1.
Kennington
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Kennington is a district in London, England, south of the River Thames. It is located 1.4 miles south of Charing Cross and it was a royal manor in the ancient parish of St Mary, Lambeth in the county of Surrey and was the administrative centre of the parish from 1853. Proximity to central London was key to the development of the area as a residential suburb, Kennington is the location of three significant London landmarks, the Oval cricket ground, the Imperial War Museum, and Kennington Park. Its population at the United Kingdom Census 2011 was 21,287, Kennington appears in the Domesday Book of 1086 as Chenintune. It is recorded as Kenintone in 1229 and Kenyngton in 1263, mills believes the name to be Old English meaning farmstead or estate associated with a man called Cēna. Another explanation is that it means place of the King, or town of the King, the presence of a tumulus, and other locally significant geographical features, suggest that the area was regarded in ancient times as a sacred place of assembly. According to the Domesday Book it was held by Teodric the Goldsmith and it contained,1 hide and 3 virgates,3 ploughs,4 acres of meadow. The manor of Kennington was divided from the manor of Vauxhall by the River Effra, a smaller river, the River Neckinger, ran along the edge of the northern part of Kennington, approximately where Brook Drive is today still forming the borough boundary. Both rivers have now been diverted into underground culverts, harthacnut, King of Denmark and King of England, died at Kennington in 1041. Harold Godwinson took the Crown the day after the death of Edward the Confessor at Kennington, King Henry III held his court here in 1231, and, according to Matthew Paris, in 1232, Parliament was held at Kennington. In 1376, according to John Stow, John of Gaunt, geoffrey Chaucer was employed at Kennington as Clerk of Works in 1389. Kennington was the residence of Henry IV and Henry VI. Henry VII was at Kennington before his coronation. Catherine of Aragon stayed at Kennington Palace in 1501, in 1531, at the order of King Henry VIII, most of Kennington Palace was dismantled, and the materials were used in the construction of the Palace of Whitehall. The historical manor of Kennington continues to be owned by the current monarchs elder son, the Duchy of Cornwall maintains a substantial property portfolio within the area. The eighteenth century saw development in Kennington. At the start of the century, the area was essentially a village on the roads into London. In 1746, Francis Towneley and eight men who had part in the Jacobite Rising were hanged, drawn. The area was significant enough, however, to be recognised in the Peerage of Great Britain and in 1726, the development of Kennington came about through access to London, which happened when, in 1750, Westminster Bridge was constructed
2.
Spiritualism
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Spiritualism is the belief that the spirits of the dead have both the ability and the inclination to communicate with the living. The afterlife, or the world, is seen by spiritualists, not as a static place. Some spiritualists will speak of a concept which they refer to as spirit guides—specific spirits, often contacted, Spiritism, a branch of spiritualism developed by Allan Kardec and today practiced mostly in Continental Europe and Latin America, especially in Brazil, emphasizes reincarnation. Spiritualism developed and reached its peak growth in membership from the 1840s to the 1920s, by 1897, spiritualism was said to have more than eight million followers in the United States and Europe, mostly drawn from the middle and upper classes. Many prominent spiritualists were women, and like most spiritualists, supported such as the abolition of slavery. By the late 1880s the credibility of the movement had weakened due to accusations of fraud perpetrated by mediums. Spiritualism is currently practiced primarily through various denominational spiritualist churches in the United States, Canada and they believe that spirit mediums are gifted to carry on such communication, but that anyone may become a medium through study and practice. They believe that spirits are capable of growth and perfection, progressing through higher spheres or planes, and that the afterlife is not a static state, many believers therefore speak of spirit guides—specific spirits, often contacted, and relied upon for worldly and spiritual guidance. According to spiritualists, anyone may receive messages, but formal communication sessions are held by mediums. Nevertheless, on significant points Christian Protestantism and spiritualism are different and this view is self-evidently incompatible with spiritualism, where the merely spiritual existence is superior to the embodied one. There are quite a number of spiritualist churches which are explicitly Christian in theology, forms of worship and