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The following segments will be my impressions of The Earth Chronicles, written by Zecharia Sitchin, a set of books concerning the writings of the ancient Sumerians and their ideas with regard to our solar system's beginnings and Earth's subsequent history. This history was reportedly given to the Sumerians by the Gods themselves, the Lofty ones, who "from the heavens down to Earth came."

I've been reading Sitchin's books since his first one, The 12th Planet, was written in 1976, and I have the utmost respect for his scholarship, integrity, and writing ability. I must say I've read thousands of books in my life but none have held my interest as Sitchin's has. After almost twenty years of reading The Earth Chronicles, and re-reading them, they are just as exciting as when I first began! Now, on with the saga...

About four billion years ago, when our solar system was very young, the Earth, as we know it, did not exist. If we were to name the planets, starting from the Sun, we would have Mercury (Mummu), Venus (Lahamu), Mars (Lahmu), Tiamat, Kingu, Jupiter (Kishar), Saturn (Anshar), Uranus (Anu), Neptune (Ea), and Pluto (Gaga). Yes, the Sumerians knew, and had names for, all of the planets in our solar system as recent (or long ago) as six thousand years ago! It was written in one of their early "books" known as The Creation Epic, which predates the Hebrew Genesis by more than a thousand years. The first words of The Creation Epic, given to Gilgamesh, were, Enuma Elish, "When in the heights," just as in the opening of Genesis we read, Berashith, "In the beginning..." Scholars now know that the first few chapters of Genesis are really a condensed version of Enuma Elish. This is important to remember, because the key to understanding pre-historical events (as recorded by the Sumerians) and subsequent historical events, resides with the very personage of Abraham, the Father of the Hebrews.

The story continues...

At about this time (four billion years ago) a planet, about four times the size of our planet Earth, broke away from another star system in deep space and started a long journey which finally brought it close to our solar system. The name of this planet was Nibiru. It brought with it four moons known as "Winds," the North Wind, the East Wind, the South Wind, and the West Wind. (Later, in extant writings, the Babylonians renamed the planet Nibiru, Marduk, which I will use for the remainder of this narrative.) Our solar system drew Marduk closer and closer because of gravitational forces, until it was trapped, forever to make the long journey to deep space and then back again around our Sun, coming clockwise into our solar system in proximity between Mars and Jupiter. The problem being there was already a planet (about twice the size of our Earth) orbiting between Mars and Jupiter! This planet was called Tiamat by the Sumerians (Teom, by the later Hebrews). Tiamat had many small moons and one large moon named Kingu. Kingu was in the process of becoming a full planet in its own right, when Marduk and its moons entered the scene. And quite a scene it was! It was the start of a tremendous celestial battle, to be fought out on a titanic scale. As mighty Marduk swung in on an arc that put it on a collision course with Tiamat, Kingu (Tiamat's large moon) came between Marduk and Tiamat. One of the Winds (moons) of Marduk swung into position in front of Marduk to do battle with Kingu. Kingu took the first hit as Marduk's moon struck, and glanced off of Kingu, and now Marduk's moon was heading straight for Tiamat! Tiamat sent out terrible weapons of destruction toward Marduk's Moon, but to no avail...The Moon of Marduk struck Tiamat...cracked the mighty dragon Tiamat like a hard-boiled egg... left her there to languish... to wither in pain and humility: its life all but extinguished. Tiamat awaited her fate... Marduk was now ready (next in line) to strike her... but no! It was a near miss. Would Tiamat be spared? Yes and no! The Wind (moon) of Marduk had taken the life out of Kingu and all but left Tiamat lifeless. Tiamat now hung, mortally wounded, in space, awaiting her fate.

The God Marduk observed the Dragon Tiamat as He passed by on his first orbit of our Solar System. Then He moved around our Sun and out into deep space whence He came. Thirty six hundred years later He returned... to finish the Titanic battle He had started with Tiamat. Closer and closer He came, sending out lightning and gravitational nets and awesome weapons toward Tiamat. Tiamat responded with the little life She had left in her... but the Fates had decreed Her destiny. Nothing could be done. Marduk would have His will and His way with Her! Nothing short of celestial rape would take place on that awesome day, four billion years ago. Marduk struck Tiamat! Half of Tiamat was pulverized immediately. The Winds (moons) of Marduk fought with the remaining moons of Tiamat, sending them off into space, to return periodically as meteors. Half of Tiamat was shunted into a new orbit (along with the dead Kingu) between Venus and Mars. Yes, we live on a planet that was once twice its size and was once called Tiamat! Earth is the other half of Tiamat. The pulverized part of Tiamat is now the Hammered out Bracelet of biblical nomenclature... in astronomical terms it is called "the asteroid belt." The dead Kingu is now our Moon.

In the awful battle between Marduk and Tiamat, Tiamat was "seeded" with much of the proto-life forms of Marduk. This is also important to remember, as we shall discover during the remainder of this ancient account of the history and cosmology of our Solar System.

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To the Sumerians, all of the planets in our solar system were considered Gods. This wasn't a superstition to them. They had good reason for attributing this appellation to the planets as we shall see momentarily.

Marduk's orbit stabilized after its battle with Tiamat/Earth. Every thirty six hundred years it makes its long journey (in a clockwise direction) around our Sun. Astronomers even today are trying to locate "planet X." It is also interesting that some astronomers agree with Zecharia Sitchin's estimate of Marduk's size, based on his interpretation of Sumerian and Babylonian texts. If it were just a matter of discovering another planet in our solar system, there would probably be no more excitement generated by the general public than say, when Neptune and Pluto were discovered. But there will be much more to be excited about, concerning the day when our astronomers discover Marduk. Because, if the ancient Sumerians were correct about the existence of Marduk, they were also probably correct about one other "fact" concerning Marduk: it is populated with intelligent beings! Back to our story...

About four hundred fifty thousand years ago Marduk made one of its countless orbits around our Sun. But this time was special. This time something happened that would forever change the history of planet Earth. This time a shuttle craft departed from Marduk, with a number of intelligent beings and a scientific payload on board...destined for Earth!

No, they were not human beings, as we think of human beings. They had all the attributes of what we would still consider Gods to be today. Even though they lived phenomenal life- spans, they looked just as we humans do. These beings, from their home planet Marduk, had scientific skills that would still seem magical to us today. They had knowledge of genetics, biology, psychology, anthropology, astronomy and countless other disciplines that we are just now reaching for (but not quite mastering). In short, these beings who dropped down from the heavens, four hundred and fifty thousand years ago, might just as well have been the deities from out of all of the world's religious scriptures. As a matter of fact, they were! But I am far ahead of my chronological rendition of Zecharia Sitchin's Earth Chronicles. Let me continue...

They needed precious metals. Their planet was dying. Their planet's atmosphere was dying, just as our planet's atmosphere is beginning to die. They needed gold and other precious metals to "seed" their planet's atmosphere. Earth had an abundance of gold and other precious metals. The beings from Marduk shuttled to Earth from Marduk, four hundred and fifth thousand years ago, in order to mine our gold and other precious metals! And this is exactly what they did. For one hundred and fifty thousand years, they mined the Earth's gold and other precious metals without the aid of human beings...for there were, as yet, no human beings on Planet Earth.

Yes, they did other things as well. They built settlements (many of them), starting with Eridu (their first space port) in the Mesopotamian Valley area, in the Middle East. Then they built a mission control center called Nippur. They also completed the other settlements necessary for their enormous projects: Larsa and Bad-Tibira, as well as Larak, Sippur, Shurupak and Lagash. All of these settlements were constructed in the Mesopotamian Valley in such a manner as to form a flight corridor for subsequent shuttle-craft. They also had orbiting space stations for use as holding places for the precious metals that would be ferried to Marduk each time Marduk would return from its long journey around our Sun.

Who were these beings who first came from the heavens to mine Earth's precious metals? Did they have names and faces? Can we identify them? Yes.

