Man's Search For Spirituality - E Christopher Reyes (jenna bush book club .TXT) 📗

Myths.
BC 949-992-King Solomon of Israel builds his famous Temple in Jerusalem, “King Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, on Mount Mariah, which had been shown to David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the thrashing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. When all the work on the Temple was completed, King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand oxen, and one hundred and twenty thousand rams: and the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. And Solomon began to build in the second month, in the fourth year of his reign.” ~Second Book of Palalipomenon.
King Solomon believes that he has power over the spirits of the Invisible World. This knowledge of power is given to him by an Angel of God and passed down to his son Roboam and called the Clavicle or Key of Solomon. In Jewish myth Solomon acquires a reputation as a magician who employs legions of evil spirits to assist in building of the Temple compelling them to obey by the power of a Magical Ring [I Kings 8, 4:30, Songs of Solomon] Asmodeus, an evil spirit, angers King Solomon by preying upon one of his wives. The records of Josephus tell of Eleazer, Roman Emperor Vespasian, who was able to drive away the evil spirits by using the alleged magical ring of Solomon along with the use of some herbs.
The Archangel Michael hands Solomon a magical ring to conquer this demon. Preparations for the Temple included 186,000 men with 3,300 overseers, 80,000 hewers and 70,000 laborers. David contributes 108,000 talents of gold and 1,017,000 talents of silver for its construction. Solomon was one of the most impressive of ancient kings of Judea and Israel, with his ocean fleets trading in the Mediterranean and Red seas, his subjects mining gold in what is now Saudi Arabia, and with his wealth he built the great Temple in Jerusalem.
In BC 950, Solomon's household included 700 wives and 300 concubines. Solomon is best remembered in history for his wisdom and is credited with authoring all or part of three books of the Bible [Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Songs of Solomon]. Was Solomon guilty of adultery when he indulged in the sexual embrace with more than seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines? Or was Solomon like the Duke of Ferrara [Niccolo D'Este], who had ninety-two illegitimate children, yet made a law that marital infidelity should be punishable by death? 
The Church has pawned the illegitimacy of children, as well as the nobility, as being of lesser beings. Leonardo da Vinci, 1452-1515, one of the world's most versatile geniuses, was the illegitimate son of a Florentine lawyer and a mother of humble station. Giovanni Boccaccio, 1313-1375, celebrated Italian writer and scholar, and author of the Decameron, was a love child. The great Catholic Emperor, Charlemagne, never denied his illegitimacy. Pope Clement VII, an illegitimate son, was Pope from 1524 to 1534, despite the Biblical quotation which said that, “… A bastard shall not enter the congregation of the Lord.”
Erasmus, “The man who laid the eggs that Luther hatched,” was the son of a Dutch parish priest and his housekeeper servant. Jean d'Alembert, 1717-1783, one of the most brilliant mathematicians and writers of his time, famous for his work on the great French Encyclopedia, was the illegitimate son of an artillery officer and was picked up as an infant on a doorstep in Paris. August Strindberg and Alexander Dumas’ fils were unlawfully begotten.
Erasmus remains within the Church, and tells the racist, Martin Luther, “I always freely submit my judgment to the decisions of the Church whether I grasp or not the reasons, which she prescribes. Most of the controversy is regarding the following Biblical passage, “And there are three who give testimony in Heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. And these three are one.” ~1 John 5:7,8 King James Version, Catholic Douay-Rheims Version.
“Erasmus was attacked for not adding the ‘Comma Johanneum,’ 1 John 5:7,8. He answered that he had not found the words in any Greek manuscript, including several he examined after publishing his editions. However, he unwisely said that he would insert the Comma Johanneum in future editions if a Greek manuscript could be found that contained the spurious passage. Interestingly, one was found, or made, that contained the words.”
“The manuscript was made by a Franciscan friar named Froy or Roy, in 1520 A.D. Erasmus kept his word and added the passage in his 3rd edition, but he added a long footnote expressing his suspicion that the manuscript had been prepared just so to confute him.” ~from Professor Daniel Wallace.
Abraham Lincoln and Alexander Hamilton were born from men other than those to whom their mothers were married. James Smithson, 1765-1829, is founder of the Smithsonian Institution, which is “Devoted to the increase and diffusion of learning among men,” was born in France, the natural son of Hugh Smithson, first Duke of Northumberland, and Mrs. Elizabeth Keate Macie. Booker T. Washington, great Negro educator, and George Washington Carver, Negro scientist whose achievements in the field of food and plant chemistry are acclaimed the world over, did not know who their fathers were.
Bible records show notable instances of illegitimate births. Solomon was a bastard, and his descendant, Jesus, was born from seed, other than his father's, an “Angel” of the Lord commits adultery with Elizabeth, and John the Baptist is born. ~From The Ten Commandments by Joseph Lewis.
BC 950 (?)-In the Judaic laws and history written in the Southern Kingdom, and also the Sumero-Babylonian Goddess Belit-ili, Belili, and the Canaanites we have the first wife of Adam, Lilith. She is substituted with “Night Monster,” a quarrelsome woman who is against childbirth in the Hebraic version. Lilith, now portrayed as a female demon, propitiates human sacrifice, vengeful, and eventually runs away rather than subordinate herself to the will of Adam.
