LORD's DAY 10-09-09 Though it's only Saturday, I'm writing about Columbus Day. As we move into the late months of IYA2009, it makes me think of man's consciousness in 1492. We've been told they saw earth as flat and feared tha the voyage of those three ships, Nina-Penta-Santa Maria, might sail over the edge of creation. But it was the end of the same century in which Galileo's telescope showed creation otherwise. So the entire view of heaven and earth were changing. Christopher Columbus surely accepted the new paradigm and was ready to prove it. Thus one of the major transitions in human consciousness was verified. Next came the paradigm of natural over supernatral that began with the French philosopher, Rene Descarte. His idiom that became so famous was "I think, therefore I am" (cogato ero sum) and Cartesian philosophy shifted from the medieval ultimates of God, self and the external world to just Self alone. And that began an awesome drift away from metaphysics, which had been the reality of Catholic thought since St.Augustine set Neo-Platonism in place. The supernatural world was therefore no longer as certain as the physical/natural one and Neo-Platonism gave way to the Thomastic philosophy from Thomas Aquinas. Reality instead of being above this temporal world, was right here below instead. In a sense it prepared for natural science. And that's the new world view which began Modernism, a 20th century paradigm. Now we're into the post modern era and natural science is showing it's limit as we are trying to grasp the whole Universe via observation in IYA2009. But there is a growing sense of That Which Is Beyond, or of The ONE Who Is an ultimate SOURCE. Like Columbus, we've sailed forth. Maybe the Lord's soon return is to be our answer. Come Lord Jesus! SoLong/Shalom, JosephA@webtv.net
ANGELFIRE 10-16-09 Keeping an eye on IYA2009, I've just read that an asteroid is to pass Earth tonight around eleven pm. It's been named 2009 TMB and will come a little closer than the moon is to us, barely visible. But compared to the last one that was the size of three foot ball fields, it will be quite small and won't even get into our atmosphere either. So a thirty-foot wide rock isn't going to do much even if it hit, though with all the asteroids flying around Earth there's bound to be a big one some day. Scientists claim the extinction of the dinosaurs resulted from a gigantic one that struck Earth down in the Gulf of Mexico by the Yuchatan Peninsula, some sixty-four million years ago. It changed Earth's climate so much that those huge lizards could no linger survive for lack of air. Another space story was just a week ago when NASA dropped a couple of tes bombs on the moon in their effort to find water. Some fans had expected a fiery display in that site down on it's bottom axis, where there is a vast indentation of lunar surface. But nothing visible resulted, so the media ignored it as a non-story. Yet if water is detected from photos filmed by that lunar orbiter, it will be big news later on. Going there will be so very much easier if water is available. And NASA has manned plans to go back in a few years. It will be for making a base useful in launching manned travel to Mars. Not much heard from the International Space Station, though it's getting completed and becoming much larger in diameter size. So long, JosephA.webtv.net
ANGELFIRE 10-20-09 Pauls Valley's editor Shelley Ridenour wrote about the upcoming Make A Difference Day with emphasis on volunteering for local improvements. That certainly fits the Paul Street situation with PV's new downtown bumpouts. MADD can mean the very opposite of it's angry sound as it becomes a way for completion. And the special day can thus launch the process. As a Rotarian I can also endorse the method. It sounds like our club motto "Service Before Self." In this time of financial stress, there is so much effort going into raising funds. But that same energy can go directly into projects undertaken by volunteers. Beautification of the home town mght even be a witness to our love of the heavenly Father, who is an ultimate source for things good, true and beautiful. Certainly we want Pauls Valley's investment in the arts to manifest such values. ANGELFIRE considers Make A Difference Day a good motto for daily living. We are here for the divine purpose of displaying agape (pure and unselfish love). In a world filled with lust, grab it, greed and get-mine-first, we Christians must make a difference. Thus MADD is a turnabout into the opposite direction as we start seeing the light. Here's a song the late Hank Williams wrote:: I wandered so aimless, my life filled with sin. I wouldn't let my dear Savior in. Then Jesus came like a stranger in the night. Praise the Lord, I saw the light. CHORUS I saw the light, I saw the light. No more darkness, no more night. Now I'm so happy, no sorrow in sight. Praise the Lord, I saw the light. Just like a blind man I wandered along. Worries and fears I claimed for my own. Then like the blind man that God gave back his sight, praise the Lord I saw the light. Chorus I was a fool. I wandered astray. Straight is the gate and narrow the way. Now I have traded the wrong for the right. Praise the Lord, I saw the light. Chorus I SAW THE LIGHT! (ANGELFIRE 10-05-09 is my own scientific vision-boldtype). When we see the light we make a difference. So long for now, JosephA@webtv.net
