Bible Believers' Newsletter 488
"We focus on the present Truth – what Jesus is doing now. . ."
ISSN 1442-8660Christian greetings in the precious Name of our Lord Jesus Christ; may He continue to bless you exceedingly abundantly.
We certainly live in interesting times. The United States presidential election is scheduled to be held on November 4, 2008; in a radio interview, US presidential wannabe Hillary Clinton apparently supported fellow traveler Barak Obama's belief that it may be necessary to intervene militarily in Pakistan. This "War on Terror" has Designed and Patented by the City of London, MADE IN THE USA writ large. Other than civilian employment everything else is Made in China, sold and repaired (or trashed) in the USA.
What does "Jacob's ladder" signify? We address this prophecy in our main article and expose some of the disinformation in the long-running asymmetrical warfare Lucifer and his servants have long waged by way of deception.
This Newsletter serves those of like precious faith. Whoever will receive the truth is welcome to feed their soul from the waters of the River of Life. Everything here presented should be confirmed personally in your own Bible.
Your brother-in-Christ, Anthony Grigor-Scott
Bush fulfills His Grandfather's Dream
July 29, 2007 – Dubya has accomplished a huge transfer of wealth within the United States from the rest of us to the extremely wealthy. He's also effected a major privatization of public operations, including the military. And he's kept tight control over the media.
Dubya has given himself the power to rewrite all laws with signing statements. He's established that intentionally misleading the Congress about the need for a war is not a crime that carries any penalty. He's given himself the right (just as Hitler did) to open anyone's mail. He's created illegal spying programs and then proposed to legalize them. Prescott would be so proud!
The current President Bush has accomplished much more smoothly than his grandfather could have imagined a feat that was one of the goals of Prescott's gang, namely the elimination of Congress. Full story: atlanticfreepress.com
George II preparing to attack Syria?
August 1, 2007 – By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), the National Emergencies Act (50 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.) (NEA), and section 301 of title 3, United States Code,
I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, determine that the actions of certain persons to undermine Lebanon's legitimate and democratically elected government or democratic institutions, to contribute to the deliberate breakdown in the rule of law in Lebanon, including through politically motivated violence and intimidation, to reassert Syrian control or contribute to Syrian interference in Lebanon, or to infringe upon or undermine Lebanese sovereignty contribute to political and economic instability in that country and the region and constitute an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States, and I hereby declare a national emergency to deal with that threat.
I hereby order: . . . Full story: rumormillnews.com:
Comment: George II had already released an Executive Order on July 17, allowing the White House to seize the assets of anyone who interferes with its Iraq policies and giving the government expanded police powers to exercise control in the country. Does he now see some sinister connection between Syria and the collapse of a bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota? (Part of the I-35 NAFTA Super Highway Corridor, bisecting the United States to allow Mexican trucks to transport foreign cargo from the NAFTA port in Mexico through the United States to Canada and points east and west along that corridor). Is this latest EO a preemptive declaration of national emergency in the United States based on the prospect of unprovoked attack upon Syria? When George II exercises these authorities he will have absolute rule.
Frankenforests: GE Trees threaten Ecosystem Collapse
August 2, 2007 – In China, over a million poplar trees have been planted since 2002 to combat deforestation. But the move has not been widely applauded by everyone. The poplars, which are genetically engineered, are China's first foray into the world of transgenic forestry—or "frankenforests"—and other countries are not far behind.
As the biotech industry continues to lay the groundwork for genetically engineered crops—poorly tested, widely debated and yet plugged as a technological wonder—a potentially greater threat to biodiversity has begun to emerge. Pushed forward by biotech and the multibillion-dollar timber industry, genetically engineered trees are the latest invention.
"The industry has tried very hard to keep it quiet, or tout the technology as benign and beneficial to the environment," says Anne Petermann, co-founder of the Global Justice Ecology Project, a nonprofit established to advance global justice through ecological awareness. "The technology is moving forward very quickly, outpacing regulations. There are no controls in place to properly address or assess the risks—which are major."
GE trees are planted in monoculture forests, which look more like plantations, and pose serious risks to the ecosystem. Trees live decades or centuries longer than plants, and their seeds can travel hundreds of miles, increasing the likelihood of gene contamination to wild species. The technology was created to optimize the manufacturing process, but environmentalists worry that it will open an ecological Pandora's Box and threaten the health of the forests we depend on for survival.
