Category: Resource Notes

                Today marks the Hebrew Feast of Purim, celebrating the deliverance of the Jews from a death decree in the ancient Persian Empire.

We all know the story. A beautiful Jewish girl, Esther, becomes Queen of Persia. The evil Haman convinces the King to order the death of the Jews. Esther risks her life to plead for her people. The King allows the Jews to defend themselves and it is the enemies of the Jews who are destroyed. And Haman is hanged on the gallows he built.

Today we are living through a modern day version of Purim. The rulers of Persia, playing the part of Haman, have made it clear that they intend to destroy the Jews. They are building nuclear bomb capability and rocket delivery systems to do just that.

Benjamin Netanyahu, playing the role of Esther, has come to the United States to plead for the life of his people. Here we break from the story line because the United States is also in the Iranian cross hairs. After Obama’s cowardly retreat from Iraq the Iranians have expanded their terrorist empire to Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen. It is true that the Iranians are leading the fight against the beastial Islamic state, but only because they want unchallenged power in the region. Soon enough they will turn on Israel.

Who will save Israel from this coming attack? Perhaps the modern answer is the same as the solution chosen by the ancient Persian King. He simply declared that the Jews could defend themselves. By defending themselves, the Jews showed that God was with them and gained peace for themselves.

We know that God watches over Israel (See our Blog 10/1/14”God Watches Over Israel”) and He has blessed the United States for our support. Let us pray that our national leaders will continue their support of Israel and help turn back the Iranian threat.

And, if Israel should decide to defend itself, let us pray that Israel’s leaders will hear from the Lord and that He will continue His divine protection.

And, as always, let us pray for the peace of Jerusalem.

            On February 27^th in 380 AD Roman Emperor Theodosius made Christianity into the official state religion. It was one of the most catastrophic events in Church history.

Up until the time Constantine legalized the Church in 313 AD, the great strength of the Church was the fact that the Kingdom of God resided within the believers. Under Constantine the Church became “respectable” and began to attract the ambitious and worldly who would make a show of outward piety without an inward transformation. After 380 AD, the Church was swamped with unconverted Pagans and the outward rituals replaced the inner power for most Church members. And the Church adopted Pagan holidays and rituals to make the Pagans feel more at home.

The first to clothe themselves in the new mantle of the State religion were the emperors themselves. The major church Bishops at Rome, Constantinople, Alexandria, Antioch, and Jerusalem also caught the power bug. Within less than a century the Jewish Bishop of Jerusalem was gone, the Antioch church was forced out to become the Nestorian Church, and the Egyptian Christians were forced out to become the Coptic Church. The Bishop of Rome was forced to trade Church recognition for military protection in Western Europe in order to remain independent of the Eastern Roman Emperor and the Bishops of Constantinople. In 1054 AD the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox finally split and went their separate ways.

The marriage between Church and State meant that religious questions would be solved with the sword instead of the Spirit. Early victims of the sword included the Arian Christian Visigoths and the Coptic Christians. Instead of sending missionaries, the State Church sent armies to forcibly convert the heathen and the heretics. When the European Church split between Protestants and Catholics the rulers forced their own views to be followed in their realms and millions of Christians were martyred. Sadly, only in recent history has the concept of religious freedom been accepted in Christian nation.

As we escape the long dark night of State religion it is good to remember Paul’s advice in the 14^th chapter of Romans to tolerate the faith of our Christian brothers and Peter’s advice from his first letter to treat non-Christians with gentleness and respect. Finally, our Popes, Archbishops, Bishops, Pastors, and Elders have cast aside their swords and are (mostly) trying to follow Christ’s command to love their brothers. The Spirit has triumphed over the sword.

Let us pray for reconciliation of the Church and focus on expanding the whole Kingdom of God. Pray that the world will know us not by our swords, but by our love and unity in the Spirit.

On February 19 the Chinese and many other Asian peoples will celebrate the beginning of a new year on their ancient calendar.

Like the Israelites and many other ancient cultures, the Chinese use a lunar calendar based on the phases of the moon, with the dark new moon constituting the first day of the month. Since twelve lunar months is 11 days short of the solar year, there is a 19 year cycle of 7 years with 13 Lunar months for each 12 years of 12 Lunar months which keeps lunar and solar years in sync. Unlike other cultures which, like us, start our new year near the winter solstice in December or, like the ancient Israelites, near the spring equinox in March, the Chinese located their new year so that the winter solstice would be in the middle of their winter and the spring equinox in the middle of their spring. Thus, the second lunar month after the winter solstice begins their year.

The Chinese new year says a lot about the Chinese, who have always wanted to maintain their distinctiveness. Thus, while their historical records trace back to the Middle East like all humans, they chose neither the Egyptian winter solstice not the Babylonian spring equinox to start their year. Their early writing bears some striking similarities to Egyptian hieroglyphs and Babylonian cuneiform, but has diverged significantly from western writing systems since. Their lunar zodiac has also diverged somewhat from ancient Middle Eastern Zodiacs, although about 75% of the Star Bible message remains intact. Their religious traditions of emperor worship and ancestor worship also reflect distinctive Chinese elements even though they trace back to Babylon.

