Rehoboam and the Palestinians

"Rehoboam. Fragment of Wall Painting from Basel Town Hall Council Chamber, by Hans Holbein the Younger."
Licensed under Public Domain via Commons

The young men who had grown up with him replied, “These people have said to you, ‘Your father put a heavy yoke on us, but make our yoke lighter.’ Now tell them, ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. My father laid on you a heavy yoke; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.’"
1 Kings 12:10-11

These days the feeling is even stronger than before that political leaders and IDF have chosen the way of Rehoboam while dealing with the Palestinians.

Unfortunately, the decision of King Rehoboam to follow the advise of young men against the political wisdom of the elderly led to disastrous results and the division of the Kingdom into two states. Israel and Judea.

The Three Republics of modern Israel

First Republic 1948 - 1967
Young Israel signified the rise of Jewish people like Fenix bird from the ashes of Auschwitz. Established by one of the early decisions of the United Nations it consisted of a narrow strip of land west of Jordan river and provided homeland to refugees and survivals from war torn Europe among the Zionist Jews who had earlier settled to Mandate Period Palestine.

The First Republic was strongly influenced by social-democratic and Marxist ideals, the value of working together in building the land.  Religious Zionism was in the sidelines and not considered particularly important and religious Jews adopted to the situation making the best of it. It is interesting that in those Cold War years socialist Israel stood by West while Muslim countries in Levant and North-Africa tied close relations with the Soviet Union.

The towering and charismatic personality of David Ben Gurion characterizes the First Republic other political leaders trying to emulate him. The counter-shock of Egyptian victories in the October War 1973 was a cold shower of reality for the political and military leadership with wide/ranging consequences.

Second Republic 1967 - 1995
The amazing military victory over all the Arab countries involved in the Six Day War in June 1967 profoundly changed the State of Israel. With the conquest of land in all directions the borders of the country reached from Golan and Jordan River in the East to the Sinai Peninsula and Suez Canal in the South.

In a short time Israel gained military rule over the Biblical sites of her origins as told in the Bible and the city of Abraham in Khalil/Hebron, as well as the tomb of Josef in Nablus/Shechem and the tomb of Rachel in Bethlehem became accessible. Not to speak of the Western Wall, the remains of the Herodian built platform under the Temple of Jerusalem.

But this religiously enormously significant military expansion was not "land without people to people without land" but rather conquest and rule over millions of Palestinian Arabs who had previously been under Ottoman, Mandatory, Jordanian (West Bank) and Egyptian (Gazza strip) rule.

The time of the Second Republic is very complicated with great changes in international politics, powers after the collapse of Soviet Union and so on. The simplicity of old socialist approach to economy was now over and complexities of modern global business, marketing and manufacturing led to totally new situations where the former political power of workers evaporated.

The arrival of over a million Russian immigrants profoundly changed the demography and also the spirit of Israel.

From the Messianic point of view the reconquesta of big parts of the Promised Land (East Jordan and Southern Syria still missing) had a deep impact on the ideological views of the citizens. There was a marked rise in the national-religious camp that had been so much suppressed by the Socialist rulers. With the demise of socialism in the West and the faith in the power of states to provide for the well-being of citizens echoed also in Israel and pure capitalism was in vogue.

When Second Republic old horse and respected military leader, national hero Yithaq Rabin, tried to lead the country to negotiated peace with the Palestinians on the basis of Oslo agreement by giving up parts of Holy Land, the religious-nationalistic camp put a final and fatal end to the attempt in 1995.

When another war hero of the old, Ariel Sharon, withdrew Jewish settlers from the Gazza strip and handed it to the Palestinians, he was fatally damaged by brain hemorrhage and laid for some years in comatose condition before his death. News circulated that the rabbis of Israel had cursed him and even this was officially denied people widely believed the story. Consequently, there was a feeling that God of Israel Himself punished the ruler who wanted to give up Land.


Third Republic 1995 -
With the most "right wing" government ever elected by the citizens of Israel the Messianic trend that naturally belongs to Judaism has become more clear. In order for the Great King to arrive a number of things must be done. Reconquesta of the Promised Land is one thing, rebuilding of the Temple another sine non qua. This is very powerful stuff that finds expression in political decision making and even in the actions of the Israel Defense Forces where the percentage of old Israel leftist staff is slowly but surely diminishing. Times are achanging...

Third Republic was created by the forceful removal of a prime minister that did not follow the new national-religious stream but rather adhered to the ancient socialist model speaking of the possibility of peace a la Oslo. It is characterized by Strong Man rule, a way to run a country without all the finesses of sophisticated and often cumbersome democracy. Mussolini got the trains of Italy to run in time which was not a small achievement in that country.

Strong Man rule is the rule rather than exception in the Middle East and also the strong Russian segment of population comes from that type of background with no real knowledge of democracy and allergic to state intervention to private matters. We can say that with this emphasis on the power and ability to lead of a single person Israel is coming closer to its true rules, the historic Kingdoms of Judea and Israel in the Iron Age and king Herod and his dynasty in the Roman period.

For the coming Messiah is not a democratic ruler but an absolute Monarch.

Christian's choices gave Islam victory in Near East

Not by sword alone
When one looks at Near Eastern history one of the amazing things is the rapid victory of invading Muslims and their religion over Christian Byzantine empire. In only a few hundred years the dominant religion, Christianity, had all but been wiped out and not only the invading Arab population from the East but also majority of the natives in Levant and North Africa became followers of Islam.

Contrary to popular belief, Muslims did not forcefully convert the Christians living in the occupied lands. Christians had prevailed through the most horrific physical persecution under Roman Empire and only got stronger from the martyrdom of thousands and thousands. Islamic sword was not the one that brought victory to the new religion.

Benevolent rulers
In fact, there are many memories of just Muslim rulers who protected Christian shrines and people during the times of the Four Caliphs, especially Omar, and under the Umayyad Caliphate under which Islamic armies swept towards East and West with little resistance. It was only later, during the Abbasids and Fatimids, that the oppression of Christian population became widespread in the Islamic Empire.

Christians' deep hatred of each other
So if not really by force of the sword how followers of Muhammad took over the cradle of Christianity where the religion was born and spread during six centuries?

Well, in the beginning it was largely the decision of the Christians themselves to adopt the new religion. There were two major factors pushing people from churches to mosques.

First, the extremely bitter infighting between various Christian denominations and churches. In the East it culminated on the battles between groups that used different terminology to describe who Christ is. The Chalcedonians had power and more often support of the Byzantine emperors then the pre-Chalcedonians often called Monophysites. For example in Egypt, these quarrels led to expulsions, outright killings and such a harsh Constantinople's rule over local Christians that Coptic Christians gladly opened the doors of Alexandria to the invading Islamic army greeting them as saviours from Byzantine terror.

Another example was the quarrel between native North-African Christians, mostly berbers, and the Latin church. It was all about a schism, dispute of the right of lapsed Christians to hold high positions in the church hierarchy after the Roman persecution was over. This continued for centuries and created the Donatist church persecuted by Rome. Islam found many converts from this church which disappears when the men of East occupied North-Africa on their way to Spain.

Money money, money
Secondly, money. This seems to have been the major factor during the glory days of the Umayyad Caliphate stretching from Atlantic to Hindus. Islamic rulers set special taxes to Christians from which Muslims were free. As a consequence of this simple policy long lines of citizens were seeking to convert to the new religion in order to get the tax relief and other material benefits the Islamic Empire gave to its Muslim citizens.

So also today
Accordingly, as Christians we should not blame only Muslims for the loss of Levant and North Africa to Islam. Rather, with certain sadness and willingness to learn from past mistakes we should consider the same factors today when secularism offers freedom from Church taxes and payments, Christian quarrels alienate many good people and Islam arrives to Europe with rock solid faith in their teachings and divine justice in their manners and traditions.

God's cosmic words about Israel

  כֹּ֣ה׀ אָמַ֣ר יְהוָ֗ה נֹתֵ֥ן שֶׁ֙מֶשׁ֙ לְא֣וֹר יוֹמָ֔ם חֻקֹּ֛ת יָרֵ֥חַ וְכוֹכָבִ֖ים לְא֣וֹר לָ֑יְלָה רֹגַ֤ע הַיָּם֙ וַיֶּהֱמ֣וּ גַלָּ֔יו יְהוָ֥ה צְבָא֖וֹת שְׁמֽוֹ׃

 אִם־יָמֻ֜שׁוּ הַחֻקִּ֥ים הָאֵ֛לֶּה מִלְּפָנַ֖י נְאֻם־יְהוָ֑ה גַּם֩ זֶ֨רַע יִשְׂרָאֵ֜ל יִשְׁבְּת֗וּ מִֽהְי֥וֹת גּ֛וֹי לְפָנַ֖י כָּל־הַיָּמִֽים׃  

 כֹּ֣ה׀ אָמַ֣ר יְהוָ֗ה אִם־יִמַּ֤דּוּ שָׁמַ֙יִם֙ מִלְמַ֔עְלָה וְיֵחָקְר֥וּ מֽוֹסְדֵי־אֶ֖רֶץ לְמָ֑טָּה גַּם־אֲנִ֞י אֶמְאַ֨ס בְּכָל־זֶ֧רַע יִשְׂרָאֵ֛ל עַֽל־כָּל־אֲשֶׁ֥ר עָשׂ֖וּ נְאֻם־יְהוָֽה׃ 

Jer 31:35-37 WLC

This is what the Lord says,

he who appoints the sun

    to shine by day,

who decrees the moon and stars

    to shine by night,

who stirs up the sea

    so that its waves roar—

    the Lord Almighty is his name:

“Only if these decrees vanish from my sight,”

    declares the Lord,

“will Israel ever cease

    being a nation before me.”

This is what the Lord says:

“Only if the heavens above can be measured

    and the foundations of the earth below be searched out

will I reject all the descendants of Israel

    because of all they have done,”

declares the Lord.

Jer 31:35-37 NIV

The Chosen People are busily rebuilding Jerusalem and ancient prophesies influence both believers and non-believers, the politics of modern State of Israel and major military powers of today.

God's cosmic words in Jeremiah 31 are assuring but also extremely threatening, as today astronomers and cosmologists are able to measure the heavens above and geologists study the foundations of the earth deep below.

Divine promises by God of Israel are not a blank check.

Mt 28:18 Lord Jesus and human diseases

In the Gospel of Matthew the Man of Galilee makes an extraordinary claim:

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me."
Matthew 28:18

However, risen Lord Jesus having all authority in heaven and on earth has not wiped out human diseases nor has He prevented illness among other living organisms. The dictionaries of various types of illnesses are thick and detailed concerning all parts of the human body and mind. Hospitals, big or small, are built everywhere human live and medical research and profession flourish. 

"The deadliest disease in humans is ischemic heart disease (blood flow obstruction), followed by cerebrovascular disease and lower respiratory infections respectively" (WHO 2012). Fearsome pandemics have wiped out large human populations in the past and threaten to do so in the future, as well. 

In fact, Lord Jesus - almighty Christos Pantocrator - did not promise in the final words of the Gospel of Matthew to wipe out human diseases. His focus in those words was on something else altogether. 

Divine will and illness

In our judgment omnipotent God could have created a bit more perfect world without diseases. His work looks deficient as so many details can go wrong from birth to childhood, adult life and old age causing suffering, pain and often early death. 

Again, as in the case of wars, the easy solution is to deny God and all wondering of His plans and good will towards humanity so praised by the angels in first Christmas in the shepherds field. For if God is capable of creating a human that does not become sick under any conditions why did He not do so? The responsibility of the faults in the system lies ultimately on the Maker. 

In same breath we could then ask why diseases, why suffering, why death? Why God did not create immortal humans? Why we all have to die?

Biblical realism

Holy Scriptures are not Utopian nor do they describe human world in sugary words and beautiful but untruthful words. The life of the Chosen People is filled with suffering and the Torah contains so many references to sickness and how the community must deal with specific cases such as leprosy. Job is hit by all kinds of diseases to test his love of God and sacrifices of thanks are offered in the Temple after recovery from illness. 

Human diseases are integral part of Scriptures and the role of Jesus of Nazareth as a healer among the people of Galilee, Judea and Samaria is pronounced in the Gospels. His disciples continue the healing service in specific cases. The resurrection and the authority given to Jesus did not bring a fundamental change in this world.  

The focus of Jesus' words at the end of the Gospel of Matthew is in something else altogether.

Mt 28:18 Lord Jesus, Fuehrer and Father Stalin

In the Gospel of Matthew the Man of Galilee makes an extraordinary claim:

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me."
Matthew 28:18

Considering the history of humanity after this pronouncement in about 34 - 35 AD many think that the words are null an void. What kind of ruler is Lord Jesus Christ allowing all this to happen to the people created by God, His Father? Where can we see Christos Pantocrator carrying all the authority in heaven and earth?

The discrepancy between Jesus' words and the history of the world is such that with a few exceptions the Jewish people are convinced that the man of Galilee was not the promised Messiah King, the Prince of Peace as prophet Isaiah calls Him.

The focus of His words is on something else altogether.

History is what it is
The Nature God of Israel has created is savage. Yet we must confess that in the fight for survival, in ecosystems and environments there is power and deep wisdom way beyond our pride, the scientific understanding of natural phenomena and consequently, our ability to solve problems and face challenges with the help of technological advances.

Human history is savage and marked by warfare apparently from the very beginning of homo sapiens sapiens. Not just hunting but fighting our own species, other humans, for a reason or other. The Biblical view on this is surprising - God of Israel is Lord of the Hosts, Adonai Zebaot, and according to Apocalypse of John there has even been a war in heaven! The coming of Christ is depicted there as a massive war against the nations that have gathered at Armageddon.

One Lord and two lords
Let us look at one example on the way Lord Jesus Christ uses the authority and power of Pantocrator, almighty God, given to him by His Father.

World War One happened. Millions of soldiers and civilians perished in the worst war humanity has seen during its existence. It is a fact that it happened so Lord Jesus allowed it to happen.

Second World War was preceded by the rise to absolute power of two humans, two men of humble origins - Adolf Hitler in Germany and Josef Stalin in the Soviet Union. They were given power to do what they wanted with nobody in their home countries or among other political and military powers able to force them to anything.

These two lords, dictators and tyrants, turned quickly into dangerous enemies of Christ. In Germany the target was first the People of God to whom the Man of Galilee belongs, and soon the aim was on the Christian church, as well. Many people followed the Beast and joined its version of Christianity mixing nationalism and religion into a poisonous soup. In Soviet Union, the man from Georgia targeted the People of God although Jews had had such a role in the birth and evolution of Communism. His atheistic onslaught on Russian Orthodox Church was devastating.

So this happened and it is the sole responsibility of the one having all authority in heaven and earth that it was allowed to happen.

The end
Lord Jesus did not stand idle during World War Two and His angels had a particularly busy time on all fronts from Europe to Pacific.

On the decisive level Lord Jesus made a remarkable move - the two lords were in many ways friends and it has been said that Hitler was the only world leader he fully trusted.

Fuehrer attacked Father Stalin's empire with great ferocity with the aim of conquering what Napoleon had failed to conquer in the East.

The two most dangerous enemies of Lord Christ and His people fought each other to death causing unimaginable misery to each other, to the Germans and its allies as well as to the Soviets and its allies.

Hitler's 1000 year kingdom lasted less than 10 years. Unlike Hitler, Stalin survived the war but was quietly put into sleep 5th of March, 1953 by his own trusted friends. "American historian Jonathan Brent and Russia's Presidential Commission for the Rehabilitation of Repressed Persons executive secretary Vladimir Naumov published a book proposing that Beria, with the complicity of Khrushchev, slipped warfarin into Stalin's wine on the night of his death" (wikipedia)


2015 refugee crisis
Ths is history. Today Levant is in fire and refugees drown on boats trying to reach safety. Where is Lord Jesus?

Yes. That is a good question, look for Him.

God, Victor Hugo and French Church

Victor Hugo 1872
image wikimedia

Victor Marie Hugo (1802 – 1885) is in the news thanks to the Academy Award Nominations for the blockbuster musical Les Misérables (2012) based on his novel of the same name.

Victor Hugo embodies the highly critical attitudes towards religion that are present also in today's determinedly secular France. For example, French diplomats were in the forefront in the battle to prevent any mentioning of God in the European Union Charter.

