Broken Symmetries: Age of Illuminati (6 page)

Chapter 10

Before heading back to the airport, Hast had a tour of Cambridge with Mark and visited some of its ancient landmarks. This was the first time he had visited the city that he had read about on many occasions. When he was training for his English proficiency exams, the name ‘Cambridge’ frequently popped up in his textbooks and papers, and even when he was researching topics on theology and the history of the Mideast, he frequently came across the name of the prestigious university. It was always in Hast’s plans to visit the city someday and today was a great chance for him to kill two birds with one stone.

Hast and Mark were walking back along the King’s Parade where the historical buildings of the university could be seen along both sides, the distinct medieval architecture was evident and it was beautifully preserved. On the right side there was the marvelous building of King’s Chapel, with its splendid large stained glass windows and its perpendicular Gothic architecture.

             After a half hour of strolling and exploring, they came across some nicely situated pubs and restaurants across the river. Some people were resting by the tables and on the chairs set outside. Mark was pointing to the buildings and bridges across the river describing their names and their historical importance to Hast.

“You seem to know a lot about Cambridge! Have you lived here?” Hast asked.

“No, but before working for Interpol, I studied politics at Oxford and I used to visit Cambridge frequently with my friends,” Mark said. “Oxford is only a two hour drive from here.”

Hast looked to the other side of the river and saw a small wooden bridge across it. Some people were punting beneath it and some were taking pictures on the bridge. “Is this another important landmark?” Hast asked.

“Yes, it’s called the ‘Mathematical Bridge’. It connects the old and the new site of Queens’ College,” Mark answered.

“And why is it called the Mathematical Bridge?” Hast asked.

“According to the legend, Sir Isaac Newton himself designed and built the bridge without nuts and bolts. Later, some scholars after him deconstructed the bridge to find out how Newton did it, but they couldn’t put it back again without nuts and bolts!” Mark said.

“That is interesting!” Hast said. “I have read some articles about Newton, and he was a great theologian.”

“Really?” Mark was surprised.

“Yes, I’ve read that he was deeply religious and he wrote about theology more than he wrote about physics.”

“I didn’t know that,” Mark said. “My ex-partner did her thesis on Newton’s life but she never told me about this side of Newton.”

Hast tried to remember the article he read online about Newton and how he came across it. Suddenly he remembered that he had come across the article when he was looking for the prophecies and predictions about Judgement Day. “Oh God! I just remembered that Newton had predicted the date of the Judgement Day from his own calculations,” Hast said.

“Interesting, do you remember his predicted date?” Mark asked.

“Not really, but I seem to recall it was two thousand something, but I can’t remember exactly,” he answered.

“Was it 2012? I remember reading that there was hype and even a blockbuster movie a few decades ago predicting that 2012 would be Doomsday,” Mark suggested.

“No, I’m sure that 2012’s prediction was not based on Newton’s predictions. It was based on the Maya calendar’s end date,” Hast said.

“Ok, let me call my ex-partner. She lives in Cambridge and we are still good friends. She might know about Newton’s predictions,” Mark said. Mark took out his mobile, called a number then after few minutes, after talking over the phone, he turned back to Hast.

“We are in luck. She is now at Trinity College and is free to meet us,” he said. “You can ask her any question about Newton’s life and his prophecies. She’s very knowledgeable.”

“Is Trinity College far away from here?” he asked.

“No, we just passed it half an hour ago,” Mark answered.

They both began to walk back toward King’s Parade in quick paces to meet with Mark’s ex-partner, Kate Gould.

Chapter 11

Kate Gould was waiting in her accommodation room at Trinity College thinking about the call she had just received from her ex-partner. ‘Mark said he was with a colleague and had some questions about Newton, but he was never interested enough to ask about Newton before, so why is he suddenly interested now?!’ she wondered. ‘He didn’t tell me who his new colleague was. Could she be a co-worker or maybe his new partner, but why would he want me to meet her? Does he think I’m the jealous kind who cares about him?’ she thought to herself as she couldn’t believe that Mark was interested in Newton’s life.

After a moment, her door buzzer rung and she thought this could be Mark and his colleague arriving. She walked down the stairs and opened the door, and when she saw Mark with another man, she felt a light relief.

“Hi Kate, good to see you. This is my colleague, Hast,” Mark said starting the conversation.

Kate and Hast exchanged greetings as Mark introduced them to each other.

“How are you, Kate? It’s been a long time since we last met,” Mark said.

“I’m great. I’ll soon be finishing my PhD and will be going to live with my partner,” she said. “He is a very accomplished guy, and he’s just bought a new house on the coast…”

“I’m very happy for you,” Mark interrupted trying to change the topic. “You might be wondering why we wanted to meet with you.”

Mark started to explain to her that his friend, Hast, was also exploring and researching some aspects of Newton’s life and had some important unanswered questions. Then Hast asked her about Newton’s religious life and his prediction for the date of Judgement Day.

“It’s interesting that you ask about it, as this part of Newton’s life is not very much explored,” she said. “He was a very religious man and was deeply interested in the prophecies of Abrahamic faiths.”

“I only know about Newton from physics lectures,” Mark said.

“Actually, at his time there was no subject called physics. Newton was an alchemist.” She continued, “He is well-known among the physicists because of his scientific works in PRINCIPA and OPTICKS, but other than that, he wrote many more books about theology and Abrahamic faith prophecies.”

“It’s amazing that he had this deeply religious side, yet we don’t find the religious component in his scientific works!” Hast said.

“You are right. My partner also finds that part of my study interesting, and it appears that Newton had a double personality. His writings about science look very different to his writings about theology,” she said.

“Like he was possessed by a spirit when writing about the prophecies?” Hast said curiously.

“I’m not sure. Scholars claim that his odd behavior was probably due to his work with chemicals like mercury and their poisonous effect on his brain.”

“And what was his prediction about the Apocalypse date?” Hast asked.

“He predicted 2060 to be the end-day,” she said.

“2060!” both Hast and Mark repeated loudly.

“You mean this year?” Hast asked fearfully.

Kate was surprised by their reaction. She thought, ‘It’s just a myth, so why do they look so serious and afraid!’

“Do you know the exact date?” Mark replied.

“Not really, but according to his predictions it’s sometime within 2060, but he didn’t specify an exact date,” she answered.

Both Mark and Hast looked at each other communicating their surprise and wonder.

“Don’t worry. It’s just a myth, and I don’t believe in Doomsday,” she said.

“Are there any other specific prophecies by Newton about the Judgement Day?” Hast asked.

“Not that important. In my thesis I didn’t explore this part of Newton’s work but I can send you some references if you want,” she said.

“That would be great,” Hast said.

Mark turned to Hast. “Actually, we need to catch the next train to London; otherwise, we will be late to the airport.”

Hast gave Kate his email so that she can send the references through, and then they both set out but first thanked Kate profusely for her help.

Hast was terrified to know that Newton’s perdition was 2060, the current year! He had always suspected that Doomsday was near, thinking maybe in the next 10 year or so, but he never thought it could be this close! Now he started to think about his wife and his baby, ‘I need to protect them. The Antichrist is already here and working behind the scenes. My recent dream, current events, and now Newton’s prediction all are happening at the same time! It can’t be just a mere coincidence.’

Chapter 12

Mark and Hast headed back to London after their long day of meetings and tour around TNARK’s headquarters feeling exhausted. Overall, they felt their quest was not quite fruitful but they might have grabbed the tail of the issue, and they needed to act quickly and take Newton’s prediction seriously. Mark tried to hide his cell phone screen from Hast on their way back while he emailed Kogar detailing his conclusions from his tour and telling him that someone called
Young Nimrod
was potentially responsible for the design of the blue light emitters. To his surprise, he received a reply back a few minutes later from Kogar:

Dear Mark,

Thanks for updating me about the investigation. I would like to find about the identity of the ‘Mr. Young Nimrod’ you mentioned in your email. Please update me with more information about him as soon as you can.