praise, judaism It is held by some adherents of the Jewish religion that spiritualism is strictly forbidden by the Bible. Islam Within Islam, only rarely do some traditions - notably Sufism, despite this, the majority of the followers of Islam believe in the existence of spirits as a fundamental aspect of their religion. However, these spirits are not those of humans but of a third sapient creation said to be made by God called the jinn. Jinn are spirits made from fire, in a realm not visible to the eyes of people. A famous jinn in the Muslim tradition is Satan, as opposed to the Christian belief that he is a fallen angel, communication with these spirits, whether the spirit is good or evil in nature, is generally not encouraged in Islam. Additionally, the concept of Tawassul recognises the existence of spirits on a higher plane of existence closer to God. Spiritism Spiritism, the branch of spiritualism developed by Allan Kardec, Occultism Spiritualism also differs from occult movements, such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn or the contemporary wiccan covens, in that spirits are not contacted to obtain magical powers. Eliphas Lévi, who is regarded as the founder of occultism, strongly rejected Spiritism, later on, Madame Blavatsky, the founder of the Theosophical Society, only practiced mediumship to contact powerful spirits capable of conferring esoteric knowledge
3.
Mediumship
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Mediumship is the practice of certain people —known as mediums— to purportedly mediate communication between spirits of the dead and living human beings. There are different types of mediumship including spirit channeling, and ouija, humans have been fascinated with contacting the dead since the beginning of human existence. Cave paintings by indigenous Australians date back 28,000 years, some depicting skulls, bones, spirits, Other cave paintings in Indonesia date back a further 10,000 years. Mediumship gained popularity during the century, when ouija boards were used by the upper classes as a source of entertainment. Investigations during this period revealed widespread fraud—with some practitioners employing techniques used by stage magicians—and the practice began to lose credibility, fraud is still rife in the medium/psychic industry, with cases of deception and trickery being discovered to this day. Scientific researchers have attempted to ascertain the validity of claims of mediumship, an experiment undertaken by the British Psychological Society led to the conclusion that the test subjects demonstrated no mediumistic ability. Other forms involve materializations of the spirit or the presence of a voice, the practice is associated with several religious-belief systems such as Vodun, Spiritualism, Spiritism, Candomblé, Voodoo, Umbanda and some New Age groups. In Spiritism and Spiritualism the medium has the role of an intermediary between the world of the living and the world of spirit. Mediums claim that they can listen to and relay messages from spirits, or that they can allow a spirit to control their body and speak through it directly or by using automatic writing or drawing. Spiritualists classify types of mediumship into two categories, mental and physical, Mental mediums allegedly tune in to the spirit world by listening, sensing. During seances, mediums are said to go into trances, varying from light to deep, attempts to communicate with the dead and other living human beings, aka spirits, have been documented back to early human history. Mediumship became quite popular in the 19th-century United States and the United Kingdom after the rise of Spiritualism as a religious movement, Modern Spiritualism is said to date from practices and lectures of the Fox sisters in New York State in 1848. The trance mediums Paschal Beverly Randolph and Emma Hardinge Britten were among the most celebrated lecturers and authors on the subject in the mid-19th century, allan Kardec coined the term Spiritism around 1860. Kardec claimed that conversations with spirits by selected mediums were the basis of his The Spirits Book and later, his five-book collection, some scientists of the period who investigated spiritualism also became converts. They included chemist Robert Hare, physicist William Crookes and evolutionary biologist Alfred Russel Wallace, nobel laureate Pierre Curie took a very serious scientific interest in the work of medium Eusapia Palladino. Other prominent adherents included journalist and pacifist William T, Stead and physician and author Arthur Conan Doyle. After the exposure of the fraudulent use of magic tricks by physical mediums such as the Davenport Brothers. However, the religion and its beliefs continue in spite of this, with physical mediumship and seances falling out of practice, Spiritualism continues to be practiced, primarily through various denominational spiritualist churches in the United States, Canada, Australia and the United Kingdom
4.
