With this, our 300th episode, SciFriday goes on indefinite hiatus.

We’ve had a wonderful time producing this program over the last seven years, but with a busy 2023 schedule that includes three weeks in Israel, three books, and two documentary videos to produce, something in our schedule had to give.

We close out this seven-year run with a look at the Roman god of transitions, Janus, the realSt. Nicholas, and an explanation of how the early church settled on December 25 as the date for Christmas. Here’s the hard, historically documented truth: It had nothing to do with Saturn, the winter solstice, Sol Invictus, Nimrod, or Baal. In fact, the origins of Christmas were not pagan in any way, shape, or form.

We may produce SciFriday specials in the future, but they will be available only through our app (gilberthouse.org/app) and our YouTube channel (YouTube.com/@SciFridayTV).

Join us in Israel! For details on our Israel Tour March 19-30, 2023, log on to www.gilberthouse.org/travel.

Loch Ness is best known as the home of a cryptid--the mysterious, serpentine creature called the Loch Ness Monster.

We didn’t see Nessie during our visit to Scotland in 2019, but we did see a site that played an important role in the spread of occult teachings in the 20th century: Boleskine House, which overlooks Loch Ness, was the home of occultist Aleister Crowley a little over a century ago. Crowley, who called himself the Great Beast 666, was so influential that his image appears three times on the album cover for the Beatles’ 'Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.'

Sharon explains why the late 19th and early 20th centuries were a transitional period for the world in terms of spirituality and the supernatural, which is why she set her series of supernatural thrillers The Redwing Saga right in the middle of this era. Watch for Crowley, Russian mystic Grigori Rasputin, and the creator of Sherlock Holmes, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, to appear in future entries of The Redwing Saga.

Join us in Israel! For details on our Israel Tour March 19-30, 2023, log on to www.gilberthouse.org/travel.

Sharon’s research for The Redwing Saga, her series of supernatural thrillers, turned up a historic link between the Watchers, Mount Hermon and Jack the Ripper.

Sadly, the British Museum doesn’t keep the inscription discovered by Sir Charles Warren in 1869 on display. Warren was later appointed Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, where he oversaw the unsuccessful Scotland Yard investigation into the Ripper murders of 1888.

We also discuss our visits to Pendragon Castle and Glencoe, sites that figure prominently in The Redwing Saga, and you can see for yourself why the landscape of the Eden Valley and Loch Leven has so inspired Sharon’s imagination.

Join us in Israel! For details on our Israel Tour March 19-30, 2023, log on to www.gilberthouse.org/travel.

This week, we share some of the background for Sharon’s series of supernatural thrillers, The Redwing Saga. The eighth novel in her series, The Poisoned Pawn, is available now, and Sharon explains why we traveled to the UK in 2019 to visit some of the sites we discuss this week.

What was so unique about Jack the Ripper, and why did Sharon decide use his killing spree as a starting point for her series? Is it possible that eyewitness descriptions were so different from one another because the killer was a demon using different men to carry out his hideous crimes? And to what end?

Join us in Israel! For details on our Israel Tour March 19-30, 2023, log on to www.gilberthouse.org/travel.

The region between the Sea of Galilee and Mount Hermon in Israel is covered with megalithic monuments to the dead.

We discuss the dolmen fields and megalithic sites of the Golan Heights and Hula Valley, like Gilgal Refaim and the Serpent Mound of Bashan, and connect them to the places where Jesus was baptized, based his ministry, and declared his divinity.

And you can see those sites with us this coming spring! For details on our Israel Tour March 19-30, 2023, log on to www.gilberthouse.org/travel.

New DNA research shows that Neanderthals and Denisovans, supposedly extinct distant cousins of modern humans, traveled much farther than previously thought.

Is it possible that the science isn’t as settled as paleontologists think? And that the global distribution of Neanderthals and Denisovans might have an explanation that defies conventional science?

We also explore a possible link to the ancient land of Bashan and Jesus’ choice to begin his ministry there.

NASA recently smashed a spacecraft into an asteroid to test a concept for a future planetary defense system. Is it a coincidence that asteroid Dimorphos is about the same size as Apophis, which will make a near-pass of Earth in 2029?

We also discuss the way social media algorithms shape our society. Here’s a disturbing thought: What if social media addiction leads to mental health problems by design? And what if that design is imposed on the algorithms by outside (i.e., spiritual) forces?

China’s President Xi Jinping was given a third term in office at the recent Chinese Communist Party congress, elevating him to the status of Mao Zedong, the leader of communist China from 1949 until his death in 1976.

We discuss an article by a Chinese expat who believes China might use a targeted bioweapon against Taiwan and whether that could even work, given that the island’s population is genetically very similar to mainland China, and reasons other than national pride that the Chinese Communist Party may want to take control of Taiwan.

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY are creating new ways for us to engage with the unseen realm.

We discuss the use of pharmaceuticals to ease depression, manage pain, and treat psychosis, which may actually make problems worse by opening gateways to entities who want to cause harm.

In the same way, augmented and virtual reality may create entries for entities to engage with the unprepared in ways they don’t expect.

WE WRAP our six-week series based on our last tour of Israel with a look at the incredible city of the Nabataean Arabs, Petra.

Petra was a cult center, a pilgrimage destination for pagans of the ancient world until the time of Muhammad in the early 7th century. That’s because Petra was the site of the original Mecca—and may have been the location of Mount Sinai, as well.

Join us in Israel! For details on our Israel Tour March 19-30, 2023, log on to www.gilberthouse.org/travel.