Thanksgiving, like the once annual airing of The Wizard Of Oz used to be, is an event.

Yeah, some people make it out to be dysfunction junction (and for them, maybe it is), but getting to watch football all day on a day which usually would be spent slogging through work is a brilliant concept.

And, of course, it is a chance to feast.

It’s like being king for a day.

Bring me gravy! I shall gnaw on this turkey leg in a slovenly fashion as these superhumans on the television perform amazing feats for my amusement!

OK. It’s not’s not necessarily that dramatic and, as the Lions always play on Thanksgiving Day, the feats are not always amazing in a good way.

(though I cannot imagine how empty a Thanksgiving without the Lions playing the early game would be – it would be like a Halloween without a visit from The Great Pumpkin)

One Thanksgiving was spent living in London, eating some take-out pizza in an ice-cold flat.

And, in a cruel twist, my favorite team, the Steelers, was making a rare Thanksgiving Day appearance. They would lose, in overtime after a bizarre coin toss snafu to begin the extra period.

It was a game that would have been maddening to have watched and it was maddening to miss.

Thanksgiving hasn’t been brilliant every year, but that year – no food, no football, no heat – is really the lone one I recall as being truly miserable.

As a kid, our parents dragged us off to mass. I mean, you have the day off school and can sleep in and lounge on the couch; the last thing you want to be doing at an early hour is trudging off to church.

When I was fifteen, the priest decided to use his sermon to rattle off a laundry list of accidental nuclear exchanges between the US and USSR that had been narrowly avoided.

(this was 1983 and two months earlier there had been all of the hullaballoo surrounding the television movie The Day After)

I kept having images of an extra crispy bird and excessively dry stuffing.

It was a bit of a bummer.

It was also a year when the Steelers had a Thanksgiving game. Detroit beat them 45-3.

I had forgotten (or blocked it out) and had to research who played that season.

But, global tensions and football smackdowns aside, I have no doubt that the food was good.

That autumn, I was still listening to a lot of Top 40 stations, but Q95, an album rock station out of Indianapolis, had caught my attention as well and 97X was exposing me on a semi-regular basis to modern rock for the first time. Some of the songs on the radio that Thanksgiving…

Men At Work – Dr. Heckyll And Mr. Jive
from Cargo

By the end of 1983, Men At Work, who had burst onto the scene a year earlier, was over. It was amazing how massive they were and how quickly it ended, but their quirky music still sounds delightful twenty-five years later.

Dr. Heckyll And Mr. Jive was their third hit from album number two and had been preceded by Overkill and It’s A Mistake on the airwaves. I still think the former is their finest moment, but the latter did little for me.

I don’t actually recall hearing Dr. Heckyll And Mr. Jive on the radio much, but I always smiled at the line, “He loves the world except for all the people.” Some days, it’s quite true.

Rufus And Chaka Khan – Ain’t Nobody
from Stompin’ At The Savoy

I wasn’t much into R&B growing up. There was one station and, on occasion, I would end up there, but, unless the song crossed over to the pop stations, I wasn’t likely hearing it.

Ain’t Nobody crossed over big time and it hooked me the first time I heard it.

Michael Stanley Band – My Town
from You Can’t Fight Fashion

Cleveland’s Michael Stanley was a major act in the Midwest in the late ’70s and early ’80s. Living on the Indiana/Ohio border, their music found its way onto many of the stations to which I was listening.

There was a lot of economic malaise in the first few years of the ’80s, especially in the Rust Belt. The punchy, anthemic My Town was rock straight from the heartland and its sing-a-long chorus got it a lot of airplay, especially when stations began editing in a shout out to their respective city – Cincinnati! – into the song.

Genesis – Mama (radio edit)
from Genesis

Paloma professes to like Phil Collins, yet, whenever a song of his pops up on shuffle, she invariably is displeased and hits next. It’s a fascinating phenomenon that has us both baffled.

As for Mama, it was the first song from Genesis’ followup to Abacab and the album continued the trio’s trend toward more pop-minded fare (for the most part). Mama, though, is a sinister sounding track which is what happens when your lead singer cackles like he’s been on a bender with Gary Busey.

What I have learned today in Genesis that I thought was very interesting or that I didn’t know already!  The rainbow is Gods promise to all living creatures of every kind on the earth that God will never ever again destroy them with a flood Genesis 9:8-13.  Now when ever I see a rainbow it is like Gods signature in the sky!

The Spiritual Side of Healthy Eating

Today in America we face one of the greatest dangers to mankind’s well-being: the obesity and chronic disease epidemic overwhelming our country like a tsunami of despair and destruction.  Over 70% of adult Americans are obese or overweight, and the accompanying maladies associated with being overweight are also at astronomical numbers. The Liberation Diet program developed over many years has helped a small growing number of people get their health and weight challenges under control, yet we need to reach out to many more people with our message. One of the greatest hurdles we’ve faced has been the inability to get the message out in the mainstream. Since our message of real food for real people is contrary to the advertisers who help subsidize mainstream media, we will probably never have a fair shot in that arena. Yet in the world of Christian media, there is not the allegiance to corporate food and pharmaceuticals normally needed to pay the bills allowing these organizations to have a more open platform for sharing the truth about accurate health information. With this in mind, I have endeavored to look at what the Bible says about healthy eating, and compare our Liberation Diet protocols with the Word of God. I would preface by saying I am not a Bible scholar, yet I believe the Bible is God’s word for all mankind, to be obeyed. I also consulted with a faithful bible teacher before writing this article. Additionally, we used the King James Bible for our references and checked the original Hebrew and Greek for accuracy.

Many Strange Diet Teachings from the Bible

I have read many articles and books making claims about what the Bible teaches about healthy eating. Since I have discovered many of these conclusions not actually correct diet protocol (in my opinion), I went to the source to see for myself what the Bible really said. One of the principles in Bible study I have learned is that any conclusion we come to must be in harmony with the rest of the Bible, so picking and choosing passages we like to make our theory sound plausible and not synthesizing everything God has to say will often lead us in wrong conclusions. Satan also uses isolated Bible verses to teach false ideas, and yet still deceives many who only hear that since it came from the Bible, so it must be true. (Sort of like “Splenda, tastes like Sugar, because it’s made from Sugar!”) Keeping this principle in mind, I would like to put forth a somewhat comprehensive timeline of the Bible and its message about diet.

God has a lot to say about Food

In Genesis, we read God has a lot to say about food, and has instructions and modifications over time about what, where, and why we eat. First of all, God is deeply interested in what we eat, because He is the one feeding us. As we read in Acts 14:17, “Nevertheless, he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” Furthermore, the great test of the entire human race in the Garden of Eden was designed around obeying what God says about food. We read in Gen 2:16, 17, “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” God did not say the fruit of the tree of good and evil was unhealthy. He said not to eat of it, for spiritual reasons He did not make known to Adam and Eve. The false message from Satan about eating restricted food was and remains; A.    Eating it won’t kill you,  B.    Eating it will make you like God C.    Eating it makes one wise, (sort of like the “Smart-Food or Wise-Choice” names manufacturers ascribe to their artificial “foods”).   It was also good for food and pleasant to the eyes (nice packaging). This is summarized by God in 1 John 2:16, “For all that [is] in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, are not of the Father, but are of the world.” The devastating result of not taking God’s word about food seriously has had cataclysmic consequences affecting mankind. The real sin occurring in the event is that Adam and Eve did not seek God for clarification, but made an exact opposite decision to God’s command. Having now seen the disaster of not asking God for clarification with regard to food commands, one would think we would be very clear on what His Word has to say on the matter…But are we?

God Orders a Change in Diet

After Adam and Eve fell into Sin, God punished them, and also instructed them what to eat. Very clearly, we see food commands attached to the punishment of both Adam and Satan. This I believe is the Spiritual Side of Food. God is always teaching something about his Salvation Plan, through our relationship to food. In the curse of Satan we read: Gen 3:14, “And the LORD God said unto the serpent, because thou hast done this, thou [art] cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:” And in the cursing of Adam God says, Gen 3:17-19,  “And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed [is] the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat [of] it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou [art], and unto dust shalt thou return.” God’s message about food is tied to the unfolding of His salvation plan Gods’ message about food and our relationship to it changes as God develops His Salvation Program throughout history. At the time Adam fell into Sin, God makes no mention of eating animals at the first, because there was no Sin. However we can see that the food commands changed from fruit (sweet to the taste, in parallel to our former sweet relationship with Him) to herbs (sometimes bitter, in parallel to our present relationship with Him) and bread (needing to be baked in the fire, pointing to the work Christ did on our behalf, having gone through the fires of hell) These are pictures of our now bitter relationship with God, and a foreshadow of Christ, Who is the Bread of Life. God also kills an animal and makes coats for Adam and Eve. This is teaching we are spiritually naked and need a covering, which is why we still wear clothes today. This is also teaching the death of an animal is something God himself does; thereby we know it is approved to wear animal skins if necessary. This is a spiritual representation of the death of Christ and His covering which removes our shame. As our relationship to God has changed, so has God’s commandment about food and clothing.

Animal Fat Approved

The next biblical food event involves Cain and Abel, where we read Gen 4:3-5, “And Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD. And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:  But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.” This encounter seems to imply the fruit (sweet relationship with God, as in all is well as it was in the Garden of Eden) was not correct way to approach God, and the burnt offering with the fat (Christ as the burnt offering, death and fire) was the correct way to approach God, seeing we are now under His judgment, and in need of redemption. This is not saying correct protocol is all that’s needed for salvation. It is a parable; an earthly story with a heavenly meaning, about our relationship with our Maker. But for sure, fat and meat are quite acceptable to God.