Adam's first wife, the demon wife, Lilith, has been suppressed and the meaningless expression, “The night monster,” substituted by the early Christians. Adam talks to God who sends three angels to return her. Many interpretations of the Bible have completely omitted this passage due to its modern interpretations on divorce. ~In the Book of Isaiah, 34:14.
Lilith is supposed to fly during the nocturnal darkness searching for newborn children to kidnap or murder. When she visits men, during the night, she seduces them and propogates demon sons. In the Hebraic version Lilith is created as Adam’s conjoined twin [back to back] who demands equality with Adam and refused this she leaves in anger. Muslims sometimes portray Lilith, after leaving Adam, as having slept with Satan creating the demonic Djinns. Middle Eastern herdsmen believed that Adam only married her because he tired of coupling with animals. ~See Deuteronomu 27:21.
Lilith refusing to lie beneath Adam during sexual conjugation would not let Adam subjugate her and runs away. God then sends three angels, sanvi, Sansanvi, and Semangelaf to bring the pariah back to Eden, but the angels are cursed by Lilith who then runs to the Red Sea whereby she becomes a lover to demons and produces 100 babies a day [daughters known as lilim]. ~Genesis 4:11. God then gives the forlorn Adam a more docile and cooperative partner who we have come to know as Eve. The Babylonian version of “The Creation” has Marduk who creates “Lulla,” the first man. On a tablet from Ur, 2000 B.C., she is called Lillake. The ancient Greeks knew her as Lamiae, Empusae [Forcers-In], or daughters of Hecate. Christians will know her as the Harlot from Hell, or succbi, as the monks would attempt to fend her off by clutching their genitalia in one hand and a crucifix in the other. With the knowledge of the discrepancies in translations, one begins to wonder if the first man was not a “Woman” instead, noting the similarities in the names “Lulla” and “Lilith.”
Christian Bibles have also removed the name of Lilith for how can they [Christians] espouse “No Divorce,” if Adam, the first man, had another wife? Eve [Hawwah-Mother of All Living Things] is a complete contradiction to the first wife who is argumentive and does not want children, Eve being obedient, helpful, and having children. Was Eve the first sin and not the apple? In the ‘Book of Jasher’ we have Eve giving birth to two sons, and three daughters, the second son conceived is Seth, which is similar sounding to the Egyptian’s Set. ~Genesis 1:12, Genesis 2:1, and Book of Jasher. In the Middle Ages Lilith, and her daughters, the Lilim, is still dreaded, and the Jews continued to make amulets to protect themselves from visitations from the nocturnal demons who copulated with man in his dreams causing nocturnal emissions.
“Eden as a peaceful rural retreat, where man lives at his ease among wild animals, occurs... I the story of Enkidu...The fervent love between Enkidu and the priestess, though omitted from the Genesis story, has been preserved by a Talmudic scholiast [annotator] who makes Adam wish for death rather than be parted from Eve. Yet the myth of the Fall licenses man to blame woman for all his ills, make her labor for him, exclude her from religious office and refuse her advice on moral problems.” ~Robert Graves and Raphael Patai, pp. 80- 81, The Fall of Man, Hebrew Myths: The Book of Genesis. New York. Doubleday & Company. 1963, 1964. Reprinted 1983 by Greenwich House a division of Arlington House Inc.
BC 874-853 [?]-King Ahab, King of Israel, allows his wife Jezebel to practice paganism and she in turn brings in priests of Baal. Ahab reigned during the time of the Great Prophet Elijah who is son of and successor to Omri [BC 876-869] King of Israel who chose Samaria to be the capital of Israel in BC 870. -I Kings 16:16, 21-23, 27-29. Ahab’s rule is distinguished by his strong alliance with the Kingdom of Judah and by his successful stand against the Assyrian invaders.
The Prophet Elijah criticizes Jezebel, Ahab’s wife, for worshiping the Canaanite god Baal. The Hebrew Prophet also denounces Ahab for idol worshipping and destroys 450 seers of Baal. Ahab is killed in battle and succeeded by his sons Ahaziah and Jehoram, and nine hundred years later, when Jesus is first introduced to his “Cousin,” John the Baptist, he is asked if he believes, that John is a reincarnation of the Prophet Elijah. Jesus neither admits nor denies reincarnation at this time. ~Matthew 11:14, 17:11; Elijah is spoken of in I Kings 17 and II Kings 2.
There was an attitude among the people who lived contemporary with Jesus to believe in most anything. It was a naive age, and all leaders of religion had recommended themselves to the public by working miracles and curing diseases. The expected Messiah, in order to stand any chance of success, must therefore work miracles and heal from sickness.
The Essenes, pretended to effect miracles and extraordinary cures, and Jesus was an Essene. The biographers of Jesus, therefore, not wishing their master to be outdone, made him also a performer of miracles, of which prodigies and wonders the legendary history of Jesus contained in the New Testament is full. Without them Christianity would not have prospered.
“The Hindu sacred books represent Krishna, their ‘Savior’ and ‘Redeemer,’ as in constant strife against the evil spirit, surmounting extraordinary dangers, strewing his way with miracles, raising the dead, healing the sick, restoring the maimed, the deaf, and the blind; everywhere supporting the weak against the strong, the oppressed against the powerful. The people crowded his way and adored him as a god, and these pretended miracles were the evidences of his divinity for centuries before the time of Jesus.” ~Doane, Bible Myths. 
Buddha performed what appeared to be “Great miracles for the good of mankind, and the legends concerning him are full of the