Pastor Bryan Aalborg's 

Sermon of 9-17-2011

WATCH! JESUS IS

COMING!

 

 The Essene Jesus tells the 

Western World  of a 

COMPASSIONATE GOD!

BUT NEGLECTS TO TELL US CLEARLY AND OUTRIGHTLY ABOUT

THE INVISIBLE ESSENES

Page 2 of 3 pages

 

Pastor Bryan Aarborg

 in his sermon for September 17, 2011, quoted first Matthew 24, various verses, then finished with Mark 13:32-37.  One of the major points he wanted to get across is that setting dates for Jesus to come back is a risky business, especially so since Jesus did not himself authorize it, and claimed to not know himself what that date might be.  Nothing makes this more CLEAR in Pastor Bryan's opinion than Mark 13:32-37.   On this page I'll present this viewpoint, and on the next page I'll disagree, for reasons that will become evident when I get to that page.

 

Mark 13:32-37

   "But of that day and hour knoweth no man,

            no, not the angels which are in heaven,

                 neither the Son, but the Father.

    Take ye heed, watch and pray;

             for ye know not when the time is.

    For the Son of man is as a man 

             making a far journey,

                    who left his house,

    And gave authority to his servants,

             and to every man his work, 

                    and commanded the porter to watch.

     WATCH ye therefore: for ye know not

             when the master of the house cometh,

     at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing,

             or in the morning:

     Less coming SUDDENLY he find you sleeping.

     And what I say unto you

              I say unto all,  WATCH!"

     On page 1 of this series I pointed out that scriptures like this one have a different meaning depending on whether one sees Jesus as a part of a Holy Trinity of three equal, all-knowing, all-powerful gods, or if one wants to play games with words (and people's brains)-- "One God" who is really three persons -- OR, as an Essene Christ-Messiah with a whole lot less power and knowledge than he would have, were he really a part of such a "Trinity". Bryan Aalborg sees Jesus as God, I do not.  So he took a risk by emphasizing Mark 13:32-37,  which contains a duplicate of one of the 10 or more New Testament texts that is "Anti-Trinitarian."  Here's the reasoning.

Text 5

      Matthew 24:36 “But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.”

So God knows things that Jesus does not know.  So they have no ‘unity of Godhead’.

      "But of that day and hour knoweth no man,

            no, not the angels which are in heaven,

                 neither the Son, but the Father."

                       Mark 13:32

    To the Essenes listening to their Christ- Messiah, Jesus the son of Miriam, there was no problem here.  Not even in their wildest dreams could they imagine Jesus knowing everything that Almighty God might know -- but for us Christians, "brain-washed" for 1600 years to accept this as a great and unquestionable "Truth", it's easy.  In fact, it's now harder NOT TO BELIEVE that Christ knows everything, and is all-powerful.

More New Testament Anti-Trinity texts

 

    On page 1 of this series, I gave a third interpretation to each of the texts we looked at from Matthew 6 based on how a NON-RELIGIOUS person would see these verses.   By NON-RELIGIOUS I don't necessarily mean someone who is "Godless" as someone who makes rational decisions based on logic and experience, not influenced unduly by Church dogma and promises of "Eternal Life" for accepting and believing what is nonsense so far as logic and everyday experience are involved.  And not terrified by a threat of an eternity in hell for non-compliance and unbelief in a particular church's viewpoint.

    Astonishingly, everything we are reading in Mark 13:32-37 appears to be logical and not attractive to the type of hot heads and fanatics who might wish for us to give them all our money and follow them into the wilderness to meet Jesus there!     

     Pastor Bryan Aalborg gave honorable mention to Harold Camping, pictured above with the more Adventist-type "Second Coming of Christ" than Pentecostals usually visualize.   True believers sedately walking up cloudy stairs into the sky dressed in their Sunday best  instead of being whisked away as naked spirits leaving a pile of clothes behind and their cars and airplanes crashing into those belonging to unbelievers.  But Bryan didn't care for his date-setting, once again wrong, this spring.

      Pastor Aalborg put a picture up of William Miller, the Baptist preacher and would-be "Prophet" whose provocative interpretation of Daniel 8:14 made possible Pastor Aalborg's own livelihood as a Seventh-day Adventist preacher.  And reminded all of us present in the Foster Seventh-day Adventist church on September 17 that all throughout the almost 2000 years (lacking now 22 years) since Jesus gathered a small group of disciples on Mount Olivet (next to Herod's temple) -- and gave them hints as to how long this might be -- there have been those like William Miller and Harold Camping willing to imagine they know what only God Almighty knows, --- when the world will end.

