Sunday, December 18, 2011

Saints and Miracles

 

Saint Padre Pio and some of his Miracles of the Cross

Saint Padre and his Miracles

There are literally thousands of stories of Padre Pio, with regard to the many spiritual gifts he received.  
Many of these have been documented, while others are legend, having been woven out of a sincere love people have had for him and a desire to make him bigger than life.  But as Fr. Joseph Pio once said to us as we were writing the biography of Padre Pio,[1] "The truth is actually more fascinating than fiction." 
And so the Miracles we will share with you in this chapter have been documented by the Capuchins in San Giovanni Rotondo.
The Miracle of the Crucified Christ
One of the Miracles of the Cross dealing with Padre Pio has to do with the experience the Lord gave him almost daily as he prepared for and experienced the Crucifixion of Our Lord Jesus in the Sacrifice of the Mass.[2] 
Eyewitnesses, such as Fr. Alessio Parente and Fr. Joseph Pio[3] have shared with us that when Padre Pio would begin preparations for the Sacrifice of the Mass, and this could have been more than an hour before he actually began the Mass, they could see his knees begin to buckle and his body become bent under a tremendous invisible weight as he got closer and closer to entering the church and the altar. 
He told them he was carrying the weight of the Cross on his shoulders, and as we know, the Cross held the weight of all the sins Jesus was dying for. 
To those closest to Padre Pio, and actually many of those who waited for hours in the bitter cold outside the Church in the middle of the night to take part in the 5:30 a.m. Mass with him, they could actually see him being transformed into the Crucified Christ before their eyes during those times.
The Miracle of the Cross in the body of Padre Pio
Shortly after he was ordained, Padre Pio began to notice what he termed "red patches, about the size of a cent, accompanied by acute pain." 
This is from a letter he sent Padre Benedetto on the Birthday of Mary, September 8, 1911. 
He went on to say, "The pain was much more acute in the left hand and it still persists.  I also feel some pain in the soles of my feet.
He told his superior that this had been happening, on and off, for almost a year.  So from the time of his ordination, at twenty three years old, he began to feel in his body, the wounds of the Passion of Christ. 
He prayed that the wounds would not show.  The Lord answered his prayers for nine years, and so while the physical signs disappeared, the pain continued.
The Transverberation of the Heart
As if in anticipation of the great miracle he was to be given very shortly, the Lord granted Padre Pio a very special gift, one that would give him joy mixed with pain all his life, agony and ecstasy. 
On August 5, 1918, he received the gift of Transverberation of the Heart.  Padre Pio wrote of this experience,
    "While I was hearing the confessions of our boys on the evening of the 5th (August), I was suddenly filled with extreme terror at the sight of a celestial being whom I saw with my mind's eye.  He held a kind of weapon in his hand, similar to a steel sword with a sharp, flaming point.  At the very instant I saw all this, I saw the person hurl the weapon into my soul with all his might.  It was all done in a split second.  I was hardly able to cry out and felt as if I were dying.  I cannot tell you how much I suffered during this period of anguish.  Even my insides were torn and ruptured by that weapon, everything lashed by fire and steel.  From that day on, I was wounded to death.  In the depths of my soul, I feel an open wound which causes me to suffer continual agony."
....

Taken from: http://www.discover-catholic-miracles.com/padre-pio.html

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

The Star of the Magi


Matthew 2


New International Version (NIV)


The Magi Visit the Messiah

1 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi[a] from the east came to Jerusalem 2 and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

3 When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 When he had called together all the people’s chief priests and teachers of the law, he asked them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 “In Bethlehem in Judea,” they replied, “for this is what the prophet has written:



6 “‘But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,

are by no means least among the rulers of Judah;

for out of you will come a ruler

who will shepherd my people Israel.’[b]”



7 Then Herod called the Magi secretly and found out from them the exact time the star had appeared. 8 He sent them to Bethlehem and said, “Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him.”



9 After they had heard the king, they went on their way, and the star they had seen when it rose went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the child was. 10 When they saw the star, they were overjoyed. 11 On coming to the house, they saw the child with his mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped him. Then they opened their treasures and presented him with gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. 12 And having been warned in a dream not to go back to Herod, they returned to their country by another route.



The Escape to Egypt

13 When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

14 So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, 15 where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”[c]



16 When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. 17 Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:



18 “A voice is heard in Ramah,

weeping and great mourning,

Rachel weeping for her children

and refusing to be comforted,

because they are no more.”[d]



The Return to Nazareth

19 After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”

21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the district of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth. So was fulfilled what was said through the prophets, that he would be called a Nazarene.



Footnotes:

a.Matthew 2:1 Traditionally wise men

b.Matthew 2:6 Micah 5:2,4

c.Matthew 2:15 Hosea 11:1

d.Matthew 2:18 Jer. 31:15


Taken from: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Matthew+2&version=NIV

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Saints that are Incorruptible


THE INCORRUPTIBILITY OF SAINTS
By Jim Dunning

(This article was originally published in "Irelands Own" magazine. The webmaster would like to gratefully thank the author for his kind permission in reprinting it here.)

When a body is described as being incorrupt it means that it does not decay after death. The same cannot be said of a body that is well preserved or mummified, or has undergone an embalming process. Most such corpses become stiff, but incorruptible saints remain completely flexible, as if they are only sleeping.

This is particularly true of Saint Bernadette [pictured above] whose body is displayed in a glass case at the Convent of Nevers in France. In spite of having died more than 130 years ago, she looks for all the world as if she is about to wake up. It is true that when she was exhumed a second time, the nuns gave her face a light wax mask, but this was done mainly to cover damage caused earlier by washing. A doctor who removed one of her ribs to provide a relic found her body had remained pliable. Pope John XXIII’s body remains intact, but it was embalmed for his lying in state and the Church does not claim that it is incorruptible due to supernatural reasons.

There is a whole list of saints, however, whose bodies have been found to be incorrupt. Not all of them were Roman Catholics. The Russian Orthodox Church is well represented by such as St. Alexander of Svir, who was a monk, and by the martyrs of Vilnius, St. Anthony, St. John and St. Eustathios.

The exhumation of saints’ bodies may appear a macabre business, but the first examples of incorruptibility were discovered by accident. It usually happened when a body was being transferred from one place to another. Now, of course, the Church is more alive to the possibility. Not that it expects the body of every saint to be incorruptible. Indeed, it is unusual, and no one knows why a few saints’ bodies are preserved and most are not. Some believe that the piety of a particular saint is so remarkable that it permeates the whole body, while others believe that decomposition has been prevented directly by God, irrespective of the degree of piety.

The argument for a physical cause, usually applied to persons not known for their religious background, relates to the physical environment in which decomposition has been retarded by the cool, dry conditions of the place of burial. With regard to Catholic saints, the Church maintains that the environments in which saints’ bodies have been preserved are normal, or even, in some instances, particularly damp. Sometimes two bodies will be buried side by side, as was the case with Jacinta Marto and her brother Francisco, the young seers of Fatima, yet only one was preserved.

Cases of incorruptibility go back a long way. The first saint whose body was found to be incorrupt was St. Cecilia, who was martyred in AD 177. Her remains were moved to a new site in 822, and in 1599 an exhumation revealed her body to be incorrupt. Over the centuries more than 100 cases of saints whose bodies have remained incorruptible have come to light, sometimes, as with St. Cecilia, many years after their death.

St. Agnes of Montepulciano died in 1317. Not only did her body remain incorrupt, but a perfumed liquid flowed from her hands and feet. She was canonized by Pope Benedict XIII in 1726. Another Italian, St. Catherine of Bologna, died at the age of 49 in the year 1463 and was canonized in 1712. She was buried unembalmed and without a casket; 18 days later, after various reports of graveside miracles, her body was exhumed and found to be flexible and uncorrupted. It was moved to the chapel of the Poor Clares in Bologna where it is displayed to this day, dressed and seated upright in a glass case.

St. Catherine LabourĂ© (1806 – 1876) [pictured to the left] was born in Burgundy, France. She is famous for having passed on a request from Our Lady for the creation of the Miraculous Medal, worn now by thousands of the faithful. When her body was exhumed in 1933 it was found to be incorrupt. It rests now on display in the chapel of Our Lady of the Sun in the Rue du Bac, Paris.

In October, 1977, the canonization took place of an ordained Lebanese Maronite Catholic monk named Charbel Makhlouf. He had lived as a hermit from 1875 until his death at the age of seventy in 1898. With a reputation for holiness, he followed a strict fast and was devoted to the Blessed Sacrament. After his death, mysterious, dazzling lights were seen over his grave and pilgrims began to visit. His corpse which had been exuding sweat and blood was transferred to a special coffin, and hordes of pilgrims swarmed to the place seeking his intercession. They still do.

As recently as January, 1993, a partially paralysed fifty-six-year old woman named Nohed El Shami saw two Maronite monks standing next to her bed. They performed surgery on her neck and when she woke up she found two wounds on her neck. She was completely healed and able to walk again. One of the monks she identified as Charbel. His canonization took place on 9th October, 1977, in the Vatican.

[Pictured to the left is the popular Saint John Vianney, affectionately known as the Cure d'Ars] Mention has been made of the exudation of sweat and blood from St. Charbel’s body. The same symptoms have been observed with other saints, often many years after their death. The odour of sanctity is frequently mentioned, not only at the time of death or burial, but many years later. It is frequently described as a sweet-smelling perfume. In the case of the Venerable Mother Maria of Jesus (a contemporary of St. Theresa of Avila), who died in 1640, the odour detected on the occasion of her exhumation in 1929 was described as a ‘sweet perfume of roses and jasmines’ which clung not only to her body, but to articles she was known to have used during her lifetime. This was 289 years after her death!

The Church is reluctant to accept the incorruption of the body of a candidate for sainthood as a miracle proving sanctity. The cause of beatification is usually well under way before graves are opened for the recognition of relics. You could say that incorruption is seen as a bonus. By the same token, dissolution of a body provides no hindrance to a saint’s cause. Many of our most illustrious saints went the way of all flesh, including Saint Therese of Lisieux who foretold, correctly, that her body would not be protected.

We should gratefully accept that our ability to see the miraculously preserved bodies of individual saints is a privilege, a comfort and a source of encouragement in our daily struggle to achieve some degree of holiness.


-Click here for an excellent article on the incorrupt bodies of the Saints.

... 
Taken from: http://www.mysticsofthechurch.com/2010/04/saints-that-are-incorruptable.html

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Pope hails potential of adult stem cell research


CITY — Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday spoke out in favour of adult stem cell research and called for any ensuing treatments to benefit all who need the care regardless of their financial means.

"Illness is no respecter of persons, and justice demands that every effort be made to place the fruits of scientific research at the disposal of all who stand to benefit from them, irrespective of their means," Benedict told some 250 delegates who attended a Vatican conference on the research this week.

The Vatican, which is opposed to embryonic stem cell therapy because it requires the destruction of a human embryo, hosted experts in adult stem cells, seen by the Roman Catholic Church as an alternative since no embryo is involved.

In May 2010, the Holy See signed a deal with US biopharmaceutical company NeoStem that specialises in adult stem cells and the Vatican has already invested one million dollars (730,000 euros) in the company's work.

"The potential benefits of adult stem cell research are very considerable," the pope told the experts Saturday, while also speaking of the ethical concerns.

The fact that human embryonic stem cells (ESC) can potentially become any type of cell in the body has long held out the tantalising promise of diseased organs or tissue being repaired or replaced with healthy, lab-grown cells.

"When the end in view is one so eminently desirable as the discovery of a cure for degenerative illnesses, it is tempting for scientists and policymakers to brush aside ethical objections...," Benedict said of embryonic stem cell research.

But the discovery in 2007 that it is possible to coax certain adult cells back into their immature, pre-specialised state has fuelled renewed efforts to generate brand new muscle, heart or even brain cells, this time from raw material provided by the patient.

And for the Church adult stem cells pose no ethical dilemma.

"No such ethical problems arise when stem cells are taken from the tissues of an adult organism, from the blood of the umbilical cord at the moment of birth, or from fetuses who have died of natural causes," the pope said.

The Vatican hailed its conference on adult stem cells as dispelling the widespread notion that the Catholic Church is at "loggerheads with science", said Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, head of the Pontifical Academy for Life.

....

Taken from:

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i1VaV9JxfM1dq6igCeLR1C0UmibA?docId=CNG.cbc3ed79698bb9cab8ad6a92169ceb0c.31

Sunday, November 6, 2011

'Science cannot explain human existence': Pope Benedict XVI




'Science cannot explain human existence'Benedict tells religious leaders that science provides invaluable understanding but has its limitations



Riazat Butt and John Hooper guardian.co.uk, Friday 17 September 2010 15.08 BST Article history

Pope Benedict at a meeting of religious leaders at St Mary's University College in Strawberry Hill, south-west London. Photograph: Max Rossi/Reuters



The pope intervened in the debate over the origins of the universe today by claiming that science could not explain the "ultimate meaning" of human existence.



Speaking at St Mary's University College in Strawberry Hill, south-west London, Benedict told an audience of religious leaders from different faiths that the human and natural sciences provided us with an "invaluable understanding" of aspects of our existence.



But he said science could not satisfy the "fundamental" question about why we exist.



"They cannot satisfy the deepest longings of the human heart, they cannot fully explain to us our origin and our destiny, why and for what purpose we exist, nor indeed can they provide us with an exhaustive answer to the question 'Why is there something rather than nothing?'"



He may well have been referring to Stephen Hawking, who writes in his latest book that no divine force is needed to explain why the universe was formed. He argued in The Grand Design that physics, and not a creator, was responsible for the Big Bang.



The pope warned against rejecting religion in favour of a purely scientific outlook. "Never allow yourselves to become narrow. The world needs good scientists, but a scientific outlook becomes dangerous and narrow if it ignores the riches or ethical dimensions of life. Just as religion becomes narrow if it rejects the legitimate contribution of science to our understanding of the world."



He added: "We need good historians, and philosophers and economists but if the accounts they give of human life is too narrowly focused they can lead us seriously astray."



The pope also used his wide-ranging speech – made before the revelation that five men had been arrested in connection with an alleged threat against him – to reiterate his opposition to the persecution of Christian minorities. He said that restricting religious freedom was an obstacle to interfaith dialogue.



Earlier the pope warned against the cult of celebrity and wealth, telling about 4,000 school pupils and young people that "money is not enough to make us happy".
He urged them to find happiness in God instead of modelling themselves on sport or entertainment stars.



In contrast to his strongly worded addresses yesterday, the pope struck a more informal tone. "I hope that among those of you listening to me today there are some of the future saints of the 21st century," he said.



Benedict is known for baffling lay audiences with abstruse dissertations on the faith. But on this occasion, he made a point of talking in a language that was calculated to reach his listeners.

In an address that was relayed to Catholic schools around the country, he said: "Perhaps some of you think being a saint is not for you. Let me explain what I mean. When we are young, we can usually think of people that we look up to, people we admire, people we want to be like.

"We live in a celebrity culture and young people are often encouraged to model themselves on figures from the world of sport or entertainment."

But by inviting his listeners to become saints, the pope said he was asking them "not to be content with second best".



He urged them not to be swayed by the motivations of wealth: "Having money makes it possible to be generous and do good in the world, but on its own, it is not enough to make us happy.

"Being highly skilled in some activity or profession is good, but it will not satisfy us unless we aim for something greater still. It might make us famous, but it will not make us happy."



Taken from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/17/pope-benedict-science-not-enough

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Pin-Headed Scientists


A Note From Father Brian Harrison

....
You look at these brilliant new photos displaying the vastness of creation (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1212272/Hubble-telescope-images-universe-before.html), and you wonder how anyone could take seriously the Big Bang theory that all of this material and energy in the universe was once concentrated into a tiny point far, far smaller than the head of a pin! (And these are the same folks who ridicule the Church for supposedly debating how many angels could dance on the head of a pin!)

Blessings,
Fr. Brian


Robert Sungenis (Bellarmine Theological Forum) has further commented on this:

....
Indeed!

