Podcast # 42 – The Lament of Hermes

My name is Mark Stevens.  I am talking today with Allan Colston. He is the author of The Last Days of Tolemac, which is a book dealing with prophecy and other end-time events.

For those listeners who may be new to this topic, this is another in the series “Signs of the Times”.  Welcome to the Podcast Allan.

Thanks Mark, it’s great to chat to you again.

Mark: In many of our past conversations I have begun by asking the questions, leaving you to provide the answers. I was wondering if I could do the same this time as well.

Certainly Mark, what did you have in mind?

Mark: Throughout history there have been people who have predicted future events. Some of these predictions have come true and some have not. So my question to you is this. If some are right and some are wrong, then how can we trust prophecy?

Well you raise an interesting question Mark. As you say, there have always been people who have made predictions about what would happen in the future. And while some of their predictions have proven to be true, many others have turned out to be false.

But I think we need to be clear about the real issue here. There is a fundamental difference between prophecy and prediction, especially when it relates to the Bible. Biblical prophecy is based on the words of people who are considered to have been inspired by God.

Prediction, on the other hand, relates to intellectual analysis, which is always subject to the beliefs, biases and limitations of the individual concerned. So does your question relate to the prophecies themselves, or to the people who have interpreted these prophecies?

Mark: You are right Allan. My concern is rather that so many people who claim to be Biblical experts, seem to have vastly different interpretations about what these prophecies mean.

And that is why Jesus warned his followers that they needed to be wise as serpents, so that they did not fall prey to false Christs, and those who would try to deceive them, particularly during the “end times” in which we are now living.

And you are certainly not alone in this. The entire Christian church is riven with factions who have their own versions of end-time events. You have only to look at the “rapture”. While some think this will happen before the tribulation, others are convinced it will happen during, or even after.

Ultimately, it all boils down to your own personal judgement. Although you may be confronted by many different interpretations of end-time prophecy, if you are serious about the subject, then you have to make up your own mind about what to believe and what not to believe.

But it goes deeper than this. When it comes to the prophecies themselves, much of what is included in the Bible is cloaked in symbolism which makes interpretation extremely difficult. And nowhere is this more true than in the book of Revelation written by St. John.

Mark: Why is that Allan?

While John was in exile on the island of Patmos, he experienced a series of visions which related to the time leading up to the return of the Christ. The challenges that he faced in recording these visions were not unlike the problem that we would face if we tried to describe a vivid dream.

Even though John may have seen exactly what would happen at the time of the end, that did not mean that he was able to interpret what he saw. After all, he was the son of a fisherman, and was hardly equipped to describe life as we experience it today.

He had no understanding of modern astronomy or astronomical terminology, that would help us to understand what he was trying to describe. And he certainly had no idea about modern warfare, involving artillery, tanks, missiles, fighter jets and helicopter gunships.

So when he writes of “locusts with faces of men, hair of women, teeth of lions and tails like unto scorpions”, it is clear that he is doing his best to describe modern armaments operated by human beings. So it is no surprise that people today struggle to interpret what he wrote.

So apart from Jesus, who only spoke of the events leading up to his return in very broad terms, if we want to get a better idea of what will happen in the future, we are forced to rely on the words of St. John and Old Testament prophets who lived around 2,500 years ago.

However, there is one other person that we can turn to who lived closer to us in time, having been born around five hundred years ago. But although he wrote extensively about end-time events, he is perhaps even harder to understand than St. John. Do you know who I am referring to Mark?

Mark: I would have to hazard a guess. Are you thinking of Martin Luther by any chance?

Not quite Mark, although he did live at the same time as Luther. The man’s name was Michel de Nostredame, although we know him better by his Latin name of Nostradamus. While many people are familiar with his name, very few have taken the trouble to study his work.

Nostradamus was an interesting guy. He was a devoted Catholic and remained so for his entire life. The problem was that he used a method of divining the future that brought him into conflict with the forces of the Inquisition, which could easily have led to his death at the stake.

So in order to avoid being prosecuted as a magician, he adopted the strategy of writing down his predictions in a series of four-line verses called quatrains. But he didn’t stop there. His verses were also filled with anagrams, confusing names and other linguistic riddles.

Nostradamus chose these stratagems deliberately, so as to obscure their meaning and ensure that they would only be understood after careful analysis and investigation, and that their meaning would almost never be obvious to the casual reader.

It is worth noting that Nostradamus didn’t consider himself to be an infallible prophet, but only as an accomplished and diligent scholar who strove to acquire insight and understanding into the inscrutable ways of God. But the reason I mention him Mark, is because of something else that he wrote.

Mark: What are you referring to Allan?

Most people think that Nostradamus only wrote in riddles, and that his quatrains were the only record of his prophecies. They forget that we also have copies of letters that he wrote at the time. One of these was to his son César, and another was addressed to Henry, “Second King of France”.

In these letters he wrote explicitly in prose about the events that he predicted would occur in the “latter days” spoken of in the Bible. And it is these passages that seem to me to be worth noting as we try to understand the events that may shortly come to pass. Here are some examples:

“The Old and New Testaments shall be forbidden and burned, after which the Antichrist shall be the infernal prince; and for the last time all the Christian countries shall tremble and also because of the unfaithful ones.”

“For twenty-five years there shall be wars and battles still more ruinous, and towns, villages, castles and other buildings shall be burned, laid waste or destroyed, with a great flood of the blood of young girls, married women, violated widows, suckling infants thrown against the walls of towns, dashed thus and bruised.”

“And so many misfortunes will be provoked by Satan, Prince of Darkness, that almost all the planet will be in chaos and laid waste.”

“Christ’s sanctuary will no longer be trampled by the feet of the unfaithful ones coming from Russia, the world approaching a great conflagration, although my calculations in my prophecies do not cover the whole course of time, – which goes far further.”

“After this time, which men will find long, the peace of the earth will be renewed through the coming of the Golden Age. God the creator, hearing the affliction of his people, shall order Satan to be bound and cast into the abyss of Hell, into the deepest pit.”

“Thus shall commence a universal peace with God and men, and Satan shall remain bound for about a thousand years, which will bring greater strength to the power of the Church; and then he will once again be released.”

The purpose of the prophecies of Nostradamus was to bring hope to mankind. Despite the litany of disasters that have already occurred, and the calamities that still await, mankind is on the threshold of the most enlightened age in the history of the earth.

The words of Nostradamus remain a beacon of hope in the dark days that lie ahead. He speaks to all humanity, and bids them open their eyes to the unfolding glory that is their destiny. His words echo down the centuries.

“The peace of the earth shall be renewed. For according to the celestial signs the Golden Age shall return…… There will be a universal peace among men and the Church of Jesus Christ be delivered from all tribulation.”

Mark: That is quite remarkable Allan. I had no idea about any of this.

What I find remarkable about this myself is that Nostradamus, by his own admission, was not a divinely inspired prophet. Instead, he arrived at his own prophetic insights as a result of what he calls “his calculations”, which we know were based on astrology and the ancient art of “magic”.

And what he is talking about here is quite literally the end of the world as we know it, and the beginning of a new Golden Age which will be characterised by universal peace and the end of all tribulation. And his conclusions almost exactly match those recorded in the visions of St. John.

This suggests to me that the events that are now unfolding in the world are part of some pre-ordained plan. You will recall that in a previous Podcast I quoted from the words of the Oracle of Tolemac, who said, and I quote:

“We want you to know that everything that is happening on your planet at this time is part of a plan. This is the great Cosmic Plan that will lead you into the coming golden age”.

And if Nostradamus was somehow able to discern this plan for himself, it suggests that others may have been able to do so as well. In fact, it reminds me of an ancient Egyptian scroll written in hieroglyphics that was attributed to Hermes. Have you heard of it by any chance, Mark?

Mark: No, I haven’t. What did it have to say?

Well first I need to go into the origin and background of the scroll itself. Shortly after the death of Alexander the Great in 323BC, Egypt was ruled for almost three hundred years by a succession of Hellenistic kings beginning with Ptolemy the first.

It was at this time that Greek scholars began to study ancient hieroglyphic texts that dated back to the earliest days of Egyptian civilisation. One of these was known as the Book of Thoth, named after Thoth, the legendary sage of ancient Egypt whom the Greeks called Hermes.

The Book of Thoth was considered to be the most sacred text of the Arcanum Mystery School. It was said to have been kept in a golden box in the inner sanctuary of the temple at Karnak, and that only the highest Initiate was permitted to have access to it.

