Psalms Code III The Secret of the Lord Almanac of Mankind Savasan Yurtsever Psalms Code III The Secret of the LORD Almanac of Mankind The Ark of the Covenant Savasan Yurtsever ISBN-13: 978-1463744106 ISBN-10: 1463744102 2 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. About This Book Psalms Code III ISBN-13: 978-1463744106 ISBN-10: 1463744102 Published in July, 2011. This book is the intellectual property of its author and is protected by international copyright laws. © Copyright 2011 Savasan Yurtsever All rights reserved. Contact: savasanyurtsever@hotmail.com Website: www.psalmscode.com Scribd: www.scribd.com/savasanyurtsever Feedbooks: www.feedbooks.com [Just do a search for “Savasan Yurtsever” without the quotes] Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 3 Bible and Koran translations used in this book: Psalms and the Bible King James Version The Koran The Holy Qur’an Translated by M.H. Shakir Published by Tahrike Tarsile Qur’an, Inc., in 1983. & The Quran with Annotated Interpretation in Modern English Translated by Ali Unal Published in 2007. © Copyright 2011 Savasan Yurtsever All rights reserved. Website: www.psalmscode.com Contact: savasanyurtsever@hotmail.com 4 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Table of Contents Foreword Introduction Psalms Code Psalms Code I II 30 52 66 128 198 206 324 449 6 Psalms Code III 29/1929 39/1939 68/1968 107/2007 Afterword Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 5 Foreword Psalms, through keywords and key phrases, foretells all major [“landmark”] world events bound to happen on earth between years 1901 AD and 2050 AD within the verses of its 150 books, chapters. Psalms is the 19th book of the Bible. Year 1939 events are reported in the 39th Psalm [19th book + 39th chapter = 1939], year 2011 events are reported in the 111th Psalm and so on… Psalms is a book of prayer, but more than that, it is an almanac of mankind for events past, present and yet to happen! To illustrate it further, take the key phrase “perfect heart” found in the 101st Psalm, that points to year 2001 events - the year of the 9/11 attacks. 6 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The 9/11 attacks, as we have illustrated in both Psalms Code II and Psalms Confirm the Koran, were an “inside job” carried out by top government officers, hinted in the 101st Psalm with the key phrase “Whoso privily slandereth his neighbour, him will I cut off”! Another key phrase “froward heart” [and “perfect heart”] mentioned in the same Psalm alludes to the first self-contained artificial heart implanted in a human. Psalms 101 2 I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way. O when wilt thou come unto me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. 4 A froward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person. *** July 2 [2001] – The world's first selfcontained artificial heart is implanted in Robert Tools. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 7 Robert L. Tools Robert L. Tools (July 31, 1942 – November 30, 2001) was the world's first recipient of a fully self-contained artificial heart called AbioCor. The operation took place on July 2, 2001. He survived for 151 days without a living heart. Dr. Joseph Fredi at Saint Thomas Hospital suggested the experimental procedure based on his knowledge of a research project by Abiomed. While recovering from surgery Robert had the chance to enjoy some of his favorite past time hobbies fishing and dining out. While at Jewish Hospital Robert became renowned and received press throughout the world on shows like, Cooking Network, Dateline, Jay Leno, CNN, and most other news networks/shows. As a result of Roberts press, he received visits from Lt. Governors, The Oak Ridge Boys, and Muhammad Ali. While meeting with Ali, Tools earned the name, "#1 Champ" because of his fight to survive. Due to continued complications of abdominal bleeding and a stroke Robert died November 30, 2001. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Tools - Accessed July 2011. 8 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. In Psalms Code, we have identified the following concepts: • The Three Layers of the Psalms On the first layer, Psalms [“Tehilim” in Hebrew – “Praises”] is just a book of prayer, of praises to the LORD. On the second, it is an almanac for events bound to happen on earth within the year in question. On the third layer, it is an almanac of events bound to happen in the heavens! • The Jubilee Year The Jubilee Year is the year of LORD’s visit to earth! The LORD visits the earth every fifty years! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 9 • Zion Zion of the Bible is synonymous with planet Mars. • Mount Zion Olympus Mons on Mars is the “Most High” mountain in our Solar System. Biblically speaking, it is the “dwelling” place of the LORD. In Psalms Code II, we have identified the following: • The Jesus Layer of the Psalms The fourth and the outmost layer of the Psalms is the Jesus layer that speaks of Jesus, and reveals the hidden Jesus of the era at hand. 10 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. • The Jesus Cycle The 1,900 year long Jesus Cycle that crowned Jesus a total of 22 [22k “gold”] lives between his [first] birth to Virgin Mary and the end of the cycle in year 1919 AD. A brand new 24 [24k “fine gold”] lives awaits Jesus within the upcoming new Jesus Cycle due to be launched in year 2019 AD that the 119th Psalm points at. Each letter of the Hebrew Alphabet that appears in the 119th Psalm numbers and defines the character, the duty and the context of the total 24 lives that await Jesus in his long journey ahead. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 11 • The 22 Incarnation Characters of Jesus In both the Bible and the Koran, the LORD declares as thus: “I’m the first, I’m the last”. The first and the last incarnations of Jesus were destined to be lived exclusively by the LORD of Hosts Himself! The first incarnation of Jesus, “Immanuel” [Hebrew for “the LORD is with us”] was lived by the LORD in the body, under the name “Jesus Christ”! 12 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The 11th and the middle [out of a total of 22] incarnation character of Jesus was Yusuf Khas Hajib – the author of “Kutadgu Bilig” [“Wisdom Which Brings God”] – the earliest Turkish text known. Yusuf Khas Hajib was born in 1019 AD. Kutadgu Bilig was released in year 1069 AD. The 19th incarnation of Jesus was Rasputin. The entire book of Psalms starts with the verse that reads “Blessed is the man that walketh…” The very first verse of the Book of Psalms that points to year 1901 AD events highlights Rasputin who traveled, on foot, from Tyumen Oblast, Russia to Jerusalem and all the way to Jerusalem and Athens, Greece in a journey he launched in year 1901! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 13 He was murdered by the order of Tsar Nicholas II – the very man Rasputin had helped healing the internal bleeding of his son. The 20th incarnation character of Jesus was Lenin. Rasputin was “made” “the head of the heathen” – simply put Lenin who at the time was the leader of the Bolsheviks, Soviets, the atheists known as Communists. Lenin ordered the execution of the Tsar and his family, who had ordered the murder of his previous incarnation, Rasputin, only 19 months earlier. 14 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The 21st incarnation of Jesus was Royal Raymond Rife, an American doctor, who tried to save mankind from all deadly diseases. The 22nd and the final incarnation of Jesus was Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, a Turk, who had a name and a lastname that were composed of 19 letters, who launched the Turkish War of Independence on May 19, 1919 – ten days prior to the Total Eclipse of the Sun or year 1919. Ataturk’s life and career were all networked by the sacred number 19 – the number of the LORD! • The Twin Nature of Vatican and Tibet Vatican is the capital, the headquarters of the Catholic Church, whereas Lhasa, Tibet is the home of Buddhist school of thought. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 15 Pope is the ruler, the head of Vatican; the Dalai Lama is the head of Tibet. Throughout history, both Vatican and Tibet fought hard to remain as city-states with a flag and ruler of their own. While the Vatican was under the siege of the British Army in year 1904, Vatican was under the siege of the Italian Army the same year. Most, if not all, verses of the Psalms that allude to Vatican happen to co-allude to Tibet just the same. • The Duality of Years Both the Psalms and the Koran hint the existence of a 1,900 year [Jesus] cycle within their verses. The LORD creates everything in pairs. 79th chapters of both the Psalms and the Koran reveal events bound to happen in year 1979 AD [and 79 AD – a year 1,900 years prior to 1979 AD!] 16 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Same is true for any chapter of the book of both the Psalms and the Koran. The 22nd Psalm, for instance, reports events bound to happen in both year 1922 AD and 22 AD! Even the years have their pairs. The pair of year 22 is 1922; the pair of year, say, 1989 is 89 AD! The 79th Chapters of both Holy Scriptures report the eruption of Mount Vesuvius near Rome that occurred in year 79 AD – the year the Roman Emperor Titus stepped up to the throne in Rome! The very evil man who destroyed the Holy Temple of the LORD, after performing sex in it with a whore on a Torah Scroll and killing 1.1 million Jews - in year 70 AD! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 17 • The Tunguska Explosion The Tunguska Explosion that occurred on June 30, 1908 in Tunguska, Russia was worth a thousand atomic bombs all fired at once. The reason of the historical blast is explained in the 8th Chapters of both the Psalms and the Koran that point to year 1908 [and year 8 AD]. The LORD landed or hovered above Tunguska in His “Name”, in His spaceship [the alternative definition of the Hebrew word for name – “shem”] to meet the “son of man” in person. 18 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. • The Ancient of Days and the Son of Man The “son of man” was no other than the Dalai Lama of the day, Thubten Gyatso. He was on Mount Wutai, China, 1,500 miles south-east of the Tunguska site by bird flight, on the day of the historical explosion of astronomical magnitude. A dominion was given into his hands by the “Ancient of Days” – the LORD of Hosts. Whoever the Dalai Lama, the “son of man” handed that dominion would rule the world forever as the dominion at hand was special this time – one that “will not be destroyed”. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 19 Just nine days before the Tunguska Explosion, on June 21, 1908, William Woodville Rockhill, the US Minister to China, visited the Dalai Lama on Mount Wutai. The Dalai Lama handed a religious scroll, a “thangka” to Rockhill – handed over the dominion! On the very day of the Tunguska Explosion, on June 30, 1908, Rockhill wrote a letter to President Roosevelt about his historic visit to Dalai Lama. • The Son of God As we have exhibited in our year 1902 study in Psalms Code II, a “Son of God” is always coronated or inaugurated to the throne seven years after an 88-year syzygy – a planetary alignment. 20 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The “Son of God” [a.k.a “Son of the Sun”] is a title only, not an anatomical, or a biological fact! A Son of God had to have an army at his disposal – a mandatory qualification expected of the Messiah of the Hebrews, and would rule not only his nation but the world as well. The 1894 Syzygy gave birth to a new Son of God here on earth – namely King Edward VII who stepped up to the throne in year 1901 – seven years after the 1894 Syzygy. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 21 A year later, in year 1902, he was coronated as the “King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, Emperor of India” – hinted in the 2nd Psalm with the key phrases and verses that read: “I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my son; this day I begotten thee”. The year 1982 Syzygy gave birth to another “Son of God” here on earth. George H.W. Bush [the 41st President of the United States] was inaugurated to the office in year 1989, seven years after the 1982 Syzygy, hinted in the 89th Psalm that reads: 26 He shall cry unto me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. 22 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 27 Also I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth. • The Menorah The Temple Menorah is a depiction of our inner solar system and a syzygy of the planets therein. The center candlebrum is called “Shamash”, Hebrew for “the Sun” The center candle represents the sun, is lit first and is used to light all the other candles. The first candle from the center candle stands for planet Mercury. The second candle from the center candle represents planet Venus and finally the outermost candle represents our planet earth. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 23 The planets are depicted in their same order of appearance within our Solar System, aligned to one another and to the sun in the center on a straight line across the arms of a Menorah. The construction of the [Temple] Menorah was declared exclusively by the LORD unto Moses. All in all, the [Temple] Menorah is a clear depiction of a syzygy [planetary alignment] of three planets [Mercury, Venus and the Earth] along the sun. When we count the candelabra on the Temple Menorah we end up with number seven: a syzygy plus seven years - the mandatory heavenly formula for the birth of the Son of God! 24 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. In Psalms Confirm the Koran, we have exhibited how the Psalms and the Koran are a pair. The messages and the verses of the two Holy Scriptures were interlocked to one another ever since their inception. While the 69th Psalm reports the first man on the moon, the 69th Sura/Chapter of the Koran reports the attributes and the location of hell! In other words, the hell, the pit that awaits mankind is hinted to be located on not some oblivious corner of the universe, but right on the moon – on the far side of the moon. Incidentally, the far side of the moon hosts the deepest “pit”, the deepest crater in our Solar System! The South Pole-Aitken basin located on the far side of the moon marks the most low, the lowest point in our Solar System and is hinted to be the future pit of hell for us all! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 25 The “Most High” spot in our Solar System, on the other hand, Olympus Mons located on planet Mars is hinted to be the future location of the promised “heaven”, the paradise! While the 63rd Psalm alludes to the assassination of JFK [hinted to have been promoted and executed by the Soviets/the Russians] and the first flyby of Mars [accomplished by the Soviet Union/Russians], the parallel Sura/Chapter, the 63rd Sura/Chapter of the Koran is titled “Hypocrites”. 26 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The hypocrites mentioned in the Koran allude to none but Russians, the Russian Jews who are hinted to be the ones behind the crucifixion of Jesus Christ just the same! Those who would found an atheist empire they would call the Soviet Union in 1922 AD – the 1,900th commemoration year of Jesus’ crucifixion on the cross! The Jesus Cycle is 1,900 year long. Precisely 1,900 years after the crucifixion of Jesus, in 1922 AD, the Russians founded the Soviet Union – an atheist empire that knew no God! The people who crucified Jesus on the cross were determined not to stop there! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 27 The LORD creates everything in pairs. The ancient Egyptian obelisks had to be built in pairs. Jesus and John the Baptist were a pair. Their moms Virgin Mary and Elizabeth were cousins. They both were raised in Tibet, the “uphill road”, the capital with the highest elevation in the world, in Lhasa, Tibet as declared in the 90th Sura/Chapter of the Koran titled “The City”! Finally, in Psalms Code III we take the challenge and seek after the long-lost Ark of the Covenant and attempt to determine its most likely current location based on the data provided in Psalms – a Holy Scripture written 3,000 years ago! 28 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. This page is intentionally left blank. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 29 Introduction to Psalms Code The Secret of the Lord Almanac of Mankind Introduction The world is full of lost souls, some who would even steal, beg or borrow just to witness a proof of God's existence. The Bible, according to most, is nothing but the "tales of the old", and God "does not exist". What if the Bible is not the "tales of the old" but an almanac of mankind for events past, present and yet to come? Let's illustrate our thesis, then. Let's pick three random years within the 20th century - say, 1982, 1992 and 1993. 30 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. What happened on earth in 1992 that made the news? 1992 is the first year since 1922 without the Soviet Union and the Cold War, as at the end of 1991 the Soviet Union denounced itself. What else? 1992 is also the year Michael Drosnin found about Bible Codes during his visit to Israel. The Energy Policy Act of 1992 came into effect the same year, paving the way for the utilization and promotion of alternative energy resources across US. 1992 is also the year a breakthrough in "in vitro fertilization" (used for test tube babies) has been developed in Brussels, Belgium. The Bible, mainly the Psalms, through "keywords" and "key phrases" have foretold the mentioned events thousands of years before they actually "came to pass" before our very eyes! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 31 The events of year 1992 are foretold in Psalm 92. Psalms is the 19th book of the Bible. 19th book + Psalm 92 = year 1992 events! The same logic applies to any year in the 20th, or the 21st century. Wonder what will happen in year 2009? Look up to Psalm 109! How about year 1982? Study Psalm 82! Three layers cover the verses provided in Psalms. On the first layer, the verses are just prayers, praises to the Lord. On the second layer, the same verses serve as an almanac of events bound to happen on earth within that year. The third and the final layer unfolds the galactic events that await on God’s Calendar for the year in question. 32 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Year 1982 To interpret the 82nd Psalm, one needs to look above - to the heavens. A rare event took place up in space in 1982, called a “syzygy”, which, according to the 1974 best selling book “The Jupiter Effect” was expected to trigger several catastrophes on earth within the same year. Who is the audience God addresses in this Psalm? We know that the audience is at a meeting with the Lord in the “congregation” (assembly). The meeting is held for God is to judge and analyze the performance of the audience. “Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High” reads the verse, hinting that the meeting is held among God and the children of God. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 33 Yet, a verse later we are given another clue: “But ye shall die like men and fall like one of the princes.” If the audience is the children of the Most High, how could they die like men? The answer is simple: the audience is neither men, nor the children of God, but planets! Planets that “walk on in darkness”. Planets that “know not, neither understand”, and “shall die like men, and fall…” – exactly as the verses define! The year is 1982; when all the planets gathered on the same side of the Sun, forming a planetary alignment, a syzygy – a “congregation”. The verses illustrate The Lord as the Sun, and the planets as “the children of the most High”. The entire Psalm hints us the importance and the effect of planetary motions on human lives. 34 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The verses also warn about the death of a prince in 1982 with the line “… fall like one of the princes”. The King and the former Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia died on June 13, 1982. Year 1992 1992 marks as a pivotal year in the history of mankind. It is the first year without the Soviet Union and the Cold War since 1922, as the 1922 Treaty on the creation of the Soviet Union has been denounced on December 12, 1991. The Bible refers to the Soviet Union as “workers of iniquity”. This comes as no surprise since Russia, in her Communist days, promoted and favored the rights and needs of the working class. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 35 “All the workers of iniquity shall be scattered” reads the verse, and so it was! The union of Soviets was no more. The verse is found within Psalm 92; the Psalm that is spared for the events of year 1992. Not anywhere else! 1992 is also the year Michael Drosnin found about “Bible Codes” during his visit to Israel and Eliyahu Rips (one of the world's leading authorities on group theory - a field of mathematics underlying quantum physics). Rips used a computer program to locate the codes in the Torah. The 92nd Psalm refers to the computer as an “instrument of ten strings” (a computer keyboard used with ten fingers!), and explains the usage of computer on the Bible with the phrase “upon the psaltery”. 36 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The next verse that follows reads “O Lord, how great are thy works! And thy thoughts are very deep. A bruitsh man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this” in reference to the spectacular nature of the Bible Codes and the holy wisdom behind it. The phrase “fresh oil” used in Psalm 92/Verse 10 alludes to alternative energy sources, or “The [US] Energy Policy Act of 1992” which aimed at: “restructuring energy markets in the United States. Energy efficiency programs, the use of alternative fuels and renewable energy, research and development programs, and various tax credits and exemptions are mandated in the Act. Programs that have the greatest impact on petroleum”. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 37 The 11th verse within the 92nd Psalm that reads “Mine eye also shall see my desire on mine enemies, and mine ears shall hear my desire of the wicked that rise up against me” refers to the establishment of United States Strategic Command by George Bush, in, yes, year 1992: "On June 1, 1992, President George H. W. Bush established the U.S. Strategic Command out of the Strategic Air Command (SAC) and other Cold War military bodies, now obsolete due to the change in world politics." Last but not the least, the 92nd Psalm/13th verse that reads “those that be planted…” refers to the development of the “intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI)” method of single sperms directly into female eggs ("those that be planted") by Andre van Steirtegham in Brussels, Belgium, in 1992 – a breakthrough in “test tube baby” pregnancies. 38 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Year 1993 The year 1993 is remembered for: 1) World Trade Center Bombing 2) The Great Flood in U.S. 3) Inauguration of a New President into the White House - Bill Clinton The Bible, namely the 93rd Psalm, foretold all three events thousands of years before they actually took place and “came to pass” before our very eyes! The 1993 World Trade Center bombing occurred on February 26, 1993, when a car bomb was detonated below the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 39 The Bible calls the World Trade Center “the world” in the first verse, and explains how it “is stablished, that it cannot be moved”, hinting that no major damage would be caused by the attacker who “is clothed with strength”, “wherewith he hath girded himself” in allusion to the yellow Ryder van that was loaded with the 1310 lb. bomb used in the bombing. 1993 is also the year Tel Dan Stele was discovered in Israel – the archeological proof of King David. The second verse “thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting” alludes to King David, the author of most of the Psalms. The discovery of Tel Dan Stele proved once again that a king named David is not a fictional character, but a king who actually did reign in Israel. 40 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The third verse is self-explanatory: “The floods have lifted up, O LORD, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves.” The Bible is clearly warning the sons and daughters of Jacob regarding a most deadly flood bound to take its toll across the US in year 1993. "The Great Flood of 1993 was among the most costly and devastating ever to occur in the United States, with $15 billion in damages. The hydrographic basin affected covered around 745 miles (1200 km) in length and 435 miles (700 km) in width, totaling about 320,000 square miles (840,000 km²). Within this zone, the flooded area totaled around 30,000 square miles (80,000 km²)[2] and was the worst such U.S. disaster since the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, as measured by duration, square miles inundated, persons displaced, crop and property damage, and number of record river levels. In some categories, the 1993 flood even surpassed the 1927 flood, at the time the largest flood ever recorded on the Mississippi." Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 41 Finally, the keywords “throne” and “reigneth” allude to a new president in the White House; namely Bill Clinton, the 42nd President of the United States. Bill Clinton took office in 1993 and served as a president till 2001. Conclusion The sub-title of the book is inspired by Psalms 25:14: "The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant". The covenant the Lord has signed with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is not an exclusive contract, or an agreement but an almanac, a history of events promised to the Patriarchs and their seed directly by the Lord! 42 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The Psalms Code - The Secret of The Lord studies several years and exhibits how, through keywords and key phrases, the mentioned events were foretold in the Bible roughly 3,000 thousand years before the events became real! No software or knowledge of Hebrew is required to unlock the codes found in the Psalms! Anyone, living in any nation can witness and harness the codes with their own Bible written in their own language. In God's Eyes, the future as we know it is nothing but past. It's all history to Him. The future events up till the year 2050 A.D. are given in Psalms. The first Psalm refers to year 1901 A.D., and the last one to year 2050 A.D. events. Why the year 2050 A.D.? The answer may be hidden in the 90th Psalm, “a prayer of Moses the man of God”: Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 43 9 For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told. 10 The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away. 1990’s was the last decade of the 20th century and the 2nd millennium. The 90th Psalm refers to year 1990 A.D. When we add “threescore years and ten” to 1990, we end up at 2060 A.D. (1990 + (3 x 20) + 10). If we add “fourscore years” to 1990, we end up at 2070 A.D. (1990 + (4 x 20)). The last Psalm points to 2050 A.D. Moses highlights 2060 and 2070 A.D. “… 44 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. For it is soon cut off, and we fly away” reads the verse. Moses makes a reference to an event that will happen in 2060 or 2070 A.D. which may cause a remnant among the people of Israel to “fly away”, to leave earth, or be taken up by the Lord in order to pursue life on another planet; possibly on planet Mars - the biblical Zion, as hinted in several verses in the Old Testament. Last but not the least; year 2070 is a “syzygy” year – the year of another grand planetary alignment that takes place in the heavens every 88 years. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 45 We should also note that each astrological age lasts about 2,150 years. The earth is currently in the Age of Pisces. In year 2150 A.D. (a hundred years or a century after the year 2050 A.D. the last Psalm refers at) the Age of Aquarius will start. Since there are 12 signs in the Zodiac, a full cycle of ages is completed in about 25,800 years (2,150 x 12) forming a “Great Year” or “Platonic Year”. 46 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Age of Aquarius Each astrological age is approximately 2,150 years long, on average, but there are various methods of calculating this length that may yield longer or shorter time spans depending upon the technique used. Unlike sun-sign astrology where the first sign is Aries, followed by Taurus, Gemini, Cancer, Leo, Virgo, Libra, Scorpio, Sagittarius, Capricorn, Aquarius, and Pisces, whereupon the cycle returns to Aries and through the zodiacal signs again, the astrological ages proceed in the opposite direction or order. Therefore, the current age, which comes before the Age of Aquarius, is Pisces. It has been said that we are currently shifting into the "Aquarian Age". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Aquarius Accessed May 3, 2009. *** Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 47 Though it may be hard to predict what will happen in the upcoming years based only on the given data in the verses, by the end of the year in question, it will be a breeze to interpret what the verses have referred to all along. The Psalms - an almanac (of mankind) it is, and one precious and brilliant one indeed! Much beyond that, it is THE "living" PROOF of GOD! An event mentioned in a certain Psalms is likely to take place within the associated year almost 99% of the time. But certain events show and prove that an event mentioned in Psalms could also "realize" itself within a maximum of three years from the year or Psalm of reference. Isaiah 46: 9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, 48 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: Finally, contrary to our expectations, a particular event signaled in the Psalms may actually never happen at all. The above verses make clear: “My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure” says the Lord. It is God who decides what will happen next! Not us, the mankind, or our expectations. Deuteronomy 32: 39 See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. 40 For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live for ever. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 49 There is a God. The LORD of Hosts is His Name. There is a proof. Psalms (inspired by the Most High roughly 3,000 years ago) is His gift to us, the mankind. There is no doubt. Psalms enlists all major world events bound to happen on earth between 1901 AD and 2050 AD. There it is. There it was. There it will be! 50 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. This page is intentionally left blank. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 51 Introduction to Psalms Code II The Secret of the Lord Almanac of Mankind / Diary of Jesus The Jesus Cycle The 19th book of the Bible, the book of Psalms starts with the verse “Blessed is the man that walketh… “. Rasputin traveled, on foot, from Tyumen Oblast, Russia to Athens and Jerusalem the year the first Psalms points at – in year 1901. The entire 150 books of the Psalms, at its fourth and final layer, are devoted to him – to Immanuel, Jesus Christ. 52 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. In other words, the very first verse of the Book of Psalms declares the dedicated deity and the official address of the 3,000 year old verses. It is no other than Jesus Christ - the man who died not! Jesus Christ: the supernatural, the phenomenal, if not the extraterrestrial. As his biblical name “Immanuel” clearly defines: “The Lord” who “is with us”! The earth was LORD’s gift to him. What we call “history” is, was and still is being written for him, at certain times, exclusively by him. Jesus called on the LORD, and the LORD heard him. When Jesus died or was murdered, it was the LORD of Hosts who saved him and brought him back to life. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 53 Jesus never died a permanent death. His deaths were only temporary “leaves of absence”. He was in one extreme condition or state of “savasana” [corpse pose] when he died. He was destined to be born again. He, almost, incarnated at will. He called on the LORD, and the LORD saved, “delivered” or “redeemed” him; hence the name Jesus [“Yahweh saves or rescues”.] Death was not an obstacle for Immanuel. He would die but would soon be brought back to life again exclusively by the LORD of Hosts. In a way, the entire globe, the planet earth may be pictured as Immanuel’s playground. He lived several lives in it, and at certain times, all at once! He wrote, personally staged and played the lives of certain key figures of human history all by himself. Without a shadow of a doubt, he still does! We are talking about a man who is at least 3,000 years old by our [human] standards! The fourth and final layer of the Psalms is 54 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. devoted entirely to Immanuel [“Lord is with us”] – Jesus Christ! In the Bible, the LORD is depicted with the number 19 [the figure that is made of two numbers: 1 and 9 – the “first” and the “last”]. “I am Alpha and Omega” declares the Lord. In our decimal system number one marks “the first” and number nine marks “the last” numeral! One plus nine makes a ten. One “and” nine [“Alpha and Omega”] make a “19”! As declared in Isaiah 44:6 and Revelation 22:13, 19 is the number of the LORD (“first” and “last”, “Alpha” and “Omega”; 1 and 9 or 19), just as 22 is the number of Jesus Christ “His Anointed”. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 55 The number 19, the holy number that represents the LORD (“the first and the last”) unveils all secrets hidden from man! The Koran is also known for its “miracle of 19” – the network of the number 19 across its chapters and verses. Note that 19th chapter of the Koran starts with 19th letter of its Hebrew equivalent – letter Kaf. The verses and the messages of the Psalms and the Koran are interlocked as we shall reveal in this book and in another book titled “Psalms Confirm the Koran”. Jesus, who started his first life as “Immanuel” [“The Lord is with us”], a name and a life lived exclusively by the LORD of Hosts, founded and established Christianity. He was born once a century, once a generation, and he made himself known usually at the 69th or 70th year of the century at hand, 77 years from the first Jubilee Year of the following century. 56 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Following his crucifixion, he lived four more lives in the consecutive four centuries that followed. At his sixth life, he incarnated as Prophet Mohammed, delivered the Koran and founded Islam. As hinted in several verses of the Psalms, especially in the 19th Psalm, Prophet Mohammed was the 6th incarnation of Jesus Christ. He not only established the religion of Islam, but ruled the Arab nation and was the Commander in Chief of their army as well. When Islam was revealed six centuries after the birth of Christ, the ultimate sin Jews committed against the LORD was not totally forgotten. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 57 Parallel to the Christian faith, Jesus was the LORD but only at his first and last lives. Attempting to crucify the LORD may be the very reason why certain verses of the Koran portray Lord’s anger at the Jews, even though the abomination Jews committed was already six hundred years old by our standards when Islam was first revealed [610 AD]. Considering the fact that a thousand years is only a day on LORD’s calendar [Psalms 90:4], six hundred and ten years would only mark a 0.61th of a day [the golden mean, or the golden ratio!] for the LORD who still held his fury against the Jews when Islam was introduced. The 19th book, 19th chapter of the Bible, Psalms, illustrates Islam. Incidentally, the 19th book, 19th verse of the Koran, the holy book of Islam, signals the birth of Jesus! Moreover, the 19th book of the Koran is titled “Marium”, or “Mary”, the virgin who begot Jesus! Coincidence? We most certainly do 58 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. not think so! At the end of his miraculous series of lives, Jesus was all. He started his journey, his first life as a Jew [Jesus of Nazareth] lived exclusively by the LORD of Hosts Himself. Centuries later Jesus continued his cycle of lives as an Arab [Prophet Mohammed], and ended it as a Russian [Rasputin], a Jew and a Turk [Lenin], an American [Royal Raymond Rife] and finally the “Father of Turks”, a Turk [Mustafa Kemal Ataturk]. Ataturk marked the final, the 22nd incarnation of Jesus Christ. He was a “name” reserved to be lived by the LORD of Hosts Himself alone. Ataturk founded the Republic of Turkey, and was the Commander in Chief of the Turkish Army and the first President of the Turkish “race”. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 59 The final four lives of Jesus, the 19th to 22nd incarnations, were “worn” all at once; commemorating his spectacular series of lives with one stunning finale! At the end of the 1,900 year incarnation cycle, by the end of the 19th year of the 19th century, the past, the present and the future of human history were already co-written exclusively by the LORD of Hosts and His Anointed Jesus Christ alone! The new 1,900 year cycle is due to start again in year 2019, at exactly 100 years after the end of the first one that halted in 1919! 60 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Again, the new “Jesus Incarnation Cycle” is destined to be launched precisely in year 2019 – the year the 119th Psalm points at, 19 years after the end of the second millennium following Jesus Christ’s first birth! As the “First” and the “Last” the LORD of Hosts will “live” the very first new life of the new “Jesus Cycle” once again! Just like the previous cycle, the new cycle will offer yet another 22 new lives for Jesus Christ, plus two more – a total of 24 lives! The 119th Psalm, is the longest Psalm, and is the longest chapter of the Bible and hosts several clues as to what to expect in each and every upcoming life Jesus will reveal himself in from year 2019 and onward. The word “LORD” is mentioned 24 times within the 119th Psalm that points to year 2019 events, hinting the start of 24 brand new lives destined for Jesus within the new “Jesus Cycle” of 1,900 years. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 61 Each letter of the Hebrew alphabet signals and numbers the lives that await Jesus in his long journey ahead and hint the context, the duty and the character of each therein. Nine years from now, the LORD will make Himself known as a human, manifested in a human body, under a new name, in an office or duty He already has “sworn in” here on earth in year 2010. The very first life of the new 1,900 year incarnation cycle of Jesus shall again be “lived” or “worn” exclusively by the LORD of Hosts Himself. 62 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The LORD is nigh! Just nine years from now, mankind will have an “twice in a 1,900 years” chance to witness the start of a new Jesus Cycle and behold the glory of the LORD manifested in a human body with their own eyes! Though it may sound as science fiction to most, the key phrases hidden in the Psalms have kept signaling the fact for the past 3,000 years. The true message of the Psalms was either ignored, kept secret or remained unsolved. There is no verse in the Psalms that claims that Jesus had just one life, lived it and died and that was all there is to it. To the contrary, the final, the fourth and outmost layer of the Psalms belongs to Jesus and is there to reveal the hidden Jesus of the era at hand. What we call “history”, in a way, is the biography of Jesus. The almanac of mankind is nothing but the diary of Jesus! The man who died not! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 63 Psalms 118: 17 I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD. 18 The LORD hath chastened me sore: but he hath not given me over unto death. 64 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. This page is intentionally left blank. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 65 Introduction to Psalms Code III The Secret of the Lord Almanac of Mankind The Ark of the Covenant The 29th, 68th and 107th Psalms [that are 39 Psalms apart from one another] reveal the whereabouts of the Ark of the Covenant. The number 39 is not a significant number in the Bible as the numbers 1, 7, 10 and 1,000 are. Why the number 39? What does the number 39 has to do with the Ark of the Covenant? 66 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Number 39 and the Ark of the Covenant… Titus, who would destroy the Holy Temple of the LORD and carry the Ark over unto Rome, was born in year 39 AD in today’s Italy. Incidentally, Italy sits on the 39th parallel. The international [phone] dialing code for Italy is 39 as well! Contrary to the public belief that the Ark of the Covenant is hidden in Jerusalem, Israel or Axum, Ethiopia, and the Menorah, in Israel, the Psalms direct our attention at today’s Italy. We are advised to follow the footsteps of St. Peter for the location of the Menorah, and his brother St. Andrew for the exact whereabouts of the Ark of the Covenant! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 67 Both the 29th Psalm and the 68th Psalm direct our attention to Italy for the location of the Ark of the Covenant. A total of 39 copies of the Book of Psalms [the very book that reveals all secrets known to man – including that of the Ark of the Covenant] were found at the Qumran/Dead Seas Scrolls site – the site that is hinted to have once hosted the Ark of the Covenant for a brief period in year 68 AD that the 68th Psalm points at. Is Italy the current location of the Ark of the Covenant? We need to skip 39 Psalms to find the answer! The 107th Psalm that points to year 2007 events unveils it all! 68 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Year 1929 “The voice of the LORD”, the term that describes the Ark of the Covenant appears seven times in the 29th Psalm that refers to year 1929 AD events. 1929 was the year Vatican signed the Lateran Treaty with the Kingdom of Italy. The Lateran Treaty put an end to the “Roman Question”, the imprisonment of the Pope within the borders of Vatican and enabled the Pope to be the head of state of Vatican, hinted in the 29th Psalm with the key phrases: “The LORD will give strength unto his people; the LORD will bless his people with peace”. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 69 A sum of $91.7 million was paid to Vatican in return for the papal lands the Italian government seized 59 years before the year 1929, hinted in the 29th Psalm with the verses that read: “Give unto the LORD, O ye mighty, give unto the LORD glory and strength…” Romans invaded Jerusalem twice, first in 63 BC and later in 70 AD. Could they have carried the Ark to Rome, along with the Temple Menorah depicted on the Arch of Titus? Simply put, contrary to the common belief that the Ark of the Covenant is kept in Axum, Ethiopia, the 29th Psalm hints us to seek the Ark of the Covenant within the borders of Italy! Where about? How about St. Peter’s Basilica, the landmark of Vatican and the Catholic Church? 70 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. St. Peter’s Basilica depicts a seated deity, namely St. Peter, the first Pope, symbolically embracing the crowd within the St. Peter’s Square, hinted in the 29th Psalm with the key phrases: “The LORD sitteth” and “the LORD sitteth King for ever”. Saint Peter’s Basilica is “the patriarchal basilica of Constantinople”, today’s Istanbul, Turkey. Incidentally, Constantinople [Istanbul] is the home to another magnificent church – the “Hagia Sophia” [“Church of the Holy Wisdom of God”] which was “the largest cathedral in the world for nearly a thousand years.” It was Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the 22nd and the final, the Omega incarnation of Jesus Christ [that was bound to be lived exclusively by the LORD of Hosts Himself] who ordered the Hagia Sophia to be turned into a museum. When? In 1929! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 71 The “patriarchal basilica of Constantinople” [Istanbul, Turkey] is no other than Saint Peter’s Basilica of Vatican, Rome. Though Istanbul [Constantinople] and Rome sit hundreds of miles apart from another, the churches built at the heart of them were meant to share the same bloodline, share the same significance for Christianity. In between the lines, the 29th Psalm that points to year 1929 events, the year the Vatican signed the Lateran Treaty with the Italian government, hints us that the Ark of the Covenant “the voice of the LORD”, a term repeated seven times in the 29th Psalm, may once have been kept in either “beauty of holiness”, St. Peter’s Basilica or the Hagia Sophia! 72 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Saint Peter was the “Prince of Apostles”, the first Pope. Just like Jesus [who announced that he would build his church on the rock of Peter], Saint Peter was crucified on a cross but upside down. He is believed to have been born in year 1 AD, and have been crucified on the cross in 64 AD [67/68 AD to some accounts] – by the order of the Roman ruler who claimed to be the “Lord” – Nero! Though the Romans tried to exterminate the founders of Christianity, they failed to stop them making Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire, the capital of the Christians! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 73 Again, St. Peter’s Basilica depicts a seated deity, namely St. Peter, the first Pope, symbolically embracing the crowd within the St. Peter’s Square, hinted in the 29th Psalm with the key phrases: “The LORD sitteth” and “the LORD sitteth King for ever”. St. Peter was the 2nd incarnation of Christ [the LORD sitteth, the LORD sitteth King for ever”]. Saint Peter was a fisherman. His brother Andrew was also a disciple of Jesus. St. Peter’s Basilica [the patriarchal basilica of not the Vatican but Constantinople!] was built on the spot Saint Peter was buried at. Incidentally, Saint Peter’s brother Saint Andrew was the patron saint of Constantinople! [Istanbul, Turkey] 74 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. A total of eighteen “LORD”s are mentioned in the 29th Psalm. As we have studied in Psalms Code II, the 19th Psalm that depicts Islam hosted a total of six “LORD”s within the entire Psalm. The six “LORD”s mentioned within the 19th Psalm pointed at the sixth incarnation of Jesus, namely Prophet Mohammed, the Jesus of the sixth century - the Prophet and the Founder of Islam. The keyword “the LORD” that appears a total of eighteen times within the 29th Psalm highlights the 18th incarnation of Jesus ever since his [first] birth to Virgin Mary! And it is no other than Pope Pius XI, who signed the Lateran Treaty with the Kingdom of Italy in year 1929 that the 29th Psalm points at! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 75 Put simply, the 29th Psalm reveals the identity of two separate incarnations of Jesus – the 2nd and the 18th incarnations. The 2nd incarnation was St. Peter – the first Pope, the rock on which Jesus has declared that He would build his church on! Again, as the 29th Psalm reveals [a total of eighteen “LORD”s are mentioned in its verses], the 18th incarnation of Jesus was no other than Pope Pius XI [the Pope of year 1929 – the year the Vatican signed the Lateran Treaty with the Kingdom of Italy] who served as a Pope between the years 1922 and 1939! Pope Pius XI died of a heart attack in year 1939 hinted in the 39th Psalm with the key phrases: “my heart was hot within me” and “remove thy stroke away from me”. The entire 39th Psalm is reserved for him and reports his final hours. 76 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. In other words, a total of five incarnations of Jesus were alive within the late 19th, early 20th centuries! All at once! Pope Pius XI [1857-1939] marked the 18th incarnation of Jesus, Rasputin [1869-1916] the 19th, Lenin [1870-1924] the 20th, Royal Raymond Rife [1888-1971] the 21st and finally Mustafa Kemal Ataturk [1881-1938], the final and the 22nd! The seven “The voice of the Lord”s mentioned in the 29th Psalm allude not only to the Ark of the Covenant [through which the LORD spoke to the Israelites during the Exodus], but also to the seven-branched Menorah. When we visualize the text of the 29th Psalm as a picture we can easily identify a depiction of the Menorah within the 29th Psalm. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 77 We have three “The voice of the LORD”s on one side, a “He maketh them also…” in the center and three more “The voice of the LORD”s on the other side – a clear depiction of the Menorah! In between the lines, the 29th Psalm, the Psalm that points at year 1929 events – the year Vatican signed the Lateran Treaty with the Kingdom of Italy, hints us to seek the Menorah in Rome, especially in Vatican! All in all, the entire 29th Psalm highlights the holy temples, holy shrines of the LORD. First, the St. Peter’s Basilica [Vatican], then the Hagia Sophia [Constantinople]. Not without a reason, of course. Interestingly, St. Peter’s Basilica is the “patriarchal basilica of Constantinople” whereas St. Peter’s brother St. Andrew is the patron saint of Constantinople [today’s Istanbul, Turkey.] 78 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Contrary to the public belief that the Ark of the Covenant is hidden in Jerusalem, Israel or Axum, Ethiopia, and the Menorah, in Israel, the Psalms direct our attention at today’s Italy. We are advised to follow the footsteps of St. Peter for the location of the Menorah, and his brother St. Andrew for the exact whereabouts of the Ark of the Covenant! For starters, the “Menorah” [depicted within the text of the 29th Psalm] is strongly hinted to be located in Vatican! The Ark of the Covenant, on the other hand, “the voice of the LORD” [mentioned seven times in the 29th Psalm] is hinted to be once housed in either shrine – the Hagia Sophia [Istanbul, Turkey] and/or the St. Peter’s Basilica [Vatican, Rome]. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 79 Again, St. Peter’s Basilica is the patriarchal basilica of Constantinople whereas the brother of St. Peter, St. Andrew was the patron saint of Constantinople [today’s Istanbul, Turkey]. St. Andrew’s relics were transported from Constantinople to Italy back in year 1208! Finally, year 1929 was the first year that the Gregorian calendar [the calendar that was introduced by a Pope and a doctor] emerged as the globally adopted calendar for the entire world! Vatican not only declared its independence from the “Romans”, the Kingdom of Italy in year 1929, but accomplished another historic feat - replaced the Roman “Julian” calendar with that of a Papal one all around the globe! 80 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Year 1939 The eighteen “LORD”s mentioned in the 29th Psalm allude to Pope Pius XI, the 18th incarnation of Jesus Christ – the very Pope who signed the Lateran Treaty with the Kingdom of Italy in year 1929. Pope Pius XI died of a heart attack in year 1939 that the 39th Psalm points at – hinted in the 39th Psalm with the verses, keywords and key phrases that read: Psalms 39 [Points to year 1939 AD events – the year Pope Pius XI passed away. Pope Pius XI died of a heart attack.] 3 My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue, Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 81 4 LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. 5 Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah. 10 Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand. 11 When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah. 13 O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more. 82 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The 29th, 68th and 107th Psalms reveal the whereabouts of the Ark of the Covenant. The mentioned Psalms are thirty-nine chapters apart from one another. When we move forward 39 Psalms from the 29th Psalm, we end up at the 68th Psalm. When we add 39 to the 68th Psalm, we end up at the 107th Psalm. Year 1968 At first sight, the 68th Psalm [that points to years 68 AD and 1968 AD events] reveals nothing significant about the Ark of the Covenant. However, when we attempt to form one long sentence with the last few words of each verse of the 68th Psalm, here is what we end up with: flee before him 1 Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 83 at the presence of God 2 As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. exceedingly rejoice 3 But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice. rejoice before him 4 Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before him. God in his holy habitation 5 A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation. in a dry land 6 God setteth the solitary in families: he bringeth out those which are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land. march through the wilderness 7 O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness; Selah: the presence of God, the God of Israel 8 The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God: even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel. 84 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. when it was weary 9 Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful rain, whereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance, when it was weary. thy goodness for the poor 10 Thy congregation hath dwelt therein: thou, O God, hast prepared of thy goodness for the poor. great was the company of those that published it 11 The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it. she that tarried at home divided the spoil 12 Kings of armies did flee apace: and she that tarried at home divided the spoil. her feathers with yellow gold 13 Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold. it was white as snow in Salmon 14 When the Almighty scattered kings in it, it was white as snow in Salmon. an high hill as the hill of Bashan 15 The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan; an high hill as the hill of Bashan. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 85 the LORD will dwell in it for ever 16 Why leap ye, ye high hills? this is the hill which God desireth to dwell in; yea, the LORD will dwell in it for ever. the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place 17 The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place. the LORD God might dwell among them 18 Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them. daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation 19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah. the issues from death 20 He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto GOD the Lord belong the issues from death. the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses 21 But God shall wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses. 86 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. people again from the depths of the sea 22 The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan, I will bring my people again from the depths of the sea: and the tongue of thy dogs in the same 23 That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies, and the tongue of thy dogs in the same. in the sanctuary 24 They have seen thy goings, O God; even the goings of my God, my King, in the sanctuary. among them were the damsels playing with timbrels 25 The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; among them were the damsels playing with timbrels. The new home of the Ark of the Covenant would be Rome, the Roman capital where it would be kept “in the sanctuary” – “in the same” that later would home the Holy Grail in it – the cup that was used to collect and store the blood of Christ at the Crucifixion. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 87 and the tongue of thy dogs in the same 23 That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies, and the tongue of thy dogs in the same. in the sanctuary 24 They have seen thy goings, O God; even the goings of my God, my King, in the sanctuary. Again, the sanctuary, the new home of the Ark of the Covenant would have “the blood of thine” – the blood of Jesus, the holy cup, the Holy Chalice or the Holy Grail! and the tongue of thy dogs in the same 23 That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies, and the tongue of thy dogs in the same. Is Italy the current location of the Ark of the Covenant? We need to skip 39 Psalms to find the answer! The 107th Psalm that points to year 2007 events unveils it all! 88 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. As we have seen, the last few words of the 68th Psalm formed one long sentence that revealed several clues about the Ark of the Covenant. As the carefully formed, and zealously hidden sentence unveils, the “rebellious” priests of the Jewish Revolt of 66-68 AD took the Ark from its secret location in Golgotha [the place of Jesus’ crucifixion] and carried it over to Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were placed in the same year that the 68th Psalm points at – in year 68 AD so that the Romans who were defeating the Jews during the revolt would not acquire it. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 89 Unfortunately, the very same year, in 68 AD, the Romans destroyed the Qumran site and captured the Ark. Though the Romans could have taken the Ark by sheer force, they surprisingly did not. After paying certain gifts in return for it to the Keepers of the Ark, they carried the Ark unto Caesarea Maritime – the Roman harbor and headquarters in 68 AD. The Ark sailed away to Rome with Titus after his triumph in Second Siege of Jerusalem [71 AD]. Finally, the Ark, after its arrival in Rome, is hinted to have been placed at a site that would become today’s Church of St. Lawrence/St. Lorenzo in Florence– the very church that would house the Holy Chalice/Holy Grail in it just the same! 90 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. What happened to the Ark? Is it still hidden in the same church? Or was it carried unto some other city or church? The 107th Psalm, through keywords and key phrases, gives the answer! The 107th Psalm starts with verses that describe how the Ark of the Covenant led the Israelites through the wilderness during the Exodus: Psalms 107: 1 O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. 2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy; 3 And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south. 4 They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 91 5 Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. 6 Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses. The Ark of the Covenant is called “the voice of the LORD” in the 29th Psalm and “the LORD” in the 68th and 107th Psalms. As the first seven verses of the 107th Psalm above illustrate, the Ark of the Covenant led the Israelites during their Exodus through the desert. In other words, the 107th Psalm, right at its opening verses, signals us that it is about reveal certain details about the Ark of the Covenant! 92 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. For starters, the 2nd verse illustrates how “the redeemed of the LORD redeemed from the hand of the enemy” – how an incarnation of Jesus [“the redeemed of the LORD”] redeemed the Ark “from the hand of the enemy” – the Romans who kept the holy Ark at today’s Church of St. Lawrence/St. Lorenzo in Florence, Italy for some time. 2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy; 7 And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation. Who exactly was this “redeemed” of the LORD who “redeemed” the Ark from “the hand of the enemy” – the Romans, and carried it unto a “city of habitation”? What was his name? Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 93 As we have studied in Psalms Code II, Jesus was born with not one, not two, not three but a total of twenty-two lives in his pocket! The first and last incarnations of Jesus were bound to be lived exclusively by the LORD of Hosts Himself who clearly has declared that He is the “First”, and the “Last” [Alpha and Omega] in both the Bible and the Koran. Jesus was the LORD living the first incarnation of His Anointed. The second incarnation of Jesus was no other than St. Peter whom Jesus has personally declared that He would build His church upon! 94 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. While the Romans and the Jews of the day thought that they got rid of Jesus after crucifying Him on a cross, Jesus [through the life of His second incarnation St. Peter] was already busy establishing the first Christian churches across the Roman Empire [in Aleppo, Antioch, Cappadocia etc.] and finally even in Rome – the capital city of the Romans! The third incarnation of Jesus Christ, who, as the 107th Psalm reveals, would “redeem” the Ark of the Covenant from the “hand of the enemy” [the Romans] and bring it over to a “city of habitation” was no other than Constantine – the first Christian Roman Emperor, who [together with his mom St. Helena] ordered several churches to be built at almost all major sites related to Jesus Christ across the Holy Land! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 95 The “city of habitation” mentioned in the 107th Psalm that the Ark of the Covenant was moved from and brought into was Constantinople [“the city of Constantine”] - “a city of habitation”, the first city in the world that had a population over a million people, once called the “New Rome”! Constantinople would also be the future home of “Hagia Sophia” [“The Church of the Holy Wisdom of God”] that would remain as the largest church for a thousand years! It was Constantine, and his mom St. Helena who ordered the “Church of the Holy Sepulchre” to be built at Golgotha – the place of Jesus’ crucifixion – the same site that the Ark of the Covenant was moved from and carried over to Qumran during the Jewish Revolt of 66-68 AD! 96 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The future headquarters of the Catholic Christians, the Old Saint Peter’s Basilica would also be built by the order of Constantine! The future home of the holy relics of the disciples of Jesus, the “Church of the Holy Apostles” was yet another work of Constantine! The “True Cross” that Jesus died on, the nails that pierced Jesus and the Rod of Moses were already in his hands! The Ark of the Covenant was next! In other words, the Ark is hinted to be brought into New Rome from Rome by the order of the first Christian Roman Emperor – Constantine! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 97 To sum it up, the Ark of the Covenant followed the route of Golgotha to Qumran, Qumran to Caesarea Maritima, Caeserea Maritima to Rome, Rome to Florence, and finally Florence to Constantinople – the city of Constantine, the future home of the Hagia Sophia [“the Church of Holy Wisdom of God”]. The Hagia Sophia was probably built to house the Holy Ark that contained the stone Tablets of the Ten Commandments, hence the name “the Church of the Holy Wisdom of God”! What happened to the Ark of the Covenant? Is it still in Constantinople? The Ottoman [Today’s Turks Istanbul, captured Turkey.] Constantinople in 1453 AD and have it under their possession ever since. The Hagia Sophia was turned into a mosque by Sultan Mehmed II. 98 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the 22nd and the final incarnation of Jesus Christ ordered Hagia Sophia to be turned into a museum in year 1929 AD. Is the Ark still in Constantinople – a city that was invaded by the Crusaders several times? Starting from the third verse, the 107th Psalm gives clues about the final location of the Ark of the Covenant. 3 And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south. The new location of the Ark had to have something related to “the east”, “the west”, “the north” and “the south”… The compass! The four cardinal directions of the compass are mentioned in the verse hinting that the new location of the Ark is the city where the compass was invented or first used at! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 99 So, where exactly is this city the first compass was used at… China? We need more clues. Here is what the 23rd verse reads: 23 They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; As we shall recall, the Koran also mentioned a sea-faring people in its 29th Chapter/Sura that points to year 1929 events – the year Vatican signed the Lateran Treaty with the Kingdom of Italy. The Koran Sura/Chapter 29 The Spider [M.S. Shakir’s Translation] [29.65] So when they ride in the ships they call upon Allah, being sincerely obedient to Him, but when He brings them safe to the land, lo! they associate others (with Him); 100 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. [29.66] Thus they become ungrateful for what We have given them, so that they may enjoy; but they shall soon know. The city or the town that had the Ark of the Covenant in it as of year 2007 that the 107th Psalm points at had to be a town of a sea-faring people “that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters”! That reminds us of [the Maritime Republic of] Amalfi, Italy, the town known for its famous maritime code: “Tavole Amalfitane” – the “first maritime code, a set of laws that continued to rule trade and the sea until 1570”! The Tavole Amalfitane The Tavole Amalfitane, the western world's first maritime code, a set of laws that continued to rule trade and the sea until 1570. http://www.reidsitaly.com/destinations/campania/amalfi_c oast/amalfi/index.html - Accessed July, 2011. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 101 There we go! The key phrase that reads “the people who do business in great waters” points none but to Amalfi – the very town of the first maritime code of trade and the sea! Amalfi is also known for her Flavio Gioia, the inventor or the improver of the first maritime compass! In medieval culture Amalfi was famous for its flourishing schools of law and mathematics. Flavio Gioia, who is traditionally considered the first to introduce the mariner's compass to Europe, is said to have been a native of Amalfi. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amalfi - Accessed July, 2011. *** After having been kept in first Jerusalem, Israel, then in Rome, Italy and finally in New Rome, Constantinople – Istanbul, Turkey for centuries, the Ark of the Covenant was finally shipped to Amalfi, Italy! 102 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The key phrase that reads: “They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters” allude to Amalfitans – the authors of the first maritime code and the inventors [or the improvers of] the first maritime compass - [“… the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south …”] When did the Ark of the Covenant arrive in Amalfi? Who brought it there? As we have expressed earlier, we have to follow the footsteps of St. Andrew, St. Peter’s brother for the location of the Ark of the Covenant. Incidentally, St. Andrew is the patron saint of not only Constantinople but also Amalfi! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 103 Put simply, along with several other cities, St. Andrew is the patron saint of both Constantinople and Amalfi – the two final resting places of the Ark of the Covenant! The Amalfi/St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Amalfi still holds the relics of St. Andrew. Amalfi Cathedral At the top of a staircase, Saint Andrew's Cathedral (Duomo) overlooks the Piazza Duomo, the heart of Amalfi. The cathedral dates back to the 11th century; its interior is adorned in the late Baroque style with a nave and two aisles divided by 20 columns. The gold caisson ceiling has four large paintings by Andrea d'Aste. They depict the flagellation of Saint Andrew, the miracle of Manna, the crucifixion of Saint Andrew and the Saint on the cross. From the left hand nave there is a flight of stairs which leads to the crypt. These stairs were built in 1203 for Cardinal Pietro Capuano, who, on 18 May 1208, brought Saint Andrew's remains to the cathedral from Constantinople. 104 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The bronze statue of Saint Andrew in the cathedral was sculpted by Michelangelo Naccherino, a pupil of Michelangelo; also present are Pietro Bernini marble sculptures of St. Stephen and St. Lawrence. In 1208, Saint Andrew's relics were brought to Amalfi from Constantinople by the Pietro Capuano following the Sack of Constantinople (an event of the 4th Crusade) after the completion of the town's cathedral. [4] The cathedral contains a tomb in its crypt that it maintains still holds a portion of the relics of the apostle. A golden reliquary which originally housed his skull and another one used for processions through Amalfi on holy days can also be seen. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amalfi#Cathedral - Accessed July, 2011. *** Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 105 The Amalfi Cathedral has a “gold caisson ceiling [that] has four large paintings by Andrea d’ Aste. They depict the flagellation of Saint Andrew, the miracle of Manna, the crucifixion of Saint Andrew and the Saint on the cross. ” Notice that a depiction of “the miracle of Manna” was painted on the ceiling of the Amalfi Cathedral! As we all know, the Ark of the Covenant is known for the manna it produced that fed the Jews during the Exodus! Notice that a sculpture of St. Lawrence is also present in the Amalfi Cathedral. The future location of Church of St. Lawrence in Florence, Italy was the initial home of the Ark of the Covenant when Titus transported the Holy Chest to Rome following the Second Siege of Jerusalem in 70-71 AD. 106 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Right after the Sack and the Siege of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade, the Ark of the Covenant sailed away from Constantinople to its current home in Amalfi, Italy. It was Amalfitan Peter of Capua who took part in the Fourth Crusade and brought the relics of St. Andrew from Constantinople to Amalfi. Peter of Capua Peter of Capua [1] (died August 1214) was an Italian theologian and scholastic philosopher, and a Cardinal [2] and papal legate. Peter was a member of an Amalfitan family. After a being a teacher at the University of Paris, he was employed by Pope Innocent III as legate. He made trips to Poland and Bohemia in 1197, bringing decision of introducing celibacy [3]. He also served as legate to France from 1198. He made a truce between Richard I of England and Philip II of France, in December of 1198. [4] Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 107 During Peter's meeting with Richard and William Marshal, the northerners found Peter's appearance and obsequious style of diplomacy to be repellent. Peter did succeed in convincing Richard to agree to a conditional five-year truce, but when he persisted in asking that Richard also release Philip of Dreux (a Bishop of Beauvais whom the king intensely hated) Richard lost his temper and threatened to castrate Peter. [5] Peter then took part in the Fourth Crusade. While in Constantinople he acquired relics, including the purported body of St. Andrew, which he brought in the end to Amalfi. [6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_of_Capua - Accessed July, 2011. *** In 1343 AD, 135 years after the delivery of the Ark into the Amalfitans’ hands, an earthquake and a tsunami destroyed much of Amalfi. 108 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The Earthquake of 1343 The 1343 earthquake struck the Tyrrhenian Sea and Bay of Naples on November 25, 1343. Underground shocks were felt in Naples and caused significant damage and loss of lives. [1] Of major note was a tsunami created by the earthquake which destroyed many ships in Naples and destroyed many ports along the Amalfi Coast including Amalfi itself. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake_of_1343 - Accessed July, 2011. *** The tsunami of 1343 that wiped off much of Amalfi is hinted in the 107th Psalm with the verses: 25 For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 109 26 They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble. It seems like the chief figures, the rich sea merchants of Amalfi were caught in the tsunami while at sea: 27 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits' end. 28 Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. 29 He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. 30 Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven. *** 110 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The verses above that illustrate the storm, the tsunami that the nobles of Amalfi had to endure while at sea, co-alludes to the “Cloister of Paradise” where the nobles of Amalfi are buried at. Cloister of Paradise The Chiostro del Paradiso - 'Cloister of Paradise' was built by Filippo Augustariccio between 1266 and 1268 and was used as a burial ground for noble families of Amalfi. The white columns and pointed arches reflect the clear influence that the Arab world had on Amalfi, similar to those found in the courts of the palaces of the Middle East. [5] It is a true open-air museum, with Roman and medieval pillars, sarcophagi depicting the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, the other the rape of Proserpina, a fourteenth-century sarcophagus and fragments of the facade of the Duomo. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amalfi#Cathedral - Accessed July, 2011. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 111 The verses that follow host several illustrative keywords and key phrases regarding the exact location of the Ark within Amalfi, Italy! Some of them are: “watersprings”, “standing water”, “bronze doors”, “where there is no way”, and finally “in the assembly of the elders”! The keywords “watersprings” and “standing water” hint us that the location of the Ark is near, close to watersprings, to “a standing water” right at the heart of Amalfi! 33 He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground; 35 He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into watersprings. 112 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Saint Andrew’s Fountain The Fountain of Sant'Andrea is sculpted in the Barocco style, and it was installed in 1760 facing the Cathedral, it was then later moved to the side of the square. An older fountain was lost in a sea storm that destroyed a section of Amalfi. http://www.amalficoastweb.com/amalfi/english/fountain.ht ml - Accessed July, 2011. *** Amalfi is also known for her lemons, olive groves and vineyards, hinted in the 107th Psalm with the verses, keywords and key phrases that read: 34 A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein. 37 And sow the fields, and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of increase. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 113 The 16th verse hosts the key phrases “gates of brass” and “bars of iron”. 16 For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder. Incidentally, the doors of the Amalfi Cathedral were made of bronze! Made exclusively in Constantinople – the previous home of the Ark of the Covenant! The 16th verse defines the “gates” as “of brass”. The doors of the Amalfi Cathedral are known to be “bronze”. Both bronze and brass are copper at their cores”and it's not necessarily easy to tell what's what on sight.” 114 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Moreover, the key phrases that read “in the shadow death”, “bound in affliction and iron”, “out of darkness”, “the shadow death”, and the “gates of death” that appear in the 10th, 14th and 18th verses respectively signal us that the Ark once rested in a crypt in Amalfi, possibly in the Amalfi Cathedral – the home of the crypt of Saint Andrew since 1208 AD! 10 Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; 14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder. 18 Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat; and they draw near unto the gates of death. *** Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 115 The [Amalfi] cathedral contains a tomb in its crypt that it maintains still holds a portion of the relics of the apostle [St. Andrew]. A golden reliquary which originally housed his skull and another one used for processions through Amalfi on holy days can also be seen. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amalfi#Cathedral - Accessed July, 2011. *** Relics of St. Andrew St Jerome wrote that the relics of St Andrew were taken from Patras to Constantinople by order of the Roman emperor Constantius II around 357 and deposited in the Church of the Holy Apostles. In 1208, following the sack of Constantinople, those relics of St Andrew which remained in the imperial city were taken to Amalfi, Italy, by Cardinal Peter of Capua, a native of Amalfi. 116 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The Amalfi cathedral (Duomo), dedicated to St Andrew (as is the town itself), contains a tomb in its crypt that it maintains still contains the rest of the relics of the apostle. On 8 May 2008 the relic believed to be Andrew's head was returned to Amalfi Cathedral. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Andrew#Relics Accessed July, 2011. *** The Holy Ark’s crypt-to-crypt journey from Golgotha [the crucifixion site, the tomb of Jesus in Jerusalem, Israel] seems to have paused first at the crypt of today’s Church of St. Lawrence in Florence, Italy, then at the Church of the Holy Apostles and Hagia Sophia in Constantinople [Istanbul, Turkey], and finally at yet another crypt, the crypt of St. Andrew in St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Amalfi, Italy! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 117 The Ark is highly likely to have been kept in the crypt of St. Andrew in the past. Is the Ark still hidden in the crypt of St. Andrew at the St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Amalfi? The 32nd verse of the 107th Psalm [that points to year 2007 events] gives the answer. The Ark is hinted to be “in the assembly of the elders”! 32 Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders. Could the key phrase “in the assembly of the elders” be pointing to the “Cloister of Paradise” – the burial place of the nobles of Amalfi [“in the assembly of the elders”] located right above the crypt of St. Andrew? 118 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. But wait… The key phrases “in the congregation of the people”, “in the assembly of the elders” may also be alluding to the City Council or the Town Hall of Amalfi where the “elders” of the city meet and where the [Amalfi] weddings are held at, just as well. All in all, the most probable location of the Ark of the Covenant is hinted to be either the Cloister of Paradise located just above the crypt of St. Andrew, or the Town Hall of Amalfi – a past monastery - thus the key phrases “exalt him”, “praise him in the assembly of the elders”. Since several verses of the 107th Psalm also mention a “fountain”, a “standing water”, a crypt [“in the shadow of death”] and “bronze doors” within the roundabouts of the Ark, St. Andrew’s Cathedral is a high contender. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 119 As the 32nd verse defines, the deity to be exalted is the LORD and [then] St. Andrew whose crypt lies just below the relics of the elders of the city of Amalfi. 32 Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders. Finally, the 31st, 42nd and the 43rd verses read as follows: 31 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! 42 The righteous shall see it, and rejoice: and all iniquity shall stop her mouth. 43 Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the LORD. 120 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. “The righteous shall see it, and rejoice; and all iniquity shall stop her mouth” reads the final verse signaling who the faithful will “see it” and “rejoice” – how the believers will celebrate the discovery of the Ark of the Covenant and how the “iniquity” the atheists, the Communists “shall stop her mouth”! 43 Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the LORD. The eruption of Mount Vesuvius wiped out the town of Pompeii in year 79 AD – the year the Roman general Titus [who destroyed the Holy Temple of the LORD in Jerusalem in 70 AD, and killed over a million Jews] stepped up to the throne in Rome. Pompeii and Amalfi are only 9.5 miles, 15.4 kms apart from one another! Pompeii is an open air museum of the wrath of the LORD, whereas Amalfi is the most likely place of His presence – of LORD’s most Holy object! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 121 The 43rd and the final verse that reads “Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the LORD” alludes to this fact! Though the LORD destroyed the town of Pompeii at the year of Titus’ ascension to the throne, He felt for the Romans died there and provided His most Holy object, His presence to the very same Romans living roughly 10 miles South-East! The crypt of St. Andrew’s Cathedral is considered as the “heart of Amalfi” by the Amalfitans. It’s where the “Miracle of Manna” is observed on every November 30th – the birthday of St. Andrew. As we all know, the Ark of the Covenant is known to have produced “manna” that fed the Jews during the Exodus. 122 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The keywords and key phrases provided in the 29th, 68th and 107th Psalms point to Amalfi, to the crypt of St. Andrew, or the Cloister of Paradise above it as the final destination of the Ark of the Covenant! Is the “manna” of St. Andrew’s relics, the “manna” of the Ark of the Covenant? The answer will be a historic one that will not only reveal the final and current location of the Ark, but prove the “timeless”, “beyond and above time” nature of the Psalms that foretold it 3,000 years ago! Finally, the seven “voice of the LORD”s mentioned in the 29th Psalm alludes to the seven separate locations the Ark would journey into in time: [in chronological order] Golgotha, Qumran, Caesarea Maritima, Rome, Florence, Constantinople, and finally Amalfi. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 123 The 29th, 68th, and 107th Psalms that reveal the journey and the final location of the Ark refer to years 29/1929 AD, 68/1968 AD and 107/2007 AD respectively. Incidentally, years 1939, 1968 and 2007 were historic dates for King Tut. In 1939 King Tut’s trumpet was discovered. Within the same year, Howard Carter, the man who found King Tut’s tomb died. In 1968, King Tut was examined by x-ray for the first time. And in 2007, King Tut’s real face was revealed to the public. Years 1939, 1968 and 2007 were years to mark for St. Peter just the same. In 1939, directly beneath the altar at St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican, a large burial site and the bones of a man were discovered. 124 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. In 1968, Pope Paul VI announced that those bones belonged to St. Peter. Finally, in 2007, a sketch of St. Peter’s Basilica, believed to have been drawn by Michelangelo in 1563, was found in Vatican archives. 1939 Howard Carter dies King Tut’s trumpet found. Directly beneath the altar, they found a large burial site and a wall painted red. In a niche connected to that wall, they found the bones of a man. 1968 King Tut examined by x-ray in 1968 for the first time More than 20 years later, in 1968, Pope Paul VI announced that those bones belonged to St. Peter. 2007 King Tut’s real face revealed to the public Tutankhamun St. Peter A sketch of St. Peter's Basilica dome believed to have been drawn by Michelangelo in 1563, shortly before his death in early 1564, has been found in the Vatican archives Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 125 The journey of the Ark of the Covenant from the era of the King Tut’s reign to the days of the first Pope St. Peter seems to have ended at St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Amalfi, Italy. St. Andrew was St. Peter’s brother. The two brothers were both crucified on the cross by the Romans. All in all, the basilica built on top of the tomb of St. Peter seems to be the home of the long-lost Menorah, whereas the final location of the Ark of the Covenant is hinted to be the tomb, the crypt of St. Andrew. 126 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. This page is intentionally left blank. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 127 29/ 1929 The Ark of the Covenant The Lateran Treaty Financial Compensation of Vatican St. Peter St. Peter’s Basilica Pope Pius XI The Menorah 128 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Psalms 29 1 <> Give unto the LORD, O ye mighty, give unto the LORD glory and strength. 2 Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness. 3 The voice of the LORD is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the LORD is upon many waters. 4 The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty. 5 The voice of the LORD breaketh the cedars; yea, the LORD breaketh the cedars of Lebanon. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 129 6 He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn. 7 The voice of the LORD divideth the flames of fire. 8 The voice of the LORD shaketh the wilderness; the LORD shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh. 9 The voice of the LORD maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests: and in his temple doth every one speak of his glory. 10 The LORD sitteth upon the flood; yea, the LORD sitteth King for ever. 11 The LORD will give strength unto his people; the LORD will bless his people with peace. 130 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The Ark of the Covenant [Key phrase: The voice of the LORD] Moses and Joshua bowing before the Ark Painting by James Jacques Joseph Tissot http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Tissot_Moses_and_Joshua_in_the_Ta bernacle.jpg - Accessed July, 2011. “The voice of the LORD”, the term that describes the Ark of the Covenant appears seven times in the 29th Psalm that refers to year 1929 AD events. 1929 was the year Vatican signed the Lateran Treaty with the Kingdom of Italy. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 131 February 11 [1929] – Italy and the Vatican sign the Lateran Treaty. June 7 [1929] – The Lateran Treaty, making Vatican City a sovereign state, is ratified. July 25 [1929] – Pope Pius XI emerges from the Vatican and enters St. Peter's square in a huge procession witnessed by about 250,000 persons, thus ending nearly 60 years of papal self-imprisonment within the Vatican. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1929 - Accessed July, 2011. *** The Lateran Treaty put an end to the ”Roman Question” – the imprisonment of the Pope within the borders of Rome, and made Vatican a city-state with a ruler [the Pope] and a flag of its own. 132 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The LORD communicated with Moses “from between the two cherubim” on the Ark’s cover. The Ark, in other words, was the “voice of the LORD”, the very phrase that is repeated a total of seven times within the 29th Psalm. Not without a reason, of course. • The voice of the LORD is upon the waters The voice of the LORD is powerful; The voice of the LORD is full of majesty. The voice of the LORD breaketh the cedars The voice of the LORD divideth the flames of fire. The voice of the LORD shaketh the wilderness; The voice of the LORD maketh the hinds to calve 133 • • • • • • Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The Ark of the Covenant The Ark of the Covenant (Hebrew: ‫ְּ ִיתה אָרוֹן‬ ָ ‫בר‬ Ārōn Hāb’rīt, modern pron. Aron Habrit) is a chest, described in Book of Exodus [1] as solely containing the Tablets of Stone on which the Ten Commandments were inscribed. According to some traditional interpretations of the Book of Exodus [2], Book of Numbers, [3] and Book of Hebrews [4] the Ark also contained Aaron's rod and a jar of manna. However, Books of Kings [5] is categoric in declaring that the Ark contained only the two Tablets of the Law. According to the Book of Exodus, the Ark was built at the command of God, in accordance with the instructions given to Moses on Mount Sinai. [6] God was said to have communicated with Moses "from between the two cherubim" on the Ark's cover. [7] Rashi and some Midrashim suggest that there were two arks - a temporary one made by Moses himself, and a later one constructed by Bezalel. [8] 134 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The biblical account relates that during the Israelites' exodus from Egypt, the Ark was carried by the priests some 2,000 cubits in advance of the people and their army, or host. [9] When the Ark was borne by priests into the bed of the Jordan, water in the river separated, opening a pathway for the entire host to pass through (Josh. 3:15-16; 4:7-18). The city of Jericho was taken with no more than a shout after the Ark of the Covenant was paraded for seven days around its wall by seven priests sounding seven trumpets of rams' horns (Josh. 6:4-20). When carried, the Ark was always wrapped in a veil, in tachash skins and a blue cloth, and was carefully concealed, even from the eyes of the Cohanim who carried it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ark_of_the_Covenant Accessed July, 2011. *** Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 135 The Lateran Treaty [Key phrases: The LORD will give strength unto his people; the LORD will bless his people with peace] This is a souvenir of the creation of the Vatican State by the Lateran Pacts. Its “trinity” of King Victor Emmanuel III, Pope Pius XI and Il Duce (The Leader) Benito Mussolini celebrates the new unity of temporal and spiritual authority. This accommodation between church and state was called the “peace of Laetitia” (pax Laetitia) after the Roman Goddess of Joy. http://www.concordatwatch.eu/Users/X878/X878_727_CWPaxLaetitia crop1.jpg - Accessed July, 2011. 136 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 1929 was the year Vatican signed the Lateran Treaty with the Kingdom of Italy that put an end to “Roman Question”, the imprisonment of Pope within the borders of Vatican and enabled the Pope to be the head of state of Vatican, hinted in the 29th Psalm with the key phrases: “The LORD will give strength unto his people; the LORD will bless his people with peace”. The Lateran Treaty Most of the Papal States had been seized by the forces of King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy (1861–1878) in 1860 at the foundation of the modern unified Italian state, and the rest, including Rome, in 1870. The Papacy and the Italian Government had been at loggerheads ever since: the Popes had refused to recognize the Italian state's seizure of the Papal States, instead withdrawing to become prisoners in the Vatican, and the Italian government's policies had always been anti-clerical. Now Pius XI thought a compromise would be the best solution. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 137 To bolster his own new regime, Benito Mussolini was also eager for an agreement. After years of negotiation, in 1929, the Pope supervised the signing of the Lateran Treaties with the Italian government. According to the terms of the first treaty, Vatican City was given sovereignty as an enclave of the city of Rome in return for the Vatican relinquishing its claim to the former territories of the Papal States. Pius XI thus became a head of state (albeit the smallest state in the world), the first Pope who could be termed as such since the Papal States fell after the unification of Italy in the 19th century. A second treaty, the concordat with Italy, recognized Roman Catholicism as the official state religion of Italy, gave the Church power over marriage law in Italy (ensuring the illegality of divorce), and restored Catholic religious teaching in all schools. In return, the clergy would not take part in politics. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Pius_XI - Accessed July, 2011. 138 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Financial Compensation of Vatican [Key phrases: Give unto the LORD, O ye mighty, give unto the LORD glory and strength, Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name] http://royalnavymemories.co.uk/wpcontent/uploads/2009/07/gold.jpg - Accessed July, 2011. A sum of $91.7 million was paid to Vatican in return for the papal lands the Italian government seized 59 years before the year 1929, hinted in the 29th Psalm with the verses that read: “Give unto the LORD, O ye mighty, give unto the LORD glory and strength…” Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 139 1929 - Feb 11 The Lateran Treaty was signed, with Italy recognizing the independence and sovereignty of Vatican City. The Italian government paid the Vatican $91.7 million for the papal lands it seized in 1870. 1929 - Jun 7 The sovereign state of Vatican City came into existence as copies of the Lateran Treaty were exchanged in Rome. http://timelines.ws/countries/ITALYA.HTML - Accessed July, 2011. *** A third treaty provided financial compensation to the Vatican for the loss of the Papal States. During the reign of Pius XI this money was used for investments in the stock markets and real estate. To manage these investments, the Pope appointed the lay-person Bernadino Nogara, who through shrewd investing in stocks, gold, and futures markets, significantly increased the Catholic Church's financial holdings. 140 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. However contrary to myth it did not create enormous Vatican wealth. The compensation was relatively modest, and most of the money from investments simply paid for the upkeep of the expensive-to-maintain stock of historic buildings in the Vatican which previously had been maintained through funds raised from the Papal States up until 1870. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Pius_XI Accessed July, 2011. *** St. Peter’s Basilica depicts a seated deity, namely St. Peter, the first Pope, symbolically embracing the crowd within the St. Peter’s Square, hinted in the 29th Psalm with the key phrases: “The LORD sitteth” and “the LORD sitteth King for ever”. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 141 St. Peter [Key phrases: The LORD sitteth, the LORD sitteth King for ever] St. Peter’s Basilica depicting a seated deity [St. Peter and/or the Pope] embracing the crowd within the square Saint Peter, the “Prince of Apostles“, the first Pope http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:S._Peter_GraoVasco1.jpg – Accessed July, 2011. 142 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. St. Peter's baldachin, by Bernini, in the modern St. Peter's Basilica. St. Peter's tomb lies directly below this structure http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Het_Baldakijn_van_Bernini__The_Baldachinno.jpg - Accessed July, 2011. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 143 The Chair of Saint Peter, by Bernini in St. Peters Basilica http://oursurprisingworld.com/wpcontent/uploads/2008/01/st_peter_basilica_vatican_07.jpg Accessed July, 2011. Saint Peter was the “Prince of Apostles”, the first Pope. Just like Jesus [who announced that he would build his church on the rock of Peter], Saint Peter was crucified on a cross but upside down. He is believed to have been born in year 1 AD, and have been crucified on the cross in 64 AD [67/68 AD to some accounts] – by the order of the Roman ruler who claimed to be the “Lord” – Nero! 144 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Statue of Saint Peter, Vatican City, Rome, Italy http://oursurprisingworld.com/wpcontent/uploads/2008/01/st_peter_basilica_vatican_01.jpg Accessed July, 2011. St. Peter According to Catholic belief, Peter was the first Bishop of Rome and chief pastor of the whole Roman Catholic Church— the Vicar of Christ upon Earth. [64] Although Peter never bore the title of "Pope", or "Vicar of Christ", the Catholic Church believes him to be the first Pope. [65] Therefore, they consider every pope to be Peter's successor and the rightful superior of all other bishops. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 145 The Catholic Church's recognition of Peter as head of its church on Earth (with Christ being its heavenly head) is based on its interpretation of two passages from the Canonical Gospels of the New Testament; as well as Sacred Tradition. The first passage is John 21:15-17 which is: "Feed my lambs, feed my lambs, feed my sheep" (within the Greek it is Ποίµαινε i.e., to feed and rule [as a Shepherd]., v. 16 while Βόσκε i.e., to feed., for v.15 & v. 17)[66]—which is seen by Catholics as Christ promising the spiritual supremacy to Peter. The Catholic Encyclopedia sees in this passage Jesus "charging [Peter] with the superintendency of all his sheep, without exception; and consequently of his whole flock, that is, of his own church”. [64] The second passage is Matthew 16:17-20: “I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hell will not overcome it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven". http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Peter Accessed July, 2011. 146 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The Vatican Basilica Although the New Testament does not mention Peter’s presence or martyrdom in Rome, Catholic tradition holds that his tomb is below the baldachin and altar; for this reason, many Popes, starting with the first ones, have been buried there. Construction on the current basilica, over the old Constantinian basilica, began on April 18, 1506 and was completed in 1626. Although the Vatican basilica is not the Pope’s official seat (Saint John Lateran), it is most certainly his principal church, as most Papal ceremonies take place at St. Peter’s due to its size, proximity to the Papal residence, and location within the Vatican City walls. The basilica also holds a relic of the cathedra petri, which is, according to Catholic tradition, the episcopal throne of the basilica’s namesake when he led the Roman church, but which is no longer used as the Papal cathedra. It is believed that a piece of this cathedra, or chair, is contained within the altarpiece, designed by Bernini. http://oursurprisingworld.com/st-peters-basilica-vaticanrome-italy/ - Accessed July, 2011. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 147 Romans invaded Jerusalem twice, first in 63 BC and later in 70 AD. Could they have carried the Ark to Rome, along with the Temple Menorah depicted on the Arch of Titus? Simply put, contrary to the common belief that the Ark of the Covenant is kept in Axum, Ethiopia, the 29th Psalm hints us to seek the Ark of the Covenant within the borders of Italy! Where about? How about St. Peter’s Basilica, the landmark of Vatican and the Catholic Church? 148 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. St. Peter’s Basilica [Key phrases: worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness, in his temple doth every one speak of his glory] St. Peter’s Basilica http://www.thecatholictour.com/tours/2008/Images/GRR.ht6.jpg Accessed July, 2011. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 149 The interior of St. Peter’s Basilica “Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness, in his temple doth every one speak of his glory” http://oursurprisingworld.com/wpcontent/uploads/2008/01/st_peter_basilica_vatican_08.jpg Accessed July, 2011. “Worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness, in his temple doth every one speak of his glory” reads the 2nd and the 9th verses of the 29th Psalm that points to year 1929 events. The entire Psalm highlights a temple, a shrine, a church of the LORD [“the beauty of holiness”] and it is no other than St. Peter’s Basilica – the “landmark” of Vatican and the Roman Catholic Church. 150 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. St. Peter’s Basilica The Basilica of Saint Peter (Latin: basilica sancti ophi), officially known in Italian as the Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano and commonly called Saint Peter’s Basilica, is one of four major basilicas of Rome (Basilica of St. John Lateran, St. Peter’s, Santa Maria Maggiore and St. Paul outside the Walls). It is the most prominent building inside the Vatican City and built on the ruins of Old Saint Peter’s Basilica. Its dome is also a dominant feature of the Roman skyline. Saint Peter’s is also incidentally the patriarchal basilica of Constantinople, whereas the Lateran Basilica is the patriarchal basilica of Rome. Possibly the largest church building in Christianity, it covers an area of 2.3 ha (5.7 acres) and has a capacity of over 60,000 people. One of the holiest sites of Christendom in the Catholic tradition, it is traditionally the burial site of its namesake Saint Peter, who was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus and, according to Roman Catholic tradition, also the first Bishop of Antioch, and later first Bishop of Rome. http://oursurprisingworld.com/st-peters-basilica-vaticanrome-italy/ - Accessed July, 2011. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 151 Saint Peter’s Basilica is “the patriarchal basilica of Constantinople”, today’s Istanbul, Turkey. Incidentally, Constantinople [Istanbul] is the home to another magnificent church – the “Hagia Sophia” [“Church of the Holy Wisdom of God”] which was “the largest cathedral in the world for nearly a thousand years.” Hagia Sophia from air First a church, then a mosque, now a museum Istanbul [Constantinople], Turkey http://www.turkeyvacationplaces.com/images/turkey-hagia-sophia.jpg - Accessed July, 2011. 152 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Hagia Sophia Interior http://fog.ccsf.org/~jcarpent/images/hagia_sophia.jpg Accessed July, 2011. The Mosaic of Christ - Hagia Sophia http://www.iconsexplained.com/iec/lib/00058_christ_pantocrator_mos aic_hagia_sophia_656x800.jpg - Accessed July, 2011. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 153 The interior of Hagia Sophia, in Istanbul, Turkey http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:HagiaSophia_DomeVerticalPano_(pi xinn.net).jpg - Accessed July, 2011. 154 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Hagia Sophia Hagia Sophia (from the Greek: Ἁγία Σοφία, “Holy Wisdom”; Latin: Sancta Sophia or Sancta Sapientia; Turkish: Aya Sofya) is a former Orthodox patriarchal basilica, later a mosque, and now a museum in Istanbul, Turkey. From the date of its dedication in 360 until 1453, it served as the Greek Patriarchal cathedral of Constantinople, except between 1204 and 1261, when it was converted to a Roman Catholic cathedral under the Latin Patriarch of Constantinople of the Western Crusader established Latin Empire. The building was a mosque from 29 May 1453 until 1931, when it was secularized. It was opened as a museum on 1 February 1935. [1] The Church was dedicated to the Logos, the second person of the Holy Trinity,[2] its dedication feast taking place on 25 December, the anniversary of the incarnation of the Logos in Christ.[2] Although it is sometimes referred to as Sancta Sophia (as though it were named after Saint Sophia), ophia is the phonetic spelling in Latin of the Greek word for wisdom – the full name in Greek being Ναός τῆς Ἁγίας τοῦ Θεοῦ Σοφίας, “Church of the Holy Wisdom of God”.[3][4] Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 155 Famous in particular for its massive dome, it is considered the epitome of Byzantine architecture and is said to have “changed the history of architecture.”[5] It was the largest cathedral in the world for nearly a thousand years, until Seville Cathedral was completed in 1520. The current building was originally constructed as a church between 532 and 537 on the orders of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian and was the third Church of the Holy Wisdom to occupy the site, the previous two having both been destroyed by rioters. It was designed by the Greek scientists Isidore of Miletus, a physicist, and Anthemius of Tralles, a mathematician. [6] The church contained a large collection of holy relics and featured, among other things, a 49 foot (15 m) silver iconostasis. It was the seat of the Patriarch of Constantinople and the religious focal point of the Eastern Orthodox Church for nearly one thousand years. It is the church in which Cardinal Humbert in 1054 excommunicated Michael I Cerularius – which is commonly considered the start of the Great Schism. 156 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. In 1453, Constantinople was conquered by the Ottoman Turks under Sultan Mehmed II, who subsequently ordered the building converted into a mosque. [7] The bells, altar, iconostasis, and sacrificial vessels were removed and many of the mosaics were plastered over. Islamic features – such as the mihrab, minbar, and four minarets – were added while in the possession of the Ottomans. It remained a mosque until 1931 when it was closed to the public for four years. It was re-opened in 1935 as a museum by the Republic of Turkey. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagia_Sophia - Accessed July, 2011. *** It was Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the 22nd and the final, the Omega incarnation of Jesus Christ [that was bound to be lived exclusively by the LORD of Hosts Himself] who ordered the Hagia Sophia to be turned into a museum. When? In 1929! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 157 While inspecting the restoration of Sultanahmet Mosque in 1929, Ataturk saw the dilapidated situation of Hagia Sophia, and asked this building to be turned into a museum and taken care of. Thus, the Hagia Sophia, which was used as a church for 911 years and as a mosque for 481 years, started to serve as museum. It is one of the museums attracting biggest number of visitors since then. http://www.aa.com.tr/en/index-3.html - Accessed July, 2011. [Quoted from the official site of “Anadolu Ajansi”, the official news agency of the Turkish government. The agency was founded by Mustafa Kemal Ataturk on April 6th, 1920.] *** 158 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The “patriarchal basilica of Constantinople” [Istanbul, Turkey] is no other than Saint Peter’s Basilica of Vatican, Rome. Though Istanbul [Constantinople] and Rome sit hundreds of miles apart from another, the churches built at the heart of them were meant to share the same bloodline, share the same significance for Christianity. In between the lines, the 29th Psalm that points to year 1929 events, the year the Vatican signed the Lateran Treaty with the Italian government, hints us that the Ark of the Covenant “the voice of the LORD”, a term repeated seven times in the 29th Psalm, may once have been kept in either “beauty of holiness”, St. Peter’s Basilica or the Hagia Sophia! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 159 Christ was crucified on a cross. John the Baptist was beheaded. St. Peter was crucified on the cross upside down. St. Andrew, St. Peter’s brother was crucified on an X shaped cross. The four holy figures of Christianity were all martyred. Romans were involved in the death of all four! Though the Romans tried to exterminate the founders of Christianity, they failed to stop them making Rome, the capital of the Roman Empire, the capital of the Christians! St. Peter was the 2nd incarnation of Christ [the LORD sitteth, the LORD sitteth King for ever”.] St. Peter’s Basilica depicts a seated deity, namely St. Peter, the first Pope, symbolically embracing the crowd within the St. Peter’s Square, hinted in the 29th Psalm with the key phrases: “The LORD sitteth” and “the LORD sitteth King for ever”. 160 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Inside the Vatican: St. Peter's Basilica National Geographic Television Special Airs in the U.S. on the National Geographic Channel St. Peter's Basilica is a monument to Peter whom Jesus tapped as the chief apostle, declaring that Peter was the rock on which he would build the church. Because Rome was the capital of the empire, Peter, along with the apostle Paul, came to the city to spread the faith, early in the first millennium. But early Christians were often persecuted for their beliefs and, according to church tradition, in A.D. 64, the apostle Peter was arrested, brought to one of the great imperial circuses in Rome and martyred on an inverted cross. His body was taken outside the walls of the arena and there, on the side of what was called the Vatican Hill, he was buried, perhaps in a small roofed grave. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 161 Almost three hundred years later, Constantine, the first Christian emperor of Rome, declared that a great church be built on the site of the tomb of St. Peter which had evolved from a simple grave to a small shrine. Anchored on the grave of the apostle, the first St. Peter's Basilica incorporated the original shrine into the altar floor. But twelve hundred years later, when the first basilica was replaced, the details of Peter's burial had been forgotten. The Vatican had long held the tradition that Peter was buried under the basilica, but even as late as the 1930s, they didn't really have any proof. Then, in 1939, workers renovating the grottoes beneath St. Peter's, the traditional burial area of the popes, made a stunning find. Just below the floor level, they discovered an ancient Roman grave. It soon became clear that there wasn't just one grave, but an entire city of the dead. 162 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. After many months of digging, the excavators came to a section of older graves, near the area underneath the high altar. Directly beneath the altar, they found a large burial site and a wall painted red. In a niche connected to that wall, they found the bones of a man. More than 20 years later, in 1968, Pope Paul VI announced that those bones belonged to St. Peter. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2001/11/1118_va ticanbasilica.html - Accessed July, 2011. *** Saint Peter was a fisherman. His brother Andrew was also a disciple of Jesus. St. Peter’s Basilica [the patriarchal basilica of not the Vatican but Constantinople!] was built on the spot Saint Peter was buried at. Incidentally, Saint Peter’s brother Saint Andrew was the patron saint of Constantinople! [Istanbul, Turkey] Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 163 Saint Andrew by François Duquesnoy St. Peter's Basilica, Rome http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Saint_Andreas.jpg – Accessed July, 2011. Saint Andrew Saint Andrew (Greek: Ἀνδρέας, Andreas; early 1st century—mid to late 1st century AD), called in the Orthodox tradition Prōtoklētos, or the First-called, is a Christian Apostle and the brother of Saint Peter. 164 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The name "Andrew" (Greek: manly, brave, from ἀνδρεία, Andreia, "manhood, valour"), like other Greek names, appears to have been common among the Jews from the 3rd or 2nd century BC. No Hebrew or Aramaic name is recorded for him. He is considered the founder and first bishop of the Church of Byzantium and is consequently the patron saint of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Andrew Accessed July, 2011. *** The LORD creates everything in pairs. The ancient Egyptian obelisks had to be built in pairs. Constantinople and Rome were a pair, St. Peter and his brother Andrew were a pair. So were the St. Peter’s Basilica and the Hagia Sophia. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 165 Again, Jesus was crucified on a “+” shaped cross. So was St. Peter but upside down. St. Andrew was crucified on an “x” shaped cross. The most important figures of Christianity all died on the cross. Romans were involved in the crucifixion of each and every one of them. Ironically, the future “Mecca” of Christianity would be established right at the capital of the Romans – in Vatican, at the heart of Rome! 166 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Pope Pius XI [Keyword: A total of eighteen “LORD”s mentioned in the 29th Psalm] Pope Pius XI http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Papst_Pius_XI._1JS.jpg – Accessed July, 2011. A total of eighteen “LORD”s are mentioned in the 29th Psalm. As we have studied in Psalms Code II, the 19th Psalm that depicts Islam hosted a total of six “LORD”s within the entire Psalm. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 167 The six “LORD”s mentioned within the 19th Psalm pointed at the sixth incarnation of Jesus, namely Prophet Mohammed, the Prophet and the Founder of Islam. The keyword “the LORD” that appears a total of eighteen times within the 29th Psalm highlights the 18th incarnation of Jesus ever since his [first] birth to Virgin Mary! And it is no other than Pope Pius XI, who signed the Lateran Treaty with the Kingdom of Italy in year 1929 that the 29th Psalm points at! Put simply, the 29th Psalm reveals the identity of two separate incarnations of Jesus – the 2nd and the 18th incarnations. The 2nd incarnation was St. Peter – the first Pope, the rock on which Jesus has declared that He would build his church on! 168 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Immediately after Christ’s crucifixion St. Peter established several churches [in Aleppo, Antioch, Cappadocia etc.] which were firsts in the history of Christianity. The landmark of the Roman Catholic Church would also be built on the spot St. Peter was crucified at – the St. Peter’s Basilica, in Vatican, Rome! Again, as the 29th Psalm reveals [a total of eighteen “LORD”s are mentioned in its verses], the 18th incarnation of Jesus was no other than St. Pius XI [the Pope of year 1929 – the year the Vatican signed the Lateran Treaty with the Kingdom of Italy] who served as a Pope between the years 1922 and 1939! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 169 Pope Pius XI died of a heart attack in year 1939 hinted in the 39th Psalm with the key phrases: “my heart was hot within me” and “remove thy stroke away from me”. The entire 39th Psalm is reserved for him and reports his final hours. Finally, Pope Pius XI was the Pope who established the Vatican Radio in year 1931 – hinted in the 29th Psalm with the key phrase “the voice of the LORD” repeated a total of seven times. Pius XI was the first Pope to utilize the power of modern communications technology in evangelizing the wider world. He established Vatican Radio in 1931, and he was the first Pope to broadcast on radio. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Pius_XI Accessed July, 2011. *** 170 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The Legacy of Pope Pius XI Pius XI will be remembered as the pope who reigned between the two great wars of the 20th century. The onetime librarian also reorganized the Vatican archives. Nevertheless, Pius XI was hardly a withdrawn and bookish figure. He was also a well known mountain climber with many peaks in the Alps named after him, he having been the first to scale them. [37] Pius XI fought the two ascendant ideologies of communism and fascism. His success in fighting them was limited and there is much controversy over the concordats he entered with European regimes to improve the situation of the Catholic Church. At the outset, it was clear that he found communism to be the greater of the two evils but in his later years, there is no doubt that he was repelled by the momentum of Nazi Germany, not only in its opposition to the Catholic Church but also in the ferocity of its attacks on the Jewish people. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 171 Whatever the results of his activism, Pius XI did not sit by idly and was fully engaged until the end. A theological conservative, he strove to improve the condition of the Church, through the negotiation of the concordats (treaties) in Europe and to increase its strength worldwide through vigorous missionary work. He also reiterated the social teachings of Leo XIII in his encyclical Quadregesimo Anno, issued in 1931. This pope was determined to increase the profile of the papacy from the time of his Urbi et Orbi (to the city and the world) blessing following his election, the first of its kind since Pius IX became a prisoner of the Vatican. (The blessing was delivered from the balcony overlooking St. Peter's Square and has become a tradition among the popes who succeeded him). After the Vatican had regained its status as a state in 1929, he flexed its muscles through the treaties he negotiated and by raising his voice in protest when the terms were violated, albeit to little avail. 172 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. A man of stature, he possessed an iron will and did not hesitate to assert his position. The strong-willed pontiff was succeeded by his charismatic Secretary of State, Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli (Pius XII), a diplomat who would continue Pius XI's struggle against Nazism and Fascism as a virtual prisoner in the Vatican during World War II. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Pius_XI#Legacies Accessed July, 2011. *** In other words, a total of five incarnations of Jesus were alive within the late 19th, early 20th centuries! All at once! Pope Pius XI [1857-1939] marked the 18th incarnation of Jesus, Rasputin [1869-1916] the 19th, Lenin [1870-1924] the 20th, Royal Raymond Rife [1888-1971] the 21st and finally Mustafa Kemal Ataturk [1881-1938], the final and the 22nd! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 173 The Menorah [Key phrase: depicted within the text of the 29th Psalm] The Menorah illustrated within the text of the 29th Psalm! The seven “The voice of the Lord”s mentioned in the 29th Psalm allude not only to the Ark of the Covenant [through which the LORD spoke to the Israelites during the Exodus], but also to the seven-branched Menorah. When we visualize the text of the 29th Psalm as a picture, as illustrated above, we can easily identify a depiction of the Menorah within the 29th Psalm. 174 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. We have three “The voice of the LORD”s on one side, a “He maketh them also…” in the center and three more “The voice of the LORD”s on the other side – a clear depiction of the Menorah! 3 The voice of the LORD is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the LORD is upon many waters. 4 The voice of the LORD is powerful; the voice of the LORD is full of majesty. 5 The voice of the LORD breaketh the cedars; yea, the LORD breaketh the cedars of Lebanon. 6 He maketh them also to skip like a calf; Lebanon and Sirion like a young unicorn. 7 The voice of the LORD divideth the flames of fire. 8 The voice of the LORD shaketh the wilderness; the LORD shaketh the wilderness of Kadesh. 9 The voice of the LORD maketh the hinds to calve, and discovereth the forests: and in his temple doth every one speak of his glory. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 175 In between the lines, the 29th Psalm, the Psalm that points at year 1929 events – the year Vatican signed the Lateran Treaty with the Kingdom of Italy, hints us to seek the Menorah in Rome, especially in Vatican! The Fate of the Menorah The fate of the menorah used in the Second Temple is recorded by Josephus, who states that it was brought to Rome and carried along during the triumph of Vespasian and Titus. The menorah probably remained in the Temple of Peace in Rome until the city was sacked by the Visigoths under Alaric I in 410 CE. Most likely, the menorah was looted by the Vandals in the sacking of Rome in 455 CE, and taken to their capital, Carthage. [12] The Byzantine army under General Belisarius might have removed it in 533 and brought it to Constantinople. According to Procopius, it was carried through the streets of Constantinople during Belisarius' triumphal procession. 176 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Procopius adds that the object was later sent back to Jerusalem where there is no record of it, although it could have been destroyed when Jerusalem was pillaged by the Persians in 614. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seven-Branch_Candlestick Accessed July, 2011. *** Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 177 Carrying off the Menorah from the Temple in Jerusalem depicted on a frieze on the Arch of Titus [Rome, Italy] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Carrying_off_the_Menorah_from_the _Temple_in_Jerusalem_depicted_on_a_frieze_on_the_Arch_of_Titus_in_ the_Forum_Romanum.JPG - Accessed July, 2011. 178 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Conclusion All in all, the entire 29th Psalm highlights the holy temples, holy shrines of the LORD. First, the St. Peter’s Basilica [Vatican], then the Hagia Sophia [Constantinople]. Not without a reason, of course. Interestingly, St. Peter’s Basilica is the “patriarchal basilica of Constantinople” whereas St. Peter’s brother St. Andrew is the patron saint of Constantinople [today’s Istanbul, Turkey]. Contrary to the public belief that the Ark of the Covenant is hidden in Jerusalem, Israel or Axum, Ethiopia, and the Menorah, in Israel, the Psalms direct our attention at today’s Italy. We are advised to follow the footsteps of St. Peter for the location of the Menorah, and his brother St. Andrew for the exact whereabouts of the Ark of the Covenant! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 179 For starters, the “Menorah” [depicted within the text of the 29th Psalm] is strongly hinted to be located in Vatican! The Ark of the Covenant, on the other hand, “the voice of the LORD” [mentioned seven times in the 29th Psalm] is hinted to be once housed in either shrine – the Hagia Sophia [Istanbul, Turkey] and/or the St. Peter’s Basilica [Vatican, Rome!] Again, St. Peter’s Basilica is the patriarchal basilica of Constantinople whereas the brother of St. Peter, St. Andrew was the patron saint of Constantinople [today’s Istanbul, Turkey]. St. Andrew’s relics were transported from Constantinople to Italy back in year 1208! 180 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. In 1208, following the sack of Constantinople, those relics of St Andrew which remained in the imperial city were taken to Amalfi, Italy, by Cardinal Peter of Capua, a native of Amalfi. The Amalfi cathedral (Duomo), dedicated to St Andrew (as is the town itself), contains a tomb in its crypt that it maintains still contains the rest of the relics of the apostle. On 8 May 2008 the relic believed to be Andrew's head was returned to Amalfi Cathedral. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Andrew - Accessed July, 2011. *** Finally, the Koran, as we have illustrated in “Psalms Confirm the Koran”, much like the Psalms, reports world events destined to happen between years 1901 AD and 2014 AD within its 114 Suras/Chapters just the same. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 181 The 29th Sura/Chapter of the Koran [that points to year 1929 events] signals the “Lateran Treaty” the Vatican has signed with the Kingdom of Italy just as well! The Koran Sura/Chapter 29 The Spider [M.S. Shakir’s Translation] [29.67] Do they not see that We have made a sacred territory secure, while men are carried off by force from around them? Will they still believe in the falsehood and disbelieve in the favour of Allah? *** The Koran Sura/Chapter 29 The Spider [Ali Unal’s Translation] 182 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. [29.67] Do they not consider that We have established (them in) a secure sanctuary while people are ravaged all around them? (How then) do they believe in falsehood and (show such ingratitude as) to disbelieve in God’s greatest blessing (of the Qur’an and Islam)? *** The 67th ayat/verse of the 29th Sura/Chapter that reads “Do they not see that We have made a sacred territory secure, while men are carried off by force from around them” alludes to the Lateran Treaty that put an end to the “Roman Question” – the imprisonment of the Pope within the borders of the Vatican, and made Vatican a city-state with a ruler [the Pope] and a flag of its own! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 183 Only a couple of verses later, the very next Sura/Chapter that follows, the 30th Sura/Chapter that points to year 1930 events [the first commemoration year of Vatican’s independence] is titled “The Romans” and starts with the verses that read: “The Romans are vanquished in a near land” [“The Byzantine Romans have been defeated in the lands closeby” – Ali Unal’s Translation]. The Koran Sura/Chapter 30 The Romans [M.S. Shakir’s Translation] [30.1] Alif Lam Mim. [30.2] The Romans are vanquished, [30.3] In a near land, and they, after being vanquished, shall overcome, *** 184 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The Koran Sura/Chapter 30 The Romans [Ali Unal’s Translation] [30.1] Alif. Lam. Mim. [30.2] The Byzantine Romans have been defeated, [30.3] In the lands close-by, but they, after their defeat, will be victorious *** The “near land”, or the “lands close-by” alluded in the ayat/verse is none other than the Papal lands, and the city of Vatican that is “near” and “close-by” to Rome, the capital of “the Romans”! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 185 From the ayats/verses, we get the impression that the Lateran Treaty was not a voluntary gesture of the Kingdom of Italy, but an imposed act [possibly by the order of the LORD] that simply read: “Offer a treaty, sign it, make Vatican a city-state or else!” hence the phrase “The Byzantine Romans have been defeated!” The next ayat/verse hints how “within a few (nine years)”, “at the time when the Romans are victorious” “the believers will rejoice”. As we have studied in both Psalms Code II and Psalms Confirm the Koran, any chapter of the Psalms or the Koran allude or refer to major world events bound to happen on earth declared by the chapter or the sura number in question. 79th Chapters of both books refer to year 79 and 1979 AD events, the 30th Chapters of both Holy Scriptures refer to year 30 AD and 1930 AD events - at times all at once! 186 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The LORD creates everything in pairs. Even the years are paired! The pair of year 30 AD is year 1930 AD, the pair of year 70 AD is year 1970 AD and so on. A 1,900 year cycle is hinted between the pairs. [30.1] God originates creation in the first instance, and then reproduces it In other words, 30th Sura/Chapter of the Koran points to year 30 AD and 1930 AD events! When we read the 30th Sura with this fact in mind, we immediately realize how the mentioned “nine” years from 30 AD was destined to be an important one! Year 30 AD plus nine years points at year 39 AD – the year the future Roman Emperor Titus would be born in! [30.4] Within a few (nine) years – to God belongs the command (the absolute judgment and authority) both before and after (any event) – and at the time (when the Romans are victorious), the believers will rejoice, Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 187 As the above ayat/verse declares, Titus would be “victorious” in the years to come – in 70 AD to be specific, the year Titus destroyed the Temple of the LORD in Jerusalem and killed 1.1 million Jews! He robbed the holy objects of the Temple and carried them unto Rome. Though the Romans killed the four most holy figures of Christianity, they could not stop them from making Rome, the capital of the Romans, the capital of Christianity – a sure “victory” indeed hinted in the following ayats/verses that read: [30.5] Because of God’s help leading them to victory. He helps whom He wills to victory. He is the All-Glorious with irresistible might, the All-Compassionate (especially towards His believing servants). [30.6] (This is) God’s promise. God never fails His promise, but most people do not know this (as they have no true knowledge about God). 188 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. [30.7] They only know (what reaches to their senses from) the outward aspect of the life of this world, but they are heedless and unaware of (what lies beyond it and) the Hereafter. The 30th Sura titled “The Romans” explains how the Romans denied the prophets sent to them by the LORD. The Romans were polytheists, worshipping planets. In their view, Jupiter was the “king of gods”, planet Mars was “the god of war” and what not! They destroyed the Holy Temples devoted to the LORD and built new ones dedicated to their own gods right on top of them. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 189 [30.9] Have they never traveled about the earth and seen what was the outcome for those before them (who also obstinately disbelieved in Our signs)? They were greater than them in power. They cultivated the soil and mined it (for minerals and water resources), and built it up more and better than these have done. And in time their Messengers came to them with clear proofs of the truth (which they rejected to their own doom). God would never wrong them, but it was they themselves who were wronging themselves. The Roman Empire was an “evil” empire. Titus was an evil man, if not the very incarnation of the devil himself! He performed sex with a whore on a Torah Scroll in the Holy Temple of the LORD before he destroyed it totally – in year 70 AD, after killing 1.1 million Jews, that is! [30.10] In consequence, the outcome for those who were lost in evil was evil, as they denied God’s Revelations and signs, and were mocking them. 190 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The “solid foundations of truth” mentioned in the 8th ayat/verse of the 30th Sura/Chapter of the Koran alludes to the “Ten Commandments” – the “solid foundations of truth” that “good” is built upon and thus the Ark of the Covenant that contained the stone Tablets of the Ten Commandments in it! Finally, the Ark of the Covenant is hinted to remain in the hands of the “Romans” [the title of the 30th Sura/Chapter of the Koran] “for an appointed term”! [30.8] Do they not reflect upon themselves (even once)? God has not created the heavens and the earth and all that is between them save with truth (meaningfully and for definite, wise purposes, and on solid foundations of truth), and for an appointed term. But surely many among the people are in unbelief about the meeting with their Lord. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 191 Moreover, year 1929 that the 29th Psalm and the 29th Sura/Chapter of the Koran points at was the year the Ross Mosque, the first mosque in the United States, was opened for service and prayer. The Ross Mosque was a small, modest shrine, not as magnificent as the St. Peter’s Basilica and the Hagia Sophia were. Nevertheless, it was the first mosque in the United States. It had historical significance. The First Mosque Ross is a city in Mountrail County, North Dakota in the United States. The population was 97 at the 2010 census. [1] Ross was founded in 1902 and is the site of the first, established mosque in the United States. Established in 1929, the mosque edifice was rebuilt in 2005. [5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ross,_North_Dakota Accessed July, 2011. *** 192 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Last but not the least, the 29th Sura/Chapter mentions a sea-faring people, possibly of Roman/Italian origin, [as the 29th chapters of both Holy Scriptures point to year 1929 and highlight the Lateran Treaty the Vatican signed with the Kingdom of Italy the same year] whom the LORD helped in their journeys. A certain precious object is hinted to be given to them, something of very high importance. The Koran Sura/Chapter 29 The Spider [M.S. Shakir’s Translation] [29.65] So when they ride in the ships they call upon Allah, being sincerely obedient to Him, but when He brings them safe to the land, lo! they associate others (with Him); [29.66] Thus they become ungrateful for what We have given them, so that they may enjoy; but they shall soon know. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 193 The Koran Sura/Chapter 29 The Spider [Ali Unal’s Translation] [29.65] When they embark on a ship (and find themselves in danger), they call upon God sincerely believing in Him alone (as the only Deity, Lord, and Sovereign). But when He brings them safe to land—see, they begin again to associate partners with God! [29.66] And so let them show ingratitude for all that We have granted them, and so let them give themselves up to the enjoyment of the worldly life; but they will come to know. What exactly is that precious object? And who are those sea-faring people that possess it? Could that holy object be the Ark of the Covenant? 194 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Finally, year 1929 was the first year that the Gregorian calendar [the calendar that was introduced by a Pope and a doctor] emerged as the globally adopted calendar for the entire world! Vatican not only declared its independence from the “Romans”, the Kingdom of Italy in year 1929, but accomplished another historic feat - replaced the Roman “Julian” calendar with that of a Papal one all around the globe! Year 1929 Year 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday in the Gregorian calendar. By January 1 of this year, every state in the entire world had adopted the Gregorian calendar, having abandoned the Julian calendar. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1929 - Accessed July, 2011. *** Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 195 The Gregorian Calendar The Gregorian calendar, also known as the Western calendar, or Christian calendar, is the internationally accepted civil calendar.[1][2][3] It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582, a papal bull known by its opening words Inter gravissimas.[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gregorian_calendar Accessed July, 2011. *** The Julian Calendar The Julian calendar began in 45 BC (709 AUC) as a reform of the Roman calendar by Julius Caesar. It was chosen after consultation with the astronomer Sosigenes of Alexandria and was probably designed to approximate the tropical year (known at least since Hipparchus). 196 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The Julian calendar has a regular year of 365 days divided into 12 months with a leap day added to February every four years. The Julian year is, therefore, on average 365.25 days long. The motivation for most calendars is to fix the number of days between return of the cycle of seasons (from Spring equinox to the next Spring equinox, for example), so that the calendar could be used as an aid to planting and other season-related activities. The cycle of seasons (tropical year) had been known since ancient times to be about 365 and 1/4 days long. The more modern Gregorian calendar eventually superseded the Julian calendar: the reason is that a tropical year (or solar year) is actually about 11 minutes shorter than 365.25 days. These extra 11 minutes per year in the Julian calendar caused it to gain about three days every four centuries, when compared to the observed equinox times and the seasons. In the Gregorian calendar system, first proposed in the 16th century, this problem was dealt with by dropping some calendar days, in order to realign the calendar and the equinox times. Subsequently, the Gregorian calendar drops three leap year days across every four centuries. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_calendar - Accessed July, 2011. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 197 39/ 1939 The Death of Pope Pius XI 198 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Psalms 39 1 <> I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me. 2 I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; and my sorrow was stirred. 3 My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue, 4 LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 199 5 Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah. 6 Surely every man walketh in a vain shew: surely they are disquieted in vain: he heapeth up riches, and knoweth not who shall gather them. 7 And now, Lord, what wait I for? my hope is in thee. 8 Deliver me from all my transgressions: make me not the reproach of the foolish. 9 I was dumb, I opened not my mouth; because thou didst it. 10 Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand. 200 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 11 When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah. 12 Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were. 13 O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 201 The Death of Pope Pius XI [Key phrases: My heart was hot within me, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee, Remove thy stroke away from me, O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more] Tomb of Pope Pius XI Crypt of St. Peter's Basilica Vatican City http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PiusXItomb2.jpg – Accessed July, 2011. 202 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The eighteen “LORD”s mentioned in the 29th Psalm allude to Pope Pius XI, the 18th incarnation of Jesus Christ – the very Pope who signed the Lateran Treaty with the Kingdom of Italy in year 1929. Pope Pius XI died of a heart attack in year 1939 that the 39th Psalm points at – hinted in the 39th Psalm with the verses, keywords and key phrases that read: Psalm 39 [Points to year 1939 AD events – the year Pope Pius XI passed away. Pope Pius XI died of a heart attack.] 3 My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue, 4 LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 203 5 Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah. 10 Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand. 11 When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah. 13 O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more. *** The Death of Pope Pius XI Pope Pius had already been ill for some time when, on 25 November 1938, he suffered two heart attacks within several hours. He had serious breathing problems and had to stay in his apartment. [33] 204 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. His last words to those near him were spoken with clarity and firmness: My soul parts from you all in peace. [36] Pope Pius XI died at 5:31 am (Rome Time) of a third heart attack on 10 February 1939, aged 81. He was buried in the crypt at St. Peter's Basilica, in the main chapel, close to the Tomb of St. Peter. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Pius_XI#Death_and_buri al - Accessed July, 2011. *** Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 205 68/ 1968 The Holy Four The Journey of the Ark of the Covenant 206 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Psalms 68 1 <> Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him. 2 As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. 3 But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice. 4 Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before him. 5 A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 207 6 God setteth the solitary in families: he bringeth out those which are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land. 7 O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness; Selah: 8 The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God: even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel. 9 Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful rain, whereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance, when it was weary. 10 Thy congregation hath dwelt therein: thou, O God, hast prepared of thy goodness for the poor. 208 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 11 The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it. 12 Kings of armies did flee apace: and she that tarried at home divided the spoil. 13 Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold. 14 When the Almighty scattered kings in it, it was white as snow in Salmon. 15 The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan; an high hill as the hill of Bashan. 16 Why leap ye, ye high hills? this is the hill which God desireth to dwell in; yea, the LORD will dwell in it for ever. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 209 17 The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place. 18 Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them. 19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah. 20 He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto GOD the Lord belong the issues from death. 21 But God shall wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses. 210 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 22 The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan, I will bring my people again from the depths of the sea: 23 That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies, and the tongue of thy dogs in the same. 24 They have seen thy goings, O God; even the goings of my God, my King, in the sanctuary. 25 The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; among them were the damsels playing with timbrels. 26 Bless ye God in the congregations, even the Lord, from the fountain of Israel. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 211 27 There is little Benjamin with their ruler, the princes of Judah and their council, the princes of Zebulun, and the princes of Naphtali. 28 Thy God hath commanded thy strength: strengthen, O God, that which thou hast wrought for us. 29 Because of thy temple at Jerusalem shall kings bring presents unto thee. 30 Rebuke the company of spearmen, the multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the people, till every one submit himself with pieces of silver: scatter thou the people that delight in war. 31 Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God. 212 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 32 Sing unto God, ye kingdoms of the earth; O sing praises unto the Lord; Selah: 33 To him that rideth upon the heavens of heavens, which were of old; lo, he doth send out his voice, and that a mighty voice. 34 Ascribe ye strength unto God: his excellency is over Israel, and his strength is in the clouds. 35 O God, thou art terrible out of thy holy places: the God of Israel is he that giveth strength and power unto his people. Blessed be God. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 213 The Holy Four The 29th, 68th and 107th Psalms reveal the whereabouts of the Ark of the Covenant. The mentioned Psalms are thirty-nine chapters apart from one another. When we move forward 39 Psalms from the 29th Psalm, we end up at the 68th Psalm. When we add 39 to the 68th Psalm, we end up at the 107th Psalm. Year 1968 that the 68th Psalm points at must have had hosted an event related to the Ark of the Covenant. As we have seen in Psalms Code II, the 22nd Psalm that points to year 1922 AD events reveals the crucifixion of Christ. 214 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Jesus was not crucified on the cross in year 1922 AD. When we subtract the duration of the Jesus [Incarnation] Cycle from 1922, a full 1,900 years to be exact, we end up at year 22 AD. In other words, the 22nd Psalm reveals events bound to happen on earth in year 1922 AD and year 22 AD! This is true for all Psalms! And all Sura/Chapters of the Koran, just the same! The LORD creates everything in pairs. Life and death, man and woman, day and night, Jesus and John the Baptist, Virgin Mary and Elizabeth, the Psalms and the Koran were all pairs. Even the years have their own pairs! The pair of year 68 is year 1968! The pair of year 19 is year 1919 and so on… Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 215 As we have studied in “Psalms Confirm the Koran”, the 79th Psalm and the 79th Sura/Chapter of the Koran pointed at year 79 AD events – to a year that is 1,900 years earlier than the 1979 AD! Both Holy Scriptures, in their 79th Chapters illustrate the eruption of Mount Vesuvius and the destruction of Pompeii [79 AD – the year of Titus’ ascension to the throne] that occurred only nine years after the Second Siege of Jerusalem by the Romans [70 AD] who had killed hundreds of thousands of innocent Jews, thousands of Jewish saints, destroyed the Holy Temple of the LORD and carried its sacred objects up unto Rome. 216 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Same is true for the 22nd Psalm that points at year 1922 AD and 22 AD events all at once! Contrary to the public belief that Jesus was crucified on the cross in year 32 AD, the 22nd Psalm makes a clear case: Jesus was crucified on the cross in year 22 AD – certainly not any later. This comes as no surprise! 22 was destined to be the number of Jesus Christ since time immemorial! Even his year of death would spell out a 22. He would be born to life 22 times! He would be crucified in year 22, at age 22! A total of 22 syzygies [planetary alignments] would be observed during his 22 lives/incarnations within a total of 1,900 years! Even certain incarnations of Jesus would have a name composed of 22 letters [i.e. “Grigori Yefimovich Novik” - the formal name of Rasputin.] Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 217 Again, the LORD creates everything in pairs. St. Peter and St. Andrew were a pair. So were Jesus and John the Baptist – “Yahya” of the Koran, “Elijah” of the Old Testament, the “Dalai Lama” of our day! He was the “son of man” whom the LORD personally and exclusively visited on June 30, 1908 at Tunguska, Russia – the cause of the yet-to-be-solved Tunguska Explosion. John the Baptist was beheaded in year 36 AD. The entire 36th Sura/Chapter of the Koran is devoted to him and to his “fate twin” – Jesus Christ. “Yasin”, the title of the 36th Sura/Chapter of the Koran, is considered as the “Heart of the Koran”! The entire chapter reports the twin nature of John the Baptist and Jesus! The Koran [36.36] Glory be to Him Who created pairs of all things, of what the earth grows, and of their kind and of what they do not know. 218 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Yasin means “O man” [or “O human”] and reports how Yasin [“Yahya”, Arabic for “He shall live”], the “O man”, or the “son of man” [Psalms], much like Jesus, was an “Apostle” of the LORD! The Koran [36.1] Ya Seen. [36.2] I swear by the Quran full of wisdom [36.3] Most surely you are one of the apostles [36.4] On a right way. [36.5] A revelation of the Mighty, the Merciful. [36.6] That you may warn a people whose fathers were not warned, so they are heedless. Again, Yasin was beheaded in year 36 AD by the Romans. The 36th Sura/Chapter of the Koran is reserved for Yasin, Yahya [“He shall live”] – John the Baptist, or the Dalai Lama – the very man who is alive even today! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 219 Yasin, “Yahya” or John the Baptist, as the above ayats/verses of the Koran make clear, was “one of the apostles” of the LORD! The keyword “revelation” that appears in the 5th ayat/verse is the title of the book that was given to Yasin or John the Baptist – the last chapter of the Bible! The key phrase “full of wisdom” that appears in the 2nd ayat/verse alludes to the title “Dalai Lama” – Mongolian for “Ocean of Wisdom”! Finally, the fourth ayat/verse that reads “on a right way” alludes to the straight path that connects the cities, the pairs Jerusalem and Tibet. When one views the two cities on a 2D world map, the line in between the two cities is a perfectly straight one! [“on a right way”] Tibet would be the future home of John the Baptist and Jerusalem, the future home of Jesus! 220 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The 5th Psalm reports how the Dalai Lama had to flee Tibet due to the British invasion and how he could return home only years later [in 1913]. The key phrase “make thy way straight before my face” and “in thy fear I will worship toward thy temple” echoes the “straight path”, the “right way”, the straight line that connects Tibet and Jerusalem, the Potala Palace and the Temple Mount! Psalms 5 7 But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy: and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple. 8 Lead me, O LORD, in thy righteousness because of mine enemies; make thy way straight before my face. The parents of Yahya, Yasin, John the Baptist, or the Dalai Lama were living up on Tibet when Virgin Mary paid a visit to them. It took her three months to return home! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 221 Jesus and John were a pair - the “two” who would die not! Their moms, Virgin Mary and Elizabeth were cousins! They were pregnant at the same time. John would re-incarnate as the very boy of his first dad [Zechariah] and his first mom [Elizabeth], the “son of man”, the son of the same man in each and every life ahead. Jesus, on the other hand would live almost forever through incarnation – through being reborn to life as a different historic figure each time! As the 90th Sura/Chapter of the Koran reports, they were both raised in Tibet [“the uphill road”] – the “place of Gods”, of those who die not! Put simply, John was superior to even Jesus! The Koran reads: “We have not made anyone his equal” – confirming [as a human] John’s superiority over Jesus. 222 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. He was the man who would baptize Jesus – not vice versa! John the Baptist, Elijah, Yasin, Yahya or “son of man” is no other than the “Dalai Lama” [“Ocean of Wisdom”] of our day! Unbelievable, yes, but, again, the very man who is alive even today! As we shall study, all first three saints of Christianity [John the Baptist, St. Andrew and St. Peter] had an attribute connected to the Ark of the Covenant. All three saints, along with Jesus Christ, died in the hands of the Romans. Finally, year 68 AD [that the 68th Psalm points at] was the last year of the Jewish Revolt [66-68 AD], the year Jewish resistance was “crushed” by the Roman general Titus. The revolt started in the town of Caesarea Maritima in 66 AD, and ended up there just the same two years later, in 68 AD. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 223 Jewish Revolt According to Josephus, the revolt, which began at Caesarea in 66, was provoked by Greeks sacrificing birds in front of a local synagogue. [2] The Roman garrison did not intervene and the long-standing Greek and Jewish religious tensions took a downward spiral. In reaction, the son of Kohen Gadol (high priest) Eliezar ben Hanania ceased prayers and sacrifices for the Roman Emperor at the Temple. Protests over taxation joined the list of grievances and random attacks on Roman citizens and perceived 'traitors' occurred in Jerusalem. Fearing the worst, the pro-Roman king Agrippa II and his sister Berenice fled Jerusalem to Galilee. Cestius Gallus, the legate of Syria, brought a legion, the XII Fulminata, and auxiliary troops as reinforcements to restore order. They invested Jerusalem, then for uncertain reasons, withdrew back towards the coast and were ambushed and defeated at the Battle of Beth Horon, a result that shocked the Roman leadership. 224 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Emperor Nero appointed General Vespasian instead of Gallus to crush the rebellion. Vespasian, along with legions X Fretensis and V Macedonica, landed at Ptolemais in April 67. There he was joined by his son Titus, who arrived from Alexandria at the head of Legio XV Apollinaris, as well as by the armies of various local allies including that of King Agrippa II. Fielding more than 60,000 soldiers, Vespasian began operations by subjugating Galilee. [3] Many towns gave up without a fight, although others had to be taken by force. Of these, Josephus provides detailed accounts of the sieges of Yodfat and Gamla. By the year 68, Jewish resistance in the north had been crushed, and Vespasian made Caesarea Maritima his headquarters and methodically proceeded to clear the coast. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Jewish%E2%80%93Roma n_War - Accessed July, 2011. *** Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 225 68 AD was also the year Romans destroyed Qumran – the hometown of the “Dead Sea Scrolls” – the very site that is suspected to have once hosted the Ark of the Covenant! Based on ancient Jewish writings, some have suggested the Ark is hidden on Mount Nebo on the Jordan River's east bank. This site is presently in the modern nation of Jordan with no hint of the Ark's presence. Others suggest the Ark is hidden somewhere near the Dead Sea, on the Jordan's west bank. This location is usually considered in association with the ancient site of Qumran and the people of the Dead Sea Scrolls. Here, the Ark and other artifacts are believed buried in one of the region's caves, like the Dead Sea Scrolls. http://www.christiananswers.net/q-abr/abr-a002.html Accessed July, 2011. *** 226 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Caves at Qumran http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Qumran_Caves.jpg – Accessed July, 2011. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 227 Qumran Qumran (Hebrew: ‫ ,ןארמוק תבריח‬Arabic: ‫ةبرخ‬ ‫ - نارمق‬Khirbet Qumran) is an archaeological site in the West Bank. It is located on a dry plateau about a mile inland from the northwestern shore of the Dead Sea, near the Israeli settlement and kibbutz of Kalia. The Hellenistic period settlement was constructed during the reign of John Hyrcanus, 134-104 BCE or somewhat later, and was occupied most of the time until it was destroyed by the Romans in 68 CE or shortly after. It is best known as the settlement nearest to the caves in which the Dead Sea Scrolls were hidden, caves in the sheer desert cliffs and beneath, in the marl terrace. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qumran - Accessed July, 2011. *** 228 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Moreover, year 67/68 AD was the year St. Peter, the first Pope, was crucified on the cross in Vatican, Rome. His brother St. Andrew was crucified on an “x” shaped cross [in Patras, Greece] in 60/70 AD just the same. Romans killed the two brothers, much like the way they beheaded John the Baptist [in 36 AD] and crucified Jesus Christ on the cross [in 22 AD]. St. Peter Simon Peter (Greek: Πέτρος, Pétros, "stone, rock"; [2] possibly died AD 67), sometimes called Simon Cephas after his name in Hellenised Aramaic, was an early Christian leader, who is featured prominently in the New Testament Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles. Peter was the son of John or of Jonah and was from the village of Bethsaida in the province of Galilee. His brother Andrew was also an apostle. Simon Peter is venerated in multiple churches and is regarded as the first Pope by the Roman Catholic Church. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Peter Accessed July, 2011. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 229 St. Andrew Saint Andrew, (died AD 60/70, Patras, Achaia [Greece]; feast day November 30), one of the Twelve Apostles and brother of St. Peter. He is the patron saint of Scotland and of Russia. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/23960/SaintAndrew - Accessed July, 2011. *** Last but not the least, year 68 AD was also the year Nero; the Roman Emperor who ordered both St. Peter’s and St. Andrew’s crucifixion, the man, the Roman Emperor who claimed to be “god” committed suicide. 230 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. In Rev. 13:5-8, the Beast was given a mouth speaking in blasphemies against God and His Name. Inscriptions have been found in Ephesus in which Nero is called "Almighty God" and "Savior". [3] In verse 4, the Beast is worshipped by the world alongside the Dragon that gave it Authority. Nero and Caligula "abandoned all reserve" in promoting emperor worship – they were the only two who demanded divine honors while still alive. Nero claimed to be the sun-god Apollo. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beast_(preterism) Accessed July, 2011. *** Year 68 AD Events • The Essenes place the Dead Sea Scrolls in the caves at Qumran. June 9 – Roman Emperor Nero commits suicide four miles outside Rome. He is deserted by the Praetorian Guard and then stabs himself in the throat. 231 • Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. • The Roman Senate declares Nero as a persona non grata [“an unwelcome person”]. In the line of succession, Galba follows Nero. The year of the four emperors: Galba (68), Otho (69) and Vitellius (69) all govern a very short time before Vespasian becomes emperor. Winter – The Emperor Trajan sets up camp at Jericho and the Romans cut off escape routes toward Jerusalem. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/68 - Accessed July, 2011. • • *** At first sight, the 68th Psalm [that points to years 68 AD and 1968 AD events] reveals nothing significant about the Ark of the Covenant. However, when we attempt to form one long sentence with the last few words of each verse of the 68th Psalm, here is what we end up with: 232 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. flee before him 1 Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him. at the presence of God 2 As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. exceedingly rejoice 3 But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice. rejoice before him 4 Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before him. God in his holy habitation 5 A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation. in a dry land 6 God setteth the solitary in families: he bringeth out those which are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land. march through the wilderness 7 O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness; Selah: Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 233 the presence of God, the God of Israel 8 The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God: even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel. when it was weary 9 Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful rain, whereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance, when it was weary. thy goodness for the poor 10 Thy congregation hath dwelt therein: thou, O God, hast prepared of thy goodness for the poor. great was the company of those that published it 11 The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it. she that tarried at home divided the spoil 12 Kings of armies did flee apace: and she that tarried at home divided the spoil. her feathers with yellow gold 13 Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold. it was white as snow in Salmon 14 When the Almighty scattered kings in it, it was white as snow in Salmon. 234 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. an high hill as the hill of Bashan 15 The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan; an high hill as the hill of Bashan. the LORD will dwell in it for ever 16 Why leap ye, ye high hills? this is the hill which God desireth to dwell in; yea, the LORD will dwell in it for ever. the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place 17 The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place. the LORD God might dwell among them 18 Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them. daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation 19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah. the issues from death 20 He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto GOD the Lord belong the issues from death. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 235 the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses 21 But God shall wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses. people again from the depths of the sea 22 The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan, I will bring my people again from the depths of the sea: and the tongue of thy dogs in the same 23 That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies, and the tongue of thy dogs in the same. in the sanctuary 24 They have seen thy goings, O God; even the goings of my God, my King, in the sanctuary. among them were the damsels playing with timbrels 25 The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; among them were the damsels playing with timbrels. *** 236 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. As exhibited, the last few words of each and every verse of the 68th Psalm form one long sentence that hints the whereabouts of the Ark of the Covenant! Let’s now study each “word” of this carefully formed and the carefully hidden long sentence and try to decode the message hidden in it. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 237 The Journey of the Ark of the Covenant flee before him 1 Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered: let them also that hate him flee before him. The 68th Psalm starts with verse that begins with the words “Let God arise”, hinting that the Ark of the LORD was to “arise” [be lifted up] from its place of rest and be moved to another place in 68 AD that the 68th Psalm points at! A distance of 2,000 cubits had to be present between the Ark of the Covenant and the people that followed the Holy object [“flee before him”]. at the presence of God 2 As smoke is driven away, so drive them away: as wax melteth before the fire, so let the wicked perish at the presence of God. A “smoke” was “driven away” while the Ark was being “drive[n] away” with its contents [“drive [them] away”] – while being moved! 238 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The Ark of the Covenant is believed to have hosted the “presence” of the LORD thus the key phrase “the presence of God”. The key phrase that reads “wicked perish” may allude to the death [through burning – “as wax melteth before the fire”] of certain people or priests who were present before the Ark while it was being moved away. exceedingly rejoice 3 But let the righteous be glad; let them rejoice before God: yea, let them exceedingly rejoice. The lost Ark was finally in the hands of a group of people or priests who, after centuries of its absence, could now see it, and could even touch it. The “wicked may have “perish[ed]” [died] before the Ark, but the righteous priests were still alive. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 239 They were to “exceedingly rejoice” for being next to the Ark and yet still staying alive! Them being alive before the Ark would have meant that they were “righteous” in the eyes of the LORD! rejoice before him 4 Sing unto God, sing praises to his name: extol him that rideth upon the heavens by his name JAH, and rejoice before him. The Ark was not a fictional object. It was real. People who could now see it, the shoulders of those on which the Ark now “rideth upon” are asked to “sing praises to his name” and “rejoice before him”. God in his holy habitation 5 A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation. 240 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Here in this fifth verse we are hinted about the “holy habitation”, the secret location of the Ark from which it was being moved from in 68 AD! The keyword “the fatherless” alludes to Jesus who had no father! In other words, the Ark rested in a place that had something to do with Jesus and his “holy habitation” – the Golgotha, the tomb, the final resting place of Jesus upon which the Church of the Holy Sepulchre was built at! The Church of the Holy Sepulchre The Church of the Holy Sepulchre, also called the Church of the Resurrection by Eastern Christians, is a church within the walled Old City of Jerusalem. It is a few steps away from the Muristan. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 241 The site is venerated as Golgotha [1] (the Hill of Calvary), where Jesus was crucified, [2] and is said to also contain the place where Jesus was buried (the sepulchre). The church has been an important Christian pilgrimage destination since at least the 4th century, as the purported site of the resurrection of Jesus. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Church_of_the_Holy_Sepulchre - Accessed July, 2011. *** 242 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Church of the Holy Sepulchre (1885) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:ChurchOfTheHolySepulcher1885.pn g - Accessed July, 2011. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 243 The key phrase “a judge of the widows” highlights a widow that had something to do with the “fatherless” – Jesus! Jesus had no father. The widow alluded is no other than Saint Helena, Emperor Constantine’s mom, the widow who ordered “The Church of the Holy Sepulchre” to be built on the site of Jesus’ crucifixion! Saint Helena Helena gave birth to the future emperor Constantine I on the 27th of February of an uncertain year soon after 270[15] (probably around 272).[16] At the time, she was in Naissus (Niš, Serbia).[17] In order to obtain a wife more consonant with his rising status, Constantius divorced Helena at some time before 289, when he married Theodora, Maximian's daughter.[18] (The narrative sources date the marriage to 293, but the Latin panegyric of 289 refers to the couple as already married).[19] 244 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Helena and her son were dispatched to the court of Diocletian at Nicomedia, where Constantine grew to be a member of the austus' inner circle. Helena never remarried and lived for a time in obscurity, though close to her only son, who had a deep regard and affection for her. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helena_of_Constantino ple - Accessed July, 2011. *** Helena of Constantinople by Cima da Conegliano http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Helena_of_Constantinople_(Cima_da _Conegliano).jpg - Accessed July, 2011. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 245 Constantine was proclaimed Augustus of the Roman Empire in 306 by Constantius' troops after the latter had died, and following his elevation his mother was brought back to the public life, in 312 and the imperial court. During her life, she gave many presents to the poor, released prisoners and mingled with the ordinary worshippers in modest attire. Constantine appointed his mother Helen as Augusta Imperatrix, and gave her unlimited access to the imperial treasury in order to locate the relics of JudeoChristian tradition. In 326-28 Helena undertook a trip to the Holy Places in Palestine. According to Eusebius of Caesarea she was responsible for the construction or beautification of two churches, the Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem, and the Church on the Mount of Olives, sites of Christ's birth and ascension. Local founding legend attributes to Helena's orders the construction of a church in Egypt to identify the Burning Bush of Sinai. The chapel at St. Catherine's Monastery-often referred to as the Chapel of Saint Helen—is dated to the year AD 330. 246 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Jerusalem was still rebuilding from the destruction of Emperor Hadrian, who had built a temple dedicated, according to conflicting accounts, to Venus or Jupiter [22] over the site of Jesus's tomb near Calvary and renamed the city Aelia Capitolina. According to tradition, Helena ordered the temple torn down and, according to the legend that arose at the end of the fourth century, in Ambrose, On the Death of Theodosius (died 395) and at length in Rufinus' chapters appended to his translation into Latin of Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History, which does not mention the event,[23] chose a site to begin excavating, which led to the recovery of three different crosses. Then, Rufinus relates, refusing to be swayed by anything but solid proof, the empress (perhaps through Bishop Macarius of Jerusalem) had a woman who was already at the point of death brought from Jerusalem. When the woman touched the first and second crosses, her condition did not change, but when she touched the third and final cross she suddenly recovered, [24] and Helena declared the cross with which the woman had been touched to be the True Cross. On the site of discovery, Constantine ordered built the Church of the Holy Sepulchre as well as those on other sites detected by Helena. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 247 She also found the nails of the crucifixion. To use their miraculous power to aid her son, Helena allegedly had one placed in Constantine's helmet, and another in the bridle of his horse. Helena left Jerusalem and the eastern provinces in 327 to return to Rome, bringing with her large parts of the True Cross and other relics, which were then stored in her palace's private chapel, where they can be still seen today. Her palace was later converted into the Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem. This has been maintained by Cistercian monks in the monastery which has been attached to the church for centuries. Tradition says that the site of the Vatican Gardens was spread with earth brought from Golgotha by Helena [25] [26] to symbolically unite the blood of Christ with that shed by thousands of early Christians, who died in the persecutions of Nero. [25] According to one tradition, Helena acquired the Holy Tunic on her trip to Jerusalem and sent it to Trier. 248 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Several of Saint Helena's treasures are now in Cyprus, where she spent some time. Some of them are a part of Jesus Christ's tunic, pieces of the holy cross, and the world's only pieces of the rope with which Jesus was tied on the Cross. The latter has been held at the Stavrovouni Monastery, which was also founded by Saint Helena. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helena_of_Constantinople Accessed July, 2011. *** The shrine to Saint Helena in St. Peter's Basilica http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Saint_Helena.jpg – Accessed July, 2011. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 249 in a dry land 6 God setteth the solitary in families: he bringeth out those which are bound with chains: but the rebellious dwell in a dry land. The Ark of the Covenant was moved from the Golgotha site, [the future location of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre] and now was located “in a dry land”. Qumran, the home of Dead Sea Scrolls, was and still is a “dry land”, a desert – the home of Essenes who lived in “solitary”, in communes - “in families” as signaled in the 6th verse above! The “rebellious”, that “dwell in a dry land”, “bound with chains” are highly likely to be the group of Jewish Priests who rebelled out during the Jewish Revolt of 66 AD, moved out to Qumran and joined their peers already living there - the Jewish sect known as Essenes. 250 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The Ark of the Covenant [illustrated in the verse as “God”] was now placed in a “habitation” for safe-keeping – in year 68 AD as the quoted verses appear in the 68th Psalm that points to years 68 AD [and 1968 AD] events. In other words, the rebellious Jewish Priests of the Jewish Revolt were the last and final Essenes! Though the Essenes were living in Qumran for the past two centuries [or more], history reports that the “Dead Sea Scrolls” were placed in the caves of Qumran in year 68 AD that the 68th Psalm we are studying now points at! The Essenes The Essenes (in Modern but not in Ancient Hebrew: ‫ ,א ִִּים‬Isiyim; Greek: Εσσηνοι, ‫ִס י‬ Εσσαιοι, or Οσσαιοι; Essēnoi, Essaioi, Ossaioi) were a Jewish sect that flourished from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century CE which some scholars claim seceded from the Zadokite priests.[1] Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 251 Being much fewer in number than the Pharisees and the Sadducees (the other two major sects at the time), the Essenes lived in various cities but congregated in communal life dedicated to asceticism, voluntary poverty, daily immersion, and abstinence from worldly pleasures, including (for some groups) marriage. Many separate but related religious groups of that era shared similar mystic, eschatological, messianic, and ascetic beliefs. These groups are collectively referred to by various scholars as the "Essenes." Josephus records that Essenes existed in large numbers and thousands lived throughout Roman Judæa. The Essenes have gained fame in modern times as a result of the discovery of an extensive group of religious documents known as the Dead Sea Scrolls, which are commonly believed to be their library -though there is no real proof that they are the writers thereof. 252 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. These documents include preserved multiple copies of the Hebrew Bible untouched from as early as 300 BCE until their discovery in 1946. Some scholars, however, dispute the notion that the Essenes wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls.[2] Rachel Elior, a prominent Israeli scholar, even questions the existence of the Essenes.[3][4][5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essenes - Accessed July, 2011. *** march through the wilderness 7 O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march through the wilderness; Selah: Again, the “dry land”, the “wilderness” mentioned in the verses above, the new home of the “Ark of the Covenant” was possibly Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were found at in year 1946 - the very “sheer desert cliffs”, “located on a dry plateau” – the home of the Essenes. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 253 Year 68 AD was the year Dead Sea Scrolls were placed in the caves of Qumran by the Essenes. It was the last year of the Jewish Revolt that was trampled by Vespasian and his son Titus. The Essene priests may have moved the Ark to Qumran so that the Romans [who were defeating the Jews in a war that was live in Caesarea Maritima at the time] would not acquire it. Caesarea Maritima, Jerusalem and Qumran on the map www.bing.com/maps - Accessed July, 2011. 254 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 8 The earth shook, the heavens also dropped at the presence of God: even Sinai itself was moved at the presence of God, the God of Israel. the presence of God, the God of Israel The Ark of the Covenant, the “presence of God” ”shook”, was “dropped” while being “moved” [while being lifted up to a cave in Qumran?] when it was weary 9 Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful rain, whereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance, when it was weary. Even though the Ark was now “weary”, it still produced miracles – “sen[t] a plentiful rain” down on the desert of Qumran and thus confirmed its “inheritance” - its holy nature! thy goodness for the poor 10 Thy congregation hath dwelt therein: thou, O God, hast prepared of thy goodness for the poor. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 255 The “congregation” that “dwelt therein” is most likely to be the final “Essenes”, the “rebellious” Jewish Priests of the Jewish Revolt of 66-68 AD who moved to Qumran together with the Ark and “dwelt therein”. The Essenes, as the verse illustrates, were committed to “goodness for the poor”! great was the company of those that published it 11 The Lord gave the word: great was the company of those that published it. “The company” that “published” the LORD’s “word” is highly likely to be no other than the Essenes who spent most of their time copying, and preserving LORD’s “word” [the Books of the Old Testament] on the Dead Sea Scrolls. 256 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. She that tarried at home divided the spoil 12 Kings of armies did flee apace: and she that tarried at home divided the spoil. The Ark is believed to have hosted the Aaron’s rod, the Tablets of the Ten Commandments, and a pot of “manna” in [or before] it. Yet, as of 68 AD, all or some of the holy objects were missing from the inside of the Ark. “She tarried at home divided the spoil” – Queen Sheba, who is suspected of carrying the Ark of the Covenant over unto Ethiopia, is hinted to have returned home with [all or some of] the “spoil” - the contents of the Ark but not the Ark itself! her feathers with yellow gold 13 Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 257 By LORD’s Order, the two cherubim [“her feathers”] on top of the Ark of the Covenant were made of pure gold. From this very verse we get the impression that the Ark was now kept “among the pots”, the “pots”, the jars of Dead Sea Scrolls in Qumran! Here is the NIV version of the same verse [Psalms 68:13]: New International Version Ps. 68:13 Even while you sleep among the campfires, [Or saddlebags] the wings of my dove are sheathed with silver, its feathers with shining gold.” According to the NIV translation of the same verse, the Ark was now possibly being kept in a cave at Qumran and was under constant surveillance. “Campfires” were lit in the cave of its presence, both during the day, and at nights. 258 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. As we have theorized earlier, the final Essenes, [the “rebellious” Jewish Priests of the Jewish Revolt of 66-68 AD] took the Ark with them to the caves of Qumran [in 68 AD that the 68th Psalm points at] so that they could protect it from the Romans who were defeating the Jews the same year in their own homeland during the last days of the Jewish Revolt. 14 When the Almighty scattered kings in it, it was white as snow in Salmon. it was white as snow in Salmon Year 68 AD, was the year the final Essenes placed the Dead Sea Scrolls in the caves at Qumran. Later that year, Qumran was destroyed by the Romans. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 259 The key phrase that reads “the Almighty scattered kings in it” alludes to the “Kings” of the Romans, who had ordered the four founders, four holiest figures of Christianity to be either crucified or beheaded by the year 68 AD [Jesus, John the Baptist, St. Andrew and finally St. Peter in Vatican, Rome in 67 or 68 AD] were “scattered”! Year 68-69 AD was the year of “Four Emperors” up in Rome! The phrase “the Almighty scattered kings in it” co-alludes to the four emperors of the Roman Empire that were “scattered” one after the other during that mentioned period until Vespesian, the father of Titus, stepped up to the throne as the Roman Emperor in Rome. 260 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Put simply, the Ark of the Covenant was not passive, to the contrary, was highly active during the year 68 AD! The Ark, thus the LORD, scattered the kings of the enemies of the Jews up in Rome during and right after the Jewish Revolt - in 68-69 AD! The cave or the hill that hosted the cave of the Ark of the Covenant at Qumran site may have been white in color, hence the key phrase “white as snow”. The Qumran caves were home to several “Dead Sea Scrolls” – copies of the Books of the Old Testament. The phrase “kings in it” may also refer to a cave that had the scroll of the Book of Kings in it! In other words, the cave that had the “Kings Scroll” in it is hinted to be the cave that once had the Ark of the Covenant hidden in it! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 261 When we examine the books found in the Qumran caves, we don’t run into a “Kings Scroll”, though. Frequency of the Books of the Bible Found at Qumran Book of the Bible Psalms Deuteronomy 1 Enoch Genesis Isaiah Jubilees Exodus Leviticus Numbers Minor Prophets Daniel Jeremiah Ezekiel Job 1 & 2 Samuel Copies Found 39 33 25 24 22 21 18 17 11 10 8 6 6 6 4 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_Sea_scrolls - Accessed July, 2011. 262 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. If, in the future, a “Kings Scroll” is found in a cave at the Qumran site, it is highly likely that it was the very cave that once hosted the Ark of the Covenant in it! an high hill as the hill of Bashan 15 The hill of God is as the hill of Bashan; an high hill as the hill of Bashan. Here, in the 15th verse above, the Ark is hinted to be placed in a cave located on a “high hill” at the Qumran area! A high hill [four “hill[s]” are mentioned – 4 or 40 cubits/stones in height?], white in color [“white as snow”] that has the “kings in it” – the ”Kings Scroll”! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 263 The Copper Scroll, [the scroll made of pure copper] that was found at the Qumran site, confirms our thesis: “The Copper Scroll states that a silver (or alabaster) chest … and many treasures were hidden in a desolate valley – 40 stones deep under a hill – on the east side.” Incidentally, the Copper Scroll is believed to have been placed in the caves of Qumran in or around the year 68 AD that the 68th Psalm points at! Copper Scroll The first of the Dead Sea Scrolls was discovered in 1947, and the famed Copper Scroll—made of pure copper—was found at Qumran in 1952. The Copper Scroll is an inventory, written in Hebrew, of treasures—thought by some to be from Solomon's First Temple, hidden before the destruction of that temple by the Babylonians and treasures which have not been seen since. 264 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The Copper Scroll states that a silver (or alabaster) chest, the vestments of the Cohen Gadol (Hebrew High Priest), gold and silver in great quantities, the Tabernacle of the Lord and many treasures were hidden in a desolate valley—40 stones deep under a hill—on its east side. http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Ark_of_the_C ovenant - Accessed July, 2011. *** Dating [of the Copper Scroll] Scholarly estimates of the probable date range of The Copper Scroll vary. F.M. Cross proposed the period of 25-75 CE on paleographical grounds, while W.F. Albright suggested 70-135 CE[11] and Manfred Lehmann put forward a similar date range, arguing that the treasure was principally the money accumulated between the First Jewish War and the Bar Kochba War, while the temple lay in ruins. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 265 P. Kyle McCarter Jr., Albert M. Wolters, David Wilmot and Judah Lefkovits all agree that the scroll originated around 70 CE.[12] Whereas, Emile Puech argued that the deposit of the Copper Scroll behind 40 jars could not have been placed after the jars, so the scroll "predates 68 CE."[13] Józef Milik proposed that the scroll was written around 100 CE, nearly a "generation after the destruction of Jerusalem." [14] If Milik's dating of the scroll is correct, it would mean that the scroll did not come from the Qumran community because his dating puts the scroll "well after the Qumran settlement was destroyed."[15] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper_Scroll Accessed July, 2011. *** What happened to the treasure listed in the Copper Scroll? It is more than plausible that the Romans discovered the treasure. Perhaps when the temple of Herod was destroyed the Romans went looking for any treasure and riches the temple may have had in its possession. Consider this story. 266 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. In 106 C.E King Decebalus of Dacia, was defeated by the Romans, who then seized his territory and immediately began looking for his vast amount of wealth. Fortunately for the Romans, Bicilis, a friend of the King, was captured and tortured, and eventually relinquished the place in which the treasure lay. As it turns out the King had hidden his wealth in "the River Saretia" which ran in front of his palace. Thanks to the information that Bicilis had provided, the Romans now knew where to look for the treasure. They then went and dug up the treasure. [29] As a result, it is easy to assume that the Romans could have acquired the treasure listed in the Copper Scroll. According the Josephus (a historian of the day) the Romans had an active policy regarding the retrieval of hidden treasure. [30] And like the story above, their means of discovering treasure locations almost always rest in interrogation and torture. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper_Scroll#The_Treasures_ Mystery - Accessed July, 2011. *** Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 267 the LORD will dwell in it for ever 16 Why leap ye, ye high hills? this is the hill which God desireth to dwell in; yea, the LORD will dwell in it for ever. The keyword “leap” and “high hills” may be hinting the necessary jump that was needed over the “high hills” of the Qumran area before the location of the Ark could be found! The Ark of the Covenant, “the voice of the LORD” of the 29th Psalm is, was and will always remain a sacred object. If it is radioactive in nature [people were warned to keep a distance from it], it probably has a half-life of billions of years [“for ever”]. the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place 17 The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place. 268 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Starting from the 17th verse above, the Ark is hinted to be captured by the Romans thus the verse “the Lord is among them”! The “them” mentioned in the verse above alludes to Romans who were at war with the Jews in year 68 AD that the 68th Psalm points at. As we have seen, year 68 AD is hinted to be the year the Ark was placed in a cave at Qumran by the “rebellious” – the rebellious Jewish Priests [probably the same priests who had ignited the Jewish Revolt of 66-68 AD] – those who now lived at the Qumran site along with the Essenes who had been already living there for decades. It was the year of the last days of the Jewish Revolt – a revolt that was “crushed” by the Roman Emperor Vespasian and his son Titus. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 269 Most importantly, year 68 AD marks the very year the Romans destroyed the Qumran site and possibly captured the Ark during the siege thus the key phrases “the Lord is among them, the LORD God might dwell among them” – “in the holy place”! the LORD God might dwell among them 18 Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them. The rebellious Jewish Priests were now “captive[s]” of the Romans! As the 18th verse above illustrates, certain “gifts” may have been handed over to the “rebellious” – the Jewish Priests of the Jewish Revolt of 66-68 AD in return for the Ark of the Covenant! [“thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them”.] 270 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The keyword “twenty-thousand” mentioned in the prior verse [68:17] may refer to the amount of gold or silver coins, shekels that the Romans may have paid for the Ark. The Romans, though they could have grabbed the Ark without paying anything in return, chose to pay “gifts” to the priests of Qumran – the Keepers of the Ark in year 68 AD. The Romans probably knew about the calamity Philistines went through when the Holy Chest was in their hands. They were well aware of the holy nature of the Ark, and did not just take it away from its Keepers/Owners by sheer force. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 271 The Philistines took the Ark to several places in their country, and at each place misfortune befell them (1 Sam. 5:1-6). At Ashdod it was placed in the temple of Dagon. The next morning Dagon was found prostrate, bowed down, before it; and on being restored to his place, he was on the following morning again found prostrate and broken. The people of Ashdod were smitten with tumors; a plague of rats was sent over the land (1 Sam. 6:5). The affliction of boils was also visited upon the people of Gath and of Ekron, whither the Ark was successively removed (1 Sam. 5:8-12). After the Ark had been among them for seven months, the Philistines, on the advice of their diviners, returned it to the Israelites, accompanying its return with an offering consisting of golden images of the tumors and rats wherewith they had been afflicted. The Ark was set in the field of Joshua the Beth-shemite, and the Beth-shemites offered sacrifices and burnt offerings (1 Sam. 6:1-15). Out of curiosity the men of Bethshemesh gazed at the Ark; and as a punishment, seventy of them (fifty thousand seventy in some ms.) were smitten by the Lord (1 Sam. 6:19). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ark_of_the_Covenant Accessed July, 2011. 272 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The Romans wanted the Ark, as they would loot almost all treasures of the Jews and their Holy Temple in 70 AD during the Second Siege of Jerusalem just the same, but unlike the Menorah, the Pentateuch and all the other holy objects they would rob from the Temple of the LORD only couple of years later from 68 AD, they chose not to just take the Ark of the Covenant away. Certain “gifts” are hinted to be handed over to the Keepers of the Ark [“the rebellious” – the Jewish Priests who rebelled out and ignited the Jewish Revolt of 66-68 AD] so that the Ark “the LORD God might dwell among them”. The “them” alluded in the verse is none but the Romans and “the LORD God”, the Ark of the Covenant! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 273 the LORD God might dwell among them 18 Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them. daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation 19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah. The Ark is known to have produced “manna” on a “daily” basis that fed the Israelites during the Exodus. Though the Ark was now captured by the Romans, it still kept on providing the Jews [“loadeth us”] “benefits” – “gifts” that were paid by the Romans in return for the possession of the Ark. 274 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Here comes the most exciting part! The 17th to 25th verses of the 68th Psalm hints us how the Romans captured the Ark and where they took it away! The mentioned verses signal us the new location of the Ark that now was under the Romans’ possession. The 17th verse ends with the key phrase “in the holy place”. The Ark was now in a “holy place” – a place holy to the Jews or the Romans! The verses that follow further describe the new location of the Ark: “in the holy place”, “the issues from death”, “the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses”, “people again from the depths of the sea”, “and the tongue of thy dogs”, “in the same”, “[in the] sanctuary”! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 275 the issues from death 20 He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto GOD the Lord belong the issues from death. As the 20th verse above illustrates, the new or the final location of the Ark, the “holy place” is hinted to be the place that also hosts a crypt in it hence the phrase “the issues from death”! the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses 21 But God shall wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses. 276 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The 21st verse of the 68th Psalm above that points to years 68 AD [and 1968 AD] events speaks of a “hairy scalp” of an enemy of the LORD. While hinting the new and/or the final location of the Ark of the Covenant, the 21st verse hints us more clues about the whereabouts of the Ark and the “enemies” of the LORD who “goeth on still in his trespasses” [trespassing Jerusalem, the Holy Land] – the “one” whom the LORD would wound “the head” of. Titus, the son of Vespesian, who killed hundreds of thousands of Jews [over 1.1 million to be exact!] during both the Jewish Revolt of 66-68 AD and the Second Siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD, who is believed to have performed sex on a Torah Scroll in the Holy Temple of the LORD, before he destroyed the Temple totally and carried its holy objects up unto Rome in year 7071 AD, died after a skull surgery! [“God shall wound the head of his enemies”!] Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 277 The Death of Titus According to the Babylonian Talmud (Gittin 56b), an insect flew into Titus's nose and picked at his brain for seven years. He noticed that the sound of a blacksmith hammering caused the ensuing pain to abate, so he paid for blacksmiths to hammer nearby him; however, the effect wore off and the insect resumed its gnawing. When he died, they opened his skull and found the insect had grown to the size of a bird. The Talmud gives this as the cause of his death and interprets it as divine retribution for his wicked actions. [80] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titus#Death – Accessed July, 2011. *** 278 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Roman denarius depicting Titus, c. 79. The reverse commemorates his triumph in the Judaean wars, representing a Jewish captive kneeling in front of a trophy of arms http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Titus_Augustus_Denarius.png Accessed July, 2011. *** In contrast to the ideal portrayal of Titus in Roman histories, in Jewish memory "Titus the Wicked" is remembered as an evil oppressor and destroyer of the Temple. For example, one legend in the Babylonian Talmud describes Titus as having had sex with a whore on a Torah scroll inside the Temple during its destruction. [88] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titus#Historiography Accessed July, 2011. *** Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 279 Furthermore, the Roman ruler who wore a “hairy scalp” [mentioned in the verse 68:21] was no other than Caesar, Latin for “hairy” – the Roman Emperor that had a name which meant “hairy” but wore a “hairy scalp”! The very name that ended up being the title of the future Roman Emperors, but first of Titus in 68-69 AD that the 68th Psalm points at! The name and the title “Caesar” is what several cities in the Middle East were named after, including the town that the Jewish Revolt of 6668 AD started at – Caesara Maritima, Israel! Caesar Caesar (plural Caesars; Latin: Caesar, plural: Caesares) is a title of imperial character. It derives from the cognomen of Julius Caesar, the Roman dictator. 280 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The change from being a familial name to a title adopted by the Roman Emperors can be dated to about AD 68/69, the socalled "Year of the Four Emperors". Although the etymology of the name of Julius Caesar is not known with certainty, many scholars believe that it was simply a use of the Latin expression caesar meaning hairy. [1][2] The Julii Caesares were a specific branch of the gens Julia. The first known bearer of the name was one Numerius Julius Caesar (born before 300 BC), who might have been conspicuous for having a fine head of hair (alternatively, given the Roman sense of humour and Julius Caesar's own receding hairline, it could be that the family branch was conspicuous for going bald). [3] It is probably not related to the root "to cut", a hypothesized etymology for Caesarian section. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 281 Nevertheless, Caesar had become such an integral part of the imperial dignity that its place was immediately restored by Titus Flavius Vespasianus ("Vespasian"), whose defeat of Vitellius in 69 put an end to the period of instability and began the Flavian dynasty. Vespasian's son, Titus Flavius Vespasianus became "Titus Caesar Vespasianus". In the Middle East, the Persians and later the Arabs continued to refer to the Roman and Byzantine emperors as "Caesar" (in Persian ‫ مور رصیق‬Qaisar-e-Rūm). Thus, following the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, the victorious Ottoman sultan Mehmed II was the first of the rulers of the Ottoman Empire to assume the title "Caesar of the Roman Empire" (Ottoman Turkish Kayser-i-Rûm). Here, the Caesar title should not be understood as the minor title it had become, but as the glorious title of the emperors of the past, a connotation that had been preserved in Persian and Arabic. 282 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The adoption of the title also implied that the Ottoman state considered itself the continuation, by absorption, of the Roman Empire, a view not shared in the West. Acting in his capacity as Caesar of the Roman Empire, Mehmed reinstated the defunct Ecumenical [Universal] Patriarchate of Constantinople. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar_(title) – Accessed July, 2011. *** The Jewish Revolt of years 66-68 AD started in Caesarea Maritima, a town by the sea that is still called with the same name in today’s Israel, named after the Roman Emperor Caesar who had a name that was Latin for “hairy” yet who wore a “hairy scalp”! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 283 Caesarea Maritima had a “holy place” in it - a shrine holy to the Romans – the Temple of Augustus. If we recall, the Ark was now held in a “holy place” – a place holy to the Jews and/or the Romans! Temple of Augustus As part of a plan to show his indebtedness to his benefactor Herod the Great (37–4 B.C.) built a very large temple in Caesarea Maritima dedicate to the "goddess Roma, the embodiment of imperial Rome, and to the god–king Augustus" (Holum: 45). Although the temple does not survive, it is known from the descriptions of the Jewish historian Josephus and the excavations carried on at the site (see reference below). 284 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. From the outset, it should be remembered that Caesarea Maritima was predominantly a Gentile city—thus the "pagan" temple, but Herod also rebuilt the Temple to the God of Israel, and expanded its platform. These two building projects of Herod do indeed say something about his character and outlook on life! Some of the above, and following, information was gleaned from Holum, Kenneth G. "Building Power — The Politics of Architecture." Biblical Archaeology Review, vol. 30, no. 5 (September/October, 2004):36–45, 57. http://www.holylandphotos.org/browse.asp?s=1,2,6,16,288,3 02 - Accessed July, 2011. *** Again, Titus [the son of the Roman Emperor Vespasian] was the first to bear the title “Caesar” [in year 68-69 AD] – the very general who trampled the Jewish Revolt of 66-68 AD and conducted the Second Siege of Jerusalem in 70 AD. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 285 In other words, the title “Caesar” [Latin for “hairy”], named after the Roman Emperor known with the same name who wore a hairy scalp [“the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses”] was first used in 68-69 AD that the 68th Psalm points at. Put simply, the word and the title “Caesar” is highlighted in the 68th Psalm as the name of the town that now was the new of home of the Ark of the Covenant. In Israel, the only town that has a “Caesar” in its name is “Caesarea Maritima” – the very town the Jewish Revolt of 66-68 AD was ignited at the town that was the headquarters of the Roman general Titus Caesar during the revolt! 286 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Great Caesar's Scalp By Russell Baker Published: November 19, 1991 The New York Times The lack of public excitement about the recent discovery that Julius Caesar was completely bald says a great deal about the decline of American education. Fifty or even forty years ago this remarkable news would have spawned a thousand jokes from schoolchildren struggling with Caesar's history of the Gallic wars and graybeards equally at home with the Odes of Horace and the cutthroat world of Wall Street. In those days many Americans would have been inspired by the startling news of Caesar's baldness to compose an ode in the style of Horace, such was the popular command of Latin and Roman history created by American educators' determination to create a love for the classics. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 287 Nowadays it is doubtful that one American in ten thousand even knows who Julius Caesar was, and surely not one in a hundred thousand can translate "Veni, vidi, vici." Today's typical high-school student, if asked why Caesar crossed the Rubicon, will reply, "To get to the other side." ... That bust and its picture in millions of schoolbooks showed Caesar with a head of neatly combed hair. To be sure, there was another, less popular bust showing the top of the skull rather sparsely covered, in the style of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, but the sides generously thatched with hair. Still, the notion that Julius hadn't a single hair on his skull would have shocked all of civilized America. So firmly held was this idea of Caesar as a hairy man that he was traditionally played with hair by actors in "Julius Caesar," "Caesar and Cleopatra" and the stream of Hollywood potboilers about the Julians which packed movie houses for two generations. ... 288 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The findings were first published in the Journal of the American Tonsorial Anthropological Association. They result from years of research by a team of tonsorial anthropologists at the University of California at Twentynine Palms. Through ingenious use of isotopes and electronic microscopy the team was able to create computer-enhanced pictures of Caesar's hairline. Dr. Emmeline Granger, professor of antique tonsoriology at U.C. Twentynine Palms, refused to believe the first enhancements. "So destitute of hair was the Caesarean skull enhancement," she writes, "that we at first suspected the data we had subjected to isotopical and electronicmicroscopical analysis were not Caesarean at all. The total absence of follicle apertures anywhere in the computer enhancement seemed more consistent with granite than with human scalp structure." http://www.nytimes.com/1991/11/19/opinion/observergreat-caesar-s-scalp.html?src=pm - Accessed July, 2011. *** Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 289 Again, the 68th Psalm directs our attention at the name “Caesar” for the new and/or the final location of the Ark that now was in the hands of the Romans. Could the Ark have been carried over to Caesarea Maritima – the harbor town where the Jewish Revolt of 66-68 AD was launched at; the very town that Titus made his headquarters during the revolt? Jewish Revolt According to Josephus, the revolt, which began at Caesarea in 66, was provoked by Greeks sacrificing birds in front of a local synagogue. [2] By the year 68, Jewish resistance in the north had been crushed, and Vespasian made Caesarea Maritima his headquarters and methodically proceeded to clear the coast. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Jewish%E2%80%93Roma n_War - Accessed July, 2011. *** 290 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. To sum it up, the 17th to 25th verses of the 68th Psalm that points to year 68 AD [and 1968 AD] events hint the new location of the Ark. the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place 17 The chariots of God are twenty thousand, even thousands of angels: the Lord is among them, as in Sinai, in the holy place. the LORD God might dwell among them 18 Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, for the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell among them. daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation 19 Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 291 The Ark of the Covenant [depicted as “the LORD”], as of 68 AD, was now in the hands of the Romans [“among them”] - “in the holy place” The new location of the Ark is hinted to be a shrine that was holy to the Romans. [Temple of Augustus, in Caesarea Maritima, Israel?] the issues from death 20 He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto GOD the Lord belong the issues from death. The “holy place” of the Romans that now housed the Ark of the Covenant had a crypt [“issues from death”], a tomb, a sepulcher in it. the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses 21 But God shall wound the head of his enemies, and the hairy scalp of such an one as goeth on still in his trespasses. 292 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The enemy of God who had a title that was named after an emperor [namely “Caesar”, the Roman Emperor, who wore a “hairy scalp”] was no other than "Titus Caesar Vespasianus", the son of the Roman Emperor Vespasian, the Roman general [and later, emperor] who would trample the Jewish Revolt of 66-68 AD and order the Holy Temple of the LORD to be destroyed only two years later - after performing sex in it with a whore on a Torah scroll, that is! The very man of the “trespasses” across the Holy Land who would order the death of over one million Jews in a couple of years, who now, as of year 68 AD, is hinted to have the Ark of the Covenant in his hands! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 293 God would “wound the head of his enemies” – as He did with Titus Caesar Vespasianus who stepped up to throne in Rome as the Roman Emperor in year 79 AD [the very year Mount Vesuvius near Rome erupted and wiped off the entire town of Pompeii near Rome killing all its inhabitants] - who died after a skull surgery [“God shall wound the head of his enemies”] in 81 AD! People again from the depths of the sea 22 The Lord said, I will bring again from Bashan, I will bring my people again from the depths of the sea: A people of the sea or the “people from the depths of the sea” are in hinted to be living in that town that once had the Ark of the Covenant in it. Caesarea Maritima is a town by the sea, and it even hosts an underwater museum [“people from the depths of the sea”] today. 294 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Caesarea Maritima Caesarea Maritima (Greek: παράλιος Καισάρεια), called Caesarea Palaestina from 133 AD onwards, [1] was a city and harbor built by Herod the Great about 25–13 BC. Today, its ruins lie on the Mediterranean coast of Israel about halfway between the cities of Tel Aviv and Haifa, on the site of Pyrgos Stratonos ("Strato" or "Straton's Tower", in Latin Turris Stratonis).[2] Caesarea Maritima as with Caesarea Philippi in the Golan Heights and Caesarea Mazaca in Anatolian Cappadocia was named to flatter the Caesar. The city was described in detail by the 1st century Roman Jewish historian Josephus.[3] The city became the seat of the Roman praefecti soon after its foundation. The emperor Vespasian raised its status to that of a colonia. After the destruction of Jerusalem, in 70 AD, Caesarea was established as the provincial capital of Iudaea Province before the change of name to Syria Palaestina in 134 AD shortly before the suppression of the Bar Kokhba revolt.[4] According to historian H.H. Ben-Sasson, Caesarea was the "administrative capital" beginning in 6 AD.[5] Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 295 In Byzantine times, Caesarea remained the capital until the early 8th century, when the Umayyad caliph Suleiman transferred the seat of the government of the Jund Filastin to the newly built city of Ramla. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesarea_Maritima - Accessed July, 2011. *** Herod’s Harbor in Caesarea Maritima The forty-acre harbor would accommodate 300 ships, much larger than the modern harbor existing today http://www.bibleplaces.com/images/Caesarea_harbor_at_sunset_tb_n0 11300.jpg - Accessed July, 2011. 296 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Simply put, after it was captured in Qumran, the Ark of the Covenant is hinted to have been carried over to Caesarea Maritima, the Roman harbor where it would be shipped directly to Rome! The “goings” of the Ark [“my God”] would be witnessed and rejoiced by the Romans stationed at Caesarea Maritima. 24 They have seen thy goings, O God; even the goings of my God, my King, in the sanctuary. The celebrations of Titus’ triumph started in Caesarea Maritima – his headquarters in Israel! “Unable to sail to Italy during the winter, Titus celebrated Maritima…” from the fountain of Israel elaborate games at Caesarea 26 Bless ye God in the congregations, even the Lord, from the fountain of Israel. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 297 When the winter was over, Titus departed from “the fountain of Israel” – the aqueduct Herod had ordered to be built in Caesarea Maritima, and returned home with a victory. With all the Temple treasures he obtained, including the Ark of the Covenant, the Menorah, and the Pentateuch, he was welcome in Rome. A parade was waiting him there. among them were the damsels playing with timbrels 25 The singers went before, the players on instruments followed after; among them were the damsels playing with timbrels. “Accompanied by Vespasian and Domitian he rode into the city, enthusiastically saluted by the Roman populace and preceded by a lavish parade containing treasures and captives from the war.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titus - Accessed July, 2011. 298 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Titus’ Return to Rome Titus' triumph after the First Jewish-Roman War was celebrated with the Arch of Titus in Rome, which shows the treasures taken from the Temple in Jerusalem, including the Menorah and the trumpets of Jericho. Unable to sail to Italy during the winter, Titus celebrated elaborate games at Caesarea Maritima and Berytus, then travelled to Zeugma on the Euphrates, where he was presented with a crown by Vologases I of Parthia. While visiting Antioch he confirmed the traditional rights of the Jews in that city. [44] On his way to Alexandria, he stopped in Memphis to consecrate the sacred bull Apis. According to Suetonius, this caused consternation; the ceremony required Titus to wear a diadem, which the Romans associated with kingship, and the partisanship of Titus's legions had already led to fears that he might rebel against his father. Titus returned quickly to Rome – hoping, says Suetonius, to allay any suspicions about his conduct. [45] Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 299 Upon his arrival in the city in 71, Titus was awarded a triumph. [46] Accompanied by Vespasian and Domitian he rode into the city, enthusiastically saluted by the Roman populace and preceded by a lavish parade containing treasures and captives from the war. Josephus describes a procession with large amounts of gold and silver carried along the route, followed by elaborate reenactments of the war, Jewish prisoners, and finally the treasures taken from the Temple of Jerusalem, including the Menorah and the Pentateuch. [47] Simon Bar Giora was executed in the Forum, after which the procession closed with religious sacrifices at the Temple of Jupiter. [48] The triumphal Arch of Titus, which stands at one entrance to the Forum, memorializes the victory of Titus. The Arch of Titus, located on the Via Sacra, just to the south-east of the Forum Romanum in Rome. With Vespasian declared emperor, Titus and his brother Domitian likewise received the title of Caesar from the Senate. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titus - Accessed July, 2011. 300 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The new home of the Ark of the Covenant would be Rome, the Roman capital where it would be kept “in the sanctuary” – “in the same” that later would home the Holy Grail in it – the cup that was used to collect and store the blood of Christ at the Crucifixion. and the tongue of thy dogs in the same 23 That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies, and the tongue of thy dogs in the same. in the sanctuary 24 They have seen thy goings, O God; even the goings of my God, my King, in the sanctuary. Again, the sanctuary, the new home of the Ark of the Covenant would have “the blood of thine” – the blood of Jesus, the holy cup, the Holy Chalice or the Holy Grail! and the tongue of thy dogs in the same 23 That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies, and the tongue of thy dogs in the same. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 301 The Holy Grail The Holy Grail is a sacred object figuring in literature and certain Christian traditions, most often identified with the dish, plate, or cup used by Jesus at the Last Supper and said to possess miraculous powers. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Grail Accessed July, 2011. *** The Holy Chalice In Christian tradition the Holy Chalice is the vessel which Jesus used at the Last Supper to serve the wine. According to Roman Catholic tradition, the cup of the Last Supper, known as the Holy Chalice, was safeguarded by Saint Peter, who used it to say Mass, and took it with him when he traveled to Rome. After Peter's death, tradition states that the cup was passed on to his successors (the Popes) until Sixtus II in 258, when Christians were being persecuted by Emperor Valerian, and the Romans demanded that relics be turned over to the government. 302 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Pope Sixtus gave the cup to his deacon, Saint Lawrence, who passed it to a Spanish soldier, Proselius, with instructions to take it to safety in Lawrence's home country of Spain. The continuing tradition of the association of the Holy Chalice with Spain is that it was safeguarded by a series of Spanish monarchs, including King Alfonso in 1200. At one point when he needed money for a military campaign, Alfonso borrowed from the Cathedral of Valencia, using the Chalice as collateral. When he defaulted on the loan, the relic became the property of the Church. There is an entirely different and pervasive tradition concerning the cup of the Last Supper. In this highly muddled though betterknown version, the vessel is known as Holy Grail. In this legend, the cup was used to collect and store the blood of Christ at the Crucifixion. This conflicts with the notion that Peter might have used the cup of the Last Supper to celebrate the Mass. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Chalice - Accessed July, 2011. - Accessed July, 2011. *** Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 303 The Antioch Chalice, first half of 6th century Metropolitan Museum of Art http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Antioch_Chalice,_first_half_of_6 th_century,_Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art.jpg - Accessed July, 2011. *** A relic, a “tongue” is hinted to be located in the same sanctuary [“the tongue of thy dogs in the same”] – or a “sanctuary” with a Latin or an Italian name perhaps [the language, the “tongue” of the “enemies” of the Jews in year 68 AD.] 304 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. and the tongue of thy dogs in the same 23 That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies, and the tongue of thy dogs in the same. in the sanctuary 24 They have seen thy goings, O God; even the goings of my God, my King, in the sanctuary. *** Caesarea of the Crusaders In 1101, the Frankish army under King Baldwin I conquered Caesarea. Caesarea became the seat of an archbishop and not only Franks but also eastern Christians and Muslims settled there. The Genoese found a green-colored glass vessel in the city and declared it to be the Holy Grail, the goblet used by Jesus at the Last Supper. It was taken to Genoa and placed in the Church of San Lorenzo. http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/History/Early%20History%20%20Archaeology/Caesarea%20from%20Roman%20City%20to%20Crusader%20Fortress Accessed July, 2011. *** Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 305 To sum it up, the “sanctuary”, the church that would house both the Holy Chalice/Holy Grail and the Ark of the Covenant had to: a) Have a crypt in it the issues from death 20 He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto GOD the Lord belong the issues from death. The Church/Basilica of San Lorenzo/St. Lawrence has a crypt [“the issues from death”] with fifty members of the Medici family buried in it. The Church of San Lorenzo The Basilica di San Lorenzo (Basilica of St Lawrence) is one of the largest churches of Florence, Italy, situated at the centre of the city’s main market district, and the burial place of all the principal members of the Medici family from Cosimo il Vecchio to Cosimo III. … 306 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. At its centre was supposed to be the Holy Sepulchre itself, although attempts to buy and then steal it from Jerusalem failed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_San_Lorenzo,_Flore nce - Accessed July, 2011. *** b) Have a Latin/Italian name and the tongue of thy dogs in the same 23 That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies, and the tongue of thy dogs in the same. The Church/Basilica of San Lorenzo/St. Lawrence was named after Laurence of Rome – Latin for Lauentius, meaning “laurelled”. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 307 Laurence of Rome Laurence of Rome (c. 225 – 258) (Latin: Laurentius, meaning "laurelled") was one of the seven deacons of ancient Rome who were martyred during the persecution of Valerian in 258. According to lore, among the treasures of the Greek Church entrusted to Laurence for safe-keeping was the Holy Chalice, the cup from which Jesus and the Apostles drank at the Last Supper. Lawrence was able to spirit this away to Huesca, in present day Aragon, with a letter and a supposed inventory, where it lay hidden and unregarded for centuries. When Augustine connects Lawrence with a chalice, it is the chalice of the Mass: For in that Church, you see, as you have regularly been told, he performed the office of deacon; it was there that he administered the sacred chalice of Christ’s blood. 308 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. According to Christian history the Holy Grail is a relic that was sent by St Laurence to his parents in northern Aragon. He entrusted this sacred chalice to a friend whom he knew would travel back to Huesca, remaining in the monastery of Saint John of Pena, core of spiritual strength for the emerging kingdom of Aragon. While the Holy Chalice's exact journey through the centuries is disputed, it is generally accepted by Catholics that the Chalice was sent by his family to this monastery for preservation and veneration. Historical records indicate that this chalice has been venerated and preserved by a number of monks and monasteries through the ages. Today the Holy Grail is venerated in a special chapel in the Catholic Cathedral of Valencia, Spain. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_of_Rome Accessed July, 2011. *** Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 309 c) Have the Holy Chalice/Holy Grail in it “The blood of thine” [the blood of Jesus, the holy cup that held it - the Holy Chalice/ Holy Grail] and “the tongue of thy dogs in the same”, “in the sanctuary” reads the 23rd and the 24th verses hinting that the “sanctuary” that once housed the Ark of the Covenant in or near Rome also had the Holy Chalice/Holy Grail in it! and the tongue of thy dogs in the same 23 That thy foot may be dipped in the blood of thine enemies, and the tongue of thy dogs in the same. in the sanctuary 24 They have seen thy goings, O God; even the goings of my God, my King, in the sanctuary. 310 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Caesarea of the Crusaders In 1101, the Frankish army under King Baldwin I conquered Caesarea. Caesarea became the seat of an archbishop and not only Franks but also eastern Christians and Muslims settled there. The Genoese found a green-colored glass vessel in the city and declared it to be the Holy Grail, the goblet used by Jesus at the Last Supper. It was taken to Genoa and placed in the Church of San Lorenzo. http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/History/Early%20History%20%20Archaeology/Caesarea%20from%20Roman%20City%20to%20Crusader%20FortressAccessed July, 2011. *** d) Have an attribute related to certain “princes” Three “princes” are mentioned in the 27th verse that hints us to seek for a “sanctuary” which would be known by the name or for its “princes”. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 311 27 There is little Benjamin with their ruler, the princes of Judah and their council, the princes of Zebulun, and the princes of Naphtali. The Church/Basilica of San Lorenzo/St. Lawrence hosts “Cappella dei Principi” (Chapel of the Princes) in it. A 19th-century photograph of the interior of the Cappella dei Principi http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Brogi,_Giacomo_(18221881)_-_n._3515_-_Firenze__S._Lorenzo_Cappella_dei_Principi_(1870s).jpg – Accessed July, 2011. 312 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Simply put, the verses hint us that the Ark of the Covenant is highly likely to have been once kept at the site of the future Church of San Lorenzo in today’s Florence, Italy along with the Holy Grail! The Church of San Lorenzo The Basilica di San Lorenzo (Basilica of St Lawrence) is one of the largest churches of Florence, Italy, situated at the centre of the city’s main market district, and the burial place of all the principal members of the Medici family from Cosimo il Vecchio to Cosimo III. The cruciform basilica with the vast domed apsidal Medici Chapel; in the cloister is the Laurentian Library http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Medicibib.jpg – Accessed July, 2011. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 313 It is one of several churches that claim to be the oldest in Florence; when it was consecrated in 393 [1] it stood outside the city walls. For three hundred years it was the city's cathedral before the official seat of the bishop was transferred to Santa Reparata. San Lorenzo was also the parish church of the Medici family. In 1419, Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici offered to finance a new church to replace the eleventh-century Romanesque rebuilding. Filippo Brunelleschi, the leading Renaissance architect of the first half of the fifteenth century, was commissioned to design it, but the building, with alterations, was not completed until after his death. The church is part of a larger monastic complex that contains other important architectural works: the Old Sacristy by Brunelleschi; the Laurentian Library by Michelangelo; the New Sacristy based on Michelangelo's designs; and the Medici Chapels by Matteo Nigetti. 314 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The most celebrated and grandest part of San Lorenzo is the Cappelle Medicee (Medici Chapels) in the apse. The Medici were still paying for it when the last member of the family, Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici, died in 1743. Almost fifty lesser members of the family are buried in the crypt. The final design (1603-1604) was by Bernardo Buontalenti, based on models of Alessandro Pieroni and Matteo Nigetti. Above is the Cappella dei Principi (Chapel of the Princes), a great but awkwardly domed octagonal hall where the grand dukes themselves are buried. The style shows Mannerist eccentricities in its unusual shape, broken cornices, and asymmetrically sized windows. In the interior, the ambitious decoration with colored marbles overwhelms the attempts at novel design (Wittkower, R. p. 126). At its centre was supposed to be the Holy Sepulchre itself, although attempts to buy and then steal it from Jerusalem failed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_San_Lorenzo,_Flore nce - Accessed July, 2011. *** Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 315 As we theorized earlier, we have to follow the footsteps of St. Peter for the location of the Menorah, and his brother St. Andrew for the final location of the Ark of the Covenant. The first four, the most important four figures of Christianity, Jesus, John, St. Peter and St. Andrew died at the hands of the Romans! Jesus was crucified on a “+” shaped cross [22 AD]. John was beheaded [36 AD]. St. Peter was crucified on a “+” shaped cross but upside down [67/68 AD]. And finally, St. Andrew was crucified on an “x” shaped cross [60/70 AD]. Romans were behind the death and the murder of all four Martyrs. Incidentally, year 68-69 AD was the year of the four emperors in Rome: “Galba (68 AD), Otho (69 AD) and Vitellius (69 AD) all govern a very short time before Vespasian becomes emperor.” 316 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. As the 29th Psalm clearly illustrates, the Menorah is highly likely to be hidden in Vatican today. The Ark of the Covenant, on the other hand, is highly likely to be hidden somewhere within the borders of Italy just the same – the land of the Romans who without any hesitation killed the four holiest figures of Christianity one after the other, but could not prevent the Christians from making Rome, the capital city of the Romans, the headquarters of the Catholic Church! The Romans, the “spearmen”, the “multitude of the bulls” are further described as a “people who delight in war” in the 30th verse: 30 Rebuke the company of spearmen, the multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the people, till every one submit himself with pieces of silver: scatter thou the people that delight in war. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 317 As we have exhibited, the last few words of the 68th Psalm form one long sentence that hints the whereabouts of the Ark. The 30th and 31st verses signal how the Romans, those who either crucified or beheaded the first four and the holiest figures of Christianity would end up converting to Christianity voluntarily! the people that delight in war 30 Rebuke the company of spearmen, the multitude of the bulls, with the calves of the people, till every one submit himself with pieces of silver: scatter thou the people that delight in war. shall soon stretch out her hands unto God 31 Princes shall come out of Egypt; Ethiopia shall soon stretch out her hands unto God. The phrase “stretch out her hands unto God” alludes to the St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican that depicts a seated deity [St. Peter and/or the Pope] embracing [“stretch[ing] out her hands”] unto the crowd within the square before it. 318 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. All in all, the Ark of the Covenant is signaled to have been first kept in somewhere at or near Golgotha – the place of Jesus’ crucifixion – in Jerusalem. In 68 AD that the 68th Psalm points at, it was moved to Qumran by the “rebellious” – the rebellious priests of the Jewish Revolt of 6668 AD. History reports that the Dead Sea Scrolls were placed in the caves of Qumran the same year. The Ark was intact and active but the “spoil”, all or some of the contents of the Ark [Aaron’s rod, Tablets of Ten Commandments, the pot of manna] were missing from it. The verses hint us that it was a “she” [Queen Sheba?] who “tarried home” and “divided the spoil”! Contrary to the public belief that Queen Sheba took the Ark of the Covenant with her on her way back home to Ethiopia, the 68th Psalm hints that she only took [some of] the contents, the “spoil” of the Ark but not the Ark itself! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 319 The Romans destroyed the Qumran site in 68 AD and are hinted to have captured the Ark of the Covenant. Unlike the other treasures of the Temple they robbed from the Jews, the Romans chose to pay certain gifts to the Keepers of the Ark and did not just take it away by sheer force. The Romans carried the Ark over unto Caesarea Maritima, the Roman harbor and headquarters where Titus was stationed at – the town where the Jewish Revolt of 66-68 AD was ignited at. At the end of the Second Siege of Jerusalem, in year 71 AD, Titus took all the treasures he obtained from the Temple and sailed away back to Rome from Herod’s Harbor, in Caesarea Maritima – along with the Ark! Possibly decades [if not centuries] later, the Ark is hinted to have been rested in today’s Church/Basilica of St. Lawrence/St. Lorenzo located in Florence, Italy along with the Holy Chalice, the Holy Grail! 320 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Again, the 29th, 68th and 107th Psalms [that are 39 Psalms apart from one another] reveal the whereabouts of the Ark of the Covenant. The number 39 is not a significant number in the Bible as the numbers 1, 7, 10 and 1,000 are. Why the number 39? What does the number 39 has to do with the Ark of the Covenant? Both the 29th Psalm and the 68th Psalm direct our attention to Italy for the location of the Ark of the Covenant. A total of 39 copies of the Book of Psalms [the very book that reveals all secrets known to man – including that of the Ark of the Covenant] were found at the Qumran/Dead Seas Scrolls site – the site that is hinted to have hosted the Ark of the Covenant for a brief period in year 68 AD that the 68th Psalm points at. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 321 Number 39 and the Ark of the Covenant… Titus, who would destroy the Holy Temple of the LORD and carry the Ark over unto Rome, was born in year 39 AD in today’s Italy. Incidentally, Italy sits on the 39th parallel. The international [phone] dialing code for Italy is 39 as well! Is Italy the current location of the Ark of the Covenant? We need to skip 39 Psalms to find the answer! The 107th Psalm that points to year 2007 events unveils it all! 322 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. This page is intentionally left blank. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 323 107/ 2007 The Final Resting Place of The Ark of the Covenant The Knights Hospitaller and The Knights Templar 324 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Psalms 107 1 O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. 2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy; 3 And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south. 4 They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in. 5 Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. 6 Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 325 7 And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation. 8 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! 9 For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. 10 Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; 11 Because they rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the most High: 12 Therefore he brought down their heart with labour; they fell down, and there was none to help. 326 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 13 Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses. 14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder. 15 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! 16 For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder. 17 Fools because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, are afflicted. 18 Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat; and they draw near unto the gates of death. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 327 19 Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses. 20 He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions. 21 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! 22 And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing. 23 They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; 24 These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep. 328 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 25 For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. 26 They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble. 27 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits' end. 28 Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. 29 He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. 30 Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 329 31 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! 32 Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders. 33 He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground; 34 A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein. 35 He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into watersprings. 36 And there he maketh the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city for habitation; 330 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 37 And sow the fields, and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of increase. 38 He blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied greatly; and suffereth not their cattle to decrease. 39 Again, they are minished and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow. 40 He poureth contempt upon princes, and causeth them to wander in the wilderness, where there is no way. 41 Yet setteth he the poor on high from affliction, and maketh him families like a flock. 42 The righteous shall see it, and rejoice: and all iniquity shall stop her mouth. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 331 43 Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the LORD. 332 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The Final Resting Place of The Ark of the Covenant The 29th, 68th and the 107th Psalms hint the fate and the whereabouts about the Ark of the Covenant. The mentioned Psalms are 39 chapters apart from one another. The final chapter of the pattern [29, 68 and 107], Psalms 107, reveals the final, the most likely current location of the Ark of the Covenant! As we have seen, the last few words of the 68th Psalm formed one long sentence that revealed several clues about the Ark of the Covenant. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 333 As the carefully formed, and zealously hidden sentence unveils, the “rebellious” priests of the Jewish Revolt of 66-68 AD took the Ark from its secret location in Golgotha [the place of Jesus’ crucifixion] and carried it over to Qumran where the Dead Sea Scrolls were placed in the same year that the 68th Psalm points at – in year 68 AD so that the Romans who were defeating the Jews during the revolt would not acquire it. Unfortunately, the very same year, in 68 AD, the Romans destroyed the Qumran site and captured the Ark. Though the Romans could have taken the Ark by sheer force, they surprisingly did not. After paying certain gifts in return for it to the Keepers of the Ark, they carried the Ark unto Caesarea Maritime – the Roman harbor and headquarters in 68 AD. The Ark sailed away to Rome with Titus after his triumph in Second Siege of Jerusalem [71 AD]. 334 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Finally, the Ark, after it arrived in Rome, is hinted to have been placed at a site that would become today’s Church of St. Lawrence/St. Lorenzo in Florence– the very church that later would house the Holy Chalice/Holy Grail in it just the same! What happened to the Ark? Is it still hidden in the same church? Or was it carried unto some other city or church? The 107th Psalm, through keywords and key phrases, gives the answer! The 107th Psalm starts with verses that describe how the Ark of the Covenant led the Israelites through the wilderness during the Exodus: Psalms 107: 1 O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 335 2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy; 3 And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south. 4 They wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way; they found no city to dwell in. 5 Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. 6 Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses. The Ark of the Covenant is called “the voice of the LORD” in the 29th Psalm and “the LORD” in the 68th and 107th Psalms. As the first seven verses of the 107th Psalm above illustrate, the Ark of the Covenant led the Israelites during their Exodus through the desert. 336 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. In other words, the 107th Psalm, right at its opening verses, signals us that it is about reveal certain details about the Ark of the Covenant! For starters, the 2nd verse illustrates how “the redeemed of the LORD redeemed from the hand of the enemy” – how an incarnation of Jesus [“the redeemed of the LORD”] redeemed the Ark “from the hand of the enemy” – the Romans who kept the holy Ark at today’s Church of St. Lawrence/St. Lorenzo in Florence, Italy for some time. 2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy; 7 And he led them forth by the right way, that they might go to a city of habitation. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 337 Who exactly was this “redeemed” of the LORD who “redeemed” the Ark from “the hand of the enemy” – the Romans, and carried it unto a “city of habitation”? What was his name? As we have studied in Psalms Code II, Jesus was born with not one, not two, not three but a total of twenty-two lives in his pocket! The first and last incarnations of Jesus were bound to be lived exclusively by the LORD of Hosts Himself who clearly has declared that He is the “First”, and the “Last” [Alpha and Omega] in both the Bible and the Koran. 338 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Jesus was the LORD living the first incarnation of His Anointed. The second incarnation of Jesus was no other than St. Peter whom Jesus has personally declared that He would build His church upon! While the Romans and the Jews of the day thought that they got rid of Jesus after crucifying Him on a cross, Jesus [through the life of His second incarnation St. Peter] was already busy establishing the first Christian churches across the Roman Empire [in Aleppo, Antioch, Cappadocia] and finally even in Rome – the capital city of the Romans! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 339 The third incarnation of Jesus Christ, who, as the 107th Psalm reveals, would “redeem” the Ark of the Covenant from the “hand of the enemy” [the Romans] and bring it over to a “city of habitation” was no other than Constantine – the first Christian Roman Emperor, who [together with his mom St. Helena] ordered several churches to be built at almost all major sites related to Jesus Christ across the Holy Land! The “city of habitation” mentioned in the 107th Psalm that the Ark of the Covenant was moved from and brought into was Constantinople [“the city of Constantine”] - “a city of habitation”, the first city in the world that had a population over a million people, once called the “New Rome”! Constantinople would also be the future home of “Hagia Sophia” [“The Church of the Holy Wisdom of God”] that would remain as the largest church for a thousand years! 340 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. It was Constantine, and his mom St. Helena who ordered the “Church of the Holy Sepulchre” to be built at Golgotha – the place of Jesus’ crucifixion – the same site that the Ark of the Covenant was moved from and carried over to Qumran during the Jewish Revolt of 66-68 AD! The future headquarters of the Catholic Christians, the Old Saint Peter’s Basilica would also be built by the order of Constantine! The future home of the holy relics of the disciples of Jesus, the “Church of the Holy Apostles” was yet another work of Constantine! The “True Cross” that Jesus died on, the nails that pierced Jesus and the Rod of Moses were already in his hands! The Ark of the Covenant was next! In other words, the Ark is hinted to be brought into New Rome from Rome by the order of the first Christian Roman Emperor – Constantine! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 341 Constantine the Great Mosaic in Hagia Sophia, Constantinople, c. 1000 [Today’s Istanbul, Turkey] http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Image:Byzantinischer_ Mosaizist_um_1000_002.jpg - Accessed July, 2011. 342 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Constantine the Great Constantine the Great (Latin: Flavius Valerius Aurelius Constantinus Augustus;[3] c. 27 February 272[2] – 22 May 337), also known as Constantine I or Saint Constantine,[4] was Roman Emperor from 306 to 337. Well known for being the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity, Constantine issued the Edict of Milan in 313, which proclaimed religious tolerance of all religions throughout the empire. Constantine also transformed the ancient Greek colony of Byzantium into a new imperial residence, Constantinople, which would be the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire for over one thousand years. He is hence often considered the first in the line of Byzantine emperors. Constantine is perhaps best known for being the first Christian Roman emperor; his reign was certainly a turning point for the Church. In February 313, Constantine met with Licinius in Milan where they developed the Edict of Milan. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 343 The edict stated that Christians should be allowed to follow the faith of their choosing.[200] This removed penalties for professing Christianity (under which many had been martyred in previous persecutions of Christians) and returned confiscated Church property. The edict did not only protect Christians from religious persecution, but all religions, allowing anyone to worship whichever deity they chose. A similar edict had been issued in 311 by Galerius, then senior emperor of the Tetrarchy; Galerius' edict granted Christians the right to practice their religion but did not restore any property to them.[201] The Edict of Milan included several clauses which stated that all confiscated churches would be returned as well as other provisions for previously persecuted Christians. 344 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Scholars debate whether Constantine adopted his mother St. Helena's Christianity in his youth, or whether he adopted it gradually over the course of his life.[202] Constantine would retain the title of pontifex maximus until his death, a title emperors bore as heads of the pagan priesthood, as would his Christian successors on to Gratian (r. 375–83). According to Christian writers, Constantine was over 40 when he finally declared himself a Christian, writing to Christians to make clear that he believed he owed his successes to the protection of the Christian High God alone.[203] Throughout his rule, Constantine supported the Church financially, built basilicas, granted privileges to clergy (e.g. exemption from certain taxes), promoted Christians to high office, and returned property confiscated during the Diocletianic persecution.[204] His most famous building projects include the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and Old Saint Peter's Basilica. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 345 In the year 320, Licinius reneged on the religious freedom promised by the Edict of Milan in 313 and began to oppress Christians anew,[192] generally without bloodshed, but resorting to confiscations and sacking of Christian officeholders.[193] That became a challenge to Constantine in the West, climaxing in the great civil war of 324. Licinius, aided by Goth mercenaries, represented the past and the ancient Pagan faiths. Constantine and his Franks marched under the standard of the labarum, and both sides saw the battle in religious terms. Supposedly outnumbered, but fired by their zeal, Constantine's army emerged victorious in the Battle of Adrianople. Licinius fled across the Bosphorus and appointed Martius Martinianus, the commander of his bodyguard, as Caesar, but Constantine next won the Battle of the Hellespont, and finally the Battle of Chrysopolis on 18 September 324.[194] Licinius and Martinianus surrendered to Constantine at Nicomedia on the promise their lives would be spared: they were sent to live as private citizens in Thessalonica and Cappadocia respectively, but in 325 Constantine accused Licinius of plotting against him and had them both arrested and hanged; Licinius's son (the son of Constantine's half-sister) was also 346 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. eradicated.[195] Thus Constantine became the sole emperor of the Roman Empire.[196] In 321, Constantine instructed that Christians and non-Christians should be united in observing the venerable day of the sun, referencing the esoteric eastern sun-worship which Aurelian had helped introduce, and his coinage still carried the symbols of the sun cult until 324. Even after the pagan gods had disappeared from the coinage, Christian symbols appeared only as Constantine's personal attributes: the chi rho between his hands or on his labarum, but never on the coin itself.[205] Even when Constantine dedicated the new capital of Constantinople, which became the seat of Byzantine Christianity for a millennium, he did so wearing the Apollonian sunrayed Diadem. More significantly, in 325 he summoned the Council of Nicaea, effectively the first Ecumenical Council (unless the Council of Jerusalem is so classified). Nicaea was dealt mostly with Arianism. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 347 Constantine also enforced the prohibition of the First Council of Nicaea against celebrating the Lord's Supper on the day before the Jewish Passover (14 Nisan). Constantine made new laws regarding the Jews. They were forbidden to own Christian slaves or to circumcise their slaves. Licinius' defeat came to represent the defeat of a rival center of Pagan and Greek-speaking political activity in the East, as opposed to the Christian and Latin-speaking Rome, and it was proposed that a new Eastern capital should represent the integration of the East into the Roman Empire as a whole, as a center of learning, prosperity, and cultural preservation for the whole of the Eastern Roman Empire.[197] 348 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Constantine rebuilt the city of Byzantium, which was renamed Constantinopolis ("Constantine's City" or Constantinople in English), and issued special commemorative coins in 330 to honor the event. The new city was protected by the relics of the True Cross, the Rod of Moses and other holy relics, though a cameo now at the Hermitage Museum also represented Constantine crowned by the tyche of the new city.[198] The figures of old gods were either replaced or assimilated into a framework of Christian symbolism. Constantine built the new Church of the Holy Apostles on the site of a temple to Aphrodite. Generations later there was the story that a Divine vision led Constantine to this spot, and an angel no one else could see, led him on a circuit of the new walls. The capital would often be compared to the 'old' Rome as Nova Roma Constantinopolitana, the "New Rome of Constantinople".[196][199] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_the_Great Accessed July, 2011. *** Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 349 Constantine on Judaism Under Constantine I Jewish clergy were given the same exemptions as Christian clergy.[1] Constantine also supported the separation of the date of Easter from the Jewish Passover stating in his letter after the First Council of Nicaea (which had already decided the matter): "... it appeared an unworthy thing that in the celebration of this most holy feast we should follow the practice of the Jews, who have impiously defiled their hands with enormous sin, and are, therefore, deservedly afflicted with blindness of soul. ... Let us then have nothing in common with the detestable Jewish crowd; for we have received from our Saviour a different way."[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constantine_I_and_Judaism Accessed July, 2011. *** 350 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The 29th, 68th and the 107th Psalms not only hint the fate and the whereabouts of the Ark of the Covenant, but also reveal the identities of the three highly fundamental incarnations of Jesus, namely St. Peter [the 2nd incarnation], Constantine the Great [the 3rd incarnation] and finally Pope Pius XI [the 18th incarnation]. St. Peter is considered as the first Pope who established the first churches of Christianity. Constantine the Great put an end to Christian execution that was carried out through the ages by all Roman emperors. He was the first Christian Roman Emperor. Pope Pius XI, on the other hand, accomplished the impossible and forced the Kingdom of Italy to sign the Lateran Treaty that ended the imprisonment of the Popes within the borders of Vatican [known as the “Roman Question”] and established Vatican as a true city-state right at the heart of Rome! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 351 To sum it up, the Ark of the Covenant followed the route of Golgotha to Qumran, Qumran to Caesarea Maritima, Caeserea Maritima to Rome, Rome to Florence, and finally Florence to Constantinople – the city of Constantine, the future home of the Hagia Sophia [“the Church of Holy Wisdom of God”]. The Hagia Sophia was probably built to house the Holy Ark that contained the stone Tablets of the Ten Commandments, hence the name “the Church of the Holy Wisdom of God”! What happened to the Ark of the Covenant? Is it still in Constantinople? The Ottoman [Today’s Turks Istanbul, captured Turkey.] Constantinople in 1453 AD and have it under their possession ever since. The Hagia Sophia was turned into a mosque by Sultan Mehmed II. 352 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the 22nd and the final incarnation of Jesus Christ ordered Hagia Sophia to be turned into a museum in year 1929 AD. Is the Ark still in Constantinople – a city that was invaded by the Crusaders several times? Let’s now list all the Ark-related keywords and key phrases that appear in the 107th Psalm and study each to find more about the most likely final whereabouts of the Ark of the Covenant. As illustrated, the first seven verses of the 107th Psalm depict the Ark of the Covenant and the Exodus. 2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy; Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 353 The “redeemed of the LORD” who “redeemed” the Ark of the Covenant from the “hand of the enemy” [Romans] was no other than Constantine the Great – the first Christian Roman Emperor; the 3rd incarnation of Jesus Christ! Constantine and his mom St. Helena rank second only to Jesus and His mom Virgin Mary when it comes to what they have done for the good of Christianity – thus the first verse that reads: 1 O give thanks unto the LORD, for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. 2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy; 354 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. If Christianity is what it is today, the Christians owe it first to Jesus Christ then to Constantine the Great! The former was the first, the latter, the third incarnation of Jesus! By His third incarnation, Jesus had already converted the polytheist Roman Empire into a Christian one! Starting from the third verse, the 107th Psalm gives clues about the final location of the Ark of the Covenant. 3 And gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south. The new location of the Ark had to have something related to “the east”, “the west”, “the north” and “the south”… The compass! The four cardinal directions of the compass are mentioned in the verse hinting that the new location of the Ark is the city where the compass was invented or first used at! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 355 A compass is a navigational instrument that shows directions in a frame of reference that is stationary relative to the surface of the earth. The frame of reference defines the four cardinal directions (or points), north, south, east, and west. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compass - Accessed July, 2011. *** A compass rose showing the four cardinal directions, the four ordinal directions, plus eight further divisions. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Brosen_windrose.svg Accessed July, 2011. 356 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The Compass The compass was invented in ancient China around 247BCE, and was used for navigation by the 11th century. The dry compass was invented in medieval Europe around 1300.[2] This was supplanted in the early 20th century by the liquid-filled magnetic compass.[3] The earliest Chinese magnetic compasses were probably not designed for navigation, but rather to order and harmonize their environments and buildings in accordance with the geomantic principles of feng shui. These early compasses were made using lodestone, a special form of the mineral magnetite that aligns itself with the Earth’s magnetic field. [8] Magnetism was originally used, not for navigation, but for geomancy and fortunetelling by the Chinese, and allegedly the Olmecs. The invention of the navigational compass is generally credited by scholars to the ancient Chinese, who began using compasses first for feng-shui and then later for navigation sometime before the 11th century. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 357 The compass later appeared in Europe, India, and the Middle East due to the formation of the Mongol Empire by Genghis Khan which effectly eliminated all previous national barriers within the empire and allowed the safe transfer and transportation of both people and intellectual knowledge across the silk road from China to Europe and Middle East. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compass - Accessed July, 2011. *** So, where exactly is this city the first compass was used at… China? We need more clues. Here is what the 23rd verse reads: 23 They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; 358 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. As we shall recall, the Koran also mentioned a sea-faring people in its 29th Chapter/Sura that points to year 1929 events – the year Vatican signed the Lateran Treaty with the Kingdom of Italy. The Koran Sura/Chapter 29 The Spider [M.S. Shakir’s Translation] [29.65] So when they ride in the ships they call upon Allah, being sincerely obedient to Him, but when He brings them safe to the land, lo! they associate others (with Him); [29.66] Thus they become ungrateful for what We have given them, so that they may enjoy; but they shall soon know. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 359 The city or the town that had the Ark of the Covenant in it as of year 2007 that the 107th Psalm points at had to be a town of a sea-faring people “that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters”! That reminds us of [the Maritime Republic of] Amalfi, Italy, the town known for its famous maritime code: “Tavole Amalfitane” – the “first maritime code, a set of laws that continued to rule trade and the sea until 1570”! The Tavole Amalfitane The Tavole Amalfitane, the western world's first maritime code, a set of laws that continued to rule trade and the sea until 1570. http://www.reidsitaly.com/destinations/campania/amalfi_c oast/amalfi/index.html - Accessed July, 2011. *** 360 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The key phrase that reads “the people who do business in great waters” points none but to Amalfi – the very town of the first maritime code of trade and the sea! Amalfi is also known for her Flavio Gioia, the inventor or the improver of the first maritime compass! In medieval culture Amalfi was famous for its flourishing schools of law and mathematics. Flavio Gioia, who is traditionally considered the first to introduce the mariner's compass to Europe, is said to have been a native of Amalfi. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amalfi - Accessed July, 2011. *** Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 361 Amalfi Amalfi was once a major center of European culture and commerce. The mighty Republic of Amalfi thrived from the 9th Century through the 11th Century. It was home to 50,000 people, and an important player in the Mediterranean Sea trade. The maritime code created here, the Tavole Amalfitane, was adopted as the code of the entire Mediterranean for centuries. In the 1100s, Amalfi's very own Flavio Gioia invented the compass. The art of paper-making was centered here, with the Republic bringing the craft with it on journeys to the rest of Europe and the Arab world. But over time, Amalfi's influence eroded, and attacks from Pisa to the north left the town deserted and powerless. Only recently has the city reinvented itself as a tourist attraction, with people drawn here by its small-town Italian charm, and the beautiful stretch of land known as the Amalfi Coast. 362 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Amalfi is on Italy's western coast, facing the Mediterranean Sea. Nearby is Mt. Vesuvius, the volcano that buried the ancient city of Pompeii. The island of Capri is just offshore. Naples, the region's largest city, lies northwest of Amalfi. http://res.cruisedirect.com/destinations/guide.rvlx?dg _id=15053 - Accessed July, 2011. *** Statute of Flavio Gioja in Amalfi [Italy] by Alfonso Balzico, 1900 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Amalfi2.jpg - Accessed July, 2011. *** Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 363 Flavio Gioja Flavio Gioja or Gioia (c. 1300) is reputed to have been an Italian mariner and inventor, although modern scholarship disputes that he ever, in fact, existed. He was supposedly a marine pilot and has traditionally been credited with perfecting the sailor’s compass by suspending its needle over a fleur-de-lis design, which pointed north. He also enclosed the needle in a little box with a glass cover. The sailor’s compass, however, had been in use long before by Mediterranean navigators.[1] (Gioia was said to have introduced the fleur-de-lis design in deference to Charles of Anjou, the French king of Naples.[2]) Flavio Gioia’s birthplace is alternately given as Amalfi, Positano, Naples, or ultimately, Gioia, a town in Puglia, hence the derivation of the reputed surname. The lunar crater Gioja is named after him. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flavio_Gioia Accessed July, 2011. *** 364 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. After having been kept in first Jerusalem, Israel, then in Rome, Italy and finally in New Rome, Constantinople – Istanbul, Turkey for centuries, the Ark of the Covenant was finally shipped to Amalfi, Italy! The key phrase that reads: “They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters” allude to Amalfitans – the authors of the first maritime code and the inventors [or the improvers of] the first maritime compass - [“… the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south …”] Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 365 Amalfi Coat of Arms Depicting the mariner’s compass invented or improved there Notice the pair of two golden wings attached to the compass – a la’ the two “cherubim” of the Ark! The Ark is known to have had two golden cherubim on top of it! The white eight-pointed Cross, the emblem of the Knights Hospitaller that also was founded by Amalfitans in year 1048 to protect and heal the pilgrims at Jerusalem is also shown http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Amalfi-Stemma.png – Accessed July, 2011. 366 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. When did the Ark of the Covenant arrive in Amalfi? Who brought it there? As we have expressed earlier, we have to follow the footsteps of St. Andrew, St. Peter’s brother for the location of the Ark of the Covenant. Incidentally, St. Andrew is the patron saint of not only Constantinople but also Amalfi! Traditional Events of Amalfi Three traditional events draw numerous visitors to Amalfi. First are the feast days of Saint Andrew (25–27 June, and 30 November), celebrating the city's patron saint. Then there is "Byzantine New Year's Eve" (31 August) celebrating the beginning of the New Year according to the old civil calendar of the Byzantine Empire.[6] The third event is the Historical Regata (first Sunday in June), a traditional rowing competition among the four main Italian historical maritime republics: Amalfi, Genoa, Pisa and Venice. This event is hosted at every year by a different city, so it comes to Amalfi once every four years. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amalfi - Accessed July, 2011. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 367 Again, St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican, Rome is the patriarchal basilica of Constantinople [“the city of Constantine”] whereas St. Andrew was the patron saint of Constantinople [today’s Istanbul, Turkey]. St. Andrew’s relics were transported from Constantinople to Amalfi, Italy back in year 1208 AD! Put simply, along with several other cities, St. Andrew is the patron saint of both Constantinople and Amalfi – the two final resting places of the Ark of the Covenant! The Amalfi/St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Amalfi still holds the relics of St. Andrew. Amalfi Cathedral At the top of a staircase, Saint Andrew's Cathedral (Duomo) overlooks the Piazza Duomo, the heart of Amalfi. The cathedral dates back to the 11th century; its interior is adorned in the late Baroque style with a nave and two aisles divided by 20 columns. 368 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The gold caisson ceiling has four large paintings by Andrea d'Aste. They depict the flagellation of Saint Andrew, the miracle of Manna, the crucifixion of Saint Andrew and the Saint on the cross. From the left hand nave there is a flight of stairs which leads to the crypt. These stairs were built in 1203 for Cardinal Pietro Capuano, who, on 18 May 1208, brought Saint Andrew's remains to the cathedral from Constantinople. The bronze statue of Saint Andrew in the cathedral was sculpted by Michelangelo Naccherino, a pupil of Michelangelo; also present are Pietro Bernini marble sculptures of St. Stephen and St. Lawrence. In 1208, Saint Andrew's relics were brought to Amalfi from Constantinople by the Pietro Capuano following the Sack of Constantinople (an event of the 4th Crusade) after the completion of the town's cathedral. [4] Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 369 The cathedral contains a tomb in its crypt that it maintains still holds a portion of the relics of the apostle. A golden reliquary which originally housed his skull and another one used for processions through Amalfi on holy days can also be seen. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amalfi#Cathedral – Accessed July, 2011. *** The Amalfi Cathedral has a “gold caisson ceiling [that] has four large paintings by Andrea d’ Aste. They depict the flagellation of Saint Andrew, the miracle of Manna, the crucifixion of Saint Andrew and the Saint on the cross. ” Notice that a depiction of “the miracle of Manna” was painted on the ceiling of the Amalfi Cathedral! As we all know, the Ark of the Covenant is known for the manna it produced that fed the Jews during the Exodus! 370 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Amalfi Cathedral - Amalfi, Italy The Amalfi Bell Tower is to the left http://www.traveleurope.it/guides/img/vetrine/big/costieraamalfitana/arg_amalfi_duomo.jpg - Accessed July, 2011. Notice that a sculpture of St. Lawrence is also present in the Amalfi Cathedral. The future location of Church of St. Lawrence in Florence, Italy was the initial home of the Ark of the Covenant when Titus transported the Holy Chest to Rome following the Second Siege of Jerusalem in 70-71 AD. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 371 The bronze statue of Saint Andrew in the cathedral was sculpted by Michelangelo Naccherino, a pupil of Michelangelo; also present are Pietro Bernini marble sculptures of St. Stephen and St. Lawrence. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amalfi#Cathedral – Accessed July, 2011. *** Right after the Sack and the Siege of Constantinople during the Fourth Crusade, the Ark of the Covenant sailed away from Constantinople to its current home in Amalfi, Italy. 372 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The Siege of Constantinople The Siege of Constantinople (also called the Fourth Crusade) occurred in 1204; it destroyed parts of the capital of the Byzantine Empire as it was confiscated by Western European and Venetian Crusaders. After the capture the Latin Empire was founded and Baldwin of Flanders was crowned Emperor Baldwin I of Constantinople in the Hagia Sophia. The Crusaders inflicted a savage sacking on Constantinople [6] for three days, during which many ancient and medieval Roman and Greek works were either stolen or destroyed. The famous bronze horses from the Hippodrome were sent back to adorn the facade of St Mark's Basilica in Venice, where they remain to this day. The Library of Constantinople was destroyed. [7] Despite their oaths and the threat of excommunication, the Crusaders systematically violated the city's holy sanctuaries, destroying, or stealing all they could lay hands on; nothing was spared. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 373 It was said that the total amount looted from Constantinople was about 900,000 silver marks. The Venetians received 150,000 silver marks that was their due, while the Crusaders received 50,000 silver marks. A further 100,000 silver marks were divided evenly up between the Crusaders and Venetians. The remaining 500,000 silver marks were secretly kept back by many Crusader knights. Latin residents of Constantinople, meanwhile, took revenge for the Massacre of the Latins of 1182. [8] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sack_of_Constantinople Accessed July, 2011. *** It was Amalfitan Peter of Capua who took part in the Fourth Crusade and brought the relics of St. Andrew from Constantinople to Amalfi. Peter of Capua Peter of Capua [1] (died August 1214) was an Italian theologian and scholastic philosopher, and a Cardinal [2] and papal legate. 374 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Peter was a member of an Amalfitan family. After a being a teacher at the University of Paris, he was employed by Pope Innocent III as legate. He made trips to Poland and Bohemia in 1197, bringing decision of introducing celibacy [3]. He also served as legate to France from 1198. He made a truce between Richard I of England and Philip II of France, in December of 1198. [4] During Peter's meeting with Richard and William Marshal, the northerners found Peter's appearance and obsequious style of diplomacy to be repellent. Peter did succeed in convincing Richard to agree to a conditional five-year truce, but when he persisted in asking that Richard also release Philip of Dreux (a Bishop of Beauvais whom the king intensely hated) Richard lost his temper and threatened to castrate Peter. [5] Peter then took part in the Fourth Crusade. While in Constantinople he acquired relics, including the purported body of St. Andrew, which he brought in the end to Amalfi. [6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_of_Capua Accessed July, 2011. *** Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 375 The relics of St. Andrew were transported from Constantinople to Amalfi on a Thanksgiving – the Thanksgiving Day of year 1208 AD. Transportation of the body and the relics of St. Andrew from Constantinople to Amalfi Illustrated on the wall of Amalfi Cathedral in Amalfi, Italy Photo Credit: Vladimir Menkov http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1237/847851492_d7e33c70cd_b.jpg Accessed July, 2011. Also see: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/16/87993953_4c656217ae_b.jpg Accessed July, 2011. *** 376 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. A picture is worth a thousand words. Let’s study the painting above tile by tile and examine what exactly was transported to Amalfi in 1208 AD. The First Tile Here in this first tile above, the opening of the lid of the sarcophagus of St. Andrew is depicted. The relics and the body of St. Andrew were kept in Constantinople. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 377 The Second Tile In this second tile, the body of St. Andrew is carried out of the sarcophagus. Before we move to the next tile, we must note that certain cautions had to be observed while the Ark was being carried away. When carried, the Ark was always wrapped in a veil, in tachash skins and a blue cloth, and was carefully concealed, even from the eyes of the Cohanim who carried it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ark_of_the_Covenant Accessed July, 2011. 378 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The Third Tile The third tile above clearly depicts a chest, covered with a cloth, a veil with two staves that rest on the shoulders of the priests – precisely like the Ark of the Covenant! As clearly illustrated on this tile, the chest [Ark of the Covenant?] is being shipped away [from Constantinople to Amalfi.] It seems like along with St. Andrew’s body and relics, the Ark of the Covenant was also loaded on the ship! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 379 The Fourth Tile The relics of St. Andrew and the Ark of the Covenant were shipped to Amalfi on a Thanksgiving Day. The Thanksgiving turkey [“sacrifices of thanksgiving”] depicted here on this fourth tile highlights this fact. verse of 107th Psalm reads: 22 And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and declare his works with rejoicing. 23 They that go down to the sea in ships, that do business in great waters; 380 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The 22nd The Fifth Tile The Ark of the Covenant, along with Saint Andrew’s relics and body finally arrives in Amalfi safely. The fifth tile above depicts the Amalfitans’ excitement [“rejoicing”] on the arrival of the ship that carried a Holy Load! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 381 The Sixth Tile The sixth and the final tile depicts the Ark once again! It has the same mandatory veil over it. The two staves of the Ark are on the shoulders of a total of four priests – two in the front, two in the back. The Amalfi Bell Tower [“Campanile”] is visible to the right. 382 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Now that we have located the most probable final abode of the Ark of the Covenant, let’s study the other key phrases provided in the 107th Psalm for further information about its exact whereabouts in today’s Amalfi, Italy! The Amalfitans believe St. Andrew protects them from their enemies. It was the Ark of the Covenant, the LORD who protected the Amalfitans from their enemies [from Barbarossa, in 1544] - hinted in the 19th and 20th verses that read: 19 Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saveth them out of their distresses. 20 He sent his word, and healed them, and delivered them from their destructions. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 383 “On 27th June every year, is the commemoration of the miracle that saved Amalfi from the pirate Barbarossa in 1544.” On every November 30th, the birthday of St. Andrew, another St. Andrew festival is observed in Amalfi. Festival of St. Andrew in Amalfi A statue of St. Andrew is carried to the sea Notice the Ark-like poles that the statute is carried on Photo Credit: ciccilla priscilla (Anna Vilardi) http://www.flickr.com/photos/ciccillapriscilla/2103941610/ Accessed July, 2011. 384 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Festival of St. Andrew - Amalfi The Cathedral of Amalfi houses the Crypt of St. Andrew, which contains some parts of the body of St. Andrew, a disciple of Jesus. It was brought here from Constantinople at the end of the fourth crusade. Amalfi's patron saint is celebrated on two separate occasions: On 27th June every year, is the commemoration of the miracle that saved Amalfi from the pirate Barbarossa in 1544. St. Andrew's statue is carried to the sea, where a festival of music and fireworks awaits the procession. On 30th November every year, is St. Andrew's day, the birthday celebration of St. Andrew. St. Andrew's statue is taken from the Cathedral through the streets of Amalfi, is carried to the sea, and in a procession through the streets and squares of Amalfi, with the reconfirmation of the miracle of "manna", the oily liquid which is found close to St Andrew's relics situated in the crypt of the cathedral. http://www.flickr.com/photos/nightflymemories/334388731 /in/photostream/ - Accessed July, 2011. *** Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 385 St. Andrew and Amalfi St. Andrew is the patron saint of Amalfi as well as Scotland and Russia. The brother of St. Peter, Andrew was a fisherman and one of the first apostles. According to tradition, Andrew spread the gospel in Greece until he was executed by crucifixion on a diagonal cross in Patras. Andrew's remains were transferred from Patras to Constantinople around 357 to be placed in Constantine's new Church of the Holy Apostles. During the Fourth Crusade, Cardinal Pietro Capuano swiped Andrew's relics from Constantinople and brought them to Amalfi. The relics arrived on May 8, 1208 and were placed in the cathedral's crypt, where they remain today. Some other saints' relics arrived at the same time, which are displayed in the cathedral's Chapel of the Relics. Numerous miracles have been attributed to St. Andrew's intercession over the centuries. On June 27, 1544, a sudden surge in the ocean sunk the ships of Ariadeno Barbarossa, who had attacked Amalfi and Salerno. June 27 has been a feast day in Amalfi ever since. 386 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Another miracle is said to be a regular occurance: a dense liquid called "Manna" appears on his tomb. Believers say this occurred at his tombs in Patras and Constantinople and regularly at Amalfi ever since the arrival of the relics. The Manna is collected in a crystal vial on the eve of the saint's feast day and other special occasions. http://www.sacred-destinations.com/italy/amalfi-cathedral Accessed July, 2011. *** In 1343 AD, 135 years after the delivery of the Ark into the Amalfitans’ hands, an earthquake and a tsunami destroyed much of Amalfi. The Earthquake of 1343 The 1343 earthquake struck the Tyrrhenian Sea and Bay of Naples on November 25, 1343. Underground shocks were felt in Naples and caused significant damage and loss of lives. [1] Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 387 Of major note was a tsunami created by the earthquake which destroyed many ships in Naples and destroyed many ports along the Amalfi Coast including Amalfi itself. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake_of_1343 Accessed July, 2011. *** The tsunami of 1343 that wiped off much of Amalfi is hinted in the 107th Psalm with the verses: 25 For he commandeth, and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. 26 They mount up to the heaven, they go down again to the depths: their soul is melted because of trouble. 388 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. It seems like the chief figures, the rich sea merchants of Amalfi were caught in the tsunami while at sea: 27 They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits' end. 28 Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses. 29 He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. 30 Then are they glad because they be quiet; so he bringeth them unto their desired haven. *** The verses above that illustrate the storm, the tsunami that the nobles of Amalfi had to endure while at sea, co-alludes to the “Cloister of Paradise” where the nobles of Amalfi are buried at. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 389 Cloister of Paradise The Chiostro del Paradiso - 'Cloister of Paradise' was built by Filippo Augustariccio between 1266 and 1268 and was used as a burial ground for noble families of Amalfi. The white columns and pointed arches reflect the clear influence that the Arab world had on Amalfi, similar to those found in the courts of the palaces of the Middle East. [5] It is a true open-air museum, with Roman and medieval pillars, sarcophagi depicting the wedding of Peleus and Thetis, the other the rape of Proserpina, a fourteenth-century sarcophagus and fragments of the facade of the Duomo. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amalfi#Cathedral – Accessed July, 2011. *** The verses that follow host several illustrative keywords and key phrases regarding the exact location of the Ark within Amalfi, Italy! Some of them are: “watersprings”, “standing water”, “bronze doors”, “where there is no way”, and finally “in the assembly of the elders”! 390 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The keywords “watersprings” and “standing water” hint us that the location of the Ark is near, close to watersprings, to “a standing water” right at the heart of Amalfi! 33 He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the watersprings into dry ground; 35 He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into watersprings. *** Saint Andrew’s Fountain The Fountain of Sant'Andrea is sculpted in the Barocco style, and it was installed in 1760 facing the Cathedral, it was then later moved to the side of the square. An older fountain was lost in a sea storm that destroyed a section of Amalfi. http://www.amalficoastweb.com/amalfi/english/fountain.ht ml - Accessed July, 2011. *** Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 391 St. Andrew’s Fountain The water fountain in front of the Amalfi Cathedral St. Andrew is depicted crucified on a X shaped cross Photo Credit: Stanley Kyu Kim [October 2008] http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2472/3618617730_7a08ddfb88.jpg Accessed July, 2011. 392 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. When viewed from the back of the St. Andrew’s Fountain, the Amalfi Bell Tower is to the left, Amalfi Cathedral is at right. Photo Credit: Ledders http://www.flickr.com/photos/15947583@N00/3995678960/sizes/z/in /photostream/ - Accessed July, 2011. *** Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 393 Even today, Amalfi is famous for her stylish stone garden fountains known with the name the “Amalfi Two-Tier Fountain”! The Amalfi Two-Tier Fountain http://campaniainternational.com/index.php?page=amalfi-two-tierfountain - Accessed July, 2011. *** 394 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Amalfi is also known for her lemons, olive groves and vineyards, hinted in the 107th Psalm with the verses, keywords and key phrases that read: 34 A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein. 37 And sow the fields, and plant vineyards, which may yield fruits of increase. The famous Amalfi lemons and produce Photo Credit: wwwes [December 2005] http://farm1.static.flickr.com/41/77199250_62c385a755.jpg Accessed July, 2011. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 395 Amalfi Coast The ultimate romantic getaway, the glamorous Amalfi Coast is a spectacular region of lemon trees, olive groves, vineyards and tiny villages - all clinging to the jagged cliffs that plunge straight into the sea below. The Amalfi Coast is listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site. Away from the playpen of the rich and famous, the cliffside routes of the Amalfi Coast will take your breath away. You don’t need to be tough as old boots to trek these cliffs but you will need some stamina. And your efforts will be more than rewarded once you’re out among the wild scenery. Cut inland from the cliffs and you find lemon groves, vineyards and deep gorges. Follow mule tracks and old trails to picturesque hillside villages. After a day’s walking it’s best advised to follow Italian tradition. Unwind with a nice cool drink and soak up the evening’s rays. Then, fully relaxed, sample some superb Italian cuisine on a balmy terrace overlooking the boats in the harbour below. http://www.exodus.co.uk/countries/italy-holidays/amalficoast - Accessed July, 2011. 396 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The 16th verse hosts the key phrases “gates of brass” and “bars of iron”. 16 For he hath broken the gates of brass, and cut the bars of iron in sunder. Incidentally, the doors of the Amalfi Cathedral were made of bronze! Made exclusively in Constantinople – the previous home of the Ark of the Covenant! The 16th verse defines the “gates” as “of brass”. The doors of the Amalfi Cathedral are known to be “bronze”. Both bronze and brass are copper at their cores”and it's not necessarily easy to tell what's what on sight.” Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 397 Amalfi Cathedral - Cathedral Doors, bronze cast in Constantinople in the 11th Century. Note the silver figures of the saints that have been nearly worn away. They include Christ, the Virgin Mary, and Saints Andrew and Peter Photo Credit: The Consortium http://www.flickr.com/photos/theconsortium/5916269349/in/photostream/ - Accessed July, 2011. 398 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. What's the difference between brass and bronze? By Dr. Knowledge The Boston Globe September 11, 2006 Brass and bronze are both alloys of copper -that is, they are ``solid solutions," or mixtures of copper with another metal. The main difference between brasses and bronzes is that brass is mostly made of copper and zinc while bronze is mostly made of copper and tin. Modern bronzes and brasses can have significant mixtures of other metals to alter their properties, and it's not necessarily easy to tell what's what on sight. http://www.boston.com/news/science/articles/2006/09/11/ whats_the_difference_between_brass_and_bronze/ Accessed July, 2011. *** Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 399 Moreover, the key phrases that read “in the shadow death”, “bound in affliction and iron”, “out of darkness”, “the shadow death”, and the “gates of death” that appear in the 10th, 14th and 18th verses respectively signal us that the Ark once rested in a crypt in Amalfi, possibly in the Amalfi Cathedral – the home of the crypt of Saint Andrew since 1208 AD! 10 Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; 14 He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder. 18 Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat; and they draw near unto the gates of death. 400 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The [Amalfi] cathedral contains a tomb in its crypt that it maintains still holds a portion of the relics of the apostle [St. Andrew]. A golden reliquary which originally housed his skull and another one used for processions through Amalfi on holy days can also be seen. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amalfi#Cathedral – Accessed July, 2011. *** Relics of St. Andrew St Jerome wrote that the relics of St Andrew were taken from Patras to Constantinople by order of the Roman emperor Constantius II around 357 and deposited in the Church of the Holy Apostles. In 1208, following the sack of Constantinople, those relics of St Andrew which remained in the imperial city were taken to Amalfi, Italy, by Cardinal Peter of Capua, a native of Amalfi. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 401 The Amalfi cathedral (Duomo), dedicated to St Andrew (as is the town itself), contains a tomb in its crypt that it maintains still contains the rest of the relics of the apostle. On 8 May 2008 the relic believed to be Andrew's head was returned to Amalfi Cathedral. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Andrew#Relics Accessed July, 2011. *** The crypt of St. Andrew - St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Amalfi Photo Credit: Stephanie Wraith http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_NKuJndm6bDs/St8gFxb63I/AAAAAAAAAE0/vrwlDmw0pms/s320/DSCN1490.JPG Accessed July, 2011. 402 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Crypt In architecture, a crypt (from the Latin crypta and the Greek κρύπτη, kryptē; meaning concealed, private) is a stone chamber or vault beneath the floor of a church usually used as a chapel or burial vault possibly containing sarcophagi, coffins or relics. Originally crypts were typically found below the main apse of a church, such as at the Abbey of Saint-Germain en Auxerre, but were later located beneath naves and transepts as well. Occasionally churches were raised high to accommodate a crypt at the ground level, such as St Michael's Church in Hildesheim, Germany. In more modern terms, a crypt is most often a stone chambered burial vault used to store the deceased. Crypts are usually found in cemeteries and under public religious buildings, such as churches or cathedrals, but are also occasionally found beneath mausolea or chapels on personal estates. Wealthy or prestigious families will often have a 'family crypt' or 'vault' in which all members of the family are interred. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 403 Many royal families, for example, have vast crypts containing the bodies of dozens of former royals. In some localities an above ground crypt is more commonly called a mausoleum, which also refers to any elaborate building intended as a burial place, for one or any number of people. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crypt - Accessed July, 2011. *** 404 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The crypt of St. Andrew from another angle St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Amalfi Photo Credit: Justin https://picasaweb.google.com/jghiglieri/Amalfi#53603627452 97338690 - Accessed July, 2011. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 405 St. Andrew’s statue in the crypt of St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Amalfi A staircase in the Basilica of the Crucifix leads down to the Crypt of St. Andrew. In May of 1208 the relics of St. Andrew arrived in Amalfi, and since then they have been preserved in this lavishly decorated crypt. The rest of the saint’s relics have been buried below the altar, which is topped by a large bronze statue of St. Andrew created by Michelangelo Naccherino in 1604. [http://www.charmingitaly.com/campania-amalfi-cathedral/] Photo Credit: Justin https://picasaweb.google.com/jghiglieri/Amalfi#53603627658 84053202 - Accessed July, 2011. *** 406 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Behind the main altar is a small and richly decorated case that contains the skull reliquary of St. Andrew. [http://www.charmingitaly.com/campania-amalfi-cathedral/] Photo Credit: Laura Thayer http://www.charmingitaly.com/wp-content/uploads/campania-amalficoast-duomo-crypt.jpg - Accessed July, 2011. *** Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 407 The Holy Ark’s crypt-to-crypt journey from Golgotha [the crucifixion site, the tomb of Jesus in Jerusalem, Israel] seems to have paused first at the crypt of today’s Church of St. Lawrence in Florence, Italy, then at the Church of the Holy Apostles and Hagia Sophia in Constantinople [Istanbul, Turkey], and finally at yet another crypt, the crypt of St. Andrew in St. Andrew’s Cathedral, Amalfi, Italy! The Ark is highly likely to have been kept in the crypt of St. Andrew in the past. Is the Ark still hidden in the crypt of St. Andrew at the St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Amalfi? The 32nd verse of the 107th Psalm [that points to year 2007 events] gives the answer. The Ark is hinted to be “in the assembly of the elders”! 32 Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders. 408 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Could the key phrase “in the assembly of the elders” be pointing to the “Cloister of Paradise” – the burial place of the nobles of Amalfi [“in the assembly of the elders”] located right above the crypt of St. Andrew? But wait… The key phrases “in the congregation of the people”, “in the assembly of the elders” may also be alluding to the City Council or the Town Hall of Amalfi where the “elders” of the city meet and where the [Amalfi] weddings are held at, just as well. The Marriage Hall at Amalfi’s Town Hall http://www.amalfi-wedding-planner.com/eng/civil-weddingsamalfi.htm - Accessed July, 2011. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 409 The Town Hall of Amalfi The town hall of Amalfi is located in the heart of the town; few minutes walk from the main square. The Marriage Hall is located in a 12th century Palazzo and is considered among the most ancient marriage hall of the whole Amalfi coast. In the past, it was a former Benedectine Monastery facing the sea. The Civil Ceremony takes place in the so called “Salone Morelli” where you can find remarkable antiques, some nautical instruments and the famous compass that by tradition was invented by Flavio Gioia from Amalfi. The interior is very antique with decorations and furnishing of the Maritime Republic of Amalfi. http://www.amalfi-wedding-planner.com/eng/civilweddings-amalfi.htm - Accessed July, 2011. *** 410 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. All in all, the most probable location of the Ark of the Covenant is hinted to be either the Cloister of Paradise located just above the crypt of St. Andrew, or the Town Hall of Amalfi – a past monastery - thus the key phrases “exalt him”, “praise him in the assembly of the elders”. Since several verses of the 107th Psalm also mention a “fountain”, a “standing water”, a crypt [“in the shadow of death”] and “bronze doors” within the roundabouts of the Ark, St. Andrew’s Cathedral is a high contender. As the 32nd verse defines, the deity to be exalted is the LORD and [then] St. Andrew whose crypt lies just below the relics of the elders of the city of Amalfi. 32 Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the assembly of the elders. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 411 Cloister of Paradise Whitewashed and surrounded by interlacing Moorish arches supported by 120 graceful marble columns, a sense of calm fills the tranquil Cloister of Paradise. This beautiful cloister was built between 1266 and 1268 as the cemetery for the nobles of Amalfi. [http://www.charmingitaly.com/campania-amalfi-cathedral/] Photo Credit: Laura Thayer http://www.charmingitaly.com/wp-content/uploads/campania-amalficoast-duomo-cloister.jpg - Accessed July, 2011. *** 412 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Amalfi side streets “… where there is no way” – Psalms 107:40 https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/zvnMs6FPkn0/SmPVrHgqaMI/AAAAAAAAA6k/_ulNk5kDXUM/s512 /IMG_8729.JPG - Accessed July, 2011. *** Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 413 The Amalfi Coast and the town of Amalfi is known for her narrow roads and side roads that usually lead to a dead-end, signaled in the 40th verse with the key phrase “… where there is no way”. 40 He poureth contempt upon princes, and causeth them to wander in the wilderness, where there is no way. Finally, the 31st, 42nd and the 43rd verses read as follows: 31 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! 42 The righteous shall see it, and rejoice: and all iniquity shall stop her mouth. 43 Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the LORD. 414 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Amalfi and Pompeii are only 9.5 miles, 15.4 kms apart from one another [The reported distance is measured by: http://www.distancefromto.net - Accessed July, 2011.] *** Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 415 “The righteous shall see it, and rejoice; and all iniquity shall stop her mouth” reads the final verse signaling how the faithful will “see it” and “rejoice” – how the believers will celebrate the discovery of the Ark of the Covenant and how the “iniquity” the atheists, the Communists “shall stop her mouth”! 43 Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the LORD. The eruption of Mount Vesuvius wiped off the town of Pompeii in year 79 AD – the year the Roman general Titus [who destroyed the Holy Temple of the LORD in Jerusalem in 70 AD, and killed over a million Jews] stepped up to the throne in Rome. Pompeii and Amalfi are only 9.5 miles, 15.4 kms apart from one another! Pompeii is an open-air museum of the wrath of the LORD, whereas Amalfi is the most likely place of His presence – of LORD’s most Holy object! 416 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The 43rd and the final verse that reads “Whoso is wise, and will observe these things, even they shall understand the lovingkindness of the LORD” alludes to this fact! Though the LORD destroyed the town of Pompeii at the year of Titus’ ascension to the throne, He felt for the Romans died there and provided His most Holy object, His presence to the very same Romans living roughly 10 miles South-East! The crypt of St. Andrew’s Cathedral is considered as the “heart of Amalfi” by the Amalfitans. It’s where the “Miracle of Manna” is observed on every November 30th – the birthday of St. Andrew. As we all know, the Ark of the Covenant is known to have produced “manna” that fed the Jews during the Exodus. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 417 The keywords and key phrases provided in the 29th, 68th and 107th Psalms point to Amalfi, to the crypt of St. Andrew, or the Cloister of Paradise above it as the final destination of the Ark of the Covenant! Is the “manna” of St. Andrew’s relics, the “manna” of the Ark of the Covenant? The answer will be a historic one that will not only reveal the final and current location of the Ark, but prove the “timeless”, “beyond and above time” nature of the Psalms that foretold it 3,000 years ago! Finally, the seven “voice of the LORD”s mentioned in the 29th Psalm alludes to the seven separate locations the Ark would journey into in time: [in chronological order] Golgotha, Qumran, Caesarea Maritima, Rome, Florence, Constantinople, and finally Amalfi. 418 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The 29th, 68th, and 107th Psalms that reveal the journey and the final location of the Ark refer to years 29/1929 AD, 68/1968 AD and 107/2007 AD respectively. Incidentally, years 1939, 1968 and 2007 were historic dates for King Tut. In 1939 King Tut’s trumpet was discovered. Within the same year, Howard Carter, the man who found King Tut’s tomb died. In 1968, King Tut was examined by x-ray for the first time. And in 2007, King Tut’s real face was revealed to the public. Years 1939, 1968 and 2007 were years to mark for St. Peter just the same. In 1939, directly beneath the altar at St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican, a large burial site and the bones of a man were discovered. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 419 In 1968, Pope Paul VI announced that those bones belonged to St. Peter. Finally, in 2007, a sketch of St. Peter’s Basilica, believed to have been drawn by Michelangelo in 1563, was found in Vatican archives. 1939 Howard Carter dies King Tut’s trumpet found. Directly beneath the altar, they found a large burial site and a wall painted red. In a niche connected to that wall, they found the bones of a man. 1968 King Tut examined by x-ray in 1968 for the first time More than 20 years later, in 1968, Pope Paul VI announced that those bones belonged to St. Peter. 2007 King Tut’s real face revealed to the public Tutankhamun St. Peter A sketch of St. Peter's Basilica dome believed to have been drawn by Michelangelo in 1563, shortly before his death in early 1564, has been found in the Vatican archives 420 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The journey of the Ark of the Covenant from the era of the King Tut’s reign to the days of the first Pope St. Peter seems to have ended at St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Amalfi, Italy. St. Andrew was St. Peter’s brother. The two brothers were both crucified on the cross by the Romans. All in all, the basilica built on top of the tomb of St. Peter seems to be the home of the long-lost Menorah, whereas the final location of the Ark of the Covenant is hinted to be the tomb, the crypt of St. Andrew. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 421 Festival of Sant’ Andrea in Amalfi – November 2010 By Laura Thayer On December 2, 2010 at 8:58 AM This year’s winter celebrations for the Festival of Sant’ Andrea, Amalfi’s patron saint and protector, took place under stormy skies. Many of the usual events, including the procession of the beautiful 17th-century silver statue of the saint through the town, had to be cancelled due to heavy rain. The large statue of Sant’ Andrea is far too valuable to risk damage from the rain. However, the events inside the church took place as normal. This year the solemn Vespers and mass in honor of Sant’ Andrea were presided over by a very special guest, Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi, the Archbishop of Milan. The vigilia, or eve, of the celebration of Sant’ Andrea falls on November 29th, which is the day before the saint’s traditional feast day on the 30th. The statue of Sant’ Andrea is on display behind the altar of the Duomo and solemn Vespers are held. The cathedral is gorgeous lit up at night and filled with sounds of the music and the faithful of Amalfi. 422 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The “manna” ceremony held at the crypt of St. Andrew in Amalfi/St. Andrew’s Cathedral Photo Credit: Laura Thayer [2010] http://cdn2.blog.nileguide.com/destination/blog/amalfiitaly/files/2010/12/Amalfi-Coast-Blog-Crypt-Sant-Andrea.jpg Accessed July, 2011. After the mass and Vespers, the Cardinal Tettamanzi and the Archbishop of Amalfi Orazio Soricelli led a procession down to the crypt where a special ceremony was held over the relics of Sant’ Andrea. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 423 What happened next was quite an event. As many people as possible filled the crypt in order to witness the Manna of Sant’ Andrea, which appears miraculously on important feast days and events. This Manna, or liquid, has appeared in association with the relics of Sant’Andrea since his martyrdom in Greece around the year 60 AD. This even has taken place in every place the relics have been moved, and have been an important event in Amalfi for centuries. It is considered a sign of good fortune for the city if the manna appears. And here is the jubilant response in the packed crypt when the announcement was made, “Abbiamo la Manna!” (“We have the Manna!”) Look carefully for the man in white robes who is holding high a glass vial, which is where the Manna is collected. This next video shows the happy scene after the conclusion of the celebrations in the crypt. The last person in the procession is the Cardinal Tettamanzi with the Archbishop of Amalfi just before. 424 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. You’ll also see people going up to the altar in the crypt to touch the reliquary holding the skull of Sant’ Andrea. This is also an Amalfi tradition with the large silver bust statue of Sant’ Andrea. The song you’ll hear in the video is the traditional song for Sant’ Andrea sung during the saint’s religious festivals in Amalfi. Being in the Duomo and the crypt for these events is a moving experience. The crypt has been described as “the heart of Amalfi,” and you can feel that during the festival of Sant’ Andrea. I found this wonderful spot for taking photos looking down over the altar. It’s hard to capture the emotion in the crypt in photos and videos, but it was certainly an amazing event. http://www.nileguide.com/destination/blog/amalfiitaly/2010/12/02/festival-of-sant-andrea-in-amalfi-november2010/ - Accessed July, 2011. *** Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 425 Duomo di Sant' Andrea Review Complicated, grand, delicate, and dominating, the 9th-century Amalfi cathedral has been remodeled over the years with Romanesque, Byzantine, Gothic, and Baroque elements, but retains a predominantly Arab-Norman style. Cross and crescent seem to be wed here: the campanile, spliced with Saracen colors and the intricate tile work of High Barbery, looks like a minaret wearing a Scheherazadian turban, the facade conjures up a striped burnoose, and its Paradise Cloister is an Arab-Sicilian spectacular. The power of Amalfi is evident in the approach to the cathedral, set atop 62 broad steps that lead to a mosaic facade, redone in the 19th century, and framed by bands, arches, and patterned squares. The imposing bronze doors, the first in Italy, were cast in Constantinople before 1066 and signed by Simeon of Syria; they were commissioned by the leader of the large Amalfitan colony there. Silver incrustations on the doors, now difficult to see, are images of Christ, Mary, and saints. 426 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Visitors are now channeled first into the adjoining Chiostro del Paradiso (Cloister of Paradise): built around 1266 for Bishop Augustariccio as a burial ground for Amalfi's elite, it's one of the architectural treasures of southern Italy. Its flower-and-palm-filled quadrangle has a series of exceptionally delicate, intertwining arches on slender double columns in a combination of Byzantine and Arabian styles. Note the geometric patterns of colored mosaics in the walls, comprising parts of former pillars and pulpits of the earlier church. Of special note is a 14thcentury crucifixion scene by Roberto d'Oderisio, a student of Giotto. The striking 12th-century bell tower in front of the complex has a Romanesque base and an elaborate yellow-and-green-tile top with arches in the local style, a round center surrounded by four smaller cupolas. The chapel at the back of the cloister leads into the earlier (9th century) basilica. The structure, called the Basilica of the Crucifix, is in Romanesque style, with a nave, two aisles, and a high, deep apse. Note the 14th-century crucifixion scene by a student of Giotto. This section has now been transformed into a museum, housing sarcophagi, sculpture, Neapolitan goldsmiths' artwork, and other treasures from the cathedral complex. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 427 Steps from the basilica lead down into the crypt of St. Andrew. The cathedral above was built in the 13th century to house the saint's bones, which came from Constantinople and supposedly exuded a miraculous liquid believers call the "manna of St. Andrew." Amalfi's cathedral had always lured pious devotees—from Francis of Assisi to Pope Urban IV—but after the 14th-century manna manifestation the pilgrim trade really picked up. The saint's remains (his head was returned from the Vatican in 2008, to coincide with the 800th anniversary of the arrival of the saint's relics in Amalfi) are kept under the 13th-century high altar in this exceptionally beautiful crypt adorned with marble statues sculpted by Pietro Bernini, father of the famed Gianlorenzo Bernini. Following the one-way traffic up to the cathedral itself, you finally get to admire the elaborate polychrome marbles, and painted, coffered ceilings from its 18th-century restoration; art historians shake their head over this renovation, as the original decoration of the apse must have been one of the wonders of the Middle Ages. However, the original basilica plan has been preserved. 428 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The first chapel on the left of the main entrance has a red porphyry baptismal font, supposedly crafted from the ruins of ancient Paestum. Other treasures include a mother-of-pearl cross given by the people of Jerusalem in 1930, in gratitude for Amalfi's help in establishing a 2,000-bed hospital there in 1112, which later became the first military and religious order, the Knights of St. John. http://www.fodors.com/world/europe/italy/amalfi-coastand-capri/review-106469.html - Accessed July, 2011. *** Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 429 The Knights Hospitaller and The Knights Templar Red Cross on white background The symbol of Knights Templar http://www.provencebeyond.com/picstheme/templarshield.jpg The order of the Knights Templars was created a few years after the Knights Hospitalers, in roughly the same place and for similar reasons. The Templars rose to higher glory and power, ended in a more spectacular fashion, and their remains were passed on to the Hospitalers. The Templars were called the Knights of the Red Cross, with their symbol of a red cross on a white field. In 1128, when the Order was confirmed by Pope Honorius II, the Knights received the white vestment as a symbol of the purity of their life. In 1146 Pope Eugenius added "the red cross with two bars", so the many illustrations we see of the double-barred cross are no doubt appropriate. Although similar to the goals of the Hospitalers, French knights Godfrey de Saint Omer and Huguens des Payens (Hugh) created the Knights Templars specifically as a military order, with no pretensions of charity or aid to the sick. http://www.provencebeyond.com/history/templars.html Accessed July, 2011. 430 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Amalfi had yet another significance in history. The Amalfitans led by Beato Gerardo of Amalfi would establish a hospital in Jerusalem in year 1048 AD, 160 years before the Holy Ark’s arrival in Amalfi. The order would be called “Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem” or “The Order of St. John of Jerusalem”, now called by the name “The Order of Malta”. Their mission was to help, feed and heal the hungry, the injured and the sick pilgrims visiting Jerusalem, the Holy Land, hinted in the verses of the 107th Psalm with keywords and key phrases that read: 36 And there he maketh the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city for habitation; 38 He blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied greatly; and suffereth not their cattle to decrease. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 431 39 Again, they are minished and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow. 40 He poureth contempt upon princes, and causeth them to wander in the wilderness, where there is no way. 41 Yet setteth he the poor on high from affliction, and maketh him families like a flock. Beato Gerardo, the founder of “The Order of St. John of Jerusalem” known today with the name “The Order of Malta” was the 12th incarnation of Jesus Christ – the Jesus of the 12th century! The twelve “LORD”s mentioned in the 107th Psalm alludes to him! He was an Amalfitan, a citizen of Amalfi – the future and the most probable current location of the Ark of the Covenant! 432 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. He not only established a hospital in Jerusalem to help the sick, the poor and the injured pilgrims visiting the holy sites at Jerusalem, he also founded the first Christian Order – “The Order of St. John of Jerusalem” now known as “The Order of Malta” – the knights who are devoted to the good of Christians and Christianity! Put simply, the 29th, 68th and 107th Psalms reveal the identities of a total of four incarnations of Christ. St. Peter, [the first Pope] the “rock” whom Jesus has declared that he would build his church on, is hinted to be the second incarnation of Jesus. Constantine the Great [the first Christian [Roman] Emperor] was the third. Beato Gerardo, the “Blessed Gerard” [the first Knight] the founder of today’s “Order of Malta” was the 12th and Pope Pius XI [the first sovereign Pope of our day], the 18th! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 433 Though the official website of the Order of Malta leaves his date of birth blank, Gerardo is believed to have been born in 1040 AD [which would make year 1048 AD an impossible date for the Order to have been founded in – Gerard was eight years old in 1048]. He was born in Amalfi and died in year 1120 AD. Gerard Thom Gerard (c. 1040 – September 3, 1120), variously surnamed Tum, Tune, Tenque or Thom, is accredited as the founder of the Knights Hospitaller who subsequently evolved into the Military and Hospitaller Order of St. Lazarus of Jerusalem, the Order of the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem and the Order of Malta. He was born possibly at Amalfi and had probably some connection to the convent of Saint Lawrence in Amalfi, which got a gift by Anna, her brother Constantine and Anna's son Maurus, who was one of the founder of the hospice of Muristan among the merchants of Amalfi.[1] 434 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Other accounts hold he was born in Martigues, Provence, while one authority even names the Chateau d'Avesnes in Hainaut. Either as a soldier or a merchant, he found his way to Jerusalem, where a hospice had for some time existed for the convenience of those who wished to visit the Christian holy places. Of this institution Gerard became guardian or provost at a date not later than 1100, and here he organized that religious order of St John which received papal recognition from Paschal II in 1113, by the bull Geraudo institutori ac praeposito Hirosolimitani Xenodochii. It was renewed and confirmed by Calixtus II shortly before the death of Gerard in 1120. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blessed_Gerard Accessed July, 2011. *** In other words, Blessed Gerard, the 12th incarnation of Jesus Christ, was the first knight, the first “hospitaller”, the man who founded the “Red Cross”! The red cross would also be the very symbol and emblem of Knights Templar! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 435 Beato Gerardo The Founder of the Order of Malta A past citizen of Amalfi http://www.orderofmalta.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/beatogerardo.jpg - Accessed July, 2011. History of the Order of Malta The Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem of Rhodes and Malta The birth of the Order dates back to around 1048. Merchants from the ancient Marine Republic of Amalfi obtained from the Caliph of Egypt the authorization to build a church, convent and hospital in Jerusalem, to care for pilgrims of any religious faith or race. 436 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. The Order of St. John of Jerusalem – the monastic community that ran the hospital for the pilgrims in the Holy Land – became independent under the guidance of its founder, Blessed Gérard. With the Bull of 15 February 1113, Pope Paschal II approved the foundation of the Hospital and placed it under the aegis of the Holy See, granting it the right to freely elect its superiors without interference from other secular or religious authorities. By virtue of the Papal Bull, the Hospital became an Order exempt from the Church. All the Knights were religious, bound by the three monastic vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. The constitution of the Kingdom of Jerusalem regarding the crusades obliged the Order to take on the military defense of the sick, the pilgrims and the territories that the crusaders had conquered from the Moslems. The Order thus added the task of defending the faith to that of its hospitaller mission. As time went on, the Order adopted the white eight-pointed Cross that is still its symbol today. http://www.orderofmalta.org/history/639/history-order-ofmalta/?lang=en - Accessed July, 2011. *** Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 437 The “princes” that Gerardo “causeth to wander in the wilderness” were no other than future French princes and dukes of Knights Templar who would make several crusades to Jerusalem later in time - “wander[ing] in the wilderness” along the way. The Knights Templar grew up to be an order, a “family”, a “flock” as hinted in the 40th and the 41st verses of the 107th Psalm! 40 He poureth contempt upon princes, and causeth them to wander in the wilderness, where there is no way. 41 Yet setteth he the poor on high from affliction, and maketh him families like a flock. The definition of “cattle” reads: cat·tle [kat-l] –noun ( used with a plural verb ) 1. bovine animals, especially domesticated members of the genus Bos. 438 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 2. Bible . such animals together with other domesticated quadrupeds, as horses, swine, etc. 3. Disparaging . human beings. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cattle - Accessed July, 2011. *** The “cattle” mentioned in the 38th verse alludes to the “horses” that the knights rode upon. The Templar seal still hosts two Templars on one horse – due to their poverty that prevented them from assigning one horse for each knight! 38 He blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied greatly; and suffereth not their cattle to decrease. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 439 A Seal of the Knights Templar, With their famous image of two knights on a single horse A symbol of their early poverty The text is in Greek and Latin characters, Sigillum Militum Χρisti: followed by a cross, which means "the Seal of the Soldiers of Christ" http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/43/Templarsign.j pg - Accessed July, 2011. *** 440 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Knights Templar The Poor Fellow-Soldiers of Christ and of the Temple of Solomon (Latin: Pauperes commilitones Christi Templique Solomonici), commonly known as the Knights Templar, the Order of the Temple (French: Ordre du Temple or Templiers) or simply as Templars, were among the most famous of the Western Christian military orders. [3] The organization existed for approximately two centuries in the Middle Ages. Officially endorsed by the Catholic Church around 1129, the Order became a favored charity throughout Christendom, and grew rapidly in membership and power. Templar knights, in their distinctive white mantles with a red cross, were among the most skilled fighting units of the Crusades.[4] Noncombatant members of the Order managed a large economic infrastructure throughout Christendom, innovating financial techniques that were an early form of banking,[5][6] and building many fortifications across Europe and the Holy Land. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 441 The Templars' existence was tied closely to the Crusades; when the Holy Land was lost, support for the Order faded. Rumors about the Templars' secret initiation ceremony created mistrust, and King Philip IV of France, deeply in debt to the Order, took advantage of the situation. In 1307, many of the Order's members in France were arrested, tortured into giving false confessions, and then burned at the stake.[7] Under pressure from King Philip, Pope Clement V disbanded the Order in 1312. The abrupt disappearance of a major part of the European infrastructure gave rise to speculation and legends, which have kept the "Templar" name alive into the modern day. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knights_Templar Accessed July, 2011. *** 442 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. To sum it up, to help out the poor, helpless pilgrims Gerardo visiting founded the the Holy Land, Blessed Knights Hospitaller [today’s Order of Malta] - hinted in the 12th, 13th and the 15th verses that read: 12 Therefore he brought down their heart with labour; they fell down, and there was none to help. 13 Then they cried unto the LORD in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses. 15 Oh that men would praise the LORD for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men! Blessed Gerardo established a hospital in Jerusalem that would help out the “minished”, the “brought low through oppression, affliction and sorrow” - the poor Christians of the day. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 443 In doing so, he opened the way for the future French princes [and dukes] of Knights Templar to carry out the mission launched by him even further. “The poor” was now “setteth on high” [Templars, the “poor knights”, established their first “office” on Temple Mount - “on high”] through the help of both the Order of Malta and the Knights Templar that both grew up to be “families”, a “flock”, an “order” of their own. 36 And there he maketh the hungry to dwell, that they may prepare a city for habitation; 38 He blesseth them also, so that they are multiplied greatly; and suffereth not their cattle to decrease. 39 Again, they are minished and brought low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow. 40 He poureth contempt upon princes, and causeth them to wander in the wilderness, where there is no way. 41 Yet setteth he the poor on high from affliction, and maketh him families like a flock. 444 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. What do coffee, St. Andrew the Apostle, papermaking, compasses, and the Knights of Malta all have in common? The answer: Amalfi, a tiny coastal town that, believe it or not, was once Western Europe's gateway to the wider world. The whitewashed streets of the once-great maritime port of Amalfi are full of history, recalling a time in the Middle Ages when it rivaled Genoa, Pisa, and Venice as a trading behemoth. Most modern visitors look at this little fishing town by the sea and wonder how it ever could have laid claim to such fame, since cities like Venice and Genoa are clearly much larger. There's a reason for that. Amalfi used to be much, much bigger. Amalfi's connections with the Orient stuffed its coffers with trade goods and made it the gateway to Europe for such Arab innovations as paper, coffee, carpets, and the compass— though Amalfi (all historical evidence to the contrary) still proudly claims they themselves invented that last one. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 445 They've even erected a statue in the middle of the piazza at the port of hometown boy Flavio Gioia said to have fabricated the first compass. (Patently untrue; he might have popularized it, but the compass was undoubtedly an Arab invention, introduced to the West by Arab sailors—conceivably, yes, via the busy port of Amalfi.) Amalfi again entered history when a local monk, backed by Amalfitani merchants, founded a hospital in Jerusalem along with a benevolent order that later became known as the Knights of Malta—today the only surviving order of knights from the Crusader age. At its height, Amalfi had a population of 70,000 and lorded it over the Thyrrhenian Sea. Then the troubles began. The Normans gave the town a whooping in 1131, and soon after Pisa swept in to trounce its rival twice. The final blow came in 1343, when a onetwo combination of tidal waves and earthquakes slumped much of the grand city into the sea, erasing most of the city from existence and decimating the population. And I do mean "decimating." 446 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. That's an oft misused word. "Decimating" means, literally, the act of reducing to onetenth the previous size. When an army of 1,000 sets out to battle and only 100 soldiers return, they have been "decimated." Well, Amalfi had nearly 70,000 inhabitants before the earthquake and tidal wave. Ever since, it has struggled to maintain a population of 6,000. http://www.reidsitaly.com/destinations/campania/amalfi_c oast/amalfi/index.html - Accessed July, 2011. *** Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 447 This page is intentionally left blank. 448 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Afterword Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 449 Looking back in history, if life is a war between good and evil, Titus, the son of Vespasian, the Emperor of the Roman Empire, certainly was the devil [as defined in the 68th Psalm, “one of God’s enemies”] manifested in human form! He would carry all the holy objects of the Temple unto Rome, and as the book “Gold of Exodus” reports, order the Coliseum in Rome to be built with the gold he robbed from the Jews! The Colosseum, or the Coliseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre (Latin: Amphitheatrum Flavium, Italian Anfiteatro Flavio or Colosseo), is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire. It is considered one of the greatest works of Roman architecture and Roman engineering. 450 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Occupying a site just east of the Roman Forum, its construction started in 72 AD[1] under the emperor Vespasian and was completed in 80 AD under Titus,[2] with further modifications being made during Domitian's reign (81–96).[3] The name "Amphitheatrum Flavium" derives from both Vespasian's and Titus's family name (Flavius, from the gens Flavia). Capable of seating 50,000 spectators,[4][5] the Colosseum was used for gladiatorial contests and public spectacles such as mock sea battles, animal hunts, executions, re-enactments of famous battles, and dramas based on Classical mythology. The building ceased to be used for entertainment in the early medieval era. It was later reused for such purposes as housing, workshops, quarters for a religious order, a fortress, a quarry, and a Christian shrine. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 451 Although in the 21st century it stays partially ruined because of damage caused by devastating earthquakes and stone-robbers, the Colosseum is an iconic symbol of Imperial Rome. It is one of Rome's most popular tourist attractions and still has close connections with the Roman Catholic Church, as each Good Friday the Pope leads a torchlit "Way of the Cross" procession that starts in the area around the Colosseum.[6] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colosseum Accessed July, 2011. *** The Roman Empire was an evil empire that knew no God. They built temples, usually over the holy ones they destroyed – those that were built by the Jews or the Christians in honor of the LORD and devoted them to planets – the heavenly bodies they worshipped! In their eyes, Jupiter was the “king of gods”, Mars was the “god of war” etc. Some of their rulers even considered themselves to be “god”! [Nero] 452 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Romans were the ones who killed, crucified, murdered or beheaded the first four, the most significant figures of Christianity, including Jesus Christ and John the Baptist, not to mention St. Peter and St. Andrew! They were the ones who destroyed the Holy Temple of the LORD – after their ruler Titus performed sex in it with a whore on a Torah scroll, that is! They were the ones who robbed all the gold and the holy objects and the treasures of the Jews and carried them unto Rome. They were the ones who killed over one million Jews in 70 AD during the Second Siege of Jerusalem. They were the “heathen” – atheists who hated God! They destroyed any and everything that was holy to the Jews and Christians. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 453 Though the Muslims preserved the Holy Temples of most if not all that were Christian or Jewish in heritage [i.e. the “Hagia Sophia” or the Temple Mount through the “Dome of Rock” built on top of it], zero credit is given to them. The Dome of the Rock The structure is basically octagonal. It comprises a wooden dome, approximately 20m in diameter, which is mounted on an elevated drum consisting of a circle of 16 piers and columns.[2] Surrounding this circle is an octagonal arcade of 24 piers and columns. During his travels in Jerusalem, American writer Mark Twain wrote that: “Every where about the Mosque of Omar [the Dome of the Rock] are portions of pillars, curiously wrought altars, and fragments of elegantly carved marble – precious remains of Solomon's Temple. These have been dug from all depths in the soil and rubbish of Mount Moriah, and the Moslems have always shown a disposition to preserve them with the utmost care.”[5] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dome_of_the_Rock - Accessed July, 2011. 454 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. While the Roman art and architecture is exalted, the fact that most of that architecture was built by the gold robbed from the Jews is neverminded or ignored! The sweat, the blood and the gold of the Jews that this evil empire was built upon, and kept running on is all too okay even now! United the world stands! Against Islam and the Muslims for almost no valid reason! The Romans murdered Jesus, John the Baptist, St. Peter, and St. Andrew. Not the Muslims! It was the Romans who destroyed the Holy Temple of the LORD – not the Muslims! Though the Muslims could not or would not have done either, as Islam was revealed in year 610 AD, the way they are treated could only be explained if such were the case. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 455 Romans were polytheists, atheists worshipping planets rather than the LORD. Muslims, on the other hand, are monotheists, worshipping the very LORD of the Old and the New Testaments. Somebody please clear this confusion. Thanks! The Roman Empire was the empire of Satan, the devil! Jesus Christ was “heaven-sent” to stop the devil from ruling the entire planet, especially the Holy Land – Jerusalem, forever! In the end the “Good” won over “evil”! The “Guard against Evil” team [mentioned in the Koran that Jesus was a member, if not the founder of] defeated the devil, not in Jerusalem where the war was initially fought at in 70 AD, but right at Romans’ capital, in Rome! 456 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. With the crucifixion of St. Peter, the first Pope, Vatican emerged as the headquarters of the Christians that it is now even today! The devil that the Western world seeks in Mecca, Saudi Arabia dwelt in Rome, Italy and Leningrad [today’s St. Petersburg], Russia! The former was the home, the capital of the evil empire known as Roman Empire, the latter, the home of another evil kingdom known as the Soviet Union - Communism! Today, both Rome and St. Petersburg have one thing in common: St. Peter! The headquarters of the Catholic Church, St. Peter’s Basilica, would be established on the rock of St. Peter in Vatican, Rome, and Leningrad would be re-named St. Peter(sburg) after the fall of Communism! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 457 The devil had Jesus, St. Peter, St. Andrew crucified, and had John the Baptist beheaded, but could not stop or prevent the holy Martyrs to spread the “Word” and cut the sword with the pen in his own capitals, his hometowns! History repeats itself. Romans and Russians are kept under constant surveillance by the Vatican so that it does not! The LORD wounded the head of His enemies [as phrased in the 68th Psalm]. Titus died after a skull surgery. Nicholas II, the last Tsar and his entire family were totally exterminated as foretold in the 18th Chapters of both the Psalms and the Koran! 458 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Again, the earth is a battleground of good and evil. Jesus Christ, his incarnations and his disciples were all members of the “Guard against Evil” team mentioned in the Koran. They arrived just in time [right after the First Siege of Jerusalem and years prior to the Second Siege of Jerusalem] to defeat devil in his own hometown, in Rome, following the destined-to-be-real triumph of the devil in their own homeland – in Jerusalem in 70 AD! In other words, the devil and his evil empire crucified Jesus on the cross thinking that it would be all over for the “good” once Jesus died. However, the second incarnation of Jesus, St. Peter [the first Pope], and Constantine [the third incarnation of Jesus, the first Christian Emperor] established the Church at the heart of the evil empire’s capital – in Rome only years later! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 459 The third incarnation of Christ, Constantine went further and established Christianity as the empire’s state religion. Both Constantine and his mom St. Helena ordered several churches to be built at almost all sacred sites related to Jesus. The devil that destroyed the Holy Temple of the LORD in 70 AD finally ended up losing the war by the 3rd century AD with the life and the works of the first Christian Roman Emperor: Constantine the Great! Moreover, Blessed Gerard of Amalfi, the 12th incarnation of Christ, founded a hospital in Jerusalem to help out the poor, helpless and the injured pilgrims visiting the Holy Land. The “knights” movement, the order of knights [“Order of Malta” and “Knights Templar”] was his work! 460 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Finally, a word about the birth dates of Gerard and Constantine… The birth date of Gerard is uncertain. Even the official website of the Order of Malta leaves it blank. Not totally blank though - a picture of a cross is provided rather than a date [hinting the “Jesus” nature of Gerard – i.e. He was a part, a future incarnation of Him?] Several sources provide several different dates for Gerard’s birth with year 1040 AD being the most popular one. Same is true for Constantine the Great. In one source, he is reported to have been born in year 272 AD. In another, his year of birth is given as year 274 AD. As we have illustrated in Psalms Code II, most, if not all incarnations of Jesus were born in the 19th, 69th or the 70th year of the century they lived in. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 461 Prophet Mohammed, the 6th incarnation of Jesus Christ, was born in year 570 AD. Yusuf Khas Hajib was born in year 1019 AD. He was the 11th incarnation of Jesus. His book “Kutadgu Bilig” was released in year 1069 AD. Rasputin was born in year 1869 AD, Lenin, the 20th incarnation of Jesus, in year 1870 AD. Ataturk, the 22nd and final incarnation of Jesus was figuratively “born” in year 1919 with the war he launched against the imperialist nations of the day on May 19, 1919. In other words, the 19th, the 69th or the 70th year of any century marked a fresh new incarnation of Jesus. The 19th or the 69th year of any century happens to be precisely 77 years from the first or the second Jubilee year in queue from the date of reference. 462 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Prophet Mohammed was born in 570 AD [569 AD to some accounts], 76 or 77 years away from the first Jubilee year that followed [year 646 AD]. Yusuf Khas Hajib was born in year 1019 AD, exactly 77 years from the second Jubilee year of the 11th century [year 1096 AD]. Rasputin, the 19th incarnation of Jesus, was born in 1869 AD, 77 years before the first Jubilee year of the century that followed – the 20th century [year 1946 AD]. Lenin was born in 1870, 76 years before the same Jubilee. In short, we would not be surprised if Blessed Gerardo is proven to be born in year 1019 or year 1069 AD. Nor would we be shocked to hear that the actual year of birth for Constantine the Great is not the year 272 or 274 AD but 269 or 270 AD! Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 463 We trust in the Jesus Incarnation Cycle and the pattern provided therein more than we count on the controversial historical data given in the textbooks. All in all, year 70 AD was a pivotal year in the history of mankind. The Holy Temple of the LORD was destroyed; 1.1 million Jews were killed by the Roman general Titus in year 70 AD. The Ark of the Covenant was captured, along with the Temple Menorah, the Pentateuch and was carried unto Rome by the Romans. It was the end and the start of a new era, as claimed and defined in “Preterism”. The devil won the first phase of the War of Good vs. Evil fought in Jerusalem, Israel that year. Thanks to Jesus Christ and His 22 incarnations that followed, he had been losing the remaining phases ever since! 464 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Preterism Partial Preterism Partial Preterism holds that prophecies such as the destruction of Jerusalem, the Antichrists, the Great Tribulation, and the advent of the Day of the Lord as a "judgmentcoming" of Christ were fulfilled in A.D. 70 when the Roman general (and future Emperor) Titus sacked Jerusalem and destroyed the Jewish Temple, putting a permanent stop to the daily animal sacrifices. It identifies "Babylon the Great" (Revelation 17-18) with the ancient pagan City of Rome, or even the city of Jerusalem.[29] Some adherents of Partial Preterism see the Emperor Diocletian as the fulfillment of the "little horn" prophecy of Daniel 7. But this is a minority view. The great majority of Partial Preterists believe that Jerusalem was a "great harlot" destroyed by God in AD 70. Most Partial Preterists also believe that the term Last Days refers not to the last days of planet Earth, or the last days of humankind, but rather to the last days of the Mosaic Covenant, which God held exclusively with the nation of Israel (including biblical proselytes) until the year AD 70. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 465 The "Last Days", however, are to be distinguished from the "Last Day", which is considered to still be in the future and entailing the last coming of Jesus, the Resurrection of the righteous and unrighteous dead physically from the grave in like manner to Jesus' physical resurrection, the Final Judgment, and the creation of a literal, noncovenantal New Heaven and New Earth free from the curse of sin and death which was occasioned by the fall of Adam and Eve. Thus Partial Preterists are in agreement and conformity with the historic ecumenical creeds of the Church and articulate the doctrine of the resurrection held by the early Church Fathers. Partial preterists hold that the New Testament predicts and depicts many "comings" of Christ. They contend that the phrase Second Coming means the second of a like kind in a series, for the Scriptures record other "comings" of God even before Jesus' judgment in AD 70. 466 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. This would eliminate the AD 70 event as the "second" of any series, let alone the second of a series in which the earthly, physical ministry of Christ is the first. Partial Preterists believe that the new creation comes in redemptive progression as Christ reigns from His heavenly throne, subjugating His enemies, and will eventually culminate in the destruction of the "last enemy", i.e., physical death (1 Cor 15:20-24). In the Partial Preterist paradigm, since enemies of Christ still exist, the resurrection event cannot have already occurred. Nearly all Partial Preterists hold to amillennialism or postmillennialism. Some postmillennial Partial Preterists, as proposed by the late author David Chilton, are also theonomic in their outlook. Partial Preterists typically accept the authority of the Creeds on the basis that they believe that the Creeds are in conformity with what the Scriptures teach. Despite being separated from the eschatological disputes of the West, the eschatological view historically held by the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches is that of the amillennialist Partial Preterists although these Churches may not explicitly state this as their position. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 467 Full Preterism Full Preterism differs from Partial Preterism in that Full Preterists believe that all eschatology or "end times" events were fulfilled with the destruction of Jerusalem, including the resurrection of the dead and Jesus' Second Coming or Parousia.[30] Full Preterism is also known by several other names: Preterism (because the term itself means "past"), Consistent Preterism, True Preterism, Hyper-Preterism (a pejorative term used by opponents of Preterists), and Pantelism. (The term "Pantelism" comes from two Greek roots: παν (pan), "everything", and τελ- (tel-), referring to completion—another attempted pejorative label that never caught on). 468 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Full Preterism holds that Jesus' Second Coming is to be viewed not as a future bodily return, but rather a "return" in glory manifested by the physical destruction of Jerusalem and her Temple in A.D. 70 by foreign armies in a manner similar to various Old Testament descriptions of God coming to destroy other nations in righteous judgment. Full Preterism also holds that the Resurrection of the Dead did not entail the raising of the physical body but rather the resurrection of the soul from the "place of the dead", known as Sheol (Hebrew) or Hades (Greek) and that both the living and the dead were raised, changed, caught away and glorified together into one/corporate matured New Covenant Body of Christ. Some versions of Full Preterism teach that the righteous dead obtained an individual spiritual and substantial body for use in the heavenly realm, and the unrighteous dead were cast into the Lake of Fire. Some Full Preterists believe that this judgment is ongoing and that it takes effect upon the death of each individual (Heb. 9:27). Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 469 Other Full Preterists believe that because the Book of Revelation was signified (or "symbolized", according to its first verse, Revelation 1:1), the Lake of Fire was only AD 70s Gehenna (Jerusalem's garbage dump, not Hell) as it burned. Moreover, this burning was just aionios (pertaining to an age), not eternal. The hermeneutic of audience relevance confines this judgment and punishment to the 1st century AD. The New Heaven and the New Earth are also equated with the New Covenant and the Fulfillment of the Law in AD 70 and are to be viewed in the same manner by which a Christian is considered a "new creation" upon his or her conversion. Full Preterists typically reject the authority of the Creeds to condemn their view, stating that the Creeds were written by uninspired and fallible men and that appeals should be made instead to the Scriptures themselves (sola scriptura). 470 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. Within the camp of Full Preterism, there are also some who see all the covenants and prophecies in scripture to have pertained exclusively to a chosen remnant of "Israelites according to the flesh" (Romans 9:3-5) since the "new covenant" promise explicitly named only "the house of Israel and the house of Judah" (i.e. the Twelve Tribes of fleshly Israel) as its intended benefactors (Jeremiah 31:3134) and Jesus Christ claimed he was sent "only" to "Israel" (Matthew 15:24). Along this line, it is also understood that "all Israel" was completely redeemed at the AD 70 parousia (Romans 11:25-26) when there was a physical resurrection of the living and the dead for the final judgement and rewards (Matthew 16:27-28; 1 Thessalians 4:13-17; Revelation 20:11-15). Therefore, the only true Christian Church was taken to be with the Lord in AD 70, and there is no on-going fulfillment, application, or appropriation of any of God's redemptive purpose for any other people after that time. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 471 It should also be noted that a fundamental tenant of this Israel-exclusive version of Full Preterism is the interpretation of the word "Gentiles" in scripture as a translation of the Hebrew (GOYIM) and Greek (ethne) words for "nations" that were commonly used of the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the original biblical covenants and promises (Genesis 17:5-8; Genesis 35:11; Genesis 48:19-20; Acts 2:5-11). Thus, both "Jews and Gentiles" mentioned in the New Testament scriptures (Romans 1:16-17; 3:9-29) were actually physical descendants of "Abraham" who was the "forefather according to the flesh" (Romans 4:1) of them "all" (Romans 4:11). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preterism Accessed July, 2011. *** 472 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. This page is intentionally left blank. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 473 Special Thanks to: The LORD Many Thanks to: Wikipedia Yahoo Google Bing maps Flickr The members of the Flickr community have transformed this textual story into a slide-show with the superb photos they have taken; turning the rarely known sites or events mentioned in this book into a reality in the eyes of those who can’t afford or are unable to visit or witness them. Their names are credited beneath each picture where and if provided in their originals posted at Flickr. Thank you once more! Contact Author: E-mail: savasanyurtsever@hotmail.com Website: www.psalmscode.com 474 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. [Published in December, 2009] Psalms Code is available in paperback. [Kindle edition available] ISBN-13: 978-1449981082 ISBN-10: 1449981089 Please visit: amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, tower.com, booksamillion.com or your favorite online bookstore and do a search for Psalms Code to find more about the ordering information. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 475 [Published in December, 2010] Psalms Code II is available in paperback. [Kindle edition available] ISBN-13: 978-1456507275 ISBN-10: 1456507273 Please visit: amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, tower.com, booksamillion.com or your favorite online bookstore and do a search for Psalms Code II to find more about the ordering information. 476 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. [Published in March, 2011] Psalms Confirm the Koran is available in paperback. [Kindle edition available] ISBN-13: 978-1460945315 ISBN-10: 146094531X Please visit: amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, tower.com, booksamillion.com or your favorite online bookstore and do a search for Psalms Confirm the Koran to find more about the ordering information. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 477 [Published in July, 2011] Psalms Code III is available in paperback. [Kindle edition available] ISBN-13: 978-1463744106 ISBN-10: 1463744102 Please visit: amazon.com, barnesandnoble.com, tower.com, booksamillion.com or your favorite online bookstore and do a search for Psalms Code III to find more about the ordering information. 478 Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. This page is intentionally left blank. Psalms Code III - The Secret of the Lord. © 2011 Savasan Yurtsever. All rights reserved. 479