← Autodidact Archive · Original Dissent · lydia_the_faithful
Thread ID: 16374 | Posts: 11 | Started: 2005-01-21
2005-01-21 05:10 | User Profile
From [url="http://www.kinsmanredeemer.com"]Kinsman Redeemer Ministries[/url]
" ... the story about Philip and the Ethiopian found in Acts 8:26-40. It has been assumed by contemporary seminary trained doctors of divinity that the Ethiopian of 2000 years ago is the same as today, as if to say the demographics remained static. We in Christian Identity respectfully disagree.
<o:p></o:p>The key to the identity of the Ethiopian eunuch is to find out who the inhabitants of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Ethiopia</st1:place></st1:country-region> in New Testament times really were. Many Judeo-Christian publishers gloss the Ethiopian as an arbitrary African Negro without much historical accuracy. History is replete with examples of territories changing in racial make-up via wars, famines, migrations etc. <st1:country-region><st1:place>Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region> is a good example of determining the racial identity of an Egyptian, depending on the time period. The history of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Ethiopia</st1:place></st1:country-region> is one of several important kingdoms that are basically unknown to Christendom, e.g., the Silurian Parthian and Scythian Empires. These territories provided fertile soil for the missionary efforts of the early Christian church. The Apostle Matthew spent much of his time fulfilling the Great Commission in the most unknown Christian empire of them all: <st1:city><st1:place>Aksum</st1:place></st1:city>, ancient <st1:country-region><st1:place>Ethiopia</st1:place></st1:country-region>.
This is what the World Book Encyclopedia has to say about this empire: ââ¬Å<st1:city><st1:place>Aksum</st1:place></st1:city> was a powerful ancient kingdom in <st1:place>East Africa</st1:place>. It was the ancestor of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Ethiopia</st1:place></st1:country-region>. It became important about 50 A.D. and reached its zenith between the 300s and 600s. <st1:city><st1:place>Aksum</st1:place></st1:city> grew rich and powerful because of Adule, its port on the <st1:place>Red Sea</st1:place>. Adule was a world trading center. Goods were traded to merchants from <st1:country-region><st1:place>Egypt</st1:place></st1:country-region>, <st1:country-region><st1:place>Greece</st1:place></st1:country-region>, <st1:place><st1:city>Rome</st1:city>, <st1:country-region>Persia</st1:country-region></st1:place>, <st1:country-region><st1:place>India</st1:place></st1:country-region> and <st1:country-region><st1:place>Ceylon</st1:place></st1:country-region>. Aksumite kings built impressive forts, palaces and granite monuments. During the 300s, King Ezana defeated the state of <st1:city><st1:place>Meroe</st1:place></st1:city>. Ezana became famous for making Christianity the state religion. <st1:city><st1:place>Aksum</st1:place></st1:city> declined after the Persians conquered <st1:place>Arabia</st1:place> in the late 500s. During the 600s, the Muslims conquered the Persians and stopped the flow of settlers who had come to <st1:city><st1:place>Aksum</st1:place></st1:city> from southern <st1:place>Arabia</st1:place>. As a result, the Christians of Aksum were surrounded by non-Christians.ââ¬Â
<o:p></o:p>In 960 A.D. Judith (a descendent of Cain), conceived a plan to murder all members of the royal family of <st1:city><st1:place>Aksum</st1:place></st1:city> (descendents from King Solomon of <st1:country-region><st1:place>Israel</st1:place></st1:country-region> and the Queen of Sheba of southern <st1:place>Arabia</st1:place>). During and after this reign of terror, this once powerful Christian kingdom fell into insignificance. Later, in the 1600s Negro tribes called Galla moved into the ancient land and ravaged, pillaged, and burnt enormous areas, destroying countless treasures contained in the churches and irreplaceable old manuscripts. Thus, once the second largest Christian nation of its time, <st1:city><st1:place>Aksum</st1:place></st1:city> became a wasteland, and its heritage forgotten and ignored. The forgotten history of the kingdom of the African Nile has caused many modern day Christian Bible students to make a major assumption that is totally incorrect: that the Ethiopian eunuch of Acts chapter 8 was a Negro. But this popular assumption is not correct for the following reasons:
[list]
[]Itââ¬â¢s a faulty assumption because itââ¬â¢s based on the idea that
2005-01-21 17:32 | User Profile
Strong's has the following:
Ethiopian - in Greek: 'Aijqivoy' : from aitho (to scorch) and ops (the face, from) Definition - Ethiopian = "black"
Kuwsh {koosh} - Hebrew: Cush = 'black' - the peoples descended from Cush - the land occupied by the descendants of Cush located around the southern parts of the Nile (Ethiopia)
Cushi or Ethiopian = see Cushan "their blackness"
[url=http://countrystudies.us/ethiopia/5.htm]The Aksumite State[/url]
Established by the sixth century B.C. or earlier, the kingdom's inhabitants were black Africans who were heavily influenced by Egyptian culture. It was probably the people of Meroë who were the first to be called Aithiopiai ("burnt faces") by the ancient Greeks, thus giving rise to the term Ethiopia that considerably later was used to designate the northern highlands of the Horn of Africa and its inhabitants.
