Portents and Omens
| 3 › 1 › 14 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Signs and Portents
Yahweh said, "As my servant Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot for three years, as a sign and portent against Egypt and Cush, so the king of Assyria will lead away stripped and barefoot the Egyptian captives and Cushite exiles, young and old, with buttocks bared - to Egypt's shame. [Isaiah 20:3-4]Jesus said he was a sign after the pattern of Jonas - he held up that "role model". [See Matt 12:40]
Simeon said to Mary: "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against". [Luke 2:34]
"Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by . . . signs, which God did among you through him." [Acts 2:22]
There can be future sign value in a name too. [Luke 1:31; Matthew 1:21; John 1:42]
Apostles were instructed by Jesus to shake up dust of dismay and displeasure as a very alarming sign or portent. [Matt 10:14-5]
It is also said that signs would accompany those who believed, such as "when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them" [Mark 16:17-8]. — "Many . . . signs were done by the apostles." [Acts 2:43] — "Things that mark an apostle - signs, wonders and miracles". [2 Cor 12:12] — "I'll show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below (some day)". [Acts 2:19.21]
Solomonic Incompetence
"You are gods," said Jesus [John 10:34], and gods can fly. So can some ants till they hit a windshield. |
Solomon also teaches that ants are not lorded over - a terrible mistake, but perhaps less than ruining the dynasty - even if Jesus called him the wisest man on earth, which is unfounded. Wise ones do not live so as to lose heavenly favours, actually.
There are flying ants around. And did you know that at least four sorts of woodpeckers eat ants? So "Go to the woodpecker (too), study its ways and learn to rise above those of ants."
Another point is: The lower the animal that we draw information from, the baser our comparison has to be. Gods can fly - reputedly. Can you? The Bible says God created man in his own image . . . male and female, and crowned him with honour and glory and all that [Genesis 1:26-7; Psalm 8, Hebr 2:6-8].
The very well uplifted hands of Moses were terribly required
Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword because Moses had been standing on a hill, lifting his staff. [Exodus 17:8-14] On another occasion Moses stretched his hand toward the sky "so that hail would fall all over Egypt . . . on men and animals and on everything growing in the fields of Egypt." [Exodus 9:22-33]Dream Guidance
There was a king of Gerar Abimelech. He sent for Abraham's halfsister-wife Sarah and took her. But God came to Abimelech in a dream one night and said to him, "You are as good as dead because of the woman you have taken; she is a married woman."Now Abimelech said, "Will you destroy an innocent nation? I have done this with a clear conscience."
God said to him in the dream, "Yes, I know you did this with a clear conscience ..." [Genesis 20:1-7, extracts]
"Tell me your dreams"
Joseph once came to the Egyptian king's chief cup-bearer and the chief baker one morning, and they were dejected. For "We both had dreams," they said, "but there is none to interpret them."Then Joseph said to them, "Do not interpretations belong to God? Tell me your dreams." [Genesis 40:2-8, excerpts]
Omens and Signs
The loss of God's favour in the Bible manifested as not getting divined answers, such as in the case of Saul [Samuel 8, 10 etc.].The future is not always unknown to all, if you do not ascribe fit prognoses to good luck. The astrologer William Lilly predicted in his 1644 Almanac a Great Plague of London in 1665 and the catastrophic Great Fire of London in 1666.
Omens and signs may have different sources and purposes, and interpretations differ. For example, in England it means good luck if a black cat crosses the road in front of you.
What it boils down to is a practice of interpreting scenes, others, dreams and much else as portents, that is, auspices. Auspices also involve looking at birds, but not exactly as an ornithologist. The basic aim to get at certain portent values. What a Roman augur studied was the flight of birds, the feeding of birds to discover omens. An augury can also reveal kind patronage and definite guidance, in such an understanding. And also, an augury can stand as a prophetic sign and a likeable, favorable one.
Mammon is Aramaic for wealth, affluence. And what is more, mammon is a sign of God's approval in many Bible places. Having great wealth is fairly opposite to being persecuted, And, as it is said, "Money can't bring you everything, only about 95 percent." Don't be shy about it.
Preserve your life and its wonderful assets, and go for the Buddhist Middle Path because there is great all-round or future help in it. Have great riches and honour; a happy, fulfilling, fit and loving, rewarding long life along your climb.
 |
Literature
 |
 |
 |
 |
USER'S GUIDE to abbreviations, the site's bibliography, letter codes, dictionaries, site design and navigation, tips for searching the site and page referrals. [LINK]
DISCLAIMER: [LINK]
© 1998–2008, Tormod Kinnes. All rights reserved. [E-MAIL]