Category: Biblical Studies

Among the parts of Paul’s metaphorical armor of God is the shield of faith.  It is to defend us against the flaming darts of the enemy.  One of these darts is really a derivative of the Devil’s first attack.  Hath God said?  He brings into question the truth of God’s word, leaving doubt and spreading unbelief.  It is easy for us who were educated in the western world to be filled with skepticism.  Under the auspices of naturalism, God cannot exist.  After all, we are told, there is no corroberating evidence of even the smallest part of the Bible being true.

I want to say to everyone who voted, good on you. It doesn’t matter who you backed, you cared enough to to do your duty to select the leadership of this country nationally and locally.

Either through unfortunately learning in sunday school or from listening to popular media, there is a myth that while God loves you, he is waiting around with a gavel for you to mess up so He can whack you.

This can’t be further from the truth.  He loves you and wants to be with you so much that He did the only thing that could be done to reconcile us to Him.  He sent His only son to live among us and to die in your place and my own.  He rose again, defeating death.  All of this so we can be reconciled to God.  He isn’t waiting to hit you with a hammer, he is waiting for you to accept his forgiveness.

Second, you do not have to be “good enough” in order to accept His invitation.  He died for us while we were still in our sin.  Come as you are is a phrase you may have heard or will.  It means exactly what it says.  Come as you currently are.  The invitation is out there.  Acceptance is free.

Yes, I know it is over a month since official Christmas, but last year I announced my favorite Christmas song so I’ll announce my favorite one for 2015.

Danny Gokey’s Lift Up Your Eyes

There is a guy who goes to the same church who teases me about not getting into the music enough.  If we sang this one, I’d be afraid I’d be too into it. I’m not a singer, so I’m also afraid I’d more shout the words than sing them.  Still, enjoy.

If you are like me and grew up going to a school in the United States, our way of thinking is there is the natural world and then there is God somewhere out there with an occasional intervention into the natural world. I challenge you to start thinking in a different manner. Start considering that there is no division. Instead God is working everyday in the natural world. He is not out there somewhere, but instead He is right here, always.

NOTE:  After writing this in draft, I went to a worship night for the first time ever.  For those who don’t know, it is a worship service not in the traditional sense that we know it, but it is where you go to sing, pray and there is a baptism of the holy spirit.  (I like the phrase “Spirit of the living God”, myself.  To me, holy is one of those religious words that is used so much its meaning is diluted.)  Anyway, it was awesome.  I can write (and probably will) write about that experience for several pages.  I didn’t go up front to volunteer for a baptism, but that doesn’t mean I wasn’t effected.  I have stories about that.  Skeptics out there may be thinking “oh here we go” but I’m telling you, unless you experience it, you will never know and will continue to have a hard time believing it.

While growing up, I attended Sunday school.  There, we learned what I’d call the highlights of the biblical stories.  One of them is the story of Nebuchadnezzar. It turns out Nebuchadnezzar was a real man, in case the reader is wondering.  The thing about Nebuchadnezzar and Sunday school, though, is that I was always left with the impression that he was just a bad guy.

Even the fairly recent TV series about the Bible missed this great opportunity to show redemption.  They left us with the impression that Daniel snubbed Nebuchadnezzar and the king lived out the remainder of his life insane. This is certainly not true.

Read chapter 4 of Daniel.  It is written, not by Daniel, but by Nebuchadnezzar.  It is his testimony and confession.  In it he explains what happened to him for his seven years of insanity.  In it he declares Yaweh the one true God.   I will not be too surprised to see Nebuchadnezzar in Heaven.  No doubt, Nebuchadnezzar did some terrible things, but also have no doubt that he can and may have been redeemed.  Just like you can be.  The same way the worst criminal can be or the same way the nicest person you’ve met needs to be.

I want to present to you, dear reader, evidence to consider.  Once again, put away your preconceptions and consider the evidence for what it is.  Consider the possibility that what this evidence indicates may be true and what the implications of that conclusion may be.

Modern Egyptology’s timeline is based largely on one man’s writing.  The source of Egypt’s chronology is Manetho’s Aegyptica. Manetho lived, it is believed, some time during the reigns of Ptolemy I – Ptolemy III.  This is about the same time that Ptolemy II called upon 70 (or 72) scholars to translate the historical texts of Judah into Greek.  This chronology is more popularly known as the Septuigent which is represented by the Roman numerals LXX.

Among the contents of the LXX are the scrolls which we call the Old Testament which contains the Torah.  The Torah and The Prophets have enjoyed, previous to and subsequent from the writing of the LXX, a very strict process to ensure their contents are the same as that of the original writings as far back as Moses.

Manetho was a priest of Ra.  He coined the term “dynasty” (which is the Greek word dynesteia.)  Manetho admits to using oral traditions, myths and legends in  his historical account.  There are several other contrasts between Manetho’s Aegyptiaca’s king list and archaeological finds.

So we have two sources of ancient history.  One written by 70 to 72 scholars and one compiled by one man.  The world has chosen to accept the one compiled by one man and is now the necessity to amend this its timeline as new evidence has come forth.

In Egyptian history there is a man named Imhotep.  There are many named Imhotep but I am writing about the first one.  Imhotep was famous for many things, not least of which was saving Egypt from a seven year famine.  He did this by building granary cities and storing surplus grain from the years prior to the famine.  Imhotep purchased all of the land of Egypt for Pharoah.  The only lands not purchased were those that the Pharoah had given to the priests.  You need not take my word for it.  The above information can be found on a stone dug up from Sehel Island which is in the Nile near Aswan.  The Famine Stele tells of a seven year famine during the reign of Pharoah Djoser.

Imhotep was known as an interpreter of dreams.  He was the architect of the first pyramids.  He married the daughter of the priest of On.  He lived to 110 years of age. A tomb believed to be that of Imhotep has been found but the sarcophagus contains no bones.

Imhotep was so popular, many named their children after him.  He was associated with the Egyptian god, Thoth.  The Egyptian god of wisdom and learning.  It was even believed that Imhotep was the successor to Thoth. Imhotep was also one of twelve siblings.

Friend, I don’t know how you got here or what brought you here but I want to tell you something very important.
No matter what you’ve done. No matter how terrible you think it was. You can be forgiven. There might be reparations required here in this world for whatever it was, but Jesus offers forgiveness for you. You need but ask.

It has been a long time but it came to me today that I am bothered by the fact that when I was growing up, I was left with the impression that God was just waiting around to swat me when I did something wrong.

I wish I was in a place where I could go see this event. If you are interested, please visit http://www.fathomevents.com/event/patterns-of-evidence-the-exodus.  The exodus story is one of my favourites and I am constantly researching evidence related to it.