CROSSING the LINE

Face - of God - Cistene Chapel (Michelangelo)

Without any doubt, Akhenaten made an awesome statement in drawing a most definite line in the Egyptian sand that would forever set the standard for every human being ever born from that time onwards - even if billions of people since have had no concept that it was, and still is by any reasonable evaluation, a most outstanding and authoritative act of a truly outstanding young man. His TRUST then, as being on a most obvious display, was not based upon the imaginings of any man or men, or upon any superstitious speculation - from any religious determination, such as the religionist of Amen was promoting. For in hindsight, we can now clearly see that Akhenaten's was a TRUST in 'WHAT IS' - and what has - ALWAYS BEEN!

So Akhenaten was eventually proven to have placed his TRUST in a far more genuine understanding - a more bona-fide and provable set of beliefs if you will. All of which now saw the Amen priesthood with a major dilemma - how on earth were they going to explain that all their dire proclamations of doom were now proven as being obviously unfounded? And if Akhenaten's belief was subsequently to have been proven substantial and valid in the face of such emphatic opposition, what was so different about his understanding that delivered unto him such a strong TRUST in what we would in 2008 hindsight proclaim - the obvious? What was the difference that we can today; still witness for ourselves?

Indeed his TRUST was placed squarely in an alternative ‘heaven’ - of what was - and still is - 'WHAT IS' – The ATEN (YAHWEH), no less! We will be delving further into this alternative heaven in subsequent posts - as it is being revealed for our witness.

From where we are now, we can only surmise as to how such astounding conclusions were brought to Akhenaten's attention through his awesome heritage. Whatever the circumstances of his birth; whether he was a purely Hebrew child born outside the palace, and as a baby floating in a basket down a river – plucked by the daughter of Pharaoh for her amusement, or (as this blog favors) was born to the Egyptian Pharaoh and his beautiful Hebrew wife Tiy, we know that he was, as a child; far from favored by his Pharaoh father Amenhotep III.

We also know that his great grandfather Joseph was alive until shortly before his ascension to the throne, and would have been a great influence upon the young lad in his formative years. So what was so different about this young ruler's belief system that brought him to the place to have such an authentic and provable understanding of ‘WHAT IS’, occasioning such unparalleled courage in the face of such determined and threatening opposition? And what can we draw upon in 2008, from his undoubted belief structure?

Many Egyptologists have struggled with exactly what Akhenaten actually believed, as being his worship system. They all agree that he thoroughly rejected Amen as the ‘head deity’ or any deity at all, and replaced him (and all pagan 'gods') with only ONE - indeed; ‘The Aten’, which (presuming we have the pronunciation correct) sounds very similar. They also agree that this belief system had something to do with the solar disc (sun), but why would Akhenaten turn the entire world on it’s collective ear for a second sun ‘god’ with almost the same name? And how does all this fit into what he (as Moses) taught those who followed him out of the place some 57 years later? Indeed, the witnessing of this blog is about to shed some serious light onto such details, that will astound in no small measure - particularly if the reader has been consuming the previous posts, for a few amazing facts of our ongoing witnessing will soon start falling into place in truly exciting ways.

Akhenaten’s worship was NOT towards the sun or any sun ‘god’ as such. Neither was it a religion in any way – binding or otherwise. It was in fact, a recognition and reverence to – none other than – LIGHT itself - but not the sun from whence it beams.

We can see (right and below) that the sun is certainly represented in the stone tablet engravings that still exist today, as depicting the reverence (by Akhenaten and his family) to; THE ATEN. Nevertheless, it is present merely as a physical representation that everyone understands as being the predominant medium that delivers to us; the physical (and spiritual) LIGHT - indeed the very same invisible LIGHT- for every aspect of our existence - being the very same thing that much of our previous witnessing has been about.

However as is obvious; it is not the sun, but the (lines representing the) dual entity that is the stuff of LIGHT, as issuing from the solar disc - being the focus of the reverence on display. In some artifacts, the lines of light streaming away from the sun, are completed at the ends with small hands or other indications of 'support', explaining that it is this invisible power source and energy supply that is being recognised as the supplier and facilitator to a man’s life and every effort. Which also explains why there were to be no idols permitted according ‘THE ATEN’, for how on earth could anyone possibly manufacture any rock engraving or statue that would sufficiently depict or resemble invisible LIGHT?

We will be delving deeper in subsequent posts; into our witness according these amazing details and further 'falling into place' will result. For now, it is very significant to note that Akhenaten's observation towards LIGHT, was not only represented via a (religious style) reverence (as above), but also removed from any religious overtone whatsoever (as below) as being present in the everyday life of the individual - as continually under the nurture of that same over-all power supply - as we have been witnessing previously (to everything that has and is life) - and as directed towards the thankful 'receiver' of such, as Pharaoh Akhenaten clearly demonstrated he was.

Akhenaten and Nefertiti with young daughters - this time playing in LIGHT!

The term ‘worship’ as relating to religion, has over the millennia since, changed quite significantly in understanding - to the point that we now view it not as an ongoing reverence and thankfulness (as we witness above) so much any longer, but rather as basically an action that is designed to keep the object of our worship (Amen, god, Zeus, Mars, Allah, Buddha, Ganesha, Vishnu, Jesus etc.) sufficiently satisfied towards us, in order that we will be in turn ‘blessed’ by his / her / their hands; in the same manner as the worship system towards Amen - for the purpose of keeping him sufficiently happy so that the sun would appear tomorrow, and life would be permitted to continue and prosperity to flourish for another day. And therein lies the evidence of the fundamental difference in the two concepts of 'worship' - between;

A. Akhenaten's 'THE ATEN' recognition and reverence, vs

B. The priesthood's 'Amen' style bondage through religion.

The correlation between Amen 'adherence' with it's chains of bondage upon the Egyptian society and the individual through it on the one hand, and current systems of doctrinal creed around the world today on the other; is more apparent in some of the religions on offer than others, however any reasonable and honest open-eyed witnessing will soon enough reveal that ALL religions the world over, have ever since been founded in some manner or another upon the identical principles, and still adhere to this same premise of requiring adherence in various ways, as being the center shaft around which the rest of the beliefs of the respective creed revolve – similar in many respects to how a wheel operates.

Such formulated concepts according to the various contemporaneous doctrines and persuasions might seem reasonable enough to a dyed-in-the-wool religionist as he sits at the end of years of the respective drip-fed tuition via his family and/or church elders, and his society in general – drenched as it certainly is in the prevailing religious beliefs of the particular culture - as unquestionably derived in it's own peculiarities over time - from the very same original - indeed the Babylonian model that found it's full voice in ancient Egypt.

So the adherents of (say) the Christian follower of 'Jesus' may frown upon the Buddhist's Buddha who may sneer at the Islamic servant of Mohamed, who may laugh at the elephant god 'Ganesha' of the Hindu, who will disapprove of the Taoist Miroku, and the list can go on-ad-infinitum. Even so, all the respective adherents are entirely convinced upon the authenticity and validity of their chosen denomination. This is the stuff that is the alpha and omega of religion as a whole, such as has flourished on the back of the Babylonian original through the Egyptian fulfilment.

Regardless of the peculiar pathway to the relevant creed in which each 'devotee' now finds himself as adherent; has any of these religious followers (as above) ever considered the origins of their respective doctrines and beliefs, such that he finds himself determinedly founding his TRUST upon? He certainly believes he has, yet can still sneer at all the others, who are (not surprisingly) sneering back at him. For all are equally convinced in the utter 'truth' of their creed, and the obvious 'false' of each in the others.

Has the Christian for instance contemplated why he religiously uses the curious identification ‘Amen’ at the end of all his prayers; thereby directing to and celebrating the same Egyptian head deity of pagan origin that Akhenaten rejected? Or maybe where the religious concept of a humanistic ‘devil’, often represented as an evil snake originates? Or for that matter, where we get the notion of a humanoid ‘god’ who looks like a frowning deviate old man (above) with long grey hair and matching beard; or - he being the boss god of a set of three - trinity (godhead), the two others being underlings also of humanesque appearance, with one actually being his own son - to a human mother of course?

Has our religious friend ever considered that the bottomless pit receptacle to which he offers his life-long servitude; being the current Pharaoh/Caesar as he sits on his high chair in Rome, still (after 3000+ years) considering himself as a ‘god’ or (more politically correct) ‘god’s representative’ – or (even) ‘vicar of christ’? Perhaps he would like to explain why it is that one of our ‘holy' pontiff's head coverings is a ‘triple crown’, or papal tiara (below right), proclaiming him to be ‘god of the three heavens - the upper, the middle (earth) and the underworld’.

Possibly he might be interested to learn that the word ‘mayhem’ has it’s derivation in the Egyptian (third of the trinity) god ‘Mehen’, or that the original name for the book of Revelation, being a Biblical foretelling of ‘the end’ – (of the age), was originally entitled ‘Apocalypse’, which as a title; is a derivation from the Egyptian deity of ‘the end’, being the enemy of Amen; Apopohis, who as a snake deity, was determined upon eternal doom and destruction for the planet as a whole. We will be witnessing much more on Apopohis in the next post.

When faced with these and other definitions which we will soon be reviewing, being the very foundations worldwide for presiding religious doctrines, the religionist is quick to offer up a string of formulated explanations in his fervor to separate the obvious (many banded) linkages inextricably tying them all to the pagan Babylonian/Egyptian belief structure that Akhenaten made his momentous stance of rejection against.

He will explain for instance that ‘New Testament’ scripture, was most curiously written by Jews, predominantly reporting on the activities of a Jewish 'Jesus', for the purpose of other Jews to read, yet amazingly was written in - Greek; then translated into English for our (later) use, and translated again a few more thousand times, all the time conveniently omitting the centuries of handling of the thing (in between) by the decisively decrepit pagan Roman war machine, that had only one purpose – to continue to serve the ideals of religious domination in it's quest to control the world's population via it's universal (catholic) dogma - through fortune, fear and force; as conveniently modelled around 1500 years earlier - in (predominantly pagan) Egypt. Even so, he will applaud the absolute infalliblity of 'the WORD of God', without noticing that the thing itself is chock filled with discrepancies, and condemnations inside it's very own pages for the corrupt scribes who; over the centuries and millenium passed the thing down to us.

Even this very day, the head dude of Rome; religionist Caesar himself (left & right) - as he sits in his high chair with the very same stupid grin - that comes from knowing how mesmerized his followers are in religiously and blindly giving their bondaged all - to him; as he still wears the very same stupid fish head ornamentation that 3000+ years ago adorned Pharaoh (L & R below) - whilst he leads his bondaged subservients in prayers to the very same ‘Amen’, who is even today; still the very same head man-god of the very same humanoid ‘trinity’, still hiding behind the clouds in the very same sky and still fighting the very same snake-man enemy - in the service of the very same - planet Earth; as continuing, but only under his very same mercy and good graces, despite his being more inclined to - in the very same manner - punish as a result of his very same anger towards the very same - you and me.

"The more things change, the more they stay the same".

(French proverb)

Billions of people now religiously defer the world over to; “God”, as if it is some kind of name, but even the most ardent practitioner will not be able to muster the courage to claim it as a name at all - to any degree. Nonetheless, nearly 100% of their prayers to this unnamed ‘god’ will culminate in the very same definite and obvious name - ‘Amen’, seemingly because the person praying is conversant in what this ‘Amen’ is all about. The sad thing is that he quite simply has no understanding, and even more sadly; most will be highly offended at any suggestion as according the OBVIOUS witnessing of this blog.

Saddest of all - even if he fails to comprehend any of this; even so - via his own words as repeatedly issuing from his own tongue - he continually echoes upon what authority and foundation stands his religiously based TRUST – most assuredly being the Egyptian head deity of the sun and universal order – fundamentally Amen himself.

The reader of this blog naturally; has no similar misunderstandings.

In the end, Akhenaten at the tender age of 17, by the authority of his ALTERNATIVE TRUST - in 'WHAT IS', not only;

1. Challenged the very tenets of the system of pagan idolatry that was and is (even today) religious bondage - with PERFECT results of vindication, then;
   
2. For a further 17 years explained the proven realities of ‘WHAT IS’, and has always been ‘WHAT IS’; at the same time proving WHAT IS WRONG - with religion; but also;
3. After it appearing that he had been overpowered and removed by an uprising of the same idolatrous pagan structure - of Amen, he then;
4. Returned as one old man and his ‘brother’ (who was NOT his brother at all), to again challenge in no uncertain manner the now fully restored to full power - entire nation of pagan idolatry (to Amen) along with their powerful and wealthy priesthood, and;
5. Proved (again) the ultimate authority of ‘WHAT IS’ over ‘what is supposed by traditionalist superstition’, when he made the superlative statement that one man alone (with his help-meet) - by the superior authority of ‘WHAT IS’ could (again) stand in the presence of, and challenge face on; the entire garnered worldly force possible, and finally;
6. Walked away in safety and assurance and victory - with the entire slave-power-supply-engine of the proud but now devastated and hapless society – leaving the remainder in a monumental and dire quandary - to consider their choices, as still under bondage to; Amen and his priesthood.

Our next post then will focus on what all this astonishing observation has to do with us today - and into the next few years - as per our continued witness into;

'WHAT IS' *and has always been* (YAHWEH)

TRUST in WHAT?

In the previous post, we witnessed that a most fundamental issue in the human make-up is TRUST - obviously in whatever we might select as being worthy of our trust. The problem for us comes from whether that in which we trust is sufficiently authentic and sound to support our expectant result - from our act of placing our trust in (whatever it is that we TRUST).

· The Egyptian Pharaoh generally TRUSTed in the promise that the priesthood of Amen would deliver him into the heavens as the next 'god' by the side of Amen.

· The population of Egypt TRUSTed that the slavish nature of their lives was all for a good purpose, as when the sitting Pharaoh finally ascended into the heavens and stood next to Amen as a result of their bondage to this purpose, he would put a good word in for them, and so their lives would be enhanced.

· The priesthood of Amen on the other hand, TRUSTed that they could continue to string their lucrative ruse along - in the process becoming ever more obscenely wealthy and powerful. So their trust was after a fashion in Amen - to continue to bless them in their promotion of him to all and sundry - or was it in power and wealth?

· Today (like it or not); our TRUST is ultimately in the power of the dollar - to bring us expected creature comforts, and we curiously manage to marry this to a TRUST in a ‘god’ - also working to deliver likewise. But who is this ‘god’, and how do we know that our TRUST in ‘him’ is even being recognised? Or could it be that we have been beguiled by a similar (to above) priesthood in their similar self-serving efforts? After all, many would suspect just this scenario.