September 11 attacks
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The September 11 attacks were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda on the United States on the morning of Tuesday, September 11,2001. The attacks killed 2,996 people, injured over 6,000 others, two of the planes, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, were crashed into the North and South towers, respectively, of the World Trade Center complex in New York City. A third plane, American Airlines Flight 77, was crashed into the Pentagon in Arlington County, Virginia and it was the deadliest incident for firefighters and law enforcement officers in the history of the United States, with 343 and 72 killed respectively. Suspicion for the attack fell on al-Qaeda. The United States responded to the attacks by launching the War on Terror and invading Afghanistan to depose the Taliban, many countries strengthened their anti-terrorism legislation and expanded the powers of law enforcement and intelligence agencies to prevent terrorist attacks. Although al-Qaedas leader, Osama bin Laden, initially denied any involvement, al-Qaeda and bin Laden cited U. S. support of Israel, the presence of U. S. troops in Saudi Arabia, and sanctions against Iraq as motives. Having evaded capture for almost a decade, bin Laden was located and killed by SEAL Team Six of the U. S. Navy in May 2011. S. many closings, evacuations, and cancellations followed, out of respect or fear of further attacks. Cleanup of the World Trade Center site was completed in May 2002, on November 18,2006, construction of One World Trade Center began at the World Trade Center site. The building was opened on November 3,2014. The origins of al-Qaeda can be traced to 1979 when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden traveled to Afghanistan and helped organize Arab mujahideen to resist the Soviets. Under the guidance of Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden became more radical, in 1996, bin Laden issued his first fatwā, calling for American soldiers to leave Saudi Arabia. Bin Laden used Islamic texts to exhort Muslims to attack Americans until the stated grievances are reversed, Muslim legal scholars have throughout Islamic history unanimously agreed that the jihad is an individual duty if the enemy destroys the Muslim countries, according to bin Laden. Bin Laden, who orchestrated the attacks, initially denied but later admitted involvement, in November 2001, U. S. forces recovered a videotape from a destroyed house in Jalalabad, Afghanistan. In the video, bin Laden is seen talking to Khaled al-Harbi, on December 27,2001, a second bin Laden video was released. In the video, he said, It has become clear that the West in general and it is the hatred of crusaders. Terrorism against America deserves to be praised because it was a response to injustice, aimed at forcing America to stop its support for Israel, the transcript refers several times to the United States specifically targeting Muslims. He said that the attacks were carried out because, we are free, and want to regain freedom for our nation. As you undermine our security we undermine yours, Bin Laden said he had personally directed his followers to attack the World Trade Center and the Pentagon
5.
David Icke
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David Vaughan Icke is an English writer and public speaker. He is the author of over 20 books and numerous DVDs, the show changed his life, turning him from a respected household name into someone who was laughed at whenever he appeared in public. Over the next seven years—in The Robots Rebellion, And the Truth Shall Set You Free, The Biggest Secret, and Children of the Matrix —he developed his worldview of New Age conspiracism. The reptilians use the rings of Saturn and the Moon, all reptilian constructs, to broadcast our five-sense prison, a sense of self. Michael Barkun has described Ickes position as New Age conspiracism, writing that Icke is the most fluent of the genre. Richard Kahn and Tyson Lewis argue that Ickes reptilian hypothesis may be Swiftian satire, offering a narrative with which ordinary people can question what they see around them. S. The middle child of three boys born seven years apart, Icke was born in Leicester General Hospital to Beric Vaughan Icke and Barbara J. Icke, née Cooke, who were married in Leicester in 1951. Beric had wanted to be a doctor, but the family had no money and he was awarded a British Empire Medal for gallantry in 1943 after an aircraft crashed into the Chipping Warden air base in Northamptonshire. Along with a leader, Beric ran into the burning aircraft, without protective clothing. After the war Beric became a clerk in the Gents clock factory, the family lived in a terraced house on Lead Street in the centre of Leicester, an area that was demolished in the mid-1950s as part of the citys slum clearance. When Icke was three, in around 1955, they moved to the Goodwood estate, one of the estates the post-war Labour government built. To say we were skint, he wrote in 1993, is saying it is a little chilly at the North Pole. He recalls having to hide under a window or chair when the man came for the rent, after knocking. His mother never explained that it was about the rent, she just told Icke to hide and he wrote in 2003 that he still gets a fright when someone knocks on the door. Always a loner, he spent hours playing with toy trains and he attended Whitehall Infant School, then Whitehall Junior School, feeling nervous and shy to the point of feeling faint during morning assembly and having to leave before he passed out. The family doctor suggested a referral to a child psychologist, Icke made no effort at school, but when he was nine, he was chosen for the junior schools third-year football team. It was the first time he had succeeded at anything, and he played in goal, which he wrote suited the loner in him and gave him a sense of living on the edge between hero and villain. After failing his 11-plus exam in 1963, he was sent to the citys Crown Hills Secondary Modern and he left school at 15 after being talent-spotted by Coventry City, who signed him up in 1967 as their youth teams goalkeeper
6.