Those beings from Marduk had a Monarchical system of government on their home planet. Their present king was named Anu. His rank was "60" and he was the head of a pantheon of twelve. The members of the pantheon of twelve were all related to each other and were ranked downward from "60". Anu had two sons: Enki, the oldest (by Anu's wife Antu) and Enlil (by Anu's half-sister). Succession to the throne went to the son by the half-sister, therefore Enlil had the rank of "50," whereas the oldest son, Enki, had the rank of "40." Each of the wives were ranked "5" under their spouses, therefore Anu's wife had the rank of "55"; Enlil's wife had the rank of "45"; Enki's wife was ranked "35," and so on until the 12 were completed. (Never more than twelve and never less than twelve. Each of the members of the pantheon were identified with one of the twelve "planets" in our solar system. (The ancients counted the Sun and Moon as planets, Marduk/Nibiru being the 12th planet.)

For those who like full lists the following will suffice:

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I stated that Anu was the king and head of a pantheon of twelve "gods" on his home planet Marduk/Nibiru. Now might be a good time to sketch in a few more terms. The "beings" from Marduk are known by several appellations. The rank and file are known by the term Anunnaki. The twelve "gods," or, more properly, "lofty ones," were known as the Nefilim -- the biblical Elohim. The ones who stayed (for the most part) in the shuttle-craft and orbiting space stations were known as the Igigi.

The narration continues...

The rank and file Anunnaki worked in the gold mines of South Africa for one hundred and fifty thousand years. They literally breathed and ate dust from morning till night mining the precious metal needed so desperately by their home planet, Marduk. In the beginning, Enki (expert in many fields) thought the oceans could be mined for gold but the effort was too time consuming and difficult for the relatively small amount of yield. It wasn't long before the oceans were given up, in lieu of land mining. But after eating and breathing dust for so long, even the "gods" had enough of it and they rebelled big time! No more would they bend their backs and toil endlessly in the ancient mines!

(Because of the animosity and hostility generated between the two sons of Anu, Enlil and Enki (Ea Enki), Anu gave each of them dominion over different areas of the Earth. Enlil would be in charge of the total mining operation but his headquarters would remain in the Mesopotamian Valley area. Enki was put in charge of the mining operations in South Africa. For a time, this worked out rather well -- until the rank and file Anunnaki mutinied -- they refused to work in the mines any longer.)

Enlil, on one of his rare visits to South Africa, had his own mansion and body guards and was sleeping soundly (the ancient writings reveal) when he was abruptly awakened and told that a large party of gold miners were at the gates of his mansion and were threatening bodily harm to all inside. "What is their complaint," Enlil wanted to know. "Why were they at the gates and threatening the great lofty one with bodily harm?"

"They refuse to work in the mines any longer...the toil is too much," he was told.

What to do?! This was unheard of. "Find the leader of this rebellion and bring him to me so that I might kill him," Enlil shouted to his body guards.

"But," the body guards replied, "the great god Enki is the leader of these rebels! How can we subdue Enki?"

Enlil thought for a moment and said, "We shall convene the Counsel of Twelve. Summon the Great Anu. He shall settle this dispute and put all of the guilty parties to death!"

Things, however, did not go quite as Enlil thought they would. Yes, the Counsel of Twelve was convened. Yes, the Great Anu sat in chambers, and after Enlil had finished his tirade against the rebellious miners (and of course their leader -- especially their leader) Enki got up to speak.

"For one hundred and fifty thousand years our brothers have worked, endlessly, in the dirty, dusty mines, constantly bending and bruising themselves so that our home planet's atmosphere might be spared. They have, day in and day out, slaved in those mines. They have a right to be heard!"

The Great Anu agreed! Enlil became still. Enki smiled to himself.

"But what is the solution," Anu demands of Enki.

"There is a way," Enki answered. A hush fell over the conference hall as Enki began to speak.

"My half sister, Ninhursag (chief scientist and genetic engineer), has been experimenting with bio-genetics in her `house of breath,'" Enki began...

"She has been experimenting for quite some time and is near to a solution to our problem. She is attempting to "create," through genetic engineering, a lulu -- a mutation of existing animal life on this planet, intelligent enough to take orders, but subdued enough not to rebel! -- a slave- worker is what she is attempting to "create!"

"So be it!," Anu declared. "Do this so that our own people might have respite from the extraordinary toil the mines have exacted."

It wasn't very long after this historic meeting of the Counsel of Twelve that Ninhursag exclaimed, "I have done it! I have created a Lulu! I have created a slave worker!"

(I shall not go into specifics in this part of my narration concerning just how Ninhursag "created" a slave-worker. For the time being, suffice to say this Lulu was "manufactured" for the sole purpose of working in the gold mines and serving his "gods." This Lulu was a proto-type of what would subsequently be full-fledged human beings. In the beginning, these human proto-types could not procreate.)

In the next segment I will tell of the avarice of Enlil and his friends in the Mesopotamian Valley area. They wanted some of Enki's Lulus for themselves -- to serve them -- to pamper them... I shall also speak of the Garden of Eden and how full-fledged humans came into being with the ability to procreate. All this and more as we continue this saga, straight out of the records left by the ancient Sumerians as translated by Zecharia Sitchin in his Earth Chronicles.

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It might be profitable to pause, for a moment, and reflect on "Sumerian myth."

Other than the fact that Sumer is the oldest civilization known to man -- a full blown civilization at that, why do many scholars still refer to much of their ancient writings as "myth?" In my opinion there are only two major reasons:

1) Some of their writings tell us that it was the "Gods who came down from the planet Marduk (Nibiru) who started Sumerian civilization long before human beings were "created," and subsequently gave to newly created humans all of the information for their historical writings, and

2) the fabulous life-spans of the "Gods" themselves, which, by my calculations, had to cover time-spans of at least a half million Earth years! (That's a long time for any one "person" to live.) But, what are human beings involved with now? Are we not trying, through science and medicine, to lengthen the life-span of human beings? Are we not involved with the idea of venturing out into space? Certainly we have not as yet accomplished (to any great degree) either one of these human goals, but the important thing is, we would not be trying if we thought these goals were unattainable! Are we merely participating in our own modern myth? I think not.

The difference between most scholars and Zecharia Sitchin is that Zecharia Sitchin proposes that the ancient Sumerian "myths" are not just fabulous stories, told for religious or political reasons, but are, indeed, factual accounts of actual events in our hoary past! Think about this for a moment: would a cave man (brought back to life for a moment) not look at modern man's inventions as nothing short of implements of the "Gods?" If a cave man came into your living room at about the same time you turned the switch on to your television set, would he not think this was the ultimate in magic? And if he were to write down just that experience for future readers, would not those future readers think of his efforts as nothing more than a "fabulous" story, with no basis in truth? This is the problem scholars have to deal with at the present time -- what is fact? What is fiction? Is there any way to figure out the difference? Sitchin believes there is a way to figure out the difference. He conjectures, for example, that if future events can be predicted, accurately, simply from reading what the ancient scribes of Sumer wrote down, and there would not have been other ways for them to have known of those events, with regard to celestial (and terrestrial) phenomena, then a proper conclusion would be to take what they said as the actual truth rather than mere myth. Later, I will explain the reasoning Sitchin uses in terms of why it is possible for "people" of one planet to live phenomenal life-spans in comparison to our planet's human life cycle.

The story continues...

The biblical account of the creation story takes over about where the Sumerian account ends, with special reference to the Garden of Eden.

After many arguments between Enlil and his brother Enki, over the ownership of the newly "created" Lulus, Enlil finally travels from his base in Mesopotamia, with a couple of weapons (one of which was a huge earth drill), and forcefully captures some of the Lulus, and brings them back to the Sumerian E-Din (Eden). They become the servants to the other Nefilim (Gods). (The later Hebrew scriptures condense the many Sumerian "gods" into one "God"...for nationalistic reasons.) [It is my contention that Enlil (El) becomes JHVH (Jehovah)]

For thousands of years, the naked Lulus labor in the gold mines of South Africa, as well as "tending the garden" in Mesopotamia. Then one day Enki said to himself: "It is not right for my `creation' to be burdened with all of the toil without the benefit of `help mates.' These Lulus look much like we do, but they are not happy. They do not have most of the things we (the Nefilim) take for granted. I will change this. I will give them the ability to procreate!" And Enki did this thing! (It was probably not for purely altruistic reasons that Enki gave the gift of procreation to the Lulus, which, by the way, made of them full-fledge human beings, identical in all ways (but one) with the "Gods." That "one" difference was in a shortened life-span for the humans.)

What a gift procreation was for these naked slaves! It was as if the ultimate blessing was bestowed upon them by the "gods!" One can only imagine the ecstasy the new humans felt at receiving this gift from Enki. And for a long time all was well.