Eating Animals Commanded

The next major food adjustment comes just after the flood of Noah’s day when Noah and his family were essentially starting the human race over again, but this time there were new food commands to reflect the now very different situation – Gen 9:2-3, “And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air, upon all that moveth [upon] the earth, and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are they delivered. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you; even as the green herb have I given you all things.” God is now commanding all animals shall be food for man, (everything that moves on earth; animals, insects, birds, fish) and Noah, who is a righteous man, will not make the same mistake Adam and Cain made; not to listen carefully to Gods commands about food. In this new command, unlike the Garden of Eden, God does not say we should only eat fruit, but again modifies the commands about food. Clearly at this point in history, God is no longer commanding a vegetarian diet. The death and roasting of an animal should always remind us of the judgment of God, and our need of a Savior. Every time we eat meat therefore, it should remind us of our need of Christ.

God is on the High-Fat Diet

As we saw with Abel and his sacrifice, God made mention of fat as an important part of His Program. Later in the Bible it’s explained the fat is for God, as it is the best and highest value of the food. It represents Christ and His sacrifice for Sin, and is in no way to be avoided. God himself appears on earth to Abraham as three men to talk with him about the coming judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah. Notice these verses: Gen 18:1 “And the LORD appeared unto him in the plains of Mamre: and he sat in the tent door in the heat of the day; And he lift up his eyes and looked, and, lo, three men stood by him: and when he saw [them], he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground.” We then continue in verse 7 and 8, “And Abraham ran unto the herd, and fetched a calf tender and good, and gave [it] unto a young man; and he hasted to dress it. And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set [it] before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.”

Milk, Meat and Butter

Notice carefully that God gives us a menu of what He eats personally so there is no mistaking it. He is eating butter (saturated animal fat), milk (raw, full animal fat, not refrigerated), and the calf. (Red meat, which is saturated animal fat). No doubt He may have eaten some bread and possibly other things, but in this situation, He shows us what He wants us to know. Saturated animal fat is on God’s menu and it certainly is not unhealthy to eat these foods. On the contrary, they are the best of foods! After all, would God eat less than the best, would Abraham, a very wealthy man, bring out for Jehovah God less than the very best? We also read about the Lord Jesus in Isa 7:14, “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil, and choose the good.” We need have no doubt. God the Father and God the Son, both eat butter! (Spiritually Speaking, the Good)

Too Much Water!

There is a great misunderstanding today about drinking water. We have been taught for about 20 years now to drink enormous amounts of water to help us lose weight, keep hydrated, and flush toxins from our bodies. I am quite convinced that none of these things are true and in fact it is very detrimental to drink too much water. I explain a lot of the detail of this in my book, The Liberation Diet. but I wondered if the Bible had anything to say about it. We read again about God appearing unto Abraham in Gen 18,   “and when he saw [them], he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself toward the ground, And said, My Lord, if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant:    Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree” Then when Abraham prepares Gods’ food, notice the menu   “And he took butter, and milk, and the calf which he had dressed, and set [it] before them; and he stood by them under the tree, and they did eat.” Please notice that God washed his feet with the water, but drank the milk!

Milk is a Picture of God’s Word!

The true believer who has the word of God in her mouth is spoken about in Song of Solomon 4:11,   “Thy lips, O [my] spouse, drop [as] the honeycomb: honey and milk [are] under thy tongue;”
Honey and Milk are pictures of the word of God, and as they are wonderfully healthy physically, they are also wonderfully healthy spiritually, if you are a lover of God.
Milk is synonymous with the blessing of God
We read in Leviticus 20:24,   “Ye shall inherit their land, and I will give it unto you to possess it, a land that floweth with milk and honey:”
Milk is also called the Bread of Life in Proverbs 27:27,   “And a sufficiency of goats’ milk [is] for thy bread, for bread to thy house, and life to thy damsels!”
The Word of God (Milk) destroys the Enemy (Satan)
We read of Sisera, a picture of Satan, asking for water, but instead getting Milk. This is God’s word which brings Life to some and Death to others. We read in Judges 5:24-27,   “Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent. He (Sisera) asked water, [and] she gave [him] milk; she brought forth butter in a lordly dish. She put her hand to the nail and her right hand to the workmen’s hammer; and with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote off his head, when she had pierced and stricken through his temples.  At her feet he bowed, he fell, he lay down: at her feet he bowed, he fell: where he bowed, there he fell down dead.”
Milk and Butter are used interchangeably here by God and spiritually they represent the pure gospel which is the enemy of Satan. It is not so farfetched in today’s perverse society to see the physical Milk being made illegal and Butter all but made to be the cause of disease and sorrow. Water is promoted as healthy, and yet this is not the case scientifically or biblically.

Don’t Pasteurize Milk

Three times in the Bible we read of Gods command not to boil an animal in its mother’s milk. We read in Deuteronomy 14:21, “Thou shalt not seethe (boil) a kid in his mother’s milk” I am not sure of the spiritual meaning of this, but the Bible brings a lot of attention to it. We do know that boiling or heating milk damages greatly the properties of milk changing it from a super healthy food, to a food that is deleterious to the body. This is also called Pasteurization. It changes milk from a living to a dead food.We can safely infer this from the mouth of God…God personally drank Raw Milk, calls it the blessing of God, and warns against boiling Milk (pasteurization). Exactly what the Liberation Diet recommends. There sure seems to be a lot of amazing coincidences with the Bible and the Liberation Diet!

Organ Meats

God also recommends the eating of Organ meats in the Bible. Organ meats would be the Liver, Kidneys, and other internal organs that are actually super healthy to eat. These are foods that traditionally have been eaten by mankind for centuries and renowned for their health properties. The work of the great nutrition researcher Dr. Weston Price showed that the healthiest people in the world all ate organ meats on a regular basis. Likewise the Liberation Diet promotes eating these super healthy foods. We do not find it to surprising then that the creator of people and organ meats points out their importance. We read in Exodus 29:13 and following, “And thou shalt take all the fat that covereth the inwards (organ meats), and the caul that is above the liver, and the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and burn them upon the altar.  But the flesh of the bullock, and his skin, and his dung, shalt thou burn with fire without the camp: it is a sin offering. And thou shalt cut the ram in pieces, and wash the inwards (organ meats) of him, and his legs, and put them unto his pieces, and unto his head.  And thou shalt burn the whole ram upon the altar: it is a burnt offering unto the LORD: it is a sweet savour, an offering made by fire unto the LORD.” The offering is a picture of Jesus, who is the offering, and the most important parts are the Fat and the Organ Meats, they represent the best of the offering, which is Christ. This is why God says it is a sweet savour to him. It now makes sense that the fat and the organ meats are by far the healthiest of all foods, as God teaches us through things in the creation, about His plan of salvation. What an amazing creator we have! How sad it is that today we don’t realize these organ meats have a sacred spiritual picture, and are not to be discarded and disdained, but appreciated for the life giving properties they hold. The Liberation Diet, with its emphasis on organ meats and cod liver oil supplementation is very much in sync with this biblical teaching. I did not know previous to writing this article that so much of our Liberation Diet was in tune to God’s Word. But I feel so assured of the program now, that I know it is in step with the real healthy eating authority, God.

Don’t Drink the Water!

God instructs Timothy against drinking water in the New Testament in 1Timothy 5:23, “Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach’s sake and thine often infirmities.” God is teaching that a fermented drink with small alcohol content (history says ancient wine was very watered down), would be healthier and appropriate to drink for health reasons. We can safely infer that fermented beverages of other varieties are also healthier than plain water. So once again God promotes milk and fermented beverage and says (paraphrase) “Don’t drink the water!” Correct me if I’m wrong, but I have not found any instance in the Bible where God or Jesus drank water or ate fruit. This is not to say that one shouldn’t ever eat fruit or drink water, but they are not emphasized by God in the Bible, but are heavily promoted by the modern day Health Authorities!

God Teaches Us through the High-Fat Diet

The message of God in regards to food is found in Gen 3:17-19,  “Cursed [is] the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat [of] it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field; In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground” One important point to note is that much of life in this present world is bitter. We are in a Sin cursed earth, under the rule of Sinful people. God, however does bring some blessings in our lives, and helps us from falling into despair. However, there is a balance of bitterness to sweetness in this world that is parallel to our diet. Much of our food should be bitter or in the case of eating meat, reminding us of death and our constant problem of Sin. If we think that this world is heaven, and all things can be made right, then we will look to have an all-fruit diet (high-carbohydrate). We eat desserts constantly and Love the sugars in our diet! This means we think that this present earth is the Garden of Eden, and all is pleasant with our relationship with God. A high animal fat, moderate protein, little carbohydrate ratio, is more correct in maintaining good health, and reflecting Gods salvation program.  This is also seen in the Cain and Able episode where the one brings fruit and the other a roasted dead animal! God had respect to the animal sacrifice, teaching that we are now in need of a blood sacrifice, not just fruit. We are currently designed by our Creator to eat fat and meat and some carbohydrates, and we don’t do well on an all fruit (high-Sugar) diet. Although this was the case in the Garden of Eden, there is now a definite change. If we continue to insist our own way, and if we make up our own program, it becomes deleterious to our health. We read in Proverbs 16:25, “There is a way that seemeth right to a man, but the end thereof is the way of death” It is amazing that today in America the official medical, government and almost anyone with any so called “health authority” is teaching to avoid saturated fats, and eat plenty of fruits!