GE forestry research is already alarmingly prevalent across the globe. The United States leads the world in research projects, with 150 tree test plots — two-thirds of the world's known research areas—and they are joined by Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Finland, France, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. Despite the prevalence of the practice, GE forestry has remained somewhat obscured by GE crops. Full story: alternet.org
Comment: John 6:63, "My Word is Spirit, it is Life." But when we hybrid by adding to and taking from God's unchanging Word the product is death and can never be restored to Life. A word is a thought when it is expressed. Lucifer is creating a sterile world that cannot be redeemed by God because it was never in His creative thinking. He began by incarnating the Serpent who seduced Eve. She bore the hybrid, Cain, who together with his descendents is without redemption. Without kinship to the first Adam they have no call on the last Adam. He hybrid Yahwism with the religion of Babylon to produce Pharisaism, Pharisaism became Talmudism, Talmudism became Medieval Rabbinism, and Medieval Rabbinism became Modern Rabbinism, which in the antithesis of Moses and the prophets (Rabbi Louis Finkelstein, The Pharisees, The Sociological Background of Their Faith", p. XXI; Matthew 15:1-9). Next he hybrid Christianity with the Babylonian religion to produce Roman Catholicism and the Apostles' Creed, Trinity and baptism in three Titles, the antithesis of the New Testament.
In these last days God has sent us the prophet of Malachi 4:5-6; Matthew 17:11 and Revelation 10:7, who' Message revealed the seven thunders contained in the Seven Seals. These Divinely revealed mystery truths will literally turn the heart of the children of God to the faith of their apostolic fathers.
The Encyclopaedists
It was no enterprising bookseller, no brilliantly inspired philosopher, who conceived the idea of the Encyclopaedia, but a powerful international organization able to employ the services of more men than all the academies could supply, which devised the scheme at least six years before the date at which it is said to have occurred to Diderot. Thus the whole story as usually told to us would appear to be a complete fabrication—struggling publishers, toiling litterateurs carrying out their superhuman task as "independent men of letters" without the patronage of the great—which Lord Morley points out as "one of the most important facts in the history of the Encyclopaedia"—writers of all kinds bound together by no "common understanding or agreement," are all seen in reality to have been closely associated as "artisans of the Fraternity" carrying out the orders of their superiors.
The Encyclopaedia was therefore essentially a Masonic publication, and Papus, whilst erroneously attributing the famous oration and consequently the plan of the Encyclopaedia to the inspiration of the Duc d'Antin, emphasizes the importance of this fact. Thus, he writes:
The [French] Revolution manifests itself by two stages:
1st. Intellectual revolution, by the publication of the Encyclopedze, due to French Freemasonry under the high inspiration of the Duc d'Antin.
2nd. Occult revolution in the Lodges, due in great part to the members of the Templar Rite and executed by a group of expelled Freemasons afterwards amnestied. . .
But in using the lodges to sow the seeds of revolution, the Encyclopaedists betrayed not only the cause of monarchy but of Masonry as well. It will be noticed that, in conformity with true masonic principles, [Chevalier] Ramsay in his oration [to the Grand Lodge of Paris in 1737] expressly stated that the encyclopaedia was to concern itself with the [seven] liberal arts and sciences [enumerated in the Fellowcraft Degree] and that theology and politics were to be excluded from the contemplated scheme. How, then, did it come to pass that these were eventually the two subjects to which the Encyclopaedists devoted the greatest attention, so that their work became principally an attack on Church and monarchy? (Nester Webster, Secret Societies and Subversive Movements, p. 160-165).
It appears the Encyclopaedists have been re-energised for the third major revolution disseminating a measure of truth peppered with theological and political disinformation. But here is the clock of life and Death. Full story: poodwaddle.com
An online tool that claims to reveal the identity of organisations that edit Wikipedia pages has shown the CIA. . . made edits to the page of Iran's president and also that the Vatican has edited entries about Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams. . . Full story: abc.net.au
Kill or Convert, Brought to You by the Pentagon
August 7, 2007 – As an official arm of the Defense Department's America Supports You program, Operation Straight Up (OSU) plans to mail copies of the controversial apocalyptic video game, Left Behind: Eternal Forces to soldiers serving in Iraq. OSU is also scheduled to embark on a "Military Crusade in Iraq" in the near future. . . OSU's "Freedom Packages" include a copy of evangelical pastor Jonathan McDowell's More Than A Carpenter—a book advertised as "one of the most powerful evangelism tools worldwide"—that is double-published in Arabic. Considering that only a handful of American troops speak Arabic, the book is ostensibly intended for proselytizing efforts among Iraqi civilians.
With its cadre of celebrity entertainers pushing End Times theology, and the overt support of the Defense Department, OSU is hoping to transform Bush's surge into a battle of biblical proportions. . . Full story: thenation.com
Comment: Sincerely misled, these "left right behind" wannabe Christians know not that they are playing the hand of Lucifer's City of London to generate hatred for the "hot" stage of World War III. Only after they are converted can they strengthen their Iraqi brethren (Luke 22:32; Revelation 3:17).
By making this proselytization part of the official DOD "outreach," they begin the process of making the quasi-Christian conversion of American soldiers official military policy. Jesus Christ prophesied, "The United States had power to give life to the (once) Protestant image of the Papal Roman beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that all who would not serve the image of the beast should be killed" (Revelation 13:11-18).
Jacob's Ladder
The Prophet Malachi is the last of the series of prophets, who, through successive generations, for a thousand years, "had showed before of the Coming of the Just One" (Acts 7:52). Not only had this remarkable order of inspired men predicted the coming Messiah, but they lifted up their voice, like a trumpet, to show God's people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins. They were the teachers and preachers of the generations in which they respectively lived, and were thus the prototypes of every true minister of the Gospel.
It is a tragic reality today that few ministers are prepared to "declare the whole counsel of God"—even among their fellows within the circle of this Message few understand the counsel of God, not having "met the Pillar of Fire on the backside of the desert".
Malachi mentions the names Jacob and Esau rather than those of Israel and Edom to call attention to the fact that though they were brothers, and sustained the same relation to Jehovah so that it might have been expected that He would have dealt with both alike, yet He had not done so, neither in their own persons nor in their posterity, so that judging from the results we might regard the one as loved and the other as hated. In Romans 9:11-33, Paul refers to Jacob and Esau as illustrations of "the purpose of God according to election" hinging upon faith that determined their history and typified and conditioned their posterity.
Brother Branham said, "Now remember this. Christ in the True Church is a continuation of the Book of Acts. But the Book of Revelation shows how the antichrist spirit would come into the church and defile it, making it lukewarm, formal and powerless. It exposes Satan, revealing his works (the attempted destruction of God's people and the discrediting of God's Word) right down to the time he is cast into the lake of Fire. He fights that. He cannot stand it. He knows that if the people get the TRUE REVELATION of the TRUE CHURCH and what she is, what she stands for and that SHE CAN DO THE GREATER WORKS, she will be an invincible army. If they get a true revelation of the two spirits within the framework of the Christian church, and by God's Spirit discern and withstand the antichrist spirit, Satan will be powerless before her. He will be as definitely thwarted today as when Christ withstood his every effort to gain power over Him in the desert. Yes, Satan hates revelation. But we love it. With true revelation in our lives, the gates of hell cannot prevail against us, but we will prevail over them.
This Book of Revelation is the actual revelation of Jesus, Himself, in the church and His work in the future ages. It takes the Holy Spirit to give us revelation or we will fail to get it. Bringing these two thoughts together you will see that it won't take just ordinary study and thinking to make this Book real. It is going to take the operation of the Holy Ghost. That means this Book can't be revealed to anyone but a special class of people. It will take one with prophetic insight. It will require the ability to hear from God. It will require supernatural instruction, not just a student comparing verse with verse, though that is good. But a mystery requires the teaching of the Spirit or it never becomes clear. How we need to hear from God and lay ourselves open and become yielded to the Spirit to hear and know.
[This Book] is the revelation of God that will give you authority over the Devil. And you can see why they who would add or take from it would be cursed. It would have to be so, for who can add or take away from the perfect revelation of God and overcome the enemy? It is that simple. There is nothing of such prevailing power as the revelation of the Word. See, in chapter one verse three, a blessing is pronounced on those who give special attention to this Book" (An Exposition of the Seven Church Ages, p. 15:3 – 16:2).
Jacob departed secretly and alone in ignominious flight, taking nothing with him but his staff (Genesis 32:10). For fear of being pursued and waylaid by his vindictive brother, he did not take the highway, but traveled by lonely and unfrequented paths so that it was several days (see Genesis 22:4) before he came to Bethel, about forty-eight miles from Beer-sheba. He did not venture into the city but spent the night in the open field, and taking one of the stones for his pillow, lay down to sleep under the heavens, a stranger exiled from his father's house with deep anxiety approaching an uncertain future.
Genesis 28:12-15, "And he dreamed, that a ladder reached from the earth to heaven: and he saw the angels of God ascending and descending on it. At the top of the ladder stood the Lord, who said, I am Jehovah, the God of your father Abraham, and the God of Isaac: the land on which you are lying I will give to you and to your descendants; and they shall be as numerous as the dust of the earth, and you will spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south: and in your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed. Furthermore, I am with you, and will protect you wherever you go, and will bring you back to this land; for I will be with you constantly until I have done everything I am promising to you".
When calling His disciples Jesus saw Nathanael coming to Him, and discerning the thoughts and intents of his heart, said, "Here comes an honest man, a true son of Israel in whom is no deceit." Nathanael was not an overreaching crafty deceiver like Jacob before his conversion, but a man of honour and integrity like Israel after his encounter with the Lord. Recognizing the Messianic sign, Nathanael did not hesitate to express his faith, honouring Jesus as "The Son of God; the King of Israel."
"Jesus answered, Do you believe because I told you that in a vision I had seen you under the fig tree? You shall see greater proofs than that. Truly I assure you, you will see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man" (John 1:43-51).
The key to this great saying is Jacob's vision. Though alone and friendless on earth Jacob's interests were busying all heaven, he was made to see "heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon a mystic ladder reaching from heaven to earth." That ladder was faith anchored upon the rock of the revelation of Jesus Messiah, the Word or Logos of God. "By and by," Jesus intimated, "When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth: for He will not be presenting His own ideas; but what He has heard and He will show you things to come. He will glorify Me and bring Me great honour by showing you My glory. All the Father's glory is Mine: this is what I mean when I say He will show you My glory" (John 16:13-15). "At that day [when you are born-again] you shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you" (John 14:20); you will see this communion between heaven and earth open to you, and the Son of man, your Kinsman Redeemer, as the real "gate of heaven" (John 10:1-18; Revelation 3:8; 4:1).
The Tower of Babel was an impersonation of heaven's gate; its idolatry could not span the breach between God and man. God promised the Seed in Abraham, but he was born in sin and backslid, deceiving the king of Gerar into potential adultery and enriching himself (Genesis 20). The seed was in Jacob now, but faith could not rest on a supplanter. The nation of Israel could not honour the Covenant much less support the faith; neither could David, "a man after God's own heart," who committed adultery with Bathsheba and sent her husband, Uriah, to die on the front line. Faith's ladder could not rest on the temple, of which Jesus said, "There shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be thrown down."
After the true Church is taken into glory, this blessing will cross to Israel. When they recognize God's ladder of faith rests on the precious foundation stone of Jesus Messiah, who is "the way, the truth, and the Life . . . the temple of God in heaven will open" to them and the nation will be born again in one day (John 14:6; Revelation 11:19; Isaiah 66:8).
Isaiah 28:16-18, "Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I lay in Zion a foundation Stone, a tested Stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation: he who believes will not panic. I will make justice the measuring line and righteousness the plummet to check the foundation of the wall you have built: it looks fine, but is so weak a hail storm will sweep away your refuge of lies, and flood waters will overwhelm your shelter. Your covenant with death will be annulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge passes through, you will be trampled down by it".
Plausible lies imparted as historic and religious truths have been received from Esaus whose desire is political in the here and now, not reconciliation with the God of heaven. "Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why are they all happy that deal very treacherously?" Because "the leaders of [natural and spiritual] Israel cause them to err; and they that are led of them are destroyed" (Jeremiah 12:1; Isaiah 9:16; Hosea 4:6).
"One of the leading principles of the mystics was the sacredness and secrecy of self-knowledge and the true knowledge of the gods. This wisdom was, they thought, unfit for, perhaps even dangerous to the ordinary human mind; or in any case liable to perversion and misuse and loss of virtue if revealed to the vulgar and unpurified spirits. Hence they favoured the existence of an outer worship, effective but imperfect, for the profane" (Radhakrishnan, Indian Philosophy).
"Effective but imperfect" knowledge is what Jacobs have been taught throughout life, but the elect cannot be deceived on the revealed Word of God; once they hear the Word for their hour they repent of their self-centered ways and take on the nature of true Israel, Jesus Messiah, "in whom God will be glorified. . . It is too light a thing that you should be My Servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will make you a Light to the Gentiles, that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth" (Isaiah 49:3, 6).
Karl Marx wrote, "Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people" (Contribution to Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right). The "soulless conditions" are the "spirit of strong delusion" produced by the opium of "outer worship, effective but imperfect, for the profane." Belief in lies and half truths is calculated to disarm and bring individuals into conformity with Establishment plans for utility as a predictable and dependent non- judgmental human resource in the corporatist state machine. Belief must be tested by the Absolute of God's unchanging Word before it can be transformed into faith, arming the individual with a clear understanding of the mind of God, so his life will be pleasing to God.
In exposing the modus operandi of the Jewish Weimar Republic that usurped and all but devastated Germany following the abdication of Emperor Wilhelm II and the allies' betrayal of the Armistice of World War I, Josef Goebbels explained: "If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State".
For six thousand years, Satan and his children have been telling and repeating "the BIG LIE" in its many forms. Examples of the BIG LIE include the Babylonian Trinity of Gods foisted upon Israel to its destruction, then Judah, and later Christendom; the true location of Israel's Red Sea Crossing, and of mount Sinai, which is located in Saudi Arabia, and not in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula (Galatians 4:26); the true borders of the land of Israel; the distinction between Jews and the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; and the contradiction between Judaism and the faith of Abraham and his descendants; Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction, and Iran's planned acquisition of same. Lies. BIG LIES, "and they that are led of them are destroyed."
The names of people and places are often changed. George Orwell was actually "Eric Blair," Gorbachev is really "Kahn," Woody Allen is "Allen Konigsberg;" Iran was Persia, which was Elam; Thailand was Siam, Myanmar was Burma, Edom became Jewry as did the nation of Khazaria—overnight. Orwell's "Ministry of Truth" also changes Science, technology and history—overnight—which is confusing, but the objective is often subterfuge. The BIG LIE.
Genesis 28:1-2, "Isaac called Jacob, and blessed him, and charged him, saying, You shall not take a wife of the daughters of Canaan. Arise, go to Padanaram, to the house of Bethuel [the Syrian] your mother's father; and take from there a wife of the daughters of Laban your mother's brother."
As Lebanon, which was part of Syria, is named after Laban, where did Isaac send Jacob? An examination of ancient maps in conjunction with the unchanging Word of God reveals truths which correct popular presumptions. Genesis 28:10, "And Jacob went out from [his father's home in] Beersheba [of Canaan], and journeyed toward Haran [in Syria]." Haran is the city to which Abraham migrated when he left Ur of the Chaldees, and where he stayed until his father died, then left for the Promised Land. It is located in Padanaram in Mesopotamia at the foot of Mount Masius between the Khabour and the Euphrates.
Interestingly, there were two cities named Ur: one was established in the days of the Patriarchs; the second in Babylon is more contemporary. Genesis 15:7 distinguishes Ur of the Chaldees (Heb. Khasdim) from "Ur of Babylonia" as in Genesis 10:10, "Babel and Erech and Akkad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar."Shinar means "country of two rivers" and is derived from sheni "two" and 'ar or nahr "rivers".
In Genesis 24:3-7, Abraham commanded his most senior servant (Eliezer—Genesis 15:1-4) swear "you will go to my country and to my kindred, and take a wife for my son Isaac".
"The servant said to Abraham, "Suppose the woman is not willing to follow me to this land (i.e. Hebron in Canaan—Genesis 23:19); should I take your son back to the land whence you came?" As we read in Genesis 15:7 Abraham came from "Ur of the Chaldees".
"And Abraham said unto him, Beware you do not bring my son thither again. The Lord God of heaven, who took me from my father's house, and from the land of my kindred (i.e. "Ur of the Chaldees"—Genesis 15:7), and who spoke to me, and took oath, saying, Unto your seed I will give this land (i.e. Canaan); He shall send His Angel before you, and you shall take a wife unto my son from there" (i.e. Ur of the Chaldees).
Genesis 24:10, "And the servant took ten of his master's camels, and departed; for all the goods of his master were in his hand: and he arose, and went to Mesopotamia unto the city of Nahor." Note the intentional mistranslation of Aram Naharaim as "Mesopotamia," obscuring the fact that Abraham's homeland is in Northern Mesopotamia, not in the south. According to Gordon J. Wenham (Genesis 24:16-50) "there was also a city called Nah_ur (first mentioned in the twentieth-century Kanish texts and later in the Mari letters and neo-Assyrian texts) that was near Haran"—and of course near Haran was where we found this same family of Nahor in Genesis 28.
Genesis 11:28, "And Haran died in his father Terah's presence in the land of his kindred, in Ur of the Chaldees." Not in Ur in the land of Babylonia.
Prior to archaeologist Sir Charles Leonard Woolley's excavations in Ur of Babylonia, begun in 1922, Abraham's birthplace was identified as Ur of the Khasdim in Northern Mesopotamia, now south eastern Turkey (identified with Urartu, Urfa, and Kutha respectively by Josephus, Islamic tradition, and Jewish authorities like Maimonides). Since 1927, the hypothesis of the celebrated Sir Charles Woolley has persuaded scholars to relocate Abraham's birthplace, contrary to the Holy Bible, in the Sumerian city of Ur in southern Mesopotamia.
Woolley's excavations at Ur were a joint venture between the British Museum and the University of Pennsylvania. Without deeper study one can only speculate that pressure from wealthy patrons such as the Rothschilds and political Zionists who plan a greater Israel from which to rule what Theodor Herzyl called, "Programme for the Jewish World Colony," (NWO) might have led to the transplanting of Ur, with the object of expanding God's promise of Genesis 15:18: "Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt (i.e. Wady el-'Arish south-west of Gaza) to the great river, the river Euphrates" on the west by the Mediterranean, to a swathe of land subsuming half of Egypt eastward from the Nile, across Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and the western half of Iraq to the mouth of the Euphrates in the Persian Gulf. This, coincidentally, is the projected course of the present World War III.
Another indication that Syria is the location of Abraham's birthplace is the embassy Merodach-Baladan sent King Hezekiah trying to enlist support for the Chaldean rebellion against Assyria. Also called Marduk-apal-iddina II, Marduk-baladan, and Baladan, he was a Chaldean prince who usurped the Babylonian throne in 721BC and reigned from 722-710BC, and again from 703-702BC, maintaining Babylonian independence for more than a decade in the face of Assyrian military supremacy. But why would he have been interested in support from such a tiny far-away kingdom as Judah?
Sargon of Assyria repressed Merodach-Baladan's allies in Aram (the birthplace of Abraham) and Israel, and drove him from Babylon in about 710BC. After the death of Sargon, Merodach-Baladan recaptured the throne. He returned from Elam (i.e. Persia, now Iran) and ignited all the Arameans in Babylonia into rebellion. He was able to enter Babylon and be declared king again. Nine months later he was defeated near Kish, but escaped to Elam with the gods of the south and died in exile a couple of years later.
He sent an ambassador to King Hezekiah trying to enlist support for his Aramean kinsmen in the Chaldean rebellion against Assyria. Flattered, Hezekiah revealed the riches of his treasury to the ambassador; his ostentatious spirit, and the unbelief that tempted him to rest on Babylon, proud of its alliance, instead of on Jehovah, called forth God's retributive threat that Babylon, the instrument of his and Judah's sin, should be the instrument of their punishment (Isaiah 39:5-7), fulfilled 120 years later in the reign of Zedekiah.
