- "Open your doors, O Lebanon,
- that the fire may devour your cedars--I will
- raise up a shepherd in the land that will not visit
- those cut off, nor seek the young,
- nor heal the broken, nor give food"
-
- --The words of Jehovah, war god of Judaism and Christianity,
- Zechariah, Old Testament.
-
-
- On the nineteenth day of Israel's horrifying so-called
"war" on Lebanon--Lebanon being a republic largely without any
military defenses whatsoever--we learned that Israel unleashed its deadliest
of all attacks to date. With Israel's insatiable desire for blood
and the utter destruction of Lebanon still unquenched after 19 days of
inhumane aggression against unarmed civilians, we find that this day's
attack by Israel killed at least 54 people, including 37 innocent children.
They were killed while they were sleeping.
-
- Lebanon - whose Air Force has no fixed-wing planes -
is now largely in ruins while the world's most powerful leader has backed
the aggression of Israel. As Lebanon pleaded to the world for help,
in full and painful view was the lack of appropriate, compassionate response
from the US government. Instead, this government has turned again
an arrogant, deaf ear to the cries of the innocent, and incredibly, this
government has backed the criminal annihilation being carried out by Israel.
With support from the American government, the acting Prime Minister of
Israel now states that what Israel has already done to Lebanese civilians
is not enough. Israel needs another "ten days to two weeks"
to really see their mission through properly. Perhaps a biblical
forty days and forty nights might get the job done right.
-
- While the world has watched in shock and awe, the Bush
administration shrugged yet again at the full cost and anguish that others
are paying for war, and a list of troubling questions has begun forming
in the minds of many: What, exactly, is Israel's mission in Lebanon,
and why is the US supporting their outrageous war crimes against humanity?
And, what has happened to America, which seems now to be only a cartoon
version of what it once was? America, America--its freedom and grace
now vaporized into nothingness like dew in the blistering and growing deserts
forming on the earth.
-
- America is now nothing more than a strange and distorted
parody of the nation it once was. We now have a Hollywood version
of America in which celebrities are given VIP status and fitted into the
day's agenda at the White House, while those just out of sight bury their
dead children and continue to beseech the world's most powerful ruler to
do something worthwhile on behalf of humanity.
-
- Alas, Babylon. Alas, Lebanon.
-
- Alas, indeed. Alas, America's values, truths and
moral acts of compassion have been replaced by the mindless greed of corporate
profit-seeking and the brainless, vulgar antics of someone who is out of
control and unaccountable, while paradoxically also "in control"
of this formerly great nation.
-
- It is a situation that rivals one of Hollywood's worst
productions, and all the while, as attention is being paid to everything
except reality and eyes are averted from scenes that might be upsetting,
it is real blood that is being spilled while a massive war machine moves
on, unstopped and applauded by those who cannot feel its pain.
-
- Why has America become something equally as terrifying
as any regime that is run by unqualified, unelected, freedom-hating fundamentalists
with tunnel-vision?
-
- The answer, of course, is right in front of us.
For the first time in the history of the United States, the government
of the US is now being piloted largely (and poorly) by conservative Christian
fundamentalists. Their god is now our co-pilot.
-
- It is good to know which rules of conduct and which code
of ethics one's ruler is following and is expecting the hoi polloi to follow.
The necessity of disclosure of one's rules was even known in the days of
Hammurabi.
-
- In the past, we were able to assume that the heads of
the US government were telling the truth when they swore to uphold the
United States Constitution, and in the past, therefore, the Constitution
was the bedrock and foundation of law in the United States.
-
- The prevailing administration, however, suspended the
Constitution rather quickly after taking over.
-
- With the Constitution out of the way and with the fundamentalist
Christian forces continuing to exert increased power over politics in this
country, perhaps it should come as no surprise that we now appear to be
operating under the draconian ethics as presented in the Old Testament.
-
- "But, who could fault this?" one might ask,
especially if one is a fundamentalist Christian. "Certainly,
no one would oppose embracing 'God,' and invoking his name before wars
and football games and pop quizzes--and who could truly oppose establishing
'God's' rules and commandments as the sovereign rule of the United States
of America?"
-
- "There is but one god, is there not?"
-
- In actuality, monotheism is a myth. One has only
to read the Old Testament to see that there were other gods, many having
attributes quite different from the war god most Christians think is the
"god of the universe." Belief in an unknowable god of the
universe or the god of nature would more correctly be termed "deism."
"Monotheism" suggests that a selection among various gods
has taken place, and that one god from among them has been chosen.
-
- In addition to the myth of monotheism, there is another
myth in which a growing number of people are placing their beliefs.
It is a currently preached myth suggesting that the United States was founded
as a Christian nation. In fact, the US was founded as a nation without
prejudice toward religion, and specifically protecting religious freedom.
