Only churches that can defend Biblical faith will survive. The Bible clearly presents the following as historical events that we need to defend as miraculous events of God’s making:
God created the universe in six twenty-four-hour days simply as a pattern for how man is to live. Six days we are to work and the seventh day is a day of rest and a day to worship our Creator God.
Adam and Eve were created in God’s image to be in a relationship with Him. Death and separation from God were God’s judgment as a result of Adam and Eve’s SIN (rebellion against God’s command).
Just 1600 plus years after creation sin had become such a problem that God judged humankind’s SIN again this time with a worldwide flood destroying all humankind and animal kind except those on Noah’s Ark.
God established the nations when He confused the languages at the Tower of Babel.
God established His nation; Israel was established for God’s purposes and it is yet to fully achieve those purposes. The fact that it was rebirthed as a nation in 1948 is a sign God is in control of His Story.
JESUS enters history (B.C. and A.D. ) to provide humankind with a way back into a right relationship with God. He paid the price for our rebellion against God. The penalty for rebellion was death and Jesus died on our behalf so that all those that accept Jesus as their Lord and Saviour are born again with the Holy Spirit to enable them to live a Christian life and be assured of resurrection to eternal life. First, the resurrected Saints will serve with Jesus for 1000 years (Millennial Kingdom) on this earth. Then the White Throne judgment, after which, there will be a new heaven and new earth where only the righteous dwell.
God has given us His Word by inspiring His prophets and apostles to write the Bible. Its authenticity is proved by the fact that much of it is now fulfilled prophecies and we are now seeing many end times prophecies being fulfilled in our time.
Fortunately, God has established the following ministries to equip us to defend all of these seven historical truths:
In particular, I personally recommend and use the Creation Magazine when I talk to a non-believer who raises evolution as an objection to accepting Biblical truth. Become a subscriber; go to http://www.creation.com
Can I suggest you watch out for a post I intend to do entitled Answering the Skeptics: No Evidence for God.
Further to my post on March 14th: BIBLICAL HISTORY: 1. IMPACT OF WORLDWIDE FLOOD ON NATIONS AND 2. GOD ESTABLISHES HIS NATION – ISRAEL, which included an article by Gavin Cox that revealed the Egyptians revered the eight people (Noah’s family) that survived the flood as God’s. They were referred to as the OGDOAD. Bearing in mind Noah’s sons lived for another 500 years post-flood, is it any wonder they were considered God’s by the post-flood people who had life spans up to 120 years. “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.“ Genesis 6:3.
Moreover, the Ogdoad, these eight people that came off the Ark were the source of all information that came from the pre-flood people who built cities, worked with iron and bronze, and played musical instruments.
“Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of all those who dwell in tents and have livestock. His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. Zillah also bore Tubal-Cain; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron.” Genesis 4:21-22
Additional proof is provided by the Ben Ben stones taken from the top of pyramids seen here in the Cairo Museum. The Benben sacred stone represents the primeval mound, the first land that appeared from the primeval ocean, called the Nun. It was upon this land that the eight ‘gods’ (OGDOAD) sprang into being; four males and their wives, headed by the chief god ‘Nu’ which is phonetically similar to Noah.
The pyramids were themselves extensions of the Benben. We know this to be a fact linguistically because the Egyptian word for pyramid is bnbn.t which is the female version of the bnbn sacred stone.
This explains the size and shape of the pyramids. They were a constant reminder to the Egyptians of the worldwide flood and the rebirth of the world from the deified eight occupants of Noah’s Ark.
This post will show that Ham, Noah’s third son was the Egyptian God Horus. It is part 1 of a two-part series by Gavin Cox.
One of the most famous and ancient of Egypt’s many deities was Horus, the falcon sun god. In two articles Gavin explore 12 key motifs of the life of Ham (Noah’s third son) drawn from the Genesis text. He then compares them to Horus drawn from Egyptian evidence, concentrating on the oldest evidence first.
Part 1 looks at the following motifs: 1) Ham is 11th from Adam; 2) the etymology of Ham’s name; 3) Ham came from a family of eight, and 4) Ham is the youngest of three brothers. These comparisons support the thesis that Ham was deified by the pagan Egyptians as Horus.
Egypt is eponymously called “the land of Ham” (Noah’s third son) in the Psalms (105:23, 27; 106:22) and “tents of Ham” (Psalm 78:51). Ham and Mizraim (Ham’s third son) appear together in Psalm 105:23 as designations for Egypt: “… Israel came to Egypt (miṣrāyim); Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham (ḥām).”
‘Mizraim’ is the common name for Egypt throughout Scripture. Ham was a first-hand witness of the Flood, and likely lived to a similar age as his brother Shem (500 years post-Flood, Genesis 11:11). Via Noah’s teaching, Ham knew about creation and the pre-Flood world, a knowledge that he would naturally pass to his descendants. All this became paganized by the Egyptians. Ham’s great post-Flood lifespan, involvement in re-establishing of post-Flood civilization, and knowledge of the pre-Flood world, likely meant he had divine status conferred upon him by the Egyptians.
Twelve key motifs of Ham’s life
Twelve key motifs of Ham’s life extracted from Genesis 5–11 (listed in table 1) will be compared to Horus. If Ham was deified as Horus, then the latter will likely reflect these motifs in some discernible, though paganized way. Article 1 will explore motifs 1–4, Article 2 motifs 5–12.
Both articles will set out to explore these connections, concentrating on the oldest Egyptian textual evidence in each case. Before this, a brief discussion of who Horus was is in order.
Introducing Horus—the falcon-solar deity
Horus is one of Egypt’s oldest and most important deities, attested to from at least the beginning of the Dynastic Period, where the familiar form of the Horus falcon appears on the Narmer Palette (figure 1).
Figure 2. Horus statue in black granite, Temple of Horus, Edfu.
Horus appears in Old Kingdom Pyramid Texts (OK PTs), along with his sons, father, and mother (see part 2). Horus is depicted as a falcon (figure 2) or falcon-headed man, who was considered a creator god, as well as a form of the sun. His father was Osiris/Geb, with a notable brother, Seth. Much could be written regarding Horus; however, my two articles will be limited to a discussion of Horus’s possible connection to Ham, Noah’s third son.
Eleventh from Adam: Ham cf. Horus
The Genesis 5:1-32 chronogenealogies place Ham (with his brothers) 11th from Adam. Can a similar chronological relationship be discerned in Egyptian mythology, regarding Horus?
Gavin’s previous article made the case that Atum is the Egyptians’ paganized memory of Adam. Although the Ennead was considered a unified group (typically of nine), evidence suggests (e.g. PT-600§1655), that they were simultaneously considered consecutive offspring of Atum.4 All had long life spans like Noah’s sons.
Like biblical Ham, Horus is synonymous with concepts of; a) (physical) “violence” (tkk); b) (earthy) “blackness” (km)/“darkness” (kk)/“twilight” jḫḫ.w; and c) (sun’s) “heat” (bḫḫ.w).
Family of eight—Horus cf. Ham
Genesis (6:18, etc.) informs us that Ham belonged to a family of eight—comprising four males and their wives. Ancient Egypt had a group of eight gods—comprising of four males and their wives (the Ogdoad) whose names (see later) appear in OK PTs. In previous articles,25 I concluded this group represented the paganized memory of Noah’s family. The question to be asked is, if Horus is the deified Ham, is he also connected to a family of eight? The evidence presented below suggests he was. Specifically, the Ogdoad, whose names include the couple Kek and Keket (kk and kk.t).11
Like the semantic meaning of Ham, as discussed above, Horus is also connected by similar concepts: “attacker” (tkk), “darkness/twilight” (kk, jḫḫ.w) and phonetically similar bḫḫ.w “heat”. Ogdoad kk can be understood semantically from words containing the phonetic root kk, (compare ḫḫ). Thus, a shared semantic range exists between biblical Ham, Horus, and Ogdoad couple kk(.t).
Additional textual and pictorial evidence connecting Horus to the Ogdoad comes from the Hunefer BOD vignette. As Ham came from Noah’s family of eight, Horus also comes from a group of eight gods.
Scripture states Noah had three sons: Ham “his youngest” (Genesis 9:24) and “Shem … brother of Japheth the elder” (Genesis 10:21 YLT). Here Scripture employs the adjective: קָטָן (qāṭān) HALLOT-8338 ‘small, youngest’ to describe Ham. Can similar relationships be discerned in Horus’s family? The following evidence suggests this is so.
Horus had a brother, Seth, (both sons of Osiris) with whom he struggled violently for political dominion (see part 2, motif 8). A closely aligned god called Thoth is described as a brother of either Seth, or Horus in the PTs, and one example in the Coffin Texts of Horus, Seth, and Thoth being described as brothers. In BOD, Thoth shares the same father (Osiris) as Horus and Seth. When these examples are considered, then Horus is comparable to Ham in having two other brothers, and himself being described as the ‘youngest’.
Conclusion
This article has looked at four motifs from Ham’s life and compared them to Horus, the Egyptian falcon sun-deity. We have found positive connections in the following areas: motif 1. Ham was 11th from Adam. The case can be made that Horus is 11th from Atum when Osiris as the fatherly bystander is included from evidence in PTs regarding the Great Ennead. Motif 2. The etymology of Ham’s name includes concepts of (physical) “violence”, (earthy) “blackness/darkness”, and (sun’s) “heat”. These concepts compare favourably with divine epithets of Horus. Motif 3. Ham came from a family of 8—four males and their wives. The case is made here that Horus ascended from the Ogdoad, who are four males and their wives. Specifically, Horus is connected to Ogdoad member kk (darkness) in which case kk follows the natural ascension of darkness to light, to transform into Horus as the sun. Motif 4. Ham was the youngest of three brothers, Shem, and Japheth. The case can be made that Horus is the “child” who has a notable brother, Seth, and closely aligned to Thoth, another brother-(like) god. The connections are intriguing and so merit further study. Part 2 will analyze motifs 5–12.
The history of the world that is taught to our children in schools and universities is made up, based on the presupposition that the world evolved from pond scum. God told us in advance that the world would deny the truth about His world so that we can know He is in total control of all history from its watery beginning to its fiery end.
“I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.”2 Peter 3:1-7
God’s Word reveals the entire history of this Cosmos from its creation out of water to its fiery end. Also, the Apostle Peter told us 2000 years ago that in the last days before Jesus returns to set up His Millennial Kingdom scoffers will deny it:
“You should remember the predictions of the holy prophets and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires ... For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, andthe earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God,and that by means of these, the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word,the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.” 2 Peter 3:2-7
The creation of the Cosmos by God and that the earth was formed out of water. Physicist Dr. Russell Humphreys proposed that God first created the earth and other heavenly bodies out of water. Then, according to this model, God transformed much of the water into other substances. Based on plausible assumptions about the initial magnetism, and a biblical age of the Creation, Humphreys also calculated the magnetic fields of other planets. In 1984 the Messenger spacecraft, made by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory for NASA measured the magnetic field of Mercury which confirmed Humphrey’s prediction to the astonishment of evolutionists. His model accurately predicts the field strengths we observe for other planets and explains features that are a puzzle to evolutionists. For a summary and references to Dr. Humphreys’ papers, see Sarfati, J., The earth’s magnetic field: evidence that the earth is young, Creation20(2):15–17, 1998.
The worldwide flood of Noah’s day when God poured out His wrath upon the earth destroying all but those that were in the ark. One of the proofs of the worldwide flood of Noah’s day is the millions of dead things buried all over the world – fossils and fossil fuels however there is also historical evidence: The eight survivors were deified as Gods by the Egyptians and known as Ogdoad. For more information on the Ogdoad see my recent post BIBLICAL HISTORY: IMPACT OF WORLDWIDE FLOOD ON NATIONS AND GOD ESTABLISHES HIS NATION – ISRAEL
God will ultimately destroy this earth with fire and create a new heaven and new earth where only the righteous dwell.
However, before this earth is destroyed the Bible reveals that it will exist for another 1000 years ruled by Jesus and the resurrected Saints. It is a transition period from the reign of Satan to God creating a new heaven and new earth where only the righteous dwell. During this transition period, Jesus will fulfill the prophecies given to Abraham and most of the O.T. prophets that God would raise up a Messiah, Jesus who would rule the nations from a magnificently restructured Jerusalem. God established His nation, Israel, to fulfill His purposes on this earth.
The following N.T. Scripture reveals that the Messiah must reign over his kingdom until he has defeated all his enemies. Once this is accomplished, Jesus will hand over the kingdom to the Father. When the Kingdom of God is handed over to the Father, it will be free of sin and death, identifying it as the Eternal State (Revelation 21:4, 8).
“But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then at His coming those who belong to Christ. Then comes the end, when He delivers the kingdom to God the Father after destroying every rule and every authority and power. For He must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet.” 1 Corinthians 15:23-25
Two more N.T. Scriptures refer to Jesus’ coming Millennial reign on this earth.
“ Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And in this way, all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob”; “and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” Romans 11:25-27
“Repent, therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago.” Acts 3:19-21
MILLENNIAL KINGDOM
With Jesus and the Saints ruling the nations in the Millennium, we can expect new technology to be developed further. I expect Nuclear Fusion will be the main power source. Robotics for the production and distribution of goods and other services: health, transport, and construction, to name a few. In the Millennium, I was surprised to learn that Jesus tells us repeatedly that He and the Saints will rule the nations with a rod of iron. Wise use of technology will be closely monitored. We will not see aborted fetuses used for medical experimentation, cryonics, cloning, or modifying DNA, things that are being pursued vigorously now.
