Before this past week, the last time I got up-close to the massive bronze Wall Street Bull sculpture was when my sister and her 9-year-old daughter visited me. It was about a year after 9/11, on a Sunday afternoon following a rainstorm, and all of the Financial District was practically empty. There was nobody else even interested in the Bull whatsoever and we had it to ourselves.
The snapshot I still have, taken by my sister, is of my niece kissing the bull's cheek, as in "kissing the calf" (from the Book of Hosea), I guess? I've always wondered how she got the idea to do that.
This time, on a beautiful clear Thursday afternoon in the low '70s, the cobblestone street the Bull sits on could not have been more packed. Not only was there a line in front of the Bull for people wanting to pose for cell-phone snaps, but there was, get this, an even bigger line for the Bull's behind!
Yes, tourists from Europe mostly, and then some from Asia and elsewhere, were waiting to be able to sit underneath the Bull's backside and have their picture taken grabbing the Bull's testicles!!!
Even older and somewhat overweight people struggling to crouch to the ground and sit on the pavement for such a snapshot, shooting out both their hands to fully grasp his "stuff," were determined to get underneath him.
All of them, from what I saw, had big grins on their face as they were photographed with the 7,100-lb. bull that's supposed to symbolize "financial optimism and resilience."
Here's an old post and will have new article tomorrow.
From Bible passages in Ezekiel 1 and 10 and Revelation 4 it is clear the OX is a representative of the cherub who is Satan.
“Folks, people talk about the devil having two horns--the two horns are the horns of an ox!” says Richard Jordan. “People go around making signs with their two fingers—peace, victory, all that kind of stuff—and that’s the devil.”
An entry to Wikipedia under the heading “Sign of the horns,” “Gene Simmons of the rock group Kiss attempted to claim the ‘devil horns’ hand gesture for his own. According to CBS News, ‘Simmons filed an application Friday, June 16, 2017 with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a trademark on the hand gesture he regularly uses during concerts and public appearances - thumb, index and pinky fingers extended, with the middle and ring fingers folded down. According to Simmons, this hand gesture was first used in commerce - by him - on Nov. 14, 1974. He is claiming the hand gesture should be trademarked for ‘entertainment, namely live performances by a musical artist [and] personal appearances by a musical artist.’ Simmons abandoned this application on June 21, 2017.”
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"Do you remember in Genesis 3 when God talked to the serpent and told him he was going to be cursed above all the cattle of the field?” continues Jordan. “People come along and say, ‘Well, see, your Bible’s not very scientific. It doesn’t know the difference between a reptile and a cattle.’ Well, my dear friend, you just haven’t studied far enough! There’s a revelation there that science can’t pick up on and botany and biology can’t get! That tells you that the serpent standing there was cattle—he was an ox!”
In what has to be one of the most famous Bible passages of all, Genesis 3:13-15 reads, [13] And the LORD God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
[14] And the LORD God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
[15] And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
"When that serpent stood there talking to Eve do you think that was a snake standing there?" says Jordan. "Did you ever read in Matthew where Jesus told the Pharisees, the religious leaders of Israel, ‘Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?’
“He called them serpents and they weren’t snakes. They were men who had the CHARACTER, the nature, the spiritual status of ‘your father the devil.’ You see, He’s talking about the character.
“Lucifer was a cherub. In his fallen nature, he was a good-looking dude, able to transform himself into an angel of light. But his nature was that of a serpent; that dragon of Revelation 12.
“When Jesus Christ is called 'the lamb of God,’ do you think He’s a four-legged ‘baa’? Sheep with fleece on His back? When it refers to Herod as 'that fox,’ do you think he was a four-legged animal with a fluffy tail? No, these are terms that describe the character. The essence of the personality.
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“In Ezekiel, those descriptions of those beasts, those living creatures around the throne of God, identify the cherub as an ox who is a cattle.
"Yeah, there’s stuff going on way deeper than what’s on the surface. But if you don’t study your Bible as a Bible-believer, you’re never going to get that. You going to stumble on the surface stuff, stump your toe and run out ‘Aumph, Aumph, Aumph,’ all the way home. Or you’re going to give your Bible the benefit of the doubt and keep reading; you’ll find those answers.
“Look at the rest of that verse in Genesis 3:14: ‘and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life.’
“Now, when God says ‘upon thy belly shalt thou go,’ He’s not talking about slithering around with no legs; it’s not that at all. We got an old saying Down South, ‘He’s lower than a snake’s belly in a wagon rut.’ I mean, when you’re on your belly, you’re as low as you can possibly get. Every other creature is above you.
“God’s saying, ‘Satan, you’re going to be the lowest of the low.’ What did he want to be? He wanted to be like the Most High, but he’s going to be the Most Low and there’s going to be a war that goes on.
“When verse 15 says, ‘And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel,’ there’s going to be a war between the Most Low and the Most High.
"God tells Adam and Eve in verse 19, 'In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.'
“You know what you’re made out of? You’re made out of dust, dirt. With this stuff that transpired with Adam and Eve, God said to Satan, ‘You’re the lowest of the low and you’re going to consume man. If man’s left to himself, you’re going to eat him alive.’ Satan’s going to devour man’s body.
“Can I tell you that sin destroys you. There is no free sin. There’s a ‘pay day some day.’ Now, that thing about dust . . .
“Look at the account in Luke 13: [11] And, behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself.
[12] And when Jesus saw her, he called her to him, and said unto her, Woman, thou art loosed from thine infirmity.
[13] And he laid his hands on her: and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.
“When it says she’s ‘bowed together’ that means she’s bent over and can’t lift herself up. When you’re bowed down like that what are you looking at? You’re looking at your feet and the dust. Dust was all the woman could see. All she could see herself as was the devil’s food.
“That’s where Israel was and the only thing that could redeem her from that dust consciousness that she lived with for the 18 years, and she spent all her money on trying to get healed, was the Lord Jesus Christ when virtue went out of Him.