Faith healing
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Faith healing is the ritualistic practice of prayer and gestures that are claimed to elicit divine intervention in spiritual and physical healing, especially the Christian practice. Belief in such divine intervention is derived from religious belief, claims attributed to a myriad of techniques such as prayer, divine intervention, or the ministrations of an individual healer can cure illness have been popular throughout history. Miraculous recoveries have been attributed to many techniques commonly classified as faith healing and it can involve prayer, a visit to a religious shrine, or simply a strong belief in a supreme being. Many people interpret the Bible, especially the New Testament, as teaching belief in, according to a Newsweek poll,72 percent of Americans say they believe that praying to God can cure someone, even if science says the person doesnt stand a chance. Unlike faith healing, advocates of spiritual healing make no attempt to divine intervention. The increased interest in medicine at the end of the 20th century has given rise to a parallel interest among sociologists in the relationship of religion to health. Faith healing can be classified as a spiritual, supernatural, or paranormal event, the American Cancer Society states available scientific evidence does not support claims that faith healing can actually cure physical ailments. Death, disability, and other unwanted outcomes have occurred when faith healing was elected instead of medical care for injuries or illnesses. When parents use faith healing in the place of medical care, similar results are found in adults. Regarded as a Christian belief that God heals people through the power of the Holy Spirit and it is also called supernatural healing, divine healing, and miracle healing, among other things. Healing in the Bible is often associated with the ministry of specific individuals including Elijah, Jesus, cherry views faith healing as a pathway of healing in which God uses both the natural and the supernatural to heal. Being healed has been described as a privilege of accepting Christs redemption on the cross, Pentecostal writer Wilfred Graves, Jr. views the healing of the body as a physical expression of salvation. Even those Christian writers who believe in faith healing do not all believe that ones faith presently brings about the desired healing and our faith does not effect your healing now. When you are healed rests entirely on what the purposes of the Healer are. Larry Keefauver cautions against allowing enthusiasm for healing to stir up false hopes. Just believing hard enough, long enough or strong enough will not strengthen you or prompt your healing, doing mental gymnastics to hold on to your miracle will not cause your healing to manifest now. Those who actively lay hands on others and pray them to be healed are usually aware that healing may not always follow immediately. Proponents of faith healing say it may come later, and it may not come in this life, the truth is that your healing may manifest in eternity, not in time
7.
Arthur Conan Doyle
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He is also known for writing the fictional adventures of Professor Challenger, a second character he invented, and for propagating the mystery of the Mary Celeste. He was a writer whose other works include fantasy and science fiction stories, plays, romances, poetry, non-fiction. Doyle is often referred to as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle or simply Conan Doyle and his baptism entry in the register of St Marys Cathedral, Edinburgh, gives Arthur Ignatius Conan as his given names and Doyle as his surname. It also names Michael Conan as his godfather, the cataloguers of the British Library and the Library of Congress treat Doyle alone as his surname. Steven Doyle, editor of the Baker Street Journal, wrote, shortly after he graduated from high school he began using Conan as a sort of surname. But technically his last name is simply Doyle, when knighted, he was gazetted as Doyle, not under the compound Conan Doyle. Nevertheless, the use of a compound surname is demonstrated by the fact that Doyles second wife was known as Jean Conan Doyle rather than Jean Doyle. Doyle was born on 22 May 1859 at 11 Picardy Place, Edinburgh and his father, Charles Altamont Doyle, was English, of Irish Catholic descent, and his mother, Mary, was Irish Catholic. In 1864 the family dispersed because of Charless growing alcoholism, in 1867, the family came together again and lived in squalid tenement flats at 3 Sciennes Place. Doyles father died in 1893, in the Crichton Royal, Dumfries, supported by wealthy uncles, Doyle was sent to England, at the Jesuit preparatory school Hodder Place, Stonyhurst in Lancashire at the age of nine. He then went on to Stonyhurst College until 1875, from 1875 to 1876, he was educated at the Jesuit school Stella Matutina in Feldkirch, Austria. He later rejected the Catholic faith and became an agnostic and he also later became a spiritualist mystic. From 1876 to 1881, Doyle studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh Medical School, including working in Aston, Sheffield and Ruyton-XI-Towns. During that time, he studied botany at the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh. While studying, Doyle began writing short stories and his earliest extant fiction, The Haunted Grange of Goresthorpe, was unsuccessfully submitted to Blackwoods Magazine. His first published piece, The Mystery of Sasassa Valley, a set in South Africa, was printed in Chamberss Edinburgh Journal on 6 September 1879. Doyle was employed as a doctor on the Greenland whaler Hope of Peterhead in 1880 and, C. M. as a ships surgeon on the SS Mayumba during a voyage to the West African coast. He completed his M. D. degree on the subject of tabes dorsalis in 1885, arriving in Portsmouth in June 1882 with less than £10 to his name, he set up a medical practice at 1 Bush Villas in Elm Grove, Southsea
8.
Rosicrucianism
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The manifestos do not elaborate extensively on the matter, but clearly combine references to Kabbalah, Hermeticism, and Christianity. The Rosicrucian Manifestos heralded a universal reformation of mankind, through a science allegedly kept secret for decades until the climate might receive it. In 1616, Johann Valentin Andreae famously designated it as a ludibrium, by promising a spiritual transformation at a time of great turmoil, the manifestos tempted many figures to seek esoteric knowledge. Seventeenth-century occult philosophers such as Michael Maier, Robert Fludd, according to historian David Stevenson, it was influential to Freemasonry as it was emerging in Scotland. In later centuries, many societies have claimed to derive from the original Rosicrucians. Rosicrucianism is symbolized by the Rosy Cross or Rose Cross, between 1607 and 1616, two anonymous manifestos were published, first in Germany and later throughout Europe. These were the Fama Fraternitatis RC and the Confessio Fraternitatis, the Fama Fraternitatis presented the legend of a German doctor and mystic philosopher referred to as Frater C. R. C. The year 1378 is presented as being the year of our Christian Father. After studying in the Middle East under various masters, possibly adhering to Sufism, instead, he gathered a small circle of friends/disciples and founded the Rosicrucian Order. During Rosenkreuzs lifetime, the order was said to consist of no more than eight members, each a doctor, each member undertook an oath to heal the sick without payment, to maintain a secret fellowship, and to find a replacement for himself before he died. Three such generations had passed between c.1500 and c. 1600, a time when scientific, philosophical and religious freedom had grown so that the public benefit from the Rosicrucians knowledge. The manifestos were and are not taken literally by many but rather regarded either as hoaxes or as allegorical statements, the invitation to the royal wedding in the Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz opens with Dees philosophical key, the Monas Hieroglyphica symbol. The writer also claimed the brotherhood possessed a book that resembled the works of Paracelsus and their literature announced them as moral and religious reformers. They used the techniques of chemistry and of the sciences generally as media through which to publicize their opinions, in his autobiography, Johann Valentin Andreae claimed that the anonymously published Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz was one of his works, and he subsequently described it as a ludibrium. In his later works, he makes alchemy an object of ridicule and places it along with music, art, theater, according to some sources, his role in the origin of the Rosicrucian legend is controversial. However, it was accepted according to others. Wars of politics and religion ravaged the continent, the works were re-issued several times, followed by numerous pamphlets, favorable or otherwise
9.
