Sabbath and the Taiping Rebellion (1850-1864)

But the question naturally arises: How came they [the Taipings] to adopt the seventh day of the week instead of the first, as their Sabbath, since all their instruction from Christians was by those who taught that the first day is the Sabbath? This was a mystery to all who learned of that fact. But when they took Nan-King [Nanjing], and Europeans had opportunity to visit them, they were told that it was first, because the Bible taught it, and second, because their ancestors observed it as a day of worship. 

Lewis, Abram Herbert, A Critical History of the Sabbath and the Sunday in the Christian Church, Alfred Centre, N. Y.: The American Sabbath Tract Society, 1886, p. 247.

Apatosaurus in Africa? (1912)

Some years ago I received reports from two quite distinct sources of the existence of an immense and wholly unknown animal, said to inhabit the interior of Rhodesia. Almost identical stories reached me, firstly, through one of my own travellers, and, secondly, through an English gentleman, who had been shooting big-game in Central Africa. The reports were thus quite independent of each other, and, as a matter of fact, the Englishman and my traveller had made their way into Rhodesia from opposite directions, the one from the north-east and the other from the south-west. The natives, it seemed, had told both my informants that in the depth of the great swamps there dwelt a huge monster, half elephant, half dragon. This, however, is not the only evidence for the existence of the animal. It is now several decades ago since Menges, who is of course perfectly reliable, heard a precisely similar story from the negroes; and, still more remarkable, on the walls of certain caverns in Central Africa there are to be found actual drawings of this strange creature. From what I have heard of the animal, it seems to me that it can only be some kind of dinosaur, seemingly akin to the brontosaurus. As the stories come from so many different sources, and all tend to substantiate each other, I am almost convinced that some such reptile must be still in existence.

Hagenbeck, Carl, Beasts and Men, London, New York: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1912, p. 96.

Mysticism and the Alpha State

The science of Witchcraft is based on our ability to enter an altered state of consciousness we call "alpha." In alpha the mind opens up to non-ordinary forms of communication, such as telepathy, clairvoyance, and precognition. Here we also may [...] receive mystical visionary information that does not come through the five senses. In alpha the rational filters that process ordinary reality are weakened or removed, and the mind is receptive to non-ordinary realities.

[...]

Alpha is the springboard for all psychic and magical workings. It is the heart of Witchcraft. [...] You must master it first before proceeding to any other spell, ritual, or exercise in this book. [...]

Mystics in every religious tradition speak of alpha states of consciousness and the lure of divine light, although they do so in their own metaphors and images. In their own ways they have learned how to enter alpha as they pray or worship. They have learned how to become [supposedly] enlightened.

Cabot, Laurie, Power of the Witch, New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing, 1989, pp. 173, 183, 200.

The Mantra, Meditation, and the Altered State

Since mantras are central to New Age meditation, it is important to understand a proper definition of the word. The translation from Sanskrit is man, meaning “to think,” and tra, meaning “to be liberated from.” Thus, the word literally means to escape from thought. By repeating the mantra, either out loud or silently, the word or phrase begins to lose any meaning it once had. The conscious thinking process is gradually tuned out until an altered state of consciousness is achieved.

Yungen, Ray, A Time of Departing, Second Edition, Eureka, MT: Lighthouse Trails Publishing, 2006, pp. 15-16.

Ishmael and the Kaaba

And when we appointed the holy house of MECCA to be a place of resort for mankind, and a place of security; and said, Take the station of Abraham for a place of prayer; and we covenanted with Abraham and Ismael, that they should cleanse my house for those who should compass it, and those who should be devoutly assiduous there, and those who should bow down and worship. […] And when Abraham and Ismael raised the foundations of the house, […]

Qur'an, sura 2 (An-Nisa) ayat 119

The Koran, commonly called the Alcoran of Mohammed, 2 vols., trans. George Sale, London: printed for L. Hawes, W. Clarks, and R. Collins, 1764, vol. 1, p. 24.

Evolution and Racism

The Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life

Darwin, Charles, The Origin of Species, 3rd ed., London: John Murray, 1861, title page.

Ignatius and the Roman Catholic Church: White is Black!

[…] that we may in all things attain the truth (that we may not err in anything), we ought ever to hold it (as a fixed principle), that what I see white, I believe to be black, if the Hierarchical Church so define it (to be) […]

Loyola, Ignatius of, The Spiritual Exercises, "Some [eighteen] rules to be observed, in order that we may think with the Orthodox Church" ("In order to think with truth as we ought, in the Church Militant..."), Rule 13.
(Loyola, Ignatius of, The Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola, trans. Charles Seager, London: Charles Dolman, 1847, p. 180.)

To be right in everything, we ought always to hold that the white which I see, is black, if the Hierarchical Church so decides it [...]

Loyola, Ignatius of, The Spiritual Exercises, "[Rules] To have the true sentiment which we ought to have in the Church Militant...," Rule 13.
(Loyola, Ignatius of, The Spiritual Exercises of St Ignatius of Loyola, trans. Elder Mullan, New York: P. J. Kenedy & Sons, 1914, p. 192.)

To make sure every way, we ought always to hold that we believe what seems to us white to be black, if the Hierarchical Church pronounces it so [...]

Loyola, Ignatius of, The Spiritual Exercises, "Rules for thinking with the Church" ("In order to know rightly what we ought to hold in the Church Militant..."), Rule 13.
(Loyola, Ignatius of, The Text of the Spiritual Exercises of Saint Ignatius, London: Burns and Oates, 1880, p. 123.)