MY NAME IS MARK

Hello, my name is Mark and some of you have been acquainted with me since 1978 when I moved to Utah. I have been approached by the Ephraim’s Forum to contribute my thoughts along with yours to the Forum, I assume, so that we might progress along and up this ladder of faith and religion and so that we can evaluate, define and perhaps, decide for ourselves to commit ourselves to some good.

Rather than lead off with some scathing attack, or sniper action, I thought that I would first introduce you to who I am and where this particular perspective comes from. Then you can consult the runes, or have me evaluated by handwriting analysts, or psychoanalyzed, whatever you wish. There are many people with similar backgrounds, but often we differ in our choices that we’ve made. We can learn things from each other and often sharing our thoughts serves as a springboard to our own thinking.

I have lived under United States Presidents Truman, Eisenhower, JFK, LBJ, Nixon, Ford, Carter. Reagan, Bush, Clinton and Bush again. And, I have nick-names for all of them. In presidential photos I notice that no president grinned with his teeth showing until Nixon, but then they all did after him. I watched the Ten Commandments, the movie, in a theatre when it first came out. I was born just after World War II but just in time for numerous others.

After the horrors of WWII, the world was ready for the fantasies of Walt Disney and church on Sunday. I watched Jiminy Crickett, and was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints….cigarette commercials promoted smoking as cool, even healthful. The wars were always in other lands. I was ignorant of the millions of people destroyed in WWII. My beloved prophet was David O. McKay. The Primary colors were red, yellow and blue. Lucky Strike means fine tobacco was countered by the Word of Wisdom by thus abstaining from tobacco, alcohol, coffee and tea. (And Bucky Beaver toothpaste). I believed the gospel of the restored church, was baptized at eight years old, was filled with the H.G., bore my testimony always, looked forward to serving on a mission, and MY MOTHER NAMED ME MARK, because she had been so impressed with church speaker Mark E. Petersen. The branch, subsequently grew to wards and stakes. We, as Mormon children were an extremely small minority in our schools. Pioneer children were among a persecuted heritage, but pioneer children sang as they walked and walked and walked. My middle name is Christopher, because I was born Columbus Day .. (October, which means 8^th month, but now is 10^th, and October 12^th, which was Columbus Day, but now is the convenient Monday in October is a holiday for banks and government … and Cristobol Colon’s popularity has slipped over the years.) (Mine, too, ,,,M.)

Dad’s Marine Corp. medals had lain on his dresser for a while, I probably lost most of them, never imagining what he and mom had just been through. My older brother loved baseball. Along came younger brother, and a trip to the Arizona Temple..didn’t know that Dad made the trip with a broken collarbone cause the car fell on him while getting ready to go from Wisconsin to Arizona. Along came little sister. Mom served in the primary and Relief Society, - Dad worked three jobs. At age ten, I was in love, and wanted to be older. I had a dream, three times, a face. In eleven years, I would marry her, in the Salt Lake Temple.

School, seminary, church, church softball, priesthood, and a mission call to Canada, work, a pilot’s license, a marriage proposal at age 15 and accepted… not in that order, of course.

Older brother got married, then drafted, during Vietnam. I got a high lottery number. I went on that mission. In primary I was told that if I lost something, that I could pray and be led to it. I lost something on the front lawn of the church.. prayed, and was led to it. The mission was like that, too. Married my dream, too.

So, how does such a person, of mainstream Mormonism in subsequent years, marry two more times, have eighteen children, suffer the deaths of four, and have two wives leave him? I’ll leave off of that for now. But, that is who I am. What causes change, how do we evaluate change, and how do we respond to change? What is equilibrium, and how do we achieve equilibrium? Do we live in the NOW? Are we aware of the choices? Do our choices lead us to fulfill our lives in a purposeful completion? How do we arrive at the point of true commitment? What are the tools used by Christian, truly Christlike individuals? If we project our dissidence into the future will we create wars of our own?

These are some of the questions I would like to address in our Forum…after half a century of observation. I call it the Roundabout Way. Looking for true solutions to the dilemmas of individuals, trapped in their own selves by changes and apparent contradictions. Unable to give of their all, with one leg in and one leg out, or fearful of consequences, people are unable to take a stand. “Close, but no cigar.”

Next time I’ll bring out the spears and arrows…but, for now, let me ask you what philosophies you’ve heard lately? Ramtha? And with Hazelwood’s assertion that the world we know will end in May or June 2003…, what would you do right now to prepare???

History

History, makes it’s own compelling case. But unlike philosophical interpretations, history has a factual basis, that is, it is what has happened. Lives people played out across history, the pages are covered with the flesh and blood of real persons. We can search history for treasures, or for warnings, to evade disasters already made in the past. There is more similarity to much of what has transpired in the past to our own time than what we are ready to admit. Almanacs can show helpful trends. I think that by showing the history of Christianity over 2000 years, we can pin point accurately where we are in the scheme of things and how we have arrived to our present position. Therefore, can we also make an informed choice toward where we want to be. Also, credit is due our predecessors, for their travail, and where we are lucky enough to have some record of historical events, God bless the historian, even though we may not like the message.

I hope you will enjoy patiently some of the events of Christianity as it happened through the centuries, and I know it will show relevance to our own century; granted, even historians such as Josephus made errors, but did the best they could do, from the information they could get.

Easter Sunday, 2003 A.D.

I have given much thought to representing myself in print to the readers of Ephraim's Forum. Thoughts cast in print are like cement cast in concrete, and forever after. Someone will judge you by it even long after you may have moved on to loftier ideals. All things having been said, and choices having been made, traditions what they are, what do I hope to accomplish? I suppose I must hope to persuade someone toward understanding and put the world on track, toward that promised land of “milk and honey", toward that "millennium of peace". Believe me, we will come full circle to something called Charity in the end, but most people are not aware of the history, and facts that we should examine, to make sound decisions concerning the future. So, I have decided to begin in the past.

It's pretty clear that Jesus, "having been made a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek", established a church. The Greek word for church, ecclesia, means, "those who are called." Out of this the Italian, chiesa, and French, eglise, the Spanish, eglesia. The English word church, like the Scottish kirk and the German Kirsche, comes from another Greek word, kyriakon, meaning "The Lord's" (house).

It took courage to be a Christian in the days that charged the Christians with setting fire to Rome. Nero had them nailed to crosses and covered with pitch and burned in his gardens as torches by night. Polycarp, aged bishop of Smyrna, was threatened with being fed to the lions, but was also burned at the stake. His final words were, "Lord God Almighty, Father of Jesus Christ, I bless Thee that Thou didst deem me worthy of this hour that I shall take a part among the martyrs in the cup of Christ to rise again with the Holy Spirit. May I be an acceptable sacrifice. I praise Thee, I bless Thee, I glorify Thee through Jesus Christ." (Circa l50 A.D.)

The early Christians refused to worship the Roman emperor and burn incense on his altar. Romans served as soldiers, and Christian leaders did not approve of service in the army. Many things that the Christians would not do, put them at odds with the Romans. They often were at odds with prevalent heathen religions in Rome. They would not go to gladiatorial combats where for the amusement of the crowd, prisoners of war and slaves were forced to fight to the death. They would not go to the theatre because the plays were cruel and coarse. The Christians would not go to the law court since the Apostle Paul had said that when Christians quarreled they should settle things among themselves. The Christians for a long time would not go to war. They kept slaves but permitted them the same rights within the Church as anyone else. Christians would not leave unwanted children out in the woods to die or be picked up by robbers.

Charges were made by pagans that Christians practiced cannibalism, because of the Lord's Supper: "This my body...This wine is my blood." Stories circulated that Christians ate babies, and a story that the Christians worshipped a donkey's head.

Eighty and six years did Polycarp serve Jesus and His Father.

"Among us, said one of the early Christians, "you will find uneducated persons, workingmen, old women who are not able to explain in words the good of our teaching, but they show it in deeds. They do not make speeches but do good works. When struck, they do not strike again. When robbed, they do not go to the law. They give to those who ask of them and love their neighbors as themselves." (Page 27, The Church of Our Fathers, Trial by Fire)

The oldest Christian Church to have been preserved at all was dug up in the ruins of the city of Dura on the Euphrates

River and dates from A.D. 232. The remains of the church have been brought to the United States and set up in the art museum of Yale University. In the front is a baptistry. On the wall behind it under the arch are pictures of the Good Shepherd and his sheep, and also of Adam and Eve." (Page 32, The Church of Our Fathers, Trial by Fire)

Consistently we see that the first Christians did not believe in going to war or serving as soldiers. They did practice baptism, and the Lord's Supper. They did not take brethren to the courts of law. They did follow the Adam and Eve story and tradition. And they did believe in the doctrine of the Gathering. "First for the cup: We thank Thee, our Father; for the holy vine of David Thy servant, which Thou didst make known to us through Jesus Thy servant. Glory be to Thee forever. And for the broken bread: We thank Thee our Father, for the life and knowledge which Thou didst make known to us through Jesus Thy servant. Glory be to Thee forever. As this bread that is broken was scattered as seed upon the mountains and then gathered together and became one loaf, so let Thy Church be gathered together from the ends of the earth into Thy Kingdom, for Thine is the glory and the power through Jesus Christ forever." (Early communion prayer, ibid, page 33)

"Amen" is a Hebrew word meaning, "So may it be." The word was taken without change from the language of Jesus (Aramaic) into Greek and Latin and later into English. Then the deacons served communion. Greek word was "Eucharist" meaning "Thanksgiving."

During the second century the blows fell now and again. During the third century there were two periods of about 50 years each when the church enjoyed almost complete peace throughout the empire. But at the beginning of the third century about 202, and in 250, and 303-304, the emperors tried to crush Christianity throughout the entire Roman world.

Being a Christian took bravery, in an attempt to change the world by balancing evil with good. Not only did Jesus suffer, but also did many of his disciples. They were persecuted, and many doctrinal challenges, such as those with the Gnostics, which resulted in creating a Canon (means a ruler by which to keep things straight), and when a book was taken into the canon it was as if a mark had been put on a ruler.

Arguments with the Gnostic Christians raised the question of how to know who was right. (See the Gnostic Gospels by Elaine Pagels) As Catholic Christians assumed their power in Rome ”through Peter, there was no New Testament• as yet. Little by little the Catholic Church made up its mind on what books to take in and which to leave out of the canon of scripture.

Not until the middle ages was the word "pope" used only for the bishop of Rome. (Canon, or ruler, or standard = Standard works.)

The Church, then in the disputes with the Gnostics made the bishops, and especially the bishop of Rome, the source for the unwritten truth and the New Testament the source for the written. Then also the Apostles Creed; Credo in Deum omnipotentum; not really written by the Apostles but used as a confession of faith for those receiving baptism. (Like LDS Articles of Faith) "I believe in God the Father Almighty...." etc.

The doctrinal and scriptural divergences began immediately after Jesus. Marcion was a scriptorian about l40 A.D. Lived on the coast of Turkey, owned a fleet of trade ships. Very educated, he rejected almost all claims in regard to Jesus and attempts to reconcile the Jesus story with Old Testament type scriptures. He said that the jealous God of the Old Testament could not have been the father of the kind and loving Jesus, and rejected most books attributed to Jesus or Apostles. (New Testament books were actually written much later)

When the Catholic Church, empowered by Emperor Constantine rose to power in Rome. Constantine, who murdered even his own wife while she bathed, as well as others…chose so-called Christianity as the religion for his empire because it was catching on. He is credited with spreading and doing more for Christianity, than any man since Jesus. During his reign,

Christians began to think it was okay to go to war as soldiers. And the beginning of great divergences from Jesus' teachings accelerated.

So, Jesus established a Church, and by all reckoning, its doctrines were to love your enemies, turn the other cheek, give to those in need. Jesus, himself was oft called, “physician, or carpenter, or carpenter’s son. Also, “Rabbi..”. The “Kingdom” of Jesus, was not of this world. “Store up for yourselves, treasures in heaven,” etc. in a short time all aspects of Christianity were questioned. Arguments between Gnostic Christians and arising Catholic lines, causing the Catholics to create doctrine and scripture to not only unity the teachings throughout the Church, but also to refute the claims of others. First the letter of Paul were accepted and the four Gospels and the book of Acts. The other New Testament writings were slower in finding a place and even John’s Gospel had a struggle. So did the book of Revelation, Hebrews, II Peter, Jude, James and the second letters and third letters of John only gradually were marked upon the ruler. (Made standard works) Some of the books considered and omitted were the book of Enoch, and the Apochrypha. The Church, in disputes with the Gnostics, made the bishops, especially the bishop of Rome, the SOURCE FOR THE UNWRITTEN TRUTH, and the New Testament the source for the written!

In the year 250 AD, Emperor Decius came from the north, from the region near the River Danube, he believed that Christianity was weakening the Empire and that a return to the old religion would make Rome great again. In order to stamp out the new religion he required that everyone in the empire should get a certificate from an official, witnessing that the person had sacrificed to the emperor. Some of these certificates have been preserved in the dry climate of Egypt. Death was the penalty for refusal to obtain a certificate like this. The church was caught unawares. Minds were not braced for the trial. Some Christians went to prison before giving in. Some endured torture. Some rushed to sacrifice. Bishops even dragged their flocks to the pagan alsters. Others did something which proved very troublesome. They took certificates without sacrificing. The persecution did not last long, and when it was over, many of those who had failed whished to return to the Church. What should the Church do? Could such offenders be forgiven? The answer given by the bishops in the third century was that they had the power from Christ to Peter and his successors to forgive on earth and it would be forgiven in heaven. The bishops then undertook to forgive the fallen, provided they proved their sorrow by coming before the congregation n sackcloth and with ashes on their heads, this called confession and penance. At first, confession was public before the congregation, later on it became private before the minister or priest.

Some Christians were very angry that the prodigal sons had been forgiven. The strict party went off and started a church of their own which lasted a long time. Three quarters of a century later the emperor Constantine, who by that time had become a Christian, tried to unite this group with the Catholic Church.. the grandchildren of those who had been faithful in the trial would not have anything to do with the grandchildren of those who had failed. The emperor in disgust told the bishop of the strict party to set up a ladder and climb to heaven alone. It happened like that again 50 years later under Diocletian, and another denomination of protest was formed in northern Africa called the Donatrist.

During Constantine the empire became Christian and the monogram of Christ was added to the coins as well as the battle standard of Constantine’s army. “One may wonder how this might be since the early Christians had generally refused to be soldiers. The answer is that ideas had changed. Since Constantine promised to protect the Christians, they could not help wishing him to win and some were willing to help. When al last all enemies were conquered, the Christians hailed Constantine as a deliverer who had been sent by God.” (The Wolf had become a Christian) “Directly, he gave to Chrisian ministers the privileges formerly enjoyed by pagan priests. Churches were to have the same rights as pagan temples. The Christian Sunday was made a legal holiday. Christian bishops were held in high honor and were permitted to travel like senators in government coaches. Churches destroyed in the persecution were rebuilt at the expense of the pagans, and Constantine himself built a number of new churches including Saint Sophia (Holy Wisdom) at Constantinople.” … “The holy books of the Christians, which once were given to the flames, are now bound in purple and inlaid with gold and jewels.”

“A quarrel broke out among the Christians themselves about the relations of Christ, God and the Holy Spirit. All Christians were agreed that God is one. There could be no quarrel on that point. But what was the relation of Christ to God? Although Christ lived on earth in a real body, and really suffered and really died, yet he also really rose from the dead and brought new life to those who trusted in him. Surely, then, he must have been much more than an ordinary man. But if he were God, would there not be two gods? And is not God’s Spirit working in our hearts also God? In which case are there not three gods?”