Interestingly enough, the particular 'trust' in the third example above - according to the Amen priesthood, did not rely upon the priest ever believing in Amen at all, so long as he could use this name to continue in his practice of the skinning of the guy-in-the-street Egyptian through fear - all for the purpose of the King's promotion - or so he would have all and sundry to - trust!

Again, whether he believed in Amen as the head deity over the other ‘gods’ (and everything else) or not, the result was never in doubt, such that the physical and spiritual bondage through the weapon of fear at his disposal would continue in any masked and cloaked fashion that would deliver the very same desired results. The more fear he promoted, the more profitable his efforts, but he also needed to convince both his Pharaoh and his slave-to-the-religion constituents to maintain some level of trust in and for his particular religious doctrine; as presented.

So much for the pagan theology of ancient Egypt, yet could it be argued that a similar game of disguised generational deception towards the same purpose - of designed servitude to a mythical deity - ultimately delivering much wealth and power to the religionist in his promotion of such things, be continuing until our today? After all, there are many who might agree and also some obvious parallels to consider, and we will herein look at a few.

Akhenaten rejected the first three of the above systems of existent trust, and settled on a TRUST in something entirely different. It is almost too easy to overlook the astounding courage of this 17 year old, in his action of overturning the entire religious environment in no uncertain manner - indeed of the most powerful society in the world. To do so he had to reject all the advice from every powerful and wealthy pillar of society around him, and TRUST an alternative, as previously generated in his consciousness, firstly via his great grandfather Joseph, and most likely also the rest of his 'alternative' family members.

In the developing process, he would surely have had to entertain hundreds of vehement advisers, all assuring him that heading down the path he intended would (without doubt) result in the end of the entire world. He would be responsible for the death of all - including himself and his own family. By his decision, the offence to Amen would be so deep and severe, that in his anger he would release the sun into the underworld - to his carnal enemy Apopohis. Eternal darkness would descend onto the planet, unrelenting winter, and chaos and mayhem would ensure the end result, of an intolerable death for every living creature - all because Akhenaten chose to refuse to continue in the generational placating of the king of heaven - even Amen himself!

Did these (perhaps) thousands of Amen Priests; all warning of the same 'end', have any effect on their newly ascended teen Pharaoh? It is unimaginable just how they could fail to cause him to have second thoughts, and third and fourth. So many elders; all being exalted as understanding the deeper issues of such things as the ‘gods’ could not all be incorrect, could they? Akhenaten must surely have had a few sleepless nights in the process of weighing up between;

A. What he believed from listening as a young child to his great grandfather Joseph and others in the family on the one hand, as against;

B. What the rest of the world believed through the Amen priesthood on the other.

We can sympathise with his (probable) dilemma; “Could these millions be correct and my few parents wrong?”

If so, his decision was going to make him the man who brought 'the end' down upon everybody, but more essentially; if he was correct, what improvement can it possibly make to the (already) most powerful and successful country on the planet? After all; everything is running sweetly for the place as it has been for centuries, and Egypt has been mightily blessed as a great kingdom. So why change a winning formula? Why risk ruining everything for seemingly so little gain? I can hear all the doubts running through his mind, even 3000 plus years later. They would have been for me, at least.

Personally, I don't much care how strongly I believed what my parents had explained to me all my life, it is almost impossible to see myself ever sufficiently TRUST - in order to facilitate such a monumental upheaval by my own hands, by stepping up in the courageous manner of this (just) 17 year old Akhenaten. The warnings of eternal doom vs. an apparently negligible advantage available from such a frightening testing, would I suspect; see me falter at the last hurdle - but all this double-minded flippy-flopping is according to Zootsoup.

Not so with our amazing young man of enormous courage. He made the very boldest of moves in man's history - swiftly and decisively - with the sturdy hand of a seasoned professional. Society was summarily overturned in the one mighty swoop, and the wealthy Amen priesthood was now – entirely out of business. The doors to the Amen temples were bricked up and every idol to Amen was smashed to dust. All services were now outlawed and the name Amen was not again to be uttered around the place. All sacrifices (including child) were immediately outlawed, and power and reverence snatched from the grubby hands of the religionist priesthood and returned to the throne - all by one astounding royal decree.

Was Amen offended - as the religionist army had promised he would be? Maybe he was, but in hindsight it would appear that in his powerful anger, the assurance by the priesthood that he would immediately cease to look after the planet and we would forever lose the solar provider of warmth, energy, growth and life has - not yet occurred. For it is a reasonably safe bet at this time to assume that the sun did in fact re-appear the following morning. Yet it was a period of the deepest concern for those who TRUSTED in the dire proclamations of the religionist priesthood.

The deed was done and the law passed. It was official – Amen was now to be dismissed and ignored as if he never actually existed at all – by law!

SCARY PLUS!!!

What a day it was! But eventually the scariest event of all approached as evening descended, utterly filling the air with the deepest dread, when no-one but the smallest of (now safe from the fire of sacrifice) babies slept a wink - through the following hours of darkened night. Even the moon’s reflected glow of light gave little comfort. "What can we expect?" It was a long darkness, while families held each other in the most solemn of ‘goodbyes’. Tears flowed freely and many fainted in the streets for fear, and some sought the mountains to fall upon them - in the sheer panic of what was to come.

Looking and wailing as the promised and trusted end approached - praying - but now to whom? “Why has our Pharaoh done this to us?” is easily the most common question posed. “Doesn't he understand?” is the second most common question asked. "Everything has been going along smoothly because of our obedience to Amen, so why upset the apple cart in this way – and bring disaster upon us all as a result?”, being the third.

After a few more hours, all eyes turned eastward as the rooster commenced his regular crowing. "Doesn't that bird understand that the morning was not happening this time around?" A few minutes passes, and a faint glow appears in the eastern sky, so what could that mean? "Is Amen or maybe even now Apopohis about to commence tormenting us for our disobedience with just a little glimmer of hope in the middle of all this hopelessness?" But the glow becomes increasingly stronger over the next 20 or so minutes. "How much torment is he going to put us through?"

Then it appears, just as it did yesterday - right over the same spot on the horizon, and extreme jubilation commences to fill the universe. Probably the most welcome appearance in the planet's history of anything in the natural or otherwise – even the sun! "Yes it is the same sun as yesterday!"

RELIEF UPON POWERFUL RELIEF

JOY UPON JOY

**excited cheers fill the universe**

“We have been spared, but for how long?” Relief entwined with doubt = a continuing shortage of TRUST

“What does this now mean for us?” = and even less TRUST

“Heck, it doesn’t indicate that Amen is going to put us through all this pain and dread and panic again and again before he drops the boom on us, does it?” = Ditto to above

“He isn’t so angry to punish us every night for the rest of eternity is he?”= Extra ditto to above

It is somewhat amusing (and very sad) to note how the human heart; as drenched in the bondage (of the individual's spirit) that permeates throughout due the soakings of introduced fear, as witnessed in this likely line of reasoning; is effectively seeking that the ‘end’ happen soon - in order that we can cease being ‘punished’ over and over again - all by courtesy of that very same fear.

Subsequently the Amen religionist army gather in secret in order to hatch out their counter strike response, which will again be based in fear and dread - for such is their only real weapon. “Could it be that this is as a sign that Amen has forgiven us for our disrespect - but only if we repent and return into his worship - before it is too late!!!!!!”

Astoundingly though, the sun continued to appear each morning in exactly the same place - just as it had done day after day for thousands of years - and apparently still does; and just as amazingly continues to set in the evening at the very same corresponding spot on the horizon; just as if Amen hasn't yet noticed that we no longer give him the honor and service and sweat and blood of our labours - along with our children into the fire of sacrifice, according to his current religious demands.

Or do we?

Even so, the sun continued to set and rise for a further 17 years of this amazing Pharaoh's rule, with similar daily blessings in the face of the deeply offended Amen - as if nothing had changed - because nothing had changed; for it, at least.

Yet in 2008, if nothing else; we can now appreciate that Amen is a very forgiving ‘god’, quite unlike the religionist’s previous proclamations. Either that, or maybe he wasn’t ever there - up in the sky behind one of those clouds in the first place. Now we have telescopes, satelites, hubble things and rockets, so perhaps he lives on one of the planets we can see through their use, or hides behind the sun he controls, or maybe in another dimension.

Spooooooky-hidden-scary

The merry-go-round of superstitions and suppositions continue to flourish, even after a further 3000+ years – yes even after science has clearly proven that we really need to be looking at 'WHAT IS' rather than superstitious religious hoo-haa and wacky-woo! But sadly, as we have witnessed previously; even many among the glorified scientist fraternity have likewise long been beguiled by his own religious style mumbo-jumbo and boo-flippy mythological fantasies.

Akhenaten at just 17, in the face of ALL 'intelligent knowledge' and 'understanding' available - was ultimately proven entirely correct - forever! He had challenged the most torrid warnings of doom and destruction face on, and he was proved to come out of it in absolutely perfect vindication. The showdown of; one TRUST (in 'this') vs a second TRUST (in 'that') had once and forever taken place for all to witness - and the results were in.

Nevertheless, such an unparalleled witness of impervious reality as Akhenaten's powerful exercise was, cannot be permitted to go unpunished - and it wasn’t, even if the planned sentence - of assassination never eventuated - when he escaped the 'noose' in the hand of the Amen priesthood.

