PIECES OF THE PUZZLE: WHY DID COLUMBUS SAIL THE OCEAN BLUE?

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

This article was written three years ago.  I found the facts fascinating then, and now I find them even more fascinating. 

Do you realize how many times the Jewish people and the Christian people have been driven out of their lands and homes because of their belief in God?  

It has happened continuously, over and over in the history of mankind.  If you begin to study this history, you also begin to see how the hand of God has worked in these things, despite the tragedies that took place.  

One example is that of the Alhambra Decree that drove the Jewish people out of Spain.  If you study the writings of modern day Spanish scholars, you uncover amazing truths about how history in American evolved.  You will hear of many things that are not recorded in the typical American History books or taught in American schools.  

Pondering  the Alhambra Decree and the devastation it must have brought to the Jewish community as they were driven from Spain has allowed me to stumble across some very interesting observations. 

I am so excited to share these historical possibilities with you.  Am I sure they are all completely true?  I will let you know the facts I have found, and you may decide that for yourself.  I never claim to be an expert or a perfect historian, so be sure to do your own homework and research all of the facts.  Ask God to reveal only the truth to you and know I am presenting the truth here as best I can discern it from my own limited research.  I have found it all very fascinating! 

As a first note, and just to make sure we set the record straight, after all these years, The Alhambra Decree, the Edict of Expulsion that ordered the Jews from the Kingdoms of Castile and Aragon was formally revoked on December 16, 1968 after the Second Vatican Council. 

It is nice to clean up history this way.  It was a pleasant gesture of good will from the descendants of ungodly men, but as you know all of those who suffered and were affected were long dead and gone by the time of this apology.  

It appears from certain documents that Christopher Columbus signed his last will and testament on May 19, 1506, and in this document he made five very curious and revealing provisions.  Two of his wishes were that there would be a tithe of one-tenth of his income to the poor, and to that an anonymous dowry would be provided for a group of poor girls.  These requests were typical Jewish customs of the times. 

He also decreed to give money to a Jew who lived at the entrance of the Lisbon Jewish Quarter.  

In Simon Weisenthal's book, "Sails of Hope," he argues that Columbus's voyage  in which he discovered America was mostly motivated by a desire to find a safe haven for the Jews in light of their expulsion from Spain.  

In order to get the vision of this surprising discovery; we must trudge back through the paths of history.  

It seems that it all began in the 8^th century, when the Muslims had occupied and settled most of the Iberian Peninsula.   The Jewish people had lived in this region since Roman times and were called “The People Of The Book.”  They were given special status and even thrived under the Muslim rule.  The Jewish settlements flourished with learning and commerce until Iberia began to be reclaimed by Christendom and The Catholic Church.  Hostility toward the Jews gradually became more and more pronounced until it escalated in brutal episodes of violence and hostility.   Thousands of Jews escaped this violence by converting to Catholicism.  Many of these conversions were false moves, just done in order to save their lives, but not done from the heart or the head.    

From the 13th to the 16th centuries many European countries expelled the Jews from their territory, with Spain being preceded by England, France and German lands, among many others. So Spain does not provide any exception to a tragic history of the life of Jews among Christian nations.  

Then we move forward in time to the days of the reign of Ferdinand II and Isabella I.   This royal couple formed a union of the crowns of Aragon and Castile.  In 1948 King Ferdinand established the Spanish Inquisition in Aragon.  By the victory of the Battle of Granada Isabella took control of a large Jewish and Muslim population.  The Alhambra Decree was issued, and much persecution began.

Imagine yourself as a Jew living during the time of these Crusades.  How tragic life must have seemed for them.  During the same time in a small town called Genoa, Italy; lived a boy named Christopher Columbus.  Imagine how he came to be there.  His first language was Castilian Spanish.  About one hundred years before his birth many Jewish people had been forced to leave Castile.  Large numbers of these refugees had come to Genoa, Italy.   14^th Century Castilian Spanish is the “Yiddish” of Spanish Jewry,  and is also known as “Ladino.”  This was the native language spoken by Christopher Columbus.   

Forget all that you have been taught in elementary school for a moment, and imagine the life of the young Christopher Columbus.  Perhaps, by leaving all previously taught knowledge, you might even be able to see him as a young boy of Jewish ancestry  growing up in Genoa, Italy, like many other young boys of Jewish ancestry at that time.  What would your life have been like?   

When the new king and queen came into power over the area the Jews were forced to renounce Judaism and embrace Catholicism.  The people who decided to do this were called “Conversos” or Converts.  The people who were already Catholic liked to call them “new converts” in order to distinguish them from themselves. 

If your Jewish family stayed true to the Jewish traditions under this rule, your life might have been lived secretly, and your religious beliefs might have been hidden from the government.  That is, if your family held to the “Marrano” traditions of that time.  The “Marranos,” (another word for “swine,”)  were those who faked a conversion to the Catholic Church, practicing Catholicism outwardly while covertly practicing Judaism.  Tens of thousands of Marranos were tortured in the Spanish Inquisition.  They were pressured to offer up the names of friends and family members who were ultimately paraded in front of crowds, tied to stakes and burned alive.  Their land and personal possessions were then divvied up by the church and crown.  

 History tells us that Granada was the last Muslim stronghold in the Iberian Peninsula at the time.  The other countries around it had been united by the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella, who had converted them to Christianity under the beliefs of the Roman Catholic Church.  Granda fell too in the year of 1492, when Christopher Columbus had grown into a young man.  This brought an end to the Muslim domination of Spain that had lasted nearly 800 years.  Spain returned to being a completely Christian country.    What if Christopher Columbus had secretly been a young Jewish man living in a former Muslim country that was now being completely converted to Christianity? 

All of the kingdoms in the area under Ferdinand and Isabella came to be called Spain.  Ferdinand and Isabella decided to throw all the Jews out of Spain.  They were not just targeting Jews who had never converted to Christianity anymore.  These Monarchs proclaimed an Edict of Expulsion and signed it into effect on March 31 of 1492.  They did not want the Jews left in the country to re-Judaize the converses.  Also, Jewish money was now needed to rebuild the kingdom after the costly war against the Muslims.  Instead of taxing the Jews, they thought it easier and faster to just expel them all at once and to confiscate the wealth and property they would leave behind. 

 Some scholars now believe that Christopher Columbus sailed to America to protect and find refuge for his Jewish brothers and sisters at the time of the Alhambra Decree during the Crusades.  Pope Urban II declared the Crusades on the 9^th of AV in 1492; which displaced many Jewish people from their lands.  Countless Jews were tortured and murdered on this day.    On the very same day, Columbus left on his route through the West Indies, and there is much evidence from history to reference that the Jewish people were established in America even before the pilgrims! 

What an astonishing discovery!  These facts are not at all in keeping with what I learned in my old history classes in elementary school growing up.  We were taught that Christopher Columbus set out from Spain to discover new lands for the Spanish throne.   There was no mention of his being Jewish, and actually no mention of the good King and Queen not liking the Jews because they were Catholic.  We were simply told that the Queen was a “Christian.”   We were actually told that Christopher Columbus was an Italian from Genoa, and that the good queen and king backed his adventures with their funds. 

Recently a number of Spanish scholars, such as Jose Erugo, Celso Garcia de la Riega, Otero Sanchez and Nicholas Dias Perez, have concluded that Columbus was a Marrano, whose survival depended upon the suppression of all evidence of his Jewish background in face of the brutal systemic, ethnic cleansing due to the Alhambra Decree.

There is documented evidence that Columbus's voyage was not as it is commonly believed, funded by the deep pockets of Queen Isabella, but rather by two Jewish Conversos and another prominent Jew.  Louis d Santengel and Gabriel Sanchez  are said to have advanced an interest free loan of 17,000 ducats from their own pockets to help pay for the voyage.  

Some historians now believe the first two letters Columbus sent back from his journey were not to Ferdinand and Isabella, but to Santangel and Sanchez, thanking them for their support and telling them what he had found.  This evidence seems to bear out a far more complicated picture of the man named Columbus.  As we witness bloodshed the world over in the name of religious freedom, it is valuable to take another look at this brave soul who sailed the seas in search of such freedoms and landed in a place that would eventually come to hold such an ideal at its very foundation.

Some even believe it could be possible that Christopher Columbus was actually on a quest to liberate Jerusalem from the Muslims.  We cannot know for sure.  If this is all true, it would be because his true identity was being hidden. 

On the document of his will Columbus marked a triangular signature of dots and letters that resembled inscriptions found on grave stones of the Jewish cemeteries in Spain. He ordered his heirs to use the signature in perpetuity.  According to British historian Cecil Roth's "The History of the Marranos;"   the anagram was a cryptic substitute for the Kaddish, a prayer recited in the synagogue by mourners after the death of a close relative.   It is also stated that Columbus left money to support the crusade he hoped his successors would take up to liberate the Holy Land.

Many of the letters Columbus wrote to his son were later found and each of them contained the Hebrew letters bet-hei, which means "with God's help."  This was a custom of observant Jews for centuries; to add this blessing to their letters.  No letters written to others outside of the family bear this work.  

Scholars also point to the date on which Columbus set sail as further evidence of his true motives. He was originally going to sail on a day that happened to coincide with the Jewish holiday of Tisha B'Av.  Columbus postponed this original sail date by one day to avoid embarking on the holiday, which would have been considered by Jews to be an unlucky day to set sail.  That made the timing of the actual day he did set forth the very day that Jews were given the choice of converting, leaving Spain, or being killed.

Most seem to agree that there's hardly a question that Columbus's voyage to America was spiritually linked to the expulsion. Just as one of the greatest Jewish communities of Medieval Europe was being destroyed, God was opening up the doors of what was going to eventually become the greatest Diaspora refuge for Jews in history -  a place called America.

Is this replacement theology in the making?  Not at all!  It is just the continuing of God’s long, unending story.  In this it has been stated that “before God made the disease, He made the cure.” 

Another interesting fact is that though we can’t prove exactly that Columbus was Jewish, we can know that the tools that he used in his journey were all made possible by Jewish inventions, such as the tools of the navigators called the quadrant and the astral lobe.   All that were used during this period of history were of Jewish manufacture.  In fact, the quadrant then in use was called “Jacob’s Staff,” it was invented by Rabbi Levi ben Gershon.  The atlas that Columbus used was known as the Catalon Atlas. It was the creation of the Cresca Family who were Jews from Majorca, Spain. Not only was the Catalon Atlas considered the greatest and most significant collection of maps at the time, it had no competition to speak of.  Jews had a virtual monopoly on map making because they had gained valuable information from Jewish merchants from all over the known world all throughout their history to that point. 

Another thing we must consider in this fascinating history is the fact that Spain, having discovered and colonized the new World, should have been the wealthiest of countries, but in fact was bankrupt within one hundred years of the expulsion. Turkey, who welcomed the Jews who migrated there from Spain, on the other hand, prospered. The Ottoman Empire became one of the greatest powers in the world. The next two sultans, Selim I and Suleiman I, expanded the empire as far as Vienna, Austria.

One has to recall the blessing of Abraham when considering these facts.   God had given Abraham and his descendants a special blessing:  "I will bless those who bless you, and curse those who curse you, and through you, will be blessed all the families of the earth." (Genesis 12:3)

To quote Thomas Newton-The Bishop of Bristol (1704-1782):

The preservation of the Jews is really one of the most single and illustrious acts of Divine Providence... and what but a supernatural power could have preserved them in such a manner as none other nation upon earth hath been preserved. Nor is the providence of God less remarkable in the destruction of their enemies, than in their preservation... We see that the great empires, which in their turn subdued and oppressed the people of God, are all come to ruin... And if such hath been the fatal end of the enemies and oppressors of the Jews, let it serve as a warning to all those, who at any time or upon any occasion are for raising a clamor and persecution against them.

This is the pattern of history that continues to repeat itself over and over.  

You can literally chart the rise and fall of empires by how they treated the Jews.

COME AS A CHIILD LESSON 91 JUDAH AND TAMAR

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

Our last lesson left us with Joseph living as a slave to Potipher in Egypt. 

The sons of Israel had told Joseph’s father that Joseph had been killed by a wild animal.  They had taken the blood of a kid (a young goat)  and spread it over the coat of many colors that Joseph had been given by Israel.   Israel, now in a very sad state; has decided to grieve until he died too, so that he could then go into the next life and be with Joseph. 

And so life in the land of Canaan goes on.  Let’s just say it wasn’t a rose garden all the time.  There was always something going on.  For instance, take the thing that happened with Judah:

Judah was probably pretty miserable just watching Israel grieve over the

loss of his brother Joseph.  The story of what had really happened and the truth of the whole matter must have been eating away at Judah from the inside.  He was probably afraid he would say something to let the truth out of the bag.  He decided to leave for awhile and go somewhere more cheerful.  

Judah had a friend in Adullam named Hirah.  Judah’s friendship with Hirah seems to have spanned over twenty or more years.  He first met Hirah when he was a young shepherd, but Hirah must have simply been in training to be humble because  Hirah means “splendor” which would indicate that Judah’s friend Hirah was probably royal and lived lavishly after his days of education and training in the land of Adullam. 

This description of Hirah agrees with the theory of many scholars; that Hirah and Hiram were the same person who lived a long, long life.  Hiram, as he is called later in the scriptures came to be the King of Tyre.  He probably was being groomed for the kingship as a young man when he met Judah.  They both, being young men, were tending to their father's business and being educated about life. 

 Judah probably enjoyed the high life that hanging out with Hirah provided.  These men were of two totally different cultures.  Hirah did not worship the One True God.  He was a pagan and he highly influenced Judah to participate in pagan things.  This acquaintance had a slow and gradual effect over Judah’s personality.  

I will tell the story of the adventures of these two young men, but first, let us learn a little more about the city from which Hirah resided.    This ancient city of Adullam was located in the plain southwest of Jerusalem. The area of this piece of the earth now reeks with history from events of later dates beyond the times of Judah.   Much of this future history of Adullam included the fact that it was the place whose king was later slain by Joshua. It was one of the cities later rebuilt and fortified by Rehoboam, and it was re-occupied by the Jews after the captivity in the days of Nehemiah. 

There is also the history of David withdrawing from the King of Gath at Adullam.  He hid at the “cave of Adullam with his mighty men.”  All of these things, however, took place in Adullam AFTER the time of Judah and in this story Adullam is simply an ancient city inhabited by a royal rich ancient family tribe that became known for providing the best shepherds and craftsmen in the land.  This is the place where Judah’s friend Hirah lived.  It seems he was a shepherd when he was young, then trained as a craftsman as he became older.     

There, in the city of Adullam, with due credit to Hirah and his pagan influence over Judah; Judah met and married a Canaanite woman.  Judah did not consult with his father, as was the custom, nor did he consult with God.  He simply married this woman that had been forbidden to him and his bloodline.  This was the first subtle influence of paganism that crept into Judah’s life.  It would be carried on through his sons.

 This Canaanite woman, named Shua, became pregnant with Judah's first child, a son, whom Judah named Er.  Er means "watcher."  The Canaanite woman conceived again and had another son, and the mother named this son Onan.   Onan means "strong."   Then she had still another son, and she named him Shelah.   Judah only carried out the custom of his people of the father naming the sons with his firstborn.  After that he allowed the mother to give the names to their offspring.   She gave birth to Shelah at Kezib, a place southwest of Adullam. Shelah means "that breaks, that unties, that undresses."   It seems Judah lingered in this pagan land for quite some time.    

