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July 2018

Part II The Essenes and the origins of Christianity Moshe Dann

The Essenes were part of an internal struggle within Jewish society at the end of the Second Temple Period. Their customs and beliefs, their apocalyptic vision and rejection of accepted leadership not only created a rift between them and the rest of Jewish society; they provided elements for the beginning of a new religion.

The Last Supper which Jesus shared with his disciples was probably a Passover meal prepared with unleavened bread and wine; the Dead Sea Scrolls describe a sacred meal of bread and wine that will be eaten at the end of days with the messiah. Were Essene concepts and rituals incorporated into Christian ceremonies, like communion? The early Christian church was communistic; similarly, members of the Qumran community had to give up all private property. Both Christians and Essenes were eschatological communities — expecting the imminent transformation of the world. Although drawn from Jewish prophetic texts that spoke about the Day of Judgment, the Essenes gave it immediacy; Christianity gave it urgency. The similarity of texts is striking.

In the Gospel of Luke, an angel appears to the Virgin Mary and announces: “And now you will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you will name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the son of the Most High…the son of God.” (Luke 1:31-35) Nearly the same language appears in one of the Dead Sea scrolls: “He will be called great and he will be called Son of God, and they will call him Son of the Most High…He will judge the earth in righteousness…and every nation will bow down to him…” (4Q 246)

Both communities tended to be dualistic — dividing the world into opposing forces of good and evil, light and darkness. There are references in the New Testament (especially in Paul and John) to this distinction. For example, “I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness” (John 8:12). And in the scrolls we read, “All the children of righteousness are ruled by the Prince of Light and walk in the ways of light, but all the children of falsehood are ruled by the Angel of Darkness and walk in the ways of darkness.” (Rule of the Community, 3) Even the famous beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:3-12) and in the Sermon on the Plain (Luke 6:20-23) have striking parallels in the scrolls and apocryphal literature.

John of the wilderness: the Essene origins of Christianity Part 1 by Moshe Dann

https://www.jpost.com/Jerusalem-Report

According to the four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, someone called “John the Baptist” who

lived in “the wilderness” was baptizing in Bethabara, on the eastern side of the Jordan River near where it flows into the Dead Sea. When Jesus approached him, John exclaimed: “Behold the Lamb of God, which removes sin from the world… I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove and it rested upon him …” (John 1: 28) This experience transformed Jesus and changed the course of history.

The event is retold in Matthew 3: 16. “When Jesus was baptized he arose from the water and the heavens opened and the Spirit of God descended upon him like a dove … and a voice from heaven uttered, ‘This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased.’ ” Mark 1: 10 and Luke 3:21-22 repeat this seminal event in Jesus’ life marking the beginning of his mission to redeem the world and what became a new theology based on ideas that were common among the Essenes – but not Judaism.

Josephus described John as “a good man (who) commanded the Jews to exercise virtue and piety towards God, and so to come to baptism; for the washing with water would be acceptable to him … not in order (for) the remission of some sins, but for the purification of the body, assuming that the soul was thoroughly purified beforehand by righteousness.” (Antiquities of the Jews, Book 18, Chapter 5)

Although baptism today is associated with Christianity, its origin is in a traditional Jewish practice of immersion in a mikvah that is part of the monthly ritual purification for women following menstruation. Ritual immersion as a purification rite for males is commanded in Torah, but little is known about this practice during the First Temple period. Natural water sources were used, for example Jerusalem’s Gihon spring (in the Kidron Valley), but it was inconvenient. Moreover, what was done when such sources were not available?

Refugees are big business for the UN Heidi Kingstone

http://standpointmag.co.uk/node/7213/full
The United Nations High Commission for Refugees hosted the first ever TEDx event in a refugee camp in early June. Halima Aden, hijab-wearing Vogue supermodel, attended; it was the first time the 20-year-old had been back to Kakuma, northern Kenya, since she was resettled in the US as a nine-year-old. Four planes and eight flights delivered around 350 dignitaries and VIPs from around the world to participate in making refugees cool again. The one-day extravaganza, which is estimated to have cost close to $400,000, raised a range of issues questioning long-held assumptions in the humanitarian sphere.

As the paradigm shift hits, the UN is looking to change a policy that after 25 years is no longer sustainable. With increased domestic pressure in donor countries to justify spending, the focus has transformed from providing cradle-to-grave aid to empowering refugees to find solutions for themselves.

TEDx, the elite media organisation that posts aspirational online talks, showed refugees as agents of positive change and valuable members of society, not simply a drain on host country resources.

At the same time the UNHCR is under fierce pressure to reduce its expenditure and is making millions of dollars of savings with staff being moved to where they are actually needed.

The UNHCR’s mandate is to protect refugees, safeguard their fundamental human rights and help to build a better future. But critics said the Kakuma event was a waste of money which could have been better spent on a new hospital or a school. Those in favour said that by raising the profile of the issue, it did incalculable good.

Former UNHCR head Antonio Guterres, now UN Secretary-General, is trying to reform a system with which he is intimately acquainted, but there doesn’t seem much reason to be positive. Refugees are big business, and subliminal pressure exists to keep the system going. That’s one reason refugees have been made into needy victims, who need supplies of tarpaulins, non-food items, sanitation, water and tents, all of which translates into money. If people are seen as capable of standing on their own feet, those contracts aren’t needed, and without victims, there’s no business. Why find a solution if it threatens livelihoods?

Germany Outlaws Turkish Boxing Gang by Soeren Kern

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12692/germany-turkish-boxing-gang

The gang, most of whose members are Turkish Germans, is said to be involved in organized criminal activity in all of Germany’s 16 federal states. It is also believed to have close ties to the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The gang, which profits from prostitution, extortion and the trafficking of weapons and drugs, operates across Europe. The group claims to have more than 3,500 members in Germany and elsewhere.

The German ban comes less than a day after Buzzfeed, an American internet media company, falsely accused Gatestone Institute of fabricating the existence of such gangs in Germany.

German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer has banned a Turkish boxing gang called “Osmanen Germania BC” (“Germania Ottomans”) on the grounds that it poses a serious threat to public order.

The gang, most of whose members are Turkish Germans, is said to be involved in organized criminal activity in all of Germany’s 16 federal states. It is also believed to have close ties to the government of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The German ban comes less than a day after Buzzfeed, an American internet media company, falsely accused Gatestone Institute of fabricating the existence of such gangs in Germany.

Seehofer said the gang “poses a serious threat to individual legal interests and for the general public.” He added:

“Once again, the federal government and the federal states have shown that they are resolutely fighting all manifestations of organized crime in Germany, including rocker-like groups such as Osmanen Germania BC, whose members commit serious crimes. Those who reject the rule of law cannot expect any kind of leniency from us.”

France: Freeing Extremists 450 Radicalized Islamists to Be Freed by 2019 by Yves Mamou

https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12680/france-freeing-extremists

The same government that wants to deport Japanese investors, accepted 100,000 migrants from Sub-Saharan and Northern Africa alone in 2017 — most of them with no skills and no money.

The same government that wants to deport the Japanese creators of a spectacular new wine in France is about to release from prison an Al Qaeda terrorist, Djamel Beghal, linked to the Charlie Hebdo massacre in 2015.

“We fear a possible connection between Muslim gangs from the suburbs and jihadists soon to be liberated on one hand, and jihadists coming back from war in Iraq  on the other”. — A source who asked to remain anonymous.

A curious story is getting attention in France. Two Japanese winemakers who have been living in Banyuls-sur-Mer since 2016 were notified that they would have to leave France due to a lack of financial resources. Rie Shoji, 42, and Hirofumi Shoji, 38, had arrived there in 2011 with the idea of ​​ becoming winemakers. First they worked as farm workers and wine merchants in Bordeaux and Burgundy, and studied and received degrees in farm management and oenology. In 2016, they invested 150,000 euros ($170,000) to buy land. Their plan was to produce a natural, organic wine, in an area — the eastern Pyrenees — where everything is done by hand.

Their first wine, named Pedres Blanques, appeared in 2017, and was considered a “revelation”. It is already on the wine list of many famous restaurants in France and Spain. “Its price is skyrocketing,” said  their lawyer, Jean Codognès, “and the prefecture is saying that their wine has no future. The government is not thinking straight”.

The same government that wants to deport Japanese investors has accepted 100,000 migrants from Sub-Saharan and Northern Africa just in 2017, most of them with no skills and no money.

The same government that wants to deport the Japanese creators of a spectacular new wine in France is about to release from prison an Al Qaeda terrorist, Djamel Beghal, linked to the Charlie Hebdo massacre in 2015.

A Senate Deadline for Kavanaugh Schumer wants to delay a confirmation vote past Election Day.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-senate-deadline-for-kavanaugh-1531265850

Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination now heads to the Senate, and the most important fact to understand is that the debate in the world’s greatest nondeliberative body is not about the future of the Supreme Court. That’s a sideshow. The real debate is about the future of the Senate—specifically, which political party will control that now narrowly divided chamber in 2019.

Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has already said he will “oppose Judge Kavanaugh’s nomination with everything I have.” Nice to know he’s given it such careful thought. But Mr. Schumer knows defeating the judge is a long shot, especially after Maine Senator Susan Collins made encouraging comments Tuesday about Judge Kavanaugh’s lower-court opinion on ObamaCare and his statement in 2006 that Roe v. Wade is a binding precedent.

In any case, what Mr. Schumer cares about more than defeating Donald Trump’s nominee is to be the next Majority Leader. Toward that end he wants to help his 10 incumbent Senators running in November to navigate between a political base that demands opposition to all things Trump and broader state electorates that might come to think that Judge Kavanaugh is an excellent nominee.

The best way to do that is to postpone a confirmation vote beyond Nov. 6. That way Joe Donnelly in Indiana, Heidi Heitkamp in North Dakota and Joe Manchin in West Virginia wouldn’t have to take a politically difficult vote before Election Day.

The Left’s Immigration Con Game Breaking through the lies about Ellis Island and more. Michael Cutler

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/270686/lefts-immigration-con-game-michael-cutler

“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”

With that famous quote George Orwell warned decades ago against history revisionists and that which has come to be referred to as “fake news.”

On July 4, 2018, the New York Post headline read, “Statue of Liberty Climber Identified as Immigrant Activist.”

The Post and other news outlets have identified this ”immigrant activist” as Therese Patricia Okoumou — a 44-year-old originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

How better to celebrate the birth of our nation than stage a dangerous illegal protest against the enforcement of America’s immigration laws at the Statue of Liberty? Okoumou’s actions threatened to severely damage a precious national landmark and endangered the lives of hundreds of tourists — who had patiently waited in line, then paid a steep admission fee to ferry to Liberty Island — only to be evacuated because of her illegal hijinks.

Officers of the NYPD were also endangered by Okoumou’s stupid trick when they had to neutralize her threat to the public and to the Statue of Liberty when they took her into custody.

According to various reports about Okoumou, she is quite comfortable with both law-breaking and initiating lawsuits against businesses for alleged “racism.”

Supreme Court Nominee Brett Kavanaugh Penned Healthcare Dissent Focused On Tax Kelly Phillips Erb

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2018/07/10/supreme-court-nominee-brett-kavanaugh-penned-healthcare-dissent-focused-on-tax/#72fd0b0f4d6c

President Trump has announced his nomination to fill the vacancy on the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) created by Justice Anthony Kennedy’s retirement. On Monday, the President gave the nod to District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Brett Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh has close ties to the Supreme Court. He clerked for Kennedy in the 1990s with another Supreme Court Justice, Neil Gorsuch. For the past dozen years, he’s been a fixture in the D.C. courts, which have produced other SCOTUS Justices, including Clarence Thomas, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Chief Justice John Roberts.

SCOTUS Justices typically don’t cut their teeth on tax cases, and Kavanaugh would be no exception. There is one tax-related case in his career, though, that stands out: Seven-Sky v. Holder (Susan SEVEN–SKY, Also Known as Susan Sevensky, et al., Appellants v. Eric H. HOLDER, Jr., et al., Appellees, No. 11–5047).

The case was a challenge to the Affordable Care Act (also called “ACA” or sometimes “Obamacare”). The Act was passed by Congress on March 21, 2010, and signed into law by then President Barack Obama two days later. A number of lawsuits followed, including Seven-Sky, which involved a challenge to the “minimum essential coverage provision.” The minimum essential coverage provision required that folks purchase and maintain healthcare insurance. It’s more commonly known as the individual mandate, and if you don’t have coverage—and don’t qualify for a waiver or an exemption’you’re subject to a penalty. (Er, tax? Keep reading.)

Trump’s Stellar Supreme Court Pick A look at Brett Kavanaugh’s real judicial record. Joseph Klein

https://www.frontpagemag.com/fpm/270704/trumps-stellar-supreme-court-pick-joseph-klein

President Trump has nominated Judge Brett Kavanaugh of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to fill the seat vacated by Justice Anthony Kennedy, who announced his retirement late last month. Judge Kavanaugh, 53, who has served on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals for 12 years, said that he was “deeply honored” to be nominated to replace Justice Kennedy, for whom he once clerked. If confirmed by the Senate, where the Republicans hold a razor-thin majority, Judge Kavanaugh, a principled strict constructionist, will help solidify a reliably conservative Supreme Court.

The left is in full resistance mode. It believes that the judiciary should serve as an additional but unelected political branch, whose duty it is to enact the left’s progressive policy agenda. They want activist justices who will treat the Constitution as a malleable instrument that can be twisted into the image of what the left thinks society should be.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, kowtowing to his base, wasted no time in viciously attacking Judge Kavanaugh, claiming that his nomination puts abortion rights and health care protections for women “on the judicial chopping block.” Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon declared, “There can be no mistaking Trump’s Supreme Court nomination for anything but what it is: a direct attempt to overturn Roe. v. Wade.”

This is only a small taste of the demagoguery, outright lies and outrageous ad hominem attacks against Judge Kavanaugh we can expect in the weeks ahead. Those who revere the Constitution, and who believe, like Alexander Hamilton, that the “rules of legal interpretation” should apply the laws in “conformity to the source from which they are derived,” must get out in front with the truth about this eminently qualified “judge’s judge.”

Kavanaugh Visits Capitol Hill as Durbin Predicts ‘Wild West D.C.’ If Confirmed By Bridget Johnson

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/kavanaugh-visits-capitol-hill-as-durbin-predicts-wild-west-d-c-if-confirmed/

Senate Dems vow to “look into what went on and what assurances were made that brought this name to the top of the list.”

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats vowed today to try to use deep investigation and grassroots activism to stop President Trump’s pick for the Supreme Court as federal appeals court judge Brett Kavanaugh began making the rounds on Capitol Hill to meet GOP lawmakers.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) declared in a press conference in front of the Supreme Court this morning that “anyone who gets the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval from Leonard Leo and the Federalist Society and from the Heritage Foundation is not moderate, is not mainstream, is hard right and wants to move America back decades.”

Sen. Pat Leahy (D-Vt.), who has been in the upper chamber for the past 17 Supreme Court nominations, protested that “the Constitution doesn’t direct the president to nominate justices with the advice and consent of the Federalist Society and the Heritage Foundation; the Constitution gives that role to the Senate.”

“But I think the president looks at our independent courts like he does the Justice Department,” Leahy added. “He thinks the courts, as well as the Justice Department, should be an arm of the White House.”

Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) charged that “Washington, D.C., where he grew up, would be Wild West D.C. if Judge Kavanaugh had his way,” with views on the Second Amendment “straight out of the gun lobby’s playbook.”