Scott took it from his hands, suddenly even more confused as to how this new vein of occultism could play into the whole scenario. “Father Baer called something out to me before he died, but I couldn’t hear it all. Sounded like he said ‘rose.’”
“Mmm… yes. Rosicrucianism. A secret society said to be the forerunner of modern Freemasonry. They like to trace their origins back to the mysteries of ancient Egypt. It was the first of the secret societies to establish itself in the New World, in Ephrata, Pennsylvania. Francis Bacon was even the chief of the Order.” Staring at the book in his hand, he asked, “Remember the image of the double-headed phoenix standing behind Christ on the cross, the Latin phrase taken from Psalms 17:8? It’s a Rosicrucian piece of artwork from the Library of Congress. The roses and crosses…” He looked up. “Do you know what the symbol of the cross represents?”
Death. Torture. “Christianity?” he asked instead.
“And the rose?”
“Secrecy…”
Isaiah nodded. “Representing the mystery religions. So the rose and the cross is simply the joining of the two.”
Scott looked confused. “The Occult and Christianity?”
“Because Rosicruscianism bordered on being witchcraft, it had to find a way to stay hidden from the church. It did this by adopting Christian rhetoric, making themselves appear as servants of God. Professing Christ in the open, they swam in the Occult behind the scenes. Perhaps that’s how someone like Charles Thompson could translate both the Old and New Testament while at the same time approve the all-seeing eye of Horus floating in the detached capstone of the Great Pyramid on the US Seal. A person who was closely related to Peter Miller, he was a well known eighteenth century Rosicrucian and leader of the Ephrata community. He even helped Franklin translate the Declaration of Independence into a number of European languages. This is why many of the Founders, known Freemasons, could pass as Christians. It’s how America could be considered a Christian nation while its capitol is a monument to pagan ideology and humanistic philosophy.” He took a breath. “If you want to understand what is happening now, you have to understand the past and all the things that led us here.”
“And what led you down this path?” Scott never heard Edward talk about this stuff.
“My interest in Kabbalah, which is the Jewish adaptation of the Occult, opened my eyes to certain things. But then when my son was born, somehow I knew I should protect him from the esoteric things I had dabbled in. I began to process what I learned from a different angle. When Benjamin told me that the Star of David was the star of Rephan referenced in the book of Amos…”
But Scott cut him off. “You had a son?”
Isaiah nodded soberly. “I had a family. A wonderful wife and two little boys. They were all killed in a car accident, hit by a drunk driver running a red light.”
Scott didn’t know what to say.
“I imagine I’ll be seeing them soon,” Isaiah whispered more to himself. It was a statement that he actually seemed to find comfort in.
After a few quiet moments, once the awkwardness seemed to lift a little and they could hear Mayhew turning on the water above them, Scott asked his final question. “What exactly is the Ark of the Covenant?”
Isaiah smiled through wonderful memories, and the pain they provoked, before turning back to the bookshelf. He pulled out a large book and handed it to Scott. “Look it up.”
It was a Bible encyclopedia.
“Go on,” he instructed, “get washed up and get some rest. We’ll talk later.” But before he left the room, he met Scott’s eyes. “I think God has a special plan for you in all this, Mr. Scott.”
“That’s what your brother said.”
“My brother was a smart man.”
Getting to his feet, Scott forced a smile and nodded as he extended his hand, the two books cradled in the other. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. I hope you figure out what Benjamin wanted you to see here.”
“I’m beginning to think that this was more about you and him than me.”
Isaiah’s lips spread in a warm but sorrowful grin, his eyes acknowledging the suggestion that his brother had just said goodbye through the words of a stranger. “Remember, Satan doesn’t deceive by revealing himself as the Devil, he deceives by masquerading as an angel, as a servant of God. His real work is never done out in the open, only under the cover of some grand illusion. The deception is so great, his work so masterful, that many have fallen victim to his claws while thinking they were obeying the direct commandments of God.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
They shook hands again, and each departed the room through different avenues. As Scott ascended up the stairs, he could hear Isaiah begin to cry.
“Your turn,” Mayhew said, walking past him, his hair still wet. His shirt was only buttoned halfway, and Scott could see that he had a tattoo covering his chest. It was a cross…
“Thanks.” The image brought back pieces of Isaiah’s words, all of which followed him into the shower.
33
Scott opened his eyes to a bright light attacking his pupils, startling him. He sat up, ready to fight whoever was there, but the room was empty. After a few second, he remembered where he was and forced himself to relax. It was dark outside the window, which suggested he’d slept much longer than intended. He didn’t know whether it was AM or PM. Rubbing his eyes, he reached over to the nightstand for the two books Isaiah had given him.
Opening the composition book to a random page, he started skimming the text.
Francis Bacon.
He flipped to another page, yawning.
Rosicrucians.
He kept turning pages.
Stonehenge. The 77th Meridian. New Atlantis. Charles L’Enfant. William Morgan. The Hell-Fire Club. Aleister Crawly. Francis Dashwood. Manly P. Hall. The Pythagorean Theory. John Dee. Knights of the Helmet. Shakespeare. Apollo and Athena. Columbus. Knights of Christ. Rosslyn Chapel. Baal. Osiris. Skull and Bones. House Resolution 33. The New Deal. The Hermetic axiom…
This little book, Scott decided, nearly falling back asleep with a headache, would have to wait until later. Instead, he replaced it with the encyclopedia. He found what he was looking for after “Arkite” and before “Arm” and “Armageddon.”
Ark of the Covenant, Ark of the Testimony.
He started reading…
The Ark of the Covenant was constructed while the Hebrews were wandering in the desert and was used until the destruction of the First Temple. It was perhaps the most important symbol within the Jewish faith and was the only physical manifestation of God’s presence on earth.
According to Exodus 25:10-22 and Deuteronomy 10:2-5, God instructed Moses to make the Ark out of acacia wood. After constructing it according to God’s precise dimensions, he was to overlay it with pure gold inside and out. Rings of gold were to be put at the corners where staves covered with gold could be inserted for carrying. The kapporet, an atonement cover, was to be made of gold and was to have two gold cherubim flanking the mercy seat, the mercy seat to be sprinkled with the blood of a sacrificial bull once a year on Yom Kippur.
And thou shalt put the mercy seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel (Ex. 25:21,22).
And the LORD said unto Moses, Speak unto Aaron thy brother, that he come not at all times into the holy place within the veil before the mercy seat, which is upon the ark; that he die not: for I will appear in the cloud upon the mercy seat (Lev. 16:2).
Scott skimmed through the dimensions of the Ark, finding no real meaning in them. Eventually, he came to another section.
The Ark of the Covenant was used to carry the tablets containing the Ten Commandments after they were revealed to Moses o
n Mount Sinai. The Ark of the Covenant disappeared after the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem in 597 BC. Until that time, it was kept within the Holy of Holies, the most sacred area of the Temple, accessible only to the High Priest on Yom Kippur.
The Ark is described as being very powerful. It went before the Israelites in the wilderness journeys to “find them a place of rest (Ex. 40:20).” It was instrumental in the crossing of the Jordan (Josh. 3) and in the capture of Jericho (4:7-11). Joshua prayed before the Ark after the defeat at Ai (Josh. 7:6) and after the victory at Mount Ebal (Josh. 8:33). Eli’s sons took the Ark into battle against the Philistines, and it was captured. It was then said that “the glory has departed from Israel (1 Sam 4:3-22).” The Philistines gave the Ark back after a plague tormented them.
The whereabouts of the Ark are not mentioned again after the Temple’s destruction. Many historians believe that it was probably destroyed, but some traditions report that it was removed or hidden before the Babylonians invaded. One account credits the Jews for this possibility, while another credits the Ethiopian Emperor Menelik I, the alleged son of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba.
The book of Hebrews (9:4) says that the Ark contained a gold jar of manna, Aaron’s budded staff, and the stone tablets of the covenant.
The fate of the Ark of the Covenant will likely remain a mystery for the foreseeable future.
When he turned the page, he found two loose pieces of paper sitting there covering the odd numbered page. Taking the one on top, he unfolded it. Small writing covered both sides.
During King Solomon’s reign, and just several years after the Ark was placed within the newly built Temple, the Queen of Sheba came to visit him. Ethiopian history declares that the Queen married King Solomon and that together they had a son. The Ethiopian Royal Chronicles recorded their son as actually being Prince Menelik I of Ethiopia. While living in Jerusalem and being educated by the priests of the Temple, Menelik is believed to have become a strong believer in the God of Israel. In 1935, National Geographic interviewed priests from different parts of Ethiopia, and all of them had only one story to tell: that the Queen of Sheba had a son with King Solomon (Menelik I), who was educated by Solomon until he was 19. Their story goes on to say that the boy later returned to Ethiopia with a large group of Jews and with the true Ark of the Covenant. Many of these people believe that the Ark is now in some church along the northern boundary of present day Ethiopia, near Aduwa or Aksum. The Encyclopedia Britannica also tried to confirm this tradition…
Menelik I was the founder of the longest-lived monarchy in history, and former Emperor Haile Selassie actually claimed direct descent from the line of Solomon. In 1974, the Emperor was imprisoned during a Communist Coup and died mysteriously a year later in jail. Some of his family, however, managed to escape. One of his family members, living in Toronto, was said to have confirmed that the Church of Zion of Mary, in Aksum, was reported to be the storehouse of the Ark of the Covenant. Glory of the Kings, the official Ethiopian national epic, tells a story of how the Ark was transported out of Jerusalem. Along with this story were a couple of Ethiopian murals depicting Prince Menelik I taking the Ark to Ethiopia for safekeeping. According to the story, Solomon, after the Queen of Sheba had died and Menelik I was preparing to leave for his own kingship in Ethiopia, had made a replica of the Ark to send with him, knowing that his son’s long journey would prevent him from ever worshiping in Jerusalem again. But Menelik had been greatly concerned with Israel’s state of affairs, with his father’s idolatry and his allowance of pagan idols to be placed within the Temple. So after Solomon gave a banquet for his son and the priests were all drunk, Menelik and his loyal followers switched the replica ark with the real one, taking it all the way to Ethiopia with them. A group of priests, with representatives from each of the tribes of Israel, went with him, taking the Ark for safekeeping until Israel turned from her idol worship and came back to worshipping the one, true, and living God. However, Israel never wholly returned to worshipping God, and thus the Ark had never been returned.
The descendants of Menelik I and his followers from the various tribes of Israel called themselves, Beta-Israel — today called Falasha Jews... But other theories took the Ark even beyond Ethiopia. In 1935, a Jewish magazine stated that the Ark of the Covenant had been removed from Ethiopia and taken to the mountain strongholds of Abyssinia for safekeeping because of the impending Italian invasion. There was also a 1981 report by the Toronto Star that told of a 1936 attempt to get the Ark insured against war damage...
Scott slowly folded the paper up, stared at the wall. He couldn’t help but again wonder how he had gotten involved in all this, why he had been selected to play a part.
Blinking the bottomless question away, he opened to the second page. A portion of Matthew chapter six was written out in the same hand.
Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
His eyes growing weary, he closed the encyclopedia on the loose pages and set it back on the nightstand. He turned over on his back and stared up at the ceiling, Jesus’ words picking at his brain, bringing up his past.
Just before his eyes fell shut, he noticed a picture hanging on the wall across from him. It was a picture of Jerusalem, words from a Bible verse written across it.
I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people. The sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more. Isaiah 66:19.
Scott wondered if that verse would ever be realized.
****
There were men standing around his bed. Blinking, Scott tried to convince himself that it was a dream, but when the ski masks and automatic weapons failed to disappear, he knew that he was awake.
An unmasked face came into his view, peering down at him. “Hello, Josh.”
He yawned and did his best to look confused. The last time someone addressed him with that name, things hadn’t turned out so great. “Who?”
And then one of the masked men reached down and grabbed him, dragging him out of the bed and tossing him on the floor.
Now sitting on the floor and surrounded by guns aimed at his head, there weren’t many options available to him.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” the guy said. “I know you were CIA, but they’re Delta.”
“What do you want?” he asked, wincing as plastic wire ties were zipped into pre-existing wounds.
“Stand up,” he responded.
He thought about making a grab for one of their guns, but the guy across the room was aiming some new kind of shotgun that Scott had never seen before right at his head.
“I’d salute, but my hands are tied behind my back.”
“We have a job for you.”
Scott almost laughed.
“You’re going to get the ring back from your Mossad friends and give it to us.”
“I am?”
He nodded patiently. “Yes, Josh, you are
.”
“But I don’t know where they went.”
Then the guy walked over to the bed and pulled the tiny phone Malachi had given him out from behind the pillow. “But you know how to get in touch with them.”
Just how he knew that, Scott had no idea.
“We’re willing to erase you from our records for good, forget what it was you helped us do. We’ll even set you up in Canada with a new life. All you have to do is get us the ring.”
“I have a better idea,” he answered. “Why don’t you and all your little boyfriends here go to hell instead?”
A patient smirk. “You’d rather die than help us, is that it?”
“Sounds about right.”
“Even if we use a rusty saw blade?”
Chills ran up his spine.
“Here.” The guy handed him a manila folder.
“Cute,” Scott said, his hands still tied behind his back.
He smiled. “Sorry.” He opened it up and spilled its contents onto the bed so Scott could see them.
The Solomon Key Page 24
