The hostility between Steve and Bobby was miraculously resolved during the funeral of their older-by-twelve-years sister and Fred’s wife, Lily. During Fred’s eulogy for his wife he handed Steve and Bobby separate boxes containing mementos of their lives from infancy through grade school that Lily saved having watched over them many decades ago. He then handed them envelops with the words “Last Will” written on them containing a letter asking her two brothers to stop fighting with each other.
Touched by a sense of melancholy while going through the box he received from Fred, Bobby apologized to and forgave Steve who seeing this as a sign of weakness announced to all at the funeral that this long-overdue confession coming from the likes of Bobby was a miracle (which it may well have been).
In spite of that remark peace between them lasted until Steve insisted moments later that he get credit for being the one who apologized first which everyone at the funeral knew was a lie. Through the resulting commotion Fred called for silence and handed the brothers another envelop containing Lily’s second Last Will which simply read, “Didn’t I tell you two to STOP FIGHTING?”
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Denise offers the prompt word “melancholy” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.
1 John 2:9 He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.
Neither Timothy nor Martha had a clue how to grow stuff as they looked at the good ground in front of them having enough stones to make a small mountain. Some neighbors reminded them that when winter came they were going to starve. Every time they heard the word starve they giggled without knowing why.
Come summer the crops grew. Come harvest time the yield was a hundredfold. Come winter Timothy and Martha, ignoring the neighbors’ security concerns, opened their doors to those hungry enough to stop by to make sure no one in the village starved.
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Denise offers the prompt word “security” for this week’s Six Sentence Story.
Matthew 13:23 But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.
Douglas Petrovich presented a framework for building a sound chronology of the Old Testament at the 2023 Chafers Theological Seminary Pastors’ Conference. If one chooses appropriate assumptions one can come up with a chronology that is faithful to the Bible and also synchronizes with Egyptian and Assyrian chronologies. This confirms the reliability of the biblical record as history.
To build this chronology one needs certain dates that one has confidence in to serve as “tent pegs” as Petrovich calls them. Reaching consensus on what those tent pegs are is not easy but it is achievable. Having that chronology allows one to date and make sense out of the archeological data. That we need to go through so much trouble to construct such a chronology is reason to believe that mankind is very young.
Construction Begins on the First Temple—967 BC
I Kings 6:1 And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the Lord.
Can we find what year Solomon began to build the first temple in our calendar? James Ussher in his Annals of the World gave the date as 1012 BC. Edwin Thiele was able to establish an absolute date based on Assyrian records linked to a solar eclipse which occurred in June 15, 763, in The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings. This allows one to come up with 967 BC as the year Solomon initiated the building of the first temple. There is a discrepancy of 45 years between these dates. Rodger Young clarified the issues around this discrepancy in Ussher Explained and Corrected arguing in favor of the 967 BC date which Petrovich accepts.
Israelite Exodus from Egypt—1446 BC
Accepting 967 BC and the information in 1 Kings 6:1 about the Exodus occurring in the 480th year one can date the Exodus back to 1446 BC (967+479=1446). From this date and knowing the Israelites wandered for 40 years in the desert (Numbers 32:13) we get the year they crossed the Jordan into Canaan as 1406 BC (1406+40=1446).
Jacob Moves His Family to Egypt—1876 BC
If one concludes as Petrovich does (see his Origins of the Hebrews, 2021) that the Israelites spent 430 years in Egypt, the “long sojourn”, rather than 215 years, the “short sojourn”, then the date the long sojourn began would be 1876 BC. It becomes another tent peg (1446+430=1876). The date the short sojourn began would be 1661 BC (1446+215=1661).
The reason for the 215 year discrepancy is due to textual variants of Exodus 12:40. The Masoretic Hebrew text gives 430 years in Egypt. The Septuagint Greek text said this period of time included time in Canaan.
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This lecture highlights the resolution of difficulties permitting one to construct a sound Old Testament chronology. At 19:25 in the video Petrovich lists the major dates going back to Abraham. At 55:15 he presents the Egyptian chronological scheme.
William Lane Craig, the professor of philosophy at Houston Baptist University and research professor of philosophy at Talbot School of Theology, asserts, “Adam plausibly lived sometime between around 1 million years ago to 750,000 years ago, a conclusion consistent with the evidence of population genetics.” (The Historical Adam, First Things, October 2021).
Much of the Old Testament chronology presented above goes back less than 4000 years. However, it involves controversy as to when something actually happened. This should make anyone pause who claims that humanity has been on this earth for much longer than 8000 years. Why? Becausethere is no historical evidence to justify that claim. Furthermore Biblical textual variants do not even justify ages as old as 8000 years.
From available historical evidence we know we can go from stone age to space age in about 5000 years. That means if humanity were around for 100,000 years (let alone the million that Craig finds plausible) we would have historical records going back 90,000 years assuming a generous 10,000 years to go from stone age to space age.
If we had such historical records then there would be no doubt about what happened a mere 4000 years ago. We would have archived video recordings of Solomon holding a press conference broadcasted live to the entire world via satellite in 967 BC about the construction of the temple. We would know precisely when that press conference started. Constructing a sound biblical chronology would not be the problem that it is today.
