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Why Did I Say That

By Dr Kevan and Alexandra Kruse

Chapter One



The Ground Work

 

  • Then the Lord answered me and said: “Write the vision and make it plain on tablets, that he may run who reads it.” — Habakkuk 2:2 NKJV.

Why Accusations?

For most of us, what we say may not be that high on the list of all-time problems humanity faces, but that can change after reading this book. Yet, most of us have noticed that the world is getting more polarized daily. A deeper look into the headlines reveals that many storylines are just “false accusations” generated by adversaries that have become more skilled in “disinformation.” What is also becoming apparent is that America is becoming more divided about what constitutes truth and justice. 

Accusations even destroy American history, including the great leaders who built this nation. But suppose America is the greatest nation in history. Why would so many citizens try to destroy or change it so thoroughly that it is no longer recognizable? Some issues fall on the media, trying to get our attention at all costs. Their motto is, “If it bleeds, it leads, and if it dies, it flies.”

Furthermore, every news byte is just 15 seconds because we don’t bother to investigate beyond that. Accusations have also become the mainstay of social media, and they are used to stone everyone virtually. These developments are how accusations have become the new normal and the subject of most of our gossip. 

Accusations have also wholly taken control of both political parties as we must endure a steady stream of allegations in an endless loop of the “blame game.” Virtually everyone in both parties has given up any idea of running a positive political campaign. If we are honest with ourselves, we can all see our society starting to implode, but our morbid fascination won’t let us stop watching. Moreover, we have become paralyzed by the thought of getting involved, lest we become targets.

Unfortunately, intimidation seems to be the point. Most of us feel inadequate. Women feel ugly, fat, and inferior, while men feel disrespected, shamed, and small. Almost no one loves themselves or has any personal peace. Most of us would like to be more attractive or have more money, influence, and privilege, even though those who have those things are no happier than the rest. 

The church, as a whole, isn’t doing that much better. The fact remains that pastors can’t be friends, let alone stand in unity over the most basic of things. Even worse, too many ministers spend much time writing about how they are right, and everyone else needs to be corrected. Admittedly, I, too, have perpetrated this same mentality. I have “studied to show myself approved,” but then I use what I know to beat up everyone around me. 

Where will this all end, and where is it going? The answer is simple. Think about why mistreated or molested children never stop loving their perpetrators. Tragically, the person they stop loving is themselves. This pattern of abuse and self-loathing is then projected onto future generations. The blame game is how accusations and offenses threaten to become cancer, destroying everything good. 

Love and acceptance have become ancient ideas, while social justice has become a righteous cause where “the end justifies the means” and where “two wrongs can make a right.” Yet what we say continues to fuel the fires of hate and discord. Ultimately, we will see that allegations are much like The Wizard of Oz. “Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.” This discovery helps us know that an unseen accuser is manipulating us, and he has a vast kingdom of lies.

Love cannot win unless we learn how to destroy every accusation. There can be no lasting peace and no fullness of joy as long as accusations continue to rule. But God has a plan and can destroy every charge today. The problem is these are muddy waters. The question is, are you ready to wade in?

God has made way for us to become destroyers of accusations, but we must first let Him destroy the curses we are saying and thinking about ourselves. If the heart is the most important thing about us, then accusations represent what we must free our souls of and why we must guard our hearts. In this way, accusations are the most significant reason we don’t have victory in Christ. Furthermore, as believers, there is no way to become a culture of love and blessings until we confront what has been stealing our joy. Accusations no longer need to define us or be the headlines of our lives. Now is the time to face what we may have never faced and destroy what has held us back.

Jesus Destroys All Our Accusations

While we will cover this passage again later, I feel that Jesus’s encounter with the woman caught in adultery found in John 8:1–11 can help us understand precisely what Jesus wants to do for all of us. An angry mob of people confronted Jesus, inciting violence and social justice, just like they are today. This woman was caught in the very act of adultery, and the law of Moses was reasonably clear that she should be stoned. But she wasn’t stoned because Jesus came to teach us a new law that is even more powerful than the old law of accusations.

Jesus did not even acknowledge their request. He just stooped down and started writing in the sand. Then Jesus said, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first,” and he went back to writing. We do not know what Jesus wrote, but every accuser was driven away. Then Jesus said, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus told her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”

The main point of every sermon I have heard on this passage always focuses on how Jesus does not condemn or accuse us but not on how to drive away our accusers. Yet, I believe what happened there reveals the true power and the missing ingredient in the church today.

It wasn’t enough that Jesus did not accuse or condemn this woman because the accusers were there, and they had the law on their side. The woman could only walk away if Jesus actively drove away the accusers and their accusations. In doing so, Jesus conquered the old law of condemnation and revealed the first step toward understanding the new rules of grace and redemption. 

Now, think about how most people feel when they walk into church. Do they feel more accused or less accused? I think you know the answer. Sure, some people may not feel accused in some churches. But when they leave the church, they return to feeling indited by the world because the church has not driven away all of their accusers as Jesus did.

Jesus actively, relentlessly, and systematically approached and destroyed every accusation one by one until they were all gone. Who knows how long that took? Yet, Jesus can still do the same thing today if we bring all our accusations to Him. Even now, Jesus will swoop in and place Himself in harm’s way. Jesus is ready to get between you and the bullets shot by your accusers. Jesus defied the old law to bring us grace. Jesus could do this because He knew He was destined for the cross and the redemption of all humanity. 

Because of Jesus, I dedicate this book not just to our salvation but also to the destruction of every one of our accusations. For you, the reader, I must remind you that there will be many things that Jesus will have to rewrite into the sand of our hearts for this to happen. God has to show us that what has been said and what we believe about ourselves is a lie. So, be patient and believe, and you will be cleared of all the charges against you.

  • Who will bring an accusation against the elect of God? (Romans 8:33 BLB)

The Unseen Realm

To explain this book or reveal the “man behind the curtain,” I think of allergies as an example of how curses and accusations work in a person’s life. Allergies, which affect 30 percent of adults and 40 percent of children, are unseen, yet they affect the quality of our lives. 

Picture your favorite room in your house—the one you live in the most. Be honest. When you visualize this room, do you see it as dirty or clean? Of course, you probably see it as clean, but what if you are looking at an illusion? Lift the rug, run your hands down the sides of the seat cushions, or move the couch. Now, do you think the room is clean? 

Our life is full of dirt, and most of us accept the soil and live with it—unless we have allergies constantly being set off. But what if we could get cleaner than we realize? What if what is bothering us about life and how we feel about ourselves could be healed? What if we could clean under the rug and down the sides of the couch? 

Sure, our life may look better after a superficial cleaning, but over time, not dealing with this unseen dirt is causing us to cough, sneeze, and generally hack our way through life. The good news is that God has already provided a way out of this mess. All we have to do is take God at His word, lift the rugs of our lives, and choose to let Him clean them. Through God’s power, we can learn to destroy the accusations that keep us from overreacting to the allergens of this life. 

The great men and women of God who have gone on before us have tried to tell us of this unseen realm that controls all that we see and hear. Not only is this spiritual world what we are fighting, but it is also responsible for whether we live a blessed or cursed life. For this reason, the apostle Paul tells us that if we are to live a blessed life, we need to fix our eyes on what is unseen (2 Corinthians 4:18). It is my ultimate hope to expose how this unseen world works and how we can use what God has said to destroy our accusations. Our response to God’s invitation for blessings will allow us to enter a world of benefits like never before. 

While the blessed life may not be about things, money, or fame, it is about hope, love, and joy. Can having God’s blessings be that simple? Can God be that good? This book is a testimony to both. We can control a few things, but choosing what we desire is entirely within our power. We are about to show that God has called us to His courtroom to select and declare for all eternity what we want. This record determines whether the accusations and curses of this life will be able to land on us legally. Our decision to declare God’s will activates the powers of heaven on our behalf. That is why all of heaven waits to witness what we choose when we come to God’s table of blessings. 

  • “So, we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:8).

Ground Zero

  • If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Romans 10:8 NIV)

When I was in Atlanta going to chiropractic school, I had the opportunity to work with Young Life (an outreach ministry to unchurched high school kids). Through some of the Young Life leaders, I met someone who would become a patient and later a good friend. I knew she was different immediately, but I did not know why. She had the most interesting and probing questions when discussing spiritual things. Honestly, I never met anyone like her. Still, I would have never predicted what would happen next. 

As soon as I picked up the phone, I knew she was distressed. I asked her what was happening, and she said something in her room would not leave. I asked her what she meant. She said this demonic thing was sitting on her chest, and she could not breathe. Previously, she had used the name of Jesus to make them leave, but this time, all it did was get off her chest. It wouldn’t leave her room. 

I could tell that she felt like the demon owned her. Immediately, I started to pray. I told God about the situation and asked for His help, requesting He intervene and kick these demons out of her room and her life—and He did. That was it; no more drama. The demons were gone. To my knowledge, she has never been plagued with them since. 

Later, I asked her if that had ever happened to her before. She responded that these “things” would occasionally show up, and she could sense their presence. She did not always feel in harm’s way. But the demon on top of her that night was different. 

Years later, after I had moved away, I called her to check in on her. I was surprised to learn that she was in full-blown clinical depression. Like a good friend, I tried to help by talking her out of it. To say she had had a difficult life was an understatement. Of the ten worst things I think can happen in a person’s life, she had already experienced eight and was only in her early thirties. 

As we talked, I had an epiphany: she was cursed. I was reminded of a sermon I had heard a few minutes on the radio a few weeks back. Years later, I would learn it was Derek Prince talking about “How to Pass from Curse to Blessing.” His sermon claimed that curses are real things and can have absolute power over a person. However, I didn’t think anything of it because I did not feel cursed. 

However, I did remember Deuteronomy 11:26–28. “Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; a blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day: and a curse if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known” (KJV). 

I had previously believed this verse was about being obedient. But this belief gave way as I began to see that obedience comes from faith in a radically new paradigm that God loves me and intends to bless me, not curse me. A change of this magnitude means no longer obeying, rehearsing, or participating in our accusations because we now know we can have a blessing instead of a curse. All we have to do is choose. Sadly, most people have no idea they have a choice, but we do, thanks to what Jesus did on the cross.

What happened next was a new step of faith for me and an appointment with God for her. I said to her, “You need to pray this prayer with me.” I knew her well, so I could take her deep into how she felt cursed. I started with her Father, explicitly having her say everything her Father had said about her, especially the things inconsistent with what Jesus said about her or how Jesus would have treated her. 

When I got to the end of what I knew about her experiences with her dad, I asked, “What else has he said? What else has your father done to hurt you?” The curses kept coming, and once she fell silent, I moved to her mother, siblings, and everyone I could think of who might have cursed her or her life. 

We followed the same pattern each time until there was some extended silence. Then, as I was wrapping up the prayer and affirming that the power and name of Jesus would deliver her (Philippians 2:9-11), she suddenly let out several loud yelps and fell on the floor. Remember that we were having this conversation on the phone, so I was starting to freak out. 

She was off the phone for at least a few minutes before finally saying anything. She almost whispered when she spoke again, as if she had just woken up. She hesitantly said, “I’m… I’m okay.” She then told me how tired she was, and within the next minute or two, she could not stay awake. I felt relieved and was comforted that she was suddenly at peace enough to go to sleep, so I agreed to call her the next day. 

The following morning, she called me, and her depression was gone. She said, “It is as if I saw the sun for the first time in years.” Since then, she has been different. She can now process grief, guilt, and the joys of life in the same breath. Something changed dramatically. This was the first time I had ever prayed the “prayer of blessings.” 

Now, this is important to note. While these prayers are unique because they represent milestones in our relationship with God, they are not “magical.” Besides, if we have prayed for salvation, we are already saved. However, these prayers represent remarkable invitations that will lift the baggage we have been carrying for years. Nonetheless, it would take me nearly 30 years to unpack all that happened in that first prayer, but that is what we will do in the following pages. 

As I would later understand, God’s invitation to change my testimony somehow began to destroy the overwhelming sea of accusations against me. This same testimony also ignited a faith that could declare blessings in the face of allegations. If we are feeling thwarted in our continual search for the abundant life that God has promised us, then I hope the testimony of this book will begin to unlock God’s most genuine intentions toward us all.

