The Gospel Through the Ages and TWO Perennial Traditions (the Bible and the Book of Mormon say that there have ever only been two bloodlines, two cultures, and two religions)

Detail from Madonna and Child with St. Anne by Caravaggio showing Jesus as a boy atop his mother’s foot as they crush the serpent (public domain).

Why is Mary depicted standing on a snake?

https://aleteia.org/2020/09/08/why-is-mary-depicted-standing-on-a-snake/

The Bible says there are only two bloodlines:

And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; and thou shalt bruise her heel but she shall crush thy head, Genesis 3:15.

After the Fall, the practice of procreation between the fallen angels and the daughters of men continued as documented in Genesis:

And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them,

That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh: yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years.

There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown,
Genesis 6:1-4.

SEE ALSO:

How the Giants came back after the Flood

The Canaanite Altars of Jekyll Island

(One of the most important interviews you could ever listen to on any subject)

Contains little-known information on the Federal Reserve, and important information on a little-known American archaeological site, as well as spiritual warfare. This is what a covenant relationship with Jesus Christ looks like.

https://youtu.be/ZtwW9a5lfmM

*I don't think these two primary lines have remained seperate. It appears the Adversary's hybrid line has sought to infiltrate the purely human line and also sought to control both, probably creating some lines that are more heavilly hybrid and some that are less for various purposes. I think that everyone is probably descended from both at this point, to one degree or another.*

The Bible says there are only two cultures, Zion and Babylon:



Promised Lands

(Hugh Nibley's legendary speech on the two cultures, the Hopi, Mormons, and Mother Earth speaking truth to power and calling out LDS ties to the Peabody Corporation)

https://truthmarche.wordpress.com/2010/08/11/the-hopi-mormons-and-mother-earth-part-2/

Approaching Zion by Hugh Nibley (full text)

https://www.latterdayconservative.com/docs/hugh-nibley-approaching-zion.pdf

Mormon anarchist review of Nibley's book, Approaching Zion (good summary)

https://themormonworkerdotnet.wordpress.com/past-issues/mw-issue-3/the-zionbabylon-dualism-in-mormonism-and-anarchism/

My symposium paper, archaeological data demonstrates there have ever only been two bloodlines, two cultures, and two religions:

The Once and Future Bee Priestess

https://bethanymagdalene.blogspot.com/2013/05/text-of-once-and-future-bee-priestess.html

The Book of Mormon states that there are only two religions:

Latter-day Saints believe that their temple ordinances are as old as the human race and represent a primordial revealed religion that has passed through alternate phases of apostasy and restoration which have left the world littered with the scattered fragments of the original structure, some more and some less recognizable, but all badly damaged and out of proper context. . . .Among the customs and religions of mankind there are countless parallels, many of them very instructive, to what the Mormons do. . . . But what about the Egyptian rites? What are they to us? They are a parody, an imitation, but, as such, not to be despised. For all the great age and consistency of their rites and teachings, which certainly command respect, the Egyptians did not have the real thing, and they knew it. . . . in the words of Abraham, “Pharaoh, being a righteous man,” was ever “seeking earnestly to imitate that order established by the fathers in the first generations, in the days of the first patriarchal reign” (Abraham 1:26), for he “would fain claim [the priesthood]” (Abraham 1:27). If the Egyptian endowment was but an imitation, it was still a good one, and we may be able to learn much from it, just as we may learn much about the early church from the vagaries of the gnostics. But it is not for a moment to be equated with the true and celestial order of things. . . . What these few bits of added information do is to supply a new dimension to . . . [our temple] experience, along with the assurance that a wealth of newly found records confirms the fundamental thesis of its antiquity and genuineness. 

(Hugh Nibley, The Message of the Joseph Smith Papyri, xxvii-xxix)

SEE ALSO:

The Gospel Through the Ages by Milton R. Hunter 

https://openlibrary.org/books/OL6489134M/The_gospel_through_the_ages

People talk about a perennial tradition but I think there are actually TWO, not one, and that they correspond to the two churches referenced in the Book of Mormon and to the two cultures of the Bible, Zion and Babylon (also so well articulated by Hugh Nibley). This book (available for free PDF download) does a great job exploring the difference between these two perennial traditions and how they are very much at odds with one another.

https://twochurchesonlybook.com

Thankfully (as of Vol. 2), the author, D. Christian Markham has changed his definition of Jesus Christ's church to correspond with Jesus Christ's own definition of his church in the scriptures (and which transcends all denominations), and no longer feels that the institutional LDS Church is Christ's definition of his church. 

Jesus Christ defines his religion in the Book of Mormon and revelations to Joseph Smith:

Behold this is my doctrine: whosoever repenteth, and cometh unto me, the same is my church: whosoever declareth more or less than this, the same is not of me, but is against me: therefore, he is not of my church.

Revelation, Spring 1829 [D&C 10], p. 22, The Joseph Smith Papers, accessed May 11, 2023, https://www.josephsmithpapers.org/paper-summary/revelation-spring-1829-dc-10/1#full-transcript

And again I say unto you, Ye must repent, and be baptized in My name, and become as a little child, Or ye can in nowise inherit the kingdom of God! Verily, verily I say unto you that this is My doctrine; And whoso buildeth upon this, buildeth upon My rock, And the gates of hell shall not prevail against them. And whoso shall declare more or less than this and establish it for My doctrine, The same cometh of evil and is not built upon My rock; But he buildeth upon a sandy foundation, And the gates of hell standeth open to receive such when the floods come and the winds beat upon them.

Book of Mormon, 3 Nephi 5:40-42, Restored Covenant Edition (non-denominational)

For behold, again I say unto you that if ye will enter in by the way and receive the Holy Ghost, it will show unto you all things what ye should do. Behold, this is the doctrine of Christ; there will be no more doctrine given until after that He shall manifest Himself unto you in the flesh. And when he shall manifest himself unto you in the flesh, the things which he shall say unto you, shall ye observe to do. [this is re: his mortal ministry in the New Testament]

Book of Mormon, II Nephi 14:6-8, Restored Covenant Edition (non-denominational).

I agree with the author's new understanding since he published the book - now if only we could update the book and substitute the phrase "the Church of Jesus Christ" for "LDS Church" in the book.

 

So please make sure to at least keep that in mind and do so mentally if you check it out. If you want to understand why and how the conspiracy against humanity arose in this world then this is a must read! "God creates, satan imitates."

Make sure to always pray for discernment to be able to distinguish between the genuine article and the counterfeit and to not grieve the Holy Spirit by throwing the baby out with the bath water!

My work in anthropology and archaeology definitely confirm Nibley's thesis, above.

REFUTED! Proof the Book of Mormon is NOT Racist

https://youtu.be/njXZd-ZGEWs

Neil Simmons dispels the myth that the Book of Mormon is racist. In the morning session of the 2019 Joseph Smith Restoration Conference, Simmons demonstrates that the "curse" on the Lamanites, "has absolutely nothing to do with ethnicity, or racial identity and has everything to do with cultural practices," particularly the use of body paint.


Kevin Christensen lends further weight to this argument (in a separate forum) by pointing out that the "skins" being referred to may also be the animal skins worn as garments in the Book of Mormon:

http://archive.fo/BGASX

Non-denominational, critical edition of the Book of Mormon is now available free, online:
http://www.restoredcovenant.org/RCE.asp?CAT=RCE

Life BEFORE Life

Straining at Particles of Light: Premortal Life and the Mansions of Memory - Terryl Givens



SEE ALSO:

What God Told Me About My Unborn Baby

Holy Smoke: Cannabis in the Word of God

Doctors and psychiatrists are heavily dependent upon prescribing man-made pharmaceutical drugs to make a living. Cannabis threatens to put them out of business. The word 'pharmakeia' in the Bible means sorcerer, or mixer of poisons. Conversely, the ancient semitic word, 'cannabis,' is mentioned in the Bible and prescribed by God several times.
Click on photos to enlarge

Genesis 1:29

Genesis 1:12; Genesis 1:29-31; Genesis 9:3

Exodus 30:22; Isaiah 18:4-5; Ezekiel 34:29; Proverbs 31:6-7, Revelation 22:2; Genesis 1:29

From the Hebrew Torah

Exodus 30:23

The Bible and Cannabis (6 min.)


CANNABIS ( Marijuana) is IN the BIBLE and JESUS USED IT (45 min.)




Further Reading:

kaneh bosm = Cannabis
http://www.njweedman.com/kanehbosm.html

Jesus and Cannabis

https://patients4medicalmarijuana.wordpress.com/marijuana-info/marijuana-in-the-bible/jesus-cannabis/

Holy Cannabis: The Bible Tells Us So

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-marcus-phd/holy-cannabis-the-bible-t_b_4784309.html

Cannabis Use in the Scriptures

https://theoferrum.activeboard.com/t55481240/cannabis-use-in-the-scriptures/

Joseph Smith and Herbal Medicine by John Heinerman
Full text available online: http://www.pshm.org/mormonmedicine.shtml
See also: A Historical Analysis of the Word of Wisdom
https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6038&context=etd

“And again, verily I say unto you, all wholesome herbs God hath ordained for the constitution, nature, and use of man.” — Word from the Lord, 1833

Doctrine and Covenants 89:10

"And whosoever among you are sick and, have not faith to be healed, but believe, shall be nourished with all tenderness, with herbs and mild food, and not by the hand of an enemy." - Word from the Lord, 1831

Doctrine and Covenants 42:43

Verily I say, that inasmuch as ye do this, the fulness of the earth is yours, the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air, and that which climbeth upon the trees and walketh upon the earth;


Yea, and the herb, and the good things which come of the earth, whether for food or for raiment, or for houses, or for barns, or for orchards, or for gardens, or for vineyards;


Yea, all things which come of the earth, in the season thereof, are made for the benefit and the use of man, both to please the eye and to gladden the heart... - Word from the Lord, 1831

Doctrine and Covenants 59:16-18

"To gladden the heart" = "It's the high that heals"

Cannabis Is In Your DNA (6 min.)



Meet Your Endocannabinoid System: How You Could Benefit from Cannabis Use by Christiane Northrup, M.D.

https://www.drnorthrup.com/benefit-using-therapeutic-cannabis/

​How (and Why) Your Brain Makes Its Own Cannabinoids

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/bnp4bv/how-and-why-your-brian-makes-its-own-cannabinoids



Run from the Cure: The Rick Simpson Story (2014 Updated  Second Edition)



Toddler's Seizures Treated with Medical Marijuana



Marijuana Cures Child's Seizures



SEE ALSO:

Ganja Babies do better – more suppressed marijuana research

https://patients4medicalmarijuana.wordpress.com/2010/01/10/ganga-babies-do-better-more-suppressed-marijuana-research/

Five-year follow-up of rural Jamaican children whose mothers used marijuana during pregnancy

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1957518

RELATED ARTICLE:

MODERN SORCERY and the FALLEN ANGELS

Weird Scenes Inside the Canyon: Laurel Canyon, Covert Ops & the Dark Heart of the Hippie Dream by David McGowan

The Greek word for "sorcery" in the Book of Revelation is "pharmakeia." This is where we get the word "pharmacy" (Revelation 18:23).

The lost and rediscovered apocryphal text, The Book of Enoch (cited in the Bible, Jude 1:14) states:

and they [the fallen angels] taught them [men] charms and enchantments, and the cutting of roots, and teaching them sorcery, incantations, and the cutting of roots and trees.

Enoch 7:1 (from the Ethiopic)

The Bible states, "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun." (Ecclesiastes 1:9)

The most amazing revelation regarding modern sorcery to come forth is recent times is the fact that it is now well-documented that the CIA created the whole "drug counterculture." SEE: Psychedelic Intelligence – The C.I.A. and the Counterculture by Logos Media 

SEE ALSO: Manufacturing the Deadhead: A Product of Social Engineering by Jan Irvin and Joe Atwill 

AND: How Darwin, Huxley, and the Esalen Institute Launched the 2012 and Psychedelic Revolutions – and Began one of the Largest Mind Control Operations in History

One of the most well-known doctors involved in L.S.D. research, Willis Harmon (of the Stanford Research Institute), stated that L.S.D. was discovered decades before Albert Hofmann by Rudolf Steiner and his followers (an offshoot of Theosophy) and interestingly, Theosophists claim to have contact with the Fallen Angels(!) 

So if there truly is "nothing new under the sun," then it looks like we've come full circle...

Do you understand what the Biblical definition of sorcery really is?

Nobody Knows: The Untold Story of Black Mormons

Nobody Knows: The Untold Story of Black Mormons







No Johnny-Come-Lately: The 182-Year-Long BLACK Mormon Moment Darius Gray


Diversity in the Mormon Church (1/4)


A Black Mormon Stands Against the KKK (2/4)


Jane Manning: Black, Mormon, Strong (3/4)


An Accurate History of Black Mormons (4/4)


SEE ALSO:

JOSEPH SMITH FOUGHT POLYGAMY: The Exoneration of Emma, Joseph, and Hyrum (2017)
http://bethanymagdalene.blogspot.com/2017/11/this-treatise-grew-out-of-mr.html

Secular Jewish Boy's Near Death Experience shows the Book of Revelation unfolding before our very eyes!

The name, Natan, in Hebrew means "gift from God."

English Voiceover - 15 year old Jewish boy Natan NDE Vision

From the description box:
Rabbi Rami Levy and 15 year old Natan English Subtitles - Chilling Testimony (About The End of Days) From A Youth Who Experienced Clinical Death" ---- This fascinating video is starting to make the rounds as the word is spreading of 15 year old Natan's near death, out of body experience that took place on the first night of Sukkot [2015]. Natan who comes from a secular background had never learnt before in Yeshiva, nonetheless he describes from his experience exactly what is written by the prophets and in the holy books regarding the end of days. If your Hebrew is OK, you are encouraged to watch the entire video. It will shake you up... I have listed some of the main points below. Fasten your seat belts…

1. Natan felt extremely ill with chills and a cold feeling in his hands and legs. His body shook, hurt and he suddenly found himself hovering over his body 6 feet in the air.
2. He kept rising and rising, saw the whole earth and eventually was lead to a tunnel.
3. He saw a light that was full of love and security. He can’t properly explain how amazing this was.
(I will skip the part regarding his personal judgment and get to the part regarding the Moshiach and Gog and Magog that starts at 27:30).
4. The Moshiach is already here and is very well known! People will be very very surprised. His is a Baal Tshuva who has not sinned once since his tshuva. He also helps others to be chozer btshuva.
5. The war of Gog and Magog started on the 27th of Elul the 11th of September 2015, and it will get much worse in the weeks or months to come.
6. There will be a huge World War that will eventually lead the nations of the world to unite and attack Israel and Jerusalem.
7. The leader of the free world is know up above as Gog. Gog is none other than... Barak Husain Obama.
8. The whole war will last only about two weeks.
9. The Jews who did not keep Torah and Mitzvot will die. (Hashem Y’rachem). The number will be in the millions. This is in addition to the non Jews who will also perish.
10. Tzahal will last only two days. Secular zionism (the flag, yom ha’atmaut) carries no merit.
11. Har Hazaitim will split into two and the Moshiach will be revealed. Moshiach will be able to sense by smell who is a real God fearing Jew and who is not.
12. Moshiach will fight against Gog and kill him. Gog will be buried in Israel.
13. During the war, two Atomic bombs will be shot at Israel and Hashem will suspend them in the air for two weeks. They will eventually fall on Tel Aviv and Haifa. Hashem Y’rachem.
14. Israel will be captured but the worthy will survive in Jerusalem.
15. The Moshiach will wear a garment that is stained in blood. The blood symbolizes all the Jews who were killed kidush Hashem. The Moshiach will then take revenge on the nations of the world who have oppressed us throughout the years.
16. It will take a very long time to burry all the dead.
17. Only those who do real tshuva will survive.
18. Those who make tshuva will inherit the highest level of heaven.
19. The Beit Hamikdash will descend from heaven and there will be a revival of the death. (This will take time and not happen immediately).

UPDATES, and more background info:

Susan Constantine: Professional Analysis of 15 Year Old Natan's Near Death Experience
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNvCJSOBTeA

Excellent Analysis:

Jewish Teen Sees Israel's Future -- Israeli News Live -- Steven ben DeNoon
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQaXJRpM7zE

Jewish boy sees the Book of Revelation (via Bear049)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6NzSwvs-qU

(Shorter excerpt w/ clearer subtitles, 17 min.) English Transcript Natan's Testimony:
WW3 Already Started
https://youtu.be/9vvJl3jFHqQ

NEW TESTIMONY from Natan (12 min.)
https://youtu.be/fGsiANZmFb8

Nathan's testimony dovetails dramatically with the Ephriamite prophet, Joseph Smith's (1805-1844) own visions and spiritual experiences pertaining to degrees of glory, or many levels in the spirit world, as well as this phenomena that Natan speaks about that seems the hardest to grasp for most people who have heard Natan's experience:

"Could you gaze into heaven five minutes, you would know more than you would by reading all that ever was written on the subject" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 324; cf. History of the Church 6:50). He also declared that "The best way to obtain truth and wisdom is not to ask it from books, but to go to God in prayer, and obtain divine teaching" (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 191).

See Also:

A vision given to Joseph Smith the Prophet and Sidney Rigdon, at Hiram, Ohio, February 16, 1832
https://www.lds.org/scriptures/dc-testament/dc/76?lang=eng

Dreams about 2 MOONS

RELATED POSTS by Elizabeth Russell:

Two Suns in the Bible: The Grand Sign of the Coming of theSon of Man

January / March 2013 Visions

God's Spirit is falling on THOUSANDS of People in 2018!!! (Joel 2:28-29)

"Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man." -- Jesus (Luke 21:36).

