"how that on the sabbath days" - Japanese Cuisine and Rice

Tokyo, Toward West

Japanese Cuisine and Rice

Japanese cuisine is of course a product of its long history, its nature, its racial features, and its spiritualism and religion.

Japan welcomes listing of "washoku" as UNESCO intangible heritage 

English.news.cn   2013-12-05 15:09:48  

TOKYO, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- Japan said Thursday that it welcomes the news that its traditional cuisine, washoku, has been registered on UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization 's (UNESCO) Intangible Heritage List, hoping it could attract more visitors to Japan. 

Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Thursday that the news is "delightful" and Japan "sincerely welcome" it, adding the traditional cuisine embodies Japan's spirit of respecting nature. 

The Japanese government's proposal was approved by UNESCO at a meeting of its Intergovernmental Committee in Baku, Azerbaijan on Wednesday, making washoku the 22nd Japanese asset to be listed on the intangible heritage list, which also covers Japan's Kabuki, Noh and Bunraku. 

Japan's Agriculture Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi also said the registration will be "a major tailwind to spread Japanese food overseas," adding it is "not a goal but a start," according to local media.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/culture/2013-12/05/c_132943667.htm  

Of course the base of the Japanese cuisine is rice.

Before modernization and Westernization of Japan in the late 19th century, rice was delivered by farmers to samurai lords as tax in lieu of money.  It might be like colonies of the Roman Empire sent wheat or flour to Rome as tax.

And this rice is a main component in the shinto religion, a unique Japanese religion where spirits of ancestors are deified and enshrined in shinto shrines.  Accordingly only Japanese can taste Japanese foods based on rice in a correct manner and sense.

(Of course other Asians who eat rice as the chief article of food like Chinese might have different attitudes toward rice.)

But, it is just what a man eats.  It must be open to mankind.

Truly the body is more important than foods as Christ Jesus said.

(Wa is one of special forms of words meaning Japan.  Shoku means food.  So, washoku is a Japanese food.  Western cuisine is called "yo-shoku" in Japanese.  And Chinese cuisine is "chuka ryori [simply chuka]" or "chugoku ryori."  Chuka, a classic word, and chugoku mean China.  Ryori is cuisine.)




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Mat 12:5 Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?
Mat 12:6 But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple.
Mat 12:7 But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.

"sent him away shamefully handled" - Faith among Americans

Tokyo

Faith among Americans

America is not collapsing as Europe is not.

It is because most of Americans have a concept of or  faith in God.

Most Americans still pray, believe in God
BY LESLIE GRIMARD
Fri Jul 19, 2013 11:12 EST 

July 16, 2013 (Heritage) - A new Pew Forum poll shows that 48 percent of Americans say a decline of religion is bad for American society. But do fewer Americans consider themselves faithful these days? 

Over the past two decades, the number of Americans who mark their religious preference as "none" has undoubtedly grown. Only 8 percent checked that box in 1990. As of May of this past year, 20 percent of all Americans identified themselves as having no religion.

Despite an increase in these "nones," the majority of Americans are still religious. Over 90 percent of Americans believe in God or a higher power, and almost 40 percent attend religious services weekly. 

Even among those who claim no particular religious affiliation in an earlier Pew Forum survey, roughly 80 percent still believe in God or a universal spirit, and a majority describe themselves as "religious" or "spiritual." According to a recent survey by researchers at Baylor University, most of those who say they have “no religion” also pray.

http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/most-americans-still-pray-believe-in-god

A survey reports a simpler result on this theme: how much do Americans believe in God?

July 28, 2008
Majority of Americans Believe in God 

A large majority of Americans (78%) say they believe in God and 15% say they don't believe in God, but do believe in a higher power.
http://www.gallup.com/video/109111/Majority-Americans-Believe-God.aspx

This rate might be comparable with a result on the same topic in any Islamic nation.  However Muslims have only one type of image of Allah, since the Koran is so demanding.  Americans are freer in this context:

Americans View God in Four Different Ways (Froese, Bader 2010)
How Americans View God
By Austin Cline 

Belief in God is popular in America, but not everyone who believes in God believes the same things about God.... 

In the end, they collected all the data into four different types of gods:
Authoritative God: 28%
Benevolent God: 22%
Critical God: 21%
Distant God: 24% 

According to Froese, believers in the Authoritative God "divide the world by good and evil and appeal to people who are worried, concerned and scared. They respond to a powerful God guiding this country, and if we don't explicitly talk about (that) God, then we have the wrong God or no God at all."
...
Many believers in the Distant God would probably prefer to be called spiritual rather than religious and it's an attitude that taps into old, long-standing Deistic attitudes that can be traced back to the founding of America. Believers in the Distant God seem to adopt the attitude that morality, politics, and social structures are ultimately their responsibility to develop and get right. For whatever reason, they don't believe God is actively looking out for them or is going to fix things they get wrong.

http://atheism.about.com/od/American-Beliefs-God/a/Americans-View-God-Four-Different-Ways.htm

 

These images of God can be reasonable distributed almost equally.  Men are unique among themselves.  So, images of God they have can be different.

And the 3/11 Great Tsunami Disaster of Japan in 2011 has served as the catalyst of studying concrete contents of Americans' belief in God.

