UN scientists warn that strong El Nino will add fuel to ‘a planet already on fire’. So climate change’s fingerprints are all over extreme fire weather that sparked this week’s devastating  wildfires in Spain and France, and has spiked Southern Europe’s burning the past eight years, two new studies conclude. Human-caused climate change made the very hot and dry conditions responsible for Spain’s record-sized inferno 20 times more likely to happen, and it doubled the chances of extreme fire conditions for the flames in France. And half of England is in drought after a record dry spell and high temperatures the British Environment Agency said.

The Greek term christos occurs more than 500 times in the New Testament, and is used directly to Jesus of Nazareth. While many Christians today think “Christ” is the family part of Jesus’ name, it is a title, meaning “anointed one” as is reflected in the New Testament where the titles iēsous christos and christos iēsous occur 139 and 88 times respectively. But the title Messiah was rarely applied to Jesus prior to his death, as it is used only seven times in Mark’s account of the life of Jesus, unlike 65 times in Paul’s letter to the church in Rome.

Thus anointing is one of the most significant concepts associated with Jesus in the New Testament where the title Anointed/Christ/Messiah is strongly linked to the religious concept of a spiritual human kingship, an association that has a long history in Jewish tradition.

The book of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible records how Kings Saul and David were anointed with oil by Prophet Samuel to signify their divine appointment to rule over the Israelites (1 Samuel 9:16; 10:1; 16:3, 6, 12-13). Mostly the Hebrew term māšîaḥ “anointed” denotes a human Jewish King or High Priest religious role. The title thus comes to expresses the expectation that God will send a human future king or religious leader, linked to the Davidic dynasty and its High Priests, to fulfill God’s redemptive purposes for the People of Israel and the whole world.

The prophecy in Ezekiel 38–39, which describes a vast coalition, including Persia—modern-day Iran—will rise against Israel. This future war is often called the battle of Gog and Magog. While the New Testament writers affirm that Jesus was the Anointed/Christ/Messiah, the four Gospels are consistent in observing that Jesus himself avoided using the title mešîḥā’/christos “anointed one” of himself. Jesus himself preferred to use the general term “son of man” which in Hebrew means a human being. The term “son of man” occurs 70 times in the three Synoptic Gospels, plus 12 times more in John’s Gospel, and every time “son of man” appears, it comes in words attributed to Jesus........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)