California Division IX Masonic Calendar of Events
We Thank Mercedes Alo for Sharing these images from the Saturday Night Formal Dinner Dance hosted by Right Worshipful Bill Bray and His Lady Linda.
Much knowledge was imparted and received by all who attended this event and then there was time for refreshment...
Corn, Wine & Oil - Tyler’s Toast
At our April Stated Meeting Wor. Achenbach delivered a presentation for Masonic Education regarding “Corn, Wine & Oil”. After the meeting, at our “Tyler’s Toast”, we we all enjoyed some bread and beverage along with Extra Virgin Olive Oil supplied by Brother Timothy Wood of Wood Ranch Estate.
Bro. Wood was featured in the FREEMASON magazine (Dec/Jan 2009) and after enjoying some of the oil at home with his family, Wor. Achenbach decided to bring in a bottle to share with the Lodge.
Darrell Scott, the father of Rachel Scott, a victim of the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton , Colorado , was invited to address the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee. What he said to our national leaders during this special session of Congress was painfully truthful.
They were not prepared for what he was to say, nor was it received well. It needs to be heard by every parent, every teacher, every politician, every sociologist, every psychologist, and every so-called expert! These courageous words spoken by Darrell Scott are powerful, penetrating, and deeply personal. There is no doubt that God sent this man as a voice crying in the wilderness. The following is a portion of the transcript:
" Since the dawn of creation there has been both good & evil in the hearts of men and women. We all contain the seeds of kindness or the seeds of violence. The death of my wonderful daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic teacher, and the other eleven children who died must not be in vain. Their blood cries out f or answers..
"The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his brother Abel out in the field. The villain was not the club he used.. Neither was it the NCA, the National Club Association. The true killer was Cain, and the reason for the murder could only be found in Cain's heart.
"In the days tha t followed the Columbine tragedy, I was amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups such as the NRA. I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a hunter. I do not even own a gun. I am not here to represent or defend the NRA - because I don't believe that they are responsible for my daughter's death. Therefore I do not believe that they need to be defended. If I believed they had anything to do with Rachel's murder I would be their strongest opponent.
I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a tragedy -- it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us to look at where the real blame lies! Much of the blame lies here in this room. Much of the blame lies behind the pointing fingers of the accusers themselves. I wrote a poem just four nights ago that expresses my feelings best.
"
Men and women are three-part beings. We all consist of body, mind, and spirit. When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up, we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to rush in and wreak havoc. Spiritual presences were present within our educational"As my son Craig lay under that table in the school library and saw his two friends murdered before his very eyes, he did not hesitate to pray in school. I defy any law or politician to deny him that right! I challenge every young person in America , and around the world, to realize that on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School prayer was brought back to our schools. Do not let the many prayers offered by those students be in vain. Dare to move into the new millennium with a sacred disregard for legislation that violates your God-given right to communicate with Him. To those of you who would point your finger at the NRA -- I give to you a sincere challenge. Dare to examine your
Own heart before casting the first stone!
My daughter's death will not be in vain! The young people of this country will not allow that to happen!"
Was John the Baptist the cousin of Jesus of Nazareth?
Brethren and Ladies as we spend much time contemplating the Holy Saints John I thought I would share some of the research I have dug up on the Baptist. Some of it is controversial speculation but interesting none-the-less...
John the Baptist was the son of Zachary, a priest of the Temple in Jerusalem, and Elizabeth, a kinswoman of Mary who visited her.
He was probably born at Ain-Karim southwest of Jerusalem after the Angel Gabriel had told Zachary that his wife would bear a child even though she was an old woman. He lived as a hermit in the desert of Judea until about A.D. 27. When he was thirty, he began to preach on the banks of the Jordan against the evils of the times and called men to penance and baptism "for the Kingdom of Heaven is close at hand".
According to Albert Pike in
"Knight of the East and West" St. John the Baptist was likely a member of the Essene sect as he followed their ascetic doctrine. Pike further says that his teachings like those of the Essenes were truths gathered from India, Persia and elsewhere from the east as well as from Pythagoras and other Greek thinkers. Thus Masons carry on with these truths taught by John the Baptist, The Essenes and others now gone.
"... and the old faiths have faded into oblivion. But Masonry still survives, vigorous and strong, as when philosophy was taught in the schools of Alexandria and under the Portico; teaching the same old truths as the Essenes taught by the shores of the Dead Sea, and as John the Baptist preached in the Desert; truths imperishable as the Deity, and undeniable as Light. Those truths were gathered by the Essenes from the doctrines of the Orient and the Occident, from the Zend-Avesta and the Vedas, from Plato and Pythagoras, from India, Persia, Phoenicia, and Syria, from Greece and Egypt, and from the Holy Books fo the Jews. Hence we are called Knights of the East and West, because their doctirnes came from both."
Edmond Szekely is an eminent scholar and author of numerous works on this subject including
. Szekely obtained access to Aramaic documents in the Vatican archives in Rome, and corroborated his translations with other ancient Greek and Hebrew documents (and confirmed by the writings later discovered in the Dead Sea Scrolls) surmised that both lived and studied at Qum Rum, that this is where Jesus "lost years" were spent, at the monastary of the Essenes by the Dead Sea where the scrolls were undoubtedly written, then sealed up and buried for eons.
The finding of these long lost Essene documents have created a problem as they mirror the story of the passion play in the Gospels of the bible. They follow the ministry of one called only "Master" in the scrolls, but who also speaks the Sermon on the Mount and ends with the Master being crucified before Passover. Szekely states that the problem for the orthodox churches lies in carbon dating of these scrolls, which dates them 100-years prior to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
At any rate Jesus and John were cousins. Mary mother of Jesus was the sister of Elizabeth mother of John, and Mary and Elizabeth have been tied to the Essene sect by scholars. That John and Jesus were preaching different doctrines is unlikely. In fact it was probably orchestrated, as the church of Rome teaches that John the Baptist was to lead the way for Christ.
This is the account from Catholic.org: "He attracted large crowds, and when Christ came to him, John recognized Him as the Messiah and baptized Him, saying, "It is I who need baptism from You". When Christ left to preach in Galilee, John continued preaching in the Jordan valley. Fearful of his great power with the people, Herod Antipas, Tetrarch of Perea and Galilee, had him arrested and imprisoned at Machaerus Fortress on the Dead Sea when John denounced his adultrous and incestuous marriage with Herodias, wife of his half brother Philip.
John was beheaded at the request of Salome, daughter of Herodias, who asked for his head at the instigation of her mother. John inspired many of his followers to follow Christ when he designated Him "the Lamb of God," among them Andrew and John, who came to know Christ through John's preaching. John is presented in the New Testament as the last of the Old Testament prophets and the precursor of the Messiah. His feast day is June 24th and the feast for his beheading is August 29th."
Fraternally Yours,
Steve Laurvick
Junior Warden
SW Hackett #574
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