Opening
From
the City of
God to Rome
and the world,
Radio New
Jerusalem now
begins
broadcasting
on this
frequency.
Radio
New Jerusalem
now presents a
series of
broadcasts
simply called,
The Story.
The
Story is
of man’s
sojourn upon
the earth.
It’s the story
of a journey
across time
and space;
from a bloody
cross outside
the Old City
of Jerusalem,
to the Tree of
Life within
the New – from
a humble
cradle to an
empty grave –
and beyond.
This
is Chaplain
Phil Ropp,
inviting you
to join me for
the next
chapter of
“The Story,”
which will
begin right
after this
message.
Radio
New Jerusalem
presents: “The
Story,” and at
radionewjerusalem.com,
you’ll find a
podcast and
transcript of
today’s
broadcast,
along with
links to key
words and
terms, and
more general
information
about the
program.
The RNJ
website also
offers Bible
and other
study aids,
along with
hundreds of
links to news
and other
information
you’re sure to
find
interesting
and
informative.
RNJ is
the exclusive
home on the
web for “A Few
Minutes with
Father,”
featuring the
reflections
and wisdom of
noted Catholic
author Father
Allan Fenix.
Check
out “Chaplain
Phil’s
Journal,” for
the complete
collection of
my writings
going back
over 40 years.
Click
on the
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at the top of
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We
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media.
We
believe in our
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speech (and
yours) and
choose to
exercise this
right on the
first and last
medium set
aside for this
very purpose,
shortwave
radio.
We
ask that you
join your
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ours that
these airwaves
may continue
to belong to
the people,
and that God’s
message of
salvation
through the
shed blood of
Jesus Christ
may continue
to be
broadcast to a
dying world
that
desperately
needs to hear
it.
And
now, this is
Chaplain Phil,
inviting you
to join me for
the latest
chapter of The
Story.
Introduction
Audio
clip
Priest:
“Down
on your knees,
now!
Do you
recognize what
I’m holding
over your
heads, lads?”
Native
American:
“It’s a cross!
The
symbol of the
quartering of
the universe
into active
and passive
principles!”
Priest:
“God have
mercy on their
heathen
souls!”
Conquistador:
“What
the father
means is what
is the cross
made of?
Gold!
Have
you got any?”
Good
evening,
everyone.
This is
Chaplain Phil.
This
clip from Firesign Theater’s “Temporarily Humboldt County”
sums up the
theme of
tonight’s
program:
demonstrating
the mockery
that both
church and
state have
made of the
Cross of
Christ.
As we
delve into the
different
stories that
comprise The
Story,
we’ll see that
this theme of
humans mocking
God reoccurs
over and over
again, and the
end result is
always the
same: God will
not be mocked,
and utter and
total
destruction
ensues.
When
this takes
place at the
global level
our world
operates at,
then the
result is
global
destruction.
Seems
obvious
enough,
doesn’t it?
And
so we find
ourselves in a
terrible
dilemma, and
engulfed in
this dire
crisis of
faith – or
rather the
lack thereof –
that is
rapidly
plunging Earth
into a
darkness from
which it will
not reemerge
nor recover.
That’s
the sobering
truth of it.
No
sugar coating
it.
No
false hope.
It’s
not a popular
message, but
in a world in
which it seems
everyone is
lying, and
confusion runs
rampant, it’s
a message that
needs to be
heard.
Show me
in Scripture
where it
describes how
we live
happily ever
after on this
planet and
I’ll recant
what I’m
saying here.
It
doesn’t say
that and I
think that's
reason enough
to listen
closely to
what The
Story has
say.
From
the moment the
religious and
political
leaders in
Jesus’ day
decided to
kill Christ at
the Cross, the
die was cast,
and the
ultimate and
utter
destruction of
man’s wicked
civilization
upon the earth
was assured.
It was
an extinction
level event
with a time
delay fuse,
and from the
moment this
mass
extinction
became
possible back
in the 1940’s,
the timer has
been ticking.
There
was a movie
made about
this in 1952
titled Red Planet Mars. I touch
on it briefly
in Segment 2.
It
describes the
utter darkness
of the world
of the Cold
War, the
horror of life
at the hands
of the atheist
communist
dictatorship
running the
Soviet Union,
and the threat
this poses to
a western
world in which
faith has
waned and the
love of most
has grown
cold.
When a
message that
seems to be
from God is
received from
Mars, there is
a debate in
the Oval
Office as to
whether or not
it should be
released.
Audio
Clip
President
of the United
States: “Your
arguments in
defense of
scientific
freedom have
convinced me.”
Secretary
of Defense:
“This time
Cronyn is
right, Mr.
President.
We
can’t hitch
our wagon to that
star!”
President
of the United
States: “We’ve
switched
stars, Mr.
Secretary.
Now
we’re
following the
Star of
Bethlehem!”
The
message is
released on
the
president’s
command, and
the peoples of
the decadent
west pull
themselves
together and
flood the
churches with
repentant
souls.
This
same message
spreads
through the
Christian
underground
behind the
Iron Curtain,
and the result
is a massive
grassroots
rebellion that
throws off the
yoke of
tyranny and
places the
Patriarch of
the Russian
Orthodox
Church on the
seat of power.
This
happy and
secure new
world order is
threatened
briefly by the
antagonist,
who is the
last of the
mad Nazis, and
this threat is
thwarted by
the
self-sacrifice
of the
protagonists.
The
picture fades
to a shot of
the sky, and
from on high
we see these
words
descending:
THE BEGINNING.
Imagine
the reaction
to President
Donald Trump
announcing
that America
is now going
to follow
Jesus.
The
unbelievers
would howl and
demand his
head.
They do
this now, for
that matter.
They’d
have it in
this scenario
because the so
called
“believers”
would either
stand mute or
argue among
themselves
over nothing.
To be
fair, they’d
have done the
same thing if
Harry Truman
had done this
in 1952.
Red
Planet Mars
is an
uplifting
story, but
science
fiction then
as now.
A
revival of
faith at this
level is the
only thing
that can save
America and
the world, and
it won’t.
That’s
Bible prophecy
speaking, not
Chaplain Phil.
It’s
the Cross that
represents the
ultimate
truth, and
when the
curtain comes
down on the
final act of
the Passion
Play that is
human history
on this
planet, it
will be the
end.
