Mani (216 - 276 A.D.)

Mani was a prophet and the founder of a gnostic religion than became known as Manichaeism, a religion that was once widespread but it now extinct.  He was born in around Seleucia-Ctesiphon in Assyria (modern-day Iraq).

He received visions at the ages of 12 and 24 telling him to leave his father's Jewish Christian sect and to teach the true message of Christ.  From there he traveled to India and Afghanistan and may have been influenced by Buddhism.  When he returned in 242 A.D. he became favoured by King Shapur, yet when Bahram succeeded to the throne everything changed, Bahram was a supporter of Zoroastrian movement and persecuted the Manichaeans, Mani was caught and put in prison and later crucified.

It is said that he wrote seven works, although none of these have survived in their complete form, they include the Mani-Codex and the Book of Giants.  His teachings that have survived tell us that he believed that good and evil existed in a constant struggle.  He believed that salvation was possible through education, self-denial, fasting and chastity.  He claimed to be the last of the prophets, and followed the teachings of other prophets; Seth, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Nikotheos, Zoroaster, Buddha and Jesus.

Joseph (est.1886-1806 B.C.)

Joseph was born in Syria and had eleven brothers Rueben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, Gad, Asher, Benjamin, Dan and Naphtali.  Joseph was son of Jacob, son of Isaac, son of Abraham.

By 17 he was his father's favourite and they were living in Canaan, he would have many dreams foretelling the future, yet his brother scorned him so they faked his death and sold him to slavery to a caravan coming from Gilead, where he ended up being sold in Egypt

He rose from slave to house assistant but his owner's wife tried to seduce him and then told lies and Joseph ended up in prison, where he interprets dreams for people, two years later he is called to interpret the king of Egypts dream; He say that a seven year famine is on the way, and Joseph is put in charge of all the officials.  His brothers come to buy food, and they do not recognize Joseph as speaks in Egyptian and he tricks them all to come to Egypt so that he can reveal his identity.

Gen44:5 states that he uses a silver cup to "learn about the future"

So his father and brothers and their families come to live in Egypt to avoid death during the famine, stopping at Beersheba to offer sacrifices.  Joseph went on to trade food for all things and by the end of the famine he owned all of the land and animals and most people were his slaves.  He went on to have two sons Ephraim and Manasseh.  Joseph died at the age of 110 and he was embalmed, later his bones were taken by Moses when the exile occurred so that he could be buried in the land of Canaan.

Old Document Review 'On the Seven Seals of the Apocalypse'

This ancient document was written by Joachim of Fiore (d.1202) and features his interpretations of what the seals in the Book of Revelations represent.  Joachim sees the seals as representing the story of the church between the first and the second coming of Jesus.

However his understanding goes much deeper, when Joachim looks at history he sees a link to the Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are matched to the Old Testament, the life of Jesus and the New Testament.  Whats more, is that each of these eras can be broken down into seven periods of time which will match with the corresponding period in the next era.  These seven periods are also represented by the seven seals which are laid out in the Book of Revelations.  As always periods of time divided into seven can also be linked to how the Mayans viewed time, each period of time is seen to have seven days and six nights.

For example the first period in the Old Testament is seen from Abraham to the promised land, which is matched to the New Testament period of time from John the Baptist to the early church.  This matching carries on as far as the sixth seal which Joachim seen as matching against his own era, and everything that was happening during his lifetime such as the crusades and so on.  Joachim foretells that soon the Catholic Church shall be overthrown or challenged by a new church (the rise of Protestants?) and he sees this as the time where Satan will be bound up into his prison.  Then in the seventh seal will be the second coming.