The part of this book that I am referring to is known as “Asclepius”, and is a dialogue between Thoth (Hermes) and his disciple Asclepius. It explains the Egyptian view of God, as well as cosmology, time, the cycles of life, destiny and the nature of the world.

However, the part that is relevant here is a prophecy that has come to be known as “The Lament of Hermes”. Although this is a prophecy in which Thoth (or the Greek God Hermes) describes the end of Egyptian civilisation, it also carries uncanny overtones on what is happening in the world today.

As I said, the original text was recorded in Egyptian hieroglyphics, from which it was first translated into Greek, and then Latin and then English. Although there are several versions of the English translation, the one that I prefer reads as follows:

The Lament of Hermes

“Do you not know, Asclepius, that Egypt is an image of heaven or, to be more precise, that everything governed and moved in heaven came down to Egypt and was transferred there? If truth were told, our land is the temple of the whole world.

“And yet, since it befits the wise to know all things in advance, of this you must not remain ignorant: a time will come when it will appear that the Egyptians paid respect to divinity with faithful mind and painstaking reverence – to no purpose.

“All their holy worship will be disappointed and perish without effect, for divinity will return from Earth to Heaven, and Egypt will be abandoned. The land that was the seat of reverence will be widowed by the powers and left destitute of their presence.

“When foreigners occupy the land and territory, not only will reverence fall into neglect but, even harder, a prohibition under penalty prescribed by law (so-called) will be enacted against reverence, fidelity and divine worship. Then this most holy land, seat of shrines and temples, will be filled completely with tombs and corpses.

“Indeed, 0 Egypt, Egypt, of your reverent deeds only stories will survive, and they will be incredible to your children! Only words cut in stone will survive to tell your faithful works, and the Scythian or Indian or some such neighbour barbarian will dwell in Egypt. Indeed.

“As sad as this was, this was not the end of it. Why weep, O Asclepius? Egypt will be carried away to worse things than this; she will be polluted with yet graver crimes.

“She, hitherto most holy, who so much loved the gods, only country of the Earth where the gods made their home in return for her devotion, she who taught men holiness and piety, will give example of the most atrocious cruelty, in that hour, weary of life, men will no longer regard the world as worthy object of their admiration and reverence.

“This All, which is a good thing, the best that can be seen in the past, the present and the future, will be in danger of perishing; men will esteem it a burden; and then they will despise and no longer cherish this whole of the universe, incomparable work of God, glorious construction, good creation made up of an infinite diversity of forms, instrument of the will of God who, without envy, pours forth his favour on all his work, in which is assembled in one whole, in a harmonious diversity, all that can be seen that is worthy of reverence, praise and love.

“For darkness will be preferred to light; it will be thought better to die than to live; none will raise his eyes towards heaven; the pious man will be thought mad, the impious, wise; the frenzied will be thought brave, the worst criminal a good man.

“The soul and all the beliefs attached to it, according to which the soul is immortal by nature or foresees that it can obtain immortality as I have taught you – this will be laughed at and thought nonsense.

“And believe me, it will be considered a capital crime under the law to give oneself to the religion of the mind. A new justice will be created and new laws. Nothing holy, nothing pious, nothing worthy of heaven and of the gods who dwell there, will be any more spoken of nor will find credence in the soul.

“Only the evil angels will remain, who will mingle with men, and constrain them by violence – miserable creatures – to all the excesses of criminal audacity, engaging them in wars, brigandage, frauds, and in everything which is contrary to the nature of the soul.

“Then the earth will lose its equilibrium, the sea will no longer be navigable, the heaven will no longer be full of stars, the stars will stop their courses in the heaven.

“Every divine voice will be silenced. The fruits of the Earth will moulder, the soil will be no longer fertile, the air itself will grow thick with a lugubrious torpor. Such will be the old age of the world, irreligion, disorder, confusion of all goods.

“When all these things have come to pass, O Asclepius, then the Lord and Father, the god first in power and the demiurge of the One God, having considered these customs and voluntary crimes, endeavouring by his will, which is the divine will, to bar the way to vices and universal corruption and to correct errors, he will annihilate all malice, either by effacing it in a deluge or by consuming it by fire, or destroying it by pestilential maladies diffused in many places.

“Then he will bring back the world to its first beauty, so that this world may again be worthy of reverence and admiration, and that God also, creator and restorer of so great a work, may be glorified by the men who shall live then in continual hymns of praise and benedictions.