One interesting problem the BB's have had is explaining how Hubble can get such clear images of objects that are supposedly billions of light years away. All the images, those supposedly close and those supposedly far, have the same clarity.
Also, they have never been able to explain how the galaxies that they say are at the edge of the universe are fully formed, just as the galaxies close to us. The BB theory predicted that there should be no fully formed galaxies at the edge, since they would have had no time to develop into galaxies.
All of this, of course, gives evidence that the galaxies were created as they are at the same time, coincident with the Genesis record.
....

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

History and Journey of the Shroud of Turin


The Shroud of Turin - its Origin and Journey

One of the most fascinating gifts the Lord has given us is His own burial cloth.



The Shroud of Turin may be one of the greatest Miracles on the face of the Earth!



How His image was burned into that cloth, and how it has survived these 2000 years is nothing short of miraculous.



We have always had a great love for and devotion to this gift of Our Lord. Let us share with you the history and the journey of the Shroud.



First let us pause and review the Gospel accounts of the Shroud of Turin.



“Taking the body, Joseph wrapped it in fresh linen…” Matthew 27:59



“Then, having brought a linen shroud, Joseph took Him down, wrapped Him in the linen, and laid Him in a tomb which had been cut out of rock.” Mark 15:46



“He took it down (the body of Jesus), wrapped it in fine linen, and laid it in a tomb hewn out of the rock, in which no one had yet been buried.” Luke 23:53.



“He (Peter) stooped down, but could see nothing but the linen cloth.” Luke 24:12



“He (John) did not enter but bent down to peer in and saw the linen wrappings lying there.” John 20:5



The Shroud of Turin, or linen cloth, is mentioned in each of the Evangelists’ accounts of the death and burial of Jesus.



It is never mentioned again, which makes sense because the cloth’s importance was completely overshadowed by the surge of energy which brought the life of Our Savior back into His body.



But logic dictates, His followers did not just leave the cloth there on the ground, to be thrown away.



This was the cloth which held the body of Jesus.



At a minimum, it would be considered a relic of the Savior.



At most, it was a precious keepsake of the death and resurrection of Jesus.



And probably, when Jesus left us after 40 days, this cloth was one of the few mementos they had of the physical presence of Jesus among them.



What happened to the Shroud of Turin next?



The answers to this question are documented in part.



One of the gaps was officially filled in just this year.



But there are areas where we have to employ; “What if”, and “Why not”.



Another question we’re not sure how to answer is, when did the image of His Face, and then His whole body, become visible for all to see? Let’s begin with tradition.



St. Jude Thaddeus was the cousin of Jesus. He is known to have evangelized the area around Turkey.



He is also the only one of the apostles, who wore a large medal around his neck, with the Image of Jesus on it.



There is a tradition that has to do with the emir of Edessa in Turkey, Abgar who lived during the time of Jesus. Abgar was a leper, and he had heard about Jesus and His healing power. He wrote to Jesus, asking Him to come to Edessa and cure Abgar. Jesus responded that He could not come, but would send one of His disciples, who would heal Abgar.



Jesus died, and tradition has it that His cousin, Jude Thaddeus took on the task of going to Edessa to fulfill the request of Abgar for a healing, and also to evangelize the area.



Tradition also has it that he brought with him a cloth handkerchief which had on it a faint image of Jesus, similar to the medal Jude Thaddeus wore around his neck.



When Abgar saw the image of Jesus, he was immediately healed and converted to Christianity. In addition, he also had his emirate converted to Christianity.



Now, most of this has been documented historically.



There was an emirate named Abgar V, who lived during the time of Jesus.



The town of Edessa was evangelized during that time, and there was a tradition of a sacred image of the Holy Face of Jesus involved.



There’s no explanation as to how Abgar got the Holy Cloth of Jesus from St. Jude, but tradition tells us that it was revered in that area during the lifetime of Abgar.



However, after his death, his son reverted back to his pagan ways and carried out a terrible persecution of the Christian converts. He attempted to destroy all images of Jesus, most especially the Holy Cloth. At that point, the image of Jesus disappeared, and was not heard of again for almost 500 years.



Historian Ian Wilson[1] suggests that the Christians who hid the Image were most likely killed by the son of Abgar during his persecution, because, although Christianity was restored in the second century, the Holy Image was never recovered, although the people continued to revere it.



If we believed in coincidence, we would say the finding of the Holy Face of Jesus was coincidental.



But since the only coincidence we will accept is Holy Coincidence, the Lord decided it was time for the Shroud of Turin to come back to be venerated and adored by the people.



In 525 or 544, depending on whose date you accept, the walls of the city of Edessa had to be repaired. In removing the covering of the west wall above the gate, or portal, the Image of the Holy Face was found. This was the first time that any description of the Image was given.



It was said to be a reflection, or a negative, rather than a positive which we would see in a photograph or painting. The Image found a place of honor in Edessa, and in the entire region.



The emperor Justinian, had a cathedral built in honor of the Sacred Face. Veneration continued through a period when the heresy Iconoclasm, was very strong in the Church.



However, the Lord protected His Image from the wrath of that heresy. During this time, it was called a Mandylion, which is an Arabic word for Napkin or Handkerchief. We have to assume that no one ever opened up the linen image the entire length and width, until 944, when a very strange thing happened. We go from this little town in Turkey, way up to Constantinople, modern day Istanbul, a distance of almost 1,300 kilometers, or 800 miles.



The emperor, who had not lived the holiest of lives, wanted the Holy Image to be brought to him in Constantinople, most likely, to safeguard himself and the city against invaders.



He felt, as did the Jews with the Ark of the Covenant, that if he possessed this most holy Image, that of Our Lord Jesus Christ, it would be a free pass to Heaven.



He went to great lengths to get it, offering the emir so many benefits, he could not turn it down. There was a slight problem when the people of Edessa, who venerated the Holy Image greatly, even though they only saw it a few times a year, did not want to see it leave their land.



Forgeries and disruptions slowed the process, but eventually, the Shroud of Turin found its way to the Cathedral Hagia Sofia in Constantinople.



SIDEBAR Bob and Penny Lord have been writing a small but very complete account of the Shroud of Turin with all of its historical twists and turns including the series of investigations in the 20th century. This has been a major work on their part to have a booklet available that presents a unified sequence with accompanied references. And of course Bob and Penny use their investigative and organizational excellence to put many of the pieces of this puzzle together to bring clarity and veracity to the Shroud of Turin.SIDEBAR





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[1] The Shroud of Turin – Pocket Books 1979







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Taken from: http://www.discover-catholic-miracles.com/shroud-of-turin.html

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Revision of Einstein No Surprise


The AMAIC is not the least bit suprised to read about the latest on Einstein's theory, knowing that modern physics is largely an artifical 'a priori' system (based on the research of Gavin Ardley), having no direct bearing on reality.
See: http://brightmorningstar.blog.com/2008/10/21/gavin-ardleys-book-aquinas-and-kant/ 

The following has been taken from: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/einsteins-theory-in-a-spin-as-neutrinos-pass-speed-of-light-20110923-1kp92.html

Einstein's theory in a spin as neutrinos pass speed of light Dennis Overbye

September 24, 2011


Have we broken the speed of light?

International scientists make breakthrough discovery as sub-atomic particles are found to be quicker than the speed of light.



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NEW YORK: The physics world is abuzz with news that a group of European physicists has clocked a burst of subatomic particles known as neutrinos breaking the cosmic speed limit - the speed of light - that was set by Albert Einstein in 1905. If true, it is a result that would change the world. But that ''if'' is enormous.



Even before the physicists had presented their results at a seminar at CERN, the European Centre for Nuclear Research, near Geneva, yesterday, a chorus of physicists had risen up on blogs and elsewhere arguing that it was way too soon to give up on Einstein and that there was probably some experimental error. Incredible claims require incredible evidence.



''These guys have done their level best, but before throwing Einstein on the bonfire, you would like to see an independent experiment,'' said John Ellis, a CERN theorist who has published work on the speeds of the ghostly particles known as neutrinos.