Best,

Hast began to think deeply about what they found in Cambridge and who Mr.
Young Nimrod
could be? ‘Is this his real name or just a nickname?’ he asked himself. ‘I need to find his identity soon.’

“I think there is something wrong,” Hast suddenly said.

“What do you think is wrong?” Mark asked.

“I think
Young Nimrod
is just a nickname,” Hast said. “It doesn’t look like an Indian name. Does it?”

“Of course the address was fake, so the guy could be anywhere on earth,” Mark replied.

“Well, not only that. The last name ‘Nimrod’ has my attention,” Hast said.

“Why?” Mark asked. “Is it because the name is mentioned in the holy§cript?”

“Exactly,” Hast said, “you seem to recognize that name too.”

“Yes, I have heard about it, and it’s also the name of a ballistic missile.”

“Well, that is because according to Abrahamic faith Nimrod was a great hunter,” he said. “Have you heard the story of Abraham and Nimrod?”

“No, what is that all about?” Mark asked.

“Well, this is a long story, but the core of Abrahamic faith is based on this extraordinary historical encounter between Abraham and his nemesis, Nimrod, around 4000 years ago!” he claimed.

“Can you tell me more about it?” Mark said curiously.

***

Hast tried to make himself comfortable on the train chair as he prepared to tell the story he loved the most in the holy§cript to Mark. To him it was the immortal story between a powerful tyrant and a rebellious citizen, and it was the story that had repeated itself many times in history.

Hast’s imagination brought him back to his childhood when his father took him to the Erbil museum at the top of Erbil Citadel in Kurdistan, the oldest continuously inhabited town in the world, and the location of the Hanging Gardens, one of the ancient world wonders which was built by the Akkadian king Nebuchadnezzar II for his wife Amytis, the daughter of the Median empire king Cyaxares.

     The citadel rested over a mound that was 30 meters high from the ground previously surrounded by a river where the ancient people found an ingenious way to elevate the water to the town over the mound and also to water the garden of trees hanging over the castle. The feat of the technology used to elevate the water was admired by visiting Greeks who described the Ancient Wonder in their books. However, ever since the river drought, the actual location of the Hanging Gardens was confused with other locations in ancient Babylon until recent academics found evidence under the mound of the Citadel along with ancient paintings which were transferred to museums.

On the citadel, the younger Hast had seen a big tablet on the wall representing the glorious dispute between Nimrod and Abraham. Nimrod in the painting had a head of human, a body of a lion and wings of an eagle, a common depiction for ancient gods. In the picture, a group of people bowed to Nimrod, and among the group, a rebellious citizen who would later be known as Abraham, stands still, refusing to bow to the almighty creature.

Nimrod was one of the most known Human-Gods of the ancient world. He ruled the land of Babylon and the northern part of the ancient Mesopotamia. Nimrod was actually a nickname; it meant ‘Immortal’ in the language of the people who lived in this time. Even today, Kurds in this region put a similarly pronounced term ‘Namrdu’ after the names of their martyrs to describe them as immortals.

Anyway, Nimrod’s real name was Zuhak but people called him Nimrod because his rule lasted 200 years according to the legends. This had re-enforced the belief that he was a god. Ancient people thought he was immortal and they used to make human sacrifices for him. Their anthem was ‘no life without sacrifice’ and their flag was two strips. The upper strip was colored red to denote ‘sacrifice’ and the lower strip was colored green to denote ‘life’.