56% Say that God Controls Everything that Happens (PRRI/RNS 2011)
Americans Believe God Controls Everything
By Austin Cline 

The Public Religion Research Institute and the Religion News Service conducted a survey on Americans' views about God in the wake of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. When asked how much they agree or disagree with the statement "God is in control of everything that happens in the world," people responded: 

Completely Agree: 35%
Mostly Agree: 21%
Mostly Disagree: 17%
Completely Disagree: 17%
Don't Know / Refused: 2% 

http://atheism.about.com/od/American-Beliefs-God/a/God-Controls-Everything.htm


18% Have Doubts About God due to Innocent Suffering
Suffering Causes Few Doubts About God
By Austin Cline

The Public Religion Research Institute and the Religion News Service conducted a survey on Americans' views about God in the wake of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan. When asked how much they agree or disagree with the statement "Seeing innocent people suffer sometimes causes me to have doubts about God," people responded: 

Completely Agree: 5%
Mostly Agree: 13%
Mostly Disagree: 24%
Completely Disagree: 48%
Don't Know / Refused: 2% 

http://atheism.about.com/od/American-Beliefs-God/a/Doubts-About-God-Innocent-Suffering.htm

The God is almighty and omnipotent.  What looks complicated to human eyes can be simple to the God.  What looks like an unbearable tragedy for mankind can be nothing to the God, since He can compensate for any pains, fear and burdens of victims and the sacrificed.  So, the rate of 48% of Americans who trust in the God despite so many terrible incidents in the human world is somewhat sound. 

So, America is not collapsing due to those believers.  And if the US should tumble and fall, Americans will be probably able to survive and revive like Western Europe after the great collapse of the Roman Empire though it was centuries after.



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Mar 12:4 And again he sent unto them another servant; and at him they cast stones, and wounded him in the head, and sent him away shamefully handled.
Mar 12:5 And again he sent another; and him they killed, and many others; beating some, and killing some.
Mar 12:6 Having yet therefore one son, his wellbeloved, he sent him also last unto them, saying, They will reverence my son.
Mar 12:7 But those husbandmen said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and the inheritance shall be our's.
Mar 12:8 And they took him, and killed him, and cast him out of the vineyard.
Mar 12:9 What shall therefore the lord of the vineyard do? he will come and destroy the husbandmen, and will give the vineyard unto others.

"shall be heard in the light" - Armageddons and Armageddon

A Tokyo River

Armageddons and Armageddon

Will Christ Jesus come and appear in our world again?

The Bible says that he will come back in the middle of war between believers and evil men.

Rev 22:6 And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.
Rev 22:7 Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.
Rev 22:8 And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.
Rev 22:9 Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.
Rev 22:10 And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.
Rev 22:11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.
Rev 22:12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.
Rev 22:13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.
Rev 22:14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
Rev 22:15 For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.
Rev 22:16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.
Rev 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

If this Book of the Bible is not holy or genuine, the whole church system of Christianity should collapse.  

The sentence "Rev 22:16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star" is very critical.  If Jesus had not said so but they wrote this part, it would be the greatest blasphemy.

But what this prophecy means is clear.  Despite great activities of believers, there would still many bad guys who would never repent and believe.  No one would be able to correct them.  But believers should keep faith to have righteous lives.  And then Christ Jesus will come back to save the believers and punish the bad.

Of course, people live and die while this prophecy is not fulfilled.  So, you may wonder what effect of this prophecy has.  However, a situation each individual lives cannot be easily judged by others.  A believer who died before this era must have caught a glimpse of a similar situation to what was written in Revelation.  And in a wider scope of the 2000 year history, the following description seems to come to fit more and more to this era we now live in: "Rev 22:11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still."  

List of wars by death toll 

This is a very incomplete list of wars (an estimated 3,023 wars have taken place in recorded human history...). 

60,669,200-84,589,300 – World War II (1939–1945), (see World War II casualties)
30,000,000–60,000,000 – Mongol conquests (1206-1324)[2][3][4][5]
27,000,000 – Second Sino-Japanese War (1937-1945)[6]
25,000,000 – Qing dynasty conquest of Ming Dynasty (1616–1662)[7]
20,000,000 – Taiping Rebellion (1850–1864)[8]
16,563,868-30,000,000 – World War I/Great War (1914–1918) (see World War I casualties)
16,000,000 – White Lotus Rebellion (1794-1804)[citation needed]
13,000,000 - An Lushan Rebellion (755–763)[9]
10,000,000 – Era of Warring States (475 BCE–221 BCE)
10,000,000 - Red Eyebrows Rebellion (9-24)
8,000,000–12,000,000 – Dungan revolt (1862 –1877)
7,500,000 – Chinese Civil War (1927–1949)[10]
7,000,000–20,000,000 – Conquests of Tamerlane (1370–1405)[11][12]
7,000,000 - Reconquista (711-1492)
5,000,000–9,000,000 – Russian Civil War and Foreign Intervention (1917–1922)[13]
5,000,000 - Conquests of Aurangzeb (1681-1707)
5,000,000 - Gothic War (535-554)
5,000,000 – Conquests of Menelik II of Ethiopia (1882–1898)[14][15]
4,000,000 - Three Kingdoms War in Ancient China (189-280)
3,500,000–6,000,000 – Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) (see Napoleonic Wars casualties)
3,000,000–11,500,000 – Thirty Years' War (1618–1648)[16]
3,000,000–7,000,000 – Yellow Turban Rebellion (184–205)
3,000,000 - Second Northern War (1655-1660)
3,000,000 - French Wars of Religion (1562-1598)
3,000,000 - Hundred Years' War (1337-1453)
2,500,000–5,400,000 – Second Congo War/Great War of Africa (1998–2003)
2,500,000–4,000,000 – Conquests of the Hunnic Empire (408–469)
2,500,000 – Russian–Circassian War (1763–1864)
2,000,000–4,000,000 – Huguenot Wars (1562-1598)[21]
2,000,000 - French Revolutionary Wars (1792-1802)
2,000,000 - Crusades (1096-1272)
2,000,000 – Shaka's conquests (1816–1828)[22]
2,000,000 - Fang La Rebellion (1120-1122)
1,500,000 - Algerian War of Independence (1954-1962)
1,200,000[23] – Korean War (1950–1953)
791,000-1,141,000[24] – Vietnam War/Second Indochina War (1955-1975)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_wars_by_death_toll

