Kingdom Come

A Novel

by

R. Alan Woods


c2007 Rhema Rising


Coming Soon.......

A work of fiction involving two men who have been chosen by God to embark on an apostolic mission of profound and unimaginable significance to the Middle East. Paul Cohen- an Israeli citizen and a Jew- and Timothy Wimber- an American citizen and an avowed atheist- are about to realize the most life changing experience imaginable and then embark on a mission to the most dangerous area in the world- The Middle East. They will face constant danger, threats to their lives, political intrigues, demonic hindrances, miraculous victories, despair, perplexities, and crises of faith. Will they be able to fulfill their seemingly impossible commission against all natural odds? Hold onto your Bibles as you embark with them on the most supernatural adventure of a life time!!!!

Icons in Sinai

“Icons From Sinai:
Holy Image, Hollowed Ground”-*

A Review

by

R. Alan Woods

“When we look on an icon of a saint- and this is true for every icon of a saint- we venerate not the panel or the paint but the pious and visible figure.”- Saint Germanos, Patriarch of Constantinople (AD 715-730)

The Getty Center in Los Angeles loomed high upon a hill reminding me of the photographs I’ve seen of the fortresses built by Herod The Great during the first century BC I was privileged to have gone there with Mr. Duncan Simcoe, my Art and The Bible
instructor, to view a collection of icons on exhibit from the Holy Monastery of Saint Catherine*. The monastery- the world’s oldest continuously operating Christian monastery- is located at the foot of Mount Sinai in Egypt and was commissioned to be built
the Byzantine emperor Justinian (ruled AD 527-565) and under his rule the Byzantine territories encompassed most of the Mediterranean basin, including the Sinai Peninsula. Monks have resided here, at the foot of the mountain where Moses is said to have
encountered God, since the third century. It’s geographic location and political isolation from the Byzantine Empire prevented the destruction of it’s religious images during the period of Iconoclasm in the eight and ninth centuries. The “veneration” of
ons continued uninterrupted at Sinai, and over the last fifteen centuries the monastery both commissioned and received as gifts hundreds of icons, manuscripts, and liturgical objects. Today, Saint Catherine’s monastery is the world’s largest repository
Byzantine icons.

“By using bodily sight we reach spiritual contemplation.”- St. John of Damascus (AD 679-749)

Icons hold a central role in the religious practice of Eastern Orthodox Christians. Representing holy figures and events, they provide access to the divine by making visible that which is invisible and enhancing the viewer’s understanding of God and th
heavenly hierarchy. Unlike Renaissance paintings, icons do not depict figures within an illusionistic space, as if seen through a window. Icons bring the saint into the space of the pious viewer. During the period of Iconoclasm, AD 726- 843, several emperors
actively sanctioned the destruction of religious images starting with the Byzantine Emperor Leo III. In AD 843 iconoclasm was finally rejected as imperial policy and the restoration of the veneration of icons was hailed as “The Triumph of Orthodoxy”
with a little help from St. John of Damascus and his “Three Treatises on the Divine Images” written between ca. AD 726 and 743- in a ceremony that became annual, and still continues to be celebrated in the Orthodox (“the middle way”) Church on the First
Sunday of Lent.

“Suppose I have a few books, or a little leisure for reading, but walk into the spiritual hospital- that is to say, a church- with my soul choking from the prickles of thorny thoughts, and thus afflicted I see before me the brilliance of the icon. I am refreshed as if in a verdant meadow, and thus my soul is led to glorify God.”- St. John of Damascus


Icons are vehicles for intense personal dialogs between a viewer and a saint and can also be organized into comprehensive decorative programs in a church. In this manner they make the cosmic hierarchy visible and animate the church with the eternal presence
of the holy. Icons bring holy figures or events into the viewer’s presence thus the sacred time and space of the heavenly realm are merged in the church with the earthly time and space of the viewer.

Located far from- in time and space- the Byzantine capitol of Constantinople (present-day Istanbul), Saint Catherine’s monastery has maintained a collection of icons that allows us to tell the uninterrupted story of icon painting and veneration from the
sixth century to the present. I was honored and privileged to gaze upon with veneration and awe such Holy Images from such Hollowed Ground the day I went to The Getty Center Museum to witness the Icons from Sinai.


*Note: Before the relics of the martyr-saint Catherine of Alexandria were brought to the monastery in the eleventh or twelfth century, it was formally known as the Sacred and Imperial Monastery of the God-Trodden Mount Sinai.

*: The J. Paul Getty Museum in partnership with the Holy Monastery of Saint Catherine at Mount Sinai and the Supreme Council of Antiquities, Egypt.

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California Baptist University

01.12.06


Well, I've begun attendance at CBU for the spring 2007 Term to acquire my B.A. in Christina Studies with a concentration in Bible/Theology and will graduate with The Class of 2010!!!

Let the Adventure begin!!!!!

Love,

Roddy
Rodney.Woods@calbaptist.edu
(909) 289.8779 (cell)

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Rod's World 2007

Wishing all of you a Most blessed New Year!!!!

Love,

Roddy


Rod's Web Page

Recommendation for Admissions

Recommendation for Admission


TO THE APPLICANT: please submit two (2) letters of recommendation. One letter must be from a teacher or a counselor who is familiar with your academic progress and ability. The letter should be completed on Letterhead stationary. A relative or a member of the faculty or staff of California Baptist University MAY NOT complete your letter of recommendation.


Please advise the individual completing the recommendation to address the following points in their letter:

• How long you have known the applicant

• Your relationship to the applicant

• Academic ability of the applicant

• Strength of character of the applicant

• Emotional maturity of the applicant

• Potential for success in college

• Overall strengths of the applicant

• Any weaknesses of the applicant

It is important that the letter of recommendation be signed and dated by the author and that the applicants Full Name is CLEARLY printed in the opening of the letter of recommendation.


Upon completion of the letter of recommendation, have it mailed to:


California Baptist University
Office of Undergraduate Admissions
8432 Magnolia Avenue
Riverside, CA 92504


Thank you, Debbie.

Sincerely,

Rodney Alan Woods

Recommendation for Admissions

Recommendation for Admission


TO THE APPLICANT: please submit two (2) letters of recommendation. One letter must be from a teacher or a counselor who is familiar with your academic progress and ability. The letter should be completed on Letterhead stationary. A relative or a member of the faculty or staff of California Baptist University MAY NOT complete your letter of recommendation.


Please advise the individual completing the recommendation to address the following points in their letter:

• How long you have known the applicant

• Your relationship to the applicant

• Academic ability of the applicant

• Strength of character of the applicant

• Emotional maturity of the applicant

• Potential for success in college

• Overall strengths of the applicant

• Any weaknesses of the applicant

It is important that the letter of recommendation be signed and dated by the author and that the applicants Full Name is CLEARLY printed in the opening of the letter of recommendation.


Upon completion of the letter of recommendation, have it mailed to:


California Baptist University
Office of Undergraduate Admissions
8432 Magnolia Avenue
Riverside, CA 92504


Thank you, Debbie.

Sincerely,

Rodney Alan Woods

Rhemarodaw69

12/03/06

K Pasa !!! 

Hello to all You Bloggers!!!

Just a word to all you big,beautiful bloggers out there:

Fell free to post message on my message board. you can contact me at: rhemarodaw@hotmail.com

or online at MSN Messenger under my handle: rhemarodaw69. See ya there....;)

Sincerely,

Rod W.

Rods World

Rods World