The surgical removal of the foreskin of the male sex organ refers to Circumcision. The Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible indicated that this action served as a sign of God's Covenant relation with His people.

Circumcision was widely practiced in the ancient world, including the Egyptian and Canaanite cultures. But among these people the rite was performed at the beginning of puberty or about 12 years of age, as a sort of initiation ceremony into manhood. In contrast, the Hebrew people performed circumcision on infants. This rite had an important ethical meaning to them. It signified their responsibility to serve as the holy people whom God had called as His special servants in midst of a pagan world.

The first mention of circumcision in the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible, God instructed Abraham to circumcise every male child in his household, including servants. The custom was performed on the eighth day after birth. In the early history of the Jewish people circumcision was performed by the father. But the surgical task was eventually taken over by a specialist.

God said to Abraham, "You on your part shall maintain my Covenant, yourself and your descendants after you, generation after generation. Now this is my Covenant which you are to maintain between myself and you, and your descendants after you: all your males must be circumcised." You shall circumcise your foreskin, and this shall be the sign of the Covenant between myself and you. When they are eight days old all your male children must be circumcised, generation after generation of them , no matter they be born within the household or brought from a foreigner not one of your descendants. They must always be circumcised, both those born within the household and those who have been bought. My Covenant shall be marked on your bodies as a Covenant in perpetuity. The uncircumcised male, whose foreskin has not been circumcised, such a man shall be cut off from the people: he has violated my Covenant. - Gen. 17:9-14 -

Circumcision of the Jewish male was required as a visible, physical sign of the covenant between the Lord and His people. Any male not circumcised was to be cut off from his people and regarded as a covenant breaker. Although circumcision was required by the Mosaic law, the rite was neglected during the days when the people of Israel wandered in the wilderness. Perhaps this was a sign that the nation had broken their covenant with God through their disobedience. The rite was resumed when they entered the land of Canaan, with Joshua performing the ritual on the generation born in the wilderness.

The Hebrew people came to take great pride in circumcision; in fact, it became a badge of their spiritual and national superiority. This practice fostered a spirit of exclusivism instead of a missionary zeal to reach out to other nations as God intended. A daily prayer of strict Jewish males was to thank God that he has neither a woman, a Samaritan, nor a Gentile. And Gentile came to be regarded by the Jews as the 'uncircumcision' a term of disrespect implying that non-Jewish peoples were outside the circle of God's love. The terms circumcised and uncircumcised became emotionally charged symbols to Israel and their Gentile neighbours. This issue later brought discord into the Christians fellowship of the New Testament Church.

Moses and the true prophets/God's prophets used the term circumcised as a symbol for purity of heart and readiness to hear and obey. Through Moses the Lord challenged the Israelites to submit to "circumcision of the heart" a reference to their need for repentance. God declared, "If their uncircumcised hearts are humbled, and they accept their guilt/sin, then, I will remember My Covenant." Prophet Jeremiah characterized rebellious Israel as having "uncircumcised ears and being uncircumcised in the heart."

I in my turn will set myself against them and take them to the land of their enemies. Then their uncircumcised heart will be humbled, then they will atone for their sins. I shall remember my Covenant with Jacob, and my Covenant with Isaac and my Covenant with Abraham; and I shall remember the land. - Lev. 26:41-42 -

And now, Israel, what does Yahweh your God ask of you? Only this: to fear Yahweh your God, to follow all His ways, to love Him, to serve Yahweh your God with all your heart and all your soul, to keep the commandments and laws of Yahweh that for your good I lay down for you today.

To Yahweh your God belong indeed heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth and all its contains; yet it was on your fathers that Yahweh set his heart for love of them, and after them of all the nations chose their descendants, you yourselves, up to the present day. Circumcise your heart then and be obstinate no longer; for Yahweh your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, triumphant and terrible, never partial, never to be bribed. - Deut. 10:12-17 -

To whom am I speak, whom can I urge to hear? Plainly their ears are uncircumcised, they cannot listen. For all these nations, and the whole House of Israel too, are uncircumcised at heart. - Jer. 6:10, 9:26 -

In the New Testament circumcision was faithfully practiced by devout Jews as recognition of God's continuing covenant with Israel. Both John the Baptist and Jesus were circumcised. - Luke 1:59, 2:21 - But controversy over circumcision divided the Christians of the early Church, which included believers from both Jewish and Gentile backgrounds. Gentile believers regarded their Jewish brethren as eccentric because of their dietary laws, Sabbath rules, and circumcision practices. Jewish believers tended to view their uncircumcised Gentile brothers as unenlightened and disobedient to the law of Moses. But apostle Paul's reconciled the Jews, Gentiles, and the Pagans with each other and with God.

A crisis erupted in the Church at Antioch when believers from Judea taught the brethren, 'Unless you are circumcised according to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.' In effect, they insisted that a believer from a non-Jewish background must first become a Jew ceremonially [by being circumcised] before he could be admitted to the Christian brotherhood. This led to disagreement, and after Paul and Barnabas had a long argument with these men it was arranged that they should go up to Jerusalem and discuss the problem with the apostles and elders. - Acts 15:1-2 - A council of apostles and elders was convened in Jerusalem to resolve the matter, and after the discussion had gone on a long time, Peter stood up and addressed them.

My brothers, he said, `you know perfectly well that in the early days God made his choice among you: the pagans were to learn the Good News from me and so become believers. In fact God, who can read everyone's heart, showed his approval of them by giving the Holy Spirit to them just as he had to us. God made no distinction between them and us, since he purified their hearts by faith. It will only provoke God's anger now, surely, if you imposed on the disciples the very burden that neither we nor our ancestors were strong enough to support? Remember, we believe that we are saved in the same way as they are: through the grace of the Lord Jesus.' This silence the entire assembly, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul describing all the signs and wonders God had worked through them among the pagans. - Acts 15:5-12 -

When they had finished it was James who spoke. My brothers, he said, listen to me. Simeon has described how God first arranged to enlist a people for his name out of the pagans. This is entirely in harmony with the words of the prophets, since the scriptures say:

After that I shall return
and rebuild the fallen House of David
I shall rebuild it from its ruin
and restore it.
Then the rest of mankind,
all the pagans who are consecrated to my name,
and look for the Lord,
says the Lord who made this known so long ago.

`I rule, then, that instead of making things more difficult for pagans who turn to God, we send them a letter telling them merely to abstain from anything polluted by idols, from fornication, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. For Moses has always had his preachers in every town, and is read aloud in the synagogues every Sabbath.' - Acts 15:13-21 -

Then the apostles and elders decided to choose delegates to send to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas; the whole church concurred with this. - Acts 15:22 -

This was the decision handed down by the council, and the Church broke away from the binding legalism of Judaism. Years later, reinforcing this decision Saint Paul wrote the believers at Rome that Abraham, 'the father of circumcision' was justified by faith rather than by circumcision. He declared circumcision to be no value unless accompanied by an obedient spirit.

It is a good thing to be circumcised if you keep the Law; but if you break the Law, you might as well have stay uncircumcised. If a man who is not circumcised obeys the commandments of the Law, surely that makes up for not being circumcised? More than that, the man who keeps the law, even though he has not been physically circumcised, is a living condemnation of the way you disobey the Law in spite of being circumcised and having it all written down. To be a Jew is not just to look like a Jew, and circumcision is more than a physical operation. The real Jew is the one who is inwardly a Jew, and the real circumcision is in the heart - something not of the letter but of the spirit. A Jew like that may not be praised by man, but he will be praised by God. - Rom. 2:25-29 -

Happy those whose crimes are forgiven,
whose sins are blotted out;
happy the man whom the Lord considers sinless.

Is this happiness meant only for the circumcised, or is it meant for others as well? Think of Abraham again: his faith, we say, was considered as justifying him, but when was this done? When he was already circumcised or before he had been circumcised? It was before he had been circumcised, not after; and when he was circumcised later it was only as a sign and guarantee that the faith he had before his circumcision justified him. In this way Abraham became the ancestor of all uncircumcised believers, so that they too might be considered righteous; and ancestor, also, of those who though circumcised do not rely on that fact alone, but follow our ancestor Abraham along the path of faith he trod before he had been circumcised.

The promise of inheriting the world was not made to Abraham and his descendants on account on any law but on account of the righteousness which consists in faith. If the world is only to be inherited by those who submit to the Law, then faith is pointless and the promise worth nothing. Law involves the possibility of punishment for breaking the law - only where there is no law can that be avoided. That is why what fulfills the promise depends on faith, so that it may be a free gift and be available to all of Abraham's descendants, not only those who belong to the Law but also those who belong to the faith of Abraham who is the father of all of us. As scripture says: I have made you the ancestor of many nations - Abraham is our father in the eyes of God, in whom he put his faith, and who brings the dead to life and calls into being what does not exist. - Rom. 4:7-17 -

Saint Paul also spoke of the "circumcision of Jesus Christ" a reference to His atoning death which "condemned sin in the flesh" and nailed legalism "to the cross." In essence, apostle Paul declared that the new covenant of Christ's shed blood has provided forgiveness to both Jew and Gentile, apostle Paul says, is a changed nature - a new creation that makes them one in the Lord Jesus Christ.

In his body lives the fullness of divinity, and in him you too find your own fulfillment, in the one who is the head of every Sovereignty and Power. In him you have been circumcised, with a circumcision not performed by human hand, but by the complete stripping of your body of flesh. This is circumcision according to Christ. You have been buried with him, when you were baptised: and by baptism too, you have been raised up with him through your belief in the power of God who raised him from the dead. You were dead, because you were sinners and had not been circumcised: he has brought you to life with him, he has forgiven us all our sins.

He has overridden the Law, and cancelled every record of the debt that we had to pay: he has done away with it by nailing it to the cross; and so he got rid of the Sovereignties and the Powers, and paraded them in public, behind him in his triumphal procession. - Col. 2:9-15 -

For he is the peace between us, and has made the two into one and broken down the barrier which used to keep them apart, actually destroying in his, own person the hostility caused by the rules and decrees of the Law. This was to create one single New Man in himself out of the two of them and by restoring peace through the cross, to unite them both in a single Body and reconcile them with God. In his own person he killed the hostility. Later he came to bring the good news of peace, peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near at hand. Through him, both of us have in the one Spirit our way to come to the Father.

So you no longer aliens or foreign visitors: you are citizen like all the saints, and part of God's household. You are part of a building that has the apostles and prophets for its foundations, and Christ Jesus himself for its main cornerstone. As every structure is aligned on him, all grow into one holy temple in the Lord; and you too, in him, are being built into a house where God lives, in the Spirit. - Eph. 2:14-22 -

From now onward, therefore, we do not judge anyone by the standards of the flesh. Even if we did once know Christ in the flesh, that is not how we know him now. And for anyone who is in Christ, there is a new creation; the old creation has gone, and now the new one is here. It is all God's work. It was God who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the work of handing on this reconciliation. - 2Cor. 5:16-18 -

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If you wish to donate. Thank You. God bless.

By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -

Saint/Apostle Paul's is the earliest and most influential interpreter of Christ's message and doctrine; an early Christian missionary and evangelist; correspondent with the Universal Church.

I am the least of the apostles; in fact, since I persecuted the Church of God, I hardly deserve the name apostle; but by God's grace that is what I am, and the grace that he gave me has not been fruitless. - 1 Cor. 15:9-10 -

At the height of Paul's campaign of repression, he was confronted on the road to Damascus by the risen Christ. In an instant his life was reoriented. The Jewish law was replaced as the central theme of Paul's life by the Lord Jesus Christ. Saint/Apostle Paul became the leading champion of the cause which he had tried to overthrow. The realization that Jesus, whom he had been persecuting, was alive and exalted as the Son of God exposed the weakness of the Jewish law. Paul's zeal for the law had made him an ardent persecutor. He now saw that his persecuting activity had been sinful; yet the law, instead of showing him the sinfulness of such course, had really led him into sin.

Paul learned that the law had lost its validity and was no longer by keeping the law that a person was justified in God's sight, but by faith and love in Christ. And if faith and love in Christ provided acceptance with God, then Gentiles might enjoy that acceptance as readily as Jews. This was one of the implications of the revelation of Jesus Christ which gripped Paul's mind. He was assured that he himself had received that revelation in order that he might proclaim Christ and His salvation to the Gentile world.

Thus, Paul was given the opportunity to set forth and explain the revelations of Jesus Christ, and because Paul was called and chosen to teach Gentiles rather than Jews, he was in the unique position of confronting and answering problems which could only be presented by those completely unfamiliar with Jewish traditions.

Paul not only knew but ascertain as well, and had no doubt of the validity of the appearance or of the words, "I AM JESUS" that the one who appeared to him on the Damascus Road was the risen Christ, the Son of God. Both the appearance and the words validated themselves in his later life.

Brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, the gospel that you received and in which you are firmly established; because the gospel will save you only if you keep believing exactly what I preached to you - believing anything else will not lead to anything.