But all good things seem to come to an end all to soon!

They became noisy. They became bothersome. They interrupted Enlil's sleep with their bothersome, noisy, procreating ways! Something had to be done! Enlil was fed up!

"Enough!" exclaimed Enlil. "I shall drive these sex fiends out of this `garden' and away from my sight, lest they also gain the knowledge of longevity and the knowledge of our rocketry systems!" And so the new Adamu/Lulus (humans) were driven out of the Garden of Eden to the east -- to the east, in the Zagros mountains -- to fend for themselves, possibly to perish. (And they would have perished had it not been for the fact that Enki took pity on his "creation" and protected the exiled humans, against the wishes of his brother Enlil.)

Here we should take note of something of great importance. Because the biblical account of the story of Adam and Eve was terribly obliterated with the condensing of many gods into one "God," it became almost impossible to reconcile the fact that one minute "God" was condemning his "creation" and the next minute He was protecting his creation. This anomaly becomes quite clear when we realize that there were two major gods involved here -- Enlil/El/Jehovah and Ea-Enki/The Serpent!

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It may be a good time to review what was said in previous posts, with regard to the Earth Chronicles:

The Deluge sweeps over the Earth, abruptly ending the ice age.

Zecharia Sitchin wrote; "The Deluge, a traumatic experience for Mankind, was no less so for the `gods' -- the Nefilim."

Let me explain the last three items on the above time-line chart...

1) Ziusudra and Noah are one and the same person.

2) As I stated earlier, Enlil expelled the new Homo-Sapiens (full-fledged humans) from his presence in E-din (Eden). His wrath was kindled for several reasons, a few of which I already enumerated. In the biblical account, of the 10 generations from Adam to Noah, the life-spans of the patriarchs ranged from a few hundred years to close to a thousand years each. The truth, according to the Sumerian King List texts, was that these men (and their families) lived thousands of years, not just hundreds!

3) Each time Marduk/Nibiru came close to Earth (in its orbit between Jupiter and Mars) it played havoc with everything terrestrial. In circa 11,000 BCE, Enlil knew that the passing of Marduk would cause a great tidal wave. The Anunnaki scientists knew that a large piece of Antarctica would break off, causing a tidal wave, and raging storms that would inundate the inhabited world. Enlil did not want the humans to know of this impending disaster. He invoked the Counsel of Twelve and convinced all of the "gods" but Enki to keep this knowledge from the humans. Enlil caused all of the "gods" including Enki to swear an oath they would not inform Mankind of the impending deluge...

In my next post I will convey to you the true story of the Great Flood, as translated from the ancient Sumerian writings by Z. Sitchin. All of what I have written, so far, can be found in The 12th Planet, the first book of The Earth Chronicles, by Zecharia Sitchin. The Time-Line above is taken from page 364 in the hard-cover edition, published by Bear & Co.

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"And it came to pass, When the Earthlings began to increase in number upon the face of the Earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of the deities saw the daughters of the Earthlings that they were compatible, and they took unto themselves wives of whichever they chose."

Thus begins the biblical account that led to the "end of all flesh."

The Sons of the gods were shortening the lifespans of their progeny by taking to themselves the daughters of mere human beings! This is something Enlil could not -- would not -- tolerate. He would find a way to destroy all flesh. But it would not be through some supernatural miracle. No, even the "gods" were limited to the realms of "possibilities."

While much is packed into the biblical account, it does not come close to the thoroughness of the Sumerian version -- of which the Hebrews condensed and used as part of their history.

Since it was under Enki's leadership that Ninhursag altered existing humanoid Earthlings by adding genetic properties from the Anunnaki themselves, thus making them true Homo- Sapiens, it was natural that Enki would be protective of his "creations." But Enki was under a constraint not to tell the Humans that a flood was soon to overtake and destroy all of them. Enki felt terrible. He thought about his dilemma. He formulated a plan. He said he would not tell the humans -- but he did not say he would not talk to a "wall" about the impending deluge.

He summoned Ziusudra (Noah).

"Stand behind this reed wall, Ziusudra, commanded Enki, "remain still and I will converse with the wall..."

With these words Enki began to instruct the reed wall.

"Mr. Reed Wall, there will be a terrible flood soon. It will destroy all living things on Earth. The water will cover the Earth for many months. Go, therefore, sell all of your belongings, build a boat, I will give you the plans for the boat, build it to my specifications. Gather your family, gather the seed of all living things, put food on the boat. When you see a commotion in the East*, get on the boat with your family and the seed of all living things, shut up the door and do not open it until the flood has subsided..."

These were the words that Enki spoke to the reed wall. And Ziusudra did as he was instructed, and Enki felt justified - - at least a small token of his "creation" would survive.

*The "commotion in the east" was the sign that the flood and awesome storms would start. But the Sumerian writings did not stop here. The "commotion" turned out to be many Shuttle- Craft taking off, with all of the Anunnaki/Nefilim aboard! They would be saving their own lives -- they would be deserting a sinking Earth! They would remain in orbit until Earth could once again be inhabited. They would have to begin again. This time they would have no servants, they would have no slaves, they would have to toil for themselves once more. When the deluge began, and all life on Earth turned back to clay, they (those in the Shuttle-Craft) wept!

This, and much more, was recorded in the cuneiform texts, concerning the story of the Deluge.

The aftermath of the flood

When Ziusudra and his family disembarked from the boat, he built a huge bon-fire and killed lambs and gave a burnt offering to "the gods." It was especially in honor of his lord Enki. It is recorded that the "gods" smelled the cooking meat and gathered around Ziusudra like flies!

At first, when Enlil heard that some of the Earthlings had survived, he was livid! "Who disobeyed my command? Who told them about the impending flood? Why was I disobeyed?"

But it didn't take Enki long to persuade Enlil of the tremendous benefits that would be derived by Ziusudra and his family surviving. Enlil relented. "Bring them to me, I shall give them my blessing!"

Thus, the Earth, through Ziusudra and his family, would once again be populated with new human beings -- thus, would all flesh trace its roots to a time when, but for the disobeyed order of one "god," Mankind's demise would have been a foregone conclusion.

Next, the aftermath of the Flood and the beginning of "Kingship on Earth."

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Kingship on Earth

"The Deluge, a traumatic experience for Mankind, was no less so for the `gods'-- the Nefilim"

"In the words of the Sumerian king lists, "the Deluge had swept over and an effort of 120 shar's was wiped away overnight. The south African mines, the cities in Mesopotamia, the control center at Nippur, the spaceport at Sippar -- all lay buried under water and mud. Hovering in their shuttle craft above devastated Earth, the Nefilim impatiently awaited the abatement of the waters so that they could set foot again on solid ground.

"How were they going to survive henceforth on Earth when these cities and facilities were gone, and even their manpower -- Mankind -- were totally destroyed?

"When the frightened, exhausted, and hungry groups of Nefilim finally landed on the peaks of the "Mount of Salvation,'' they were clearly relieved to discover that Man and beast alike had not perished completely. Even Enlil, at first enraged to discover that his aim had been partly frustrated, soon changed his mind.

"The deity's decision was a practical one. Faced with their own dire conditions, the Nefilim cast aside their inhibitions about Man, roll up their sleeves, and lost no time in imparting to Man the arts of growing and cattle. Since survival, no doubt, depended on the speed with which agriculture and animal domestication could be developed to sustain the Nefilim and a rapidly multiplying Mankind, the Nefilim applied their advanced scientific knowledge to the task.

"Unaware of the information that could be culled from the biblical and Sumerian texts, many scientists who have studied the origins of agriculture have arrived at the conclusion that its "discovery" by Mankind some 13,000 years ago was related to the neothermal ("newly warm" ) climate that followed the end of the last ice age. Long before modern scholars, however, the Bible also related the beginnings of agriculture to the aftermath of the Deluge.

"Sowing and Harvesting'' were described in Genesis as divine gifts granted to Noah and his offspring as part of the post- Diluvial covenant between the Deity and Mankind:

For as long as the Earth's days shall be, There shall not cease Sowing and Harvesting, Cold and Warmth, Summer and Winter, Day and Night.

"Having been granted the knowledge of agriculture, "Noah as a husbandman was first, and he planted a vineyard'': He became the first post-Diluvial farmer engaged in the deliberate, complicated task of planting..."

