Next, the people forgot the Lord their God, and worshipped idols, whilesaying that they were the mediators between them and the spirits of the stars.CHAPTER XIX -- On the sect of the Sabaeans, worshippers of the stars.The people returned to the sect of the Sabaeans who worshipped the stars. Forthe call to this worship had been launched earlier by some important personages.Among these was Feridoun who worshipped Mercury ('Otêrid). He presented himwith offerings, sacrificed victims to his spirit and burned incense to him, sothat this spirit descended upon him in the form of a spark of fire and spoke tohim. Feridoun said to the people that surrounded him what this spirit had saidto him: "I will give you power, greatness and the direction of affairs inthe eyes of the men. I will provide for your needs and for those of myworshippers, if they and you, you do all that I will order you, if you offer mevictims, oblations and incense."Similarly, the spirit of Saturn (Zohal) appeared to a man named Zoroaster (Zarâdacht).His doctrine has been spread for one thousand five hundred years. He sent out ona mission seventy men on whom seventy spirits coming from the spirit of Saturnhad come down and who invited the people to the worship of this star. Zoroastersaid to them in the hour of his death: "If you do not eat my body and donot drink my blood, you will have no part in salvation." After his demise,his disciples did therefore boil his body and drank of this turbid fluid. Hethus obtained the accomplishment of what he had said to them.It was the same for Benderitous, born from the two spirits of the moon andJupiter (Al'Mochtari) : he is the king of talismans; he is the first that taughtmagic to men, sorcery, astrology, the knowledge of white magic, the knowledge ofhidden things and who mentioned in reality the conjunctions of the celestialspheres and all the ways in which men can make contact with them, renderingworship to the stars and seeking to make their spirits descend.Satan suggested making idols that would serve as an intermediary between men andthe spirits of the stars. He resided in these idols and, from their interior,spoke with the people, attributing what he said to the spirits of the stars.This last error was worse than the first, for all the ancients believed becauseof the action of the spirits of the stars and accustomed themselves to renderthem worship to provide for their needs. These influences propagated themselvesamong men for long centuries, while the appeal spread of those who attributed tothemselves the divinity in this world. The name of [Benderitous] was so greatamong the philosophers that they believed that all that they did wasaccomplished only by the glorification of the name of the stars and thanks tothe offerings that they made to them and to the adoration of their names.Because of their power over minds, these ideas left innumerable tracks. Theirprinciples imprinted themselves on the intelligent, and their traces affixedthemselves most intimately, holding their place, believing in their words anddevoting themselves to the worship of their divinities, with evident signs andthe most extraordinary miracles. This is how they saw that might unite theastral forces with ordinary elements in special forms and special duties. And itresulted from this strange consequences that stunned human intelligence. This isthus for example that they made a figure with this rock under such a horoscope,in a valley infested with lions and absolutely no lion would any longer passthrough this place. They similarly acted to drive away ferocious beasts, birds,vipers, insects, etc., according to the teaching that they had received from theastral spirits of which we spoke. On the treasuries full of money and of variousgems they constructed engines in the form of a sword, or of ferocious beasts, offloods of water or of vipers; and no one could approach unless they had theirknowledge. In respect of talismans, enchantments and services obtained fromdemons, they did what the language is powerless to express.Aristotle did similar things for Alexander, when the latter went into thecountry of the Persians, and it is necessary for us to relate this. "Know,O king," said Aristotle, "that Persia is an immense region in whichthere are waterless and uninhabited deserts. As your army is numerous, you needtalismans that will help you to attain your goal and will facilitate your greatenterprises. You will carry therefore an iron coffer in which you will placeyour effigy in iron, as well as the effigies in iron of your army mounted oniron horses. You will carry also the effigies in lead of your enemies each ofwhich will carry, in their hand, a sword of lead curved behind on the back ofthe hand, and, in the other hand, a lead lance, the point downwards; to each ofthem you will give a bow of which the string will be broken. You will place,between the army and the coffer, an iron curtain; then you will offer asacrifice and incense to Benderîtous, king of talismans, you will glorify himand will exalt him the most possible. You will carry this coffer with you inyour army wherever you camp, wherever you go; every step you take, you willplace the coffer in your hand and no one will touch it but you. Thus, you andyours, you will be secure against the tricks of the enemy, against his pitfalls,against his deceptions and against the stratagems that he will employ againstyou with all his army. ---. You will carry another talisman to let fountainsflow in the waterless deserts. By this means, you will have springs gushing inthe dried out deserts; you will be able to quench the thirst, of both your armyand all its beasts."Seeing that the intelligence of men led them to the worship of other gods thanHim and that they were accustomed to look at only the things that they could seeand touch, as He wanted only their salvation in the abundance of his mercy andof his compassion, God (let him be glorified!) resolved to bring back to himthese intelligences by the objects that were familiar to them and He opposed theworks of Satan, attributed to sidereal spirits, by similar works derivedprogressively from his mercy. He opposed to the flame that, coming from thespirit of Saturn, had showed itself to Féridoun and his troop and had said:"I will give you the power and the force and I will provide for yourneeds," the flame that He showed to Moses in the incombustible bush. WhenMoses had directed himself towards Him, He heard the voice of God that cried tohim: "I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaacand the God of Jacob."