..To Ancient SDA's ............ To "What's New?"
by
Ron Parsons
The aim of this series:
“Then He said to them, ‘O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory?’ And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, He expounded to them in all the scriptures the things concerning Himself.” Luke 24:25-27.
A PDF version of this reading is available by clicking here
Genesis 10
The beginning of the nations (politics)
God’s way in the Garden of Eden, and out of it, is based on the family unit living in the country, with the God-given positions of father and mother and children attained by marriage and birth. No one can give away, or have taken from them, their situation in the family. Every person has a certain spot by virtue of age and experience. This small unit gradually grows into the tribe (the extended family, still living in a country village) with the patriarch or "chief" remaining as the "principal man", as the Son of God wanted it. All are held together by the ties of blood and therefore likeness of character.
The leading of the Godly family is characterised by freedom of choice, guidance by elders, and the training of young ones to accept the rules when they are old enough to choose, with careful use of self-imposed restrictions based on "love your neighbour
[sharing]". So most of the time wise counsel prevailed as the young and naturally impetuous ones saw the wisdom of God through the grey heads. Of course, there were lapses and minor rebellions but the general tenor was peaceful.This is how it was for a time after the Flood. Then came the birth of politics and nations!!
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Genesis 10:
1
Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and to them were sons born after the flood.2
The sons of Japheth [the eldest son of Noah, v21]; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.3
And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.4
And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.5
By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.***************
In the verses above we have the beginnings of the European
[Caucasian] nations to the north and west of Israel under Japheth.But another brother, Ham, led his people towards the east into today’s Iran and Persia, and south down into Egypt and Africa.
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Genesis 10:
6
And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.7
And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtechah: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan.8
And Cush begat [had a son named] Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one [a great rebel] in the earth. 9 He was a mighty hunter before [against] the LORD: wherefore it is said [as a proverb], "Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before [in front of] the LORD."10
And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel [later known as Babylon], and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 11 Out of that land went forth Asshur [he went forth to Assyria, margin], and built Nineveh [as its capital], and the city Rehoboth, and Calah, 12 and Resen between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city.***************
With these words we are shown the beginning of a new rebellion with Nimrod the grandson of Ham as its instigator. He, under the direction of Satan, joined with his uncle’s children (his cousins) to begin a new religion based on Christianity, but directed more towards the "mother" of a god-child. He even managed to make some of the pre-flood people into "saints"!
From my library (Colour added by me):
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In regard to the subject of the work
[The Two Babylons], there are just two remarks the author would make. The first has reference to the Babylonian legends. These were all intended primarily to commemorate facts that took place in the early history of the post-diluvian world [1657-2000 years from creation]. But along with them were mixed up the momentous events in the history of our first parents. These events, as can be distinctly proved, were commemorated in the secret system of Babylon with a minuteness and particularity of detail of which the ordinary student of antiquity can have little conception. The post-diluvian [after Flood] divinities were connected with the ante-diluvian [before Flood] patriarchs, and the first progenitors of the human race [Adam and Eve], by means of the metempsychosis [the passing of a soul after death into some other body]; and the names given to them were skilfully selected, so as to be capable of divers meanings, each of these meanings have reference to some remarkable feature in the history of the different patriarchs referred to.The knowledge of this fact is indispensable to the unravelling of the labyrinthine subject of Pagan mythology, which, with all its absurdities and abominations, when narrowly scrutinised, will be found exactly to answer to the idea contained in the well-known line of Pope * in regard to a very different subject
: –* "A mighty maze, but not without a plan."
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Here are the uncle’s descendants:
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Genesis 10:
13
And Mizraim [the second son of Ham] begat Ludim, and Anamim, and Lehabim, and Naphtuhim, 14 and Pathrusim, and Casluhim, (out of whom came Philistim [the Philistines]), and Caphtorim.15
And Canaan [Ham’s first son] begat Sidon his firstborn, and Heth, 16 and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, and the Girgasite, 17 and the Hivite, and the Arkite, and the Sinite, 18 and the Arvadite, and the Zemarite, and the Hamathite: and afterward were the families of the Canaanites spread abroad. 19 And the border of the Canaanites was from Sidon, as you come to Gerar, to Gaza; as you go, to Sodom, and Gomorrah, and Admah, and Zeboim, even to Lasha.20
These are the sons of Ham, after their families, after their tongues, in their countries, and in their nations.***************
Satan soon recovered after the Flood from his great loss of control and through agents like Nimrod caused men everywhere to set up nations with "kings" and politicians in "control" in place of the elders "guidance". This was his answer to God’s system – "bosses" instead of "fathers". He didn’t mind whether the control was in or out of religion so long as the original plan of family was destroyed. The use of force has always been one of his chief weapons and he used it with the utmost cunning now. Submission to authority "or else" was the watchword of the time.
He set the seeds of confusion by teaching men to "elect" a king or a president, or religious leader, from amongst their equals, and then treating them as someone special. (And how they love the pre-eminence!) Inevitably this led to jealousy on the part of those who thought they should have got the position, and rebellions, civil and inter-state wars soon arose, for all wanted the top job. Satan rejoiced in this!
How Nimrod accomplished this rebellion was by associating people with THE LAND and making it seem more important than the family or tribe. He said being part of A NATION overrode the requirements of family, and enforced his view by conquest. Geography took the place of home, and cities (aka "rat races") that of community villages. Nimrod called it "patriotism" (for king and/or country) and in this he was backed by the devil. He began in Shinar, the land on the other side of the Euphrates and then moved into Assyria. He is certainly well known as THE fighter against the LORD! See the book The Two Babylons.
When it suited Satan he also used religious systems as the backbone of a nation. When this occurred he established the premise that everyone born in that nation automatically belonged to "the" church, and to enforce this he had them "baptised" as infants, with "confirmation" coming in later years. This idea still applies in many countries of the world. In the west today, although we seem to be free of that attitude, it still applies! In countries like England, Australia and New Zealand, other denominations are allowed to exist and practice their beliefs, but only by "permission" of the "established" church. Only the United States of America is free of this coercion, and that may soon change!
When Nimrod was executed as a war criminal by the Christians led by Seth during the wars, his wife Semiramis became the leader of the religion and rebellion and it went underground for a while. Religious behaviour was governed by law in those tumultuous days. Job says, "If I beheld the sun when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness; and my heart has been secretly enticed, or my mouth has kissed
[the back of] my hand [in worship to them]: this also were an iniquity to be punished by the judge: for I should have denied the God that is above." Job 31:26-28. The New Testament understanding of the separation of church and state did not exist any more.The system of nationhood and its patriotism soon permeated the Christians too "Thus says the LORD God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods." Joshua 24:2.
More from The Two Babylons: (Colour added by me.)
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But the language applied to the New Testament Babylon, as the reader cannot fail to see, naturally leads us back to the Babylon of the ancient world. As the Apocalyptic woman
[Revelation 17:4] has in her hand A CUP, wherewith she intoxicates the nations, so was it with the Babylon of old. Of that Babylon, while in all its glory, the Lord thus spake, in denouncing its doom by the prophet Jeremiah:"Babylon hath been a GOLDEN CUP in the Lord's hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad" (Jeremiah 51:7).
Why this exact similarity of language in regard to the two systems? The natural inference surely is, that the one stands to the other in the relation of type and antitype.
Now, as the Babylon of the Apocalypse is characterised by the name of "MYSTERY,"
[Revelation 17:5] so the grand distinguishing feature of the ancient Babylonian system was the Chaldean "MYSTERIES," that formed so essential a part of that system. And to these mysteries, the very language of the Hebrew prophet, symbolical though of course it is, distinctly alludes, when he speaks of Babylon as a "golden CUP." …If it be inquired what was the object and design of these ancient "Mysteries," it will be found that there was a wonderful analogy between them and that "Mystery of iniquity" which is embodied in the Church of Rome.
Their primary object was to introduce privately, by little and little, under the seal of secrecy and the sanction of an oath, what it would not have been safe all at once and openly to propound.
The time at which they were instituted proved that this must have been the case.
The Chaldean Mysteries can be traced up to the days of Semiramis [Nimrod’s wife], who lived only a few centuries after the flood, and who is known to have impressed upon them the image of her own depraved and polluted mind. …Eusebius
[A Christian writer of the second century AD] says that Ninus [Nimrod] and Semiramis reigned in the time of Abraham. That beautiful but abandoned queen of Babylon was not only herself a paragon of unbridled lust and licentiousness, but in the Mysteries which she had a chief hand in forming, she was worshipped as Rhea, the great "MOTHER" of the gods, with such atrocious rites as identified her with Venus, the MOTHER of all impurity, and raised the very city where she had reigned to a bad eminence among the nations, as the grand seat at once of idolatry and consecrated prostitution. …Thus was this Chaldean queen a fit and remarkable prototype of the "Woman" in the Apocalypse, with the golden cup in her hand, and the name on her forehead, "Mystery, Babylon the Great, the MOTHER of harlots and abominations of the earth."
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The Assyrians are still recognised in history for their intense cruelty to those who resisted them, and for their opposition to God’s way, with the Babylonians not too far behind them. One of their present-day descendants is Suddam Hussein!
It looked a hopeless situation.
But we were told that a Redeemer would come to nullify the way of such characters, and in the meantime He sent ambassadors to prepare His way, one of whom was Abraham.
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Micah 5:2-7
But you, Bethlehem Ephratah, though you be little among the thousands
[of the villages] of Judah, yet out of you shall He come forth to Me that is to be [family] Ruler in Israel [He is called the everlasting Father in Isaiah 9:6]; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting. [He who was the Son of God grew up as a man in the hill country village of Nazareth in accordance with God’s way].Therefore will He give them up
[give the rebels freedom to live as they please], until the time that she which travails has brought forth [reconsider Isaiah 9:6 where it is written, "unto us a son is born"]: then the remnant [remainder] of His brothers and sisters shall return to the children of Israel [whom they had left]. And he [the newly recombined Israel, now called Christians] shall stand and feed in the strength of the LORD, in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God; and they shall abide [forever]: for now shall He be great to the ends of the earth [Matthew 24:14].And this Man shall be the peace, when "the Assyrian"
[a term for any rebel] shall come into our land [i.e. our personal space]: and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men. And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword [Hebrews 4:12], and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus [in this way] shall He deliver us from "the Assyrian", when he comes into our land, and when he treads within our borders. ["It is written... Matthew 4:4 etc.]And
[in the meantime] the remnant of Jacob [Israel’s original name, Genesis 32:28] shall be in the midst of many people as a dew from the LORD, as the showers upon the grass [life sustaining, e.g. Matthew 5:13], that tarries not for man, nor waits for the sons of men.***************
Those verses need no comment.
When Jesus was asked to take a political place in the world, He answered, "Man, who made Me a judge or a divider over you?" And He said to them, "Take heed, and beware of covetousness
[the desire to have it all]". Luke 12:14-15.The problem for most Christians today is that, unlike Jesus, we cannot see clearly God’s way in the world. We tend to think that a dictator is not good, and that MAYBE a king/queen is only a little better, and in this we are right. However, what many Christians do like is democracy, for they see that as a God-given option, especially if there is not a solo religion backing it.
But consider that. A state without an established (authorised) religion is actually a godless nation in practice, even if some of its citizens profess Christianity! While a state with a recognised religion is trying to enforce spiritual rules with a worldly sword!
BOTH are in rebellion against God.
God’s way is still based solidly on the family. But that is disappearing steadily today, and gangs and groups, secular and religious, are fast taking its place among our young (and not so young) people. What is needed is for us to recognise that the state with its laws is vitally necessary FOR THE NON-CHRISTIAN, and we Christians need to co-operate with it by observing its rules while not being a part of it. See Romans 13. We must be in the world, but not of it. Church and state MUST be kept separate, not just in fact, but in our minds and attitudes.
Although we must obey the rules of the community in which we live, we cannot take any part in framing them or in the selection of men and women who do it, for God’s kingdom works from a different base. Christianity works by teaching men and women how to be free from their sinful natures and how to get forgiveness and cleansing for their sins - the world (both secular and professed religious parts) works by suppressing the natures and punishing the crimes/sins - and NEVER can the two harmonise.
A Christian trying to set up laws in the worldly system would face an overwhelming conflict of interest because of its reliance on the use of force to gain its control, and a worldling trying to fit in with Christian principles would find it impossible because he cannot "turn the other cheek".
This is why we are told:-
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2 Corinthians 6:14-18
Be you not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what concord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has he that believes with an infidel?
And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God; as God has said, "I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people."
"Wherefore come out from among them, and be you separate", says the Lord, "and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters", says the Lord Almighty.
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Hope this helps us understand what is going on in the world, and what should be going on in our lives.
Bye for now,
Ron
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Some of the comments in these readings are adapted from books in my library. No recognition is given because they are not intended as authorities, but are used because they express my understanding clearly. All the ideas expressed in these readings, right or wrong, are my own.
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To Ancient SDA's ............ To "What's New?" To the top of this page
Isaiah 9:6-7.
For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called "Wonderful," "Counsellor," "The mighty God," "The everlasting Father," "The Prince of Peace." Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon His kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. Back
Hebrews 4:12
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Back
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Romans 13:
Let every soul be subject to the higher powers [of civil government]. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. 2 [Therefore] whosoever therefore resists the power, resists the ordinance [decree] of God: and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil [criminal].1
Will you then not be afraid of the power?
[Do you want to be unafraid of authority? NKJ version]. Do that which is good, and you shall have praise of the same: 4 for he is the minister of God to you for good.But if you do that which is evil
[criminal], be afraid; for he bears not the sword [of punishment] in vain: for he is the minister of God, a revenger to execute wrath upon him that does evil. 5 Wherefore you must needs be subject, not only for wrath, but also for conscience sake. [Don’t be obedient because of fear, but because God asks you to!]6
For this cause pay you tribute [taxes] also: for they are God's [earthly] ministers, attending continually upon this very thing [looking after the natural or political world]. 7 Render therefore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour.8
Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For this, "You shall not commit adultery, You shall not kill, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, You shall not covet;" and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbour as yourself."10
Love works no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law. 11 And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. Back***************