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| Volume 22 Number 3 March 2020 | Page 10 |
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| Volume 22 Number 3 March 2020 | Page 10 |
Mark McWhorter
In John 7, Jesus had been at the Temple during the Feast of the Tabernacles. During the Feast, the priests kept four huge candelabras lit at night. These candelabras were 75 feet high. Each was made of gold. Each had four golden bowls at the top. When lit, the light could be seen all over Jerusalem. Some believe these huge candelabras were to remind the people of the pillar of fire that led the Israelites out of Egypt and through the wilderness.
When these were lit, men walked in cadence around them while singing hymns and songs of praise. Some Levites would be stationed on the fifteen steps that led into the women’s court and which were considered to correspond to the fifteen psalms of degrees—Psalms 120-134. These Levites played instruments to accompany the songs.
At first of dawn of the next morning, the blasts of the priests’ silver trumpets of the army of God, as it advanced with festive trumpet sound and call, would awaken the sleepers of the city. The people on awakening were to utter solemn protest against heathenism.
In John 8, we are told that Jesus came to the Temple early on this morning. It is at this moment that the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman caught in adultery to Jesus to tempt Him with a decision. Jesus did not fall for their deceit. Jesus embarrassed the men, and then Jesus told the woman to go and sin no more. Jesus next said He is the light of the world. If people will follow Him, they will have the light of life. Jesus was using the symbolism of the huge candelabras to tell the people about Himself. Those present would not have missed the point He was making.
I am glad that Jesus was willing to come to earth and live like a man. I am glad that He fulfilled all the Scriptures. Study your Bible. Obey God, and if any of this is hard to understand, ask an adult to help you.
Mesmerism
Donald R. Fox
The meaning of mesmerism is fascinating. The dictionary defines mesmerism in part as “a strong or spellbinding appeal; fascination; a hypnotic induction.” Have you ever met a person who was mesmerized by another person? Maybe you have seen old newsreels of the 1930s and 1940s when Adolf Hitler was in power. Often, they depicted young women in a mesmerized state with tears flowing down their cheeks. Hitler affected other people the same way, too. Further, part of this spellbinding appeal is observed as swooning. To swoon is defined in part as “to faint, to be overwhelmed by ecstatic joy; to become enraptured as swooning with joy.” Maybe you remember such swooning over Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley or other entertainers.
Sorrowfully and more serious, people can be mesmerized by propaganda, brainwashing and other means of emotional control. With that said, we see the importance of truth and honesty. Unfortunately, we have observed people who are emotionally controlled by political affiliation, religious organizations and the like. Charlatanism can drive part of this control. “No matter how big the lie; repeat it often enough and the masses will regard it as the truth” (John F. Kennedy). “If you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth” (Joseph Goebbels). “Those who are capable of tyranny are capable of perjury to sustain it” (Lysander Spooner). “Propaganda is as powerful as heroin; it surreptitiously dissolves all capacity to think” (Gil Courtemanche). “It’s the unknown that draws people” (E. A. Bucchianeri). “The faster our lives spin, the more things tend to fly apart” (Richard Paul Evans). “Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened” (Winston Churchill).
Steadfastness in the
Truth
Will Keep Us Stable
“Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong” (1 Corinthians 16:13 KJV). “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;) And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works” (Hebrews 10:22-24). “O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles” (Psalm 43:3). “Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, if ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:31-32).
So many people are manipulated into believing lies via propaganda, deception and charlatanism. Sadly, in the field of politics, government and overall religion, the manipulation is outrageously widespread.
[Editor’s Note: “Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1 NKJV). “Now I urge you, brethren, note those who cause divisions and offenses, contrary to the doctrine which you learned, and avoid them. For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple” (Romans 16:17-18). ~ Louis Rushmore, Editor]