Don’t Love Food…Love God

Quite often I hear clients express “love” for certain foods. This is truly inordinate affection, for when we love food, we are bordering on disaster. If the love of money is the root of all evil then is it such a leap of faith, or simply a pet peeve of mine that the “love” of food is the root of all unhealthy weight gain? We are to love God most of all and our wives, our husbands, our children, our neighbor. Food is not worthy of love, even as a figure of speech. The One who provides the food, (God) is. In one of the most defining moments of His Ministry, Jesus was asked which commandment was the greatest. He answered in Matthew 22:37-39, “Master, which [is] the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.” Jesus also adds in John 4:34 “Jesus saith unto them, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me”. Love is paramount but it is the love for The Creator and not His Creation of food that is primary….and certainly NOT the love of man-made phony “food products”. Did not Adam love food, more than God? Do not worship the Cow; worship Him who has provided the Cow – the same who has faithfully fed us all our lives.

Red Lentil Soup- Chosen over Christ

The next major event about food in the Bible involves Jacob and Esau, with Esau selling his birthright for a bowl of soup. The Bible records this in Gen 25:32-34, “And Esau said, Behold; I [am] at the point to die: and what profit shall this birthright do to me? And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; and he swore unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentils; and he did eat and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised [his] birthright.” Esau is a picture of Adam (all mankind), and as Adam gave up his relationship with God over food, so Esau gives up his birthright, which is Christ, over food. He now hates his birthright, who is Christ, and we read also God in turn, hates Esau. Rom 9:13 says, “As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated” O that we would love God more than a bowl of soup!

Clean and Unclean

The children of Israel under the leadership of Moses were given many laws to teach the spiritual truths of the Bible. Among them were certain dietary laws known as the ceremonial law. These laws were not like the moral law in as much as there was no spiritual benefit to observing them. They were however intricate and deeply spiritual in nature and were intended to illustrate some aspect of Gods Salvation Program. As we read in the New Testament, Gal 3:24, “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster [to bring us] unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” The laws of the unclean and clean animals, which said you could eat certain types of animals and not others, were teaching there are two kinds of people in the world; the saved and the unsaved. These ceremonial laws however, like many others in the Old Testament, have been fulfilled in Christ, and are no longer applicable today. By way of illustration, God goes out of His way in the New Testament to make it abundantly clear concerning these clean and unclean ceremonial laws, this is the case. As we read in Acts 10:11-14, “And saw heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending unto him, as it had been a great sheet knit at the four corners, and let down to the earth… Wherein were all manner of four-footed beasts of the earth, and wild beasts, and creeping things, and fowls of the air, and there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill, and eat. But Peter said, not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. And the voice [spake] unto him again the second time, what God hath cleansed, [that] call not thou common. This was done thrice: and the vessel was received up again into heaven.” God repeats His message in the New Testament, telling Peter three times so there can be no mistake. Then God records it twice in the Bible. We have been therefore, divinely assured it is in accordance with God’s will to eat beef or pork, tuna or shark, insects or reptiles, birds of the air. It is up to us to choose what we want to eat and when, yet it is all clean. This is representative of a big change in the development of God’s Salvation Plan. The new food protocol is reflective of that change. It’s a picture of how the Gospel is now to go out into “all” the world, Jew and Gentile: not to be held only in the nation of Israel.  God again brings out the importance in Gal 2:11-16, “But when Peter was come to Antioch, I withstood him to the face, because he was to be blamed. For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled (acted hypocritically) likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation (hypocrisy). But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before [them] all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews? We [who are] Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles, Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” In this illustration Peter and other early Christians, were eating food with the Gentiles, which then was called clean by God. Shortly thereafter, when some of the circumcision were present, and as not to offend, he and his team began to go back to the clean-unclean law already disannulled by God and separate themselves from the gentiles. The Bible point out vividly this act is sinful, and it doesn’t match the gospel of the faith of Christ, which would exclude any good works on our part. Eating under the clean-unclean Old Testament law would bring us back under the judgment of God.

Daniel and the Pulse

We read about one of the most famous yet misunderstood passages in the Bible about Daniel and his pulse (plant food). Daniel was of the children of Israel and captured by the Babylonians. He was chosen to be of the elite of the King and was commanded to eat the King’s food, for it would no doubt be the healthiest available. After all, Babylon was a great kingdom at this time in history. However, Daniel was still living during the clean-unclean era and it would be a sin for him to eat the king’s meat no matter how healthy it would be. So we read in Dan 1:8, “But Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king’s meat, or with the wine which he drank: therefore he requested of the prince of the eunuchs that he might not defile himself.” Daniel asked to eat vegetables instead because there was no clean-unclean laws concerning plant foods, and he could safely eat of whatever variety they offered. Now of course the best meat and fat from the king would be healthier for Daniel, but he proved obedience to God was more important than all. The Prince of the Eunuchs however knew what was commonly understood by all humans until our recent national brainwashing, that eating meat is much healthier than some vegetables! And furthermore so obvious was this to him that he feared for his life! We read in Dan chapter 1:10, “And the prince of the eunuchs said unto Daniel, I fear my lord the king, who hath appointed your meat and your drink: for why should he see your faces worse liking than the children which [are] of your sort? then shall ye make [me] endanger my head to the king”. God brought Daniel into tender favor with the Eunuch, and he allowed David to test his obedience to God with clearly inferior food, at the risk of his own head! God preformed a miracle in that Daniel looked healthier than the other children in spite of eating the lowest of foods, not because of them. Just like the Lion’s Den episode was a miracle, eating meat is and has been known to be healthier than plant food, and God set aside the laws of nature to perform a bone-fide miracle. The passage is of course misused by many to say vegetarianism is the better way. That conclusion would not be in harmony however with everything else the Bible teaches about food. It also doesn’t mean Daniel didn’t eat meat back in Israel where he could be assured of its clean status. After all, the children of Israel were commanded to eat meat on the Passover. The spiritual message is the least of God’s food is better than the best of Satan’s. Also obedience to God’s commands is better for you, even if they don’t seem to make sense! The king of Babylon represents Satan in the Bible, and the foods in this account represent the Gospel of Truth, or the gospel of Satan. As we read in Pro 15:17, “Better [is] a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith.” God is Love, so although it is obviously better to have a stalled ox; without God it is not better. It’s similar to having earthly riches, as opposed to spiritual riches. We sometimes think of Gods promises as small compared to the glory of this world, but in the end they are the greater. However, we are so confused about diet today; we don’t even know the first point, which is that the stalled Ox is better than the herbs!

Ye are the Salt of the World

The Bible has a lot to say about salt starting with the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah as Lot’s wife turned back and was turned into a pillar of Salt. Salt in its spiritual dimension is a picture of judgment. The Wrath of God in judgment on Sodom and Gomorrah is symbolized by Salt. We also see this in regards to the Sacrifices and offerings commanded by God. We read in Leviticus 2:3, “Every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt.” God states that salt shall not be lacking in the sacrifice. The burnt offering sacrifice is a picture of Christ, as he is our atonement. The Christ we worship must die, and go through the fires of hell (salt). Salt you see is very necessary in our health physically and very necessary spiritually to make sure we don’t have a Salt-Free Jesus! Gods’ message about our need of a savior is bitter, (bitter herbs), it requires death and fire, (roasted meat), and salt, (God’s judgment). The diet of the False Jesus is the high-carb sugary (God Loves Everybody), low-fat (no death needed, “Thou shalt not surely die”), low-salt (no judgment) Jesus. This parallels the fake-food modern-day American Diet. The same one that brings sickness, death and despair, is also spiritually what will bring spiritual sickness, death and despair. In the New Testament God says in Mark 9:50, “Salt is Good, but if the Salt has lost its saltiness, it is good for nothing, but to be trampled under-foot of men.” The spiritual message is that true believers have the saltiness of the judgment of God seasoning the gospel, and without it, it is good for nothing, because, it is now become a man-made gospel (Spiritual Processed Food). The man-made gospel is sweet and smooth and easy to eat, but the end of the salt-free gospel is to be trampled under-foot. That is, to be under Gods judgment. The physical counter part is that physical Salt is Good. We can be assured of this as the creator of food and mankind has declared it so. The same word Jesus uses to describe him-self when he said “I am the Good Sheppard”. Salt is Good, and healthy in many ways and truly essential physically as well as spiritually.

Ezekiel Bread

We read in the book of Ezekiel about the prophet being commanded to eat certain grains cooked with dung to be a sign to the children on Israel. We read starting in Ezekiel 4:9, “Take thou also unto thee wheat, and barley, and beans, and lentils, and millet, and fitches, and put them in one vessel, and make thee bread thereof, [according] to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon thy side, three hundred and ninety days shalt thou eat thereof.  And thy meat which thou shalt eat [shall be] by weight, twenty shekels a day: from time to time shalt thou eat it.  Thou shalt drink also water by measure, the sixth part of a hin: from time to time shalt thou drink. And thou shalt eat it [as] barley cakes, and thou shalt bake it with dung that cometh out of man, in their sight.  And the LORD said, even thus shall the children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the Gentiles, whither I will drive them.”

Spiritual Processed Food

This is a spiritual picture of processed food, starting with Gods’ work (the grains), and add mans’ work to it (the dung). Similarly, much processed food is started with natural substances, but the more man puts himself in it, the more defiled it becomes. This is spiritually a picture of the gospel of the Lord Jesus, as it is tainted by man’s works, which make it a toxic gospel. As we read in Ephesians 2:8, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast” Also, like toxic processed food, when you eat them you don’t die immediately, they taste pretty good and are smooth in the mouth. But in the end they destroy the body, just as the false gospel of good works sounds good (flattering) and feel good for a season, but in the end it is not the Lords’ way, but is our own way. Certainly grains and bread are eaten in the Bible, and are a spiritual picture of Christ also, who is the bread of life. But the problem in modern society today is not a lack of eating grains. The government recommends eating an inordinate amount of grain products. The first problem is that it is almost impossible to acquire truly healthy grain products in the U.S., unless you are making it carefully at home. The second and even bigger problem is that these grains are promoted as the formula for health, but the butter, and the meat and the milk are called unhealthy, yet these are the foods God himself eats.

