Bartholomew's Notes

As noted on this blog a couple of months ago, members of the theocratic tendency in Israel have recently organised a “Sanhedrin”; a body that used to be the highest legal authority in Judaism, but which has been defunct since the fifth century CE. Members of this new “Sanhedrin” believe that their religious authority ought to supplant secular law in Israel, and that one of their members, Yosef Dayan, is a direct descendent of King David and is rightfully the monarch of the State of Israel (for other reasons, Dayan has threatened to take out Ariel Sharon by means of a death curse). Although the “Sanhedrin” is completely marginal within Israel and has ties to individuals who want to ethnically cleanse the West Bank and Gaza in the name of Greater Israel, it has enthusiastic support from Christian Zionists such as Hal Lindsey, who imagines a theocratic Israel to be a prelude to the return of Jesus.

“Sanhedrin” spokesman Rabbi Hillel Weiss spoke recently to the Jerusalem Post:

The increasingly anti-Jewish decisions handed down by the Supreme Court prove the need for an alternative legal system based on Jewish sources…More and more people, including Torah scholars, are beginning to understand this.

However, although most Jewish religious leaders in Israel are refusing to give support to the “Sanhedrin”, the group has just received a boost:

Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz was elected the temporary president of a rabbinical body Monday that aspires to renew the Sanhedrin, Judaism’s highest-ranking legal-religious tribunal.

…In addition to the election of Steinsaltz, the rabbis present also chose a seven-man committee, headed by him, to campaign for the acceptance of the idea of a Sanhedrin.

Those chosen include Rabbi Nachman Kahane, brother of murdered JDL and Kach leader rabbi Meir Kahane. Kahane is the rabbi of the Young Israel of Jerusalem’s Old City and heads an organized study of Temple rituals and ceremonies, as well as cataloging all known kohanim (priests) in Israel.

Steinsaltz is a high-profile, albeit controversial, figure. According to a quote attributed to Newsweek:

Jewish lore is filled with tales of formidable rabbis. Probably none living today can compare in genius and influence to Adin Steinsaltz, whose extraordinary gifts as scholar, teacher, scientist, writer, mystic and social critic have attracted disciples from all factions of Israeli society.

There are numerous profiles available on-line. He has a degree in mathematics, has written around sixty books on religious thought and related subjects, and is a recipient of the Israel prize. He also been a resident scholar at Yale and Princeton. And most famously:

Rabbi Steinsaltz is best known for his interpretation, commentaries, and translations of the Babylonian Talmud, a monumental task which he began some 25 years ago. Thirty volumes of Rabbi Steinsaltz’s Hebrew edition of the Talmud have been published; two million books are in print. The Rabbi expects to complete the project over the next decade, with a total of 42 volumes in Hebrew. Fifteen volumes of the Rabbi’s Talmudic translation and commentaries have been translated into English and published by Random House, to great critical acclaim.

However, this “critical acclaim” was not universal: in 1998 Jacob Neusner responded to Steinsaltz’s work with How Adin Steinsaltz Misrepresents the Talmud. Four False Propositions from his “Reference Guide”. Ultra-Orthodox groups have also rejected his Talmud. Steinsaltz is also part of the Chabad movement, although many profiles curiously fail to mention this.

So will Steinsaltz’s presence bring gravitas to the “Sanhedrin”, or will the “Sanhedrin” merely tar Steinsaltz with the charges of political extremism and racism?

*********

Meanwhile, Arutz Sheva reports on another figure connected with the “Sanhedrin”:

Also present at the meeting on Monday, though not seated in the 71-seat semi-circular row of chairs, was famed archaeologist Dr. Vendyl Jones. He is working with the Sanhedrin to establish a system of courts for non-Jews adhering to the Seven Laws of Noah, which the Torah obligates all of humanity to follow. One of those laws is to establish courts of justice. A high court has been established by the Sanhedrin for such purposes, and a subsidiary of that court will soon be established in the United States as well.

Jones is self-styled archaeologist, who keeps appearing to be on the verge of discovering the Ark of the Covenant and who claims to have found various artefacts connected with the temple. I wrote about him just a couple of weeks ago, and it appears that Steinsaltz is a friend of his. Gerard Robins recalls:

It is of considerable interest to note that in 1995, when Jones was battling the IAA [Israel Antiquities Authority] for a permit to dig, they told him he needed the endorsement of a recognized learning institution. Hoping to save time, Jones went to his friend, Rabbi Adin Israel Steinsaltz, head of the Israel Institute for Talmudic Research and perhaps the world’s most renowned Talmudic scholar, who is writing a modern edition of the Talmud. Rabbi Steinsaltz wrote a glowing letter of endorsement for Jones’ work, calling it “Scientifically valid research which may result in important findings for the Jewish people and the world.” In spite of even this endorsement, the IAA turned down Jones’ request.

(Tipped from Bible and Interpretation and FailedMessiah.com)

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A couple of my recent entries have been updated. Details about Prophet Yahweh continue to emerge, including his “Black Jew Hebrew Israelite” belief that UFOs are going to demand the evacuation of Israelis and Palestinians from the Holy Land for the benefit of the true Jews, who are the African-Americans.

Meanwhile, Sister Ruth Augustus is back in London; Shetland Today found her website, where she warns about a comet hitting the Atlantic, Masonic Cardinals, and an Islamic anti-Christ.

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Paleojudaica links to a UPI report on the planned demolition of Palestinian houses in al-Bustan, which is part of Silwan, a district in East Jerusalem close to the Temple Mount/al-Aqsa. There are

88 that Jerusalem’s municipality says have been built illegally and should be removed to restore an open public area in the valley that it wants to make a national park. The archaeological and ancient remains in that area “have an international and national value and they give the city its status as one of the most valuable cities in the world,” Jerusalem City Engineer Uri Shetrit said.

It is the most important archaeological site in the country, said Amihai Mazarm a professor at the Institute of Archaeology. Large areas have been excavated, King David’s palace was probably there, but dense Arab and Jewish construction in recent years prevents archaeological digs, he told United Press International.

Local Palestinians are calling foul. They say that many of the homes are older than the Israelis claim, and that those that are illegal are only so because Israel rarely gives building permits to Palestinians. It should also be noted that despite Israel’s annexation of East Jerusalem, under international law Silwan is not “in the country” as Amihai asserts – it is among the territories captured in 1967, and most Palestinian Jerusalemites have declined offers of Israeli citizenship (see here). Palestinian politicians also suggest a strategic reason for the proposed demolitions:

“Silwan is part of this line of settlements that would run all the way from the Old City to Maaleh Adumim (southeast of Jerusalem. It would be) one line of connected (Jewish) settlements while Palestinian areas would be certainly isolated one from the other,” said Palestinian Minister of State Hind Khoury, who is responsible for Jerusalem affairs.

Shetrit rejects this analysis, but it should be remembered that the recent dispute over Greek Orthodox property sold to a Jewish group has also been seen as part of a plan to consolidate Israeli control over Palestinian Jerusalem. Israeli activists are also opposing the demolitions; according to Haaretz (link added):

MK Roman Bronfman (Yahad) wrote to Jerusalem City Engineer Uri Sheetrit, who signed the letter ordering the demolitions, urging him to cancel his decision.

“This is an ethnic cleansing and large-scale deportation that boggles the mind,” he wrote. “Such a plan can lead to a huge explosion, which the Jerusalem municipality, and you particularly, would be held accountable for.”

…Dr. Meir Margalit of the Israel Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) said the plan’s real intention was not to save Jerusalem’s “primordial landscape,” as the city engineer claims, but to wipe out the Palestinian presence from East Jerusalem.

In the Jerusalem Post Shetrit argues that the area is already allocated as a national park, and that there are 5,000-year-old archaeological remains in the area. Plus, the area is in danger from floods (Haaretz notes that this last argument came later).

Some background to the dispute can found in a 2000 article from the Jerusalem Quarterly by Jeffrey Yas:

Ever since Captain Charles Warren of the London-based Palestine Exploration Fund conducted the first excavations here in 1867, the modern village has literally grown up around archaeological sites. In many pre-1967 photographs, the wadi seems as much a place of excavation as residence. After the 1967 War, however, many Palestinian refugees resettled in Silwan, and village space became increasingly filled with the construction of new homes.

…During the Intifada, Palestinians from Silwan were often seen on the front line, prompting Israelis to imagine the village as the archetypal breeding ground for stone throwing youth and terrorist inductees. The subsequent plummet in City of David tourist traffic frustrated municipal efforts. On 4 September 1995, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin took a big step in the Israeli reclamation of Silwan, kicking off the Jerusalem 3000 celebrations in a roped-off ceremony staged in the recently opened “City of David Archaeological Park.” The number 3000, after all, counts from David’s reign, making the site of his city a potent place to celebrate national sovereignty. Begin and Netanyahu similarly made high-profile appearances in the village, orchestrated in sync with settler land-acquisition initiatives.

The park is now known as the Jerusalem Archaeological Park. Israeli archaeologists Yas spoke with stressed their dislike of the Israeli settlers. However:

As many local Palestinian residents will tell you, the bulldozers do come, but usually to demolish unlicensed homes. Archaeologists like Ronny Reich would prefer to steer clear of demolitions, settlers, and Tourist Ministry officials alike, proclaiming an objective distance from such ideological conflicts. This professed neutrality, however, ignores the role of archaeology in the service of tourist development, which in the case of Silwan is transforming a living village into a place called “The City of David.” The antiquities produced through archaeological research in Silwan are being arranged to narrate the much contested Biblical story of David conquering the Jebusite City. Beyond re-inscribing the village with this new symbolic meaning as “Jewish space,” the practice of archaeology is physically reshaping the village, having in several cases paved the legal path for Jewish settlement expansion.

Yas concludes:

Given the austere political landscape in which Israeli land confiscations and house demolitions consume Palestinian space on a daily basis, it is important for us to be sensitive to other ways in which these erasures occur. The use of archaeological sites to reshape the land into historical landscapes assists Israel in its co-optation of places like Silwan in ways that bulldozers never could.

That was back in 2000; now the bulldozers and the creation of “historical landscapes” are working together.

Meanwhile, Palestinian archaeologist Ibrahim Al-Fanni has made the unlikely allegation to the Palestine Information Centre that the demolitions are a sign that Israel plans to build a new Jewish Temple:

The Israeli government has completed the construction of a religious tourism city 14 meters deep below the holy Aqsa Mosque, Dr. Ibrahim Al-Fanni, an archeologist, affirmed.

When I first read this I assumed he meant some sort of underground affair, but on reflection I think he must mean in a valley next to the mosque.

Fanni said that the step fell in line with the construction of an infrastructure of the alleged temple the Jews are planning to build on the ruins of the holy site, adding that the Israeli authorities changed the Islamic names of the Mosque’s surroundings into Hebrew ones in an attempt to wipe out the holy city of Jerusalem’s Arab and Islamic landmarks.

He noted that the construction works and excavations are now being implemented in the western and eastern facades of the Mosque, and highlighted that the Israeli authorities rather than the Jewish fanatics were directly involved in planning the construction of the alleged temple.

This “evidence” is rather thin. Most religious Jews believe that the Third Temple belongs to a future Messianic age, and is not to be rebuilt by humans. The contrary view is held by only a handful of hard-right Kahanist extremists (and large numbers of American Christian Zionists), who, despite being championed by the likes of WorldNetDaily, have very little support in Israel. As the Jerusalem Post has recently noted:

There is also a broad consensus, even among national religious rabbis such as Rabbi Avraham Shapira and Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, that no steps should be made toward the building of a Third Temple.

al-Fanni goes on:

The Israeli plan envisaging the demolition of some 90 family houses in Al-Bustan suburb adjacent to the Mosque was aimed at constructing a park in their place, he pointed out.