  • Who then overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. This “Son of Man” is the One who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ—not by water alone, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies to this because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: The Spirit, the water, and the blood—and these three are in agreement. (1 John 5:5-8 BSB)

Introduction

  • Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms. For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love, He predestined us for adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will. (Ephesians 1:3-5 BSB)

This book will be flawed because, otherwise, someone other than me would be writing it. However, I am compelled to testify to God’s relentless desire to bless me “with every spiritual blessing” because I am one of His sons. (Ephesians 1:3) This compulsion caused many sleepless nights and early mornings when I could no longer stay in bed. Many times, I have wondered if I knew what I was doing. 

Of course, the answer is that I did not, but I do believe that God did. Writing this book was initially frustrating because I had many ideas but needed a plan. In fact, over a year passed before I even created an outline. But with all my fishing in the dark, coming up with a title was the hardest. All I knew was that God was destined to destroy all our accusations. 

  • And the great dragon was hurled down—that ancient serpent called the devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world. He was hurled to the earth and his angels with him. And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying: “Now have come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ. For the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, he who accuses them day and night before our God. They have conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. And they did not love their lives so as to shy away from death.” (Revelation 12:9–11)

All of us have an accuser 24/7! But God specifically tells us how to defeat him. What surprised me is that even heaven cannot be heaven if accusations exist. The power of allegations should be sobering for all of us because it means every charge we make regarding people, life, ourselves, and God will not make it into heaven. We will need to let go of these, and we need to get started now. Vice versa, we cannot bring heaven to earth if we have accusations running through our heads or coming out of our mouths. Only when every charge is put away can heaven finally be heaven. 

This event described in Revelation 12 caused all of heaven to rejoice. For the first time, I finally understood the depth of this blessing and why it will be so celebrated. We are all in heaven for the first time, and everything is beyond our wildest dreams. We are like kids in a candy store, with many wondrous things to explore and discover. We have received our new bodies and are in awe of our newfound abilities. For the first time, we see the beauty of the Lord, and we are stunned to the point we have trouble standing up. No longer are we separated from God, and we can see His light like never before. Death, sickness, and pain are forever gone because we finally see Jesus face-to-face. 

This realization of heaven has always excited me, but according to this passage, all is not perfect. One more thing—something we have never been able to silence—still speaks to the very soul of us all: the constant accusations that come from inside and out. These accusations have kept us from having real hope, peace, or love. So, for heaven to be heaven and for us to be truly blessed, every accusation must be destroyed. 

Supernatural Testimony

  • For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who was tempted in every way that we are, yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:15-16)

As previously mentioned, the Lord’s Prayer calls for us to pray for heaven to come to earth. Yet, unearthly accusations stand in the way of God’s will for us. Unfortunately, the accuser will resist us until that day, as described in Revelations 12. But there is a way to silence them now. 

No matter where our adversary or Satan is, the fact remains that we still feel accused. More importantly, we must realize that our best defense against these accusations is found in God through the throne of grace and the courts of heaven. Heaven is where we will see God face to face and explode with praise because we have received unfathomable mercy. 

My purpose is to help us realize that all accusations have a supernatural component, so we need a supernatural cure. Paul said, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh.” We are fighting something intangible that can cause us very tangible harm. 

Revelation 12 indicates that some of these accusations originate from Satan, the “accuser of God’s children.” Satan is also the father of lies. Just as earthly severe charges are typically dealt with in court, I also believe God invites us into His court to destroy the very source of our condemnation. Understanding that God has authority over everything is the first step toward deliverance. 

We also must understand that God’s primary desire towards us is to bless us. After all, the heritage of the servants of the Lord is that “no weapon formed against them shall prosper” (Isaiah 54:17). These weapons also include accusations. As we also learned in Revelation 12:9–11, there are legal components to destroying these accusations: the “blood of the Lamb” and our testimony. 

The problem with our testimony is that most of us don’t feel like we have one, so God tells us how to form a winning testimony. God wants us to learn our rights as His children based on what Jesus has already accomplished. Even the “blood of the Lamb” had to be applied to a house’s doorway during the Passover feast. Essentially, we must apply what Jesus has done for us by what we say. Until then, Satan will continue to rob us of the peace, joy, and abundant life God has promised us. 

After all, none of our charges will make it to heaven. Indeed, until we deal with our accusations, we will be partially at odds with God. In my life, I have identified six kinds of negative things I say. The first kind is the ones we feel from society and the world. The second kind comes from family, friends, and other important people. These can be the most difficult to face because they usually lie in our past. They confuse us because the very ones who should have loved us the most were the ones who hurt us the deepest. The third kind of accusation is the one we make about ourselves. 

Diving deep into why we treat ourselves the way we do will inevitably lead us to uncover the ones we make about God. As it turns out, our beliefs about God control how we view ourselves as His children. Indeed, our beliefs about God are crucial to eliminating all our accusations. In other words, the lies we believe about God destroy our relationship with Him by keeping us from trusting in His love. Our belief in these false accusations leads to cursed thoughts, feelings, and actions.

The fifth kind of accusation is what we continually make about everyone and everything in our lives. Unfortunately, the allegations that constantly come out of me have been the hardest. However, until we are willing to rebuke anything that is not what God would say or do, we leave many of God’s blessings on the table. The good news is that coming to God’s table of grace gives us victory over every accusation. It is God’s will that we are delivered from all the allegations we have received or ever will receive. But if heaven is ever to come to earth, we must learn to speak heaven’s language in every situation. 

We must also identify the last kind of accusations because they reveal our true enemy. Unequivocally, Satan is the father of all allegations. Just like in life, full of grit, grime, and filth, we must realize that Satan constantly slips a lot of mud. Some of it will land on us or even bubble up inside us because part of us agrees with him. This kind of inner dialog is why we must learn to destroy the devil’s works and not be ignorant of his schemes. (2 Corinthians 2:11) Jesus has already won by offering life and blessings to every heir of Adam. The blood of the Lamb has done all of the heavy lifting of redemption from the worst accusations that Satan can muster. 

But even the blood of the Lamb does not work alone. It is our destiny and our heritage to play a part in this divine drama. Through prayer, we must learn to use our testimony to apply the blood of the Lamb to every area of our lives. Just as the Passover feast caused the angel of judgment to pass over a household, our sworn testimony will cause all accusations to pass over us like water on a duck’s back. 

What Is A Testimony?

What is this testimony that destroys all the accusations in our life for all eternity? God wants to answer this question. So, until we know what must be done for God to bless us richly, we will set our face forward like a flint because we know “we will not be put to shame (Isaiah 50:7).”

So, prepare to pray the most prolonged, detailed, and specific prayers we have ever prayed. After all, if saying the word Jesus can save us, would it be any surprise that God invites us to pray without ceasing and giving thanks in all circumstances? (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18) Could more prayer produce even more deliverance? The answer is an emphatic yes.

Jesus has crafted every aspect of our defense. Through faith and the blood of the Lamb, we will learn to use God’s sworn testimony sealed in His blood to destroy every accusation of Satan. Our coming victory is why the psalmist proclaimed that we would enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise (Psalm 100:4). Still, the presence of accusations keeps us from feeling grateful. The presence of curses keeps our hearts from being filled with an all-consuming praise of God. 

Accusations do this by destroying the truth of who God is. Accusations also destroy our belief and our faith in God. They also destroy our relationships. Yet, until we understand how good God is, we can never attain the praise level necessary to get to heaven’s courts, where God’s will can be declared in all its glory. What we say is the barrier, or the invisible strings, that have held us back for so long. But now we can win over them by destroying the legal cases against us. 

  • For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places (Ephesians 6:12 KJV).

The supernatural root of all accusations starts with this kingdom of darkness. These principalities are trying to make a case against us. They are relentlessly targeting our identity in Jesus Christ. The valid message of this book is that only God knows who we are, which is why God’s statement of the cross is all that is needed to silence every accusation. Once these accusations are destroyed in heaven and our hearts, we can pray for the same here on earth. This victory of faith will comfort our souls, quiet our Spirit, and tame our minds. 

None of us have to wait any longer. We can be blessed through a restored relationship with our faithful Father, who only intends to bless us. Making a choice and confessing it (our testimony) fulfills the legal requirement for God to show Himself strong on our behalf. The lack of testimony is why God calls us to choose this day, and every day, whom we will serve (Joshua 24:15). 

Today can be when we never have to feel accused or condemned again. God has already called us to His table of blessings, and we can live there. The world and even the church desperately need a savior from the accusations destroying them. God desires most for His children to become a culture of blessings that bears witness to the sheer enormity of God’s goodness. 

As we learn to destroy these accusations daily, we will become the fountains of living water God designed us to be. What we say changes everything in our life. Love can truly begin to grow because one of its main enemies has been destroyed. Join me on this journey toward the goodness of the Lord. 

  • Teach me your way, Lord; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors. Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, spouting malicious accusations. I remain confident that I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. (Psalm 27:11-13)

Only In America 

Before we begin this journey toward blessings and the goodness of God, we must get a few things straight. First, some physical, social, and financial benefits will only happen in free countries like America. But some kinds of blessings aren’t the most genuine anyway. I have met many people who, through worldly eyes, may seem challenged in their education, social status, or earthly possessions. 

However, I consider myself immensely poor when I see genuine love, joy, and peace in their heart. The older I get, the more I want to be like them. Yet I cannot deny that at various stages of my life, worldly success has motivated me as well. The only thing that helped me was my knowledge that God is the only trustworthy source of all that is good, so I relentlessly pursued Him for what I was missing. In the end, I do not know why He gave them to me, but I can say that I am grateful. I know it was God because I tried so hard to make things happen on my own, but one straightforward prayer unleashed God’s blessings upon me. 

Still, my life would not have ended this way without being born here in America. America has more freedom than anywhere else in the world because America has been the “land of the free and home of the brave.” However, if we understand that the greatest blessings are the ones we have inside us, we will not get confused and turn this book into a message of materialism or earthly prosperity.

My Prayer And Motivation 

As I pray for this message, my greatest hope is to be able to edit out the impostor that lies within me. This false self that I sometimes project to the world gets in the way of the truth. What is the truth? It is that all my success and blessings have come from God. Unfortunately, the pretender inside me constantly tries to come up with something brilliant to say or do to steal God’s credit. So, everyone reading this book will personally experience the goodness and mercy of the Lord. 

While God has already used many other authors to enlighten us on His blessings, I have been compelled to testify how God has been so good to me. I cannot say I deserve these blessings, but I am in awe of them. Indeed, I cannot wrap my head around how we serve a God who is that good. 

I have faced tragedy, turmoil, betrayal, and pain, but God has heard my prayers and turned back time through His golden age of grace. I am overcome by the sheer enormity of God’s desire to bless all His children. Please remember that I am not the best example of everything in this book, which may be why God gave it to me. Indeed, I needed this message more than anyone. So, while reading this book, please remember that there is only “One” who is good, and He wants to destroy all of the accusations in our lives until we are all free at last.

CHAPTER TWO WILL BE COMING SOON! 

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God took this Personally!

All of this would be nothing more than an exercise in history if God hadn’t taken a personal interest in the moon-god and his worshipers—namely, the Amorites. Remember, God called them out specifically when He made his covenant with Abraham.

The moon-god, under various names, was of supreme importance to Amorites in general, and especially to those of Babylon and Canaan.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that the Amorites and their gods tried to interfere with God’s plan for His people right from the Book of Genesis. After God divided the nations at Babel “according to the number of the sons of God,” He chose Abraham to establish a new people as “His allotted heritage.”

So, the principalities and powers, who were no doubt watching Yahweh’s every move, took note when He directed Abraham to Canaan and miraculously intervened on behalf of his nephew, Lot—especially after Abraham and his 318 retainers successfully raided the army of the kings of the east who’d just defeated the Rephaim tribes living in the Transjordan.

They must have been very interested when God miraculously blessed the aged Abraham and Sarah with Isaac. Suddenly, now, the promise of offspring who would be “as the stars of heaven” was a real possibility.

Then things took a strange turn: God told Abraham to take Isaac to the land of Moriah and sacrifice him as a burnt offering.

You have to wonder what was in the minds of the Fallen at this point—after all, human sacrifice was their turf. The detestable rite has been practiced on every continent except Antarctica, but Yahweh had made it clear to Noah that shedding human blood was forbidden. Sacrificing and burning children as an offering to the gods was even more offensive to God. Yet there was Abraham, with Isaac tied up on a pile of wood, ready to plunge a knife into his only son.

It was a test, shocking to us modern Christians. Why would Abraham even listen to a God who demanded such a thing? Well, the world was a lot different then. Human sacrifice was a reality in the world of the Amorites. Archaeologists have found children ritually slaughtered at a number of Amorite sites during the time of Abraham.

Their Sumerian and Egyptian predecessors likewise practiced it; “retainer sacrifice,” the ritual murder of the servants of kings and nobles who’d died, is well documented in the tombs of ancient Ur and the kings of Egypt’s First Dynasty. So, it wouldn’t have been unusual for a god to demand the sacrifice of a loved one in Abraham’s day.

Here’s another significant part of the story: Some scholars believe “the land of Moriah” was “the land of the Amorites,” with the name Amurru losing its first syllable over time the way English-speakers shorten “until” to “till,” a phenomenon called “aphesis.” Connecting Moriah to the Amorites was apparently in the minds of the Jewish translators of the Septuagint, who rendered it from Hebrew into Greek in 2 Chronicles 3:1 as Ἀμωρία—Amōriā.

Why does this matter? Because Mount Moriah, the Mountain of the Amorites, is where David bought the threshing floor of Araunah, upon which Solomon built the Temple. In other words, Mount Moriah is the Temple Mount—Zion.

Have you ever noticed that it was on the third day when Abraham saw the place God had appointed for His message to the rebel spirits? No Christian can miss the symbolic significance of that detail.

That’s where Armageddon will be fought. God staked His claim to that mountain in the nineteenth century BC when He stopped Abraham from harming Isaac in the heartland of the Amorites.

Yahweh telegraphed the coming battle for the land occupied by the moon-god’s followers sometime between 1840 and 1830 BC. Isaac was born around 1851 BC, but since Abraham asked his son to carry the wood up to Mount Moriah, Isaac wasn’t a small child when they traveled to the land of the Amorites.

Four hundred years later, when the Israelites were freed from their oppressors in Egypt, the battle was officially on.

They set out from Elim, and all the congregation of the people of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. (Exodus 16:1, ESV)

It’s important to remember that there are no throwaway details in the Bible. The prophets and apostles didn’t add things for just for color, drama, or word count. So, what do we take away from this passage?

Elim is probably in the Wadi Gharandel, a normally dry riverbed in the western Sinai. The Wilderness of Sin must have been the desert that covers the center of the Sinai Peninsula. Now, why would Moses record the specific day of the month when the people entered this wilderness? And what’s the significance of the fifteenth day?

In the ancient Near East, the calendar was based on the cycles of the moon. The fifteenth day was the time the moon was full—meaning the moon-god was at full strength.

Does the name of the desert suddenly make sense?

Yes, the Wilderness of Sîn. That Sîn. The Wilderness of the Moon-god.

The reasons behind the name of the desert should be apparent. In a land where daytime temperatures in the summer average 97 degrees Fahrenheit (36 Celsius), one travels at night whenever possible. Since the moon’s predictable changes coincide with fertility cycles, which were important to both humans and herds, the moon-god’s movement through the sky guided the lives of the pastoral nomads who traveled through the wilderness of Sîn.

Just as He did at the Red Sea, Yahweh led Israel on a specific route—in this case, at a specific time—to confront the small-g gods who’d rebelled against His authority.

Not surprisingly, the people complained.

And the whole congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and the people of Israel said to them, “Would that we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full, for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” (Exodus 16:2–3, ESV)

Is it any wonder they grumbled? Moses led them into a land named for one of the most powerful gods of the Amorites on a day when the god was at full strength! They’d already learned how difficult it was to find water in this land; they were three days out from the Red Sea before they found the waters of Marah—and even then, divine intervention was required to make the water drinkable.

How did God respond? The morning after Israel entered the Wilderness of Sîn, when the moon-god was believed to be at full power, Yahweh caused bread to rain down from heaven.

Coincidence? No. It was another demonstration of His power over the supernatural realm, especially over the bene elohim who’d dared to set themselves up as gods. The manna fell from heaven for Israel until the day they crossed the Jordan forty years later.

Here’s another paradigm-shifter: Have you ever considered that Sinai, “the mountain of God” where Moses saw the burning bush, was named for the moon-god? Neither did I. But this isn’t a new idea; scholars have believed that the Mesopotamian moon-god was the origin of the name “Sinai” for more than a hundred years. So, this showdown between Yahweh and Sîn in the middle of the Sinai was more than forty years in the making.

Think about this: It was on the mountain of the moon-god where Yahweh revealed Himself to Moses and where He shared with Moses that His Name was Yahweh.

 

Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.” (Exodus 3:13–15, ESV) 

God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself known to them.” (Exodus 6:2–3, ESV)

In other words, “I am Yahweh. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as El Shaddai, but by my name Yahweh I did not make myself known to them.”

So, what does El Shaddai mean? Most probably, “God of the mountains.” Some scholars have assumed that this title was originally applied to the Canaanite creator-god, El. After all, his mount of assembly was Mount Hermon, the most impressive peak in the Near East.

The Amorites, who were considered uncultured mountaineers by the city-dwelling Sumerians, were represented in the Mesopotamian pantheon by an uncivilized god called Amurru. One of the epithets of Amurru was Bêl Šadê, which is Akkadian for “lord of the mountains.” Because you’re observant, you probably noticed the similarity between Bêl Šadê and El Shaddai right off. (The funny-looking š is pronounced “sh.”) Because of this, some scholars believe Amurru was the Amorite original on which the later Hebrews modeled Yahweh.

Of course, that requires believing Moses more or less invented Hebrew religion, an idea we reject. If Jesus, who healed the sick, cast out demons by His own authority, walked on water, and prophesied His own Resurrection, was wrong about Moses, then you and I are in a world of trouble.

But there’s another possibility, and it supports our theory that the moon-god was far more important in the ancient world than we realize. Amurru, which refers to the Amorites as well as to the god of that name, may have been an epithet rather than a proper name.

Instead of “Amurru” being a god who shared the name of the Amorite people, it may have been a title of the moon-god: “Sîn, god of the Amurru-land.”

There is substantial evidence to support the identification of Bêl Šadê, the god of the Amurru-land, with a lunar deity, specifically with Sîn. (1) Harran, from at least the Middle Bronze period until the late Middle Ages, was regarded as a major sanctuary of the moon-god Sîn. And we know in particular that the Amurru-peoples concluded treaties in his temple during the Mari period. (2) There are a number of seal cylinders on which the god Amurru, recognizable by inscription, curved staff, and sacred gazelle, is shown standing under a lunar crescent. If this is felt insufficient to establish his lunar nature, the fact that he sometimes holds or stands before a cult standard atop which is a crescent certainly strongly suggests it. (3) Once we find the sacred staff of the god Amurru on the seal of a devotee of the god Sîn. The inscription reads: E-til-pi4-Ištar…arad dSîn. (4) Several individuals with theophoric names of the Sîn-type describe themselves on their seals as servants of the god Amurru.

We may reasonably conclude, therefore, that the god worshiped by the nomadic Amurru-peoples in the Balikh-Harran region by the epithets “Amurru” and “Bêl Šadê,” at the time of the Mari and Old Babylonian texts, was a lunar deity. Sometimes he is specifically named (or at least identified with) Sîn.

The Balikh-Harran region is precisely where Abraham began his journey to Canaan. Abraham came from a land where the moon-god was called “lord of the mountains.” Is it surprising, then, that Yahweh revealed Himself to the patriarchs as the true God of the mountains, El Shaddai, and that Moses would have his first encounter with Yahweh at har hāʾĕlōhîm, the “mountain of God”?

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Summoning the Demon

“Artificial Intelligence and the Image of the Beast” 

When I heard about this book I knew I needed to get it and if it were as good as I imagined, we needed to help get the word out! Let me say this to every Pastor, Minister, Christian Leader and layperson, you must get “Summoning the Demon” and see for yourself the alarming facts of what is strategically happening globally to kill Christianity, your family and The Church! 

As I was reading this very enlightening book I kept thinking about how we as a population are being so manipulated by those who are truly the power on earth (evil power). Many of us as Christians are working feverishly to protect our innocent children and stop the killing of the unborn. We are fighting a very legitimate war to save our nation and the freedoms that we want our children to enjoy. We are having to deal with “The Church” itself at odds debating over the truth of God’s word and questioning what is sin! This is just a snapshot of the distractions that have grabbed our attention like a professional magician with slight of hand and yet is very real!

While all this is going on scientists, doctors, the military and more from many nations, are competing to develop what they consider the next generation of humans. They are using “Deepfakes” to mislead and indoctrinate all of us.

Pastors, this is a fact and you as a good shepherd need to know this. Your sheep are not only in danger they are quickly becoming endangered! When you hear how nanotechnology is saving lives and a man in England had a pig heart transplant or how your DNA can be improved to fight off all diseases including cancer, these may all be true but beware, for the sinister is behind all of this. You may have already heard about Chip implants and cell manipulation and every bit of this is right out of God’s Word! Before the end of time these things must happen.  

“Summoning the Demon” goes into the Transhuman agenda and how the military is creating super soldiers. Every major world power is spending billions of dollars to create humans that will never die, that is their objective. The days of Noah are already upon us and The Church needs it leaders to wake up and LEAD!

Ministers and Christians across America, you can get this book and read for yourself about: Man vs Machine, Deepfakes and The Image of the Beast, The Spirit Behind the AI, Those Other Signs of the Days of Noah and why and how the Mark of the Beast is already in place.

When Jesus said, “go and make disciples” do you believe He was saying go have a Bible study every Wednesday night and pray some or was he saying “Go Build My Army and Train them for Battle, Equip them with My Word (My Sword) and teach them ALL things about the deceptions and lies of the evil one! Teach them to watch for me and prepare the way for my return! Prepare them to die for Me and the gospel message and I will empower them with my Spirit!” This is the message that Jesus gave us and Christians if you are not prepared like this you will be destroyed or may already have been.

“Summoning the Demon” is a God anointed text that as a disciple of Jesus each of us has the opportunity to learn from. I personally have nothing to gain if you get this book except my reward in heaven from helping to alert more of God’s children about how the roaring lion is seeking you to devour you and all that you love!  

On a more personal note I want to commend Joe Horn and Allie Anderson for finishing the last great work of their dear father, Dr Thomas Horn. Dr Thomas Horn and his family are known for their exemplary work. When they do anything it is with great research, attention to detail and covered in hours of prayer. Dr Horn was very passionate about finishing this book and getting it to you. Thank you Joe and Allie and the entire family for making this a reality.

To get your copy click “Summoning the Demon” or visit Amazon. 

The rest is now up to you. May I suggest that you get this for all the Pastors you know and make it a gift. 

As always, Linda and I are faithfully praying for you!

 

 

 

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Moses and the 70!

Moses met Yahweh at Horeb, the mountain of God. But which god? Elohim is a
designation of place, not a proper name. Based on the name Sinai and its location in the middle
of the Wilderness of Sin, it’s reasonable to conclude that in Moses’ day, this mountain was
considered the abode of the moon-god.
Yahweh brought Moses to Mount Sinai during his sojourn with Jethro and the Midianites
for a reason. And He brought the Israelites there right after springing them from Egypt for a
reason. What could that reason be?
Evidence suggests that from the last days of Sumerian rule over Mesopotamia through
the rise of Babylon, the moon-god, Sîn, was the most important deity of the Amorites. It wasn’t
Marduk, although he was the patron god of Babylon, or the elder god, who went by different
names across the Near East—Enlil in the east, Dagan along the Euphrates River (and, later,
Dagon of the Philistines), and El in the west. All across Mesopotamia, Amorites served the
moon-god, whether they hailed from Babylon, which preserved the traditions of Ur, the ancient
city of the moon-god; the north, where Harran was a major moon-god cult center; or from
Canaan, where the oldest city known to man, Jericho, bore the Amorite name for the moon-god,
Yarikh.
Although God’s first supernatural showdown on the way out of Egypt targeted the king of
the Canaanite pantheon, the storm-god Baal, it was to the mountain of the moon-god that
Yahweh led Moses and the Israelites. Imagine what must have been going through the minds of
the people when they realized where they were!
Yet that was where God led the Israelites immediately after their escape from Egypt. And
it was there He called Moses to receive the Law.

Then, God did something even more remarkable. He directed Moses to bring some guests
up the mountain.

Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel
went up, and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a
pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. And he did not lay
his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and
drank. (Exodus 24:9–11, emphasis added)
It’s impossible to overstate the importance of this brief passage. All of history is about
God’s plan to restore humanity to His divine council. The council originally met in Eden on “the
holy mountain of God.” 1 We’ve been barred from the council because of the sin of Adam and
Eve, but the sacrifice of the Messiah, Jesus, paid the price for our sins and bought back the right
for us to enter the garden someday.
The point is this: The long war between God and the gods is for control of the holy
mountain—the har môʿēd, the “mount of assembly” or “mount of the congregation.” There at
Mount Sinai, Moses, Aaron, and the seventy elders of Israel became the first humans since Adam
and Eve to see God face to face on His holy mountain!
This was a message aimed right at the rebel gods: “My people are free. And someday,
they will take your place in My council.”
Remember—When God divided the nations after Babel, “He fixed the borders of the
peoples according to the number of the sons of God” 2 —angelic beings that He “allotted to all the
peoples under the whole heaven” as the gods of the nations. 3 Remember, too, that the Table of

Nations in Genesis 10 names seventy clans descended from Noah, representing all the people of
the earth.
Seventy nations. Seventy elders of Israel. Coincidence? No way.
By the way, there’s a chance you’re thinking that the story of dinner on Sinai must be a
weird translation. Haven’t we been taught that it’s impossible for humans to see the face of God
and live?
Yes, that’s in the Bible. Moses was in that story, too. That was different, and we’ll come
to that episode in a moment. God did appear to humans in the form of the angel of Yahweh, or
the Angel of the Lord. That was the pre-incarnate Christ.
Well, the moon-god didn’t just surrender. While Moses was up on the mountain for forty
days, the people coerced Aaron into creating an idol—the golden calf.

“Up, make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man
who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of
him.” So Aaron said to them, “Take off the rings of gold that are in the ears of
your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” So all the
people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to
Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving
tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who
brought you up out of the land of Egypt!”
When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made a
proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD.” And they rose up

early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And
the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. (Exodus 32:1–6)
We should note that the Hebrew word rendered “play” here, tsachaq, is used in other
contexts as a euphemism for sexual activity—for example, Genesis 39:14 and 17, the encounter
between Joseph and Potiphar’s wife. This wasn’t a day of celebrating the holiness of God. This
was a pagan party of carnal indulgence.
Now, it’s easy to empathize with Aaron to a point. It’s hard to stand up to pushy people,
especially groups, and particularly when they’re motivated by the fear that they alone among the
nations were without the protection of a national deity. But, come on—Aaron had personally
witnessed Yahweh supernaturally smack around the two most popular gods in the Amorite
pantheon. (Not that you or I would have done better in his place.)
The excuse Aaron gave to Moses when he came down from Sinai is comical:
Let not the anger of my lord burn hot. You know the people, that they are set on
evil. For they said to me, “Make us gods who shall go before us. As for this
Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what
has become of him.” So I said to them, “Let any who have gold take it off.” So
they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf. (Exodus
32:22–24)
“Out came this calf”?! Most parents have heard better excuses from seven-year-olds.
Some scholars interpret the golden calf as evidence that Yahweh was a bull-god, or at
least represented by a bull. To be fair, there are passages in Scripture that liken the power of God

to a bull, which was a common theme among gods in the ancient Near East. 4 But that’s not what
this was about.
Several years ago, I speculated that the golden calf represented the storm-god, Baal,
who was sometimes described as a bull. But that wasn’t typical; Baal was usually depicted as a
human in a smiting pose, with a mace in one hand and thunderbolts in the other. It’s more likely
that the golden idol represented “the frisky calf of heaven,” patron god of shepherds and
pastoralists, the god whose mountain the Israelites were camped in front of—the moon-god, Sîn.
God was not amused. His reaction was like His response after Babel: Yahweh told Moses
that Israel had better repent, and they could forget about God traveling with them into the
Promised Land because, as stubborn as they were, He’d probably smite them before they got
there and start over with just Moses.
Well, the people mourned, like children caught doing something they shouldn’t. Based on
future actions, the regret was more about being punished than about disappointing the Creator of
the Universe. (Not that we would have done any better in their place.) Moses, while pleading for
the people, asked Yahweh for a favor:

Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” And he said, “I will make all my
goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’
And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom
I will show mercy. But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for man shall not
see me and live.” And the LORD said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you
shall stand on the rock, and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of
the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. Then I will

take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.”
(Exodus 33:18–23, emphasis added)
Why the change since the meal on Mount Sinai? What about those verses that describe
Yahweh talking things over with Moses “face to face”? 5 These are hints of the Trinity in the Old
Testament. The personal encounters of the patriarchs—remember, Abraham ate a meal with God
and bargained with Him to try to save Sodom—was with a visible, physical presence, a form that
concealed His true, overwhelming glory. In a sense, Moses asked for a peek behind the mask.
That’s something Yahweh couldn’t do, not even for Moses.
In any case, God did send His “presence” (pānîm) with Israel to the Promised Land. This
is a concept that’s hard to wrap our heads around. What’s the difference between Yahweh, His
angel, and His presence? In some verses, none. Sometimes, the Angel of Yahweh is obviously
Yahweh, because He takes credit for things that Yahweh did and promised. 6
His “presence,” however, is a little different. The clearest example may be in the priestly
blessing that God taught Aaron:

The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face [pānāy] to shine upon
you and be gracious to you; the LORD lift up his countenance [pānāy] upon you
and give you peace. (Numbers 6:24–26)
It may be of interest that in Ezekiel 38:20, God promises that His presence will be on the
battlefield during the war of Gog and Magog, which concludes with the Battle of Armageddon.
We’ll dig into that in more depth later, but it’s safe to say that the one time you do not want the
Lord to lift up His countenance upon you is when He’s leading the army you’re about to attack.

Armageddon won’t be the first time somebody’s made that bad choice. That’s exactly
what happened about thirty-four hundred years ago in Canaan. And the forces lined up against
the host of Yahweh were devotees of the moon-god.

1 See Ezekiel 28:2, 13–14.
2 Deuteronomy 32:8.
3 Deuteronomy 4:19.
4 See my book Last Clash of the Titans for a more thorough treatment of the
connections between bovid imagery and pagan gods. The old gods of Greece, the Titans, derived
their name from an ancient Amorite tribe, which in turn appears to have been named for the
Akkadian word for “bison” or “aurochs,” an extinct breed of wild cattle that was huge—up to
72” at the shoulders—and very dangerous.
5 See, for example, Exodus 33:11; Numbers 12:6–8; Deuteronomy 34:10–12.
6 For example, Judges 2:1–3: “I brought you up from Egypt.… I said, ‘I will never break
my covenant with you’.… But you have not obeyed my voice. What is this you have done? So
now I say, I will not drive them out before you.”

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The American Story, The Beginnings

David and Tim Barton are the Founder and President of Wallbuilders. They have the largest private collection of original documents from the early years of America than anyone else. Their collection is over 200,000 pieces. When you want to know where and how did God fit in to the founding of America these two men are considered by most as the experts.

“The American Story” is their history book of early America. It contains 79 pages of endpoints and also is full of footnotes. Anyone who is serious about learning the Christian heritage of America has to go no farther than this historically accurate book.

It is easy to read and very captivating. They identify areas of controversy and without hesitation provide detailed documents explaining what the historical truth is.

As Pastors and ministers of the gospel we feel it is important that we should know the truth of our roots and learn with confidence how the Church was involved in the establishment of this country.  David and Tim dive right into slavery issue and the history as recorded by eye witnesses and legal documentation. They do not try to sugar coat it for anyone. They give startling facts about the relationship between settlers and the native Americans. (If you don’t believe everything you hear on TV then you will truly appreciate this wonderful book). Most people are unaware that the majority of land in early America was purchased upon an agreed price.

There is a saying “knowledge is power” but I say, “truth is more powerful”! What I liked about this book as I read through it was, it gave me “knowledge with truth”.

Ministry leaders and Pastors you need to know the truth about the Pilgrims and Puritans also. You need to know how they set up Civil Government based on Biblical principle. You need to see for yourself how the Bible and the Church has been the backbone of this country and still is, if we can keep it! You also need to know the sacrifices that were made for us to have this free country.

Did you know that The First Great Awakening has been historically recognized by honest historians as the most impactful event that brought the 13 colonies together? That great revival brought these independent colonists to a point where they realized they could be “One Nation Under God”!

I strongly recommend this book to anyone who is seeking truth and knowledge. Every child should be taught this history. My people perish because of a lack of knowledge! Don’t let your children perish!

“The American Story” is available at Wallbuilders.com and wherever books are sold.

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Educate-Captivate-Indoctrinate

Subtitle: The Department of Schooling

An Article written by Sam Sorbo for APPI specifically to Pastors

We should change the name of the Department of Education to the Department of Schooling because one cannot claim the title of “education” while ignoring the most important book in human history: the Bible. This historical book has informed humanity for millennia, and that isn’t a religious statement. It is the most quoted piece of literature, the basis of our legal system, and the source for many of our most common phrases. 

​Former congressman Bob McEwan has said that traditions are solutions to problems we’ve long since forgotten. While that might be true of things like marriageand the golden rule (both Biblical), school is not a tradition so much as a long-running experiment with a very limited, largely ignored control group:homeschoolers. Two hundred years ago everyone was homeschooled, and our self-taught founders created the greatest country the world has ever seen. Although they didn’t attend grade school, they did possess an extensive knowledge of the Bible.

​Teddy Roosevelt said that thorough knowledge of the Bible was worth more than a college education. Was he just some old white guy no one should listen to? Perhaps people don’t need to bother reading their Bibles anymore. The Department of Schooling and the “educators” seem to think so. Those same teaching institutions taught us to send our children to strangers for their “education.” That’s called misplaced trust.

Christians either believe in the Good Book or not.The middle ground is hypocrisy, and it affects our children.

​Children who attend government schools on weekdays but whose parents bring them to church on Sundays see this hypocrisy and wonder – though maybe not out loud – “Mom and Dad say the Bible is the inerrant Word of God and that we should revere it and follow it.” Simultaneously, they are learning in school, if only by omission, but often with ridicule, that the Bible is irrelevant, outdated, and full of fantasy. This sets up a conundrum for the child. Either Mom and Dad are ignorant or the school is unwise, but Mom and Dad tell me the school knows how to teach me better than they can, so Mom and Dad must be dumb and the Bible is just a silly collection of fairy tales that no one in their right mind would bother reading, much less believe!

​If parents insist their child attend church while he or she has already subconsciously concluded the hypocrisy, it can severely undermine the parents’ authority and the child’s reverence even more. 

​Meanwhile, the statistics are in: over eighty percent of graduating, proclaiming Christian high school seniors lose their religion in their first year of college. That is not because colleges actively turn them against their church; it’s because they had no foundation from home. 

​If pastors don’t insist on the Bible as a way of life, they spoil their church and corrupt The Church. God’s design for the family is for parents to pass on theirtraditions to the children, and the children’s relationshipswith their parents to transfer up to God the Father as theymature. 

Secular “educators” taught us that only with proper schooling could children succeed in this material word. And they defined success as material wealth. Christiansrecognize the material world, but are not of that world. 

​Most adults had K-12 indoctrination of the goodness of – not God – but of the secular style of “education.” It isn’t education. It’s indoctrination in secularism, humanism, socialism, and anti-Christianity. Most adults, including many pastors, have bought the lie of, “Don’t try this at home. Leave it to the experts: the educators!” That’s just job security for them.

​Why aren’t we trusting God, who wrote the guidebook? Nowhere does it say to find a good school for children, or to institutionalize them, or to make sure children spend vast hours of their days around other children. All that is the collective construct of our schools – this grand experiment in social organizing and control. God’s plan is for the parents to train their children in His words and laws:

You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. ~Deuteronomy 6:6-8

​Belief in the Bible must show evidence. 

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. ~Matthew 23:27-28

​Belief in God must evidence trust.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make straight your paths. ~Proverbs 3:5-6

By ignoring God’s Word, schools make hypocrites of believers. Straight A’s may be beautiful on the outside but, starved of the truth that lives in the Bible, the child dies on the inside. Schooling is not education.

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CHAPTER 4: LEARN TO BECOME A KINGDOM SEEKER


By: Rev. Joshua Omolo (Gwara)

The hustle and bustle of life has captured many people today such that men do not
have time to seek for their maker who is our God the father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The Bible gives clear instructions of life that we should seek first the kingdom of
God and its’ righteousness and the rest of important things shall be added to us
(Mathew 6:33). Majority of me today prefer running after the things of the world,
materials wealth of the world and then the kingdom matters later. The church
hasn’t been spared neither. There is need to have a paradigm shift in our mindset
as far as our value systems are concerned. Men needs to stop worshiping material
things, and instead chose to worship the true God by giving to God what belongs
to God, and the answer here is seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness.
i. Kingdom Seekers Embrace Kingdom mentality
Kingdom seekers will always think like the king and embrace the values of the
kingdom they represent. True kingdom seekers will always ensure that the interests
of the King are given priority number one when they are about to make critical
decision in any matters pertaining to life. Kingdom seekers are those believers in
Christ who are ready and willing to pay any price for the sake of the interest of their
faith in Christ. This world is controlled by the principalities and powers of darkness
and their value systems. The values of kingdom seekers are always under
opposition by the spiritual forces in the dark places, and the prime target of the
battle formation is in the mindset. Every believer in Jesus Christ needs therefore to
guard their mind against such demonic invasion.
When you read in the book of Genesis 3:3 – He said to the woman, “Did God really
say, you must not eat from any tree in the garden?” then that marked the beginning
of spiritual warfare and the target was to poison the mindset of the woman to
embrace lies that God did not really mean that eating the forbidden fruit would
lead to death. The outcome of every battle in life begins in the mindset. David
looked and saw Goliath as a target too big to miss while the Israelites army looked
at Goliath and saw him as a giant too big to defeat, it was all in the mind and the
fear of God.

David feared God and that is the reason why he was able to operate in a positive
mindset which is victory focused. Godly controlled mindset will never bow to the
influence of the dark world. Challenges may arise but the echo of the spirit of a
winner will always submerge the waves of fear and doubt. The ability to learn,
think, choose, and reason is the essence of what makes us human or inhuman
depending on whether you are under the influence of the power of the Holy Spirit
or forces of Satanic world. Your thoughts become a reflection of who you really are.
“What affects you is not what people think about you but what you think about
yourself”
The book of Colossians 3:2 – says, “Set your affection on the things above not on
things on the earth….”
The revelation God is teaching us here is that we need to stop thinking small
because the things above are superior and special. The things above are precious
immortal in nature and rare to find. I love the things above because they never lose
their value, they are immune to the principles of depreciation. Any rich man who is
looking on the best destination for investment where profitability is assured should
vouch for this option. God is telling us to think big and better. The DNA of our
prosperity is defined by the content of our thinking capacity.
God has given you power to decide the coordinates of your mindset and the
contents within, how you utilize that power is what matters whether you will
become prosperous or not. The whole idea squarely depends on the choices of
what you will allow to cook in your mind. Mathew 6:19-21- Lay up for yourselves
treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do
not break in and steal. Many are not able to perceive this because their minds are
blurred. I was shocked to discover that almost everyone wants to go to Heaven
when I did a small research, but their mindset cannot allow them to make a choice
to go to Heaven.
Spiritual mental health is such a critical element in determining the outcome of
every spiritual battle we go through. Most people are the victims of their own
negative thought process, they suffer from self mental incarceration. The mental

prison is so deceptive such that they even don’t even know that they are in it.
Greatness begins from the mindset then manifests in the physical. All scientific
discoveries begin in the laboratories before it becomes a reality in the practical
world. One major reason that has made Africa to lag behind in comparison to other
continents of the world is the consistent brain drain. Many Africa scholars are
thriving in their careers in Europe and other parts of the world simply because their
countries of origin did not have the capacity to accommodate their intellectualism.
God has given us power to set up our minds and to determine the bandwidth
capacity of what we would like our minds to accommodate. As a man thinketh in
his mind so he is (Proverbs 23:7). God created you and one of the special gift which
was given to you by God is a positive mind. The duty to think is a delegated
obligation by God to all men. Every man has the power to choose the content of his
thought process. When you allow garbage to settle in your mind then you will
deliver garbage out in your moral compass.
Set your mind to embrace positive thinking about the word of God then you will
qualify the test of the fear of God. The fear of God is the basic ingredient that
produces self-determination, perseverance, self-confidence, and hard work that
leads to greatness. Great leaders also know that positive thinking evokes more
energy, it’s a reflexive attitude developed or imbedded overtime that pushes you
to accept fair and desired results.
ii. Discover the powers devolved to men by God
Kingdom seekers understand and enjoy unmatched power and authority given to
them by God, they also understand the responsibilities that comes with such
benefits. Those who seek the kingdom of God also knows how to use every talent
given to them by God to the glory of the kingdom of God.
Our God through His generosity has made sure that He does not work alone and
one of the strategies He uses is the principle of delegated authority and power to
faithful men. Some of such devolved powers include the power to get wealth,
power to cast out devils, authority, power to choose, ability to love and
stewardship. Fear of God is the key to accessing these kingdom privileges and

powers given to men by God the father of our Lord and savior Jesus Christ. The big
challenge we have today is that many believers are operating minus these divine
endowments from God, hence denying the uniqueness of godliness life.
The Power to get wealth
Deuteronomy 8:17-18 – “And you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He
who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He
swore to your fathers, as it is this day”
The power to get wealth is no longer with God the father as per the scripture above.
It is amazing to discover one secret from this scripture that, God is not in the
business of giving people wealth but He gives people power to get wealth, meaning
that if one does not utilize the power given to him by God the father of our Lord
Jesus Christ then they will remain in that bondage of poverty the rest of their life.
Every believer has the potential to become wealthy by virtue of being a child of God
the father of our Lord Jesus Christ. The identity of being a child of God is such a
powerful tool that gives believers such a big advantage over their peers. When you
begin a business for instance as a child of God you already enjoy a head start
compared to your peers operating the same business because you enjoy such a
great backup from heaven that no man can stop your business from thriving.
One thing we need always to remember here is that the power given to men by
God to make wealth comes with certain terms and conditions of covenant. God’s
interest in every portion of wealth owned by sons of God is that they should live
and operate in covenant with God in their quest to create wealth.
Economic empowerment will always require one to establish the spiritual
foundations that connects to their wealth. The reason for the spiritual foundation
is because every bit of economic empowerment is connected to a spiritual base,
and this forms the reason why God says that the purpose for empowering the saints
with wealth is for covenant, to use that same wealth in supporting the work of God.
War against poverty is easy when we master the principle of giving and tithing. The
dry bones existing in form of poverty in the life of many believers will never survive

within your territory the day you will walk and operate in this spiritual realm of
being in covenant with God. When you start operating in the power to get wealth,
every spirit of poverty will melt away from your vicinity just like that. There is a
language that only money can speak and that is the language that the spirit of
poverty can listen to (Ecclesiastes 10:19 – A feast is made for laughter, and wine
makes merry; but money answers everything). The many questions we ask related
to financial challenges can best be addressed by the voice of money. When money
starts talking then favor will start flowing into your life such that even your enemies
will want to bless you not because they love you but because the anointing to get
wealth is flowing in your DNA. Your peers will start addressing you with big names
that you never asked for because the power of wealth is flowing in your life.
Downloading the power to get wealth
I am feeling compelled by God to speak on this agenda because it will help to
provide an answer to many believers who are asking one question why they are
still living in poverty whilst they are born again.
Let us be candid and truthful with one another here and say that the fact of the
matter is that majority of those that claim to be born again are living in poverty
today as we speak, the reason here is that many believers are not living in financial
covenant with God and as such they are yet to down load the power to get wealth.
The power to get wealth can only be down loaded through the application of the
covenant of honoring God with our substance. The day we start worshipping God
through faithful giving, faithful tithing, first fruit and giving of alms then that will
mark the beginning of our deliverance from poverty.
Poverty is a disease worse than cancer. The number one killer disease on earth
today is poverty. The statistics indicate that life expectancy has dropped to about
40-45 years globally, and the main cause to this is poverty. Some of the economic
systems of the world today are deliberately designed to exclude the majority and
favor the minority. The begging question is this, “who voted in that corrupt
government?” It is the same poor guys who casted their votes to elect the corrupt
people into power because they were bribed during campaign period. Finally, the
poor get poorer and the rich continue to get richer.

Faithful giving encompasses also how we use the talent God has given us including
how we cast our votes, it entails hard work and working smart in every space
created to us by God. Joseph is on record of being an excellent performer in Egypt
while in Potiphar’s House. The Bible says in Genesis 39:2 – And the Lord was with
Joseph, and he was a prosperous. The story of Joseph in the Bible is a clear
manifestation of great things that can happen when we chose to remain faithful to
God with our talent. Joseph used his talent of interpretation of dreams faithfully
and God remembered him in his time of need.
Each one of us is gifted differently, and the first step one needs to make is to
discover the gift he or she has from God. After discovering the gift then there is
need to refine the gift before putting it to work so that it can attract the best results.
Some are gifted in the call into the ministry as pastors, evangelist, teachers and
bishop. Others are gifted in serving God using wealth by supporting the ministry
financially. The challenge comes in when we start comparing and competing each
other. God’s plan is that we need to complement each other.

The power to cast out devils
Mark 3:15 – And he gave them power to heal the sicknesses, and to cast out
devils……….
I believe in Jesus Christ the son of the living God who died and on the third day rose
again and is now a live seated on the right hand of God the father. The same Jesus
spoke to the disciples in the above mentioned scripture where he gave power to
the disciples including us to cast out devils and heal the sick. Every believer in Christ
Jesus has the power to cast out devils and render deliverance to the sick based on
this power. The church needs to learn to exercise this authority without fear.
Filling of the Holy Spirit should first precede the empowerment to this important
work of deliverance. Conducive atmosphere to facilitate the filling of the Holy Spirit
is crucial in taping the promised power from God. Jesus gave a promise to the
disciples then and even today that he will not leave them as orphans, but he will
send a helper who is the Holy Ghost. The disciples then were instructed by the Lord

Jesus Christ not to leave Jerusalem till they have received power of the Holy Spirit.
Our current generation is not able to make substantial impact in the work of the
ministry because of failing to accept the important role of the Holy Spirit in the life
of a believer. One must make a choice to fully dedicate their life to God and live a
holy life for the filling of the Holy Spirit to happen.
Prayerfulness is a major factor in cultivating a conducive atmosphere for the filing
of the Holy Spirit that leads to obtaining the power to cast out devils. The disciples
were in the upper room praying for ten days then the sound like a rushing wind
came and all the disciples were filled by the Holy Spirit. They all spoke in new
tongues (Acts 2:1-4) And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire,
and it sat upon each of them. There was such a great impact in the work of the
ministry after the event of filling of the Holy Spirit. The disciples who were fearful
of being persecuted came out strongly to preach Christ without any fear, all this
happened due to the power of filling of the Holy Spirit.
Many limitations the church is going through today could become a thing of the
past if only there could be a genuine filling of the Holy Spirit. I am tired of the
powerless Christians who purport to be representing the kingdom of Heaven but
has zero delivery. The harvest is still plenty but the laborers are few because of lack
of fire of the Holy Ghost. The divine promise given to men by our Lord Jesus Christ
of the coming of the Holy Spirit has become a debate today where section of
believers are questioning whether one must speak in tongues or not, it is so heart
breaking to witness the swelling numbers of nominal Christians who are simply

contented with classical worship and strict programs, where everything is pre-
arranged and God ‘s presence has no place in the worship session.

Church gathering has become a normal members club where men are in full
control, it has become a social get together where people come to connect and
strike a business deal. I pray that the filling of the Holy Spirit is going to invade our
fellowships like never before. The filling of the Holly Spirit is the only cure that will
become a game changer to the powerless church. God is seeking to see a new breed
of worshippers who can worship Him in truth and in Spirit, they are the caliber that

can cast out devils and set the captives free from the bondage of satanic world. No
one can worship in truth and in the Spirit without the filling of the Holy Spirit.
Authority
The book of Daniel 4:17 – “This sentence is by the decree of the Angelic watchers
and the decision is a command of the holy ones, in order that the living may know
that the most high is ruler over the realm of mankind, And bestows it on whom He
wishes And sets over it the lowliest of men”
The power of ruler-ship comes with immense super influence in the surrounding
and the people around the ruler. Rulership appears as part of the top thre gifting
God declared upon mankind immediately the first man appeared in the garden of
Eden. Some of the advantage of operating in the power of ruler-ship is that it will
provide a divine backup to your will as the vendor to prevail. Adam and Eve were
given power to subdue the earth.
The same power of ruler-ship can manifest the qualities of leadership in the life of
the carriers such that the carrier will not struggle with certain dreams and vision.
Many of our dreams have simply remained in the dream land never to see the light
of day.
God is looking for men who can bring back the authoritative leadership in their
respective household and restore order. Many Christian families today do not even
understand the need to raise an altar of worship in their homes because there is
no leadership with authority. Ladies in the house must wake up and understand
that liberalism and equality cannot substitute the God given protocol of leadership
in the family unit. According to God given authority man is the head of the family
hence the need for him to provide leadership.
The Power to Chose
The book of Deuteronomy 30:19 – Today I have given you the choice between life
and death, between blessings ad curses. Now I call on heaven and Earth to witness
the choice you make. The full power to make choices in life is with man. God has
fully given you the power to choose good or bad, curses or blessings. Free will is

the ability to make choices and decisions as seen in Genesis when God gave Adam
and Eve the choice to obey and disobey.
It is important to note that every choice comes with consequences. The choice of
disobedience made by Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden is what gave birth to
eternal death, while the choice made by the second Adam who is our Lord Jesus
Christ when he gave his life as a sacrificial lamb through his crucifixion is what gave
birth to life eternity. We are enjoying the fruit of salvation today courtesy of the
choice made by Jesus when God sent him on earth to come and die for our sins on
our behalf so that anyone who believes in him may not perish but have everlasting
life.
The free will to choose is with all men even today so much so that the decision to
accept Jesus as Lord and savior of our life still remains a personal decision, none
can be forced into it. God has given all men the power to decide whether they want
to go to heaven or to hell after this life is over. The point is that there is life after
death, but where you will spend eternity whether heaven or hell depends on the
choice that you make before you die.
Obedience to God’s instructions comes at a price and sometimes it can mean even
losing ones’ life just like Jesus did. We have so many cases of documented Christian
martyr across the world, many Christians who are being persecuted because of
their faith in Christ Jesus.
The power and ability to Love
Ability to love is considered a fundamental aspect of human nature, as it reflects
the divine nature of God. Love is the center piece as far as the character and
teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ is concerned. The Bible talks of loving your
neighbor as yourself and loving your enemies. This kind of love is usually referred
to as agape love, it is selfless, unconditional and seeks the wellbeing of others.
I want to put record straight by demystifying some of the things that are usually
perceived as love but they are not love at all. It is sad to note that today many
people under the influence of lust because of their desire to engage in illicit sexual
attraction will claim that they have fallen in love, to me that is lust. When

unmarried persons engage in sexual intimacy they are not under the influence of
the love of God. Our society today is advocating for certain slogans like, “obey your
thirst”, finally we become slaves to our feeling at the expense of disobeying God’s
instruction. The love of God is pure and it does not hold any grudge.
If we love God then we will strive to obey God and live according to the direction
under the guidance of the word of God. The way we treat our fellow human beings
will speak loud enough to show whether we love God or not, the style in which we
relate with those who are needy in our society will demonstrate whether we truly
carry the love of God in us.
The world around us is in desperate need of those who can show and demonstrate
love and compassion to humanity. It is my prayer that God will enable you to make
a radical decision to give a portion of your wealth, time and energy to the work of
God and charitable organization where the needy can be well taken care of. The
ultimate show and manifestation of the love of God is when you surrender your life
to Jesus, when you accept him as Lord and savior over your life, then you will have
no problem loving people.

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The Past Reveals the Truth!

Today as I observe and experience life in America I am shocked at how so many of my friends and family choose to be ignorant. Yes, I said it!

People who are calling themselves Christian today and turning their eyes away from the evil that is spreading like a plaque through our modern day churches, where the Bible is trampled and pages are ripped out so as not to offend someone, and being led by Pastors ignoring sin as described clearly in scripture are soon going to find themselves standing on the outside wondering what happened. This is not said in judgement but in concern for those who are following leaders who know how to tickle the ears and appeal to the flesh.

When our government passes laws that totally ignore God’s word and make it a crime to obey the basic tenets as given in holy scripture it is time for us as citizens to change that government and replace the evil with the good! This country’s founding fathers put in place the mechanism, if honored, that can peacefully change and manage our governments at all levels.

It is every Christian’s responsibility to stand strong on God’s word and to be active and to make the changes in our God given power to make these legal changes by utilizing these laws that are in place. These laws which also protect our rights to free speech and to worship without interference by the government, also give us the right and responsibility to select who we want to represent us in our government. This is most important for Christians because if we do nothing we are saying to evil, “you decide for me”, “you pick my representatives”!

This amazing country that we live in was most certainly founded on Biblical Judeo Christian values by men who were far from perfect but were given supernatural guidance. The true history of the Pilgrims and the Puritans has been so corrupted by todays education system of indoctrination that even the teachers that are teaching it are dumbfounded when they learn the truth! The history of patriotic pastors and the determination of their church members reveals that it was in fact the church that was the backbone that led to our independence as a nation. King George and his counselors proclaimed initially that the uprising in the colonies was brought on by Presbyterians.

It was the ‘Great Awakening” with George Whitfield, Jonathan Edwards, and others that brought spiritual unity across denominations and the Colonies together in such a way that the idea of a “united Nation” could actually be realized. It was the hand of God that truly moved through George Whitfield as he traveled from town to town preaching the gospel with power and authority, reportedly over 18,000 sermons throughout nearly all 13 colonies. It was the love of God and the appreciation of God’s word that brought the country back to the founding roots that reminded the colonists/settlers why their parents and grandparents came to America and why they were in America too. Our Christian history in the forming of this nation can not by denied or ignored and anyone who does so is not a friend of yours, of our country or of God!

I have studied the Bible for over 60 years and I love and believe it. I accept God as almighty and Jesus as His only son whereby only by faith in Him can anyone be saved! I have studied our American history for many years. I have heard many challenges to our humble beginnings and respect others ideas and beliefs, I respect that they can be sincerely wrong and misguided just as many in our churches today are. Our concern is that many are being led to a lifetime of deceit, misery and eternal damnation.

As a minister to Pastors let us insert here that we have many wonderful Pastors who are brave Champions for God serving throughout America today and we applaud them. Sadly there are many many more Pastors who are willingly silent as their sheep are being hurt by government and regulatory changes. These Pastors are feeling the same impact on their families and saying nothing and doing less. As a Pastor you can not allow someone to shut you up because they say “something is Political”. As a Pastor you must teach truth and right from wrong. It is not showing “grace” if your silence allows your congregants to go into eternity without a genuine relationship with Jesus Christ! 

If you are not calling sin out at all levels from personal lifestyle to governmental laws redefining marriage and God’s design for man and woman, then it may be time to step back and review your own relationship with God! Yes, this may sound hard but these and other sins are specifically identified in God’s Holy Word!

History shows that when God’s people turned away from His statutes and his commandments then His judgement would always come! It also shows that when His people repented and fell before Him he would forgive their sin. Pastor, I trust that you are in God’s word and faithfully study it. You may be a wonderful biblical scholar. Now I will challenge you to become an expert on our American History too, at least know how we began as a nation and how Pastors were a vital part of this.

Pastor you are not alone. There are many Pastors in your community that feel your pain, confusion and maybe your shame but now is not the time to hunker down in a fetal position. Now is the time to educate yourself. You become the expert. You “Shepherd” the flock God has given you with boldness. Prepare your flock by equipping them with knowledge and the truth of what is happening in our world today. You teach with authority of the scripture without fear of man but fear of God! Surround yourself with other Pastors who will join you. Start or join a Champions Table. Your family and congregation need you to be strong and above all don’t be afraid of your sheep. You are there to fight for them not with them!

There are four action items that I suggest:

#1 Read “The Black Robe Regiment” by Pastor Dan Fisher (a must for Pastors)

#2 Take the “Biblical Citizenship Course” offered by The Patriot Academy and FREE through “TPUSA Faith”

#3 Read “One Nation Under God” by Attorney David Gibbs, Jr, “Ten things every Christian needs to know about the Founding of America”

#4 Read “The American Story” by David and Tim Barton,  by America’s foremost authorities on America’s Founding Fathers

These 4 things will give an accurate historical foundation of this country that is Biblical and supported with actual documentation. It is what every Christian in America should know! (We have provided these links for you for convenience only. We have no tie to any of these authors other than being Christian brothers.)

As a prayer ministry we are constantly praying for our Pastors. We love and provide encouragement to Pastors around the world. If you would like for me and Linda to pray for you and start sending you our personalized e-prayer please register with us. We know how hard pastoring is and you need to know someone is faithfully praying!  

I pray that you will do the 4 things suggested and you will see for yourself why I say “The Past Reveals the Truth”

 

 

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Giants, gods Yesterday and Today!

 

Ur was not the only center of the moon-god cult in the ancient world, but it was the most important. As we noted above, the akiti festival, which was eventually celebrated for gods at cities all over Mesopotamia, probably originated at Ur sometime between 3000 and 2500 BC. Throughout most of that millennium, other cities dominated the Fertile Crescent. After the decline of Uruk around 3100 BC (in our view, probably due to the confusion of language at Babel), “kingship” alternated between cities in Mesopotamia, including Uruk, Kish, Lagash, Mari, and Ur, down to the time of Sargon the Great. Around 2334 BC, Sargon of Akkad established the first pan-Mesopotamian empire since the days of Nimrod, conquering and controlling an area that stretched from the Persian Gulf to the modern border between Syria and Turkey. The great king attributed his success mainly to the elder gods of the pantheon (except for Inanna/Ishtar, goddess of sex and war): Sargon, king of Akkad, overseer (mashkim) of Inanna, king of Kish, anointed (guda) of Anu, king of the land, governor (ensi) of Enlil. 1 But as with all kingdoms, the Akkadian Empire eventually collapsed. It was overrun by the Gutians, barbarians from the mountains of western Iran, around 2154 BC. Fifty years later, Ur-Nammu came to power in Ur. He ran the Gutians out of the land and then defeated the city- states of Uruk and Lagash. Ur-Nammu and his descendants, the Third Dynasty of Ur, controlled the entire Fertile Crescent for the next 150 years, apparently collecting tribute from as far away as Canaan. Ur-Nammu was a builder credited with the construction of a number of buildings in Sumer, most notably the Great Ziggurat of Ur for Nanna/Sîn, the moon-god. You’ve probably seen pictures of American soldiers visiting the reconstructed step pyramid after the invasion of Iraq in 2003. Saddam Hussein rebuilt the facade and the enormous staircase of the crumbling temple in the 1980s. Before the Gulf War erupted with “shock and awe” in 1990, it was widely reported that Saddam was rebuilding Babylon, perhaps seeing himself as a modern Nebuchadnezzar. 2 It wasn’t as well known that he also spent a lot of money reconstructing the ancient temple of Sîn. No wonder; as we’ve seen (pardon the pun), the spirit behind Babylon wasn’t Marduk—it was the moon-god. The ziggurat of Ur was immense, measuring 210 feet long, about 150 feet wide, and at least 100 feet high. Imagine that—a ten-story building made entirely of mud brick, still standing (though in disrepair) four thousand years after it was built. The temple was called Ekishnugal, the “House of Thirty, the Great Seed,” an obvious reference to the fertility aspect of the moon- god. The massive platform that formed the base of the temple was the E-temen-nì-gùru, which means “House-foundation That Is Clad in Terror.” Unintentionally prophetic. The brief renaissance of Ur came to an end around 2004 BC when the Amorites, probably with help from the Elamites and Gutians, stamped out the last Sumerian kingdom in Mesopotamia. After that, for our purposes, the important centers of the moon-god shifted north and west, to the heart of Amorite country. One of the reasons the moon-god is a focus of our study is the biblical connection between Ur and ancient Mesopotamia’s other major center of moon-god worship, Harran. That link is Abraham. Until about a hundred years ago, when the famed archaeologist Sir Leonard Woolley excavated the fabulous Royal Tombs of Ur in the early 1920s, Bible scholars generally believed the patriarch of Jews, Muslims, and Christians had come from southern Turkey. That’s exactly where we find ancient Harran (spelled with a single r in the Bible), on the Balikh River about ten miles north of the Syrian border. In the early second millennium BC, after the collapse of the Third Dynasty of Ur, Harran was an important trading center on the caravan route between the Mediterranean coast and Assyria, in what was probably in a border zone between the Assyrians to the southeast, the Hurrians to the northeast, an emerging Amorite kingdom at Halab (Aleppo) to the southwest, and the Hittites, who were arriving in Anatolia to the northwest around that time. Close by Harran was Ura, a town known as a home base for traveling merchants, 3 as well as cities bearing the names of Abraham’s father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and brother—namely Serug (Sarugi), Nahor (Nahur), Terah, and, of course, Haran, the father of Lot. 4 Those cities are older than the time frame of the Bible. Working backwards from the Exodus, Abraham was born around 1950 BC. That puts the births of Terah, Nahor, and Serug around 2020 BC, 2049 BC, and 2079 BC, respectively. It’s probable that Abraham’s relatives were named for those cities instead of the other way around. At the very least, their names suggest a much stronger connection between Abraham and northern Mesopotamia than with Ur in Sumer, about six hundred miles to the southeast. Likewise, Abraham’s lifestyle as a tent-dwelling nomad is more consistent with the Amorite culture of the Levant than with Sumer. He was not a city-dweller, and neither were Isaac and Jacob. Based on Sumerian writings about the Amorites of the Syrian steppe, such a lifestyle would have been completely alien to someone raised in the sophisticated urban culture of Sumer. And this must be said: If Abraham’s father, Terah, really meant to go from Ur in Sumer to Canaan, he wouldn’t have ended up in Harran, not even by mistake. A map of the caravan trails of the ancient Near East makes it obvious. After following the Euphrates northward from Ur, Terah would have had to miss a left turn at Mari, near the modern border between Iraq and Syria. A well-known caravan trail there crossed the steppe to Tadmor (Palmyra) and Damascus before descending into Canaan by way of Bashan, the modern Golan Heights. Harran isn’t just a little out of the way; it’s ridiculously out of the way. Going from Ur to Canaan by way of Harran is like driving from Atlanta to Dallas by way of Chicago. It would not have happened like that. Most important, the Bible supports this theory. When Joshua called on the tribes of Israel to remember their origins, he said: Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, “Long ago, your fathers lived beyond the Euphrates, Terah, the father of Abraham and of Nahor; and they served other gods. Then I took your father Abraham from beyond the River and led him through all the land of Canaan, and made his offspring many.” (Joshua 24:2–3, ESV) The key phrase there is “beyond the River.” Ur in Sumer is on the west bank of the Euphrates River. Abraham would not have crossed it to get to Canaan. Harran, however, is on the far side of the river. As scholar Cyrus H. Gordon argued in 1958, “it is now clear that Abraham was a merchant prince…from the Hittite realm.” 5 Abraham was not from Sumer. He came from northern Mesopotamia and the pastoralist Amorite culture. The moon-god’s importance in Harran is no mystery; the city was founded as a trading outpost by the kings of Ur, city of the moon-god. 6 Harran, where the deity was mainly called by his Akkadian name Sîn, sat on the main east-west route between Antioch and Nineveh. From there, traders could follow the Tigris River south to Babylon, which, as we noted above, was just beginning its rise to power in the days of Abraham. The temple of Sîn in Harran was an important religious and political site for the Amorites of northern Mesopotamia. For example, Amorite tribes would meet at the temple of Sîn and sacrifice a donkey to ratify treaties. 7 That wouldn’t have been weird in Syria four thousand years ago. Donkeys were sacred animals to the Amorites, and they’ve been found buried after ritual slaughter at sites all over the Near East, like Mari, Jericho, and Avaris in northern Egypt. 8 In fact, Amorite kings rode donkeys, not horses. That tradition was still alive when Jesus made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, a point not lost on the people or the local authorities. 9 It’s important to remember that there was no separation of church and state back then. As we’ll see, that hasn’t changed in that part of the world over the last five thousand years. Farther west, another moon-god center is famous for being the first city conquered by Joshua west of the Jordan River. You see, the Amorite name for the moon-god was Yarikh, which is similar to the Hebrew form, yareakh. (That’s where yerakh, the old Hebrew word for “month,” comes from.) Transliterating from Semitic into English turns the y into a j, and Yarikh becomes Jericho. We’ll have more to say about Jericho in a bit. Another site at the north end of the Jordan River Valley was also home to worshipers of the moon-god. At the southwest corner of the Sea of Galilee is Bet Yerah (“House of Yarikh” or “Temple of Yarikh”), an important center for pottery production throughout the Early Bronze Age, from about 3500 to 2300 BC. 10 Artifacts at the site and at Abydos, an ancient city on the Nile in central Egypt, confirm that Bet Yerah traded with the First Dynasty of Egypt between about 3100 and 2850 BC. 11 However, after 2850 BC, following an unidentified crisis that resulted in the abandonment of a number of sites in the Jordan Valley, Bet Yerah was resettled by migrants from the area of modern Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan. 12 Around that time, a megalithic, crescent-shaped stone structure longer than one and a half football fields was built eighteen miles (about a day’s journey) from Bet Yerah. Known locally as Rujum en-Nabi Shua’ayb, or “Jethro’s Cairn,” it was finally identified in 2014 as a monument to the moon-god. 13 So, during the Early Bronze Age, both ends of the Jordan River Valley, the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea, were anchored by sites occupied by worshipers of the moon-god. Although Bet Yerah had fallen on hard times by Abraham’s day, with nothing left other than a small potter’s workshop, it points to the popularity of Sîn/Yarikh among the people who lived in the region for more than a thousand years by the time the patriarch entered Canaan. And, as we’ll see, the fallen elohim who passed himself off as the moon-god was a target of God’s wrath very early in the history of Israel. 1 Inscription found at Nippur. Amélie Kuhrt, The Ancient Near East C. 3000–330 BC: Vol. 1 (London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group, 2009), 49. 2 “Saddam Does Battle with Nebuchadnezzar.” The Guardian, January 4, 1999 (https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/jan/04/iraq1), retrieved 2/7/19. 3 Cyrus H. Gordon, “Abraham and the Merchants of Ura.” Journal of Near Eastern Studies, Vol. 17, No. 1 (Jan. 1958), 28–31. 4 Mark Chavalas, “Genealogical History as ‘Charter’: A Study of Old Babylonian Period Historiography and the Old Testament.” In Faith, Tradition, and History: Old Testament Historiography in Its Near Eastern Context (Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1994), 122. 5 Gordon, op. cit., 31. 6 Tamara M. Green, The City of the Moon God: Religious Traditions of Harran (Leiden; New York: E. J. Brill, 1992), 20. 7 Minna Silver, “Equid Burials in Archaeological Contexts in the Amorite, Hurrian, and Hyksos Cultural Intercourse.” Aram 26:1&2 (2014), 342. 8 Kenneth C. Way, “Assessing Sacred Asses: Bronze Age Donkey Burials in the Near East.” Levant 42:2 (2010), 214. 9 Jack M. Sasson, “Thoughts of Zimri-Lim,” Biblical Archaeologist (June 1984), 118–119. 10 Raphael Greenberg, Sarit Paz, David Wengrow, and Mark Iserlis, “Tel Bet Yerah: Hub of the Early Bronze Age Levant,” Near Eastern Archaeology 75:2 (2012), 90. 11 Ibid., 95–96. 12 Sarit Paz, “A Home Away from Home? The Settlement of Early Transcaucasian Migrants at Tel Bet Yerah,” Tel Aviv Vol. 36 (2009), 196–216. 13 “5,000-year-old Moon-shaped Stone Structure Identified in Northern Israel,” Haaretz, September 16, 2014 (https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/5-000-year-old-monument- identified-in-north-1.5301928), retrieved 3/18/17.

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One Nation Under God!

This is a phrase every American should know and have repeated throughout their lives when they say the pledge of allegiance. The problem is not that many don’t know the phrase but that they do not believe it! There are others who absolutely have no faithfulness or respect for our great free country. We are now living in a time where freedom in America is taken for granted!

May I say that America is a great country but not a perfect country. Today we are seeing the very thread of Christianity being stripped away little by little. Our government seems to be waging war on the church and everyone who calls Jesus Lord. History shows that when a nation gives way to a carnal mind that it will fall and be destroyed. Even with this said you can be rest assured that the blood that has stained this land for freedom and bled on many other lands to keep it will not be in vain and the blood our lord Jesus shed will always give hope and victory!

The true history of America is filled with the stories of how our forefathers came to America to have the freedom to worship God as they saw fit and not under the heavy hand of English rule. The blood, sweat and lives they gave for us must be told and remembered. A God loving and God fearing people weathered more hardships than most today would even consider.

“One Nation Under God” is a powerful factual history book of early America presenting “Ten Things Every Christian Should Know About the Founding if America”! Dr David C. Gibbs, Jr. who is the founder of the Christian Law Association, has written this historical accounting of our history with an attorney’s professional eye to the accuracy of every detail.

When I started reading this book I found it easy to read and captivating too. I was not in a hurry to flip the pages because of the depth of who we are as an American people jumped off the page. I felt totally enlightened to the real truth of where we came from and the heart of those who led these freedom seeking pilgrims.

This book will open your eyes to see the birth of our government that was and still is, “by the people, for the people”. (we must reclaim it) You will clearly see how the church government and civil government worked together to create the greatest country in history. You will also see the struggles, disagreements and the compromises that it took to make it so!

Today I recommend you find “One Nation Under God”, and buy it, read it, and share it. Part of the problem we are experiencing today is because this part of our history is being rewritten to fit the narrative of those who hate and fear Christians who truly are committed to living for Jesus! If you are a minister of the gospel or a parent who wants your children to know the truth, then this is required reading. Every homeschooler or private Christian school needs to add this to their curriculum.

My people perish because of a lack of knowledge! Don’t allow this to be true for you!

Thank you Dr. David Gibbs, Jr. for putting this great work together!

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Babylon Rising

Babylon was founded by an Amorite chief named Sumu-Abum of the Amnanum tribe, who got the party started around 1894 BC by grabbing land from a neighboring town, Kazallu. Babylon was so unimportant that the first four kings of the dynasty didn’t even call themselves “king of Babylon.” It wasn’t until Hammurabi put it on the map in the eighteenth century BC that the city became Babylon as we think of it. Beginning around 1792 BC, he conquered all of Sumer, Akkad, and the Euphrates Valley as far as Mari, where Hammurabi not only defeated his “old friend” and “brother,” the Amorite king Zimri-Lim, but he apparently ordered the ritual destruction of the palace and main temple there.

That points us back toward the theme of the book, which is identifying the spirits behind geopolitics—“theopolitics,” to borrow a phrase coined by my wife, Sharon.

Scholars typically define the name of Babylon’s greatest king as meaning “my kinsman is a healer,” from the Amorite term ʻAmmurāpi, derived from ʻAmmu (“paternal kinsman”) and Rāpi (“healer”). But rāpi is from the same root as the biblical word “Rephaim.” There isn’t a single example in Canaanite texts where the rapha are healers. It’s more likely his name means “my kinsmen are Rapha,” or more simply, “my fathers are the Rephaim.”

A genealogy of the dynasty of Hammurabi, compiled about a hundred years after he died, names one of the ancestors of the Amorite kings of Babylon as Ditanu, which, you’ve noticed, is the name of the ancient Amorite tribe that, as we showed in an earlier article, gave its name to the old gods of the Greeks, the Titans. That same Ditanu was claimed as an ancestor by the ruling houses of at least two other powerful Amorite kingdoms between the eighteenth and thirteenth centuries BC. Ditanu was one of “seventeen kings who lived in tents” named as ancestors of Shamshi-Adad, an Amorite king who ruled northern Mesopotamia around the time of Hammurabi.

About five hundred years later, the Amorite kingdom of Ugarit summoned a group called “the council of the Ditanu” from the netherworld during necromancy rituals, and a temple to the Ditanu confirms that they were believed to be among the gods.

The kingdom established by the Amorite dynasty that produced Hammurabi has cast a long shadow across history. It built on earlier religious and cultural traditions established by the Sumerians and Akkadians, but God called out Babylon and the Amorites specifically for their wickedness. The occult religious system of Babylon was so vile it became a symbol of evil from the time of Moses through the end of the apostolic age. John the Revelator used Babylon to represent the corrupt end-times church of the Antichrist.

Of course, the kingdom of Hammurabi’s Babylon was doomed to collapse almost as soon as he established it. After the great lawgiver’s death around 1750 BC, his successors kept the kingdom intact for a while, but Elamites from the east, Assyrians from the north, and people in the far south broke away, so that by about 1600 BC, the Amorite dynasty in Babylon once again controlled only the land around the city. Still, the power of Hammurabi was such that southern Mesopotamia has been called Babylonia ever since the time of Abraham.

In 1595 BC, an army from the new Hittite kingdom in central Anatolia (modern Turkey), led by king Ḫattušili I, conducted a long raid down the Euphrates. Bypassing the Assyrians in northern Mesopotamia, the Hittites sacked Mari and then ejected the Amorites from Babylon. The Hittite withdrawal back into Anatolia left a vacuum that was filled about twenty-five years later by the Kassites, a mountain people from western Iran who captured Babylon and controlled it and much of the territory once ruled by Hammurabi for the next four hundred years.

This makes the Kassites, not the Amorites or Chaldeans, the people who ruled Babylonia the longest, and the Kassite kingdom endured from the time of Jacob until the period of the judges in Israel.

Meanwhile, Amorites slowly assumed power in northern Egypt. During the time of the Hebrew sojourn, the rulers of Egypt—at least the part where the Israelites settled, the Nile delta—were Amorites. They were called “Hyksos” by native Egyptians, a word that roughly translates as “rulers of foreign lands.” Egyptologists refer to it as the Second Intermediate Period, which lasted from about 1750 BC to 1550 BC. It appears that after a series of weak rulers, Egypt was divided between a native kingdom in the south based at Thebes and the foreign Hyksos in Lower (northern) Egypt, whose capital city was Avaris in the northeastern Nile delta. The Hyksos brought with them their art, their architecture, their weapons, and their gods.

This helps make sense out of the greatest miracle that God performed during the Exodus. You see, even though the Hyksos were run out of Egypt by the Egyptians about a hundred years before Moses led Israel to Mount Sinai, the chief god of the Hyksos, Baal, was worshiped in Egypt for several centuries more. Ramesses the Great, who ruled Egypt about two hundred years after the Exodus, was a Baal worshiper. He set up a stela at Pi-ramesses, near the site of the abandoned Hyksos capital Avaris. The engraved memorial stone commemorated Set’s four hundredth anniversary of ruling at Tanis, but the god was depicted exactly like the images of Baal found in Syria, with a tasseled Canaanite kilt and conical headdress with a streamer. The gods of the Amorites influenced Egypt far more than we’ve been taught; the Amorite Hyksos and the Egyptian pharaohs who came after them worshiped Baal-Set as a single entity.

That’s the key to understanding the parting of the Red Sea: In Canaanite religion, Baal became king of the gods by fighting and beating the sea-god, Yamm. Amorite, Canaanite, and Phoenician sailors worshiped Baal as their patron and protector for more than a thousand years.

So, the parting of the Red Sea, which happened right in front of a place called Baal-zephon, named for Mount Zaphon, which the Amorites believed was the home of Baal’s palace, demonstrated Yahweh’s mastery over the chief god of Israel’s oppressors.

Have you ever noticed that God told Moses to turn the Israelites around and camp in front of Baal-zephon to wait for the Egyptian cavalry to catch up? God didn’t just deliver Israel from the hand of Pharaoh; He delivered Israel from the hand of Baal!

In short, the social and religious culture of the Amorites was the world from which God called the patriarchs and prophets to establish His chosen people in the land where His Name would dwell, Canaan. The language, customs, and, most of all, the gods of the Amorites dominated the world of the ancient Hebrews.

The Amorites faded from history after the conquest of Canaan, at least under the name “Amorite.” But their descendants continued to play important roles in ancient Israel. The Arameans, whom scholars generally agree were descended from the Amorites, set up kingdoms in Damascus and elsewhere in Syria after the so-called Bronze Age collapse, a period of violence and chaos in the eastern Mediterranean around 1200 BC. They were a thorn in the side of Israel (and Judah, after Solomon’s death) for hundreds of years. The Chaldeans, who established the Neo-Babylonian Empire in the seventh century BC, likely emerged from nomadic Amorite tribes who migrated from the west into southeastern Mesopotamia sometime around 900 BC.

The greatest Chaldean king, Nebuchadnezzar, is generally who comes to mind when we think of Babylon, but that city was around for a long, long time before the Chaldeans took it over. Think about the time scale—Hammurabi the Great died more than eleven hundred years before Nebuchadnezzar was born. Now, who was the king of England in 923 AD?

Exactly. Eleven hundred years is a very long time. Yet the gods of Mesopotamia were the same, with few exceptions.

Meanwhile, the Phoenicians, descendants of the Amorites who occupied the Mediterranean coast of Syria and Lebanon, brought their culture and religion into Israel from the time of the judges to the time of Jesus and beyond. For example, Jezebel, the infamous wife of Israel’s king Ahab, was from Tyre, which competed with the Greeks and Romans for control of trade on the Mediterranean for centuries. Carthage, a colony in north Africa established by Tyre around the time of Jehoash, king of Judah (circa 814 BC), nearly destroyed Rome in the late third century BC. Temples to Phoenician gods like Melqart, Baal-Hammon, and Tanit have been found as far away as Spain.

And tophets, ritual places of burial for infants and children sacrificed to Baal-Hammon, similar to the Tophet near Jerusalem where children were burned as offerings to Molech, have been excavated at Carthage and multiple sites on Sicily and Sardinia.

Here’s the point of this brief history: The iniquity of the Amorites still affects the world today. And the gods behind the Amorites are pushing the world toward Armageddon.

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The Amorites and Israel?

Two hundred years after their existence was confirmed by clay tablets found in Mesopotamia, the history of the Amorites is still debated by scholars. We don’t really know the details of their rise and fall, even though it was must have been spectacular. The truth is the Amorites set the cultural and religious tone of Mesopotamia, including Canaan/Israel, for about two thousand years, all the way down to the time of Jesus. So, it’s worth summarizing the history of the Amorites, but I’ll keep it brief—a detailed history would be way too long, mostly irrelevant, and probably boring.

The earliest reference of the Amorites is from about 2600 BC in the ancient city of Shuruppak, in what is Iraq today. The next mentions show up in the archives of Ebla, a city near modern Aleppo that dominated northern Syria from about 3000 BC until about 2250 BC, when it was destroyed either by Sargon the Great of Akkad or by Ebla’s main rival, the kingdom of Mari in southeastern Syria. The discovery of the ruins of Ebla in 1964, confirmed in 1968, included about 1,800 complete clay tablets and thousands of fragments covering a period from about 2500 BC to about 2250 BC.

One of the last rulers of Ebla, a vizier named Ebrium, married his daughter to an Amorite named Tidinu, “chief of the mercenaries.” Because you’re observant, you’ve noticed the similarity between the name of this soldier and that of the legendary Amorite tribe. Apparently, since Ebla depended on foreign soldiers, a marriage to secure the relationship between the government of Ebla and its Amorite contractors was good politics.

This highlights an important point: Even though they weren’t mentioned often in the texts from the third millennium BC, it appears that even at that early date, Amorites in general and the Tidanu/Ditanu in particular had a warlike reputation. 

This is reflected in a number of texts found in southeastern Iraq, the heart of ancient Sumer. The “Tidnumites” are among the barbarians blamed for the destruction of Sumerian civilization:

Below, the Elamites are in charge, slaughter follows in their wake,

Above, the Halma-people, the “men of the mountains,” took captives,

The Tidnumites daily fastened the mace to their loins.

Incursions by Amorites, who apparently found a way around the “Amorite Wall That Keeps Tidanu Away,” had weakened the kingdom of Ur by making travel between the cities of Sumer too dangerous for the cheap transport of goods. Imagine the price of a loaf of bread if armed guards had to protect farmers, crops, bakers, and truckers at every step of the process before the bread even reached your local grocery store.

That may have been a picture of the situation in Sumer in the last years before Ur collapsed. Records from the seventh and eighth years of the reign of Ur’s last king, Ibbi-Sin, show that the price of grain skyrocketed to sixty times normal! Finally, weakened by the breakdown in communications between the capital and the edges of its empire, Ur was overrun by invaders from Elam, a kingdom along the coast of the Persian Gulf in what is now western Iran. Around 2004 BC, Ibbi-Sin, the last Sumerian king of Mesopotamia, was carried off to Elam, where he was imprisoned and presumably killed.

This led to a dark age of about a hundred years in Mesopotamia. Despite the many tablets found at major archaeological sites like Ur, Babylon, Mari, and Ebla, scholars really don’t know what happened in the twentieth century BC. All that can be said for sure is that when the dust settled around 1900 BC., Amorite dynasties controlled every major political entity in what is now Iraq, Syria, southern Turkey, Lebanon, and Israel. It was the dawn of the Age of the Amorites.

Until the mid-1800s, the Amorites were known only from a handful of mentions early in the Old Testament. When scholars began pulling clay tablets out of the Mesopotamian sand in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the many references to Amorites they found convinced some that the Amorites had ruled a vast empire across the Near East around the time of Abraham. That wasn’t quite true; divisions between the Amorites, like the rivalries among the tribes of Israel, prevented any of the various Amorite kingdoms from ruling the Near East for very long.

The first Amorite kingdoms to emerge after the collapse of the Third Dynasty of Ur were the city-states of Isin and Larsa. Both were located on the Euphrates in what is southern Iraq today—Larsa, a little north of Ur, with Isin farther northwest, about halfway between the Persian Gulf and Babylon.

These two cities gave their names to the Isin-Larsa period of Mesopotamian history, which covers the time from the fall of Ur in 2004 BC until the defeat of Larsa by Hammurabi of Babylon in 1763 BC.

The first kings of Isin and Larsa were named Ishbi-Erra and Naplanum, respectively. Ishbi-Erra may have been an Amorite. He was described by king Ibbi-Sin of Ur as “a monkey from the mountains,” a “man of Mari with the mind of a beast” who was “not of Sumerian seed.” This suggests that Ishbi-Erra was either an Amorite or an Akkadian from a city that had frequent contact with Amorite nomads. Ishbi-Erra may have put those Amorites to use as mercenaries in support of his ambition to set up his own royal dynasty. (It also tells us something about the attitude of Sumerians toward people from the Amorite homeland in Syria.)

For his part, Naplanum of Larsa was definitely an Amorite. Both were clearly men of power during the last years of Ur. Ishbi-Erra had been made a governor of the territory around Isin and Nippur by king Ibbi-Sin of Ur, but Ishbi-Erra either had more ambition than the king realized, or he took matters into his own hands when it became obvious that the government of Ur was no longer powerful enough to enforce the king’s will. The fact that Ishbi-Erra was either an Amorite or had friendly dealings with the Amorites, the bandits who’d made it too dangerous for most travel and trade in the kingdom, is probably relevant. Ishbi-Erra may have encouraged the turmoil that led to the downfall of Ur, which led to his own rise to power.

Whatever his reasons, Ishbi-Erra became a king in his own right around 2017 BC, and he survived the Elamite sack of Ur in 2004 BC by about twenty years. In fact, Ishbi-Erra eventually marched downriver, drove the Elamites back out of Sumer, and recaptured Ur along with the important cities of Uruk and Lagash.

Meanwhile, Naplanum established a dynasty that ruled Larsa, only about twenty miles from Ur, as an independent city-state for nearly 250 years. Records of grain sales found at Ur mention a wealthy merchant named Naplanum, who may be one and the same, although some scholars believe Naplanum was head of the royal bodyguard for the last two kings of Ur. That could explain how he was able to establish an independent kingdom so close to the throne of his former boss. It also explains the title of rabium amurrim, “chief (or “great one”) of the Amorites,” which was used by the kings of Larsa for generations.

Over time, Naplanum’s successors realized that their location between Isin and the Persian Gulf gave them a strategic advantage over their northern rival. By blocking Isin’s access to the Gulf, the kings of Larsa controlled the lucrative trade route to the Indus River valley (now southern Pakistan), which was home to the prosperous Harappan civilization that reached into India and Afghanistan for nearly two thousand years. The Harappans traded with Mesopotamia and Egypt via the Persian Gulf throughout the second millennium BC, and for the first half of the millennium, that trade was controlled by Amorites.

A pattern that began with Nimrod has continued down to this day in the Near East (and, sadly, around the world): Cycles of war based on strong, charismatic leaders who rise to power, dominate a region and elevate his tribe, culture, or civilization for a time until another leader emerges, the kingdom collapses, and the cycle starts again. It’s like a pot of stew simmering on the stove: Bubbles form, rise to the surface, and burst—over and over. Some bubbles are bigger than others, but all of them collapse in the end. The Amorites didn’t invent the game, but they were very good at it.

During the lifetime of Abraham, who was born around 1950 BC, entered Canaan from the north around 1876 BC, and died in the Holy Land around 1776 BC, Amorite kingdoms emerged to dominate the entire Near East, from the Persian Gulf to the Mediterranean. By the time of Isaac’s birth around 1850 BC, all of modern-day Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, and even northern Egypt were ruled by Amorite kings and chiefs. Regional powers included Isin and Larsa, already mentioned; Mari; Yamkhad, based at Aleppo; Qatna, near modern Homs in west-central Syria; the kingdom of Northern Mesopotamia, centered on what later became Assyria; smaller Amorite kingdoms in Canaan, with Hazor near the Sea of Galilee the largest of those; and the most famous (and infamous) of them all: Babylon.

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