2005-01-21 19:00 | User Profile
[url=http://purpleplanetmedia.com/bhp/pages/candace.shtml]Candace of Meroe[/url]
*What little is known of the Candaces was learned primarily from Roman sources and more recently from excavations, iconography, and inscriptions on monuments. Classical writers have attested to their power and leadership. One of them is mentioned in the Acts of the Apostles (8:28-39) where, on the road from Jerusalem to Gaza, Philip converted "an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, that is, the queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury..." Pliny, who provided valuable details of the great city of Meroe, which have been borne out by subsequent excavations, states that, "The queens of the country bore the name Candace, a title that had passed from queen to queen for many years."
The Candaces have repeatedly appeared in the writings of classical authors. Pseudo-Callisthenes recounted that Alexander visited Candace, Queen of Meroe. Legend has it that she would not let him enter Ethiopia and warned him not to despise them because they were black for "We are whiter and brighter in our souls than the whitest of you." Strabo, in his report of the military clash between the Romans and the Ethiopians, describes a Candace, probably Amanerinas, as "a masculine sort of woman, blind in one eye." This incident purportedly brought Kush onto the stage of world history: After Petronius' punitive invasion of Napata, the Candace waited until most of his troops went off to another campaign and attacked the Romans. Petronius returned and a standoff ensued between the two armies until the Ethiopian ambassadors were allowed to negotiate a peace treaty with Augustus Caesar. The tribute exacted from the Meroites was renounced and a border was demarcated between Roman territory and the kingdom of Kush. *
2005-01-21 19:06 | User Profile
Lydia,
What's the CI explanation of Acts 13:1?
*Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. *
2005-01-22 21:06 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Centinel]Lydia,
What's the CI explanation of Acts 13:1?
Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. [/QUOTE] I don't know. That name may have a similarity to the African Nigeria, but there may not be any etymological similarity. We don't know know everything, but our context is in harmonizing the WHOLE of the Bible. By the same token, the universalists are trying to make a case through word interpretations, and don't always take into account changing demographics and changing history to serve the needs of the politically correct.
We have always maintained demographics of ancient history were not static. That can be proven in current day history with America in just a short 200 year timespan. What has not been proven by current day history is any great black civilization.
A lot of this is suppressed history that they're not teaching. And we see that in how the Dead Sea Scrolls have been so secretive for so long. It's politically incorrect history. It's pretty suspicious that the Rockerfeller foundation and the Israeli's took complete control of the excavation. Now it's available to scholars, but there's never been full disclosure. So what's to hide?
Political correctness currently rules our society, history books, churches, etc, and actually can change history. This can be seen in what is currently being taught today in our schools. Back to the example at hand, contemporary Afrocentric studies have contorted Egyptian history to say that it was black Africans who built the pyramids, and this is clearly seen in the tampering of hieroglyphicsfrom white figures into black figures in the before and after pictures. Given our brief knowledge of Aksum, the quote "We are whiter and brighter in our souls than the whitest of you" only confirms that they probably were White.
Wars, famines, diseases, etc. all play a significant role in people moving from one location to another, and then other people moving into their place. That's the significance of our understanding of Ethiopia then and today. While not predominate, there is secular proof that Israel moved North and West after the Assyrian Captivity. It's our contention that they did migrate. We consider it fulfillment of prophecy mentioned in II Sam 2:10.
