PakAlert

By Sajjad Shaikh

The coming of the Mahdi is one of the major signs of Judgement Day. Unlike the minor signs his appearance will signal that the Final Hour is near and that believers must ensure that they are ready to endure its trials and tribulations (fitan).

The Mahdi will come at a time when Muslims will have become disunited and where tyranny and corruption will have prevailed.The situation will be so bad that a person would wish he was not born or that if someone died he would wish that it was him.

The story of al-Mahdi, as recounted in the sunnah, is a story of hope where the struggle between Haqq (Good) and Baatil (Evil) results in the believers gaining victory over the disbelievers, where the earth is filled with peace and justice due to the just rule of al-Mahdi. It is narrated by Abu Said al-Khudri (ra) that the Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu alaihi wassalam) said: “At the end of the time of my ummah,the Mahdi will appear. Allah will grant him rain, the earth will bring forth its fruits, he will give a lot of money, cattle will increase and the ummah will become great.” (Reported by al-Haakim in his Mustadrak, 4/557-558).The story of mahdi is one that encourages the believers to work for the unity of Muslims and the justice of Islam via the establishment of the Khilafah and the application of the Shariah as the believer knows that one day the whole world will be enlightened by the light of Islam and falsehood shall vanish. But until that day comes he must take encouragement from the bashaarat (glad tidings) of the Messenger (Sallallahu alaihi wassalam) and strive and work for Islam following the Sunnah of the Messenger (Sallallahu alaihi wassalam).

So it is sad to hear sometimes that some find in the story of Mahdi an excuse and justification for inaction, taking the fatalistic view that we as an Ummah cannot, and even should not, do anything about the corrupt situation until the Mahdi appears at the end of time and establishes the Khilafah. Clearly, this is not the message the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them) took when they heard the story directly from the lips of the Messenger (Sallallahu alaihi wassalam). They heard this story and they took its lessons and they worked tirelessly, first in Makkah in order to establish dar al-Islam and then after its establishment in Madinah to consolidate and extend the influence of the Islamic state.After the death of al-Mustafa (Sallallahu alaihi wassalam) the Sahabah appointed Khulafah who extended the authority of Islam even further until the light of Islam had spread to a large part of the world. So how can it be that the coming of the Mahdi has become an excuse for the resignation to the corrupt reality? Indeed, if we analyse the authentic reports about the coming of Mahdi from both a prophetic and legal point of view we can conclude the following:

The Khilafah will not be established by the Mahdi but he will be a Khaleefah coming after the death of the Khaleefah before him. In other words the Khilafah will have been established by the Muslims before the coming of the Mahdi.This can clearly be seen in the hadith narrated by Umm Salamah (ra) that the Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu alaihi wassalam) said: “Disagreement will occur at the death of a caliph and a man of the people of Medina will come flying forth to Mecca. Some of the people of Mecca will come to him, bring him out against his will and give bay’ah to him between the Rukn and the Maqam. An expeditionary force will then be sent against him from Syria but will be swallowed up in the desert between Mecca and Medina. When the people see that, the God fearing people of Syria and the best people of Iraq will come to him and swear allegiance to him between the Corner and the Maqam. Then there will arise a man of Quraysh whose maternal uncles belong to Kalb and send against them an expeditionary force which will be overcome by them, and that is the expedition of Kalb. Disappointed will be the one who does not receive the booty of Kalb. He will divide the property, and will govern the people by the Sunnah of their Prophet (peace be upon him) and establish Islam on Earth. He will remain seven years…” (Reported by at-Tabarani in al-Awsat.According to Ibn Hajar in his Majma’ az-Zawaid the transmitters in at-Tabarani’s narration are sound and authentic.)

Notice the above hadith states that disputes will take place at the death of the Khaleefah and consequently a man will come forth who after being given bay’ah as the khaleefah will declare himself to be the Mahdi. So clearly Mahdi will not establish the Khilafah Rashidah that will return as foretold in the ahadith, and as well he will not be the first Khaleefah after the destruction of the Khilafah and nor will he be the last Khaleefah. Rather, he will be a just Khaleefah who will establish the justice of Islam on earth.This is from the perspective of the account of the story as prophesised by the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wassalam).

From a shar’I or legal perspective the hadith which detail the emergence of the Mahdi do not establish any Shariah rules for the reality of Muslims of today, as they relate to a different situation when the Khilafah exists.A Hukm Shar’i or divine rule comes for a manaat (reality to which the hukm pertains) which requires a ruling, which is our current reality and not the end of time which will be signaled by the major signs of the day of judgment.A hukm shar’i essentially is a request to do an action or refrain from it whether by way of obligation (wujoob), prohibition (tahreem), encouragement (nadb) or discouragement (karaaha).Although the hadiths about the Mahdi do not request the obligation to establish the Khilafah, as they are largely ikhbari (informative) in nature and as the Khilafah will already exist when the Mahdi comes (which is why we say this reality is inapplicable), but they certainly do NOT say it is not obligatory to work for a Khilafah when it does not exist. Indeed the Shariah rules established at the time of the Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wassalam) are applicable till the end of time as long as they pertain to the reality for which they came. So not only must the Muslims abide by them, so must the Mahdi and so did ‘Isa (Alaihi as salam) who came not as a Prophet but as a follower of the Shariah of Muhammad (Sallallahu alaihi wassalam). So if the coming of a great Prophet like Isa (as), after the prophethood of Muhammad (Sallallahu alaihi wassalam), cannot suspend the rules of the Shariah, how can the coming of the Mahdi suspend them?

As for the hukm shar’i on what to do when the Khilafah does not exist, as we see in our situation today, we need to refer to the following hadith of the Messenger (Sallallahu alaihi wassalam) as it addressed that very manaat (reality): “Whosoever dies without a bay’ah on his neck dies the death of Jahiliyyah.” (Reported by Muslim in his Sahih).This hadith clarifies by its implied meaning (mafhum) that it is not permitted for a Muslim to live without the presence of a Khaleefah as it censures the one who dies without his presence. Consequently, it becomes obligatory on the Muslim to work for the presence of a Khaleefah who will rule justly and work to remove, through only da’wah and political struggle, the Ruwaibidah that are our current despicable rulers.This is our reality today and the work to establish the Khilafah is the vital issue that the Muslims cannot neglect.

Whilst the coming of the Mahdi is an important subject in the books of hadith, it is almost as though some have taken the subject as a “get-out” clause to not work for the return of the Khilafah and the giving of bayah to the next Khaleefah.As though the mere mention of Khilafah in the time of Mahdi in some way excuses Muslims from their obligation of removing the corrupt regimes of today.Yes, there will be a Khilafah again inSh’Allah, but will we all be of the ummah that lived in darkness and did nothing to change that situation? And wait for Allah (SWT) to bring a people that loved him and He (SWT) loved.

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُواْ مَن يَرْتَدَّ مِنكُمْ عَن دِينِهِ فَسَوْفَ يَأْتِي اللّهُ بِقَوْمٍ يُحِبُّهُمْ وَيُحِبُّونَهُ أَذِلَّةٍ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ أَعِزَّةٍ عَلَى الْكَافِرِينَ يُجَاهِدُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللّهِ وَلاَ يَخَافُونَ لَوْمَةَ لآئِمٍ

“O you who believe! If you ever abandon your faith, Allah will in time bring forth (instead of you) people whom he loves and who love Him – humble towards the believers, strong towards all who deny truth: [people] who strive hard in Allah’s cause, and do not fear to be censured by anyone who might censure them” [5:54]

This documentary was created by a Turkish Scholar which proofs that all major prophecies by Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) have been fulfilled and we are living in the last age where we will witness the arrival of Mehdi and Jesus Christ (pbuh)

The Spiritual War

967, a report was issued under the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson, “The iron mountain report” which was a global research study on the possibility and desirability of peace in US. This was the era of cold war, the time when US was in the middle of Vietnam war and both US and Soviet Union providing excuses to Egypt, and Jordan that they can’t help them for the upcoming invasion on Israel (the 6 day war). How funny it seems now that the biggest opponents of cold war were practicing same diplomacy tactics when it comes to the sovereignty of Israel and dealing with Muslims. One can say that this was the right time to look for world peace and this study was conducted just for that…. or not. This report has reached the conclusion that the worst thing that can happen to United States and its national security were if world peace were to come about. It said that “if lasting peace could be achieved in the world, it would almost certainly not be in the best interest of the society because war is an essential part of the system, war is an essential part of the economy”. Period.

The above concept refers to the teachings of Leo Strauss a professor at Hebrew University of Jerusalem and who is known to be a political Zionist. It is widely believed that it was his teachings that fostered neoconservative foreign policy of George W. Bush’s administration. It was his teachings that resulted in the formation of Neo-cons or more accurately “Neo-con Evangelist Christian Zionists”. Among his famous students being Paul Wolfowitz, who was deputy secretary of defense during U.S. led Iraq war and William Galtson who was a senior advisor to President Bill Clinton on domestic policy. It is hence no surprise, that Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld who are known for orchestrating the whole Iraq war, are among the well-known neo-cons who crave for war to fill their own interests.

The concept of keeping society intact by keeping them in a fear of constant war is not just a Western doctrine. Chanakya, who was an adviser and prime minister to the first Maurya Emperor, Chandragupta and who played an important part in the foundation and governance of Maurya dynasty used to say, that in order to gain control over the people of the country, always keep them in war with your neighboring dynasty or country. Hence it is not surprising at all that India has never been on good terms with it’s neighbours and these terms don’t seem to be on their way to improvement anytime soon..

Why global peace is such a dangerous phenomenon that it used to and still threatens the mightiest of empires and countries. If we dig deeper, the idea of world peace has been reduced to symbols from ancient mythology that are the very opposite of everything that reflects positive energy. For example, the sign of world peace (the dove) is in reality a ritualistic symbol for the Illuminati. Why the most powerful and influential people of the planet are scared of global peace? This is not a matter of imposing martial law on the people of the planet, the upraising of new world order. This has nothing to do with gaining more power or taking over the world or implanting RFID chips in humans as if they are “products” tagged with a number, these are just small pieces in the bigger picture. Believe it or not, even the most ritualistic or evil of mankind wants to get enlightened with satanic power, the power of evil, the power of their satanic god “Lucifer”.

The Satan challenged ALLAH (SWT):
“O My Lord, because Thy hast put me in the wrong, I will make (wrong) fair-seeming to them on the earth and I will put them all in the wrong. Except thy servants among them, sincere and purified (by Thy Grace)” (Al Hijr: 39-40)

And the war has been waged on mankind ever since. The question here is, who was purified by the will of God and how many dedicated their lives to serving the sinister plan of Satan, who thrives on anarchy, war and mayhem. The world peace is a threat to those who are the followers of satan. This is a war of spiritual values, the religious beliefs of the good and the evil, this is the war of the verses..

President George W. Bush told French President Jacques Chirac in early 2003 that Iraq must be invaded to invoke Gog and Magog, the Bible’s satanic agents of the Apocalypse. The president of the United States, in a top-secret phone call to a major European ally, asked for French troops to join American soldiers in attacking Iraq as a mission from God. During the Iraqi invasion in 2003, their out of office statement was that “Gog and Magog are at work in the Middle East…the biblical prophecies are being fulfilled…this confrontation is willed by God … and this is necessary before the beginning of the new age”. Now all of a sudden the prophecies from the book of Ezekiel and Jeremiah (Jewish Books) are so important for them that they were willing to forget their very own New Testament which clearly tells us the downfall of their evil (read: satanic worship) in such a way that even their ultimate savior Jesus (PBUH) won’t help them.