(The above quotes came from pages 365 - 366, of Zecharia Sitchin's The 12th Planet.)

And Kingship was next.

The Great Anunnaki were too lofty for Mankind. A deliberate plan was put into action to separate the "gods" and his "creation."

"The Nefilim, we are told, reached the conclusion that they needed an intermediary between themselves and the masses of humans. They were, they decided, to be gods -- elu in Akkadian, meaning "lofty ones." As a bridge between themselves as lords and Mankind, they introduced "Kingship" on Earth: appointing a human ruler who would assure Mankind's service to the gods and channel the teachings and laws of the gods to the people.

"A text dealing with the subject describes the situation before either tiara or crown had been placed on a human head, or Scepter handed down; all these symbols of Kingship -- plus the shepherd s crook; symbol of righteousness and justice -- ''lay deposited before Anu in Heaven." After the gods had reached their decision, however, "Kingship descended from Heaven" to Earth.

"Both Sumerian and Akkadian texts state that the Nefilim retained the "lordship" over the lands, and had Mankind first rebuild the pre-Diluvial cities exactly where they had originally been and as they had been planned: "Let the bricks of all the cities be laid on the dedicated places, let all the [bricks] rest on holy places." Eridu, then, was first to be rebuilt.

"The Nefilim then helped the people plan and build the first royal city, and they blessed it. "May the city be the nest, the place where Mankind shall repose. May the King be a Shepherd."

"The first royal city of Man, the Sumerian texts tell us, was Kish. "When Kingship was lowered again from Heaven, the Kingship was in Kish." The Sumerian king lists, unfortunately are mutilated just where the name of the very first human king was inscribed. We do know, however, that he started a long line of dynasties whose royal abode changed from Kish to Uruk, Ur, Awan, Hamazi, Aksak, Akkad, and then to Ashur and Babylon and more recent capitals.

"The biblical "Table of Nations" likewise listed Nimrud -- the patriarch of the kingdoms at Uruk, Akkad, Babylon, and Assyria -- as descended from Kish. It records the spread of Mankind, its lands and Kingships, as an outgrowth of the division of Mankind into three branches following the deluge. Descended from and named after the three sons of Noah, these were the peoples and lands of Shem, who inhabited Africa and parts of Arabia; and Japheth, the Indo- Europeans in Asia Minor, Iran, India, and Europe.

"These three broad groupings were undoubtedly three of the :"regions "whose settlement was discussed by the great Anunnaki. Each of the three was assigned to one of the leading deities. One of these was, of course, Sumer itself, the region of the Semitic peoples, the place where Man's first great civilization arose.

"The other two also became sites of flourishing civilizations. Circa 3200 BC -- about half a millennium after the blooming of the Sumerian civilization -- statehood, Kingship and civilization made their first appearance in the Nile valley, leading in time to the great civilization of Egypt.

"Nothing was known until some fifty years ago about the first major Indo-European civilization. But by now it is well established that an advanced civilization, encompassing large cities, a developed agriculture, a flourishing trade, existed in the Indus valley in ancient times. It came into being, scholars believe, come 1,000 years after the Sumerian civilization began."

(Most of the above were direct quotes from The 12th Planet. Sitchin says it so much better than I can!)

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The age of Paganism began

Following the Deluge, the Sumerian texts inform us, the Nefilim held lengthy counsels regarding the future of gods and Man on Earth. As a result of these deliberations, they "created the four regions.'' Three of them -- Mesopotamia, the Nile valley, and the Indus valley -- were settled by Man.

"The fourth region was "holy" -- a term whose original literal meaning was ''dedicated, restricted." Dedicated to the gods alone, it was a "pure land,"' an area that could be approached only with authorization; trespassing could lead to quick death by ''awesome weapons" wielded by fierce guards. This land or region was named TIL.MUN (literally, "the place of the missiles"). It was the restricted area where the Nefilim had reestablished their space base after the one at Sippar had been wiped out by the Deluge.

"Once again the area was put under the command of Utu/Shamash, the god in charge of the fiery rockets. Ancient heroes like Gilgamesh strove to reach this Land of Living, to be carried by a shem or an Eagle to the Heavenly Abode of the Gods. We recall the plea of Gilgamesh to Shamash.

Let me enter the Land, let me raise my Shem.... By the life of my goddess mother who bore me, of the pure faithful king, my father -- my step direct to the Land!

"Ancient tales -- even recorded history -- recall the ceaseless efforts of men to ''reach the land," find the "Plant of Life,'' gain eternal bliss among the Gods of Heaven and Earth. This yearning is central to all of the religions whose roots lie deep in Sumer: the hope that justice and righteousness pursued on Earth will be followed by an ''afterlife in some Heavenly Divine Abode.

But where was this elusive land of the divine connection?

"The question can be answered. The clues are there. But beyond it loom other questions. Have the Nefilim been encountered since? What will happen when they are encountered again?

"And if the Nefilim were the "gods" who "created" Man on Earth, did evolution alone, on the Twelfth Planet, create the Nefilim?"

 

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There are fourteen chapter headings in book two, The Stairway to Heaven, of The Earth Chronicles, by Zecharia Sitchin. I'll list those headings and then touch lightly on them in the order they are recorded.

I. In Search of Paradise 1

II. The Immortal Ancestors 18 III. The Pharaoh's Journey To The Afterlife 35

IV. The Stairway To Heaven 47

V. The Gods Who Came To Planet Earth 68

VI. In The Days Before The Deluge 97

VII. Gilgamesh: The King Who Refused To Die 118

VIII. Riders Of The Clouds 144

IX. The Landing Place 168

X. Tilmun: Land Of The Rocketships 189

XI. The Elusive Mount 208

XII. The Pyramids Of Gods And Kings 228

XIII. Forging The Pharaoh's Name 253

XIV. The Gaze Of The Sphinx 283

 

In Search of Paradise

Was there ever a "Golden Age?" Was there ever a time when human beings shared, amongst themselves, a sort of Heaven on Earth?" Was there ever a time when there was an atmosphere of peace, and love, and good will, among humanity? Was there a time when the Earth gave up its fruits without the effort and toil of Man -- when the rivers of life gave up its "milk and honey" without as much as one drop of sweat from Mankind's brow? Or was this "race memory" implanted in the minds of our ancestors, by the ancient "gods" of Sumer, in order to instill in the minds of Man, the desire to once more return to that Golden Age? More importantly, perhaps, did Man, at one time in our hoary past, have it within his grasp the attainment of Eternal Life?

Then did the Lord Yahweh (Jehovah) say: "Behold. the Adam has become as one of us to know good and evil; And now might he not put forth his hand and partake also of the Tree of Life, and eat, and live forever?"

Let us pause here, for a moment, and contemplate what this "Tree of Life" means... There are several interpretations of this enigmatic phrase, "Tree of Life," that needs to be explored. First, there is the obvious interpretation -- the tree of life was just that, i.e., it was all of those things that make up the sustenance for the comfortable continuation of life -- the necessities of life -- food, water, shelter - - the luxuries of life -- mental stimulus, internal worth and meaning, etc. Then there is the esoteric interpretation -- the Tree of Life was a method of attaining Knowledge, Wisdom, and Understanding, so that nothing would be left wanting, for the life and joy of human beings. And then there is another interpretation, obvious only to the humans who were actually in that "Garden of Eden," in the Mesopotamian valley. Before we can discern what this final interpretation is, we must first understand just what the "Garden of Eden" was, according to Sumerian texts.

We know, for example, that the "gods" inhabited this garden. This was Enlil's headquarters. This was Enlil's home away from home. Eden (E-din), among other things, was where Enlil kept his "Shem." We've been taught that "Shem" means "name." Remember when it was said: "And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives, whomsoever they chose. And the Lord said: `My spirit shall not abide in man for ever, for that he also is flesh; therefore shall his days be a hundred and twenty years.' The Nephilim (Nefilim) were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them; the same were the mighty men that were of old, the men of reknown. (Emphasis mine.)

We know that the Nefilim were the Elohim (most of which were the rank and file Anunnaki. But what does it mean, the men of reknown?

In the original Hebrew, the phrase was, "The men of the "Shem." Scholars have translated "Shem" to mean "Name." But that is not what Shem means in Hebrew. In Hebrew, "Shem" means "Fiery Rocket Ship." In other words, the mighty men of old were the men of the fiery rocket ships!

The "Tree of Life" was a launch-pad and rocket that belonged to Enlil/Jehovah. What Enlil/Jehovah was fearful of was that "now might he (man, with his newly found knowledge) not put forth his hand and partake also of the Tree of Life, and eat, and live forever?"

And the Lord Yahweh expelled the Adam from the Garden of Eden... And He placed at the east of the Garden of Eden the Cherubim, and the Flaming Sword which revolveth, to guard the way to the TREE OF LIFE.

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Among the many historical figures who went on a search for the Tree of Life, Gilgamesh was the first. Of course, by this time The Tree of Life had taken on "other" meanings -- added meanings. The Tree of Life had taken on the meaning of "The Elixir of Life," the "Fountain of Youth," a means by which a person could live forever. But, in Gilgamesh's day, the "gods" were still in charge -- the "gods" were still in the area that was considered off-limits to humans. But Gilgamesh was not only "human," he was two-thirds divine, since his mother was a goddess herself. Gilgamesh (a king in his own right) did not want to live the comparatively short life, allotted to mere men -- not by a long shot! Gilgamesh would settle for nothing less than eternal life.

So, he set out, with his trusted servant (and friend), Enkidu, a rugged mountain man. The tale, or, Epic of Gilgamesh, is one of excitement, danger, and intrigue, if one were to take the time to actually read it. It tells of Gilgamesh's travels, through predetermined terrain -- his mother helped him procure a map to his final destination. I'll pick up on this fabulous "tale" later in my narrative, suffice to say, even the later Egyptian Pharaohs traced this same "path" to the "after-life" -- to the Eternal Life that Gilgamesh was seeking at a specific place. This place was called, Til-mun, and I shall also return to this part of my narrative, later on.

But first, I want to go back and speak about "longevity." I said earlier I would compare the life-spans of the "gods" who came from Nibiru/Marduk, and mere mortals, who were "genetically created" right here on planet Earth.

Every biological creature, it seems, has an inborn biological clock. It would appear we all know when to "age," and we all know when to "die." From the lowly fruit fly to a mouse, to an elephant, to man himself, it appears there is a predestined allotment of years to fulfill before we shed our "Earthly" bodies. It would seem that even the unseen atom, as well as the total universe, has an appointed "life-span."

The life-span for humans seems to be tied to the number of revolutions our Earth makes around our central star. Many of our biological functions seem to be governed by the phases of the moon, as well as the proximity and functions of our Sun. We even "tell" time by the twenty-four hour rotation of Earth around its axis, and its three hundred sixty five and a quarter day journey around our Sun. Is it possible that these rotations and journeys around our Sun actually govern our biological life-spans? The ancients thought so.

But what about the planet Marduk? Would the same "rules" of longevity apply to a planet that takes thirty-six hundred years to make one orbit around our Sun? Again, the ancients thought so. Do you remember the statement, "One day, to the Lord, is as a thousand days to mere mortals?" Remember, also, I mentioned that the Anunnaki lived phenomenal life- spans -- at least a half of million of our Earth years each, and this is one of the major reasons that scholars declared those ancient writings "must" be considered as myth! Well, take a look at what many of today's scientists are saying: "The "aging" process is a disease, and is NOT necessary!" "There in no reason man cannot live indefinitely, if we but knew how to cure the disease of "aging!" It is the contention of Zecharia Sitchin that it is for the same reason the Anunnaki lived phenomenal life-spans -- they too had biological clocks, but they were "set" to the orbits of their own planet, Marduk! It was when "the sons" of the gods took human wives that the biological clocks of their offspring were drastically "altered." The number "120 shars" had two distinct meanings, to the original authors of the "holy scriptures." The first meaning was that the Anunnaki themselves were beginning to have a limited life-span, due to their prolonged stay on planet Earth. Since a "shar" represents one complete orbit of Marduk, around our Sun (and one orbit took thirty-six hundred of our Earth-years). We know that one hundred and twenty "shars" had been completed, from the time the Anunnaki first set foot on Earth, and it was one hundred thirty-two thousand years (120 X 3600) that each of the "gods" had already lived! The other meaning, for the statement, "One hundred twenty years," was that, through the cross-breeding, with the sons of the gods themselves, the humans' life-spans (the half-human patriarchs lived thousands of Earth years) would be reduced to "one hundred twenty years!" We, today, are reaching for that 120 year "promise," that the "gods" spoke of, on that day so long ago, before the great flood! Will we, too, surpass, as the gods have, that one hundred and twenty years? Will we, one day, again live thousands of years each? Will we, one day, find the Fountain of Youth -- the Elixir of Life, the negation of death, just as Gilgamesh tried to do, in his search for Til-mun, the Land of the Gods?

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Actually, much of "The Stairway to Heaven" deals with the many religious, mythical, and historical people who had gone in search of the elusive Land of the Living, the place where the Elixir of Life could be found -- the "Land of The Tree of Life!": People such as Moses (as written in the eighteenth Sura, in the Koran); Alexander the Macedonian; the demi-gods (pharaohs of Egypt ), as well as Gilgamesh, etal. While these accounts are well worth the reading -- for pleasure, as well as information -- I think I will concentrate my impressions on "where" this elusive place was. It occurs to me that if I have piqued any interest at all in Sitchin's works, the reader of these "impressions" will want to read his books, in their original form. After all, my impressions will never be as accurate as Sitchin's works themselves. Nor are they intended to be, as such. My wish is merely to acquaint those of you (who have not heard of The Earth Chronicles) to the wealth of informative, well written and, IMO, exciting insights and scholarship of Zecharia Sitchin.

Til-mun: The Restricted Area

Many scholars, down through history, have known about a place called Til-mun. Many have speculated, given the evidence found in the ancient writings, as to where this "Place of the Olden Gods, this Restricted (holy) Area, might be. Naturally, many scholars, in the past, considered Til- mun to be a mythical place, just as the Place of the After- Life of the Pharaohs must be mythical. After all, most people thought those ancient writings must be nothing but "fabulous" figments of imagination, for religious or political consumption. But then, there have always been those scholars who thought, "Maybe, just maybe, there's some basis in fact for these fantastic stories." (Is it not odd that the more we learn about our ancient past, the less mythical it becomes? Think of what we might know to be true, if the library at Alexandria hadn't been destroyed -- about all of the ancient civilizations that were considered myth - - mere "stories" to entertain (instruct?) the minds of the peasants of yesteryear!)

If one were to trace the route of Alexander, as he began his conquest of the known world, it would be apparent that he was closest to the olden "Restricted Area," at the very beginning of his march! Isn't it ironic, that the thing we desire most in life turns out to be that which is closest to us, both in time and in space! Almost as if we had "missed" something, in our haste to "conquer" our own world.

After exploring all of the theories put forth by very intelligent scholars, Sitchin proves (tests) beyond a shadow of a doubt that Til-mun was actually in the Sinai Peninsula -- that little triangle of land that was the bridge between the middle East and the continent of Africa! Even the ancient writings made it plain where Til-mun was. It was right next to Magan: read the old text...

The lands of Magan and Tilmun looked up at me. I, Enki, moored the Tilmun-boat at the coast, Loaded the Magan-boat sky high. The Joyous boat of Meluhha transports gold and silver.

[Magan, of course, is ancient Egypt.]

And, after a simple, but convincing, argument, Sitchin goes on to test the truth of his assertions. In the words of Gilgamesh...

At the mountain of Mashu he arrived, Where by day the Shems he watched as they depart and come in... Rocket-men guard its gate... they watch over Shamash as he ascends and descends.

"That, indeed was the place whereto Ziusudra [Noah] had been taken":

In the Land of the Crossing in mountainous Tilmun -- the place where Shamash ascends -- they caused him to dwell.

This was the place that Alexander was looking for, so that he also might find the Fountain of Youth -- the Elixir of Life -- Life Eternal! (BTW, Alexander was told that he, like so many other Demi-gods, also had a Divine parent. Alexander's quest was exactly the same as was Gilgamesh's.) And, this was the place where Gilgamesh ended his search -- this is where he found what he was looking for -- this is where he almost attained eternal life...and this is the place where he also lost his chance to live the fabulous life-spans of the Gods!

"And we have no more doubt that the target of the ancient Search for Immortality was a spaceport -- somewhere in the Sinai peninsula."

