Genesis 19 Sodom was Destroyed; Gomorrah is to Come

Sodom’s Depravity

1 Now the two angels came to Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gate of Sodom. When Lot saw them, he rose to meet them, and he bowed himself with his face toward the ground.

2 And he said, “Here now, my lords, please turn in to your servant’s house and spend the night, and wash your feet; then you may rise early and go on your way.”
And they said, “No, but we will spend the night in the open square.”

3 But he insisted strongly; so they turned in to him and entered his house. Then he made them a feast, and baked unleavened bread, and they ate.

4 Now before they lay down, the men of the city, the men of Sodom, both old and young, all the people from every quarter, surrounded the house.

5 And they called to Lot and said to him, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us that we may know them carnally.”

6 So Lot went out to them through the doorway, shut the door behind him,

7 and said, “Please, my brethren, do not do so wickedly!

8 See now, I have two daughters who have not known a man; please, let me bring them out to you, and you may do to them as you wish; only do nothing to these men, since this is the reason they have come under the shadow of my roof.”

9 And they said, “Stand back!” Then they said, “This one came in to stay here, and he keeps acting as a judge; now we will deal worse with you than with them.” So they pressed hard against the man Lot, and came near to break down the door.

10 But the men reached out their hands and pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door.

11 And they struck the men who were at the doorway of the house with blindness, both small and great, so that they became weary trying to find the door.
Sodom and Gomorrah Destroyed

12 Then the men said to Lot, “Have you anyone else here? Son-in-law, your sons, your daughters, and whomever you have in the city—take them out of this place!

13 For we will destroy this place, because the outcry against them has grown great before the face of the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it.”

14 So Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who had married his daughters, and said, “Get up, get out of this place; for the LORD will destroy this city!” But to his sons-in-law he seemed to be joking.

15 When the morning dawned, the angels urged Lot to hurry, saying, “Arise, take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be consumed in the punishment of the city.”

16 And while he lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city.

17 So it came to pass, when they had brought them outside, that he[a] said, “Escape for your life! Do not look behind you nor stay anywhere in the plain. Escape to the mountains, lest you be destroyed.”

18 Then Lot said to them, “Please, no, my lords!

19 Indeed now, your servant has found favor in your sight, and you have increased your mercy which you have shown me by saving my life; but I cannot escape to the mountains, lest some evil overtake me and I die.

20 See now, this city is near enough to flee to, and it is a little one; please let me escape there (is it not a little one?) and my soul shall live.”

21 And he said to him, “See, I have favored you concerning this thing also, in that I will not overthrow this city for which you have spoken.

22 Hurry, escape there. For I cannot do anything until you arrive there.”
Therefore the name of the city was called Zoar.

23 The sun had risen upon the earth when Lot entered Zoar.

24 Then the LORD rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the LORD out of the heavens.

25 So He overthrew those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.

26 But his wife looked back behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.

27 And Abraham went early in the morning to the place where he had stood before the LORD.

28 Then he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain; and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land which went up like the smoke of a furnace.

29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt.

Scandinavia

Scandinavia is a long peninsula in the north of Europe, lying on the Artic ocean, the Norwegian Sea, the Baltic Sea, and the Gulf of Bothnia. Geographically it includes Norway and Sweden, and historically Denmark and Iceland, while its literature includes the literary work of the Swedish race in Finland. Norway, the western part of the Scandinavian peninsula, is divided from Sweden by the Keel mountains, which run parallel to the coast from the north to 63 degrees and then divide in two, the main division continuing to mark the boundary by a plateau from 2,000 to 4,000 feet wide. The higher peaks are Gaedhoppigen, Glittertink, 8,379 feet; Snehaetten, 7,566, and Lodalskaupen, 6,790.

Bear, lynx and deer abound in these mountains and the only inhabitants are the men and women who tend the large herds of cattle and sheep. On account of the gulf stream the winter on the west coast is much warmer than in the interior, whereas the summer is much cooler. The largest cities are Christiania, the capital; Bergen, Trondhjem, Stavanger, Drammem, Christiansand and Fredrikstad. The hardiest grains and vegetables flourish, but the occupation of the people is mainly connected with the great fisheries. The mineral wealth of Norway has been practically exhausted since 1870, only a few mines being now worked. Norway is divided into twenty counties; has an area of 124,495 square miles and an estimated population in 1885 of 1,947,000.