“In the dispute over the relations of Christ and the Father, the love of Christ was forgotten. Discussion ended in riots.” An aged priest, Arius, at Alexandria, claimed that Christ was indeed more than a man, but less than God. A young deacon in the same church, Athanasius by name – he became bishop … said that the views of Arius would never do. Constantine called a council at the city of Nicea in the year 325AD. Leaders of the Church from all over the world came to formulate a unified doctrine to be taught the world over. They determined when Easter should be. The dispute as to the relationships of Christ and the Father and the Holy Spirit were settled according to the views of Athanasius. Five members, including the aged Arius, refused to sign and were banished. The discussion continued over many years. Banished bishops returned and in turn Athanasius was exiled. Then Constantine died followed by three sons. They fought for the throne and the beliefs of Arian and Nicene groups became all tangled up in their disputes. The victorious side would banish the bishops of the other party. “The day was to come when the Nicene party won out completely and then the emperors, who wished to prevent any more such quarrels, decreed that one who denied the Trinity should be put to death. This law was later to be used against the Unitarians. At that earlier time, however, the bishops were horrified that truth should be defended by the shedding of blood.”All this is from The Church of Our Fathers by Roland H. Bainton, the Westminister Press, copyright 1950.

I believe that many of the answers we seek and questions we now have can be answered by an examination of history.

Do you see any of this that parallels our own time and situation? I do.

America – Uncle Sam

In 1992, the Salt Lake Tribune published a special section of the paper devoted to the discussion of Christopher Columbus. That year, attacks had been made tarnishing the image of the explorer. One of the assertions made was that because of Columbus and of course the subsequent explorers, between six and sixty million natives of the “Americas” were displaced, plundered, killed and their civilizations reduced to ruins. The 2000-year-old Mayan civilization is a prime example.

In investigation of such assertions, I found that the information has always supported the fact of large populations in the Americans. Columbus referred to a large and infinite population. Amerigo Vespucci, who sailed seven years after the 1492 landing of Columbus, under Spaniard Hojeda, said that, “I have found a country more thickly inhabited by people and animals than our Europe or Asia, or Africa”. Also in a volume Four of our Wonder World, Exploration, Adventure and Achievement, page 32, Discovery and Exploration, copyright 1914, it also says that “An account of Vespucci’s voyages, published in Paris in 1507 made a deep impression, and since Columbus had said nothing about discovering a new continent (and indeed he did not suppose or know that he had), men declared that Amerigo Vespucci had discovered a new continent, “wherefore it ought to be called America from its discoverer Amerigo, a man of rare ability, inasmuch as Europe and Asia derived their names from women”. Surely it was fair that man should have his turn. And that is how our continent came to be called America, instead of Columbia. Columbus has the glory, and Vespucci has the name. The name was proposed by a German geographer, who was deeply impressed by the story, which Vespucci told. The Latin name, Americus Vespucius, is commonly used. I might also add that Hojeda (O-hay’-da) who had been with Columbus on his second voyage reached the mainland of South America and found a native village with housed built on tree trunks and connected by bridges. This was so like a bit of old Venice that is was called Little Venice, or Venezuela, which name it still bears. Vespucci discovered South American natives using hammocks, and thought they were very comfortable. “I say that it is sweet to sleep in those nettings; and we slept better in them than in quilts.” But before we get too comfortable in those hammocks and decide that this is truly the way it is, with these continents being named for Amerigo, consider the following - that these lands were already occupied and named by the inhabitants thereof. “From the records of those natives in the POPOL VUH; no other sacred book set forth so completely as the Popol Vuh the initiatory rituals of a great school of mystical philosophy. This volume alone is sufficient to establish incontestably the philosophical excellence of the red race. “The Red ‘Children of the Sun’, writes James Morgan Pryse, “do not worship the One God. For them that One God is absolutely impersonal, and all the Forces emanated from that One God are personal. This is the exact reverse of the popular western conception of a personal God and impersonal working forces in nature. Decide for yourselves which of these beliefs is the more philosophical. These Children of the Sun adore the plumed serpent, who is the messenger of the Sun. He was the God Quetzalcoatl in Mexico, Gucamatz in Quiche, and in Peru he was called Amaru. From the latter name comes our work America. Amruca is, literally translated, “Land of the Plumed Serpent”. The priests of this God of Peace, from their chief center in the Cordilleras, once ruled both Americas. All the Red men who have remained true to the ancient religion are still under their sway. One of their strong centers was in Guatemala, and of their Order was the author of the book called Popul Vuh. In the Quiche tongue Gucamatz is the exact equivalent of Quetzalcoatl in the Nahuatal language; quetzal, the bird of Paradise; coatl, serpent- “the Serpent veiled in plumes of the paradise-bird!” (taken from Manly P. Hall’s, Masonic, Hermetic, Qabbalistic and Rosicrucian Symbolical Philosophy, page CXCIV ML, 1977).