“That is what the rebirth of the world will be: a renewal of all good things, a holy and most solemn restoration of Nature herself, imposed by force in the course of time…and by the will of God.”

So there you have it Mark. A quite remarkable message from a lost world that modern scholars are still trying to understand. In fact, one scholar is on record describing this Lament as “one of the most moving passages of prose I have read from Classical Antiquity”.

Mark: It certainly is Allan. And what is amazing is that although it must have been written many thousands of years ago, it strikes a chord with so much of what we have been discussing lately.

That’s exactly the point I wanted to make Mark, and I am so glad that you picked up on these correlations. What makes this Lament so interesting to me is that it deals with a number of issues that are relevant today that are worth discussing in greater detail.

As you rightly pointed out Mark, this Lament was written many thousands of years ago. It was actually part of what has become known as the Corpus Hermeticum, or the body of teaching associated with the Egyptian God of wisdom Thoth, whom the Greeks revered as the God Hermes.

And the essence of his teaching was the idea that the macrocosm was reflected in the microcosm, and that the key to all the mysteries of life could be expressed in the words “as above, so below”. This meant that everything that we see and sense in life is inextricably linked with the Godhead within.

So according to Hermetic philosophy, God is not some remote entity that exists outside of ourselves, but is an integral part of every person, and that each one of us contains that divine spark of universality and immortality. And our task as people is to glorify God in everything we do.

We also need to remember that the ancient Egyptian religion was intimately bound up with ritual and ceremonial magic, and that the aim of their religious practices was to unite the microcosm (us) with the macrocosm (God). Let me give you an example.

Throughout Egypt we find remnants of statues of various Egyptian Gods. We interpret them today as effigies, or sculptures, dedicated to the worship of that God, much as we find effigies of the Virgin Mary in Catholic churches today. But the Egyptians did not see it this way.

The statues of the Egyptian Gods were not regarded as mere images. Through their ceremonial rituals, they imbued these stone statues with supernatural powers so that they were able to give answers to questions put to them. So in that sense, they actually became alive.

Today, we consider such an idea crazy. And that is precisely what Hermes was referring to in his Lament. He said that there would come a time when this ancient knowledge would be lost, and that the Gods would abandon Egypt and return into heaven. And so it has proved.

Today, little remains of the ancient Egyptian culture but their temples, tombs and corpses. And those who study Egyptology today focus on these ruins, rather than on the immortality of the soul and the fundamental divinity that resides within the heart of humanity.

And, as the Lament explains, when the Gods depart from the earth, only the “evil angels” will remain. They will mingle with men and lead them into every form of criminal activity. In fact, everything that is contrary to the nature of their souls. And that is the state of the world in which we live today.

The spirit of evil is abroad, and has infected almost every aspect of human activity, as drugs, violence, crime, exploitation and greed increasingly contaminate all the countries of the world. And in response, nature is in revolt, as environmental threats surround us on every side.

For as the Lament goes on to predict, “then the earth will lose its equilibrium, the sea will no longer be navigable, the heaven will no longer be full of stars, the stars will stop their courses in the heaven. The fruits of the Earth will moulder, the soil will be no longer fertile”.

Does this ring any bells with you Mark?

Mark: It certainly does. In fact, it matches much of what St. John wrote about in his Book of Revelation.

Exactly, Mark. But fortunately, just like St. John, who writes that after the time of the Great Tribulation leading up to the battle of Armageddon, there will be a new earth and a new heaven followed by a thousand years of peace, we can take heart from the concluding lines of the Lament.

“Then will he bring back the world to its first beauty, so that this world may again be worthy of reverence and admiration, and that God also, creator and restorer of so great a work, may be glorified by the men who shall live then in continual hymns of praise and benedictions.

“That is what the rebirth of the world will be: a renewal of all good things, a holy and most solemn restoration of Nature herself, imposed by force in the course of time…and by the will of God.”

And I, along with all those who are burdened by the sorrows of this world, yearn for that day to dawn.

Mark:  I want to thank you Allan for a fascinating discussion, and especially for your insights into the ancient Egyptian way of life. You have given us all a lot to think about as well.

You have been listening to Allan Colston, author of the book The Last Days of Tolemac.  Do join us for our next Podcast, which will be another in the series titled “Signs of the Times”.

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