President Kennedy's Biblical Salamander Meeting with Nephew, RFK Jr.
NC Register Interview with JFK Jr.
“The centerpiece of our lives [growing up] was Catholicism,” Kennedy told Arroyo.
“We said the Rosary at least once a day, oftentimes three times a day,” Kennedy said. “We prayed before and after every [meal]. We read the Bible every night. We read the lives of the saints. We went to church, sometimes twice a day. We would go to the 7 o’clock Mass and 8 o’clock Mass in the summers. It was our whole family, and it was really our whole community. It was part of me growing up.”
At age 15, following his father’s assassination, Kennedy expressed that he struggled with his faith. He became addicted to drugs, including heroin, until he was 28 years old.
“During that period of time, I wouldn’t say I lost my faith, but when you’re living against conscience, which you have to do if you’re addicted to drugs, you push God out over the periphery of your horizon,” Kennedy said. “So the concept of God was, although it never was erased from me, it was just a distant concept that was not part of my day-to-day life.”
He credits “a profound spiritual realignment” for his recovery from addiction in early adulthood, which he said has been “the centerpiece of my life ever since.”
The Biblical Meaning of a Salamander named "Shadrach"
March 11,1961- President John F. Kennedy visits with his nephew, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. who presented his uncle with a salamander, "Shadrach." - Oval Office, White House, Washington, - More at the JFK LIBRARY HERE
______________________________________________________________________________________________________
Salamander - A Merriam-Webster Dictionary Definition: "a mythical animal having the power to endure fire without harm".
The "Fire" Salamanders
It may be prophetic that Young RFK Jr.'s Salamander gift to his presidential uncle (JFK) was named "Shadrach" after the Babylonian name assigned to him by King Nebuchadnezzar as written in the Book of Daniel.
Wikipedia: "King Nebuchadnezzar set up a golden image in the plain of Dura and commanded that all his officials bow before it. All who failed to do so would be thrown into a blazing furnace. Certain officials informed the king that the three Jewish youths Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, who bore the Babylonian names Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and whom the king had appointed to high office in Babylon, were refusing to worship the golden statue. The three were brought before Nebuchadnezzar, where they informed the king that God would be with them. Nebuchadnezzar commanded that they be thrown into the fiery furnace, heated seven times hotter than normal, but when the king looked, he saw four figures walking unharmed in the flames, the fourth "like a son of God," meaning he is a divine being. Seeing this, Nebuchadnezzar brought the youths out of the flames, and the fire had not had any effect on their bodies. The hair of their heads was not singed, their cloaks were not harmed, and no smell of fire was on them. The king then promoted them to high office, decreeing that anyone who spoke against God should be torn limb from limb.".
We could conclude that King Nebuchadnezzar was converted away from Babylonian idolatry to accept the superiority of the "God of Israel" by the presence of a fourth divine being in the furnace who was essentially performed a "Christ-like" miracle in protecting the three youths who carried the Jewish names of Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah.