Liaf’s Book Collection
By Liaf
We’ve been going hard at complex biblical subjects lately, specifically end-times, so I thought we’d take a breather this week and introduce you to my book collection. It is said that you can tell a person by the company he keeps. Likewise, I believe you can tell what’s on a person’s mind by the types of books he reads. What he reads will reflect on what he teaches.
First of all, let me tell you I have read many more books than the book collection I want to talk about. However, I see this collection as special books that are worthy to be put in a special place. I have as of this time 26 books that I keep in a special location. No matter how much junk is around them, no matter how much the wife persuades me to clean up, and no matter what else comes up, these books stay in their spot. Besides the Bible itself, they help me to shed more light on certain topics. In previous messages, you heard me refer to some "apocryphal" books. These special books of mine are among those I quote often. Each book I read through at least once, and most of them two or three times. I consider them in roughly four categories. The first nine books (and group) are apocryphal scriptures or books about Scripture. I have the apocryphal books of Jubilees, Jashar and Enoch. By the way, when I use the word "apocryphal", I am referring to any non-canonized esoteric book from the Protestant perspective. These books are not always the same as the Apocrypha that some Bibles have although I call all of them "apocryphal". The Apocrypha, alias the "Catholic Bible" as some lay people call it, have the books I Esdras, II Esdras, Tobit, Judith, Additions to Esther, Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus, Baruch, The Letter of Jeremiah, The Song of the Three Young Men, Susanna, Bel and the Dragon, The Prayer of Manasseh, I Maccabees, and II Maccabees. Some people consider them (or most of them) canonized. However, just because they are not canonized does not mean they do not contain valuable insight. A "good Christian book" is not Holy Scripture either, but it can have valuable information that sheds light on what the Bible is trying to say. However, the Bible is the benchmark to which all other things must be compared. Anyway, back to these three books. Jashar and Jubilees are parallels to Genesis and fills in some detail. This detail is not needed for critical doctrine, but again it shows some of the ancient Jewish thought on these things. The book of Enoch is quoted by Jude. It is very apocalyptic in tone (similar to Revelation). Some people believe it should have been canonized. I believe this way about it: God would have seen to it that anything that needed canonization would have been accepted. However, before we discard the book, God equally preserved its existence until today. Think about that. Or as some interpret it, Selah.
The forth book I have is the King James Apocrypha (just explained). The Bible I have with the Apocrypha in it is in the RSV. I have several translations of the Bible, but I would not settle for the Apocrypha in only the RSV! The next two books explain Scripture. One is about the Dead Sea Scrolls. The other explains the feasts of Jehovah. This book (the about feasts of Jehovah) is over 50 years old! Needless to say, most of the other books I can replace, but not this one! I never loan this out. Maybe if one persuades me with plagues, famine and noisome beasts, a curious person may get me to loan out one of the other books to them, but not this one! Even well intentioned people "lose" books in the shuffle of things in their lives and they hope you forget about them. I had this happen several times. You know when that happened when you ask for something back and the conversation gets redirected to something else (or a stall tactic is used). Up to this point, these are apocryphal books or subjects about them that take place during the Old Testament timeframe. I have two others that deal with the New Testament timeframe. The first has writings from other apostles. Again, the reader can see what went through the minds of the early church from these writings. They are in no way superior to our New Testament Epistles and some of them even sound like "bits and pieces" pasted together from the New Testament Epistles! I like one of these writings, "The Gospel According to Peter" that seems to have a moment-by-moment chronology of events from the crucifixion to the resurrection. Even at that, the gospel is fragmented and not all of it was preserved. The way I read this gospel, it strongly supports a Wednesday crucifixion (which I believe the Bible teaches anyway). This is one of those writings that can be a decisive factor in pushing one to accept something one way or the other. Both Wednesday and Friday "crucifixionists" have their arguments from Scripture. So then I say, "What did the other writings of the day hint at?" The gospel of Peter was not the only one that seemingly supported a Wednesday crucifixion, but it was the most direct. Many conservative types do not like to study or quote extra-biblical books. That is the sign of a cult, they say. Too bad. If they would read the book of Barnabas, they’d see very clear teaching against abortion. Although I believe the Bible does not endorse abortion, some clever liberal interpreters use Scripture to prove their point that abortion is Biblically valid (like the Wednesday/Friday crucifixion issue). The subject seems a little hazy from a Biblical standpoint until apocryphal writing forces one to take a position.