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Albert Einstein ... theory of relativity set speed of light. Photo: AP

According to scientists familiar with the paper, the neutrinos raced from a particle accelerator at CERN, where they were created, to a cavern underneath Gran Sasso in Italy, a distance of about 720 kilometres, about 60 nanoseconds faster than it would take a light beam. That amounts to a speed greater than light by about 0.0025 per cent.



Even this small deviation would open up the possibility of time travel and play havoc with notions of cause and effect.



Einstein - whose theory of relativity established the speed of light as the ultimate limit - said that if you could send a message faster than light, ''You could send a telegram to the past''.



Alvaro DeRejula, a theorist at CERN, called the claim ''flabbergasting''. ''If it is true, then we truly haven't understood anything about anything,'' Dr DeRejula said.''It looks too big to be true. The correct attitude is to ask oneself what went wrong.''



The group that is reporting the results is known as OPERA, for Oscillation Project with Emulsion-Tracking Apparatus.



Antonio Ereditato, the physicist at the University of Bern who heads the group, agreed with Dr DeRejula and others who expressed shock. He told the BBC that OPERA - after much discussion - had decided to release its results in order to get them scrutinised. ''My dream would be that another, independent experiment finds the same thing,'' Dr Ereditato said. ''Then I would be relieved.''



Australian physicists said that the result would be revolutionary if true, but remained sceptical.



Michael Murphy, of Swinburne University of Technology, said: ''This is one of the biggest claims you can make, so it requires a lot of scrutiny.''



Dr Murphy said the researchers had done the right thing in opening up their analysis for other scientists to check.



Nicole Bell, of the University of Melbourne, said: ''If it is true, it is ground breaking. But it will take a lot of convincing.'' Dr Bell said the find not only challenged current theory, it also did not fit with previous measurements of the speed of neutrinos, based on ones emitted from a supernova explosion in 1987.



Neutrinos are among the strangest denizens of the quantum subatomic world. Once thought to be massless and to travel at the speed of light, they can sail through walls and planets like wind through a screen door. Morever, they come in three varieties and can morph from one form to another as they move, an effect that the OPERA experiment was designed to detect.



Dr Ellis noted that a similar experiment was reported by a collaboration known as Minos in 2007 on neutrinos created at Fermilab, in Illinois, and beamed to the Soudan Mine in Minnesota. That group found - although with less precision - that the neutrino speeds were consistent with the speed of light.



Moreover, measurements of neutrinos emitted from a supernova in the Large Magellanic Cloud in 1987 suggested that their speeds differed from light by less than one part in a billion.



John Learned, a neutrino astronomer at the University of Hawaii, said that if the results turned out to be true, it could be the first hint that neutrinos can take a shortcut through space, through extra dimensions.



Joe Lykken, of Fermilab, said: ''Special relativity only holds in flat space, so if there is a warped fifth dimension, it is possible that on other slices of it the speed of light is different.''



But it is far too soon for such mind-bending speculation.



The OPERA results will generate a rush of experiments aimed at confirming or repudiating them, Dr Learned said. ''This is revolutionary and will require convincing replication,'' he said.



The New York Times, with Deborah Smith





Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/technology/sci-tech/einsteins-theory-in-a-spin-as-neutrinos-pass-speed-of-light-20110923-1kp92.html#ixzz1Z1IiSK5Z

Thursday, May 26, 2011

Twelve Sons, Twelve Constellations


by John P. Pratt

Reprinted from Meridian Magazine (13 Jul 2005).
©2005 by John P. Pratt. All rights Reserved.

Index, Home

Contents
1. Determining Birth Dates
1.1 Seven Children in Seven Years
1.2 Which Seven Years?
1.3 Twelve Birthdays
1.4 Benjamin
1.5 Proposed Birth Dates
2. New Holy Days
2.1 Hanukkah
2.2 Feast of Esther
2.3 Easter
3. Confirming Dates
3.1 Rebekah
3.2 Leah and Rachel
3.3 Jacob
3.4 Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh
4. Scriptural Confirmation
5. Conclusion
Notes

Relating the twelve tribes of Israel to the twelve zodiac constellations helps unravel the mystery of the Lord's sacred calendars.

There is a strong Hebrew tradition that each of the twelve tribes of Israel was associated with one of the twelve constellations of the zodiac. The precise identification of which constellation goes with which of Jacob's sons has only been known with certainty for four of the tribes. Each of the twelve carried a banner or flag, and the many of those flags are believed to have displayed one of the zodiac symbols. Thus, those figures came to symbolize the entire tribe to a large degree, much as the eagle represents the United States. This article proposes a correspondence of each of those tribes to one of the zodiac emblems, based on proposed dates for the birth of each. Knowing those dates then leads to greater understanding of the holy days on the Hebrew Calendar, and testifies of the Lord's foreknowledge of all things and of his great plan of salvation.

Jacob alludes to the zodiac as he blesses his twelve sons.

What does the zodiac have to do with the twelve tribes of Israel? Aren't the zodiac signs the basis of astrology, and isn't that a false belief system? Wasn't Israel admonished over and over not to worship the hosts of heaven? Why would Israel put zodiac figures on their flags?

It is not surprising if these are your first questions as you read this article, especially if this is the first you've read on the subject. As has been pointed out in numerous earlier articles,[1] the Book of Enoch records that an angel revealed the constellation figures to the prophet Enoch some 5,000 years ago, and many scholars claim they symbolize the key features of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Last month's article proposed that each of the twelve constellations of the zodiac, through which the sun appears to travel during the year, represents one of the twelve principal roles of the Savior.[2]

Satan twists truth and perverts it for his own purposes, which he has clearly done with the zodiac signs. That causes many to avoid the entire subject, but the symbolism of these figures is so rich that it would be a tragedy not to learn of the beauty of their meaning, and the clarity of their symbolism. So my articles on the subject attempt to ignore the perversions and focus on the good. My position is that the sun, moon, and planets are like the hands on a huge clock, with the twelve zodiac constellations through which they move being the 12 numbers on the clock face. The Lord uses his clock to time key events in world history. But when Israel began to worship the hands on the clock, as did the pagan nations, then they were told they had missed the whole point, and to desist. Similarly today, if someone believes the planets are controlling his life, rather than merely keeping time, then Satan could falsely convince him that he is not responsible for his actions.

Having that disclaimer in mind, let us look at the evidence, even from the Bible itself, that the twelve sons of the prophet Jacob were each identified with a different sign of the zodiac.

Naphtali shows Joseph's blood-stained coat to Jacob.

First, consider the dream of Jacob's son Joseph, of the sun, moon and 11 stars (11 constellations?). He dreamed that they all bowed down to him (Gen. 37:9). When he told the dream to his family, they immediately knew that the 11 stars referred to his 11 brothers. Was that just because of the number eleven, or what it also because they already knew that each was associated with a different zodiac constellation? Evidence for answering this question affirmatively comes from noting that most of their names have close ties to the zodiac constellations, as discussed below.

Secondly, when the tribes received blessings under the hands of their father Jacob and many years later by Moses, many unmistakable references were made to zodiac constellations. Moreover, visions such as those of Ezekiel and John, describe figures with the heads of a man, lion, ox, and eagle, which just happen to match the four "cornerstone" constellations (Ezek. 1:10, Rev. 4:7).[3] It is precisely these four key figures which are the most easily matched with the four principal sons of Israel because each is mentioned in the blessings. Reuben is compared to a man and to water, Judah is compared to a lion, Dan to a serpent (counterpart of the eagle), and Joseph's two sons to the horns of the wild ox. Those link to the constellations of the Water Bearer, the Lion, the Scorpion, and the Bull, respectively (Gen. 49: 4, 9, 17; Deut. 33:17). Those four sons are each also assigned to four directions (Num. 2:3, 10, 18, 25), and those four constellations are evenly spaced around the circle, as are the four points of a compass. And even non-Israelite prophets, such as Balaam, have used the same figures to represent the tribes (Num. 24:7-9). All of this has been discussed in detail in earlier articles, and is summarized here only as review and to make it clear that the Lord himself uses the symbolism. There is something very profound going on here, and it is certainly seems worth investigating.

Until now, the identification of the constellations associated with the other eight tribes has not been known with any degree of confidence. The other references to the zodiac are sketchy, and different scholars have proposed a variety of associations based on scriptural clues. But historical evidence of exactly what emblems were shown on which flags has been weak, and is based mostly on tradition. Thus, the information about the zodiac associations has been lost. This article proposes a correlation based on the "brute force" method of actually determining the birth dates of the twelve sons, and then looking at which constellation the sun was in at their birth.


1. Determining Birth Dates

As is known to readers of my earlier papers, I have discovered a variety of sacred calendars, which the Lord seems to be using, including the Venus, Mercury, Enoch, and (Perpetual) Hebrew calendars.[4] My articles have proposed a framework of key religious dates in the history of mankind, from Adam down to the present day. Let us now begin to fill in more dates into that framework, and even be bold enough to propose precise dates for all of the twelve sons of Israel, and for two of their mothers, Leah and Rachel.


1.1 Seven Children in Seven Years

How is it possible to propose precise birth dates when the birth year is not given in the Bible for even one of the sons? In my former articles, at least the year was provided. Dates were proposed based on the birth dates being holy days on sacred calendars (especially the Hebrew calendar). How should we proceed if the years at not even provided? The answer is that it is clearly a puzzle to be solved, and the years are not necessary. The big clue is that we can calculate the seven-year period in which eleven of the twelve sons were born, and also the one daughter Dinah. If those dates must also fall on holy days on the Hebrew calendar and simultaneously on holy days of the Mayan Sacred Round,[5] then there are only a few dates available. If it turns out that there are twelve dates in the seven years specified, and it also happens that all twelve occur in different signs of the zodiac, then we have the beginning of evidence that we are correct. If the four principal tribes fit the cornerstone constellations and that the names and blessings of other tribes fit their respective figures, then the evidence becomes more compelling that we have solved the puzzle. So with that hope in mind, let us proceed.

The curious thing about the history of the birth of Leah's six sons and one daughter in a seven year period is that she had a barren period during that time. She was so distressed that she had stopped bearing children that she gave her handmaid Zilpah to her husband to bear children for her. Now when is the last time you saw something like that on the evening news? How many mothers do you know who had four children in four years who then became distraught when they didn't have a fifth in the next year? Both of Jacob's wives clearly qualify as understanding the importance of the blessings of having a large posterity. So we begin to see that the pieces of this puzzle must be very tight-fitting indeed because 7 births can barely be squeezed into those time constraints. So if it turns out that they drop into place perfectly, then it will be amazing indeed. Of every 18,600 families which have exactly twelve children, on the average only one will have each born in a different month of the year or with the sun in a different constellation. If the precise time of birth is known, then there is only about one chance in forty that any one date is holy on both of those calendars. Accordingly, if blind chance governed the universe, then there would be negligible probability that even one family in history could have such a noble set of birth dates. It has occurred to me that it would be interesting to calculate just how many seven-year periods even contain twelve such dates.

Jacob and Rachel meet (Gen. 29).

Let us review the entire story briefly in order to find the seven-year period. Jacob worked seven years to marry his beloved Rachel, and awoke after the wedding to find he had married her older sister Leah. How could that happen? The Book of Jasher, which is an excellent chronological source,[6] states that they were twins. It was still very important that one was slightly older than the other. Moreover, the bride's face was most likely veiled. In any case, seven days later he married Rachel. Leah gave birth to four children in succession: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah. Rachel was barren, which was considered a great curse, because it would mean no posterity, no family. When it was clear she was not bearing, she gave her handmaid Bilhah to her husband, and Bilhah bore Dan and then Naphtali. Note that we are not told that Dan is born after Judah, although that is usually assumed. Then it was Leah's turn to have a barren period. Each of her four children were probably born about a year apart. It must have been at least six months after the birth of Judah that she realized that she was not expecting and got nervous because by then Bilhah's second son was probably born. So Leah gave her handmaid Zilpah to Jacob to even up the odds. Zilpah bore Gad and Asher. Again we are only told the order of birth to each mother.

Now the plot thickens. We find that part of the reason for Leah's barren period was that Jacob was not spending his nights with her. When Leah's son found some fertility herbs, Rachel traded her sister Leah a night with Jacob in exchange for them. Sure enough, the trade was a success for Leah, who soon gave birth to Issachar, and later to Zebulon and Dinah. Then, finally, Rachel gave birth to Joseph. His birth was the last because immediately afterward Jacob told Laban that the second set of seven years had past, and that he wanted to take his family back to his own country (Gen. 30:25).

So these four women had twelve children (11 sons and a daughter) in seven years. And Leah alone had seven of them, with a barren period. Allowing a least an extra year for the barren period, wouldn't that have taken Leah eight years to have seven children? When I began calculating the dates, it became clear that the only solution was that Zebulon and Dinah had to be twins. After I discovered that, I found it confirmed in two sources. First it is Hebrew tradition that they were twins.[7] Secondly, it states it implicitly in the Bible itself. For all of the other children, we are told that "Leah conceived" and brought forth a son. When it gets to Dinah it doesn't state that she conceived again, but only that she brought forth Dinah after Zebulon (Gen. 30:21). In other words, it implied that they are twins by leaving out the word "conceived." It is accuracy in minute details such as this which has led me to believe that Genesis is a revelation from God, rather than an attempt by Moses to record oral traditions. So that eases the requirement somewhat, for now we need only six birth dates in seven years, with an extra year between the fourth and fifth dates.


1.2 Which Seven Years?

Just when is the seven-year period during which Jacob's first twelve children were born? The scriptures provide us enough detail to zero in on the exact seven year period. Let us begin by reviewing the chronological framework already established in earlier articles.

Jacob, later renamed Israel, was the father of the twelve sons who became the heads of the twelve tribes of Israel. As was proposed in an earlier article, Jacob was born on Wed 20 Mar 1892 BC pm* ("pm star" means after 6 p.m., when the stars are shining).[8] That is a precise starting point, but we are not told in Genesis how old he was when he had his children. With all of the other prophets and patriarchs discussed in my articles, we have been given their age when their children were born, but in the case of Jacob, we need to do a little detective work to get the answer.

Jacob, age 130, meets Pharaoh.

Long after his children were born, and Joseph was prime minister of Egypt, Jacob took his family there to survive a famine. When he appeared before Pharaoh, he stated that he was 130 years old (Gen. 47:9), which was probably in the summer of 1762 BC. How old was his son Joseph at that time? Joseph had become prime minister of Egypt at age 30 (Gen. 41:46). The seven years of plenty began in the following year, and in the second year of the famine, Jacob's family came to Egypt (Jasher 55:26). Thus, the time that Joseph became prime minister would have been nine years earlier in 1771 BC. [9] He was age 30 at that time, so he would have been born in 1801 BC. Joseph was born at the very end of the seven years during which Jacob's first twelve children were born, so that puts the seven years from 1808 to 1801 BC.

The proposed date for the marriage of Jacob to Leah is Sat 30 Mar 1808 BC, which was the day 14 Spring 14 SPRING on the Enoch calendar. That means it was Passover day (14 Spr) in the year also representing Passover (14 SPR). That day only occurs once in 364 years, so that was a rare day indeed, but it was nothing special on the Hebrew calendar. The next week he married Rachel on Sat 6 Apr 1808 BC, which is the last day of passover on the Enoch calendar (21 Spr) and also the minor holy day 1 Iyar on the Hebrew calendar.

This example shows how the days are equally important, and neither wife is favored over the other because one date is more special on the Enoch calendar and the other on the Hebrew calendar. The same will be true of the twelve sons of Jacob. In other words, the birthright went to Joseph not because his "stars" were better, but because of both his actions and Reuben's actions. The proposed twelve birth dates are all very nearly equally good, which is another factor which defies chance.

