The Lost Text

The Apocryphical Book of Enoch
The Lost Text
“One of the most important apocryphic works of the Second Temple Period is Enoch.”
- Milik, Jazef. T., ed. The Books of Enoch: Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4

The Book of Enoch is “an ancient composition known from two sets of versions, an Ethiopic one that scholars identify as ‘1 Enoch’, and a Slavonic version that is identified as ‘2 Enoch’, and which is also known as The Book of the Secrets of Enoch. Both versions, of which copied manuscripts have been found mostly in Greek and Latin translations, are based on early sources that enlarged on the short biblical mention that Enoch, the seventh Patriarch after Adam, did not die because, at age 365, ‘he walked with God’ – taken heavenward to join the deity.”
- Zecharia Sitchin, When Time Began

“In the Book of Enoch the arcane wisdom is said to have been betrayed to mankind by fallen angels, but a Talmudic tradition claims that God whispered it to Moses on Mount Sinai. According to this tradition its secrets were then imparted to seventy elders who thereafter transmitted them orally to their successors.”
- David Conway, Ritual Magic

“The Book of Enoch is a pseudoepigraphal work (a work that claims to be by a biblical character). The Book of Enoch was not included in either the Hebrew or most Christian biblical canons, but could have been considered a sacred text by the sectarians. The original Aramaic version was lost until the Dead Sea fragments were discovered.”
“The original language of most of this work was, in all likelihood, Aramaic (an early Semitic language). Although the original version was lost in antiquity, portions of a Greek translation were discovered in Egypt and quotations were known from the Church Fathers. The discovery of the texts from Qumran Cave 4 has finally provided parts of the Aramaic original. …Humankind is called on to observe how unchanging nature follows God’s will.”
- Milik, Jazef. T., ed. The Books of Enoch: Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4

Although the Book of Enoch is considered as apocryphal, it was clearly known to early Christian writers as the following quote from 1 Enoch 1:9 indicates:
“In the seventh (generation) from Adam Enoch also prophesied these things, saying: ‘Behold, the Lord came with his holy myriads, to execute judgment on all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners spoke against him’.”
- Jude 14-15

“Prior to the eighteenth century, scholars had believed the Book of Enoch to be irretrievably lost: composed long before the birth of Christ, and considered to be one of the most important pieces of Jewish mystical literature, it was only known from fragments and from references to it in other texts. James Bruce changed all this by procuring several copies of the missing work during his stay in Ethiopia. These were the first complete editions of the Book of Enoch ever to be seen in Europe.
- Graham Hancock, The Sign and the Seal

The Patriarch Enoch
“According to the biblical narrative (Genesis 5:21-24), Enoch lived only 365 years (far less than the other patriarchs in the period before the Flood). Enoch ‘walked with God; then he was no more for God took him’.”
- Milik, Jazef. T., ed. The Books of Enoch: Aramaic Fragments of Qumran Cave 4

“According to Sumerian chronicles of the earlier times, it was at Eridu’s temple that Enki, as guardian of the secrets of all scientific knowledge, kept the ME’s – tabletlike objects on which the scientific data were inscribed. One of the Sumerian texts details how the goddess Inanna (later known as Ishtar), wishing to give status to her ‘cult center’ Uruk (the biblical Erech), tricked Enki into giving her some of those divine formulas. Adapa, we find, was also nicknamed NUN.ME, meaning “He who can decipher the ME’s’. Even unto millennia later, in Assyrian times, the saying ‘Wise as Adapa’ meant that someone was exceedingly wise and knowledgeable….The ‘wide knowledge’ imparted by Enki to Adapa included writing, medicine, and – according to the astronomical series of tablets UD.SAR.ANUM.ENLILLA (‘The Great Days of Amu and Enlil’) – knowledge of astronomy and astrology.”
“…It is almost certain that the biblical ‘Enoch’ was the equivalent of the Sumerian first priest, EN.ME.DUR.AN.KI (‘High Priest of the ME’s of the Bond Heaven-Earth’), the man from the city Sippar taken heavenward to be taught the secrets of Heaven and Earth, of divination, and of the calendar. It was with him that the generations of astronomer-priests, of Keepers of the Secrets, began.”
- Zecharia Sitchin, When Time Began

“The learned savant
who guards the secrets of the gods
will bind his favored son with an oath
before Shamash and Adad…
and will instruct him in the secrets of the gods.”
“Thus was the line of priests created,
those who are allowed to approach Shamash and Adad.”
- Sumerian tablet (W. G. Lambert, Enmeduranki and Related Material)

“The legend [of Enoch] begins…with the Sumerian King List. This is a list of rulers before the Flood, and is preserved in several forms, including Berossus. Here one of the kings, often given as the seventh (as Enoch is in his list), is called Enmeduranki or Enmeduranna. He is generally associated with the city of Sippar, which was the home of the cult of the sun god Shamash. Moreover, in other texts this Enmeduranki was the first to be shown, by Adad and Shamash, three techniques of divination: pouring oil on water, inspecting a liver, and the use of a cedar (rod), whose function is still unclear. These were to be transmitted from generation to generation, and in fact became the property of the guild of baru, the major group of diviners in Babylon.
“These details show how the biblical portrait of Enoch may have been compiled from Enmeduranki: each is seventh in the antediluvian list; the biblical 365 preserves the affinity to the sun, rather than the sun god; walking with God (or perhaps, ‘angels’?) suggests the intimacy between god(s) and man. The final connection links not with Enmeduranki, but with a fish-man (apkallu), with which each of the first seven kings associated and from whom they learnt all kinds of knowledge. Enmeduranki’s apkallu, called Utu’abzu, is mentioned in another cuneiform text, where he is said to have ascended to heaven. This last link remains provisional, but at all events, the writer of Genesis 5:21-24 appears to either have created Enoch as a counterpart of Enmeduranki or, equally probably, to have alluded to an already existing Jewish tradition about Enoch, already modeled on the earlier figure.”
- John Rogerson and Philip Davies, The Old Testament World

“One cannot rule out the possibility that, as Enmduranki and Enoch, Adapa too was the seventh in a line of sages, the Sages of Eridu, and thus another version of the Sumerian memory echoed in the biblical Enoch record. According to this tale, seven Wise Men were trained in Eridu, Enki’s city; their epithets and particular knowledge varied from version to version. Rykle Borger, examining this tale in light of the Enoch traditions (‘Die Beschworungsserie Bit Meshri und die Himmelfahrt Henochs’ in the Journal of Near Eastern Studies, vol. 33), was especially fascinated by the inscription on the third tablet of the series of Assyrian Oath Incantations. In it the name of each sage is given and his main call on fame is explained; it says thus of the seventh: ‘Uta-abzu, he who to heaven ascended’. Citing a second such text, R. Borger concluded that this seventh sage, whose name combined that of Utu/Shamash with the Lower World (Abzu) domain of Enki, was the Assyrian ‘Enoch’.
“According to the Assyrian references to the wisdom of Adapa, he composed a book of sciences titled U.SAR d ANUM d ENLILA – ‘Writings regarding Time; from divine Anu and divine Enlil’. Adapa, thus, is credited with writing Mankind’s first book of astronomy and the calendar.”
- Zecharia Sitchin, When Time Began

“And I saw there something horrible: I saw neither a heaven above nor a firmly founded earth, but a place chaotic and horrible. And there I saw seven stars of the heaven bound together in it, like great mountains and burning with fire. Then I said: ‘For what sin are they bound, and on what account have they been cast in hither?’ Then said Uriel, one of the holy angels, who was with me, and was chief over them, and said: ‘Enoch, why dost thou ask, and why art thou eager for the truth? These are of the number of the stars of heaven, which have transgressed the commandment of the Lord, and are bound here till ten thousand years, the time entailed by their sins, are consummated.’ And from thence I went to another place, which was still more horrible than the former, and I saw a horrible thing: a great fire there which burnt and blazed, and the place was cleft as far as the abyss, being full of great descending columns of fire: neither its extent or magnitude could I see, nor could I conjecture. Then I said: ‘How fearful is the place and how terrible to look upon!’ Then Uriel answered me, one of the holy angels who was with me, and said unto me: ‘Enoch, why hast thou such fear and affright?’ And I answered: ‘Because of this fearful place, and because of the spectacle of the pain.’ And he said unto me: ‘This place is the prison of the angels, and here they will be imprisoned for ever.’”
- Enoch 21:1-10

Enoch’s description of the punishment prepared for the fallen angels has clear parallels with the chaotic void in the Necronomicon.

“…The Book of Enoch has always been of great significance to Freemasons, and…certain rituals dating back to long before Bruce’s time [1730-1794] identified Enoch himself with Thoth, the Egyptian god of wisdom.”
- Graham Hancock, The Sign and the Seal

“Enoch was the first who invented books and different sorts of writing. The ancient Greeks declare that Enoch is the same as Mercury Trismegistus [Hermes], and that he taught the sons of men the art of building cities, and enacted some admirable laws…He discovered the knowledge of the Zodiac, and the course of the Planets; and he pointed out to the sons of men, that they should worship God, that they should fast, that they should pray, that they should give alms, votive offerings, and tenths. He reprobated abominable foods and drunkenness, and appointed festivals for sacrifices to the Sun, at each of the Zodiacal Signs.”
- Hebraeus

According to Masonic lore, Enoch was the inventor of writing, “that he taught men the art of building”, and that, before the flood, he “feared that the real secrets would be lost – to prevent which he concealed the grand Secret, engravnen on a white oriental porphyry stone, in the bowels of the earth.”
- Royal Masonic Cyclopaedia

“In his Antiquities of the Jews, Josephus writes that Adam had forewarned his descendants that sinful humanity would be destroyed by a deluge. In order to preserve their science and philosophy, the children of Seth therefore raised two pillars, one of brick and the other of stone, on which were inscribed the keys to their knowledge. The patriarch Enoch….also constructed an underground temple [at Moriah] consisting of nine vaults, one beneath the other, placing in the deepest vault a triangular tablet of gold bearing upon it the absolute and ineffable name of Deity. According to some accounts, Enoch made two golden deltas. The larger he placed upon the white cubical altar in the lowest vault and the smaller he gave into the keeping of his son, Methuselah, who did the actual construction work of the brick chambers according to the pattern revealed to his father by the Most High. In the form and arrangements of these vaults Enoch epitomized the nine spheres of the ancient Mysteries and the nine sacred strata of the earth through which the initiate must pass to reach the flaming Spirit dwelling in its central core.”
- Manly P. Hall, Masonic, Hermetic, Quabbalistic & Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy

Methuselah ” took the object back to Sippar. Enoch remained at Moriah, to become the old man on the mountain. He lived 365 years, according to Genesis, and then he died. Or did he vanish into thin air?”
- Brian , “ENOCH The Greatest Story Never Told “

Enoch’s “name signified in the Hebrew, INITIATE or INITIATOR. The legend of the columns, of granite and brass or bronze, erected by him, is probably symbolical. That of bronze, which survived the flood, is supposed to symbolize the mysteries, of which Masonry is the legitimate successor from the earliest times the custodian and depository of the great philosophical and religious truths, unknown to the world at large, and handed down from age to age by an unbroken current of tradition, embodied in symbols, emblems, and allegories.”
- General Albert Pike, Morals and Dogma

There was a substantial Zoroastrian Influence on Judaism when Jewish exiles were exposed to the Persian religion during the Babylonian captivity.

“Some Jews adopted Enochian tradition in Babylon during the Exile and brought it back to Canaan when Cyrus gave them leave to Return. The Enochian Jews were detested by the priesthood in Jerusalem, and they were forced to ‘flee’ into the desert before 300 BCE. Naturally, they supported the Maccabees during the uprising of 165 BCE. The Enochians at Qumran ‘updated’ the text to include Judah the Hammer in the big story.”
“The last of the Essence stragglers buried it [the secret book] in Cave IV at Qumran c.70 CE. The urban Christians and Jews of the Near East rejected it. The authors of the Apocalypse rewrote and retitled it, but they didn’t understand the heptadic structure of the original lines, the arrangement of sevens. (The Revelation of St John is pure gibberish, a sloppy rehash of Babylonian myths and legends.) Only the students of the Merkabah (in Babylonia) possessed the key to the Enochian mystery.”
- Brian , “ENOCH The Greatest Story Never Told “

The Secrets
“At that hour, that Son of Man was given a name, in the presence of the Lord of the Spirits, the Before-Time, even before the creation of the sun and the moon, before the creation of the stars, he was given a name in the presence of the Lord of the Spirits.”
- 1 Enoch 48:4

The Messiah “first appears as preexistent in the apocryphal First Book of Enoch, which was originally written in Hebrew or Aramaic about 150 BC. From that period on, the concept of the Messiah who was created in the six days of Creation, or even prior to them or who was born at variously stated subsequent dates and was then hidden to await his time, became a standard feature of Jewish Messianic eschatology.
- Raphael Patai, The Messiah Texts

“From the beginning the Son of Man was hidden, And the Most High has preserved him In the presence of His might, And revealed him to the elect.”
- 1 Enoch 62:7

“Written both as a personal testament and as a historic review, the Ethiopic Book of Enoch, whose earliest title was probably The Words of Enoch, describes his journey to Heaven as well as to the four corners of Earth.”
- Zecharia Sitchin, The Stairway to Heaven

“And after that I saw all the secrets of the heavens, and how the kingdom is divided, and how the actions of men are weighed in the balance. And there I saw the mansions of the elect and the mansions of the holy, and mine eyes saw there all the sinners being driven from thence which deny the name of the Lord of Spirits, and being dragged off: and they could not abide because of the punishment which proceeds from the Lord of Spirits.
And I saw the chambers of the sun and moon, whence they proceed and whither they come again, and their glorious return, and how one is superior to the other, and their stately orbit, and how they do not leave their orbit, and they add nothing to their orbit and they take nothing from it, and they keep faith with each other, in accordance with the oath by which they are bound together.”
- 1 Enoch 41:1-2, 5b -6a

“In the Book of Enoch it was the archangel Uriel (‘God is my light’) who showed Enoch the secrets of the Sun (solstices and equinoxes, ’six portals’ in all) and the ‘laws of the Moon’ (including intercalation), and the twelve constellations of the stars, ‘all the workings of heaven’. And in the end of the schooling, Uriel gave Enoch – as Shamash and Adad had given Enmeduranki – ‘heavenly tablets’, instructing him to study them carefully and note ‘every individual fact’ therein. Returning to Earth, Enoch passed this knowledge to his old son, Methuselah.”
- Zecharia Sitchin, When Time Began

The knowledge granted Enoch included:
“All the workings of heaven, earth and the seas, and all the elements, their passages and goings and the thundering of the thunder, and of the Sun and the Moon; the goings and changing’s of the stars; the seasons, years, days, and hours.”
- The Book of the Secrets of Enoch

According to the The Book of the Secrets of Enoch, “it seems that when the prophet Enoch was ‘taken up’, he saw the air and then the ether. Then he reached the first heaven, where ‘two hundred angels rule the stars’ and where he saw a sea ‘greater than the earthly sea’.
“The second heaven was gloomy. In the third heaven, he saw the Tree of Life, with four streams, of honey, milk, oil, and wine, flowing from its roots. The Place of the Righteous is in this heaven and the Terrible Place where the wicked are tortured. There was also the ‘place on which God rests when he comes into Paradise’.
“In the fourth heaven, he saw luminaries, wondrous creatures, and the Host of the Lord. There were many ‘hosts’ in the fifth, and in the sixth he saw ‘bands of angels who study the revolutions of the stars’. Finally, in the seventh heaven he saw great angels and he got a distant glimpse of the Lord on His Throne.”
- Richard L. Thompson, Alien Identities

“I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know – God knows. And I know that this man – whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows – was caught up to Paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell.”
- 2 Corinthians 12:2-4 (the apostle Paul describing his own experience)

“Enoch’s third heaven…seems very similar to the region known as Ilavrta-varsa, which is described in the Fifth Canto of the Bhagavata Purana. Thus, in Ilavrta-varsa there are four gigantic trees, and four rivers flow from their roots, including a river of honey. There is also a city called Brahmapuri, which is visited by Lord Brahma and which may correspond to the ‘place on which God rests when he comes into Paradise’.”
The Venerable Bede, an eighth-century English theologian and historian, wrote that “the seven heavens are (1) the Air, (2) the Ether, (3) Olympus, (4) the Element of Fire, (5) the Firmament, (6) the Angelical Region, and (7) the Realm of the Trinity.”
“According to the Fifth Canto of the Bhagavata Purana, Brahmapuri and the residences of eight prominent Devas [administrators of the Universe] are situated on the top of a mountain in Ilavrta-varsa called Meru, and therefore Mount Meru corresponds to the Greek Olympus. Thus, if Ilavrta-varsa corresponds to Enoch’s third heaven, then it is also reasonable to say that this third heaven corresponds to the Greek Olympus.”
- Richard L. Thompson, Alien Identities

The Seal of God

The Seal of God (7:3):

No one can enter Heaven without the seal of God on the foreheads. And God will give to every person ever born all the opportunities to be sealed, “Do not harm the land or the sea or the trees until we put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” (7:3)… God wants every person ever born to go to Heaven (1Tim.2:4)…God actually made every person to go to Heaven… but anyone can end up in Hell, if he is not faithful!.
The Seal is not a tattoo in the skin of the forehead, but the infusion of the “Love of God”, manifested by truthfulness in the head and by generosity in the hand, in contraposition of the Seal of Satan which is the infusion of “the hate of Satan”, manifested of lies in the head and greed in the hand. See a larger comment on The Mark.

The Sealing of the Christians in Baptism:
– Having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. (Ephesians 1:13).
– And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30).
– God, who also has sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee. (2 Corinthians 1:21-22).
This is the first time the Seal of God is mentioned in Revelation, and it will appear again in 9:4, 14:1, 22:4… the Seal of the Beast is mentioned in 14:9,11, 16:2, 19:20, 20:4.

The Lamb:

Only Revelation can give us these bold insights of the Lamb:

1- They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Rev.7:14).
Make the robs white in the blood?… yes, it is!… the only way!… for Christians and for Abraham and Moses, who are in Heaven as Jesus tells us in Lk.13:28 and Mt.8:11… because the redemption of the Lamb is retroactive, up to Adam and Eve.

2- For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd (Rev.7:17):
A lamb who is a shepherd?… yes, he is for all eternity…. and He is now your shepherd and mine… what a good shepherd we have right now: A lamb!… The Lamb!… God is my shepherd, nothing I shall want… (Psalm 23).

Africa : sexual growth among GIKUYU of Kenya

THIS POST HAS MOVED TO http://myafricatoday.blogspot.com/2007/05/africa-sexual-growth-among-gikuyu-of.html

Objections to the Papacy

The Pope’s position as Supreme Pontiff of the Universal Church is dogmatic and therefore not open to debate or dispute within the Catholic Church; the First Vatican Council anathematized all who dispute the Pope’s primacy of honor and of jurisdiction (it is lawful to discuss the precise nature of that primacy, provided that such discussion does not violate the terms of the Council’s Dogmatic Constitution). However, the Pope’s authority is not undisputed outside the Catholic Church; these objections differ from denomination to denomination, but can roughly be outlined as (1) objections to the extent of the primacy of the Pope; and (2) objections to the institution of the Papacy itself.
Pope Pius XII, wearing the traditional 1877 Papal Tiara, is carried through St. Peter’s Basilica on a sedia gestatoria circa 1955
Enlarge
Pope Pius XII, wearing the traditional 1877 Papal Tiara, is carried through St. Peter’s Basilica on a sedia gestatoria circa 1955

Some non-Roman-Catholic Christian communities, such as the Assyrian Church of the East, the Oriental Orthodox Church, the Eastern Orthodox Church, the Old Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, the Independent Catholic Churches, and even some Lutherans, accept the doctrine of Apostolic Succession, and therefore accept (to varying extents) the papal claims to a primacy of honour. However, these churches generally reject that the Pope is the successor to St. Peter in any unique sense not true of any other bishop, or raise questions about whether St. Peter was ever bishop of Rome at all. The primacy is therefore regarded primarily as a consequence of the Pope’s position as bishop of the original capital city of the Roman Empire, a definition explicitly spelled out in the 28th canon of the Council of Chalcedon. In any event, these churches see no foundation at all to papal claims of universal immediate jurisdiction, nor to claims of Papal Infallibility. Because none of them recognize the First Vatican Council as truly ecumenical, they regard its definitions concerning jurisdiction and Infallibility (and anathematization of those who do not accept them) as invalid. Several of these communities refer to such claims as “Ultramontanism”.

Other non-Catholic Christian denominations do not accept the doctrine of Apostolic Succession, or do not understand it in hierarchical terms, and therefore do not accept the claim that the Pope is heir either to Petrine primacy of honor or to Petrine primacy of jurisdiction, or they reject both claims of honor or jurisdiction, as well as claims of Papal Infallibility, as unscriptural. The Papacy’s complex relationship with the Roman and Byzantine Empires, and other secular states, and the Papacy’s territorial claims in Italy, are another focal point of these objections; as is the monarchical character of the office of Pope. In Western Christianity these objections — and the vehement rhetoric they have at times been cast in — both contributed to and are products of the Protestant Reformation. These denominations vary from simply not accepting the Pope’s authority as legitimate and valid, to believing that the Pope is the Antichrist or the False Prophet spoken in the Book of Revelation [citation needed]. These denominations tend to be more heterogeneous amongst themselves than the aforementioned hierarchical churches, and their views regarding the Papacy and its institutional legitimacy (or lack thereof) vary considerably.

Some objectors to the Papacy use empirical arguments, pointing to the corrupt characters of some of the holders of that office. For instance, some argue that claimed successors to St. Peter, like Callixtus III and Alexander VI from the Borgia family, were so corrupt as to be unfit to wield power to bind and loose on Earth or in Heaven. An omniscient and omnibenevolent God, some argue, would not have given those people the powers claimed for them by the Roman Catholic Church. Defenders of the papacy argue that the Bible shows God as willingly giving privileges even to corrupt men (citing examples like some of the kings of Israel, the apostle Judas Iscariot, and even St. Peter after he denied Jesus). They also argue that not even the worst of the corrupt Popes used the office to try to rip the doctrine of the Church from its apostolic roots, and that their failure to achieve that goal is evidence that the office is divinely protected.

Some objectors to the papacy habitually refer to the Catholic Church and its members by the pejorative term papist to point up what they believe to be an inappropriate focus of attention on the office and an improper attribution of certain divine favors ex officio.

Was Peter a pope at all?

Most non-Catholic Christians dispute St. Peter being on any list of popes at all, as there is no proof of any Bishop of Rome claiming the Papal title until centuries after the death of Jesus. Further, some groups hold that Peter was never even a bishop.

Roman Catholics, on the other hand, consider St. Peter necessarily to be the first pope by virtue of his reputed commission by Jesus (Matthew 16:18, “And I say to thee: That thou art Peter; and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”) and because they believe he was the first Bishop of Rome, regardless of whether he was generally known by, or personally claimed, that title. By Catholic understanding, all later popes reign by virtue of their succession to St. Peter in his office.

Another argument is the definition of the Pope which is the Successor of St. Peter. If this definition is accepted, then St. Peter should not be considered as a Pope because St. Peter can not succeed himself. Originally, popes were styled “Vicar of Peter,” before this was changed to “Vicar of Christ,” which also seems to suggest that the pontiff is, by definition, a representative or successor of Peter.

East Africa: The Battle Of Mengo and British Supremacy In Uganda

The Battle Of Mengo and British Supremacy In Uganda
By Chris Ferree

The lands that make up what is now Uganda and Kenya were one of the last places on the African continent to be explored by white men. Apart from a few lusty adventurers ( such as Speke, Grant, and Stanley) and the occasional missionary , the map of what was to be British East Africa was blank until nearly the turn of the century. In fact, the knowledge of the area was so lacking that Stanley’s Emin Pasha Relief Expedition of 1887 went to Lake Albert by way of the Congo. Even into the 1890’s and expedition could expect to make some sort of geological, zoological or ethnological discovery.

In the late 1870’s missionaries coming from the south or up the Nile arrived on the west coast of Lake Victoria to preach the gospel. There were also Arab traders from Mombasa and Zanzibar as well as Mahdist from the Sudan shouting the praises of Islam. Of the Christian missions, French Roman Catholics and British Protestants of the Church Mission Society were responsible for the conversions to Christianity in Uganda. While the Muslims had no formal missions ( at least none mentioned in the European history books) converts to the word of the Prophet kept pace with both of the Christian sects combined. The rivalry between the Wa-Fransa (Catholics) and the Wa-Ingleza (Protestants) was only surpassed by their mutual hatred of the Islamic faction. This was a recipe for war and violence that would last for years.

At the beginning of this period, Wagandan beliefs held that their Kabaka (King) was a deity. Both Christianity and the Muslim religions disputed the god-like stature of the Ruler resulting in their persecution. Unfortunately for the Kabakas (first Mtesa then Mwanga), he could not stem the tide of conversions and the ranks of Muslim, Catholic, and Protestant continued to swell. For Mtesa, continued persecution was the answer. When Mwanga ascended to the throne the situation was becoming serious. In the year 1888, he planned to rid himself of all of the converts, Christian and Muslim. Mwanga was going to lure them onto one of Victoria’s islands and leave them to perish. However, news of the plot was leaked and Mwanga was just able to escape .

Kiwewa, Mwanga’s brother, was names Kabaka by the Christians who assumed the majority of offices in court. The Muslims, outraged by the division of power, made a surprise attack at a council meeting, killing many Christian chiefs and capturing Kiwewa. The Mohammedan chief tried to force the Kabaka to conform to Islam, but Kiwewa stood firm. In fact he was able to dispatch two Muslim chiefs before he made good his escape. At this point the near leaderless Christian population fled Uganda to Akoli on the south end of the lake. The White missionaries were left in the Muslims hands. They were soon set adrift onto the lake and their goods were looted.

By the middle of 1889 the “Arabs” as Lugard called them, were in control of the country. Karema, another of Mwanga’s brothers, was made the Islamic king of Uganda. The non-converted part of the population was still mistreated, and the Christians were looking for a leader. Mwanga, after his flight, was held by the Muslims of Magu district. He was able to escape and eventually ended up at the French mission station of Bukumbi. The Christians offered to reinstate Mwanga, provided some changes were made in his policies. With the help of Stokes, a former mission agent turned trader/gun runner, Mwanga led the Christians back to Uganda.

Unfortunately, The Arabs were ready and the christian army was pushed back to Ankoli. They did, however, have control of the lake. The king occupied the Sesee Islands near the capital, Mengo,but the main army was in the south. It was at this time (June 1889) that word came of an Imperial British East Africa Company safari camped at Kavirondo on the eastern shore of Lake Victoria. Mwanga sent letters to Jackson, the leader of the expedition, asking for help. Jackson replied that he could only enter Uganda if Mwanga would sign a treaty giving Britain exclusive rights to trade.

By September of 1889, Mwanga’s Christian coalition was falling apart. He called for the missionaries to join him on the islands to help solidify the his forces. With the help of the missionaries, both Protestant and Catholic, Mwanga regained control of his forces and drove the Muslims from the capital. With this success, Mwanga rejected Jackson’s offer. His success was short lived and it was not long before Mwanga was back on the islands and the Arabs were back in Mengo. More letters were sent to Jackson, stating that he, Mwanga “was ready to do business”. Father Pere Lourdel, the chief Catholic missionary, also sent a request to Jackson for aid. Jackson was, however, away exploring and did not get the letters until November.

Dr. Karl Peters, leader of the German Emin Pasha Relief Expedition, read Jackson’s letters and immediately pushed on for Uganda. When he reached the Nile, in Usoga Province, Peters was told that the Pasha had been rescued by Stanley. The good doctor then decided to push on to Mengo to render aid to the embattled Mwanga. Once Jackson returned to Kavirondo and found his opened mail, he too set off for Mengo.

As the fortunes of war turned again in the Christians favor, in February 1890, Mwanga was back in his capital. Dr. Peters arrived later in the month and signed a treaty with Mwanga leaving all Uganda open to any European. Dr. Peters did no enjoy his triumph for long, however. Because of his behavior he fell in to ill-favor and soon moved south to German territory.

Jackson arrived at Mengo in April 1890. His arrival was somewhat of a disappointment to Mwanga, as he had too few rifles and no flashy uniforms like Peters’ men. He also came to lager-heads with the Catholic Fathers because his treaty would put the I.B.E.A. in control. With the Catholics advising the king, negotiations went nowhere.

Because of the political stalemate, Jackson decided to leave Uganda. He would leave behind his colleague Mr. Gedge with 35 men and 180 rifles. Gedge also had instructions to buy up any guns that entered the country ( Mr. Stokes was away at this time obtaining them for the Waganda ). When Jackson told the court of his intention of leaving, the Wa-Ingleza decided to go with him. This move would leave the Catholics greatly outnumbered, so they decided to leave also. AS this plan would not work, Jackson took a representative from each party to argue the case in front of a higher authority.

Two events occurred at this time that would change the fortunes of the British Company. First, a treaty was signed between Britain and Germany that recognized the border between their spheres of Influence west of the lake as 1 degree south latitude. This placed Uganda well within British territory. Of course, Jackson did not find this out until he returned to the coast. The second was the death of Father Lourdel. Lourdel was the man who had the King’s ear and with him gone the British had a chance.

As Jackson was leaving Mengo Frederic Lugard was moving off the coast. Lugard was the company man that would settle the question of European control in Uganda. He marched towards Uganda armed with the Anglo-German treaty, 270 armed porters ( about 1/3 he classed as reliable), 50 Sudanese and Somali askari, a few other Europeans and a worn out Maxim gun. What he lacked was ammunition, he only had about 11 rounds apiece for the men when he arrived at Mengo.

Gedge was, unfortunately, not he man to leave behind. He was not one to stand up to the Kabaka and was soon beat down. His situation in Mengo soon became intolerable and he left for German territory. Before he left though, Gedge handed out the 180 Snider rifles and ammunition in his charge. This was incase the Muslims attacked.

Lugard arrived in Uganda by December 1890. He entered the country without asking permission of the Kabaka, set up his camp in the capital, and then told Mwanga when he would be ready for an audience. Upon their meeting, Lugard said he only came by to make his introductions and that other matters would wait. This was done and Lugard took his leave, again without asking for approval. Lugard’s bold approach earned him the respect of the king.

The company’s fort was begun on Kampala Hill, opposite Mwanga’s palace atop Mengo Hill. Lugard anxiously awaited the arrival of Mr. Williams, his second in command, with much needed supplies (including ammunition). He also began negotiations for a treaty with Mwanga. Lugard showed no partiality for either party and attempted to make friends with all the chiefs. In this, he met with some success, though it did nothing to bolster the Protestants resolve or curb the Catholics haughtiness. The result was an ever widening rift between the parties.

Mwanga’s court was divided down the middle. Half of his councillors were Catholic, the other half were Protestant. In addition, each office was controlled by its party. If a particular officer wished to change his party, he would forfeit his office and the controlling party would select a new officer. This arrangement was made after the last recapture of the capital by the combined Christian armies. Lugard’s indifference in the politics of court put the advantage to the Catholic side. Again the Wa-Ingleza were on the verge of exodus when a last deputation was sent to Lugard. They were given the impression that he was only biding his time until reinforcements arrived. This was good enough and the Protestants decided to stick it out.

As the year of 1891 dawned, Lugard continued work on his fort and got a signed treaty from Mwanga. The Protestant Bishop Tucker arrived at the capital, and finally at the end of January Williams showed up with more Sudanese and Swahilis and an additional Maxim.. Bishop Hirth, a Roman Catholic, arrived in February and the stage was set for a new round of religious turmoil.

Lugard was now ready, or thought he was ready to tackle the problems of this divided people. The arguments Lugard heard involved shamba, council positions. Those members who wished to change religions did not want to lose their shamba, while the leaders of the parties wished to rid themselves of those members leaning toward the opposite faction. Bishop Hirth brought up the question of religious freedom as proclaimed by the company charter. Lugard found a loophole around this point. It seems that party control of shamba was guaranteed in a treaty signed by the Catholics back in 1889. Lugards treaty with Mwanga respected previous treaties made by the factions. Lugard argued that a new treaty with the company would be required if he was to take up this subject.

It was lucky for Lugard at this time that the Muslims reentered the fray. Arab forces began raiding in the Unyoro Province (on the banks of Lake Albert). Again the Christians put aside their differences and marched against the common foe. Lugard was gone for the rest of the year. In that time he defeated the muslims and established a line of frontier outposts manned by Sudanese left by Emin Pasha.

Williams, who remained at Mengo, didn’t have it so easy. He was bombarded with accusations and stories of atrocities from both sides. It was only by the cool heads of the higher level chiefs that civil war was averted. But, the cool heads would only prevail while the muslim threat continued.

Lugard returned to Kampala Fort on December 31, 1891. He had 100 Sudanese troops with him (more leftovers from Emin) and found plenty of ammunition and other supplies at the fort. The rigors of campaigning had Lugard and while he waited for the trial of a gun theft complaint to begin he became ill. As he left he noticed the Wa-Fransa chief giggling amongst themselves and thought something was up. Lugard’s Swahili interpreter, Duala, stayed for the trial.

Duala reported the trial as follows: A Catholic sub-chief had a gun stolen by one of Apolo Kagwa’s men (Kagwa, a Protestant was the Katikiro the next office under Kabaka). Kagwa agreed to deliver a gun to the injured party, but was not forthcoming, as he was waiting for the return of one of his guns that was stolen previously. Therefore, the Wa-Fransa setup a ruse beer stand in the market and when a Wa-Ingleza stopped to get a drink, the snatched his rifle. This man, one Tabula by name, rounded up some guys to retrieve this gun. When they entered the enclosure containing the thief, they were met with a volley and Tabula fell.

The Kabaka Mwanga ruled that the Protestants took the law into their own hands and, therefore, got what they deserved. Lugard felt the trial was rigged. In response, he handed out 40 muzzleloading rifles and a barrel of powder to the Wa-Ingleza. Mwanga protested the handing out of rifles. Lugard in turn, protested the acquittal of the Catholic stating that, “… if no justice is done there will be war.” That night, the 23rd of January, the war drums were beating and Mwanga was moving powder and shot into the palace.

On the morning of the 24th, Mwanga set a message to Lugard asking him to call of the war. Lugard replied that he would be glad to if Tabula’s murderer was turned in and he recieved an apology for the insults of the past two days. While waiting for the Kabaka’s response, Lugard handed out about 150 Sniders and 300 to 350 muzzleloaders to the Wa-Ingleza. This was for their own protection as the Wa-Fransa we massing at the palace.

Around 11:00 am shots rang out. A wounded man was brought to the fort, shot by Catholic potato thieves. Lugard sent another letter to Mwanga demanding the perpetrator of this last act of violence. Mwanga sent in a peasant in place of the real perpetrator, but Lugard saw this as a sign of good faith and was ready to talk.

It was, however, too late. Some Catholics went to steal clothes and bananas from Kagwa’s plantation (as a sign of contempt for the Katikiro). They were chased off by Kagwa’s men, but returned in greater numbers and an argument ensued. Shots were exchanged and a Wa-Ingleza went down. A large group of Protestants in the market heard the shots and advanced up the road.

The Protestants were cut off by two Catholic enclosures which opened fire. Some Wa-Ingleza continued to battle their way up the main road to the palace, while another group circled around to the right. They met some resistance, but finally mounted Rubaga Hill, on which set the Catholic mission. The mission was put to the torch.

The burning church was visible by all in Mengo, including Lugard and Mwanga. The Wa-Fransa, in response to the burning of their church, assualted the enclosure of Apolo Kagwa enmasse. The Katikiro’s enclosure was just below the palace in a mainly Catholic part of town. Kagwa’s men were soon routed and ran to the fort. The Catholics were hotly pursued the Protestants until Lugard opened fire with one of his Maxim guns. Though it didn’t cause many casualties, it did check the Wa-Fransa advance.

This gave Apolo Kagwa time to regroup and counterattack. The Protestant advance was supported by Williams and 200 Sudanese. The Catholics broke on all fronts and escaped to the islands of lake Victoria.

Though there was still much work and fighting to be done, by the end of the day the I.B.E.A. Company was the ruler of Uganda

The Apocrypha

Apocrypha (from the Greek word απόκρυφα meaning “those having been hidden away”[1]) are texts of uncertain authenticity or writings where the authorship is questioned.

In Judeo-Christian theology, the term apocrypha refers to any collection of scriptural texts that falls outside the canon. Given that different denominations have different ideas about what constitutes valid scripture, there are several different versions of the apocrypha.

During sixteenth-century controversies over the biblical canon the word “apocrypha” acquired a negative connotation, and it has become a synonym for “spurious” or “false”. This usage usually involves fictitious or legendary accounts that are plausible enough to commonly be considered as truth. For example, the Parson Weems account of George Washington and the cherry tree is considered apocryphal.

The term “apocrypha” has evolved in meaning somewhat, and its associated implications have ranged from positive to pejorative.

[edit] Esoteric writings

The word “apocryphal” (ἀπόκρυφος) was first applied, in a positive sense, to writings which were kept secret because they were the vehicles of esoteric knowledge considered too profound or too sacred to be disclosed to anyone other than the initiated.

It is used in this sense to describe A Holy and Secret Book of Moses, called Eighth, or Holy (Μωυσέως ἱερὰ βίβλος ἀπόκρυφος ἐπικαλούμενη ὀγδόη ἢ ἁγία), a text taken from a Leiden papyrus of the third or fourth century AD, but which may be as old as the first century. In a similar vein, the disciples of the Gnostic Prodicus boasted that they possessed the secret (ἀπόκρυφα) books of Zoroaster. The term in general enjoyed high consideration among the Gnostics (see Acts of Thomas, 10, 27, 44)[1].

4 Ezra is, in its author’s view, a secret work whose value was greater than that of the canonical scriptures because of its transcendent revelations of the future. Gregory of Nyssa, in Oratio in suam ordinationem, labels the words of St. John in the New Testament Book of Revelation as ἐν ἀποκρύφοις [2].

[edit] Questionable writings

“Apocrypha” was also applied to writings that were hidden not because of their divinity but because of their questionable value to the church.

Origen, in Commentaries on Matthew, X. 18, XIII. 57, distinguishes between writings which were read by the churches and apocryphal writings: γραφη μη φερομενη μεν εν τοις κοινοις και δεδημοσιευμενοις βιβλιοις εικος δ ὁτι εν αποκρυφοις φερομενη. The meaning of αποκρυφος is here practically equivalent to “excluded from the public use of the church”, and prepares the way for an even less favourable use of the word[3].

[edit] Spurious writings

The word “apocrypha” came finally to mean “false, spurious, bad, or heretical.”

This meaning also appears in Origen’s prologue to his commentary on the Song of Songs: De scripturis his, quae appellantur apocryphae, pro eo quod multa in iis corrupta et contra fidem veram inveniuntur a majoribus tradita non placuit iis dari locum nec admitti ad auctoritatem. [4] “Concerning these scriptures, which are called apocryphal, for the reason that many things are found in them corrupt and against the true faith handed down by the elders, it has pleased them that they not be given a place nor be admitted to authority.” (Translation by a Wikipedia editor.)

[edit] Other meanings

In addition to the above, other uses of “apocrypha” developed over the history of Western Christianity.

The Gelasian Decree refers to religious works by church fathers Eusebius, Tertullian and Clement of Alexandria as “apocrypha.” Augustine defined the word as meaning simply “obscurity of origin,” implying that any book of unknown authorship or questionable authenticity would be considered as apocrypha. On the other hand, Jerome (in Protogus Galeatus) declared that all books outside the Hebrew canon were apocryphal [5]. In practice, however, Jerome treated some books outside the Hebrew canon as if they were canonical, and the Western Church did not accept Jerome’s definition of apocrypha, instead retaining the word’s prior meaning (see: Deuterocanon). As a result, various church authorities labeled different books as apocrypha, and treated apocryphal books with varying levels of regard.

Many of the Greek fathers included some apocryphal books in the Septuagint with little distinction made between them and the rest of the Old Testament. Origen, Clement and others cited some apocryphal books as “scripture”, “divine scripture”, “inspired”, and the like. On the other hand, teachers connected with Palestine and familiar with the Hebrew canon excluded from the canon all of the Old Testament not found there. This view is reflected in the canon of Melito of Sardis, and in the prefaces and letters of Jerome [6].

A third view was that the books were not as valuable as the canonical scriptures of the Hebrew collection, but were of value for moral uses and to be read in congregations. They were referred to as “ecclesiastical” works by Rufinus [7].

These three opinions regarding the apocryphal books prevailed until the Protestant Reformation, when the idea of what constitutes canon became a matter of primary concern for Roman Catholics and Protestants alike.

In 1546 the Catholic Council of Trent adopted the canon of Augustine, declaring “He is also to be anathema who does not receive these entire books, with all their parts, as they have been accustomed to be read in the Catholic Church, and are found in the ancient editions of the Latin Vulgate, as sacred and canonical.” The whole of the books in question, with the exception of 1st and 2nd Esdras and the Prayer of Manasses, were declared canonical at Trent[8].

The Protestants, in comparison, universally held the belief that only the books in the Hebrew collection were canonical. John Wycliffe, a 14th century reformer, had declared in his Biblical translation that “whatever book is in the Old Testament besides these twenty-five shall be set among the apocrypha, that is, without authority or belief” [9]. Nevertheless, his translation of the Bible included the apocrypha.[2]

The respect accorded to apocryphal books varied between Protestant denominations. In both the German (1537) and English (1535) translations of the Bible, the apocrypha are published in a separate section from the other books. In some editions, (like the Westminster), readers were warned that these books were not “to be any otherwise approved or made use of than other human writings.” A milder distinction was expressed elsewhere, such as in the “argument” introducing them in the Geneva Bible, and in the Sixth Article of the Church of England, where it is said that “the other books the church doth read for example of life and instruction of manners,” though not to establish doctrine [10].

Apocryphal Texts by Denomination
Jewish apocrypha

An angel is a supernatural being found in many religions. In scripture, they typically act as messengers, as held by the three prominent monotheistic faiths, Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

An angel is a supernatural being found in many religions. In scripture, they typically act as messengers, as held by the three prominent monotheistic faiths, Christianity, Judaism and Islam.

Angelology is a branch of theology that deals with a hierarchical system of angels, messengers, celestial powers or emanations, and the study of these systems. It primarily relates to kaballistic Judaism and Christianity,[1] where it is one of the ten major branches of theology, albeit a neglected one.[2]