But as Bible says:
“Seeing they see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.” (Matthew 13:13)

Even Quran tells us about Zulqarnain and the wall that he built to keep Gog and Magog from spilling onto the earth. Yes we allowed them to manipulate our ancient history by replacing Zulqarnain with Alexander the Great but this is just another example of our ignorance. We might have seen the movie “Alexander the Great” and admired it but we have no fear or knowing of the second coming on Gog and Magog prophesized in Quran:

“But when Gog and Magog are let loose and they rush headlong down every height (or advantage). Then will the True Promise draw near” (Al Anbiyaa:96-97)

There is nothing significant about Horus sharing same life events as of Jesus. What most of us don’t know this Egyptian methodology of Horus is same as the methodology of Nimrod with her mother Semiramis and the miraculous birth. Horus who was also known as the “war god” or the “god of war” is associated with the falcon. The great seal of United States which features the “falcon” on one side and “pyramid” on the reverse side, strongly reinforces their dogma of following the Horus and Egyptian gods. A detailed study of events occur in the Mesopotamian region (present day Iraq, with some parts of Syria, Turkey and Iran) will give you so much more that will change your point of view on macro level. The Operation Iraqi Liberation wasn’t about just OIL. For them Iraq (former Babylon) is the land of their serpent Gods. For them they are the new leaders of the planet. They will prove what once has been joked by Ronald Reagan on international media that “What is that we need to build world peace … an attack from some outer space, an alien attack that will unite us under one supervision” (New World Order).

You may call them evil beings or satan worshippers … you can see them worshipping and presenting sacrifices to Moloch every year in July (The Bohemian Grove) and still we don’t understand why they are doing this? Nimrod was the first monarch on this earth who wanted to take over the whole world. Today Nimrod statue is present in Israel with Nimrod being one of the most famous names among its inhabitants. He was a “fire-worshipper” and he’s been idealized in a country formed on the ideology of a monotheistic religion. It’s hard to imagine what kind of evil we are dealing with and knowing no evil makes you one of them. This is what they are trying to do to keep us ignored and in return we are becoming a devil within our ownselves.

No matter how much you talk about the Holocaust of World War II, no matter how much you yell over the legality of Belfour Declaration, blame Lawrence of Arabia, Mufti Amin Al Hussaini (the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem), Anwar Saadat anyone. According to Jews, creation of Israel is the fulfillment of the prophecy written in Torah (old testament).

“I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence, and give Him no rest, till He establish, and till He make Jerusalem a praise in the earth”. (Isaiah 62:6, 7)
Then say to them what Adonai Elohim says: ‘I will take the people of Israel from among the nations where they have gone and gather them from every side and bring them back to their own land”. (Ezekiel 37: 21)

If we dig history further, these verses are in conflict with each other and we will notice a pattern in them which will lead us to the present time, to the world we know today. The problem is we have forgotten our history our roots, we have been put into sleep deliberately and they, they have memorized history like no one’s business.

In the “book of Daniel” comes a story about a prophet of God named Daniel who, while explaining the meaning of a dream seen by the king of Babylon, ‘Nebuchadnezzar’ prophesiezed the upcoming world events. This was the time of Jewish exile into Babylon. It was here in Babylon the Jews started learning and practicing black magic known as “Kabbalah”. It was a time for the creation of Talmud and Mishnah, both being books of law that deviates Jews from the original commandments given to Moses and which govern the present day Israel. Prophet Daniel in the year 333 BC prophesized about the upcoming empires of the world. In the end of it he prophesized that, 2300 years from then on, an “evil empire” will emerge on the face of this earth and from that point we will enter into the end of times. Do your math and you’ll find out that the year is 1967. The year in which after the end of 6 days war with Palestine, Syria, Jordan and Egypt, Israel was able to capture the Sinai desert, Golan heights, West bank and Jerusalem. It was after this war that Israel emerged on the face of the earth as a superpower : An empire founded on murder and injustice: or in the words of Prophet Danile (PBUH), an ‘evil’ empire. He also prophesized that 45 years after the creation of the evil empire, the time for the coming of Antichrist or Dajjal will be very near. Do your math again and find out which year he is referring to.

This is a war initiated by Satan himself and it is a battle for our soul. Dajjal being the final of Satan’s weapon for inflicting unbearable pain on the sons and daughters of Adam, is about to be unleashed into this world. The Quran teaches that for Nimrod came Abraham, for Pharoah came Moses and for Dajjal will come Jesus (PBUH). So, the question that we need to ask is; are we ready for this war on the ground and more importantly within ourselves? The misinterpretation and manipulation of holy scriptures is nothing but a warfare technique chosen by satan and his followers. Those who understand this know that this is in every sense a ’spiritual’ war.

The Story of the Rosetta Stone, “Finding a Lost Language”

The following is a chapter from “Ancient Peoples: A Hypertext View” (1997)

Egyptian hieroglyphics had been used by the Egyptians for thousands of years. However, a particularly bleak period of Egyptian history is the conquest of Egypt by Persia. The Egyptians were dominated by Persian intruders. The events that changed the nature of Egypt were not the Persian conquest but rather the war between Persia (the rulers of Egypt) and the united Greek city-states. Greece had originally been united by Philip of Macedon and then ruled effectively by Alexander the Great. Alexander defeated the Persian forces and then took his army to Egypt. There he was welcomed as a conquering hero by the Egyptians because he brought an end to Persian rule. He was made a god by the Egyptians as well as a pharaoh. He, however, had other campaigns to wage and took his army off to the Middle East and the Indus River Valley leaving a regent in charge of Egypt.

After the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC, his empire was divided among his three most trusted and powerful generals. The throne of Egypt fell to Ptolemy I, the son of Lagus. Ptolemy took Alexander’s preserved body in a jar filled with honey back to Alexandria. Ptolemy ran Egypt like a business, strictly for profit. . He was welcomed by the Egyptians as part of Alexander the Great’s family. Ptolemy then became the pharaoh, Ptolemy I. By so doing, he set the name standard for the 32nd Dynasty which turned out to be the last of Egypt’s great dynasties. All of his male successors were called Ptolemy and all of his female successors were called Cleopatra.

As we move to the end of this Greek Dynasty, there was increasing involvement with the Roman Empire. The Roman civil war between Caesar and Pompeii indirectly involved Egypt. Pompeii lost this war and turned to Egypt for shelter and young Ptolemy (several generations below Ptolemy I) had him executed and delivered to Caesar. The young Ptolemy, thinking this would ingratiate him with Caesar was totally incorrect. His sister, Cleopatra, who was vying for the throne had other ways of ingratiating herself with Caesar – they had children together. Caesar was unfortunately assassinated while visiting Rome and his empire was divided up between General Marcus Antonious and his adopted son, Octavian. Marcus Antonious was better known as Marc Antony. Marc Antony took rulership of that part of the Empire that contained Egypt and that resulted in his inheriting Cleopatra. They, too, had children. His relationship with Octavian broke down and resulted in a war which Marc Antony lost. Antony was killed and Cleopatra committed suicide. Their male children were executed and their female children were probably married off to local princes. The Egyptian dynastic system was ended and a Roman Governorship was established.

During the Ptolemic dynasty, Egyptian and Greek languages were used simultaneously. During the Roman Governorship only Latin was used and occasionally Greek. Within a hundred years the Egyptian hieroglyphics were no longer used or understood by anyone and even the Roman authors of the time suggested that hieroglyphics was not even a language. In the truest sense this is now a dead language.

Ultimately the Roman Empire fell and the Middle Ages “came about”. Nevertheless, there existed a constant contact between Europe and Egypt such that hieroglyphics were consistently known by the European elite. The reason for this is that medical practices of the Middle Ages resulted in the prescription of bitumen, ground up mummies as a cure for various kinds of diseases. Thus, there was a trade in whole mummies which resulted in examples of hieroglyphics coming into Europe throughout the Dark Ages.

As a result, there were some early attempts at translation of hieroglyphics. In 1633, a Jesuit priest named Anthanasius Kircher, whose specialities were the humanities, science, language and religion translated the word ‘autocrat’ or in Greek ‘autocratur’ into German and did so by substituting ideas for the images. His translation read “the originator of all moisture and all vegetation whose creative forces is brought into this kingdom by the holy mukta” (is this a ‘bureaucrat’?)

The history of the deciphering of the Egyptian hieroglyphics during the 16th and 17th centuries took small steps toward final interpretation. Some scholars thought that the hieroglyphics were the origin of other languages. Some believed that hieroglyphics spelled nothing at all. Yet others believed that the hieroglyphics were an indication of social stratification or social significance.

This speculation would have continued had not a political event interceded. The almost constant warfare between Britain and France resulted in a major change in the understanding of hieroglyphics. The French under Napoleon Bonaparte decided that they could defeat the British by attacking Egypt and subsequently controlling the rich food supply from along the Nile.

In August of 1798, 13 French ships landed near Alexandria at Aboukir Bay in Egypt and marched inland to fight the British near Cairo. The night before the battle, Napoleon exhorted his troops on by saying something like “Soldiers, from the tops of these pyramids, forty centuries are looking down at you.” The French ground forces won the conflict but the British navy, under the command of Lord Horratio Nelson, defeated the French navy. Napoleon believed that he would be in Egypt for only a few months, but he and his men were stranded there for three years with no way to return home. Napoleon had brought with him between nearly 1000 civilians including 167 of whom were scientists, technicians, mathematicians and artists who studied the art, architecture, and culture of Egypt during their “extended vacation.” From 1809-1828, they published a 19-volume work called Description of Egypt. Their observations, drawings and illustrations were circulated throughout Europe and created a tremendous interest in antiquities of Egypt.

The soldiers continued to “dig in” and they reconstructed forts as most soldiers had done during previous centuries by using building stones previously used by earlier peoples. In 1799, while extending a fortress near Rosetta, a small city near Alexandria, a young French officer named Pierre-Francois Bouchard found a block of black basalt stone. It measured three feet nine inches long, two feet four and half inches wide, and eleven inches thick and it contained three distinct bands of writing. The most incomplete was the top band containing hieroglyphics, the middle band was an Egyptian script called Demotic script (he did not know that), and the bottom was ancient Greek (he did recognize the bottom band). This stone was called the Rosetta Stone. He took the stone to the scholars and they realized that it was a royal decree that basically stated that it was to be written in the languages used in Egypt at the time. Scholars began to focus on the Demotic script, the middle band, because it was more complete and it looked more like letters than the pictures in the upper band that were hieroglyphics. It was essentially a shorthand hieroglyphics that had evolved from an earlier shorthand version of Egyptian called Heiratic script.

Material from Egypt was continuously coming into Europe. In order to display their status, the European gentry and nobility normally had some Egyptian relics in their possession, perhaps an art object on a table or if one were quite rich, they might have an obelisk in the front yard of the estate. Material containing hieroglyphics continued to enter Europe at a reasonably accelerated rate.

The first to make any sense of the Demotic script on the Rosetta Stone was a French scholar named Silvestre deSacy. deSacy was an important and skilled French linguist. He identified the symbols which comprised the word ‘Ptolemy’ and ‘Alexander’ thus, establishing a relationship between the symbols and sounds. Johann Akerblad who history records as a Swedish diplomat, looked at the Rosetta Stone with an additional knowledge of Coptic. Coptic was the language used by the Coptic church of Egypt, an early Christian group who preserved the language which was used as early as the 4^th century. Coptic was written with the Greek alphabet but utilizes seven additional symbols from the Demotic script. Akerblad’s knowledge of Coptic allowed him to identify the words for ‘love,’ ‘temple’ and ‘Greek’ thus, making it clear that the Demotic script was not only a phonetic script but it was also translatable.

The earliest translation of the Greek text on the Rosetta Stone into English was done by Reverend Stephen Weston in London in April 1802 before the Society of Antiquaries . About this time, both deSacy and Thomas Young, attempted to decipher the hieroglyphics on the Rosetta Stone. Young was successful in determining that foreign names could not be represented by symbols because symbols are based upon the words used in a given language. Thus, foreign names had to be spelled phonetically. In hieroglyphics there are groups of symbols that are separated from other symbols. These encircled inscriptions are called cartouches. Thomas Young determined that the cartouches were proper names of people who were not Egyptian like the names of Ptolemy and Alexander which in Greek were Ptolemaios and Alexandrus. He successfully deciphered 5 cartouches. His publication on this matter was far reaching.

At this point there is involvement by a young French historian and linguist named Jean-Fracois Champollion. Champollion had mastered many Eastern languages. In 1807, Champollion went to study for two years with noted French linguist Francois Antoine-Isaac Silvestre deSacy. Later in his career, Champollion had compiled a Coptic dictionary and read Thomas Young in 1819. Looking at Young’s writing on the subject of hieroglyphics, he realized that what Young had actually proven was that all of hieroglyphics were phonetic, not just those hieroglyphics that were contained within the cartouches. Utilizing hieroglyphics from an estate at Kingston Lacey in Britain, Champollion correctly identified the names of Cleopatra and Alexandrus and verified Ptolemeus which had previously been identified by Young He published his results and continued his research. In 1822 new inscriptions from a temple at Abu Simbel on the Nile were introduced into Europe and Champollion had correctly identified the name of the pharaoh who had built the temple. That name was ‘Ramses.’ Utilizing his knowledge of Coptic he continued to successfully translate the hieroglyphics opening up an understanding of the Ancient Egyptians.

Ancient Egypt: The Ptolemaic Period

The Ptolemaic period is so-called because at this time Egypt was ruled by a series of kings all named Ptolemy. The period began with the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great. On Alexander’s death in 323 BC his empire was divided among his generals; Egypt fell to one named Ptolemy, who later declared himself king. Greek became the state language and the capital moved to the newly founded Alexandria. This city became one of the most important in the Hellenistic world.

The fusion of existing Egyptian culture and Hellenistic influences was designed to support the new administrative system imposed on the Egyptians and was completely intentional. The Ptolemies tried to stress their desire to support things ‘Egyptian’ and many temples were built during this period. The Egyptian gods, Osiris, Isis and Horus became symbolic of the ideal family but the cult of the goddess Isis was particularly popular, and spread outside Egypt.

Other aspects of art showed the new Hellenistic influence, both in clothing and the more realistic representation of facial features. This can be particularly seen in some of the coffins of the time, which were provided with mummy portraits. Literature flourished, focusing on the Library at Alexandria. It was at this time that Manetho composed his history of Egypt, and the tri-lingual decree was inscribed on the Rosetta Stone.

Source: TheBritishMuseum

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The British Museum: Rosetta Stone

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]]> http://2ndlook.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/the-root-of-it-all/ Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:25:19 +0000 Anuraag Sanghi http://2ndlook.wordpress.com/2009/11/13/the-root-of-it-all/

The principle of Cuius regio, eius religio provided for internal religious unity within a state: The religion of the prince became the religion of the state and all its inhabitants. Those inhabitants who could not conform to the prince’s religion were allowed to leave, an innovative idea in the 16th century. The phrase cuius regio, eius religio as applied to the outcome is attributed to the early seventeenth century (1612, by the jurist Joachim Stephani (1544-1623) of the University of Greifswald[9]). (via Cuius regio, eius religio: Information from Answers.com).

After war … peace

All immigrants who do not ‘fit in’ or  who don’t ‘integrate’ into the Danish ‘community’, it was decided recently, will get an incentive of 100,000 kroner. By the Danish Government, to go back to their home countries. The ‘fitting in’ and ‘integrating’ refers to Muslims in Denmark.

The Danes are not alone. The French feel let down because “immigrants were supposed to blend harmoniously into society and not exist in separate communities.”

For centuries, the settled principle in the Desert Bloc was ‘Cuius regio, eius religio’ (meaning whose land, his religion; CRER) – the ruler decided his people’s religion.

After the Fourth Crusade (1202–1204), Vatican invoked the CRER principle (‘Cuius regio, eius religio’) during its brief rule over the Byzantine Empire to reject religious objections by the Byzantine subjects. Post Hussite Wars and the ‘Reformation’, establishing the CRER principle to settle Germany, giving rise to the logic of ‘ubi unus dominus, ibi una sit religio’ (One ruler, one religion). Just in case someone had religious disagreement, the logic was they could well emigrate – (ius emigrandi).

Haiti – and after

The CRER policy guideline was finally abandoned in post-bellum America and Europe after The Haiti Fright. With Haiti breaking loose, when slaves defeated all the major Euro-colonial powers, in battle after battle, slavery was doomed. More than 200 slave rebellions, revolts and conspiracies made slavery in the West impractical. Cuban slaves were the last to win their freedom – which sounded the slavery’s death knell.

Western propaganda has made slavery, an invisible factor in their ‘success.’ And they are on the half way mark, on the erasure in popular memory, about the use of colonies for Western enrichment.

Western political constructs

With an acute labour shortage, looming over the West, slavery made way for indentured labour – and America made way for immigrants from all parts of Europe, Japan, China and Philippines.

As immigrants of various colours and beliefs made their way across the world, the CRER principle was relegated into the background.

Added to this was the 1857 War in India, against Christian proselytism, which too had to take a back seat. Victoria Regina’s Colonial India Government printed leaflets in tens and thousands to proclaim that the British Crown had no intentions to dictate faith to its Indian ‘subjects’. The 1857 War also forced Euro-centric historians to change the entire drift of world history.

Faced with a reality of ‘warm-bodies-shortage’, ‘liberalism’, ‘secular’ Governments, Marxism, Socialism et al were invented in the 19th century. It is this principle which accounts for the low levels of diversity in the West – and which also accounts for the shrillness with which the West proclaims it ‘liberalism’ – facts being otherwise.

Melting pot vs Mosaic patterns

The need for ‘integration’, the concerns over the slow ‘assimilation’ of the Mexicans in the American melting pot, the Islamo-phobia, the Compulsive Jihadic Syndrome, are all sides of the same cube. The schizophrenic Christian aggression in India combined with hysterical protests against any backlash are symptoms of the same ideological thread.

While the West talks about the respect for the individual, reality is different.

Members of the Catholic Church note with anxiety (and so does the its replacement, The State) that “the continued insistence that Hispanics will soon pass through the assimilationist melting pot and be American like us is not only false, but also harmful for our Hispanic sisters and brothers, and thus for the church”.

Another study to measure ‘assimilation’ notes “Mexican immigrants are assimilating more slowly than Italian immigrants did at the turn of the last century”. Similarly, expatriate populations in the Middle East have to live with disrespect and intolerance of non-Islamic religions.

Lowest diversity vs. Biggest talk

The West today has the lowest levels of ethnic, linguistic and religious diversity – and persecutes whatever little is left, like the Roma Gypsies for example. Would critics like to mention any other country, where such a large minority Muslim population, has greater freedom and opportunity, than in India? Would you like to suggest France instead?

The language conundrum

India, has 15 official languages. (Note check comments below on exact number of languages in India).

Shameless vegetables

No other countries even had the courage to think of that. Various US state governments outlawed all languages – except English. It was only in 1923, was this finally set aside after the matter reached the US Supreme Court (read Meyer vs Nebraska). The USA gathered some courage to start timidly with more than English only after seeing India’s success with 15 languages. Switzerland has only four. Sri Lanka’s Sinhalas do not want to accept Sri Lankan Tamils as full and equal citizens – hence the 20 year old civil war.

In the thrall of One

The Western concept of nation building requires the cornerstones of Desert Bloc – One God, One Book, One Holy Day, One Prophet (Messiah), One Race, One People, One Country, One Authority, One Law, One Currency, One Set of Festivals. This tyranny of the ‘One’ is the root of most problems in the world. From this ‘Oneness’, we get the ‘One’ Currency, ‘One’ Language logic  – a fallacious syllogism. Once you accept ‘One’, you will accept all others.

EU wants to dictate rules to vegetables and fruits

For more than 20 years, EU had rules in place to allow vegetables of specified shapes and sizes to come onto shop shelves. After more than 20 years, the EU decided that it is easier to change laws than to make tomatoes, cucumbers and bananas follow EU rules.

The Indic model

Unlike the Indian social system, where differences are respected and encouraged, the position of the French Government, paraphrases the thinking of the ‘desert bloc’. Indians believe that all are वासुदेवाय कुटुम्बकम ‘vasudevaih kutumbakam’ and ईसा वास्यो मिदं सर्वं ‘isa vaasyo midam sarvam’ (meaning we are all God’s family and God is in everyone and everywhere respectively).

November 11, 2003

                In the immortal words of the Baja Men, Pharoah said to Moses, “Who let the frogs out? (Ribbet, ribbet, ribbet, ribbet).”

                                -Eric, reflecting upon the Great Plagues.

     I’m sure you’ve never made any excuses to God about why you can’t do something that you know you’re supposed to be doing.  For the last few days I’ve been thinking about Moses a lot.  You know,  one of the residents of the “Great Cloud of Witnesses” who brought the Israelites out of Egypt at God’s request? I have always identified with Moses.  He made a lot of excuses to  God about why he couldn’t do what He was asking him to do. 

In Numbers 3:10 God said to Moses, “So now, go. I am sending you to Pharoah to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God in verse 11, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharoah and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” Have you ever questioned God back this way when He asks you to do something? I know I have. Then in verse 12 God says, “I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.”  These questions are coming from Moses after God called to him from the burning bush?I don’t know about you but I think that is such a true picture of us and the way we are.  He had this experience where God told him to take his sandals off and that he was standing on Holy Ground and he immediately says something like,  “Who Am I?”  He just had to hide his face to keep from looking at God and he’s questioning him?    He goes on to question Him in Chapters 3 and 4 with other things like, “What if they don’t believe me?”  Ever had an experience with God when you thought the same thing? I have.  Then God gives him the miraculous signs that he will walk with to prove to the Egyptian Pharoah  that he speaks for God such as his staff, his leprous hand, and the water that will turn to blood.  Wow, God is arming him with some pretty cool things to get this job done but THEN after all this in Exodus 4: 10 he says, “O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant, I am slow of speech and tongue.”  I can really identify with Moses on this part because I have always been a pretty quiet and shy person and it scares me to death to get up and speak  but the times that I have done it for God it came out fine so I don’t know why I still find it hard.  Well, back to  Moses.  After he makes this excuse to God about not being able to speak God gets a little angry and beginning in verse 14 the Word says, “Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses and He said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you and his heart will be lad when he sees you. You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help BOTH  of you speak and will teach you what to do. He will speak to the people for you, and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. ”   Wow, if I’m not mistaken God really wanted to use Moses.  Even after He got a little ticked off with the excuses of Moses He still came up with a way for Moses to be used with the help of another person.  I hope this is not sacrilegious but every time I read this when Moses says he can’t speak too well and it says God’s anger burned I see that big face with fire coming out of it from the Wizard of Oz.  Don’t get me wrong I know the difference between God and Oz but I guess it’s an imagery thing to me.  I know God is love but I can see why He was getting irritated with Moses. Well anyway, we know that none of Moses’ excuses got him out of this job and we know how many times through this very long journey he felt like giving up but he was still used by God. 

