It’s not ambiguous. The
Net tightens. The darkness falls.
Everything we feared, comes true.
It’s not ambiguous. The
Net tightens. The darkness falls.
Everything we feared, comes true.
These years have been an
Ever building Crescendo
Without climax; I
Endlessly repeat
My devotions, awaiting
Some judgment, some peace.
Violence brews beneath
The surface, awaiting an
Opportunity.
In this mystery
Of iniquity, cruelty
Will worsen, but the
Miracles will yet
Reawaken the dead hearts
Of humanity
Scratch the surface of
Civilization, and our
Savagery shows through.
Jonah is a story in the Bible that’s taught frequently in Sunday School. It’s very accessible to kids, because the imagery is concrete. Jonah doesn’t obey God, gets thrown in the ocean, swallowed by a whale, and then obeys God. It’s about doing the right thing even when you don’t want to, and taking your punishment when it’s dished out. For kids, it’s like a lecture from their parents.
There’s more to this story. Think about the Cthulhu mythos of HP Lovecraft. Then, look at the story again. A storm rages in the sea, and a lone boat rocks among the waves. The sailors are begging and pleading with their gods, for someone, something to calm the storm. Finally, they find a stranger, and ask if his god could do anything for them. He says that his god demands a sacrifice. They sacrifice him to the sea.
Three days later, the man comes out of the water, stinking of fish and rot, like a demon from hell. He walks into the King’s court, and demands that they kneel to his god. Everyone expects the king to have him executed. The king bows down, sits in a pile of ashes. He commands no one will eat or drink in his kingdom. The people and the kingdom survives.
It’s a dark, murky tale of brutality and death, a warlike, destroyer god waiting in the wings to wreak havoc. But the message that god sends isn’t, “you will die,” but, “I don’t want you to die.” Jonah is one of the first narratives in the Old Testament to mark the transition from a tribal, nationalist mindset, where each country has their own god, to a religion shared by multiple cultures and nations. It’s a move away from the genocidal mindset in which countries had to be slaughtered by the Hebrews by God’s command. Jonah went through his death and rebirth so that the people of Nineveh could be saved.
“Oannes, in Mesopotamian mythology, an amphibious being who taught mankind wisdom. Oannes, as described by the Babylonian priest Berosus, had the form of a fish but with the head of a man under his fish’s head and under his fish’s tail the feet of a man. In the daytime he came up to the seashore of the Persian Gulf and instructed mankind in writing, the arts, and the sciences. Oannes was probably the emissary of Ea, god of the freshwater deep and of wisdom.” (Encylopedia Britannica)
To me, the story of Jonah and Oannes are very similar. It speaks of a time when people were instructed by an individual who came from the sea in a time of crisis and helped them survive. Jesus references Jonah, and says that he will also die for three days and then return.
Mark Booth, in the Secret History of the World, explains that narratives in scripture and mythology are often depicted with anatomically modern humans. This process distorts the original meaning of the texts, which are symbolic narratives about the history of humanity as a species. Humans and hominids were originally semi-aquatic, and before that were aquatic.
“The only thing that burns in hell is the part of you that won’t let go of your life: your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away, but they’re not punishing you, they’re freeing your soul. If you’re frightened of dying and you’re holding on, you’ll see devils tearing your life away. If you’ve made your peace, then the devils are really angels freeing you from the earth.”
Jacob’s Ladder, Meister Eckhart. https://youtu.be/yt3Ny_BG3yQ
The world will end
Before my milk carton’s date
Of expiration.
Rev 17, Aramaic in Plain English:
1And one of the seven Angels who had with them the seven vessels, came and spoke with me saying, “Follow me; I shall show you the judgment of The Harlot who sits on many waters,” 2“For the Kings of The Earth committed fornication with her and all Earth dwellers are drunk with the wine of her fornication.” 3And he brought me to the wilderness in The Spirit, and I saw a woman who sat on a blood-red beast full of blasphemous names, which had seven heads and ten horns. 4And the woman was wearing purple and scarlet gilt with gold and precious stones and pearls and had a cup of gold in her hand, and it was full of abominations and the filth of her fornication. 5And upon her forehead was written: “Mystery Babylon The Great, The Mother of Harlots and of the Filth of The Earth.” 6And I saw the woman who was drunk with the blood of The Holy Ones and with the blood of the witnesses of Yeshua, and I was stunned with a great astonishment when I saw her.
7And the Angel said to me, “Why are you stunned? I shall tell you the mystery of The Woman and of The Beast that bears her, which has seven heads and ten horns.”
8“The Beast which you saw, existed and is not, and is about to come up from the Sea, and is going to destruction. And the inhabitants on Earth will marvel, whose names are not written in The Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see The Beast which was, and is not, and is approaching.” 9“Here is the meaning for one having wisdom: the seven heads are seven mountains, upon which The Woman sits.” 10“And there are seven Kings; five have fallen and one is*, and there is another not yet come, and when he comes, a little remaining time is given to him.” 11“And The Dragon*, and The Beast which it brought* and is not, also is the eighth, and is of the seven, and is going to destruction.” 12“And the ten horns of The Beast are ten Kings, whose Kingdoms they have not yet received, but take authority as Kings for one hour with The Beast.” 13“These have one will, and their power and authority they give to The Beast.”
14“These will make war with The Lamb and The Lamb will conquer them, because he is The Lord of Power and The King of Kings, and because his people are called, chosen and faithful.”
