ancient deities located throughout the known ancient world. In fact, Pope Leo X, privy to the truth because of his high rank, made this curious declaration, "What profit has not that fable of Christ brought us!" (The Woman's Encyclopedia of Myths and Secrets, by Barbara Walker, p. 471). Rev. Taylor, in The Diegesis, reports a slightly different version of Leo X's admission: "It was well known how profitable this fable of Christ has been to us." (footnote, p. 35.)

I guess you better set down for that one or maybe you have before now in reading these last 12 articles as we took a serious Astronomical view of the Gospels and the Astrotheology concealed within them behind the "literalistic" fantasy of the historical interpretation mandated by the Christian Church. If we were to enlarge our study, and we have onour other websites, then one come to see that the Jesus of the "Jesus Story" in the New Testament is a synthesis of many "isms". Down through history Ancient mankind has struggled to come to know this invisible Creative force and energy we call God or HaShem. The Ancients as far back as Egypt understood that we, mankind, are created in the image of God. After almost 20 years of study I have come to firmly believe that the most accurate understanding of this Cosmic Intelligent Energy and Architect we call God has been captured best by Egypt but understanding this presentation of this God requires much study in order to understand Egyptian religion correctly. Today sadly many approach Egypt and the study of its religion without the proper perspectives necessary to see it as it really was to them and not the way modern Egyptologist depict it today. Study will clear this up for the reader.

Study will also show you that the composite 'Jesus Christ' character – god, man, king, carpenter, conqueror, peace-maker, dispenser of justice, advocate of love – was assembled to try and unify a fragmented and fractious messianic religious movement. There never was just one Christianity. Out of the milieu of religiosity that infected the Roman world, dozens of competing and conflicting Jesus/Sun-god/Mystery cults emerged.

The battle between good and evil in the Bible was nothing but a superstitious fear of darkness. Modern believers perceive God as an invisible being but don’t know what to make of Satan because they refuse to believe he is a god. This view is problematic because biblical and pagan literature symbolized light with the good gods and darkness with the bad gods. The point is to show that God is not a supernatural deity and Satan a non-godly supernatural creature. God is merely an allegorical interpretation of the Sun, and Satan is its antithesis. For example, Jesus is sometimes called the Son of God because he is implicitly associated with the Sun of God. He was the equivalent of the Egyptian God Horus and a host of other pagan supreme gods. In early Christian art, for example, Jesus is sometimes depicted with a halo which symbolizes the sun's corona.

IN CLOSING

Of concern for us of course is the "Jesus Story" as depicted in the New Testament and its reliability as understood "literally" since it is being taught as a literal truth today about a historical man who lived 2000 years ago. You will come to see in time as you study that the Ancients understood this "Jesus Christ" entirely different from how we have been taught today under the direction of Roman and Protestant Christianity. Here are some big questions for you to ponder in light that most Christians trust in this Jesus Christ for their Eternal Salvation.

• Answer for yourself: Who or what is truly behind the name "Jesus Christ"? Can it be proven that the "Jesus Story" is nothing but the personification of the Sun and its passage through the various houses of the Zodiac as it passes through the 4 seasons and the equinoxes and solstices? If so then what do you do now?
• Answer for yourself: Are the infancy narratives and later depictions of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ in the New Testament nothing more than solar stories told as allegories which were later "literalized" and subsequently written into Rome's New Testament and depicted as a literalized historical Jesus Christ when in fact they were understood by the Ancients as astrological myths taken from astronomy?
• Answer for yourself: If I study to find that the "Jesus Story" follows chronologically the Gospel of Matthew from chapter one through the end of the book which parallels identically the personification of the Sun in its path through the Zodiac then what should this mean to me regarding my belief in Jesus as the historical Christ and Jewish Messiah?
• Answer for yourself: Have we as Christians and followers of the "the Christ" been deceived by Rome and spent a good part of our lives worshipping a man as God as Rome has declared in their New Testament since the Nicean Council (325 A.D.) when in fact we should have been worshipping the one true Creator as the Pharaoh Moses (Akhenaton) instructed? Are we guilty of idolatry as Christians because we have believed a fable no more real than Snow White and the seven dwarfs?