If these marriage dates are correct, then the birth of Jacob's first twelve children occurred during a seven year period which corresponded to the Passover week of seven years on the Enoch calendar. The last born, Joseph, has a proposed birth date in the year 21 SPRING on the Enoch calendar, corresponding to the Last Day of Passover. In the Hebrew reckoning of years, it is similar. The marriage is in the year 10 NISAN, which is a the year of Consecration, and the seven years includes the year of PASSOVER. And both the first and last years are SATURDAY, the sabbath year of rest. If so, then it was a very unusual seven-year period during which these children were born from 1808 to 1801 BC.


1.3 Twelve Birthdays

Many years have been spent by this author in trying to determine the twelve actual birth dates for the twelve sons of Jacob. There are many problems but the principal one is to discover whether or not there is a pattern of holy days on sacred calendars which they all follow. Either God is using the sacred calendars to determine the birth dates of his prophets and key leaders, or he is not. Either they all follow a pattern or not. If they do, then there is a chance to discover the actual birth dates of these twelve sons of Jacob. If they do not, then the best we could hope for might be to determine the constellation associated with each birth, which would require an accuracy of about a month.

In the former published articles from my research, there have been three general patterns proposed that the birth dates of major prophets have followed. First, allbirths have occurred on holy days on the Hebrew Calendar, and usually also on holy days on other sacred calendars, with the Sacred Round being the second most important. Second, the length of their lives has usually completed an exact number of cycles on at least one sacred calendar. In the case of the antediluvian patriarchs who lived hundreds of years, sometimes the lives completed two or more such cycles.[10] And third, there has usually been a link from one parent to at least one child. That is, the interval between the birth of one child and the death of one parent is often an exact number of cycles on one calendar. In this case, there is one such link no matter what dates are proposed, because Benjamin was born on the day his mother died. That is exactly zero cycles on all of the sacred calendars, and it is perhaps the strongest parent-child calendrical link possible.

Rather than drag the reader through all my years of research on this subject, and preliminary attempts to discover any pattern that could be proposed for the twelve birth dates, I will simply report the results. It turns out that the requirement to fit eleven birth dates into eleven different constellations (four of which are known) in only seven years, with the twelfth birth many years later into the remaining zodiac figure is so difficult that one can easily rule out many potential patterns.

Here is the pattern which emerged. Exactly as in the case of the patriarchs, each was born on a holy day on the Hebrew calendar, and each was also born on either a day "1" or "7" on the Sacred Round. This latter proposal concerning day 7 being a minor holy day is new in this article. I have wondered about it for years. There are thirteen days in the time unit called the trecena on the Sacred Round, and it has been clear that both the first and last days ("1" and "13") are sacred, but there has not been an instance where the midpoint (or "meridian") day 7 of the trecena is also known to be holy. Now that has changed. The birth requirements are so strict for these twelve that to me it now appears that the day 7 must be a minor holy day. All twelve of the birth days turn out to be equally important. The ones which occur on minor holy days instead of major are compensated by also occurring on other sacred calendars, or having impressive conjunctions of the planets occur in the sky on those dates. We have already seen this in the case of Abraham, whose birth date was not as impressive on the calendar, but which was accompanied by a double conjunction of planets.[11]

Before listing the twelve birth dates, let us first turn to the difficult problem of determining at least the year of Benjamin's birth.


1.4 Benjamin

What about the twelfth son, Benjamin? He was born many years later, and we are not even given the year. Do we have any way of determining Benjamin's birth date? The answer appears to be in the affirmative because of the many clues we are given about the time of his birth.

On his way to Hebron, Jacob stayed at Succoth, Shechem, and Bethel.

Let us review the history in just enough detail to deduce the year of Benjamin's birth. Laban convinced Jacob to work for him six more years after the birth of Joseph (in the spring of 1801 BC). At the end of those six years (in 1795 BC) Jacob took his family and left on his way to Canaan. During that year he crossed the Jabbok at Peniel where he wrestled the angel who said his name would be changed from Jacob to Israel. Then they sojourned a while in Succoth, and then moved to Shechem. There his daughter Dinah was defiled by Shechem (the prince and namesake of the town), leading to Simeon and Levi destroying the entire village. This caused Jacob to fear retribution from the local inhabitants, and when Jacob prayed for help, the Lord told him to go south to Bethel, where he should stay and offer sacrifice (Gen. 35:1). This he did, and there the Lord appeared to him and officially changed his name to Israel, and told him that whole groups of nations would descend from him (Gen. 35:11). While there, his mother Rebekah's nurse Deborah died and they also got word that his mother had also died in Hebron at the age of 133. After mourning for both, Rachel conceived, and later they decided to relocate back to Hebron, further south. During that journey, when they came near Bethlehem, his beloved Rachel died while giving birth to their twelfth son Benjamin (Gen. 35:16-18). They continue on south to Hebron, where his father Isaac lived (Gen. 35:27).

Hebron, home of Isaac and Rebekah.

So when was Benjamin born? The unknowns have been how long the family was at Succoth and then how long they remained at Bethel. Of many possible approaches to solve this problem, the following now seems the most straightforward. If we start from the premise that Rebekah died at age 133, a year or so before the birth of Benjamin, then everything works out easily, because Rebekah's birth date was already established in an earlier article.[12] This method avoids the problems of exactly how long the family stayed in those two areas because it skips most of that time period. It also dovetails nicely with the record of events after they arrived in Hebron.


1.5 Proposed Birth Dates

Here is a table of the proposed birth dates for the twelve sons of Jacob, as well as some other related events, such as the births of Leah and Rachel. If the day on the sacred calendar is not a holy day, then it is indicated at a dash (—). In the event column, "b." means birth, "c." means circumcised (one week later), and "md." means married. On the Sacred Round calendar, the day "1" represents beginning, so it is ideal for birth. In the cases where the birth is on "7", then the circumcision day falls on "1" on an especially significant day. In the case of Reuben, it is 1 Water, and Water is his emblem. In the case of Judah, the circumcision is on 1 Temple, where Temple also signifies birth.[13]

EventGregorian Date (BC)HebrewSacred
Round
Other
Isaac b.16 Mar 1952Tue 10 Nisan1 Serpent1 Res (V) 1 Bir (M)
Rebekah b.8 Nov 1923 pm*Wed 1 Kislev1 Jaguar1 Bir (V) 1 Res (M)
Jacob b.20 Mar 1892 pm*Thu 15 Nisan1 Temple1 Birth (Venus)
Leah/Rachel b.2 Mar 1836Sat 15 Adar1 Storm1 Birth (Venus)
1 Lord (Merc)
Jacob begins work9 Apr 1815Sun 16 Nisan13 Deer15 Spr (Enoch)
Jacob/Leah md.30 Mar 1808Sat —10 NISAN (H)
14 Spr 14 SPR (Enoch)
Jacob/Rachel md.6 Apr 1808Sat 1 Iyar10 NISAN (H)
21 Spr (Enoch)
Reuben b. (Aqr)23 Dec 1808Mon 25 Kislev7 Wind10 NISAN (H)
14 SPR (E)
Reuben c.30 Dec 1808Mon 2 Tebeth1 Water1 Res (Merc)
Simeon b. (Cap)16 Dec 1807 pm*Wed 1 Tebeth1 Flower1 Res (Merc)
Levi b. (Psc)5 Feb 1805Fri 1 Adar1 Condor1 Birth (Merc)
Dan b. (Sco)9 Oct 1805 pm*Mon 15 Tishri1 Temple1 Adult (M)
Judah b. (Leo)19 Jun 1804 pm*Tue 1 Tammuz7 Condor14 NISAN
Naphtali b. (Vir)17 Aug 1804 pm*Fri 1 Elul1 Eagle14 NISAN, 1 Prime (V)
Gad b. (Sgr)2 Nov 1803 pm*Sat 1 Kislev1 Quake15 NISAN, 1 Cre (M)
Issachar b. (Cnc)29 May 1802Wed 1 Sivan1 Serpent1 Res (M)
Asher b. (Lib)23 Sep 1802 pm*Tue 1 Tishri1 Wind1 Res (M)
Zebulon b. (Ari)4 Mar 1801Tue 14 Adar7 Dragon
Joseph b. (Tau)6 Apr 1801Sun 18 Nisan1 Quake15 Spr 21 SPR (E)
Rebekah d.6 Apr 1790 pm*Sun 18 Nisan1 Jaguar15 Spr (E), 1 Lord (V)
Benjamin b. (Gem)
Rachel d.
25 May 1788Tue 1 Sivan1 Jaguar1 Adult (V), 1 Lord (M)
Leah d.1 Jul 1786 pm*Sun 1 Tammuz1 Light1 Res (V), 1 Adt (M)
Ephraim &
Manasseh b. (Tau)
3 Apr 1767Thu 1 Nisan1 Grass1 Prime (M)
Jacob d.14 Apr 1745 pm*Tue 15 Nisan1 Storm1 Birth (V) 1 Cre (M)
Joseph d.5 Mar 1691 pm*Sun 1 Nisan1 Light9 AB (H), 9 MSU(E)

Let us consider some of these results and their implications in more detail.


