"to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights" - Giza, Sinai, Jerusalem, and Mt. Ararat

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Giza, Sinai, Jerusalem, and Mt. Ararat

The Great Pyramid of Giza was built in about 2550 BC. It was 550 years before Abraham's departure from Ur in Mesopotamia. And descendants of Abraham came to settle down in Jerusalem, as King David took over Jerusalem and transferred the capital of his kingdom from Hebron to Jerusalem around 1000 BC.

However the following map suggests something more significant.

http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sitchin/stairway_heaven/stairway14.htm



There is a possibility that ancient Egyptians knew locations of Mt. Ararat and Mt.
Umm Shumar/Mt. Catherine (the highest mountain in Sinai Peninsula). So, they chose Giza as the location to build Great Pyramids in.  The distance between Mt. Ararat and Giza is almost equal to the distance from Mt. Ararat to Mt. Umm Shumar/Mt. Catherine.  Accordingly they built Great Pyramids in Giza around 2550 BC.

Then David or other ancient Hebrew leaders chose Jerusalem as their capital around 1000 BC.  The distance between Jerusalem and Gaza is almost equal to the distance from Jerusalem to Mt. Umm Shumar/Mt. Catherine.     

Remember that the Old Testament refers to Mt. Ararat.

The name "Ararat" is mentioned four times in the Bible's original manuscripts (Gen. 8:4; 2 Kings 19:37; Isaiah 37:38; Jer. 51:27). This was the name of a country. On one of its mountains Noah’s ark rested after the Flood subsided (Gen. 8:4). Most researchers believe that the "mountains" mentioned were probably the Kurdish range of South Armenia in Turkey. In the King James Bible, 2 Kings 19:37 and Isa. 37:38 translate the word "Ararat" as "Armenia." However, other versions, including the New King James Version, simply say "land of Ararat."
http://christiananswers.net/dictionary/ararat.html

But it does not mention Giza and Great Pyramids.  It is a big mystery.

Pyramids are not mentioned as such in the canonical Scriptures. However, the Apocrypha (approved as canonical by Catholics and Coptics) does mention pyramids in 1 Maccabees 13:28-38 in connection with seven pyramids built by Simon Maccabeus as monuments to his parents. 

Pre-Alexandrian Jews would not have used the word pyramid. However, in the Old Testament, we do see the word migdol (Strong’s, H4024). This word is translated “tower” and could represent any large monolith, obelisk or pyramid. Migdol is the Hebrew word used to describe the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11:4, and it is translated similarly in Ezekiel 29:10 and 30:6. In describing a “pyramid,” this is the word the Hebrews would have most likely used. Furthermore, Migdol is a place name in Exodus 14:2, Numbers 33:7, Jeremiah 44:1, and Jeremiah 46:14 and could mean that a tower or monument was located there.
http://www.gotquestions.org/pyramids-Bible.html

Though there is misunderstanding as to whether Hebrews worked to build pyramids in Egypt (they could not as the Great Pyramids were built 500 years before the era of Abraham), some people today think that the Bible does not mention Pyramids as Hebrews had not lived near Giza in their days in Egypt.

That's right, the Bible does not say that Jewish slaves built the Pyramids. In fact the pyramids were thousands of years old at the time of Moses and would have been old even at the time of Abraham.  

At the time of Moses, the art of pyramid building was long forgotten and the Egyptians buried their dead Pharohs in tombs in the Valley of the Kings.
This in no way proves or disproves the Exodus. I do not find it surprising that the pyramids were not mentioned. I would point out that the Temple of Karnak, the Temple of Ramses, and other architectural wonders were also not mentioned. Neither was the pantheon of Egyptian gods. Why is that?  

My personal opinion is that the Exodus took place at an earlier date than the generally accepted time frame of Seti and Ramses. I think that it took place during the reign of Akhenaten. So, the area around Giza is not mentioned because all the action is taking place at Amarna. Amarna was utterly destroyed and very little remains.  

I think that one of the reasons that archaeology has been unable to verify the events in the Bible is that the timeline that is being applied is wrong and archaeologists are looking in the wrong places for the evidence.  

An earlier Exodus would also explain why archaeology has been unable to find artifacts dating from the reign of King David and King Solomon. These two kings of Israel were highly influential to say the least, and yet their existance has not been verified by scientific evidence. None of the artifacts in Israel seem to match the assumed timeline.
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread452387/pg1

The reason why the Bible does not mention the Great Pyramids of Giza must be religious one.  As the Old Testament mentions the Tower of Babel in a very negative way, Hebrews did not respect pyramids  in Egypt.  Or ancient Israelites must have known that pyramids were religious structures for ancient Egyptians.  For them to refer to pyramids must have meant for them to pay respect to the Egyptian religion.  As pyramids were not built to show respect to the God of Israelites, they most probably avoided mentioning them in the Bible on purpose.

Rather we may think that pyramids must have been a symbol of their religious enemies.  So, Israelites and even Christ Jesus and His followers avoided mentioning Egyptian pyramids.  Indeed, their ancestors who lived with or before Moses had been slaves of the kingdom of Egypt.  Israelites had been slaves under Great Pyramids.  So, to show respect to their ancestors, Israelites and early Christians never mentioned pyramids of Egypt though they depicted the Tower of the Babel.    

Nonetheless, deliberately or not, Jerusalem can be linked with Giza and Mt. Ararat as the above figure shows.  We had better assume that Jerusalem was chosen by King David to make his kingdom situated at the center of the ancient world surrounded by Mt. Ararat, Giza, and the highest mountain in Sinai, Mt. Catherine.

But how could David know the wider positional relation 3000 years ago or around 1000 BC?  Of course, some useful scientific skills must have been at his hand, since the scientifically meritorious Great Pyramids were built 1500 years before the era of King David.

Anyway, Mt. Ararat is related to Noah who experienced the Great Flood that must have occurred before King Khufu and other ancient Egyptian kings built their pyramids.



*** *** *** ***


Gen 7:4 For yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth forty days and forty nights; and every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth.
Gen 7:5 And Noah did according unto all that the LORD commanded him.

"What sign shewest thou then" - King James and Shakespeare in 1605 and 1611

Tokyo Haneda Airport

King James and Shakespeare in 1605 and 1611

（Updated on July 1, 2014）

It has a significant meaning that the Authorized Version of the Bible,  sponsored by James VI and I (1566-1625), was produced while Shakespeare was active in his creative work.

So, there might have been some linkage between William Shakespeare (1564-1616) and the King James Version of the Bible.

Shakespeare: General Q & A 

Is it true that Shakespeare worked on the King James Bible? 

Some believe that Psalm 46 may have been translated by Shakespeare. The King James version of the Bible was printed in 1611, when Shakespeare was 46 years old. It is a faint possibility, but no one knows for sure. James C. Humes notes that "The 46th word from the top of the 46th Psalm is "Shake" ("The earth doth shake."), and the 46th word from the bottom is "spear" ("God cutteth forth a spear")" (164).
http://www.shakespeare-online.com/faq/psalmshakespeare.html

Specifically, the 46th Psalms are as follows:

Psa 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.
Psa 46:2 Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;
Psa 46:3 Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.
Psa 46:4 There is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacles of the most High.
Psa 46:5 God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved: God shall help her, and that right early.
Psa 46:6 The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.
Psa 46:7 The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.
Psa 46:8 Come, behold the works of the LORD, what desolations he hath made in the earth.
Psa 46:9 He maketh wars to cease unto the end of the earth; he breaketh the bow, and cutteth the spear in sunder; he burneth the chariot in the fire.
Psa 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.
Psa 46:11 The LORD of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge. Selah.