We shouldn’t be too hard on some Palestinians for being paranoid, but a guy with a PhD (from the Hebrew University, apparently) should know better. The recent Israeli far-right protests at the Temple Mount were small, and their primary aim was to spread fear and resentment among Palestinians. With the very real threat to homes in al-Bastan, I’m sorry to see al-Fanni get sidetracked by a red herring spawned by a lunatic fringe.

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From The Guardian:

A French appeal court has found the editor-in-chief of Le Monde and the authors of an opinion piece in the paper guilty of “racial defamation” against Israel and the Jewish people.

The offending paragraphs:

The first passage read: “It is hard to imagine that a nation of fugitives born of a people who have been subjected to the longest persecution in the history of humanity, who have suffered the worst humiliation and the worst contempt, should be capable, in the space of two generations, of transforming themselves into a people sure of themselves and dominating (of others) and, with the exception of an admirable minority, a scornful people that takes satisfaction in humiliating others.”

The second continued: “The Jews of Israel, descendants of an apartheid named the ghetto, ghettoise the Palestinians. The Jews who were humiliated, scorned and persecuted humiliate, scorn and persecute the Palestinians. The Jews who were the victims of a pitiless order impose their pitiless order on the Palestinians. The Jews, scapegoats for every wrong, make scapegoats of Arafat and the Palestinian Authority.”

The authors, Edgar Morin (who is Jewish), Daniele Sallenave, and Sami Nair, claim that the two paragraphs were taken out of context. Morin’s lawyer added that:

The court made plain that it found the text as a whole constituted a very potent critique, but a perfectly tolerable one given the complexity of the situation…It was just those two passages that were picked out. All it means is people are going to have to re-read their copy a bit more carefully; be very careful not to talk about ‘the Jews’, for example, but about ‘some Israelis’.

Sound editorial advice, although whether it should be the law is debatable. The ruling can be seen as a response to the current climate in France; Fernanda Eberstadt reported last year in the New York Times:

Most European intellectuals insist on a distinction between even the fiercest criticism of Israel and an endorsement of anti-Semitism. Recently, however, this distinction has blurred. During demonstrations in May 2002 organized by France’s mainstream antiracist organizations, protesters shouted anti-Semitic slogans and tried to attack a couple of passers-by whom they believed to be Jewish.

One question, though: how does Le Monde’s offence – supposed defamation not just of Jews in general but of Israel in particular – compare with describing the population of Pakistan as the “living damned”? Over to William Dalrymple’s 2003 review of Who Killed Daniel Pearl, by French philosopher Bernard Henri- Lévy:

Throughout his book Lévy shows an intermittent disdain for Islam, and something approaching hatred for Pakistan. He rightly criticizes Pakistanis for their anti-Semitism, and for regarding Israel as evil incarnate, but then goes on to use the same prejudiced language about Pakistan. It is “the Devil’s own home,” “drugged on fanaticism, doped on violence,” a “silent hell, full of the living damned” and their “nightmare mullahs.” Karachi is worse still: “a black hole,” full of “the half-dead,” where “fanatic… long-haired dervishes with wild, bloodshot eyes” howl outside “the house of the Devil.” Lurid comments are stacked up to support this picture of national delinquency: one cabinet minister is “amiable in the extreme,” but when he thinks BHL [Henri- Lévy] is not “looking, a gleam of murderous ferociousness would shine through.” The ordinary people of Pakistan are portrayed as fanatical Orientals who “scowl” as Lévy passes and “narrow their eyes” with a “tarantula-like stare.” One man, “his smile venomous,” actually issues a snake-like “hiss.”

…Lévy makes no distinction between secular Pakistanis and their Islamist rivals, between the military and the democrats, or between the dominant, tolerant, Sufi-influenced Barelvi form of Islam and the newly resurgent, more intolerant Wahhabi and Deobandi forms of the religion which are now spreading rapidly…

No court cases there yet…

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Surprising news from Norway, via the Asian Tribune:

Norway rejects demand for religious tolerance in education

Oslo, 03 June, (Asiantribune.com); The Norwegian government has refused to allow more tolerant religious studies in its education system despite the strong criticism of the country’s rigid religious education curriculum. The Norwegian parliament has rejected the proposal for amending the religious curriculum despite the severe criticism of the current curriculum by the United Nations Human Rights Commission.

Actually, the UNHRC did not just “criticise” the curriculum; it declared it to be in breach of the law. As Matt Cherry of the Institute for Humanist Studies reported last November:

The United Nations has ruled that the Norwegian public school system’s compulsory teaching of Christianity violates the human rights of humanists. The decision follows a seven-year battle by parents belonging to a humanist association of Norway. Under international law, Norway must now reform its education laws to ensure they respect the rights of humanists and other minority belief groups…The Commission stated that Norway has an obligation under international law to change its educational system to ensure that children can receive an education in conformity with their own convictions. Norway was given 90 days to explain how it would implement the ruling.

Cherry also explained the problem with the subject:

In 1997, the Norwegian government introduced a new mandatory religious subject in the Norwegian school system, entitled “Christian Knowledge and Religious and Ethical Education” (CKREE). The law required that CKREE “Provide a thorough knowledge of the Bible and Christianity both as cultural heritage and Evangelical-Lutheran faith.” The CKREE classes were considered a normal part of the school system that must be attended by all students.

Before 1997, Norwegian parents could withdraw their children from religion and lifestance classes. The new law only gave the possibility of a partial exemption from CKREE: parents could provide a written request that their children should be removed from the parts of CKREE that involved the actual practice of Christianity; it was at the discretion of each individual school whether to accept a request for a child to be granted a partial exemption.

Cherry links to the UNHCR document, which can be seen here.

