Showing results by author "Joseph Lumpkin" in All Categories

Esaias is the Greek rendering of the Hebrew name, Isaiah, an Old Testament prophet. In the Hebrew Bible, the book of Isaiah is considered one of the major prophetic books, so named because of the size of the books. The books of the major prophets are made up of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. This is not to say the major prophets are any more important, but only that the books are larger than books written by other prophets, called the minor prophets.

The tone of the book is set by a man deeply troubled about the state of his fellow Jews and the world in general. He is reaching out to the Jews in exile in Babylon attempting to explain to them that their captivity and exile is God's response to Israel's pagan worship. Jeremiah frames his metaphors in several ways, hoping the Jews will understand the weight of their sins. He tells them they are like an unfaithful wife, rebellious children, and their infidelity and rebelliousness made God’s judgment inevitable.

Although the book presents the Jewish leaders Judas, Jonathan, and Simon as devout people and has little sympathy for people who favor Hellenization, it must be noted that he nowhere mentions divine intervention. The author must have been a cultivated Jew living in Judah, and can be dated to c.100 B.C.E.

Before you are the books referred to as the Minor Prophets. This portion of the Septuagint contains the books of Osee, Joel, Amos, Obdias, Jonas, Michaeas, Naum, Ambacum, Sophonias, Aggaeus, Zacharias, and Malachias. As the known world became Hellenized, the Jews began to lose their ability to read and write Hebrew. Jewish leaders were alarmed that soon no one would be able to read and teach the Torah. Owing to this, a Greek version was commissioned. The earliest writer who gives an account of the Septuagint version is Aristobulus, a Jew who lived in the second century BC.

History has given us two separate and very different books by the same title. One of these may be the book mentioned in the Holy Bible. If so, it would reveal history and information which would augment and supplement our knowledge of the events from creation to the conquering of the Promised Land. The Books of Jasher includes details about the antediluvian patriarchs, the institution of the 10 Commandments, the establishment of the priesthood, angels, watchers, the flood, the tower of Babel, and many other events mentioned in the Bible.

We will examine the true place of women in the Bible and how translators diminished the place and accomplishments of women by mistranslating words and phrases. We will look at the true meaning of many Bible verses, as well as the complete text of Paul and Thecla, with an eye toward how women were a driving force in religion and family in the early church.

Miyamoto Musashi wrote the master text on being a well-trained and competent soldier-samurai, entitled The Book of Five Rings. This book covers the tactics, strategies, and philosophy of the singular master warrior. Along with Musashi's work, we have provided the Tao Te Ching, one of the philosophical text that contributed to the development of martial arts.

In this little audiobook, containing The Art of War (public domain), The Sayings of Wutzu (public domain), and the Tao Te Ching (translated by Joseph Lumpkin), we will see the tactics and strategies of the greatest minds of China as they struggle to win the external and internal battles for peace.

They call it by a single name, but the beast has many heads and a thousand faces. It is the face of greed, the face of arrogance, the face of tyranny, of destruction, fear, aggression, and domination. Those whom it touches are destroyed and all who embrace it are devoured. Matthew 24, 6-7: And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in diverse places.

This audiobook reflects upon the martial arts as it was hundreds of years ago, before it became popular in the West and people were awarded ranks in astonishingly short periods of time. This audiobook speaks about the true spirit of the martial arts...when it should be used and when it shouldn't; it accurately recounts the history of a number of mainstream martial arts and then goes on to put forth the philosophy of "Christians in the Martial Arts".

Most would agree that the modern church has become a disgraceful place, which still houses an eternal truth. Even when faced with this knowledge it is difficult to break away from our traditions. How do we rescue our own spirituality from the church? We shall cut tradition away from truth and let truth stand on its own. Tradition is a prison housing truth and religion is the hangman of spirituality. Both truth and spirit can be rescued with the courage to question and still believe.

Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and secular mystics all search for a deeper and personal connection with life and spirit. In this audiobook, we will look at all major paths of mysticism and see what marvelous truth and beauty is held within the heart of the mystic. This amazing journey may have a thousand paths, but all will end at the door of the infinite. The mystical experience is an encounter with the deepest truth and ultimate reality in which there is a sense of sacredness so rich and beautiful it cannot be adequately described.

No discovery since the Dead Sea Scrolls has rocked the Christian world like that of the newly translated Gospel of Judas. Imagine Judas, the man all of Christendom has hated for 2,000 years, now portrayed as the chosen one, the martyr, the scapegoat, and the man instructed and appointed by Jesus himself to orchestrate and carry out the greatest treachery of all time. Come with us as we explore the Gospel of Judas. We will attempt to fill the gaps in the text and the theology.

It is because of the Eastern tone of Thomas, the Gnostic theology embedded in Thomas, and the possible pre-Christian influence of the text that makes it so compatible with the philosophy of the Tao Te Ching, so as to make one a fascinating supplement to the other. Both advance inner and intuitive knowledge above all. Both allude to the way to acquire this knowledge through an unwavering search within oneself.

Evil walked the earth when angels fell. Evil stalks us now in disembodied spirits; immortal wraiths once clothed in flesh when angel and women bred; spirits released from their fleshly prisons when their bodies were destroyed for drinking the blood of men. Evil also lives inside of the common man; set free when pride kills reason and eats integrity whole. There is evil that entraps us and evil that tugs from within. But neither have control until we choose to relent.

The Book of Gad the Seer, also called The Word of Gad the Seer, is said to have been written by the Prophet mentioned in 1 Chronicles 29:29. The passage reads: "Now the acts of David the king, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of Samuel the seer, and in the book of Nathan the prophet, and in The Book of Gad the Seer."

El primer y segundo libro de Adán y Eva nos trae una historia apócrifa, escrita en un estilo midrash, detallando el tiempo desde la plantación del Jardín del Edén y la creación de Adán hasta el tiempo de Enoc. Para todos aquellos interesados en Ángeles y Demonios, el diálogo y tácticas de Satán, en su misión por destruir el género humano, será de especial valor. Para estudiantes serios de religión e historia religiosa, este libro es algo que deben tener.

The "Gabriel Vision," also known as the "Revelation of Gabriel" or "Hazon Gabriel," refers to a fascinating archaeological artifact discovered in 2007. A Bedouin shepherd near the Dead Sea in Jordan discovered the stone tablet. The shepherd reportedly stumbled upon a cave containing several artifacts, including the stone tablet.

Los Negros, limpios y untados de aceite, eran así exhibidos para la venta. Como mercancía–hombres, mujeres y pequeños—eran sometidos al frígido escrutinio de los capitanes de mar. Los rechazados, a menudo enfrentaban una muerte inmediata y macabra; descartados como ganado cojo o enfermo. Los elegidos, condenados a las peores miserias infligidas por el hombre, enfrentaban un destino aún más sombrío.

The search for wisdom has been the pole-star of humanity for six thousand years. Religions have come and gone, philosophies have failed, but those surviving wells of wisdom go deep and yield sweet refreshment for the soul.