We shall return to this theme more extensively when we review Sitchin's third book, in his Earth Chronicles, entitled, The Wars of Gods and Men.

The remainder of "The Stairway to Heaven" deals with Egypt, the Great Pyramid, and Sitchin's convincing thesis (based on Sumerian writings) of same. I could not begin to do justice to this portion of Sitchin's works, so I will end my "impressions" of this book, and progress to his third, "The Wars of Gods and Men" in my next segment.

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Book III "The Wars of Gods and Men"

"Long before man warred with man, the gods battled among themselves. Indeed, it was as the Wars of the Gods that the Wars of Man began.

And the Wars of the Gods, for control of this Earth, had begun on their own planet.

It was thus that mankind's first civilization succumbed to a nuclear holocaust.

This is fact, not fiction; it has all been written down long ago -- in the Earth Chronicles."

(The above is from the Forward of Zecharia Sitchin's book.)

Why is man such a warlike creature? Why is it so necessary to claim territorial prerogatives? Why is it that man, with the least bit of provocation, flexes his muscles, bares his teeth and fights, to the bloody death, just so he can plant a "flag" on top of some "god" forsaken hill? Is it because he is basically an educated beast? Is it because he has had to survive the devastating elements, in his climb from infancy (erectus), against a hostile environment, to maturity (Sapiens) and, therefore, knows no other mode of behavior? Or, is it because the very "gods" who created Man, created him with their own predisposition for violence -- their own genetic imprint, that commands even the "gods" themselves to battle?

Have you ever asked yourself: why, if God created everything (out of nothing), He had to punctuate all of human endeavor with the shedding of blood? Or, are you, like so many, afraid to question the motives of the very God who created you? I know this question verges on my very "questioning" of one's faith, and I have no right to do this terrible thing, but... how many people secretly do "test" their own faith with this question? I, for one, did this very thing, many years ago, and for me, it was the best thing I had ever done in my life! It freed my very soul -- it freed my mind so that I might look at "life" with at least a fraction of objectivity. But, then, if "losing an eye" is the punishment for "sinning with the eye," I'll bet there are plenty of one eyed preachers in this world -- and I mean within all of the world's religions.

THE WARS OF MAN

"In the spring of 1947. a shepherd boy searching for a lost sheep in the barren cliffs overlooking the Dead Sea, discovered a cave that contained Hebrew scrolls hidden inside earthenware jars. Those and other scrolls found in the area in subsequent years -- collectively spoken of as the Dead Sea Scrolls -- had lain undisturbed for nearly two thousand years, carefully wrapped and hidden away during the turbulent years when Judea challenged the might of the Roman empire.

"Was this part of the official library of Jerusalem, carted away to safety before the city and its temple fell in A.D. 70, or -- as most scholars assume -- a library of the Essenes, a sect of hermits with messianic preoccupations? The opinions are divided, for the library contained both traditional biblical texts as well as writings dealing with the sect's customs, organization, and beliefs. "One of the longest and most complete scrolls. and perhaps the most dramatic, deals with a future war, a kind of Final War. Titled by scholars The War of the Sons of Light Against the Sons of Darkness, it envisages spreading warfare -- local battles that will first involve Judea's immediate neighbors, which shall increase in ferocity and scope until the whole ancient world would be engulfed: "The first engagement of the Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkness, that is against the army of Belial, shall be an attack upon the troops of Edom, Moab, the Ammonites and the Philistine area; then upon that of the Kittians of Assyria; and upon those violators of the Covenant who give them aid..." And after those battles, "they shall advance upon the Kittians of Egypt" and "in due time...against the kings of the north."

"In this War of Men, the scroll prophesied, the God of Israel shall take an active role:

On the day the Kittians fall, there shall be mighty combat and carnage, in the presence of the God of Israel: For that is the day which He appointed of old for the final battle against the Sons of Darkness."

Wars on other planets? Nuclear holocaust in ancient times? Gods wanting control of certain territories on planet Earth? Sons of Light and Darkness? What is this? Someone's idea of a joke? Were there ancient Sumerian comic books -- science fiction and pulp fiction writers? Is someone, in the ancient past, trying to pull our collective, modern, legs?

Not on your life! All of these things, we shall explore, as my impressions of Zecharia Sitchin's third book... "The Wars of Gods and Men," continues...

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The Earth Chronicles

A short review:

Tiamat (Earth) is seeded with all of the proto-life forms of Nibiru (Marduk) when the collision of these two titans takes place, circa four billion years ago.

Tiamat (Earth) is shunted into a new orbit, between Mars and Venus, and Marduk makes its thirty-six hundred (Earth years) year orbit around its new star (our Sun).

Many of the planets in our solar system are affected by the presence of its newly gained planet, Marduk. Asteroids are created by the crushed half of Tiamat/Earth (an extremely watery planet). Comets are formed by the collision of the majority of Tiamat's moons with the moons of Marduk.

Kingu (Tiamat's primary moon) becomes (remains) Earth's moon after Earth finds its new orbit between Mars and Venus.

Life evolves on Marduk (probably millions of Earth years sooner than it does so on Earth) and, time moves forward to the relative present (450,000 Earth years ago).

Intelligent life emerges on Marduk.

Civilization begins on Marduk...

 

Let me say a few things, at this juncture, concerning what the Sumerians were told, with reference to the civilization on Marduk: We know that a monarchy was the primary form of government on Marduk. (I mentioned this before.) What I didn't mention was that the king who reigned, on Marduk, before Anu, was known as Alalu. The interesting thing about Alalu, is that Anu was Alalu's Cup Bearer! Herein lies a story that I think has great significance, both to the reasons why there were wars among the "Gods" on Marduk and, on Earth, as well. Some of what I will say now is conjecture on my part, but all of what I will say is based on the "facts" of Sumerian cosmology, as recorded in the ancient cuneiform tablets.

There is a story told, in the "records," of a god called Zu (Enzu). This "god" became Enlil's Cup Bearer on Earth. One day, as Enlil was bathing, Zu did a terrible thing. He sneaked into Enlil's private chambers and took the "Tablets of Destiny" out of their sacred (restricted) place and immediately he (Zu) had the power to dictate (in absolute terms all of the commands of "Enlilship" to all of the "gods" on Earth! (I will not go into the detail of the story concerning Zu at this point.) What I will say, based on my understanding of Sitchin's works, is that Anu did this exact same thing with respect to the "Tablets of Destiny," on his home planet, Nibiru/Marduk, when he usurped Alalu's royal prerogatives! I believe that Enzu (Zu) was a direct offspring of Alalu, and that he was acting in his father's behalf, when he stole the "Tablets of Destiny" from Enlil! No one knows just exactly what the "Tablets of Destiny" are, however, whatever they are, they must bestow "absolute" power and authority on whomever is in possession of them. It is my contention that the struggle for power that started on Marduk, continued on Earth, among the "gods," and subsequently was infused into the very psyches of man -- and now, Mankind carries on this senseless warfare (for the attainment of absolute power) amongst and against its own! It is my contention that this warlike desire is one of the universal archetypes, alluded to in modern psychology (race memories), that drives human beings (unconsciously) to these abominable acts against themselves. In effect, we have been given the race memories, and the violent acts that go with them, by the "gods" themselves! It is, (because of these genetically instilled memories), the primary reason that man acts in irrational ways! (The humorous statement: "The Devil made me do it," is partially correct, in my opinion; IT IS THE RACE MEMORIES OF THE WARLIKE ACTS OF THE GODS THEMSELVES that "makes" us prone to do the senseless acts of barbarism that we find ourselves doing, from time to time. In other words, we have inherited this propensity for insanity from our creators!

The "gods" come to Earth (on one of their planet's near passes) on their shuttlecraft and set up bases of operations in the middle east.

Man is "created" to carry the burden of the "gods."

Man is given the gift of procreation.

Man multiplies.

The flood destroys most of Mankind.

The "gods" and Man work together to rebuild civilization.

Kingship is given to man so that the "gods" and man will remain separate. Kings and priests shall be the intermediary between the "gods" and man. A restricted area is set up in Tilmun (somewhere in the Sinai peninsula) where the "gods" can carry on with their agenda, without the scrutiny (the prying eyes) of mere mortals.