But what was the relationship between King James and William Shakespeare?

Shakespeare's Relationship with King James I

William Shakespeare wrote Macbeth in order to win the approval of King James of England and used the king's favor to generate wealth and prosperity for himself. William Shakespeare was known for challenging himself to write plays using different techniques and approaches. In the infancy of the 1600s, between 1603 and 1606, Shakespeare wrote one of his most famous and most adapted tragedies with Macbeth. By 1608, he was expanding his play company to a second theatre. (Frye 15) Commonly referred to as "The Scottish Play," Macbeth tells the story of a thane who through the machinations of a trio of witches ascends to the throne in Scotland via a series of murders and deceptions. The play was used to propel Shakespeare from a playwright from Stratford to the king's personal performer, rendering Shakespeare wealthy and allowing him to expand from the Globe to other theatres and spread the knowledge of his plays across England. (Frye 14) At the time the play was written, King James VI of Scotland had recently succeeded Queen Elizabeth I as reigning monarch of England and Ireland, becoming James I of England. Many of the themes and ideas that are presented in Macbeth seem to suggest that Shakespeare took several creative liberties with the history of England at the time and tailored the play specifically to flatter King James. At a time when performing a play that even hinted at corruption in the crown would have resulted in not only the death of the theatre company but of the playwright himself, it is understandable that Shakespeare would write a play for a court performance complimentary to the ruler of Great Britain. (Project Muse) This action won the acclaim of the king, and gave Shakespeare and his troupe (formerly Lord Chamberlain's Men) resources previously unimaginable. (Greenblatt 335) In 1603, Shakespeare's troupe changed their name to The King's Company. They received much more money, thus earning them more costumes and props on top of the gifts they were receiving from the King. Performances before James were four times as frequent as they had been before Elizabeth. (Frye 15)
http://voices.yahoo.com/shakespeares-relationship-king-james-i-3916692.html?cat=37

As the translation of the Bible started in 1604 following King's order , Shakespeare could have a chance to be asked by King James to translate some passages of Psalms.

King James might really have an idea to have Shakespeare take part in the great project of producing the King James' Version of the Bible, since the king loved literature and talent of writers and poets so much.

Under James, the "Golden Age" of Elizabethan literature and drama continued, with writers such as William Shakespeare, John Donne, Ben Jonson, and Sir Francis Bacon contributing to a flourishing literary culture.[3] James himself was a talented scholar, the author of works such as Daemonologie (1597), True Law of Free Monarchies (1598), and Basilikon Doron (1599). He sponsored the translation of the Bible that was named after him: the Authorized King James Version.[4] Sir Anthony Weldon claimed that James had been termed "the wisest fool in Christendom", an epithet associated with his character ever since.[5] Since the latter half of the twentieth century, however, historians have revised James's reputation and have treated him as a serious and thoughtful monarch.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_VI_and_I#Literary_patronage

William Shakespeare
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanders_portrait

James VI and I

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_VI_and_I#Literary_patronage

In addition, other paragraphs in Psalms that contain "shake" or "spear" are as follows:

Psalms 22:7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, 

Psalms 35:3 Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. 

Psalms 69:23 Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not; and make their loins continually to shake. 

Psalms 72:16 There shall be an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon: and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth. 

Note that  with a focus on Psalms 22:7 including "shake"and 35:3 including "spear" the sum of the title numbers of each of the paragraphs is 11 (11 = 2 + 2 + 7 and also 11 = 3 + 5 + 3),  and the "shake" appears as the 16th word in  Psalms 22:7, while the word "spear" is the fifth word in Psalms 35:3.

As the King James version of the Bible was first printed in 1611, this 11 can be regraded as a sign to direct readers' attentions to these two verses.

(In 1605, it must have been planned that the new Bible was to be published in 1611, which Shakespeare must have known.)

As the translation work started in 1604 and continued till 1611, Shakespeare must have been engaged in the translation of these Psalms in 1605.  Or actually he must have written these paragraphs in 1605.

We could infer that Shakespeare was doing translation of the Psalms for the King James Version in 1605 though this new English Bible was first printed in 1611.  And then Shakespeare died in 1616. 

Psalms 22:7 All they that see me laugh me to scorn: they shoot out the lip, they shake (16th) the head, saying,

Psalms 35:3 Draw out also the spear (5th), and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.

That is, Shakespeare in 1605!

These two verses tell that Shakespeare translated the Psalms in 1605 for the King James Version of the Bible that was most probably expected at the time to be delivered in 1611.

Finally, the contents of Psalms 22:7 and 35:3 really seem to fit the possible mind set of Shakespeare who must have had a sense of danger that he might have been persecuted as a Catholic in the worst case.

Incidentally, Shakespeare was probably exactly 46 years old when the Authorized King James Version was published in 1611.




APPENDIX 1: Psalms 16

Psalm 16 has only 11 paragraphs, namely from 16:1 to 16:11.  It really tells that the translator, probably Shakespeare, indicated the numbers of Psalms were important with some implications.

The fact that Psalms 16:11 is the last paragraph of Psalms 16 means that the King James Bible was first released in 1611 or expected to be released first in 1611 when the Psalms 16 was being translated.

Psa 16:11 Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.

This verse implies that the new Bible is completed in 1611 to its "fullness" with the "hand" of Shakespeare taking part of the great and holy project.

Psalms 16:5, representing the year 1605 when Shakespeare actually translated Psalms, is also meaningful in this context.

Psa 16:5 The LORD is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.

This really tells that Psalms is "portion" of Shakespeare's "inheritance, cup, and lot."

The contents of the two paragraphs really fit the idea that Shakespeare translated Psalms for the King James Version.



APPENDIX 2: Shakespeare's State around 1605  

If we admit that Shakespeare was engaged in the translation work of Psalms for the King James Bible in 1605, what was situations around him at the time?

In 1597, he bought the second-largest house in Stratford, New Place, and in 1605, he invested in a share of the parish tithes in Stratford. 

The absence of his name from the 1605 cast list for Jonson's Volpone is taken by some scholars as a sign that his acting career was nearing its end.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare#Plays

Maybe Shakespeare was busy in his holy work in the translation work while becoming  a little more religious.

His works completed around 1605 are as follows:

1604-1606: Timon of Athens

1605: King Lear

1606: Macbeth



APPENDIX 3: Translators for the King James Version Bible

If 50 people are engaged in a big translation project while some others are invited for various contribution, it would be difficult to manage their work and practices completely.

The following accounts of the King James translators are taken from, The Translators Revived by Alexander McClure published in 1858.  

It is commonly reported that there were 54 translators selected to the translation, but only 47 actually participated in the work. Mr. McClure's book chronicles 51 translators. As you read the translator's rules, you will see that other principal and learned men of the kingdom were also invited to make their comments on the work at hand. 

