"Brit-Am Now"-594

Contents:

1. Brit-Am Foreign Language Entries

2. Need to remember

3. Brit-Am Nations at Top of World Development

4. Brit-Am countries top list in competitiveness

5. The Picts: Historical Notes and Artifacts

6. Mani and the MOON: A forgotten source

7. Proverbs 3:28-35

1. Brit-Am Foreign Language Entries

French

This feature we hope will expand and eventually will include

many articles of interest in the French language.

The Brit-Am web-site also has entries in Hebrew

and in Swedish

2. Need to remember

Dear Yair:

In response to all the excellent letters etc. concerning the Gaza and Katrina disasters, we need to remember that G_D is in total control of what happens in this world. Even though everything looks impossible to fix or to make right. G_D in HIS time will fix and make right all the land of HIS chosen people.

Thank you Yair for your dedication to this website and your work with Brit-Am. I treasure all the emails and news that I get from your organization.

Shalom Alechem!

sincerely, Cruz Giron...Denver CO. USA

 3. Brit-Am Nations at Top of World Development

September 8, 2005 Thursday Sha’aban 3, 1426

VIENNA, Sept 7: Norway is the world’s most developed country and Niger the least, according to the UN report released on Wednesday. The human development index uses life expectancy, literacy and gross domestic product as its measure.

The top 20

1 Norway

2 Iceland

3 Australia

4 Luxembourg

5 Canada

6 Sweden

7 Switzerland

8 Ireland

9 Belgium

10 United States

11 Japan

12 Netherlands

13 Finland

14 Denmark

15 United Kingdom

16 France

17 Austria

18 Italy

19 New Zealand

20 Germany

Some other rankings were Israel (23), Singapore (25), Czech Republic (31), Argentina (34), Russia (62), Brazil (63), Romania (64), Belarus (67), Bosnia (68), Saudi Arabia (77), China (85). ­AFP

4. Brit-Am countries top list in competitiveness

18 October 2004

Finland remains the most competitive economy in the world and tops the rankings for the second consecutive year in The Global Competitiveness Report 2004-2005, released today by the World Economic Forum. The United States is in second position, followed by Sweden, Taiwan, Denmark and Norway, consecutively.

[Regarding  Scandinavian]:

“The Nordic countries are characterized by excellent macroeconomic management overall ­ they are all running budget surpluses ­ they have extremely low levels of corruption, with their firms operating in a legal environment in which there is widespread respect for contracts and the rule of law, and their private sectors are on the forefront of technological innovation. These countries prove the point that enhanced competitiveness and boosting the capacity of economies to operate effectively in the global economy is a multifaceted challenge requiring concerted actions on a number of fronts,” said Augusto Lopez-Claros, Chief Economist and Director of the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Programme.

5. The Picts: Historical Notes and Artifacts

6. Mani and the MOON: A forgotten source

In our Brit-Am Commentary to Isaiah we pointed out that ancient pagan practices adapted by the Lost Ten Tribes were later continued in Europe:

 [Isaiah 65:11] BUT YE ARE THEY THAT FORSAKE THE LORD, THAT FORGET MY HOLY MOUNTAIN, THAT PREPARE A TABLE FOR THAT TROOP, AND THAT FURNISH THE DRINK OFFERING UNTO THAT NUMBER.

“THAT FORGET MY HOLY MOUNTAIN” i.e. Israelites who abandoned the Temple in Jerusalem and everything connected with it.

“PREPARE A TABLE FOR THAT TROOP”: The word translated as “Troop” is Gad. Gad was the name of an Israelite Tribe. It also can mean “luck”. It can also connote a particular pagan deity. The Medieval Commentator Radak (Kimchi) quotes (“Safer HaShorashim”) another authority (Rabbi Moshe Cohen) as saying that “Gad” was the name given by the Arabs to the planet Jupiter. Gad could be pronouncedas “God” and is the source of the word “god” in English.

AND THAT FURNISH THE DRINK OFFERING UNTO THAT NUMBER.

“NUMBER”: in Hebrew “Mani” which was also the name of a god, i.e. they were preparing a table for the god “Gad” and drink for the god “Mani”.

Cf. Alexander Hislop, “The Two Babylons”, chapter three:

<<The name of the Lord Moon in the East seems to have been Meni, for this appears the most natural interpretation of the Divine statement in Isaiah lxv. 11, "But ye are they that forsake my holy mountain, that prepare a temple for Gad, and that furnish the drink-offering unto Meni."[15] There is reason to believe that Gad refers to the sun-god, and that Meni in like manner designates the moon-divinity....The name of the "Man of the Moon," or the god who presided over that luminary among the Saxons, was Mané, as given in the "Edda",[17] and Mani, in the "Voluspa."[18] That it was the birth of the "Lord Moon" that was celebrated among our ancestors at Christmas, we have remarkable evidence in the name that is still given in the lowlands of Scotland to the feast on the last day of the year, which seems to be a remnant of the old birth festival for the cakes then made are called Nûr-cakes, or Birth-cakes. That name is Hogmanay... >>

We see from the quote of Hislop that the worship of Mani was practised amongst the Scandinavians (Edda), Saxons and Scottish as well as amongst other peoples.

Gothic for "moon" is 'mena', cognate with Icelandic 'máni'

It should be added that the name we use for the "Moon" is derived from the word "Mani" who was god of the moon

who was one of the deities that our erring ancestors went after when they abandoned the God of Israel.

7. Proverbs 3:28-35

[Proverbs 3:28] SAY NOT UNTO THY NEIGHBOUR, GO, AND COME AGAIN, AND TO MORROW I WILL GIVE; WHEN THOU HAST IT BY THEE.

If you owe someone money and have it with you pay it or even if you intend to lend money to someone do not run them around. If you can do good and intend to do so refrain from playing ego trips or the like.

The same applies in other matters e.g. if at your place of work you should do something needed by others and indeed intend to do it then try not to needlessly put it off.

We are studying these Scriptures together and in explaining the verses it may sound like preaching but human weakness is universal  and I may get as much or more out of the learning (and need it) than anybody else.

It often happens that in the course of explaining these passages I have to pull myself back and notice that in some way or other I myself may have been guilty of that which I am intoning against.

[Proverbs 3:29] DEVISE NOT EVIL AGAINST THY NEIGHBOUR, SEEING HE DWELLETH SECURELY BY  THEE.

Do not go looking for trouble and try not to cause trouble for others especially when they have not provoked you.

[Proverbs 3:30] STRIVE NOT WITH A MAN WITHOUT CAUSE, IF HE HAVE DONE THEE NO HARM.

Do not be prejudiced and do not pick quarrels needlessly.

In this life trouble and insult is liable to find you all on its own without you seeking it out.

Do not be offended when no offence was meant: Even when it is meant you are often better off ignoring it and at the least one is liable to find such occasions more than enough to cope with.

[Proverbs 3:31] ENVY THOU NOT THE OPPRESSOR, AND CHOOSE NONE OF HIS WAYS.

"OPPRESSOR": Hebrew "Ish Chamas" literally meaning "man of violence" but also applicable by extension to anyone who pushes others around. If you see someone who bullies physically or with their mouth or with vindicative expressions (sometimes noticeable in women) and seem to get their own way because of it, do not envy them or consider imitating them.

[Proverbs 3:32] FOR THE FROWARD IS ABOMINATION TO THE LORD: BUT HIS SECRET IS WITH THE RIGHTEOUS.

God wants the straight and simple path. HE will be with you.

[Proverbs 3:33] THE CURSE OF THE LORD IS IN THE HOUSE OF THE WICKED: BUT HE BLESSETH THE  HABITATION OF THE JUST.

<<CURSE>>: Hebrew "Me-ayrat" explained by S.R. Hirsch to mean a lessening, i.e. God causes the wicked to receive less than they should or wickedness in itself has the effect of diminishment. On the other hand even a poor man blessed by the Almighty can in effect be rich with what he has.

[Proverbs 3:34] SURELY HE SCORNETH THE SCORNERS: BUT HE GIVETH GRACE UNTO THE LOWLY.

[Proverbs 3:35] THE WISE SHALL INHERIT GLORY: BUT SHAME SHALL BE THE PROMOTION OF FOOLS.

Bad people are foolish and being foolish is bad. The Almighty wants us to do the best we can with what we have and HE will add to it.