It is nominally a limited monarchy, but actually to all intents and purposes almost a free republic. The head of the government is a king, but his acts are limited by an appointed executive council of seven and two ministers. One of the first peoples to settle Europe, their history does not, however, become free from myth until the 9th century, when the Lapps and Finns were found in the country by the Gothic descendants, who then crossed the Baltic and settled there. For a long time it was part of the kingdom of Denmark . Her history is intimately associated with that of the Noresmen, who were part of her people, but from 1130 to 1240 the country suffered in war and commerce, and commenced a rapid retrograde movement which did not end until it was attached to Sweden in 1814. All titles of nobility were abolished in 1821, and in the struggle from 1872 to 1884 the right of veto was taken from the king.

Sweden, the eastern portion of the Scandinavian peninsula, makes with Norway one kingdom. It is over 200 miles long; its greatest width is 200 miles, and it covers 170,629 square miles. In the northern parts the land rises from the Gulf of Bothnia to the Kiolen mountains, which form the boundary line between Sweden and Norway, their highest peaks rising above the snow line. South of this region is the mountainous district made up of great table-lands of Jemtland and the valleys of Herjedal and Ljungan, where there are good pasturage and timber lands. The mountainous region further south, from Lake Siljan to Lake Wener, is the mining part of Sweden, and includes the noted iron mines of Danemora, and the copper works of Fahlun. Lakes Wener, Maelar and Hielmar, almost cut the country from east to west, and with Lake Wetter make up a large lake district, which is, the commencement of the most fertile part of Sweden, forming the lower end of the peninsula between the Cattegat and the Baltic. The lakes cover one-eighth of the surface; the largest is Lake Wener, the outlet of which to the Cattegat is the river Gota, noted for its picturesque rapids. The rivers are small and unimportant, the largest being the Angerman.

Summer and winter succeed each other with almost no spring or fall. Usually not enough grain is grown to supply the home market, though barley does better than oats or rye. Other crops are potatoes, hemp, flax, tobacco and hops. Pine, fir and beech trees are of great value for timber, tar, pitch, charcoal and firewood. These trees mainly make up the great forests which cover more than a fourth of the surface. Bears and beavers are now scarce; but wolves, lynxes, martens, eagles, etc., are still common. Copper iron, alum, vitriol, marble, lead, sulfur and a little a coal, gold and silver, are found; mining is the most important business after farming. Iron and shipbuilding head the list of manufactures. Iron, timber and copper are the chief exports; yarn, wool, leather, coal and cotton, the main imports.

Every Swede between the ages of 20 and 25 must serve in the national guard. There are 133 vessels in the navy. Sweden is a constitutional and hereditary monarchy, the succession being in the male line. The king has a council or cabinet of 10 ministers. The diet meets every year; the upper house has 127 members chosen for nine years, who must have a certain amount of landed property, or income; the lower house has 188 members. All over 21 years old with a small amount of property or income may vote. The state church, to which the king must belong, is the Lutheran; and only Lutherans can hold office. Education is compulsory, and there are free schools. The university of Upsala was founded in 1476.

In early times the Swedes lived in the north of Sweden and the Goths in the south. Eric Edmunson is said to have first conquered the whole of Sweden near the end of the 9th century. At this time Swedish history begins, and we find the Swedes generally at, war with Norwegian and Danish neighbors, and busily engaged in ravaging the eastern shores of the Baltic. In 1000 A.D. Olaf Schooszkonig was baptized a Christian, and the burning of the national temple at Upsala, in the reign of Ingiald (1080-1112) finished the overthrow of the old Pagan religion. The murder of king Eric in 1161 was the beginning of a disastrous period of civil wars, lasting 200 years. At length the nobles offered the throne to Margaret, Queen of Denmark and Norway, thus uniting the three Scandinavian countries in 1347.