2. New Holy Days

One problem that has been difficult in all of this research is to know just what the "official" holy days are on the Hebrew Calendar. What are the holy dates which the Lord has on his calendar, not including those which have just been added by man to celebrate joyous occasions? It must be remembered that all of these births occurred long before the birth of Moses, and most of them would celebrate future events. Many of the holy days are explicitly described in the law of Moses, so there is little question about them. But what about Hanukkah, the eight-day Festival of Lights which commemorates the rededication of the temple in 165 BC? Was that date on God's calendar from the beginning? What about the Feast of Esther which celebrates Esther's saving the Israelites from execution in the fifth century BC? These questions have puzzled me for years.


2.1 Hanukkah

Grouping of Mercury, Venus, Saturn and the Sun in the Water Bearer on Hanukkah, 1808 BC.

The dates for Reuben teach us several things. First, to me it appears to establish the first (and last?) day of Hanukkah to be an official minor holy day. The first day of Hanukkah falls on 25 Kislev, near the Christian Christmas season. The last day occurs seven days later on either 2 Tebeth or 3 Tebeth, depending on whether the month of Kislev has 29 or 30 days. Reuben's birth date was almost certainly on Hanukkah, and the day of his circumcision one week later would have fallen on the last day. That day was "1 Water" on the Sacred Round, and Water is the symbol of the Water Bearer constellation (Reuben). As shown in the illustration, there was also a grouping of three planets with the sun in the Water Bearer on Hanukkah (25 Kislev) that year.


2.2 Feast of Esther

The same question concerns the Feast of Esther on 14-15 Adar. Are those two days "official" holy days or not? Again, the answer seems to be in the affirmative, because the twins Zebulon and Dinah were most likely born on 14 Adar. Not only does the date fit the pattern perfectly, the planets Mercury and Venus were both located in the leg of the Ram which is breaking the bands of death. Henceforth in these articles, both Hanukkah and the Feast of Esther will be treated as minor holy days.


2.3 Easter

Joseph was probably born on Easter.

Again, a similar question arises concerning Easter, called the Waving of the Omer on the Hebrew Calendar. It falls on the Sunday after Passover, but was not declared to be a holy day in the law of Moses, but only the day of a special offering of the firstfruits from the ground. After the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, it became clear that this was really a major holy day, but was it an official holy day from the beginning? To me the answer now appears to be in the affirmative because the birth of Joseph most likely occurred on Easter Sunday of 1801 BC.

An interesting point is that Genesis states that Joseph was born at the completion of the second seven years (Gen. 30:25). According to these proposed dates, it was exactly seven years on the Enoch calendar from his marriage to Leah, and also exactly 14 years from when he began work for Laban. Apparently the seven year periods were precise to the very day.


3. Confirming Dates

Now let us look at some of the birth and death dates of the parents and grandparents of these twelve sons. They form the same type of interlocking pattern as we have seen in earlier articles about the birth dates of the antediluvian patriarchs.


3.1 Rebekah

Rebekah, born and died on 1 Jaguar.

One result of this study is the proposed death date for Jacob's mother Rebekah. Her death date is the key link in discovering the birth date of Benjamin. Her death date now appears solid enough to be the basis of forming an anchor point in history.

As discussed in an earlier article, the proposed birth date for Rebekah ties perfectly to her husband Isaac's. Her proposed birth date is Tue 8 Nov 1923 BC pm* which was 1 Kislev (Hebrew), 1 Jaguar (Sacred Round), 1 Birth (Venus) and 1 Resurrection (Mercury). His proposed birth date is Tue 16 Mar 1952 BC, being 10 Nisan (Hebrew), 1 Serpent (S. R.), 1 Resurrection (Venus) and 1 Birth (Mercury). The important feature to note is that the Venus and Mercury calendar dates are reversed for the two, just as they are for Ishmael and Isaac. That was such a rare coincidence as to really lock in her birth date.

The Book of Jasher, states that Rebekah died at age 133 while the family was at Bethel, shortly before the conception of Benjamin (Jasher 36:6). An ideal date is found at that time, being Sat 6 Apr 1790 BC, which was the same day as her birth on the Sacred Round (1 Jaguar). It is common in the ages of the patriarchs (and now matriarchs) to have their life be an exact number of cycles on one of the sacred calendars. In this case, the length of Rebekah's life would be exactly 186 Sacred Rounds. The day was also Easter on both the Hebrew and Enoch calendars, as was Joseph's proposed birth date. Again, it is common to have the period to the birth of a child or grandchild be an exact number of cycles. Moreover, it was also a holy day on the Venus calendar, as was her birth, and there are only 16 days in 584 days that such an alignment occurs. So these fulfillments of multiple patterns convince me that he death date truly has been found: Sat 6 Apr 1790 BC pm*.


3.2 Leah and Rachel

After discovering how impressive Rebekah's death date and life was, it caused me to search for the birth and death dates of both Leah and Rachel. Their birth and death years, and ages, are given in the Book of Jasher (Jasher 36:11, 41:2), so it was a much easier problem than the birth of the twelve sons of Jacob. Jasher also mentions that they were twins (Jasher 28:28), even as were Jacob and Esau. Their birth date was most likely Sat 2 Mar 1836 BC, which was the Feast of Esther (Hebrew), 1 Birth (Venus) and 1 Lord (Mercury). Thus, it is proposed that both of these wives were born on 1 Birth (V) as was Jacob, so that is a rare match. Rachel's death occurred at Benjamin's birth, and the day was also 1 Lord (M), so her life completed an exact number of cycles on the Mercury calendar. It was also on 1 Jaguar, the same as Rebekah's proposed birth and death dates.

Leah only lived a few years longer than Rachel, dying before Joseph was sold into Egypt. Her death was most likely on Sat 1 Jul 1786 BC pm*, which was 1 Tammuz, the same as her son Judah. It was also 1 Res (V), the same as Isaac's birth date, and also 1 Adult (M) the same as Jacob's birth date. Again, these are not just holy days, but the match the pattern of being the same as husband and children. It was also 1 Light (S.R.), the day beginning that cycle. These are enough patterns to merit publishing this date as likely to be her death date.


3.3 Jacob

Jacob lived an exact number of Hebrew years and Venus cycles.

One new date which emerged from this study is Jacob's death date. After discovering that Rebekah's life most likely was an exact number of Sacred Rounds as well as being a holy day on the Venus calendar, it seemed like a good idea to search for Jacob's death date. To me the result was stunning. By far the most likely date is Mon 14 Apr 1745 BC pm* which was both Passover and also 1 Birth on the Venus Calendar. It is amazing that such a date exists exactly 147 Hebrew years after his proposed birth date on Wed 20 Mar 1892 BC pm* which was also Passover and also 1 Birth (Venus). Until writing this article, I had not even considered that possibility for at least two reasons. First, 147 = 3 x 49, meaning that his life was exactly three jubilees long, and that alone was impressive enough to me to stop looking. Secondly, 1 Birth (Venus) only occurs on Passover about twice in 584 years on the average, so one wouldn't expect it after only 147 years. Note also that both 1 Birth (V) and 1 Temple, on which he was born, are the very days of those cycles that represent birth. Thus, this is yet another compelling confirmation of the birth date proposed for Jacob several years ago. [14]


3.4 Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh

Jacob blesses Ephraim & Manasseh.

The book of Jasher states that Joseph's two sons were born when he was age 34 (Jasher 50:15). While not stating that they are twins, my conclusion is that they are, because they are compared to the horns of the wild ox (Deut. 33:17), and there is a clear birth date for them when the sun is in the constellation of the Bull, the constellation of Joseph, whom they would replace in the set of twelve tribes. Moreover, there is a clear candidate to be the death date for Joseph at age 110 (Gen. 50:26) and it occurs on the same day of the Hebrew years as the proposed birthday for his sons (1 Nisan). Moreover, their birthday fills in one more very important holy day to the set of twelve (New Year's Day). Thus, the timing of the births appears to have been foreseen and carefully planned.


4. Scriptural Confirmation

There are several clues in the scriptures about which constellation is associated with which tribe, but some are not obvious at all. When I began this study I was really encouraged about how easy the four cornerstone constellations were, because each of those four tribes (Reuben, Dan, Judah, and Joseph) were compared to the figures (Water Bearer, Scorpion, Lion, Bull) explicitly in their names or blessings. Moreover, Dan means "Judge" and Judah means "Praised," both of which tie directly to the corresponding roles of Jesus Christ of Judge and King, as discussed in last month's article. So those are the four about which everyone agrees. But the other eight were not obvious and there is little agreement about them.

After I had finished this study and had determined the birth dates in the above table, and was in the process of writing this article, the idea occurred to me to read those names and blessings one more time. It was surprising how easy it was to see that there were strong indications in front of me all the time, but many of them are only clear in the light of knowing how the twelve roles of Jesus Christ correspond to the twelve constellations.

Joseph reveals himself to his brothers.

Simeon is the Sacrifice. There are two clues that Simeon is the Sea Goat which is sacrificed. First, the blessing by Jacob stated, "Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations" (Gen. 49:5). What does that mean? Ostensibly, it refers to their slaying of the village of Shechem to defend their sister Dinah's honor, but could there be more? It occurred to me that Levi's sign is Pisces, which contains the chains or bonds which shackle the fish to the Sea Monster. Those are certainly instruments of cruelty. And the Sea Goat is the other sign which refers to an animal about to be slaughtered by the knife. Thus, the Sea Goat is a good match for Simeon's instrument of cruelty. Moreover, it was Simeon whom Joseph kept behind in Egypt as a ransom for Benjamin, that is, he was the sacrifice.

Levi is The Fishes. Levi means "Joined" which now seems like a clear reference to the Fishes, which are joined by two bands or chains to the Sea Monster. Moreover, Levi's tribe was that to whom the priesthood was given, which corresponds to the Fishes representing the role of Jesus Christ as the Great High Priest.

Conjunction of Mercury, Jupiter and the Sun in the Maiden at birth of Naphtali.

Naphtali is the Maiden. There are at least three scriptural clues that Naphtali corresponds to the constellation of the Maiden. First, in the blessing of Jacob, he is compared to a hind or doe, that is, a female deer. Why not a buck? Perhaps it is because he ties to the female constellation. Secondly, in his blessing by Moses, he is told he will be "full with the blessing of the Lord." As in many languages today, the word "full" has the double meaning of expecting a baby. Truly the Virgin Mary was "full with the blessing of the Lord." Thus both blessings contain references not only to females, but one to an expectant mother, which is clearly the Virgin's Seed. Finally, the name Naphtali means "to struggle or wrestle," [15]which could describe the struggle of giving birth.

Gad is the Archer. The name Gad means "fortune," coming from the root which means an invading troop or an attack which overcomes. The Archer is like a one man cavalry (a centaur) attacking and overcoming the scorpion with bow and arrow.[16] His blessing was that Gad "shall overcome at last" (Gen. 49:19) which again fits perfectly with the Archer representing Christ as the "Savior."

Issachar is the Crab. The name Issachar means to "he will bring a reward"[17]. That is exactly the role of the Crab, who represents Christ as the "Deliverer" who brings the captive dead forth from Hades. And his blessing echoes this theme: he is likened to a donkey "crouching down between two burdens" and "becoming a servant unto tribute" (Gen. 49:14-15).

Thus, six of the eight tribes with unknown constellations have hints in their names or roles of Christ. The other two Asher ("happy") and Zebulon ("habitation")[18] are not as obvious. Asher may well tie to the Balance because of the joy that comes after the price has been paid. And Zebulon's "dwelling" could refer to the everlasting life of the Ram's golden fleece, but neither of these is nearly as straightforward as the other six.


5. Conclusion

The mystery of how the twelve constellations of the zodiac correspond to the twelve tribes of Israel appears now to have been solved by applying knowledge of the Lord's sacred calendars to the chronological clues in the scriptures and the Book of Jasher. Confirmation is found in the meanings of their names, as well as in the corresponding roles of Jesus Christ. Some of the implications are that Hanukkah, the Feast of Esther, and Easter are all Hebrew holy days which were on the Lord's calendar from as early as the time of Jacob. All of these together testify of the importance of the Lord's calendars as a tool to determine the exact dates of key historical religious events, and to provide many more witnesses of the historicity and accuracy of the scriptures.


Notes

  1. See Pratt, John P., "Enoch Calendar Testifies of Christ," Meridian Magazine (11 Sep 2001) for authenticity of Book of Enoch, and " The Constellations Testify of Christ,"Meridian Magazine (9 Oct 2001), section 1.8, for reference to Uriel revealing the constellations.
  2. Pratt, John P., " The Constellations Tell of Christ," Meridian Magazine (15 Jun 2005), called "The Zodiac Testifies of Christ" on my website.
  3. Pratt, John P. "The Lion and Unicorn Testify of Christ, Part I: The Cornerstone Constellations," Meridian Magazine (8 Nov 2001).
  4. Pratt, John P., "Venus Resurrects This Easter Sunday," Meridian Magazine (27 Feb 2001) for Venus and Mercury calendars, and footnote 1 above for Enoch Calendar. The Perpetual Hebrew Calendar has yet to be published, being a work in progress.
  5. Pratt, John P., "A Native American Easter: How the Ancient American Calendar Testifies of Christ," Meridian Magazine (28 Mar 2001) is an introduction to the Sacred Round.
  6. Pratt, John P., "How Did the Book of Jasher Know?," Meridian Magazine (7 Jan 2002).
  7. The Book of Jubilees states, "and she bore twins, a boy and a girl, and she called the boy Zebulun and the girl's name was Dinah" (Jubilees 28:23), from Charlesworth, James H.,The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1985), vol 2, p. 110. I believe that account correct, but in general Jubilees is entirely unreliable in chronology and has all the earmarks of having been largely a fabrication. It gives many precise dates to give the feeling of authenticity, but they all appear to be nonsense. In this case, the birth dates of the twelve sons do not all fall within seven years, but within fourteen, which is not what is described in Genesis.
  8. Pratt, John P., "Divine Calendars Testify of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," Meridian Magazine (11 Sep 2003), section 6.
  9. Thus, Joseph would have been 39 years old when his father was 130, meaning that Jacob was 91 years old when Joseph was born. That age is confirmed in the Book of Jasher (Jasher 31:21).
  10. One notable example is Jared, the father of Enoch, who lived 602 Venus cycles and also 1,352 Sacred Rounds. See Pratt, John P., "Astronomical Witnesses of the Great Flood,"Meridian Magazine (13 Aug 2003), section 2.5.
  11. Pratt, John P., "Divine Calendars Testify of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," Meridian Magazine (11 Sep 2003), section 2.5.
  12. Pratt, John P., "Divine Calendars Testify of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob," Meridian Magazine (11 Sep 2003), section 5.
  13. The meanings of the twenty day names are discussed by Pratt, John P., "The Twenty Day Names," (20 Apr 2000).
  14. See footnote 8.
  15. Strong, James, The Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible (McClean Virgina: MacDonald) Hebrew words 5321, and 6617.
  16. Strong, Hebrew words 1410, 1464.
  17. Strong, Hebrew word 3485.
  18. Strong, Hebrew word 836 (Asher) and 2074 (Zebulon).