The irony is that the new curriculum was supposed actually to promote tolerance, as can be seen in this 2001 discussion from the Oslo Coalition on Religious Freedom and Belief:

The present Norwegian model for RE that was introduced in 1997…is both compulsory and does not have any clear “confessional” basis.  On the other hand it can be sees as a part of the tendency in several countries to provide multi-religious education for all pupils,  – one of the main aims of the subject being to provide tolerance and understanding between religions by providing knowledge about different traditions and dialogue about common values in multi-religious societies. This aim of the RE subject goes well with the principles for RE that are presented in the reports of the SR[*]. This aim is also the reason why the subject is compulsory for children of all faiths, with only a limited right to exemption from certain parts of it (for instance activities that might seen as parts of religious rituals). Even though the subject shall provide knowledge about other religions as well as secular worldviews, it has a basic emphasis on knowledge about Christianity and the Christian cultural heritage of Norway. The combination of a main focus on Christian knowledge and a limited right to exemption has made the subject controversial among parents of different minority groups. Also, the public school act points at Christian morals as a basic foundation for the school education in general in addition to tolerance and freedom of though. This has contributed to the fear of different groups of parents about the possible effects of the role of Christianity and Christian values in new RE subject. Also suggestions about having “Christian and humanistic values” as a foundation for the school and for the subject has been rejected by minority groups.

…The humanists and the Muslims fear that the dominance and role of Christianity in the subject can lead to influencing – or even indoctrinating – their children to see the Christian faith as better or truer than others.

On the other hand, the majority of the parents – belonging mostly to the Evangelical-Lutheran Church of Norway – are for the most satisfied with the new subject.

[*SR = The Special Rapporteur on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief, following the UN’s 1981 Declaration on the subject – RB]

Christian Moe of Oslo University adds further analysis in a recent paper (currently still a “work in progress”):

One explicit aim of this change [in 1997] was integration; primarily, integration of immigrants’ children from other religions and cultures. By learning about the religion that allegedly pervades Norwegian culture and society, they would be better equipped to understand and integrate into that culture and society. Furthermore, by having children of different religious backgrounds discuss religious and ethical issues all together, the classroom would become an arena for convergence on a “common platform of values.” The underlying political philosophy, apparently, had a communitarian streak, emphasising the need for a shared core of values if society is to function.

…Effectively, Norway is seeking to use public school education about the religion of the state as a tool in a new nation-building project to integrate a growing number of immigrant communities. The Balkans, clearly, are not the only area where religion is the handmaid of nation-building. Religion is a very sensitive issue and therefore a dangerous tool to use; it might well inflame relations with minorities more than it improves them. It is of particular concern that Norway has chosen to apply this tool to children, inevitably raising fears of indoctrination away from the parents’ religion, and hence placing children in a conflict of loyalty.

Meanwhile, the Church of Norway reports that a reform of religious education was voted on in 2003; this reform places confessional religious instruction completely outside the public school system:

On 27th May 2003 the Norwegian Parliament (the Storting) voted to reform the religious education in Norway. By endorsing religious education in all religious communities the Storting wants to stimulate young people’s religious identities and understanding of their cultural heritage and traditions.

…Children have the right to spiritual development (Article 27 of the UN’s Convention on the Rights of the Child). Religious education is a task for the religious communities, not for the public school. The reform intends to secure that the Church of Norway will provide the teaching of Christian faith for which public schools once were primarily responsible. The Church of Norway now wants to develop systematic education to help all baptised members between the ages 0 to18 years to interpret and master life whatever their level of functionality is.

But the Parliament has not simply rejected the UNHCR criticism. Back to the Asian Tribune (CKREE given as CRREE for some reason):

the Government has made it easier to get exemption, and removes the link between the Christian objects clause and the CRREE teaching. That is good enough for the Labour Party’s Karita Bekkemellem Orheim.

“We have given support to what the Government proposed, which we believe takes into account what the UN has criticized the CRREE subject for,” Bekkemellem Orheim told Dagsavisen.

(Tipped from Christianity Today)

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Clicking on this page from the official site of the US Marines brings up the message “General Error”. But until very recently it apparently carried this picture from Iraq:

(Tipped from God and Consequences via AMERICAblog and AlterNet Peek)

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(updated several times over)

Certain segments of the internet are abuzz following the apparently successful effort by the leader of a New Religious Movement at summoning a UFO for the benefit of KNTV (Las Vegas) News reporter Mike Dello Stritto, at a daytime location of Stritto’s choosing. Video footage shows a distant disk appearing in the sky for a short time after African-American “Prophet Yahweh” offered up prayers (see here) He warns that spaceships are going to manifest clearly over Las Vegas between 1 June and 15 July. Prophet Yahweh claims to have been in contact with the UFOs since the late 1970s, and has a collection of home videos of previous sightings. These can be accessed from his website for a small fee; however, he considers them to be public domain, and this site has reposted them.

So who is Prophet Yahweh? WND identifies him as Ramon Watkins, but offers no biographical background. His website gives some rather unusual religious beliefs:

BE ADVISED! YAHWEH and His Angels are superhuman beings, on other planets who fly in spaceships!

However, this website has recently been revamped; the archived version at Wayback has more details about his religion:

All the gods, of the earth, are idols that damns the souls of all who worship them.
And, all religions, on earth, are nothing but lies used by the devil to deceive souls.

All people who die, as worshippers of the gods, will be resurrected on “Judgement Day,”
tried, sentenced to eternal death, and cast alive into the lake of fire, where they will suffer forever!

This will happen to them because they worshipped the gods and not YAHWEH.

Within our life time, the most holy and wonderful YAHWEH
will send His Messiah, with His Angels, to destroy all the gods on earth.

After all the gods and all their religions have been destroyed,
our Messiah is going to re-establish the pure worship of YAHWEH, forever, on earth!

Elsewhere on the old site:

Before we can attempt to understand if Prophet Yahweh is a true prophet of YAHWEH, who was foretold of by the prophets of Israel, we must, first, understand what Yahwean Prophethood is and how it differs from prophethood in Christianity, Islam, and other religions…Prophet Yahweh, fits within the definition of prophethood as revealed by the sacred “Y” document Hebrew writings of our nation.

A defunct “Table of Contents” tantalises with the following (sic for dodgy spelling):

YAHWEH’S UFOs And Spaceships In The Bible
YAHWEH Bible Study Lessons
The Luciferian Conspiracy Against YAHWEH
YAHWEH Verses The Gods El And Adon In Judaism
YAHWEH Verses The God Jesus In Christianity
YAHWEH Verses The God Allah In Islam

A document discovered by someone at a discussion forum at New Age site Godlike Productions (and reposted there) gives his religion as “Black Jew Hebrew Israelite”. The document claims that after 70 C.E. the Jews fled to Africa, where they were sold into slavery by the Africans. Hence the African-Americans are the real Jews:

The great secret about the slave trade is that it was not based on Africans capturing other Africans and selling them into slavery. But, rather, it was all African nations that were capturing another Black race who had come down into African but was not from Africa.

He goes on to warn:

YAHWEH is going to make know [sic] His demands to the world, through the prophets He sent to the earth. The main demand they will make will be that the modern day White so-called Jews, the Arab so-called Palestinians, and all other nationalities in the land of Israel, be immediately evacuated into neighboring countries.

Prophet Yahweh also has a different website where he discusses these things further, and a third where an Angela Yahweh (“Angel of Yahweh”), discusses the need for polygamy (thanks to commentator AC for that link). The file name for Angela’s pic is “pywife”, suggesting that she is also Mrs Yahweh (spotted by commentator Ed).

Prophet Yahweh’s group (which is probably very small) must be an off-shoot of the Black Hebrew Israelite movement. Like Hebrew Israelite leader “Yahweh ben Yahweh“, Prophet Yahweh sometimes sports a turban with a badge on the front. I can’t read Yahweh ben Yahweh’s badge, but Watkins’s bears the Hebrew letter Yod, I suppose referring to the mysterious “Y” document. Possibly by the “Y document” Wakins means that part of the Torah designated by Biblical scholars as the “J” document, where God is referred to as “Yahweh” (this word used to be transliterated as “Jehovah”, hence “J”).

His beliefs are not, however, completely coherent: on the one hand we are supposed to worship Yahweh, but on the other he warns the media that the aliens plan to invade:

Watkins says the aliens won’t attack us the way they do in the movies, but he says their intentions are anything but friendly. “And they’re here, to take over, it’s just that simple.”

Back on the revamped 2005 site, Watkins tells us a bit about he got the Prophet job:

…the appearance of sightings, on my signal, started by accident. At that time [1979], I was having a study with some of my bible students concerning spaceships and UFOs in the bible. As I was about to end the class, I felt compelled to go outside, with my students, and ask YAHWEH, in the exact same manner prophets in the bible summoned sightings, to send a UFO for us to see.

To our amazement, as soon as I finished praying for the sighting, a glowing UFO appeared before us and flew from one end of the sky to the other. We were were stunned at the miracle we saw and were left speechless!

…After I continued calling down sightings, like the prophets of the bible, and UFOs started appearing, almost without fail, I prayed to the magnificent YAHWEH and told Him that if He would use me to signal His spaceships and UFOs before the eyes of the world, I would live a life of poverty and be totally dedicated to Him.

The discussion forum at Godlike Productions has produced some other interesting links. For example, despite the existence of Angela “pywife” Yahweh, Prophet Yahweh has a personal ad on Yahoo:

Where is My African-American Queen?

I’m a brother who is loyal and devoted to the African-American woman. I love her, need her, and can’t do without her!…She deserves a man (like me) who: believes in the Creator, prays daily, studies wisdom, seeks out understanding, and loves acquiring knowledge.

A version of the ad with different pictures can be seen here; he appears to have been in the navy in his youth. He’s listed as divorced with adult children…and with an income of “More than $150,000” (from “Entertainment / Media”), which seems not to tie-in with the “life of poverty”. Prophet Yahweh also owns a television production company (albeit with a website that doesn’t work properly) called Shiloh Broadcasting. And in a letter dated from 1997 to a UFO researcher he stresses the profit motive:

Because of how these UFO’s and spaceships are appearing before me and allowing me to film them, I’m destined to be a wealthy man in the very near future. Maybe we can make money together on my research.

In a second letter posted on the same site, he adds that the aliens had told him to head for Pershing Square in Los Angeles:

At that time, I’m to have as many people as possible there to verify if UFOs appear on my prayer or not.

That was also in 1997.

So what about the sighting that so impressed Stritto? Contributors to the discussion thread have a variety of suggestions: it’s all true; demons; government manipulation; Prophet Yahweh has stumbled onto some sort of alien technology he doesn’t understand. Sceptics have suggested model aircraft; a balloon; lasers; a special kind of concentrated light as used in German fun parks in the 1970s (see this page, scroll down to “Sean”); and pointed out that the footage was taken close to Nellis Air Force Base. The author of this site claims to have found a picture of Watkins taken in 1997 with some weather balloons; readers can judge for themselves.

An unsuccessful attempt by Prophet Yahweh to summon a UFO can be seen here. He also failed to come up with goods promised for October 2000.

(Fried Green al-Qaedas is now following new developments on a special sub-blog)

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Update (2016): Sister Ruth Augustus has sent me, via a representative, a copy of an Apostolic Blessing Card, which states that “His Holiness Pope John Paul II cordially imparts his Apostolic Blessing to Ruth Augustus FIU”. A letter with this informs me that FIU stands for “Fratres in Unum”, and that these initials “signify our client’s commitment to the Catholic faith as a nun”. Further, it is stated that “Sister Ruth August professed her perpetual vows of poverty, chastity and obedience at the Our Lady of Dolours Roman Catholic Church”.

Staying with the BBC, news from Scotland of a religious eccentric:

A woman claiming to be a Franciscan nun has twice been barred from boarding a flight from Shetland to Aberdeen.

Sister Ruth Augustus said that British Airways would not allow her to fly because she was carrying a two foot statue of the Virgin Mary.

BA states that the nun was abusive, but Sister Ruth rejects that accusation:

“When they said I couldn’t take the statue on the plane I said I’m reporting you and it’s disgraceful behaviour.

“I don’t call that rude, I call it self-defence against a tremendous, unjust and cruel treatment which is disgraceful.”

Sister Ruth is on a mission to spread Christianity around the world; she claims to have visited 200 countries in the last 15 years with her statue (sometimes described as being three foot tall), which was given to her by Christians in Hong Kong in return for a taller one. UK.Gay.com provides some more background in this 2002 report:

Sister Ruth Augustus, an anti-gay nun who claims to be a Catholic missionary has been preaching gloom and doom around Scotland.

The Catholic Church has warned the public to steer clear of the mystery, homophobic Sister Ruth who claims nuclear war is imminent and the next Pope will be a Satanist. The Church said she is not from any recognised order, but there is little they can do about her calling herself a nun.

Portuguese Sister Ruth travels with her trademark three- foot statue of the Virgin Mary under her arm, in which she collects donations.

In July Sister Ruth was arrested as a suspected ringleader in violent anti-gay protest in Croatia. Homosexuals were pelted with eggs and bottles in the capital Zagreb, reported the Daily Record.

This was a counter-protest to a gay pride parade. Time magazine has more:

Ruth Augustus, a 61-year-old nun from London, stood waiting in Zrinjevac Park with a statuette of the Virgin Mary and a list of insults before the parade was set to begin. With a tight grip on the Virgin, Augustus shouted at the parade as it passed by: “You’re dirty pigs,” “stupid faggots,” “carriers of AIDS infected seed,” and on and on until the police suggested she spend the afternoon in the jailhouse instead.

(A Croatian account mentioning Sister Ruth can be seen here, but I can’t read it)

However, although still a Fred Phelps-style homophobe, since then Sister Ruth has revised her “next Pope will be a Satanist” position, as shown when she pondered the installation of Pope Benedict XVI with the AFP:

Pilgrims and members of religious communities had been making their way to the Vatican since before dawn.

“He’s very holy, he won’t listen to any nonsense about gay marriage,” said Sister Ruth Augustus, a Franciscan missionary from London, referring to a Spanish bill passed this week to authorize same-sex couples to marry and adopt children.

“And he wants to kick out the priests who have sex with children,” said Augustus, carrying a statue of the Virgin Mary and baby Jesus.

Sister Ruth has been wandering the UK since 2002, dispensing quotes to local hacks, who have been competing for the most obvious punning headline based on the word “nun” (“nun’s the wiser” etc). An early sighting was in Blackpool; soon afterwards, she was in Edmonton. In early 2003, a report from Waltham Forest, East London gave a fuller profile:

Her job description is simply walking around the streets of her chosen town asking people to join her in prayer, all the while holding the fibre glass statue of the Virgin Mary which has been known to ‘cry.’

The Birmingham-born nun [actually, she was born in Burma – see below] says her statue has been known to shed tears when faced with hostility from non-believers during her mammoth world tour.

…She has recently been to fire stations praying for the firemen and the state of Britain as it stood on red alert for strikes, and while she was in Amsterdam she visited the notorious red-light district where she prayed with prostitutes.

(according to a report from Hertfordshire the right hand of the statue fell off while she was doing this)

Talking about why she is back in Britain she said: “I went to the University of Brunel in the 60s and studied English literature and history. I got my education free and I still get my health care for free so I want to give something back to the country and I’m going to cover all of London and the UK.

…Her most hostile receptions came in Belfast and Bosnia.

“The men would come out of cafes and scream abuse at me in Bosnia,” she said.

…Sister Ruth will be taking full advantage of her public profile and the media to spread the word through presenting a television show on cable channel Revelation TV called Sister Ruth Presents, starting on February 14.

This TV programme seems not to have materialised. Later, she discussed her motivation with local media in Reading:

I started as a missionary and no-one would talk to me so I got a statue of the Virgin Mary and carried that around with me.

“People trust her and so they trust me. I am approached by all kinds of people – Christians, Muslims, Jews and even atheists.

“Some people may say I am just another crackpot but I don’t do this for the fun of it, and most of the time I am terrified.

“All I want to do is give people hope and comfort.”

In Oxford she teamed up with a pair of mysterious German missionaries, named as Manfred Mieruch and Gerhardt Kownatski; in Greenwich, south London, she discussed Halloween, Muslims and the end of the world:

She said: “Stationery shops sell devil’s masks. They’re not selling angels. Hallowe’en has been made a devil-worshipping weekend and is ruining our children.

“It makes them very cruel, very selfish and very greedy. When they play trick or treat, they throw broken eggs all over your doorstep if you don’t give them something.” Sister Ruth, who was born in Burma and brought up in Birmingham, says response from people in Lewisham and Greenwich is generally good.

“…Greenwich people are very friendly. But Muslim fanatics swear at me and I tell them to go and live in a Muslim country rather than live on benefits.”

…She began her journey after reading about the Apocalypse in the Book of Revelations, an event she believes will take place as the result of a nuclear war in 2006.

She said: “Chapter 18 describes the attack on the World Trade Center thousands of years before it happened.

Time is very short. We’re living in the dawn of the Apocalypse.”

Those wishing to survive should head off to Cornwall, apparently:

 Cornwall is safe from the forces of darkness and evil – according to Sister Ruth Augustus.

The English/Portuguese nun travels the world with her 3ft statue of the Virgin Mary ridding the world of devil worship and Satanism.

She claims that Cornwall is protected by its saints and is far safer than London.

However, she also claims that a nuclear war is coming in 2006; but not to Cornwall.

In 2004 she led prayers at a church in Kingston-on-Thames; her campaign also turned to football. Over to the Daily Record:

A GLOBE-TROTTING nun yesterday launched a one-woman protest to get England coach Sven Goran Eriksson the sack.

Sister Ruth Augustus stood outside the Football Association HQ in London yesterday, demanding his dismissal.

She was furious about the Swede’s affair with FA secretary Faria Alam, 38.

Sister Augustus, 64, who wore an England top over her traditional habit, carried a three-foot statue of the Virgin Mary with her.

Later that year she made a detour to Belize:

Sister Ruth Augustus, who has already toured 219 countries, came to Belize to bring her message of peace and hope to Belizeans. She participated in the Catholic Charismatic Renewal Rally called March For Jesus which took place this last Sunday through the streets of downtown Belize City.

…Sister Ruth said, “So far I have had a nice response in Belize and I really enjoy the local beer, Belikin”. She also observed that, “Belize is one of the most religious countries I’ve visited.”

…When queried about who is financing her holy trek, she informed that monies from her family’s estate are sponsoring her travels.

She said, “People come up to me, tell me about their terrible problems, and I pray with them.” Sister Ruth worked for children’s charities in London before setting off on her marathon pilgrimage.

She has been mobbed giving away holy medals in the former Communist countries of Eastern Europe, threatened in some Islamic states, and rebuked in England’s capital city for her beliefs.

Those of us of a romantic disposition might like to see Sister Ruth paired off with Cornelius Horan.

UPDATE: Sister Ruth is now back in London. Shetland Today has more details, as well as a link to her website. There, she denies the claim that she collects money in the statue, or that she incited violence in Croatia. She also warns:

The Virgin Mary prophecies a comet will hit the Atlantic Ocean causing world wide flooding. The earth will go off its axis, causing three days of darkness. Every house should have a wax candle blessed by a priest. It will be the only source of light.

The last Pope, John Paul 1 was poisoned in the Vatican by Masonic Cardinals. They will murder this Pope and place a false, Masonic Pope in the Vatican. He will help the Anti-Christ, probably an Islamic Leader, put the Devil’s number 666 on many things, including credit cards and with laser beam implants, microchips, on people’s foreheads and wrists.

(Tipped from ASSIST Ministries)

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The BBC reports that Oriana Fallaci is to face trial in Italy. Fallaci is a World War II resistance hero who became notorious in 2001 for a lurid book about Muslims and Islam; her sequel appears to be in the same vein:

Controversial Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci is to face trial for allegedly insulting the Muslim faith in her latest book, a court in Italy says.

Ms Fallaci is being sued by the head of the Muslim Union of Italy, who says The Force of Reason is defamatory.

…The Force of Reason is said to have gone to print about 24 hours after the 11 March 2004 train bombings in Spain.

In it, Ms Fallaci argues that Europe is turning into “an Islamic province, an Islamic colony” and that “to believe that a good Islam and a bad Islam exist goes against all reason”.

Italian preliminary investigative judge Armando Grasso ordered the formulation of charges against the author, saying the book had expressions which were “unequivocally offensive to Islam”.

Adel Smith, president of the Muslim Union of Italy, sued the writer on 8 April 2004. He says Ms Fallaci has been advocating and spreading hate against Islam and Muslims, sometimes by allegedly distorting real historical facts and inventing others.

Fallaci’s accusations against Islam led to heated debate in 2001 and 2002. A court case followed in France, and she herself sued for slander against another journalist. Adel Smith meanwhile produced a book entitled Islam Chastises Oriana Fallaci, after which she accused him of threatening violence. Fallaci made an official complaint; blogger Dagger in Hand notes some of the passages she objected to:

Woman, you shouldn’t have told lies!…You’ll get the lesson you deserve. A powerful slap. But not a slap of the kind that you really deserve, so much as a moral slap that will, maybe, make you go back to your crying.

…Prepare yourself for a strong and just punishment: to be stripped nude. Denuded. Undressed. Not of your clothing as, perhaps, you might have desired […] But denuded of your strength–of that tenuous strength that you draw from your despicable lies.

…Woman! Ugly or beautiful as you are, prepare yourself for the chastisement of man; the divine one, much more abundant and painful, you’ll have later, in good time. That’s a promise. “Those who injure Allah and His Messenger, Allah has condemned whether in this life or the next and has prepared for them humiliating torment.”

…The choice then is yours: either do as we Muslims do and stop drinking alcoholic beverages or continue to die; to die together with Fallaci.

So, this new trial is just the latest round in a protracted argument. But who is Adel Smith? According to an Italian Cesnur profile, Smith (an Italian with a Scottish father) is not just the president of the Muslim Union of Italy – he’s more or less 50% of the membership, along with a certain Abdul Haqq Massimo Zucchi (with support from a few Albanians, if I’ve read the Italian via Babelfish correctly). He first emerged into the public eye in 2001, when he demanded the destruction of a fifteenth-century fresco that shows Muhammad in Hell. This was not successful, but he went on to have one legal victory: in 2003 he complained against the display of crucifixes in his children’s school, and a judge ordered their removal (later overruled). Earlier that year he was assaulted by members of the Italian far-right on live television.

And as it happens, while Falluci is to face trial for offending Muslims, Smith has himself recently faced trial for offending Catholics. From ADNKronos in April:

Rome, 29 April (AKI) – People who slander the Catholic faith cannot face harsher punishment than those who insult other recognised religions, Italy’s constitutional court ruled on Friday. The court’s decision was made in connection with the trial of a Muslim man who on television branded the Catholic Church “a criminal organisation.” Italian Muslim activist, Adel Smith, on trial in the northeastern city of Verona for allegedly “offending the Catholic religion, through the use of scorn,” faced up to three years in jail, if convicted.

However, the Verona court suspended the proceedings against Smith and requested the constitutional court’s interpretation of two articles in Italy’s penal code. Article 403, specifies stiffer penalties for slander against Catholicism, while article 406 prescribes more lenient punishment for insults against other religions.

There’s lots more out there for those who can read Italian…

UPDATE: Dagger in Hand is back on the case, starting from here and entries following. Lots of information.

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From the BBC News, July 1998 (link added):

An American archaeologist says he is close to unearthing the lost Ark of the Covenant, the ancient casket believed to contain the Ten Commandments.

…Vendyl Jones – a Texan archaeologist who believes he may have been the inspiration for the film character Indiana Jones – says he has located where it is buried.

The Jordan Valley near Qumran is the lowest place on earth – a desolate wilderness, baking under the summer sun. But it is here that Vendyl Jones says he is on the verge of making one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of all time.

On the verge, no less! Jones claimed that the Copper Scroll, a unique document from among the Dead Sea Scrolls, contains coded directions for digging up the lost treasure from Solomon’s Temple. So, what happened? Let’s catch up with Jones a mere seven years later, courtesy of a recent Arutz Sheva article:

An unnamed Kabbalist has granted blessing to famed archeologist Dr. Vendyl Jones to uncover the Holy Ark of the Covenant. Jones plans to excavate the Lost Ark by the Tisha B’Av Fast this summer.

…The Talmud says the Ark is hidden in a secret passage under the Temple Mount. Jones says that the tunnel actually continues 18 miles southward, and that the Ark was brought through the tunnel to its current resting place in the Judean Desert.

Tisha B’Av is August 14, the traditional date for the destruction of the First and Second Temples, as well as other significant Jewish disasters. So, Jones is again “on the verge”:

As recently as last month, the rabbi, who only communicates via messenger, told Jones that the time was not yet right to discover the Temple vessels.

Last Thursday, however, Dr. Jones received a communication from the rabbi reading, “The time is right.”

Arutz Sheva is a rag for the Israeli far-right, so there’s not going to be much criticism of Jones, who is a leader within the Noahide Movement (also known as The Sons of Noah). This is a curious new religious movement made up primarily of ex-Christian fundamentalists, and can be summed up as “Gentiles for Judaism”. Members believe that Christianity misunderstood Jesus’ teachings and that anti-Judaism in the Gospels can be rejected as late interpolations. In fact, God wants Jews to continue to keep the Mosaic Law, while Gentiles should keep the seven moral laws of Noah.

However, a 2000 profile in the Dallas Observer reveals Jones to be the Kent Hovind of archaeology: a man whose methods and claims cannot be taken seriously. Here’s a taste:

In three decades of digging in caves in Qumran, a region near the border of Israel and Jordan, Jones has made several discoveries–some of them dubious–that he links to the temple built by King Solomon, where the Ark was once supposedly kept.

These are: a jar of anointing oil, and the supposed discovery of sacred spices (He’s still looking for ashes from the Red Heifer, which will be needed to purify the priests for the next temple). But:

In academic papers published a few years [after the discovery of the oil], however, two Haifa university professors stated that the oil found inside resembled what is extracted in modern times from date stones. “No such oil was known in antiquity,” the professors wrote.

Four years later, Jones, who was spending his summer in Israel and winters in Texas, made another discovery. He held a news conference in the Qumran desert to announce he had excavated 900 pounds of red dirt. Standing beside Jones, a chemical analyst who produced a paper on the stationery of Israel’s famed Weitzmann Institute of Science, identified the compound as very likely having eight of the 11 spices that supposedly constituted the holy incense used in Solomon’s Temple to purify worshipers.

When reporters later called the Weitzmann Institute, however, they were told that Jones’ effort had no connection to the school. The scientist who had stood by his side at the news conference was merely a consultant, the Weitzmann officials said.

As the BBC noted, Jones has also made the claim that his story inspired Indiana Jones, “Vendyl” becoming “Endy” – the Observer reports that this has been denied by Spielberg. Other critiques of Jones are enumerated here; there is also an article by Daniel C Browning called “The Strange Search for the Ashes of the Red Heifer”, which appeared in Biblical Archaeology in Spring 1996, but which I have not been able to see.

Also worth noting: perhaps because he was talking to a right-wing Israeli newspaper rather than US or UK media, Jones felt able to express his extreme racist views as he explains the importance of the August deadline:

“At Kadesh Barnea, [the Jewish Nation] sent in those [twelve] spies who gave the evil report, and because they believed the evil report, they were sentenced to wander for 38 years before they could come into Gilgal” – an ancient city near Jericho.

The “evil report” was the spies’ opinion that the Canaanites were too strong to be defeated, as recounted in Numbers 13. Jones believes that the narrative of the Hebrew Bible reveals certain divine laws of history:

“1967 was a repetition of Kadesh Barnea,” Jones says. “If Israel had come in and taken this place [the Temple Mount], the Arabs would have fled like they did in 1948. But no, because of the evil report of Golda Meir and Motta Gur and Moshe Dayan, who said ‘We cannot do that, world opinion will be against us.’ So Israel was sentenced to 38 years more – and June the 7th [2005], Jerusalem Day, will be the 38th year.

Yes, “the Arabs would have fled like they did in 1948”. That’s when 85% of the Palestinian population of Israel proper were forced to leave their homes and become refugees – a tragedy insignificant for the likes of Jones because merely human. Clearly, and unsurprisingly, Jones supports the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the name of Greater Israel and Jewish theocracy (like Hal Lindsey, he’s also a fan of the Kahanist “Sanhedrin”).

UPDATE: Apparently the 14 August deadline was a “misquote”. Now it’s on for September, if “funding” permits. See my entry here for further details.

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