      The reason why people volunteered to sacrifice for their Human-Gods was to keep the civilization from falling apart. Kings like Nimrod who declared himself a god needed devout followers to fight for him and to keep his empire expanding and sustainable. The ancient proverb says: ‘Ask for more to get the least.’ If you convince people to sacrifice for you in peace, they will definitely sacrifice for you in war. Human-Gods who ruled the ancient world knew this trick, and the unity of large empires and civilizations would not survive without devout followers ready to sacrifice for their king. Sacrifices and pure devotion to a higher power made the ancient empires work like a single unit where the king was the head and people were the body.

According to the legend, one day Nimrod met a winged person, and he thought it was an archangel from another star. The archangel called himself ‘Son of the Morning’, and he urged Nimrod to ask the people of his kingdom to gather and bow to him at least once every day saying to Nimrod that it was the time for him to transcend and follow the path of the other great gods on the other stars.

The next day, people were urged to gather in front of the gate of Babylon tower to pledge their allegiance to Nimrod and bow to him. People were facing their king who was sitting on highly placed, massively decorated, golden throne. The more inferior they felt toward Nimrod, the more superior and godly Nimrod felt of himself. His minister, Haran, stood before Nimrod, and he was the first to bow in front of him. The people in the first row began to bow for Nimrod after him then the next row and so on, showing their ultimate obedience.

Seeing the huge crowd bowing in front of him and showing their submission had a thrilling effect on Nimrod. He felt he was transcending, he opened both his arms and faced upward toward the sky feeling his ultimate power over the other earthly creatures, the humans. He was the immortal who controlled the life and death of humans. He controlled their feelings, their happiness, their sadness, and a single word from his majesty was enough to get anything done in his kingdom. Now it was the time for his kingdom to expand to heaven and for his body to transcend to its immortal god mode.

Nimrod closed his eyes waiting for the miracle to happen, the miracle promised to him by the archangel. Moments passed and nothing happened. He thought, ‘Why am I still on earth? Why am I still on the same level as these low level mortals, the humans! Why am I not God yet?’

That moment when he was deep in his godly thoughts, Nimrod heard loud shouting coming from the crowd beneath him. Someone was using a disturbing phrase he was never used to hearing.

              “YOU ARE NOT MY GOD…”

Nimrod opened his eyes to see what was happening, but again, he heard the same unsettling voice coming somewhere down from the bowing crowd.

“YOU ARE NOT MY GOD!” said the shouting voice.

Nimrod looked down into the crowd and saw someone standing among the bowing crowd. He gave an angry look to Haran who was still bowing before him, the bowing minister stood up quickly as he got the gist from his angry king. He looked down to the crowd, and to his shock, he saw a low level citizen standing and refusing to bow to Nimrod! This action was enough to justify being tortured and given a death penalty, but in this situation, the rebel needed to be humiliated among the people first! That is what Haran thought to himself.

Nimrod’s pride and his sense of highness prevented him from directly confronting the low level citizen, so Haran himself shouted to Abraham, “Bow to your god now or you will face death.”

Abraham’s response to Haran was, “I only bow to the true god, ∞Illuhim∞. He is the one who controls life and death. Nimrod is just a man. Like us, he eats, sleeps, defecates, and one day he will die just like everyone,” Abraham shouted loudly from below toward Nimrod to make sure everyone heard him defying Nimrod.

The gathered people were deeply moved by the extraordinary courage displayed by their fellow citizen. They felt a thrill pounding in their hearts for the first time as they witnessed the possibility of the impossible, the possibility of standing against Nimrod, the great God of Babylon. People looked up to Nimrod and all they saw was an angry Human-God clenching his teeth from rage! Then they looked to Abraham who was standing firm; they saw their next god, the god who was born among them and had the courage to express what was in their hearts without any fear. In their subconscious they learnt a vital lesson; a normal citizen can become a god too!