He sought support from such a tiny far-away kingdom as Judah for three reasons:
The Archaeological Research Newsletter of the late Ron Wyatt had this to report:
- Because the Israelites were themselves Arameans: Deuteronomy 26:5, "You shall speak and say before the Lord your God, A Syrian (Aramean) ready to perish was my father [Jacob], and he went down into Egypt, and sojourned there with a few, and became there a nation, great, mighty, and populous."
- Because Shalmaneser of Assyria had already conquered Israel, transported her citizens, and conquered all of Judah's fenced cities (Isaiah 29:9-16).
- And also perhaps because Babylon, famed for her astronomers, would like to be allied with a nation who's God could make the sun's shadow go backwards (Isaiah 38:8).
It's so exciting to study the archaeological discoveries of the last few hundred years and see how vividly they conform to the Biblical account. However, as we saw with the Ebla tablets, people come along with various "agendas" and motives, and try to twist or suppress these evidences. The Syrian government was extremely irate when they learned that the Ebla tablets brought to light evidences relating to the patriarchs, so they had the original translator removed from the project. It was then "arranged" for this translator to recant some of his original translations, stating that he had been in error. It is the same situation in Saudi Arabia with the real Mount Sinai. The Saudis know that it is the true site—yet they do not want the world to know because of the connection with the Israelites. They even removed the column with the inscriptions on the Saudi shore because it was written in archaic Hebrew. Another example can be seen in Saqarra, Egypt. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Ron was shown the tombs of two officials from the reign of Pharaoh Djoser, and the inscriptions of the officials both state that they "collected grain for a seven year famine." But by the mid-1980's, both of these tombs were closed. The "good news" is that even though today's "leading men" and "experts" flood the media with their "interpretations" of the evidences in a manner which is completely contradictory to the Biblical account, the true evidence is still available. We will examine some of that evidence which relates to events soon after the flood.
The commonly accepted view today is that the tower of Babel was located near the much later city of Babylon, which is in southern Mesopotamia. Yet, the ancient remains there are from the time of Nebuchadnezzar, about 1,700 years after the flood! The earliest remains they have found date to the time of the Amorite period, whose most famous king was Hammurabi. Nothing earlier has been found. Of course, the "explanation" is that the "earlier remains" are now located under the water table and can't be excavated. But the Biblical account doesn't place Babel here. Genesis 11:1 "And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there." Who is it that traveled to this plain and where did they come from? The family of Noah (Genesis 10:32), and they were coming from the region originally settled by Noah and his family after the flood, which was in the Ararat region.
If we use a little common sense, we can help our understanding of this first "exodus" from the area the ark settled in. The people leaving this region would have had flocks of animals as well as their families. To travel, they would have needed to follow a river in order to assure they would always have a sufficient water supply for both the people as well as the animals. The Biblical account says they traveled "from the east"—and since the Euphrates flows from east to west here, we can trace this river to see where it goes. (Note—the Euphrates has two sources, one near Erzurum, now called Karas, and the other near Ararat, now called Murat. We have traced their journey from the Ararat region, along the Murat). We are told that they traveled until they "found a plain in the land of Shinar" and that they then "dwelt there." The region of Turkey that they traveled through is extremely mountainous until they reach the point where the Euphrates turns south near the present day Syrian border. And here, the mountains end and the region flattens out into a plain. Could Babel have been located in this region? We just don't know since it hasn't been found. But for now, let's keep the possibility open and see what happens when we continue to study the Biblical account: Genesis 11:9 "Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the Lord scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth." We next learn that it was from Babel that the people dispersed. But backing up a bit, we learn that the leader in the building of the tower at Babel was a son of Cush named Nimrod: Genesis 10:9 "He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the Lord. And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar." Nimrod established Babel, Accad and Calneh, none of which has ever been located. But the next verse may help: Genesis 10:11-12, "Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh, and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, and Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city." Nimrod began establishing cities, and from this region (land), Shem's son, Asshur went out and also established some cities—Nineveh, Rehoboth, Calah and Resen. Now, two of these cities have been located—Nineveh and Calah. They can be seen on the map to be in northern Mesopotamia on the Tigris River. This agrees well with the statement that Asshur went out of the region of Nimrod's first established cities and built his own cities. [However, "The translators made a mistake in translating Asshur as a noun for it is a verb, and in the Chaldee means "to make strong." Thus it is Nimrod, who having been made strong (he established his kingdom by building the world's first army which he trained by drilling and through the rigors of hunting) went beyond Shinar with his strong army and subdued nations and built such cities as Nineveh, which was named after him, for even today a chief part of the ruins of that city is called Nimroud!"—William Branham, An Exposition of the Seven Church Ages, p. 186:1]. But for now, let's go on to the next event mentioned in the Bible—the "call of Abraham" out of his homeland to a land inhabited by the Canaanites—the land of "Canaan".
Ur of the Chaldees
Genesis 12:1, "Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee." The verses relating to God's call to Abram to leave his home and go into Canaan must be examined out of their order in the Bible to get the entire picture. He is called to leave his "country", his relatives (kindred) and his father's home—in other words, the place where his entire family had established their residence. This didn't imply one "house" but one area. However, we learn that his father originally set out with Abraham to enter Canaan: Genesis 11:31 "And Terah took Abram his son, and Lot the son of Haran his son's son, and Sarai his daughter in law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with them from Ur of the Chaldees to go into the land of Canaan; and they came unto Haran, and dwelt there." Terah obviously believed he was supposed to accompany his son into this "promised land." But something happened before they got there which caused them to make a temporary stop at Haran. And Genesis 11:32, ". . . Terah died in Haran." For some reason, Terah wasn't meant to go to Canaan. The reason may be found in another verse in Joshua 24:2, "And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods." Even the father of Abraham had been affected by the idolatry all around him, and mingled the worship of the true God with the worship of pagan gods. Perhaps the Lord knew his influence would hinder the purpose He had ordained through Abraham.
"The Other Side of the Flood"
Another point to mention here is the phrase, "the other side of the flood", when talking about the Israelites' "fathers", or ancestors. This doesn't refer to Noah's flood#151;it means "the river" Euphrates, as can be seen from the next verse: Joshua 24:3, "And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood, and led him throughout all the land of Canaan, and multiplied his seed, and gave him Isaac".
The point we are studying here, though, is "where was Ur" that Abraham and Terah dwelt in before they went to Haran? Ever since Woolley's discovery of the ancient city of Ur in southern Mesopotamia, the general consensus among the "learned men and scholars" has been that this was Abraham's "Ur". But again, this doesn't agree with the Biblical account. It indicates that Abraham made a 600 or so mile detour to the north—yet, Canaan was directly west of this "Ur". Remember, Genesis 11:31 tells us distinctly that when Abraham, Terah and Lot left Ur, they were going to Canaan.
Haran
Well, the site of Haran is known. And amazingly, it is located in that very plain that we located earlier when we followed the Euphrates from the Ararat region; the first plain encountered when the Euphrates leaves the mountainous region. It is also located on the Balikh River—the Euphrates, flowing south, turns west, then south and then east, around this plain area. The Balikh River branches off the western curve of the Euphrates and flows directly south and meets up with the eastern curve.
Are we to believe Abraham left southern Mesopotamia for Canaan, detouring to Haran which was about 600 miles north, and then another 400 miles south to Canaan? Or should we look for Ur in the region of Haran? Remember, we earlier discussed the need for traveling along rivers? Well, if we follow the Balikh River north, we see that about 20 miles north and a few miles west, is a city called today, Urfa. Could this be "Ur of the Chaldees"? The following is quoted from the 1985 edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica, under the subject, "Urfa": "The Town lies in the fertile plain of Haran, ringed by limestone hills on three sides. . . Traditions of its earliest foundation associate the site with the legendary king Nimrod, and Muslim legend associates the place with Abraham; a cave beneath Urfa's citadel is said to be Abraham's birthplace. The town's modern name is derived from its early Aramaic name, Urhai. . ."
In addition to this, since we are told that Abraham was to leave his country and obviously the place of his, as well as his father's, birth, we cannot be surprised to learn that there are towns bearing the names of Serug (Abraham's great-grandfather) Nahor (his grandfather) and Terah (his father) all in the area: "It would seem to have been a Hurrian custom to call a place by what was originally the name of a person, such as Nahor, Serug and Terah. What is remarkable is that all these geographical names are found in the district of Haran—according to the Biblical traditions it is precisely in this region that Abram's family stayed" (Roland DeVaux, The Early History of Israel, 1971).
The cuneiform tablets of Ebla mention a city designated "Ur in the territory of Haran" (BAR, June, 1977). The evidence shows local tradition and place names—but where was "the Chaldees"? Ur is referred to as "Ur of the Chaldees", yet the only mention of Chaldea after this in the Bible is referring to the Chaldean dynasty of Babylon in Nebuchadnezzar's time, which was almost 1,700 years later! I believe the answer can be found in the religion of the people who continued to live in the region of eastern and central Turkey. The first inhabitants of this region were called "Hurrians", and later "Urartuans", from which comes the name "Ararat". Inscriptions show that the Urartuans had at least 79 different gods—and this conglomeration of gods was called "Khaldis" (Chaldees). In the inscription of Argistis near Van, it states: "This is the spoil of the cities which I obtained for the people of the Khaldis in one year. . . To Khaldis, the giver, to the Khaidises, the supreme givers, the children of Khaldis the mighty. . ." Interestingly, these were the people who years later still lived in the region near and around where the ark came to rest. And one thing noted later about the Chaldeans was their great knowledge. There is a great deal of logic in assuming that the people who remained closest to Noah and his immediate family would have had access to the greatest amount of knowledge. With this information, we can now confidently place Abraham as living in Urfa on the Balikh River. Then, when called to leave this "Ur" for Canaan, he and his family members gathered their flocks and belongings and followed the Balikh south, in the direction of Canaan. But, for some reason, about 20 miles down the road they temporarily stop in Haran, where Terah dies.
The evidence archaeology has revealed completely validates the Biblical account. Sir Charles Marston wrote in "New Bible Evidence" (1934) p. 21, ". . . Bible commentators as a rule display little respect for the Old Testament when it stands it the way of their conjectures." Was there really a time when all people spoke one language? The ancient Sumerians believed this to be true, as is recorded in an ancient text entitled, "Enmerkar and the Lord of Aratta": "Once upon a time . . . the whole universe, the people in unison, to Enlil in one tongue gave praise." (Enlil was Lord of the Air and son of the highest god, Anu—Ed). (Ron Wyatt, Archaeological Research Newsletter 10, January 1995. The First Event Mentioned after the Flood—the Migration to the West and then, Building Babel).
Knowledge withheld or stolen from the common man empowers leaders who demand, but cannot command respect. When truth disagrees with political, religious or scientific warfare, truth is sacrificed. Hence the shameless motto of the Mossad: "By way of Deception Thou shalt do War."
In Genesis 27:24-41, "Isaac asked, Are you truly my son Esau? And Jacob answered, I am. Then bring the venison near me that I may eat of my son's game, so I may personally bless you. So he placed it near him and he ate; he brought him wine, too, and he drank."
"His father Isaac then said to him, Now come close and kiss me, my son. He moved near and kissed him and when he smelled his clothes, he blessed him. He said, Truly, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field which the Lord has blessed. God grant you from heaven's dew and from earth's fatness abundance of grain and wine. May nations serve you and peoples bow down to you. Be master over your kinsmen and may your mother's sons prostrate themselves to you. A curse on those who curse you and a blessing on those who bless you."
"As soon as Isaac had blessed Jacob, and almost before Jacob has left the room, Esau came in from his hunting. He, too, has prepared his father's favourite dish, and brings it to him. Let my father sit up and eat from his son's game, that he may bless me."
"Who are you? Isaac said. I am Esau, your first-born. Isaac was so shocked he trembled, Then who is it who was just here and brought me venison? I have already blessed him with an irrevocable blessing, and he shall be blessed."
"Upon hearing his father's words, Esau cried out with a loud and bitter cry, pleading, O my father, bless me, bless me too. But he replied, Your brother came in with guile and has stolen your blessing."
"Esau exclaimed, Well was he named "Shyster," for he has supplanted me two times. (Instead of reproaching himself for his own rashness, he sees only the wrong Jacob has done to him). He robbed me of my birthright, and now he has stolen my blessing. Oh, have you not reserved even one blessing for me?"
"Isaac responded, I have made him your master and I have given him yourself and all his kinsfolk for servants. Your theocratic responsibility and greatest blessing will be to serve Jacob, for I have guaranteed him abundance of grain and wine—what is there left to give, my son?"
Esau pleaded with his father as if he could pronounce blessings at will. "Is that your only blessing, my father? Bless me, O my father; me too! (Isaac kept silence as Esau wept. Esau's dwelling place would be the very opposite of the richly-blessed land of Canaan). "Then Isaac said, Your dwelling shall be away from the fatness of the earth, and away from the dew of heaven on high" (as confirmed by Malachi 1:3). "You shall hew your way with your sword, and you shall serve your brother; but when you have the dominion, you will break his yoke from your neck."
This blessing corresponds with Esau's character, and the future of his descendants who to this very day make their way by war, pillage and robbery. Because of his frank and open disposition, what Esau thought in his heart he soon uttered in his words, and he swore to kill Jacob, but after the death of his father, that he should not cause him to grieve.
God's blessings and his curses shall never fail. The blessing of Jacob was transmitted through Judah to David, to Jesus Messiah, to the elect Gentiles, and will very soon return upon an election of 144,000 elect Israelites. Meanwhile, blood Israelites descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are a people accursed by the Law of sin and death, and the grasping, aggressive self-seeking worldly nature of unregenerate Jacob. While Esau's progeny is predominantly Serpent's seed and accursed of God. They have been killing the children from that day to this, and under another name and in a different office hold dominion over the sons of Jacob and all nations, tribes and tongues via Judaism, Catholicism, Communism, usury, lying propaganda and international law devised by the City of London (Genesis 4:14).
Travel has increased worldly knowledge, the counterpart to revelation, but the wicked shall do wickedly and none of the wicked shall understand. Praise the Lord who sent Abraham's seed a prophet whose ministry has restored the apostolic faith and finished the mystery of God so the wise will know their God. The heart thoughts of our angels are ascending and descending in personal communication with His throne day and night. nl488.htm
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Brother Grigor-Scott is a non-denominational minister who has ministered full-time since 1981, primarily to other ministers and their congregations overseas. He pastors Bible Believers' tiny congregation, and is available to teach in your church.
Bible Believers' Church
Gunnedah NSW
Australia 2380e-mail Bible Believers URL Bible Believers' Website
PowerPoint presentation The Second Coming of Christ
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