666 (Not the full title)

Chapter I

The Beginning of Mystery

By the River of Babylon-Father of the Gods-The Glory of the Gods of Heaven-The Legacy of the Gods-The Enûma Elish-Marduk the Dragon Slayer-The Mystery of Ti.Amat-The Mystery of the Celestial Serpent

By The River of Babylon

It has been almost Twenty Six Thousand years, according to the sacred records of the priesthood, since the great floodwater's had ravaged this blessed land. The beautiful awe inspiring land of the gods. Today, all this was just a distant memory in the minds of the new generation of youths crowding the bustling sidewalk of the new golden city. The year was 605 BC, and the greatest King of the ancient world occupied the Dragon Throne of the god Marduk. In the golden city of Bab.Ili, the great gods had once again smiled favourably upon the once ravished land. Throughout the great city once ravaged by the floodwater's, the majestic temples of Babylon gleamed triumphantly in the hot unrelenting sun of the god Shamash. It was the golden age of the city of god, and upon the throne of Marduk sat the god-King, Nebuchadnezzar.

Descended from a long line of god-Kings, he had conquered the foreign lands of his old enemies, built and repaired the temples of the gods, fed the teeming masses of his people, and created the awe inspiring city walls and the golden lapis lazuli gate of the goddess Ishtar. This indeed was a city of the great gods, a place where the gods could descend from their celestial barge, to dwell in the holy of holies of the towering ziggurat and the majestic E.Sagila, built for the god Marduk. Throughout the old world, the fear and dread of the days of chaos compelled ancient man to raise magnificent temples to his god, every day for thousands of years, the sweet smell of incense would bathe the morning air with an aroma that was truly god-scent.

Man and his god co-existed in all aspects of his daily life, it was for his god that he laboured, the product of the land was a gift from a benevolent god who loved and nurtured his people. The people worshiped and honoured their gods, not from fear, but from love for the good things they enjoyed from the hand of god, if the land was barren, or the livestock is depleted through drought and famine, it was to the gods that the people turned for help and relieve. The priesthood was the gateway to the sanctuary of the god, and the god-King his shepherd who fed his flock, order must be maintained and chaos held at bay.

For a people living with such reverence and devotion to his god, it was only natural that his life be one of servitude to his god in return for the gift of life and the abundance of food. Babylon, the city of god, the golden city with its temples touching the Heavens, its great agricultural plains and celebrated rivers flowing through the city walls, was about to enter a new and terrifying age of change. A change that will bring about its downfall in only a few decades, leaving the golden city of god buried in the sands of the desert for all eternity. In the year 597 BC, Nebuchadnezzar son of the god Marduk, invaded the land of the Hebrews deposing King Jehoiachin and deported him to Northern Babylonia. Among the people taken into exile were the sons of the elite and the clergy, one such young man was the soon to be prophet, Ezekiel. His visions would change the world of the Hebrews, and fire the imagination of many for a thousand years.

A new era was about to begin on the world stage with the coming of a god whose majesty was truly awe-inspiring, the golden city of Bab.Ili and the ancient cities of Egypt were about to fall in ruins by the hand of this God. In the summer of 592 BC, the exiled Hebrew priest Ezekiel experienced a vision of god on the banks of the River Khabur, in the ancient land of Chaldea in Northern Syria. This was no ordinary vision as you shall see, neither was the place of revelation an ordinary location, but this was the ancient land of the Chaldean race of Arphaxad the son of Shem. This land was therefore in the very heart of the ancient land of the Semites, the people to whom was given the epithet, "The Mighty Ones". Men of "The Shem" (the word); who are better known as the Nephilim of Genesis.

The importance of the vision is therefore just as important as the one to whom it was given, and the place where god descended to reveal such a vision to the children of Shem. This River is therefore of utmost importance to the history of the Hebrews, it was well known to the ancients as recorded in historical writings. In Arabic it was known as the: Nahr Al-Khabur, in Turkish: Habur Nehri, in Sumerian: Khubur River, and in Akkadian: Khabur River, it is an important tributary of the Euphrates River. It rises in the mountains of south-eastern Turkey near Diyarbakir and flows south eastward to Al-Hasakah in Syria, where it receives its main tributary, the Jaghjagh. It then meanders south to join the Euphrates downstream from Dayr az-Zawr. The Khabur ("Source of Fertility") has a total length of about 200 miles (320 km). There can be no doubt that Nebuchadnezzar chose to relocate the exiles to this region, if it was known to him that the ancient Hebrews whose name Ibri, means "to cross over" were originally from this region in ancient days.

As we shall see later in this book, it was to this very land in Northern Syria that Abraham would send his servant to fetch a wife for Isaac his son. And it was to this land and the city of Haran that the family of Terah sojourned in the days of the Kings of Ur. As Ezekiel walked besides the banks of the Khabur River in the year 568 BC, he looked up and beheld a most terrifying vision that would change his life forever, a vision that is truly awe inspiring and so overwhelming that even today, thousands of years later, modern man is still struggling to accept or comprehend it. His vision is one that can be taken straight out of our modern day science fiction stories, or Hollywood blockbuster movies. This vision is one that will forever change our conception of Gods and the long held myth of celestial beings and their dwelling among mortal man.

Let us hear first hand from this ancient priest, as we take a front row seat on a celestial drama unfolding before our very eyes, nearly three thousand years ago. A God is about to enter on centre stage in a most dramatic entrance that will leave the audience stunned, dazed and enthralled for all ages to come. The mysterious vehicle of god described in this vision, has been a source of intrigue for both religious and scientific sects for ages. The detailed, yet mythical descriptions of the celestial craft given by Ezekiel cannot be understood in this form, but when decoded, shows a space craft drawn by mythical creatures to the awestruck Ezekiel. Like John in the book of Revelation, the prophet could only interpret his vision as it unfolded in the form of mythical creatures. Let us hear from him in his own words:

Ezekiel Chapter: 1: Complete Jewish Bible

1 In the thirtieth year, on the fifth day of the fourth month, while I was among the exiles by the K'var River, the Heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.

2 On the fifth day of the month, which was during the fifth year of King Y'hoyakhin's exile,

3 the word of ADONAI came to the Cohen Yechezk'el son of Buzi, in the land of the Kasdim by the K'var River; there the hand of ADONAI was on him.

4 I looked and saw a windy storm approaching from the North and a huge cloud with flashing fire, glowing brightly all around with the color of gleaming amber from within the fire.

5 Inside, there appeared to be four living creatures that looked like human beings;

6 but each one had four faces and four wings.

7 Their legs were straight, with feet like calves' hoofs. They glittered like burnished bronze.

8 Beneath their wings they had human hands on their four sides. The four of them had faces and wings as follows:

9 they touched one another with their wings; they did not turn when they moved, but each one moved straight forward;

10 as for the appearance of their faces, they had human faces [in front], each of the four had a lion's face on the right, each of the four had a bull's face on the left, and each of the four had an eagle's face toward the rear:

11 thus their faces. As for their wings, each had two that stretched upward and joined those of others; and two more that covered their bodies.

12 Each living creature moved in the direction of any of its faces; in whichever direction the spirit wanted to go, they went, without turning as they moved

13 thus the appearance of the living creatures. With them was something that looked like fiery coals burning the way torches do, with the fire flashing here and there between the living creatures; the fire had a brilliance, and out of the fire went lightning.

14 The living creatures kept speeding here and there like flashes of lightning.

15 As I gazed at the living creatures, I saw wheels on the ground, one next to each of the four-faced living creatures.

16 All four wheels looked the same: their inner parts gleamed like Beryl, and their structure seemed to be that of a wheel inside a wheel.

17 When they moved, they could go in any of the four directions without turning as they moved.

18 Their rims were tall and fearsome, because the rims of all four were full of eyes all around.

19 When the living creatures moved, the wheels moved along with them; and when the creatures were lifted off the ground, the wheels went with them.

