Mohammad (570-632 A.D.)

Mohammad is mainly recognized by most to be the founder of the religion of Islam, and is considered by Muslims to be a prophet, that he was a messenger from God just like the other prophets such as Noah, Moses, Enoch.  He was born in the city of Mecca (Saudi Arabia), but he became an orphan and was raised by his uncle, a man named Abu Talib.  At one point he worked as a merchant, and at another point as a shepherd and he got married at the age of 25 to an older woman.  During his whole life it is said that he had thirteen wives / concubines.  But he was unhappy with his life in Mecca and went away and became a hermit in a cave in the surrounding mountains.  At the age of 40 he received his first vision from God, which is communicated to him through the angel Gabrielle, and three years later he started preaching about these visions to the public.

At the time the the Arabs believed in many gods, and Mohammad was teaching that there is only one God, the Living Everlasting God.  Nevertheless, he gained some supporters, but mainly hostility from Meccan tribes which forced him to escape persecution and flee to Abyssinia (Medina/Yathrib).  In Medina, Mohammad managed to unite the tribes, and in 622 with over 10,000 followers he returned to conquer Mecca, several years later in 630 he succeeded.  In 632 after his first and final pilgrimage, he fell ill and died.

The revelations that he received during his lifetime became the verses of the Quran, and were combined into a single book after his death.  These verses are considered to be the Word of God by Muslims.  Although Mohammad is believed to be the author of the Quran, he is only mentioned in it by name  four times, which has meant that sources for information about his life have to be found elsewhere.

The earliest surviving biography of his life by Ibn Ishaq was written 150 years after Mohammad's death.  Although scholars generally believe the early biographies to be accurate, it is not ascertainable.  In early days, both Christians and Jews saw Mohammad as a false prophet, saying that prophets do not arrive with swords and chariots.  And Mohammad after all, was involved in several battles during his lifetime.

It is however recorded that when Mohammad was twelve that he was travelling in a caravan to Syria, he met a Christian monk called Bahira, and that the monk gave Mohammad a copy of the Old testament and put forward the idea that he should become a prophet to the Arabs.

It is this record that confuses me most, was Mohammad converted to a Christian as a child?  With biographies of his life only being written about him hundreds of years after his actual existence, how do we know the he wished to create a  belief that was separate to Christianity.  Apparently it is also recorded that when they took Mecca, that he instructed all his soldiers not to destroy any images of Jesus or Mary.  In fact Mary is mentioned more often in the Quran than in the Bible!

My point is that, we cannot know for sure where his beliefs came from for sure, and maybe we will never know, but the idea that Mohammad was converted to Christianity is intriguing to say the least.  Yet those texts given to him by the monk became part of the Quran, recording the existence of Adam, Noah, Moses, Abraham and more.

Enoch (7106 - 6741 B.C.)

The story of Enoch the Scribe is only briefly mentioned in the Bible, yet his story is told elsewhere such as the Book of the Giants.  For this article I will refer only to that which is said about Enoch in the Book of Enoch and the Fragment of the Book of Noah.  He was seventh generation from Adam and also the grandfather of Noah.

The story starts as two hundred angels descended from heaven following the one but bound by an agreement to him, the angels took women and taught them secrets of herbology, astrology, forging of metals, how to write and other secrets.  But the women gave birth to giants who could not be sustained by the supplies of the community, so the giants turned against men, making war.

So Enoch was given visions and was told that because of the wickedness the Deluge would come to punish the wicked.  So he was given power over the 200 and the wicked and he took the message to declare the coming destruction to the two hundred, the giants and the wicked.  But they pleaded with him for mercy, and so he promised them to make a petition of their behalf.  But their petition was refused and their fate was decided.

The story carries on, telling how he sought wisdom "I wish to know about everything" and so angels come and start to teach him knowledge about everything., although sometimes the vision become too much for him to bear.  He is shown the places where the 200 will go for imprisonment.  He is shown where souls go after death, the good separated from the bad and is shown how the spirits of the giants will become the evil spirits as they are neither man nor angel (angel as in the 200).

Then he was shown all the secrets of the earth and the universe, the laws of the universe and then a vision of the end of all things.  He is then shown the future, of the one who will be like the Lamb (Jesus) and everything that happens between the deluge and Jesus concerning his descendants.  One prophecy relates to the moon changing orbit and stars changing position suggesting a polar shift.

At the end Enoch spoke to his family in regards to all his knowledge, and his son Methuselah is taught and given Enoch's books of knowledge and from there Noah is taught, books are to be kept safe to ensure safety for future, one book contains a complete doctrine of wisdom.  Then he was taken from the earth and did not die like all other men.

Old Document Review The Book of Giants

From the Dead Sea Scrolls

This scroll is very hard to read as there are words missing and it is broken into many sections with many parts missing. The document is mean as a record to tell the story of where giants came from and also to tell the story of the battle between the angels and demons.

The scroll tells a couple of stories, the first is of how two hundred demons came down to earth and fought battles, taking women as their trophies, enslaving them and subjecting them to torture, then once it was realised, angels came down and done battle with them and destroyed most of them. Part of this story includes one section mentioning how the demons revealed mysteries and arts to men which brought rebellion and ruin. It says that the demons were eventually sealed up on a prison deep in the earth, beneath the mountains.

A strange character mentioned in several parts of the text is someone called Enoch (an apostle) who is compared to Christ and other religious figures. It is clear that wherever this character goes that he is feared and also obeyed. At one point the addresses a gathering of demons and criminals, at another he commands an angel from a distance to change direction and give instruction. Enoch is also mentioned in the story of the demons being imprisoned. Enoch is also mentioned in the bible in the list of descendants of Adam and also in the book of Hebrews where it is said Enoch did not die but was taken up to heaven because he had pleased God.

The giants themselves are said to be the offspring from demons and women, they are said to be war-like, they fight with each other and for other people, but also that the life expectancy of the giants is a long time of around a thousand years, so long that they are considered to be immortal. The giants lived in 36 different towns that were specifically designed to support their needs. It is because of their origin, and their nature that they were damned or cursed and their children.

There are a couple of very strange issues I came across, the first is the mentioning that earth is a sphere (knowledge of the universe), the second ‘three worlds’ are mentioned, possibly meaning heaven hell and the earth but this is perhaps something that fuels belief in aliens! Lastly I came across the mentioning of ‘five elements’. The five elements form the basic understandings behind Buddhism, and Buddha is mentioned elsewhere in the documents, here it is noted that the five elements are being consumed in great quantities by the Giants (earth, water, air, fire, the fifth of things that are beyond the material world).

Prophet Zechariah (est520-480BC)

Prophet Information:

Zechariah, meaning ‘the Lord remembers’, according to the Book of the Bee he died at a great age and was buried beside Haggai

Mission/Message:

Zechariah’s mission was very similar to Haggai’s mission. Both were concerned with spiritual renewal of the returned exiles as well as the need for the temple to be re-built.

Documentation:

The book of Zechariah is traditionally thought to have been authored by the prophet, although some readers believe that there are stark differences between the first and second half of the book and therefore must have been written by two authors. It is possible that Zechariah had just written each part of the book at different stages of his life.

Occupation:

A priest and a prophet

Best known for:

-The re-building of the temple, continuing the work of Haggai

-A detailed prediction of the Messiah (his personality, the betrayal, the crucifixion)

Attributes of his personality:

When visions are revealed to him he requests more details or an explanation, this might be so that he can analyse the meanings. He was a deep thinker.

Supernatural Aspects:

It says that the ‘word of God came to him’. He had many night visions; the book includes a series of eight visions, in these visions he would see the Lord or angels and be able to talk with them. He also speaks of angels waking him from sleep in order to reveal things to him.

Examples of prophecies:

-The prediction of the coming Messiah and detailed descriptions of him

-Apocalyptic prophecies

-The prediction of the siege of Jerusalem

End Times Prophecies:

In chapter 11, the author speaks of a ‘false shepherd’ which some believe to represent a recent church leader as many of the verses of prophecy can be linked to him.