Well then, in the first place, I taught you what I had been taught myself, namely that Christ died for our sins, in accordance with the scriptures; that he was buried; and that he was raised to life on the third day, in accordance with the scriptures; that he appeared first to Cephas and secondly to the Twelve. Next he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died; then he appeared to James, and then to all the apostles; and last of all he appeared to me too; it was as though I was born when no one expected it. - 1 Cor. 15:1-8 -

The Lord Jesus Christ is presented by apostle Paul as the head of all creation, "through whom are all things, and through whom we live, and in whom, through whom, and for whom all things were created." - Col. 1:15-20 -

In view of the extraordinary nature of the Lord Jesus Christ revelations to Paul's. Paul's was prevented from getting too proud or being "exalted from measure." He was given a "thorn in the flesh" an angel of Satan to beat him and stop him from getting too proud!

The Greek word for thorn may be used to refer to a stake, on which a person could be impaled. Many explanations have been offered about the nature or identity of Paul's "thorn in the flesh." If the best translation is "in the flesh" referring to the physical flesh, the thorn may refer to some physical infirmity such as epilepsy, malaria, or bad eyesight. An eye ailment seems to be supported by Galatians 4:13-15.  If the translation is "for the flesh" referring to the Pauline concept of man's lower nature, the thorn may refer to some painful experience which was spiritual in nature, such as temptation or the opposition of the Jews.

The purpose of the thorn, however, was to eliminate spiritual arrogance in Paul. Although he prayed for its removal, the Lord Jesus said to him, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore, Paul could boast in his infirmities because of the victorious power of The Lord Jesus Christ in his life.

If anyone wants to boast, let him boast of the Lord. It is not the man who commends himself that can be accepted, but the man who is commended by the Lord. - 2 Cor. 10:17-18 -

I only wish you were able to tolerate a little foolishness from me. But of course: you are tolerant towards me. You see, the jealousy that I feel for you is God's jealousy: I arranged for you to marry Christ so that I might give you away as a chaste virgin to this one husband. But the serpent, with his cunning, seduced Eve, and I am afraid that in the same way your ideas may get corrupted and turned away from simple devotion to Christ. Because any newcomer has only to proclaim a new Jesus, different from the one that we preached, or you have only to receive a new spirit, different from the one you have already received, or a new gospel, different from the one you have already accepted - and you welcome it with open arms. As far as I can tell, these arch-apostles have nothing more than I have. I may not be a polished speech-maker, but as for knowledge, that is different matter; surely we have made this plain, speaking on every subject in front of all of you.

Or was I wrong, lowering myself so as to lift you high, by preaching the gospel of God to you and taking no fee for it? I was robbing others churches living on them so that I could serve you. When I was with you and ran out of money, I was no burden to anyone; the brothers who came from Macedonia provided me with everything I wanted. I was very careful, and I always shall be, not to be a burden to you in anyway, and by Christ's truth in me, this cause of boasting will never be taken from me in the regions of Achaia. Would I do that if I did not love you? God knows I do. I intend to go on doing what I am doing now - leaving no opportunity for those people who are looking for an opportunity to claim equality with us in what they boast of. These people are counterfeit apostles, they are dishonest workmen disguised as apostles of Christ. There is nothing unexpected about that; if Satan himself goes disguised as an angel of light, there is no need to be surprised when his servants, too, disguise themselves as the servants of righteousness. They will come to the end that they deserve....

If I am to boast, then let me boast of my own feebleness. The God and Father of the Lord Jesus - bless him for ever - knows that I am not lying. When I was in Damascus, the ethnarch of king Aretas put guards round the city to catch me, and I had to be let down over the wall in a hamper, through a window, in order to escape. - 2 Cor. 11:1-33 -

Must I go on boasting, though there is nothing to be gained by it? But I will move on to the visions and revelations I have had from the Lord. I know a man in Christ who, fourteen years ago, was caught up - whether still in the body or out of the body. I do not know; God knows - right into the third heaven. I do know, however, that this same person - whether in the body or out of the body, I do not know; God knows - was caught up into paradise and heard things which must not and cannot be put into human language. I will boast about a man like that, but not about anything of my own except my weaknesses. If I should decide to boast, I should not be made to look foolish, because I should only be speaking the truth; but I am not going to, in case anyone should begin to think I am better than he can actually see and hear me to be.

In view of the extraordinary nature of these revelations, to stop me from getting too proud I was given a thorn in the flesh, an angel of Satan to beat me and stop me from getting too proud! About this thing, I have pleaded with the Lord three times for it to leave me, but he has said, `My grace is enough for you: my power is at its best in weakness.' So I shall be very happy to make my weaknesses my special boast so that the power of Christ may stay over me, and that is why I am quite content with my weaknesses, and with insults, hardships, persecutions, and the agonies I go through for Christ's sake. For it is when I am weak that I am strong. - 2 Cor. 12:1-10 -

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 If you wish to donate. Thank You. God bless.

By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -

Christ, the Son of God, came into the world to save all men, all nations, and all peoples. Though this was His ultimate goal, His plan was to limit His Gospel at first to the Jews. Later His mission was rendered universal, so as to embrace the whole pagan world as well.

These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: Do not take the road to gentile lands, and do not enter any Samaritan town; but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. - Matt. 10:5-6 -

The first explicit direction to the Apostles was to avoid the pagans. Today the pagans would be known as the "foreign mission." Even the Samaritans were to be excluded for the time being, for they were a hybrid people of both Jewish and Assyrian origin. This explicit instruction to the people to confine themselves at first to the House of Israel was underlined by the fact that He chose twelve of them, who roughly corresponded to the twelve tribes of Israel. The lingering remembrance of this order made Peter hesitate when the time came to baptize Cornelius, the Roman centurion. For that act, he required an explicit declaration on the part of God Himself.

Despite this first mandate to the Apostles, Our Blessed Lord Jesus had several contacts with pagans; He even worked miracles on their behalf. Though these miracles do not give a complete answer to the question as to when Our Lord Jesus began to make His mission universal, nevertheless they do give a clue.

The first of the three contacts which Our Lord Jesus had with pagans, and therefore with the foreign mission, was with the Roman centurion; the second, with the daughter of the Syro-Phoenician woman; and the third, with the young man possessed of a devil in the land of the Gerasenes. There were many elements common to all three miracles.

The first two miracles were performed at a distance. Probably the centurion was a member of the Roman garrison stationed at Caperrnaum. By birth, therefore, he must have been a heathen. It is very likely that he, like the centurion Cornelius, whom Peter baptized and like the eunuch in the court of the Queen of Ethiopia, had become at least sentimentally attached to the worship of Jahve. This Roman official had been in the country long enough to know that there was a strong wall of partition between Jew and Gentile. This explains the fact that when his servant lay sick, even to the point of death, he did not directly approach Our Blessed Lord Jesus, but

sent some Jewish elders with the request that he would come and save his servant's life. - Luke 7:3 -

Our Blessed Lord must have shown some reluctance to work this miracle because Luke says that those who interceded

pressed their petition earnestly. - Luke 7:4 -

While Our Lord Jesus was on His way to the servant, the centurion sent word to Him through messengers not to trouble Himself:

It is not for me to have you under my roof. - Luke 7:7 -

Saint Augustine was later to say of this: "Counting himself unworthy that Christ should enter into his doors, he was counted worthy that Christ should enter into his heart."

The pagan centurion compared Our Blessed Lord's power to his own authority over his soldiers. He himself was a sergeant with a hundred men under him, who did his bidding; but the Lord Jesus was the true Caesar, or King, the supreme commander of the highest hierarchy, with angels to obey His orders. Surely, then he would not have to enter the house to perform the miracle; the pagan suggested that He should give an order from where He was. The miracle was performed, as the centurion requested, at a distance. Reflecting on the faith of this pagan and anticipating the faith that would come from foreign missions, which He contrasted with the present home mission, Our Blessed Lord said:

I tell you, nowhere, even in Israel, have I found faith like this. - Luke 7:10 -

This first pagan who received such praise from Our Divine Lord Jesus Christ for his faith was one of "those children of God" scattered abroad in the world who were eventually to be brought into unity through the Redemption.

The second miracle performed by Our Lord Jesus on a pagan was the healing of the daughter of the Syro-Phoenician woman. This reluctance to work a miracle for the centurion had only been implied, but here He refused explicitly, perhaps to draw out the woman's faith. The miracle took place in the neighborhood of Tyre and Sidon. Saint Chrysostom and the other commentators have actually thought that Our Lord Jesus left the borders of what was later on to be known as foreign mission territory. The woman is described as coming from Canaan and being Syro-Phoenician descent. She was, therfore, completely set apart from the Jews. When she asked a boon for her daughter, whom she described as "truly cruelly troubled by an evil spirit," Our Lord:

said not a word in reply. His disciples came and urged him: Send her away; see how she comes shouting after us. - Matt. 15:23 -

The Apostles was not asking for a miracle to be worked for the woman's sake; they only wanted to be left alone, undisturbed, in selfish ease. As she continued to plead and to worship Him, Our Blessed Lord proceeded to test her faith with a seemingly hard remark:

It is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs. - Matt. 15:26 -

The children He was referring to were, of course, the Jews. The term "dogs" signified contempt, and it was not beyond the Jews to apply it often to the Gentiles.

As the Roman centurion endured a seeming delay, so this woman suffered a stunning rebuff. She, however, responded with a perfect act of faith:

True sir, and yet the dogs eat the scraps that fall from their masters' table. - Matt. 15:27 -

This woman was saying to Our Lord Jesus: "I accept this title and the dignity that goes with it: for even the dogs are fed by the Master; they may not be given the full feast which has been spread for the children of Israel, but the dogs will get a portion; and it will still come from the Master's table." She pleaded that she belonged to the Master's household, even though her place in it was lower. According to the very name which the Lord had given her, she was not an alien. And by accepting this name, she could claim all that it included. She had conquered by faith, and the Master said to her:

Woman, what faith you have! Be it as you wish! - Matt. 15:28 -

Like Joseph of old, who showed severity to his brethren for but a brief time, the Savior did not maintain His apparent disdain for long; and He granted the healing of the daughter, again at a distance.

The third early contact of Our Blessed Lord Jesus with the pagans occurred when He entered the country of the Gerasenes. A man possessed of an unclean spirit came out of the tombs to meet Him. The actual scene was Decapolis, a predominantly Gentile region. Josephus strongly implied that Gersa was a Greek city. The very fact that the people there were swineherds would seem to indicate further that they were not Jews. It is conceivable that they were Jews defying the Mosaic Law.

Considerable symbolism may be attached to the fact that in this pagan land, Our Blessed Lord Jesus came face to face with discords and forces far worse than those which disturb the winds and waves and the bodies of men. Here there was something wilder, and more fearful, than the natural elements, which could bring confusion, anarchy, and ruin to the inner man. There had been a wholesome faith in the centurion and in the Syro-Phoenician woman. But there was nothing in this young man but the dominion of the devil. The other two pagans had spoken from their own hearts in tribute to Our Savior. here, however, it was an alien's spirit, a fallen spirit, that made the young man affirm the Divinity:

What do you want with me, Jesus, son of the Most High God? I implore you, do not torment me. - Luke 8:28 -

When the Savior released the young man from the evil spirit and permitted it to enter into the swine instead, the townspeople ordered Our Lord Jesus to depart from their coast. The spirit of capitalism, in its most evil form, made them feel that the restoring of a soul to the friendship of God, was nothing compared to the loss of a few pigs. While the respectable Gerasenes bade Him depart, the Samaritans, who were sinners, wanted Our Lord Jesus to stay with them.

These three incidents involving foreign missions were exceptions to the Divine plan that salvation must first come to the Jews, and that He must limit His teaching, for the time being, only to the lost sheep of Israel.

These sporadic contacts with pagans did not suffice to establish a principle of world-wide evangelization. On the other hand, it cannot be supposed that Our Blessed Lord Jesus turned to the Gentiles simply because His own people refused Him, as if the rest of humanity were only an afterthought in His life. He always knew that there would come a point when He would lose both the leaders and the masses of His own people. In fact, this came to pass after the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves. After that, Our Blessed Lord could count on neither an aristocratic nor a popular following among the Jews. Even so, He continued for the time being concentrate on teaching His own people, to the exclusion of the foreign missions.

Our Savior, Lord Jesus Christ did not use any of His three contacts with the pagans to tell His Apostles to take the Gospel beyond the confines of Israel. Nevertheless, there was clear and intrinsic connection between the Gentiles and the reason of His coming. Noteworthy is the fact that in those moments where there was a very strong hint and suggestion of His death and Redemption, there was also some involvement of the Gentiles. Quite apart from the three miraculous contacts, there were three other moments when pagans were closely associated with Him. Each of these moments had some reference to His Passion and to His death and glorification.

The first of these was at His birth. The shepherds represented the home mission; the Magi stood for the foreign missions. Jew and Gentile were both next to the crib; but the coming of the Gentiles coincided with the first attempt upon His life. Hardly was the Divine Ship launched than king Herod sought to sink it, by ordering the massacre of all male children under the age of two. And it was the Gentiles whom Herod questioned concerning the prophecy about the star from Bethlehem. Already, the shadow of death had fallen across the Infant Jesus.

The second moment of the close association with Gentiles in His life was when the Greeks came seeking, through the intercession of Philip and Andrew, to see Him. On this occasion, Our Blessed Lord did not refer to a prophecy from the Jewish script (for that would have been unavailing to the Gentiles) He appeared instead to a law of natural order, the law of the seed.

A grain of wheat remains a solitary grain unless it falls into the ground and dies; but if it dies, it bears a rich harvest. - John 12:24 -

As the Wise Men from among the Gentiles discovered Wisdom at the crib, so the wise men from Gentile ranks now learned the law of sacrifice: that through death, a new life would spring forth. The closer Our Lord Jesus came to His Cross (are here He was only a week away from it) the closer the pagans were to Him. They now began to appear for the first time in His entourage. On the occasion of this visit of their heirs of Socrates, Aristotle, and Plato, Our Blessed Lord began to speak of His glory:

The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. - John 12:23 -

The third moment when the Gentiles were closely associated with Him was during the His Crucifixion. He was tried in a Roman court, and the wife of a Roman governor interceded for Him, because she had been troubled in a dream. Simon of Cyrene, who was interested in watching this man going to His death, was forced to help Him to carry the cross. It is known that at least a hundred Roman soldiers were present at the scene of His Crucifixion, for a centurion commanded at least that number. Never before were there so many Gentiles and pagans around Our Lord Jesus, as at the moment of His death. Looking forward to that moment, after His miracles had failed to convince men of His Divinity, He had given the Cross as the final argument. Now that the Son of Man was being lifted up, He began to draw all men to Himself. He made it clear that it was "all men" that He would draw, and not merely the people of Judea and Galilee. At the very moment when He spoke of giving His own life, He added:

There are other sheep of mine, not belonging to this fold, whom I must bring in; and they too will listen to my voice. - John 10:16 -

The death of Christ was the realization of the Kingdom of God for the entire world. Up to the point of Calvary, men had been taught by preaching. After Calvary, they would be taught by His Resurrection and Ascension. The principle of universality became effective. It was the death of Christ that broke down the wall of partition between Jew and Gentile to reveal the universal mission of the Messiah, which had been dimly hinted at in the Old Testament. It took Golgotha to universalize the mission of Christ. The foreign missions were the fruit of the Passion and the death of Our Blessed Lord. What greater proof is there than this, that it was not until after His Resurrection and the moment of His Ascension that the missionary mandate was given:

Go forth therefore and make all nations my disciples. - Matt. 28:19 -

Now the pagans  would come into their own, not only those who had lived before His coming, but those who would live until His final glory. And there will come a day when:

At the Judgment, when this generation is on trail, the men of Nineveh will appear against it. - Matt. 12:41 -

The Gentiles who lived in the days of Solomon, and in particular the Queen of Sheba, would point an accusing finger at Israel for not having been as responsive as the Gentiles to the death of Christ. The Tyre and Sidon that produced a woman of faith would receive a more tolerant judgment than Capernaum, which had once cradled the Body of the Divine Fishermen:

It will be more bearable, I tell you, for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And as for you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to the skies? No, brought down to the depths! - Matt. 11:22 -

Even Sodom, which had been synonymous with everything that was evil, would have more merciful judgment than Israel, to whom the revelation was first restricted:

For if the miracles had been performed in Sodom which were performed in you, Sodom would be standing to this day. But it will be more bearable, I tell you for the land of Sodom on the day of judgment than for you. - Matt. 11:23 -

As for the future, all the Gentiles would profit by His death and Resurrection:

They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with great power and glory. With a trumpet blast he will send out his angels, and they will gather his chosen from the four winds, from the farthest bound of heaven on every side. - Matt. 25:31-32 -

Had Our Lord been only a preacher or a teacher, there would never have been any foreign missions. The Faith would never have been propagated all over the world. The Gospel, which the missionaries bring, is not an epic that belongs to a particular people, but a Redemption as wide as humanity itself. From the moment of Calvary, the missionary belonged to Christ and not to the prince of this world. Another King entered into rightful possession of the Gentiles. The principal distinction between the Old and the New Testament was in regard to scope. The former had been restricted almost exclusively to a single nation, but the blood of the New Covenant shed on Calvary broke down that wall of partition between the Jews and the other nations.

The sacrifice of Christ was universal in three ways: time, place, and power. As regards time, its efficacy was not limited to one generation or dispensation:

Predestined before the foundation of the world, he was made manifest in this last period of time for your sake. - 1Peter 1:20 -

There was universality too in space, for the effectiveness of Christ's death was not confined to any single nation:

Thou art worthy to take the scroll and to break its seal, for thou wast slain and by thy blood didst purchase for God men of every tribe and language, people and nation; thou hast made of them a royal house, to serve our God... - Apocalypse 5:9 -

Finally, there was universality in power, for there is no sin whatever that His Redemption cannot blot out:

We are being cleansed from every sin by the blood of Jesus his Son. - John 1:7 -

It was on the Cross that Christ made His mission world-wide. The closer missionaries live to their cross, the more quickly will they fulfill His mission to all nations.


BY ARCHBISHOP FULTON J. SHEEN  ( 1895 to 1979 )

                                                                          Page 1

If you wish to donate. Thank You. God bless.

By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -

In 1890, the famed archaeologist Flinders Petrie began an exploration at Tell el-Hesi in southwestern Palestine. He carefully recorded the pieces and types of broken pottery found at each level of occupation. This exploration helped refine the method known as "ceramic chronology" which is one of the methods still used to date ancient finds.

Inscriptions and ancient manuscripts also have made an important contribution to biblical study. In fact, today's archaeology work is increasingly concerned with the text of the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible. Intensive study of more than 3,000 New Testament Greek manuscripts dating from the second century A.D. and subsequent years has shown that the New Testament text has been preserved remarkably from that time. Not one doctrine has been perverted due to major errors in transmission.

The science of papyrology developed after large quantities of "Papyri" or ancient writing materials, were discovered in Egypt around the turn of the century. The papyri, written on paper made from the papyrus reed of Egypt, included a wide variety of topics presented in several languages. More than 70 papyri containing portions of the New Testament have been found. These fragments help to confirm the texts of the longer manuscripts dating to the fourth century A.D. and following. Since many of the papyri date to the first three centuries after Christ, the impact of papyrology upon biblical studies has been significant. These discoveries make it possible to establish the grammar of the period and, thus, to date the composition of New Testament books to the first century A.D.

The mass of papyri also demonstrated that New Testament Greek was not invented by New Testament writers. Instead, it was the common language generally used during the first century of the Christian era. Moreover, the papyri has shown that the New Testament contained good grammar, judged by the first century standards.

The search for buildings and places associated with the ministry of Jesus has taken place for centuries. A synagogue was unearthed in Capernaum, although it hardly can be the one in which Jesus taught. - Mark 1:21 - It may well be the successor of the synagogue Jesus knew. However, archaeologists think they may have discovered Peter's [Simon Peter] house at the same site. - Matt. 8:14 - Graffiti on the plastered wall of this second century house clearly links it with Peter. Atop Mount Gerizim, excavations have uncovered the foundations of the Samaritan Temple, and tradition has assigned site for the birth and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. Many important archaeological discoveries of this century have contributed to Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible knowledge. Following are descriptions of five of these projects, with an analysis of their contribution.

In 1901, a slab of black marble over seven feet tall and six feet wide, containing over 300 paragraphs of legal inscriptions, was discovered at Susa (Shushan) in ancient Elam. Engraved on the large rock were legal provisions dealing with the social, domestic, and moral life of the ancient Babylonians people of king Hammurabi's time (about 1792-1750 B.C.) The Code furnishes important background material for comparison with the other ancient bodies of law, particularly the law of the Pentateuch.

The fact that Hammurabi's Code is older by three centuries than the laws of Moses has ruined some of the theories of critics and has given rise to others. A discovery of this sort illustrates how archaeology roots out views that earlier placed the origin of many of the laws attributed to Moses at a much later time. The discovery of Hammurabi's laws indicate that the Law of Moses is neither borrowed from, nor dependent upon, the Babylonian, but that it is divinely given as it claims to be.

The resemblances between the Mosaic laws and the Code of Hammurabi are clearly due to the similarity of the general intellectual and cultural heritage of the Hebrews and the Babylonians at that ancient time. The striking differences, however, demonstrate that there is no direct borrowing and that the Mosaic law - although later by three centuries - is in no way dependent upon the Babylonians.

The two laws are radically different in their origins and morality. The Babylonian law are alleged to have been received by Hammurabi from the sun god, Shamash. Moses received his laws directly from God. (Creator of the heaven and earth) Hammurabi's laws list at least ten varieties of bodily mutilation prescribed for various offenses. For example, if a physician performed an operation that was unsuccessful, his hand was to be cut off.

By contrast, in the Mosaic legislation, only one instance of mutilation occurs, where a wife's hand is to be severed. - Deut. 25:11-12 - Also in the Hebrew laws a greater value is placed upon human life. A stricter regard for the honor of womanhood is evident and masters are ordered to treat their slaves more humanely.

Ur was an important city of ancient Babylonia situated on the Euphrates River in lower Mesopotamia, or present day Iraq. But the glory of the city was suddenly destroyed about 1960 B.C. Foreigners stormed down from the surrounding hills, captured the reigning king, Ibbi-Sin, and reduced the city lay buried in oblivion until it was excavated in modern times by archaeologists.

Abraham lived in the city of Ur at the height of its splendor. The city was a center of religion and industry. The Babylonians worshiped many gods, but the moon god Sin was supreme. Accordingly, Ur was a theocracy centered in worship of the moon deity. Abraham's father, Terah, probably worshiped at the altar of Sin.

God's sovereign grace called Abraham out of this polluted atmosphere to begin a new line of people, the Hebrews, who were to be separated from idolatry and to become a blessing to all mankind. The archaeological findings of ancient Ur have greatly illuminated the biblical references to the patriarch Abraham and have given a much wider view of the ancient world around 2000 B.C.

Recovered in another significant excavation were hundreds of clay tablets that had been housed in a library located between two pagans temples in Ugarit, modern Ras Shamra in Syria. These tablets date from about the 15th century B.C. They were inscribed in the earliest known alphabet written in wedge-shaped signs. The strange writing was recognized as ancient Canaanite in origin, and it turned out to be religious and cultic (related to worship) in nature. The tablets were inscribed in a dialect closely akin to biblical Hebrew and Phoenician.

So important were the initial discoveries that archaeologist Claude F. Schaeffer continued excavations in the area from 1929 to 1937. Aside from the knowledge gained about the ancient city of Ugarit, the Ras Shamra texts have great literary importance. The translation of the texts showed the important parallels between the Ugaritic and Hebrew literary style and vocabulary. These texts have been invaluable to scholars studying Hebrew poetry and the general literary style and vocabulary of Old Testament Hebrew.

The most important contribution of the religious texts from Ras Shamra consists of the background material they provide for careful study of the pagan religions mention repeatedly in the Old Testament. As a result of archaeological work, an independent witness to the degenerate nature of Canaanite cults is now available. No longer can critics accuse the Old Testament of projecting a bloodthirsty mentality because Joshua ordered that all Canaanites be destroyed. The order was given to purge the immoral worship of the Canaanites from the land.

In the excavations of Lachish, a city in southwestern Palestine, the most astonishing finds consisted of letters imbedded in a layer of burned charcoal and ashes. Written in Hebrew of the ancient Phoenician script, the documents throw additional light on the life and times of the prophet Jeremiah. The letters, called ostraca, were inscribed on pieces of broken pottery. Most of the letters were written by a citizen named Hoshayahu, who was stationed at a military outpost. He sent these letters to Yaosh, evidently a high ranking officer in the garrison at Lachish.

The Babylonians had attacked and partly burned Lachish some ten years earlier during the reign of king Jehoiakim of Judah. These letters were found in the layers of ashes that represent the final destruction of the city. This dates them from 588-587 B.C. when Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon made his final siege of the Hebrew cities of Jerusalem, Lachish and Azekah.

One letter lists names, the majority of which are found in the Old Testament; two letters consist largely of greetings; another letter describes movements of troops and makes an interesting reference to an unnamed prophet and his word of warning. The Lachish Letters give an independent view of conditions in Judah during the last days before the fall of Jerusalem.

The prophet Jeremiah conducted his ministry in these times. His reference to Azekah and Lachish says, `When the king of Babylon's army fought against Jerusalem and all the cities of Judah that were left, against Lachish and Azekah: for only these fortified cities remained of the cities of Judah.' - Jer. 34:7 -

Tell ez-Zakariyeh has been identified as the ancient city of Azekah. It has a strong inner fortress buttresses with eight large towers. The Lachish Letters concern the time just prior to the fall of the city and present the same conditions of turmoil and confusion that are revealed in the Book of Jeremiah. This information is of immense value in explaining historical backgrounds and illuminating Old Testament Sacred Scripture.

The greatest manuscript discovery of modern times began with the uncovering of the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947. A young shepherd boy stumbled upon a cave south of Jericho containing numerous leather scrolls of Hebrew and Aramaic writing and some 600 fragmentary inscriptions. Great excitement quickly spread throughout the archaeological world. In 1952, new caves containing fragments of later scrolls in Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic were found enclosed in jars. These startling discoveries have been followed by the uncovering of other manuscripts around the Dead Sea area, particularly at Qumran.

After intensive study, scholars dated the manuscripts from as early as 250 B.C. to as late as A.D. 68. Although attacks have been made against the age and authenticity of the manuscripts, two lines of evidence establish their integrity. Radiocarbon count, a scientific method of dating, places the linen in which the scrolls were wrapped in the general period of 175 B.C. to A.D. 225. Scholars of ancient writing ( paleographers ) date documents by the form of the letters and the method of writing. This line of evidence also places the Dead Sea Scrolls during the period of time about three centuries before A.D. 70.

The scrolls contain ancient texts of parts of the Old Testament and the New Testament periods. The biblical section contains two scrolls of Isaiah, one complete, and fragments of several Old Testament books. Coins found at the site at Qumran reveal that the settlement was founded about 135 B.C. It was abandoned during the Jewish war with the Romans in A.D. 66-73.

The scrolls discovered along the Dead Sea were part of the library of the people who lived at Qumran, possibly the Essenes, a religious group mentioned by ancient writers. The sect was even stricter in its interpretation of the religious laws than the Pharisees of the New Testament. Some scholars believe that John the Baptist may have lived among these people before beginning his work of announcing the ministry of Jesus.

The Essenes expected the coming of a new age, ushered in by a ruler who would serve as a prophet and a priest. Although the finds at Qumran do not relate directly to any events described in the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible, they throw useful light on the way certain people thought during the period between the Old and New Testament.

A full text of the Book of Isaiah is the best known of the discoveries at Qumran, although other texts discovered are also significant. As a group, the documents make up the oldest existing manuscripts of the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible in any language. One of the caves yielded 18 scraps of papyri written entirely in Greek. Some have identified them as fragments of the earliest New Testament version yet discovered, claiming that one of them, a fragment of Mark's Gospel, dates from about 15 years after the events recorded. Although this dating is disputed by many, the Dead Sea material in general has had a stabilizing effect upon  new Testament criticism.

The thrilling story of biblical archaeology is not completed. Scholars are studying thousands of clay tablets found at Ebla in northern Syria - a task that will require a generation of careful study and analysis. Dialogue between the biblical text and archaeological finds must continue because each can help us understand and interpret the other. The Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible helps us appreciate the archaeologist's discoveries while biblical archaeology helps us understand and interpret the message of God's inspired Word.

In spite of its great contribution to biblical studies, there are certain things that archaeology cannot do. In general, it cannot prove that a particular Scripture/Bible event happened or that a specific person mentioned in the Scripture/Bible actually existed. This is true because of the small amount of evidence archaeology can really recover. Many objects do not survive long enough for a modern archaeologist to discover.

Paper, wood, and clothing will rot away quickly unless they are buried in extremely dry conditions. Also, archaeology discovers only a small portion of the things that do survive. For example, the careful and detailed exploration at Hazor, an ancient city in Israel, between 1956 and 1970 uncovered only a small fraction of the whole mound. It has been estimated that to excavate every area of Hazor's 21 strata would take 800 years or more.

The truth of the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible is not a matter of facts, but of their interpretation. Even if we could prove the accuracy of the entire Scripture/Bible, its redemptive significance would not be proven. It is because Christian faith is based on historical events, Christians should welcome any supportive evidence that archaeology can provide - but they do not anchor their faith to it.

Neither lack of evidence nor critical skepticism can disprove God's Word. It is better to emphasize how archaeology helps us understand the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible than to believe that it proves the Scripture/Bible true. It is heartening, however, to note that so far there has been no instance of an archaeological discovery conclusively proving the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible to be in error.


                                                                              Page 2

If you wish to donate. Thank You. God bless.

By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -

The word archaeology comes from two Greek words meaning "a study of ancient things." But the term usually applies today to a study of excavated materials belonging to a former era. Biblical archaeology is the scientific study, by excavation, examination, and publication, of evidences of cultures and civilizations from the biblical period. Archaeological findings help scholars in understanding the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible better. They reveal what life was in biblical times, throw light on obscure passages of Sacred Scripture and help us appreciate the historical context of the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible.

Archaeology is a complex science, such as chemistry, anthropology, and zoology. Many talented professionals - including engineers, historians, chemists, paleontologists, photographers, artists, and surveyors - are involved in the discovery, interpretation and publication of archaeological knowledge.

Every object an archaeologist discovers - whether a piece of bone, pottery, metal, stone, or wood - is studied in detail. The archaeologist's work often requires translating ancient writings and studying an ancient city's art and architecture. These details studies are carried out in museums and laboratories, but the archaeologist must first recover the material by carefully excavating an ancient city.

For the New Testament period or era, biblical archaeology has concentrated upon a geographical area that parallels the reaches of the Roman Empire. The area is somewhat smaller for Old Testament times; and the focus shifts eastward to include the Mesopotamian Valley and Persia. [modern Iran]

The hub for Old Testament research is Palestine or Israel (ancient Canaan) but it fans out to include the great empires in the Nile and Mesopotamian valleys. The culture of Phoenicia (modern Lebanon) was very similar to that of Canaan to the south. Syria to the east is also studied because its history often was tied to Israel's. Still farther north, Asia Minor was the homeland of the Hittites and several Greek cultures.

Until the early 1800, little was known of  biblical times and customs, except what was written in the Old Testament. Although the Greek historians preserved considerable background material on New Testament times, little documentation was found for the Old Testament period. The reason for this is that Alexander the Great forced the Greek language and custom upon all the lands his armies conquered. This policy almost destroyed the languages and culture of Egypt, Persia, Canaan, and Babylon. Before the rise of modern archaeology, scarcely any history and literature of the Old Testament.

Modern Near Eastern archaeology began during the 18th century. Before that, some research had been done by collectors of antiquities, usually museums or wealthy individuals. Biblical archaeology probably began with the discovery of the "Rosetta Stone" during Napoleon's invasion of Egypt in 1799. Discovered by an officer in the expedition, the stone was inscribed in three columns consisting of Greek, Egyptian hieroglyphics, and later Egyptian script. With Napoleon's encouragement, the stone was studied and recorded with scientific accuracy, then displayed in the British Museum. This discovery opened the door to the study of the remains of ancient Egypt, a rich resource for biblical researchers.

In ancient times, cities were usually built on sites that were easy to defend and were located near a source of water and on good trade route. The homes were constructed primarily of sun baked bricks, which could be destroyed quite easily by flood, earthquakes, or enemy attack. In rebuilding the town, the inhabitants would usually level the rubble and debris and build new buildings on the same location. Cities continue to be destroyed by windstorm, enemy attack, or other catastrophes until gradually a mound of earth containing remnants of buildings, tools, vases, and pottery rose on the site. Eventually many layers of habitation lay upon one another.

The sites of these mounds in the ancient Near East are called tells, the Arabic word for mounds. These mounds do not look like natural hills, appearing instead as unnatural rounded humps on the landscape. The often rise from their surroundings by as much as 15 to 23 meters.

If a city was destroyed by famine, disease, earthquake, or some other natural catastrophe, the towns people might conclude that the gods, had cursed their city and that it would be unwise to rebuild on the same site. The area might lie unused for hundreds of years until a new group decided to build again on this strategically located site.

When a site is occupied continuously by the same group of people, one layer or stratum of the mound is very similar to the next. Some slight changes in artifacts and ways of doing things, such as the method of baking pottery or the shape of certain tools, will occur in an orderly fashion from generation to generation. If a long period with no habitation has taken place between layers, the new people who inhabit the mound may have discovered new techniques. also peoples with new skills - perhaps the conquerors of the former dwellers - may inhabit the site. A sharp change in the pattern of living or in types of artifacts discovered may indicate a gap in habitation of the site.

As he excavates these ancient sites, an archaeologist will first find large stationary objects such as houses, monuments, tombs and fortresses. Also there will be smaller artifacts such as jewelry, tools, weapons, and cooking utensils. Archaeology provides the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible researcher with the rich remains of material culture over the course of centuries to supplement what is recorded in the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible, as well as in art and literature.

The archaeologists does their work in organizing their work [called a dig] first will divide the site, or area, by a "grid system" using lines parallel to the longitude and latitude of the area. A "field" 5.8 meters square, is then divided into four squares or quadrants, leaving room for a catwalk among them to observe the work. Each area has an area supervisor, who in turn works under the supervision of the excavation director. The area supervisor is responsible for directing the actual digging in his area and recording everything as it comes from the ground. It is more important to excavate small areas in detail than to excavate a large area carelessly.

Those who work the sites are of three categories: Pick-men carefully break up the soil, noticing every difference in the hardness of the earth and how it is compacted. It takes skill to distinguish a clay wall from ordinary packed clay or to develop the delicate touch that can bring forth a vase or a human bone unharmed. Hoe-men work over the loosened soil, saving anything of potential interest. Basket-men carry off the excavated dirt, perhaps using a sieve to sift the soil - to be sure nothing of value is discarded. Often archaeology students serve as laborers on expeditions.

Everything found in a quadrant of the site is collected in an individual basket and tagged with all pertinent information, including the date and location of discovery. The baskets are the photographed and evaluated by experts who record all the data. The materials and information then go to laboratories and museums where they are studied in details. Conclusions are then published by the excavation director and are circulated to other archaeologists and scholars.

In 1832, while a Danish archaeologist, C. J. Thomsen, was classifying some implements for display in a Copenhagen museum, he wondered about the age of the various tools made of iron, bronze, and stone. Returning to the peat bog where the implements had been found, he discovered that artifacts made of stone were found in the bottom layer. Higher levels contained many tools made of copper and bronze. At the top of the bog were instruments of iron, indicating they were made last. (We now speak of the Stone Age, the Bronze Age, and the Iron Age)

Thomsen had made a very simple application of the principle of stratigraphy or keeping track of the layers of soil in which artifacts were found to establish a sequence of events. The archaeologist bases many of his conclusions on his study and evaluation of the various strata of the mound.

An archaeologist can determine how many times a town has been destroyed and rebuilt, but he/she will want to know the date of each occupation, how long it lasted, and why it was destroyed. Each level of occupation will contain the foundations of walls and buildings and often a layer of debris from the destruction. Also the articles of everyday living such as weapons, tools, pottery and ornaments will be revealed. Sometimes the different strata are separated by thick layers of ash from a great fire. At other times, only a difference in soil color or compactness distinguishes the levels. Furthermore, during centuries when the mound was not inhabited, erosion and random digging at the site can disrupt a stratum. A new group of settlers may have dug foundations, garbage pits, or trenches deep into earlier layer, making the job of the archaeologist more difficult.

Pottery is one of the most important keys to dating the strata of a tell. Pottery typology, or the study of various types of pottery, is now refined to almost an exact science. The scientist can call upon the detailed knowledge of the characteristics of pottery of each period to identify and date the pottery, usually within a half century of the exact time when it was made. The scientific method of carbon - 14 dating is also used to establish the age of some archaeological materials.

Earlier pottery designs were simple and functional; later vessels became more delicate and elaborate, often showing Persian and Greek influences. The method of baking the clay can also indicates the approximate time when it was made. Changes in everyday objects such as lamps, tools, weapons and jewelry help scientists identify broader periods of history. Coin collectors, then as now, might possess very old coins so these are not as reliable a method of identifying a period.

During the early years of exploring Bible lands, archaeologists hoped to make discoveries that would confirm the main events of Bible history. Today's archaeologists realize that many things about the Bible cannot be proved in a direct way. Instead of providing proof of specific events, archaeology is used to increase our knowledge of the everyday life, the history, and the customs of the people who appear in the Bible's long story - the Egyptians, Phoenicians, Philistines, Moabites, Assyrians, Babylonians, and others, as well as the Hebrews. For example, discoveries of ancient texts on clay tablets - in many languages - show us what the various peoples of the ancient Near East thought about the gods they worshiped, as well as the types of laws by which they lived. Ancient texts also tell us of alliances, trade agreements, and wars between the great cities and nations of the past.

Archaeological discoveries paint in the background of the Sacred Scripture/Holy Bible, helping to explain many of its events. Thanks to archaeology, we know  that in the time of Abraham (2000 B.C.) many thriving cities existed in the ancient Near East. Civilization was already over a thousand years old in Egypt and in the region of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. It was from a city on the Euphrates River, called Ur, that Abraham (then called Abram) began the journey that eventually brought him to the land of Canaan - Gen. 11:31 - The excavation of Ur (1922-1934) by Sir Charles Leonard Woolley revealed that Abraham was surrounded by idolatry on all sides when God called him to begin a new people through which God could do His redemptive work.

The discovery of large bodies of "Cuneiform" literature in Babylon and other places also has proved most revealing. For example, the "Amarna Letters" from Egypt give an inside glance into conditions in Palestine just before the conquest by Joshua and the Israelites.

In 1890...
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Faith . Hope . Love - Welcome donation. Thank You. God bless. 

By bank transfer/cheque deposit:
Name: Alex Chan Kok Wah
Bank: Public Bank Berhad account no: 4076577113
Country: Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -