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Yom Teruah & Yom Kippur

Yom Teruah & Yom Kippur

Yom Teruah – Day of Blasting / aka Festival of Trumpets

Yom Teruah begins on the first day of Chodesh Shv’i (Seventh New Moon) and is a Shabbat like day and all work is forbidden. It is the only festival celebrated at the beginning of the month. The only one celebrated in a time of darkness. Yom Teruah is a feast of beginning and literally means a “Day of Shouting or Blasting”.  This word can describe the noise made by a shophar or trumpet, but also describes the noise made by a large gathering of people shouting in unison.

Hebrew tradition teaches that Chodesh Shv’i is the new moon when Yahweh crowed the King, and is likewise the day when the King is to return to pass judgement on the world. One is judged on Yom Teruah and one’s doom is sealed 10 days later on Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement). The trumpet will be sounded on Yom Teruah to signify the second coming of Yahusha, when he returns to pass judgement. If your name isn’t already written in the Book of Life, then you have a 10-day tribulation period between Yom Teruah and Yom Kippur to repent and atone for your sins before the Book of Life is opened, on Yom Kippur, and the verdict is sealed. In the Scriptures, 10 days is sometimes referred to as the time-period for trials and tribulations.


Yom Kippur – Day of Atonement

The literal translation of Yom Kippur is “Day of Atonement”. It occurs on the 10th day of Chodesh Shvi’i (Seventh New Moon), just before the Fall harvest.
Yom Kippur is a holy day, and all work is forbidden. It is a day of intense relationship with Yahweh and is a day of self-abnegation and prayer.
Yom Kippur is the only day when the High Priest could enter the “holy of holies” in the ancient Temple in Yerushalayim. Yom Kippur is often referred to as the Shabbat of Shabbats (Sabbath of Sabbaths); it is considered the most holy of the set-apart Shabbats. It is the holiest day of the entire year and is generally spent fasting and praying for forgiveness. It’s the moment of the most intense spiritual experience, the moment of atonement, the moment when all misdeeds are covered over. Yom Kippur is the day to forgive others of theirs sins against you and for you to repent and atone for your sins against others and against Yahweh. Most Hebrew set-apart days involve festive meals, but Yom Kippur involves affliction of one’s soul instead.

By refraining from certain activities, the body is made uncomfortable. Since the soul is the life force in a body, one’s soul is also made uncomfortable. Affliction of one’s soul was accomplished by acts like dry fasting (no food or water), forgoing marital relations, etcetera. The 10-day tribulation period starts with repentance on Yom Teruah and is completed with full atonement on Yom Kippur. At the time of the Second Coming, one will be judged on Yom Teruah and one’s doom sealed 10 days later on Yom Kippur when the Book of Life is opened.

Atonement / Repentance Correlation

Repentance is one element of atoning for one’s sin. To repent is to feel sorrow, regret or pain for what one has done or omitted to do. To atone is to make amends, reparation or compensation for a sin, an offence or a crime one has committed.


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The World English Bible

The World English Bible

Overall, the WEB is an excellent translation, sticking to formal word equivalence in most instances. The main knock on the World English Bible is that it isn’t always in the most free-flowing English, likely because the WEB goes with an as literal as possible rendering of the ASV. The lack of availability of the WEB in print form has hindered its adoption by the Christian community at large.


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The Story of a Soul

The Story of a Soul

Life Lessons from St. Thérèse Of Lisieux

The Story of a Soul

The Story of a Soul conveys St. Thérèse of Lisieux’s “Little Way” of spiritual childhood – her “elevator” to Heaven, as she called it. Pope Pius XI approved this method as a way for all to grow in holiness through unfailing confidence and childlike delight in God’s merciful love. In this book, St. Thérèse shows us how her “Little Way” of love and trust comes straight from Sacred Scripture. Pope St Pius X called St. Thérèse of Lisieux the “greatest Saint of modern times and said that this book should be in every Catholic home”. From the very beginning of Story of a Soul, we learn that Therese’s life as a child had great suffering. She faced trials such as the death of a family member, life-threatening illness, and struggling to find the path that God had planned for her life.  Her life was filled with hardships and tears, it’s what she did in the aftermath of despair that made her truly great. It can be extremely difficult to continue to push forward when feeling lost, confused, and even angry. In our darkest moments, and also with the stress of daily life, love can be hard to uphold. St. Therese realized this and understood what a daunting task vowing to do everything in love could be. Yet, when she confronted sickness with no cure: she still showed love.

How do we experience joy during the toughest moments of our lives? Therese only lived to be 24, and constant suffering scarred her life. Her mother died of cancer when she was four, and her sister and best friend Pauline abandoned her for the Carmel a few years later. Then, at the end of her life, tuberculosis ravaged both her body and soul. The crippling disease caused her so much pain that it caused her to question her faith in a period she called the darkest of her life.

Thérèse looked at the challenges she faced as an opportunity from God. It was a chance to love, unconditionally, as Jesus loves. So, for us, we need to embrace the daily challenges that come our way.

St. Thérèse Of Lisieux

God doesn’t give them to us as punishment or because He thinks we deserve it. Instead, the tough days should bring us closer to Him. Challenge yourself and live outside of comfort, because otherwise how can we grow? And neither should we.
Thérèse embraced all her struggles with an incredible resilience. She welcomed her deathbed with more faith and love of Christ than she ever had. Better than anything else, she understood Christ’s sacrifice on the cross and what it meant for us. Thérèse had made it a point to be Christlike in every other aspect of life, and to her there was no more noble ideal than suffering as Christ suffered. Thérèse bore the crosses and didn’t put them down.


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The Religion of the Celts

The Religion of the Celts

The Religion of Ancient Celts

Celt traditions, activities, language and laws dictated the way of life in Ireland and Scotland for thousands of years and still governs many aspects of their life today. Both Ireland’s and Scotland’s national language were derived from the Celt language Gaelic. Their national sports and their musical instruments come from the Celts. The rich Irish legacy of art and mythology is attributable to Celtic influence. We have plenty objects and other evidence of the Celts prior lives and time in Ireland and Scotland, but we can only guess at what their lives were like before they started to write things down. Their first writings were in the form of Ogham writing carved on stones and wood, and later in illuminated manuscripts that today’s historians have used to deduce information about this mystical ancient society from the traces they left behind.


Did you know?

There is no genetic relationship between Vikings and Celts, but they lived next to each other around 1000 BC, and the Celtic culture had a deep influence on ancient Germanic people. Therefore, they have much in common. The Celts were a people found in Iron Age Europe about 2,500 years ago, and who migrated westwards to Ireland and Scotland, where their descendants remain today.


“Patrick prayed against the “spells of women, smiths, and Druids,” — John Arnott MacCulloch, The Religion of the Ancient Celts


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Blogs

The Promised Land

The Promised Land

An Autobiography of Mary Antin

The Promised Land

Mary Antin


“We are not born all at once, but by bits. The body first, and the spirit later; and the birth and growth of the spirit, in those who are attentive to their own inner life, are slow and exceedingly painful. Our mothers are racked with the pains of our physical birth; we ourselves suffer the longer pains of our spiritual growth.”


About Mary Antin


From Plotzk to Boston

Works of Mary Antin

  • The Promised Land, by Mary Antin; with illustrations from photographs. (1912)
  • They who knock at our gates; a complete gospel of immigration.(1914)
  • Salz, Evelyn (ed.). Selected letters of Mary Antin (1st ed.). 2000

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The Life of Joseph Smith, the Prophet

The Life of Joseph Smith, the Prophet

Facts about Joseph Smith

Life of Joseph Smith

Joseph Smith Jr. 

(December 23, 1805 – June 27, 1844)

George Quayle Cannon


“No matter how serious the trial, how deep the distress, how great the affliction, God will never desert us, He never has, and lie never will.”


  • George Quayle Cannon was born on January 11, 1827, in Liverpool, England, United Kingdom and died on April 12, 1901, In Monterey, California, United States.
  • His parents were George Cannon and Ann Quayle and he was the oldest of the 6 kids.
  • His parents belonged to Peel on the Isle of Man and his brothers and sisters were Ann Cannon (Woodbury), David H. Cannon, Mary Alice Cannon (Lambert), Leonora Cannon (Gardner), and Angus M. Cannon. George Cannon’s sister Leonora Cannon wed to-be Latter-Day Saint apostle John Taylor and was baptized in 1836.
  • 4 years later after the elder George Cannon received the news, the complete Cannon family was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints when Taylor arrived at Liverpool. He was only 13 years old at that time.
  • The Cannon family started their journey to the United States in 1842 to sign up with the church in Nauvoo, Illinois. Cannon’s mother died when they were sailing across the Atlantic Ocean and the family reached Nauvoo safely during the Spring of 1843.1n 1844, George Sr. married Mary Edwards and the two had a daughter named Elizabeth Cannon (Piggott).
  • He joined the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS Church) quite early and worked in the First Presidency under 4 consecutive presidents of the church namely John Taylor, Lorenzo Snow, Wilford Woodruff, and Brigham Young. He was the principal political strategist of the church and the press gave him the title the Mormon Richelieu- and the Mormon premier. He became a Utah territorial delegate to the U.S. Congress 5 times.
  • He was into polygamy and he had 6 wives and even justified his practice. When asked about the ban regarding polygamy by the Supreme Court In the 1879 Reynolds v. United States decision, Cannon said that his only crime was that Instead of seducing and destroying women, he believed in marrying them and having children with them. He further said he wanted to be ruled out from bastardy, infanticide, and land prostitution. Cannon further justified the concept saying that if George Reynolds, a man convicted of committing bigamy was to be punished, then in the Earth full of liberty, the law is quickly summoned to punish religion but justice was nowhere to be found in the pursuit of crime.

Cannon’s Publications

  • Robt. N. Baskin, contestant. v. George Q. Cannon. contestee: Brief and argument of Charles A. Eldredge, counsel of contestee. Gibson Brothers, printers. (1876)
  • Cannon, George Q. Discourse: Delivered in the New Tabernacle, Salt Lake City. Sunday morning. October 8, 1877. W. Budge. (1878)
  • My first mission. Juvenile instructor office. 1882
  • The life of Nephi: The son of Lehi. (1883)
  • Life of Joseph Smith: The Prophet. (1886)
  • The Latter-Day Prophet: History of Joseph Smith Written for Young People (1900)
  • A history of the prophet Joseph Smith for young people. • 1969-Writings from the Western standard. Paladin Press.(1957)
  • Newquist, Jerreld L. (Ed.).Gospel truth: discourses and writings of president George Q. Cannon (Vol. 1).(1974)
  • Gospel truth: discourses and writings of president George Q. Cannon (Vol. 2).(1974)
  • Turley, Richard E. Jr.; Cannon, Adrian; Landon, Michael (Eds.).The Journals of George Q. Cannon (Vol. 1).(1999)
  • The Journal of George Q. Cannon. The Church Historian’s Press. Online Publication.(2016)

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The Apocalypse of Thomas

The Apocalypse of Thomas

The emergence of this book has been recent. The Gelasian Decree denounces the book ‘proclaimed the Revelation of Thomas’ as apocryphal, and that was all that was known of it. In 1908, an excerpt in the Berlin MS. (eighth-ninth century) of Jerome’s Chronicle was detected by Dr. Frick. In the eighteenth year of Tiberius, the manuscript includes this remark:
The apocryphal writing, said to be by Thomas the apostle, it states that the Lord Jesus told him that from his ascension into heaven to his second advent the time comprised is nine jubilees.
This does not appear in any of the printed texts. Previously, in 1907, F. Wilhelm had published, in his Deutsche Legenden and Legendare, a text from a Munich MS. which initially attracted little attention, but was in fact the lost Apocalypse of Thomas.

Palimpsest

In the same year E. Hauler revealed that a leaf of a fifth-century palimpsest at Vienna, the same that contains a leaf of the Epistle of the Apostles, was a fragment of this book.
In the same year E. Hauler revealed that a leaf of a fifth-century palimpsest at Vienna, the same that contains a leaf of the Epistle of the Apostles, was a fragment of this book. Professor E. von Dobschutz had, before this, commenced preparing a volume of the Apocalypse based on manuscripts at Munich and Rome which had not yet emerged. In the Journal of Theological Studies for 1910, the beginning of a book from a Verona MS. (of eighth century) was printed.
Latin appears to have been the authentic language of the pamlimpsest, and the data of the fuller text points to the time of Arcadius and Honorius as the period when it was written.


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Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton


“Yet one thing secures us whatever betide, the scriptures assures us that the Lord will provide.”


  • Isaac Newton was born on January 4, 1643, in Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth, Lincolnshire England, and died on March 31, 1727, in Kensington, Middlesex, Great Britain. He was an English mathematician, astronomer, theologian, physicist, and writer (described in his period as a “natural philosopher”) who is broadly recognized as one of the greatest mathematicians and most influential scientists of all time and as a key figure in the scientific revolution.
  • His book Philosophy Naturalis Principia Mathematica was first published in 1687, made with classical mechanics. Isaac also made influential contributions to optics and shares credit with Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz for developing the infinitesimal calculus.
  • Newton was educated at The King’s School, Grantham and was tutored in both Latin and Greek and is where he developed a significant foundation in mathematics. He was pulled out of school and returned home to Woolsthorpe-by-Colsterworth in October 1659. His mother, widowed for the 2nd time, tried to make him a farmer, an occupation he hated. Henry Stokes, a master at the King’s School, convinced his mother to send him back to school. After returning to school, Newton became the school’s top-ranked student.
  • When Newton was 3, his mother re-wed and moved to live with Reverend Barnabas Smith, her new husband. She left Isaac in the care of his grandmother, Margery Ayscough. Isaac hated his stepfather and held some conflict with his mother for marrying him.

Published in his lifetime

  • De analysi per aequationes numero terminorum infinitas (1669, published 1711) 
  • Of Natures Obvious Laws & Processes in Vegetation (unpublished, c. 1671–75)
  • De motu corporum in gyrum (1684) 
  • Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1687) 
  • Scala graduum Caloris. Calorum Descriptiones & signa (1701)
  • Opticks (1704)
  • Reports as Master of the Mint (1701–1725)
  • Arithmetica Universalis (1707) – Published posthumously
  • De mundi systemate (The System of the World) (1728)
  • Optical Lectures (1728)
  • The Chronology of Ancient Kingdoms Amended (1728)
  • Observations on Daniel and The Apocalypse of St. John (1733)
  • Method of Fluxions (1671, published 1736)
  • An Historical Account of Two Notable Corruptions of Scripture (1754)

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AHC

Chag Sukkot

Chag Sukkot

Festival of Booths


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AHC

Chag Shavuot

Chag Shavuot

Festival of Weeks

The Hebrew word shavuot means “weeks” in English. Chag Shavuot is a festival of revelation, which occurs 7 weeks and 1 day (50 days) after Pesach. It falls between May 15 and June 14 on the Gregorian calendar.
The 7 days of weeks (49 days) count starts on the 2nd day of the Festival of Matzot, the day after Pesach, and ends the day before the Festival of Shavuot, the 50th day.
It is the moment where the Hebrew people met Yahweh face to face on Mount Sinai to receive the 10 Commandments and the Laws of Mosheh. The Festival of Shavuot is one of the 3 scripturally ordained Pilgrimage Festivals.
It marks the time of the wheat harvest in Yisrael and is sometimes referred to as the Festival of Harvest or the Day of the First Fruits.

The festival commemorates the anniversary of Mosheh receiving the Laws from Yahweh at Mount Sinai. It recounts the seven weeks the Hebrew people where lead by Yahweh himself, appearing by day as a cloud and at midnight as fire, after they left Mistrayim and before receiving the Laws of Mosheh, on the 50th day, at Mount Sinai. The counting of days and weeks is understood to represent spiritual preparation, anticipation and desire of the children of Yisrael to receive the Laws of Mosheh so they could again know how to serve Yahweh.
The “Book of Ruth” is traditionally read on the morning of the Festival of Shavuot because the story takes place during the harvest season, and because of the symbolism associated with Ruth as the great-grandmother of King Dawid (King David), who was born and died on Shavuot.


Refer to the “Counting the Weeks Table” below for additional information pertaining to The Festival of Shavuot.

Counting the Weeks of Shavuot – Hebrew Names

Counting the Weeks of Shavuot – English Translation


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