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ACTS 27:41 …striking a reef where two seas met, they ran the vessel aground; and the prow stuck fast and remained immovable, but the stern began to be broken up by the force of the waves. 42 The soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners, so that none of them would swim away and escape; 43 but the centurion, wanting to bring Paul safely through, kept them from their intention, and commanded that those who could swim should jump overboard first and get to land, 44 and the rest should follow, some on planks, and others on various things from the ship. And so it happened that they all were brought safely to land.

In both this passage, in Acts (the entirety of which is well worth reviewing) as well as the recent wreck of the Costa Concordia of Carnival (literally ‘fleshly’) Cruise Lines, we see a powerful and direct parable for our time on this earth under the ruler of this world (e.g., “the soldiers’ plan was to kill the prisoners, so that none [could]… escape”). We also see a parable relating to who captains the ship of our life, whose orders we listen to (or don’t) and how we endeavor to get from the proverbial ship to the proverbial shore through the proverbial storm, without being dashed to pieces on the proverbial rocks.

Pictured above is cover of the inaugural (January, 1990) issue of Minerva: The International Review of Ancient Art & Archaeology (pdf), a British publication. (And no, until this afternoon, researching this post, I’d never heard of it either.)

The Corinthian helmet, dating from no later than 600BC, serves to illustrate lead article: “In Search of An Etruscan Wreck”. The caption under the picture adds, “off the island of Giglio,” the same island where the Costa Concordia wrecked ten days ago (see below). The most authoritative and comprehensive book on the subject (the multi-volume, 1983 book, ‘The Giglio Ship’, by Mensun Bounds, published shortly after the first serious recovery work on the ship was completed, more than twenty years after its discovery), is quite understandably out of stock at major booksellers, the price for used copies already bid up over $50. The detail is unnecessary for our purposes, but here’s an excerpt, as well as a snippet from the original 1983 academic article, ‘A wreck of possible Etruscan origin off Giglio Island’, published in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology and Underwater Exploration.

Etruscan. Hold that thought. It’s important.

Note, from the map above, that the Costa Concordia’s usual route runs several miles to the east of Giglio, taking it much closer to Porto Santo Stefano, literally, in Italian, “the port of Saint Stephen”. The name Stephen means ‘crown’ and derives, not surprisingly, from the disciple, Stephen, who was said to have been “full of faith and of the Holy Spirit” (Acts 6:5) as well as, “full of grace and power… performing great wonders and signs among the people” (Acts 6:8) and who was stoned to death for boldly proclaiming the gospel, as we read in Acts 7 and briefly into Acts 8, where his burial is recorded by Luke.

The significance of the captain of the Costa Concordia (the decks of which are named after thirteen different European nations) steering well clear of Santo Stephano so as to show off in pride and eat a sumptuous meal with a woman not his wife, only to have his ship effectively ‘stoned’ from below should require no further unpacking! The world (including much of modern Europe) does not like to get near the true church, of which Stephen was the crucial first martyr (literally: ‘witness’) after Christ himself.

The Minerva article begins as follows:

“The discovery of the wreck on Giglio Island, near Elba off the west coast of Italy, goes back to a blustery day in August, 1961, when a British diving instructor, Reg Vallintine, who ran an underwater centre on the island, took his students to Campese Bay in search of shelter. There in the Bay he dropped anchor over the crest of a reef called ‘Secca I Pignocchi’, a vicious piece of granite that rises like a broken tooth to within only a few feet of the surface, ready to lacerate the hull of any unsuspecting ship that might be passing. They were almost at the maximum limit for safe diving, when Reg and two of his students happened upon the wreck.”

Campese Bay sits on the northwest side of Giglio Island (Isola del Giglio) about two miles, as the crow flies from where the Costa Concordia came to rest on the east side, just outside Giglio Porto. The Etruscan wreck is the oldest shipwreck in the world. Note that it was discovered the same month that Barack Hussein Obama was born. That may or may not be important, but in light of what I’m about to explain, it takes on extra dimensions.

In his book, ‘The Comets of God…’ (eye-opening and useful for reasons well beyond the astronomical), Dr. Jeffrey Goodman, a Messianic believer (saved in the eighties, when he was in his forties, and with whom I have spoken by phone) makes what is, to my mind, a compelling case, based on multiple lines of evidence (linguistic, archaeological, Biblical, biological, historical and others), for why Gog and Magog are not Russia.

Instead, they were a distinct people group that migrated from Asia Minor (modern Turkey, e.g., near Pergamum, “where Satan has his seat”; Revelation 2:13; home country of one of just five world leaders (Recep Tayyip Erdogan) with whom Obama says he has the closest/warmest relationship) westward to the Italian peninsula before the Romans.

Those people were more commonly known as… the Etruscans. Their descendants still reside largely on the Italian peninsula, having blended in over time.

It is supposed that, under the Etruscans, Isola del Giglio was “a military stronghold.” The ancient ship which wrecked on its rocks was carrying olives and olive oil (not uncommon, but symbolic, in scripture, of the Holy Spirit) as well “Corinthian perfumes” (again, not uncommon but, in scripture, symbolic of the prayers of the saints). And of course the helmet of Corinth, recalling the “helmet of salvation“ which Paul wrote about in Ephesians 6:17, picking up on a word from the prophet Isaiah 59:17, and echoed in his second letter to the Thessalonians 5:8). Inherent in the ancient wreck is the idea of those two worlds colliding: worldly military strength with Holy Spirit, prayer and the renewing of one’s mind through the salvation of Christ Jesus (helmet).

Writing about about the Etruscans, after several pages of calm, fact-based myth-busting in regards to Russia and the Scythians, Dr. Goodman observes (p. 342-344):

Recall that Gog is the Hebrew spelling of the name of the militant leader from western Asia Minor who was known as Gyges of Lydia to the Greeks. Migrants from Lydia called the Etruscans took control of the struggling local population of central Italy and put them on the fast track to becoming the powerful Roman Empire. The Penguin Dictionary of Archeology says “the influence of the Etruscans on Roman civilization was enormous.” Grahame Clark in World Prehistory states “Roman civilization was deeply indebted to the Etruscans.”

In the 5th century BC the famed Greek historian Herodotus, who is called the Father of History, told how the Etruscans came to Italy as a result of a migration from Lydia. Herodotus in The History (1.94) wrote that the Lydians set sail across the Mediterranean and colonized Etruria (Tuscany) because of a severe eighteen year famine in Lydia. To relieve the strain upon their food supply, half of the Lydian residents left with the King’s son, and called themselves the Etruscans after his son, Tyrrenius. Lydian oriental customs were at the heart of the Etruscan culture of Italy. According to Plutarch, Livy and Vergil, when Romulus (twin of Remus) founded Rome in 753 BC, he sent for men of Etruria (Tuscany) who directed him in all sacred ceremonies, ordinances and religious rites according to the Disciplinia Etrusca. These same ceremonial rites were used when Rome began establishing its own colonies in the fourth century BC and later.

By 600 BC the Etruscans took control of Rome and became the ruling aristocracy in a new society with an economy based on trade and commerce. The Etruscans were responsible for the urbanization of Rome, as well as it’s army and its economic advancement. They made Rome the leading state in Latium. Between 753 and 509 BC Rome was ruled by seven kings; the last three were Etruscan. Then in 509 BC the Romans revolted and overthrew the monarchy and established Rome as a Republic. The Etruscan king on the throne at this time was a tyrant called Tarquinius Superbus.

During the Etruscan rule of Rome, the king served as commander of the army, judge and priest. The Etruscans built temples, introduced the worship of the mother goddess and even began the wearing of the purple embroidered toga. The eagle or falcon was a symbol of Lydia, which the Etruscans also used, and in time the eagle headed scepter became a symbol of Rome. The symbol of Rome’s political power was the “fasces” (a tightly bound bundle of rods enclosing a double edged ax – see the 1916-1945 US Mercury dime reverse) also came from the Etruscans. Thus, both of the favored symbols of the Roman Empire, the fasces and the eagle were of Lydian origin.

From fancy pottery to oriental style burial tombs, the culture of Lydia was lifted and replanted just to the north of the city of Rome. As Gog’s descendents became the Kings of Lydia, their Etruscan cousins became the Kings of Rome (Herodotus 6:22), and they even used the word “Etruria” as a synonym for Italy. Now we can see the genius in using Gog and Magog as types of the antichrist and the final expression of the Roman Empire. Gog from Magog represents the rightful legal heir to the throne of the Roman Empire, since it was an Etruscan who last sat on the throne of Rome, and the Etruscan right to rule traces back to Lydia, whose eponym during Biblical times was Magog which means “the land of Gog.”

Brother Jeffrey goes on from there for several pages, in equally authoritative fashion, backed by sober and copious research.

The inescapable conclusion: Rome was/is Gog and its rulers: Magog.

All of which makes an article like the following more interesting in light of the Concordia parable avoiding Stephen in favor of an Etruscan military stronghold: Vatican Seeks Control Over Jerusalem Holy Sites (The Trumpet, January 19, 2012; H/T: Rob at In That Day)

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