In point of fact, one thing that is well-known about mystical bodies of knowledge, and how they are passed-down, is that often these truths are purposefully encoded, and not spelled-out directly. Often, these encodings are not just to allow "simple people" to understand and therefore embrace these stories (and thus propagate them onward), but they can also be so encoded as to preserve DEEP connections of information. I propose that this is exactly what Masonic traditions do in all of their mystical information. So the question "is it possible there is encoded, mystical knowledge in some books of the Bible?" is a fair one, IMO.
All that being said, I am always intrigued by the verse in Acts of The Apostles that describes the ascension of Jesus Christ. I include the entire beginning of Acts below for clarity, with my focus phrases emboldened...
1 The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, 2 until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, 3 to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God.
The Holy Spirit Promised
4 And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, “which,” He said, “you have heard from Me; 5 for John truly baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.” 6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority. 8 But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me[a] in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.”
Jesus Ascends to Heaven
9 Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. 10 And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, 11 who also said, “Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven.”
So are we to literally interpret that a "cloud received Him out of their sight"? Or is this a simple substitution for some type of technology that either the author did not understand, or the author believed the reader would not understand? Regardless of what you believe it may be saying in that passage, it is quite clear that we should expect to see Jesus return "in like manner" as he was seen to depart.
Did "God" send down a cloud to pick up his kid, or was Jesus technologically aided in this (and perhaps other) feats reported in his life????? And if so, can we expect this "cloud-like" device to return? Is there something "there"? And is it telling us what we THINK we want to hear....or something else?
Ray
. They get me thinking beyond where I have let my mind stop!
--that what I will say next will upset you!
