The Holy Trinity and the Hebrew Occult
Kenneth James Solheim Th.B. Monday, April 12, 2004
In Carl
Brumback’s book God in Three Persons, published by Pathway Press in Cleveland
Tennessee and copyright 1959, on page 40 we read this interesting passage…
“Even the Jew sensed some mysterious form of plurality in God, and one of the most unlooked-for passages to encounter this mystery was right in his Shema, that text in which God’s explicit purpose was to teach them His unity. Ex-Rabbi Leopold Cohn, in his The Trinity in the Old Testament (pp.3, 4), brings this out clearly:
“It will interest the reader to know that the most sacred Jewish book, the Zohar, comments on Deuteronomy 6:4—‘Hear O Israel, Jehovah our God, Jehovah is one’ saying, ‘Why is there need of mentioning the name of god three times in this verse?’ Then follows the answer, ‘The first Jehovah is the Father above. The second is the stem of Jesse, the Messiah who is to come from the family of Jesse through David. And the third is the way which is below (meaning the Holy Spirit who shows us the way), and these three are one.’”
In The
Hand Writing of God, a book written by Canadian pastor, lecturer, and
author Grant R. Jeffrey, copyright 1998 by the author and published by Word
Publishing in Nashville, Tennessee, on page 135 we find a very similar passage…
“The Latest English translation of the Zohar also contains fascinating passages revealing the knowledge of the ancient Jews about the Trinity.”
And
“These writings (Targum & the Zohar-kjs) clearly reveal that the Jews…understood that the sacred Scriptures taught…the triune nature of God.” (Jeffrey 124)
The Zohar
So what is the
Zohar? Both Carl Brumback, and forty
years later, Grant Jeffrey makes reference to the Zohar in support of the
Christian Trinity. Carl Brumback refers
to the Zohar as the “most sacred Jewish book”.
Grant Jeffrey says this…
“The Zohar is a fascinating book…” (Jeffrey 126)
“Rabbi Simeon ben Jochai wrote a fascinating passage recorded in the Zohar...”
(Jeffrey 130, paragraph 1)
“Another extraordinary reference to the Trinity is found in the Zohar:”
(Jeffrey 130, paragraph 5)
“This statement from the Zohar is an incredible acknowledgement of the Nature of God,…” (Jeffrey 133)
Before we go
much further allow me to make a simple statement, when you read anything about
the “Zohar” simply think to yourself that the Zohar is a 6 volume collection of
the occult knowledge of the Hebrew from the 1st century after Christ until the
13th. The Zohar is a collection of
magic spells, talisman magic, ceremonial magic and doctrines of demons. But do not take my word for it check out the
Encarta encyclopedia (2001)…
“Cabala (Hebrew, “received tradition”), generically, Jewish mysticism in all its forms; specifically, the esoteric theosophy that crystallized in 13th-century Spain and Province, France, around Sefer ha-zohar (The Book of Splendor), referred to as the Zohar, and generated all later mystical movements in Judaism. See Mysticism; Theosophy.
The earliest known form of Jewish mysticism dates from the first centuries AD
and is a variant on the prevailing Hellenistic astral mysticism, in which the
adept, through meditation and the use of magic formulas, journeys ecstatically
through and beyond the seven astral spheres (emphasis-mine).”
Not only have our Trinitarian friends
(Cohn, Brumback, and Jeffrey) turned to the Hebrew occult writings of the Zohar
for validation for their “Biblical” Theology of the Trinity but Jeffrey goes
much further than simply quote passages from the Zohar, consider,
“We need to carefully read the words of this ancient teaching found in the Zohar regarding the deeper meaning of the mystery of God found in Deuteronomy 6:4…”
(Jeffrey 132)
Do you agree? Should we institute the teaching of the Zohar (the Hebrew occult)
into our Children’s Sunday school lessons to facilitate a better understanding
of the “deeper meaning” of the Biblical Doctrine of the Nature of God? I certainly hope the answer is an emphatic,
“no”. What is wrong with our
Trinitarian friends that they should feel the need to turn to the occult to
validate their Biblical doctrine? In
what Universe is this appropriate?
In 1542 scholar Samuel Ashkenazi suddenly
died in the city of Jerusalem leaving behind a wife and an eight year old son
named Isaac Luria. Luria and his
mother, who were left without a steady means of support, returned to Cairo,
Egypt and accepted the generosity of a wealthy merchant, her brother, Mordecai
Frances. Luria was then raised in the
opulence of a grand palace. Luria’s
mother and uncle saw to it that he was instructed by some of the greatest
Jewish Rabbis and scholars found in Cairo.
At fifteen Luria was considered a
rabbinic protégé. He in turn became a
skillful negotiator and successful merchant and importer in his own rite. (Cairo, at this time, was a center of
commerce with fine silks, pepper and other are spices from the orient, pearls
from the Persian Gulf, grain from the Nile Delta, and fine glassware and metal
work from Europe.) Luria married into
another extremely wealthy and influential family, making an excellent
arrangement. Soon an event would
transpire which would prove to be another epochal moment in his life.
One day, in a Cairo synagogue, Luria
bumped into a merchant caring an ancient manuscript. He was able to persuade his uncle and influential father-in-law
to allow this merchant to import and sell his wares from Spain without tariffs
and taxes in exchange for the manuscript.
This manuscript would become the single-minded obsession of Luria’s
adult life. He removed himself out of
his uncle’s palace and moved into a farmhouse in a village controlled by his
uncle in the Nile delta so as to study this document. He would only return to his mother and wife on the Sabbath and
later return to his isolated studies of the Zohar.
Luria became a master of the Kabbalah…
“His
followers have always deeply believed that he probed the mystical depths of the
Zohar…With his soul soaring into the highest heavens during his nighttime
slumber; he visited the celestial academies of the great sages Bar-Yohai,
Akiva, and Eleazar. And he returned to
earth in the morning with astounding insights about the nature of creation and
great revelations about humanity’s destiny that the heavenly figures assembled
in the divine realm had solemnly entrusted to him.” (Heavenly Powers Unraveling the
Secret History of the Kabbalah, by Neil Asher Silberman published in
2000 by Castle Books in New Jersey)
Luria became one of the most influential
Kabbalist teachers. He was to start a
Messianic movement that led to the disastrous events surrounding Sabbatai Zevi
“which affected all Jewry in the 17th century. They (Lurianic Kabalistic teachings) also
influenced the popular 18th-century Polish revival movement called
Hasidism.” (Encarta
Encyclopedia, “Judaism”, Microsoft 2001)
After studding the Zohar for all of his
adult life, Luria introduced into the Hebrew Religious World View:
Channeling
the teachings of demons masquerading as 1st century scholars.
(Astral-projections into the Astro-spheres (or celestial spheres) was
introduced by earlier Kabalistic scholars whose writings were preserved in the Zohar.) Luria and his followers would journey into
wilderness areas. If a familiar spirit
would reveal unto Luria that a particular mount they encountered was actually
the burial place of a former Jewish scholar Luria would lay upon the mound and
“channel” the teachings of those long dead scholars.
Cult
of the Dead (This was of
interest to me in that Mormon Temple Rituals and Practices are all
ministrations to the spirits of the dead.
The foundation of Mormonism is the Kabbalah.) The seeds of this cult was planted by earlier scholars in Spain
during the 13th century and recorded in the Zohar.
The
Binding of and Exorcism of Evil Spirits by the use of magic rituals, and talismans.
Reincarnation.
Reincarnation, however, was introduced into the Hebrew Religious World
View by a Rabbi who returned from India (he also introduced Hindu meditation to
Kabbalah beliefs both meditation and reincarnation are preserved in the Zohar). At first it was believed that those Jewish
men and women who were unable to comply with God’s command to have children and
to “fill the earth” were reincarnated to allow them to obey God’s command. Luria changed this in that he taught that
the basis of reincarnation was to work and bring harmony into God’s creation
(restoring the “sparks” of creative energy lost due to evil).
Evil
in God. The Bible teaches that God is Love. Luria took the teachings of the Zohar
which taught that everything, all creation, exists in God and expanded on
them. He taught that not only did evil
exist here on earth and therefore in God but also that Evil is an intrinsic
component of God and that the yin and yang principles that good or light can
not exist without the dark or evil is true concerning God.
Evil
is the Catalyst for Creation. The Zohar taught that evil was the catalyst
for creation “The mystical reading of Genesis 1:1 that ‘darkness covered the
face of the waters’ suggest that it was the grasping of the forces of darkness
and prompted God to begin the process of creation…” (Silberman 173,4) Luria
taught that God began by distilling evil into a small point and that creation
is like a hard husk surrounding it and allowed evil to destroy itself (we are
just a pleasant afterthought). Joseph
Smith Jr., founder of the Mormons, taught that it was absolutely necessary for
Eve to sin in order for God’s plan to be completed.
Journeys
into Hell. The Zohar taught astral-projection into
celestial spheres; Luria had many astral-journeys into celestial academies
where he received revelations of the mysteries of the Zohar and the Old
Testament. The Zohar also taught
hypnotic trances in order to uncover past and future lives. Luria went much further; Luria taught that
it was not enough to journey into celestial spheres but that it was needful to
also descend into the depths of hell with all its evil and torment in order to
learn about ourselves and the mysteries of creation, the future of man, the
nature of God, etc.
Do you remember the quote earlier from
Grant Jeffrey’s book?
“We need to carefully read the words of this ancient teaching found in the Zohar regarding the deeper meaning of the mystery of God found in Deuteronomy 6:4…”
(Jeffrey 132)
In John
Chapter 6 the Bible teaches;
“From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed
him. ‘You do not want to leave too, do
you?’ Jesus asked the Twelve. Simon
Peter answered him, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal
life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.’” (John6:66-68; The Holy Bible : New International Version.
1996, c1984 . Zondervan: Grand Rapids)
Can you not imagine the scene if there
had been any Trinitarians there following Jesus? I can imagine a Trinitarian saying to Jesus, “You know Jesus, you
are cool and all, but, man, like, we can find the ‘words of eternal life’ in
even the blackest occult Satanic works.
So, stay cool man, not to worry, You have all those extreme monotheist
around you. They will keep you company. We are off to read the Zohar to better
understand the nature of God.”
Since when do you think that demonic
spirits teach truth? Since the Zohar
seems to teach a trinity then do you think that we should adopt reincarnation,
channeling, astral-projections…? Do you
think that these are truth as well?
Isn’t it more obvious that the trinity is borne out of Satan’s lie? The Bible teaches that God is One and that
there is One God yet Satan comes up to some Christians and says, “hath God said
that there is only one god? No, there
is three gods in one god and the one god is three.”
Just in case you think that Jeffrey and
Brumback are not representatives of Trinitarians allow me to point out that
Jeffrey points out that the Christian Church became interested in the Zohar in
the 1500s. My research indicates that
the Catholic Church was very interested in the Zohar and other mystic
literature of the Hebrews almost 200 years before that.
My own research seems to indicate that
the revelation of the “Holy Trinity” adopted by the Christian church occurred
around the same time as the Hebrew Mystics, that is to say at around the 2nd
and 3rd century after Jesus.
Before Satan leavened the loaf of Christian theology with the lie of the
Trinity both the Hebrews and the follows of Jesus believed what was taught in
the Old Testament in that they believed that God is One and Only One, that He
is unchanging from everlasting to everlasting.
“Your testimonies are wonderful, far
exceeding anything conceived by man; therefore I keep them, the hearing, the
receiving and the obeying of them.” (Psalm 119:129 Amplified)
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