-
- Whether one places any belief in the bible or completely
dismisses everything within it, when its literal, fundamental interpretation
and its out-dated standards of conduct suddenly begin metastasizing into
the governing instrument for one of the world's most powerful nations,
all would do well to become familiar with the Old Testament. This
should be done while keeping in mind that the English translations vary
considerably from what was actually written in Hebrew. Regardless,
reading the Old Testament might, in fact, serve as a scriptural "heads-up"
for a world that is now largely in awe of what is happening. It might
explain the current tailspin that America seems to be experiencing.
-
- There are 71 references to Lebanon in the King James
Version (KJV) of the Old Testament, most of them very beautiful--just as
Lebanon was very beautiful a few short weeks ago. But in the last
references to Lebanon, the mood changes abruptly and "God" develops
what appears to be a split personality.
-
- It is in the latter chapters of the book of Zechariah
that Jehovah, the old Judeo Christian war god, begins having another of
his jealous and coveting mood swings. These are mood swings for which
Jehovah is well-known throughout the Old Testament, because when Jehovah
has mood swings, death and destruction soon follow. One will notice
that the destruction is not necessarily carried out by Jehovah, of course.
The murder and destruction are carried out by those listening to Jehovah,
taking literally his biblical instructions to destroy and kill again, and
again, and again--and thus doing his bidding, again, and again, and again.
-
- In reality, however, the split personality found in Zechariah
occurred because more than one author penned the book of Zechariah.
According to the New American Bible, scholars date the first eight chapters
of Zechariah's prophecy to 520 B.C. No one, those scholars say, knows
who wrote the last six chapters, or even the dates when they were written.
They were simply penned by an unknown author or authors. Because
those chapters are contained in "the bible," however, they are
viewed by fundamentalists as the "inspired word of God."
-
- In Chapter Eight of Zechariah, Jehovah declares he will
return to Zion, and call all of his people to come and dwell in Jerusalem.
He predicts that other people--many people from other nations--will come
and seek his favor.
-
- In Chapter Nine, as someone else puts pen to parchment,
baser instincts take over and the mood change occurs. Jehovah decides
he needs more land. That an entity who claims to be the "creator
of the universe" finds itself coveting neighboring lands should raise
some questions. Listed among the areas that Jehovah intends to "smite"
in order to seize are Tyre and Gaza.
-
- This smiting of Tyre and Gaza is currently being carried
out by humans.
-
- In Chapter Ten, another angry wrath of god begins growing,
this one against shepherds. All of Judah will be turned into warriors,
and "They shall wage war because Jehovah is with them."
-
- Jehovah will then bring his people into Lebanon, but
this "will not suffice them." Two more lands are then coveted
and named. But attention is focused on poor Lebanon and Chapter Eleven
begins with the first portion of the horrific verses quoted at the top
of this page.
-
- In Chapter Twelve, Jehovah will "seek the destruction
of all nations that come against Jerusalem."
-
- It is in Chapter Thirteen that something of particular
importance is written--something that has perhaps been unnoticed for about
2000 years. The prophecy in Chapter Thirteen is about a time when
Jehovah has driven all prophets from the land and outlawed prophecy.
Prophets, therefore, are quiet and cautious because Jehovah has ordered
that they be killed.
-
- According to what is written in Zechariah, a conversation
takes place with a certain prophet who denies that he is a prophet and,
according to the Catholic translation, states instead that Adam taught
him to be a tiller of the soil since day one. According to the KJV,
however, he states that Adam taught him to be a keeper of cattle--as different
as Cain and Abel, day and night.
-
- This is a prophet bearing wounds, and the ancient understanding
of a wounded prophet is that it indicates the prophet had been sent from
another god, a god other than Jehovah. When asked from where his
defeat had come, the wounded prophet answers that he was defeated by those
he loved. Immediately, then, begins the Song of the Sword in which
Jehovah raises his sword against the shepherd in order to strike him down.
Jehovah recognizes this shepherd as a "fellow" or "associate,"
and therefore an equal.
-
- "Strike the shepherd that the sheep may be dispersed,"
sings Jehovah. This certainly does not sound like a father speaking
about his beloved, "only begotten son." It sounds like
a jealous god who is going to strike down the works of a shepherd whose
teachings oppose the teachings of Jehovah.
-
- "I will turn my hand against the little ones,"
Jehovah further sings, and one third of the people will be "refined"
and Jehovah will then say (according to Zechariah), "They are my people,"
and the people will say, "Jehovah is my god."
-
- At this time, one-third of the people on earth are Christians.
They have been "refined" in part due to the works of the Early
Church Fathers who decided to teach that the god of Jesus was Jehovah,
the war god of Israel, thus defeating the purpose of Jesus--and his attempt
to replace the draconian/Jehovah laws with laws that respected human rights
and civil liberties.
