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The Elephant Book Trilogy

The Curious Elephant

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The Curious Elephant completes the elephant book trilogy, which includes The Blind Man’s Elephant and The Hijacked Elephant. In all three, the elephant is a metaphor for Christianity.

Pastors of religious organizations claim the US and the other Christian nations are not in end-time prophecies, but nothing could be further from the truth. Lacking a clear understanding of the relevance of the covenants to Christianity, however, we‘ve lost our understanding of the gospel Christ actually delivered in the first century. Christians were intended to be followers individually, not denominationally, of Christ. Twenty-first century Christianity has been rendered irrelevant for many people by organized “churchianity.”

Each chapter in the book has the related verses from the Biblical record bracketed for easy reference. Every sufficiently curious reader, therefore, can discover directly from the Biblical record how significantly different first century Christianity delivered by Christ and the apostles is compared to what has evolved to become our 21st century version, including our place in end-time prophecies.

A flow chart at the end of the book diagrams all the key characters and historical events making it easy to follow the big picture from Genesis to Revelation. In the end, we discover the answer to the extremely pertinent question, “Twenty centuries later, why is first century Christianity more relevant than ever?”

Ed. Note: The Curious Elephant was published at the time when it was decided to switch to a digital format going forward rather than a print format. Thus, the chapters in The Curious Elephant were used to "seed" the first iteration of the redshoe.com website. The website contains all the chapters found in the book, although they have been expanded upon over the intervening years. The other two books are available in PDF format at the bottom of the Home page.

The Hijacked Elephant

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The Hijacked Elephant takes up where The Blind Man’s Elephant left off. While the two books are different, they complete each other.

The Biblical record is one story written about and for the same people. The characters in Genesis are there at the end in the Book of Revelation. In between the bookend creations of the heavens and Earth in Genesis and the new heavens and Earth in Revelation, our story unfolds. Its characters, circumstances and duality of sub-plots flow like a river; sometimes east, sometimes west, sometimes calm, other times raging and roaring over rocks and falls. What may appear as different rivers in hindsight to each generation of participants who ride its waters, it is one vibrant river making its way to journey’s end.

When we allow the Biblical record to interpret itself, rather than injecting our personal prejudices, it tell us its story. In the case of The Hijacked Elephant, we discover that every major theological event found in the New Testament is the fulfillment of the archetypical high holy days found in the Old Testament. The apocalypse, the second coming of Christ and others are waters that flow from our past into our future.

The Blind Man's Elephant

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Christianity in the first century, we discover, is much different than the Christianity we experience today. The single message delivered by Christ and the apostles has fractured into more than 30,000 recognized denominations. What we perceive to be basic tenets of Christianity now, are dramatically different than what was first taught by Christ. When we add scientific fact into the spiritual mix along with our expanding awareness of the quantum world, many tenets of which we surprisingly find written in the pages of the Biblical record 3000 years ago, we re-discover the relevancy of the message of Christ to our daily lives. It is an amazing revelation, the astounding secret of Christianity hidden in plain sight, a glimpse into a lost 4000 year old mystery with Christ at its fulcrum completely changing the roles of the players with incredible implications for us in the 21st century.

Miller has laid out the arguments and logically addressed each point using the historical Biblical record and scientific fact in an adventurous style that uncovers many surprises for all readers, none more so than chapter six, The Genesis Birthright.

"So oft in theologic wars, The disputants I ween, Rail on in utter ignorance,
Of what each other mean, And prate about an elephant, Not one of them had seen." -- John Godfrey Saxe, 1881

 

Insider Quotes

Michael J. Miller, The Hijacked Elephant

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Insider Quotes

 

“Rather than irrelevant pieces of a puzzle strewn between two covers, in the end, we find that the Biblical record is much like a screenplay or non-fiction book. It’s one story. The leading man and the supporting cast of characters that we find in the first chapter are there in the last chapter. Genesis and Revelation are tied together by its characters, as is the entire plot found in the Biblical record. It’s quite an amazing story.”

“…the theological principle of duality is central to both Abraham and Christ. And the law covenant, as opposed to the Abrahamic covenant, is a temporary bridge between the two.

“On this very first day of Christianity, concerning the very first miraculous event, Peter, the Rock upon whom Christ said he would build his church, concluded his remarks in Acts on that Pentecost day nearly 2000 years ago by saying to the gentiles of the world…well, nothing. Peter makes absolutely no reference to them whatsoever. Instead, he addresses his remarks to the House of Israel.”

“How many Christians today realize that in the Biblical record there is a direct cause and effect relationship between the Christmas celebration and the apocalypse?”

“But these counterfeit days contain one vital flaw within them. They have no duality. The days set aside by God for the House of Israel to whom Christ said he was sent, do have this one important feature. It’s just like telling counterfeit money from the real thing. There are markers. And the Biblical physical/spiritual duality is one of them.”

“The feast of Trumpets, which heralds the beginning of the new civil year, in its duality marks the second coming of Jesus Christ. It is the day that Christians have been looking forward to for millennia. And it was a high holy day that was observed millennia before that by the children of Israel. It’s all part of the same story; just the circumstances of its characters have changed.”

“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God….”

New Testament Book of Thessalonians


“Moreover brethren, I would not have you ignorant, how that all our brothers were under the cloud and all passed through the sea; and all were baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; and all ate the same spiritual meat; and all drank the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.”

New Testament Book of Corinthians


“But he [Christ] answered and said, ‘I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the House of Israel.’”           

New Testament Book of Matthew


“Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads. And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.”  

New Testament Book of Revelation
 
 

An exerpt from chapter four 

Pentecost, the First Fruits and Christianity:


We have seen very clear evidence that the days observed by our forefathers of the House of Israel, under the law given by Moses to all Israel, have a duality to them. Christ was the Passover lamb taking us from under the bondage of the law and sin portrayed by Israel coming out of Egypt. The Bible, the Biblical record is one complete book written to the same people. And as we know, Christ plainly said, “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the House of Israel.”

Pentecost, as it is known in the New Testament, is a fulfilling of the Old Testament high holy day of convocation when the sheaf, or bundle of grain representing the first fruits of the summer harvest, was waved before the LORD. This annual high holy day of Pentecost had huge implications. It symbolically portrayed the day that would mark the beginning of Christianity.

* * * * *

Let’s go back then to that Pentecost day, nearly 2000 years ago when the apostles and disciples were gathered together. It marked the very first Pentecost of the new era, a day that remains until this day, the most significant day in Christianity, as it was the day Christianity began. No longer was the Old Testament sheaf offering in effect. Christ told his disciples:

“But the Comforter, which is the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.”

The spiritual fulfillment of Pentecost was about to take place. Let’s read of the account in the Book of Acts. “And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance.”

The “day of Pentecost was fully come.” This reference is to the fact that previous Pentecosts were observances of the Old Testament ordinances, remembrances as given to Israel by Moses to be observed in their land. This is signifying that the fulfillment of the day of Pentecost was now a fact.

I don’t wish to get into a discussion here about “speaking in tongues.” But suffice to say, this is explained in the context of the account. However, it was an outward sign of the event that had just transpired. And it was occurring in front of Jews of Jerusalem, devout men and men of every nation. This certainly would be considered a credible audience, and therefore serve as a reliable witness of the event. As such, word of this event would spread rather quickly drawing the crowds that gathered there.

“And there were dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language. And they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans? And how is it we hear every man in our own tongue, wherein we were born?”

All this caused quite a stir for nothing before had ever been seen or heard like this in Jerusalem. Naturally some were asking what this meant, and others thought they were all suffering from the effects of too much wine. However Peter, who was there with the other apostles, stood up to speak.

“You men of Judaea, and all that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and listen to my words: For these are not drunken, as you suppose, seeing it is the third hour of the day [about 9 am]. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;…”

Joel, a prophet, wrote his book about 790 BC, which is the Assyrian period of the first seven of the books of the minor prophets. It was the Assyrians who, as you may recall from The Blind Man’s Elephant, took the House of Israel into captivity, upon their divorce from God and their covenant relationship, because of their ungodliness in following false gods they had hijacked.

The Assyrians took the House of Israel captive first in the lands of Zebulon and Naphtali in Galilee. This, too, was the very area in which Christ began his ministry to redeem the lost sheep of the House of Israel. As Paul wrote, “And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said to them, You are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.” Paul was quoting a prophecy of Hosea. It is not a reference here to “gentiles of the world,” but rather to the divorced covenant condition of the House of Israel at the time of the Assyrian captivity.

As David Brown explains in his commentary, “I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved--quoted, though not quite to the letter, from Hosea 2:23 , a passage relating immediately, not to the heathen, but to the kingdom of the ten tribes [House of Israel]; but since they had sunk to the level of the heathen, who were "not God's people," and in that sense "not beloved," the apostle legitimately applies it to the heathen, as "aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise" [1Pet. 2:10].

And on that day of Pentecost nearly 2000 years ago, the fulfilling of Hosea’s prophecy came to be. It was the day the children of the House of Israel first received the Holy Spirit as promised. They became the children of the living God.

As we read above, “Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans?” Matthew Henry points out in his Biblical Commentary, “They observe that the speakers are all Galileans, that know no other than their mother tongue; they are despicable men, from whom nothing learned nor polite is to be expected. God chose the weak and foolish things of the world to confound the wise and mighty. Christ was thought to be a Galilean, and his disciples really were so, unlearned and ignorant men.”

Men from all the nations of the Roman Empire, as well as devout men, which would be highly educated for the day, were present and were amazed that Galileans, who speak no other languages, were speaking and every one there understood what they were saying yet in their own language. This would have to be considered the first miracle of the Christian era. News of this would spread everywhere. If this event had happened today, it would be all over the Internet, no doubt, on YouTube.

Peter continues quoting Joel, saying “And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all [Greek, pas, meaning each individually] flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

As you recall from our earlier chapters, this “The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord” event mentioned above occurs in context with the House of Israel keeping “Christmas” as we witnessed in Jeremiah ten. And as you further may recall, God asks Israel, ‘In your time of trouble will your gods save you?’ Christianity is not calling on the name of our Lord, but rather calling upon the name of the hijacked Santa and the Easter bunny, Ishtar the Babylonian goddess.

Peter tells the assembly on this day of Pentecost, “You men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also know: Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain: Whom God has raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that death should have a hold on him.” Peter goes on to talk of David, king of Israel who made reference to Christ “For David speaks concerning him, I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:”

We now come to a very important point. On this very first day of Christianity, concerning the very first miraculous event, Peter, the Rock upon whom Christ said he would build his church, concluded his remarks in Acts on that Pentecost day nearly 2000 years ago by saying to the gentiles of the world…well, nothing. Peter makes absolutely no reference to them whatsoever.

What Peter did say on this most momentous of days in the history of Christianity was, “Therefore let all the House of Israel know assuredly, that God has made that same Jesus, whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ [messiah]…Repent, and be baptized every one of you [House of Israel] in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.”

Read that again. This is one of the most significant statements in the New Testament. It unquestionably shows that both Christ and Peter knew to whom Christ was sent. And if you wish to talk about a “great commission” for Christianity, it is for all the House of Israel to repent, be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.

Peter addressed his remarks to “all the House of Israel… whom you have crucified.” All the House of Israel was scattered all over the Roman Empire. And with those men present from all the nations, word of this would spread abroad to them in addition to the apostle Paul’s journeys. It was the House of Israel that was divorced from God because of her iniquities and transgression before God that made it necessary for Christ to fulfill the terms of the Old Testament. It was not something done by the “gentiles of the world.”

 

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