“As for me, I have set my King (Jesus) on Zion, my holy hill.” I will tell of the decree: The Lord said to me, “You are my Son; today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.”Psalm 2:6-9
“From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron.” Revelation 19:15
“She (Mary)gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron,but her child was caught up to God and to his throne,”Revelation 12:5
If you have not already read Biblical History: Creation of Cosmos to Creation of Nations, can I suggest you do so, it was posted on 13/03/2023. I finished that post with God stepping into history to create the nations by confusing the language at the Tower of Babel. God created many new languages so that people would separate and populate all areas of the world God had created.
The next significant thing that God did was to create His own nation and He did so by selecting one obedient individual, Abraham from whom He would miraculously establish His nation Israel. It was miraculous because Abraham and Sarah could not have produced Isaac naturally. Sarah was 100 years old.
God’s nation, Israel, begins with a promise to one man, Abraham. For over four hundred years the people of Israel in bondage in Egypt rely on that promise to Abraham. God brought them out of Egypt with the greatest series of miracles ever. The EXODUS was the birth of the nation.
God tested Abraham’s obedience to the extreme by asking him to sacrifice his only son Isaac. If you want to be used by God this is the level of obedience needed. We need to trust God without qualification, absolutely.
“And the angel of the Lord called to Abraham a second time from heaven and said, “By myself,I have sworn, declares the Lord, because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your only son, I will surely bless you, and I will surely multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and as the sand that is on the seashore. And your offspring shall possess the gate of his enemies, and in your offspring shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice.” Genesis 22:15
“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the Lord loves you and is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers,” Deut. 7:6-8
It is obvious from these Scriptures alone that God has more plans for His nation Israel. From Biblical prophecies, we know that Jesus will rule all of the nations of the world from a newly constructed Jerusalem. It will be situated on the highest mountain in the world after God rearranges the earth and mountains during the time He pours out His wrath a second time prior to Jesus’ return to earth.
Back to the History of the world. Eight people came off the ark and it is interesting that they lived long lifetimes as did the pre-flood people. Shem died at the age of 1846 years. He outlived Sarah, Abraham’s wife. It is no wonder that the eight survivors of the Ark were considered gods by the Egyptian people. It was only after Noah’s generation that God reduced the life span to 120 years.
“Then the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.”Genesis 6:3
Four times in the Psalms, EGYPT is called by the name of Noah’s youngest son HAM. Semitic designation for EGYPT is MIZRAIM (Ham’s second son). The name MIZRAIM appears 680 times in the Hebrew Bible. CUSH (Ham’s first son) begot NIMROD (mighty hunter). The beginning of his kingdom (BABYLON) was BABEL on the plain of SHINAR where the TOWER OF BABEL was built.
Mizraim, Noah’s grandson, founded Egypt around 2100 B.C., a date consistent with both biblical and secular records. Of interest, the Bible also tells us that Javan, Noah’s grandson to Japheth established Greece.
The archaeological evidence does indicate that the eight people that came from the Ark who carried the sum total of all human knowledge, founded civilization, and outlived their descendants were deified in the pagan religions that arose after them.
All Egyptologists are well aware of a group of eight gods, four males and four females known as OGDOAD meaning eight. Note in these pictures on the walls of pyramids, eight people are pictured on the ark which is held up by the Egyptian creator God, Atum.
The OGDOAD are also well known in later Ptolemaic and Roman texts where they play a role in Egyptian cosmological theology concerning the creation of the universe from a watery abyss. These eight gods known as the Ogdoad derived from the Greek meaning eight and are found in what is considered the most ancient evidence in the fifth dynasty pyramid texts.
BENBEN STONES ATOP PYRAMIDS:
Benben stones in Cairo Museum. In the mythology of ancient Egypt, there are several accounts of the creation of the world. One of these is centered on the Egyptian Creator god Atum, and had its origins in the city of Heliopolis. The other in the city of Hermopolis . According to the Heliopolis version of the creation story, the universe was brought into being by Atum. In the beginning, there was nothing but darkness and chaos. It was out of the dark waters that the primordial hill, known as the Benben stone arose, on top of which stood Atum. As the Benben stone rose from the primeval waters, it has been suggested that this word is associated with the verb ‘weben’, which is the Egyptian hieroglyph for ‘to rise’. Also, in the Biblical flood account “And the waters continued to abate until the tops of the mountains were seen.” In both cases, land appears from a state of watery chaos. Desiring companionship, god Atum began the work of creation. In some versions of the myth, he created Shu and Tefnut (Adam and Eve?) who left Atum on the Benben stone and went away to create the rest of the world.
The Benben sacred stone represents the primaeval mound, the first land that appeared from the primaeval ocean, called the Nun. It was upon this land that the eight ‘gods’ (OGDOAD) sprang into being; four males and their wives, headed by the chief god ‘Nu’ which is phonetically similar to Noah.
The pyramids were themselves extensions of the Benben. We know this to be a fact linguistically because the Egyptian word for pyramid is bnbn.t which is the female version of the bnbn sacred stone.
This explains the size and shape of the pyramids. They were a constant reminder to the Egyptians of the worldwide flood and the rebirth of the world from the deified eight occupants of Noah’s Ark.
Nu is Noah. The names for the three other males are Kek, Heh, and Amun and are the equivalent Egyptian religious names for Ham, Japheth, and Shem. The consorts (wives) are merely the feminine forms of the male names. The names also describe the forces of chaos KEK meaning darkness, HEH meaning unlimited.
Why isn’t this taught in our history classes?
In the next part of Biblical History, we will look at Israel’s, and the world’s history up to the time of the greatest event in all of history.
Biblical chronology and the oldest ‘Yahweh’ and ‘Israel’ inscriptions: their significance for the traditional 1446 BC Exodus date.
This article discusses how biblical chronology is constructed and how the traditional Exodus date of 1446 BC is calculated and corroborated. Four pieces of supporting evidence are discussed, which can be dated to Egypt’s 18th Dynasty onwards. Specifically, inscriptions bearing the divine name ‘Yahweh’, and the earliest inscription of ‘Israel’ appear at the right time for the early Exodus date.
1) The oldest Egyptian inscription referring to ‘nomads of Yahweh’ occurs at Soleb, Nubia.
2) A Book of the Dead papyrus (Princeton Pharaonic Roll 5) bears a theophoric personal name utilizing ‘Yahweh’, likely meaning the owner was a ‘Semitic’/Jewish elite, buried in Egypt.
3) The oldest proto-Hebrew inscription, mentioning Yahweh, comes from Mount Ebal, Israel.
4) The oldest Egyptian inscription of national ‘Israel’ is dated between 18th–19th Dynasties.
The combined evidence strongly militates against the late Exodus date of 1267 BCand supports the Biblical Exodus date.
The true history of this world is so different from what is taught in our schools and universities.
CREATION VERSUS EVOLUTION
God says, “He created a perfect world, and He made man in His image to be in a relationship with Him. Man disobeyed God and brought death and sin into the world and separation from God.”
Just one generation from Adam; men were building cities, making musical instruments, and working with iron and bronze.
“Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch.” Genesis 4:17
“His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. Zillah also bore Tubal-Cain; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron.”Genesis 4:21-22
Man says, “A “big bang” caused this highly complex world to come into existence with its “laws” (gravity, conservation of mass and energy, thermodynamics, laws of motion, electrostatic laws, to name a few) and “information” (DNA) controlling the functioning of all living things. Absurd nonsense to say the least.
Man says, “Man evolved from apes, in fact, all living things slowly evolved over time from pond scum.” It was hard to keep a straight face as I typed this foolishness.
GOD POURED OUT HIS WRATH UPON THE EARTH ABOUT 4000 YEARS AGO
God says, “The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” “So the Lord said, “I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, man, and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens, for I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.”Genesis 6:5-8
God’s judgement with the worldwide flood (involving catastrophic plate tectonics) of Noah’s day lasted one year and ten days and it changed the topography of the entire earth resulting in millions of dead things buried all over the world and the creation of fossil fuels – coal, oil, and natural gas: all unexplainable by the evolutionary scenario of uniformitarianism which resulted in the billions of years, they needed to enable evolution to produce YOU from GOO.
Despite the fact that all people groups around the world have a flood story in their history, even Australian aborigines, together with the evidence of fossils and fossil fuels, still man says, Noah’s worldwide flood is a myth.
GOD CREATES THE NATIONS
God judged His people again just 200 years after He had reduced the world’s population to eight people. This time God confused their language and thereby created the nations that have emerged today. God had commanded people to go into all the world He had created but they decided otherwise.
“Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there.” Genesis 11:1-2
“Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”Genesis 11:4
“Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.” So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city.” Genesis 11:7-8
My next post begins with the fact that God created HIS own Nation for His purposes. However, let me finish this post with a scripture that tells us God knew that the world in our day would deliberately ignore the evidence for the fact that “the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished.“
“Knowing this, first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days with scoffing, following their own sinful desires. They will say, “Where is the promise of his coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all things are continuing as they were from the beginning of creation.” For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these, the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly.” 2 Peter 3:3-7
House of David Inscription on Mesha Stele Confirmed
More physical evidence demonstrating the Bible as a reliable historical document has surfaced concerning a royal Israelite House of David inscription. Using new advanced photographic techniques, the 2,800-year-old Mesha Stele was recently determined to contain clear references to King David that before were highly debated.
The Mesha Stele, also known as the Moabite Stone, is one of the oldest and most remarkable artifacts connecting biblical history to the ancient world, but there have been long standing arguments over the possible misidentification of the phrase “House of David.” The area of the inscription that features David’s name is damaged and partly unreadable. Only two of the five letters were clear until now, thanks to a new method of digital photography and a re-examination of the evidence.
References to the biblical history contained in the Mesha Stele inscription include:
‟YHWH” (This is one of the oldest references to Israel’s God ‟YHWH” outside the Bible. The oldest comes from two Egyptian inscriptions and the recently discovered Mount Ebal curse tablet.)
‟Israel” – six times (This is the third oldest known use of the name ‟Israel” in an inscription, behind the Berlin Pedestal and the Merneptah Stele.)
‟Omri …king of Israel” (Omri reigned in Israel a half-century after the death of Solomon split the nation in two.)
‟The men of Gad” (Gad was one of the Israelite tribes that settled east of the Jordan River, north of Moab.)
The text in question on the stone has been proposed to read “House of David” and “Altar of David.” Before now, scholars could not be entirely sure that these references to King David were being correctly deciphered. The Moabite phrase “House of David” consists of five letters but only the first and fourth letters of the series, bet and waw were completely clear. Three letters completing the reference to David were assumed to be taw (like modern Hebrew tav), dalet, and dalet.
In 2019, the prominent Israeli archaeologist Israel Finkelstein, contested the reference to David in the stele. He claimed the letters had been misidentified. Finkelstein suggested that the king referred to in the stele was Balak, a biblical Moabite who lived 200 years before David.
The archaeology department at Tel Aviv University, where Finkelstein is a professor, has a reputation for being skeptical about much of biblical history. The scholars involved in the study are of like mind when it comes to their view of the early history of Israel in the Bible. This may influence their study and interpretation of ancient inscriptions.
Recent re-examination of the evidence by researchers André Lemaire and Jean-Philippe Delorme has led to a pro-bible conclusion. They published their findings in a late-2022 article entitled “Mesha’s Stele and the House of David” in the winter issue of Biblical Archeology Review.
Conclusion
Exciting new technology is allowing the re-examination of ancient artifacts uncovering even more information than before. This new study of the Mesha Stele helps verify that King David did indeed exist and the Bible is an accurate record of history. This is the second clear reference to the House of David from the era of the Israelite monarchy. The archaeological world is generally skeptical about David – many saying he never existed as the king of a powerful Israel like the Bible describes, making this discovery so important. We can be confident that we serve a real God, a God who works through history and has provided us with a reliable record of the past.
Why are younger people departing from a Biblical worldview? How did this happen?
Satan developed a strategic plan to destroy God’s Word and he took aim at the foundational book of the Bible – Genesis.
Take God out of the creation story and you destroy the Biblical foundations: man and woman made in God’s image, marriage, supernatural beings, angels, including enemies of God – a fallen angel called Satan and his demons, The Fall of mankind, a worldwide flood of Noah’s Day, confusion of languages (Tower of Babel) that established the nations, andGod established His nation, Israel for His purposes. All leading to God, JESUS, entering history at the appointed time.
Evolution has been Satan’s most successful strategy. If Darwin’s evolution is true, God is not necessary to explain the existence of the Cosmos. It evolved over billions of years. To do that you have to make Noah’s Flood a myth and yet just about all people groups around the world have a flood story in their foundational history and numerous geologists of today recognize that there is abundant evidence in the rocks and fossils that speaks of water-related rapid catastrophic deposition, just as would be expected with Noah’s Flood. Sadly, the growing number of neo-catastrophists still cling to millions of years by assuming many sequences of catastrophes separated by millions of years.
