MYSTERY OF THE STURBRIDGE KEYS ~ Fiction Time Travel Novel ~ Brie Babysits 2-Year-Old Jesus

https://www.iuniverse.com/BookStore/BokDetails/747239-Mystery-of-the-Sturbridge-Keys

Brie is the thirteen-year-old protagonist of this fiction novel, at a time when a young, strong, female character is so needed in the world. She deals with individuality and relationships, and comes to realize there is only one race, the human race. She time travels to the birth of Jesus in a stable, hears the choirs of angels sing, and babysits Jesus.

In other chapters, Brie gets captured by the Nephilim, meets Noah and his family, and travels to the Sanctuary of the Great God’s in Greece.  Her cousin Abby, Grammy Rose, and Aunt Cher share the adventures.

Sanctuary of the Gods, Northern Aegean, Island of Samothrace

Brie and her family sail the Mediterranean Sea with Dodanim of Noah’s lineage, helps save the day during the Roman wheat shortage, hears Jesus firsthand give the Sermon on the Mount, meets Apostles Paul and Timothy on the island of Samothrace, and learns why Stephen, the first Christian martyr, was stoned to death.

While Brie and part of her family time travel, her remaining family is attending Old Sturbridge Village’s 70th Anniversary in 2016, featuring the Christmas By Candlelight annual celebration.  Brie’s mother, Sarah, her brother Greg and her cousin Abe, who is Abby’s twin, enjoy a fascinating journey through the Underground Railroad with Harriet Tubman, Abraham Lincoln, Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Panic of 1837, an introduction to the Rev. Adin Ballou, angels and Santa Claus; all presented in the many historic buildings that make up the Village.

The snow filled evening is complete with a Christmas turkey dinner, horse-drawn sleigh and carriage rides, a moving wall, a hidden library, a ring of antique keys, antique locked books and adventures with Bactrian camels, wolves, to allow a family to learn little known historical connections between Noah’s sons, and the Babylonian, Mede-Persian, Greek and Roman Empires.

This book is inspired by a set of large keys handed down to me from my grandfather, F. Louis Tetreault. I am sure these keys went to the farm on Blackstone Street, Mendon, Massachusetts, either to the barn, locked chests, equipment, or to the house both he and my grandmother, Maria (Benoit) Tetreault lived in. My mother is number thirteen of fourteen children. Mom, cousins and your families, I love you all. I am so glad my Canadian French grandparents had so many children, or else I would not be here, or have had so many cousins to make my childhood so happy.

Pepere’s keys and cup made at Old Sturbridge Village

Or the keys might have belonged to my grandparents’ Vermont cottage or the shed on Sheldon Hill Road, with the Wardsboro Brook directly behind it, where my sister, cousins and I would brave the icy waters flowing into our tiny, dammed up swimming spot. When I was young, I would often spend weeks and months living with them in their home away from home, while my mother, as a single parent, worked full-time painting radon on watch hands so they would glow in the dark. Both my beloved grandparents have since passed away and were very dear to me. These keys remind me of them.

The book’s first timely publication would have covered the April 20, 2016 announcement by the United States Treasury planning to put Harriet Tubman’s picture on the front of the $20 bill, moving President Andrew Jackson to the back in the year 2020, had it not been undermined during the Trump Presidency. Fascinating information between President Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin is also included in this work of fiction. The names of Old Sturbridge Village including all the buildings at this place, and the Christmas by Candlelight celebration are real. However, I have never attended the Christmas by Candlelight celebration, and the adventures in this book are pure exciting fiction.

Also, real names in this area are: Thai Place, Annie’s Country Kitchen, The Bird Store and More, Brimfield Antique Center, Southwick’s Zoo, McLean Hospital, Harrington Hospital, B.T.’s Smokehouse, and the Sturbridge Tourist Center, now transformed into an ice cream shop.

MYSTERY OF THE STURBRIDGE KEYS ~ CHRISTMAS UNLOCKED is available at:

softcover / ISBN: 978-1-5320-0761-3 / $13.99

eBook / ISBN: 978-1-5320-0762-0 / $3.99

MYSTERY OF THE STURBRIDGE KEYS, subtitled Christmas Unlocked. This book goes back in time to the days of Old Sturbridge Village (1830’s), starting at the Christmas by Candlelight celebration in real time, back to the days of the Underground Railroad, Abraham Lincoln and Charles Darwin, and back further to the days of Noah and the Nephilim, and to the days of the birth of Jesus. It is available at:

https://www.iuniverse.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/747239-Mystery-of-the-Sturbridge-Keys

God Bless Everyone Everywhere

Jesus Was Born In September Or October Not December 25, The Feast Day of Pagan god Mithras

No one knows the real birthday of Jesus. But one thing is for sure. It is not on December 25. Several facts point to the actual birth of Jesus taking place in September or October.