      The only really subversive idea, perhaps even heretical to fanatical believers in the Trinity, that Pastor Aalborg presented, and this only by innuendo and walking carefully around this suggestion without stating it outright, is that Jesus and the Gospel writers PLANNED for everyone reading such chapters as Matthew 24 in EVERY GENERATION  to see their own generation in these descriptions of events, and ASSUME that Christ would come back in their generation.    This would amount to deception, of course.   Not a very good thing for part of the Holy Trinity to be involved with.   Or even for the "Only-begotten Son of God" to be a part of.   Which is why Pastor Bryan never spelled it out in so many words.   And definitely did not label it as such!

       It is essential that Jesus be thought of as the only "Perfect" human that ever lived on earth in Adventist theology as now taught, by Bryan Aalborg and all like him.   Otherwise his sacrifice would be unacceptable to God Almighty, Christ's Father,  and Jesus, as well as all of us, would be worthy only of extinction, not salvation.   "Eternal Life" is the goal we must either strive for, or accept that Jesus has it, and can give it to us, whether or not we are worthy of it.  Where, indeed,  can we fit a liar and deceiver into this equation?  

      Of course this is once again NO PROBLEM to those of us, myself included, who see Jesus as an Essene Christ-Messiah, one of several that "reigned" during the late 1st century BC to the late 1st century AD. The Essenes were known for their seclusion and keeping secrets.  They felt no compunction to tell Gentiles and ruffians such as we are the "Truth" about anything important, and their hidden history shows they used a type of "double-talk" known as "Gospel Pesher" to hide important information from those they felt would use it improperly.   In this "Gospel Pesher" history of Jesus he was far from "Perfect" in the way we might define "Perfection".   Indeed many of the Essenes referred to him by using such unpleasant terms as "the Liar", and the "Wicked Priest", who catered to  those they called the "Seekers after Smooth Things."

      Such a person as both "Pesher History" and the Dead Sea Scrolls reveal Jesus to have been would be fully capable of either Himself writing a description of historical events designed to "trick" every generation into thinking theirs was the "final generation," or of directing Essenes fully as tricky as he appears to have been to do so.   Right on, Pastor Bryan!   You're really not that far from the Truth!    Only never go the rest of the way -- or Foster Church will again be looking for another senior pastor.   One who doesn't think, or reason, or study too much.

Here you've got a choice, accept Pastor Aalborg's unstated premise (we've been tricked!) and go to the INDEX.

HEALTH-ARK

OR --take a closer look at Mark 13:32-37
OR --Continue on to learn more, as I did, about those tricky Essenes!

      Because she learned a lot about Essenes, their calendars, how they kept time at night, and how otherwise they hid the details in the Gospels of their day-to-day and more important events, Dr. Barbara Thiering PhD was able to discover the "INVISIBLE ESSENES" in our very visible Gospels and New Testament books.   Others are content to let them stay INVISIBLE, and preach as if the Essenes, their scrolls, and their religious beliefs had never been discovered!    

       I bought and read Thiering's book in 1992, and that same year started taking trips to Israel and Qumran.   What she wrote checks out, and I am no longer a "false witness".    Here I am below standing by the Dead Sea where Peter and Andrew, and James and John the "Sons of Zebedee" --- FISHED FOR MEN!

     Behind me (the square hole) is a cistern (still mostly plastered inside) that stored water at this location (Kherbit Mazin) 6 kilometers south of the Qumran monastery on the western shore of the Dead Sea.   The fresh water stored here from rainwater coming down the wadi allowed the Gentiles being baptized here to wash off the salt water they had just been baptized in.  This baptism (wrote Peter in 1 Peter 3:20-21) can be likened to Noah saving a few people (8 in all) during the flood.   To Peter, Andrew, James, and John, they were doing Noah's work, saving Gentiles as well as Jews!    A little far-fetched?   Perhaps.  But if you don't learn to deal with "Gospel Pesher", you'll never be able to discover the 

   INVISIBLE ESSENES!