15And he said to me, “The waters that you saw, upon which The Harlot sat, are the nations, multitudes, peoples and languages.” 16“And the ten horns that you saw on The Beast will hate The Harlot and will make her desolate and naked and will devour her flesh and will burn her in fire.” 17“For God gave into their hearts to perform his pleasure and to do their one purpose and will give their Kingdom to that Beast until the words of God are fulfilled.” 18“And The Woman which you saw is that Great City, which has rule over the Kings of The Earth.”
John 19:
1Then Pilate scourged Yeshua. 2And the soldiers wound a crown from thorns and they placed it on his head and clothed him with a purple robe. 3And they were saying, “Hail to you, King of the Judeans”, and they were hitting him on his cheeks.4And Pilate went outside again and he said to them, “Behold, I bring him forth to you outside that you may know that I find no occasion for complaint in him, not even one cause.” 5And Yeshua went forth outside with the crown of thorns upon him and the purple robe, and Pilate said to them, “Behold, here is the man.” 6But when the Chief Priests and the guards saw him, they cried out and they were saying, “Crucify him! Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Take him and crucify him, for I do not find any fault in him.” 7The Judeans were saying to him, “We have a law and according to that in our Written Law he is condemned to death because he made himself the Son of God.”
8But when Pilate heard this statement he was even more afraid. 9And he entered the Praetorium again and he said to Yeshua, “Where are you from?” But Yeshua gave him no answer. 10Pilate said to him, “Are you not speaking with me? Do you not know that I have power to release you and I have power to crucify you?” 11Yeshua said to him, “You have no power at all over me unless it has been given to you from above; therefore, whoever has delivered me to you has greater sin than yours.” 12Because of this Pilate wanted to release him, but the Judeans were crying out, “If you release this man, you are not Caesar’s friend, for everyone who makes himself King is an adversary of Caesar.”
13But when Pilate heard this statement he brought Yeshua outside and sat down on the judgment seat and the place that was called R’tsiftha d’Kaypha, but in Hebrew* it is called Gpiptha. 14And it was the eve of the Passover, and it was about the sixth hour, and he said to the Judeans, “Behold, here is your King!” 15But they were crying out, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him! Crucify him!” Pilate said to them, “Shall I crucify your King?” The Chief Priests were saying, “We have no King but Caesar!”
16Then he delivered him to them that they would crucify him, and they led Yeshua and brought him out.
17Then he took up his cross to the place called Qaraqpatha, but in Hebrew * it is called Gagultha, 18Where they crucified him and two others with him, one on one side and one on the other side, and Yeshua in the center. 19And Pilate wrote a title and placed it on his cross, but it was written thus: “This is Yeshua the Nazarene, The King of the Judeans.“20And many of the Judeans read this tablet, because the place in which Yeshua was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic and in Greek and in Latin. 21And the Chief Priests said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘He is The King of the Judeans’, but, “He said, ‘I am The King of the Judeans.'” 22Pilate said, “What I have written, I have written.”
23But the soldiers, when they had crucified Yeshua, took his garments, and they made four parts, a part to each of the soldiers; but his tunic was without a seam: it was woven entirely from the top.24And they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but let us cast lots for it, who will be allowed to have it.” And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “They divided my garment among them and for my clothing they cast lots.” The soldiers therefore did these things. 25But his mother and the sister of his mother, and Mary, who was of Cleopa, and Maryam Magdalitha, were standing at the cross of Yeshua. 26But Yeshua saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing and he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son.” 27He said to that disciple, “Behold, your mother.” And from that hour that disciple received her to himself.
28After these things Yeshua knew that everything had been finished, and that the scripture may be fulfilled, he said, “I thirst.” 29And a vessel had been set full of vinegar, but they filled a sponge from the vinegar and placed it on hyssop and they put it near to his mouth. 30When he took the vinegar, Yeshua said, “Behold, it is finished.” And he bowed his head and gave up his Spirit.
31But the Judeans, because it was evening, they were saying, “These bodies will not pass the night on their crosses, because the Sabbath day is approaching”, for it was a great Sabbath day. And they sought from Pilate to break the legs of those who had been crucified, and they would be taken away. 32And the soldiers came and they broke the legs of the first and of the other who was crucified with him. 33When they came to Yeshua, they saw that he had died already and they did not break his legs.34But one of the soldiers struck him on his side with his spear, and at once blood and water issued forth. 35And he who saw testified and his testimony is true and he knows that he spoke the truth so that you also may believe. 36For these things happened that the scripture should be fulfilled that says, “Not a bone of him will be broken”, 37And another scripture again, that says, “They shall gaze at him whom they pierced through.”
38After these things, Yoseph, who was from Ramtha, sought from Pilate because he was a disciple of Yeshua, (and it was secretly from fear of the Judeans), that he might take the body of Yeshua; and Pilate gave him permission and he came and took away the body of Yeshua. 39And Nicodemus also came, who had come before to Yeshua by night, and he brought with him spices of myrrh and of aloes about one hundred pounds. 40And they took away the body of Yeshua and wrapped it in linen and in sweet spices, just as the custom of the Judeans is for burying. 41And there was in that place where Yeshua had been crucified a garden, and in the garden a new tomb in which a man had not yet been laid. 42And they laid Yeshua there because the Sabbath was approaching and because the tomb was nearby.