Let us look at the facts. At the time of the birth of Jesus, when that big new star was shining in the night sky, shepherds were out in the fields, watching their flocks by night. Shepherds were able to keep their flocks of sheep out in the fields day and night during the summer and into the early fall months, until the rainy season began. They went by the Jewish months in the Torah. The rainy season was called Heshvan, in what is now fall. When the winter months arrived, it was too cold with frost and snow to keep the sheep out in the fields. Shepherds were not out in the fields during the winter.

Remember that the reason for Mary and Joseph to go to Bethlehem was to register for the census. It was the first registration of people of the earth of its kind. Caesar Augustus sent out a decree for all the inhabited earth to be registered. Even the Syrian Governor Quirinius was interested in the outcome. Everyone belonging to the house of David had to register in Bethlehem. This census would not have taken place in the winter when the roads would have been treacherous with ice and snow.

So why was the celebration of the birth of Jesus moved to December 25?

At the time of the decision to put the birth of Jesus on December 25, (the Iranian god Mithras’s (their sun god) birthday was on December 25, established by none other than Nimrod of Babylonian fame); the Roman Empire was in charge. Nimrod and Ishtar, who self-dubbed herself as “Semiramis, Goddess of the Moon.” They created popular new customs that became instantly popular, like cutting down evergreen trees and decorating them with silver and gold ornaments, putting up wreaths and mistletoe, and Yule logs. Sound familiar?

People did not want to give up these popular customs, which also included celebrating the god of sowing and harvest, Saturn, which was celebrated on December 17 (in today’s calendar). Nimrod expanded the celebrating time between December 17-25 as a time of unbridled revelry, anything goes, wild parties, drunken orgies, and decadent food.

When the Roman government wanted to rule over the entire world, it was decided to put the celebration of the birth of Jesus on Mithras’s feast day, December 25, as a way to entice new Christians to switch over to belief in Jesus, instead of celebrating Mithras as the “Sun god.” They thought they could trade the “Sun god,” for the “Son God.” However, all of the customs and traditions that celebrate the false, man-made god Mithras (man-made by Nimrod and Ishtar), remain to this day.

All of the other religious holiday traditions likewise replaced secular feast days and celebrations, like the Spring and Fall Equinoxes and the Summer and Winter Solstice celebrations.

Many Christians today are taking a closer look at Christmas as the “reason” to celebrate the birth of Jesus. If Christians truly believe that Jesus is the “reason for the season,” then we ought to be celebrating the birth of Jesus when he was actually born, in September or October, not on a false, pagan god holiday, complete with all of the false God’s customs and traditions, on December 25.

Have you ever asked yourself why there are so many Roman Catholic Churches in every city and state in the world?

There is much that has been misunderstood about the life of Jesus, including what has been neatly carved out of modern bibles, which does appear in the hidden scriptures found at Nag Hammadi and the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Books of Enoch hold such pearls from which even Jesus has quoted.

There is so much more for us to know that the convenient stories that have repeated on an infinity loop since what has been taught since sixth grade.

God Bless Everyone Everywhere

GODSPELL ~ Prepare Ye The Way Of The Lord

John the Baptist came to tell us to prepare the way of the Lord. What did he mean for us to do?

We can use our free will to prepare our hearts and minds to celebrate Christmas, the birth of Jesus, Son of God. We make preparations of the Christmas decorations, lights, food, presents and stockings hung by the chimney with care. We want to make sure nothing is left out.

What is the best way to prepare our hearts?

If there ever was a time for reflection, meditation, prayer it is these few days before Christmas. Let us take a moment to quiet our souls, open our hearts and minds, and imagine Jesus speaking directly to us:

“Jesus: The smallest act of virtue has unlimited value in My eyes because of your great love for Me. In a soul that lives on My love alone, I reign as in heaven. I watch over it day and night. In it I find My happiness; My ear is attentive to each request of its heart; often I anticipate its requests. O child, especially beloved by Me, apple of My eye, rest a moment near My Heart and taste of the love in which you will delight for all eternity.” (Taken from the Diary of St. Faustina 1489)

Let us receive Jesus in our hearts, act with increased love, forgive a past hurt, even if that person or situation has passed on from our lives. We can replace any and all hurts in our loves with the love that knows no bounds.