I’ve been making a lot of excuses myself lately to God about why I can’t do what I know He called me to do. No, I have not had a burning bush type experience but I have a good enough example of it from the Word of God to remind me of it all the time.  Yes, I can so identify with Moses and all his questions to God and all the questioning of himself and his abilities but look at what he accomplished.  Many times when I get down and discouraged all I have to say to myself is “A Great Cloud of Witnesses” and I’m reminded of  how ordinary people were used by God, sometimes whining and kicking all the way, but God still used them.  So I ask today, “What excuses are you making to God?”  I’m sure they are not too different from the ones I am making but will we allow Him to use us anyway?

Rick Joyner, in his book There Were Two Trees In the Garden, gives us an example of Satan’s strategy to keep God’s people under his dominion:  DEPRESSION, leads to DISORIENTATION, then LOSS OF VISION, which leads to COMPROMISE, which finally brings DEFEAT to the purpose of God for His people.  Does that sound familiar to you?  Joyner uses some Biblical examples as illustrations of his point.

When tempted by Pharaoh to come to a compromise, Moses held his course.  So Pharaoh gave in a little – - “sacrifice . . . within the land”.  This seems to be a familiar strategy of our spiritual enemy.  When Satan sees that we are determined to serve the Lord, he will then try to make us think that we can serve God even though we remain under bondage to his ways.

How many times have we said or heard other people say, “I know it’s wrong, but I know God loves me anyway.”  Interestingly, God can still be God while we remain in spiritual bondage.  We can recognize him and worship him as God while still in spiritual oppression.  However, what he truly desires for us is to worship him in freedom.

God countered this tempting compromise with further demonstrations of his power.  Pharaoh countered with another strategy of compromise – - “go . . . only do not go far away”.  Sound familiar also?  Our spiritual enemy’s next strategy is to keep us in as much bondage as possible.  In this case, this was his attempt to get Israel to lose her vision of the Promised Land.  But God called Israel not to just leave Egypt, but to go all the way to the Promised Land.

How many times have we tried to compromise with an addiction by “tapering off”?  How many times have we tried to help someone who simply couldn’t let go of the past?  These are all ways in which the enemy of our souls try to convince us to “not go too far” with our spiritual zeal for the Lord.  Complete obedience is discouraged for some sort of lukewarm status quo.

Palouse Falls Drainage October 2009 ©Weatherstone/Ron Almberg, Jr. (2009)

Finally, Pharaoh offered - – “Go serve the Lord [notice no prerequisites!]; only let your flocks and herds be detained”.  Their spiritual oppressor wanted them to leave something in “Egypt” because he knew that where their treasure was so their hearts would be also.  As a result, he was attempting to guarantee their return to bondage.  The same temptation is worked against us today.  However, we too must declare as Moses did, “not a hoof will be left behind!”  In other words, we must be unrelenting in our determination to be utterly free of sin’s dominion over us or anything that is ours.  Compromise on any level with Satan, sin, or the world spells D-E-F-E-A-T for the people of God.

If you remember the rest of the story, Israel was only freed by the power of God.  We too must understand that we will never be set free by the permission of Satan, by our ability to compromise with our sinful desires, or even by our own steadfastness against temptation.  Instead, just like Israel, our freedom will come only by the power of God displayed in the true Passover sacrifice of the Lamb.

So, the question for every believer, just as it was for the children of Israel, is this: To what extent are you willing to obediently follow God to be truly free?  Remember, it was Israel who cried out to God to be free.  But it was also Israel who wrestled with God’s method to bring freedom to them.  How like us!  Like Israel, we will only realize our destiny to be free from spiritual bondage and oppression only by following the Lord obediently and without compromise.

©Weatherstone/Ron Almberg, Jr. (2009)

i watched her walk away.

the kind of saunter reserved for egyptian goddesses.

parting crowds and licking wounds. she danced with the sun but thrived by the light of the moon. i watched her move. she stung like waking shock. her bite matched her bark. She never showed her teeth, she never had to. she wandered off as though to explain, not to confuse. i watched her walk. and if she comes back, i’ll watch her walk. and if she comes back, i’ll watch her move.

if she comes back,

she’ll come back,

and i’ll still be here.

Stand Still and Move Forward??? – Exodus 14:1-31

Many times in the events of one’s life; especially following the greatest event of one’s life; there will be something happen which causes us to question the veracity of what we have just done.  The “children of Israel” had just been witnesses to the power of God in convincing Egypt and the Pharoah to let them leave the land.  They are now standing, camping at the shore of the Red Sea, and are being speedily approached by the Egyptian army.
Questions, accusations, doubts, fears begin to flood their hearts and minds.  They blame Moses.  They blame God.  Moses says, “Stand still…” (v. 13), in a moment God says, “Move forward” (v. 15).  Which one is it? or could it be both?

OUTLINE -
I.  THE DECEPTIONS OF A HARDENED HEART AND THE PURSUIT OF DEATH (vv. 1-9).
II.  MURMURINGS OF THE PEOPLE, AND THE PROMISE OF GOD (10-14).
III.  WITH THE SEA AT THEIR FRONT AND EGYPT AT THE REAR, GOD SAYS “GO FORWARD” (vv. 15-20).
IV.  GOD DIVIDES THE SEA FOR CROSSING, DRYS UP THE SEA BED, AND PROTECTS ISRAEL (vv. 21-25).
V.  ISRAEL AND EGYPT BOTH WITNESS THE GREAT WORK OF GOD (vv. 26-31).

Study Questions -

1.  With the _____________ of Pharoah’s heart he will be convinced that Israel is lost in the _______________ (vv. 1-4)

2.  Through this event at the Red Sea Egypt would know that “God is the LORD”.  True    False  (v. 4).

3.  When the people hear of the army of Egypt approaching they begin to murmur and accuse Moses, and Moses replies…  (
A.  We better run and hide.    B.  There is no time to do anything except to fight.
C.  Fear ye not, stand still and see the salvation of the LORD.      D.  A, B, and C.

4.  When Moses has seen the army approaching whom does he say will fight for Israel?  (v. 14)

5.  Finish this statement: “Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, ________  ________  _____  _____________…”  (v. 15)

6.  The source of ___________ for Israel became the source of _____________ for the Egyptians (v. 20)

7.  As the children of Israel crossed the sea through the mud, the water was a wall to them on the right and the left.  True     False  (vv. 22, 29).

8.  Because of this event at the Red Sea the children of Israel believed the LORD and Moses.  True    False  (v. 31)

-Tim A. Blankenship

ANSWERS -
1.  hardness, wilderness;  2.  True;  3. C;  4. The LORD;  5. that they go forward;  6. light, darkness;  7. False;  8. True

The universe is bait.

And in 1969 something got hungry. Professor Hossad Mussef, Professor and Chair of the nascent hyperphysics department at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and lauded as the smartest man in the world, was the only man who suspected something.

The press gave Mussef the title as the world’s smartest man at the end of the second world war when the Japanese superhero Oni transported the atomic bomb meant for Hiroshima to the dark side of the moon and Mussef, only 10-years-old, improvised another atomic bomb.

And while he was championed as a war hero, the young boy revealed his moral standard to the world, isolating himself from altruistic scientists and superheroes. He was the Manhattan Project on a whim. His engineering and ethical caprice evident and 140,000 Japanese ghosts on his soul, Mussef didn’t blink. He grinned and called himself Professor Phenomenon.

Hopscotching from Columbia to MIT to Yale to Duke, Professor Phenomenon collected degree after degree while helping to structure Prometheus (the Paranormal Research Organization’s replacement agency) in 1950. After his sprints in academia, Professor Phenomenon ensconced himself in superscience, discovering subspace, dating movie stars, giving soundbites* to the press, and battling the theoretical villainy of other giga-intellects like Googolplex, the Polymath, and Frank Lloyd Wrong.

And, of course, the Atomic Brain, whom he helped create.

But in 1969 the Professor needed help. He collected a squad the post-humans who would be of use to him (without informing the Front, the U.S. Government, the United Nations, or the Kaleidoscope– an intergalactic collection of sentient species that Earth nominally belonged to).

TROIKA: A soviet adventurer who discovered the trinity coil.

THE SATURN CENTURION: A shape-changing alien that Professor Phenomenon liberated from the Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. The Saturn Centurion later became the Professor’s first wife.

GOLEM: A Jewish rabbi whose spirit left his body while the SS carved a star of David into his chest. His soul, instead of falling to sheol, invested in an unfeeling stone body, enabling the gentle teacher to enact great cruelty.

TIME-LAPSE: One of the first post-humans born to the subterranean race of humans beneath Arizona in The Underland. Ostensibly blind because she constantly sees the future.

SUNSPOT: A young woman possessed by a sentient solar storm (this energy force would later go on to empower Pharaoh and Helios).

This team proceeded to travel to Olympus Mons (the largest mountain formation on Mars) to activate certain Cosmic machinery left there by an ancient alien race known as the Progenitors.

The machinery forced whatever predator angling to consume the universe to assume a matter form which the team fought for 20 months. The Konsumer (as Troika dubbed the cosmic predator) killed the entire team other than the Saturn Centurion. (Though Golem was able to reconstitute himself out of Martian minerals).

During the final conflict, the team of Phenomenauts were still unable to overcome the Konsumer until an even greater force manifested and ate the Konsumer. Professor Phenomenon to reconsidered the scenario, forming the theory that the universe was being used as a bait to attract food by some even grander entity.

The remnants of the original Phenomenauts returned to earth, sticking by one another when the U.S. Government accused the team of defecting to the USSR. And again when agents of the Forever Reich attempted to dispatch Golem, and again when the Kaliedoscope arrested the Saturn Centurion for “crimes against reality.” The Phenomenauts very publically grew into a family.

Professor Phenomenon eventually took a role as science adviser for Prometheus and President Carter, but retired when Regan took office, setting up a small technology firm (Phenomenal Ventures) that was occasionally hired by Prometheus to design headquarters for operatives or observation posts until a hostile takeover by SummaCorp. During these years Professor Phenomenon had children, became a widower**, remarried, and had a final child, Kadir Mussef (aka The Mastermind).

He also fought off Quetzalcoatl 8 when the Bleed was discovered during the Parallel Wars. Following the Parallel Wars, Professor Phenomenon and his children to explored the Bleed (except when he took a two year sabbatical, after which he created an AIDS vaccine in 1997).

In her book Too Much of a Muchness, Dr. Tara Chace theorized that the only reason Professor Phenomenon kept the group together was to give himself a moral background the scientific community supposed he lacked. She believe the Professor suffers from some post-human form of dissocial personality disorder. That humans are like grass to him. Ubiquitous but unimportant.

In late 2008 the Phenomenauts’ Manhattan headquarters remote contacted Prometheus, informing the organization that the Phenomenauts had not established contact with Earth in five days. They remain missing…

MODERN PHENOMENAUT LINEUP (Missing)

DROWN: Fume’s fiancee. The daughter of Oceanus, ousted king of Aquaria.

FUME: Prof. Phenomenon’s first son born to his extra-terrestrial wife, the Saturn Centurion, was composed of gas. The Professor constructed a suit so that he could interact with the physical world.

GOLEM: The same cantankerous, raging Jew now built out of rust-colored Mars rocks.

PROFESSOR PHENOMENON: 85 years old, though he doesn’t look a day over fifty. Smartest man in the world. Egyptian ethnic who emmigrated to the U.S. in 1936. Claims  his super-intelligence came from tutoring by his babysitter, Nikolai Tesla.

RADIANT: Prof. Phenomenon’s first daughter born to his extra-terrestrial wife. Made up of living plasma, though after enough training she could form a “skin” of anti-force that allowed her to interact with the physical world.

UNDERWHELM: Self-hating Underlander who can strip abilities from post-humans. Increasingly it seems these depowerings are permanent. (Perhaps one of Prof. Phenomenon’s many illegitimate children.)

DR. WHEN: Though not a full member of the team, the time traveler likes crashing with the Phenomenauts in this time period.

PHENOMENAUTS’ FOES

The Atomic Brain: The nuclear genius who believes destruction to be the one true benchmark to measure greatness. Because otherwise, this world-class threat’s brain would be second to Professor Phenomenon.

Bio-Hazard: A grad-student who worked with Prof. Phenomenon in the 90’s. His vaccine to cure AIDS did not work. He only survived by converting his body into something horrible to survive the infection.

Dr. Distortion (III): Not a biological descendant but a big fan, the third Dr. Distortion uses the magnetic tech of the original Dr. Distortion to breach the Bleed, the extropic space between universes.

Googolplex (II): The “daughter” of the original Googolplex is a sentient computer virus that wrecks national economies for fun. It is believed the Sub-Prime Mortgage Crisis to be at least some part her doing.

Professor Peril: Former Prof. Phenom student in the late 50s. Turned raging robotics master.

Reactor: Former grad student of Prof. Phenomenon. Hoped to design an Atomic Brain-killer suit, but became infused with deadly theta radiation.

Silverback: Son of the super-intelligent gorilla Doc Kong and former student of Professor Phenomenon, Silverback originally menaced the phenomenauts as part of the post-human law firm, Jacobi & Associates.

The Second Renaissance: A group of Mussef’s former students who banded together to end “myth’s rule over humanity” by targetting magic-users and institutions of faith.

Warzone, the Angry Arena: A living intra-dimensional space designed by Frank Lloyd Wrong.

In studying Ancient Egyptian architecture, one can derive that these people had some serious drive.  Nevermind that there were beheadings and ritual sacrifices in these times, and focus on the amount of work put into each structure.  The particular work that impresses me, does so mostly out of symbolism, opposed to the actual design and creation of the structure.  This structure lead, however, to the building of one of the greatest temples in Ancient Egypt.

Following the step pyramids built by the architect, Imhotep, came the yearning for a ‘true’ pyramid with smooth sides.  Snefru, the son of Huni (last king of the 3rd egyptian dynasty), made 3 attempts at this amazing feat.  Showcased in this piece of writing, is what is said to be, his second attempt; The Bent Pyramid.  The Bent Pyramid so interests me for several reasons.  One reason being the fact that Snefru, as a ruler, was so different than those rulers that had reigned previous to him.  Snefru used his real name during his reign, as opposed to a ’special’ name, that most rulers chose.  He was said to be a PR (public relations) genius.  He was also an intelligent and logical ruler who lead many large campaigns leading to victories.  Additionally, The Bent Pyramid strikes a sharp chord for me for the sheer fact that it was his second attempt.

The first attempt at making a true pyramid by Snefru and his engineers, lead to the creation of The Pyramid at Maidum.  The Pyramid at Maidum was constructed of 7 steps that were then filled in. It briefly remained a true pyramid, until the outer casing eventually collapsed, failing Snefru’s plan.  Determined to succeed, and very stong-willed, Snefru continued to Dahshur to begin construction on what is now known as The Bent Pyramid, which, unlike Maidum, was planned as a pyramid from step one.  Unfortunately, the sides of The Pyramid at Dahshur soon became to steep and in a last ditch effort to preserve it’s stability the angle of the top was changed, thus making it The Bent Pyramid.

The Bent Pyramid

Snefru, son of Huni, eventually went on with his architects to build The Red Pyramid.  This structure was much more stable and had smooth sides, making it the first of the ‘true’ pyramids.

The Bent Pyramid remains most interesting in  my mind, because of the character it shows in the personality  of one of Egypts earliest documented rulers.  Snefru would not give up.  His motivation and drive showcase the heart and mind of a true emperor.  Scholars have noted that The Bent Pyramid “shows that men had the strength to correct themselves”. In relation to the modern world, I find this most interesting because many men and women in our culture today fight themselves daily to exude that particular strength.  Admitting and correcting mistakes is a true pillar of personality.  Surfing in the wake of each failed attempt, Snefru went on to try once more.  In each subsequent attempt, he made he strived to construct something even greater than his initial and second attempt. His final conquest is a true monument in ancient egyptian civilization.  Not only, however, is The Bent Pyramid so fascinating, but it is also one of the most well preserved pyramids form this period.  My personal belief is that this is so that people in following centuries will reach deep into their own souls to admit and correct their own imperfections and move on, using The Bent Pyramid is their guide.

The Red Pyramid- modern day

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you. And the people shall go out and gather a certain quota every day, that I may test them, whether they will walk in My law or not.” (Exodus 16:4)

This passage is taken from the story of Moses and the children of Israel. The children of Israel had been emancipated by God from Pharoah after God had spoken to Moses through a burning bush saying, Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. (Exodus 3:10)

This was not an easy task; Pharaoh was not budging. So, God sent plagues on the Egyptians to convince Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. At the same time, God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. All the plagues wreaked havoc on the Egyptians but didn’t affect the Jews. The story progresses and, eventually, Pharoah allowed the Israelites to leave.

Then, Pharoah changed his mind. He sent soldiers after them, but God parted the sea and allowed them to cross on dry land but had the waters engulf the soldiers. After a miracle like that you would have thought that the Israelites would have been willing to submit to God, but the opposite happened. Every time a test came from God to see if they would walk in His law, they behaved as though they had forgotten about that which God had already done for them.

Many of us are just like the Israelites. God has said “Yes,” given us what we have requested, and made provision after provision for us. As soon as He tests us, however, we begin to doubt and question God. We ask God to send people into our lives who will strengthen us through the word of God, but when they do and challenge us to step it up, we walk around with an attitude: Who do they think they are? Who are they? They are the answer to our prayer. They are our “Yes.”

We ask God to promote us on our job, but, in the interim, when we are assigned additional work we gripe because additional money didn’t come with the assignment. But that is God building and developing us to receive the promotion. That is our “Yes.”

We ask God to deal with our troubled child, but God wants us to accept responsibility for the example we have set before the child either in our conversations or our actions before he says “Yes.” We ask God to use us for His service. When He does, we get upset because we’re not doing what we thought we should be doing and don’t handle God’s “Yes.”

God has told you and me “Yes” so many times, and we have often taken it, misused it, and, at times, placed a question mark behind his period—just like the children of Israel. When God says “Yes,” that settles it. Our God is a God of permanency. If He blesses us with something, He will provide for us to retain it.

It took the Israelites 40 years to make a three-day trip simply because they couldn’t handle “Yes.” They were so focused on what was not instead of what God had already done until their vision became obstructed and no faith could be found.

By walking by sight and not by faith, we will never be able to comprehend the true awesomeness of the Almighty, all-knowing God we serve. I challenge you to look at your what not and then look at your life—your entire life—and see how God as always made a way for you. Now, trust Him with your what not, receive his “Yes,” and walk into your season.

I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well. (Psalm 139:14)

Be blessed. Most of all, be a blessing!

Tanya Lynne

Scripture references are from the New King James Version (NKJV)

Take You A Lamb – Exodus 12:21-51

The final plague, and the finish of the captivity of Israel is looming over the land of Egypt.  Excitement, expectation, and dread are in the hearts and minds of all the people of the land; even the Hebrews.  The Hebrews have an assurance of deliverance; a promise from God; it involves the blood of a lamb for each family of Israel.  The only hope for Egypt was to somehow be in a house with the blood at the time of the coming of the “death angel” for the first born.

OUTLINE -
I.  SAFETY IN THE HOME WHERE THE BLOOD OF THE LAMB IS APPLIED (vv. 21-28).
II.  NO SAFETY IN THE HOUSES  OF EGYPT – THE WORLD (vv. 29-30).
III.  DELIVERANCE/SALVATION COMES TO THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE BEEN CAPTIVE (vv. 31-42).
IV.  REMEMBRANCE ORDAINED FOR THE PEOPLE OF GOD (vv. 43-51).

STUDY QUESTIONS -

1.  With the ____________ on the door post and lintel, the ____________ were not to go outside the door of their homes, “until the morning” (vv. 21-22).

2.  For some Christians concerning the “bunch of hyssop” was considered to be three stalks, and allegorically pictured the Trinity.  True    False  (v. 22)

3.  This new ordinance of  _________  ___________________ was to be an annual celebration for the Hebrew people (vv. 23-28).

4.  What time of day was it when the LORD smote all the first born of Egypt? (vv. 29-30)
A.  Noon.    B.  Mid morning.
C.  Midnight    D.  It was exactly 3 p.m.

5.  The _________________  _________  __________________ obeyed the word of Moses.  (vv. 31-36)

6.  There were about 600,000 men, beside children who went out of Egypt that night.   True     False   (v. 37)

7.  The _____________  ______________________ was probably Egyptians, other captives who also wanted to go along.  (v. 38).

8.  How long had God told Abraham the people would be captive in a foreign land (Genesis 15:13-14)?  ____________   How long does our text in Exodus reveal
that they were in Egypt? _______________. (vv. 40-41).

9.  There is deliverance/_____________, and safety in the home that is covered by the blood of the Lamb. (vv. 42-51).

-Tim A. Blankenship

ANSWERS -  1) blood, people;  2) True;  3) The Passover;  4) C – midnight;   5) children of Israel;   6) True;  7) mixed multitude;  8 ) 400, 430;  9) salvation

Today, President Barack Obama gave a speech to a number of school children around the country for “President Barack Obama’s Back to School Event”. And while I didn’t hear the speech itself, I did read the transcript. If his teleprompter showed exactly the same thing as the transcript, then this speech wasn’t as political as it could have been. Somehow I have a hard time believing that he stuck to the script, seeing as he hasn’t done that yet. Adding to the controversy is the supposed lessons that were to go along with the speech. With all of this, I can’t help but be skeptical.

Even so, a quick read of the transcript shows a shallow but somewhat encouraging speech. The problems come when you look deeper and compare what he is saying to reality and to the president’s own agenda. From the beginning, the president plays on emotion (like he always does) to “touch” people. I wonder if the president realizes that the state the nation is in is “no picnic for any of us” and that everything he plans on doing will only make it worse.