Schools and universities now teach evolution and the Big Bang as fact. The U.S. District Court on December 20, 2005, charged that even teaching intelligent design (ID) was an unconstitutional establishment of religion. Even many theological schools have now accepted evolution and billions of years as scientific fact which has destroyed Biblical history and belief in an inerrant Bible.
Once God was removed from history then it was only a matter of time before God’s commandments were also jettisoned from every area of life: government, law, sex, marriage, family, life (abortion and euthanasia), and finally lawlessness abounds.
The institutional church has abandoned God’s word and lost its power. It is no longer relevant and in fact considered a danger that must be controlled by legislation.
Most parents still try to teach Christian values to their kids: how to be kind and generous and hardworking, etc. They have disciplined their kids in life skills like keeping a clean room and working hard at school and being polite. But at school, they are taught evolution and therefore the Bible and the God of the Bible are myths. The Bible and its God are no longer relevant, and “SIN” what is that? We can make up our own rules. Hence, abortion, euthanasia, homosexuality, gay marriage, and transgenderism are all acceptable lifestyle choices.
Unless parents tackle the creation/evolution issue and therefore the historical accuracy of God’s Word they will have little to no impact on their children’s evolutionary worldview which allows them to live the life they choose. Why would they choose all the constraints the God of the Bible requires? However, God’s Word is true; fulfilled Biblical prophecy proves it to be an accurate record of God’s dealings with His world. Parents need to teach this truth so their children will submit to their Creator and reject the lies of their enemy Satan who is out to destroy them. To help parents teach biblically, God has raised up ministries like Creation Ministries International (CMI – http://www.creation.com) and Answers in Genesis both with Ph.D. scientists who can clearly show evolution as a failed theory and that the Bible’s “young earth” history is supported by scientific evidence. They have excellent resources for Christians to use. Also, discipleship must be daily, and not just in life skills, but apologetics, theology, prayer, the power of God, and missions.
Also, Children need to be taught how to become born-again Christians with the Holy Spirit indwelling their spirit. We cannot live the Christian life without the Holy Spirit. We are told the Holy Spirit is the one who produces the fruit of the Spirit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, faithfulness, gentleness, goodness, kindness, and self-control. He is the one who will make us Christ-like (sanctification). He is the one who provides all nine gifts (1 Corinthians 12:4-11) of the Spirit for ministry. Much of the institutional church teaches that God the Father sent Jesus to provide the way back to the Father by His sacrifice for us on The Cross but they do not teach that Jesus made it possible for the Father to send the Holy Spirit to enable us to live the Christian life and all that entails. It is the power of God.
PRAYER
Father, we thank you for ministries like CMI that are addressing the attack on the inerrancy of your Word. Bless them we pray and show us how we can play our part in supporting their efforts, particularly with churches in our area of influence. We pray for Christians in schools and universities that they may be able to bring your truths to light in their sphere of influence. Equip them with the correct materials to use by guiding them to websites like http://www.creation.com. Heavenly Father we ask you to raise up churches that will operate like the early churches described in the Book of Acts in the power of the Holy Spirit to do what you called us to do:
“Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age” Matthew 28:19-20
“ You then, my child, be strengthened by the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men, who will be able to teach others also.”2 Timothy 2:1-2
“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old, he will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6
Secular archaeologists have spent 200 years attempting to establish that the Bible is a collection of mythology and Jewish/Christian propaganda, yet archaeological evidence is more consistent with the Bible as an accurate historical document. In Unearthing the Bible, Dr Titus Kennedy isolates and illuminates 101 archaeological discoveries that buttress the thesis that the Bible is a reliable historical record by the traditionally recognized authors at the traditionally accepted times they lived.
Kennedy’s book should be in the hands of everyone serious about a historical study of the Bible. Sketching 101 intersections between God’s Word and archeological evidence, Kennedy crafts a sturdy structure of information and argument that makes clear that belief in the truth, accuracy, and reliability of the biblical narrative is not merely possible, but it is sensible and rational. Indeed, it takes a full dose of willful blindness and/or intellectual dishonesty to refuse to acknowledge the legitimacy and implications of some of these artifacts. Complete with photographs and translations of ancient inscriptions, a helpful principle of organization, and explanations that are clear and coherent, the book is a genuinely useful tool. No fair-minded reader can deny the book’s success in demonstrating that ancient events left behind extensive evidence that the biblical narrative is accurate.
