I'm reading The Interior Castle (El Castillo Interior) written by St Teresa of Avila in 1578 A.D. St Teresa was a Carmelite Nun and Christian Mystic who lived in Spain during the Inquisition. This controversial book is a sensual voyage via prayer, fasting and meditation into our inner most being where Christ dwells.

Drawing from the "Mansion of Many Rooms" in John 14:2, St Teresa compares our body to a diamond castle with millions of rooms, and the outer rooms are filled with slithering reptiles and nasty things that keeps us from voyaging inside. Christ dwells in the center of our Interior Castle and we must voyage through seven chambers (of increasing beauty) to reach the Beloved (Jesus). Through devout prayer, meditation, and labor we can have an intimate relationship with Christ that is unparalleled by any earthly friendship, relationship or marriage.

Timothy Keller has a three-minute audio review of this book titled: Jesus as Lover. Keller addresses accusations that Christian Mysticism is repressed sexuality, and explains why this book is so controversial!

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"Beta Israel" (or "house of Israel") is a settlement of 125,000 Jews in Ethiopia. "Ethiopian Jews" look like Ethiopians who wear traditional Jewish cloths like yarmulkes. They are not converts either and actually descended from Jews who left Israel and then settled in Ethiopia. This is interesting because most people believe that Ethiopians and Jews are polar-opposites.

Less than 30,000 Ethiopian Jews remain in "Beta Israel" because most have returned to Israel under the "Law of Return". The majority of Beta Israel immigrated from Ethiopia to Israel in two mass-airlifts events titled Operation Moses (1984) and Operation Solomon (1991). The Israeli Government provides government assisted immigration to any practicing Jew with legal descent under the "Law of Return" (1950) and automatic citizenship ("aliyah".)

In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea. ~ Isaiah 11:11 

Where did Beta Israel come from? Here are the three most likely origins:

1. The Queen of Sheba (Ethiopia) and King Solomon may have had a son, and when the Queen returned, they established the Beta Israel.
2. After King Solomon died, Jeroboam became king of Northern Israel, and caused Eldad, from the tribe of Dan, to flee Israel. Eldad was shipwrecked and then settled in Ethiopia, and there he established the Jewish community that endures until today. (This is attractive, because Dan is one of the "Ten Lost Tribes.")
3. At the time of Jeremiah, after Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians, those who were not taken off into exile fled to Egypt and eventually settled a Jewish colony in Ethiopia

Many ancient manuscripts were preserved by Ethiopian Jews, like the book of Enoch which is only extent in the ancient Ethiopian language. It's also interesting that many Ethiopian religious words, like "hell, idol, alms" are derived from Hebrew counter-parts.

Christianity in Ethiopia

An interesting subset of "Beta Israel" are the "Falash Mura". The Falash Mura are "Ethiopian Messianic Jews" (Jews who converted to Christianity.) Some statistics claim that there are 30,000 Falash Mura in Ethiopia today. Not only were the Falash Mura converted to Orthodox Christian, most of the Ethiopian nation has as well! Ethiopia is over 60% Christian, and has been a Christian state since the fourth century too. (Armenia is the only other Christian state in the world.)

He shall become ruler of the treasures of gold and of silver, and all the precious things of Egypt, and the Libyans and the Cushites shall follow in his train. ~ Daniel 11:43

How did Ethiopia become a Christian state? The Candace (queen) of Ethiopia sent her eunuch to Jerusalem to give alms at the temple. This tradition may have been started by the Queen of Sheba when she visited King Solomon. Philip saw the Eunuch reading Isaiah 53:7, and preached the gospel to the eunuch, and then baptized him. The eunuch returned to Ethiopia, and introduce the gospel to Candace. Christianity grew as more missionaries visited Ethiopia, until it became an official Christian state in the fourth century (Acts 8:26-40).

History of Egypt in the Bible

Ethiopia has an ancient and fascinating history. The bible refers to Ethiopia as "Cush" or "the Cushites" because the entire nation descended from Cush (the grandson of Noah, son of Ham, and father of Nimrod.) Cush is listed among the seventy original nations in the Table of Nations (Gen 10). Although there are many judgments on Ethiopia in the bible, there are many verses like Is 11:11 that indicate a remnant of believers will be rescued from Ethiopia in the promised land. The immigration of Beta Israel feels like a temporary fulfillment of these verses. Many verses like Dan 11:43 show that when Christ appears, many people from Ethiopia would respond to the gospel and become Christians. In general, most foreign nations only receive curses and judgments (including Ethiopia) but Ethiopia has a considerable prophecies of hope as well.

Almost all the Ethiopians individually mentioned in the bible have good characters or do good things. Here's a short list of some of the notable ones:

• Moses' Cushite wife (Num 12)
  
• Cushite messenger to David (2 Sam 18)
  
• Queen of Sheba who visited Solomon (1 King 10)
  
• Ebed-melech who rescued Jeremiah (Jer 38)
  
• Ethiopian Eunch baptized by Philip (Acts 8)

God loves Ethiopia

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I'm currently reading Jonathan Edwards : A Life by George M. Marsden. I'm rarely interested in biographies, but if you're like me, then you should make this one exception and read this book!

The book begins by describing New England in the 1700's -- an era after the puritans but before the United States were established. The book is full of details but its far from boring. Marsden's writing is engaging. For example, he writes "George Whitefield is coming to Northampton!" and I wonder who is George Whitefield and why is he excited? So when Marsden does explain the details, I'm excited too!

After reading most of the book, I realized that this biography is also a history of the Great Awakenings in the mid-1700. After Jonathan Edwards left Yale, he became a pastor in Northampton (near Boston.) A great pentecostal revival started in his church and everyone within 200 miles of his church became a Christian (and they were all Calvinists too!) The book is immediately relevant when I wonder, how is it possible that everyone was a Charismatic Calvinist 250yrs ago? The church is dying out in America and is arguably dead in Europe. The church was so strong, the people thought that the Millennial Kingdom of peace and Christ's reign had already started! What is the Millennial Kingdom?

Many famous characters such as John Wesley, George Whitefield, Aaron Burr, Isaac Newton and Benjamin Franklyn appear throughout the biography and Jonathan Edward's theology is explained through the events of his life instead of through biblical proof texts.

I've blogged about Jonathan Edward's sermons before but his writing is as difficult to read as it is valuable to learn. George Marsden transforms the inaccessible, incomprehensible and influential works of Jonathan Edwards into the most entertaining, educating and though-provoking biography I've ever read.

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I highly recommend listening to John Piper's recent sermon on imprecatory psalms titled "Pour Out Your Indignation Upon Them." (audio) (video) According to John Piper's sermon text imprecatory psalms: 

include imprecations, that is curses, judgments against God's enemies. These psalms are usually considered problems for Christians because Jesus taught us, "Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you"

Piper primarily focuses on Psalm 69:22-28 and if you fast-forward to 15:30 into the audio, there's an excellent story about Piper's first experience with "bible rejecting theological liberalism in action" when a scholar dismisses Psalm 69 as a "Pharisee Psalm."

Piper's sermon upholds the inspiration of Psalm 69, attributes it to David, and explain how Paul and Jesus embrace the psalm, and how imprecatory psalms are fulfilled in Christ and finally how imprecatory psalms and the NT's commands to love our enemies are complimentary.

I recommend subscribing to John Piper's sermon podcast:
http://www.desiringgod.org/feeds/SermonAudio/

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