If we have we ever shut the doors of our faith because we did not get a prayer answered in the way we prayed, perhaps now might be the perfect time to open this closed door that we ourselves shut. God will never shut the door to us. He may say “NO” to some request of ours because we do not have foresight to accurately know the future, but it would only have been for our greater good. Or maybe we never knew such a divine love from Jesus. Then again, we might have traded in Jesus for New Age gurus, or downgraded Jesus to an ascended master, as if that is all He ever was.

We begin right where we are. We prepare to greet Christmas. Remember the shepherds watching their flocks by night, gazing up to the night sky, amazed at the host of heavenly angels singing glory to God in the highest, and peace to His people on earth.

God Bless

Where Do Christmas Customs And Traditions Really Come From? Was Jesus Really Born On December 25?

“To be ignorant of the lives of the most celebrated men of antiquity is to continue in a state of childhood all our days.” Plutarch

The Christmas tree, the wreath, the mistletoe, the holly, the presents, the feasts and the parties, did they really originate with the birth of Jesus?

No.

Most of today’s Christmas celebrations began as the pagan celebration of Saturnalia revolving around the harvest god Saturn, for providing people with abundant crops. Saturn’s feast day was celebrated on December 17. That celebration was so popular that in the days of Nimrod, the great hunter who set himself up in opposition to the God, decided to establish a celebration of the sun god, Mithras (Mithra) on December 25, the birthday of Mithra. Nimrod, and no other person, claimed that the god of the sun, would be celebrated on December 25. Then it was decided to have the celebration last for a week. It was a week of orgies and anything goes – including all forms of debauchery with wild abandon, like thieving and murder, eating foods sacrificed to idols, and of course, child sacrifice. After his death, it was said that Mithra was Nimrod reincarnated, so that he would never die.

The myth of Santa Claus has many variations, including the Norse mythological god named Wodin, also known as Odin, who had a long white beard, in the land to the north called Vilhalla. There was also the Norse god Thor, a god of peasants and the common people. He was a jolly man with a rolly-polly belly. Thor’s element was fire and his color was red. These myths began in Iceland, with lots of fireplaces included in the myths. Thor rode in a chariot pulled by two white goats named Cracker and Gnasher. Thor successfully fought ice and snow giants and became known as the yule-god.

Then there was the real Nicholas, a teenage orphan who inherited wealth from his rich parents, and who was later termed a saint by the Catholic Church due to his secret generosity to the poorest people of his time. Nicholas only entered the Christmas story after the third century, after the birth of Jesus. Nicholas was one of the bishops who attended the Council of Nicaea in the year 325 A.D.

St. Nicholas is best remembered as the bishop who helped out a poor family with three daughters. They were so poor that they did not have dowries to get married. The night before the first daughter was to be sold as a slave, she had washed her stockings and left them in front of the fireplace to dry. In the morning she found a bag with gold in it. The same thing happened with the second daughter on the next night, and the third daughter on the night after that. They discovered it was Nicholas who saved them from being sold into slavery. He did not believe that people should own people. From then on, he was called St. Nicholas, helper of the poor and of children.

Another famous story, about St. Nicholas as told in my book, MYSTERY OF THE STURBRIDGE KEYS, occurs at the Christmas By Candlelight celebration which takes place each year in real time at Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, Massachusetts each Christmas season. In this chapter, Santa Claus is relating this particular real-life story of St. Nicholas:

“Here is another quick story of how St. Nicholas helped a child. The oldest story of St. Nicholas did not become known until well after his death. In the town of Myra, which today is Anatalya in a Province of Turkey, the townspeople were celebrating the Feast of St. Nicholas, December 6. All of a sudden, a band of Arab pirates from Crete, the largest of the Greek islands, came into the district, stealing treasures from the Church of St. Nicholas, to take as booty. As they were leaving, they kidnapped a young boy named Basilios, and brought him to their king to make him a slave.

“The Arab king chose Basilios to be his personal cupbearer because he did not know the language, and would not know what the ruler was saying to those around him. Basilios did this job for a whole year, while his mother grieved for him and missed him very much, especially since he was her only child. As the next Feast of St. Nicholas Day came, the mother did not celebrate it since it was a day of mourning for her. Instead, she offered prayers for the safety and return of her son….

“Meanwhile, as Basilios was doing what he had been doing every day that year, serving the king, he was suddenly whisked away. St. Nicholas appeared to him, blessed him, and brought him back to his home in Myra. He appeared before his parents, still holding the king’s gold cup. Sailors took this story across the seas to other lands. This is how St. Nicholas also came to be known as the patron saint of sailors.”

How far back does the Christmas tree tradition go? Do we have any biblical references?

Yes.

Jeremiah 10:3, “Their ways are futile and foolish. They cut down a tree and carve an idol, and decorate it with gold and silver and fasten it securely in place with hammer and nails, so that it won’t fall over, and there stands their god like a helpless scarecrow in a garden! It cannot speak, and it must be carried, for it cannot walk. Don’t be afraid of such a god for it can neither harm nor help, nor do any good.”

The Christmas tree tradition goes back to the days of Nimrod and Ishtar. It is one of the customs begun at that time as part of the festivals of the harvest god, Saturn and the sun god, Mithras. Remember, Nimrod was mad at God for sending the flood and set himself up in opposition to God. The Christmas tree is one of the customs he began to have people celebrate something other than anything to do with God.

Santa Claus and his helpers have their mythical stories. Santa is also known as Sinterklass, Santeclaus, and Christkind, and in Germany, had not only elves, but also a weird, mysterious sidekick who people have given many names to, like, Knecht Ruprecht, and Black Peter. In the Middle Ages, Knecht Ruprecht appeared along with St. Nicholas. But while St. Nicholas was known to give presents like bags of candy, chocolate, gingerbread, peanuts and mandarin oranges to the children whose behavior was good on St. Nicholas Day, which was on December 6; Knecht Ruprecht would give switches and coal to children whose behavior was bad. Knecht Ruprecht wore either a brown or black robe, or fur. He also had a long beard, and carried a bag of ashes. Like St. Nicholas, he also rode a white horse. Knecht Ruprecht is also connected in German Folklore with Black Peter, because of the soot that covered him from his sliding down chimneys. Black Peter was a lot like the mythical house spirits and elves who were known to punish the misdeed of children.

This story is said to have circulated so parents could maintain order in their homes and in society. These little dark, impish characters were also known as Pelznickle, Ru-Klas, Swarthy, Dark One, Dark Helper, Hans Trapp, Krampus, Grampus, Zwarte Piets, Furry Nicholas, Rough Nicholas, and Julbuk.

Some Christian sects of the 1830s are said to have known him as a demon, evil one, the devil and Satan.

Back when Constantine ruled the Roman Empire, at the end of his life, he became Christian and wanted to rule the world. He thought this would best accomplished by using religion, namely Christianity. To sway people over to Christianity, since the pagan Saturnalia was so popular as well as most of the Mithra celebrations, Constantine decided to put the birth of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, on the birth of the sun god, Mithra. In that light, every time we celebrate today’s Christmas holiday, we are still honoring a pagan god on his feast day.

What is wrong with that?

Stephen is the first martyr of the Christian faith, stoned to death on December 26. The apostle Paul was in complete agreement with the stoning of Stephen prior to Paul’s conversion when Jesus Christ, appeared to him post-resurrection on the road to Damascus. Paul was trained as a Pharisee as his father had been.

Why was Stephen martyred?

Stephen preached against the pagan Saturnalia and Mithra rituals, including orgies, breaking the Ten Commandments, eating foods sacrificed to idols and for speaking against child sacrifice on December 25. These rituals were to be celebrated under penalty of death. If anyone did not offer your first born to be burned to death at the temple, then they also got to be burned to death at the temple. They thought this supreme sacrifice would bring them enlightenment. Fear was a tremendous motivating force, as some still use it today.

We say we are really celebrating the birth of Jesus. If we really want to do that, we would celebrate when Jesus was actually born, when the shepherds were still out in the fields, watching their flocks by night. This means Jesus was born between September and October, when it was still warm enough to do that. Also, the census of the entire world would not have taken place at the time of year when the roads would have been tough to travel laden with ice and snow. Mary and Joseph traveled on foot, with Mary riding on a donkey, to Bethlehem, to the city of David to register, not possible on December 25.

It is good to have more information on where our Christmas customs and traditions come from so we can be clear on what we choose to celebrate, or not, and why.

My book, MYSTERY OF THE STURBRIDGE KEYS, which is subtitled, CHRISTMAS UNLOCKED is a fiction book for pre-teens to adult about accurate history, pre-history and antediluvian history; featuring Bree, a 13 year old, female protagonist at a time in this world is in need of such a heroine. She babysits Jesus when he is 2 years old, meets the Magi, and also goes back in time to meet Noah and the Nephilim. This book is available at:

http://bookstore.iuniverse.com/Products/SKU-001108064/Mystery-of-the-Sturbridge-Keys.aspx

softcover / ISBN: 978-1-5320-0761-3 / $13.99

eBook / ISBN: 978-1-5320-0762-0 / $3.99

God Bless

First Week of Advent

Advent is a special time in the Christian calendar. It is the beginning of the church year. We light the first purple candle marking the first of four weeks of preparation celebrating the first Christmas at Bethlehem, the birth of Jesus Christ, Son of God. The angels sang hymns of glory to Him, and shepherds knelt before this holy Babe in the manger in awe and adoration. The birth of the Savior of the world was prophesied since the dawning of humankind. Everyone had been watching for the signs of the coming of the messiah. They were expecting the prophecies about Him to be fulfilled, since every other prophecy had been fulfilled. They were on alert.

Now it is approximately 2019 years following His birth, since the start of today’s calendar is off by about 4-6 years from the actual year of the birth of Jesus. This first week of Advent not only commemorates preparations we can make for the birth of the Savior of all human beings in every land on December 25, it also calls to mind the very last prophecy yet to be fulfilled. It is the prophecy of the return of the Savior to humankind all over the earth. Just as the faithful were waiting for the Savior to arrive over 2,000 years ago, we are also alert to Jesus’ coming in glory at the end of time, when He will gather us into his heavenly and earthly kingdom of love and peace.

It is in faith we wait in anticipation, looking forward to this kingdom of love and peace Jesus told us about. This prophecy, soon to be fulfilled in Jesus, is in Isaiah 2:4, “The Lord will settle international disputes; all nations will convert their weapons of war into implements of peace. Then at last all wars will stop and all military training will end.” ~ taken from The Catholic Living Bible, Tyndale House Publishers

Advent is a time of preparing our hearts, minds and souls to be ready to greet Him again. When was the last time we spent an hour of prayer, uniting our hearts with Jesus, His Father, and the Holy Spirit, not just in a community setting like church, but in a one-on-one time with Him during the week? There are 168 hours in a week. It is a nice break with the rush of the season, social media, television, and life’s schedules, to carve out whatever time we can to feed our soul. We spend so much time on what we feed our body and/or our minds. Feeding our souls is like an oasis in the desert.

Are there relationships we can mend? Can we help another in need among us? We have so many opportunities to help others.

Perhaps we can be better earth-keepers, feed the wild birds of the forest and fields during these coming winter months, or take good care of our pets, especially those that are outside in the elements.

We can visit nearby shrines both for the events they hold as well as for the Christmas lighting displays many of them have. Or we can visit churches that hold special services, or make special visits as in the Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, and/or prayer services if we want to share these moments with friends and family, or simply go by ourselves. New beginnings are always possible in Advent.

Anything we can do to change the only focus on consumerism, materialism, and/or divisions within society is a welcome change to our regular non-Advent days. Now is the time to settle disputes, build bridges and mend broken fences with friends, family and the world at large. We can build consensus, find common ground, build a safer community and world in which to live. It is possible to live in a more aware way resulting in saving this one planet on which we all live and breathe, at least at this moment. We can do better in so many ways.

If we have fallen away from our faith, or if we never experienced faith, now is a good time to open our hearts, minds and souls to the possibility that the resurrected Jesus, once a human and divine Baby, can transform our hearts, minds and souls. Ask Him to give you insight, knowledge and a special grace which can light a spiritual fire of love, peace beyond all human understanding. Advent is the time for prayers such as these.

There are as many ways to prepare our hearts, minds and souls as there are individuals among us. These are merely some suggestions to help us on our way to reflecting on Baby Jesus sent to you and me all these years ago, and to grow in awareness and raise our consciousness in realizing that Jesus does walk among us, and works in and through us. Jesus promises to be with us whenever we call on Him, until He comes in glory.

God Bless