In 1523 Gustaf Vasa made Sweden again independent of Denmark, founded a long line of Swedish kings, of he himself was one of the greatest, and raised half barbarous Sweden to an honorable place among civilized nations. In Vasa's reign Protestantism was made the state religion. Gustavus Adolphus (1611-'32), one of the greatest generals of his age, spent the greater part of his reign in wars with with Poland and Russia, for the possession of Ingria, Livonia and other Baltic districts, and in defending Protestantism in Germany. His affairs at home were ably managed by the wise Oxenstien, who, after the death of Gustavus at the battle of Lutzen, carried on the government during the minority of Christina. This strange queen's most popular act was her abdication.

Charles XI. (1660-'97) so greatly increased the kingly power that the diet acknowledged it to be absolute. The warlike career of the gifted but reckless king, Charles XII. (1697-1718), who humbled Frederick IV. of Denmark, and Peter the Great of Russia, and dethroned Augustus II. of Poland, nearly ruined his country. His sister Ulrica was chosen queen on condition of giving up absolute power wielded by the last two kings. In the reign of Ulrica, the last of the Vasas, and her husband, Frederick of Hesse-Cassel, the country was divided into two factions of nobles - the "Hats," or French party, and the "Caps," or Russian party. Gustavus III. (1771-'72), who recovered the lost power of the crown and put down these factions, was murdered. Charles XIII. (1809-'18) was forced to cede Finland to Russia. Charles was childless, and chose Napoleon's general, Bernadotte, prince of Pontecorvo, as crown prince. Bernadotte's success in getting possession of Norway endeared him to the people, and he ascended the throne, in 1818, as Charles XIV. He ruled ably, and has been succeeded by his son Oscar I., and his grandsons Charles XV., and OscarII.

Thor or Thorr contracted from Thonar, and sometimes known as Donar. He ruled winds, seasons and agriculture. This deity presided over the mischievous spirits in the elements, and was the oldest son of Odin and Freyia. These three were known in mythology as the triune deity or three in one - the Father which is Neanderthaler, the Son which is the New Slave, and Spirit which is the Medulla which effects the whole thinking process. Thor's great weapon of destruction or force was the Miolner, the hammer or mallet, which had the marvelous property of invariably returning to its owner after being launched upon its mission, and having performed its work of destruction. The Eddas speak of him as the champion of gods and men, hurling his thunderbolts at his enemies, the monsters and giants. He never grew weary , for no matter how much strength he spent in battle, it was renewed by a magic belt which he wore around his waist. Thursday is named from Thor. Odin, the chief god of the Scandinavian mythology and father of Balder. He is not the creator of the world, but its ruler, and the ruler of heaven. His home is in Asgard, whence he sends forth daily his two black ravens, Hugin and Munin (Thought and Memory), to bring him news of all that is happening in the world. He is the counterpart of Hermes and Mercury in the Egyptian and Roman mythologies. Odin and his brothers Vili and Ve, the sons of Boer, or the first born, slew Ymir or chaos, and from his body created the world. As god of war he holds his court in Valhala, where all brave warriors gather after death. He became the wisest of gods by drinking from Mimur's fountain, but at the price of an eye(HAL). Frigga is his queen, though he had other wives. His Saxon name, Woden, is perpetuated in our Wednesday, or Woden's Day.

Buddhists and Brahmins are Thibetan Birdmen

Brahmin : 1. Also Brahman. Hinduism. a. The first of the four Hindu classes, responsible for officiating at religious rites and studying and teaching the Vedas. b. A member of this class. 2. A member of a cultural and social elite, especially of that formed by descendants of old New England families: a Boston Brahmin. 3. Variant of Brahman. [Alteration of Sanskrit.]

Brahman : Hinduism. a. A religious formula or prayer and the holy or sacred power in it and in the officiating priest. b. The holy or sacred power that is the source and sustainer of the universe. c. The single absolute androgyny being pervading the universe and found GENETICALLY within the individual; atman. 2. Hinduism. Variant of Brahmin. 3. Also Brahma.

Brahmin : One of a breed of domestic cattle developed in the southern United States from stock originating in India and having a hump (Himalayan Mountains) between the shoulders and a pendulous dewlap (middle-East and Europe). Well adapted to hot climates, it is used chiefly for crossbreeding.

