Book Review/Discussion of THREE DAYS IN THE BELLY OF THE BEAST by Dan Holdings

       The thrust of this book was more on suspense and the nature of other dimensions, as well as the dangers of research in my son's chosen field, theoretical particle physics, rather than just clobbering people over the head with simple religious dogma. The book was a true page turner, well worth the time it took me away from my normal Torah Codes research. In particular, THREE DAYS broaches important questions about the identity of the Nephilim, Biblical giants who interbred with our ancestors. It also looks at what happens to our souls after we die. In a recent AP poll, 14% of Americans stated that they had, at least once in the lives, seen a UFO.  But did they see an alien craft? Dan Holdings makes a good case that such experiences may be interdimensional rather than extraterrestrial. In doing so he weaves a story that takes us there in a way far richer than just advancing a theory.

TIMING OF THIS BOOK'S RELEASE. While the LHC was largely built to find the Higgs Boson (discussed below), it was still unproven at the time of this book's publication, but it was indeed found shortly after publication. 

DISCUSSION OF TECHNICAL ASPECTS OF THE BOOK: As noted in the previous paragraph, the book scores a perfect 10 in that the Higgs Boson was actually found right after it was fictionally found in Holdings' book. This might tend to fool some folks into thinking that the author is a physicist (or a prophet), but as he made clear to me over the phone, and as he makes clear up front in his book, the work and its reference to the Large Hadron Collider, CERN and the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program in Alaska are purely imaginary.

1. Achieving Speeds Faster Than Light. The first glaring reach was that the LHC could be made to accelerate protons past the speed of light. Can the LHC do this? No, however a discussion is needed here. In 1948 Einstein wrote, “It is not good to introduce the concept of the mass M = m/(1 – v²/c²)^1/2 of a moving body for which no clear definition can be given. It is better to introduce no other mass concept than the ’rest mass’ m. Instead of introducing M it is better to mention the expression for the momentum and energy of a body in motion.” While the formula given implies that mass becomes infinite at the speed of light, in fact the rest mass remains constant and what really goes infinite is the kinetic or total energy of the object. To give an object infinite energy it is first necessary to put an infinite amount of energy into an object (here the proton) which is impossible. One theoretical particle that might go faster than light is a tachyon. I'm working on a page about these particles here. I suspect that the page on tachyons won't be complete until after my son, David, a theoretical particle physics PhD candidate at the University of Florida, has finished his courses in relativity. He will likely spend time at CERN while earning his doctorate. David has a page on his web site that deals with faster-than-light approaches in general relativity. It is here.

2. Blowing up Europe Along with the LHC. In Holdings' book the hero must fight a threat to blow up the LHC. The villain plans to use a non-nuclear explosive device to set off a thermonuclear explosion at the LHC at the moment of a high energy collision of (superluminal) protons. Other than the problem discussed above, the chemical energy imparted by such an explosive device would impart far less energy than what the LHC itself could produce. The explosive would break the LHC, but not cause a thermonuclear explosion any more than we would expect one to occur from the collision itself. Now, if a collision could be arranged between matter and antimatter, then we would see a large explosion, but we don't have enough anti-matter to do this now.

3. HAARP out to destroy the world. The High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP) is an ionospheric research program jointly funded by the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Navy, the University of Alaska, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Its purpose is to analyze the ionosphere and investigate the potential for developing ionospheric enhancement technology for radio communications and surveillance. The HAARP Research Station is on an Air Force–owned site near Gakona, Alaska. It does not beam particles into the ionosphere. HAARP has been blamed by conspiracy theorists for a range of events, including numerous natural disasters. However the project strives for openness, and all activities are logged and publicly available. Scientists without security clearances, even foreign nationals, are routinely allowed on site. The HAARP facility hosts open houses, during which time any civilian may tour the entire facility. In addition, scientific results obtained with HAARP are routinely published in major research journals written both by university scientists (American and foreign) or by U.S. Department of Defense research lab scientists. Each summer, the HAARP holds a summer school for visiting students, including foreign nationals, giving them an opportunity to do research with one of the world's foremost research instruments.

1. LEVITES. In Holdings' novel the atheistic descendant of a Levite Jew is the Chosen One, in large part because of his knowledge, but also because of his link to the tribe of Levi. I am a member of the Tribe of Levi, but it's important to understand why my older son is NOT a Levi while my younger son is, like me, still a member.

A. The Non-Levite Son. My older son had a gentile mother. She agreed to our son’s conversion at his ritual circumcision (brit milah) when he was 8 days old. But she never converted. Seven years later she baptized him Catholic, against his will, and mine as a joint custodial parent. I threatened to sue to Catholic Church for $6,000,000 unless they annulled the baptism; and so Archbishop McCarthy annulled it. The documents supporting all before this can be found on my site at VATICAN AND HITLER. Final result? The older son needed a conversion by an Orthodox rabbi (actually, two sets of Orthodox rabbis). He became a full-fledged Jew, and, after earning a geophysics degree at MIT, he went to Yeshiva Ohr Somayach in Monsey, New York where, after 5 years of study he was ordained as an Orthodox rabbi. BUT, because he was a convert, he was not permitted to be a Levite. That legal status is transmitted via the father only when the mother is Jewish when the child is born. As such, the older son is the Jewish equivalent of a commoner (an Israelite). That is, as a rabbi, he can conduct services, but when Kohanim or Levites are present, he cannot be called up to the Torah for a blessing until the third section of the Torah is being read unless there are no Kohanim or Levites present.

B. The Levite son. My younger son (David) has a Korean mother, but she converted to Orthodox Judaism he before was born. Therefore, he is a Levite. He may be called to the Torah second, after a Kohen is called up if one is present.

What can none of the Roffmans do? Wear priestly garments, as was done by Dr. Cooper in Holdings’ book. Only a high priest can do that. Now, an angel should know that, so if an angel were to come to a gentile, or to a Jew who was not a direct descendant of Aaron (that is, a Kohen), and ask that person to put on such robes and accessories, he would not be following the will of God. This fact is transmitted to us in the Torah via the rebellion of Korach, who was a Levite, but who was not a Kohen. As is recorded in Numbers 16:1-35; God responded to Korach’s affront and to that of his followers by having the earth open its mouth to swallow all of them alive.

Frankly, I’m proud to be a Levi. Men in our tribe (betweeen the ages of 30 and 50) carried the Ark of the Covenant. I’m fine with being called to the Torah after the Kohen, and I have no problem with being required to wash the hands of a Kohen when he gives the congregation a blessing at Rosh HaShana. I’m married to a convert, and that’s permitted; but if I were a Kohen I could not have married her. There are many Torah laws that pertain only to Kohanim, and others that pertain to all Levites. Note, all Kohanim are from the Tribe of Levi, as was Moses, but not all Levites are Kohanim because they primarily descend from the brother of Moses (Aaron). After Pinchas killed a Jew (Zimri) and a Midianite woman (Cozbi) while they were in the act of having sex after she had gotten him to kiss an image of Baal, Pinchas and his descendents were also permitted to be high priests (Numbers 25:1 to 25:16).

2. CONCERN ABOUT CHRISTIANITY'S ULTERIOR MOTIVES. When we compare relations between Jews and Christians today in America with what went on for most of the previous 2,000 years, there is no doubt that there has been a great improvement. But there is still much room for improvement.

       THREE DAYS IN THE BELLY OF THE BEAST is not a book that dwells on Jesus every moment. In fact, a search conducted for his name reveals that it was used only once (on page 323). Christ does not appear at all, but Messiah is used twice in conjunction with the Nazarene, and one of its uses is (on page 144) by an Orthodox Jewish woman (Helen) who chooses to believe in him before she is murdered by the Nazis. Her husband, Eleazar is also targeted for conversion (on page 438) at the end of the book. This raises a question often asked by Jews, "Is it possible for religious Christians to like Jews or support Israel without the hope that we will all eventually convert and also become Christians?" There are three ways to exterminate Jews. The first method was used by Hitler and almost universally recognized as abominable. The second way is to convert all Jews. Had we done that long ago, the Torah would not likely have survived. In fact we did not exercise the same care in preserving the rest of our Bible (the Tenach, known to Christians as the Old Testament) as we did with the Torah. You can examine how often Isaiah was corrupted in my page on the Dead Sea Isaiah Scroll. The third way to exterminate Judaism is to let us do it to ourselves - through intermarriage without a requirement for the non-Jewish partner to convert, and through Jewish apostasy and nonobservance of Torah Laws. Problems here are discussed on the page about Who's a Jew?  Reform Judaism started in Germany. Many German Jews, in their desire to be fully accepted by other Germans, saw Germany as the new Promised Land. They tossed out all the Torah laws involving ritual, including kosher laws and Sabbath observance. Moses warned us of a holocaust that would follow such behavior. Deuteronomy 28:15 to 28:68 is an extensive prophecy of the Holocaust that would find us if we didn't perform all His commandments.

       It's not east to follow Jewish law. The choice of kosher food is very limited where I live in Cape Canaveral, Florida, but every few months we drive 165 miles south to do our kosher shopping. To Christians who want to help Jews I would say this, encourage every Jew you meet to follow Jewish Law. Just before my younger son graduated from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, he told a professor that he could not come in to class on the high holidays of our faith. David gave plenty of notice. All he wanted was an early set of assignments that he could complete before the holidays when work is prohibited. The professor's response? "You should think seriously about converting to another religion." David earned his B.S. in space physics while he was only 18 years old, despite this kind of pressure throughout his education. It would not nice to see Christians cease this kind of behavior, and great to see them learn to accept us as legitimate children of God without the need for correction through a Christian baptism. We don't need any shields placed over our heads, but we do need a climate that allows us to serve God in the way that He intended. And that "way" is not necessarily the "way" spoken of by the apostate Helen in Dan Holdings' book.

HOLDINGS AND HIS BOOK IN THE TORAH CODE:  I was able to find the following matrix with terms related to Dan's novel.