     That moment Nimrod felt he was descending instead of transcending and killing and torturing Abraham wouldn’t solve the problem. His status had already been shaken among the people; Nimrod felt the need to prove himself, so he stood up from his golden throne finally, and for the first time shouted directly to his people. “I’m your God, I’m Nimrod the Immortal, and I control your life and your death.” He said to remind the people of his power and his dominion over them.

“Only ∞Illuhim∞ controls life and death,” Abraham challenged Nimrod.

That moment Nimrod ordered his minister, Haran, to bring to him two prisoners. He ordered the execution of one of the prisoners and freed the other, and then he looked down to Abraham and the crowd, proudly shouting, “Now tell me, was ∞Illuhim∞ controlling the life and death of these two prisoners or I?”

People turned to Abraham awaiting his response. Abraham thought for a moment then posed to Nimrod another challenge, “∞Illuhim∞ brings the sun from east, so if you have his power, bring it from the west.”

The crowd of people turned to Nimrod awaiting his next move. They still believed in him so much they were actually expecting him to win the challenge, but all they saw was a furious Nimrod shouting at Abraham and threatening him with torture and death. Then moments passed and Nimrod challenged Abraham back, “If you are proclaiming the truth, ask your ∞Illuhim∞ to bring the sun from the west now.”

Abraham closed his eyes and lifted his hand to the sky praying to ∞Illuhim∞ for a while, and then he looked back to Nimrod. “My Lord ∞Illuhim∞ has told me that he can bring the sun from the west now, but if he does, the world will be destroyed. ∞Illuhim∞ is a loving God and cares about his people, unlike you. He doesn’t want to harm his creations, so he will only do that when the Judgment Day comes, and when that day comes, right and wrong will be revealed and you will be burnt in his hellfire forever.”

Nimrod ordered his army to throw Abraham into a big fire to imitate the hellfire that Abraham threatened him with, but according to the legend, Abraham was later saved. The impact of his encounter with Nimrod was very big on the people of Babylon. People started to lose faith in Nimrod, and rebellious groups began to appear in the towns and villages holding a new flag that had the same two strips red and green but now with the symbol of a sun at its center. This was the sun that Nimrod had failed to control, and the new flag became the symbol of freedom. People who held this flag couldn’t be controlled by Nimrod.

Nimrod eventually lost his power and he was ultimately defeated of his rule of 200 years by Kawa, a young blacksmith who led a rebellious group to Nimrod’s final defeat. The day of his defeat was labeled as the new day for freedom and it is still celebrated in the region as the Feast of Newroz.

           Abraham’s ideological revolution demarked an end for the Human-God period. People from the surrounding empires started to revolt against their tyrants. Moses revolted against the Pharaoh, Zoroaster revolted against Cyrus, and Hercules against Zeus. The next stage of revelation began and people all around the world were united under the name of one God, ∞Illuhim∞.

****

Hast felt his story was making an impact on Mark, however, he still needed to make his point as to why he was telling this story and what its relevance was to their mission.

“Is it true that Abraham tried to sacrifice his son to ∞Illuhim∞?” Mark suddenly asked.

“People are always making this mistake because of their literal interpretation of the holy§cript,” Hast said. “As you know ancient people used to make sacrifices for their Human-Gods. This was a very common practice around the world then. After all, look at the history of the Mayan empire, Egyptian empire, etc. They all made human sacrifices, and this was part of human culture at that time. People in certain regions still use sacrifice related terms in their language! For example, where I am from, we use the term ‘Qurbant bim’ which means ‘I will be your sacrifice’ to express gratitude or love toward someone,” Hast said. “Regarding Abraham’s intended sacrifice of his son, my guess is that when people began to worship ∞Illuhim∞ instead of Nimrod, they probably asked Abraham how they could make a sacrifice to ∞Illuhim∞ to express their gratitude toward him. It’s true at that moment Abraham took his own son to be sacrificed, but then he sacrificed a goat instead and told people that ∞Illuhim∞ didn’t need human sacrifices anymore. Animal sacrifices were sufficient for him.”