Brahma : 1. Hinduism. a. The creator god, conceived chiefly as a member of the triad including also Vishnu and Shiva.

Brahma : A large domestic fowl; a two-headed turkey-vulture breed originating in Asia and having feathered legs and small wings and tail.

Brahma : Hinduism. a. A religious formula or prayer and the holy or sacred power in it and in the officiating priest. b. The holy or sacred power that is the source and sustainer of the universe. c. The single absolute being pervading the universe and found within the individual; atman.

Brahms, Johannes. 1833-1897. German composer. His works, blending classical tradition with the new romantic impulse, include concertos, four symphonies, chamber music, and choral compositions.

The SculPTor

My Theology (Overstanding allegory and Symbolism)

My Theology also known as Mythology is literally the science of myths; and this is a very appropriate definition, for mythology is the science which treats of the religion of the ancient Pagans, which was almost altogether founded, or popular traditions and legendary tales hence mythology may be regarded as the early religion of the people. The word myth from the Greek ....., a story, in its original acceptation signified simply a statement or narrative of an event, without any necessary implications of truth or falsehood; but as the word is now used, it conveys the idea of a personal narrative or remote date, which although not necessarily untrue, is certified only by the internal evidence of the tradition itself. The word was first applied to those fables of the Pagan gods which have descended from the remotest antiquity, and in all which there prevails a symbolic idea, not always, however, capable of a positive interpretation. As applied to Freemasonry the words myth and legend are synonymous.

From this definition it will appear that the myth is really only the interpretation of an idea. But how we are to read these myths will best appear from the words of Max Muller; "Everything is true, natural, significant, if we enter with a reverent spirit into the meaning of ancient art and ancient language. Everything becomes false, miraculous, and unmeaning, if we interpret the deep and mighty words of the seers of the old in the shallow and feeble sense of modern chroniclers." A fertile source of instruction in Masonry is to be found in its traditions and mythical legends; not only those which are incorporated into its rituals and are exemplified in its ceremonies, but those also which, although forming no part of the Lodge lectures, have been orally transmitted as portions of its history, and which, only within a comparatively recent period have been committed to writing. But for the proper appreciation of these traditions some preparatory knowledge of the general character of Masonic myths is necessary.

If all the details of these traditions be considered as historical facts, seeking to convey nothing more nor less than historical information, then the improbabilities and anachronisms, and other violations of historical truth which distinguish many of them, must caused them to be rejected by the scholar as absurd impostures. But there is another and more advantageous view in which these traditions are to be considered. Freemasonry is a symbolic institution everything in and about it is symbolic - and nothing more eminently so than its traditions. Although some of them - as, for instance, the legend of the third degree - have in all probability a deep substratum of truth lying beneath, over this there is superposed a profound structure of symbolism. History has, perhaps, first suggested the tradition; but then the legend, like the myths of the ancient poets, becomes a symbol, which is to enunciate deep profound truth. Read in this way, and in this way only, and the myths or legends and traditions of Freemasonry, Movies, Religion, Speeches, Pictures, Architecture etc will become more interesting and instructive.

Phoenician Alphabet

The Phoenicians were once thought to have invented letters, but it is now known that the hieroglyphics of the Egyptians, several of the cuneiform alphabets and the scripts of the Hittites are all older. The Phoenicians were however a business people. They wished to be able to write rapidly, and so made simple one of the alphabets then known. This they did so well that it has outlived all other systems and is the one in use today among all civilized nations, who have each adopted it but with slight changes. The Phoenicians have no real literature as long as they remained a nation. However, books were written by those of them who settled in Africa. The Periplus of Hanno is an interesting book of travels, and valuable works on history and geography are said to have been written by Mago, Hamilcar and others.

Phoenician Phonetics

Indische Mysterien

The most important Hindu writings are religious. The famous Vedic hymns are found in four collections - Rig Veda, the largest; Sama-Veda, verses that seem to be selected from the hymns of the Rig-Veda, Yajur-Veda, giving verses to be recited at sacrifices, and Black Veda, which seems to be a continuation of the Rig-Veda. The two great Hindu epics are, the Mahabhrata, which tells of the feuds between the two kingly races, and the Ramayana, which describes the heroic deeds of Rama, a prince of Oude, who conquered Ceylon and the Deccan. Rama is represented as the embodiment of Vishnu. What are known as the Puranas are continuation of these two epics, written much later.

Other epics were Birth of the War God and Race of Raghu, by Kalidasa, who also wrote lyrics, as his Cloud Messenger. Another lyric poet was Jayadeva, whose Gita-Govinda sings of the love adventures of the god Krishna(love religion). Indian fables have found their way all the over the world. The earliest collection is known as the Panchatantra. No nation, except Greece, founded independently a better drama than that of Hindus. Among their best plays are the Toy Cart of Sandraka, and the plays of Kalidasa. Besides the well known laws of Menu, there is a large mass of Brahmanical treaties and Buddhist Sanskrit literature.

The religious system practiced by the Hindus presents a profound and spiritual philosophy, strangely blended with the basest superstitions. The Vedas are the Brahmanical Book of the Law, although the older hymns springing out of the primitive Aryan religion have a date far anterior to that of comparatively modern Brahmanism. The "Laws of Menu" are really the textbook of Brahmanism; yet in the Vedic hymns we find the expression of that religious thought that has been adopted by the Brahmans and the rest of the modern Hindus.

The learned Brahmans have an esoteric faith, in which they recognize and adore one idiot savant neanderthaler God, without form or quality, eternal, unchangeable, and occupying all space which of course is DNA; but confining this hidden doctrine to their interior schools, they teach, for the multitude an open or exoteric worship, in which the incomprehensible attributes of the supreme and purely spiritual God are invested with sensible and even human forms to personalize so the mass of people would accept it, but allegorically it meant something totally different.

In the Vedic hymns all the powers of nature are personified, and become the objects of worship, thus leading to an apparent polytheism. But behind this incipient polytheism lurks the orinal montheism; for each of these gods, in turn, becomes the Supreme Being. And it would be easy to find in the numerous hymns of the Veda passages in which almost every important deity is represented as supreme and absolute. This most ancient religion - believed in by one-seventh of the world's population, that fountain from which has flowed so much of the stream of modern religious thought, abounding in mystical ceremonies and ritual prescriptions, worshiping as the Lord of all, "the source of the golden light," having its ineffable name, its solemn methods of initiation and its symbolic rites.

Among the Hindus, Pitris were spirits; so mentioned in the Agrouchada Parikchai, the philosophical compendium of the Hindu spiritists, a scientific work giving an account of the creation of the Mercaba, and finally the Zohar; the three principal parts of which treat "the attributes of God," "of the world," and "of the human soul." A forth part sets forth the relevancy of souls to each other, and the evocation of Pitris. The adepts of the occult sciences wee said to be the votaries of the Pitris of India to have "entered the garden of delights."

In the German Cyclopaedia we find the following: "The East Indians have still their mysteries, which is very probable they received from the ancient Egyptians.(?) These mysteries are in the possession of the Brahmans, and their ancestors were the ancient Brachmen. "It is only the sons of these priests who are eligible to initiation. Had a grown up youth of the Brachmen sufficiently hardened his body, learned to subdue his passions, and given the requisite proofs of his abilities at school, he must submit to an especial proof of his fortitude before he was admitted into the mysteries, which proofs were given in a cavern. A second cavern in the middle of a high hill contained the statues of nature, which were neither made of gold, nor of silver, nor of earth, nor of stone, but of a very hard material resembling wood, to the composition of which was unknown to any mortal.

"These statues are said to have been given by God to his Son, to serve as models by which he might form all created beings. Upon the crown of one of these statues stood the likeness of Bruma, who was th same with them as Osiris was with the Egyptians. The inner part, and the entrance also into this cavern, was quite dark, and those who wished to enter into it were obliged to seek the way with a lighted torch. A door led into the inner part, on the opening of which the water that surrounded the border of the cavern broke loose. "If the candidate for initiation was worthy, he opened the door quite easily, and a spring of the purest water flowed gently upon him and purified him. Those, on the contrary, who were guilty of any crime, could not open the door; and if they were candid, they confessed their sin to the priest, and besought him to turn away the anger of the gods by prayer and fasting.

"In this cavern, on a certain day, the Brachmen held their annual assembly. Some of them dwelt constantly there; others came there only in the spring and harvest conversed with each other upon the doctrines contained in their mysteries, contemplated the hieroglyphics upon the statues, and endeavored to decipher them. Those among the initiated who were in the lowest degrees, and comprehend the sublime doctrines of one God, worshiped the sun and other inferior divinities. This was also the religion of the common people. The Brahmans, the present inhabitants of India, those pure descendants of the ancient Brachmen, do not admit any person into their mysteries without having first diligently inquired into his character and capabilities, and duly proved his fortitude and prudence.

No one could be initiated until he had attained a certain age; and before his initiation the novice had to prepare himself by prayer, fasting , and almsgiving, and other good works, for many days. "When the appointed day arrived he bathed himself and went to the Guru, or chief Brahman, who kept one of his own apartments ready in which to perform this ceremony. Before he was admitted he was asked if he earnestly desired to be initiated? - if it was not curiosity which induced him to do so? - if he felt himself strong enough to perform the ceremonies which would be prescribed to him for the whole of his life, without the exception of a single day?

"He was at the same time advised to defer the ceremony for a time, if he had not sufficient confidence in his strength. If the youth continued firm in his resolution, and showed a zealous disposition to enter into the path of righteousness, the Guru addressed a charge to him upon the manner of living, to which he was about to pledge himself for the future. He threatened him with punishment of heaven if he conducted himself wickedly; promised him, on the contrary, the most glorious rewards if he would constantly keep the the path of righteousness. After the exhortation, and having received his pledge, the candidate was conducted to the prepared chamber, the door of which stood open, that all those who assembled might participate in the offering about to be made.

"Different fruits were thrown into the fire, while the High Priest, with many ceremonies, prayed that God might be present with them in that sacred place. The Guru then conducted the youth behind the curtain, both having their heads covered, and then gently pronounced into his ear a word of one or two syllables, which he was as gently to repeat into the ear of the Guru, that no other person might hear it. In this word was the prayer which the initiated was to repeat as often as he could for the whole day, yet in the greatest stillness and without ever moving the lips.

Neither durst he discover this sacred word unto any person. No European has ever been able to discover this word, so sacred is this secret to them. When the newly initiated has repeated this command several times, then the chief Brahman instructs him in the ceremonies teaches him several songs to the honor of God, and finally dismisses him with many exhortations to pursue a virtuous course of life."

It's always Dark before the Dawn

Ethiopia (Cush of the Bible), the name given to the countries south of Egypt and Libya, on the upper Nile. It included the modern Nubia, Sennaar, Kordofan and Abyssinia. The name Ethiopian was originally given to all the nations inhabiting the southern part of the globe, or rather, to all people of a dark-brown or black color. The word is supposed to come from two Greek words meaning "sun-burned." The part of Ethiopia of which we have the most ancient knowledge, is the kingdom of Meroe, an island formed by rivers tributary to the Nile. Its capital was Napata.

The island was very fertile, with an abundance of animals and metals. It was also the site of an oracle of Jupiter Ammon. This made it a great place of resort, and a trading place for India, Arabia, Egypt, Libya and Carthage, so that it grew rapidly and became, about 1000 B.C., one of the most powerful kingdoms of the ancient world. It threw off the yoke of Egypt about 760, and, in turn, ruled Egypt for sixty years.

At one time 240,000 Egyptians settled in Meroe, and being artisans and traders, added to its prosperity. It was conquered by Cambyses about 530 B.C. The Ethiopians sent to Darius every third year four pints of gold dust, 200 logs of ebony, five negro slaves and twenty tusks of ivory. Augustus conquered Meroe and we find Queen Candace of Ethiopia mentioned among his vassels.