LORD's DAY 10-26-09 I read from Isa.60-3 this morning to see where Israel was promised to be a light to the nations. Of course I saw it as a reference to Christ, who was the Light of the world and made that claim about Himself, Jn.3:21. So it set my thoughts on that Uncreated Light which the mystic monk/hermits of Eastern Orthodoxy claim to have seen. Could that have been a supranatural (instead of supernatural) dimension of the Universe that natural science refuses to recognize. In the Old Testament the glory of Yahweh was always upon the Ark of the Covenant, which was too holy even to behold. Another word in Judaism for that kind of light is the shekinah. It did come to encoumpass the holy city of Jerusalem until the Lord withdrew it just before the prophet Ezekiel took leave of the Holy City in flight to Babylon. And a sense of sacred Light streams through Old Testament worship. In fact it's what the Transfiguration of Christ Jesus was about. He was clothed in a shining garment brighter than the sun when Peter, James and John were with him on that sacred mount. The western Roman Catholic church has taken little interest in the theophany there, but Eastern Orthodoxy lays great stress upon it (almost equal to Calvary). ANGELFIRE feels that our liturgical season of Epiphany (following Christmastide) is drawn from that revelation given to the three Apostles who would later pray with Him on the night of betrayal. And the Hank Williams song we quoted before, is a contemporary verification. Such light is stronger than mere metaphor. It demonstrates the epistle of John saying "God is Light and in Him is no darkness at all." Thus, the last "I am" that Jesus speaks in Rev.22 is "I am...the bright and morning star." Soon we will be in the Christbirth season that lifts an eastern star in it's story of wise men coming from the east. Certainly that was light that lies beyond natural astronomy. In fact, they were probably astrologers from Persia (Iran). And that's where Zoroaster taught his dualism of Mazda, the god of light, who fought against Ahramund, god of darkness. Such is never Biblical because the shema affirms One GOD, but evil could be personified as the adversary of Israel. Satan was it's name. And (he) flees from the divine light, which we can "see" by long prayer and self-denial.
ANGELFIRE 10-23-09 Remember all the public concern about that Octamom several months ago. Now it's about the Balloon Boy up in Ft.Collins CO, a city where my daughter lives. The boy's mom and dad sure did use him for publicity. Now, how can he ever live down all the media attention given to their fabricated story? He was safe at home when the world thought he was up in a flying saucer. At only six years of age, he took briefly had a global center stage, though ANGELFIRE can only recall his dad's name, Richard Heene. That guy should spend the rest of his life doing hard-labor repaying rescue costs that were wasted by staging such a gross stunt. If he gets off easy, such conduct may increase to feed the lust many have for media fame and glory. Modesty seems to be a forgotten virtue. We need to recover that Boy Scout slogan of "Do a good deed daily" and without telling others. That exploitation of public compassion was downright wicked! Make A Difference Day on Saturday will be the polar opposite. It's not for show, nor acclaim, nor popularity; but for worthwhile accomplishments. So maybe it's MADD designation spells just the right attitude toward Balloon Boy deceptions. Far too much in contemporary life has become phoney, put-on, and pretense. Just look at politics where that is so routine to get support. Life is too short to be faking it. Let's be real folks. Here's a little song that says it very well for Pauls Valley: I'll be true Lord Jesus, I'll be true. I'll be true Lord Jesus, I'll be true. There's a race that must be run, There's a victory to be won. Every hour, by thy power, I'll be true. C.L.J. JosephA@webtv.net
ANGELFIRE 10-30-09 Downtown streets are closed today in WW because of the big pumpkin celebration tomorrow. Of course our Pumpkin Roll is the special feature of this very unusual way to observe Halloween. Add to that the Eskrige Hotel drama, and it all merges into a Wynnewood wonderland. I even get that feeling as I drive around town delivering the PV Democrat. Some decorations surpass any that will show on Dec.25. Though it's all in good old fashioned fun, ANGELFIRE considers the origin of it's name, which comes from All Hallows Eve. From before the Protestant Reformation, the Catholic church had begun to celebrate All Souls Day on Nov.1. It's basis in belief is the Communion of Saints. That means that saved "saints" constitute one unity whether they are still here with the living or deceased. Thus, the spirits of those already departed form one inclusive church stretching from now on earth into Christ's heaven beyond, which He will bring back on the final Day. Hallowed communion was once so sacred that a special one was served Oct.31 to partake of that ultimate (holy catholic) reality. But so much superstitious ignorance crept in that it became after the Reformation an opportunity to ridicule things seeming ghostly. With all our science and technology in mind, that does seem healthier. But much was also lost in the shift fromtranscendence to this post modern temporal consciousness. ANGELFIRE's web site for 10-05-09 offers a 'theophany' in my own awareness. I've tried to keep close to natural science yet also with my personal faith strong, in a symmetric status. Symmetry is a word I hope will link topological thought with the contemporary analytical perspective, as it does for me. SoLong, JosephA@webtv.net
ANGELFIRE 11-09-09 Being a WW II veteran myself, I feel that the army officer who shot and killed so many of his comrades at F.Hood TX has utterly blighted Veteran's Day. After such treachery, how can it be honorably celebrated without some colossal overhaul? I can't even stand the sound of that guy's name, and refuse to use it in this column. Instead I'll say false healer, traitor, sneak, killer, murderer, betrayer, evil shrink, or just an covert devil going overt. Choosing the eleventh day of the eleventh month was the way congress got rid of the old Armistice Day, several decades ago. They had been in a quandary about keeping it. I can recall as a child when it seemed almost sacred to observe. We learned at church that war had become humanity at it's worst. It was sin as well as crime. So getting the fighting in Europe stopped seemed a glorious accomplishment however it was done. World leaders back then set it to end at the eleventh hour of Nov.11 (eleventh day and month) signifying the urgency of peace. With poison gas becoming a new weapon, there was no longer any kind of gain to be made in warfare. Not even dynamite, the worst explosive of that ear, had been yet employed. And so that prospect made the banihment of warfare an ultimate concern. Then taking such a date after WW II for veterans to celebrate seemed an anachronism, but not to Congress. ANGELFIRE has long since learned not to take numbers very seriously as the signs to convey ultimate reality; even though three elevens does appear close to a high noon (or midnight). And thus, the terror at Ft.Hood is still another portent of the Lord's final appearing. I read Hebrews 11 this morning. It's the Bible's faith chapter. And keeping the faith is pointed there toward awaiting a New Jerusalem to come. That's because things here are all only temporary. So "C.L.J". is the Bible's very last prayer!! JosephA@webtv.net
ANGELFIRE 11-09-09 That was a wonderful headline "Out of The Ashes" on our weekend edition. And what a picture too. Learning that PV's historic hotel will be preserved. at least in part, sure made me glad. And the city's made a good deal by giving it to Larry Wallace for whatever demolition has to be done. Maybe he'll rename it the Phoenix hotel. I have a son who lives there in AZ, but Angelfire suggests that name because of the great headline on the story. That bird in ancient mythology lived hundreds of years and then burned up, only to rise into a yet higher existence. Some have claimed it gave the Egyptians their belief that each of their pharaoh/kings would rise again; thus the pyramids were built as temporary tombs to make preparation. Then the Hebrew slaves who helped built the pyramids, added that belief in a resurrection for their own deceased patriarchs. They kept such faith when their Egyptian captivity finally ended. Thus, the embalmed body or mummy of Joseph was carried back (along with their holy arc-of-the-Covenant) during that 40 years wandering in the wilderness; then it was finally laid to rest as he had directed them, home again in the Land of Promise, as were the bodies of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob who had been previously entombed there (but only Jacob's was embalmed). I think "phoenix" must mean a sort of deity, and therefore isn't ever mentioned in the Bible. Here's from my Random House dictionary: "a mythical bird of great beauty, the only one of its kind, fabled to live 500 to 600 years in the Arabian wilderness, to burn itself on a funeral pile, and to rise from its ashes in the freshness of youth and live through another cycle of years; often an emblem of immortality; a person or thing of peerless beauty or excellence; paragon; someone or thing restored after suffering calamity or annihilation; mythical bird of purple-red color. also in mythology as Phoenix, the brother of Cadmus and Europia, and eponymous ancestor of the Phoenicians." But all that data might confuse visitors to PV. Or they might think they were in the capitol of AZ. So perhaps Alvis Hotel would still be it's name; or maybe better, the Wallace Palace. I appreciate he beauty increasing in my home town, the same way it's being discovered in all creation during this IYA2009-- as symmetry, elegance. pattern, balance and the magnificient universal interconnection of plasma cosmology. Such 'artwork' clearly portends the divine Artist, who then sent us down his own son to show us the art of beautiful living. It is done accoring to the Father's loving purpose. Therefore, becoming Christlike is the 'artistry' of human existence. He seeks to restore our warped and distorted humanity and fit us into the heavenly picture. Hallelujah!!.
ANGELFIRE 11-12-09 Have you bought your new auto tag lately? Got mine today, a whole new plate instead of the stick-on update used in past years. Niece agreed with me that it surely cost considerable more to make than those corner tape-ons. Then it came back to me about our legislature adopting the change because of stimulus funds found to claim. Sure the company that made them had to have the business, even though their factory is in a state prison; McAlester probably. So that would mean jobs there for the inmates? Wow. But a valid stimulus to the OK economy?? Then another such report I've seem is from our Dept.. of Human Services, where several hundred thousand dollars was used to give department employees a raise in pay, while the meal program for senior citizens was left unfunded, thus discontinued. That doesn't look any better than the TARP trillion that went mainly for CEO bonuses a year or so ago, does it? Both demonstrate that Bible text, "The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil." RSV Too often it's shortened to "money is the root of all evil." But that misses the point, which is manskind's greedy, carnal, selfish and fallen nature. Original sin is the ancient name for it (originating clear back in the Garden of Eden). Now here's an ANGELFIRE leap of cognition, as we are exploring the Universe in IYA2009. Later I'll list the fantastic space probes ahead, but now it appears that we may detect creation clear back to even before the gravity/Fall?) It's why ascetics is being affirmed at TSM's very outset. Just as the Bible states it's magnificent symmetry "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." Then suddenly the asymmetry "And the earth became void and without form, and darkness was on the face of the deep." New International Version I called this a l e a p because aesthetics supersede physical science, just as as art/beauty goes deeper than even computers can calculate. Yet there is a third depth (or height) that is past both art and science, which is ethics--so commonly associated with religion. And that's the ever widening way our Bible takes us: :True faith/religion isn't just a way of looking at certain things; But is a certain way of looking at all things." ANGELFIRE saw that written somewhere long ago and has never been able to forget it. C. L. J.
SoLong, JosephA@webtv.net
LORD's DAY 11-15-09 My youngest child will have a mature (32nd) birthday Wednesday of this week and I'll have my 82 ten days later. It causes me to consider the brevity of our earthly existence. That theophony I had a couple of months ago and reported in my 10-05-09 column has been a spiritaul pinnacle for me thus far. Birthdays are to be celebrated as reaffirmations of the blessing of our original arrival in this earth. As we come also to Thanksgiving, we also add life to our gratitude list. Thankfulness helps us develope an "attitude of gratitude" for divine grace that can is found in the Savior, Christ Jesus. Thanksgiving should be especially real to Christians for that great gift that comes a month later, Dec.25. It brings each year to a final celebration of the Creator coming down and living here to inhabit His own handiword. Maybe that tells me a little of this son's birthday being special to me. He has the same first name as mine. Only he's JosephG istead of JosephA. Here's a short song in which I feel some good affirmation of faith, though not in orthodox words: WHAT IS THAT TO ME? In the stars His handiwork I'd see, On the wind he speaks with majesty. Though He ruleth over land and sea, What is that to me? I will celebrate Nativity for it has it's place in history. Sure He came to set His people free. But what is that to me. Till by faith I met Him face to face. And I felt the wonder of His grace. Then I knew that He was more that just a God that didn't care who lied away out there. So now He walks beside me day by day, ever watching lest I stray; helping me to find the narrow way. He's everything to me. HE'S E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G TO ME.
ANGELFIRE 11-17-09 Though president Obama has been well treated in China by their leader Hu during his stop there on an Asian tour, we now are increasingly aware of how China gave nuclear know-how to Iran way back in '82. It was via Pakistan, who got in on the proliferation deal under the rule of then president ali Kahn. They also sent it on to Iran, which has secretly made the bomb. So now we face a far more dangerous Iran, even though things look friendly for us with China. Of course Israel feels the Mideast threat far worse than we do. I'm thinking today of a decade ago when the second millennium was ending and publicity about the Antichrist soon to appear got into our news. It (or he) is mentioned in Rev.13, which ends with his name (as a number, 666). Yet that chapter begins by telling of a beast and dragon, then mentions the state of Israel sigified as a mother of the Messiah. The dragon seeks to slay Israel's baby boy. It's a sneak preview of the end-time in which we live today. A red dragon has long been the symbol of this gigantic nation we have so greatly befriended in this decade, mainly for financial reasons. Now we've got to be alert to nuclear dangers that it has spread, Iran being our primary concern. Prayer is the ultimate weapon against Satan, our greatest enemy of all. And the Lord Jesus is our "captain of salvation" no matter what! So keep the faith till He appears, dear comrades in Christ. Here's a song we sang so long ago that I barely can rememer the words: "The call for loyal soldiers comes to one and all, will you give an answer? Will you hear his call? Jesus is the captain, we will never fear. Will you be enlisted as a volunteer? A volunteer for Jesus, a soldier true. Others have enlisted, why not you? Jesus is the captain, we will never fear. Will you be enlisted as a volunteer?" It's a spiritual warfare of the heart fought with agape (divine love). And so we carry Bibles rather than guns, like those circuit riders going out across America, of which ANGELFIRE sang in a presious column. Christbirth season is a time of peace, looking to the Prince of Shalom that was born. JosephA@webtv.net
ANGELFIRE 11-20-09 Here is an article about the Dark Energy Camera planned and now being built. It was first to be installed on the ground, but the Dept.of Energy and NASA have joined to put it in JDEM (joint dark energy mission) which will obrit at a vast distance from Earth: "Mounted on a telescope in Chile, the DEC will peer deeper into the sky and unveil more galaxies at greater distances than any previous project, including the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. It will collect data on the distances of galaxies from Earth; the large-scale clustering of galaxies, and the bending of light caused by galaxies & clusters of galaxies. Scientists use these four methods to determine how fast the Universe has been expanding and the rate at which galaxies & galaxy clusters are forming over cosmic time. Two of these methods will yield answers which are independent of gravity...and the other two will provide answers that depend on the theory of gravity for evolution of the Universe. If all four measures show the same result, it means that our current ideas are correct; if they differ, there is a problem in our understanding... The US, Brazil, Spain and UK's CCD(charge coupled devices) can "see" light from fast receding galaxies that has shifted to longer wave lengths. Through this chain of inferences--from redness to fastness, and fastness to oldest--we can draw billions of years closer to the Universe's infancy." ANGELFIRE sites this in relationship with the birth we humans celebrate on Dec.25, "In the beginning was the Word. And the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him and without Him nothing was made." Jn.1:1-3. I seek to show a spiritual dimension in all this, as well as the meaning of gravity. It has yet to be understood by science. SoLong
LORD's DAY 11-22-09 As I think about a prominnt person of PV whose name had fame in my own high school days of football, it impressed me that he had no funeral, at his direction. His passing made the headlines in the PV Democrat a couple of weeks ago, which caused me to recall how famous he was here in town where Field Tavern is legendary. Then he gained considerable wealth, by marriage I think. But I learned from a friend of his how pointless life felt to him (maybe like Johnny Carson). He spent his resources trying to ward off boredom it seems, with the belief in nothing beyond. Thus, no funeral fit his life view without any hereafter to mention. That was a kind of modesty ANGELFIRE sees as a rejection of any religious comfort for facing our mortality. Too often it seems that funerals are far overdone, and the expense can go to excess. So he just spent for what he enjoyed while still alive, and had plenty to do it with. I've sometimes felt cemeteries to be a financial burden, and most cities now don't allow any new ones. But they preserve memories that are so basic. Even the Lord Jesus was places in a tomb (mausalem) for two days and the night between. And it wasn't anything chear, because if fulfilled the prophecy "His grave was with the rich." Joseph of Arimethia had given his own site for his Lord to use. So when I see the Blanton mausalem in Mt.Olivet as I pass on #77, I recall that Jesus wasn't put down in a grave, but buried above ground. I have visited the place in Israel a couple of times called "Garden of the Resurrection." It lends support to our faith that He arose and lives forever from that temporary tomb. SoLong
ANGELFIRE 11-23-09 As I've looked again at the beautiful bulletin which was given out at Christian Life Community Church last Thursday, I've found no Reverends mentioned. All on the program were either Pastors or designated by their personal names. ANGELFIRE is encouraged by this. It echoes the words of Zechariah 7 where shepherds, both true and false, are described. And Pastor is drawn from the word pastoral, which pertains to the rural landscape of ancient Israel. It's a very Biblical term, whereas Reverend has no such rootage. "Pastor" reverberates from the words of that twenty=third Psalm, "The LORD is my shepherd. I shall not want...." (be in want). The whole psalm describes heavenly provision. And the Thanksgiving sermon we heard there was about gaining an attitude of gratitude. The preacher began at Ps..100 about the goodness of God. Then for me it came to it's climax with that word couplet I've long sought to feel about life, "an attitude of gratitude." I've seen Pastor Bob Kanary show it and sensed it in Pastor Brian Black's strong message about God: BE THANKFUL UNTO HIM, AND BLESS HIS NAME. FOR THE LORD IS GOOD. A children's song that I like says-- God is so good, God is so good, God is so good. He's been good to me. He answers prayer hallelujah! He answers prayer hallelujah! He answers prayer hallellujah! He's so good, you'll see. I love Hm so, I love Hm so, I love Him so. He's been good to me. H a l l e l u j a h! SoLong, JosephA
ANGELFIRE 11-27-09 I read Ez.47 this morning, about the waters that flowed eastward from the Jerusalem Temple and down into the Dead Sea. They turned it fresh so that fish were in abundance, like the Great Sea (Mediterranean). Of course, all seas are salty, but away too much can prevent any life. That's why it's called the dead sea. I've been there a couple of times and I can see how Ezekiel's vision can be so refreshing. Salt free water is precious in Jerusalem. Yet Israel has it plumbed all around the land now, from nearby wells or the Lake(sea) of Galilee up north. That vision given to the third major prophet was indicative of the rebirth of Israel as a nation. Such came to pass in the 20th century, so that the thriving state is now focal point for world affairs. Yet it may have to launch it's own strike on Iran if they continue their hidden nuclear preparations. As we make ready to celebrate the birth of Christ once more, let's consider those Wise Men who came from Iran to Jerusalem, then down to Bethlehem. They knew only astrology, from which they saw that star in the East as a sign of the Messiah. In fact one of them may have given our familiar prophecy, "A star shall come out of Jacob and a scepter arise from Israel." Nu.24.17. We read in the NT that those words were spoken by Balaam, a sage from Chaldea, as predicting the birth of Christ. So it wasn't an astronomical star, but one from ancient astrology instead; more attune to orientalism and akin to today's Eastern Orthodoxy, where divine light is sought rather than the living water. We occidentals appreciate the latter in our worship. Yet this Advent season is a time to reclaim the heavenly light for our faith. It's the inner awareness of grace and peace, because "God is light and in Him is no darkness at all." I heard of an Adventist prophetess who claimed she saw that eastern star as a huge choir of angels in the distant sky. ANGELFIRE considers her view better than an IYA2009 scientific analysis. Still, it moved west ahead to lead those camel riders across the sands to Bethlelhem. So it was surely Angelfire wasn't it? Hallelujah!
LORD's DAY 11-30-09 It's the last day of this month and final column on this page. Besides that, this ANGELFIRE is just a month since the one I wrote about my theodicy for IYA2009. It's in the bold typed column that end that previous page. I've also found a website searching on Google entitled TRUMPET UNIVERSE that combines astrophysics with faith in a Creator, something ANGELFIRE has long sought to do Biblically. Yet the just named is linked to the Quaran instead of our Bible. Still, I admire his taking the discovery in 1979 by two American astronimers that the Universe has an up and down direction, probing there's an axis aroud which it rotates in a clockwise direction. When I first learned that a dozen years ago, I felt it implied Someone beyond. I failed to seek more about it, so this Muslem scholar has developed a full account of how Allah did the colossal job. His website is full of technical talk, but I comprehended enough of it to be greatly impressed. So I've sought to find comparable studies from a Biblical view, but have failed thus far. To find it would be gratifying to my hearlfelt faith in the Living GOD, Yahweh Sabbaoth, Son, Yoshua Messiah and the Holy Spirit. SoLong/Shalom, JosephA@webtv.net