---. It was the same for Zoroaster, when there lived in the seventy men that hehad established the seventy spirits originating from the spirit of Saturn andengaging the men to render worship to him. The Christ, the eternal Son, divineperson, the Word, sent similarly seventy disciples to urge men to believe in Himand He said to them: "Heal the sick, revive the dead, purify the lepers,expel the demons. You received freely, give freely."CHAPTER XX -- The signs of God placed in opposition to the signs attributedto the stars.God put next in opposition the ark, covered with leaves of gold, containing thestone tablets written by his finger, with the iron coffer that Aristotle hadmade for Alexander against his enemies of the desert. Moses and Aaronestablished priests for the ark, like those that were intended for the serviceof this coffer. Moses struck the earth with his staff and the water of twelvefountains gushed forth, in opposition to the talismans that, in the desert, hadmade waters gush for Alexander.Thus, the will of Moses accomplished what corresponded to all the thingsattributed to the sidereal spirits, because mankind was accustomed only to theacts that it could sense. When God (may He be glorified!) had seen that humanintelligences were led to another worship than His and that they were accustomedonly to the things they could sense and see, He sent His Holy Spirit on theSages, before the coming of the Law; after the Sages, came the Law and theProphets.CHAPTER XXI -- On the Sages established to prophesy about Our Saviour theChrist and on their words.Among the Sages, one of them, speaking in conformity to wisdom, said: "Itis necessary that a man applies his soul to justice and purity and that hestrips it of all defilement. In this manner, he disposes himself to know thename of six letters and to see the Word, the son of God, who did not suffer andwho suffered."Commentary on these words. ---. These words: "He disposes himself to knowthe name composed from six letters" designate the name of the Messiah thatcontains 'a l m s î h': i.e. six letters. According to these other words:"He will see the Word, the Son of God, who did not suffer and whosuffered", [it is necessary to notice that] the Messiah pulls this namefrom two different sources, the one his divinity, the other his humanity; thesetwo sources form together a single Messiah and a single Lord. The Messiahsuffered, during his crucifixion, in His humanity, but He did not suffer in Hisdivinity. He became then the single Messiah, as was prophesied, by aninspiration of the Spirit of wisdom or the Holy Spirit, the Sage in question,when he said that He suffered and that He did not suffer.Nason (Nêsoun) the Sage said also: "The Father spoke first, when He sentto the world his Son by his will. The latter is the voice of the Father, hisunique Word."Iloun the Sage said: "The very great Son of God will come clothed in fleshand will resemble the mortal ones on earth."Porphyry (Barfounîs) the Sage said: "The light, the substantialintelligence, when it will have come out and descended, will climb back up; thisis a light that would remain inaccessible, if it did not descend into theworld."Batarnêtis the Sage said: "Thus the Word is God, He has everything in Hishand. When He descended from the sky and had clothed Himself in flesh, Hepublished his humanity and showed his magnitude. More, He is God, as He alwayshad been before his coming."Ormuz the Sage said: "The Word [comes] from the first Father. When He wasborn being already perfect in light, He obtained not a complement in his nature.He is son and agent in his descent [on earth]; his incarnation of a virgin[results] from the shadow on the water."Manes (Mani) the Sage said: "When the fire that exists before the darknessappears and descends on the earth, when He shows Himself in an earthly body, alot of people will not understand it. He will return then and will climb back upto his first position of which the glory is sublime."The Sage Sabla said: "Inthe sixth era, a powerful king will arise who willsee in the sky the sign of the cross on which God, son of God, must besuspended. In the east a God will be seen whose mother will not have known man.A king will raise his head who will be incapable to save himself and will killthe young children because of the one that will have been born in a city ofJudah."Ormuz the Sage said: "A star, rising in the east, will travel from the Easttowards the West, for two years and a half, then will return to his post: thiswill be the star of the good news. It will travel before the sages that willcome from the East towards the eternal King to worship him and to offer himtheir presents. Because of him, little children will be slaughtered, and that,after hundred eighty-three revolutions of the old Saturn (Kaiwân)."Commentary on this passage. ---. According to Kaiwân Al-' Atîq, this is theplanet of Saturn (Zohal). It is called 'Atîq, because this is the first of thecelestial spheres from the top down. It crosses the sky in a revolution thatlasts thirty years. If one multiplies thirty by hundred eighty-three one obtains5490 years; and in the ten years that complete the 5500 years of the age of theworld appeared Our Lord the Christ in the flesh, as the other prophets and sageshad announced.Plato said in the Book of the Mysteries: "The Most High will appear on theearth; He will revive the dead and will manifest his divine signs. Then He willreturn to his redoubtable throne and will be seen no more until the day of thegreat judgement."Aristotle said in his book entitled the Treasure of Treasures: "Thetreasure of life lies in the God Adonaï who will appear in the world in whichwe live. Those who are in their tombs will hear his voice and will revive."Such are the indications contained in the words of the Sages.CHAPTER XXII -- The predictions of the Prophets concerning the coming of ourLord the Christ (to Him the Glory!) OUR LORD THE CHRIST.
The Iron Sky: The Ark
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