But can we be certain that we in fact TRUST in the proven 'WHAT IS' - of ETERNAL TRUTH, as per Akhenaten's awesome once and for all demonstration? We would all certainly like to think so, yet now - even today, we have an opportunity to listen and to learn from this man’s non-religious understanding of the non-religious 'WHAT IS', even if this knowledge has been almost entirely snuffed out by the religious opposition to it over the intervening period of many millennia, as per;

## ‘Thus says ‘WHAT IS’ (YAHWEH), “Indeed, those who support Egypt (Amen) will fall. And the pride of her power will come down; from Migdol to Syene, they will fall within her by the sword,” (Ezek. 30:6)

## “Because false messiahs and false prophets (of Amen) will appear and display great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect”. (Mat. 24:24)

## “It was also given to him (Amen) to make war with the saints and to overcome them, and authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation was given to him. All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain. Those who have ears, let him hear.” (Rev. 13:7-9)

So we, in 2008 hindsight, can witness that Akhenaten also had a TRUST. It needed to be a mighty TRUST indeed to single-handedly override the mountainous warnings of catastrophe that descended upon him from every angle – from those who had an opposing trust - being no less than; fundamentally the religious of the entire world. This was going to be the ultimate test of two patently incompatible understandings - about which of the two contenders is found to be grounded in the eternal truth of 'WHAT IS', leaving the other entirely out of the loop.

Ultimately only one source of the two TRUSTS on offer could be found worthy to be regarded as based as forever proven upon "WHAT IS" - which by default indicates the other would be forever proven - 'what is NOT' - and never was! Unfortunately 'forever proven' does NOT translate so well into forever understood - as we will soon be witnessing in up-coming posts.

LINE in the SAND

“Now where it says, 'Today, if you hear the voice of (WHAT IS), do not harden your hearts, as you did in the Bitter Quarrel'. Who were the people who, after they heard, quarrelled so bitterly? All those whom Moses (Akhenaten) brought out of Egypt. And with whom was (REALITY) disgusted for forty years? Those who sinned – yes, they fell dead in the Wilderness! And to whom was it that (LOVE) swore that they would not enter HIS rest? Those who were disobedient. So we see that they were unable to enter for a lack of trust.” Hebrews 3:15-19

'What Is TRUST?'

Akhenaten/Moses succeeded; in eventually drawing a definite 'LINE in the SAND' , so to speak, when he led a relatively small band of ‘followers’ out of the land of his birth and away from the presiding Pharaoh’s dictates based upon religion – whomever the Pharaoh was at the time. But more fundamentally he led them away from the pagan priesthood responsible for the oppressive religious bondage that hung over the place as an ever increasing stench. However in hindsight we can clearly witness the obvious - as referred to above; that the newly freed flock of sheep, after following their utterly outstanding shepherd out of the place; cherished a serious lack of trust in regards the very SOURCE and purpose for their freedom in the first instance.

It would seem obvious that whilst Akhenaten sat on the throne for 17 years as Pharaoh, he was continually faced with a determinedly powerful and hostile opposition, that only sought upon returning to the previous complex system of slavery through religion. Yet 40 years later, now as Moses in leading the few away from their highly oppressive past under such severe bondage, he may well have had to deal with an even more hostile opposition, which despite their newly found freedom from the physical serfdom in the slave quarries, had no intention whatsoever to release their grip on religion - as their way of life.

Indeed, as we read above, “Who were the people who .. quarrelled so bitterly? – Those who .. fell dead in the wilderness .. (so) would not enter HIS rest!” These followers of Akhenaten/Moses – every one of them had a serious lack of trust and therefore became bitter, and through this cherished bitterness, grew in disobedience. As a result they never actually entered the rest (from bondage) that they had been brought out in order to receive – for in their disobedience, they (each one) ‘sinned’ – all for of a serious lack of trust.

So from this opening text, we can clearly see that their problem was actually a 'lack of trust', but what were they being asked to place their trust in? Freedom? Moses? Akhenaten? A new religion? A promise of being delivered into a 'rest'? We will soon explore what this lack of trust was all about, and towards that aim we will continue to look into who these people were and their general mindset.

The 'LINE in the SAND' had been once and forever defined, and the few followers who effectively placed the lives of themselves and families across that line - and in the palm of (quite likely) the most outstanding man who ever drew breath on this planet when they accepted the leadership of Moses/Akhenaten out of Egypt, quite possibly never even recognised who the man they were following was; as being the very same individual who previously sat on the throne as Pharaoh; and was responsible for that enormous 17 year speed hump by the name 'FREEDOM' that Egypt encountered, culminating some 46 years previous.

He was now 63 years advanced on the young Pharaoh who first ascended the throne, and it had been around 46 years since he was last seen walking the hallowed halls of the empire, as still a relatively youthful king. Now he returns as a bedraggled old shepherd with strenuous words of unrelenting demand upon the most powerful king of the planet to release the entire slave labor force of the nation. Yet there is an even more significant reason why he was far from recognisable to anyone of the time, particularly those who eventually followed his leadership - heading away from the prevailing bondage to Pharaoh under the religious priesthood (of Amen).

When anyone sits on the throne of any nation, the vast majority of the population never actually get to see the man with their own eyes. Even today, most of us have to rely upon the TV screen or photos in some publication to have any inkling what President Bush (for instance) looks like, but in ancient Egypt; before the photograph or television was developed, the regular guy in the street, generally had only artwork as carved in stone by an artist to have any idea at all about the appearance of his supreme ruler.

Deformed (effeminate) image of Akhenaten (17) at his ascension

In the case of Akhenaten, we can clearly see by an example of the artwork of the time, that when Akhenaten first ascended the throne (above), he was a teenager with an appearance of being very youthful, healthy and normal, even a very attractive young man. There is no hint in the facial features of any deformation or disease that would cause any unusually grotesque changes. Yet the image still is not quite correct, as the torso seems to have an hour glass shape, indicating a womanly figure, and it even hints of female breasts.

In later images of Akhenaten left for us by the artists of the day, perhaps a few years after the above representation, we find his appearance now to be quite unusual, sickly and not at all manly - even suggesting moronic. There are some examples as punctuating this post, however it is obvious that none of these artefacts have been produced with any level of respect for the man, so surely would have been part of a post rule demolition of the (previous) Pharaoh.

One would be excused for feeling quite some revulsion for the man who supposedly posed for the artist, but how could a 17 year old (as above), after just a few years of the healthiest lifestyle available to anyone at that time, end up with such deformed features as below? Many have been the explanations for the odd features, particularly ‘a very rare bone disease’, and ‘an inclination’ of this particular Pharaoh to delight in seeing himself as a comical representation for the amusement of his people. Both these and all other suppositions are obviously utter rubbish, from ‘experts’ who have absolutely no concept who this most outstanding leader actually was.

The evidence for our witness from within the artwork available today; with the increasingly grotesque images of a deformed and effeminate man, is actually a demonstration of a profound hatred for this exceptional king, who after his 17 year reign, had disappeared before he could be murdered. The rage within the Amen priesthood was deep and concentrated, for they had spent the best part of the previous 17 year reign denied by his laws, of their most depraved self-serving fervor. They remained the most wealthy and influential folk in the land, yet they had been reduced to (almost) ‘illegals’ when their religious activities - of skinning their constituents in the name of Amen was outlawed.

There can be no downplaying the depth of the anger and urgency for revenge such actions created in the cesspit hearts of these self glorifying ‘holy’ people. This was no band of kindly, humble, spiritually focused, subservient gentle-holy-man. They were indeed a band of (previously) worshipped, strutting, pontificating, self-edifying peacocks with egos so over-inflated by generations of wooed and beguiled pharaohs into extending all his relative authority into their grubby hands - in their expressed duties to promote him into the ‘gods’. These men, so deeply corrupted by the obscene wealth and power at their disposal through the levels of fear they commanded; had no doubt that any disruption to their ongoing worldly comforts - brought to them through service to Amen, needed to be met with the most severe punishment imaginable.

Akhenaten is certainly one who severely disrupted their self-serving activities by up to17 years no less. So the intended retribution upon him needed to be substantial as the price for his actions - in denying them as he did. Alas, he escaped the obvious death penalty that hung over him, so how was the Amen priesthood now to punish him as they considered he deserved? His remaining officials were most assuredly dispatched into the granite quarries, or worse - along with his most ardent followers. The remainder of the believers (in ‘The Aten’) were then given the choice to join them with pick in hand and whip on back, or convert back to the previous servitude under Amen.

But what of Akhenaten himself? How was he to be punished for his lawful denial of the strutting, self glorifying peacocks who were the Amen priesthood?

Unflattering and disrespectful - Akhenaten and Nefertiti

After many months of searching without success for the reviled previous Pharaoh in the surrounding wilderness, the only thing left for this murderous bunch to access in order to cause him harm, was to discredit him in any way possible - by defacing his legacy. The obvious starting point for such intention would be the images of the man. Make him appear less of a man, effeminate, deformed, inhuman – indeed even an object of humor. So what we are witnessing with the extremes of the artwork representing this man and his family, is likely the first derogatory cartoon graffiti the world has ever experienced for the purpose of making their previous leader of the most enormous stature ever to ascend any throne - to appear worthless - even comical. It is almost too easy to overlook the undeniably putrid-in-the-extreme levels of disrespect for such an outstanding man that these despicable actions are witness to.

The people of Egypt, now again under an increased severity of servitude to the priesthood of Amen, as under their now up-ramped servitude soon forgot about the previous pharaoh who offered them (even to this day), an indelible image of what freedom from oppressive religious regimen could be like. So they again found themselves groaning under an even more heavy handed bondage - to Pharaoh through religion, but did they have any idea what the slavery was all about, or who it was in the service of? Did they have even the first clue at all; that they had just been nurtured through an extaordinary period of unparalleled freedom via the courageous hands of a monumental historical figure? Or did that freedom appear, in a twisted kind of manner; presenting more as an imprisonment of sorts?

Extraordinary disrespect -Akhenaten - as a woman

It is a well known but curious phenomenon that any prisoner of long standing, once released into the freedom of general society, can find it most difficult to cope with the rules and regulations of his newly realised freedom. He certainly enough enjoys the concept of ‘freedom’, yet is unsure what such a lifestyle expects of him on a minute by minute basis, for even though he is now ‘free’ to go where he pleases and do as he desires with whomever he chooses, yet he really has little recognition according to ‘degree’ and ‘appropriateness’, and therefore his mind is overwhelmed with doubt, and the fear that grows out of this doubt. So he will struggle for a time but in the end, as strange as it seems; many will intentionally commit crime for the express purpose of being returned to the ‘safe’ world of being told when to go to sleep and when to wake up and when to eat - and have it all paid for by ‘society’.

To such a man, as conditioned by extended confinement under duress;

** Imprisonment feels like freedom (from having to work out the details of life), and

** Freedom has all the hallmarks of imprisonment (within the walls of fear of responsibility for actions).

Our witness then, is that it is a reasonably common occurrence for the human mind to being beguiled through fear - to distrust the rules and regulations founded within freedom - for they require a stronger intention upon reason and understanding, as being weighed in the balances in order to make intelligent choice for the best results - and all according to what is lawful. All of which is a far more daunting prospect for the ex-prisoner than those based upon blind servitude to a task master, as harsh as it may be – according to the demands of another. All this goes quite some distance in explaining why it is that even after leading his relatively small band of followers out of Egypt, Akhenaten (as Moses) had to continue in his thankless efforts for a further 40 years to have them release their determined grip upon religion - which was not realised until (through a small portion of) the subsequent generation.

Grotesque image of Akhenaten

Was Akhenaten then, a deformed effeminate moron as the Amen priesthood would have us believe? This blog for the sake of the obvious, states in the most emphatic fashion possible -

******ABSOLUTELY NOT******

He was in fact likely - the most MANLY individual ever to walk the dust of the earth of this planet. It is only in the putrid cesspit that is the mind of the priest of religious determination, that you would find such a vile suggestion.

WHAT OF TODAY?

What does our witness show us today, firstly according those who regard themselves as being the ‘authentic’ descendants of the ‘children of Israel’, as led out of Egypt all those millennium ago by this same man under the name Moses? Do we see strong evidence that they have learned the lessons on offer and taken it to heart – to be free of the demands of binding religious tradition as set up by a man or men? Does our witness behold a people who have left disobedience behind through a strong level of trust in the 'What Is' of Akhenaten's/Moses' teachings, and therefore since been witnessed enjoying their promised ‘rest’? This blog will not be attempting to answer these questions, as clearly the observations all around us speak loudly enough for themselves.

Secondly, Akhenaten's defined 'LINE in the SAND' is still very much existent today. Indeed freedom is still assuredly available, yet unquestionably comes at a price. It is not cheap; the exchange rate being very high indeed; AND it still requires - **CHOICE** - the very same choice!

It can only be purchased at only the full undiscounted price - of ACCEPTANCE - and TRUST. And furthermore, this transaction is only accessible through the most definite pain - of releasing one's tenuous grip upon the bondage that has been in place for so long it feels like a part of our flesh - because it ACTUALLY IS a very definite part of our flesh.

On the other hand, REASON and UNDERSTANDING and TRUTH through TRUST seeks to have us join in and enjoy the ABSOLUTE FREEDOM - which is far more than a pleasant sounding or religious notion - as Akhenaten/Moses offered, when he brought his band of (previous) slaves out from under Pharaoh's harsh bondage, yet they did not ever get to enter and enjoy their promised rest, but why?

The reason was NOT based - as many believe; upon any sense of punishment, that saw them continue to wander the wilderness for forty years until all had died, but rather because they never learned the true purpose of being freed in the first place. Their vision could only extend to their new 'freedom' from the physical slavery in the granite quarries. However they could not manage to transfer this sense of 'freedom' across to the main purpose of the exercise, being a spiritual FREEDOM from religious slavery - to Amen and his religionist priesthood.

** PHYSICAL freedom - they could understand, take hold of = TRUST.
** SPIRITUAL FREEDOM - not comprehended = continued LACK OF TRUST.

Therefore, they never entered their promised REST, because they never - in any way - took hold of their promised REST. For how can anyone enjoy anything if he refuses for whatever reason - to take hold of it?

The ultimate question then; for every living human in 2008 is still the same - and relates directly to this very same 'LINE in the SAND' - leading to the very same promised REST of Akhenaten's/Moses' offer - Can I be sufficiently courageous to reject the warnings and threats of eternal doom (brought to us by the very SAME - Amen priesthood); and follow the leading of the most awesome SHEPHERD of 'WHAT IS' YAHWEH, to step across the line - and then out of the religious bondage that is, even today - spiritual Egypt; and into the promised Religious Land of FREEDOM, as is available on the other side through;

TRUST!