But the
Cross will
remain to
point to the
New Jerusalem
that ascends
to heaven as
the words “THE
BEGINNING”
descend.
This
is where The
Story
ends.
And
this is why it
begins where
we begin
tonight: at
the Cross.
And
now, Segment
1: The Desire
of Ages: A
Prehistory of
the Cross.
Segment
1: The Desire
of Ages: A
Prehistory of
the Cross
I
once wrote an
academic paper
for a
Christology
class at Assumption
University
titled, “The
Gospel
According to
Albert Nolan.”
It was
good enough to
nearly get me
expelled from
the program,
which is a
story I tell
in an open
letter to the
Academic Vice
President that
I cleverly
called, “A
New
Assumption?”
Anyway,
the paper was
in the form of
an assigned
book review of
Albert Nolan’s
smarmy
apologia to
liberation
theology, “Jesus
Before
Christianity,”
and in it I
demonstrated
that
Christianity,
in a very real
sense,
actually
predated
Jesus.
It’s
obvious if you
think about
it.
Jesus
steps into the
predefined
role of the
divinely sent
Messiah/Priest/King/,
and, in doing
so, fulfills a
concept that
develops
throughout the
Old Testament.
He then
makes this
role
transcendent
by using it as
a platform to
proclaim the Gospel
of Christ:
eternal
salvation
through the
shed blood of
the Son of God
at the Cross.
The
latter makes
no sense
outside of the
cultural and
religious
context of the
former, as it
speaks to, and
answers, the
deepest
longings of
the Old
Testament
faith going
all the way
back to Eden.
To
this day, we
call Jesus the
“Lamb
of God,”
which is a
direct
reference to
the sacrificial
rite for the
atonement for
sin
practiced in
the cult of
ancient
Israel.
This
cult of animal
sacrifice was
practiced in a
formal sense
from the time
of Moses forward,
and in a
practical
sense since
the day the
angel of Yahweh
stayed the
hand of
Abraham from
slaying his
son,
Isaac.
The
significance
of the ram in
the thicket
should not be
lost on us –
it prefigures the Lamb of God.
And forbidding
the
ultra-sinful
practice of
child
sacrifice
among the
Hebrews in the time of Abraham – a time as far removed from Jesus as his time is from us –
united God and
His wayward
people and
opened the way
to the Cross.
It made
it possible
for God the Father to one day offer His Own Son as the once-and-for-all
sacrifice in
the person of
Jesus
of Nazareth.
Albert
Nolan doesn’t
see it this
way.
He has
a different
perspective
based upon the
work of
scholars he
humbly deems
more capable
than he, and
he parrots
their false
historical
claims that
Jesus is
nothing more
than a simple
Jewish
peasant, who
accidentally
got himself
executed by
the nasty old
Romans for
preaching the
“gospel” of
human rights
in the face of
their tyranny.
In
Nolan’s mind,
Jesus is more
a political
martyr after
the order of Che
Guevara
than the
crucified
Savior and a
priest after
the order
of Melchizedek.
Nolan
believes
that once we
are able to
set aside all
of the Christ
nonsense, the
“man who
emerges” – the
“real” Jesus,
might just be
able to
inspire us
towards a
greater
appreciation
of the need
for the
liberation of
the oppressed
in our world.
Even if
he’s dead, and
un-risen, and
unable to
offer any
direct
intervention
in human
affairs, some
of what he
said may yet
be of value.
Nolan
writes, “…we
dare not
presume that
he [Jesus] has
all the
answers… Nor
can we presume
that his
insights will
be irrelevant
and that we
can safely
ignore them.
Our
situation is
so critical
that we dare
not leave any
stone unturned
in our search
for a way
out.”[i]
Seriously,
I was almost
kicked out of
a Catholic
University
program for
arguing
against this
crap.
Oh, and
did I mention
that Albert
Nolan is a
Catholic
priest?
He is
actually Father
Albert Nolan.
I
mention this
to underscore
the fact that
this is the
kind of
education in
the faith your
pastor most
likely
received if he
attended a
Catholic, or
liberal
Protestant,
seminary.
This
and worse.
It’s
all sheer
garbage, and
if your pastor
is spewing
nonsense like
this instead
of proclaiming
the Gospel of
Christ, it may
be because
he’s never
heard it
presented as
truth or as
something
worthy of
belief.
Maybe
he’s never
heard it at
all.
Invite
him to tune in
here.
This
might be a
good time to
mention that
the only
historical
accounts we
have of Jesus
are found in
the New
Testament
gospels, and
in a small
collection of
apocryphal
gospels
that tell the
same basic
story.
Such
conjecture as
that engaged
in by the
so-called
“scholars” of
the Christian
intelligentsia
is just that:
conjecture.
I’m a
better
historian than
to try to sell
some theory
that I made up
as historical
fact, and I
only have a
bachelor’s
degree.
Those
with
doctorates who
make up
alternate
histories
concerning who
Jesus “really”
was, and
peddle this
stuff as the
historically
accurate
version of
what happened
as opposed to
what’s
recorded in
the gospels,
must know, at
some level,
that they are
constructing
their
narratives out
of whole
cloth, and
they should
know better
than this.
Two
of the New
Testament
gospels,
Matthew and
John, are
claimed to be
eye witness
accounts, and
the other two,
Mark and Luke,
are based upon
the accounts
of eye
witnesses.
In the
study of
ancient
history, four
independent,
corroborative
accounts, with
two being primary sources, and the other two being very strong secondary sources, is usually more than enough evidence to make a sound
case for the
historical
veracity of
certain
events.
Unless,
of course,
those certain
events concern
Jesus, then
the rules are
suddenly
different.
Under
these special
rules of
historical
method, made
up for the
sole purpose
of
discrediting
the gospel
accounts, any
theory that
does this is
preferable to
the story as
plainly stated
in the
gospels.
And,
let me remind
you, these
gospels were
considered Unassailable
Sacred
Scripture
for the better
part of the
last 2000
years by the
vast majority
of all
Christians in
all
denominations.
With
some minor
variations,
the way these
half-baked
theories
invariably
play out
sounds
something like
this:
The
Early
Church Fathers
of the second
century, based
upon the
faulty
memories and
exaggerated
claims of the
Apostles,
a band of
ragged
disciples
following an itinerant
Jewish
preacher
named Jesus,
invented the
Christian
religion by
falsely
claiming that
this Jesus had
been crucified
by the Romans
at the
insistence of
the Jewish
Temple
Authorities
for claiming
to be the son
of God.
Actually,
it was the
Romans who
executed him
for being a revolutionary
zealot.
The
disciples then
stole his body
(or in one
scenario, it
is eaten
by dogs
roaming
beneath the
cross),
and then
claimed he had
miraculously
risen from the
dead.
According
to this line
of thought,
they did this
for no greater
purpose than
that of
slandering the
Jewish leaders
of their day,
and this led
to an ongoing
persecution of
Jews down
through the
centuries.
Based
upon these
false claims
about Jesus,
the Early
Church
extrapolated
the entire
Christian
faith, and,
like a raging
wildfire, it
spread through
and weakened
the
foundations of
the Roman
Empire.
And
when this
ultimately
resulted in
the hysterical
or contrived conversion
of Constantine,
it paved the
way for the
Catholic
Church to
emerge as the
most powerful
and
influential
entity of all
time.
The
Church, in
turn, created
Western
Civilization
in a concerted
effort to
force feed
this “false”
gospel of
salvation in
the Cross of
Christ to a
world that
didn’t want it
or need it,
and
fraudulently
claimed Jesus’
admonition in
Matthew
28:19
to, “Go
therefore and
make disciples
of all
nations,” as
the authority
to do so.
Rather
than saving
their souls
unto eternal
life, this
supposedly
robbed
indigenous,
primitive
peoples
everywhere of
their
beautiful and
noble native
culture, and
the Catholic
Church is
actually
addressing
this in
October at the
Synod
of the Amazon.
Pope
Francis is
suggesting
that the
Church has
more to learn
from the pagan
“spiritualities”
of these
cultures than
they need to
learn from the
Church.
This
demonstrates
in no
uncertain
terms that the
root cause of
the threat to
Christian Culture that we currently face is based upon the widespread
acceptance of
this invented
and
ahistorical
belief that
Jesus is a
fraud, and
Christianity a
lie of vast
and staggering
proportion
going all the
way back to
the Cross.
And
that’s not
just what the
world believes
– it’s what
they teach in
the
seminaries.
It’s
what the
Catholic
Church and the
mainline
Protestant
Churches
believe at
their highest
levels.
The new
“Messianic
Secret”
is that there
never was one,
and this is
the “terrible
truth” they
protect us hapless
sheep from in
order to keep
the cash
flowing from
our pockets
and into their
coffers.
It’s
what makes
them think
they can rape
our children
and get away
with it.
As
this all comes
more and more
out into the
open, and
Jesus'
prophetic
words, “ For
nothing is
hidden that
will not be
revealed…”
are fulfilled,
the tension in
the Church,
and the world,
has become
palpable. As
the Barque
of Peter
lists
increasingly
to the far
left, the
sheep are
deserting
faster than
rats scurrying
off the Titanic. And they will find the icy
waters of the
rising post-Christian Culture
to be as cold
and
treacherous as
the ice fields
of the North
Atlantic.
Boil
the thin sap
of all the
conspiracy
theories
concerning
this down into
the heavy
syrup of
reality, and
we find the
various
enemies of
Christ are
much
progressed in
accomplishing
the
destruction of
the Christian
faith in this
way.
And as
they succeed
in this, they
bring Western
Civilization
down with it.
It’s
the vision of
this process
in progress
that St.
John describes
in the Book of
Revelation.
It
makes the time
we live in not
only exciting
but also
frightening
because, once
we get past
the propaganda
of a false,
anti-Christian
reality that
is sold to us
in the media,
in the schools
and colleges,
and even at
church, we can
see that this
is actually
happening
right now,
right before
our eyes.
And the
scope of all
of this is
escalating
exponentially
as the pace is
likewise
accelerating.
This is
what radio
legend Art Bell
referred to as
“The
Quickening.”
A
fair question
to ask at this
point is,
“What does any
of this have
to do with the
History of the Cross?” And the
answer is
that, as the
mission,
purpose and
person of
Jesus is
historically
discredited
and
discounted, so
too is the
Cross.
And,
like the
teachings of
Christianity
itself, the Cross
is also
present and
predates the
birth of Jesus,
as it
anticipates
the coming of
the Christ Who
would, one
day, hang upon
it.
And,
like
Christianity
itself, it’s
great truths
and power to
save, God’s
greatest gift
revealed in
Christ and
handed down to
us through the
ages, is now
being
obscured, and
its true
message
perverted and
destroyed.
From
the dawn of
time; from
that time in
which early
humans dressed
in animal
skins first
expressed
their most
deep-seated
desire for
eternal life
upon the walls
of the caves
they lived in,
they
sketched this
desire in the
form of a
cross.
In
the opening
words of the
Publisher’s
Preface to the
1898 Ellen G. White classic Desire of Ages,
we read as
follows:
In the hearts of all mankind, of whatever race or station in
life, there
are
inexpressible
longings for
something they
do not now
possess.
This
longing is
implanted in
the very
constitution
of man by a
merciful God,
that man may
not be
satisfied with
his present
conditions or
attainments,
whether bad,
or good, or
better.
God
desires that
the human
shall seek the
best, and find
it to the
eternal
blessing of
his soul.
…
It is God’s design that this longing of the human heart should
lead to the
One who alone
is able to
satisfy it.[ii]
And
it is Bishop
Fulton Sheen
who brings
this into
sharper focus
when he writes
in his
excellent and
spirit filled
Life
of Christ:
It was not so much that His birth cast a shadow on His life,
and thus led
to his death;
it was rather
that the Cross
was there from
the beginning
and cast its
shadow
backward to
His birth.[iii]
We
have been told
by the
scientists
that the cross
is the most
universal
symbol of
primitive
man’s sojourn
upon the earth
and dates to
the dawn of
history.[iv]
If we
ask ourselves
just who these
primitive
people might
have been who
were scrawling
these crosses
upon the rocks
and the walls
of their
caves, we may
remember Genesis,
chapter 3 and
verse 21:
“Yahweh Elohim
made clothes
from animal
skins for the
man and his
wife and
dressed them.”
And he then
proceeded to
boot them from
Eden and out
into the
world.
When
science picks
up the story,
science itself
tells us that
these
primitive
people, clad
in the skins
of animals,
were scrawling
the symbol of
the cross upon
their walls
and
surroundings
thousands of
years ago.
And if
science hadn’t
separated
itself so far
from God for
so long,
science would
also know why
they did this,
and it would
know better
than to claim
the cross to
be an
ancient pagan
symbol
stolen by the
early
Christians.
Our
Christian
tradition
suggests that
this early
fascination
with the
symbol of the
cross was the
result of a
deep-seated
anticipation
of that
long-promised
time in which
God would once
again reveal
Himself as He
had done in
the garden.
He
would save
them from
death and from
that fate that
is even worse:
the separation
from Him that
defines hell
itself.
And,
somehow, they
knew even then
that He would
accomplish
this in
conjunction
with a cross.
The
cross then, is
the symbol for
this “desire
of ages.”
And
this desire is
the most basic
of all human
instincts –
the desire for
eternal life.
It
comes not from
the heart or
mind but from
the very soul
itself.
It
defines us as
human beings,
and it removes
the limitation
to our
potential that
was imposed by
the fall of
man in the
historical Garden of Eden, which occurred at the beginning of this current, and rapidly
closing, epoch of humanity.
Going
back to the
earliest times
of this epoch,
we find that
humanity
divides into
two basic and
opposed camps
of peoples.
There
are those who
serve the Evil One and his minions in the pantheon
of the many
“gods,”
and those who
follow the One
True God, who
is both Creator
and Savior.
All the
conflicts in
the history of
this time we
could call the
“Eden Epoch,”
can be boiled
down to, and
traced back
to, this
primordial
struggle.
This is
the background
necessary to
understand the
motivations
behind Old
Testament
history, and
Christ in the
New Testament
brings this
history to a
close with the
final triumph
of the One True God over Satan
at the Cross.
In
the mid-19th
century, this
was the stuff
of Sunday School lessons and the Catechism
in America.
It was
the shared
common
knowledge that
formed the
foundation for
American
politics and
culture.
It was
who we were,
and how we
understood
ourselves as a
people, and it
was our
ultimate
reality.
With
this as the
reality of the
people the
nation
flourished,
and without it
the nation now
crumbles.
This
is our current
reality, and
this process
is actually
more advanced
in the world’s
other formerly
Christian
nations.
The end
result is
destruction,
and if anyone
doubts this,
just look at
what became of
ancient
Israel
when the
people of the
nation turned
their backs on
Yahweh and
embraced the
false gods of
the Evil One.
That’s
what’s
happening with
the current
rise of Neo-paganism
in what is
already called
the post-Christian
world,
and when we
understand
this in terms
of Biblical
prophecy,
the Book of Revelation scenario plays out.
One
of the great
academic
travesties to
arise during
the late 19th
century, a
time in which
many such
travesties
arose, was social
Darwinism.
It
provided the
intellectual
justification
for such 20th
century
horrors as fascist
imperialism,
eugenics, racism,
and various
and sundry
other forms of
political
upheaval and
social
injustice.
When applied
to ancient
history, it
paints a false
and overly
simplistic
picture of
human
development
that
progresses
neatly from
one “age” to
the next – from
stone to
bronze, to
iron,
and it
presents
religion as
likewise
evolving
naturally from
animism, to
polytheism, to
monotheism.
While
social
Darwinism fell
out of favor
a long time
ago as a means
of
understanding
the politics
and social
constructs of
the modern
world, it
somehow
remains
dominant in
the academic
understanding
of the
religion and
history of the
distant past,
and it has
replaced the
Biblical
reality with a
false
religion: an
ahistorical scientism
that has
atheism as its
underlying
premise, and
the
destruction of
Christianity
as its core
value and
goal.
This is
the new shared
common
knowledge of
the 21st
century.
In
our day and
age this new
common
academic
knowledge
denies the
Cross and
Resurrection
of Christ and
spawns a
Christian
intelligentsia
that in turn
spawns the
likes of
Albert Nolan,
and numerous
others, who
spread these
lies within
the schools of
higher
learning and
the churches.
It
certainly
isn’t
surprising
that none
believe the
Garden of Eden
story to be in
any way even
remotely
historical.
Yet it
is set within
an historical
context, it is
presented
within a
geographical
setting, and
the underlying
assumption of
the
ancient
storyteller
is that he is
relating the
deeper truths
of God as
historical
fact and not
myth.
As
an honest
historian, I
can’t just
gloss over
this and move
on, and we’re
going to delve
into all of
this in a
deeper way in
the next
program.
For my
purpose here,
just realize
that the
typical
creation myths
of other
ancient
peoples are wild
and fanciful
tales of
monsters split
in half to
form heaven
and earth and that sort of thing.
Eden is
unique in that
it claims to
be history,
and projects
its worldview
forward
through the
time of the
patriarchs,
the
rise and fall
of the kingdom
of Israel,
and reaches
its climax at
the Cross
of Jesus
Christ
– the desire
of ages. And
the desire of
those in our
age who still
long for Him.
I’ll
be right back
with Segment
2: The Cross:
Center Stage
in the Cosmic
Passion Play
right after
this.
Musical
Interlude:
“Aunt
Hagar’s
Children’s
Blues” The
Dinning
Sisters
Segment 2: The Cross: Center Stage in the Cosmic Passion Play
It
is fitting
that the
telling of The
Story begins
at the Cross.
The
reason for
this is
simple.
The
Story is
centered in
the Cross.
It’s a
Christ
centered
story, and at
the center of
Christ’s story
is the Cross.
The
correct
Christian
understanding
of not only
history, but reality
itself, is
neither
circular nor
linear, but
rather begins
at the center
point of the
Cross and
radiates
outward
towards
infinity – or
eternity, to
put it in a
more religious
frame.
The
Cross, then,
is the
centerstage
piece in the Passion
Play
of salvation,
in which Immanuel,
the Anointed
Son of David
called “The
Messiah,”
the long
awaited Desire
of the Ages,
the Wonderful
Counselor,
Mighty God,
Everlasting
Father and
Prince of
Peace – the
Christ,
the
Son of God
– walks out
upon the stage
of human
history
clothed in the
person of Jesus
of Nazareth
and is
crucified by
the very priests
pledged to
serve Him.
His
crime is no
greater than
that of identifying
Himself
to them.
Their
hatred of Him
raged without
bounds.[v]
By
the time Jesus
walked the
dusty roads of
ancient
Palestine, the cosmological understanding of the Jews, and most
other Near
Eastern
peoples, was essentially that of a universe consisting of a spherical earth as a
center point
with
concentric
“heavens”
radiating out
from it.
Change
the word
“heavens” to
“dimensions”
and you find
an
understanding
of reality
that is very
similar to
that taking
shape at the cutting
edge of 21st
century
physics.
One
of the
numerous
errors that
social
Darwinism
creates when
it’s used as
the basis for
understanding
ancient times,
is that it
makes the
assumption
that man’s
intellectual
sophistication
and
cosmological
understanding
evolves along
a linear path,
so that when
one looks at
this in
reverse, it is
naturally
assumed that
society before
the
dark ages
would,
somehow, be
even more
primitive
simply because
of where it
falls on the
ancient
timeline –
before the
dark ages.
Despite
the outward
brutality, the
truth is that
the ancient
civilizations
were much more
advanced than
the modern
academic
community
gives them
credit for,
and in some
ways we have
yet to achieve
the level of
sophistication
necessary to
properly
understand a
lot of their
thought,
perspective
and worldview.
Thanks
to the inbred,
countercultural
prejudice
against all
things
Judeo-Christian that
has come into
vogue in the
colleges,
universities
and seminaries
over the last
few
generations,
this has
become
particularly
true of the Hebraic,
monotheistic
culture
that descended
from Abraham
through Isaac
and Jacob.
Under David,
the Kingdom
of Israel
would rise to
be the
greatest
empire of its
time, ruling
an area that
spanned from
the Tigris to
the Nile,
while growing
fabulously
wealthy
controlling
the trade
routes that
traversed
through
Jerusalem and
made it quite
literally the
center
of the world
in the 10th
century BC.[vi]
The
fashion among
academics for
the past few
hundred years
has been to
swoon over the
civilization of classical pagan Greece
that arose 500
years after
the Golden
Age of Ancient
Israel,
and whose most
notable gifts
to Western
Culture have
been democracy
and pederasty.
In our
times, the
two have
merged.
We
now find
ourselves at
the far end
of the
Judeo-Christian
civilization
that reached
its zenith
under David,
and found its
fulfillment in
Jesus.
And it
has become
difficult for
us to see the
forest for the
trees in terms
of how
significant
the contributions
of Ancient
Israel
have been to
the world we
live in today.
The
Cross of
Christ is, of
course, the
first and
foremost of
these
contributions.
This
and the
earlier
revelation of
the One True
God, more
generally
speaking,
remain at the
outer limits
of our human
comprehension.
Maybe
that’s why
it’s been so
easy for the
world in our
time to
jettison our
age old belief
system in
favor of this
false
scientism
that,
ironically
enough, places
the blame on
the Christian
and Jewish
peoples for
the very horrors
it has brought
upon the earth
itself.
“In
the beginning
was the Word,
and the Word
was with God,
and the Word
was God.” The
revelation of
God to this
world came
through the
Word, and the
Word revealed
Himself in
such a way in
the days of
the Old
Testament that
those who
belonged to
Him would
forever
recognize Him
in the New
Testament.
And the
understanding
of reality
that He
revealed to us
in ancient
times is only
now beginning
to be
understood by
science in our
time.
Ironically
enough, the spiritual
ignorance
inherent in
the scientific
worldview
means that
those who are
arrogant
enough to
consider
themselves to
be the
smartest among
us are about
to do the
dumbest thing
possible, in
spiritual
terms, by unlocking
the bottomless
pit
and releasing
the
plagues of
Abaddon
upon the
earth.
That’s
what’s
happening at CERN.
The
modern
study of
physics that
arose with
Einstein
and others at
the end of the
19th
century has
led to much
theorizing in
our day on the
existence of
parallel or
alternate
universes and
realities. It’s as if science
is coming
around full
circle to an
understanding
of existence
more in
keeping with
the Biblical
understanding
of cosmology,
at the same
time it grows
bolder in
denying the
Cross of
Christ at its
center.
The
act of God at
creation; the
so called “Big Bang” that occurred when the Cross hit the center of the cosmic
void,
reverberates
through
existence and,
like ripples
on a pond when
a stone is
cast into it,
creates the separate
realities and
parallel
universes
that exist
just beyond
the periphery
of our human
consciousness.
Each
is separated
and isolated
from the
other, yet
each has Christ
and the Cross
at its
mystical
center.
And,
overlooking
this deeper
and more mystical
truth of
creation,
is what is
leading us
into the
profound time
of disaster
that is nearly
upon us.
This
means the
waters of our
own reality
are greatly
troubled, and
the various evil
entities, and
wicked beings,
who occupy the
dimension
called Hell;
those who fell
with, and are
led by, Satan
himself, seek
constantly to
access our
world through
the barriers
that God put
in place for
our protection,
first and
foremost among
these being
the Cross of
Christ.
This is
why demons
and those
possessed by
them,
those who
practice the dark arts, and the various evil entities and wicked beings that occupy the deepest
recesses of
the night,
shrink from
it.
The
increasing
depravity in
the world, the
rapidly rising
evil, and the
widespread
occurrence of
seemingly
bizarre and
unexplainable
events and
incidents,
demonstrate an
escalating
breakdown in
these
barriers, and
those who are
sensitive to
this on both
God’s side and
the devil’s
refer to this
as the “thinning
of the veil.”
Beyond
this veil, God
has given
certain
members of the
angelic host
who occupy the
heavenly
dimension
access to the
earthly realm
to serve and
protect those
who serve Him.
The
Bible is full
of stories
about this
phenomenon,
and the
Catholic
Church,
beleaguered
though it may
be by those
who serve
Satan within
it,
and seek to
destroy it
from the
inside out,
has, by the
power of the
Holy Spirit,
managed to
serve the
faithful
followers of
Jesus with rites,
rituals,
symbols and
powerful
weapons of
spiritual
warfare that have kept this situation more or less in check for the
for the last
nearly two
thousand
years.
In our
day, we have
come to a
time of dire
crisis in the
Church,
because the
long term
infiltration
of the Church
by militant
homosexuals,
freemasons,
communists,
apostates,
and even Lucifer
himself has
now pushed
this situation
to critical
mass, and this
delicate
balance has
shifted in a
significant
way to the
dark side.
And
so we pray,
“Come Lord
Jesus.”
The
Large
Hadron
Collider at
CERN,
located on the
Franco/Swiss
border,
supposedly in
efforts to
understand and
duplicate the
conditions
present at the
“Big Bang”
when these
separate
realities were
established,
threatens to
break open
these barriers
in a way not
experienced
before, at
least not
within history
as we
understand it.
There
has been much
controversy
concerning a
large statue
of the Hindu
god Shiva that
stands outside
the Large
Hadron
Collider’s
location.
Shiva is known as the “god
of destruction,”
represents
darkness and
is known as “the
angry god.”
In Hinduism,
he
periodically
destroys
creation so
the god Brahma
can recreate
it.
Because
of his role in
the cycle of
destruction
and
regeneration,
his symbol is
the phallus.
In the
Old Testament,
he is the
equivalent of
the Canaanite
Ba’al,
who functions
this same
basic way, and
whose symbol
is also the
phallus.
In
Christian
terms, when we
see Shiva represented at CERN, what we are looking at is another culture’s
representation
of Satan the
devil.
I
heard a Bible
teacher on the
radio recently
theorize that
the so called
“Mandella effect,”
the
shared
knowledge of
changes in our
reality
typified by
the false
memory many
share of the
death of Nelson
Mandella
back in the
1980’s, could
potentially
produce an
alternate
reality in
which Christ
had never
come, and that
we might find
ourselves in
that kind of a
faith dilemma.
One of
the reasons
I’m telling
the story of
the Cross is
to stress that
it is not
symbolically,
but literally,
at the center
of all
reality, and
there is no alternate
reality
in which it
does not
exist.
In
the 1952
science
fiction movie,
Red
Planet Mars,
Peter Graves plays a scientist who establishes radio contact with a
civilization
on Mars.
The
Martians
describe their
planet to him
as a virtual
utopia in
which all pain
and suffering
has been
eliminated,
and in which
all live in
peace and
prosperity.
When
asked how this
came about,
the Martians
tell of a
great teacher
who had walked
among them and
taught them a
higher way of
life, and his
time coincides
with the time
in which
Christ walked
the earth.
The
implication is
clear – when
the Martian
savior
appeared in
their midst
they listened
and took his
teachings to
heart rather
than crucify
him.
This
news of an
idyllic life
on Mars sets
off a panic
here on earth,
and crowds of
protestors
gather and
threaten Peter
Grave’s life
after hailing
him as a great
hero for
making the
extraterrestrial
contact just a
short time
before.
The
Christ
allegory in
this movie,
along with the
ultimate DXing experience of making contact with Mars, makes this one of my favorite
films.
And
while it’s a
great story, a
true
understanding
of Christian
cosmology
would have us
realize that
the Martians,
providing they
were fallen
humans like
us, would have
most likely
crucified
their Savior
just as we
did.
And the
Cross would
haunt and
trouble their
planet the
same way it
haunts ours.
Even if
they had not
crucified
their Lord,
the peace and
harmony that
existed among
them would
still be
relational to
the Cross they
didn’t use,
though in a
more positive
way that would
certainly pave
an easier road
to eternity
than the one
we trod.
Obviously,
this
is all just
speculation,
and it might
be a good idea
to note at
this point
that, as much
as the
scientists
claim that
intelligent
life must
exist out
there in space
somewhere,
there's
absolutely not
one shred of
evidence of
any kind that
it does,
merely the
same kind of
endless
speculation.
I
sometimes
wonder if it
exists here.
Space
travel as
envisioned in
the 50’s,
and as the
current talk
of a Mars
mission still
describes it
today, isn’t
really
practical
except as a cash
cow for NASA.
The
existence of wormholes
and stargates
and other
space/time
anomalies
make the Apollo
moon mission
mindset a
thing of the
past, and the
technology
that produced
it as dated as
zeppelins and the auto
gyro.
The
UFO’s
and
the oddities
that accompany
them can no longer be understood in terms of the old fashioned Earth
Versus the
Flying Saucers
mentality of
the 1950’s
that assumed
they were
visitors from
another
planet, like
we would be
someday,
traveling out
there in the
great, endless
expanse “…where
no man has
gone before.”
The
Biblical
record injects
some startling
and frightful
insights into
this
phenomenon as
well, and the
more we come
to understand
the various alien types
and their
deceptions in
terms of devils
and demons,
the more sense
the whole
thing makes.
It’s
all a matter
of
perspective.
It’s
how you look
at it.
The
revealed Word
of God teaches
us repeatedly
that every
time our
supposed
wisemen climb
some unknown
mountain of
knowledge,
they reach the
summit only to
find God
already there,
pointing to a
loftier peak
they had yet
to
contemplate,
and warning of
a darker
valley that
increases the
destructive
potential
inherent in our
fallen nature.
And
while those in
our
institutions
of higher
learning
aren’t the
first to
believe
they’ve come
to know it all
when they know
next to
nothing, they
may, however,
be the last.
I'll
return
momentarily
with Segment
3: The Cross:
The Axis
Mundi Around
which History
Turns
Musical
Interlude:
“Pig
Foot Pete”
The Dinning
Sisters
Segment
3: The Cross:
The Axis
Mundi
Around Which
History Turns
When
teaching
Bible to men
in prison, I
quickly
discovered
that most who
set out to
study the book
of their
Christian
faith thought
the way to do
so was to open
the Old
Testament to
Genesis page
one, read
straight
through until
the end of
Malachi, then
repeat the
process,
Matthew
through
Revelation, in
the New
Testament.
This
approach
usually lasted
until the
genealogical
tables began
in Genesis.
The
more
persistent
ones might
make it as far
as the Book
of the
Covenant in
Exodus.
I
never tried to
talk them out
this approach.
I
always let
them try it.
When I
would hear,
“Chaplain
Phil, this
don’t make no
sense!” Then I
knew we were
ready to try
it my way.
That’s
a direct
quote, by the
way.
The
reason for
this
frustration is
found in the
fact that the
deeper story
of the Bible
doesn’t begin
on page one
and run in
chronological
order.
The
Story of God’s
sojourn with
the people of
Earth actually
begins at the
Cross, and
where the
Cross enters
the ocean of
man’s time
upon the
earth, it
sends out
ripples in
time that
reach back to
the occurrence
of original
sin, and
forward to
that point
when sin is no
more.
True,
this story
begins in Genesis and
ends in Revelation,
but if one
doesn’t see
this from the
correct
perspective of
the “bigger
picture,” then
the result is
to get bogged
down in the
minutiae and
ebb and flow
of thousands
of years of
history.
This
correct
perspective is
called the “View from the Cross,” and it’s achieved through a mystical union with Christ
in which His
worldview
becomes ours.
The
Cross of
Christ is the
axis
mundi
around which
human
existence
turns,
transcendent
and
unchangeable
across time
and space.
It is
where the
eternal meets
the cosmic
and, in turn,
intersects the
physical
reality of
Earth.
It is
where the mystical reality of God takes on human flesh and is laid bare, scourged, and
crucified. In
death it is
revealed Who
He is, as the
light of the
sun fails, the
earth quakes,
the dead are
raised and the
veil is rent,
exposing the
true Holy of
Holies
in the most
dramatic
moment in
human history,
and we’ll
pause here for
a moment to
contemplate it
before we move
on.[vii]
The
two components
of the Cross
are the patibulum
(the
crossbeam) and
the stipes
(the upright
post).
Where
they meet is
the point at
which God
encounters
man.
No one
comes to the
Father but
through the
Son, and this
is where the
meeting takes
place.
The
mystical
pillar of the
stipes
rises to the
throne of God
in heaven,
the highest
dimension of
reality.
It
descends to
the deepest
part of the
lowest
dimension of
reality, which
we call Hell.
Where
Jesus hangs on
the Cross is
the midpoint between
heaven and
hell.
He
hangs alone
within this
vertical
plane, in this
mystical
reality, for
as the Son
of God,
He is the only
One capable of
offering
Himself for us
in this way
and is,
therefore, the
only
one capable of
saving us.
It
was at the
breach of
heaven; that
point in the
fathomless
past when
the rebellious
archangel
Lucifer was
thrown down to
Earth; when the current cosmological reality was established; when
death came
into being,
that God
the Father,
in His anguish
and in His
love for us,
cast the stipes
down upon the
earth, and,
piercing
through it, it
descended on
into the
depths of the
lower realms:
death
and hell and
the grave
– and it
opened them.
He
promised that
He would come
to us and He
did: He
suffers for us
as the Man
of Eternal
Sacrifice,
crucified from
the beginning
of time until
its end, so as
to enter into
our time and
space at the
appointed
time, yet be
always
available to
our salvation.
He is the Lamb
of God
– the once and
for always,
blameless and
eternal, spotless
sacrifice,
sent to us for
this very
purpose.
As
the Son
of Man,
His hands
nailed to the
patibulum
reach out
across time
and space in
the horizontal
plane to
embrace and
offer
salvation to
the whole of
mankind within
this physical
reality, and
throughout
every
historical
setting.
Human
history flows
out from Him
on the one
hand and flows
back to Him on
the other.
He is
thus both Alpha
and Omega,
Beginning and
End.
The
titulus,
the sign
attached at
the top of the
stipes,
proclaims “Iesus
Nazarenus Rex
Iudaeorum”
(INRI):
“Jesus of
Nazareth, King
of the Jews.”
This
mocking and
sarcastic
display of
political
hubris on the
part of Pontius Pilate marks forever that point in time at which the human presence
upon the
Earth, through
its own
collective
free will,
severed, once
and for all
time, the
relationship
between God
and human
governments.
“We
have no king
but Caesar!”
echoes across
the Praetorium
and
reverberates
around the
world and to
the throne of
God itself.
It
fulfills
Jesus’
prophetic
words to
Pilate that His
kingdom is not
of this world
and marks,
with the
finitude of
the grave, the
final death of
the historical
kingdom of
Israel, as the
last
of the
messianic
Davidic kings
is executed by
the Roman
pagans
that rule in
the once Holy
City of God,
The Old City
of Jerusalem.
So
Jesus,
the rightful
priest-king of
Israel
and proclaimed
as such by the
cheering
throngs on
Palm Sunday,
is, on Good
Friday,
condemned,
tortured and
executed for
being Who He
claimed to be,
the Son
of God.
This
occurs as this
same crowd
cries out for
Pilate to
release not
Jesus, but Barabbas
the
insurrectionist,
robber and
assassin.
They
have no use
for a king
Whose kingdom
is not of this
world.
The
hero they want
is the man who
sheds the
blood of
others, not He
Who sheds His
own for them.
The Son
of God
is offered up
at the demand
of a false
priesthood
that
recognized Him
for Who He is
and still put
Him to death,
and did so in
league with
the imposter King
Herod; an
Idumaean
and not a Jew,
and a puppet
of the Roman
pagans, who
cared even
less about
Jesus than
they did.
As for
the
priests and
the religious
leaders,
it is Jesus
Himself Who
explains their
fate to them
in the
haunting “Parable
of the Evil
Farmers”
in Matthew
21:
“Now
listen to
another story.
A certain
landowner
planted a
vineyard,
built a wall
around it, dug
a pit for
pressing out
the grape
juice, and
built a
lookout tower.
Then he leased
the vineyard
to tenant
farmers and
moved to
another
country.
At the time of
the grape
harvest, he
sent his
servants to
collect his
share of the
crop.
But the
farmers
grabbed his
servants, beat
one, killed
one, and
stoned
another.
So the
landowner sent
a larger group
of his
servants to
collect for
him, but the
results were
the same.
“Finally,
the owner sent
his son,
thinking,
‘Surely they
will respect
my son.’
“But
when the
tenant farmers
saw his son
coming, they
said to one
another, ‘Here
comes the heir
to this
estate. Come
on, let’s kill
him and get
the estate for
ourselves!’
So they
grabbed him,
dragged him
out of the
vineyard, and
murdered him.
“When
the owner of
the vineyard
returns,”
Jesus asked,
“What do you
think he will
do to those
farmers?”
The
religious
leaders
replied, “He
will put the
wicked men to
a horrible
death and
lease the
vineyard to
others who
will give him
his share of
the crop after
each harvest.”
In
the
resurrection,
Israel is
transfigured
from a lost
nation state,
long cast into
the dustbin of
history, into
the Kingdom of
God – the
Kingdom of
Heaven
inherent in
the divine
person of
Jesus. In the
days after His
resurrection
and ascension
into heaven,
and when the
Holy Spirit
had manifested
itself to His
disciples as
He said He
would, this
new mustard
seed of a
“nation” would
simply be
called “The
Way.”
Founded upon a
man named
Peter who
Jesus
affectionately
called “The
Rock,” it
would
eventually
become that
great tree
called the
Catholic
Church. He
goes on to
explain it to
them thusly:
"I
tell you, the
Kingdom of God
will be taken
away from you
and given to a
nation that
will produce
the proper
fruit.
Anyone who
stumbles over
that stone
will be broken
to pieces, and
it will crush
anyone it
falls
on.”
When
the leading
priests and
Pharisees
heard this
parable, they
realized he
was telling
the story
against
them—they were
the wicked
farmers. They
wanted to
arrest him,
but they were
afraid of the
crowds, who
considered
Jesus to be a
prophet.
Now
we are
beginning to
see the power
of The
Story.
God does not
save us within
history but
within this
story that is
encapsulated
inside it, yet
also
transcends
it. It
is similar to
the way He
becomes for us
both high
priest and
unblemished
sacrifice.
It is a
mystery beyond
our
comprehension,
and He cares
not if we
understand,
but only that
we
believe.
Heaven
and the earth
will pass
away, but The
Story is
eternal, and
woe be to
whomever He
tells The
Story
against.
In the end,
The Story yet
untold is that
of His Kingdom
that exists
but is not of
this
world.
This Story is
the Eternal
Testament.
It begins
where the Book
of Revelation
ends, when the
New Jerusalem
descends.
And
when the real,
historical
Earth has
become nothing
but a hole in
the empty
void, this is
The Story that
will remain to
tell the
remarkable
tale of what
once happened
here.
Thanks
for
listening.
Remember to
check out the
program notes
for Program 2
at
radionewjerusalem.com. This is Chaplain Phil wishing you a good night and God’s
blessings.
Closing
Featured
clips
tonight were
from Firesign
Theater’s Waiting
for the
Electrician or
Someone Like
Him,
and Red
Planet Mars,
produced by
Melaby
Pictures and
distributed by
United
Artists.
Special
thanks to my
musical guests
tonight from
the fabulous
40’s, the
equally
fabulous Dinning
Sisters,
who lightened
up the heavy
with “Aunt
Hagar’s
Children’s
Blues” and
“Pig Foot
Pete.” Join me
next time when
I’ll present
the next
chapter in The
Story: The
Story of Eden.
Good
night,
everyone!
Endnotes
[i]
Nolan, Albert,
Jesus
before
Christianity,
25th
Anniversary
Edition, Orbis
Books,
Maryknoll, NY,
2001, p. 11.
[ii]
White, Ellen
G., The
Desire of Ages,
Pacific Press
Publishing
Association,
1940, p. 9.
[iii]
Sheen, Fulton
J., Life
of Christ,
McGraw Hill
Book Company,
New York,
1958, p. 24.
[iv]
“From its
simplicity of
form, the
cross has been
used both as a
religious
symbol and as
an ornament,
from the dawn
of man’s
civilization.
Various
objects,
dating from
periods long
anterior to
the Christian
era, have been
found, marked
with crosses
of different
designs, in
almost every
part of the
old world.
India, Syria,
Persia and
Egypt have all
yielded
numberless
examples,
while numerous
instances,
dating from
the later
Stone Age to
Christian
times, have
been found in
nearly every
part of
Europe. The
use of the
cross as a
religious
symbol in
pre-Christian
times, and
among
non-Christian
peoples, may
probably be
regarded as
almost
universal, and
in very many
cases it was
connected with
some form of
nature
worship,”
Encyclopedia
Britannica,
11th ed., pg.
506.
[v]
The truth is
that the
Pharisees did
hate Jesus,
and He rightly
isn’t known
for showing
them a great
deal of grace.
He called them
out for their
hypocrisy. He
exposed their
inner tombs.
But the hatred
they felt for
Him wasn’t
mere sour
grapes at His
approval
rating, nor
was it as
principled as
mere evil
versus good.
It was rather
more craven.
They hated
Jesus not
because He
called them
names, but
because He
threatened
their
security,
prestige and
income. He was
going to ruin
everything
they had
worked so hard
for, and
getting
everybody killed. Why
Did
the Pharisees
Hate Jesus So
Much?
https://www.ligonier.org/blog/why-did-pharisees-hate-jesus-so-much/
[vi]
The Great
Pyramid
of Giza
lies at the
mid-point of
the earth’s
longest lines
of latitude
and longitude,
which places
it at the
exact
geographical
center of the
planet.
For
this reason,
the Near East
has always
been the
crossroads to
the rest of
the world, and
this explains
its strategic
importance.
Jerusalem
in particular
is often
referred to as
the “city
at the center
of the earth”
and this was
particularly
true at the
time of the
Davidic
Kingdom, when
Israel ruled
all of
Palestine and
controlled the
trade routes
to the rest of
the world that
passed through
the Holy City.
[vii]
3.
The
Life of Jesus
of Nazareth
– “Whether you
are a
Christian or
not, you
cannot
honestly say
that the life
of Jesus of
Nazareth did
not
dramatically
impact
history. If
you follow the
dating system
that we use
today, you
acknowledge
his impact.
This article
is published
in 2010 A.D.
because
approximately
2010 years
ago, Jesus
lived in
Israel. At the
time of his
life, it might
not have seen
so dramatic to
the world at
large. He
never traveled
more than a
few days'
journey from
his hometown.
It was only
after he left
earth that his
teachings
spread beyond
his homeland
and began to
cause trouble
for the ruling
power of the
time: Rome.
When Roman
rulers began
to persecute
the followers
of Jesus,
Christians,
his life
really began
to ripple out
around the
globe. Over
time,
Christianity
was accepted
by the Roman
rulers, which
allowed it to
spread even
further.
Today,
Christianity
is one of the
largest
religions of
the world.
Jesus set off
an atomic
religious bomb
that is still
felt today.”
This
article is
from a secular
website which
was at least
balanced
enough to rate
the life of
Jesus one of
the top 10
most important
events in
history.
My
claim here
that Jesus is
the Son of God
and God
Incarnate
means his
death
represents an
act of deicide.
The
killing of God
in Jesus, and
the bizarre
events that
accompanied
it, seems to
me to be a
slam dunk to
achieve the
rank of number
one as the
most dramatic
event in
history. –
Chaplain Phil
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