Mainstream Christianity believes that the 10 Tribes amalgamated in the confines of their Assyrian captivity and then disappeared from the pages of history. Thereafter, they spiritualize what Israel is. And the result of that is that the different cultures now incorporated into Christianity have brought in their small g gods and it has clashed with God's laws. And that is the concern of CI: the clash of 2 legal systems. That is especially disturbing when judaism has been brought into the mix; i.e the judeo-Christian ethic. Judaic law (Talmudic Law) is the exact opposite of biblical law. For example: Judaism sanctions homosexuality, whereas Christianity condemns it.
2005-01-22 22:22 | User Profile
[QUOTE=lydia_the_faithful]Mainstream Christianity believes that the 10 Tribes amalgamated in the confines of their Assyrian captivity and then disappeared from the pages of history. Thereafter, they spiritualize what Israel is.[/QUOTE]
Interesting. This is of course, exactly how pre-mil dispensationalists criticize orthodox, historic amillennialism. They accuse it of 'spritualizing' the plain, literal scripture.
Regarding the 10 tribes: [url=http://members.aol.com/twarren14/10tribes.html]The 10 Lost Tribes of Israel[/url]
The fact of the matter is, the New Testament gives no hint of alleged lost tribes of Israel. And the terms "Hebrew," "Jew," and "Israelite" were and are used synonymously for the same people, as Paul himself so clearly demonstrated in his ministry [8]. We can only say, What distinction? Shall man put asunder what God has joined? Therefore we must conclude that by the preponderance of biblical evidence, there is no continuing distinction made today between Jews and Israel, and that the tribes of Israel were present in Israel when Jesus came to her.
The end of it all? God's Israelites are by Grace, not Race! The unconditional promises made to Israel have been fulfilled in Abraham's Seed! Not seeds as of many, but Seed as one one, Christ (galatians 3:16). Those who are in Christ are the blood-bought Israel of God, and these are those who constitute God's Elect, or Chosen people. Lost, but now found. Bound, but now free. Brought out of captivity in the Son Israel, called out of Egypt. This Son is not a geographical area nor a race, but Christ Jesus.
2005-01-23 01:49 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Texas Dissident]Interesting. This is of course, exactly how pre-mil dispensationalists criticize orthodox, historic amillennialism. They accuse it of 'spritualizing' the plain, literal scripture.
Regarding the 10 tribes:
[url="http://members.aol.com/twarren14/10tribes.html"]The 10 Lost Tribes of Israel[/url][/QUOTE] My husband and I read the link and discussed it. I usually collaborate with my husband on these posts.
Mr. Warren appears to be saying the lost were never lost, and yet proceeds to explain that indeed something was lost. What seems to be missing from his article is how the jew, which equals Israel, pertains to the jews of our day. It seems to be a complete contradiction of the jews he's talking about, accepting Christ, and today's jews who reject Christ. There is not even the slightest hint as to reconciling this contradiction.
He starts his premise by saying that some of the tribes of Israel moved to the southern Kingdom and were automatically called jews, and that this combination is equal to the whole of Israel. Suddenly, the Israelites going into the Assyrian captivity are no longer considered Israel.
What he doesn't mention is that this "remnant of Israelite tribes" living in the area of the southern Kingdom were taken into the Assyrian captivity as well: "Now in the fourteenth year of Hezekiah did Sennachreib King of Assyria come up against all the fenced cities of Judah, and took them" II Kings 18:13. There goes his remnant. This is a common ploy by some theologians to help equate Israelites with jews.
Mr. Warren seems to want to transpose this idea of lost at the time of the captivities, whereas first mention of this concept is at the time of Christ. There's a difference of 500 years. If Mr. Warren had considered Hosea 1:10 which states: "Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, ye are the sons of the living God", he would have reconciled the identity of Israel being lost and found. Israel went into captivity for her sins, and yet in the future would be recognized by Christ as the object of biblical prophecy. In fact, the book of James begins by saying "James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad, greetings" James 1:1. This is a clear indication that the tribes of Israel were lost outside of Judea, but Christ knew of their whereabouts after the Assyrian judgment.
So we can see from a casual glance at scripture that the word jew and Israel are not synonymous. Mr. Warren does not spiritualize, but actually literalizes an Israelite into a jew. It can be said that when the word jew is used as a person of the tribe of Judah (otherwise called a judahite), he is therefore one of the tribes of Israel and therefore, an Israelite. The same cannot be said of an Israelite being a Judahite (or jew). It should also be considered that Jeremiah 24 explains the difference between the good figs and bad figs of Judah. In other words, it was prophesied that by the time of Christ, there would be those who called themselves judahites (or jews), but are not, and are of the synagogue of satan.
The modern interpretations of biblical identities are reflected in the confusion of language that tries to fit today's jews into the ancient people of both Old and New Testaments. We respectfully disagree with Mr. Warren's exegesis on who, what, why, and where was lost. We believe that our people are as lost today as they were back then because, as Hosea 4:6 states "My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge".
If we look at who has promoted the good news of the Gospels for the last 2000 years, it is not those who fulfill the definition of antichrist according to I John 4:3: "Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist." We find it difficult to accept that the people who reject Christ today; who call themselves jews and Israel and are not, therefore assuming an identity that does not belong to them. It is White caucasian Christians who have furthered the cause of Christ to the entire world, and are, as the scripture saith, "that blindness in part is happened to Israel until the fullness of the gentiles be come in." In other words, our kindred do not know their true identity, but they will according to this promise, whereas today's jews already make this claim in spite of this verse.
2005-01-23 09:24 | User Profile
[QUOTE=lydia_the_faithful]We find it difficult to accept that the people who reject Christ today; who call themselves jews and Israel and are not, therefore assuming an identity that does not belong to them.[/QUOTE]
As well you should, Lydia. "For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel".
In Christ, true Israel is no longer built on race, but rather grace. "And do not presume to say to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father,' for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham."
Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called "the uncircumcision" by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands-- remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments and ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. - Ephesians 2:11-22
These are just a couple from hundreds of passages that make it crystal clear what and who is the true Israel of God. I sincerely hope and pray that these truths will be revealed to you because if "anyone should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned!" In other words, eternal consequences are at stake.
2005-01-23 10:11 | User Profile
[QUOTE=lydia_the_faithful]I don't know. That name may have a similarity to the African Nigeria, but there may not be any etymological similarity.
[url=http://bible.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/Greek/grk.cgi?number=3526&version=kjv]Strong's Number: 3526[/url]
2005-01-24 03:42 | User Profile
If you can find a copy of the book mentioned in the quote below, the author sorts out such topics as Identity, Covenant, Dispensational, Preterist, Amillenial, Pre-Trib, Post Trib, ect. This book and several other by the same author were very helpfull to sort out all the competing theologies and doctrines that constitute today's Christianity.
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Quote:
Pat Brooks, in her tremendous book, HEAR OF ISRAEL! says of this time: "The unity which is coming will not be a fawning over apostate Jewry. . .There will be no more talk of any 'Judeo-Christian ethic' in those days. Israel and Judah will only be united when they all say: 'Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord.
Complete article: [url]http://www.scripturesforamerica.org/html2/jm0070.htm[/url]
Book "Hear O Israel": [url]http://www.alibris.com/search/search.cfm?qwork=2847734&wauth=Pat%20Brooks&ptit=Hear%2C%20O%20Israel&pauth=Brooks%2C%20Pat&pisbn=&pqty=3&pqtynew=0&pbest=39%2E94&matches=3&qsort=r[/url]
Note: Pat Brooks and her husband used to run a publishing/book selling business callled New Puritan Library if I'm not mistaken.
2005-01-24 04:24 | User Profile
Another excellent book by Pat Brooks and Roy Newman: "The Budding Fig Tree, God's Plan For Israel and Judah"
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ Description of book:
God's Prophetic Plan for Both Israel and Judah, and their role in the End Times. Three Main Sections: The Antichrist & the Budding Fig Tree, The Footprints of History, and The Joseph People. Learn more about: Pro-Zionists & Anti-Zionists, The Return of the Jews, America in Scripture, Historical Finds of Israel in Assyria and Among the Goths & Germanic Tribes, the Prophecies to Ephraim & Manasseh, and more! 'Now learn this parable from the Fig Tree: When its branch has already become tender and puts forth leaves, you know that summer is near. So you also, when you see all these things, know that He is near, even at the doors.' (Matt. 24:32-33)
[url]http://www.impactchristianbooks.com/products/TheBuddingFigTree.jpg[/url]
Item # 176_8922 at: [URL]http://www.impactchristianbooks.com/[/URL] Price - 2.50