The Mount: A Narrative

By Belo Kellam

Many scholars believe that Mount Tabor is the place depicted in the Bible as the meeting place for the transfiguration of Jesus. Appearing there stood Moses and Elijah. Did God have a specific purpose for two men who had died in early biblical history to be present when Jesus brought Simon Peter, James, and John to the apex of the mountain? After God confirms Jesus as his Son and commands his followers to listen to him, they go back down the mountain. This is when Elijah relates to Moses the raising of dead people back to life by certain saints. Then they begin a time travel to observe the history of war through the ages and the explosion of the H-bomb as well. The impact of war and peace weighs heavily on their minds, and they debate the reason for their assignment of traveling through history. The stories of the saints are true and verified through Catholic on Line and other writings.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Christian Faith Publishing, Inc.
• Release date: Feb 2, 2023
• ISBN: 9798886850871

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The Mount

A Narrative

Belo Kellam

ISBN 979-8-88685-086-4 (paperback)

ISBN 979-8-88685-087-1 (digital)

Copyright © 2022 by Belo Kellam

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods without the prior written permission of the publisher. For permission requests, solicit the publisher via the address below.

Christian Faith Publishing

832 Park Avenue

Meadville, PA 16335

www.christianfaithpublishing.com

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Preface

Elijah the Tishbite of Gilead

The Trip

About the Author

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED FIRSTLY

TO

ANN SIBISKI, WHO COULD BE A ‘DOCTOR OF THE CHURCH'.

SHE INSPIRED MY DIRECT ENTRY INTO THE CHURCH AND TAUGHT ME SO MUCH.

ALSO, TO SAINT AGNES OF NAPLES FLORIDA WHERE MY CONVERSION TO THE CATHOLIC FAITH OCCURRED.

TO IVY O'MALLEY WHO TAUGHT THE FAITH RELIGOUSLY UNTIL MY CONFERMATION.

TO THE VERY REV. ROBERT KANTOR WHOSE INSPIRATION TOUCHED NOT ONLY ME, BUT MANY OTHERS.

TO REV. Michael P. Orsi who passes on the knowledge of the world and the church to us all.

Preface

As a young kid in a protestant church, I remember repeating the Apostles' Creed. There came a time that I mused on the part that said, I believe in the communion of saints. Who were these saints? I wondered? St. Peter, St. John, etc. So they wrote part of the New Testament. But then I read about other saints and became confused. Who were these people, and why are they so important? After much study, many of the saints had achievements so bizarre that I wanted those who didn't know about them could read this condensed history of those saints that achieved what Jesus Christ did, raising the dead, which most of them gave the intercession with God the credit of these miracles.

The definition of death has many versions of modern study. Death presumed in early medical practitioners is the stopping of the heartbeat noted either by pulse or stethoscope. This pronunciation has its variables. Brain death may occur when the neocon-cortex loses all electrical activity. Some scholars maintain the resumption of brain activity can re-occur as with coma, even after they have declared death. In ancient times, these technologies were not accessible to determine life or death. So for this narrative, time becomes the absolute reference, time of the following:

Respiratory arrest (no breathing).

Cardiac arrest (no pulse).

Pallor mortis, the paleness which happens in the 15-120 minutes after death.

Liver mortis: the reduction in body temperature following death. This is a steady decline until reaching ambient temperature.

Rigor mortis: the limbs of the corpse become stiff (Latin rigor) and difficult to move or manipulate.

Decomposition: the reduction into simpler forms of matter, accompanied by a strong, unpleasant odor.