Judah married off his firstborn son, Er, to a wife named Tamar.  She too was a Canaanite woman, the second instance of the pagan culture creeping into the house of Israel from Judah’s association with pagan people.  We are told that Er was a wicked man and God caused him to die.  We do not know how he was wicked, or what God was so displeased with about Er that was so wicked; we only know that he died because he displeased God greatly.   It is suspected that God did not want a pagan with wicked ways as an ancestor in the line of the Messiah.  No one knows for sure.  The fact that Er was wicked DID play into the picture though, not just that he was a Canaanite.  Tamar was also a Canaanite, but she did not displease God and she was not killed.   

When Er died Judah told his second son, Onan, to sleep with his dead brother’s wife and fulfill his duty to her as a brother-in-law, which was the custom, so that Er's wife too might contribute children to the tribe.    If a brother died the next brother was to take his wife as his own and produce offspring for the brother’s name.  This was called a "kinsman redeemer" or 'leverite marriage."  It was more about property rights than anything.  The first son of the widowed wife by his brother would inherit the land of his deceased father and it would stay in his family.  Any other sons born to the brother by the widow of his brother would be considered his own sons, and inherit from his property.   

But Onan, knowing that the child would not be considered his own, deliberately did not produce an offspring with Tamar.      He would sleep with Tamar, but the scriptures say he spilt his seamen on the ground and this was wicked in the LORD’S sight.  So the LORD caused Onan to die too.  It seems that God was very displeased with Judah's children.  I'm sure it was more about the fact that paganism had crept into the family line of Abraham and the sacredness of the passing on of the covenant.  Rarely will you ever read a passage of scripture that says "God caused" someone to die.  Something has to be WAY WRONG for this to happen.

After the death of Onan, Judah said to Tamar, “Live as a widow in your father’s household until my son Shelah grows up.” 

Judah was probably afraid Shelah would die too!  It could happen to him just as it had happened to his brothers.  So Tamar went to live in her father’s house.  Technically, she should have inherited property from both Er and Onan, but she had not had children, so that was not possible.

A long time passed by.  Eventually Judah’s Canaanite wife died.  When Judah had recovered from his grief, he went up to Timnah, the city were the men who were shearing his sheep were working, and Judah's friend Hirah, the Adullamite, went with him. 

Someone told Tamar that her father-in-law was on the way to Timnah to shear his sheep.  There was always a great feast and festival associated with this event.  Tamar took off her widow’s clothes, covered herself with a veil as a disguise and sat down at the entrance to Enaim on the road to Timnah.  By now Tamar knew that Shelah had grown up, and she had not been given to him as a wife. She was not happy about the situation.  It meant that she was destined to die unmarried, a widow and childless in her own father's house.  

Judah saw Tamar sitting at the entrance to Enaim with a veil covering her face and thought she was a prostitute.  In Tamar's defense, temple prostitution was a respectable occupation in Canaanite society with many of the women in the village taking turns serving at the temple as their way of making an offering to their own god or goddess.  This does not excuse the practice but rather gives insight into Tamar's thinking that what she was doing was not for lust or money and a normal part of her pagan cultural practices.   
Not realizing that she was his daughter-in-law, Judah went over to Tamar on the roadside and said “Come now, let me sleep with you.”

“And what will you give me to sleep with you?” she asked.

“I’ll send you a young goat form my flock,”  he said.

“Will you give me something as a pledge until you send it?” she asked.

He said, “What pledge should I give you?”

“Your seal and its cord, and the staff in your hand,”  she answered.  So he gave them to her and that night after he had tended to his business she met him after dark and he slept with her.  That night Tamar became pregnant by Judah.  After she left his side in the middle of the night she took off her veil and put on her widow’s clothes again.

Meanwhile, on the way home the next morning, Judah sent the young goat by his friend the Adullamite in order to get his pledge back from her, but his friend could not find the woman.  He asked all the men who lived there, “Where is the shrine prostitute who was beside the road at Enaim?”

The men answered him that there had been no shrine prostitute there.  So the Adullamite friend went back to Judah and said that he could not find her anywhere.  He told him that the men living in the area had never seen any such woman and did not know of her. 

So Judah, in order to keep from being the laughingstock of the community decided to let her keep the things he had pledged to her because they could not find her to give her the goat.   The cord and the seal and the staff were of great importance to Judah in conducting his business and going about his life, but he had no choice.   They were very personal items, and totally worthless to anyone else; so he simply went about replacing them and tried to forget the whole matter.

Three months passed by.  Someone came to Judah and told him that his daughter-in-law, Tamar, was guilty of prostitution and that she was now pregnant.  Judah quickly judged her and told them to bring her out and have her burned to death!

As Tamar was being brought out, she sent a message to her father-in-law. 

It read:  “I am pregnant by the man who owns these.  See if you recognize whose seal and cord and staff these are.”

Of course Judah recognized them right away.  In his shame he proclaimed that “She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn’t give her to my son Shelah.”   He commanded that she not be punished.

Judah did not sleep with Tamar again.

When the time came for her to give birth, there were twin boys in her womb.  As she was giving birth one of them put out his hand; so the midwife took a scarlet thread and tied it on his wrist and said, “This one came out first.”  But when he drew back his hand; his brother came out, and she said, “So this is how you have broken out!” 

And he was named Perez which means “breaking out.”    Then his brother, who had the scarlet thread on his wrist, came out.  And he was named Zerah which means “scarlet or brightness.”

This has to be one of the oddest stories in the whole of the Old Testament passages.  Why is it there?  Yes, we know it actually happened and that the scriptures only speak of truth, but why are we given this particular story right in the middle of the story of Joseph?

We can begin to understand this by looking at the heart of Tamar.  Her

name in Hebrew means "a palm tree."  A palm tree has often been used to describe the nation of Israel in that it has its strength in its trunk and its roots and not its limbs and branches and leaves.  A palm tree is this way.  The heart of the date palm is its sap.  Unlike the saps of other trees (such as the olive tree and the almond tree) the sap of the palm is found only in its trunk, but not its branches and leaves.  Thus the old sages have a theory that the Palm tree, like Israel, has only a single heart.  Tamar had not been unfaithful to the people she had married into.  She had kept the rules of Leverite marriage, in that she had obtained her first child from the family of her dead husband.  She could have married again among her own people in her father's household where she was living, but she chose not to, even though she had to do so by deception.  The fact that the child was to be born from the family of her deceased husband and would carry on his name made it clear that Tamar was not acting as a prostitute, but merely keeping the customs of the husband's family that she had married into.

When Judah tried to pay off Tamar with the young goat or "kid" it is significant to note that he had once deceived his own father with the blood of a kid.  He had covered the coat of Joseph with its blood and told his father that Joseph had died.  Now his own outer cloak, called a "cord" when translated was being used to deceive him.  He was being deceived in the same manner that he had deceived another.  Funny how this pattern presents itself over and over in the scriptures.  Your sins will always find you out!

The items of proof, the pledge of Judah, had been a cord, a seal and a staff.  The word "cord" is often used to describe a light cloak that one would throw over his outter garment that proclaimed something of his family heritage.  It was worth nothing in monetary value, but it clearly spoke of who the owner who wore it was.  The staff would have been something like a walking cane, something that Judah had carved himself to represent his own individual life.  It was worthless to anyone but him.  It had great meaning to him alone.  The signet ring was a stamp that would be used to identify Judah's property.  It was a ring that would have been worth a lot to Judah, but useless to any other man.  
When Tamar is accused of adultery, she chose to send these identifying items instead of using them publicly to proclaim her innocence.  This brought honor to Judah instead of shame.  Instead of embarrassing her father-in-law by pointing her finger at him and saying "You are the father of my unborn child," Tamar left it up to Judah to admit the truth or stay quiet and let herself as well as her unborn child die by fire.  Finally Judah admitted his sin and Tamar's life was saved, including the sons who were born to her from the bloodline of Judah.   

PIECES OF THE PUZZLE - DO WE ALL WORSHIP THE SAME GOD

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

I believe that God is love, therefore; it would seem that the love of God should overcome all of people’s differences and all the people of the earth should find a way to get along because of God’s love living inside our hearts. 

Wouldn’t that be nice?  It just doesn’t work that way in real life.  Truth doesn’t always appear the same to all people.  God doesn’t always work things out in the ways that we expect Him to.  We don’t always see the answers to the questions from where we are standing.   Someone once put it like this:  “the only way to exist in peace is for the broken to learn to love the broken.”

The big “W” screams out at us again.  WHY???  The answer isn’t easy or simple, it is complex and complicated.

 This matter of understanding each other’s differences is a more complex problem than any of us can ever imagine, especially when we try to lump all religious beliefs into one big pile and say they originate from one original source, as we humans often tend to do.

 To begin to blend the aspects of religion and hope that all the pieces fit together and interlock perfectly under the same God is impossible.  No human philosopher has ever come up with the right equation for this.  Even Mr. Thoreau’s concept of keeping things simple until nature eventually works them out for everyone’s higher good cannot be applied in this situation.  There are just too many complicated facets to the problem.  Things may work out alright; but for the good of everyone involved?  That part is very doubtful.

 This all gets a bit deeper and even harder to comprehend as you begin to examine the basic facts and search for the REAL truth.  Usually facts equal eventual answers, but in this case, sometimes facts equal more and more questions.  

  

But let’s give it a shot anyway.  Why not?  What do we have to lose? If we can just put together a few pieces of the puzzle, we’ve made progress….right?

 Every solution to every problem known to mankind begins with a search for the real truth.  Truth comes to most of us in bits and pieces, like an unending jigsaw puzzle that is full of surprises and mystery.  What you THOUGHT worked here will really only truly work THERE.  No two pieces follow the same formula and it doesn’t pay to jump to conclusions.  So what is the truth about how we have all come to worship God?  

We quickly need to recognize the fact that religion has historical, political and geographical consequences.  We know this when we look for the answers to the reasons behind the devastating attack on America during 9/11.  On that day everyone was peacefully going about their separate business.  The whole world seemed to be functioning and working properly.  Yet,this wasn’t true; there were undercurrents at work that were not obvious until it was too late to deal with them.  It was at that sad point in history that the whole world suddenly seemed to stop and notice that religion does often have historical, geographical and political consequences.  No matter how much we all ignored it and looked the other way; that obvious fact was still there whether anyone was willing to say it out loud or not.   A whole new definition of fear arose for some who were just beginning to grasp the fact that certain sects of Islam contain the most violent religion in the world. 

Up until this point in time many people unreasonably assumed that everyone was worshiping the same God, just in different ways.   But the question finally had to be addressed: how could we all be worshiping the same God and have such radical differences in our feelings about the sacredness of life?  9/11 is just one example.  This question arises again when we look at the different opinions about abortion.  These are only two examples of many situations that exist.  The question is always in the back of our minds, even now, so many years past these horrible and unexpected wake-up calls of terrorism and murder.  The obvious question has become louder now.   So many facts; so little truth.  Who is right and who is wrong?  Are we all wrong?  Who is worshiping the true God?    

I have for years now considered the answers to that question.  It is constantly rising to the top of the question pile for those who exist in a country of changing cultural dynamics with the infusion and blending of more new and different cultures than ever before.  Ironically it is a question being asked from all sides by loving people who want all cultures to share and get along.  It is a question asked by good and decent people, Islamic, Christian and Jewish, who do not want violence and hate. 

It seems on impartial examination, contrary to the opinions of the “politically correct” that asking the question is not at all racial or prejudiced and does not stem from hate; but quite the opposite; asking the question is simply about attempting to defend the innocent and to seek the common good for all people.  So we ask it over and over again, attempting to seek an answer that would preserve those who appreciate the sacredness of life and humankind in all colors, races, religions, nations and cultures.   Those individuals who aspire to a higher plane of life are constantly asking the question. Those who wish to do good and not evil, those who wish to bring an end to hate and violence and injustice are still seeking.  Most all of them, no matter what culture they are from are seeking in The Name of God.    

It seems we must go back to the beginning of religion as we know it to find answers.  It all started with God and Abraham.  The three main cultures who claim to believe in God seem to agree on this one basic fact; that in the beginning there was God and then there was Abraham.  Abraham knew God.  Abraham worshiped God.  God blessed Abraham and Abraham had two sons.  With the sons the stories take parting pathways.  

The Christians and the Jews believe that Isaac was the promised son, yet both sons were blessed.  The Islamic Quran states that Ishmael was the blessed son.  Both cultures agree that Ishmael was born first of an Egyptian handmaiden named Hagar.  Both cultures recognize that Isaac was born later of Sarah.  From these two sons of Abraham have come the nations of the world.   Both sons of Abraham had 12 sons and nations came from each of them.  These nations were very different from one another, but they all have the common history of Abraham.

From Abraham both sons were taught what the Hebraic people have called the Shema. “The Lord is our God; The Lord is One.”   All three religious beliefs, Christianity, Judaism and Islam believe this.  They just don’t understand that each other believes it!  The concept of the Trinity in the Christian Bible is not correctly understood, either by the Islamic people or by the Jewish people.  A lot of this stems from the fact that the Islamic people as well as the Jewish people do not believe that Jesus Christ is The Messiah.  They mistakenly see the Christians believing in three separate deities instead of one.  They separate The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit.  Often times they become confused and even think that Mary is worshiped as a Christian deity.  Not true!  

Christians actually believe that the three are ONE; that the three aspects of God, The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit are One God.  This is often misunderstood and the Quran has spoken against it because of the misconceptions.  It is true that the Trinity is a hard to understand concept which is full of mystery and the wisdom of God that is far above the thinking of men, but men must learn how to teach the Trinity in a more appropriate way, a way that shows the oneness of God clearly.   

To correct this misconception with the Islamic people is a bit easier than to change it for our Jewish friends.  More on that later.  For now, let’s start with a way to help the Islamic people understand the concept of Trinity.  The answer is love.  God is love – we both can agree on this.  It is more times than not the starting place for all answers.  To love one must not be alone.  Love cannot be exercised in isolation.  The God who is love in order to allow that love to happen must exist in a community within Himself.  Within God’s community of three persons, among whom their mutual love is so perfect, though three; they become perfectly One.   This is the fundamental truth of the Trinity that our Islamic brothers have never been taught, and it has been hard for them to grasp, but they do believe strongly in unity and community and that all should be God-centered. 

Perhaps more education about the Trinity and the love aspects that show union and community could open eyes and we might grow to a deeper understanding of one another.  For that to happen, Christian congregations must learn to preach this concept correctly.

But; what about the Jewish people?  How can their lack of belief in a Trinity be reconciled for the sake of love and community?  They too have always had a strong concept of unity and community centered on One God.  Their resistance does not lie in the fact that the Trinity does not show love and respect for the One God of Heaven and earth.  It lies in the fact that they do not believe in one aspect of the united Trinity – Jesus Christ, The Messiah.  They DO believe a Messiah is coming; they just don’t realize it was and is Jesus Christ, who has already come and given His life as an atonement sacrifice for every human being that walks the earth and believes in His name.  He will come again.

How can we get beyond this?  I would say the answer is found in something that most Christians are ignorant of; a commandment given to the Israelites long ago to keep annual Holy Days before God.  There were many reasons that God commanded these days to be kept.  I believe one reason was to present the Messiah to all men in all time periods of history.   Many people are just beginning to glimpse the fact that these days actually do portray a beautiful picture of Christ.  That picture is perfectly tied in with the history and significance of the Jewish people.  The annual holy days point out in very Jewish terms, scripture and symbolism showing how the prophesies have been fulfilled in Christ.  They perfectly point to Him as Messiah.  

Consider further why Jewish people claim not to believe that Jesus was the Messiah;  they will quickly tell you when you ask that they do not think all of  the Messianic prophecies have yet been fulfilled.  They are looking at the physical instead of the spiritual, though they are very spiritual and enlightened people!  Perhaps they should look closer at their own holy days and re-think this process a bit.    Every single day of the the seven feasts and festivals given by God and even the two Mosaic holidays given by Jewish history, proclaim in theory and symbolism that Jesus Christ is The Messiah.   The physical things concerning Messianic prophesy that have not yet materialized in Israel are painted in spiritual concepts that are far beyond the physical limitations that the Jewish people might be looking for.  You have to BELIEVE to see the spiritual things - like the fact that the temple has actually been rebuilt - by the way the Holy Spirit dwells inside our physical bodies through the sacrificial atonement of Christ.  The Jewish people are looking for someone who will rebuild and restore The Temple, but The Temple of the last days has already been restored through Christ dwelling in mankind.  Our bodies are the temple now.  The holy days help us to see this concept over and over again.  It is a Messianic prophesy that the Jewish people have not yet noticed has been fulfilled because they are looking for a physical temple, just as they were looking for a physical ruler when the Christ child was born.  God does not think like us!  He brings things about in totally unexpected ways sometime.  Often, we miss it.  This is why the true Church must teach it!  

So how do we remove some of the historical, political and geographical distances between Islam, Christianity and Judaism?   By looking at the ignorance of all three groups of people and educating ourselves with the truth.  I've pointed out places where all three groups of people who claim to worship God have missed the mark.  That old scripture comes to mind from Hosea 4:6 that says "my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge."  Someone must start this cycle of restoring truth, I am always praying that it begins in The Christian Church.  But how should The Church (I define The Church as being the body of believers who are indwelt with God's Holy Spirit) begin this process?

 I would suggest that Christian witnesses start to practice three things in a very devout, humble and devoted manner:

First: Study and learn the “love” aspects of The Holy Trinity.  Get the doctrine right and preach it correctly in a way that shows God’s love through the unity of these three distinct personalities of the Holy Trinity.  Emphasize that they are all ONE.  Note that understanding the Trinity doctrine correctly is proof that God is One.   The church has stopped teaching this.  We must correct it and the sooner the better. TEACH GOOD THEOLOGY and stop entertaining.  

     Second:  Learn about and celebrate the Holy Days of God given in the Old Testament to Moses.  Get correct and accurate teachings on the fact that they are Messianic.  Use the old ancient Jewish customs with the fuller understanding that Jesus Christ is The Messiah.  Go through the traditions for yourself, read the old Jewish stories and listen to the wise Rabbi’s of history.  God gave them (The Jewish people) the mystery and they have done their homework and memorized it well. Now it is time for The Church to bring forth the greater meaning, the new wine from the old water – like the miracle of Cana.  If the church would incorporate these things into their normal forms of worship just as God commanded Moses eons ago, I think many Jews would come to know the salvation of Christ.  The New Testament life perfectly fits the Old Testament theology.  Of course, the Jewish people often resent what is done by some congregations today; those who fumble the truth and do not present accurate information according to scripture.  Who can blame them? Truth matters and thorough study of the scriptures is important.  If you don't believe this go back and read THE REST of Hosea 4:6.  The duties of the priests of God to teach The Word correctly are very plain. 

Third:  We should all pray for all of the people who call on the name of God to be united into one community that loves and serves Him.  The Jewish people have a saying that I’ve always loved:  “tikkum olam.”  It simply means “repair the world.”  Isn’t that what the love of God is all about?  We must bring God and mankind back to the state that once existed in The Garden of  Eden, that state where there was no division, no hate, no shame, only love.  

But what of the other religions out there?  What about the Hindu and Buddhist religions and all other ancient and eastern religions that exist?  I will note three things about them all:   

(1)  They do not name the name of God in any way, shape or form.  Our God has told us not to worship false gods.  

(2) They do not provide a way to ascend into eternal life after death.  

(3) They do not show love and mercy, only a process of elimination that is brought about by the actions of the individual person worshiping, not the god they worship.  They leave everything up to humans, either to rise above things or sink to the bottom of existence; hence, they would never work.  They do not prove the power of their god.  Instead of people depending on God, they exist basically as a god depending on the actions of people.  This can never prove out in the end.  Impossible. 

Again, I look to that great prophet named Hosea.  Hosea 4:14 states that a people without understanding will come to ruin.  

There must be a Messiah who can provide everlasting life and atone for our sins in order for us to become the best that we can be; it is not within ourselves, but within a higher power than us that we may succeed in this.  Our humanity will only lead us to a lower form of life without a Messiah.  Only Jesus Christ can make that happen forever.  

In those other religions there is no eternal life, no mercy, no forgiveness and no pardon.  They are false religions.  It is wise for the true Church to remember the commandments and teach against idolatry and false religion.  Do we want our brothers and sisters to miss eternal life because they did not know the truth?  Are we not too accepting of these things of the cultures around us?  Why isn’t the church teaching the definition of false gods and idolatry anymore?  Have we lost our belief in the God who proclaimed that we should do this? 

It is time to return to the scriptures and truth in preaching and teaching.  Pop psychology lessons are only leading people straight to hell.  I've often noted that the Jewish people keep the shema and the rest of the world seems to be keeping the schema.  Schema, which is close in sound and spelling to shema is totally opposite and means "psychology."  Have we become a church of psychologist instead of a church that proclaims the gospel?  If we wish to win our brothers and sisters to Christ we must closely examine ourselves and turn back to the straight and narrow path and the gate that is hard to find.  We must be preaching and teaching the truth of God.

    My brothers and sisters, most of all pray for the peace of the whole earth and for God to show us imperfect humans His very precious love and mercy. 

May we ever look to our Messiah who has told us faithfully “I make all things new!”

COME AS A CHILD LESSON 91 JOSEPH IS BETRAYED

(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)

So Jacob/Israel was living out his mature years in the land of Canaan where Isaac had lived before him.  Jacob/Israel had two sons by Rachel that he loved very much.  There was Benjamin whom she died giving birth to; he was the youngest son.  The oldest son was Joseph.  The name Joseph means "he will add."  Joseph was the eleventh and favored son of Israel.

When Joseph was seventeen he was tending the flocks with his brothers (the ones born to Leigh, Bilhah and Zilpah) and he brought their father a bad report of them.  Israel always listened to Joseph and Benjamin, his youngest two sons born in his old age from his beloved deceased wife Rachel.  Israel favored these two sons above all the others.  He was always giving them special gifts.  

One day Israel gave Joseph a very ornate robe that made the other brother’s envious.  They became so jealous of Israel’s love for Joseph that they hated Joseph and never had one kind word for him again. 

One day Joseph had a dream that they all were binding sheaves of grain out in the field.  Suddenly Joseph’s sheaves rose and stood upright and all the other’s sheaves bowed down to Joseph’s sheaves.  When Joseph told this dream to his brothers they hated him even more.  They scoffed at him and asked if he intended to rule over them? 

Then Joseph had another dream and again he told it to his brothers.  In this dream the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to Joseph.  The brothers hated him even more.  Joseph told the dream to his father and his father rebuked him this time.  Israel said to the young Joseph; “What is this dream you had?  Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?”  Afterwards Israel wondered at the meaning of the dream. 

A few days later Joseph’s brothers went to graze their father’s flocks near Shechem and Israel said to Joseph, “As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem.  Come, I am going to send you to them.”

“Very well.”  Joseph replied.  So Israel said to Joseph; “Go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks and bring word back to me.”  So Joseph left from the Valley of Hebron and headed toward Shechem.  When he arrived at Shechem a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him what he was looking for.  Joseph replied that he was looking for his brothers and asked the man if he could tell him where they were grazing their flocks.  The man answered Joseph that they had moved on from there.  He said he had heard them say “Let’s go to Dothan.” 

So Joseph went to Dothan and found them.  They saw him coming in the distance and before he reached them they plotted to kill Joseph.   They said “Here comes that dreamer!  Come now, let’s kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him.  Then we will see what comes of his dreams.”

When the oldest brother, Ruben heard this, he tried to rescue Joseph from their hands.  “Let’s not take his life,” he said.  “Don’t shed any blood.  Throw him into this cistern here in the wilderness, but don’t lay a hand on him.”  Reuben was hopeful he could come back and rescue Joseph and take him back to their father.     

So as soon as Joseph approached they stripped him of his robe and they took him and threw him into the cistern.  The cistern was empty; there was no water in it. 

The brother’s then stopped to eat lunch and as they sat there eating they saw a caravan approaching.  The men in the caravan were Ishmaelites coming from Gilead.  Their camels were loaded down with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt.   

Judah had an idea for his brothers to consider.  He said “What will we gain if we kill out brother and cover up his blood?  Let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.”  The other brothers agreed with him.  So when the Midianite merchants came by , his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who then took Joseph to Egypt. 

Ruben had been away tending to something else when they sold Joseph.  He came back to the cistern hoping to save him and take him home.  When he saw that he was not there he was terribly upset.  He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy isn’t there!  Where can I turn now?”    

Then they all got Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood.  They took the ornate robe back to their father and said, “We found this.  Examine it to see whether it is your son’s robe.”

Israel recognized the robe right away and exclaimed that it belonged to Joseph.  He thought some ferocious animal had devoured him and imagined that Joseph had been torn to pieces. 

Terribly upset, Israel tore his clothes and put on sackcloth and mourned for his son for many, many days.  All of his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted.  “No,” he said, “I will continue to mourn until I join my son in the grave.  So Joseph’s father wept for him. 

Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials.  Potiphar was the Captain of The Guard.