The next book is about the Apostle Paul Visiting Britain. Why do I consider that a commentary to Scripture? The beginning of the book has the apocryphal chapter of Acts 29. There it states that Paul went to Britain to preach to the lost house of Israel. The books deals with Paul’s travels and royal acquaintances and takes the position that Britain received the gospel straight from Jerusalem (other apostles were involved as well). These were some of those "lost sheep from the house of Israel" that next to Judah (the Jew) were to receive the gospel. The ninth and last book from this section is "Cracking the Bible Code". That book deals with a subject I already mentioned. Go back to Liaf’s weekly index page and select my message about Bible translations. I make a brief comment as to what this is about.
The next nine books (and second group) deal mainly with mystical places and/or Lost Tribes. I have a book about Atlantis. I also have four that deal with Britain. One of them is about Stonehenge. Another one of them traces the Davidic throne by Jacob’s Pillar. Yet another traces the migrations of the Lost Ten Tribes of Israel. Again, these take place in the Old Testament timeframe. Stonehenge is the pre-captivity migrations of Israel or their progenitors. It’s another one of those links between Britain and Israel. Jacob’s Pillar and its companion about the migrations of Israel connect Britain to Israel during the captivity timeframe onward. The last book I have about Britain is the "Traditions of Glastonbury". This book deals with migrations to Britain and the spread of Christianity there during and after Christ’s time. Besides the perpetuation of the Davidic throne and the tribes of Israel, the book demonstrates that Christianity came to Britain straight from the Holy Land itself. This blasts preconceived notions that the Church of Rome sent missionaries to convert those "heathen" Celts and Anglo-Saxons. There was already a church established there. The other mystic place that I have books about is Egypt. Needless to say, I already have a message on this site that deals with the pyramid. I have four books on the pyramid. Of course, they claim the pyramid has a prophetic chronograph, a wealth of scientific and mathematical information, and a unit of measure called the "sacred cubit". The fact that the pyramid has a unit of measure called the "pyramid inch" and "sacred cubit" shows in my opinion another connection between Israel, Egypt, and Britain.
The next and third group is a group by itself dealing with the stars. I have three books that tell about God’s Word in the Stars. Some people accept the idea that God’s Word is in the stars. That’s true because Psalm 19 says that. However, they will not accept anything about the pyramid or the Lost Tribes. Well, if we accept what the Bible says about the stars, then we must realize that the pyramid has a definite link to them because that is part of the message of the pyramid. Therefore, one has to accept that. And if we accept the prophecy in the pyramid, then one has to link that to Britain and the Lost Tribes since the pyramid has the pyramid inch as a unit of measure. It keeps snowballing. Of course we can choose to not believe any of it, including the message of the stars. That’s fine. If we do that, let’s remember to cut out Psalm 19 (and some other passages of Scripture) too.
The forth and last section has miscellaneous subjects, although I can see one forming in some of the books. This section has five books. One is Bullinger’s book "Number in Scripture". Unlike many of my books, this is one of the few that are available in any Christian bookstore. He deals extensively with the spiritual meaning of each number in the Bible. Similar to that is a book about Solomon’s temple. Both these books deal extensively with numerical and mathematical concepts in Scripture. However, except for the "numbers" theme, they really encompass a vast array of topics. Another book I have is about the search for the Lost Ark of Noah. It’s interesting, but this may be one of those few books I’d loan out less reluctantly in exchange for a study book about the Lost Ark of the Covenant (we guys have a little Indiana Jones in us J ). The last two books are about ancient mysteries, both biblical and otherwise. I keep these books in with my other 24 because they are extra, non-biblical books that deal with the pyramid or sacred measure. Oftentimes those critical of these arcane topics may believe they are one-sided. It fascinates me to see that some mundane researchers come to similar conclusions.
From this brief introduction of my books, I think you can see what I will teach about in the future. It will not come as much of a surprise. Indeed, I already taught (or at least gave an overview) from many of the topics that these books deal with. However, as fascinating as these are, the best book ever is none other than my King James Bible. That book goes with me wherever I study God’s Word.