      I had been to Israel before, in 1983, 9 years before Thiering published her book.  I and my wife Edie had taken the standard Christian tourist tour, riding an air-conditioned bus from the airport to Jerusalem and from there all over Israel from Galilee in the north to Masada and the southern salt flats of the Dead Sea.

 

Ben Gurion Airport, Tel Aviv   

David Ben Gurion & Israeli flag

Ben Yahuda  St., Jerusalem       

             I had seen  on this previous trip also all the important churches and sites that supposedly mark the places where Jesus was born and preached his important sermons, died, and was resurrected.

 

 Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem

Grotto in the church where Jesus was supposedly born

 Jerusalem, Church of the Holy Sepulchre, -- Crucifixion, etc.

        The bus load of Seventh-day Adventist Christians in 1983 had also traveled north to the Sea of Galilee.    Galilee, where Jesus was supposed to have spent a lot of his time according to a surface reading of the 4 Gospels.

 

Tour boat on the Sea of Galilee

A lunch of "Peter's Fish" after

An older-style boat on Galilee

    Since 1967, when Israel regained control of Jerusalem, it has been possible for tourists from the United States (and all the western world) to visit Jerusalem and walk the supposed route along the VIA DOLOROSA that Jesus walked carrying his cross from his trial to his crucifixion (at the "Church of the Holy Sepulcre").   Thousands have walked this route, and no doubt many have assumed it was genuine.

 

Cross processions world-wide

In remembrance of this event

Supposedly at this location

    But Protestants generally DO NOT accept these traditional sites, and especially doubt the location of Jesus' death and burial, choosing instead to visit the "Garden Tomb" not far from the Damascus Gate and "outside the walls" of the Jerusalem of Herod's time. 

 
     In the summer of 1988 --  I played all summer in the "Worthy is the Lamb" passion play at the Crystal Coast 

 
Amphitheatre in Swansboro on Cape Carteret North Carolina. I played a pharisee who was a member of the Sanhedrin, and ocassionally Mathew the "publican".

I returned to Jerusalem in 1989 with Ron Wyatt and spent much of my time helping him to excavate at his archaelogical "dig" sites at the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem and in the Negev desert, where we found what may have been the mountain where Aaron was buried (in the Wilderness of Zin).  And in 1990 I went with Dave Fasold to the Mount Ararat region of Turkey.  Where Wyatt and Fasold thought they had found all that remains of Noah's Ark.

     It was not until the summer and fall of 1992 that I purchased Dr. Barbara Thiering's new book and discovered that people had been looking for Jesus all these years in all the wrong places.    Jesus and all his disciples were ESSENES, and one must look for Jesus in those places the ESSENES frequented.

    Since 1993, after numerous visits to Egypt, the Sinai, Jordan, Syria, Greece, Turkey, and especially Israel and the Dead Sea area, I have now become somewhat of a expert on the INVISIBLE ESSENES, the "Dead Sea Scrolls", and the "Gospel Pesher".   One would think the world, and especially Christian ministers, would be beating a path to my door.   Definately NOT TRUE!   Myth is more comfortable than TRUTH.   And "Eternal Life" is at stake!

      To put it extremely bluntly, Job Security is much more important to ministers than is historically accurate "truth". 

    Back now to my 1992-1993 visits to the Qumran area - in search of the HISTORICAL JESUS -- who was, indeed, one of the INVISIBLE ESSENES! 

The Essenes were not INVISIBLE to Flavius Josephus, the world-renowned Jewish historian, who wrote about them in both of his historical works, 

"The Antiquities of the Jews"

and 

"The Wars of the Jews."

(Show me a minister who does not own and read a copy of "Josephus" and I will show you a minister who should NOT be preaching to people with even a high-school education, never mind college graduates!) 

          "Antiquities of the Jews" 13-5-9   (171) "At this time there were three sects among the Jews, who had different opinions concerning human actions; the one was called the sect of the Pharisees, another the sect of the Sadducees, and the other the sect of the Essenes.  (172)  Now for the Pharisees, they say that some actions, but not all, are the work of fate, and some of them are in our own power, and that they are liable to fate, but are not caused by fate.  But the sect of the Essenes affirm, that fate governs all things, and that nothing befalls men but that which is according to its determination.  (173)  And for the Sadducees, they take away fate, and say there is no such thing, and that human affairs are not at its disposal: but they suppose that all our actions are in our own power, so that we are ourselves the cause of what is good, and receive what is evil from our own folly."

    "Antiquities of the Jews"  15-10-4    (371) "  The Essenes also, as we call a sect of ours, were excused from this imposition (to take an oath to Herod) .  These men live the same kind of life as do those whom the Greeks call Pythagoreans; concerning whom I shall discourse more fully elsewhere. (373) However, it is but fit to set down here the reasons wherefore Herod had these Essenes in such honor, and thought higher of them than their mortal nature required: nor will this account be unsuitable to the nature of this history, as it will show the opinion men had of these Essenes. 15-10-5 (373) Now there was one of these Essenes, whose name was Manahem, who had this testimony, that he not only conducted his life after an excellent manner, but had foreknowledge of future events given him by God also.  This man once saw Herod when he was a child, and going to school, and saluted him as king of the Jews; (374) but he, thinking that either he did not know him, or that he was in jest, put him in mind that he was but a private man; but Manahem smiled to himself, and clapped him on the backside with his hand, and said, 'However that may be, thou wilt be king, and will begin thy reign happily, for God finds thee worthy of it; an do thou remember the blows that Manahem hath given thee, as being the signal of the change of thy fortune;---etc. (much more-- read it for yourself in Josephus)

     "Antiquities of the Jews"  18-1-5   (18) "The doctrine of the Essenes is this: That all things are best ascribed to God.  They teach the immortality of souls, and esteem that the rewards of righteousness are to be earnestly striven for; (19) and when they send what they have dedicated to God into the temple, they do not offer sacrifices, because they have more pure lustrations of their own; on which account they are excluded from the common court of the temple, but offer their sacrifices themselves; yet is their course of life better than that of other men; and they entirely addict themselves to husbandry.  (20) It also deserves our admiration, how much they exceed all other men that addict themselves to virtue, and this in righteousness; and indeed to such a degree, that it has never appeared among any other man, neither Greeks nor barbarians, no, not for a little time, so hath it endured for a long time while among them.   This is demonstrated by that institution of theirs which will not suffer anything to hinder them from having all things in common; so that a rich man enjoys no more of his own wealth than he who hath nothing at all.  There are about four thousand men that live in this way,  (21) and neither marry wives, nor are desirous to keep servants; as thinking the latter temps men to be unjust, and the former gives the handle to domestic quarrels; but as they live by themselves, they minister one to another."--- etc. (much more-- read it for yourself in Josephus).

     "Wars of the Jews" 2-8-2    (119) "For there are three philosophical sects among the Jews.  The followers of the first of whom are the Pharisees; of the second the Sadducees; and the third sect, who pretends to a severer discipline, are called Essenes.   These last are Jews by birth, and seem to have a greater affection for one another than the other sects have.  (120)  These Essenes reject pleasures as an evil, but esteem continence, and the conquest over our passions, to be virtue.  They neglect wedlock, but choose out other persons' children, while they are pliable, and fit for learning; and esteem them to be their kindred, and form them according to their own manners.  (121)  They do not absolutely deny the fitness of marriage, and the succession of mankind thereby continued; but they guard against the lascivous behavior of women, and are persuaded that none of them preserve their fidelity to one man."

    "Wars of the Jews"  2-8-3   (122) "These men are despisers of riches, and so very communicative as raises our admiration.  Nor is there any to be found among them who hath more than another; for it is a law among them, that those who come to them must let what they have be common to the whole order, -- insomuch, that among them all there is no appearance of poverty or excess of riches, but every man's possessions are intermingled with every other's possessions: and so there is, as it were, one patrimony among all the brethren. --etc. (much more -- read it for yourself in Josephus)

     "Wars of the Jews"  2-8-6  (134) "And truly, as for other things, they do nothing but according to the injunctions of their curators; only these two things are done among them at every one's own free will, which are, to assist those who want it, and to show mercy; for they are permitted of their own accord to afford succor to such as deserve it, when they stand in need of it, and to bestow food on those that are in distress; but they cannot give any thing to their kindred without the curators.  (135) They dispense their anger in a just manner, and restrain their passion.  They are eminent for fidelity, and are the ministers of peace; whatsoever they say is also firmer than an oath; but swearing is avoided by them, and they esteem it worse than perjury; for they say, that he who cannot be believed without [swearing by] God, is already condemned.  (136) They also take great pains in studying the writings of the ancients, and choose out of them what is most for the advantage of their soul and body; and they inquire after such roots and medicinal stones as may cure their distempers." --etc. (much more -- read it for yourself in Josephus.)