Abstaining from Meat

Furthermore God gives us additional assurance we are on the right path in I Tim 4:1-4, “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; Speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron; Forbidding to marry, [and commanding] to abstain from meats, which God hath created to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God [is] good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.” God states, in no uncertain terms, those who preach the abstaining of meats are preaching the doctrines of devils, speaking lies and hypocrisy. They identify with Christ in some way, even claiming to be born-again Christians, yet are really agents of evil. God is very much not happy with those who preach a quasi-vegetarian diet, or a clean-unclean animal diet in the name of Christ. One may become popular using this wrong message, yet then they fall under the judgment of God rather than the mercy of God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The Bible also states, however there is no spiritual benefit to eating the recommended foods. As we read in Rom 14:17, “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.” Also we must be mindful those who choose not to eat meat are not necessarily unsaved. As we also read in Rom 14:1-2, “For one believeth that he may eat all things: another, who is weak, eatest herbs. Let not him that eatest despise him that eatest not; and let not him which eatest not judge him that eatest: for God hath received him.”

How often should we eat?

One of the strange diet teachings over the last twenty or so years is the idea we need to eat more often. This sounds plausible to people who are overweight and hear this message: Eat 5, 6, 7 times a day and you will raise your metabolism and burn fat. “Sounds” great yet, it’s just the opposite of the truth. Eating more often is what bodybuilders do to build muscle, and get big and bulky, because they can’t get enough calories at three meals a day. High level athletes with extreme exercise protocols also sometimes use this program, but for the average person it’s simply another mind-game deception to the end of misguided “weight-loss acceptable snacking”. It can be likened to an “Eating Stimulus Package”, wherein one eats their way to a thin and healthy body. Give thanks more often, snack less often! The Bible actually does weigh-in on meal frequency. The first is in regard to Manna, the supernatural food God sent from heaven. God sent it fresh every morning. And if it wasn’t eaten fresh it would go bad. Also, God states everyone should eat as much as he or she likes (no calorie counting). We read in Exodus 16:21, “And they gathered it every morning, every man according to his eating: and when the sun waxed hot, it melted.” This says clearly, God is using fresh food, once a day, for his people. It is not stated here directly how often they ate, but I suspect they didn’t spend the day snacking because it was the only food they had. The next event concerning meal frequency involves Elijah who was hiding by the brook Cherith at the command of God, and God personally takes over the food supply. We read in I Kings 17:4-6, “And it shall be [that] thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there. So he went and did according unto the word of the LORD: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that [is] before Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.” God shows us his pattern of meal frequency, which is two meals a day. We’re confident one meal a day was also common back in olden days, yet we’re absolutely sure two times a day is a good idea, because it Gods’ idea!  Also, giving thanks to God for our food is so much easier to do if we are not haphazardly ingesting snack food every few hours! Eating less frequently is not commanded by God. In my opinion however, God’s two meals a day frequency works magnificently. Proponents of the “snack-all-day-like-a-cow program” are simply paid or duped emissaries for the snack food manufacturers.

Recapping Our Understanding

· God initially used a vegetarian diet of fruit and herbs in the Garden of Eden

· Once Adam sinned, eating meat became the new standard, as the death of animals’ points to our need of Christ

· God uses Butter, Raw Milk, and Red Meat in the Bible and eats them personally to teach us that they are good, acceptable and healthy

· Clean and Unclean dietary laws know as the ceremonial laws were given to the Children of Israel only for spiritual teaching

· The New Testament ushered in a new era of the gospel and the unclean laws were done away by God most definitely

· God makes clear a person may choose to be a vegetarian or not, and it has no spiritual benefit

· All food is to be made clean by thanksgiving to God, each time we eat, we remember Him who faithfully feeds us

· The removal of some of the key foods in the Bible, Butter, Raw Milk, Salt, Red Meat etc. is causing physical damage to humanity, and its spiritual parallel is the altered gospel of a low-fat Jesus is likewise causing spiritual damage

The Diet Perversion

The problem in today’s society however is we’re taught eating saturated fat (meat, butter) is unhealthy and borderline unholy. After all, if eating butter is actually causing heart disease, should it not be against the law? Should it not be sin? In fact, selling real (raw) milk is illegal in some states, and pronounced unwise in all others. (God would be arrested!) These ideas are so wrong against mankind and so opposite of what the Bible teaches it is really Diet Perversion! Only in today’s society are the moral values established by Scripture so destabilized that we don’t know right from wrong.  We now also see the same thing with regard to diet. By eliminating animal fats from the diet, all kinds of deleterious physical effects are occurring at an alarming rate, such as an out of control obesity epidemic, tied directly to our refusal once again ask God for counsel about food.

Kevin Brown is president of Visionary Trainers, an In-Home Personal Fitness Company, and Co-Author of the Liberation Diet, a Real-Food traditional diet program that is helping many attain excellent health and normal weight. Kevin serves as a fellow on the National Board of Fitness Examiners, and is the principle force behind the online fitness website LiberationFitness.com Kevin and his wife Tracy are Chapter leaders for the Weston A Price foundation, a non-profit organization that is helping restore real food to its rightful place in the American diet.

This past week a group of Evangelicals came onto the UCLA campus in Westwood and gave away 2000 free copies of Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species (1859). But, as usual, there is a catch to such things. The edition of Darwin’s book was accompanied by a fifty page Introduction dissing the theory of evolution! Here’s the ministry responsible for the campaign, at its website, gloating over the success of its counter-intuitive evangelism strategy:

“You’re not supposed to be here today. We are not ready!” That was the reaction of one atheist at UCLA when we showed up on the 18th to give away 2,000 books. He was right. We originally intended to give the copies of On the Origin of Species out on the 19th, but because of the threats of book burnings, of “unilateral resistance,” and the many threats to tear out the Introduction, we changed our strategy. We are so glad we made this move. Atheists had planned to disguise themselves as students and collect multiple copies themselves to stop students getting the books.

The ministry is headed by Ray Comfort of “banana creationist man” fame (see here). The ministry also claims to have distributed over 170,000 copies of Darwin’s Origin so far, and they have gone onto some of the world’s most prestigious campuses to do so (including Oxford and Berkeley).

Needless to say, Richard Dawkins is pissed. And Dawkins is no slouch in the clever retort department. Perhaps the New Atheists will mount their own counter-evangelism campaign: distributing an edition of the New Testament with an Introduction by Richard Dawkins and with footnotes by PZ Myers?

No, I’m not talking about a job, although, for most families, a job is something they would love to be thankful for if they could get one.  No, I’m talking about good, honest hard work, in every way.

The Scriptures are littered with verses and passages commanding us to work.  Even before the Fall, God appointed Adam to work (Genesis 2:15).  Proverbs 12:11 says, “Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits lacks sense.”  This applies particularly to us as women, especially those of us who stay at home according to the Lord’s calling.  God doesn’t want us to sit around all day watching Soaps or gossiping with the neighbors.  He commands us to work, whether that work produces income, or a welcoming environment and good food for our family.

One of the things I’ve had to learn since I’ve recognized and decided to rid myself of my selfishness is asking for work.  In my selfishness, I used to sit around and watch TV until I was asked to do something, claiming, “Well, I don’t know what I should do!”  True, I’m still learning more about my mom and what she wants from me, so sometimes I do have no clue what I should do.  Now, though, through the work of God, I’ve been making it a point to ask her what she would like me to do, not out of guilt or because I’m afraid she’ll yell at me, but because I know she needs my help - and I need to work.

There’s a saying that goes something like this: If you do what you love, then you’ll never work a day in your life.  But Proverbs 16:3 says, “Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.”  In other words, no matter what work you do, if you commit it to the Lord … he will give you whatever you want?  No, but he will bless you, and if he works in you the way he has in me, he’ll change your heart and your attitude about work.

Thank God for work.

Last updated: November 24, 2009

English Translation (ESV)

¹After two whole years, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile, ²and behold, there came up out of the Nile seven cows attractive and plump, and they fed in the reed grass. ³And behold, seven other cows, ugly and thin, came up out of the Nile after them, and stood by the other cows on the bank of the Nile. ⁴And the ugly, thin cows ate up the seven attractive, plump cows. And Pharaoh awoke. ⁵And he fell asleep and dreamed a second time. And behold, seven ears of grain, plump and good, were growing on one stalk. ⁶And behold, after them sprouted seven ears, thin and blighted by the east wind. ⁷And the thin ears swallowed up the seven plump, full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream. ⁸So in the morning his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was none who could interpret them to Pharaoh.

⁹Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “I remember my offenses today. ¹⁰When Pharaoh was angry with his servants and put me and the chief baker in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, ¹¹we dreamed on the same night, he and I, each having a dream with its own interpretation. ¹²A young Hebrew was there with us, a servant of the captain of the guard. When we told him, he interpreted our dreams to us, giving an interpretation to each man according to his dream. ¹³And as he interpreted to us, so it came about. I was restored to my office, and the baker was hanged.”

¹⁴Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they quickly brought him out of the pit. And when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh. ¹⁵And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. I have heard it said of you that when you hear a dream you can interpret it.” ¹⁶Joseph answered Pharaoh, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh a favorable answer.” ¹⁷Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Behold, in my dream I was standing on the banks of the Nile. ¹⁸Seven cows, plump and attractive, came up out of the Nile and fed in the reed grass. ¹⁹Seven other cows came up after them, poor and very ugly and thin, such as I had never seen in all the land of Egypt. ²⁰And the thin, ugly cows ate up the first seven plump cows, ²¹but when they had eaten them no one would have known that they had eaten them, for they were still as ugly as at the beginning. Then I awoke. ²²I also saw in my dream seven ears growing on one stalk, full and good. ²³Seven ears, withered, thin, and blighted by the east wind, sprouted after them, ²⁴and the thin ears swallowed up the seven good ears. And I told it to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me.”

²⁵Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are one; God has revealed to Pharaoh what he is about to do. ²⁶The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears are seven years; the dreams are one. ²⁷The seven lean and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven empty ears blighted by the east wind are also seven years of famine. ²⁸It is as I told Pharaoh; God has shown to Pharaoh what he is about to do. ²⁹There will come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, ³⁰but after them there will arise seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. The famine will consume the land, ³¹and the plenty will be unknown in the land by reason of the famine that will follow, for it will be very severe. ³²And the doubling of Pharaoh’s dream means that the thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about. ³³Now therefore let Pharaoh select a discerning and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt. ³⁴Let Pharaoh proceed to appoint overseers over the land and take one-fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven plentiful years. ³⁵And let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming and store up grain under the authority of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it. ³⁶That food shall be a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine that are to occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land may not perish through the famine.”

³⁷This proposal pleased Pharaoh and all his servants. ³⁸And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this, in whom is the Spirit of God?” ³⁹Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has shown you all this, there is none so discerning and wise as you are. ⁴⁰You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command. Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you.” ⁴¹And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.” ⁴²Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, and clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain about his neck. ⁴³And he made him ride in his second chariot. And they called out before him, “Bow the knee!” Thus he set him over all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁴Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, and without your consent no one shall lift up hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.” ⁴⁵And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphenath-paneah. And he gave him in marriage Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On. So Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.

⁴⁶Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁷During the seven plentiful years the earth produced abundantly, ⁴⁸and he gathered up all the food of these seven years, which occurred in the land of Egypt, and put the food in the cities. He put in every city the food from the fields around it. ⁴⁹And Joseph stored up grain in great abundance, like the sand of the sea, until he ceased to measure it, for it could not be measured.

⁵⁰Before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph. Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore them to him. ⁵¹Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s house.” ⁵²The name of the second he called Ephraim, “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

⁵³The seven years of plenty that occurred in the land of Egypt came to an end, ⁵⁴and the seven years of famine began to come, as Joseph had said. There was famine in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. ⁵⁵When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do.”

⁵⁶So when the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. ⁵⁷Moreover, all the earth came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, because the famine was severe over all the earth.

Notes

1-2 After two whole years, Pharaoh dreamed that he was standing by the Nile, and behold, there came up out of the Nile seven cows attractive and plump, and they fed in the reed grass.

The Nile River was the primary source of Egypt’s economic and social stability. “The motif of seven cows is a familiar one from Egyptian paintings and texts.”¹

8 So in the morning his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was none who could interpret them to Pharaoh.

It is inconceivable that the professional dream interpreters are unable to provide “interpretations.” The key phrase, therefore, is “for Pharaoh,” that is, their solutions do not satisfy him. The fact is that there is nothing in the dreams that relates in a personal way to Pharaoh himself. This, incidentally, is in contrast to all previous dreams in Genesis in which the dreamer plays a central role. It is therefore clear to Pharaoh that his dream experience has a wider, national significance. The customary fawning and flattering expositions of the magicians are therefore unconvincing.

The failure of the Egyptian professional dream interpreters has a significance that reaches far beyond the immediate story. This incident – the first clash recorded in the Bible between pagan magic and the will of God – constitutes a polemic against paganism. The same motif recurs in the contest between Moses and Aaron and the court magicians of Egypt in Exodus 7-9, in the rivalry between Daniel and the magicians in Daniel 2 and 4, and in the story of Balaam in Numbers 22-23.²

14 Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they quickly brought him out of the pit. And when he had shaved himself and changed his clothes, he came in before Pharaoh.

Egyptians preferred to be clean shaven.

32 And the doubling of Pharaoh’s dream means that the thing is fixed by God, and God will shortly bring it about.

This remark recalls the double dream that Joseph had in chapter 37 and foreshadows that those dreams will also be fulfilled.

38 And Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this, in whom is the Spirit of God?”

Joseph is the first person in the Bible said to be endowed with the Spirit of God.

40 You shall be over my house, and all my people shall order themselves as you command. Only as regards the throne will I be greater than you.”

This clause [and all my people shall order themselves as you command] is much discussed. A literal translation is: “and on your mouth all my people shall kiss (you)” (we’al-pika yissaq kil-’ammi). First, let us look at some of the ancient versions. The LXX rendered yissaq with hypakousetai, which would correspond to Heb. yaqseb (Hiphil), meaning “give heed, obey.” Hence, “all my people shall be obedient to your mouth.” The Pesh. read yissapet, “shall be judged.” The Targ. rendered yissaq by the Ithpeel of zun, “be supported, managed” – “by your words all my people will be supported [or sustained, girded],” or in a secondary sense, “when you speak, all my people shall maintain silence [i.e., seal their lips, or be obedient.” Of these ancient versions, the LXX seems the most likely.

Some modern scholars have looked to the Egyptian language for clarification. One Egyptian idiom for “eat” was “to kiss one’s food.” So understood, the phrase would be read as “according to your word shall my people eat.” Others have appealed to the Egyptian idiom sn-t3, literally, “kiss the earth,” meaning “render homage.” So understood, the phrase would be read “according to your commands shall all my people kiss (the earth in submission).”

Redford avoids Egyptian analogies altogether and identifies yissaq with suq: “and in accordance with your command shall my people order themselves.” Perhaps the simplest and most convincing explanation is to emend MT yissaq to yasoq (from nasaq II, “yield, submit to”).³

42 Then Pharaoh took his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, and clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain about his neck.

The signet ring enables Joseph to sign documents in the king’s name.

43 And he made him ride in his second chariot. And they called out before him, “Bow the knee!” Thus he set him over all the land of Egypt.

The most intriguing part of this verse is the word used by the runners before the chariot (or the pharaoh) as Joseph rides over the land: Abrek (‘abrek). Three different interpretations of this term are genuine possibilities. Dahood has appealed to Eblaite ‘agarakum and its variant ‘abarakum, “superintendent.” Close to this possibility is the suggested association of Heb. ‘abrek with Akk. abarakku, “chief steward of a private or royal household.” This Akkadian word is a technical title from Neo-Assyrian texts, a strange source to explicate a hapax legomenon in the Joseph story!

The third suggestion is to turn to the Egyptian language. In the early years of this century W. Spiegelburg connected ‘abrek with Egyp. ib-r.k, “Attention! Make way for!” (reflected in NEB and JB mg.). Vergote suggested more recently a connection with Egyp. i.brk, “do homage,” that is, taking it as an imperative with prothetic i from the Semitic verb barak, “to kneel.” Spiegelberg’s suggestion is better philologically because a prothetic aleph is not characteristic of third radical verbs in Egyptian. Vergote’s suggestion is preferred contextually because it is an explicit command to do something, rather than a vague summons, “Attention!”⁴

45 And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphenath-paneah. And he gave him in marriage Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On. So Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.

The meaning of Joseph’s new name is uncertain. Asenath means “she who belongs to (the goddess) Neith.”⁵ The priest of On (Heliopolis) held the title “Greatest of Seers.”⁶ On was the cultic center of the sun-god Re and was located about 7 miles northeast of modern Cairo.⁷

51 Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh. “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s house.”

Manasseh means “he who causes to forget.”⁸

52 The name of the second he called Ephraim, “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

Ephraim means either “fertile land” or “pasture land.”⁹

55 When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do.”

The famine and Joseph’s position will result in the meeting between Joseph and his brothers.

Bibliography

Last night in Genesis we had our own version of “I’m a celebrity get me out of here” with a selection of “Bush Tucker Trials”. We had teams who competed against each other by eating things that they would not normally eat, finding stars in the dark under the staging, retrieving precious treasures from a bucket of doom and eating flumps from a thread of cotton etc

Mike Woodington provided the talk and he talked about self-worth. Often people feel unable serve the Lord because they are not good enough, strong enough or important enough.

“But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things – and the things that are not – to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God – that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption.” (1 Corinthians 1:27-30)

Given that I’ve posted nothing in weeks, I thought I should write something.

I’ve been recently playing on the PS3’s Sega Mega Drive Collection, and became really immersed in revisiting some of my favourite games from the 8-16 Bit Eras. Amongst their ranks (as the title of this entry suggests) is the Streets of Rage trilogy, and so I’ve decided to do a short review on the original (my personal favourite of the series).

Mega Drive Classic.

The first thing I should probably say about this game is that I spent a vast portion of my time between the ages of 5 – 8 playing it to death on varying levels of difficulty, and is perhaps one of my favourite games ever.

The premise of the game is very, very basic, like 80’s B-Action-Movie basic. A Criminal organisation, known to the player only as the Syndicate, has managed to effectively take power, bending the police force and government to serve their needs. You play as one of three young cops Adam Hunter, Axel Stone or Blaze Fielding, who are determined to clean up the crime that is all too ripe on the streets of the nameless city.

The gameplay features simple three-button conrols, using ‘B’ to attack and pick up items, ‘C’ to jump and ‘A’ to do a ‘Special Attack’, this basically calls in external help in the form of SWAT. Players 1 & 2 receive seperate special attacks, player 1 will call a Napalm strike, and player 2 receives help in the form of RPGs. There is no difference in damage ratio, but it is nice to see different animations for each player. As with the majority of games released at the time, levels are 100% linear, you will walk from the left hand side of the level, to the right hand side before encountering a boss.

The Boss fights are some of the fondest memories I have of gaming, these guys are like 3 or 4 times the size of the generic grunts that plague the rest of the level, and much tougher, in some fights your health can just drain so quickly, due to the sheer damage these guys can deal with single blows. The best thing about the boss fights is the classic MIDI-Rave Soundtrack that accompanies every boss fight, it is just asking to be remixed, and for all I know, it could’ve been.

The game is only 8 levels long, but there is a certain charm about it that will keep you coming back for more. While Streets of Rage may not be the most rewarding of game experiences, and it’s gameplay may seem somewhat shallow, it’s sure as hell one of the most fun, and has become my ‘Chillout Haven’ during time away from the more complex and story driven games life has to offer.

For the first 20 years or so of my Christian life, I didn’t understand what was so bad about the “knowledge of good and evil”. I knew that this property of the tree made it evil while the tree of life was good. I also knew that whatever the knowledge of good and evil was, humans weren’t supposed to have it. But what is it?

When we ate of this tree we got something that we could never get back. We got the ability to be judges. Some may say that this isn’t so bad, but if you think about it, I think you will concur that we do not have what it takes to be judges. You see, it takes perfection to be a judge. The knowledge of good and evil is this thing that makes us put one thing in one category and another in another. It makes us put one person in the “good” category and someone else in the “evil” category. You may ask “is this so bad, clearly God does it”? That is right; God does know the difference between good and evil but with one key difference. He knows the difference accurately. You see, God is perfect so He judges what is good and evil against Himself and thus judges perfectly. The sins of the world are really caused by our inability to be able to judge between good and evil. We go to war because we decide who is evil and who is good (but can both sides be right?). We try to get things for ourselves instead of for our neighbor because we consider ourselves better than them. We don’t love our brothers and sisters because we don’t think they deserve it and we think that we do. All of these things are because of the knowledge that we were never supposed to have. God was supposed to be the one to decide what/who is good and what/who is evil. He is supposed to be the judge because He judges righteously. If we could learn to remove all judgment we would live righteously.

Filed in:

Both Feet Firmly on the Ground (Cosmology)

So YES.  I have recently affirmed publicly now that I am indeed a 6 day creationist.  This is a recent development and I want to explain why I felt constrained to making this move.  The posting of this thought began in THIS [Click Here] post, and continues in the current post as installment 3:

What Kind of Literature is Genesis?

As I am an Old Testament teacher, I spend a lot of time teaching Genesis every year.  Mind you, I have always dearly loved the Bible and the God who wrote it.  I haven’t been a godless secularist waiting to destroy Jesus.  I have been an evangelistic, child rearing, wife honoring, church serving Christian living under the incredible burden of a nagging scientism and a hermeneutic of doubt.

Back to Genesis, I read and memorize bits of Gen 1 every year.  We memorize Gen 1.1-5, and 1.26-28 (*the first day of creation and *the cultural mandate).

For years I have assumed that Gen 1-11 (Primeval History) was allegorical and that Gen 12-50 was historical.  Please notice:

I have never doubted the existence and necessity of miracles, but I felt at that time that

• Adam-Babel was obviously a different form of literature than what we would rely on for history, and that
• Miracle is always literarily highlighted as miracle rather than taken for granted.

A Seamless Garment

In truth, there are NO markers in the text indicating a transition from mythic to historical material.  In fact, it looks to me a lot like these are all definitely intended to be read in unity.

Example 1

• Adam made as God’s son, is made to fall into a deep sleep, his flesh is divided, and a covenant of marriage is created: “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother”. (Gen 2)
• Abraham, made into God’s son (inheritance), is made to fall into a deep sleep next to divided flesh and a covenant of adoption is created: “Go out from your father” (Gen 12, 15).

Example 2

• Darkness and Watery Chaos, Spirit of God (Ruach) blows over the water, evening and morning, the waters are divided from the waters, dry land is created (Gen 1)
• Watery chaos, Wind of God (Ruach) blows over the Water, 40 days and 40 nights, the water is driven back, dry land is found (Gen 7-8)
• Reed Sea, Wind of God (Ruach) blows over the water, water is driven back, waters are divided from the waters, dry land is found (Ex 14)

Example 3

• People refuse to be scattered abroad, they try to make a name for themselves, they are cursed (Gen 11)
• Abraham goes forth willingly to fulfill Gen 1.26-28 from his father’s house, God will make his name great, he is blessed (Gen 12)

What’s in a Name?

Another reason that I had a hard time with Gen 1-11 was that I thought that the narratives seemed overly contrived.  The names especially couldn’t be real.

Adam is humanity, Eve is Life, Noah is heard.

What was I thinking?!  It goes on just like that after Gen 12 begins.

Abraham means Father of Multitudes, Sarah means princess, Isaac is his mother’s laughter, Jacob grabs at his brother’s heel, but Israel wrestles with God.

The only options, based on THESE criteria, are to accept Genesis 1-11, or doubt ALL of Genesis.

I don’t doubt all of Genesis, so I now accept Gen 1-11 as my master, and to my master I will submit.

I remember someplace that Abram believed the LORD.  Me too.

“He brought back all the goods, and also brought back his relative Lot with his possessions, and also the women, and the people.”  Gen 14:16

Abram had one mission – to save Lot from the armies that took him captive.  However when that mission is complete, we see that much more was accomplished than the saving of one individual.  We see that by saving one person, we can save an entire city of people.

I am of the belief that Abraham prefigured many things and represented many entities.  Thus I feel that Christianity as a whole is at least in part represented by Abraham.  As Abraham was told he would have many descendants, I feel that those of us who take part in leading someone to God and Christ will have many spiritual descendants.  And so our spiritual descendants can become as numerous as the dust of the earth and the stars of the sky – because like a family, the process continues after we pass away.

Who has been born into the family of God through us?  Are we a spiritual father or mother to anyone?  I’m sure if our spiritual descendants are revealed to us on that great day, just like at our earthly family reunions, we will meet relatives we didn’t even know we had.

]]> http://todayinreligion.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/secular-group-launches-anti-religion-campaign/ Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:17:35 +0000 Gilal http://todayinreligion.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/secular-group-launches-anti-religion-campaign/

Hey There,

Every few years, a band that was popular in the seventies or eighties who had broken up will reunite and go on a tour.   In the tours of this nature that I’ve seen (Yes and REM, specifically), the performances were great.

The one group I would like to see reunite is Genesis.  Now, I know they did reunite a couple of years ago, but it wasn’t the lineup I wanted.  During my favorite era of Genesis’ history, the lineup was Peter Gabriel on Vocals, Steve Hackett on Guitar, Mike Rutherford on Bass, Tony Banks on Keyboards and Phil Collins on Drums.  This era, roughly from 1971-1975, produced my favorite Genesis songs.  That’s not to say that I don’t like their later work, but 1971-1975 is second to none.

It’s that lineup that I wish reunited and toured.  There have been rumors of them reuniting from time to time, but they never actually happened.  If they did actually reunite to play live, this is the set list I would like them to play:

1. Lamb Lies Down on Broadway/Fly on a Windshield/Broadway Melody of 1974 – These are the first three songs of Lamb Lies Down on Broadway and exemplify this classic era lineup- great musicianship, excellent lyrics, expert use of dramatic dynamics.  Of these, Broadway Melody is my favorite, but instrumental section at the end of Fly on a Windshield is as heavy as they get.

2. Get ‘Em Out By Friday – This is from Foxtrot (1972).  This is an interesting song, about a fictional version of England where the Directors of Genetic Control have decided to make people shorter.  Peter plays a number of characters in this song, which adds to the drama.  Musically, it’s a busy song with some odd time signatures.  For the eight and a half minutes of the song, there aren’t a whole lot of breaks, which keeps you listening.

3. Firth of Fifth -  This is from Selling England By the Pound.  The lyrics aren’t the best, but the instrumental break contains one of Steve Hackett’s most dramatic solos. I get chills every time I hear it.  After he left the band, Mike Rutherford took over the solo.  While still dramatic, it’s not the same when Mike plays it.

4. Dancing with the Moonlight Knight – This is the opening track of Selling England By the Pound (1973).  It begins with Peter singing a cappella, then builds to a fast instrumental break.  The lyrics contain a number of mythological and English references, which I had to look up, but the first two minutes or so are some of the most beautiful singing and musical accompaniment in Genesis’ history.

5. The Musical Box – This song is from Nursery Cryme (1971) and is one of the most famous songs of the Classic Era.  The instrumental break goes from soft to very hard to soft and the last few minutes are pretty dramatic.  Lyrically, this song is pretty strange.  A boy’s soul is trapped in a musical box that plays Old King Cole.  When a girl (the one who actually killed the boy), opens the box, the boy comes back to life, but starts to age rapidly.  He becomes lecherous towards the girl, whose nanny walks in at the end and kills the “old” boy by throwing the musical box at him.  Like I said, it’s weird, but a great song.  In recent years, the band played the ending of the song as part of a medley.

6. More Fool Me – This is from To give Peter a break and let Phil sing, I’d like them to play this song.  It’s a strangely sweet song about a guy whose girlfriend walked out on him.

7. Anyway – This is from disc 2 of Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.  By far, my favorite Genesis song of all time.  Lamb was a concept album, but this song also works on it’s own.  It’s mainly about death, or more accurately, waiting for death.  The main character of the album and the song believes he is going to die and has accepted it, so he’s waiting for the end.  This song includes a great guitar solo, great piano playing and an active drum part.  If this song starts to play on my ipod, I’ll usually listen to it twice before moving to the next song.

8. In the Cage – This is from Disc 1 of Lamb Lies Down on Broadway.  I like the keyboard solo on this song most of all.  It’s a pretty fast song that is based on a difficult rhythm.

9. Supper’s Ready – This song is pretty much all of Side B From Foxtrot (Horizons, a short acoustic solo by Steve Hackett is also on Side B).  This is Genesis’  longest song  (over 23 minutes).  Over the course of the song, there are a number of different melodies.  Not all of the sections are great, but taken together, the song does a good job of building the drama to a great climax (a section called Apocalypse in 9/8).  One of my favorites, but I don’t always have 23 minutes to listen to a song.  They regularly played this song live, so I know they could play it during a reunion tour.

10. The Knife – This is the only song from the pre-Phil Collins and Steve Hackett lineup, from an album called Trespass.  In contrast to the rest of Trespass, it is a very aggressive song about a violent revolution.  They often used this as a closing number or an encore and I believe it is the perfect way to end the concert.

These 10 songs amount to about an hour and a half of music.  As an encore, I’d have them play Back in NYC (from Lamb Lies Down on Broadway), Watcher of the Skies (from Foxtrot) and I Know What I Like (from Selling England By the Pound).

The musings below initiated the train of thought that led to the writing of my previous posting, the sermon entitled “Why No Fence?”.  So, I’ve posted this article to give some additional background on the sermon and it’s theological / philosophical perspective.  Also, I just recently learned that a dear friend of mine (that I’ve tried to contact several times over the last couple of years) passed away in June, 2007 – which makes this an appropriate time to reflect on this subject again.

Reading “George’s” “My Wife has Cancer Blog” (http://themywifehascancerblog.blogspot.com/) has been thought-provoking.  I often reflect on how cruel and heartless the world can be.  Yet, what is also true is that this world is filled with beauty, beauty which we often find in unexpected places, as George’s reflections show us.

Recently, I’ve thought a lot about the implications of Eternal Life.  Something which YHWH denied us after Adam and Eve (meaning “we”) ate of the “Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil”.

To me, what Eternal Life means is that time no longer matters.  For someone who has Eternal Life, no day is any more, or less, valuable than any other.  Such people are (in essence) immortal: they have infinite time to complete unfinished business, correct mistakes, or finish their “to do” list.  So, what value would any day (or century) have?  Could love and beauty exist in a world without time?  Many writers have thought on this…

Jonathan Swift in “Gulliver’s Travels” imagines an immortal race called the Struldbrugs.  But, they do not have eternal youth: their bodies eventually age to the point where every breath is torment – yet, they cannot die.  Immortality for a Struldbrug is a curse, not a gift.

In “Lord of The Rings”, J.R.R. Tolkien has a race with eternally youthful bodies: the elves.  Yet immortality is still a burden:  They are a people not quite in tune with the world, a “vision of the elder days living in the present”.  A people whose bodies do not age, but who have an inescapable sadness because they know that everything they build, everything they know, will eventually pass away – and they cannot stop it.  They are doomed to outlive everything they love.  They cannot escape from the past and live fully in the present.

Science Fiction author Robert H. Heinlein imagined immortality through technology.  In “Time Enough For Love” Lazarus Long is the oldest human: a man who is “rejuvenated” whenever old age afflicts him.  Yet, Lazarus tired of life.  Like the elves, Lazarus outlived everything he loved.  Heinlein also pointed out that our brains are not infinite: If we live long enough, like Lazarus, we run out of room for new memories.  Even if that weren’t a problem, our memories get cluttered and disorganized with age.  (Lazarus complains about hunting all morning for a book, only to realize he’d put it down a century ago.)  Through Lazarus we see that even with youthful bodies, our minds (and spirits) will still age. 

Heinlein’s Lazarus had his mind “washed” of old memories to make room for new ones, but then asks what good is immortality when memory no longer links you with who you once where?  Immortality is a burden for Lazarus because he outlives his youth, and because of the broken connection between his present and his past.

Mortality makes time precious: every day is a gift that cannot be recaptured.  The flip side of this is that we cannot go back and make different choices when things don’t turn out as we hoped.  We cannot choose to avoid the pain that is the inevitable result of the choice to love (…hence the title of Heinlein’s book).

In the end, we need to ask ourselves  whether it is worth it: to live a life like that of Lazarus, or the elves, or the Struldbrugs, or the timeless existence Adam and Eve had before they ate of the fruit.

What I believe is that the choice to eat of the fruit is what allowed Adam and Eve to choose to have a relationship with God.  This fruit represents the choice to have choices – an essential first step.  It is the choice we must make if we do not want to remain in endless existence as a creature without choices.  That tree’s fruit was the “escape hatch” – the First Choice – that enabled us to have the Second Choice – of whether to Love God (or not). 

So, while I am not eager to come to the end of my mortal existence, and know that the end will probably include pain and suffering, the tradeoff is that I have a life that is worth living.  A life where I can have a relationship with God. 

Genesis says to me that God gave us mortality because God wants a relationship with us, and knows what is best for us.  So, I know that our mortality, and that of those we love, is a gift, part of God’s plan.  Just like time, if our relationships were never-ending, they would have no value to us: love would have no value to us. 

This does not eliminate or even alleviate the pain and hardships of life, but knowing that mortality is necessary for love and life to have value, and that it is all part of God’s plan, gives me the strength I need to endure such things when they come, and the ability to appreciate and rejoice-in the beauty and love that are in this world.  Amen!

Sunday marked the end of our In the Beginning series – a journey through the opening stories of Genesis. I’m kind of sad to see this series go. I don’t know if I’ve spent as much time studying the first 8 chapters of Genesis as I did in preparation for these sermons. And I could have easily added four or six more messages to this series. But to every thing there is a season and Advent is just around the corner.

After the worship service, Aiden came up to me and said, “Dad! I can’t believe you forgot my suitcase!” Of course, I couldn’t believe it, either. But it happened. If you haven’t figured it out, I’m a very forgetful person. If I don’t have it written down on a list in front of me, I’m likely to forget it. Of course, I also tend to forget my list – so I guess I can’t win. That’s why I’m thankful that God has given us regular reminders so we never forget or take for granted what He has done for us. That was the focus of Sunday’s message.

You can read the manuscript after the jump.

In the Beginning: Remember What He’s Done
Genesis 8:15-22
November 22, 2009
Matt Todd

As I’ve shared before, I have several mementos on display in my office. There’s the framed section of the late Hoosier Dome. And there’s my Certificate of Ordination. I also have plaques from two of my treks at Philmont Scout Ranch. They’re signed by the members of my crews from those years. My most recent addition is this painting from Ethiopia, depicting the legend of St. George slaying the dragon. I also have a picture signed by IU basketball coach Tom Crean – but it’s not displayed yet because I haven’t found a suitable frame for it.

The most meaningful memento I have, however, is this rock. It sits in on a shelf behind my desk. When I see it, it reminds me of a powerful experience that I had in the Summer of 2001. I was the Student Minister at a church on the east side of Indianapolis and had taken a group of 20, made up of high school students, adult volunteers, and two younger children on a mission trip to the Navajo Reservation near Gallup, New Mexico. This rock was from that trip.

We had spent the better part of a week on the reservation, serving with a ministry to the Navajo people. They were hosting a revival that week and our high school students led a Vacation Bible School for the children. We were in our final moments of cleaning the facility we’d been using for the VBS that week when our Student Ministry Intern, Jon, was vacuuming the carpet one last time.

Suddenly, a horrible sound came from the sweeper. I’d never heard anything like it. Jon quickly turned it off and we looked underneath the vacuum cleaner. Wedged in the brush housing in the base of the sweeper was this rock. Fortunately, it didn’t destroy the sweeper. Although it could have. Fortunately, we were able to dislodge the rock without taking the entire sweeper apart. We found it at just the right time.

I put the rock in my pocket and brought it home with me. I have it sitting on my shelf as a reminder of how God worked during that week. The vacuum cleaner was just a small example of how God’s timing, provision, and protection was perfect throughout the entire trip.

At the beginning of the trip, I wasn’t so sure about what was going to happen. We had spent many months preparing for this trip and it all began without any complications. The flight from Indianapolis to Albuquerque was painless. All of our luggage arrived safe and sound. Well – most of our luggage. You see, I had forgotten to get one of the suitcases out of my car. And it happened to be the one that had all of Aiden’s clothes in it. But that was just a minor inconvenience. By the time our plane had landed, a parent had already picked up the suitcase and shipped it to New Mexico via UPS.  Even with that speed bump, things were moving relatively smoothly. We were able to pick up our rental vans without a hitch. The drive from Albuquerque to Gallup was beautiful. No one got lost – which is always a good thing.

The Missions Team at Window Rock, Arizona

We arrived at the Navajo Reservation knowing that we were going to see God at work during our week with the Navajo people. We parked our vans, unloaded, and met the pastor for the first time. As we discussed some logistics with our host, I came to a horrible realization. Through a horrible miscommunication in the planning stage, we arrived on the Reservation under the assumption that we would be staying in a building at the ministry compound on the Reservation itself. My heart came up into my throat when I realized that I had brought 20 people, including high school students, adults, and two small children halfway across the continent and we had absolutely no place to stay.

So, Jon the Intern and I found a phone book and started driving back into the town of Gallup. I gave him my cell phone and he started going down the names in the “Churches” section. After reaching several answering machines, one Pastor finally answered the phone. It was Sunday afternoon, so we were honestly surprised to find anyone in the office. Jon explained our situation and asked the Pastor if there’s any way he could help us out – even if it’s for just one evening.

“That’s something the mission should have helped you with,” he responded. Then – *click* - he hung up on us.

We continued to drive through Gallup, hoping to stumble upon a church building that happened to be open. Jon kept going down the list of churches in the phone book.

The Pastor at Gallup Christian Church answered his phone. Jon explained the situation. The Pastor lightly chuckled and then said, “I think we can help you out.” So we drove to the church facility. It was perfect.

Jon and I met him and he showed us around. He gave us the keys to the facility and we drove back to the Reservation to pick up the rest of the crew. Because of a miscommunication, we were at the end of our rope. It was one of those “but God…” moments I spoke about last week. When things are darkest, the light of Christ can shine most brightly – right?

So, we unload the vans in the parking lot of Gallup Christian Church and I looked up in the sky. There above us was a beautiful rainbow. I pointed up to it and said, “See? God keeps His promises.”

I think of this event every time I see this rock. It serves as a very physical reminder how God has kept His promises to me – even when I misunderstand something…even when I screw something up…even when I’m at the end of my rope. So I keep this rock on my shelf as a reminder of the amazing and powerful way that God worked in that situation.

It has been said that elephants never forget. While “never” might be too strong of a word, elephants are well-known for their great memories. Humanity, however, is a different story. We have such a short view of history, attention spans the length of a gnat’s, and, it seems, a perpetual case of amnesia. When we get caught up in the moment, we forget our history. And we tend to forget the things we’re supposed to remember.

If you have your Bibles with you, please turn with me to Genesis 8:15. If you don’t have your Bible with you, you’re welcome to use the one in the pew in front of you. Genesis 8:15 is found on page 6 in those Bibles.  We are completing our journey through the opening chapters of the story of Genesis with the promise of new life. After sin had entered the picture, things began to spiral out of control. Things had gotten so out of hand that God was saddened that He’d even created humanity. So he decided to wipe the slate clean and start over with Noah and his family. After nearly a year on board the ark that God had commanded him to build, Noah and his family disembarked from the large ship.

Read Genesis 8:15-22

The event of the Great Flood was one that shouldn’t be forgotten. After witnessing the destruction of all living things, Noah knew they needed to keep first things first and continue to place their relationship with their Father in Heaven as their top priority. So he built an altar. This was the first altar recorded in Scripture. And after he offered sacrifices upon the altar, it remained there as a reminder to him and his family of all God had done for them in recent days – much like the rock from New Mexico does for me. But the reminders for our forgetful people didn’t stop there. God also painted a rainbow in the sky as another physical reminder that God will keep His promises and He will never again destroy the earth through a Flood like the one Noah encountered.

From this point on, the people of God have had physical reminders of how God has worked throughout history – because we’re a forgetful people. When Jacob wrestled with God by the River Jabbok, he built an altar after the wrestling match and called it Peniel, which means “Face of God,” as a reminder that he saw God face to face that day – and his life was spared. When the children of Israel crossed the River Jordan into the Promised Land, they built an altar out of twelve stones so they would always remember how God had brought them into their new homeland.

There are other ways God has encouraged us to remember what He has done for His people. When He delivered the children of Israel from bondage in Egypt, He instituted the Passover meal. It’s full of symbolism intended to remind them of the life they’d had in Egypt and how they’d been rescued from that life of hardship and bitterness. It was the most important day in the Jewish calendar.

We’re no strangers to these reminders. It was during the Passover celebration that Jesus modified its symbolism and told his followers to take the bread and the cup as physical reminders of what He was about to do for all of us. The bread represents his body that was broken when the nails were pierced through his hands and feet and the spear broke through his side. The cup is a symbol of the red blood that he willingly allowed to flow from his own body as a payment for the sins that we committed.

This Thursday is one of those days set aside for us to remember all that God has done. Although it is not necessarily a God-ordained holiday, it is a day set aside for us to remember and give thanks for what God has done. The story of the Puritans’ struggles in the New World remains a focal point of Thanksgiving Day. Having taken issue with the corruption that was the Church of England at the time, the Puritans chose to separate themselves from the state-run religion. This led to harsh persecutions by the authorities. After three failed attempts to flee to the New World, they finally set sail on the Mayflower on September 6, 1620. Over 130 people began the voyage on that tiny, 90 foot-long ship. Not all passengers were Puritan Pilgrims, but they did provide the bulk of the leadership for the group of travelers.

The two month-long journey was not a pleasant cruise. It was far from it. The quarters were cramped, the food was terrible, and the weather conditions were dangerous throughout most of the trip. Remarkably, none died during the journey across the Atlantic. They eventually established the small Plymouth Colony in the New World.
Shortly after arriving in New England, half of the travelers had died. Disease was running rampant throughout the new colony. The New England winter was much harsher than expected, and the food supply was running short. Unaccustomed to the land, they could not plant crops or distinguish between the edible and poisonous plants. They had no knowledge of fishing or hunting. Things looked bleak for these Pilgrims in the New World. The New World hardly seemed like the Promised Land they had hoped it would be.

Momentum shifted the following Spring. Local Native Americans befriended the Pilgrims and showed them how to tame the New England soil and how to catch their food. After a bitter winter that most thought they would not survive, Spring brought new hope along with the new friendships. The Colonists planted and hunted, just as they were taught. Their strength was renewed and the colony grew stronger every day.
When harvest time came in October, the Puritan Colonists were joined by their new Native American friends for a celebration of God’s provision and protection over the past year. The three-day celebration included wild turkeys, venison, and all kinds of vegetables. The first Thanksgiving Day in the New World was born. It was a sign of friendship, and a reminder of what God had done for them over the past year.

Like the Puritans experienced, this year might have been a difficult one for you – full of heartache, disappointment, and loneliness. It might be a year you’d rather forget about altogether. This Thanksgiving, as you pass the turkey or ham or maybe it’s just a peanut butter & jelly sandwich…take the opportunity to give thanks for what He has given you. Remember what your life was like before you knew Christ and celebrate the grace He displayed by dying on the cross. Remember the difficult times – not to dwell on the doom and gloom, but to remember how God continues to bring you through those difficult times. He will never leave you. He will never forget you. That is something worth celebrating – even if you think there isn’t much to celebrate this year.

Or this could have been a great year for you. I know in our household, we are blessed beyond our wildest dreams with the addition of our newest daughter. We will spend Thanksgiving Day taking a little extra time to thank God for how He paved the way for her to come home with us. If you’ve had a memorable year – one you wish didn’t have to end – I hope you take the time this Thursday to really thank God for all He has provided for you. Don’t wait for the dinner table conversation, but intentionally carve out some time in that day to wholeheartedly thank God for what He has done for you.

This Thanksgiving, remember God’s promises. And that He keeps every single one. He has given us all kinds of symbols to remind us of that: a rainbow, the Bread and the Cup of the Lord’s Supper, the cross, and even a little rock that sits on a bookshelf. You may have your own physical reminders of your encounters with God. If they’re not in a place where you can see them, I encourage you to do so. In the midst of all the hustle and bustle of our busy lives, these monuments remind us of Who God is and what He has done. And although we tend to be very forgetful, God isn’t. I hope you celebrate that this coming Thursday.

And as we celebrate and give thanks and remember all God has done, it should continue throughout the rest of our lives. Allow this upcoming Thanksgiving Day to serve as a starting point – or a re-starting point…a challenge to remember to be thankful for all God has done every day. Not just at the appointed time of the year.

Another symbol we’ve been given is baptism. It’s a symbolic participation in the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. In the act of being baptized, you publicly announce that you are no longer your own and you renounce your sinful ways of the past. And you declare to the world that you were bought with a price and are now symbolically clothed in righteousness. For those of us who have been immersed, remember your baptism. Remember the symbol that you yourself participated in when you put your old self to death and came to life again as a new creation in Christ.

If you have never done chosen to participate in the death, burial, and resurrection of our Savior in the waters of baptism, the hymn of invitation we’re going to sing in a few moments, “I Surrender All,” hymn number 252 (verses 1 & 4), is an invitation for you. If you have never made the conscious decision to be baptized, why not do so today? It will give you one more thing to be thankful for and to celebrate on this coming Thanksgiving Day.

If you’ve been looking for a church home and have decided that Cowan Christian Church is the place where you can put down your roots and grow in the faith, you’re invited to join our family this morning. This song of invitation is also a song for you.

I Surrender All, verses 1 & 4

Génesis 7 y 8
El diluvio

Mateo 4
Tentación de Jesús / Jesús principia su ministerio

The Vine weekend was a real blessing. We stayed in Ebenezer House at Hebron Hall in Dinas Powys which worked well being so close as some had to go back for a few hours for their weekend jobs. During the weekend there were no arguments, loads of laughing and for some, very little sleep. We had a seminar on Friday evening, two on Saturday one of which included communion and time of worship with an open time on Sunday morning.

In all the seminars we were thinking about different aspects of being a team and on Saturday we focused on gifts within the team. Jackie led the session and she began by asking everyone to take one of the tests used by employers to gain insight into how an individual behaves within a team environment. The results were funny and surprisingly accurate, and they showed the diversity of the group. We then went on to look at gifts from a biblical perspective both ‘spiritual’ and ‘natural’; all good gifts come from the Lord and are given for a purpose.  To bring glory to God, build up the church and share the good news of Jesus with others.

During the worship, I started to think about a painting produced by a great artist. When viewed too closely, the picture makes very little sense, it just seems to be a lot of blobs and strokes of the brush, but when viewed from the right distance the beauty is startling. Every blob and stroke is placed there by the great artist and adds to the whole picture. The church is like the picture, we are made up of different people with different gifts and abilities and even when we feel unimportant like a blob of paint, we have a purpose as the Lord Jesus builds his church.

Some years ago Rolf Harris the Australian entertainer (who was not on the weekend) would appear on TV and paint in what looked like a slapdash manner, the painting appeared to make no sense. He would often say “Can you see what it is yet?” I never could see what it was but eventually as he added more paint, it would make sense and the image would be revealed. When we look at the church locally or worldwide, we are tempted to ask “can you see what it is yet? Jesus said “I will build my church” and one day it will be revealed in all its beauty.

“It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.” (Revelation 21:11).