As Kennedy notes on page 9, “the Bible has been routinely attacked and disregarded on the basis of history or archeology.” Unearthing the Bible challenges those attacks and dismissals head-on. The book cites the biblical passages related to each artifact, anchoring the archaeological context with the date and location of each piece’s discovery, a note on the biblical period in question, keywords, and citations of related biblical passages. The reader’s sense and understanding of the relevance of each artifact to the scriptural record grows as the array of archaeological discoveries increases in number and characteristic. In the end, a reader hostile to a biblical worldview may still ‘attack’, but ‘disregarded’ is no longer an option.
Kennedy’s book is a collection of convincing illustrations that scientific evidence does not contradict God’s Word. Just as biology, geology, chemistry, and physics are consistent with the Bible, the evidence found in archaeology is consistent with the Bible.
What does the Bible say about our ability to create? First of all, it says we are made in the image of the greatest creator of all things, God our Father. We are then told that Adam’s rebellious son Cain built at least one city.
“Cain knew his wife, and she conceived and bore Enoch. When he built a city, he called the name of the city after the name of his son, Enoch” Genesis 4:17
Just seven generations down Cain’s line we then learn that Jabal was a farmer who raised livestock, his brother Jubal’s family played musical instruments (lyre and pipe) and Tubal-Cain forged instruments of bronze and iron.
What does this say about evolution and stone age people?
“Adah bore Jabal; he was the father of those who dwell in tents and have livestock. His brother’s name was Jubal; he was the father of all those who play the lyre and pipe. Zillah also bore Tubal-Cain; he was the forger of all instruments of bronze and iron.” Genesis 4:20-22
Despite the dreadful judgement of God with the worldwide flood of Noah’s day resulting in eight survivors, just a few generations on we learn that God judges the world again with the confusion of their language at the Tower of Babel. With just one language God says that nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. What does that say about our creative ability? Hence God creates the nations each with its own language.
“Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another’s speech.”
Once God had decided to establish His own nation, Israel, we learn that God gifted and called Bezalel to be a skilled laborer, a master craftsman, and a God-glorifying artist. Bezalel and Oholiab were not only to create works of art but also to train apprentices to do so. The gifting and calling were from God:
“He has filled them with skill to do all kinds of work as craftsmen, designers, embroiderers in blue, purple and scarlet yarn and fine linen, and weavers—all of them master craftsmen and designers”Exodus 35:35
What about today: with the development of the internet, the communication problem that God initiated at Babel is now largely overcome and new technology is being developed at lightning speed in energy, healthcare, agriculture, communication, transport, and in fact every area of activity.
I believe there is no reason why this will not continue during Jesus’ reign in the Millennium. However, its development will be controlled by Jesus and the Saints who the Bible says will be ruling in this transition era with a rod of iron.
“The one who conquers and who keeps my works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron,” Revelation 2:26
“She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron,” Revelation 12:5
“From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron.” Revelation 19:15
In this post let us look briefly at ENERGY and TRANSPORT
ENERGY: NUCLEAR FUSION
A UK-based company called First Light Fusion came up with an idea to build a nuclear fusion reactor that hits nuclear fuel pack with a projectile, having a speed 200 times more than that of sound and releases enormous heat, which gets absorbed by lithium that transfers heat to water through the heat exchanger. The reactor will repeat the process of hitting the fuel pack with the projectile every 30 seconds, resulting in generating a pulse of energy that could generate 5800kWh of electric energy. They plan to put the first commercial nuclear fusion technology power plant within a budget of $1 billion, generating 150MW power.
A major group of American scientists has agreed to work toward opening a nuclear fusion plant by the 2040s. The timeframe is intentional, letting scientists work on and learn from giant projects like Europe’s ITER and China’s EAST before designing a prototype of a fusion plant for the United States.
TRANSPORT: FUEL CELLS
Like batteries, fuel cells generate electricity, meaning that any car that runs off a fuel cell is actually an electric car. Also, like batteries, fuel cells mix two chemicals that react to produce an electric current. However, the important difference with fuel cells is that, unlike batteries, they do not store energy internally. Rather, they have their “fuel” fed directly into the battery “cell”, thus the term fuel cell.
The most likely fuel cell is the Hydrogen Fuel Cell. There are others in development. In the case of the hydrogen fuel cell, the two chemicals that react together are stored hydrogen and atmospheric oxygen. When reacted together they produce water. So if you have a hydrogen car, you can drink its exhaust. Also, fuel cells aren’t limited to smaller vehicles, they can power buses and, even, tractors. Whilst many fuel cells are under development the Polymer Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEMF) is one of the big favourites.
The Einride Pod driverless truck will begin operating for the first time on a U.S. public highway. The vehicles will have to stick to a defined route during a limited test program.
LIVING ETERNAL NOW 