The Chinese carried forward the ancient knowledge of the Father God in the name of Shang Ti, “Emperor of Heaven”, which is linguistically equivalent to Hebrew “God Almighty” El Shaddai or Egyptian “Incomprehensible God” Shetai. Chinese pictographic writing preserves many elements of early Biblical history, as in the picture of “Ancestor” being made from pictures of “God”, “Two Persons”, and “Ground”, (i.e. Adam and Eve) or the word “Boat” being composed of “Vessel”, “Eight”, and “Mouth” (i.e. the 8 on Noah’s Ark). Sadly, this ancient knowledge of God was lost as pagan religion and emperor worship took its distinctive Chinese course.

Today many Chinese Christians are unearthing their Godly heritage, which has been hidden for centuries, in such books as Faith of our Fathers by Chan Kei Thong. And the Chinese cultural desire for distinctiveness been turned back to its Godly purpose as it has produced a vibrant and distinctively Chinese church.

This Chinese new year let us pray for the distinctive Chinese Christian Church and the rediscovery of their ancient Godly heritage.

It has become fashionable in some circles to deny the Christian foundations of the United States. This week, when we celebrate President’s Day on February 16, would be a good time to listen to the words of our national Fathers and join them in their prayers for America:

Benjamin Franklin: On the Need for Divine Guidance

“I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live the more convincing proofs I see of this truth – that God Governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?

We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that ‘except the Lord build the House, they labor in vain that build it.’ I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our partial local interests; out projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down on future ages.

And what is worse, mankind may thereafter from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing Governments by Human wisdom and leave it to chance, war and conquest.

I therefore beg leave to move – that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessing on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service.” – June 28, 1787 at the Constitutional Convention

George Washington: Prayer for the United States

“Almighty God, We make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep the United States in Thy Holy protection; and Thou wilt incline the hearts of the Citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to Government; and entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another and for their fellow Citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for their brethren who have served in the Field.

And finally that Thou wilt most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that Charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind which were the Characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed Religion, and without a humble imitation of whose example in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation.

Grant our supplication, we beseech Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Thomas Jefferson: National Prayer for Peace

“Almighty God, Who has given us good land for our heritage; We humbly beseech Thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of Thy favor and glad to do Thy will. Bless our land with honorable ministry, sound learning, and pure manners.

Save us from violence, discord, and confusion, from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitude brought hither out of many kindred and tongues.

Endow with Thy spirit of wisdom those who in Thy Name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that through obedience to Thy law, we may show forth Thy praise among the nations of the earth.

In time of prosperity fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in Thee to fail, all of which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.”

Abraham Lincoln: National Day of Prayer and Humiliation

“Whereas, the Senate of the United States devoutly recognizing the Supreme Authority and Government of Almighty God in all the affairs of men and of nations, has, by a resolution, requested the President to designate and set apart a day for national prayer and humiliation:

And whereas, it is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history: that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord:

And insomuch as we know that, by His divine law, nations like individuals are subject to punishment and chastisement in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people?

We have been recipient of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown.

But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious Hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.

Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!

It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sin and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.

Now, therefore, in compliance with the request and fully concurring in the view of the Senate, I do, by this proclamation, designate and set apart Thursday, the 30^th day of April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting and prayer.

And I do hereby request all the people to abstain on that day from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite, at their several places of public worship and their respective homes, in keeping that day holy to the Lord and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion.

All this being done, in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the Divine teachings, that the united cry of the nation will be heard on high and answered with blessings no less than the pardon of our national sins and restoration of our now divided and suffering country to its former happy condition of unity and peace.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand to caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. By the President: Abraham Lincoln.”

To which we can only add: Amen.

In the early Church the date of February 4 was set aside as “Dismal Day”.

Dismal Day was a somber day set aside to remember the plagues of Egypt during the Exodus. The name “dismal” itself means “Evil days” and was intended to memorialize the woe and suffering of the Egyptians. Rather than celebrate the victory of the Israelites, the purpose of the day was to serve as a reminder of the consequences of disobeying God. Thus, the reflective and introspective mood of the day.

At the time of the Exodus in 1446 BC Egypt was the most powerful nation on earth. The Israelites, who had come in 1876 BC, had settled in an area of the Eastern Nile Delta known as Goshen. After the death of their champion Joseph in about 1806 BC, the Egyptian Pharaohs became fearful of the Israelites and made them into slaves. One of the Pharaohs had even initiated an infanticide against the Israelite children in about 1526 BC. It was a survivor of this holocaust, a stuttering 80 year old named Moses, whom God chose to confront the most powerful man in the world.

Of course the Pharaoh refused to submit to God’s command to let his people go, and God sent the famous Ten Plagues of Egypt. Because of their stubbornness, the Egyptians saw their river die, their crops fail, their livestock destroyed, and finally their children die. Then, to top it off, their army was destroyed chasing the Israelites and the entire country of Egypt was later overrun by foreign invaders. Certainly “Evil Days” for the Egyptians.

It is unfortunate that the Church no longer sets apart Dismal Day to remember the consequences of rebellion against God. To remember how the most powerful Nation on Earth brought judgment on itself by mistreating God’s people and killing God’s children. To remember how their river died, their agriculture economy shriveled, their children were lost, and their military was humbled. To remember how defiance of God’s commands destroyed the most powerful Nation on Earth. And to seek God because it is beginning to unfold again right before our eyes.

For his people, God had set aside the land of Goshen as a place of safety, and they were spared from the seven last plagues sent on Egypt. Today many Intercessors believe that God has set aside Lands of Goshen in America, and that He will make a distinction between those states, cities, and people who follow Him and these who do not. Just compare the economies of places like Texas where God is honored with California where He is not. This is no time to disregard God’s plans and purposes.

The Nation is in serious trouble as it suffers more and more from its disobedience. The Church needs to humble itself and pray for an Awakening.

Dismal Day would be a good time to start.

               One of the great resources available to those interested in learning from the past (See our 12/31/2014 Blog “Looking Back to Look Ahead”) is the Biblical Archaeology Review magazine.

The BAR, as it is affectionately known, provides current information on historical and archaeological finds which impact the Biblical lands. But the BAR is not the sedate scholarly magazine you might expect. Instead, interspersed between discoveries the religions and political fault lines of the Holy Land are played out in the scholarly and legal controversies covered in the BAR.

One of the major fault lines comes between the religious and the secular world views of scholars. The secular scholars are constantly attacking the work of earlier Christian and Jewish archaeologists, with a “Minimalist” school which argues that such Biblical giants as David are mythological. Another line of attack comes from Palestinians who, for political reasons, want to deny Jewish history and try to prevent archaeologists from digging up the Jewish past. There is also an occasional conflict between Jewish and Christian acceptance of findings.

While the BAR is a secular, not religious, publication, they do try to fairly present the issues. They gleefully reported an artifact which substantiated the existence of the “House of David”, to the chagrin of the Minimalists. In their January/February 2014 issue, they published an article which proves that the site of David’s palace in Jerusalem has been found. Some years back the BAR demolished Palestinian political arguments by proving that the very name of the Palestinians was derived from the Greek word for “wrestler”, which translates into the national Hebrew name of “Israel”. In another case the BAR argued against Israeli authorities for a balanced approach to “James Ossuary” box which may have contained the bones of Jesus’ brother James.

Our prayer is that secular, political, and religious attacks on Biblical archaeology will not be allowed to obscure the truth of God’s word. We pray for the BAR and Biblical archaeologists who will fearlessly stand up to those who want to rewrite history to suit their agendas.

And we thank the Lord that He has left us plenty of evidence to confirm the veracity of the Bible as the solid rock on which our faith can rely.

               On Monday, January 19 the U.S. will celebrate the Martin Luther King holiday, honoring the life of an American hero and a Christian martyr.

Dr. King grew up in a world where many people believed that the black African people were inferior to the white Europeans. This belief, which was used to support slavery in the U.S. and the colonization of Africa by Europe, directly contradicts Biblical teaching that all humans are from the same family and that God commands us to love our brothers. However, the rise of Secularism and a Darwinistic view of the human race gave a scientific veneer to the myth of racial superiority. Modern science has now proven that all humans came from the same mother, as the Bible teaches, and that there is more genetic difference within the races than between them.

So Thomas Jefferson was right when he said all men are created equal. But making that statement a reality has been a long battle in the U.S. We fought the Civil War to end slavery, and the war brought God’s judgment, as one soldier died for each slave imported into the country and the slaveholding South was devastated. Nevertheless, racial inequality was reborn in the “Jim Crow” system of laws which discriminated against black people in the South. After the Second World War black servicemen who had proven themselves the equal of their white brothers found it more and more difficult to accept their oppression.

In many countries oppressed minorities had taken up arms, but the U.S. was spared from this fate. Instead, a black Baptist pastor called on his people to use nonviolent Christian principles to bring about change. Dr. King’s Civil Rights crusade eventually bought an end to the Jim Crow laws and led to a broad level of reconciliation between the races. Sadly, he and many others gave their lives to bring about the nonviolent Civil Rights revolution.

We still have some work to do to reach Dr. King’s goal of a color blind society and full racial reconciliation. But on this day we celebrate a Baptist pastor who used Christian principles and his Christian faith to bring his white and black brothers together.

Let us pray that Dr. King’s memory will be honored by reconciliation and unity, and that those who would divide and promote hatred, whether white or black, will be exposed and repudiated.