Validating a godly or saintly deed remains to the conscience of all the peoples of the world the certainty of a resurrected body and wonderment of the validity of this mystery. In this narrative, bringing in the perspective of time and the reliability of witnesses mostly points to divine influence. Biblical scholars and the evolutionists are closer to a timeline of human creation than most expect. The time of 10,000 to 12,000 years is believable in either's human timeline. Only the definition of an analogical interpretation of the Bible separates the two. So to put time into perspective, Moses was born about 1608 BC. Consider that America is only 243-plus years old and that we must think of 3,829 years since the birth of Moses as hard to relate to. To continue the narrative, the use of various timelines should give a perspective to the advancement of both actual and holy timelines. Evolution defined by science is the process of natural selection. It's definition by holy standards is that the Creator put in the genes (code of development) in all life, its ability to change when needed or to our Creator's specification. Most certainly, there are people today and those of yesteryear who deny the Scripture's accounts of resurrection. These events are not only from faith-induced deduction, but a matter of historical record. Jesus stated that all the superb feats of healing, the feeding of thousands, and casting out demons were to lead people to faith. The intent of writing this story is twofold. Because a lot of religious literature is boring to a lot of people and the astounding deeds of saints raising the dead back to life, this writing was done to make the reading a more interesting endeavor.

Believe me, I am in the father and Father is in me, or else believe because of the works themselves. Amen, amen. I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works I do and will do greater ones than these because I am going to the father.

The biblical miracles, as Cardinal Newman (long before he became a Catholic*) points out in his essays on miracles, are in a superior class. They have a certain majesty, clarity, objectivity, decisiveness, and action. Even if I were not a Catholic, I would accept, along with all reasonable historians, that the accounts of the dead raised by the prophets and apostles, and particularly by our Lord, Jesus Christ. These are incidents of historical record: they are facts. The truth of all instances of miracles is the work of God through man. I would never deny God one iota of glory; all miracles give glory to Him. Nor would I deny from the God-given glory of the saints. Let people judge for themselves whether O Agrippa, I deem it incredible with you if God raises the dead!

Last, further research from those who have made a study in this endeavor, there are volumes of examples available. Christ gave orders to his apostles to raise the dead. It's no mystery that others have followed those instructions from the saints to the advancement of modern medicine and all the technological innovations of the modern worlds since biblical times that so much of modern medicine would be miraculous, and so it is. Consider that thousands of years span the rise of man after the garden while we only historically observe life for about 80 years on average and our own America for a little over 240 years. To put this into perspective, think of the advancements in these two hundred years compared to those thousands of years of human development. It's difficult to imagine that long of a time span with no electricity, no cars, no hospitals as we know them. In retrospect, Einstein's theory of relativity makes more sense. It is somewhat like watching a modern-day airliner. It seems to fly so slow; why? The distance from the ground to the plane reduces the field of liner size to the speed of the plane. At 35,000 feet, a 747 traveling at 550 mph, looks to a casual observer watching from earth to be hardly moving at all. As the distance between the plane and observer increases, its size decreases relative to the speed of the plane.

To answer the naysayers retort, How does one believe biblical events of thousands of years ago?

I say, How does one believe that George Washington's army crossed the Delaware River? Or that Francis Scott Key wrote the anthem on a British boat? No one alive today can give witness to those events, so why do we believe they happened? In this account, the number of witnesses and written historical records is astounding. To believe that thousands of miracles and raising the dead back to life have occurred historically, time is the defining element. It's so short in our life span to comprehend the staggering numbers of documents and witnessing of these events. My goal is to bring these intriguing saintly intercessions with our Creator into modern-day perspective. Also, the print of dialogue will show the modern language usage to enhance interest in the reading. The events depicted in this narrative are around the raising of the dead through the intercession of God. The many accounts of miracles from the days of Eden to the present would require hundreds, if not thousands, of volumes. Bringing life back to a dead person only to die once again brings around mysterious questions of why. A harbinger arises from these events to show the power and love of God to the underdeveloped world and prepare humans for all the innovations and advancements to come.

Elijah the Tishbite of Gilead

Why should it be unbelievable among you that God raises the dead? (Acts 26:8)

And I look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. Amen. (The Nicene-Constantinople Creed, AD 381)

These are the stories of people coming back to life after dying, as told by Elijah to Moses. It would be highly speculative to wonder why God chose Mount Tabor for the transfiguration of Jesus, but most intriguing indeed.

The prophet Elijah the Thesbite (stood with Moses and Jesus on the mount of the Transfiguration) began the first story of a recorded biblical event of raising the dead. God sent this prophet to Israel and Judah. He was told by God to go by the brook Cherith, which flows to the Jordan river. There the ravens sent by God fed him, and he drank from the brook. The brook dried up for lack of rain. It was then the Lord sent him to Zarephath to the widow of Sarephta of Sidon with the promise that she would take care of his daily needs. During the famine that followed, her son became so ill that he soon stopped breathing. What have I to do with thee, thou man of God? she cried."

Give me thy Son, Elijah said and took him to his upper room and laid him on the bed and prayed to God, pleading to give him life three times. The Lord heard his prayers and returned his soul to him. Then he came back to life. The prophet brought him downstairs and gave him to his mother with the words, Behold, thy son lives. This was the first recorded biblical account of raising the dead. In this narrative, the accounts exist many, but God only knows how many more have occurred sense the garden of Eden.

God spoke to Elijah frequently; and when he confronted Ahab the king over the false god, Baal, a contest of sorts emerged. He challenged the king to cut up a bull and place the meat on wood. He set his meat of a bull on a table as well, with no water to keep away any fire. A contest emerged between the God of Elijah and King Ahab's Baal. Which one would hear the prayers and answer? If Baal was a true God, then fire would come and cook the meat. The prophets of Ahab and their people prayed from morning till noon, and nothing happened.

This was a type of sacrifice; and Elijah asked the pagans if Baal was asleep, gone away, or busy and yelled at the people to waken him in a mocking tone. When no answer came, Elijah took his bull and doused it with water over, under, and all around twelve stones that surrounded the grill. Those stones represented the twelve tribes of the Son of Jacob. He doused the arrangement with water over, under, and all around, not once, but twice and once again a third time. He did this to show that God's fire would overcome the wet wood and the entire arrangement and inflame the meat. The God of the pagans gave no response. There is only one true God, and the pagans just didn't get it.

By evening, this sacrifice was ready; and Elijah prayed to God for fire to consume the wood, the water, and the meat. And the Lord heard his prayers, and fire came and inflamed the entire area, cooking the meat. It would seem the pagans would end any belief in the false God, Baal, after hearing nothing with no Action Jackson. It was as if they were blind watching the killing stroke of Baal.

Why were Moses and Elijah sent to the mount of Transfiguration? Both had been in the presence of God in different eras but were told not to look at his face, or they would die for sure.

The following narrative is what one might have heard on the trek and on top of the mount of Transfiguration in twenty-first century dialogue. Jesus and his disciples were near Caesarea Philippi when the first dialogue of his upcoming death and resurrection confused his disciples. He told them not to reveal that he is the Christ. Six days later, the following events came to pass concerning the transfiguration.

Jesus told Peter, James, and his brother John to follow him to the top of the mountain Tabor.

John stated, Bro, I will follow you anywhere, but why are we climbing to the top of a rugged mountain?

James added, Look, pal, do you really need a reason to do as he asks?

Cut it out, wise guy, just asking.

Jesus smiled at them both and said that there were two important dudes he wanted them to meet at the top. Climbing was easy in the beginning but became laborious as they ascended. The sky was clear with a beautiful blue hue. The tall trees blew in a light breeze and a pair of doves flew over them and cooed. Jesus looked at them with a smile on his face while remembering the dove at his baptism from John the Baptist.

John followed Jesus, singing a made-up Psalm, I climb up the mountain and fear no evil?

James followed and laughed, singing right along, and then Peter did likewise. After a while of ascent, James said, Can we stop for a brief rest? I think a blister is forming under my big toe.

They stopped climbing and sat on a large boulder that was lined with pockets of water that relieved their thirst. The mountain trail had split into a fork. As James looked down at his sore toe, he realized there was no blister. It was as if a healing had occurred before they stopped their ascent. He gave Jesus a puzzling look, as if to say, Did you do this?

Jesus laughed and answered him as he knew what he was thinking, No, it wasn't me. So a little pebble in your sandal is like a little mustard seed that grows into a magnificent tree. The pain tricked you into thinking it was a blister that could hinder the trek to our quest at the top of this mountain. Beware of similar ploys by the evil one. He tried to trick me once on a faraway mountain by offering me what wasn't his.

James retorted, It isn't funny. You never make jokes. You are always so serious.

Peter also laughed and added, You're such a puss. There is no blister. You should be happy.

My bad, it was such a surprise. I'm truly grateful.

Jesus