    

        One might think that there might be some of these Essenes who were homosexuals, since most of them at the Qumran monastery were celibate, living without female companionship, and indeed some of them WERE homosexual.   That this is so is betrayed by three of Jesus' sayings, one in Revelation, and two in the Gospels.  But the most provocative situation outside of these three sayings is the relationship between Jesus and "John the Beloved Disciple" -- the author of the "Gospel of John".

      The first saying is a jest on the location of the Qumran monastery itself, which Jesus characterized as "Sodom".

      Revelation 11:8 "And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified."  Revelation 11:1-12 is a symbolic representation of Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection in two unclean areas at the Qumran complex, and one of several major clues that this is where a lot of Gospel happenings occurred.   Since Sodom had a homosexual reputation in Genesis, Jesus is here suggesting that there were indeed homosexuals here when he lived at Qumran, and was crucified there.

      Matthew 19:12 "For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb (might not some homosexuals be in this group?); and there are some eunuchs, who have been made eunuchs of men (surgically castrated men, mostly household servants in Greek and Roman society), and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake (this is a direct reference to those Essenes who were voluntarily celibate, some of which Jesus knew to be homosexual) (and now for Jesus' opinion) He that is able to receive it, let him receive it. (a completely tolerant view.)

     Luke 17:34 "I tell you, in that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken and the other left."

     That this is just a coincidence, and that Luke is not here referring to both homosexuality and to Sodom is decreased in probability by the closeness of this saying to Luke 17:26-30.

     Luke 17:26 "And as it was in the days of Noe (Noah), so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. 27 They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day when Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all."

     Luke 17:28 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; 29 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. 30 Even thus shall it be in the day that the Son of man is revealed." (Note that here, in the second of two examples, Luke has omitted the two phrases "they married wives, they were given in marriage")-- we can rightly assume he expected us to notice also that one of the "two men in a bed" was taken, and the other left --- no difference than the other examples!    Again, the TOLERANT view, not a homophobic view. 

 On the left is a cross-section of the Dead Sea, the major body of water in the area where most believe that the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were once located. It has a lot of shallow area, as pictured on the left of the cross-section, and also a very deep portion (on the right).  
      All of the water is extremely salty, however, since evaporation in this very hot area leaves the salt and minerals behind that the Jordan River picks up on its way to the Dead Sea. The water is now poison to living creatures and not even ocean fish can live in the water. The Essenes lived near the Dead Sea in Jesus' time.

 

     When I visited the ruins of the Qumran Monastery in the Fall of 1992, after reading Dr. Barbara Thiering's book "Jesus and the Riddle of the Dead Sea Scrolls" , one of the first things I looked for was the remains of the fire-place where Simon Peter was warming his hands when he was accosted by the servant girl in the dialog between Erin Miller and Bryan Aalborg, two of the majority of ministers who cannot (by choice) see the INVISIBLE ESSENES.     Here, below, is my photograph of this fireplace -- dated 1992.

     And the "oath" that Peter was mouthing as he turned his back on Jesus before 3 AM (cock-crowing) on Friday, March 20, 33 AD is worded as follows: "Be cursed because of all your guilty wickedness! May He deliver you up for torture at the hands of the vengeful Avengers! May He visit you with destruction by the hand of all the wreakers of Revenge!   Be cursed without mercy because of the darkness of your deeds!  Be damned in the shadowy place of everlasting fire!   May God not heed when you call on Him, nor pardon you by blotting out your sin!  May he raise His angry face towards you for vengeance!   May there be no "Peace" for you in the mouth of those who hold fast to the Fathers!"

This curse is recorded on page 63 of The Dead Sea Scrolls in English by Geza Vermes, 3rd Edition 1987

      These words were part of the prayer that Simon Peter was required to pray that night at that specific time, and there was no way he could avoid saying them, if, indeed, anyone was listening!

FOR MORE ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED THAT FATEFUL WEEKEND 

CLICK HERE!

  

THE A,B,Gs of LOVE

SHEOL and Noah's Flood

The Invisible ESSENES

1844-End of the World

ADAM and EVE Myth

Sodom and Gomorrah

TIME-TRAVELER

Destroyer of Ages

CLICK HERE for

NEXT

IN THIS SERIES

A CLOSER LOOK AT MARK 13:32-37