The essential quintessence and crux of the whole matter herein, is that America, is Amaruca. The Continents were both named and occupied, when the gold was plundered, and when conquistadors were greeted, by natives, as returning bearded white gods.

To make you even more, unsure of your facts, there’s a new book out, called 1421 the Year China discovered America, by Gavin Menzies. Menzies, a retired British submarine commander and historian, lays out how a massive Chinese fleet of junks, each with a crew of 1000 and five times larger than Columbus’s tiny ships, reached the east coast of North American, foraged their way down the east coast of South America, up the west coasts, even up the Mississippi and into the San Francisco Bay area, and colonized.

Having presented the native position on the name of America, as Amaruca, which is substantiated by many artifacts and stonework of Quetzalcoatl, let’s move on to Uncle Sam. How did we get the name Uncle Sam for the U.S. government? In the “Our Wonder World”, Vol. X. page 18: During the war of 1812 our government had a contract with Elbert Anderson to furnish army supplies and the inspector appointed to pass on the goods was a jolly man know as Uncle Sam, his name being Samuel Wilson. He inspected the boxes and if they were all right marked them with the letters “E.A. – U.S.”, the initials of the contractor and the United States. When the marker was asked one day what these letters stood for, he jokingly replied, “for Elbert Anderson and Uncle Sam”. This was spread as a good joke, and it became common to refer to all packages marked U.S. as belonging to Uncle Sam.

To quote the tribune book report on “1421” by John Keahey, “Many of us reared in the Western World and ingrained in Euro-Centric culture, customs and traditions, often do not look beyond the conventional western wisdom that Columbus or earlier Europeans, discovered the New World.” To that I would add that the European invasion of the Americans uprooted and supplanted, renamed and retraditionalized, a living culture all ready existent in Amaruca. New England, Little Venice (Venezuela), Columbia are examples of that time. Admittedly, some cultures in Amaruca had become degenerate, resulting in bloody sacrificial rites, and following the left hand path to necromancy and idolatry.

Some Calendar Facts:

The word, “Month” came from the word “Moon”. The cycles of the moon repeat over time. The sun, the seasons, the weather as well. For a long time, when knowledge was lost, no one tried to fit days and months and years together, they ran into trouble. Full moon to full moon is about 29 ½ days. Days do not fit evenly into years. The moon travels around the earth between 12 and 13 times a year.

The priests of ancient Babylon worked out a calendar which had 29 days in some months and 30 days in others. Their year at first had 12 months in it, but it was several days too short. Soon the months had slipped out of place in the seasons…to keep the months from slipping too far out of place in the seasons, the priests put an extra month in the year every two of three years. The early Greeks had a calendar much in the year every two of three years. The early Greeks had a calendar much like the Babylonian calendar. So did early Romans. But in Rome politics began to have something to do with the calendar. Whenever the priests did not like someone who was elected to an office, they would make his term short by not putting an extra month in the year even if it was needed. On the other hand, they put in extra months even when they were not needed, to make the terms of some officials longer.

When Julius Caesar became the ruler of Rome, the calendar was badly mixed up. Caesar decided to throw out their moon-month calendar and start over. He asked some astronomers to help. For the new calendar they borrowed the idea of the year from the Egyptians. The Egyptians had worked out the length of their year by watching the bright star Sirius. Their year began when Sirius appeared in the eastern sky at dawn. It was 365 days long.

Caesar’s astronomers decided that a year should be 365 ¼ days long. They decided to have 365 days in a year for three years, then, every fourth year they would have a leap year with 366 days in it.

Since they had decided not to have true moon months, they could make the months any length they pleased. They chose to divide the year into 12 months of about the same length. It was easy to see that they could have five 31-day and seven 30-day months. The Roman thought that odd numbers were lucky. To get an extra 31 day month, they took a day from one of the 30 day months – February.

One of the 31-day months was named July in honor of Julius Caesar. When Augustus Caesar became emperor a few years later, the month after July was named for Augustus. But is was only a 30 day month. Another day was taken from February, and February was left with 28 days, except in leap year.

Our months have come down unchanged from the time of Augustus Caesar. Their names are from Latin words. Our weeks too are like those in Caesar’s calendar. The plan of leap years was followed for 1,600 years, by that time the dates had slipped a little out of place in the seasons. Trouble was that the year is not quite 365 ¼ days long. Caesar’s calendar put in leap years too often. Pope Gregory decided to correct the mistake. He called in an astronomer and a mathematician to help him devise a better rule for leap years. We still follow the Gregorian rule that was worked out: If a year’s number can e divided by 4, it is a leap year unless it ends in 00. Even then it is a leap year if it can be divided by 400.

To put the dates back in place in the seasons, Pope Gregory moved them up 10 days, October 5 of 1582, the year of the change to the new calendar became October 15^th.

Some countries were very slow to accept the new calendar. The English-speaking countries did not use it until 1752. By the time of the old calendar was so out of step that the dates had to be moved up to eleven days. Many people thought that they were losing 11 days out of their lives. There were great meetings at which the cry was, “Give us back out 11 days”. At the same time January 1^st was made New Years day. Before that time the year had begun on March 25^th. (Hence it was that October was the eighth moon, November was the 9^th, December the 10^th month, etc.)

With this calendar dates stay in their proper places. Many nations still have their own calendar. Christian year 1976 was Hebrew year 5736, Islamic year 1395, Chinese year 4674…etc. I have heard that the Mayan calendar was close to our own.

Amaruca, "Land of the Plumed serpent."

Dear Forum members: I wish to express a view toward historical data concerning the western hemisphere and the white man's

befuddlement of it. The most recent invasion of the Americas by European monarchies has continually propagated lies and cover-ups so that events as they actually occurred are obscured and poorly perceived by generations of Americans. Let's begin to set the record straight concerning the conquest of the western hemisphere.

First I wish to dispel the myth cast in first grades everywhere, the origin of the name "America."

In this hemisphere the natives worshipped one represented as the god Quetzalcoatl in Mexico, Gucamatz in Quiche, and in Peru he was called Amaru (the name representing the "plumed serpent"), from the latter name comes our word America. Amaruca is, literally translated, "Land of the Plumed serpent." The priests of this god of peace once ruled both Americas. All the red men who have remained true to the ancient religion are still under their sway. One of their strong centers was in Guatemala, and of their order was the author of the book called Popol Vuh. (See page CXCIV, "The Secret Teachings of all Ages, by Manly P. Hall)

Amaruca became America (not a derivative of Amerigo Vespucci). In the Quiche tongue Gucamatz is the exact equivalent of Quetzalcoatl in the Nahuatl language; quetzl, the bird of paradise; coatl, serpent -- the serpent veiled in plumes of the paradise bird! From north to south it is the land of Amaruca. North, south and central natives consider themselves Americans.