1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:09,600 Hey, welcome to the Methodist Voice. 2 00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:15,720 The purpose of our time together is to grow in the knowledge of God revealed in the pages 3 00:00:15,720 --> 00:00:16,720 of scripture. 4 00:00:16,720 --> 00:00:23,160 2 Corinthians chapter 3 tells us that when we contemplate the God revealed in scripture, 5 00:00:23,160 --> 00:00:26,400 it transforms us into His image. 6 00:00:26,400 --> 00:00:33,080 That transformation beautifies our minds and hearts and we then beautify the world together. 7 00:00:33,080 --> 00:00:35,600 We think that's time well spent. 8 00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:36,600 Thanks for joining us. 9 00:00:36,600 --> 00:00:42,260 I hope you enjoy today's episode. 10 00:00:42,260 --> 00:00:45,080 Thanks for joining us on today's podcast. 11 00:00:45,080 --> 00:00:47,160 Little late coming out with it this week. 12 00:00:47,160 --> 00:00:50,160 We've been having VBS at the church. 13 00:00:50,160 --> 00:00:55,760 If you've ever served in a VBS, you know why that's a good excuse. 14 00:00:55,760 --> 00:01:00,200 And I will probably miss you next week because I will be on vacation with my family. 15 00:01:00,200 --> 00:01:04,040 So we'll pick up our story after that week. 16 00:01:04,040 --> 00:01:13,060 But today we're going to be covering Genesis 1 14 and a big topic in that verse is the 17 00:01:13,060 --> 00:01:16,760 topic of the constellations. 18 00:01:16,760 --> 00:01:24,160 And so the constellations have figured as an object of adoration and even worship for 19 00:01:24,160 --> 00:01:28,400 every human civilization throughout history. 20 00:01:28,400 --> 00:01:35,800 Every human civilization has identified the same constellations in the same order. 21 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:40,800 They've developed similar myths surrounding those constellations and that's all completely 22 00:01:40,800 --> 00:01:43,680 independently of one another. 23 00:01:43,680 --> 00:01:50,660 To this day, no secular source has come up with a plausible explanation for that. 24 00:01:50,660 --> 00:01:55,720 How do all of these disconnected civilizations and cultures identify the same constellations 25 00:01:55,720 --> 00:02:00,800 in the same order with same mythologies attached to them? 26 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:03,100 That's a mystery. 27 00:02:03,100 --> 00:02:06,120 Same with megalithic structures like pyramids. 28 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:11,100 They've been constructed all over the world in antiquity. 29 00:02:11,100 --> 00:02:16,400 No interaction amongst civilizations and they're building these same things and they're all 30 00:02:16,400 --> 00:02:20,000 based on the constellation Orion. 31 00:02:20,000 --> 00:02:21,000 Why is that? 32 00:02:21,000 --> 00:02:28,800 We're going to tackle those problems today as we cover our text Genesis chapter 1 verses 33 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:29,800 14 through 15. 34 00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:33,040 I'm going to get into reading that right now. 35 00:02:33,040 --> 00:02:41,240 It says, and God said, let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate 36 00:02:41,240 --> 00:02:46,040 the day from the night and let them be for signs. 37 00:02:46,040 --> 00:02:54,600 Now that word signs, the Hebrew, it means omens promised by prophets as pledges of certain 38 00:02:54,600 --> 00:02:57,200 predicted events. 39 00:02:57,200 --> 00:02:59,680 So signs means signs in that sense. 40 00:02:59,680 --> 00:03:03,120 Let them be for signs and for seasons. 41 00:03:03,120 --> 00:03:10,400 Now again, that Hebrew word means appointed time, place or meeting. 42 00:03:10,400 --> 00:03:15,960 So it's like some appointed event that's going to happen at a certain time, at a certain 43 00:03:15,960 --> 00:03:23,680 place that is communicated in what God is creating here. 44 00:03:23,680 --> 00:03:27,980 And so let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years. 45 00:03:27,980 --> 00:03:30,520 So it's also like a clock. 46 00:03:30,520 --> 00:03:38,240 Verse 15, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth 47 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:40,040 and it was so. 48 00:03:40,040 --> 00:03:43,160 Now as we do here, we're going to use scripture to interpret scripture. 49 00:03:43,160 --> 00:03:48,200 So I'm going to read from some other scriptures to shed light on some scriptures that might 50 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:52,080 provide more depth of meaning to what God is communicating here. 51 00:03:52,080 --> 00:03:57,240 We're going to go back to Job chapter 38. 52 00:03:57,240 --> 00:04:03,080 Again Job is considered by many if not most to be perhaps the oldest book in the Bible 53 00:04:03,080 --> 00:04:06,480 so it is ancient. 54 00:04:06,480 --> 00:04:10,400 Can't really put a date on it, it's so ancient. 55 00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:11,960 But here's what it says in Job 38. 56 00:04:11,960 --> 00:04:14,280 It is going to make a reference to the constellations. 57 00:04:14,280 --> 00:04:16,840 Now you'll find that reference many other places in scripture. 58 00:04:16,840 --> 00:04:22,640 I've chosen this from this one from Job because it is so ancient and because it is so explicit 59 00:04:22,640 --> 00:04:26,560 in referencing the constellations. 60 00:04:26,560 --> 00:04:29,440 Job 38 verse 31. 61 00:04:29,440 --> 00:04:37,680 Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loose the cords of Orion? 62 00:04:37,680 --> 00:04:41,400 Can you lead forth the Maseroth in their season? 63 00:04:41,400 --> 00:04:49,160 Now that word Maseroth is the Hebrew word for the signs of the zodiac, the 12 signs of 64 00:04:49,160 --> 00:04:51,800 the zodiac. 65 00:04:51,800 --> 00:04:53,680 Continuing in verse 32. 66 00:04:53,680 --> 00:04:57,520 Or can you guide the bear with its children? 67 00:04:57,520 --> 00:04:59,640 Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? 68 00:04:59,640 --> 00:05:04,760 Can you establish their rule on the earth? 69 00:05:04,760 --> 00:05:13,200 That's an ancient reference to the specific constellations found in the signs of the zodiac 70 00:05:13,200 --> 00:05:15,360 in the Hebrew scriptures. 71 00:05:15,360 --> 00:05:21,000 And then we're going to read one last passage of scripture from Psalm 19. 72 00:05:21,000 --> 00:05:24,440 And you're going to notice an interesting juxtaposition. 73 00:05:24,440 --> 00:05:31,200 It's going to talk about speech from God found in the heavens. 74 00:05:31,200 --> 00:05:39,680 And it's going to juxtaposition that idea with the speech found from God, divine revelation 75 00:05:39,680 --> 00:05:41,520 found in scripture. 76 00:05:41,520 --> 00:05:44,600 So it's an interesting juxtaposition. 77 00:05:44,600 --> 00:05:46,040 I'm going to read the entire Psalm. 78 00:05:46,040 --> 00:05:49,680 I'm going to start in obviously verse one. 79 00:05:49,680 --> 00:05:57,840 The heavens declare the glory of God and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. 80 00:05:57,840 --> 00:06:04,360 Day to day pours out speech and night to night reveals knowledge. 81 00:06:04,360 --> 00:06:10,160 There is no speech nor are there words whose voice is not heard. 82 00:06:10,160 --> 00:06:19,240 Their voice goes out through all the earth and their words to the end of the world. 83 00:06:19,240 --> 00:06:26,440 In them he has set a tent for the sun which comes out like a bridegroom leaving his chamber 84 00:06:26,440 --> 00:06:30,840 and like a strong man runs its course with joy. 85 00:06:30,840 --> 00:06:36,560 Its rising is from one end of the heavens and its circuit to the end of them and there 86 00:06:36,560 --> 00:06:41,000 is nothing hidden from its heat. 87 00:06:41,000 --> 00:06:46,240 And then we're going to juxtaposition in verse seven. 88 00:06:46,240 --> 00:06:50,120 The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. 89 00:06:50,120 --> 00:06:53,860 The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. 90 00:06:53,860 --> 00:06:58,340 The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. 91 00:06:58,340 --> 00:07:03,720 The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes. 92 00:07:03,720 --> 00:07:06,720 The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring forever. 93 00:07:06,720 --> 00:07:13,560 The rules of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. 94 00:07:13,560 --> 00:07:16,140 More to be desired are they than gold. 95 00:07:16,140 --> 00:07:21,120 Even much fine gold, sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb. 96 00:07:21,120 --> 00:07:27,000 Moreover by them is your servant warned, in keeping them there is great reward. 97 00:07:27,000 --> 00:07:28,680 Who can discern his errors? 98 00:07:28,680 --> 00:07:31,520 Declare me innocent from hidden faults. 99 00:07:31,520 --> 00:07:35,040 Keep back your servant also from presumptuous sins. 100 00:07:35,040 --> 00:07:38,120 Let them not have dominion over me. 101 00:07:38,120 --> 00:07:43,700 Then I shall be blameless and innocent of great transgression. 102 00:07:43,700 --> 00:07:49,400 Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O 103 00:07:49,400 --> 00:07:54,080 Lord, my rock and my redeemer. 104 00:07:54,080 --> 00:08:01,560 In this Psalm is the sense that there is a divine message that can connect me with God, 105 00:08:01,560 --> 00:08:10,440 that can disclose divine information, that will lead me into an eternal hope and future. 106 00:08:10,440 --> 00:08:12,320 So it's a profound message. 107 00:08:12,320 --> 00:08:22,440 It's an important message and that's why many ancients were led to see divinity in 108 00:08:22,440 --> 00:08:28,560 the heavens, in the stars and find or seek from them some message that would connect 109 00:08:28,560 --> 00:08:30,760 them with God. 110 00:08:30,760 --> 00:08:35,720 Even in later Judaism you found this. 111 00:08:35,720 --> 00:08:42,160 And so a message found in the stars was shown to be found very important to the Jewish people. 112 00:08:42,160 --> 00:08:49,040 Around fifteen to seventeen hundred years ago there were seven synagogues found where 113 00:08:49,040 --> 00:08:51,600 it was featured prominently. 114 00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:56,720 The mosaic of the zodiac was a prominent feature of the synagogue. 115 00:08:56,720 --> 00:09:03,880 So even Jewish people found there to be some cosmic divine message or significant found 116 00:09:03,880 --> 00:09:11,380 in the constellations that comprise what the Jewish people called the Maseroth. 117 00:09:11,380 --> 00:09:19,080 Now discussing these things makes some fundamentalist types, pseudo conservative, evangelical types 118 00:09:19,080 --> 00:09:20,640 nervous. 119 00:09:20,640 --> 00:09:26,000 Now I wouldn't necessarily deny some of those labels myself but I'm just pointing out that 120 00:09:26,000 --> 00:09:32,440 believers cut from this cloth have alarm bells going off anytime someone strays from the 121 00:09:32,440 --> 00:09:36,160 path of comfortable and familiar topics for them. 122 00:09:36,160 --> 00:09:42,640 They're afraid somehow people are going to be led astray into the occult or get into 123 00:09:42,640 --> 00:09:46,240 astrology or worshiping other gods. 124 00:09:46,240 --> 00:09:47,240 Come on. 125 00:09:47,240 --> 00:09:51,840 Let me tell you a bigger problem we have today. 126 00:09:51,840 --> 00:09:58,640 A much bigger problem we face than someone getting into reading tarot cards or something 127 00:09:58,640 --> 00:09:59,640 like that. 128 00:09:59,640 --> 00:10:05,040 It's not the temptation to worship other gods or start making decisions for their life based 129 00:10:05,040 --> 00:10:07,040 on astrology. 130 00:10:07,040 --> 00:10:17,280 A bigger temptation is an exaggerated skepticism of anything supernatural, of anything of supernatural 131 00:10:17,280 --> 00:10:20,040 origins. 132 00:10:20,040 --> 00:10:27,920 It's the temptation to embrace unbelief masquerading as intelligence. 133 00:10:27,920 --> 00:10:36,720 It's the brainwashing we've all received being educated at the hands of an educational 134 00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:43,640 system that is based on scientific materialism or what I refer to as scientism. 135 00:10:43,640 --> 00:10:51,640 The only thing that's real is that which I can taste, touch, hear, see or smell. 136 00:10:51,640 --> 00:10:59,440 We've developed a blind faith in scientism being able to function as a grand narrative 137 00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:05,440 and explanation for everything that exists or ever did exist which it cannot possibly 138 00:11:05,440 --> 00:11:09,400 function to do. 139 00:11:09,400 --> 00:11:15,480 So the discussion of this topic is going to be relevant for us in helping us to understand 140 00:11:15,480 --> 00:11:20,760 many other stories in scripture like the story of Nimrod in chapter 10 that we're going to 141 00:11:20,760 --> 00:11:28,960 get into and then the Tower of Babel, megalithic structure building in Genesis chapter 11 or 142 00:11:28,960 --> 00:11:33,760 like the story of Joseph and his 11 other brothers later on in Genesis. 143 00:11:33,760 --> 00:11:43,320 In that story Jacob blesses his 12 sons and many people see there are 12 sons, 12 months 144 00:11:43,320 --> 00:11:49,320 of the year, 12 signs of the zodiac and many people see an association between Jacob's 145 00:11:49,320 --> 00:11:57,480 blessing and individual constellations which will come into play when you see Joseph has 146 00:11:57,480 --> 00:12:05,960 a dream where he sees 11 stars bowing down to him and his brothers hear that dream and 147 00:12:05,960 --> 00:12:11,480 they immediately get offended because it's associated with them because their names are 148 00:12:11,480 --> 00:12:14,360 associated with stars. 149 00:12:14,360 --> 00:12:22,520 So the blessing of Joseph and his 11 brothers received from their father Jacob is likely 150 00:12:22,520 --> 00:12:24,760 associated with the 12 signs of the zodiac. 151 00:12:24,760 --> 00:12:32,200 Furthermore the banners that the 12 tribes of Israel which are based upon the 12 patriarchs 152 00:12:32,200 --> 00:12:38,920 that Jacob blessed which they camped under likely contained images of the constellations 153 00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:41,480 on their banners. 154 00:12:41,480 --> 00:12:46,260 The colors of the banners were likely based upon the 12 stones inlaid on the breastplate 155 00:12:46,260 --> 00:12:51,240 of the priestly garments. 156 00:12:51,240 --> 00:12:56,600 The tabernacle consisted of 12 loaves, Leviticus 24.5. 157 00:12:56,600 --> 00:13:01,160 Offerings were brought on 12 oxen, Numbers 7.3. 158 00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:05,540 Cultic vessels were numbered in 12s, Numbers 7.84. 159 00:13:05,540 --> 00:13:12,840 The bronze sea in the temple was supported by 12 oxen, 1 Kings 7.34. 160 00:13:12,840 --> 00:13:17,820 Solomon had 12 officials who were responsible for supplying the royal household from their 161 00:13:17,820 --> 00:13:24,080 respective districts on a rotating monthly basis, 1 Kings 4. 162 00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:30,040 The steps in front of Solomon's throne featured 12 lions, 1 Kings 10.20. 163 00:13:30,040 --> 00:13:37,400 Ezekiel envisioned an altar hearth 12 cubits square. 164 00:13:37,400 --> 00:13:39,920 And so on. 165 00:13:39,920 --> 00:13:46,840 So the significance of the number 12 probably relates to the 12 months of the year which 166 00:13:46,840 --> 00:13:52,520 are based on or associated with the 12 signs of the zodiac. 167 00:13:52,520 --> 00:13:57,800 So it will even figure into our understanding of the Magi who come from the east to pay 168 00:13:57,800 --> 00:14:01,880 homage to worship the baby or the toddler Jesus. 169 00:14:01,880 --> 00:14:03,840 They probably came from Persia. 170 00:14:03,840 --> 00:14:07,360 They were Magi meaning they were astronomers. 171 00:14:07,360 --> 00:14:11,240 They read the stars professionally. 172 00:14:11,240 --> 00:14:16,840 It will help us to understand certain passages from Revelation like chapter 12. 173 00:14:16,840 --> 00:14:23,600 But perhaps more importantly than all of that, it will help us to dismantle certain criticisms 174 00:14:23,600 --> 00:14:30,400 of Christianity from unbelievers that have cropped up throughout history who seek to 175 00:14:30,400 --> 00:14:39,160 claim that Christianity is nothing more than a hijacking of ancient mythologies that can 176 00:14:39,160 --> 00:14:48,460 be found in many cultures about a God born of a virgin who is going to come forth destined 177 00:14:48,460 --> 00:14:56,320 to save humanity that the disciples simply hijacked and applied to the historical person 178 00:14:56,320 --> 00:14:59,520 of Jesus of Nazareth. 179 00:14:59,520 --> 00:15:02,680 Now it's true. 180 00:15:02,680 --> 00:15:09,480 Those mythologies have existed from ancient times that have an uncanny resemblance to 181 00:15:09,480 --> 00:15:11,200 the story about Jesus. 182 00:15:11,200 --> 00:15:13,360 That's absolutely true. 183 00:15:13,360 --> 00:15:21,600 But is it necessarily true that those stories were simply all made up by the ancients, again 184 00:15:21,600 --> 00:15:29,920 completely independently of one another and then hijacked by the first disciples of Jesus? 185 00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:36,020 I'd like to discuss the work of a woman named Lady Frances Roleston of Keswick. 186 00:15:36,020 --> 00:15:41,400 She was born in 1781 in Great Britain to an upper class family. 187 00:15:41,400 --> 00:15:51,720 She's best known for her book published in or around 1862 called Maseroth or the Constellations. 188 00:15:51,720 --> 00:15:55,560 Here is what her biographer Jane S. Poole had to say about her. 189 00:15:55,560 --> 00:16:01,120 She's going to kind of say in a concise way the life and the character about the woman 190 00:16:01,120 --> 00:16:03,080 who came up with this work. 191 00:16:03,080 --> 00:16:10,680 So here's what Jane Poole says about Lady Roleston's life. 192 00:16:10,680 --> 00:16:18,160 A group of young scholars stood in the British Museum absorbed by a newly arrived object. 193 00:16:18,160 --> 00:16:27,120 The Rosetta Stone promised to be the key to the heretofore unreadable Egyptian hieroglyphs. 194 00:16:27,120 --> 00:16:33,880 The steel had been discovered in 1799 during Napoleon's expedition to Egypt and surrendered 195 00:16:33,880 --> 00:16:38,320 to the British upon his defeat in 1801. 196 00:16:38,320 --> 00:16:42,040 One of that group of scholars was Frances Roleston. 197 00:16:42,040 --> 00:16:46,080 She would learn to read hieroglyphs 50 years later. 198 00:16:46,080 --> 00:16:52,300 But now as a student of astronomy, she was asking herself this question. 199 00:16:52,300 --> 00:16:59,260 If God created the heavens for his own glory, as the scriptures say, why is the celestial 200 00:16:59,260 --> 00:17:09,440 planisphere covered with pagan images of heroes, gods, little g, and goddesses? 201 00:17:09,440 --> 00:17:14,240 The discussion at the Rosetta Stone that day began for Frances, who claimed a love for 202 00:17:14,240 --> 00:17:20,800 astronomy almost since infancy, a search for the original star names and constellation 203 00:17:20,800 --> 00:17:22,840 figures. 204 00:17:22,840 --> 00:17:28,320 Finding that the science of astronomy never existed apart from the constellations, she 205 00:17:28,320 --> 00:17:32,880 felt that her search might turn up their original purpose. 206 00:17:32,880 --> 00:17:38,560 Already a linguist, a gift found elsewhere in her family, Frances traced those names 207 00:17:38,560 --> 00:17:44,960 and meanings back to their earliest use, developing a theory, supporting it with 10 years of research 208 00:17:44,960 --> 00:17:53,760 at the British Museum, and preparing for publication turned into a 50-year endeavor. 209 00:17:53,760 --> 00:18:00,120 One has to ask, what kind of person would put that much time and effort into one book? 210 00:18:00,120 --> 00:18:02,100 What kind indeed? 211 00:18:02,100 --> 00:18:07,600 One motivated by her love of both astronomy and the Bible, who kept current on discoveries 212 00:18:07,600 --> 00:18:13,520 and theories in both science and religion, and who spoke out her convictions in newspapers 213 00:18:13,520 --> 00:18:15,720 and journals. 214 00:18:15,720 --> 00:18:22,040 Here's what Frances said, Newspapers educate the people and sway public opinion. 215 00:18:22,040 --> 00:18:29,040 Therefore, I am indefatigable just now in sending articles right and left, comforting 216 00:18:29,040 --> 00:18:32,200 myself for people not reading my book. 217 00:18:32,200 --> 00:18:36,400 With finding, they do read my paragraphs. 218 00:18:36,400 --> 00:18:40,320 But there is much more to this woman than is guessed by those who know Frances Roleston 219 00:18:40,320 --> 00:18:44,900 only as the writer of Maseroth, the constellations. 220 00:18:44,900 --> 00:18:51,480 In late 18th and early 19th century England, polarization in religion, politics, and morals 221 00:18:51,480 --> 00:18:54,280 dramatically increased. 222 00:18:54,280 --> 00:18:56,740 Sound familiar? 223 00:18:56,740 --> 00:19:01,960 Theories within the new science of geology, and later astronomy, challenged the traditional 224 00:19:01,960 --> 00:19:04,560 understanding of Genesis. 225 00:19:04,560 --> 00:19:08,560 Since up to that time, many scientists were also clergymen. 226 00:19:08,560 --> 00:19:12,680 Division marked the educated classes, those in the church particularly. 227 00:19:12,680 --> 00:19:15,680 Again, sound familiar? 228 00:19:15,680 --> 00:19:21,460 John Wesley's Methodism brought moral improvement to the lower classes, while the upper classes 229 00:19:21,460 --> 00:19:24,240 were morally degenerated. 230 00:19:24,240 --> 00:19:32,080 There was foment for more rights for the lower classes and demand for freedom for women. 231 00:19:32,080 --> 00:19:37,280 Sometimes one led to violence, and the upper classes who controlled the government pushed 232 00:19:37,280 --> 00:19:38,740 back. 233 00:19:38,740 --> 00:19:42,960 Sometimes the demand for women's rights led to the flagrant practice of free love, which 234 00:19:42,960 --> 00:19:46,080 assaulted traditional values. 235 00:19:46,080 --> 00:19:52,800 Into the fray stepped a small group of upper class Anglicans who sought to improve society 236 00:19:52,800 --> 00:19:55,600 through social and political means. 237 00:19:55,600 --> 00:20:01,080 They wanted to abolish slavery, help people get out of debt, raise the moral consciousness 238 00:20:01,080 --> 00:20:05,760 of the upper classes, and educate the poor. 239 00:20:05,760 --> 00:20:09,300 They were sniffed at in Parliament as the Saints. 240 00:20:09,300 --> 00:20:14,280 Many of them lived in or near Clapham, a community southwest of London. 241 00:20:14,280 --> 00:20:21,160 Its main leaders, John Thornton and William Wilberforce, were relatives of Frances Roleston 242 00:20:21,160 --> 00:20:25,360 on her mother's side, hailing from Yorkshire. 243 00:20:25,360 --> 00:20:32,000 Frances herself aligned with the group for anti-slavery and education of the poor, sharing 244 00:20:32,000 --> 00:20:36,400 both its adulation and ridicule. 245 00:20:36,400 --> 00:20:41,280 Entering her 40s, Frances pioneered infant schools, that just means elementary schools 246 00:20:41,280 --> 00:20:42,680 in England. 247 00:20:42,680 --> 00:20:47,820 She began this work near London, ten years later relocated to continue that work among 248 00:20:47,820 --> 00:20:53,920 her father's people in Nottinghamshire, and her mother's people in Yorkshire. 249 00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:59,840 This work entailed building sites, finding people to underwrite the costs, preparing 250 00:20:59,840 --> 00:21:03,240 curricula and training teachers. 251 00:21:03,240 --> 00:21:08,800 It required diplomacy as well as time, for she worked with people from differing religious 252 00:21:08,800 --> 00:21:11,820 denominations and political persuasions. 253 00:21:11,820 --> 00:21:19,240 She also promoted infant schools in Sierra Leone and among Native Americans and Blacks. 254 00:21:19,240 --> 00:21:23,740 At age 67, Frances ended her work with infant schools and relocated to Keswick, where she 255 00:21:23,740 --> 00:21:28,600 gave herself an earnest to organizing and printing her notes for Maseroth. 256 00:21:28,600 --> 00:21:33,880 She also spent long hours exploring the Lakes District, serving as an unofficial guide to 257 00:21:33,880 --> 00:21:36,960 tourists and painting effects. 258 00:21:36,960 --> 00:21:40,760 Her writing included numerous tracks, fables, ballads, sonnets, letters to newspapers and 259 00:21:40,760 --> 00:21:43,000 journals, and at least four books. 260 00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:49,800 Meagled with these pursuits, she nursed the sick and collected for those suffering famine. 261 00:21:49,800 --> 00:21:54,240 Although Rolestons were upper class and Frances rubbed shoulders with men of science and letters, 262 00:21:54,240 --> 00:21:56,080 her life was not devoid of trouble. 263 00:21:56,080 --> 00:22:00,000 She experienced threat of financial ruin, sickness, and loneliness. 264 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:02,380 She triumphed through prayer and perseverance. 265 00:22:02,380 --> 00:22:07,560 She continued writing and painting until confined to bed three days before passing peaceably 266 00:22:07,560 --> 00:22:09,500 from this life. 267 00:22:09,500 --> 00:22:16,160 All that's to say, this was a woman of means, well connected, functioning from sincere and 268 00:22:16,160 --> 00:22:22,080 authentic faith, working to improve the lives of those beneath her. 269 00:22:22,080 --> 00:22:33,080 She is not a flake or a person of insincere motives. 270 00:22:33,080 --> 00:22:44,040 She mentions him in her book Maseroth, a man by the name of Charles Francois Dupuy. 271 00:22:44,040 --> 00:22:51,120 Keep in mind, this would be in an age when what is called the Enlightenment is coming 272 00:22:51,120 --> 00:22:52,120 to fruition. 273 00:22:52,120 --> 00:22:53,620 It is maturing. 274 00:22:53,620 --> 00:23:03,080 The Enlightenment is that age where man is the measure of all things and human men and 275 00:23:03,080 --> 00:23:10,000 serious thinkers are beginning to eschew the supernatural realm and just focus on explaining 276 00:23:10,000 --> 00:23:14,360 reality through natural means and explanations. 277 00:23:14,360 --> 00:23:24,320 So according to his Wikipedia entry, Dupuy was a French savant, a professor of rhetoric 278 00:23:24,320 --> 00:23:31,440 at the College de l'Issue Paris who studied for the law in his spare time and was received 279 00:23:31,440 --> 00:23:35,160 as avocat in 1770. 280 00:23:35,160 --> 00:23:39,280 He also ventured into the field of mathematics and served on the committees that developed 281 00:23:39,280 --> 00:23:41,920 the French Republican calendar. 282 00:23:41,920 --> 00:23:50,200 Dupuy was known for developing what is known as the Christ myth theory, which argued that 283 00:23:50,200 --> 00:24:00,000 Christianity was an amalgamation of various ancient mythologies and that Jesus was a mythical 284 00:24:00,000 --> 00:24:04,120 character. 285 00:24:04,120 --> 00:24:08,760 Mythicists variously argue that the accounts of Jesus are completely or mostly of a mythical 286 00:24:08,760 --> 00:24:14,280 nature questioning the mainstream paradigm of a historical Jesus in the beginning of 287 00:24:14,280 --> 00:24:18,240 the first century who is subsequently deified. 288 00:24:18,240 --> 00:24:25,120 Most mythicists note that Christianity developed within Hellenistic Judaism, which was influenced 289 00:24:25,120 --> 00:24:33,880 by Hellenism, that is Greco-Roman thinking, philosophy and mythology, and that early Christianity 290 00:24:33,880 --> 00:24:39,960 and the accounts of Jesus are to be understood in this context. 291 00:24:39,960 --> 00:24:44,420 Most radical mythicists hold that Jesus never existed at all. 292 00:24:44,420 --> 00:24:50,000 They hold that he was a made-up character developed out of a syncretistic fusion of 293 00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:56,440 Jewish, Hellenistic, and Eastern religious thought. 294 00:24:56,440 --> 00:25:02,040 This character was then put forward by a man named the Apostle Paul and historicized in 295 00:25:02,040 --> 00:25:06,240 the Gospels, which are also syncretistic. 296 00:25:06,240 --> 00:25:12,200 Some other mythicists argue for an agnostic Jesus viewpoint, that is, there might have 297 00:25:12,200 --> 00:25:15,880 been a historical person named Jesus, there probably was, but we don't know anything 298 00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:23,840 about him because the only thing we have about him are clearly based on ancient myths that 299 00:25:23,840 --> 00:25:28,040 have been hijacked and applied to this person. 300 00:25:28,040 --> 00:25:36,000 Now, all of that thinking is based on the idea, based upon scientism, the only thing 301 00:25:36,000 --> 00:25:45,000 that is real is that which is made of the material world we deny the supernatural realm. 302 00:25:45,000 --> 00:25:50,060 All of that thinking is based on the idea that those ancient myths were created by those 303 00:25:50,060 --> 00:25:52,720 early human civilizations. 304 00:25:52,720 --> 00:25:55,360 Where else could they have come from? 305 00:25:55,360 --> 00:25:58,440 Humans had to create them. 306 00:25:58,440 --> 00:26:03,560 So it's not hard to see why various thinkers came to the conclusions they did about the 307 00:26:03,560 --> 00:26:05,480 Jesus myth. 308 00:26:05,480 --> 00:26:13,440 But again, what are the chances, think about it, that those myths all associated with the 309 00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:21,360 exact same twelve signs of the zodiac, with the same story lines, and they were created 310 00:26:21,360 --> 00:26:29,320 completely by completely disconnected civilizations just by coincidence? 311 00:26:29,320 --> 00:26:36,720 So on the contrary, what Lady Rolleston uncovered in her fifty years of research, to me, I think 312 00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:42,760 to a reasonable person, was a far superior explanation about the origin, the original 313 00:26:42,760 --> 00:26:46,680 origin of those mythologies from the ancients. 314 00:26:46,680 --> 00:26:53,400 So I'm going to quote from her book, Maseroth, Maseroth, however you say it. 315 00:26:53,400 --> 00:26:58,680 She writes, and again, you can go get the book yourself, it's only a dollar ninety-nine 316 00:26:58,680 --> 00:27:07,360 on Amazon.com, and she makes an extensive case through extensive citations of very important 317 00:27:07,360 --> 00:27:12,420 thinkers throughout history, we're talking pagan thinkers as well as religious thinkers, 318 00:27:12,420 --> 00:27:16,360 who cannot trace the origin of these stories. 319 00:27:16,360 --> 00:27:19,240 They say they've just always existed. 320 00:27:19,240 --> 00:27:21,880 They all consistently say this. 321 00:27:21,880 --> 00:27:27,040 And so here's what she is going to write about the origin of these myths. 322 00:27:27,040 --> 00:27:33,760 That the line of the family of Noah, the Noah from the Bible, the book of Genesis, of which 323 00:27:33,760 --> 00:27:38,800 Abraham came, would be Chaldean. 324 00:27:38,800 --> 00:27:48,040 So some of the oldest zodiacal signs and myths are Chaldean in nature. 325 00:27:48,040 --> 00:27:49,920 That's the ancient Near East. 326 00:27:49,920 --> 00:27:57,400 That the traditions of the Chaldean astronomy seem fragments of a mighty system fallen into 327 00:27:57,400 --> 00:27:58,400 ruin. 328 00:27:58,400 --> 00:28:03,160 That's according to Sir W. Drummond. 329 00:28:03,160 --> 00:28:07,960 Astronomy is found highly cultivated in Egypt in the very earliest times of its history. 330 00:28:07,960 --> 00:28:11,040 In other words, there's no evidence of a process of development. 331 00:28:11,040 --> 00:28:13,680 It just shows up in ancient Egypt. 332 00:28:13,680 --> 00:28:21,440 Noet, a French astronomer, infers from that that Egyptian astronomy must have arisen in 333 00:28:21,440 --> 00:28:25,420 5400 BC. 334 00:28:25,420 --> 00:28:31,380 This date accords with the assertion of Josephus, the great Jewish historian from around the 335 00:28:31,380 --> 00:28:38,880 time of Jesus, that astronomy originated with the family of Seth and with the traditions 336 00:28:38,880 --> 00:28:51,360 of the ancient Persians and Arabs, also attributing its invention to Adam, Seth and Enoch. 337 00:28:51,360 --> 00:28:56,500 In the notes of Gill's commentary on Genesis, this is a very old and celebrated commentary 338 00:28:56,500 --> 00:28:58,180 on the Bible. 339 00:28:58,180 --> 00:29:00,040 You can find that again for free online. 340 00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:04,240 In the notes of Gill's commentary on Genesis will be found the names of ancient writers, 341 00:29:04,240 --> 00:29:14,480 Jewish, Persian and Arabic, by whom these trends traditions have been transmitted. 342 00:29:14,480 --> 00:29:21,880 So Lady Rolleston in her book also cites from her research, a man by the name of Giovanni 343 00:29:21,880 --> 00:29:23,100 Cassini. 344 00:29:23,100 --> 00:29:28,780 He's a great Italian astronomer and intellectual born in 1625. 345 00:29:28,780 --> 00:29:32,880 He discovered four satellites of the planet Saturn. 346 00:29:32,880 --> 00:29:36,840 He also noted the division of the rings that surrounded Saturn. 347 00:29:36,840 --> 00:29:40,960 And so he's a famous astronomer and thinker. 348 00:29:40,960 --> 00:29:46,140 The divisions of the rings of Saturn are named after him, the Cassini division. 349 00:29:46,140 --> 00:29:51,600 There was a probe launched in 1997 called the Cassini space probe and it was the first 350 00:29:51,600 --> 00:29:53,600 probe to orbit the planet Saturn. 351 00:29:53,600 --> 00:29:57,120 So he's a very celebrated astronomer and thinker. 352 00:29:57,120 --> 00:30:02,760 Here's what he writes in his history of astronomy. 353 00:30:02,760 --> 00:30:10,000 It is impossible to doubt that astronomy was invented from the beginning of the world. 354 00:30:10,000 --> 00:30:17,500 History, profane as well as sacred, testifies to this truth. 355 00:30:17,500 --> 00:30:24,000 He refers to Philo of Alexandria that was a Jewish thinker from around the time of Jesus. 356 00:30:24,000 --> 00:30:31,160 For the assertion that Terah, who was the father of Abraham, he lived more than a hundred 357 00:30:31,160 --> 00:30:40,560 years with Noah and had studied much astronomy and taught it to Abraham, who is further said 358 00:30:40,560 --> 00:30:47,440 again by Josephus to have taught it to the Egyptians. 359 00:30:47,440 --> 00:30:52,760 Now you can read more about that in the book Maseroth. 360 00:30:52,760 --> 00:31:00,280 There's much more evidence to cite where these stories are attributed in many places to the 361 00:31:00,280 --> 00:31:06,680 anti-deluvian ancients followers of the one true God. 362 00:31:06,680 --> 00:31:11,100 So to wind things up when we get to the story of Nimrod, Genesis chapter 10, we'll touch 363 00:31:11,100 --> 00:31:15,740 on the constellation Orion with its original story with more detail. 364 00:31:15,740 --> 00:31:20,160 So we'll get into more of this and see how you can see the story of God's plan of redemption 365 00:31:20,160 --> 00:31:27,680 told in the oldest names of the stars and the constellations themselves. 366 00:31:27,680 --> 00:31:35,840 But it is likely that the constellation constellations originally even had prophetic significance 367 00:31:35,840 --> 00:31:40,360 based on the mother prophecy found in Genesis 3 15. 368 00:31:40,360 --> 00:31:46,520 The very first prophecy noted in scripture is found in Genesis chapter three, verse 15. 369 00:31:46,520 --> 00:31:56,200 Genesis chapter three documents the fall of human beings, the fall of created and uncreated 370 00:31:56,200 --> 00:31:58,160 beings of God. 371 00:31:58,160 --> 00:32:04,120 And so you see Satan, Adam and Eve all sentenced by God for their disobedience in Genesis chapter 372 00:32:04,120 --> 00:32:05,440 three. 373 00:32:05,440 --> 00:32:11,640 In Genesis chapter three, verse 15, God is making a promise in the midst of this tragedy, 374 00:32:11,640 --> 00:32:12,800 God is making a promise. 375 00:32:12,800 --> 00:32:15,680 Here's what he says. 376 00:32:15,680 --> 00:32:19,840 He's saying this to Satan in particular or the serpent serpent figure in particular. 377 00:32:19,840 --> 00:32:30,560 I will put enmity between you and the woman between your offspring and her offspring. 378 00:32:30,560 --> 00:32:32,520 He shall bruise your head. 379 00:32:32,520 --> 00:32:37,260 Other translations say crush your head and you shall bruise his heel. 380 00:32:37,260 --> 00:32:44,160 Now that is identified by almost everyone as God's promise, future promise of remedying 381 00:32:44,160 --> 00:32:52,800 the problem of the fall by sending forth his son to destroy the works of the devil. 382 00:32:52,800 --> 00:33:00,480 The constellations in all likelihood originally told the story of God's plan of redemption 383 00:33:00,480 --> 00:33:02,380 to fall in humanity. 384 00:33:02,380 --> 00:33:06,240 You can read about this in more detail in both Francis Rolleston's book or you can read 385 00:33:06,240 --> 00:33:09,640 it for free in a book called Witness of the Stars. 386 00:33:09,640 --> 00:33:16,240 If you just Google that, Witness of the Stars, you'll find a book by a man named Bullinger 387 00:33:16,240 --> 00:33:21,800 that also does a very good job documenting and explaining this. 388 00:33:21,800 --> 00:33:32,240 It was a message to humanity as a consequence of the fall that as bad as things are getting, 389 00:33:32,240 --> 00:33:39,280 as bad as they're going to get, you are going to see some really dark things. 390 00:33:39,280 --> 00:33:44,960 The message found in the stars tells humanity there is hope. 391 00:33:44,960 --> 00:33:53,120 Someone one day soon will come on the scene who will crush evil and save fallen humanity. 392 00:33:53,120 --> 00:33:59,120 It was God's promise written in the heavens for everyone, everywhere, all over the planet 393 00:33:59,120 --> 00:34:02,480 to witness. 394 00:34:02,480 --> 00:34:11,240 The message was embedded in the original followers of God. 395 00:34:11,240 --> 00:34:19,420 It was retained by Noah and subsequently Abraham. 396 00:34:19,420 --> 00:34:25,720 It was transmitted throughout the entire planet as a consequence of what happens at the Tower 397 00:34:25,720 --> 00:34:33,400 of Babel and the dispersion of people across the world and the development of the nations. 398 00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:39,720 But the original information was transmitted through the first followers of God, transmitted 399 00:34:39,720 --> 00:34:45,160 to the nations as a consequence of the dispersion of the nations at the Tower of Babel and later 400 00:34:45,160 --> 00:34:51,880 corrupted by disobedient human beings. 401 00:34:51,880 --> 00:34:57,440 This knowledge has been largely lost by the Church because we have the written word of 402 00:34:57,440 --> 00:35:04,560 God found in the pages of scripture which according to the first chapter of 2nd Peter 403 00:35:04,560 --> 00:35:07,200 is more fully confirmed. 404 00:35:07,200 --> 00:35:11,680 We have a clearer revelation. 405 00:35:11,680 --> 00:35:15,080 The revelation found in the stars is opaque. 406 00:35:15,080 --> 00:35:18,880 The revelation found in scripture is much more clear. 407 00:35:18,880 --> 00:35:20,040 It's far superior. 408 00:35:20,040 --> 00:35:25,840 So here's what it says in the first chapter of 2nd Peter verse 19. 409 00:35:25,840 --> 00:35:34,360 We have the prophetic word more fully confirmed to which you will do well to pay attention 410 00:35:34,360 --> 00:35:42,480 as to a lamp shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star rises in 411 00:35:42,480 --> 00:35:44,540 your hearts. 412 00:35:44,540 --> 00:35:51,580 Knowing this first of all that no prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. 413 00:35:51,580 --> 00:35:54,580 It wasn't made up by human beings. 414 00:35:54,580 --> 00:35:57,520 It was revealed by God. 415 00:35:57,520 --> 00:36:04,880 Verse 21, for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God 416 00:36:04,880 --> 00:36:09,700 as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. 417 00:36:09,700 --> 00:36:16,560 Now that is true of the ancient message given by God to the original human beings found 418 00:36:16,560 --> 00:36:19,880 in the story of the Maseroth. 419 00:36:19,880 --> 00:36:24,680 It's even more true of the word of God. 420 00:36:24,680 --> 00:36:28,080 We will discuss this again with more detail in future episodes. 421 00:36:28,080 --> 00:36:29,840 I think that's enough for now. 422 00:36:29,840 --> 00:36:35,680 And again, I'll miss you next week, but we'll pick up the story from Genesis chapter 1 again 423 00:36:35,680 --> 00:36:36,680 the week after that. 424 00:36:36,680 --> 00:36:38,360 Hope you guys have a blessed day. 425 00:36:38,360 --> 00:36:39,360 Thanks for joining us. 426 00:36:39,360 --> 00:36:40,360 We'll catch you next time. 427 00:36:40,360 --> 00:37:09,680 Bye bye.