Marduk (Enki's son) usurps authority in Babylon (Enlil's territory) and the Pyramid Wars, amongst the Gods and men, begin!

Abram (Abraham, a warrior-priest from Ur, in Sumer) is "activated" by the Enlil faction, and is sent on a special assignment: one that will culminate in a nuclear holocaust!

 

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"The Prophet Ezekiel had already Prophesied the Last Battle, "in the latter days," involving Gog and Magog, in which the Lord himself shall "smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall out of thine right hand." But the Dead Sea Scrolls went further, forseeing the actual participation of many gods in the battles, engaged in combat side by side with mortal men:

On that day, the Company of the Divine and the Congregation of the Mortals shall engage side by side in combat and carnage. The Sons of Light shall battle against the Sons of Darkness with a show of godlike might, and amid uproarious tumult, amid the war cries of gods and men.

Sitchin writes about the Crusaders, Saracens, and others in historical times, who had gone to war "in the name of God."

He also speaks about the `War of Troy,' between the Achaean Greeks and the Trojans -- launched by the Greeks to force the Trojans to return Helen to her lawful spouse. But the Greek tale, the Kypria, represented the war as a premeditated scheme by the God, Zeus!

There was a time when thousands upon thousands of men encumbered the broad bosom of the Earth. And having pity on them, Zeus in his great wisdom resolved to lighten Earth's burden So he caused the strife at Ilion (Troy) to that end; that through death he might make a void in the race of men.

Homer, the Greek story teller, blamed the "gods" for instigating the war. It was the "Gods" who acted directly and indirectly, sometimes seen and sometimes unseen, prodding the main participants (men) to their fates. And behind it all was Jove (Jupiter/Zeus).

"So long as the gods held themselves aloof from the mortal warriors," wrote Homer, "the Achaeans were triumphant, for Achilles who has long refused to fight was now with them." But in view of the mounting anger among the gods, and the help the Achaeans were now getting from the demigod Achilles, Jove changed his mind:

"For my own part, I shall stay here, seated on Mount Olympus, and look on in peace. But you others, do go among the Trojans and Achaeans, and help either side as you might be disposed." Thus spoke Jove, and gave the word for war; Whereon the gods took their several sides and went into battle.

The Battle of Troy was thought to be nothing but a fabulous legend -- a Greek myth -- until a man named Charles McLaren suggested, in 1822, that a certain mountain in eastern Turkey, called Hissarlik, was the site of the Homeric Troy. A businessman named Heinrich Schliemann came up with spectacular discoveries as he dug up the mound in 1870, and scholars began to acknowledge it as the existence of Troy. It is now accepted that the Battle of Troy had actually taken place in the thirteenth century B.C. It was then, according to the Greek sources, that gods and men had fought side by side; in such beliefs the Greeks were not alone! For, so too, in earlier times -- it was for the pleasure of the gods that men bled and died in those holy wars!

If all this is so, one might ask, then why isn't it in our history books?

In a sense, it is!

Think, for a moment -- if you were a "god," with phenomenal longevity, and you were in control of how history would be written, would you not record "certain things" as purely "myth?" Would you not "protect" certain knowledge -- knowledge that would prove detrimental to a Great Agenda if it were to be propagated to the general public, as actual history?

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Questions:

Where do I come from? What am I doing here? Why do I exist? Where do my ideas come from? Why does it seem as if everyone else's life is like a continuing "story," but my life is totally unclear to me? Have you ever asked yourself, "Gee, I wonder if everyone in the world knows what's going on, but ME?" And, "I wonder if everyone is patiently waiting for me to "catch on" to the plot -- so we can all have a big laugh and get on with what's really real in the world?" Tell the truth now, you've asked these questions, haven't you?

These, and hundreds of other questions, fill the minds of countless human beings every day of their lives. Another question many people ask is, "Why am I me and no one else in this particular time in history?"

Have you ever heard the story of the man who woke up with amnesia and discovered that he was the only human being in the whole world WITHOUT A HEAD?! In essence, everyone else (it was plain to see) had a head -- it was also plain to see that he (himself) had no head! Yes, all he could see was his shoulders and everything down from his shoulders, but he couldn't see his head. What was more unnerving was the fact that no one else seemed to notice that he was headless!

This seems to be the dilemma we all face, in a sense: oh sure, we look into the mirror each morning and see this half- asleep creature staring back at us, and we brush the creature's teeth and wash the creature's face and comb the creature's hair (if the creature happens to have hair), BUT -- as soon as we turn away from the reflection of that creature, we suddenly -- inexplicably -- become headless once more; to face the whole day interacting with people who seem to pretend that they don't notice we are headless!

Then it dawns on us! Everyone feels the same way! Everyone thinks that they are the only ones without a head! How wonderful! We finally realize we are all in the same boat! We are all the same body -- but we are wearing different heads! Enlightenment! Samadhi! And then... the questions return... Where do I come from? What am I doing here? Why do I exist?" Endless questions... no answers... until now.

Lets start with archetypes. What are they? Where did they come from? Why do we call them archetypes? And, most importantly -- why do I have them within my psyche?

Archetypes, in their simplest forms, are memories that we all have in common. For example, we all FEAR one thing or another. Fear is an archetype. LOVE, HATE, COMPASSION, TENDERNESS etc., are things we all have in common. The main reason we cannot describe accurately what each of these archetypes are is because all of them need an object of identification in order for us to "realize" each particular archetype. That is, we fear a particular thing -- an OBJECT. We love someone -- an OBJECT. We hate, or have compassion or tenderness for someone; something; an idea; an OBJECT. But, where did the idea of FEAR (that we all have), come from? What could possibly be so traumatic, so devastating, that all people (of all time) feel it so acutely, from time to time? And I am talking about the type (archetype) of fear that precedes PANIC! And, by the way, it is my contention that if just one archetype, FEAR, is explained, then all the rest of the archetypes will be explained automatically -- all the rest of them will fall into place, within our "psyches" ( Greek word for "souls"), and we will be on our way to understanding all the rest of the questions at the beginning of this monograph.

All of us have a Great Aunt. Without exception, all of us in this world have a Great Aunt. This Great Aunt is one and the same "person" for all of us. The word "Tia," means "aunt," in the Spanish language. The Spanish language makes extensive use of an older language -- Latin. Latin has an older language that it draws from. Ultimately, it finds its roots in the Babylonian, back further to the Akkadian, and finally, back to the Sumerian language. And it was the Sumerian scribes who told us about a planet, in our solar system, long ago, named Tia-mat!

Of course, an aunt is really our mother's sister -- as well as our father's sister.

But, in the final analysis, who is our mother? Do we not come from the elements of the Earth? Are we not made up (each of us) of the primordial "substance" of Mother Earth? Yes, we all have an Earthly mother -- but in a much more profound sense, we are the children of Mother Earth! Not in any religious sense -- but in a scientific sense!

Where did our Earth come from?

The ancient scribes wrote down the answer many thousands of years ago.

The ancient scribes recorded what their masters (the gods), told them to write. And what they told them to write was: once, long ago, Tiamat (a planet, twice the size of Earth) was split in two by an invading planet from deep space. The name of that planet was Marduk. After the enormous "battle" half of Tiamat (our Mother, Earth) was pushed into a new orbit (between Venus and Mars), where we find Her today.

Can one only imagine the celestial trauma that Tiamat felt when that ancient collision took place? Can one actually comprehend the enormity of that historic event? Literally trillions and trillions of pieces of our Great Aunt were obliterated -- decimated -- ground and pummeled into dust, into asteroids, (which, by the way, the ancients call Heaven), and then that part of our Great Aunt Tiamat (along with the noble Kingu -- our moon) which wasn't destroyed, was cast into a new orbit -- and became our Earth -- our Mother Earth!

Can one imagine the trauma --the FEAR -- the PANIC, that was created that day, so long ago in the very elements of Tiamat? But, it was the "physical elements" that were traumatized in that battle, not human beings. How, then, can we say that the archetype we call FEAR, that we all feel, originated during that titanic battle, between two planets, so long ago?

The answer to that question is: We humans, along with every physical thing upon this planet, are made up of the elements of Earth! Herein is the key to unlocking every hidden emotion we have, in our very souls -- and, all of the other questions dissolve.

(16)

"For, in spite of all of the efforts of Ninurta to dissuade Nergal from harming mankind, a great suffering did ensue. Though the two had not intended it, the nuclear explosion gave rise to an immense wind, a radioactive wind, which began as a whirlwind;

A storm, the Evil Wind, went around in the skies.

Modern day nuclear accident? A plot for an adventure novel? A "what if" scenario in some military war-games room?

No!

Causing cities to be desolated, [causing] houses to become desolate; Causing stalls to be desolate, the sheepfolds to be emptied; That Sumer's oxen no longer stand in their stalls, that its sheep no longer roam in its sheepfolds; That its rivers flow with water that is bitter, that its cultivated fields grow weeds, that its steppes grow withering plants.

Abraham was ordered, by the "god" Enlil to take a contingent of the best men he could find southwest to the Sinai peninsula, to the restricted space port and to guard it with his life, from Marduk's saboteurs. The spaceport was at El- Paran, a fortified oasis of Nakhl, in Sinai's central plain. Marduk had already been subdued and was in exile to the north, but he was fighting mad and needed to take control of the spaceport in the Sinai -- he who controlled the spaceport controlled the entire middle east. Abraham's mission was to keep this from happening. He succeeded in doing this.

But other things were brewing in the north east: Ninurta (first son of Enlil) and Nergal (son of Marduk, and quisling to the Enlil clan), convinced Anu and Enlil that things had escalated too much -- that drastic measures were needed to bring a semblance of control back to the area. The "Olden Weapons" were to be unleashed... weapons that had never been used before... weapons of such mass destruction that no one knew how much damage would be done. But now Ninurta and Nergal had permission to use them.

There are two things I want to emphasize before I continue with this phase of my impressions of Zecharia Sitchin's third book, The Wars of Gods and Men:

There is a physical anomaly in the central plains area of the Sinai peninsula -- something that is out of place -- something that does not belong there. There are literally millions upon millions of bits and pieces of blackened rock, strewn as if by a giant hand, over the whole area! Black is not a natural hue in the Sinai peninsula, "where the whiteness of the limestone and the redness of the sandstone combine to dazzle the eye with hues ranging from bright yellow to light gray and dark brown but nowhere the black which comes in nature from basalt stones." There is no explanation for this, unless one reads the verses of the ancient texts, and accepts the conclusion that in the days of Abraham, Nergal and Ninurta wiped out the Spaceport that was there, with nuclear weapons. "That which was raised towards Anu to launch they caused to wither, its face they made fade away, its place they made desolate."

The second thing I want to emphasize deals with the Dead Sea (The Salt Sea). If one were to look at a map of that area, one would see another anomaly -- something that just doesn't look right. The Dead sea appears to be separated by a narrow "tongue," right about where El Lisan meets the shoreline. Then below, to the south, it widens out and again looks like a normal body of water. It is the contention of Zecharia Sitchin that this "secondary" body of water was not part of the Dead Sea before something awesome happened that literally created that "second" body of water!

Listen to the olden text...

On the Land [Sumer] fell a calamity, one unknown to man: One that had never been seen before, one that could not be withstood.

The death was not by the hand of the enemy; it was an unseen death, "which roams the street, is let loose in the road; it stands beside a man -- yet none can see it; when it enters a house, its appearance is unknown." There was no defense against this "evil which has assailed the land like a ghost: The highest wall, the thickest walls, it passes as a flood; no door can shut it out, no bolt can turn it back; through the door like a snake it glides, through the hinge like a wind it blows in. "Those who hid behind doors were felled inside; those who ran to the rooftops died on the rooftops; those who fled to the streets were stricken in the streets: "Cough and phlegm weakened the chest, the mouth was filled with spittle and foam... dumbness and daze have come upon them, an unwholesome numbness...an evil curse, a headache...their spirit abandoned their bodies." As they died, it was a most gruesome death:

The people, terrified, could hardly breathe; the Evil Wind clutched them, does not grant them another day... Mouths were drenched in blood... heads wallowed in blood... The face was made pale by the Evil Wind.

(I was trained in chemical, biological, and radioactive warfare, on a little island off the coast of Japan, during the Korean war (police action): I know what the aftermath looks like after a nuclear explosion. JWS)

In the year 2023 BCE, a series of nuclear explosions were deliberately set off, by Nergal and Ninurta, both in the Sinai peninsula and, over the southern end of the Dead Sea. There is absolutely no doubt about this! The evidence is STILL there -- including traces of radiation!

(17)

The interpretation of archaeology has yet to catch up with Sumerian historic fact. When it does there will be little doubt that what we now consider myth will be proven fact. There are just too many cultures throughout the world which have so many things in common that it almost becomes comical when some of the die-hard practitioners of the earth- sciences still cling to the old theories concerning human history. In the meantime, such serious investigators as Sitchin, Bramley, Kramer, Freer, etal, will continue to amass more and more evidence for the proposition that Earth's human history extends much further into our ancient past.

Naturally, there will be felt some discomfort by certain groups of people with certain types of mind sets. This is unfortunate as well as inevitable. There is so much of current history that is based on wishful thinking -- so much of our history that is predicated on a religious viewpoint. It is understandable that religion played so important a roll in forming our world-view. Since man is still quite ignorant of his actual historical past, it is no wonder that religion seemed to be a necessary institution, for controlling, pacifying, and shaping the minds of human beings. It may take another thousand years for all of that ignorance to be purged from the psyches of humanity. There is much of which humanity can be proud though. Not so much that we have accomplished great advances in technology -- we certainly have. Not so much that we have populated the world with a multitude of various cultural attitudes -- we certainly have. Not so much that we have a much greater understanding of this universe in which we live -- we certainly do. But mostly, we can look at ourselves with at least a little pride in the fact that we haven't destroyed ourselves -- yet! It might seem like a small thing, that we haven't destroyed ourselves but, when one thinks of the fact that being violent and warlike creatures from the very first moment we became sentient -- genetically predisposed for violence from the very progenitors who created us, it is no small achievement!

Just as the Constitution of the United States of America was not an established fact, but an ideal -- a goal to be attained, we in the western world, can consider it an achievement and a testimony to posterity that we are still here! We have not only survived in the face of adversity -- much of it self caused -- we have grown in every way imaginable -- in numbers -- in education -- in spiritual values (yes, believe it or not, we are still a magnificently spiritual people) -- and most importantly, we can now see a dim light at the end of the tunnel!

A social science teacher (back in the 1940s) once said to the class I was attending, "With an increase in education there will be a proportionate decline in religion." At the time, I did not really understand what she was implying. After all, wasn't religion a form of education? The thing I had to learn, many years later, was that there was a profound difference between religious training and spiritual understanding. Believe it or not there is an exponential increase in the number of people who know the difference even at the present time in history; even at a time when there are more types of crime and inhumanity perpetrated against ourselves. The fact that there are so many more churches and so many more denominations in today's world, is not contrary to the fact that there is less religion.

The very fact that we are such an unsatisfied people, is proof that we are not as religious, but more spiritual than ever before! It is a Great Storm that humanity is experiencing at the present moment. This Great Storm is in its final throes -- the tempest is at its height -- and we are all caught up in it, one way or another.

And we are becoming stronger in every way. Most of all, we are becoming stronger, spiritually!

Strife -- wars -- unrest -- animosity -- enmity -- dissatisfaction -- may be a part of our genetic make-up. But so too is compassion -- concern -- the ability and desire to help our fellow humans -- and yes, even love -- a part of our spiritual make-up. The race of men who genetically created us (for whatever reason) did not realize what a good job they were doing. We humans are now reaching out for the stars -- there certainly is "nothing that will stay our hand -- and anything we now set our minds to will not be thwarted." We have eaten of the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. We have also returned to the garden to do battle with the cherubim, and the flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way to the tree of life.

The "gods" knew we would eat of the "fruit." They also knew we would one day return to do battle with that "cherubim and the flaming sword." We humans are a tough race and an awesome force. We shall overcome the cherubim guarding the tree of life; we shall climb the tree of life, just as the "gods" knew we would; just as the "gods" wanted us to do -- because the flaming sword was a code-word for "spiritual knowledge," and the tree of life was a Gateway to the Stars!

And most importantly, we shall gain those spiritual prerogatives that have always been our rightful heritage! We have come too far -- we have paid too great a price not to have earned the absolute right to that heritage -- we shall take our place among the highest intelligence in this universe -- after all -- we're worth it!

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