In mid-June one of my sisters reported to me and the rest of my family that she experienced a prophetic dream about 2 moons. My sister is one of these random people from diverse walks of life that Joel prophesies about in the Last Days who is a very unlikely candidate to experience a supernatural dream or visitation (Joel 2:28). My sister swears that she had not been reading the scriptures, not been thinking about prophecy or the Last Days, and definitely does not watch YouTube videos. My sister wrote:

"It was supposed to be afternoon so I was surprised when I went outside I was surprised that it was night time." [My sister does not know that many people have been prophesying about 3 days of darkness.] My sister went on to say that she saw two moons in the sky. Then they merged into one and turned into a giant red moon. "It was a really kind of scary dream and very real and I woke up like I was jumping out of bed and remember everything vividly. In my dream, someone was with me and was talking about how some people would live but how everything would be different for those who live. I had a feeling in the dream that I might be one of the ones that live but that a lot of people would die and the moon felt very scary as it got bigger and redder!"

My sister also did not know that 18 months prior this young lady (Alicia / KingdomServant) had a dream about 2 moons:


-- or, that 7 months prior Crystal Clay and Shannon Johnson (Boldsojah4Christ) had dreams about 2 moons on the SAME DAY.


UPDATE: NEW DREAM ABOUT 2 MOONS from OCTOBER 2015!!!


For those who might not be able to view videos, or who would like to read some written accounts, I found a couple of pages here dating back to 2011 and 2012, respectively. The first page is secular, the second from a Christian perspective.

Why are so many people having DREAMS ABOUT TWO MOONS?

2 MOONS & CHRISTMAS SEASON - rapture confirmations ??? (Dreams by Kevin Mirasi and others)

The Web of Wyrd and The Book of Enoch

The Book of Enoch and Cosmic Sin by Margaret Barker

from The Ecologist, Jan, 2000

(for more info on Margaret Barker go to thinlyveiled.com)

“Unity with nature is the foundation of man’s existence on the planet. It is the foundation of all social relationships between groups and people. Without it, the present civilisation, like those of the past, will move towards decline and decay.” —Edmond Bordeaux Szekely

The Book of Enoch is the oldest apocalyptic writing known. In the centuries after it was written it was held in high esteem, but eventually fell from favour, and by the ninth century it had disappeared altogether. It was not until 1773 that two Ethiopic manuscripts were discovered in Abyssinia. The Book of Enoch was also ‘rediscovered’ earlier this century among the Dead Sea Scrolls in the caves of Qumran.

According to Genesis, Enoch “walked with God and was no more, because God took him away”(Gen. 5.24). This walking with God was understood to refer to special revelations made to him, and this— together with his mysterious disappearance— added to his popularity amongst apocalyptic writers. The Book of Enoch influenced later Jewish apocrypha, and left marks in the New Testament and amongst the works of the early Fathers. It still gives important insights into the Origin of Evil and Covenant theory (see ‘The Cosmic Covenant’ by Robert Murray in this issue)

In two places in that part of 1 Enoch referred to as the Similitudes, we read of a “Great Oath” which binds the forces of the Creation. At first sight, this seems to be an idea so bizarre that it cannot have any relevance to twentieth-century Christianity. When this idea of the ‘Cosmic Covenant’ is explored, however, it proves to be one of the most significant aspects of Enochic theology, and one which comes very near to much of what environmentalists are saying today. It provides a totally new way of looking at the Creation. Even though 1 Enoch was known and used by the first Christians, this aspect of its theology was lost along with so much else.

The Great Oath

This important document, the Similitudes, describes Enoch’s three visions, of which two are about a ‘Great Oath’. In 1 Enoch 41, all the heavenly bodies are kept on their course in accordance with the oath which binds them. 1 Enoch 69 sees the workings of the Great Oath. The first part of the text is confused, but we are told that the powerful oath was entrusted to the archangel Michael. The oath secures the order of the Creation, and holds the heavens firm and the Earth secure. It keeps the sea in check with a barrier of sand. It regulates the course of the Sun and Moon. Then there is a list of all the other forces of Creation: spirits of water, winds, thunders, hail, frost, mist, rain and dew. They all function safely through the strength of the great
oath, and they praise the Lord of Spirits. The text here seems to be in the form of a poem or hymn, with a refrain at the end of each section: “And they are strong through his oath:

And the heaven was suspended before the world was created, And for ever.
And through it the earth was founded upon the water,
And from the secret recesses of the mountains come beautiful waters,
From the creation of the world and unto eternity.
And through that oath the sea was created,
And as its foundation He set for it the sand against the time of (its) anger.
And it dare not pass beyond it from the creation of the world unto eternity.
And through that oath are the depths made fast,
And abide and stir not from their place from eternity to eternity,
And through that oath the sun and moon complete their course,
And deviate not from their ordinance from eternity to eternity.
And through that oath the stars complete their course,
And He calls them by their names,
And they answer Hun from eternity to eternity...
And this oath is mighty over them,
And through it [they are preserved and] their paths are preserved,
And their course is not destroyed.”— 1 Enoch 69.16-21,25

Binding the Creation

The idea of creating by ‘binding’ the forces of Creation— the elements— is very ancient. It was widely known among ancient peoples who believed in a cosmic or eternal covenant, which kept all things in harmony, in accordance with a divine plan. To break this covenant was to release forces which could destroy Creation. It is interesting that the Hebrew word for covenant, b’rith, is thought to be related to the word for ‘binding’. The German word for ‘covenant’ is ‘bund’. Its verb 'binden’ means ‘binding’. In effect, a ‘Bund’ is a binding oath.

The climax of the last vision of judgement in the Similitudes is the revealing of the Son of Man and his passing judgement on all those who had corrupted the Earth— binding them, so that evil passes away.

The ‘Cosmic Covenant’

Covenant is a very important word in the Bible; the very names by which the two parts are known, Old Testament and New Testament, actually mean Old Covenant and New Covenant. By exploring the ancient concept of the eternal covenant, which is mentioned in the Old Testament, we may add another dimension to our understanding of Christianity as a New Covenant.

We think of covenant in connection with the great figures of the Old Testament— Noah,
Abraham, David and Moses. Each covenant marks a step forward in the religious history of Israel. After the great flood, God makes a covenant with all living creatures that the Earth will never again be destroyed by flood (Gen. 9.8-11). Noah and his family are obliged in their turn never to shed blood, nor to consume it. With Abraham, there were two occasions of covenant; the land of Canaan was to be given to his descendants (Gen. 15.18-21), and all his male children had to be circumcised (Gen. 17.9-14). A covenant was made with Moses and the Israelite people at Sinai, when the Ten Commandments were given (Exodus 24.8), and the blood of a sacrificial ox was sprinkled on the altar and on the people to seal the covenant. A royal covenant— the eternal covenant— as made with David (2 Sam 7.13), promising to establish his dynasty forever.

The Great Oath, the Cosmic Covenant and the Eternal Covenant are all, in essence, the same thing, and we find the ideas in several parts of the Old Testament.

Shutting Out the Waters of Chaos

Genesis 1 offers several hints that it replaced an older account of the Creation story (see ‘The Cosmic Covenant’ by Robert Murray in this issue). It is very different from the image of a binding and restraining of evil forces, although later traditions imply that this was the work of Day One, and so part of the forbidden mystery. Nonetheless, Genesis 1 gives a picture of ordered calm. God commands and it is done. The waters separate, the firmament appears and there are no hostile seas. Wherever the Genesis meditation on the nature of the world originated, it reflects a relatively late view of the Creation.

Nowhere is the older account of the Creation spelt out in the Old Testament. It has been overlooked. We have to pick up what hints we can from the prophets and the Psalms, and in the books which are not in the Old Testament. These fit into a coherent picture of a more violent Creation, where hostile forces were restrained by the power of God. Enoch’s two short pieces on the Great Oath are the best extended account in existence.

Job 38 describes the Creation in a very Enochic way. The Lord asks Job: “who shut in the sea with doors... and prescribed bounds for it?” (38.8-10); “Can you bind the cha ins of thePleiades?” (38.31). This is exactly what we find in Enoch; binding the waters and the heavenly bodies. The ‘Prayer of Manasseh’, in the Deutero-Canonical books [“Apocrypha”], begins by addressing God as the one who shackled the sea, confined the deep and sealed it with his terrible and glorious name. Here, as in Enoch, it is the power of the name which binds the unruly forces. Here and in the story of the evil angels, which will be described further on, we find that water, depth and chaos are closely linked. Although not prominent in Enoch, this idea is deeply rooted in the Near-Eastern creation.

There are several legends about restraining the great flood and all that it represents. One, in the Babylonian Talmud, says that King David suppressed the great flood by writing the name of God on a potsherd, and throwing it into the deep. The power of the name kept the waters in check.

The Psalms are full of pictures of God’s triumph over the waters, or rescuing his faithful ones from the threat of being overwhelmed by them. Psalm 18.16-17 says that the Lord rescues the Psalmist from many waters, from strong enemies and those who hate him. Time and again, we find that God sets bounds for the sea which it may not pass. They were the sign that the cosmic covenant was secure. Psalm 24.2 says the Lord founded the Earth on the seas. Psalm 46 describes the power of God in the midst of roaring waters which symbolise threatening forces; here they are raging nations (Ps. 46.6). Psalm 69 begins: “Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck”. Psalm 93.4 says the Lord is mightier than the sea.

Water, and the binding of it, is one of the strongest symbolisms in the New Testament. It is Jesus, the revelation of the Word of God, who ‘binds’ this unruly force forever. It is with water that one is baptised, and thus ‘bound’. When Jesus stills the storm, the disciples ask: “What sort of man is this, that even winds and sea obey him?” (Matt. 8.27). When the seer John sees the new Jerusalem, the first Heaven and the first Earth have passed away, and there is no more sea (Rev. 21.1). In all these instances, the sea represents what it had represented in the older mythology— chaos. Power over the sea was proof of divine power. Thus Jesus stills the storm, Peter is safe so long as he has faith, and the new Creation in Revelation has no more evil.

The Web of Life

The scriptures make clear that the everlasting covenant does not just bind the natural forces; it also includes moral restraints, and gives us a picture of one law embracing what we might divide into two: the natural and the moral. One of the best descriptions of this idea comes not from the ancient Near East, but from our Anglo-Saxon ancestors. In The Way of Wyrd, Brian Bates describes their world-view as he has reconstructed it from an ancient manuscript in the British Museum.

They had a vision of the universe, from the gods to the underworld, connected by an enormous all-reaching system of fibres, rather like a three-dimensional spider ‘s web. Everything was connected by strands of fibre to the all-encompassing web. This image far surpasses in ambition our present views of ecology, in which we have extended notions of cause and effect to include longer and more lateral chains of influence in the natural world. The web of fibres of the Anglo-Saxon sorcerer offers an ecological model which encompasses individual life events as well as general physical and biological phenomena, non-material as well as material events, and challenges the very cause-and-effect chains upon which our ecological theories depend (p.12)

This image of the web is very powerful, especially when contrasted with the linear way of thought, which sees one thing causing another in an endless chain, and one person holding ultimate power. Progress, pilgrimage, getting there and ‘making it’ are aspects of a linear view of life. The web view, with everything in all-encompassing interdependence, and several causes and effects in every rupture, whether in the material or non-material world, represents more accurately the thought-world of the cosmic covenant. Progress is not seen as a great alteration, exploiting what we have been given, but rather as healing through ‘re-binding’. The great restoration is about reconstructing the web.

“The earth mourns and withers,
the world languishes and withers;
the heavens languish together with the earth.
The earth lies polluted
under its inhabitants;
for they have transgressed the laws,
violated the statutes,
broken the everlasting covenant.
Therefore a curse devours the earth,
and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt;
therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched,
and few men are left.”

This is the same picture as Enoch’s, and the pattern continues to correspond. In Enoch, the broken covenant leads to the judgement; as it does here in Isaiah 24.21-22:

“On that day the Lord will punish
the host of heaven, in heaven,
and the kings of the earth, on the Earth.
They will be gathered together
as prisoners in a pit,
they will be shut up in a prison,
and after many days they will be punished.”

The Old Testament describes the connection between ‘fertility’ and ‘peace’ in numerous
passages (Ezekiel 34.25). Since peace is ensured by the covenant, its breaking will affect the fertility of the land. Such is the meaning of droughts and bad harvests. Isaiah 33:7-9 couldn’t make this any clearer:

“The envoys of peace weep bitterly,
The treaty is broken
Its witnesses are despised
The land mourns and wastes away..
And Bashan (smooth, fertile land) and Carmel (garden)
Drop their leaves.”

When the covenant is broken, powerful destructive forces are released and the Creation is at risk. We see another picture of this in Joel. Evil enemies had come against the land (2:2):

“Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains
a great and powerful people;
their like has never been from of old
nor will be again after them
through the years of all generations.”

and the land itself had ceased to bear food (1:17):

“The seed shrivels under the clods,
the storehouses are desolate;
the granaries are ruined
because the grain has failed.”

We think of the disasters of war and the disasters of famine as belonging to separate
categories, but the prophets saw both as aspects of the broken covenant.

The Great Restoration

The way to restoration is expressed in “Rend your hearts, and not your garments.” (Joel 2.13)and the Lord’s promise, “I will pour out my spirit on all flesh” (Joel 2.28). When the great covenant was to be restored, the Earth was to regain its fertility, and the people of God were to be saved from the evil forces which had broken the cosmic covenant (Joel 3). It was this passage in Joel which inspired Peter’s great Pentecost sermon (Acts 2.14-36). This shows that the giving of the Spirit and the birth of the Church were closely bound up with the vision of a renewal of the cosmic covenant; the restoration of all Creation. The apocalyptic tradition, which was the mother of Christianity, preserved the idea of the cosmic covenant, the judgement, and the great renewal.

The binding of evil also has a place in the New Testament. Casting out demons requires that the Strong One be bound first (Matt. 12.29). In Revelation 20.1-16, St. John saw how the Strong One (Azazel) was bound for a thousand years, so that the Earth could enjoy the Millennium Kingdom— Eden restored. Peter, having recognised Jesus as the Messiah, is given the power to bind and to loose, both in Heaven and on Earth (Matt. 16.13-19). The most likely explanation of Peter’s commission is that he was given power over the evil ones (Luke 10.17, where demons are subjected in Jesus’ name— note the role of the name in the task of binding).

The power given to Peter (symbolised by the keys of the kingdom of Heaven which now form the papal coat of arms) was later interpreted as the power to bind and loose sins, the power to absolve. The roots of the idea, however, lie not in forgiving the sin committed by human beings, but in protecting them from evil done to them. The binding was the restraining of evil forces.

In Enoch’s Book of the Watchers, the evil forces are described in an amazingly realistic manner. He tells of the revolt of 200 powerful angels led by Azazel and Semihazah. Knowing the secrets of Creation, they came down from Heaven and taught them to humankind. A later version says According to The Book of Enoch, the rebel angels, or ‘watchers’, “took unto themselves wives, and each chose for himself one, and they began to go in unto them and to defile themselves with them, and they taught them charms and enchantments... They became pregnant, and they bore great giants, who consumed all the acquisitions of men. And when men could no longer sustain them, the giants turned against them and devoured mankind. And they began to sin against birds, and beasts, and reptiles, and fish, and to devour one another’s flesh, and drink the blood. Then the earth laid accusation against the lawless ones.” (VII.1)that beautiful adorned women lured still more angels to them.

“Azazel taught men to make swords, and knives, and shields, and breastplates, and made
known to them the metals (of the earth) and the art of working them, and bracelets, and
ornaments, and the use of antimony, and the beautifying of the eyelids, and all kinds of costly stones, and all colouring tinctures. And there arose much godlessness, and they committed fornication, and they were led astray and became corrupt in all their ways.” (VIII.1)

In doing this, they violated powerful taboos, and hence committed the most heinous cosmic sins— including, as we have seen, just what we are doing today on an ever greater scale. They wilfully destroyed the natural order by extracting metals from the bowels of the Earth to develop technological instruments of war and of seduction. The fallen angels are incarnate in our self-serving political and corporate leaders, who are blind to their real obligations to Heaven and to Earth, and who still persist in oppressing and denaturing God’s Creation— very significantly, they were made blind.

In his vision, Enoch saw the Son of Man restoring the great bonds of creation, healing the rift between Earth and Heaven, and thus restoring the cosmos.

The miracle of healing in John 9 shows how deeply this world-view permeates the Gospels. A man had been born blind, not because of any sin, but so that the power of God could be shown. Jesus healed him. Jesus asked the blind man if he believed in the Son of Man. Why should Jesus have asked about the Son of Man when there had been a healing of blindness? If we read the Fourth Gospel in the light of Enoch, we realise that the ending of blindness was a sign that the power of evil was being broken and the cosmic covenant was being restored. This was the true role of the Son of Man.

Margaret Barker is the author several books on Christianity and Judaism. This article is mainly based on her hook The Lost Prophet— The Book of Enoch and its influence on Christianity, 1988. 5he is at present the President of the Society for Old Testament Study. © 2000 MIT Press Journals in association with The Gale Group and LookSmart. © 2001 Gale Group This version originally at www.findarticles.com/cf_dls/m2465/1_30/59520590/print.jhtml