His supposed purpose for the speech is to remind the kids of what’s expected of them. That they are to be responsible. He told them that they are responsible for their own future. Amazingly, I actually agree with the president on this point, but later on in the speech he tells the kids that the goverment is doing all it can to help. I find talk about responsibility pretty funny coming from a man who doesn’t seem to know what the word means (along with the words transparency, freedom, and justice). He tells the children they are responsible for their own education and if they fail, then they not only fail themselves, they fail the country. Maybe the president should start with his own responsibilities and actually fulfill those before he tries to tell others what they need to do. It is because the president has failed to be responsible that we are in the situation we’re in. He has already spent more money than all the other presidents combined and he hasn’t even been in office a year yet. Much of the money has been wasted and has failed to produce any positive effect on anything. The president has failed to be responsible to America by allowing the bills he supports (those meant to stave off “catastrophe”) to be rushed through Congress and avoiding any kind of debate on the issues. The bills have been passed in the dark of night by Congressmen (who are supposed to represent you and I) who didn’t read them at all (and at an average of 1000 pages each, who would want to?). How is that responsible? How does the president expect people to be responsible when he continues to push them to depend completely on the government for everything? On top of that, the man has taken vacations that would make Robin Leach jealous (some costing $35,000 a day!) on the taxpayer’s dollar! Tell me again how that is responsible when there are now millions of people without jobs and the economy is suffering?

He tells the children that if they want to have a good job and help the nation, they will have to work hard and train for it. How much training did Mr. Obama have for his job? Does Sal Alinsky’s book really teach the things that the president of a free republic needs to know? I doubt it… He then lists a number of jobs that they need an education for. If they want to be a doctor they will need an education. He fails to tell them that if his healthcare plan gets passed, there will be no need many doctors because the government will be deciding who gets to practice, what they get to practice, and where they get to practice. They will need an education to be a teacher. But, the president fails to tell the kids that teachers are so overworked and underpaid that it’s not funny. He doesn’t tell them that the public (government run) schools are so bad in many places that teachers fear for their lives. The teacher’s union doesn’t make things any better…Another job they’ll need an education for is police officer. What he forgot to tell the kids is that if they actually do their job, they will be labeled racists or worse (I mean, really, how many beer summits can the president have anyway?). Maybe they want to be nurses, architects, lawyers, or be part of the military. Out of the entire list, the only ones that may make money are the lawyers. There is a shortage of nurses, but in many places even those nurses who are working are having their hours cut because of the economy. Architects are feeling the crunch of the economy as well. And for those going into the military, he forgot to mention that he cut the defense budget. This means that the soldiers we have (and the new ones coming in) will have to do without more than they already do and still do the same job (reminds me of Pharoah taking away the straw…). All of this on top of the fact that they are fighting his war in Afghanistan.

He then tells the kids that their classes will help them get the skills they need to “meet our greatest challenges in the future”. They will need math and science to gain problem solving skills needed to find cures for AIDS and cancer. Of course, we need to ask if it is really science or if it is the evolutionary trash that they are talking about? Or maybe it’s the “climate change” pseudo-science? Not only that, he doesn’t tell them that their cures will be rationed to the people that the government determines are most needed and viable (which kind of ignores the whole Hippocratic oath doesn’t it?). They will also need these skills to develop “new energy technologies” (except nuclear power) and protect our environment (from things like global warming – oops! – I mean climate change). They will also need critical thinking skills from things like history and social studies to “fight poverty and homelessness, crime and discrimination, and make our nation more fair and free”. What history will they be taught Mr. President? Will it be the revised one that removes much of the truth that liberals have been pushing for decades or will it be the true history of our country that includes the faith of the founders and their dependence on God? Will it be the one that shows how atrocious things get when the government takes control of things or will you leave those parts out because they don’t fit your agenda? Will is show how lazy and complacent people get when they depend on the government for everything or will the oversized, “big brother”, federal government be painted as the hero? Will they have to fight poverty by stealing from one who is successful (which could very well be them!) and giving it to someone who has no desire to do what it takes to acheive anything? He also tells the kids to develop their creativity and ingenuity so that they can start new companies and “boost our economy” but fails to tell them that his administration (and those like him) is destroying small businesses through taxation, legislation, and the erosion of the free market.

He tells the children that we need every single one of them to help solve our most difficult problems, but what about the millions of unborn children who were not fortunate enough to make it to school age because they were unwanted and aborted? Don’t we need them too? Don’t we need the senior citizens to teach up and coming generations what made this country great, how to live within their means, and what honor and integrity are; instead of pushing for “end of life care” and euthanasia to eliminate them (except the ones in Congress of course…)? He talks about the stuggles that many of the kids face but fails to admit government’s role in many of them. Are those situations tragic? Yes! Should they be addressed? Yes! But, it should be with something that works and the government isn’t that something.

He calls on each child to set goals for themselves and meet them. He doesn’t tell them that they’ll be fighting the government every step of the way. Maybe they’ll get involved in extracurricular activities or voluteer in the community (like with ACORN Mr. Obama?). Maybe they’ll stand up for those being bullied and teased because of who they are and what they look like (unless they’re Christians – because we can tolerate everyone but them…). The president says that he believes that every child deserves a safe environment to study and learn in (provided they make it out of the womb alive). I agree with the sentiment but I don’t think that a public school classroom is that place.

He tells the kids that being successful is hard (and it is) but they can do it if they persevere. He tells them that they shouldn’t let their failures define them. Instead they should learn from them. Sadly, his own words and actions don’t line up. He says that failures should teach us but completely ignores his own failures, continuously lies to defend them, or attacks those who point them out for what they are. His stimulus package just had to be passed  but it has failed to keep the unemployment rate below 8% (which was promised), it has failed to produce millions of “shovel ready” jobs to boost our economy(another promise), it wasn’t debated or put up for 5 days so the public could read it (still another promise), and it has failed to responsibly spend the taxpayers money (yet another promise). Not only that, it saddles the children he talked to with about $100,000 in debt before they can ever make a dime (and he’s not done yet). He claims that no one is born good at things, but he sure acts like he is (hence the Messiah title given to him by some of his followers).

He says that the kids should be afraid to ask questions, but I can’t help but wonder if he set up an email where other kids could rat them out if the questions they asked were “fishy”? Why should the kids ask questions if they will only get the same tired “party line” or be reprimanded for actually disagreeing with the administration? He tells them to go to others to ask for help, but who should they go to Mr. Obama? You mention family, teachers, and coaches. Family would be best (if they have that option), but teachers don’t often have the time (or don’t have the right things to say) and coaches can get in severe trouble if they give what is deemed to be Christian advice (you know, that whole separation of church and state thing that’s not even in the Constitution…). He does mention counselors. Does this mean that he’s planning on setting up a new government department (there’s those shovel ready jobs!) so that kids can call an “anonymous” hotline for help?

He then tries to tie in history (which is something that he hasn’t been too good at) to his agenda, telling the kids that out country’s story is one of people who never quit when things got tough. They loved their country “too much to do anything less than their best”. I find it ironic that the people from 250 years ago he’s talking about were fighting against a bigger than life, tyrannical government that wanted to take away their individual liberties and freedoms (kinda like the current administration!) They fought oppressive government who failed to represent them and tried to tell them exactly what they could and couldn’t do. Not only did many of them fight for their freedom, many died for it too. How far have the American people fallen. Today, if the government offers us the same old thing in a shiny new wrapper, we jump all over it and seem to forget that they’ve continually lied to us for decades. Today, we don’t vote for elected officials based on character, honor, and integrity. Instead we vote for them based on party affiliation, charisma, and rhetoric. The people who were there 75 years ago overcame a Depression that was made worse by constant, ill-conceived government intervention by a government that was larger than it had ever been up to that point. It was a raw deal complete with numerous wasteful government programs (basically the ancestor of the current administration). They destroyed crops at a time when people were starving (and still do!). It destroyed the economy and the job market, leading many to commit suicide. The world war we fought was something that our nation didn’t need to be in and something that the president of the time (Woodrow Wilson) promised the country he would keep them out of. We may have changed the way we communicate, but unless we’re telling each other the truth, nothing has really changed.

So, what has the president contributed? He’s contributed to the national debt, mocked our nation, lied to the American people on numerous occasions, surrounded himself with people who promote everything that America has always been against, and enlarged the federal government to a size that defies the Constitution. He hasn’t solved any of the country’s current problems (it’s hard to do that when you’re always on vacation) and has added numerous new problems to the pile. If there is a president in the next 20/50/100 years, I hope that he sees this generation as the one who said they’ve had enough and turned back to God and the Constitution. Mr. Obama says that he’s trying to fix the classrooms but that’s not his job. He tells the kids to get serious, but he fails to do the same. He then adds what has become a cliche in America: “God bless you, and God bless America”. Which God are you talking about Mr. Obama? Is it the god of Islam? Is it one of the gods of Hinduism? Or is it the God of the Bible? If it’s the latter, then he is just deluding himself (or trying to delude us). Barack Obama neither knows or has seen the God of the Bible. If he really had, then the things that he does and says would be much, much different.

If we’re going to see true change in our country, we have to so something other than what we’ve always (recently) done. We have to go back to our moral foundations. We have to start living by the word of the Lord. We have to teach our children to fear God and obey what the Bible says. We have to restore the traditional (Biblical) family to its position of prominence in our nation. Proverbs says, “Train up your child in the way he should go and when he is old, he will never depart from it”. We’ve stopped training our children in the way they should go and we’re paying for it. We’ve have ignored God’s wisdom and it is now catching up to us. The only ones we have to blame are ourselves…

Sin is a lack of faith.  It is short sightedness.  It is an affront against the goodness of God.  It is the choice to partake in the passing pleasures associated with this world above that which is eternal and infinitely more enjoyable in God.  Consider what is said of Moses in Hebrews as he is praised for his faith in the God who is a rewarder of those who seek Him, “Moses when he became of age refused to be called the son of Pharoah’s daughter, choosing rather o suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward.”

In this description we notice 4 things, not in any particular order:

1)  Sin is pleasurable.  The alternative for Moses were the “treasures of Egypt.”  What pleasures would have been available for the son of Pharoah’s daughter?  It was not a small thing for Moses to simply choose not to partake in these things.  They were treasures.  They were glorious.  He probably would have had any number of pleasurable things at his disposal.  And so for us, in our “Egypt.”  Though we are not sons of Pharoah’s daughter, we have so many “treasures” and “pleasures” available at our very finger tips.  It does the believer no good to attempt to deny the desirability of sin.  James says that temptation is temptation precisely because it caters to a desire within the person who is tempted. Sin is desirable, just as the fruit was desirable to the eyes of our first father and mother in the garden, such that they sinned against their God.

2)  Sin must be deal with. Sin cannot be ignored.  Temptation cannot be ignored.  And it cannot be fought.  A person cannot man-up and struggle their way through a temptation as to overcome it.  We are told, in Timothy to “flee” from immorality.  Peter told us to “abstain” from fleshly lusts because they wage war against our souls.  Abstain – hold back from, keep away from anything that pertains to the lusts of the flesh.  We must flee from it, we cannot simply ignore it.  The problem is that most of the time, that which tempts us is not the wife of Potipher.  In those situations, many of us who have the spirit of God would turn in run.  But it is often not those situations in which we find ourselves.  We find ourselves in situations where we have to make a thousand little choices every single day in order to flee.  And every one of those thousand little choices can either bring us closer to sin or closer to the Lord.  Perhaps you’ll never have to decide whether to stay in Egypt or not.  But each day you must sit in front of your desk at work and decide to waste time or be productive.  Each day you must sit at your computer and decide to spend time looking at worthless things or to spend you time wisely in the Lord.  Each moment you must decide to complain and gripe about a situation that is difficult for you or to accept it as the Lord’s will for this season.  Each moment you decide how to respond to an arrogant, ignorant, hostile or demanding person in your life, whether you will continue to pursue righteousness or respond to them in the flesh. The point is that fleeing is not often a one time event, but rather a conscious decision that must be made daily, yea even each moment of your day.

3)  Often association with God brings affliction. This is clear and obvious from the text in Hebrews as well as it says plainly that Moses’ choice was to suffer affliction with the people of God.  Paul said to Timothy that “all who desire to live godly will face persecution.”   And that in the greater context of 2 Timothy where affliction and hardship is a major theme that Paul sought to convey to Timothy.  The man of God will face persecution from those who are crooked and perverse in his generation.  It must happen.  This world is anti-God and anti-Christ.  Those who are called by His name will receive just what He received.  Turning from sin to serve God is not an easy thing.  It is not a turning to “your best life now.”  It is a turning from the pleasures of this world to the cross of Christ, and it is taking up our own cross and making that same journey of death with Him…though it is a death to eternal life. If it were not for the cross, the world would be flocking in droves to the call of Christ.  But that is not the case because the call of Christ, a crucified and slain Christ, is foolishness to them.

4)  That brings us to our last point.  Pursuing holiness leads to the reward. Holiness is the opposite of sin.  Sin seeks its own apart from God.  Holiness seeks the pleasure of God in doing what is pleasing to Him.  While sin’s reward of pleasure is indeed enjoyable for a moment it is in reality only an illusion.  The one who is deluded may find great pleasure in his psychotic episode.  He may run free with reckless abandon in a secluded wood.  He may spend endless hours feasting upon his favorite meal.  But when he awakens from his slumber his belly will still be empty.  And if he were in his  delusion for long, the hunger pains may well lead him to starve himself to death.  There is no true reward with sin.  Only the image of a reward and an empty belly.  The reward of God is a reward indeed.  It is the reward of a better country.  Though a spiritual reality, a reality indeed.  Though unseen, its substance is what yields eternal pleasure and everlasting joy.  The reward of God is as real and eternal as God Himself, for He is the reward.  And the Christ of God is the reward giver who gives to all who both believe God and believe that He does reward those who diligently seek Him.

Reckon the reward.  Know that no matter how scintillating or how pleasurable the sin may be, beneath its surface lies a whirlpool which drags its captive down to the abyss of death.  But beyond the treacherous roads of Holiness mountain lies greater reward.  “In His face is the fullness of joy and in His right hand are pleasures forevermore!”

A close friend, who knows that I like comics, asked me recently to remind him of the name of a particular character. The character, he said, used Sound to create powerful energy blasts that could knock out his opponents. He couldn’t tell me any more about the person but kept assuring me that I would remember the name, even though he couldn’t. I felt like Joseph being
asked by the Pharoah to remember the Pharoah’s dream.

I was drawing a complete blank and really wishing my friend could tell me some other details about the character for me to stir my memory. Anyway we continued to talk about other things and I pretty much forgot about this Unknown comic book character.

That night while idly surfing the net I suddenly felt like Archimedes in his bathtub. Eureka !I screamed as I remembered exactly who my friend was thinking of.

Banshee

Banshee !! I screamed. An appropriate response.

Banshee was an Irish criminal who fought the X-Men, with his Sonic powers, originally, but later became an X-Man himself.

Banshee joins Prof X.

It made me reflect though on the powers of the mind. We have so much things stored in our brains and for so long just waiting for a chance to Scream at us. Our subconscious is working to ferret out information we need even while we’re focused on other tasks.

That same night, while reflecting on the power of comics, to entertain and teach, I thought of how comics really combined the best of both books and movies. I had a strange and strong desire to read this old Superman comic that had published a letter of mine, when I was a teenager. Amazingly I found a copy of the letter and then had a desire to read the comic I was writing about in my letter.

Superman #22 published my fan letter.

I did not consciously remember any of the story but on reading it again I realized that the villain being fought by Superman was named Silver Banshee. (This fight happened in issue#17).

Silver Banshee didn't brush her teeth.

Amazing, my mind had being trying to tell me that there was more than one Banshee character and reminded me of things I could not consciously remember anymore. My subconscious or  intuition was guiding me straight to the information like a homing pigeon flying back to its home.

Banshee. It seemed more than coincidental that there would be two different characters with such a name, one created by Marvel to fight the X-Men and the other to fight Superman in the DC Universe. Since both characters were from Ireland, in the various stories, I wasn’t that surprised to find out that Banshees are actually based on an Irish Legend.

In legend a Banshee is always a woman ( apparently the Marvel Comic writers forgot that).

Banshee in Marvel Universe.

Historically it’s believed that in 1437, King James I of Scotland was approached by an Irish seer or banshee who foretold his murder at the instigation of the Earl of Atholl.

A Banshee is a woman who appears to foretell someone’s impending death usually by singing, wailing (hence the sonic based comic villains) or even just by appearing and washing the blood stained clothes of the person soon to die.

In legend a Banshee is definitely a bad omen, when they open their mouth it’s worse than a bad case of Halitosis it means someone is going to Die.

X-Men versus Banshee.

Luckily in my case seeing the Banshees just meant that my memory was Subconsciously stronger than I even knew.

Death Of The Firstborn – Exodus 11:1-10

The events of chapter 11 appear to be taking place before Moses leaves the presence of Pharoah in chapter 10.  The Pharoah has given his decree of death for Moses and Aaron if he sees them again (10:28).  In pronouncing the death of Moses and Aaron if he sees them again, he has cut off all means of hope.  In fact he has instructed God, “I will have no more”, so God tells Moses to give Pharoah this final message which will be the death of all the first born of Egypt.
The events of verses 1-3 most likely had taken place during the three days of darkness, so this would be a parenthesis in the narrative of chapters 10 and 11.  Remembering that in the original writing they had no chapter division or verses separated to give the distinction we have today.

OUTLINE -
I.  A TENTH PLAGUE WHICH IS TO COME WILL FREE ISRAEL FROM EGYPT (v. 1).
II.  THE ISRAELITES ASK THE EGYPTIANS FOR THEIR GOODS, AND THE LORD GIVES THEM FAVOR WITH THE EGYPTIANS (vv. 2-3).
III.  MOSES TELLS PHAROAH OF THE TENTH PLAGUE, COMING AT MIDNIGHT, AND STRIKE THE FIRSTBORN (vv. 4-6).
IV.  THE RESULT WILL BE THAT THE EGYPTIANS WILL PRACTICALLY BEG THE ISRAELITES TO LEAVE EGYPT (vv. 7-8).
V.  EVEN WITH THIS FEARFUL MESSAGE PHAROAH’S HEART IS HARDENED (vv.9-10).

Study Questions -

1.  The ______________ tells Moses He will bring one more plague upon _____________. (v. 1)

2.  At this point of time Moses is still in the Pharoah’s court for the final time.  True   False  (vv.  2-3; 12:31-32)

3.  It is probably during the _____________  _______  ________________ that the children of Israel collect the goods from the Egyptian people. (vv. 2-3)

4.  This final plague seems to come from a response to Pharoah’s own anger when he…  (vv. 4-6; 10:29-29)
A. threatened to beat Moses and Aaron.    B.  When he was called an ignorant slug.
C.  threatened to kill Moses if he saw him again        D.  None of these.

5.  The ____________ plague would be upon the first born of Egypt, and would bring a great ___________ throughout all the land.  (v. 6)

6.  This tenth plague will take the lives of Israelite as well as Egyptian first born sons.   True     False  (vv. 5, 7-8)

7.  In verse 8 we are told that Moses “went out from Pharoah in great anger”; this was probably because…
A.  …he enjoyed the battles with Pharoah.    B.  …he relished the opportunity to show Pharoah wrong.
C.  …Pharoah’s announcement was a judgment upon the innocent in Egypt.    D.  All:  A, B, & C

8.  Even with the threat of impending judgment upon the first born Pharoah _______________  his heart, and refuses to let the Israelites go free.  (vv. 9-10)

Answers:

1.  LORD, Egypt;  2. False;  3. plague of darkness;  4. C;  5. tenth, cry;  6. False;  7. C;  8. hardened.

-Tim A. Blankenship

Inquiring Minds Want To Know – Exodus 10:1-29

One thing which should stand out clearly in the study of Exodus is God’s patience.  Patience with Moses in his calling; patience with Pharoah time after time in the plagues.
It shoudl be eminently clear that God’s desire is for all – the whole world – to know He is the LORD.  Up through chapter ten we are told of Pharoah’s hardened heart – first hardened by himself – until finally by God.

OUTLINE -
I.  ANOTHER REASON FOR THE PLAGUES AND THE HUMILITY OF PHAROAH (vv. 1-3).
II.  A QUESTION OF THIS MAN WHO IS TROUBLING EGYPT (vv. 4-7).
III.  A QUESTION OF WHO WILL BE ALLOWED TO LEAVE EGYPT (vv. 8-11).
IV.  THE PLAGUES OF LOCUSTS AND DARKNESS (vv. 12-23).
V.  PHAROAH’S DECREE OF FINALITY (vv. 24-29).

STUDY QUESTIONS:

1.  There are at least three reasons for the hardening of Pharoah’s heart, and these plagues (vv. 1-2; 6:7; 7:5)-
A.  So Israel will know God and trust Him;    B.  So Egypt and others will know that God is the LORD;  C.  So many generations of the Hebrews will know that God is the LORD;     D.  A, B & C

2.  Humility was a good trait in the Pharoah of Egypt. (v. 3)   True     False

3.  Moses and Aaron confronted Pharoah concerning his __________  _______  _____________ . (v. 3)

4. Pharoah is asked a question as though it might be questioning his reasoning. (v. 7)  True     False

5.  The ______________ would _______________ all that was remaining following the hail (vv. 16-20).

6.  Pharoah ______________ his sin against the LORD, but fails to _______________. (vv. 16-20)

7.  The plague of ____________________ was upon the land for _______________  ______________ (vv. 21-23).

8.  Twice in chapter 10 Pharoah wants to compromise by – (vv. 11, 24)
A.  Allowing only the men to leave;    B.  Allowing all of them to leave, but that they must return;
C.  Allowing all to leave, but they must leave their livestock;  D.  Both A & C.

9.  Moses is told not to come to Pharoah again, by Pharoah.  (vv. 27-29)  True       False

Study Questions Answers:

1. D;  2. False;  3. lack of humility;  4. True;  5. locusts, devour;  6. confess, repent;  7. darkness, three days;  8. D;  9. True.

-Tim A. Blankenship

Inquiring Minds Want To Know – Exodus 10:1-29

One thing which should stand out clearly in the study of Exodus is God’s patience.  Patience with Moses in his calling; patience with Pharoah time after time in the plagues.
It shoudl be eminently clear that God’s desire is for all – the whole world – to know He is the LORD.  Up through chapter ten we are told of Pharoah’s hardened heart – first hardened by himself – until finally by God.

OUTLINE -
I.  ANOTHER REASON FOR THE PLAGUES AND THE HUMILITY OF PHAROAH (vv. 1-3).
II.  A QUESTION OF THIS MAN WHO IS TROUBLING EGYPT (vv. 4-7).
III.  A QUESTION OF WHO WILL BE ALLOWED TO LEAVE EGYPT (vv. 8-11).
IV.  THE PLAGUES OF LOCUSTS AND DARKNESS (vv. 12-23).
V.  PHAROAH’S DECREE OF FINALITY (vv. 24-29).

STUDY QUESTIONS:

1.  There are at least three reasons for the hardening of Pharoah’s heart, and these plagues (vv. 1-2; 6:7; 7:5)-
A.  So Israel will know God and trust Him;    B.  So Egypt and others will know that God is the LORD;  C.  So many generations of the Hebrews will know that God is the LORD;     D.  A, B & C

2.  Humility was a good trait in the Pharoah of Egypt. (v. 3)   True     False

3.  Moses and Aaron confronted Pharoah concerning his __________  _______  _____________ . (v. 3)

4. Pharoah is asked a question as though it might be questioning his reasoning. (v. 7)  True     False

5.  The ______________ would _______________ all that was remaining following the hail (vv. 16-20).

6.  Pharoah ______________ his sin against the LORD, but fails to _______________. (vv. 16-20)

7.  The plague of ____________________ was upon the land for _______________  ______________ (vv. 21-23).

8.  Twice in chapter 10 Pharoah wants to compromise by – (vv. 11, 24)
A.  Allowing only the men to leave;    B.  Allowing all of them to leave, but that they must return;
C.  Allowing all to leave, but they must leave their livestock;  D.  Both A & C.

9.  Moses is told not to come to Pharoah again, by Pharoah.  (vv. 27-29)  True       False

Study Questions Answers:

1. D;  2. False;  3. lack of humility;  4. True;  5. locusts, devour;  6. confess, repent;  7. darkness, three days;  8. D;  9. True.

1. James Dean and “Little Bastard”

On September 30, 1955, James Dean was killed when the silver Porsche 550 Spyder he called “Little Bastard” was struck by an oncoming vehicle. Within a year or so of Dean’s crash, the car was involved in two more fatal accidents and caused injury to at least six other people. After the accident, the car was purchased by hot-rod designer George Barris.

While getting a tune up, Little Bastard fell on the mechanic’s legs and crushed them. Barris later sold the engine and transmission to two doctors who raced cars. While racing against each other, one driver was killed, the other seriously injured. Someone else had purchased the tires, which blew simultaneously, sending the driver to the hospital.

Little Bastard was set to appear in a car show, but a fire broke out in the building the night before the show, destroying every car except Little Bastard, which survived without so much as a smudge. The car was then loaded onto a truck to go back to Salinas, California. The driver lost control en route, was thrown from the cab, and was crushed by the car when it fell off the trailer. In 1960, after being exhibited by the California Highway Patrol, Little Bastard disappeared and hasn’t been seen since.

2. The Curse of Tutankhamen’s Tomb

In 1922, English explorer Howard Carter, leading an expedition funded by George Herbert, Fifth Earl of Carnarvon, discovered the ancient Egyptian king’s tomb and the riches inside. After opening the tomb, however, strange and unpleasant events began to take place in the lives of those involved in the expedition.

Lord Carnarvon’s story is the most bizarre. The adventurer apparently died from pneumonia and blood poisoning following complications from a mosquito bite. Allegedly, at the exact moment Carnarvon passed away in Cairo, all the lights in the
city mysteriously went out. Carnarvon’s dog dropped dead that morning, too. Some point to the foreboding inscription, “Death comes on wings to he who enters the tomb of a pharaoh” as proof that King Tut put a curse on anyone who disturbed his final resting place.

3. “The Club”

If you’re a rock star and you’re about to turn 27, you might want to consider taking a year off to avoid membership in “The Club.” Robert Johnson, an African-American musician, who Eric Clapton called “the most important blues musician who ever lived,” played the guitar so well that some said he must have made a deal with the devil. So when he died at 27, folks said it must have been time to pay up.

Since Johnson, a host of musical geniuses have gone to an early grave at age 27. Brian Jones, founding member of the Rolling Stones, died at age 27 in 1969. Then it was both Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin in 1970 and Jim Morrison the following year. Kurt Cobain joined “The Club” in 1994. All 27 years old. Coincidence? Or were these musical geniuses paying debts, too?

4. “Da Billy Goat” Curse

In 1945, William “Billy Goat” Sianis brought his pet goat, Murphy, to Wrigley Field to see the fourth game of the 1945 World Series between the Chicago Cubs and the Detroit Tigers. Sianis and his goat were later ejected from the game, and Sianis reportedly put a curse on the team that day. Ever since, the Cubs have had legendarily bad luck.

Over the years, Cubs fans have experienced agony in repeated late-season collapses when victory seemed imminent. In 1969, 1984, 1989, and 2003, the Cubs were painfully close to advancing to the World Series but couldn’t hold the lead. Even those who don’t consider themselves Cubs fans blame the hex for the weird and almost comical losses year after year. The Cubs have not won a World Series since 1908 — no other team in the history of the game has gone as long without a championship.

5. Rasputin and the Romanovs

Rasputin, the self-proclaimed magician and cult leader, wormed his way into the palace of the Romanovs, Russia’s ruling family, around the turn of the last century. After getting a little too big for his britches, a few of the Romanovs allegedly decided to have him killed. But he was exceptionally resilient.

Reportedly it took poison, falling down a staircase, and repeated gunshots before Rasputin was finally dead. It’s said that Rasputin mumbled a curse from his deathbed, assuring Russia’s ruling monarchs that they would all be dead within a year. That did come to pass, as the Romanov family was brutally murdered in a mass execution less than a year later.

6. Tecumseh and the American Presidents

The curse of Tippecanoe, or “Tecumseh’s Curse,” is a widely held explanation of the fact that from 1840 to 1960, every U.S. president elected (or reelected) every twentieth year has died in office. Popular belief is that Tecumseh administered the curse when William Henry Harrison’s troops defeated the Native American leader and his forces at the Battle of Tippecanoe. Check it out:

• William Henry Harrison was elected president in 1840. He caught a cold during his inauguration, which quickly turned into pneumonia. He died April 4, 1841, after only one month in office.
• Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860 and reelected four years later. Lincoln was assassinated and died April 15, 1865.
• James Garfield was elected president in 1880. Charles Guiteau shot him in July 1881. Garfield died several months later, from complications following the gunshot wound.
• William McKinley was elected president in 1896 and reelected in 1900. On September 6, 1901, McKinley was shot by Leon F. Czolgosz, who considered the president an “enemy of the people.” McKinley died eight days later.
• Three years after Warren G. Harding was elected president in 1920, he died suddenly of either a heart attack or stroke while traveling in San Francisco.
• Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected president in 1932 and reelected in 1936, 1940, and 1944. His health wasn’t great, but he died rather suddenly in 1945, of a cerebral hemorrhage or stroke.
• John F. Kennedy was elected president in 1960 and assassinated in Dallas three years later.
• Ronald Reagan was elected president in 1980, and though he was shot by an assassin in 1981, he did survive. Some say this broke the curse, which should make George W. Bush happy. At the time of this writing, Bush, who was elected in 2000, is serving his second term in office.

7. The Curse of the Kennedy Family

Okay, so maybe if this family had stayed out of politics and off airplanes, their fate might be different. Regardless, the number of Kennedy family tragedies have led some to believe there must be a curse on the whole bunch. You decide:

• JFK’s brother Joseph, Jr., and sister Kathleen both died in separate plane crashes in 1944 and 1948, respectively.
• JFK’s other sister, Rosemary, was institutionalized in a mental hospital for years.
• John F. Kennedy himself, America’s 35th president, was assassinated in 1963 at age 46.
• Robert Kennedy, JFK’s younger brother, was assassinated in 1968.
• Senator Ted Kennedy, JFK’s youngest brother, survived a plane crash in 1964. In 1969, he was driving a car that went off a bridge, causing the death of his companion, Mary Jo Kopechne. His presidential goals were pretty much squashed after that.
• In 1984, Robert Kennedy’s son David died of a drug overdose. Another son, Michael, died in a skiing accident in 1997.
• In 1999, JFK, Jr., his wife, and his sister-in-law died when the small plane he was piloting crashed into the Atlantic Ocean.

Source: How Stuff Works

Hail And Fire From Heaven – Exodus 9:13-35

Arthur W. Pink points out that where the other plagues could have been connected to uncleanliness, unhealthy living, and sinfulness; this plague begins a series of plague which are definitely from the heavens.

OUTLINE -
I.  GOD WARNS PHAROAH, AND TEACHES HIM THAT HE HAS BEEN MERCIFUL (vv. 13-15).
II.  GOD ONCE AGAIN REVEALS HIS PURPOSE FOR PHAROAH IN THIS SERIES OF PLAGUES (vv. 16-18).
III.  GOD GIVES THE PHAROAH AND THE PEOPLE OF EGYPT A CHANCE TO BELIEVE HIM (vv. 19-21).
IV.  GOD SENDS THE PLAGUE OF HAIL AND FIRE THROUGHOUT THE LAND OF EGYPT (vv. 22-26).
V.  THE PHAROAH CALLS FOR MOSES TO CALL FOR A STOP TO THE HAIL AND FIRE (vv. 27-30).
VI.  SOME CROPS WERE DESTROYED AND SOME WERE NOT (vv. 31-32).
VII.  THE PLAGUE IS STOPPED; PHAROAH’S HEART IS HARDENED; THE LORD HAS SPOKEN (vv. 33-35).

Study Questions -

1.  What does God tell Pharoah is His reason for these plagues?  (two answers v. 16)
A.  That I might just play games.    B.  That I might be a puppet master.
C.  That I may show My power in you.        D.  My name declared in all the earth.

2.  In what some might say is a striking claim God calls the plagues “My plagues”.  True      False  (v. 14)

3.  The Pharoah  ____________ himself over God and the ______________ of God.  (v. 17)

4.  This was a plague from the _____________, and makes quite clear that this plague was from ________  ___________.

5.  Those who believed the word of the Lord and of Moses acted with speed… (vv. 20-21)
A.  To get their servants and livestock to their houses.    B.  To stand outdoors to watch the storm.
C.  Rode their camels following the storm.    D.  None of the above.

6.  The only place that was not protected from this storm was the land of Goshen.  True      False (v. 26)

7.  Pharoah _________________ to the ______________ of the Egyptian’s hearts, and the righteousness of the LORD. (v. 27).

8.  God in His mercy to Egypt did not destroy the _______________ and the ______________ because they are late crops. (vv. 31-32)

9.  The heart of Pharoah has been softening throughout all these plagues.  True     False  (v. 35)

10.  To have a soft heart with God the heart must surrender to the will of God.  True      False

ANSWERS:

1.  C & D;   2.  True;   3.  exalts, people;   4.  heavens, the LORD;   5.  A;   6.  False;   7.  confessed, wickedness;   8.  wheat, rye;   9.  False;   10.  True

-Tim A. Blankenship