The remains of the ancient civilization of Ethiopia are the ruins of large buildings covered with sculpture representing battles and religious ceremonies, rows of broken sphinxes, temples hewn in the rocks and several pyramids, which are higher in proportion to their base than those of Egypt. The names of thirty kings and queens have been found, the first one named Meneliheh, being said to be the son of Solomon and the queen of Sheba. The modern history of the country belongs to Abyssinia. In the Books of Kings and Chronicles we are told that "when the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord she came to prove him with hard questions." Sheba, or Saba, is supposed to have been a province of Arabia Felix, situated to the south of Jerusalem. The queen, whose visit is thus described, is spoken of nowhere else in Scripture. But the Jews and the Arabs, who gave her the name of Balkis, recite many traditions concerning her.

Ab.y.ssin.ia is a country of eastern Africa, southwest of the Red Sea. It is a tableland, from which rise flat-topped mountains, intersected by deep valleys and gorges. The population is about three million, made up of Copts, Jews and Mohammedans. The royal house which reigned for centuries traced back its lineage to the Queen of Sheba. In 1850 Theodorus, a military adventurer, revolted and was crowned emperor. He first sent embassies to England and France and received a British consul at his court.

It was his imprisonment of the consul and of an embassy sent to inquire into the matter that caused the English government to send Sir Robert Napier from Bombay with a relief expedition. The capital, Magdala, was stormed and captured, Theodorus shooting himself when told the city gates had given way. This occurred in 1868, and for some time after the English forces withdrew lawlessness prevailed. In 1871 John II was crowned emperor.

Nubia is the modern name of a large African region, formerly part of Ethiopia, and extending on both sides of the Nile from Egypt to Abyssinia and from the Red Sea on to the east to the desert on the west. Of late Nubia has been called the Egyptian Soudan. It was under the rule of the Pharaohs, but under the 20th dynasty was recovered by native rulers who adopted Egyptian civilization and later became Christianized.

The country is now occupied by mixed races, probably descendants from the pure negro stock mixed with the Hamatic and Semitic Arabs who invaded the land in the 7th century, and conquered it in the 14th. Until 1820 it was ruled by native Muslim chiefs, but in that year it was made a part by Ismail Pasha and so remained until 1881. The greater part of the country is arid desert waste, with small cases here and there on the route of caravans. The most fertile region is near Dongola.

Mound Builders(Probably a Marker)

Mound Builders is the name given to the race whose works, known as earthworks, are found in America, largely in the shape of mounds. There are many theories in regard to them, some believing them to be the same as the American Indians(Roma), the ancestors either of the more civilized Indians. found in the southern states, or of the Aztecs in Mexico, while others consider them to have been a superior race, of whom nothing is known, (to most people) except these curious remains. From the contents of the mounds they seem to have been passing from the stone age to the metal, having some copper, but weapons and tools of stone. Some of the mounds seem to have been used as burial places, and others as temple. They are found in the Mississippi valley, and in no other parts of North America, but most extensively in Ohio, (O High O) Indiana, Illinois and Missouri. They are usually mounds, from 6 to 25 feet high, though some of the temple mounds reach higher; one in Illinois is 90 feet high, and measures 700 by 500 feet at the base. They usually have a ditch around them, and are often in an enclosure, with low earth walls and connecting passages, as one at New.ark , Ohio, which coves more than two square miles and has about 12 miles of embankments from 2 to 20 feet high, and another at Marietta, Ohio, covering a large square, with double walls enclosing a passage to the river. When used as burial places the mounds rarely contain more than one skeleton. There are also curious figures of animals; one on the form of a serpent, 1,000 feet long and about five feet high, was discovered in Adams county, Ohio. The period when the mounds were built is variously estimated. The Indians found in North America, when settled by Europeans, were very much behind the mound builders in their arts of living, judging from the remains found. The large trees growing on the mounds are another indication of their age; and the fact that they are never built on the lowest formed river terraces, is thought to be another proof of their great age, which is estimated at from 1,800 to 2,000 years.

mound - An artificial hill; raise bank; a rampart. To fortify with a mound.

Le.gend (The Gender)

Legend, from the Latin word legere, "to read," was a name originally given to portions of Scripture and certain other religious writings, especially the lives of saints and martyrs that were to be read in the services of the early Christian Church. The institution of monasticism caused a vast mass of this literature to be brought forth, much of which was no doubt the work of the imagination. It is ever the tendency of the human mind to enshrine saints and heroes in fable, and give free scope to the feelings and the imagination in picturing their lives and characters, and therefore, notwithstanding the strange inter-mixture of truth and falsehood in these legendary tales, they gradually established themselves in both the eastern and western churches, and in the course of time gained place in the literature of Christian nations. Although the origin of the word "legend" is ecclesiastical, it has come to be applied to any fabulous narrative handed down by tradition.

Masonic legends are not necessarily fictitious, but are either based on actual and historical facts which have been but slightly modified, or they are the offspring of some symbolic idea; in which latter respect they differ entirely from the monastic legends, which often have only the fertile imagination of some studious monk for the basis of their construction. The instruction of Freemasonry are given in two modes: by the symbol and by the legend. The symbol is a material and the legend a mental, representation of truth. The sources of neither can be in every case authentically traced. Many of them come from the old Operative Masons of the medieval guilds. The legends of Freemasonry constitute a considerable and a very important part of its ritual. Without them, its most valuable portions as a scientific system would cease to exist. It is, in fact, in the traditions and legends of Freemasonry, more, even, than in its material symbols, that we are to find the deep instructions which the Institution is intended to inculcate. it must be remembered that Freemasonry has been defined to be "a system of morality, veiled in allegory and illustrated by symbols." Symbols then, alone, do not constitute the whole of the system: allegory comes in for its share; and this allegory, which veils the ultimate truths of Masonry, is presented to the neophyte in the various legends which have been traditionally preserved in the Order.

They may be divided into three classes:

1. The Mythical legend. 2. The Philosophical legend. 3. The Historical legend. And these three classes may be defined as follows:

1. The myth may be engaged in the transmission of a narrative of early deeds with events having a foundation in truth, however, has been greatly distorted and perverted by the omission of introduction of circumstances and personages, and then it constitutes a mythical legend.

2. Or it may have been invented and adopted as the medium of enunciating a particular thought, or of inculcating a certain doctrine, when it becomes a philosophical legend.

3. Or, lastly, the truthful elements of actual history may greatly predominate over the fictitious and invented materials of the myth; and the narrative may be, in the main, made up of facts, with a slight coloring of imagination, when it forms a historical legend.

The Serpent and the Peacock~!

Kurdish mythology talks about dual Iranian kings; the Serpent or Dragon (Magi), and the Peacock (Zarathustra / Zoroaster).

In their stories Zarathustra appears as a "Protestant" religion to that of the original orthodox religion of the Magi; a cutout in a manner similar to what occurred later with the Christian church of Rome in the West, when it split away from the Byzantine Orthodox Catholic church of the East. Here again, control over the masses of Christians appears on the surface to have moved on to the west, when in fact real power has always remained with the original religion.

Such is also the fate of western religion and governments. Rome, a Greek colony, and France (Franks), a German tribe which became a nation, although both may appear on the surface to have been given power over the political evolution of the west, by means of the establishment of Grand Orient Freemasonry in the 13th century AD, when in fact, they never have had the final say on matters that involve the ultimate evolution of the east's original plan to create a New World Order on the planet, at "The End Times".

The symbolism of this temporary arrangement is clearly depicted in the ancient tapestries that reside within the walls of The Louvre museum, in Paris. Rome and Paris are but Peacocks on the world stage, while Kurdistan, through the auspices of its agency in The Basque Country and its Ultimate Superior, continues to be the Dragon who secretly dominates both religion and politics, in the east and in the west.

Yet, I'll bet neither ever had expected to have had to deal from such a position of obvious weakness with their own powerful prodigal son, the United States of America, as they have had to endure recently due to Operation Iraqi Freedom.

For all of them, and especially for their so-called Unknown Superior, IT, who is sometimes also known as the 'Universal Spirit', and who resides within the mountains of Greater Antarctica (Atlantis), these past few months have been a really tough period of unique adaptation, something which they're not used to doing very often. How it will all come out in the end is yet to be determined, but my money is on the American military, to ultimately bring about Regime Change across the entire plan~et.

The SculPTor