{"id":1323,"date":"2020-05-20T20:10:10","date_gmt":"2020-05-20T20:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/religionoflight.org\/ns\/lightofgod\/?p=1323"},"modified":"2020-05-20T20:10:10","modified_gmt":"2020-05-20T20:10:10","slug":"lectionary-readings-for-thursday-may-21st-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/religionoflight.org\/ns\/lightofgod\/2020\/05\/20\/lectionary-readings-for-thursday-may-21st-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Lectionary Readings for Thursday, May 21st, 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: 14pt\"><strong>Book of Wars Against Jehovih Chapter 33, Chapter 34<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Chapter 33<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">1. Te-in&#8217;s Lords and their angels departed out of Che-su-gow, Te-in&#8217;s heavenly place, and<br \/>\ndescended to the earth on their mission; and this is what came of it, to wit:<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">2. Kan Kwan was the son of Kwan Ho, a flat-head; but Kan Kwan came of the converts<br \/>\nto the Brahmin priests, and so had not his head flattened. But because su&#8217;is and sar&#8217;gis had<br \/>\nbeen long in their family they descended to Kwan all the same. And he could see and hear<br \/>\nthe angels and their Lords; hear all the words spoken to him, a most excellent thing in a<br \/>\nking, when drujas are restrained from observing him.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">3. The Lords guarded Kan Kwan on every side, day and night, and Kwan being stupid,<br \/>\nbecause of the flat heads of his parents, he was well suited to carry out all that was<br \/>\ncommanded of him. So he at once announced himself with all his titles, and sent heralds<br \/>\nhither and thither to proclaim him and let all peoples and kings know that he was coming<br \/>\nto subdue them unto himself.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">4. Kwan issued this decree, to wit: Kan Kwan, king of the world, and of the sun, and<br \/>\nmoon, and stars, I command! I, son of the sun, son of Te-in, behold! There is but one<br \/>\nruler in heaven, Te-in! There shall be but one on earth, Kan Kwan. Bow your heads<br \/>\ndown! I come! Choose ye: to bow down, or to die. One or the other shall be. When the<br \/>\nworld is subdued to me, I will war no more!<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">5. In those days there were many great kings in Jaffeth, and their kingdoms were in many<br \/>\nplaces far apart. Betwixt them, in a sparse region, in the Valley of Lun, lay the city of<br \/>\nOw Tswe, and this was the small kingdom of Kan Kwan, known for a thousand years.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">6. When the other kings heard of Kwan&#8217;s proclamation they laughed. And this is the<br \/>\nvanity of mortals, for they heed not the power of the Gods over them.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">7. So Kwan started with an army of four thousand soldiers, men and women, with spears,<br \/>\naxes, scythes, swords and slings, and bows and arrows; and he marched against Tzeyot, a<\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"fontstyle0\">city of a hundred thousand people; and here ruled king Cha Ung Chin, with twenty<br \/>\nthousand soldiers. Cha Ung Chin laughed. He said to his captain: Send thou a thousand<br \/>\nwomen soldiers and kill Kwan and his army; they are mad, they know not what war is.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">8. The captain went forth to battle, but he took beside the thousand women soldiers a<br \/>\nthousand men soldiers. But lo and behold, Kwan and his soldiers knew no drill, but they<br \/>\nran forward so strangely that their enemies knew not how to fight them, and they fled in<br \/>\nfear, save the captain and a hundred women, who were instantly put to death. But not one<br \/>\nof Kwan&#8217;s army was killed.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">9. Cha Ung Chin was angry, and he sent ten thousand soldiers against Kwan&#8217;s ragged<br \/>\narmy; and when the battle was begun, the angels cast clouds before the hosts of Cha Ung<br \/>\nChin, and they thought they beheld hundreds of thousands of soldiers coming upon them,<br \/>\nand they turned and fled also, save five hundred, who were captured and instantly slain,<br \/>\nmen and women.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">10. Cha Ung Chin said: It is time now I go myself. My laziness has cost me dear. On<br \/>\nthe morrow I will lead thirty thousand pressed men and women, and make it a day of<br \/>\nsport to slaughter Kwan&#8217;s army. So the king sent his marshals to select and summon<br \/>\nhis soldiers during the night. Many were too frightened to sleep; and those that slept<br \/>\nhad such visions and dreams that when they awoke they were as persons nearly dead.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">11. Cha Ung Chin, next morning, sallied forth out of the city to battle, going before<br \/>\nhis army. When he saw the pitiful army of Kwan, he said: Of a truth, the world is<br \/>\ngoing mad! That such fools have courage is because they know not what a battle is.<br \/>\nWith that he rushed forward, faster and faster, calling to his soldiers. But they stretched<br \/>\nout in a line, after him, for they trembled from head to foot, remembering their dreams.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">12. Presently Kwan and his army started for them, not with orderly commands, but<br \/>\nscreaming and howling. Cha Ung Chin&#8217;s soldiers took panic, broke ranks and fled in all<br \/>\ndirections, save one thousand, including King Cha Ung Chin, who were captured and<br \/>\ninstantly slain.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">13. And on the same day Kan Kwan went and possessed the city, Tzeyot, commanding<br \/>\nobedience and allegiance of the people. And on the following day he set twenty thousand<br \/>\nmen to work building a temple to Te-in, pulling down other edifices for the material<br \/>\nthereof. Nor had Kwan a learned man in all his army; but the Lords with him showed him<br \/>\nhow to build the temple, east and west and north and south, and how to make the<br \/>\narchways and the pillars to support the roof; and the sacred chambers and altars of<br \/>\nsacrifice. Of brick and mortar and wood built he it, and when it was completed it was<br \/>\nlarge enough for twelve thousand people to do sacrifice in. And it was, from first to last,<br \/>\nforty days in building.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">14. Besides this, Kwan put another ten thousand men and women to clearing houses and<br \/>\nwalls away, and making new streets in many ways; so that at the time of the first sacrifice<br \/>\nthe city of Tzeyot looked not like itself; and Kwan gave it a new name, Lu An, and<br \/>\ncommanded all people to call it by that name, or suffer death.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">15. Kan Kwan made the people go and do sacrifice to Te-in in the temple every morning;<br \/>\nenforced a day of rest for each quarter of the moon; enforced worship on the part of<br \/>\nchildren to their fathers and mothers, the father taking first rank.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">16. Then Kwan made them pray for those who were slain in battle. And these are the<br \/>\nwords he commanded them: Te-in! Father of Life and Death! Who feedeth on suns and<\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"fontstyle0\">stars! Whose refuse is mortals. In thy praise I bow my head. For thy glory I lie on my<br \/>\nbelly before thy altar. I am the filthiest of things; my breath and my flesh and my blood<br \/>\nare rotten. Death would be sweet to me if thou or thy soldiers would slay me. For my soul<br \/>\nwould come to thee to be thy slave forever.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">17. Behold, my brothers and sisters who fought against thee are dead, and I glorify thee<br \/>\nbecause thereof. We have buried their rotten carcasses deep in the ground, good enough<br \/>\nfor them.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">18. But their spirits are lost and wild on the battle-field, howling about. O Te-in, Father,<br \/>\nsend thy spirits from Che-su-gow, thy heavenly place, to them, to help them out of<br \/>\ndarkness. And we will ever praise thee, our mightiest, all highest ruler!<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">19. When they made the sacrifice they laid down on their bellies, certain ones prompting<br \/>\nthem with the words which Kwan received from the Lords.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">20. After this, Kwan appointed them a governor, Ding Jow, who was the first governor of<br \/>\na province in Jaffeth, after the order of governors as they exist to this day. Which is to<br \/>\nsay: As a Lord is to a God, so is a governor to a king. And this was the first of that order<br \/>\nestablished by the Gods of hada. Prior to this a like government had been given by<br \/>\nJehovih to the Faithists; even as it had been given in its purity to the pure, so was it now<br \/>\ngiven in its crudity to the crude.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">21. Jehovih had said: Independent kingdoms shall not exist side by side; nor shall one be<br \/>\ntributary to another; but there shall be one whole, and the lesser shall be parts thereof, not<br \/>\nover nor under them, but as helpmates. The wicked will not see this now; but their own<br \/>\nwickedness will bring it about in time to come. And it was so.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">Chapter 34<\/span><br \/>\n<\/span><span class=\"fontstyle0\">1. Kan Kwan again went forth to conquer and subdue, going to the southward, to Ho-tsze,<br \/>\na large city having five tributary cities, ruled over by Oo-long, a king with two hundred<br \/>\nwives and thirty thousand soldiers, men and women, well disciplined.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">2. Kwan&#8217;s army was now seven thousand strong, but without discipline; and with no head<br \/>\nsave himself. And on his march through the country he compelled the farmers to embrace<br \/>\nthe Te-in religion, under penalty of death.