William Crookes
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Sir William Crookes OM PRS was an English chemist and physicist who attended the Royal College of Chemistry in London, and worked on spectroscopy. He was a pioneer of vacuum tubes, inventing the Crookes tube which was made in 1875, Crookes was the inventor of the Crookes radiometer, which today is made and sold as a novelty item. Late in life, he interested in spiritualism, and became the president of the Society for Psychical Research. Crookes made a career of being a meteorologist and fierce lecture giver at multiple studies and courses, Crookes worked in chemistry and physics. His experiments were notable for the originality of their design and his interests, ranging over pure and applied science, economic and practical problems, and psychiatric research, made him a well-known personality. He received many public and academic honors, Crookess life was one of unbroken scientific activity. William Crookes was born in London, the eldest of 16 siblings and his father, Joseph Crookes, was a tailor of north-country origin, at that time living with his second wife, Mary Scott Lewis Rutherford Johnson. From 1850 to 1854 he filled the position of assistant in the college and it wasnt in organic chemistry which the focus of his teacher, August Wilhelm von Hofmann, might have been expected to lead him towards, but into new compounds of selenium. These were the subject of his first published papers,1851, in 1855 he was appointed lecturer in chemistry at the Chester Diocesan Training College. In 1856 he married Ellen, daughter of William Humphrey of Darlington and they had three sons and a daughter. Married and living in London, he was devoted mainly to independent work, in 1859, he founded the Chemical News, a science magazine which he edited for many years and conducted on much less formal lines than was usual for the journals of scientific societies. In 1861, Crookes discovered an unknown element with a bright green emission line in its spectrum and named the element thallium, from the Greek thallos. Crookes wrote a treatise on Select Methods in Chemical Analysis in 1871. The method of analysis, introduced by Bunsen and Kirchhoff, was received by Crookes with great enthusiasm. His first important discovery was that of the element thallium, announced in 1861, by this work his reputation became firmly established, and he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1863. He developed the Crookes tubes, investigating cathode rays and he published numerous papers on spectroscopy and conducted research on a variety of minor subjects. In his investigations of the conduction of electricity in low pressure gases, he discovered that as the pressure was lowered, as these examples indicate, he was a pioneer in the construction and use of vacuum tubes for the study of physical phenomena. He was, as a consequence, one of the first scientists to investigate what is now called a plasma and he also devised one of the first instruments for studying nuclear radioactivity, the spinthariscope
10.
Spiritism
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Spiritism soon spread to other countries, having today 35 countries represented in the International Spiritist Council. Spiritism postulates that humans are essentially immortal spirits that temporarily inhabit physical bodies for several necessary incarnations to attain moral and intellectual improvement and it also asserts that spirits, through passive or active mediumship, may have beneficent or maleficent influence on the physical world. The term first appeared in Kardecs book, The Spirits Book, Spiritism has influenced a social movement of healing centers, charity institutions and hospitals involving millions of people in dozens of countries, with the greatest number of adherents in Brazil. There are about four million Caodaists in Vietnam and in the Vietnamese diaspora, Kardecs research was influenced by the Fox sisters and the use of talking boards. Interest in Mesmerism also contributed to early Spiritism, emanuel Swedenborg was a Swedish scientist, philosopher, seer, and theologian. Swedenborg had a career as an inventor and scientist. At 56, he claimed to have experienced visions of the world and talked with angels, devils. He claimed he was directed by the Lord Jesus Christ to reveal the doctrines of his second coming, Swedenborg, however, warned against seeking contact with spirits. In his work Apocalypse Explained, #1182.4, he wrote, but those who believe this, and desire to do so, are not aware that it is associated with danger to their souls. See also Heaven and Hell #249 Nevertheless, Swedenborg is often cited by Spiritists as a precursor for their beliefs. Sisters Catherine, Leah and Margaret Fox played an important role in the development of Spiritism, the daughters of David and Margaret Fox, they were residents of Hydesville, New York. In 1848, the family began to hear unexplained rapping sounds, a skeleton later found in the basement seemed to confirm this. The Fox girls became instant celebrities and they demonstrated their communication with the spirit by using taps and knocks, automatic writing or psychography, and later even voice communication, as the spirit took control of one of the girls. Skeptics suspected this was deception and fraud, and sister Margaret eventually confessed to using her toe-joints to produce the sound, although she later recanted this confession, she and her sister Catherine were widely considered discredited, and died in poverty. Nonetheless, belief in the ability to communicate with the dead grew rapidly, becoming a religious movement called Spiritualism, after the news of the Fox sisters came to France, people became more interested in what was sometimes termed the Spiritual Telegraph. In its early form, a table spun with the energy from the present by means of human channeling. As the process was too slow and cumbersome, the board was devised. A typical séance using a board had people seated at a round table, with feet resting on the chairs supports and hands on the table top or, later
11.
Son of God
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Historically, many rulers have assumed titles such as son of God, son of a god or son of heaven. The term son of God is sometimes used in the Old, in the Old Testament, angels, just and pious men, the descendants of Seth, and the kings of Israel are all called sons of God. In the New Testament, Adam, and, most notably, Jesus Christ are called son of God, while followers of Jesus are called, in the New Testament, Son of God is applied to Jesus on many occasions. Jesus is declared to be the Son of God on two occasions by a voice speaking from Heaven. Jesus is also explicitly and implicitly described as the Son of God by himself, as applied to Jesus, the term is a reference to his role as the Messiah, the King chosen by God. The contexts and ways in which Jesus title, Son of God, means something more than or other than Messiah remain the subject of ongoing scholarly study and discussion. The term Son of God should not be confused with the term God the Son, the doctrine of the Trinity identifies Jesus as God the Son, identical in essence but distinct in person with regard to God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. Nontrinitarian Christians accept the application to Jesus of the term Son of God, which is found in the New Testament, but not the term God the Son, the title Son of Heaven i. e. 天子 was first used in the Western Zhou dynasty. It is mentioned in the Shijing book of songs, and reflected the Zhou belief that as Son of Heaven the Emperor of China was responsible for the well being of the world by the Mandate of Heaven. This title may also be translated as son of God given that the word Ten or Tien in Chinese may either mean sky or god, the Emperor of Japan was also called the Son of Heaven starting in the early 7th century. Examples of kings being considered the son of god are found throughout the Ancient Near East, Egypt in particular developed a long lasting tradition. Egyptian pharaohs are known to have referred to as the son of a particular god. Egyptian pharaohs did not have full parity with their divine fathers, nevertheless, in the first four dynasties, the pharaoh was considered to be the embodiment of a god. Thus, Egypt was ruled by direct theocracy, wherein God himself is recognized as the head of the state, during the later Amarna Period, Akhenaten reduced the Pharaohs role to one of coregent, where the Pharaoh and God ruled as father and son. Akhenaten also took on the role of the priest of god, later still, the closest Egypt came to the Jewish variant of theocracy was during the reign of Herihor. He took on the role of not as a god but rather as a high-priest. Jewish kings are known to have been referred to as son of the LORD. The Jewish variant of theocracy can be thought of as a representative theocracy where the king is viewed as God’s surrogate on earth, Jewish kings thus, had less of a direct connection to god than pharaohs