In his poetry, Victor Hugo touches the soul of his people in a way that only native French speakers can truly appreciate. His poems were immensely popular during the 19th century and belong today to the national heritage of French culture. 

In his novels, Victor Hugo discusses French society as it is living through the turmoil between Royalists and Republicans, revolutions and wars. An important subject in his analysis is the Church.


Christ and France - beginning of the relationship
French have been and are an enormously important people among the nations of the earth. If you do not believe me just look at the Ellis Island in front of New York. Statue of Liberty is not just another piece of art - it symbolises much of what is dear to modern Western civilization dominating the world.

Because of this importance Jesus Christ and His enemy have been fighting and continue to fight for the soul of France, Sacre coeur, so to say.

Jesus Christ reached the French people early in European history. First he met them through the wonderful services of Saint Martin de Tours (316-397) or Martin le Miséricordieux. Officially, the Kingdom of God reached Franks when King Clovis I (466-511) was baptised in Christmas Day 496 in Reims. Jesus was there in the crucial battle and became his Lord. The Christian dynasty of Merovingians is crucial in the history of Europe and the British Isles and thus to the entire world.

Jesus Christ was there when Franks led by Charles Martel (688-741) were the last bastion of European Christianity against the deadly onslaught of Muslims in the Battle of Tours 721. Martel is the grandfather of Charlemagne (742-814), pater Europae.


Things started to go badly between Christ and France
Jesus Christ called Jean d'Arc (1412-1431) La Pucelle d'Orléans to crown the King of France in Reims where Clovis I had been baptised thousand years earlier. She did so but was

put on trial by the pro-English Bishop of Beauvais Pierre Cauchon for charges of "insubordination and heterodoxy" and was burned at the stake for heresy when she was 19 years old wikipedia

Before this crime against humanity on 30 May 1431at the Vieux-Marché in Rouen there had been other things that did not go unnoticed later neither by Voltaire nor by Victor Hugo.

It is true that it was an Italian pope Innocent III who instigated the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars. The merciless genocides during the twenty years of war were carried out both by northern and southern French barons.

The Languedoc now was firmly under the control of the King of France. The Inquisition was established in Toulouse in November 1229, and the surviving elements of Catharism were eliminated from the region, largely due to the infamous inquisitor Bernard Gui and his order of Dominicans.
wikipedia

The two things, Albigensian Crusade and Inquisition belong to the darkest pages in the history of the Church and are well remembered in France. (Victor Hugo wrote the play Torquemada in 1869 on inquisition and religious fanaticism.)

The list of things going bad is dark, long and sad. French religious believers against French religious believers as in the case of Cathars but now against the Huguenots. St. Bartholomew's Days massacre on July 23, 1572 in Paris

The massacre also marked a turning point in French Wars of Religion. The Huguenot political movement was crippled by the loss of many of its prominent aristocratic leaders, as well as many re-conversions by the rank and file, and those who remained were increasingly radicalized. Though by no means unique, it "was the worst of the century's religious massacres." Throughout Europe, it "printed on Protestant minds the indelible conviction that Catholicism was a bloody and treacherous religion".
wikipedia

The persecution of Huguenots stains the period of le Roi Soleil Louis XIV as French clergyman Cardinal Richelieau (1585-1642) crushes in 1628 their stronghold of La Rochelle. He may have won that battle but the way a man of God treated fellow Frenchmen rivals with the worst atrocities conducted later by both sides in the 30 years war.

These Church Royalty things were vividly remembered also in the novels of Alexandre Dumas who was a close friend of Victor Hugo.

Not to mention witch trials so prominent in Victor Hugo's master piece The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831).

Les Misérables
The dark side of French church history was well known and was among the principal causes for the French Revolution that changed the entire world in 1787-99 and after that still affecting us all today.

Young Victor Hugo was nevertheless a good Catholic following the guidance of his mother Sophie Trébuchet (1772–1821). On the other hand, his father Joseph Léopold Sigisbert Hugo (1774–1828) was a child of Enlightenment and a freethinker in matters of religion. Mother Catholic Royalist remembering the glory of the House of Bourbon and father agnostic Republican whose hero was Napoléon Bonaparte.

The dark pages in the history of the Church in France was not the principal reason why Victor Hugo later became increasingly critical of Christian religion.

The real reason was his passionate feeling for justice and his horror on the indifference of Christian clergy to the suffering of les Misérables.

Faith in God
Although Victor Hugo fiercely criticized the Church and was apparently not a close friend of Jesus Christ he nevertheless did not deny God.

Hugo left five sentences as his last will to be officially published :
« Je donne cinquante mille francs aux pauvres.
Je veux être enterré dans leur corbillard.
Je refuse l'oraison de toutes les Eglises.
Je demande une prière à toutes les âmes.
Je crois en Dieu. »

("I leave 50 000 francs to the poor. I want to be buried in their hearse.I refuse [funeral] orations of all churches. I beg a prayer to all souls.I believe in God.")
wikipedia

French Church
Instead of repenting from the accusations of neglecting the orphans, the poor, the miserables, French Church actively condemned Victor Hugo and his today world famous writings.

Hugo never lost his antipathy towards the Catholic Church, due largely to what he saw as the Church's indifference to the plight of the working class under the oppression of the monarchy; and perhaps also due to the frequency with which Hugo's work appeared on the Church's Index Librorum Prohibitorum (Hugo counted 740 attacks on Les Misérables in the Catholic press).
wikipedia

Les Misérables contains solemn words from a secular prophet in the tradition of Old Testament prophets and Jesus Christ Himself.

French Catholic cardinals, bishops, priests and others did not see the truth they contain.

Royalists, the House of Bourbon, and the blindness and deeds of the Catholic Church in France explain Victor Hugo.

And Victor Hugo stands for the common man and woman in France who have a decent sense of justice and what is right and what is wrong.

French Christians have much to blame in themselves about the cold winds of secularism that blow today from Paris.

Christ and Cathars - Kate Mosse Labyrinth

Carcassonne today
Image wikimedia

The events around Massacre of Cathars are brought vividly to our minds through the novel Labyrinth (2005) by Kate Mosse and the currently running TV mini-series based on it.

Inquisition was established in 1184 in Languedoc south of France to destroy heretic Cathars. The twenty years Albigensian Crusade (1209–1229) aimed to physically annihilate them. "The last known Cathar perfectus in the Languedoc, Guillaume Bélibaste, was executed in 1321."

We can feel some of the cold hatred and horror of those days in the words of advise by the Cistercian Abbot of Cîteaux Arnaud Amalric (died 1225). Caesar of Heisterbach wrote later that when asked how to distinguish between Catholics and Cathars during the attack on Béziers July 22, 1209 he said

Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius

"Kill them all. For God knows who are his."

This awful statement by a holy man of God is made even more chilly by the fact that it refers to the Bible giving the passage in the Second Letter to Timothy a tint of Satanic verse

Their teaching will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18 who have departed from the truth. They say that the resurrection has already taken place, and they destroy the faith of some.  Nevertheless, God’s solid foundation stands firm, sealed with this inscription: “The Lord knows those who are his,” and, “Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness.”
2 Tim 2:17-19 NIV

These events undoubtedly belong to the darkest chapters in the history of Christian Church together with such things as the Fourth Crusade or the way Conquistadors treated Middle American natives and others like them.

The yellow Cathar cross
sympathizers were forced to use it on their clothes  

Responsibility of Christ of His own
So where was Rex Regum during these horrible things done in His holy name?

For it was nobody else than the illustrious Vicar Christ Pope Innocentius III (1160-1216) himself who was directly responsible for the events by initiating and encouraging the persecution and destruction of Cathars.

"These heretics are worse than the Saracens!" exclaimed Pope Innocent III, and on March 10, 1208, he proclaimed a crusade against a sect in southern France that became one of the bloodiest blots in European history.
Time Magazine 1961

Could not Jesus to whom has been given all authority in heaven and on earth have prevented that His own do such horrific things against those considered heretics?

Resurrected Jesus had conquered Europe and the kings rulers of Italy, England, France, Spain, Germany and other nations obeyed the powerful Bishop of Rome. His Kingdom had grown and flourished through centuries and the Church was at the height of its power.

Could Jesus not have in many different ways prevented the massacre of Cathars?

And yet it seems He did nothing of the sort but allowed even the disgusting institution of Inquisition misusing every concept of truth go ahead under the sign of the holy cross.

But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?” John 11:37

Undoubtedly much of the antipathy modern French feel against the Church and the wish to be free of it as expressed in the French Revolution against the aristocratic Ancien Régime Ancien of kings, noblemen and prelates has deep roots in the Albigensian Crusade, the persecution of the Huguenots and other such things.

Current revival of the memories of the way Church treated Cathars is certainly giving strength to anti-Christian feelings not only in France but all over the world.


So where was Jesus?

Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place."
John 18:36 NIV

Christian Church is not the same as the Kingdom of God.

My suggestion is that when facing the enormousness of the Universe we also consider issues that connect us to the facts of science and knowledge and have personal significance to us - for example, how we are made of star dust (Carl Sagan).

When facing the enormousness of the Dark Ages and the horrors of persecution of Cathars let us similarly consider issues that connect us to the facts of history and have personal significance to us.

Where is Jesus Christ in your own life?

Where was He when that tragic car accident happened taken with such cruelty away the beloved once?

Where was He when that illness changed your life forever and crushed your dreams?

Where was He when you were saved by the doctors and given a second try in this life?

Can you point out where Jesus is in your own life?

So how could you figure out using how Rex Regum rules His Kingdom?

'An enemy did this', he replied

Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.

“The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’

“‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.

“The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’

“‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”
Matthew 13:24-30 NIV

Ephesians 1 and Fingal's Cave

View of Iona Island from inside Fingal's Cave
wikimedia

From the Bible we learn that God planned our salvation already before the creation of the world, before the making of the Sun and Moon and the stars.

Such truly long-term divine planning comes to my mind with the unique view from deep inside Fingal's Cave in the Staffa Island in Inner Hebrides. The visual focus and conformity given by the opening of the cave towards the Island of Iona brings together a very special combination of elements: Nature, Church history, Classical music and the Apostolic mission to proclaim good news about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, starting from Jerusalem and Samaria and to the end of the world.


God's long term plan according to the Epistle to the Ephesians

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.

For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.

In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment —to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ.

In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.
Ephesians 1:3-14 NIV

God's Carpentry shop - Fingal's Cave

Entrance to Fingal's cave
wikimedia

Staffa Island is made of unusual basalt prisms that somewhat resemble wood work. Such rather rare geological formations are rocks that result from the cooling of volcanic basalt under special conditions including the penetration of water into the magma.

The formations create a magnificent cave that resembles a natural cathedral.  And that's what it is.


Divine acoustics
Fingal's cave is famous for the acoustics and how the sound of the waves repeat on the walls and vaults. Felix Mendelssohn visited the cave in 1829 and was immediately taken by the sounds. He was given a beautiful melody to go with the sounds - this is how I see it - and wrote to his sister a letter including the main theme.

Mendelssohn developed the theme in what is today known as Fingal's Cave Overture (or The Hebrides Overture) - a very special peace that has since become a beloved treasure of Western classical music.

Here it is conducted by none less than Claudio Abbado himself youTube


Island of Iona
This is an amazing cradle of Christianity among the Europaeans, a burial ground of Scottish tribal heads and kings, a monastery where the Book of Kells was began...

Why all this?
Well, Mikko, you are claming that God Himself created Fingal's cave as a natural cathedral with unique majesty and beauty, exceptional acoustics and that His holy angels even gave a melody to Felix Mendelssohn as a gift to the entire humanity. And He began to work on it already millions of years ago when forming the Hebrides Island and when not one human being had yet been born?

Why would God do something like that and aim the view from inside the cave across the sea to the Island of Iona?

I think for two reasons

Firstly, that we would appreciate the memory of the Irish and Scottish Christians, mostly monks in the monasteries in the rough islands of the Hebrides, Ireland and High Lands of Scotland, who so bravely spread the Gospel to Europe. Even the patron saint of my country Finland, Saint Henrik, who brought Christianity literally to the "end of the world" (fin-landia) and was later murdered by a Finn, apparently came from the British Isles.

Secondly
that when we are meditating and wondering all this, the majesty and beauty of Creation in and around Fingal's cave, the awesome rolling of the Atlantic waves, the arrival of Christianity from Jerusalem to Ireland and Scotland and from there on to Germany, Scandinavia, even Finland, and when listening to the wonderful music of Mendelssohn, a melody and composition that truly is a gift to humanity, and when remembering that we also have been taken to the Kingdom through the water of baptism and the Spirit of new birth, despite of all what we are and do and ...

with all this and more we would just simply bow down our heads in front of our God and say
"Thank you, Father".

For this is the real purpose why we are here to the glory and praise of His amazing grace, predestined to be for His glory, as said three times in the above quoted passage from the Epistle to the Ephesians1:

to the praise of his glorious grace,
for the praise of his glory 
to the praise of his glory

It is not a bad idea once inside Fingal's Cave also to remember how Rex Regum, the King of Kings, taught us to pray - and to do so!

Our Father in Heaven
hallowed be thy name
thy kingdom come
thy will be done

People of Wells

Well, well...

Internet is such an amazing global library

I just asked in the previous posting as a total novice in Irish history if there might be something in the Druid religion in which baptism found a connection.

Something like Sun cult for late Romans, Constantine the Great met Christ in the Sun
in hoc signo vincet

So I asked ... and got an immediate answer from Celtic Twilight

Irish Druids And Old Irish Religions

WELL-WORSHIP
That so wet a country as Ireland should have so great a reverence for wells, is an evidence how early the primitive and composite races there came under the moral influence of oriental visitors and rulers, who had known in their native lands the want of rain, the value of wells. So deep was this respect, that by some the Irish were known as the People of Wells

Living Waters or broken wells?
Indeed, Jesus Christ found a point for His Patrick to reach those ancient Irish people and convince them about the well of Living Waters!

The referred Celtic Twilight pages maintained by Gordd Cymru do have a certain nostalgic atmosphere with perhaps some anti-Christian sentiment?

I really hope that for Celtic revivalists there is no temptation to return to the pre-Patrick days when all kind of natural phenomena were worshipped instead of the One God of Israel who has made it all and has conquered Ireland in such a wonderful and loving way.

Then the prophetic words of Jeremiah would become sadly true - again, this time in some people's hearts in Ireland like once in ancient Israel

“My people have committed two sins:
They have forsaken me,
the spring of living water,
and have dug their own cisterns,
broken cisterns that cannot hold water."
Jeremiah 2:13

St Patrick and baptism - some observations

The few excerpts from Bishop Tírechán's text in the previous postings show how absolutely fascinating his work on Saint Patrick really is.
 [Read the entire English translation from here.]

Tírechán takes us to the front lines of Christ's Kingdom and the borders expand with baptism. In the beginning of my Rex Regum blog I suggested that we can see the expansion of the rule of the invisible King Christ by following baptism. Nowhere in Migration era Europe is this more clear as in the work of the Apostle of Ireland.

Saint Patrick cannot say like Saint Paul

For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.
1 Cor 1:17 NIV

For baptism was the essential tool in his work and is done along with preaching and teaching according to the command of Christ in the Gospel of Matthew

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20 NIV

Visiting holy places
As Terry O’Hagan describes we really get the impression from Bishop Tírechán personally visited many of the sites he is telling about and gives accurate information about the things "still today there": the church is square, made of clay as there is no trees, and the burial is on the hill above it. In some cases he uses the title "holy man" rather than Saint Patrick whose memory may not have been so closely associated with all these sites with holy memories.


Baptism extended!
It is remarkable how the concept of baptism is extended in Tírechán to a baby not yet born whose mother is about to die and to the men beyond the grave. Particularly striking is the story of the voice from the grave explaining the cross and St Patrick's action of simply moving the holy cross to the right place.

A legend on such an encounter would surely have saved also this pagan laying beside the body of a Christian!

The tremendous power of baptism is like fresh news from a spiritual battle field and Tírechán's account authentically reflects 7th century concepts and beliefs. It is interesting, how he makes a difference between "druids" and "pagans".


Druid water worship as background?
The importance of wells and the stories of druid worshipping them as gods as well as the rising of Celtic Crosses near them all seem to suggest that there were ancestral beliefs connected with these water sources.

Saint Patrick is described as a Moses figure, demonstrates that there are no spirits in the well, only water, touching the rock of the well with his staff and blesses it with mighty Christian words - powerful things that bring flocks of local people to baptism and Christianity.

Could it be that old Irish religions contained a strong element connecting to wells which where then used by Saint Patrick and the Twelve Apostles in bringing the folks to Christ?

Something symbolic of this is in the National Cathedral of Ireland, Saint Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin, which is said to be built on the place where there was once a well and a high cross.

St Patrick baptises a new born baby

He also entered Mag Sereth across the river between Assaroe and the sea, and founded a church in Ráith Argi, and camped in Mag Sereth.

And he found a good man of the race of Lathru, and he baptized him and his young son with him, who was called Hinu or Ineus; his father had bundled him in linen (and carried him) round his neck, because he was born on the way, coming with his father from the mountain: and
Patrick baptized the son
and wrote for him an alphabet
and blessed him with the blessing for a bishop
Tírechán 47

St Patrick baptises a fetus in the womb

And behold, Patrick proceeded to the land which is called Foirrgea of the Sons of Amolngid to divide it between the sons of Amolngid, and he made there a square earthen church of clay, because no timber was near.

And they brought to him a sick woman who was pregnant, and he baptized the son in his mother's womb (the woman's liquid served as the son's baptismal water), and they buried her on the hill of the church above, and the holy man's seat is beside the church to the present day; and he built a church for the community in the bay of the sea, that is, Ros mace Caitni.
Tírechán 44

St Patrick and the misplaced holy Cross

He came to Findmag in the territory of the Uí Maini and found there the sign of the cross of Christ and two new graves, and from his chariot the holy man said: 'Who is it that is buried here?'

And a voice answered from the grave: 'I am a pagan.'

The holy man replied: 'Why has the holy cross been placed beside you?' and again he answered:

'Because the mother of the man who is buried beside me asked that the sign of the cross be placed beside her son's grave. But a stupid and foolish man placed it beside me.'

And Patrick leaped from his chariot and took hold of the cross and pulled it from the pagan grave and placed it over the head of the baptized man, and mounted his chariot and prayed to God in silence.

When he had said 'Deliver us from evil', his charioteer said to him: 'How is that,' said his charioteer, 'why did you (merely) talk to the unbaptized man? For I pity a man without baptism. It would have been better in the eyes of God to bless him as in baptism and pour the water of baptism over the dead man's grave.'

And (Patrick) did not answer him; I think he left the man (as he was) because God did not want to save him. Let us return to our story.
Tírechán 41

The importance of Baptism

And holy Patrick came through the plains in the territory of Mace Erce in Dichuil and Aurchuil.

And in Dichuil Patrick came to a huge grave of astounding breadth (?) and excessive in length, which his people had found, and they were amazed, with great astonishment, that it extended a hundred and twenty feet, and they said: 'We do not believe that there could have been such a thing as a man of this length.'

Patrick answered and said: 'If you wish you shall see him', and they said: 'We do', and he struck the stone on the side of the head with his staff and signed the grave with the sign of the cross and said: 'Open, o Lord, the grave', and it opened. [staff like that of Moses...]

And a huge man arose whole, and said: 'Thanks be to you, o holy man, that you have raised me even for one hour from many pains',  and, behold, he wept bitterly and said: 'May I walk with you?' They said: 'We cannot have you walk with us, for men cannot look upon your face for fear of you.
But believe in the God of heaven
and receive the baptism of the Lord,
and you will not return to the place in which you were.

And tell us to whom you belong.'

'I am the son of the son of Cass son of Glas; I was the swineherd of Lugar king of Hirota. The warrior band of the sons of Mace Con killed me in the reign of Coirpre Nie Per' (a hundred years ago from now). [Irish sense of genealogy...]

And he was baptized, and confessed God, and fell silent, and was laid again in his grave.
Tírechán 40

St. Patrick, Druid worship of wells and baptism

And he came to the territory of Corcu Temne to the well of Sine, where he baptized many thousands of men, and founded three churches.

And he came to the well of Findmag, which is called Sian, because he had been told that the druids honoured the well and offered gifts to it as to a god. The well was of square shape and the mouth of the well was covered with a square stone (and water flew over the stone, that is through ducts closed with cement) like a regal trail ( ?), and the infidels said that some wise man had made for himself a shrine in the water under the stone to bleach his bones perpetually because he feared the burning by fire ; and they worshipped the well as a god.

And Patrick was told the reason for its worship, and he had the zeal of God for the living God, and said: 'It is not true what you say that it was the king of the waters' (for this is the name they gave the well: 'king of the waters').

And the druids and the pagans of that region and a very large crowd gathered together at the well and Patrick said to them: 'Lift the stone; let us see what is under it, whether bones or not, for I am telling you: under it there are not the bones of a man, but—so I believe—some gold and silver from your wicked sacrifices leaks through the cementing of the stones'; and they were unable to lift the stone.

And Patrick and his servants blessed the stone, and Patrick said to the crowd: 'Stay away some distance for a little while, so that you may see the power of my God who dwells in heaven'; and he stretched out his hands and lifted the stone from the mouth of the well and put it to the other side of the mouth of the well, and (there) it is for ever.  [still at the time of this telling...]

And they found nothing in the well but only water.

And there sat a man at a distance beside the stone which the holy man had rooted (in the ground), and Patrick blessed him; his name was Caeta or Cata. And Patrick baptized him and said to him: 'Thy seed will be blessed for ever.' [fragmented tradition?...]
Tírechán 39

Deadly Eucharist

(after the maidens had been baptised)


And they demanded to see the face of Christ,

and the holy man said to them: 'Unless you taste death you cannot see the face of Christ, and unless you receive the sacrament.'

And they answered: 'Give us the sacrament so that we may see the Son, our bridegroom',

and they received the eucharist of God and fell asleep in death, and their friends placed them on one bed and covered them with their garments, and made a lament and great keening.


Druid reaction
And the druid Caplit, who had fostered the one, came and wept, and Patrick preached to him and he believed, and the hair of his head was shorn off.  (-- tonsure, monk)

And his brother Máel came and said: 'My brother has believed Patrick; not so I, but I will bring him back to heathendom', and he spoke harsh words to Mathonus and Patrick.

And Patrick preached the faith to him and converted him to the penance of God, and the hair of his head was shorn off, that is, the (hair cut in) druidic fashion (which was) seen on his head, airbacc giunnae, as it is called. Hence comes the saying that is the most famous of all Irish sayings, 'Máel is like Caplit', because (both) believed in God.


Respect to Saints relics and Irish shrines
And the days of mourning for the king's daughters came to an end, and they buried them beside the well of Clébach, and they made a round ditch after the manner of a ferta, because this is what the heathen Irish used to do, but we call it relic, that is, the remains of the maidens.

And the ferta was made over to Patrick with the bones of the holy virgins, and to his heirs after him for ever, and he made an earthen church in that place.
Tírechán 26

St Patrick teaching and baptising

And the maidens said as with one voice and one heart: 'Teach us with all diligence how we can believe in the heavenly king, so that we may see him face to face. Tell us, and we will do as you say.'

And Patrick said: 'Do you believe that through baptism you cast off the sin of your father and mother?'

They answered: 'We believe."

'Do you believe in penance after sin?'

'We believe.'

'Do you believe in life after death?

Do you believe in the resurrection on the day of judgement?'

'We believe.'

'Do you believe in the unity of the Church?'

'We believe.'

And they were baptized, with a white garment over their heads.

Tírechán 26

Saint Patrick and baptism - Tírechán

Baptism is, of course, very important in Saint Patrick's mission. We do not have his own writings except for the obvious importance he gives to baptism in his Confessio "I have baptised thousands." The location of Saint Patrick's Cathedral is said to be that of a holy well that he used when bringing people of Ireland to Christ.

There are significant passages in Tírechán's text concerning Christian baptism and other aspect relating to the conversion of Irish people to Christian faith. God really "gave him the whole island with its people through an angel of the Lord" as Tírechán wrote.


The following excerpts are from the English translation of Tírechán by L.Bieler (subtitles added by me).

Bible is present in baptism
And when he had opened the book and baptized the man named Erc, he heard men behind his back laughing at him together because of that action, for they did not understand what he had done; and he baptized many thousand men on that day.
Tírechán 4.



Christ brought to Ireland church hierarchy, order and literacy 
Concerning the number of bishops whom he consecrated in Ireland, (that is,) 450. As regards priests, we cannot give a number, because he baptized people daily and read the letters to them and wrote alphabet-tables for them, and of some of them he made bishops and priests, who at a sober age (had ?) received baptism.
Tírechán 6.



Christian teaching and baptism
God gave him the whole island with its people through an angel of the Lord,
ii. and he taught them the law of the Lord,
iii. and baptized them with God's baptism,
iiii. and made known to them the cross of Christ,
and preached His resurrection;
Tírechán 18.

Saint Patrick, Pelagius and sin

Two Celtic Christians have a mission in the Church of God at the turn of the fourth/fifth century Anno Domini.

Austere monk Pelagius travels apparently from the British Isles to Rome where he is shocked by the moral liberties and life of supposedly Christians. The reason to the lax behaviour is, according to what we know about Pelagius' theology, in the wrong preaching of God's grace.

Augustine's pious "demand what you want, God, and give me what you demand" seems to Pelagius to be the root of the evil that has crept into the Christian church. He is much more optimistic than Augustine about the ability of children of Adam and Eve to live according to God's will. The citizens of Rome, including Augustine himself, could not find a fault in his holy ways of life.

It has been suggested that Celtic Christianity carries some of the mental framework of British Isles with him, the religious attitudes of druids who saw men victorious in the fight with the powers of darkness, able to control such powers for evil and good. Man could even destroy the beasts of the dark in mighty battle. If so, Pelagius could be seen as representing optimistic, humanistic Christianity and indeed the Roman Catholic Church has adopted a half-Pelagian doctrine in which man is not doomed to failure but God's grace and man together work together for the eternal salvation of the baptised.

The other man with mission is Saint Patrick who is called to preach and baptise the inhabitants of Ireland. We only have two authentic documents written by him - in contrast to the numerous volumes by Saint Augustine and also Church fathers writings about Pelagius and his own surviving texts.

The Confession contains some reflection on some sin of the youth Saint Patrick remembers. The text is not long and perhaps not too much should be read into it. But the general impression we get from the Confessio is really very far from the memories and experiences of Saint Augustine he describes in his Confessions.

Could it be that both Saint Patrick and Pelagius indeed represent a somewhat more optimistic and positive view of human ability to fulfil the commandments of God than Saint Augustine? Can this be explained at least partly on the basis of their joint background in the early Christianity of British Isles?

By no means I suggest that Saint Patrick is "pelagian" or "augustinian". The comparison is more about the general cultural and spiritual framework from which the two men with mission, Saint Patrick and Pelagius, came.