The Goal of a Tyrant

 Mount Ararat

When Noah descended from the mountain where the Ark landed they were at first afraid to move to the low land for fear of another flood.  According to Josephus (the Jewish history who was alive in 70 A.D. when the temple was destroyed by Romans), in slightly embellished terms, God told them to spread abroad and establish colonies but they refused.  Nimrod, the grandson of Ham, the son of Noah, decided he could out do God and any future floods by building a huge tower that they could rally upon if indeed the water ever flooded the lowlands again. 

Of Nimrod, Josephus wrote, "He also changed the government into tyranny, -seeing no other way to turning men from the fear of God, but to bring them into a constant dependence upon his power".

The bible tells us how this worked out for the future languages of the world, in the destruction of the Tower of Babel.

Covid Vacs Fear

 What is worse the virus or the cure?

So over the past two months I have had at least three people close to me have negative reactions to the Covid vaccination.  The first was a father in law over 80 who 24 hours after the shot one side of his face became swollen and it worked its way down his neck over the next few days.  It took several weeks of antibiotics to get rid of the infection.  He later refused the second shot and the nurse told him it was probably fine and that one shot would probably be enough in his case.

Then a male friend in his 50s who drives bus for a west coast city got the vacs and a few days later he developed an eye infection.  He got medication from the doctor and ended up having several more cases of eye infections over the following weeks.  Then one day while driving in his car his peripheral vision began having flashing leaf like floaters appear.  After a few minutes it went away and though he was startled he let it slip from concern until a few days later while driving the city bus it happened again.  This time it shook him up enough to go see his doctor.  The doctor said it likely had nothing to do with the Covid vacs and said the symptoms were similar to what some people have while having migraine headaches.  My friend has never had any of these things before.

Now another male friend of mine in his 50s got the vacs about two months ago.  Within a week he developed a lump in his groin.  Likely this is a swollen lymph node.  However two months later and he still has the lump and he is being monitored.

Well I guess it is no concern unless it is you who is having some weird reaction, right.  Even some big names like Eric Clapton have spoken out after having some terrible reactions to the vaccination.  After a bad reaction twice he refused to get the recommended booster shot.  For weeks he thought he would never be able to play the guitar again because of what it did to his hands.

May God protect us from this insanity.

Before the Gutenberg Bible

First Bible printed on a printing press 1454

We live in a day and age when the Bible is available in dozens of English versions and hundreds of  other languages, on our cell phone apps and every computer.  Only a generation ago there were just a few English translations and only a few hundred years before that if you did not read Greek, or Latin you were sad out of luck. It was not long ago when there might be one bible for a given church.  Large churches had visual images covering the walls and stained glass windows telling bible stories.  Later it was considered a special blessing if one had a family bible. Today in spite of biblical knowledge being available at the click of a mouse many people are quite ignorant of its message and when directed to it they are often touched on the raw.

For some however ones righteousness is almost gauged by how many times one has read the bible through and through, and how many verses one has captured to memory.  This self righteousness implies that the God cannot speak to man outside of a cerebral approach.  Before the printed page was simple human communication where people shared their understanding face to face, and talked to God in prayer for understanding.  If all of our digital and printed pages were to disappear God would still be able to communicate with his creation if only we would listen.

 

Tattoos for Jesus?

What kind of Christian continues to get tattoos?

It is one thing to have tattoos left over from a pre-Christian life but what does it say about a believer who continues to get body art after claiming to be a believer?  Both Apostle Paul as well as Peter wrote some advice regarding women's dress, jewelry etc. (1 Tim. 2:9-10, 1 Pet. 3:3-4).  They spoke of modesty.  One of the Greek words used was KOSMEO, where we get the word cosmetics.  So from first glance we might consider all adornment as an issue.  So does that mean no body lotion or hand cream?  Fifty years ago we would look through a National Geographic magazine and see the tattoos, piercing and nose rings of pagan tribes in Africa with disgust for such primitive behavior.  But now western cities are filled with shops who provide all of the above for both men and women.  It is no longer merely the sailors on ships that wear ink.  We no longer have to go to the circus to see people decorated from head to toe with ink and piercings.  While our cities are covered with graffiti now so are our bodies.

So what do we do with Esther who submitted to the kings demand and went through a beautification process where she had to wear an assortment of cosmetics (Est. 2:12) for such a time as this?  When a bride was chosen for Isaac she was given a gold ring and two gold bracelets, and the ring was for her nose (Gen. 24:22,47).  When Aaron made the golden calf he got the gold from the rings of the ears of their sons and daughters, (Exod. 32:2) therefore it must have been fashionable among the Jews in Egypt.

But back to tattoos, what does the Bible actually say?  Actually there is very little.  In Leviticus when addressing forbidden things related to cult practices we read "You shall not make any cuts in your body for the dead, nor make any tattoo marks on yourselves: I am the Lord." (Lev. 19:28)  I doubt many tattoo artists are doing any such thing for the dead or some religious tradition, it is more likely just art, which brings up another issue.  Who are we glorifying ourselves or God.  Is this a vanity issue, as in "please look at me"?  Are we lovers of selves rather than lovers of God?  Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit therefore we are to glorify God in our body and take care of the one we have been given.  So how about tattooing bible verses all over our body?  After all we are living sacrifices right?  There is no end to the justification people can dream up for crazy behavior and some of it causes people to stumble.  So what is your game?

Having a problem getting a job?

That reaping and sowing thing.

 

Jefferson and the Bible

 

Throughout Jefferson's life he often referred to God and the Bible and would consider himself a Christian yet he was never much of a church goer.  Educated as he was he could see through the fallacies of  the Catholic "Abracadabra" and the jihad of Mahomet.  He was fearful of expressing his opinion on religion as a politician even in his old age because he was well aware of the fire and faggots of Calvin and his victim Servetus.  His Unitarian views are well known.  He quite literally pasted biblical texts to blank pages avoiding the supernatural element of Christ in a publication that came to be known as the Jefferson Bible printed after his death.  Thus presenting a humanistic view of biblical morality without the atoning power of Jesus.

Elephantine Papyri and Nehemiah

While most bible students are aware of Nehemiah and his struggles with the sons of Sanballat (governors of Samaria) during the restoration of Jerusalem's walls and temple, few are aware that during that time there was a group of Jews in Egypt at Elephantine that were wanting to build a temple of their own. 

There is actually a papyri that came to light in 1947 that confirms communication with Sanballat in effort to get approval for a temple at Elephantine.  The religious practices of these Egyptian Jews was far from orthodox yet it does confirm the history of Israel during this time.  These papyri found at Elephantine written in Aramaic date to about 400 B.C. much older than even the Dead Sea Scrolls.  It is interesting that 1947 was about the same time of the discovery of many of the Dead Scrolls and shortly after came the rebirth of the nation of Israel in 1948.

Cataclysmic History of the Ancient World

 The Bible speaks of several cataclysmic events that shook the civilized world.  We read of the destruction of the tower of Babel and the flood of Noah.  Then there are smaller events that destroyed more localized areas like Sodom and Gomorrah, and the walls of Jericho.  In AD 363 an earthquake put an end to the city of Petra leaving us with more modern mysteries.  While the bible addresses the first man Adam, and Jesus as the last Adam there is much that the bible simply does not address.  How one is to fit the ancient South American pyramids and cultures into a biblical context is a bit of a challenge unless you are willing to fabricate a false narrative as the Mormons have done.  Josephus (A.D. 37- A.D. 100) goes into detail describing where the descendants of Noah settled but it is confined to Europe, Africa and Asia.  There is no mention of the American western hemisphere.  In the bible we read of fallen angels and demons, of giants and or Nephilim, which parallels the legion of Greek giants.  The God of the universe is outside of time and the bible gives only vague hints of the actual timeline of the early events.  How much of Greek mythology, Hindu tradition and American native traditions are based on some distant reality is merely an educated guess.  Josephus makes mention of historical writers outside of Jewish tradition that mention the flood story.

1943

Sphinx with no face and no feet

1867

Covered in sand with face disfigured

1843

Face unmolested, body covered in sand

2012
The limestone that makes up many of these Egyptian treasures
contain marine fossils call nummulites (little coins)

Feet exposed showing lack of weathering but walls of limestone around it, as Dr. Robert Schoch points out in his book Forgotten Civilization, show water erosion from a much earlier time.  Egypt was not always a desert.  Oyster fossils can be found on the Giza Plateau not far from the pyramids.  Later upper level erosion is from wind driven sand.  Much of the other dynastic era tombs and temples dating back to as early as 3,000 BC show little or no water erosion yet much of the wind driven variety, and huge statues toppled by earthquakes and other unknown events. As in other megalithic sites around the world such as South America, at some point about the time of the end of the ice age something happened that brought civilization to a screeching halt.  Then technology changed.  While huge pre-bronze age megalithic stones were being fit together with some unknown ability, and signs of highly advanced machining, then suddenly there was a step backward in craftsmanship.  As Brian Foerster in his book Aftershock points out the following people stacked much smaller recycled stone on top or used softer stone like limestone and sandstone rather than the granite or basalt of earlier builders.  Often man resorted to baked bricks instead of cut stone.  That certainly does not fit with the idea of man evolving upward.

Something like the Stonehenge of England, the Gobekli Tepe limestone columns of southeastern Turkey were mysteriously backfilled about 8,000 BC almost as though man was preserving a time capsule.  The artwork has been preserved in fine detail. What had been going on there for hundreds of years remains a mystery.  Did it have something to do with the stars?  One of the oldest text of the bible refers to the constellations of Orion and Pleiades (Job 38:31 and Amos 5:8) and it appears from the layout of megalithic stonework that quite sophisticated study of the stars was common in cultures around the world.

Easter Island carvings, what was the point?

Who carved them and why did they stop?

There are nearly a thousand of these guys facing inland with backs to the sea

Where did all the dirt come from that covered them from eight to ten feet on a small island out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean and how much time was required to do so?  Are they downwind of volcanoes that could have covered them in ash? No.  The amount of time required to bury these huge moai might very well put them back at the time of the ice age.  Why did the people suddenly decide to neglect their precious work?  Why were their unfinished pieces left still lying in the quarry?  Did they suddenly lose faith in some ancient vision or god?

Some moai statues are as much as 32 feet tall and 82 tons.  How were they moved from the quarry?  Some have suggested that there was some paranormal power employed.  While that might sound rather farfetched we have biblical stories of Moses dealing with magicians in Egypt and the children of Israel crossing the Red Sea on dry land.  Do we throw that out as fantasy as well?

Pre-Inca stonework in Peru

When the Spanish rode into town like gods on horseback carrying steel swords the locals were overwhelmed.  So what was the global fascination with pyramids?