Well the following studies in this as well as our Ministry's other Websites is not for the weak of heart as I will present infallible proofs that the "Jesus Story" as depicted in the New Testament is but a hoax perpetrated upon us by Rome in their hatred of Jewish Gnosticism back in the first century. You will see, in the last website depicting the Mythical Christ, as we move chronologically from one sign of the Zodiac to the other, from month to month, from season to season, from Spring equinox to Summer solstice, from Autumn equinox to Winter solstice, and repeating again this cycle, that if you study with us and finish the studies on this website, that the "Jesus Story" as depicted in the New Testament is nothing more than the literalization by Rome of the path of the Sun through the Zodiac along with other solar myths later incorporated into their "Jesus Story" as literalized by Rome as well. In so doing you will see as I and many others have that we have not been taught the truth about "the Christ within" and how He is so integral to the proper worship of the Invisible God as Egypt taught. It would seem that Egypt got it right in the beginning but thanks to Hellenism and Romanism we lost these earliest and correct understanding of Divine Concepts witnessed in God's Heaven and Nature. In a way these were our classroom and where we were to be instructed by the Creator about our life and purpose in God's creation. We are truly blessed today to live in an age where archeology and the information age can bring these truths back to life for you and me.

As a "retired Pastor", and moved by what my studies revealed, I feel moved to share this information and evidence from such studies with those interested in the truth behind the origin for "Jesus Story" which is taught to the world today as a historical reality when in fact it is not. In the websites that are delineated above such evidence is presented to the reader in hopes that the missing puzzle pieces concerning the "Jesus Story" will be plainly evident to him and he can, in the light of such knowledge, no longer be deceived by the astrological allegory of "the Christ" as found in the New Testament which is erroneously taught "literally" today. I make very few promises to our readers but I make this one now: If you do these studies, and read these articles on this website then you will be thoroughly convinced as I was that the "Jesus Story" was never meant to be understood "literally" as it has been taught to you and me. Thus the worship of Jesus as a historical person or connecting this assumed historical person with God or believing him to be God is the most vulgar idolatry according to Moses and the Ten Commandments and a terrible affront to the Creator.

LET US EXAMINE MORE OF THE EVIDENCE FOR OURSELVES...THE ARTICLES ABOUT THE ASTRONOMICAL "JESUS STORY" ARE BUT A CLICK AWAY

DO YOU WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE TRUTH CONCERNING THE HEBREW ROOTS OF CHRISTIANITY?

If you so desire, Bet Emet Ministries offers a comprehensive CD of all our Websites. Included with the CD is a "study plan" to assure the proper Spiritual evolution of your Soul and its proper development through following the in-depth studies. There is an order in which these numerous websites should be "studied" in order to maximize your learning and spiritual growth. Just click on this link for the details as to how you may obtain the CD that consists of the ministry's fifteen websites, or should I say, books that were written over the last fifteen years. Many of these sites are actually books, consisting of hundreds of pages of knowledge that the Roman Church intended you never come to know.

In our CD of all our websites contained on one disk we provide a "study plan" for the student and give detailed instructions as how to study these websites "in order" to facilitate one's study. Please inquire for the CD for such thorough study will take you some time if you ever hope of cracking the "Jesus Puzzle" and coming to the answer of the question: "Who do men say I am?" Hidden in this study is the manner by which you, a Christian, can come to the point in your life where the true power and demonstration of the Power of God in your life can be found and experience, where you can "say" to the mountains in your life "be gone" and they really flee. Just ask my wife who raised the Christ to life in her life, in a few short months, to reverse a disease process in her body and is alive today when medical science said otherwise. A mistaken literal and historical understanding of the sacred Scriptures "killeth," but a "mystical" and "metaphysical" understanding of the true indwelling Christ in you, as the real St. Paul teaches, raises you from the dead in this Earthly life and gives you the power and demonstration of the Power of God in your life. No tricks here, but just truth, truth kept from us by less than truthful group of men that changed the original understanding of the Ancient Wisdom to keep humanity ignorant and in fear, thus selfishly controlling them when they no longer had enough swords to do so. Don't let this ignorance of the truth continue in your life. It is time to experience the resurrection of Christ from the dead in you NOW!

• Bet Emet Ministries
• Rev. Craig Lyons Ms.D., D.D., M.Div.
• 902 Cardigan
• Garland, Texas 75040
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