Wednesday, April 30, 2008

Branch Davidians in Kentucky

Do you remember the controversial religious group known as the Branch Davidians? After the tragic events of the U.S. Government's botched raid on the Koresh Compound in Waco, TX, the Branch Davidians moved their base of operations to Kentucky, believe it or not.

This online church directory lists them: Branch Davidians/Church of the Seven Seals/Hidden Manna, PO Box 2166, London, KY, 40741. It also provides their web address, http://www.branchdavidian.com.

According to the sporadically truthy Wikipedia, the Hidden Manna Branch Davidians believe that David Koresh will come back from the dead and return to his flock in the year 2012. The article also notes that they originally had set the date to August 6, 2000, then moved it to October 20, and now have postponed it yet again, this time to 2012.

The sect's beliefs are complex, and though I've read their entire eleven-chapter book, I can't really say I'm able to make heads or tails of it. Their doctrine, which utilizes some Apocryphal texts like the Book of Esdras, have an almost quantum-physics-like mindset. They state that our lives are an illusion operating on more than one timeline, and that our current perceived reality is one that is currently being "replayed" like an old tape. I quote from Chapter One:

"Since our world has already been destroyed by a comet's impact at the end of this world's first timeline, it means everything that existed or exists is being reproduced in God's universal mind. There are many almost simultaneous replays of our generation taking place in the mind of God. Throughout these replays, the people with a righteous spirit dwelling in their minds are being saved. If a person experiences a traumatic death, the mind of God may still manifest that person in a ghost state.

This person may or may not realize they are dead. However, by reminding the mind of God that this ghost (or ghosts) should not be among the manifested living, the ghost generally disappears (becomes unconscious). A medium may be able to recall a spirit/ghost from the mind of God. This is particularly true if the medium knows the name of the spirit/ghost and is located near the area where the person was killed - since the proximity to the area of death creates a better connection to God's memory concerning the deceased individual. In reality, the deceased and the living are all dead, except the so-called living are playing an active part in the mind of God, just as they played in the first timeline. The many Christian religions erroneously believe that manifestations of the dead are demons/fallen angels. Obviously, Christendom is not taking into consideration Isaiah 8:19, Revelation 6:9-11 or the many replays taking place according to Ecclesiastes 1:9, 10.

All events of the past and present, and many replays of these events, are all taking place in the one mind of Elohiym. Sometimes, an event of a past generation, which took place at a location, may bleed/ghost into the same location in the present generation. This is likened to watching a channel on television while another channel can sometimes faintly be seen mixing with the present channel that is being watched."

Interestingly, an image of Comet Hale-Bopp appears on the cover graphic for their book. Hale-Bopp was, you might recall, of great importance to another alternative religion called Heaven's Gate. Both Koresh and Heaven's Gate placed great symbolic significance on the mysterious "lampstands" mentioned in Exodus and Revelation.

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