The King James Bible translators were a collection of some of the world's best scholars. They approached this translation with the mindset that they were translating the very Word of God, not just some book. The King James Bible has been called "the monument of English prose" as well as "the only great work of art ever created by a committee."  

BIOGRAPHIES OF THE
KING JAMES VERSION TRANSLATORS 

I.    The First Westminister Company--translated the historical books, beginning with Genesis and ending with the Second Book of Kings.
Dr. Lancelot Andrews
Dr. John Overall
Dr. Hadrian Saravia
Dr. Richard Clarke, Dr. John Laifield, Dr. Robert Tighe, Francis Burleigh, Geoffry King, Richard Thompson
Dr. William Bedwell 

II.    The Cambridge Company--translated Chronicles to the end of the Song of Songs.

Edward Lively, Dr. John Richardson, Dr. Lawrence Chaderton
Francis Dillingham, Dr. Roger Andrews, Thomas Harrison, Dr. Robert Spaulding, Dr. Andrew Bing 

III.    The Oxford Company--translated beginning of Isaiah to the end of the Old Testament.
Dr. John Harding, Dr. John Reynolds
Dr. Thomas Holland, Dr. Richard Kilby
Dr. Miles Smith, Dr. Richard Brett, Daniel Fairclough 

IV.    The Second Oxford Company--translated the four Gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, and the Revelation of St. John the Divine.
Dr. Thomas Ravis, Dr. George Abbot
Dr. Richard Eedes, Dr. Giles Tomson, Sir Henry Savile
Dr. John Peryn, Dr. Ralph Ravens, Dr. John Harmar 

V.    The Fifth Company of Translators at Westminster--translated all of the Epistles of the New Testament
Dr. William Barlow, Dr. John Spencer, Dr. Roger Fenton, Dr. Ralph Hutchinson, William Dakins, Michael Rabbet, [Thomas(?)] Sanderson

VI.    The Sixth Company of Translators at Cambridge translated the apocryphal books.
Dr. John Duport, Dr. William Brainthwaite, Dr. Jeremiah Radcliffe
Dr. Samuel Ward
Dr. Andrew Downes, John Bois
Dr. John Ward, Dr. John Aglionby, Dr. Leonard Hutten
Dr. Thomas Bilson, Dr. Richard Bancroft
http://jesus-is-savior.com/Bible/The%20King%20James%20Bible/Translators/translators.htm

Probably, King James must have asked William Shakespeare to contribute to translation of Psalms, since Shakespeare had great reputation at the time as a poet.  And, at the time, Shakespeare might regard himself as the 46th translator.  Indeed, "54 translators selected to the translation, but only 47 actually participated."  It meant that there was some confusion in an early stage of forming the translation committee.  Perhaps it was after 1605 that the committee came to have a fixed number of translators, that is 47.  Till then, it does not look so unnatural that Shakespeare regarded himself as the 46th translator.  It must be the reason why Shakespeare put his name in Psalms 46 in the magical way.

In the case, as Shakespeare would become 46 years old when the new Bible was published in 1611, he must have some special meaning in the number 46.

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Joh 6:30 They said therefore unto him, What sign shewest thou then, that we may see, and believe thee? what dost thou work?
Joh 6:31 Our fathers did eat manna in the desert; as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.
Joh 6:32 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven.

"we might work the works of God?" - Hitler as an Ex-Spy

Around Tokyo

Hitler as an Ex-Spy

Adolf Hitler was recruited by the police or the military as a spy on communists after WWI.

Would you believe Hitler was a spy? The truth is, initally he was a police spy sent in to Infitrate the German Workers Party (DAP) and keep tabs on them. This actually proved a huge mistake on the Reichswehr's part as Hitler was introduced to Anton Drexler and Dietrich Eckart, two of the founders of the DAP and the spy joined the DAP as a practiceing member of the party. He fully agreed with what Drexler and Eckart preached. After Hitler joined the DAP it changed it's name to the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP).  

Hitler was encourgaed by his former commanders after resigning from the army to pursue his participation in the party full time. As such he began organizing meetings in public where he was proving a very charasmatic leader. He'd bring in truck loads of NSDAP supporters who threw out party leaflets while flying the swastika. In his speeces he rallied against Marxist, Jews, rival politicians, the Treaty of Versailles, anything and everything. He knew what the people wanted to hear and he used it to his advantage. And the Army and German Nationalist used him to their advantage to put down the Marxist movement in the Weimar Republic. Which meant a tempory absence from where the NSDAP was headquarted, Munich.  

In his absence a bit of a revolt broke out within the leadership of the NSDAP which lead to the formation of an executive comittie which didn't care for Hitler (perhaps they were smart enough to realize where things were going if he remained in a leadership position). When they formed an alliance with another socialist party Hitler tendered his resignation. The result was that they realized how much loosing Hitler would cost them so they were willing to back down a bit. This lead to Hitler demanding he replace Drexler as NSDAP chairman. Drexler and several other committe members refused to give in until some annonymous individual (probably someone working for Hitler) ran a pamphlet that claimed Hitler was violent and lusted for power. Hitler very publicly filed a lawsuit, which he won. The results of this very public affair was that the executive committe gave in and Hitler was voted in as chairman of the National Socialist German Workers party by 543 to 1 in 1921.  

And when did he become the leader of the Nazis? 1921. The NSDAP was the Nazi party.
https://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AwrTHQbW465TpwYA0LpXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTE0cmMxOG9vBHNlYwNzcgRwb3MDNTEEY29sbwNncTEEdnRpZANWSVA0NzBfMQ--?qid=20110309221707AAiQExD

So, I don't think Hitler personally hated Judaists and descendants of ancient Israelites.  He was not a crazy or fanatic Christian who wanted to take revenge on Judaists for their killing Christ Jesus 1900 years ago.  It is not religion that drove Hitler and his followers to carrying out the atrocity of killing millions of Judaists.

There must be somebody behind the scene that told Hitler to expel Jredaists from the German society.

Like in the case of Osama bin Laden, there must have been mentors of hatred.  However such masterminds behind the scene must have been killed in the war in each case of Hitler's and Osama's.

Maybe Hitler died as an ex-spy and Osama died as a son of a Saudi billionaire without deep understanding of what they had done.      




*** *** *** ***

Joh 6:27 Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.
Joh 6:28 Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?
Joh 6:29 Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

"Love your enemies" - King and His Palace against Christ Jesus

Around Tokyo

King and His Palace against Christ Jesus

It is interesting to know that Bethlehem where Christ Jesus was born was 5 km or 3 miles away from Herodium.

Herodium or Herodion is a truncated cone-shaped hill, located 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) south of Jerusalem and 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) southeast of Bethlehem, in the Judean desert (the West Bank). Herod the Great built a fortress, a palace, and a small town in Herodium, between 23 and 15 BCE, and is believed to have been buried there.[2] Herodium is 758 meters (2,487 ft) above sea level,[3] the highest peak in the Judean desert.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herodium#Construction

When Herod the Great died, his son Herod Antipas took over. Herod Antipas ruled the region from 4 B.C. to 39 A.D. But it was in Jerusalem that Herod Antipas saw Christ Jesus in a trial as Christ was sent to him by Pilate.

Luke alone among the Gospels states that a group of Pharisees warned Jesus that Antipas was plotting his death, whereupon Jesus denounced the tetrarch as a "fox" and declared that he, Jesus, would not fall victim to such a plot because "it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem".[30] Luke also credits the tetrarch with a role in Jesus' trial. According to Luke, Pilate, on learning that Jesus was a Galilean and therefore under Herod's jurisdiction, sent him to Antipas, who was also in Jerusalem at the time. Initially, Antipas was pleased to see Jesus, hoping to see him perform a miracle, but when Jesus remained silent in the face of questioning Antipas mocked him and sent him back to Pilate. Luke says that these events improved relations between Pilate and Herod despite their earlier enmity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herod_Antipas#John_the_Baptist_and_Jesus

But the fate of Herod Antipas was very pitiful in a sense.

Antipas' fall from power was due to Caligula and to his own nephew Agrippa, brother of Herodias. When Agrippa fell into debt during the reign of Tiberius despite his connections with the imperial family, Herodias persuaded Antipas to provide for him, but the two men quarrelled and Agrippa departed. After Agrippa was heard expressing to his friend Caligula his eagerness for Tiberius to die and leave room for Caligula to succeed him, he was imprisoned. When Caligula finally became emperor in 37 AD, he not only released his friend but granted him rule of Philip's former tetrarchy (slightly extended), with the title of king.[45]

Josephus relates that Herodias, jealous at Agrippa's success, persuaded Antipas to ask Caligula for the title of king for himself. However, Agrippa simultaneously presented the emperor with a list of charges against the tetrarch: allegedly, he had conspired against Tiberius with Sejanus (executed in 31 AD) and was now plotting against Caligula with Artabanus. As evidence, Agrippa noted that Antipas had a stockpile of weaponry sufficient for 70,000 men. Hearing Antipas' admission to this last charge, Caligula decided to credit the allegations of conspiracy. In the summer of 39 AD, Antipas' money and territory were turned over to Agrippa, while he himself was exiled.[46] The place of his exile is given by Josephus' Antiquities as "Lugdunum" in Gaul.[47] (This may mean the city of Lugdunum now known as Lyon,[48] or the less important Lugdunum Convenarum, modern Saint-Bertrand-de-Comminges.[49]) Caligula offered to allow Herodias, as Agrippa's sister, to retain her property. However, she chose instead to join her husband in exile.[50]

Antipas died in exile.[51] The 3rd-century historian Cassius Dio seems to imply that Caligula had him killed, but this is usually treated with skepticism by modern historians.[52]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herod_Antipas#John_the_Baptist_and_Jesus

The great palace Herodium was also destroyed amid the revolt by Israelites against Romans in 71 CE.

While Christ Jesus was born and lived, King Herod Antipas was mighty and his palace Herodium was also mighty.  But they were all gone with early Christians going out of Jerusalem and eventually Palestine while ｔhe First Jewish–Roman War (66–73 CE) was being fought.

So, nothing was truly great and none was great in the period of time when Christ Jesus was alive though the king and his palace looked so magnificent.

Compared with great success of Christianity, the glory of the king of Israelites and nominally even of Christ Jesus at the time is just dust today.

Herodium Today
http://pazzapazza2.blogspot.jp/2010/12/herodion.html

Maybe in the future the Vatican or the White House might follow the fate of Herodium in the worst case.



*** *** *** ***


Luk 6:27 But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you,

"your heavenly Father feedeth them" - Full Faith in God vs. Power of Money

Mt. Fuji around Tokyo

Full Faith in God vs. Power of Money

Some people think that there is neither Heaven nor the hell.

A life is only once, they think, so that it is absurd not to enjoy it fully while a man is alive.  And thus, they conclude, a man has to ignore other poor and unhappy people to secure his own happiness.

But there is a big flaw in this thinking.  Why and how a man is born is not taken into consideration.  They may think that a man is born by chance as the human species was created by chance.  There is no God and there are any spirits and ghosts.  Or if they existed, they have nothing to do with them.  Everything is a product of chance, they consider.

It is true that many innocent people are killed in war, accidents, and other tragedies.  God does not save them.  Poor people die in poverty and terrible conditions; but God doesn't save them.  Then, how can we or should we trust and believe God?  If an innocent man believes in God, he might be killed in a traffic accident.  If a poor man trusts in God, he might die due to a lack of foods, medicines, and means to protect him.  Where is merit in believing God?

The answer is that God is almighty and omnipotent.  He can compensate any innocent men and poor men for their tragedies after their death.  God can take them all into Heaven where those unlucky people  are rewarded for their tragedies they have experienced during their lives in this material world.

Put simply, if you believe that God exists and He is almighty, giving life and spirits to you, you would put more value in Heaven than in life in this material universe.  Hence, you will love God more than money.  Yes, you will love God who makes you satisfied in Heaven more than money that give you satisfaction only while you live in this world.    

Jewish views of poverty, wealth and charity
From Wikipedia 

Over the course of Jewish history, different attitudes have been held towards poverty and wealth. Unlike Christianity, in which some strands have viewed poverty as virtuous and desirable, Jews have generally viewed poverty negatively. Jacobs and Greer assert that "[i]n general, Jewish texts have portrayed poverty as an unjustifiable burden."[1] In contrast to the consistently negative view of poverty, Kravitz and Olitzky describe a rapidly changing attitude towards acceptance of wealth as desirable as the Hebrews transitioned from being nomadic shepherds to farmers and ultimately to city dwellers.

 

Islam And Wealth 

In Islam, all wealth is the possession of Allah with which humans are entrusted. It is a responsibility; it must be earned through permissible means and spent in permissible ways, such as spending on one's self and those for whom he is responsible for, without extravagance or waste. The Messenger of Islam, Muhammad said: 

"A slave will not be able to take a step further on the Day of Requital until he is taken to account for [the following things]: his time and how he spent it, his knowledge and how he used it, his money and how he earned and spent it, and his youth and how he passed it. (Tirmidhi)
http://www.thekeytoislam.com/en/islam-and-wealth.aspx

Put extremely, a religion that does not deny wealth cannot be a true religion, since it puts wealth higher than God even partially.  In this context, Judaism and Islam are incomplete as a religion.

If you love God fully, you don't need money or rather you hate money that is challenging God due to its inherent power and function to neglect faith in God of those who possess money.




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Mat 6:26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

"the head of John the Baptist" - Don Quixote and Christ Jesus

Around Tokyo

Don Quixote and Christ Jesus

Don Quixote is a popular foreign novel in Japan.  Even a big chain store company in Japan has adopts "Don Quixote" for its company name.

But few in Japan regard Don Quixote as a unique type of followers of Christ Jesus.

Don Quixote and Jesus Christ: The suffering “Idealists” of Modern Religion 

Rebekah Marzhan
(Hamline University, Minnesota USA)

The figure of Don Quixote has always been seen as a character symbolizing the absurdity of idealistic pursuits. As such, countless generations have been able to temporally appropriate this medieval knight as representative of their own historical situation. Through a lineage of poetry, essays, novels, and scholarship, great thinkers have lifted the spirit of Quixote from Cervantes’ pages and revived the heralded knight of folly as a symbol of the incongruous place of not only faith in ideals but faith of a religious or spiritual nature in the modern, rational world. While this progression of thought has been well developed and explored through literary movements, modern illustrations of Don Quixote have been largely neglected in scholarship. Thus, to see how Don Quixote’s spirit has been revived visually in the twentieth century, scholars may turn to the work of Salvador Dalí. Through a series of illustrations for a 1945 edition of Quixote, Dalí utilizes the iconography of Jesus Christ to express Don Quixote as an irrational figure who suffers for his idealistic pursuits.

...
Through a series of illustrations for a 1945 edition of Quixote, Dalí utilizes the iconography of Jesus Christ to express Don Quixote as an irrational figure who suffers for his idealistic pursuits.
...
Thus, one of the most important parallels between Don Quixote and Christ lies in this idea of suffering for ones faith, for “he [Don Quixote] became the Spanish Christ because he, like Jesus, suffered the ‘passion’ of mockery.”[20] The conclusion of this piece affirms Unamuno’s pologetic of Don Quixote as the “symbolic catalyst to Christian renewal within the spiritually modern world.”[21]Since the time of Unamuno, many other writers and scholars have continued to affirm the Christ-like connections of Don Quixote.
...

http://oceanide.netne.net/articulos/art4-15.pdf

El Quixote , Salvador Dalihttp://www.chezchiara.com/2010/05/literature-and-culture-10-literary.html

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547 – 1616) must have been influenced by Muslims who were leaving Spain at the time.   Saavedra also experienced a state of slavery for five years in Algeria.  He also died in the same year as William Shakespeare died.  Cervantes also joined Infantería de Marina and experienced the power shift from Spain to England through Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604).

With Shakespeare England later became the global power, but with Cervantes Spain later gave up its hegemony in the seas of the world.  History is really difficult for any readers.






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Mar 6:25 And she came in straightway with haste unto the king, and asked, saying, I will that thou give me by and by in a charger the head of John the Baptist.

"came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus" - Critical History of Christianity in Japan

Around Tokyo

Critical History of Christianity in Japan

Christianity in Japan can be a major theme in study of global history, culture, and religions.　

Since Saint Francis Xavier (1506-1552) came to Japan in the Period of Warring States of Japan or around 1550 to preach gospels, Christianity played a key role behind the mainstream history of Japan.

Ken Joseph argues that Nestorian Christianity, more accurately identified as East Syriac Christianity or the Church of the East, existed in Japan before the arrival of Xavier.

The first known appearance of organized Christianity in Japan was the arrival of the Portuguese Catholics in 1549. Francis Xavier arrived in Japan with three Japanese Catholic converts intending to start a church in the Nagasaki area. The local Japanese people initially assumed that the foreigners were from India and that Christianity was a new "Indian faith". These mistaken impressions were due to already existing ties between the Portuguese and India; the Indian city of Goa was a central base for the Portuguese East India Company at the time, and a significant portion of the crew on board their ships were Indian Christians. 

Under Hideyoshi and then under the succeeding Tokugawa shogunate, Catholic Christianity was repressed and adherents were persecuted. During these times, many Christians were killed in Japan, some by crucifixion; most famously, the twenty-six martyrs of Japan were tortured and crucified on crosses outside Nagasaki to discourage Christianity in 1597. Following a brief respite that occurred as Tokugawa Ieyasu rose to power and pursued trade with the Portuguese powers, there were further persecutions and martyrdoms in 1613, 1630, and 1632. By this point, after the Shimabara Rebellion, the remaining Christians had been forced to publicly renounce their faith. Many continued practicing Christianity in secret, in modern times becoming known as the "hidden Christians" (kakure kirishitan).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_in_Japan

So, while the Tokugawa clan governed Japan between 1600s and 1868, Japan closed the door to shut out Christian missionaries, though the samurai regime kept trade ties with China and the Netherlands only thorough the port city Nagasaki.  

However, when the Tokugawa shogun surrendered to the anti-Tokugawa and pro-imperial samurai camp, the new government of Japan promoted modernization and Westernization of Japan, allowing Western missionaries to be engaged in mission activities.  With the end of the samurai era or the start of the Meiji Restoration of the imperial authority, Christianity started to be publicly taught in Japan, especially, through newly founded mission schools.

However along with  the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937 and the Second World War, the Japanese military leaders who seized political power of the Empire of Japan came to suppress Christianity, calling it a religion of enemies.

It is after WWII that complete freedom of religion was fully observed in the Japanese society.  Americans who occupied Japan after WWII had a great influence on Japan in this context.  General MacArthur, who presided over occupied Japan from August 1945 to April 1951, and his staff intentionally tried to introduce Christianity or Christian cultures into various fields of the Japanese society.  Even an idea of the Constitution of Japan was drafted by General MacArthur himself.  Many articles of the new Constitution reflected influences of a special team formed under MacArthur to help Japanese formulate the fully democratic Constitution.  And most of the members of the team expressed strongly their Christian conviction to present model provisions to Japanese officials in charge of drafting the new peace-oriented Constitution.

So, it is after 1945 or the end of WWII that the whole Japanese public have come under indirect but effective influences of Christianity in its 2000-year long history.

The Second World War has such a meaning featured by Christianity for Japan.

  





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Joh 6:24 When the people therefore saw that Jesus was not there, neither his disciples, they also took shipping, and came to Capernaum, seeking for Jesus.

"how great is that darkness!" - Robinson Crusoe and Japanese

Around Tokyo

Robinson Crusoe and Japanese

At the end of the samurai era of Japan, namely in the early 1860s, some young samurais tried to secretly get out of Japan and see the world.  However, the samurai regime still forbade Japanese to freely travel the world, though they abandoned a policy to close the nation, which had been observed since early 1600s, in 1854 as the US, sending Commodore Perry and his fleet to Edo (Tokyo) Bay, strongly requested the shogun government to establish a diplomatic tie between Japan and the US.

One of such adventurous samurais was Joh Niijima or Joseph Hardy Neesima (1843 – 1890).

At the age of 21, he entreated Captain William T. Savory, of Salem, Massachusetts, commander of the brig Berlin, for safe passage to the United States, in order to further study Western science and Christianity. Captain Savory agreed to help him, so long as Neesima came on board at night, without assistance from the ship's crew. Knowing Neesima could be executed if apprehended, Savory hid Neesima from customs officials in his stateroom. He then secured Neesima's passage from China to the United States on the Wild Rover, commanded by Captain Horace Taylor of Chatham, Massachusetts. The Wild Rover was owned by Alpheus Hardy. 

When he arrived in Andover, Massachusetts, he was sponsored by Alpheus and Susan Hardy, members of Old South Church, who also saw to his education. He attended Phillips Academy from 1865 to 1867 and then Amherst College from 1867 to 1870. Upon graduating from Amherst, Neesima became the first Japanese person to receive a bachelor's degree. 

He was baptized in 1866 and went on to study at Andover Theological Seminary from 1870 to 1874. In 1874, he became the first Japanese to be ordained as a Protestant minister. 

When the Iwakura Mission visited the United States on its around-the-world expedition, he assisted as an interpreter. 

Neesima attended the 65th annual meeting of the Congregational church in Rutland, Vermont in 1874, and made an appeal for funds to start a Christian school in Japan. With the support and funding received, he returned to Japan, and in 1875 founded a school in Kyoto, which grew rapidly and became Doshisha University. He was assisted by his wife Niijima Yae and brother-in-law Yamamoto Kakuma, who were also active with the local Christian community in Kyoto.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Hardy_Neesima

While samurai boy Iijima was still in Edo (presently Tokyo) or in his home town An-naka (Gunma Prefecture), he read various Western books translated into Japanese, such as Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe and the Bible.  These books inspired young Iijima so much as to make Iijima dream of going abroad despite the official travel ban.

After arriving at the US before the Hardys extended aid to him, Iijima was alone in a harbor of Boston.  He could not find a supporter for his study in America.  American sailors around him said that there could not be such a kind man that would help a Japanese in Boston.  But Iijima read repeatedly Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe to conquer fear and anxieties.  And then, finally, Alpheus and Susan Hardy came to Iijima to offer help.

So, Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (1660 - 1731) is a great book.  It has Christian contents in its second part, though the first part depicts mainly adventure of  Robinson Crusoe.

And interestingly, Robinson Crusoe seems to have some connection with Japanese.

TOKYO (Sept. 15, 2005) -- On a remote, wooded island 470 miles off the coast of Chile, Japanese explorer Daisuke Takahashi believes he has found the location of the hut where Scottish privateer Alexander Selkirk, who likely inspired the Daniel Defoe classic "Robinson Crusoe," lived during the four years and four months he was marooned on the island 300 years ago.

Intrigued by the question of how a lone man could adapt to survive in such an unfamiliar environment, Takahashi wanted to find where and how Selkirk lived while stranded on the South Pacific island now known as Robinson Crusoe from 1704 to 1709. Aided by an islander's recollection of a dwelling high up on an abandoned trail, Takahashi and his international team, funded by the National Geographic Society's Expeditions Council, began excavations. The most telling evidence that Takahashi found to link Selkirk to the site was a small blue tip from copper navigational dividers, a tool commonly used by sailors of the period and almost certainly belonging to Selkirk.

The story of Takahashi's discovery is chronicled in the October 2005 issue of National Geographic magazine, which is published in 27 local-language editions, including Spanish and Japanese.

Takahashi, 38, graduated with a bachelor's degree in political science from Tokyo's Meiji University in 1990 and worked in advertising for over a decade while also pursuing his love for exploration. A professional author and explorer since 2003, he has taken part in numerous expeditions around the world, including to the Sahara Desert, Amazon rain forest, Galápagos Islands, Antarctica, Yemen, Oman, Israel, Russia's Sakhalin Island, Australia, Micronesia and Tahiti.

Takahashi is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society in London and The Explorers Club in New York. He is the author of the book "In Search of Robinson Crusoe."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/09/050920075542.htm 

Japanese Translation Version of Robinson Crusoe

http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%83%AD%E3%83%93%E3%83%B3%E3%82%BD%E3%83%B3%E3%83%BB%E3%82%AF%E3%83%AB%E3%83%BC%E3%82%BD%E3%83%BC-%E9%9B%86%E8%8B%B1%E7%A4%BE%E6%96%87%E5%BA%AB-%E3%83%80%E3%83%8B%E3%82%A8%E3%83%AB-%E3%83%87%E3%83%95%E3%82%A9%E3%83%BC/dp/4087520463



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Mat 6:23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
Mat 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

"The light of the body is the eye" - Miracles at a Roadside Hamburger Shop

Tokyo

Miracles at a Roadside Hamburger Shop 

Cars are stopped by a traffic signal there for 80 seconds.  And then they are allowed to pass the crossing for 80 seconds.

Every second two cars have passed by my side while I was standing before or sitting in a hamburger shop.  In one interval of the stop and go, almost 160 cars must be running on the three-track road in each direction.  In 15 minutes or 900 seconds, about 900 vehicles, including Toyota Priuses, taxis, trucks, etc.

A licence number of a Japanese car consists of a few elements.  The main element has four digits of numerals, such as 12-34, 2-34, 34, or 4.  So, a probability to meet a car with the license number of 11-11 is 1/9 x 1/9 x 1/9 x 1/9 = 1/6,561 = 0.00015, since there is no 00-00.

However, among numbers from 1 to 9,999, there are only nine cases that a number has the four identical numbers in each digit: 11-11, 22-22, 33-33, 44-44, 55-55, 66-66, 77-77, 88-88, and 99-99.  The ratio is 9 in 9,999, meaning 1/1,111.

But while I was watching the flow of cars around the hamburger shop for 15 minutes, I could check about 900 cars.  But as above explained, I could see one in 1,111 cars having a license number with an identical number in each of the four digits.  Since 900 is roughly close to 1,111, there is surely a chance that I can spot such a car with a license number, such as 55-55.

In 15 minutes I usually spend in the hamburger shop watching cars passing on a road by the shop, I would probably see one car with four identical numbers in the main element of its license number plate.
    
One day I saw four such cars.  And in another day, I saw three such cars.  And in the latter day, I saw a car with a number 1, meaning 00-01, twice.   This probability is of course one in 9,999 like any number such as 45-67.  But I saw such a car twice.

Can it be a miracle?

The Second Coming of the Christ is near or has been realized with some miracles around believers.

An Example of a License Plate of a Car Used in Japan
http://company.homemate-navi.com/useful/number_plate/



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Mat 6:22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.

"For Herod feared John" - Repent Even If You Are Not Homeless

Tokyo

Repent Even If You Are Not Homeless

A decade before the 2008 Financial Crisis, John Grisham wrote a novel where an eite lawyer in Washington DC turned to be a legal adviser for homeless people and other helpless people.

A homeless man calling himself "Mister" enters the offices of the Washington DC law firm Drake & Sweeney and takes many of the lawyers hostage. Although he is eventually shot by a police sniper and the hostages freed, one of the hostages, an antitrust lawyer named Michael Brock, is concerned by what he has learned and feels compelled to investigate further. He finds his way to the 14th Street Legal Clinic, where he meets Mordecai Green, an advocate for the homeless, who asks him to help one night at a homeless shelter. As Brock's investigation deepens, he finds that his own employer was complicit in an illegal eviction, which eventually resulted in the death of a young homeless family. He takes a confidential file, intending to copy it, but is quickly suspected of its theft. Shocked by what he has found, Brock leaves his firm to take a poorly paid position with the 14th Street Legal Clinic, which works to protect the rights of the homeless. This leads to his wife divorcing him. He admits one of his clients, Ruby, to a therapy class for drug-addicted women, and in the process meets Megan. As Drake & Sweeney comes after Brock with theft and malpractice allegations, the Clinic launches a lawsuit against the law firm and its business partners. Terrified of the certain bad publicity, the matter is settled by mediation and the clinic receives a large payout to be shared with the victims of the eviction. Drake & Sweeney's head partner, deeply troubled by the events, offers to make pro bono staff available to assist the work of the Clinic in fighting for the rights of homeless people. The book ends with Brock taking a short vacation with Megan and Ruby, and them reflecting on their lives.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Street_Lawyer 

Nobody thinks that this kind of a drastic change in one's career is possible, especially if he is a highly-paid lawyer working in a renowned law firm.  However there seem to many lawyers involved in cases related to poor relief in the US.

Homeless Persons Have Rights, Too.
POSTED IN HUMAN RIGHTS BY LAWYERS.COMSM  

Homeless ManHomelessness is a serious problem in some areas of the United States. Many state and municipal laws put restrictions on the conduct of the homeless. In many cities, they can't panhandle, loiter, or sleep wherever they want. However, the U.S. government passed legislation in 1987 to provide some specific rights to the homeless as well, under certain circumstances.
...

The law surrounding the rights of the homeless people is complicated. Plus, the facts of each case are unique. This article provides a brief, general introduction to the topic. For more detailed, specific information, please contact a civil rights lawyer.
http://civil-rights.lawyers.com/human-rights/homeless-persons-have-rights-too.html

Some such organizations, including Southern Legal Counsel, seem to be spurred on to their efforts to saving homeless Americans in the wake of the 2008 Financial Crisis.

SLC's Homeless Advocacy Project is a statewide project to protect and defend the civil and human rights of homeless individuals and their advocates.  The Project has two main objectives: 1) combat the criminalization of homelessness and 2) identify and address systemic issues faced by homeless individuals and their advocates that violate their civil and human rights.  The Project seeks to address these objectives through the provision of community education and outreach to inform homeless individuals and advocates about their rights, and through legal and policy advocacy including impact litigation.  It also provides training and technical assistance for advocates and attorneys.
...
National Forum on the Human Right to Housing.  On November 8th and 9th, 2009, more than 150 advocates from 20 states gathered in Washington, DC for the 2009 National Forum on the Human Right to Housing.  The event was hosted by Georgetown University Law Center, and co-sponsored by the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty, the US Human Rights Network, National Fair Housing Alliance, and the National Alliance of HUD Tenants.   The highlight of the conference was the National Town Hall on the Right to Housing where advocates presented testimony to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing, Raquel Rolnik, who made the Forum the final stop on her two week fact-finding mission to the United States.

SLC presented written and oral testimony to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights violations that are caused by the criminalization of homelessness in Florida.  SLC called for local and state governments to develop constructive alternatives to criminalizing homelessness and to repeal or cease enforcement of such laws and policies.  The Special Rapporteur presented her final report about her country visit to the United Nations Human Rights Council in March 2010.  Her final report included findings about human rights violations caused by homelessness and a recommendation that the US develop constructive alternatives to the criminalization of homelessness.
http://www.southernlegal.org/index.php/areas-of-service/homelessness/ 

So then, John Grisham's The Street Lawyer can be regarded as a kind of prophecy for the 2008 Lehman Shock and subsequent global financial crisis, since it was written in 1998.

And also, the Gulf War that started in January 1991 with the Congress of the United States passing a resolution authorizing the use of military force against Saddam's Iraq to liberate Kuwait can be regarded as a kind of prophecy for the 9/11 Terror on the US in 2001.

Of course the death of John F. Kennedy Jr. in a crash of a plane he was piloting off the coast of Martha's Vineyard can be regraded as a kind of prophecy for the assumption of the presidency by Mr. Barack Obama in 2009.

Indeed 10 years ago, a terrible natural disaster occurred as a kind of prophecy for something terrible that should happen in 2014.

December 26 – One of the worst natural disasters in recorded history hits Southeast Asia, when the strongest earthquake in 40 years, measuring 9.3 on the Richter scale, hits the entire Indian Ocean region, which generates an enormous tsunami that crashes into the coastal areas of a number of nations including Thailand, India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, and Indonesia. The official death toll in the affected countries stands at 186,983 while more than 40,000 people are still missing.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004

So, repent even if you are not homeless persons!




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Mar 6:20 For Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and an holy, and observed him; and when he heard him, he did many things, and heard him gladly.

"and healed them all" - The First African in Japan

Tokyo

The First African in Japan

Who was the first African that came to Japan in the history?

It seems to have been a young African man from Island of Mozambique who was recruited or forced by Europeans to serve missionaries sent by the Vatican or its subordinate organizations.  Some of these Catholic missionaries came to Japan in the late 16th century to preach the gospel.  Japan was at the time in the Age of Civil Wars.  The shogun or the head of the samurai class lost power through armed conflicts among different samurai clans, while the imperial court had had no political power for centuries.

Nonetheless, there emerged one very strong and unique warlord.  Oda Nobunaga was an open-minded samurai leader; he loved Western goods Western missionaries brought with them into Japan.  Especially he found merit in matchlock guns Portuguese merchants brought into Japan in 1543.  Nobunaga had craftsmen produce thousands or more harquebuses to equip his samurai soldiers with them.  With this new tactics based on guns, Nobunaga conquered one third of Japan so quickly.  It looked like a matter of time that rising warlord Nobunaga, born around presently Nagoya in 1534, would soon put all the samurai warlords in Japan under his rule, since he had already controlled Kyoto and the imperial court in this old capital of imperial Japan.

And during this unquiet time of Japan, a young African man, who was later named Yasuke by Oda Nobunaga, arrived at Japan.  　

Yasuke arrived in Japan in 1579 as the servant of the Italian Jesuit Alessandro Valignano, who had been appointed the Visitor (inspector) of the Jesuit missions in the Indies, i.e. S. and E. Asia, an extremely high position, so Yasuke must have been quite trustworthy. He accompanied Valignano when the latter came to the capital area in March 1581 and caused something of a sensation. In one event, several people were crushed to death while clamouring to get a look at him. Nobunaga heard about him and expressed a desire to see him. Suspecting the black color of his skin to be paint, Nobunaga had him strip from the waist up and made him scrub his skin.[2]

Nobunaga's nephew gave him money. In May, Yasuke accompanied a group of Jesuits on a short trip to the province of Echizen. Yasuke could speak some Japanese, so Nobunaga enjoyed talking with him and was also impressed by his strength. At Nobunaga's request, Valignano left Yasuke with Nobunaga before Valignano left central Japan later that year. Nobunaga treated Yasuke with such great favor that people in Azuchi even said he would probably be made a 'tono' (lord). This did not happen, but he was given the position of samurai (shikan).

In June 1582, Nobunaga was attacked and killed in Honnō-ji in Kyoto by the army of Akechi Mitsuhide. Yasuke was also there at the time. Immediately after Nobunaga's death, Yasuke went to the lodging of Nobunaga's heir Oda Nobutada and withdrew with him to Nijō Castle. When that too was attacked by Akechi, Yasuke fought alongside the Nobutada forces for a long time. Finally he surrendered his sword to Akechi's men. They asked Akechi himself what to do with him. Akechi said that the black man was a beast and did not know anything, and furthermore, he was not Japanese, so they should not kill him but take him to the church [in Kyoto] of the Visitor from India, so they did, much to the relief of the Jesuits there who had worried about him. There is no information about him after that.

The "Lord Nobunaga Chronicle" (Shinchōkōki) has a description of Yasuke's first meeting with Nobunaga. "On the 23rd of the 2nd month [March 23, 1581], a black page ("kuro-bōzu") came from the Christian countries. He looked about 26 [24 or 25 by Western count] or 27 years old; his entire body was black like that of an ox. The man was healthy and good-looking. Moreover, his strength was greater than that of 10 men." 

After Matsudaira Ietada had met Yasuke in May 1582, Ietada journalized his looks. " His name was Yasuke. His height was 6 shaku 2 sun (6 ft. 2 in., or 188 cm.). He was black, and his skin was like charcoal." If so, his tall stature would have been very imposing to the Japanese of the day. 

Yasuke was also mentioned in the prototype of Shinchōkōki owned by Sonkeikaku Bunko. According to this, Yasuke was given his own house and a short katana by Nobunaga. Nobunaga also assigned him the duty of "Dōgumochi," the porter of his Yari[3][4] 

A 2013 investigation by Discovery of the World's Mysteries concluded that Yasuke was a Makua named Yasufe.[5]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasuke

Even the US Marine Corps website picked up this episode in the Japanese history:

Anartist's illustration of Yasuke, an African slave who traveled with Italian Jesuit missionaries when they arrived in Japan in 1579. Legend has it Yasuke caused such a commotion upon his arrival people came in droves and clamored over one another to see him. He was rumored to have stood between 6'3" and 6'5" tall, towering over the Japanese and even many of the Italians. Tales also stated he was either 26 or 27 years old, and stronger than 10 men. After traveling with the missionaries for a time, Oda Nobunaga, the famous Japanese warlord, asked the missionaries that Yasuke be left with him for a time as he was intrigued about the African's homeland. Legend has it he was made a samurai in title only but was also said to have traveled with Nobunaga in full regalia and armaments.(Photo by Paul R. Bondoc)
http://www.mcasiwakuni.marines.mil/News/NewsStories/NewsArticleDisplay/tabid/6911/Article/142685/the-legend-of-yasuke.aspx

From other sources, Yasuke seems to have served a warlord in Kyusyu after the assassination of Oda Nobunaga, since Akechi Mitsuhide, a samurai general who killed Nobunaga, released Yasuke after having captured this African samurai, since Yasuke was not Japanese and thus could be pardoned.   At the time there were many Christians in Kyusyu, the most southwestern island of the four major islands of Japan.  And trade with South East Asia was freely conducted by Japanese merchants at the time.  So, Yasuke must have left Japan with Japanese merchants and samurais who wanted to develop their careers, riding movement of economic expansion or colonization in Asia by Spaniards, Portuguese, the Dutch, etc.

Months before Oda Nobunaga was assassinated in Kyoto in 1582, the first official Japanese mission to Europe started to sail out of Japan as a result of diplomatic and religious efforts by those European missionaries.  This Tenshō embassy (named after the Tenshō Era in which the embassy took place) was specifically formed and sent by the Japanese Christian Lord Ōtomo Sōrin to the Pope and the kings of Europe in 1582, and they took a route to Europe via  Island of Mozambique.  So, the sea route from Japan to  Island of Mozambique must have been often used by Portuguese, etc.  Yasuke must have had a chance to sail back to his home island after leaving Japan with Japanese merchants to colonies of Portugal, etc. in South East Asia.

If we explore Island of Mozambique more carefully, we might trace of Yasuke featured by something Japanese.

A group of Portuguese Nanbanforeigners, 17th century, Japan. Yasuke was the servant of Jesuits similar to the black depicted in this picture.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasuke



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Luk 6:19 And the whole multitude sought to touch him: for there went virtue out of him, and healed them all.
Luk 6:20 And he lifted up his eyes on his disciples, and said, Blessed be ye poor: for yours is the kingdom of God.

"An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations" - A Japanese who Met Abraham Lincoln

Tokyo

A Japanese who Met Abraham Lincoln

In 1851 Hikozo, a 13-year old Japanese mariner, encountered a tempest while a ship where he served was sailing along the Pacific coast lines of Japan to Edo (presently Tokyo) from west Japan.

However, after two months of drifting in the Ocean, he and other mariners were rescued by an American commercial ship.  They got to San Francisco, but the US Government decided to return them to Japan as the then Japanese samurai government closed the nation.  Hikozo and his company were sent to Hong Kong.  They were expected to be taken on board a ship of an American naval fleet led by Commodore Perry who planned to visit Edo and request the Tokugawa shogun to establish a diplomatic tie with the US.  At the Time, as Herman Melville wrote, whaling by American ships in the Pacific Ocean was very thriving.  They needed help from Japan to secure water, foods, and other services needed by American ships whaling around Japanese seas.

Perry's fleet arrival was delayed.  Except one Japanese marine, other Japanese decided not to be involved in the difficult diplomatic movement, thus running away from the American control.  Most of the Japanese mariners left for a Japanese who happened to live in Hong Kong, though he was aslo an ex-mariner of a Japanese ship that had been wrecked.  But Hikozo and another Japanese got on a ship heading for San Francisco.

So, Hikozo did not become part of the historic incident of Commodore Perry's arrival at Edo Bay (Tokyo Bay) in 1853.  However he received a favor from an American custom chief in San Francisco, named Saunders.  With Saunders, Hikozo moved to New York and then attended a mission school in Baltimore. On September 15, 1853, Hikozo met US President Franklin Pierce.
 

In 1858, the Treaty of Amity and Commerce was concluded between the shogun government at Edo and the US.  As the samurai regime forbade Christianity at the time, Hikozo who became a Chrstian in America abandoned Japanese nationality to become a naturalized citizen of the US.  Then he was employed by Townsend Harris, the first United States Consul General to Japan, as an interpreter.  Hikozo came back to Japan in 1859 for the first time in nine years.

Japan was then toward a civil war because the anti-shogun camp was gaining strength. Samurais who opposed diplomatic policies of the Tokugawa shogun were trying to topple the Tougawa regime and expell Americans and other Westerners from Japan.  Some radical samurais were really attacking foreigners around Yokohama, a port city near Edo opened for foreigners.  So, Hikozo felt that his life was at stake.  He returned to the US in 1861.  And, he met Abraham Lincoln on March 31, 1862.  Hikozo became the only Japanese who saw Abraham Lincoln.  Or Abraham Lincoln met at least one Japanese in his life time.

In December 1862, Hikozo returned to Japan again.  Since then, Hikozo worked in Japan, handling business in various fields.  He died in Tokyo in 1897 as an American citizen.

While Hikozo was running a commerce firm in Yokohama in 1862, he read an article about Lincoln's Gettysburg Address in The New York Times he subscribed to.  It gave him a hint for publishing a newspaper in Japan.  In 1864, Hikozo started issuance of a newspaper in Japan, though commercial information papers had been occasionally delivered in Tokyo and other Japanese cities under rule of samurais.  Hikozo's newspaper is today regraded as the first trial of publishing modern newspapers in Japan.  Though Hikozo's newspaper business was terminated in two yeras, subsequent newspapers issued by other parties followed the style of Hikozo's modern newspaper.

So, we might say that there is a linkage between Abraham Lincoln and start of modern newspaper business in Japan.




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Pro 6:17 A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
Pro 6:18 An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief,
Pro 6:19 A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren.
Pro 6:20 My son, keep thy father's commandment, and forsake not the law of thy mother: