Mohammad (570-632 A.D.)

Mohammad is mainly recognized by most to be the founder of the religion of Islam, and is considered by Muslims to be a prophet, that he was a messenger from God just like the other prophets such as Noah, Moses, Enoch.  He was born in the city of Mecca (Saudi Arabia), but he became an orphan and was raised by his uncle, a man named Abu Talib.  At one point he worked as a merchant, and at another point as a shepherd and he got married at the age of 25 to an older woman.  During his whole life it is said that he had thirteen wives / concubines.  But he was unhappy with his life in Mecca and went away and became a hermit in a cave in the surrounding mountains.  At the age of 40 he received his first vision from God, which is communicated to him through the angel Gabrielle, and three years later he started preaching about these visions to the public.

At the time the the Arabs believed in many gods, and Mohammad was teaching that there is only one God, the Living Everlasting God.  Nevertheless, he gained some supporters, but mainly hostility from Meccan tribes which forced him to escape persecution and flee to Abyssinia (Medina/Yathrib).  In Medina, Mohammad managed to unite the tribes, and in 622 with over 10,000 followers he returned to conquer Mecca, several years later in 630 he succeeded.  In 632 after his first and final pilgrimage, he fell ill and died.

The revelations that he received during his lifetime became the verses of the Quran, and were combined into a single book after his death.  These verses are considered to be the Word of God by Muslims.  Although Mohammad is believed to be the author of the Quran, he is only mentioned in it by name  four times, which has meant that sources for information about his life have to be found elsewhere.

The earliest surviving biography of his life by Ibn Ishaq was written 150 years after Mohammad's death.  Although scholars generally believe the early biographies to be accurate, it is not ascertainable.  In early days, both Christians and Jews saw Mohammad as a false prophet, saying that prophets do not arrive with swords and chariots.  And Mohammad after all, was involved in several battles during his lifetime.

It is however recorded that when Mohammad was twelve that he was travelling in a caravan to Syria, he met a Christian monk called Bahira, and that the monk gave Mohammad a copy of the Old testament and put forward the idea that he should become a prophet to the Arabs.

It is this record that confuses me most, was Mohammad converted to a Christian as a child?  With biographies of his life only being written about him hundreds of years after his actual existence, how do we know the he wished to create a  belief that was separate to Christianity.  Apparently it is also recorded that when they took Mecca, that he instructed all his soldiers not to destroy any images of Jesus or Mary.  In fact Mary is mentioned more often in the Quran than in the Bible!

My point is that, we cannot know for sure where his beliefs came from for sure, and maybe we will never know, but the idea that Mohammad was converted to Christianity is intriguing to say the least.  Yet those texts given to him by the monk became part of the Quran, recording the existence of Adam, Noah, Moses, Abraham and more.

Moses (est.1526-1406 BC)

Moses came from the tribe of Levi but his mother feared for his life and hid him, but he was found by the daughter of the King of Egypt and was adopted by her and named Moses.  After killing an Egyptian to protect a Hebrew but the king heard and wanted to kill him for it, so Moses fled to Midian where he met a priest called Jethro and his seven daughter, he married a daughter and became a shepherd.

At one point Moses takes the herd to Mount Sinai where he sees a bush on fire but not being consumed, and God speaks to him and tells him to go and lead the people out of Egypt, and that the king will not easily let them leave, so God teaches him how to preform miracles to help make people believe in the message that he has to bring.

So Moses goes with Aaron and asks the King of Egypt to let the people of Israel go, but instead the King punishes the slaves, making their brick-building task harder.  After the failure Moses faces a backlash from his own people and fail to convince them that God will set them free.  Moses is not very confident about speaking so he gets Aaron to speak for him.

This is where Moses stick is thrown down and turns into a snake, but the Egyptian magicians can do the same thing, although Moses snake eats the other ones.  So the next next day it is stepped up and all the rivers are turned into blood, killing the wildlife, but once again the magicians could copy Moses so the King ignored it.  This was followed by the plague of frogs, then a plague of gnats, then a disease struck the livestock, then sores on people and animals, then hailstones came which destroyed crops, then a plague of locusts came to destroy the last of the crops, then there was three days of darkness, and lastly all the first-borns fell dead. Through all of it the Israelites were protected.

Finally they left Egypt, 430 years after they had first arrived there in the time of Joseph.  They headed out into the desert, avoiding the Philistines for fear out them attacking and headed towards the Red Sea.  Moses took with him the bones of Joseph.  A think cloud led their way, it burned with fire so that they could travel by day and night.  God informs Moses that the King has changed his mind and will chase the Israelites, so now God will destroy them.  So Moses opens up the Sea, and the Israelites escape and the Egyptians are destroyed.

And so they went out into the desert, relying on God and Moses to lead them to water, they travelled in the direction of Mount Sinai.  They carry on through constant issues with finding food and water, and then they fight a battle with the Amalekites, the attack led by Joshua.  So they reach Mount Sinai, where he gives them the law, the ten commandments and guidelines to live by.

God tells Moses about they land which they shall have, and that he will send an angel to help them defeat the people who live their, to drive them off their land.  God gives details of the stone tablets, and the gold box that is to be made to carry them, which is all to be kept within a holy alter, where a lamp must stay lit at all times (and maintained by Aaron and his sons).  Aaron is become the high priest.  At one point Moses is up on the mountain and Aaron makes the mistake of building a golden idol at the request of the people.  Moses instructs the Levi tribe to kill the disobediant people and they kill 3000, and God sends a disease upon the others who disobeyed.

They counted all the men over the age of twenty who could fight, they numbered over 600,000. They settled what order the tribes would enter into battle.  So they left Mount Sinai and after a number of days, the camp caught fire and Moses prayed and the fire went out.  Then the people complained of no meat so God sent a wind to blow thousands of quail inland to feed them, but he spread a disease onto the people who had been complaining for not trusting in God.

Moses sent 12 spies ahead to scout out the land and the people and the fortifications, but the people loose faith yet again.  Now God condemns them for their lack of faith in several instances and sentences them to live in the desert for forty years.  Some leaders rebel saying that they should lead instead of Moses, but, Moses asks God to open up the ground and swallow up the rebels, and it does.  IN all 14,700 died in the incident, including fire and disease.

God informs that Moses and Aaron will not be the ones to lead the people into the promised land.  Aaron dies on Mount Hor, and the priest robes are passed to his son Eleazar.  The Edomite King refuses to let the Israelites pass through Edom so they are forced to travel by a different route.  When the Amorite King refuses them entry he attacks them but is defeated.  The Israelites move on and capture more lands through battle such as Jazer, Og, Bashan, Gilead.  Eventually Moses passes on the leadership to Joshua, as God tells Moses that he will see the promised land and then die.

Columcille (521 - 597AD)

Church remains in Donegal

Columcille (otherwise known as Columba) was born in Donegal Ireland in 521 AD, he was the great-grandson of a 5th century Irish King.  Columcille was baptized in his local parish during a period of time where Christianity was sweeping across the country.

Columcille moved to Clonard Abbey to become a monk, where he studied with many others and he became known as one of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland.  He was ordained as a priest and he went on to set up monasteries at Kells, Derry and Swords.

Later in his life, an argument over the rights to a copy of the Book of Psalms resulted in a battle in 561, confronted at a gathering of clerics he exiled himself from Ireland.  From there he went with twelve companions to Scotland, eventually settling on the island of Iona off the west coast.  From this base he attempted to convert pagans and Kings.  He founded churches in Scotland and transcribed over 300 hundred books, he also wrote hymns and letters.  Towards the end of his life, he decided to return to Ireland and founded a monastery at Durrow, where he later died at the age of 75.

The main source of information about Columcille is in books by Adomnan(d.704), the ninth abbot of Iona.  These books contain details of his prophecies, his miracles that he performed and the apparitions that he saw during his life.

Some of his prophecies are quite distinct, foretelling the outcome of conflicts and so on, but others are short parables.  The miracles include healing people, subduing wild beasts, control over weather and storms, fighting evil spirits, and even raising the dead.  His actions to save a man from a river monster earned him fame, yet this is considered to be the source of the Loch Ness monster story, as he performed this miracle at the River Ness.

Jeremiah (est 626-585 B.C.)

Jeremiah son of Hilkiah was from Anathoth, and was part of the Benjamin tribe, he was a priest and first started to hear God when he became thirteen.  He is told that despite his young age that he is to tell a message of doom and destruction to Judah followed by rising and rebuilding, and he starts to see visions.  He is told to go to Jerusalem and Judah to tell the people to turn from their wicked ways, and he is also told that he will be protected as other prophets have been killed by the people there.

He sees a vision of a barren earth with no life and the mountains are shaking, all done by the God's fierce anger.  God tells Judah that he will use Babylonians to destroy Israel and Judah to punish them for their wicked ways.  God speaks to Jeremiah by experience, through rotten buried clothes, through drought, through a pottery wheel.  God tells Jeremiah that the people are now destined for starvation, war and disease so he is asked to be a prophet once more, to deliver the message and that he will be protected, he will be make strong.

God has "put a curse on those who turn from him and trust in human strength"

People try and stop Jeremiah from his words, including people who falsely accuse him or event arrest him and hold him overnight.  However some just throw insults at him, but he suffers to the point whether he questions whether he should have been born at all.  Jeremiah is on trial, and they reference Micah how he had foretold the destruction of the temple, but the King had listened and destruction was adverted, and that Jeremiah should not be killed.

Hananiah challenges Jeremiah, but then Jeremiah foretells his death and Hananiah dies within two months.  Jeremiah writes to the King after he is taken as a captive to Babylonia, and explains that they will be brought back to Jerusalem after 70 years of Babylonian rule.  One of his letters went to Shemaiah, who then wrote letters to deny him, one went to the priest Zephaniah(not the Prophet) who showed Jeremiah and so Jeremiah cursed Shemaiah.

Jeremiah declares that the Lord will make a new convenant that will be written into the hearts and minds of people, foretelling a king in the line of David.

While a prisoner in Jerusalem, Jeremiah buys a pice of land belonging to the Benjamin tribe, later, he gets Baruch to write down what he says onto a scroll and the scroll is read out to the people then brought before the king, but the king chops it up and throws it into the fire, but another scroll is written this time including a curse upon the King

First Jeremiah is imprisoned in Jonathon's house, the in the palace prison but then he is thrown down a well but later rescued, and then he was kept in the palace gaurds residence.  When Jerusalem fell after a 18month siege, Jeremiah was going to be led away but he was set free and allowed to stay behind and have a house, he went to live with Gedaliah (the new leader of Judah) in Mizpah, but Gedaliah gets killed by Ismael, who takes everyone in Mizpah captive.

But the captives are rescued and plan to flee to Egypt but they stop at Geruth Chimham near Bethlehem, fearing for backlash from the Babylonians, but Jeremiah tells them to stay in Judah.  They refuse to listen and are all led to Egypt by Johanan.  But then the Lord tells Jeremiah that the Babylonains will now attack Egypt, Gaza, Philistine, Crete, Moab, Ammon, and the Kedar tribe.

Strange Worldwide Noise spreads to Ireland, even discussed by the Irish government

A phenomenon of people around the world hearing a strange buzzing noise has increased over the last number of weeks, and has now spread to County Kerry in Ireland.  A local TD visited the site, and he also heard the sound which be described as a low pulsating noise, of which fourteen households in the area had recently made a complaint. The TD went on to raise the issue at the Irish Dail (parliament).

The strange noises have also been heard in Canada, England, Arizona and a heap of other locations prompting people to post videos onto Youtube to record the strange phenomenon.  Scientists say that it is a low pitch sound which only some people hear (as everyone has different range in what decibels they hear).  Despite scientists knowing what it is, they do not know where it is coming from.

Various theories have sprung up which include; noise from outer space, noise from underwater waves colliding, technology reaching breaking point, electro magnetic waves in the atmosphere, acoustic-gravity waves and the list goes on.  Below is a news report by CTV news about the event.

In some cases the mysterious sound has been said to sound almost like a trumpet, although the sounds in Ireland have been a lot more muffled.  This has led many to point to the Book of Revelations and its 'seven trumpets' that are heard before the end of the world.  If that is the case we could be on the brink of a disaster where 'blood and fire' will destroy a third of the Earth's population!

But the truth is, we simply do not know what has caused it, only that it is real and it is happening right now!  But hose who have witnessed the event have been confused by it, or even scared by the strange phenomenon.

Isaiah (est. 740-681 BC)

Victims beheaded during Egypt's civil war

Isaiah, son of Amoz and he was given a message about Judah and Jerusalem, that they should turn from their wicked ways or face destruction.  Isaiah is told about Immanuel who will be born in the line of David and will be born of a virgin, and is also told about the coming of the Holy Spirit.  Isaiah says that he trusts the Lord, despite knowing that God is no longer pleased with Israel.

The philistines and arameans attacked Israel but even still people did not turn from their wickedness, the the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh turned against each other but then joined forces to attack Judah.  So God says that the Assyrians will attack Jerusalem and Mount Zion, but Isaiah is told to tell the people that once they trust in God then he will punish Assyria for their crimes, even destroying the forests of Lebanon.

The destruction of various places are foretold such as Babylon, Moab, Zoar, Damascus, Ethiopia, Tyre, Canaan, Sidon, and even the destruction of the world.  A civil war in Egypt is foretold, later an angel kills 185000 Assyrian soldiers who were on their way to destroy Jerusalem and it is declared that "None who are evil will live in peace."

Mani (216 - 276 A.D.)

Mani was a prophet and the founder of a gnostic religion than became known as Manichaeism, a religion that was once widespread but it now extinct.  He was born in around Seleucia-Ctesiphon in Assyria (modern-day Iraq).

He received visions at the ages of 12 and 24 telling him to leave his father's Jewish Christian sect and to teach the true message of Christ.  From there he traveled to India and Afghanistan and may have been influenced by Buddhism.  When he returned in 242 A.D. he became favoured by King Shapur, yet when Bahram succeeded to the throne everything changed, Bahram was a supporter of Zoroastrian movement and persecuted the Manichaeans, Mani was caught and put in prison and later crucified.

It is said that he wrote seven works, although none of these have survived in their complete form, they include the Mani-Codex and the Book of Giants.  His teachings that have survived tell us that he believed that good and evil existed in a constant struggle.  He believed that salvation was possible through education, self-denial, fasting and chastity.  He claimed to be the last of the prophets, and followed the teachings of other prophets; Seth, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Nikotheos, Zoroaster, Buddha and Jesus.