-
- One-third of the people on earth, including the majority
of people living in the United States, have been "refined" into
followers and soldiers of Jehovah. This explains the contradiction
in terms of "Christian soldiers." It is the "Christian
soldier" who has been conveniently doing the bidding of Jehovah for
the better part of 2000 years. With such help, the bloodiest wars
on earth have been made possible. With the Christian beliefs that
we must bear as many children as capable of bearing, we will be assured
of an endless supply of Christian soldiers who, as little ones, are taught
in the innocence of childhood that there is none other than Jehovah, and
there is no escaping him.
-
- The recent emergence of the Gospel of Judas affirms what
many will find to be the strangest of all concepts--that the one commonly
referred to as Jesus was not the son of Jehovah, but he was instead the
opponent of Jehovah.
-
- He had come (again) to reestablish rights and liberties,
replacing the harsh unbending and unforgiving laws of those whose ways
were in need of change. The existence of this Gospel of Judas was
known to the Early Church Fathers, but it was kept hidden from the public.
-
- Understanding that Jesus was, indeed, the opponent of
Jehovah also helps one understand the otherwise incomprehensible dialogue
that appears in John 8 of the New Testament. There, Jesus refers
to Jehovah as a liar, a murderer and the devil. These are not words
coming from a loving son. They are the words coming from Jehovah's
staunch and unrelenting political opponent. A quiet, wounded prophet
from an opposing god, he is an opponent who has quietly refused to give
up on a battle that has been waged over humanity's freedom since Genesis
2.
-
- At this time, as people ask others on the internet "Who
would Jesus bomb?" it really makes much more sense to ask instead
the old standard question: WWJD, or "What would Jesus do?"
-
- According to what has been written since ancient times,
he would most likely do exactly as he has always done. He would oppose
Jehovah. #
-
- -------------------------------------------
-
- Mary Sparrowdancer is the author of "The Love Song
of the Universe," and of numerous papers and articles, including "The
Gospel of Judas, Barbelo and Long-Kept Secrets," which can be seen
here: http://www.rense.com/general71/defmo.htm
Mary is a health, science, political and spiritual writer with extensive
studies in laboratory sciences, ancient history and biblical studies in
four languages. www.sparrowdancer.com. sparrowdancer1@earthlink.net
-
-
- Comment
- Patricia Doyle, PhD
-
- Hello Mary - I just wanted to let you know that I totally
agree with your Jehovah in Shepherd's Clothing article on Rense.com.
-
- I feel badly about the innocent civilians who are getting
massacred in this latest middle east atrocity.
-
- Seems like the innocent always get massacred. Then again,
this is nothing new. The US was built upon the murder of innocent native
Americans. I recently took care of a sick dog in Mahopac NY. I wondered
why there were so many Native American names and did some checking into
the origin of Mahopac. It was land that belonged to a branch of the Algonquin
Indians, the Wappingers whose sachim or chief was Daniel Nimham or Ninham.
The tribe would migrate and while they were in Sturbrige Mass the settlers
were busy taking the land around Mahopac.
-
- The Sachim Ninham tried desparately to get the land back
and even went to London to speak before the King and Parliament. It did
not goot. Daniel Ninham was killed fighting for the Americans during the
revolution and was buried where he died in Indian Field, Van Cortland Park,
Bronx NY. Sachim Ninham was literate and also spoke English. He had appeared
and lectured at the capital of NY in Kingston.
-
- As I drove through Mahopac I wondered what the Sachim
would think. Bottles and garbage line the curbs and teenagers drive the
main drag most of the night throwing garbage from their cars. The water
for the town which comes from the once beautiful lake is really undrinkable.
In fact I advised the dog owner to buy bottled water as the dog's kidney
stones were probably from the drinking water and not food.
-
- Now all that is left is Indian names. There is a Ninham
Mountain near my home, the place where the sachim would go to survey the
tribal lands. It is the highest point in Putnam county.
-
- So, the American government has been built on trechery
and deceit and thieving from Native Americans. (I am sure you are quite
aware of this.)
-
- I just wanted to let you know that I appreciate your
article and support your effort.
-
- I guess what I am saying is that with every large government
there is always some evil lurking in the depths of some of the powerful.
We the people, must be vocal against that which we know is wrong. Let us
hope that the US and the west will realize that the carnage must stop and
let us, the people keep raising our voices in unison to let our government
know we do not approve of war as a solution.
-
- Patricia Doyle
-
- Patricia A. Doyle DVM, PhD
- Bus Admin, Tropical Agricultural Economics
- Univ of West Indies
-
- Please visit my "Emerging Diseases" message
board at:
- http://www.emergingdisease.org/phpbb/index.php
- Also my new website:
- http://drpdoyle.tripod.com/
- Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa
- Go with God and in Good Health
-
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