Indeed, the 20th century is called a century of wars.  The most significantly six million Judaists were killed in Europe under strong influences of the Vatican during WWII.  This greatest tragedy of mankind in these 2000 years must have been really foretelling the coming of Armageddon.

Nonetheless Christ Jesus first appeared before the great war between Islaelites and Romans in the first century.  Hence we may be allowed to assume that Christ Jesus will surely come after the great Holocaust for his second emergence.  It is because the age of Revelation must start with a decisive tragedy for Israelites and end with another decisive tragic affair for them.  Truly the God must have chosen Judaists for this critical role.

Now I think very personally that it is time that people come to hear rumors about the second advent of Christ Jesus.  He might appear in a subway car of New York or in a street of Shanghai if not in Jerusalem.




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Luk 12:3 Therefore whatsoever ye have spoken in darkness shall be heard in the light; and that which ye have spoken in the ear in closets shall be proclaimed upon the housetops.

"Martha served" - The Most Important Question in our Universe

A Shinto Shrine, Japan

The Most Important Question in our Universe

One thing sure about this universe is that it is finite.

They say it has the width of 47 billion light years.  It is very huge but still finite.  For a space which is finite, there is the outside.  Then what is there outside the universe?

If something or other universe exists outside our universe that is also finite, what exists outside it.  Maybe this structure might be repeated infinitely.  But will it satisfy our mind and sense?

From a religious point of view, it doesn't matter what structure, simple or complicated or finite or infinite, our universe and other universes take.  It is the very act of God.  He can exercise his infinite ability and power in handling material universes.  But there must be one important sphere called Heaven in addition to the hell.

Our minds and souls are linked to some functions or spirits which exist in Heaven or some spiritual sphere.  When we were born and grow, gradually a link between a physical human and a spirit in the heavenly sphere must be established.  A human being as a physical entity lives following various physical and biological conditions, but the mind and soul of each man is linked to a corresponding spirit in Heaven or the spiritual sphere.

According to the Gospel, Christ Jesus was directly linked to the spirit of God.  But ordinary persons cannot have their souls connected to God.   However, as Christ Jesus told to accumulate treasure in Heaven, we can have our souls linked to higher-ranking spirits in Heaven through good work we do on the earth.

In contrast, if we do wrong, neglecting the poor, the weak, the oppressed, etc., we will be surely connected to the hell.

When we die, leaving our physical bodies and this world, our souls will be completely united with other ourselves in Heaven or the hell.  Then we will start a new life in the spiritual world.  And such a life can be infinitely long.  Further, if we are united with our own remote spirits in Heaven, no one would like to come back to this wild, namely the rotten, and painful material world.  If we can live more closely to God in Heaven, why do we like to leave it to live in this incomplete material world so far away from God?

So, it is far more meaningful for us to think about Heaven than imagine what exists beyond our finite material universe and beyond.  

Nonetheless, we may ask why God created this material universe?  Was it to create human beings who will eventually enter Heaven or fall in to the hell?  Why does God need us?  According to Christ Jesus, it is love.  But mankind cannot yet fully comprehend the love of God toward us.

Finally can mankind believe that God loves us so much, while there are so many people who have to live a horrible life and die a terrible death?  This is the most important question for us who will die someday at 100%.
    

http://tacchan.hatenablog.com/entry/2013/01/20/133250
Our Material Universe in Gray and Other Universes

Anyway God can be defined, if so humanly, as the one that governs everything, including Himself, that exists and does not exist.







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Joh 12:1 Then Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, which had been dead, whom he raised from the dead.
Joh 12:2 There they made him a supper; and Martha served: but Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him.
Joh 12:3 Then took Mary a pound of ointment of spikenard, very costly, and anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair: and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment.
Joh 12:4 Then saith one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, which should betray him,
Joh 12:5 Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?
Joh 12:6 This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein.
Joh 12:7 Then said Jesus, Let her alone: against the day of my burying hath she kept this.
Joh 12:8 For the poor always ye have with you; but me ye have not always.

"Take my yoke upon you" - Three Elements and Three Religions

Park, Museum, and Shrine in Autumn, Japan

Three Elements and Three Religions

A basic element of the universe or around us is hydrogen.

This very small atom consists of one  proton and one electron which in large quantity becomes electric current.  An electron is a super-small particle which cannot be divided or which has no internal structure.  But a proton has three quarks of two types of up and down.

If the electric charge an electron has is negative one, an up quirk has plus 2/3 while a down qurik has negative 1/3.  A proton has two up quirks and one down quirk, thus having an electric charge of plus one.  So, the total electric charge of a hydrogen atom becomes zero.

    e (-1)-----------------[u (2/3), d (-1/3), u (2/3)]    

This structure calls something about religion to my mind.

d might be Judaism; u could be Christianity; and e should be Islam.  Note that a neutron is composed of two ds and one u.  

[d (-1/3), u (2/3), d (-1/3)]

So, d and u can be regraded as changing each structure to have a total electric charge of +1 (a proton) or zero (a neutron).

Judaism and Christianity share some holy books, thus constituting a common domain.  In reality, a Judaist can convert into Christianity more easily while a Christian man doesn't avoid marrying a Judaist woman.  But Muslims are more separated from Judaists and Christians.  The religion Islam moves around the religious domain Judaism and Christianity build, like an electron moves around a proton or a neutron.  Religious traditions of Islam largely depend on legacies of Judaism and Christianity.  Islam is bound to Judaism and Christianity.  But it can leave one atom for other atoms, thus creating electric current.

When an element grows to become larger than hydrogen, it needs more protons and neutrons.  Electrons follow them to balance electric charges.  But to create a molecule, two or more atom cores are linked to one another through binding electrons.  In the religious sphere, Judaism is only for descendants of the ancient tribe of Hebrews, basically.  Christianity is controlled and supervised by the Pope or heads of various denominations through hierarchy.  But Muslims are essentially equal among themselves.  Whenever they go, they lack anything functionally in practicing their religion.  Like electrons, they can move around in the world leaving a trace of complete faith in the God.

And no more elemental particles are needed to create every component of this world, including the air, soils, plants, animals, and every industrial product.

It is also said that Islam is the last religion so that the God would not endow mankind with any more religions.  The human world must be completed with the three religions (with other special ones such as Hinduism and Buddhism), like this material universe is completed with the three types of elemental particles basically.

http://wadingintobuddhism.blogspot.jp/2010/10/kinda-funny.html
  

http://www.ipp.phys.ethz.ch/outreach/review




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Mat 11:29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

"By what authority" - Two Great Miracles for Men

Mt. Fuji 100 Km Far from the Tokyo Suburbs

Two Great Miracles for Men

There are two great miracles given to mankind by the God.

One is in the sky and another is on the ground.

The first miracle is how the sun and the moon look from the earth.  They look alike almost in the same size to our eyes.  There are no scientific reasons that in a solar system the central fixed star and a secondary planet orbiting a planet should look in the same size from the ground of the planet.  In other word, the moon must look smaller or larger from the earth when compared with the sun.

But though hundreds of millions of years ago the moon looked far larger than it looks today, the fact that the moon and the sun have looked in a similar size since emergence of mankind through evolution had a great influence on culture and civilization of mankind.  By watching the bright and strong sun mankind came to have a concept of something positive and major, and the pale and soft moon led to a concept of something negative and minor.  It helped development of intellect of human beings.  Dualism is basics for intellect.  And it started with the great configuration of the sun and the moon in the sky of the historical epoch when mankind has been growing, though this epoch just occupies a small portion in the whole history of the earth.

And the second miracle is that the God chose a tribe as His own which settled in Judea or Palestine which is situated in the key location connecting Europe, Africa, and Asia.  For this purpose, the God called Abraham out of Ur, a city state in Mesopotamia, 4000 years ago.

So, the God did not choose Egyptians who resided in the corner of Africa or Sumerians who occupied a domain along the Euphrates river in Asia.  The God did not even send His Son to Greeks or Romans who prospered in Southern Europe.  God's Son must be sent to the center of the world to manifest glory of the God, so that Judaists or descendants of Abraham were required to move to the central region of the world.  This is why Abraham and his family had to leave Ur for Palestine 4000 years ago.  Then 2000 years ago, the God sent His Son to the heart of the world geographically and culturally, Palestine.

In a sense, by doing so, the God protected uniqueness of each domain, Europe, Africa, and Asia while giving all the three regions a kind of equal chances for religious development and deployment.    

Now we live surrounded by the two miracles, each in the sky and on the ground.  Without the great miracles, mankind even today must be in a state of just being a kind of Neanderthal men.

And the third miracle is that this era is 2000 years after the emergence of Christ Jesus and 4000 years after the journey of Abraham.  We all share this third miracle.  We have to respond to this great condition.  But how?

http://www.evidencetoconsider.com/astronomical/the-solar-eclipse-odds

http://www.israelimages.com/see_image_details.php?idi=1238






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Mar 11:27 And they come again to Jerusalem: and as he was walking in the temple, there come to him the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders,
Mar 11:28 And say unto him, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority to do these things?
Mar 11:29 And Jesus answered and said unto them, I will also ask of you one question, and answer me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things.
Mar 11:30 The baptism of John, was it from heaven, or of men? answer me.
Mar 11:31 And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say, Why then did ye not believe him?
Mar 11:32 But if we shall say, Of men; they feared the people: for all men counted John, that he was a prophet indeed.
Mar 11:33 And they answered and said unto Jesus, We cannot tell. And Jesus answering saith unto them, Neither do I tell you by what authority I do these things.

"a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice" - Koran Chapter 17

Parliament Building near Imperial Palace, Tokyo

Koran Chapter 17

There is an important Chapter in Koran.

Since Chapter 17 is related to the legendary travel by the founder of Islam to Jerusalem.  In Jerusalem it is said that he was hoisted up to Heaven to see Allah.

17. Children of Israel - Al-Isra 

Chapter 17 of Koran 

17:2 And We gave Musa the Book and made it a guidance to the children of Israel, saying: Do not take a protector besides Me; 

17:4 And We had made known to the children of Israel in the Book: Most certainly you will make mischief in the land twice, and most certainly you will behave insolently with great insolence. 

17:101 And certainly We gave Musa nine clear signs; so ask the children of Israel. When he came to them, Firon said to him: Most surely I deem you, O Musa, to be a man deprived of reason. 

17:104 And We said to the Israelites after him: Dwell in the land: and when the promise of the next life shall come to pass, we will bring you both together in judgment.

http://www.en.knowquran.org/koran/17/

These passages are important, since it might tell the fate of Israel or Israelites.  Christianity has claimed its holy glory in parallel with Judaism.  Then Islam seems to put Judaism to hard testing.

The paragraph 17.4 might imply that Judaists now occupy Judea or Palestine as its second time.  And Israelis today are not friendly and kind to Muslims at all.  Further, it is 2000 years since the emergence of Christ Jesus and 4000 years since the great journey of Abraham.  So, it might be now that "the promise of the next life shall come to pass."

From a wider scope, it is natural that all the Israelis leave Israel for the US.  And then real development of Islamic nations might start.

As for the US, America had better accommodate all the Judaists, since Europe has the Pope.  Americans seem to mention the God more often than Christ Jesus.  They are closer to Judaists than European Christians are.




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Luk 11:27 And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked.
Luk 11:28 But he said, Yea rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.

" the reproach of Christ greater riches"

National Diet Building, Tokyo








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Heb 11:24 By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter;
Heb 11:25 Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;
Heb 11:26 Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.

"he findeth it swept and garnished" - Jesus after Resurrection

A Museum

Jesus after Resurrection 

Where did He go?

Of course He went to a road leading to Damascus.

But we can assume that the spirit of God left the body of Jesus after he revived to life again in a tomb.  Then as Jesus and His close aids, whom one of His disciple mistook as Moses and Elijah, had discussed on the mountain, Jesus was helped out of the tomb　by them.  For the time being, He could still act as a demi-god, making an appearance before His disciples sometimes.  But finally, the last of the Holy Spirit left the physical entity of Jesus, ascending to Heaven while everybody was watching.  Then where did He go as a plain man, like the one who He had been?

This speculation has led to creation of various stories.  Some novel reads that Jesus married and had children to live a long life.  Other reads that Jesus traveled to as far as India and Tibet.

In one of my theories, Jesus went to Rome.  Then Titus Flavius Josephus (37-100) came to the capital of the Roman Empire as he had fought against the Romans during the First Jewish–Roman War, lost the War and defected to the Roman side.  Jesus taught Josephus how to write about the War and eventually Antiquities of the Jews.

These two books are too great for us to believe that they were just written by Josephus alone relying on his knowledge and judgment.  Somebody must have helped Josephus, and it must have been Jesus as a plain man after Resurrection.

The Jewish War or Judean War (in full Flavius Josephus's Books of the History of the Jewish War against the Romans, Greek), also referred to in English as The Wars of the Jews, is a book written by Josephus, a Jewish historian of the 1st century. 

It is a description of Jewish history from the capture of Jerusalem by the Seleucid ruler Antiochus IV Epiphanes in 170 BC to the fall and destruction of Jerusalem in the First Jewish–Roman War in 70 AD. The book was written about 75, originally in Josephus's "paternal tongue", probably Aramaic, though this version has not survived. It was later translated into Greek, probably under the supervision of Josephus himself.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jewish_War 

Antiquities of the Jews, also Judean Antiquities (see Ioudaios) is a twenty-volume historiographical work composed by the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus in the thirteenth year of the reign of Roman emperor Flavius Domitian which was around 93 or 94 AD.[1] Antiquities of the Jews contains an account of history of the Jewish people, written in Greek for Josephus' gentile patrons. In the first ten volumes, Josephus follows the events of the historical books of the Hebrew Bible beginning with the creation of Adam and Eve. The second ten volumes continue the history of the Jewish people beyond the biblical text and up to the Jewish War.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antiquities_of_the_Jews

These two books had better be regraded as other Bible, since Jesus might have been behind the author Flavius Josephus who could have been a son of Jesus.





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Luk 11:24 When the unclean spirit is gone out of a man, he walketh through dry places, seeking rest; and finding none, he saith, I will return unto my house whence I came out.
Luk 11:25 And when he cometh, he findeth it swept and garnished.
Luk 11:26 Then goeth he, and taketh to him seven other spirits more wicked than himself; and they enter in, and dwell there: and the last state of that man is worse than the first.

"shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day"

Merry Christmas if You are Somewhere








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Joh 11:23 Jesus saith unto her, Thy brother shall rise again.
Joh 11:24 Martha saith unto him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.
Joh 11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
Joh 11:26 And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

"The desire of the righteous is only good" - Fukushima Daiichi vs. Tokyo Olympics

Mt. Fuji 100 km Far on Nov. 23, 2013

Fukushima Daiichi vs. Tokyo Olympics

Presently recovery work in the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant is in a very difficult condition, though the Japanese Government and Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO) do not make it widely known in the world.

It is a scarcity of manpower.  Many workers in the Plant have already received doses to their allowable limit.  Though 3,000 workers are engaged in recovery work, more and more real experienced workers are leaving Fukushima Daiichi.  Each worker is not allowed to receive radiation over 50 mSv per year.  This regulation eliminates many veteran Fukushima Daiichi workers of TEPCO and its subcontractors.  As a result, there are now many amateur workers and dubious laborers mobilized by suspicious subcontractors, including ex-homeless persons and a kind of gangsters.

In addition, the Government launched a massive decontamination operation around residential areas and individual houses situated around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi Plant.  So, many subcontractors opt to dispatch workers to the decontamination work rather than to Fukushima Daiichi.

What is worse, TEPCO is losing its employees.  Many engineers and office workers of TEPCO are leaving the company due to deterioration of business environment caused by the nuclear accident.  In 2012, total 712 workers quit jobs in TEPCO.  Those who were engaged in core business of the utility accounted for 40% of the 712 men and women who left TEPCO.  So, the management of TEPCO is somehow at stake.

Moreover, since all the 50 nuclear power plants in Japan are now halted due to exhaustive checks and inspections imposed after the Fukushima Daiichi accident, TEPCO has expected that nuclear workers who lost jobs in other nuclear plants would come to Fukushima Daiichi.   But those workers with reasonable technical skills can easily find jobs in other factories and plants in industries other than the nuclear industry.  They have not come to Fukushima Daiichi where they should receive higher doses.

So, the situation around Fukushima Daiichi is too early to be optimistic.  In the worst case, some parties concerned think that TEPCO will be forced to use some foreign hands, since suitable Japanese workforce for Fukushima Daiichi can be depleted sooner or later.

And if construction work should start for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Fukushima Daiichi will face a more serious condition while many workers and subcontractors will go and find easy jobs in Tokyo.

So, you had better request the Japanese Government to abandon the Olympics scheduled in Tokyo in 2020.




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Pro 11:22 As a jewel of gold in a swine's snout, so is a fair woman which is without discretion.
Pro 11:23 The desire of the righteous is only good: but the expectation of the wicked is wrath.
Pro 11:24 There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; and there is that withholdeth more than is meet, but it tendeth to poverty.

"the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem" - A Legacy of John Kennedy

From Shinagawa to Tokyo Haneda Airport

A Legacy of John Kennedy

The US in 1960s was in big confusion.

It had the first Catholic President who was assassinated so badly.  It confronted the Cuban crisis, which had a long influence on its diplomatic policy.  Its African American leader who won a Nobel Prize was assassinated badly.  A brother of the assassinated President was also killed during his presidential campaign.  The US military sent 500,000 soldiers to South Vietnam.  But it finally succeeded in sending astronauts to the moon.  

However after the Vietnam War ended for the US and the Watergate Scandal emerged and ended with President Nixon being forced to resign, the US entered a rather peaceful and boring era till the Persian Gulf War in 1990.  Along with collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the US proceeded to a new growth era riding on the personal computer boom and subsequently the Internet boom.

Anyway, the turmoil of 1960s suddenly ended in the US through the anti-Vietnam War movement which was of course put an end to with the withdrawal of the US troops from South Vietnam.  But where had the dangerous momentum in the US society gone, leaving the remains of JFK, MLK, and RFK?

The answer seems to have been the Vietnam War.

Those who killed JFK, MLK, and RFK  seem to have been all satisfied with big money they got by participating in business related to the Vietnam War.  Those dangerous guys behind the assassinations of JFK, MLK, and RFK must have greatly benefited from the wartime boom.  As they had become so rich, they must have come not to mind advance in society of African Americans.

Indeed the US Government paid $111 billion for the Vietnam War, which can be converted to the current value of $686 billion.  So, those behind those assassinations must have been lucratively paid or accumulated profits.  In addition, the War led to wider contamination of the US society by drugs.  Even the Mafia and other gangsters enjoyed the boom.  They had probably no need to assassin a US President, a civil right movement leader, or a Presidential candidate who were against those being engaged in Mafia business covering Chicago to Cuba, illegal profit making, unlawful manipulation of political power, unfair business with the defense-related industry.    

In other word, the Vietnam War must have made rich enough those having played decisive roles in the era of assassinations of 1960s to change their lifestyle.  And, finally President Nixon was forced to resign after the Vietnam War in a disgraceful manner while his main concern looked like something related to the era of the JFK Presidency.

But, history might still hide some linkage between the era of 1960s and present days.  So, I will not be surprised even if it has become clear that the success of Barack H. Obama depends on a legacy of John F. Kennedy.



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Act 11:21 And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord.
Act 11:22 Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch.
Act 11:23 Who, when he came, and had seen the grace of God, was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord.

"would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes" - 50 Years since JFK

Tokyo Haneda Airport since 1931

50 Years since JFK

It is 50 years after the occurrence of the JFK Assassination.  But how has the US changed?

                                       1963                        2013
==================================================
 Population                       189 million                317 million

Real GDP
Growth Rate                     4.4%                        2.8%

Ratio of
Non-Hispanic Whites          88%                        63%

Poverty Rate                    19.5%                      15%
==================================================

Now, how many shooters will you employ if you should hit a US President?

It cannot be one who usually works in a school textbook deposit.  You will hire some of the best shooters of the era.  And as you are afraid of a failure, you will post four or five men, if any.

So, on November 22, 1963, you must have put one on the Grassy Knoll, one on the second floor of the Texas School Book Depository, one on the sixth floor of the Depository, and the last one on the roof of the Dal-Tex Building.

Then you must be sure that one of four bullets will really work.  Of course, in order to hide shooters and make it difficult to find where bullets come, you have to order each shooter to fire just one bullet each.

Conversely, suppose that you fail in this operation; then you will be laughed at forever by all the people concerned around Johnson, Nixon, Dulles, Hoover, etc.   So, you need four or more assassins.

http://www.mexicoarmado.com/rifles/167743-duda-sobre-el-tiro-kennedy.html


But we only know Oswald and Ruby, super third-class players.  Any scenario writer will use more figures if not like in the case of the mission on Osama of 2011.
 　

Anyway 50 years after the assassination, nobody predicted in 1963 that President Kennedy's daughter would become US Ambassador to Japan where Oswald had been once stationed as a US Marine, since Caroline's younger brother died so mysteriously in 1999.




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Mat 11:21 Woe unto thee, Chorazin! woe unto thee, Bethsaida! for if the mighty works, which were done in you, had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.

"he went out of the city" - China and the End of the World

Keihin-Kyuko Railway, Tokyo

China and the End of the World

On December 26, 2004, the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami occurred following an M9.1 earthquake off Sumatra Island, Indonesia, taking on 220,000 people around the Indian Ocean.

On March 11, 2011, the Great East Japan tsunami occurred following an M9.0 earthquake off the northeast part of Honsyu Island, taking on 20,000 people.

On November 8, 2013, Typhoon Haiyan （Typhoon No. 30 in Japanese）, one of the greatest typhoons in history, attacked Leyte Island and other Philippines islands, taking on 4,000 residents.

So, in East and Southeast Asia, Muslims, Buddhists, and Christians have been all hit by the great natural disasters.

Luke Chapter 21
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; 

26 Men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken. 

36 - Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.

Matthew Chapter 24
3 - And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what [shall be] the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? 

21 For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 

22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. 

29 - Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: 

36 - But of that day and hour knoweth no [man], no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

And these devastated regions really surround the Asian Continent a large part of which is occupied by China.

In other word, we may say that Heaven has given a warning concerning China.  China with population of 1,340 million can be a great threat to surrounding Asian countries, such as Japan, the Philippines, and Indonesia, as it is aggressively invading, for example, the East China Sea and the South China Sea while unlawfully occupying Tibet and Islamic regions in Central Asia. 

China cannot be regarded as a Buddhist country, a Christian country, or a Islamic nation.  Confucianism or Taoism may work as underlying religious tradition, but most of the Chinese people do not practice spiritual rites regularly.  We have never heard that a Chinese family or a Chinese individual has or carries the Bible or any other holy books, though influences of Buddhism and Taoism can be occasionally seen in people's life.

So, there can be a war, a civil war, great social turmoils in China, so that the Chinese Communist Party will be purged and true freedom of religion will be introduced into China.  

The end of the world can be linked to a fate of China, since everybody in the world is watching China with a sense of disdain, distrust, and disbelief.

Indeed the Chinese national flag consists of some stars, while Japan uses the sun in its national ensign and Muslims like to use the moon as part of their symbol.   

Luke Chapter 21
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves roaring; 

So, if China should start a war in the East China Sea or the South China Sea, it is not a surprise.  We had better continue to watch China, referring to the holy books.

Finally it will be a big incident if Buddhism, Christianity, or Islam should acquire newly 1.3 billion believers even after such a war, decisive domestic warfare, or any massive social and political upheavals.





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Mar 11:19 And when even was come, he went out of the city.
Mar 11:20 And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.
Mar 11:21 And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.
Mar 11:22 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.

"Every kingdom divided against itself " - Why 2000 Years Ago

Haneda International on Tokyo Bay

Why 2000 Years Ago

Once a man was born, he or she starts to his or her life, taking it as his or her own.

However, a man has too little knowledge about himself and this universe.  He doesn't even know why he had to be born at certain time in a certain environment.

No one can choose time and a place where he is to be born.  But once he was born, he starts to live as if his life were his own.

It is a big mistake.  There must be somebody that decides when and how who should be born.  Then life and a life of one who was born without knowing anything must belong to that someone.

Nonetheless, as Christ Jesus is God, He must have decided when and how He was born as a human being.  He is the only exception.  God decided one day to be born as Jesus in Israel 2000 years ago.  But why?  That must be the greatest theme of human study on history and religion.

332  Alexander the Great conquers the Persians, beginning the Hellenistic rule of Judea. 

167   Antiochus IV (Epiphanes) ransacks Jerusalem, prohibits Torah practice, sets up the
“Abomination of Desolation” in the Temple.  Maccabean revolt begins. 

164   Temple recaptured and rededicated. Origin of Hanukkah celebration (Jn 10:22). 

142  Hasmonean dynasty rules Jerusalem. 

63   Roman army under Pompey conquers Judea. 

40  Parthians conquer Judea. 

37   Herod regains Jerusalem. 

20  Herod begins reconstruction and expansion of the Temple. 

1      Birth of Christ. 

AD 

7      Caesar Augustus appoints Caponius Procurator. Removed judicial authority
from Judea: “The Scepter departed from Judah.” 

28-32   Ministry of Jesus. Crucifixion under Herod Antipas. The tragedy of all history
(Mt 23: 37-39). National blindness decreed (Lk 19:40ff;Rom 11:25). Destruction
of Jerusalem predicted.  The Diaspora begins (Lk 21:24). SEE LUKE 3:1 

37-41  Roman emperor Caligula attempts to have his image established in the Temple. 

66-73  Jewish revolt against the Romans. 

70  Fall of Jerusalem: Second Temple destroyed by Titus. Not mentioned in the Gospels
nor in the epistlesnor in the epistles; this would have been used in apologetic arguments; significant
evidence for being written prior to a.d. 66. Also, Qumran evidences, et al. 

73  Last stand of the Jewish revolt at Masada. 

90  Council of Jabneh (Jamnia) redefines Judaism. 

132  Bar Kochba revolt; destroys the 12th Legion; begin rebuilding the Temple. 

135  Romans crush the Jewish revolt. Hadrian orders Jerusalem plowed under. He builds
Aelia Capitolina on the ruins with a temple to Jupiter built over the site of the Jewish
Temple. Names Israel “Palestina.” 

313  Emperor Constantine legalizes Christianity throughout the Roman Empire; moves his
capital to Byzantium “Constantinople”). 

378  Emperor Theodosius makes Christianity the state religion of the Roman Empire.

http://faithbibleministriesblog.com/2013/11/15/a-3500-year-chronology-of-israel/

Indeed without God's sending Himself as a human being to Judea 2000 years ago, Judaists should have been just dispersed in territories of the Roman Empire or to Africa and Asia.  They would have continued their faith in Yahweh, however, without any impact on other races and tribes.  In corners of the world Judaists should have survived just as a minor and rootless religious group.  In 2000 years they should have become minimal.

On the other hand, after the collapse of the Roman Empire expected at the time to happen some time in centuries after Caesar, Europe would not have had a binding factor, the Catholic Church, without the emergence of Christ Jesus.  So, various European tribes should have been divided without common religion.  They should have been sheer strangers to one another.  Cultural unification of Europe must have been impossible.  And, there would have been no Middle Ages, Renaissance, and eventually Industrial Revolution.

So, Christ Jesus came to this world at the right time among Judaists.

But Christianity failed.  So, Islam was given to Arabs and others.  And, it passed 1400 years since the establishment of Islam.  It must be enough.

So, I think something must happen today 2000 years after the birth of Jesus.

Anyway we have to realize that the sole owner of our lives is God.  Our lives are possessed by God.  We are living a life entrusted to us by God, though it essentially belongs to God.

So, we have to report to God how we have lived after our death.  And most of us would have to plead ignorance as our excuse for neglecting God in our life.  But I think God will not simply accept it.

Each of our lives is not truly ours but God's.  We have a duty to live a life according to God's will.


Incidentally, it seems that the ancient Greek Civilization was loved by God.  So, the God used Alexander the great to have him prepare some territories east of Jerusalem for expansion of Judaism, Christianity or, in case, Islam.  The history centering around the birth of Jesus must start directly from the era of Alexander the Great to the time when Christianity gained a sure foothold in Europe with the Roman Empire accepting it as its state religion.





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Luk 11:17 But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth.

”God gave them the like gift” - Women Not in Faith

Shinagawa to Haneda, Tokyo

Women Not in Faith

One interest thing I felt when I read some American mystery novels was that they sometimes depicted a woman as a main culprit.

In most cases, such a female criminal was beautiful, attractive, or a creature who aroused sentiment.

In my theory, there can be a woman who knows she is very dangerous to herself and people around her as she is beautiful.  If she has faith in God, I suppose that she would not even try to make her look more beautiful.  Prettiness often invites evils accompanied by money and so on.  So, a beautiful woman in faith would not try to make her look more beautiful, thus making her poor.  But a bad and beautiful woman would try to make herself look more attractive, thus making more money.

Islam requests women to hide their hair or faces.

The Koran
The Light
[24.31] And say to the believing women that they cast down their looks and guard their private parts and do not display their ornaments except what appears thereof, and let them wear their head-coverings over their bosoms, and not display their ornaments except to their husbands or their fathers, or the fathers of their husbands, or their sons, or the sons of their husbands, or their brothers, or their brothers' sons, or their sisters' sons, or their women, or those whom their right hands possess, or the male servants not having need (of women), or the children who have not attained knowledge of what is hidden of women; and let them not strike their feet so that what they hide of their ornaments may be known; and turn to Allah all of you, O believers! so that you may be successful.
http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/k/koran/koran-idx?type=DIV0&byte=541486

The Catholic Church also recommends women and nuns to put on veils or wimples.

However Christ Jesus never mentioned these matters.  He only talked with a woman by a well, seeing that she had had some husbands and other men.  Indeed, if we can see how many husbands and other men a beautiful woman has ever had, her outlook would not matter; we would simply leave her in her troubles.

Anyway Christ Jesus never chose women as His 12 Disciples.  So, He never mentioned whether or not a woman should wear a veil.  But He said not to mind what to wear, though He told not to bring two shirts, shoes, or a staff for travel for a missionary.

Finally a woman is dangerous if she has no faith while minding what to wear.




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Act 11:15 And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them, as on us at the beginning.
Act 11:16 Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.
Act 11:17 Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand God?
Act 11:18 When they heard these things, they held their peace, and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life.