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">3. Now when he had come near Ho-tsze, he sent an order for the king to surrender, even<br \/>\nafter the manner as at the city he had already conquered.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">4. Oo-long laughed when told of the kind of company that had come against him, and he<br \/>\nsent only women soldiers, eight thousand, to give him battle. When the armies were near<br \/>\ntogether, the Lords said to Kwan: Send thou a truce, and beseech thine enemy to<br \/>\nsurrender under penalty of death; for the angels of Te-in will deliver them into thy hand,<br \/>\nand not one shall die.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">5. A truce was sent, and lo and behold, the whole of Oo-long&#8217;s army surrendered, and<br \/>\nmade oaths of allegiance to Kwan, and not one was slain. Oo-long, when informed of it,<br \/>\nsaid: Now will I go with all my army and slay this ragged king and all his people, and also<br \/>\nmy eight thousand who have surrendered. So he marched to battle with twenty-two<br \/>\nthousand soldiers. Kwan&#8217;s army was scattered about the fields. Oo-long said to his<br \/>\ncaptain: Go, thou, tell this foolish king to set his army in line of battle; I desire not to take<br \/>\nadvantage of a flock of sheep.<\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"fontstyle0\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span class=\"fontstyle0\">6. The captain started to go, but ere he reached the place, he fell down in a swoon, for the<br \/>\nangels overpowered him. The king saw his captain fall, and he cried out to his army: It is<br \/>\nenough! My army have never seen such fools, and know not how to battle with them.<br \/>\nCome, I will lead!<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">7. At that, he rushed on, followed by his thousands. Instantly, Kwan&#8217;s army set up their<br \/>\nscreams and howls, and ran forward in every direction, and lo and behold, Oo-long&#8217;s army<br \/>\nbroke and fled, save one thousand two hundred who were captured, Oo-long amongst<br \/>\nthem; and they were instantly slain. But of Kwan&#8217;s army only one man was killed.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">8. The Lords sent messengers to Te-in in his heavenly place, informing him of Kwan&#8217;s<br \/>\nsuccess. Te-in returned this commandment: In what has been done I am well pleased; but<br \/>\nsuffer not your mortal king, Kan Kwan, to win so easily hereafter; but let him have losses,<br \/>\nthat he may not forget me and my Lords and my hosts of angels. Place ye him in straits,<br \/>\nand cause him to pray unto me; and his army shall pray also. And when they have thus<br \/>\nsacrificed, deliver him and his army from their straits, and make him victorious for a<br \/>\nseason.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">9. Kwan entered the city of Ho-tsze without further opposition, and possessed himself of<br \/>\nit. At once he caused thirty thousand laborers to fall to work building a temple to Te-in.<br \/>\nAnother twenty thousand he caused to pull down houses and make other streets, more<br \/>\nbeautiful. In twenty-eight days the temple and the streets were completed; and on the<br \/>\ntwenty-ninth day the sacrifices commenced, and all the people were obliged to swear<br \/>\nallegiance to Kwan and to Te-in, or be slain. And on the first day there were slain four<br \/>\nthousand men and women (worshippers of different Gods, but for the main part the Great<br \/>\nSpirit) who would not take the oath.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">10. After that, none refused, and so Kwan gave the city a new name, Tue Shon; and he<br \/>\nappointed So&#8217;wo&#8217;tse governor, and commanded the tributary cities to come under the<br \/>\nyoke.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">11. After that, Kan Kwan went forward again to conquer and subdue; and the Lords<br \/>\nof heaven and their twelve millions of angels went with him and in advance of<br \/>\nhim, preparing the way. And the news of his success was spread abroad amongst<br \/>\nmortals also, well exaggerated; so that the inhabitants of cities far and near feared him.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">12. The Lords suffered Kwan to conquer and subdue yet three other large cities without<br \/>\nloss to his army; and lo and behold, Kwan began to think it was himself that possessed<br \/>\nthe power, and not Te-in.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">13. The next city, Che-gah, was a small one, of fifty thousand inhabitants. Kwan<br \/>\ninquired not of Te-in (through the Lords) as to how to make the attack, but went on<br \/>\nhis own judgment. Now there ruled over the city a woman, Lon Gwie, a tyrant<br \/>\nlittle loved, and she had but four thousand soldiers, and Kwan had seven thousand.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">14. Kwan, arriving near, demanded the place; but the queen answered him not with<br \/>\nwords; but had her soldiers in ambush, and thus fell upon Kwan&#8217;s army, and put one-half<br \/>\nof them to death; and yet the queen suffered small loss. Kwan, not finding his Lords with<br \/>\nhim, fled, and his remaining army with him. But the Lords urged the queen to pursue him,<br \/>\nand she again fell upon them and slew another half, and crippled hundreds more. But the<br \/>\nqueen suffered small loss.