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November 20th, 2001
Received by H.R.
Cuenca, Ecuador
Hello, my dear brother. A few days ago I answered some questions
about Jesus, leaving some more questions to be answered in the future,
questions about Paul’s mission and the early church. I think
that this is a good procedure. Each time when there are questions
about chapters we have already dealt with, we will answer them immediately,
and we will keep the rest for its treatment in due course.
There is a dispute, going on already a long time, about the reliability
of the messages received by Dr. Samuels. But as you already know,
there are no 100% reliable messages. As a matter of fact, all so-called
channelings bear the medium's stamp, who receives them. And so it
happened with Dr. Samuels.
You became aware of those doubts for the first time, when D___
told you of the problem of the “Star
of Bethlehem.” The text under discussion is the following:
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“Now, the first thing I wish to tell
you about is the Star of Bethlehem, which in reality was not
a star at all but an exploding nova, or supernova, which caused
considerable light in the eastern skies over Tyre and Babylonia
but not in Judea or Israel; and the three Wise Men who saw
this exploding supernova in the heavens, being astrologers
with a knowledge of an ancient Chaldean astrological lore,
determined that a great event was to take place as a result
of the appearance of the great light in the heavens. And in
their readings of the Hebrew writings with which they were
familiar, and also with Hebrew circles in Assyria, they determined
upon a visit to Judea where it was predicted that a Messiah
of the Hebrews and for all mankind was to be born.”
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An astronomer, reading this message, indicated that this could
not be true, because a supernova is visible from anywhere on earth.
Also the expression “in the eastern skies over Tyre and Babylonia”
is false, since Tyre, as seen from Jerusalem, lies to the north
and not to the east.
Very well, we don't need to discuss that; it is obvious that Tyre
is to the north of Jerusalem or Bethlehem. It is also correct that
a supernova is visible from all points on earth, and in spectacular
cases, such as have been described in history, even in bright daylight.
The question is then, what did really happen and what about Dr.
Samuels’ message reception?
I’ll be straightforward and say that the phenomenon was in
fact a nova, but not a supernova. More specifically, it was a variable
star. There are stars that all at once increase their brightness,
accompanied by a considerable loss of matter. This increased brightness may
last several hours or even several months. It is not such a spectacular
phenomenon as a supernova, but enough to attract the attention of
the Chaldean astrologers.
A variable star is also visible from all over the earth, in theory,
but meteorological reasons may impede this. In those ancient days
men didn't have telescopes, of course, and astrologers could only
use their eyes to detect these phenomena. There were no instruments
for observation. The best astrological schools were in arid zones,
where clouds rarely covered the skies, for example in Mesopotamia
and in Egypt. Clouds, of course, impeded a continuous observation
of events in the firmament at night or at dawn.
And so it happened in one of those early mornings that the wise men
observed the phenomenon. In many Bible translations you can read:
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“Where is he that is born King of the
Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and are come
to worship him.”
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But this is simply a bad translation. Actually, the Greek text
does not state “in the east”; “en th anatolh”
(en te anatole) simply means “as it rose” or “at
its rising.” This, of course, happens always in the eastern
sky, since the stars, as the sun, start their journey through the
firmament in the east. In other words, the star didn't indicate
the way to the wise men, because otherwise, they would have headed
toward Persia, in the opposite direction, since Palestine is located
to the west of Mesopotamia.
The phenomenon of novas or the observation of variable stars is
nothing unusual; on the contrary, it is frequent. What caused the
sages to suspect a context with the Jewish people was the star’s
location in the zodiac.
Judaism in that time was already in full messianic phase, that
is to say, people anxiously awaited God’s Messiah, so that
he would establish the old glory of the Hebrews, and even more,
to transform them into the rulers of the whole world. And the Jewish
population in Babylon was very numerous. Babylon was a center of
science, and therefore, the pagan sages learnt about these hopes
of the Jews and knew their writings. This is why they undertook
the wearisome journey to Palestine.
The text received by Dr. Samuels contains another error: He speaks
of those “Hebrew circles in Assyria.” Assyria in that
time was nothing more than a vague memory. The Assyrian empire had
already been destroyed centuries ago, and its successors, the Babylonians,
had already lost their power in front of the Median and Persian
troops, but Babylon still was a metropolis, while only ruins remained
of the Assyrian cities, especially Nineveh. The Assyrian society
had already disappeared.
Yes, the wise men were Chaldeans, doctors from the observatory
of Sippar in Babylonia.
So for the story of the “Star of Bethlehem.”
Then, what had happened in the transmission of this message? How
were those errors introduced? Well, they are due to simple human
interpretations, changing “nova” into “supernova,”
which is a totally different thing, transforming “Mesopotamia”
into “Assyria”, and due to negligence, saying “the
eastern skies over Tyre and Babylonia” instead of “the
sky over Tyre and further east, over Babylon.” He also used
the word Israel, an anachronism, since there was no country with
this name in that time. Here you have the proof of a message, which
was not received through automatic writing but through impressions,
which later were written on paper. And your messages, my dear brother,
of course, run the same risk. This is why I repeat over and over,
read the messages with your heart. The errors contained in the message
under discussion are not important, but messages may also contain
errors in fundamental points. It is you who decide about the truthfulness
of the messages. Messages are never the Truth, but the medium's
perspective, his or her truth.
In concluding, I desire to add one more sentence: Jesus really
died in the week of Passover, in the month of Nissan. I state this
without further comments, because I want to correct the idea that
Jesus died at the date of the Purim feast. This is not true, and
we will explain this more thoroughly when talking about this sad
episode.
God bless you,
Your brother in the spirit,
Judas
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