20 Wherever the spirit was to go, they went, in the direction the spirit wanted to go. The wheels were lifted up next to them, because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

21 When the living creatures moved, the wheels moved; when the former stood still, the latter stood still; and when the former were lifted off the ground, the wheels were lifted up next to them; because the spirit of the living creatures was in the wheels.

22 Over the heads of the living creatures was what appeared to be a dome glittering like ice; it was awesome, spread out over their heads, above them. 23 Under the dome each had a pair of wings spread out straight toward those of others, and each had a pair which covered his body.

24 I heard the sound of their wings when they moved; it was like the sound of rushing water, like the voice of Shaddai, like the noise of a tumultuous crowd or army. When they stopped, they lowered their wings.

25 Whenever there was a sound from above the dome over their heads, they stopped and lowered their wings.

26 Above the dome that was over their heads was something like a throne that looked like a sapphire. On it, above it, was what appeared to be a person.

27 I saw what looked like gleaming, amber-colored fire radiating from what appeared to be his waist upward. Downward from what appeared to be his waist, I saw what looked like fire, giving a brilliant light all around him.

28 This brilliance around him looked like a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day. This was how the appearance of the glory of ADONAI looked. When I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of someone speaking.

Visions of Divine Glory

Never in the recorded history of mankind, has such a graphic description of a god and his celestial vehicle been given as we have just witnessed above. The many stories from Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, India and other ancient nations concerning the gods and their aerial cars suddenly seems like they were not written by some deluded priest after all. The numerous stories we have heard from childhood about gods and divine heroes, are to be found all over the ancient world, and should not be lightly dismissed as myth and fiction. Here for the first time in human history, a Hebrew priest is granted an audience to a spectacular show as no one will ever witness again, not even Moses and John of the Revelations'. Today the hunt for extraterrestrials and UFO's are all too familiar to us in a modern age, but from what we have read above and in the pages of scripture including the Bible, we can be assured that our planet does not belong solely to mortal man.

Others have been here before and have continued to re-visit our planet announced or in secret. We cannot deny in light of such overwhelming evidence, the fact that we are indeed not alone in this universe. From the dawn of civilization, mankind has yearned for the experience of living in a Heavenly paradise with his god. This undying passion to be with his god has led to the creation of magnificent tombs the world over for the dead to ascend to the gates of Paradise. You have witness the mass of treasures buried for thousands of years in the hill cut tombs of Egypt, seen the sandy graves of the Incas, the stone tombs of the Aztecs, the Chinese and other ancient people from around the world. What, one may ask, would compel ancient man to horde his treasures in tombs instead of leaving it behind for the living? The simple answer is this; the dead were deemed to be alive in a mythical Heavenly paradise. And all the things he did and owned on earth would simply continue in the new world.

Death was a new beginning and the newly reborn would need his sustenance in the new world, as he served his god in this world so also must he serve in the new paradise. Therefore he must possess all his earthly goods in the new world to serve his god and to continue his existence. But, were the gods real, or did the ancients simply invent a mythical deity in order to satisfy a longing for religion and holiness? No matter what the age in which we live; mortal man must have a religion of some sorts; something to believe in, some divinity to turn to in times of chaos and catastrophe. Surely mankind needs his god, and nowhere else in the classical world can we find such adoration of the gods as among the Greeks and Hindus'. One of the best known authors of ancient Greece, Hesiod, has left us a rich heritage of poems lauding the glory of Zeus, the great god of the Greeks and the ancient Romans. This poem found in "The Theogony", serves to highlight the adoration given to Zeus and other such gods of the ancient world. Today in our materialistic and scientific world, such adoration would be deemed uncivilized and unrealistic. The vision of the prophet Ezekiel is a constant reminder that ancient man was in close contact with their deities, they built lavish temples and ascribed their very livelihood to the gods of Heaven.