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">15. The Lords then spoke to Kwan, where he had escaped, and said unto him: Because<br \/>\nthou wert vain and rememberedst not me, who am thy heavenly ruler, Te-in, I have<\/span><br \/>\n<span class=\"fontstyle0\">labored to show thee that of thyself thou art nothing. Then Kwan prayed to Te-in, saying:<br \/>\nMost mighty ruler of heaven and earth, thou hast justly punished me. I pray thee<br \/>\nnow, with good repentance, in the bitterness of my shame. What shall I do, O Te-in?<br \/>\nI am far from home, in a strange country, and my army is well-nigh destroyed. All<br \/>\nnations are against me; a sheep is safer in a forest with wolves than I am in these regions.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">16. The Lord said unto Kwan: Now that thou hast repented, behold, I, Te-in, will<br \/>\nshow thee my power. For thou shalt gather together the remnant of thy army and<br \/>\nturn about and destroy the queen and her army, or put them to flight and possess the city.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">17. Kwan, on the next morning, being inspired by his Lords, prepared for battle, though<br \/>\nhe had but seven hundred men. On the other hand the Lords and their angels appeared in<br \/>\nthe dreams and visions of the queen&#8217;s army, saying to them: The queen is deceived and<br \/>\nled away into a trap. Kwan will be joined in the morning by fifty thousand men. Prepare,<br \/>\ntherefore, to die to-morrow.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">18. On the morrow, then, on the queen&#8217;s side, the soldiers related their fearful dreams to<br \/>\none another; and hardly had they finished the matter when Kwan&#8217;s army came upon<br \/>\nthem. And the angels, more than fifty thousand, took on sar&#8217;gis, seeming even like<br \/>\nmortals. At sight of this, the queen&#8217;s army were so frightened they could not flee, save<br \/>\na few, but nearly the whole army surrendered, throwing away their arms and lying down.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">19. Kwan and his army fell upon them and slew them, more than four thousand, who<br \/>\nwere rendered powerless by the angel hosts with them. Kwan then went into the city,<br \/>\ndoing as previously in other cities, establishing himself and Te-in.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"fontstyle0\">20. Such, then, was the manner of Te-in, the false, of establishing himself in Jaffeth. Hear<br \/>\nye now of Sudga, of Vind&#8217;yu, and her heavenly kingdom.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Book of Wars Against Jehovih Chapter 33, Chapter 34 Chapter 33 1. Te-in&#8217;s Lords and their angels departed out of Che-su-gow, Te-in&#8217;s heavenly place, and descended to the earth on their mission; and this is what came of it, to wit: 2. Kan Kwan was the son of Kwan Ho, a flat-head; but Kan Kwan &#8230; <span class=\"more\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/religionoflight.org\/ns\/lightofgod\/2020\/05\/20\/lectionary-readings-for-thursday-may-21st-2020\/\">[Read more&#8230;]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[46,40,39,34,36,35,38,33,41,31,32,47,50,48,44,45,43,42],"class_list":{"0":"entry","1":"post","2":"publish","3":"author-lightofgod","4":"post-1323","6":"format-standard","7":"category-lectionary-readings","8":"post_tag-calendar","9":"post_tag-daily-readings","10":"post_tag-eloih","11":"post_tag-faithism","12":"post_tag-faithist-church","13":"post_tag-faithists","14":"post_tag-jehovih","15":"post_tag-kosmon-era","16":"post_tag-lectionary-readings","17":"post_tag-oahspe","18":"post_tag-oahspe-bible","19":"post_tag-observances","20":"post_tag-religion-of-light","21":"post_tag-sabbath","22":"post_tag-united-covenant","23":"post_tag-united-covenant-of-light","24":"post_tag-yeshua","25":"post_tag-yoshu"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/religionoflight.org\/ns\/lightofgod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/religionoflight.org\/ns\/lightofgod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/religionoflight.org\/ns\/lightofgod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/religionoflight.org\/ns\/lightofgod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/religionoflight.org\/ns\/lightofgod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1323"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/religionoflight.org\/ns\/lightofgod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1323\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1324,"href":"https:\/\/religionoflight.org\/ns\/lightofgod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1323\/revisions\/1324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/religionoflight.org\/ns\/lightofgod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/religionoflight.org\/ns\/lightofgod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/religionoflight.org\/ns\/lightofgod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}