Since we don’t have that kind of historical record it is reasonable to doubt the non-historical dating methods and speculations that extend mankind back hundreds of thousands of years. Mankind is nowhere near that old.
Ralph ran his mind like an audio device on permanent replay. He believed in neither demonic nor angelic spirits which made the demons giggle with double delight.
What overflowed through his mouth further challenged his pretenses of being rational. Additionally all the time he spent muttering to himself made him wonder precisely whom those meditations were meant to impress.
To keep reality afloat in spite of his doubt that reality was really real he wondered if reality might well be an AI program simulating who knows what or whether there were some female identity trapped inside his male body all of which surprised even Satan who laughed at the inanities unrenewed minds wasted their lives on. As the day ended Ralph tried to put his spirit to sleep while his spirit struggled to wake him up.
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Denise offers the prompt word “replay” for this week’s Six Sentence Story.
Philippians 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.
Jake’s rationalizations tried to redirect the waterfall of reality away from himself so he could avoid getting wet. If the latter rain came his soul was so dry he might start smelling like petrichor. And if he got filled to overflowing who knows what might happen?
From mountain sources water splashed down boulders like conviction eroding away the resistance of his stony heart.
Jake remembered reading somewhere that given the current rate of erosion the entire mountain would be at sea level in less than fifty million years assuming reality lasted that long. He wondered how long his heart could hold out.
James 5:7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
Along with Romans 11 Sid Roth mentioned the following Scriptures.
Psalm 122:6Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee.
Genesis 12:3And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.
Exodus 33:17-18 17 And the Lord said unto Moses, I will do this thing also that thou hast spoken: for thou hast found grace in my sight, and I know thee by name. 18 And he said, I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. 19 And he said, I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before thee; and will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew mercy.
Many stories, few of them good, could have been told about her by those depositing their tithes in the treasury box. Most everyone advised her to keep her tiny coins since neither the temple nor the Lord needed them as much as she did. Figuring she couldn’t survive on them but sensing no one really wanted what little she had to offer she didn’t know what to do.
Regardless of her failings which were perhaps right up there with our own those two coins were all she had. They weren’t much, but they weren’t counterfeit either.
Luke 21:1-4 And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury. 2 And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. 3 And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all: 4 For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.
Yesterday afternoon (Thursday, June 1, 2023) I was one of the members of the audience at the It’s Supernatural program featuring Larry Sparks, Lydia Marrow and Tommy and Miriam Evans. I live only fifteen minutes away from the studio, so it is easy for me to attend. Since moving to the Charlotte area this was the third time I attended.
Normally there are three shows filmed one after the other. The audience claps and gets to see and hear the speakers live. Afterwards the audience is ministered to in a live show that is posted on the It’s Supernatural channel. I expected a sermon of sorts but yesterday there were prayers for healing and blessing. Almost twenty-four hours later I still feel the effects of it in my breathing.
Admittedly for some this may not be the sort of service you find acceptable. I offer it because it is recent (happened yesterday), unusual and I was in the audience.
Although I was not one of those who fell to the floor under the Spirit many did including people I know personally. As I left I had to step around the cameraman who was also on the floor. Fortunately, the studio was able to quickly switch to another camera.
May it be a blessing to you if you have time to watch it or at least provide you with a better understanding of what such ministries are like.
Early in the morning worried about how he was going to use the assigned word “yellowbelly” in a story Jeremy walked to the ocean as the beach was being raked into a linear pattern perfect in its symmetry until he stepped on it. He saw a bird and considered but then rejected the idea that he might be able to get away with writing a story about a yellowbelly seagull.
Forgetting about the word he wondered where the birds that were coming to shore spent the night, but all they wondered about was whether he brought snacks. Others bored with the sun tossed pieces of bread to the birds who grabbed whatever they could as Jeremy clicked his camera.
Eventually everyone, including the yellowbelly seagulls, realized that the day had indeed begun as expected without their needing to be there at all. It just happened leaving it to those like Jeremy who’d rationalize the joy out of stuff to only step back onto the freshly raked sand and see to his surprise sunrise, birds, beach and even himself as one awesome gift among many others from the Lord for which his thanks was long overdue.
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Denise offers the prompt word “yellowbelly” to be used in this week’s Six Sentence Stories.
Job 37:14 Hearken unto this, O Job: stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God.
Sam walked into the ice cream parlor where Betty, the owner with bright blue streaked hair, a splattering of tattoos and a decades-long carousel ride worth of baggage that her clothes thankfully covered, asked him, “What flavor would you like today, Sam?”
In turn he asked, “What flavor is the least popular?”
“You know as well as I do that nobody in his right mind would choose cherry vanilla,” she responded pointing to the nearly empty tub of his favorite ice cream.
“Then to help you reduce your inventory I’ll have two scoops of it,” he said.
While scooping out his order Betty felt that Sam—for his own good—should never ask her to marry him, but believing there were still miracles waiting even for the likes of her, and given the fact that she was rapidly running out of cherry vanilla, held onto the hope that he might do just that.
Eventually she and Sam rejecting the decades-long garbage clinging to both of them were married by a real chaplain to show that their commitment to each other was, like that chaplain, real all of which put the Wonderful in such a good mood that He gave, and they like giddy children received, the Wind and the Fire, the living breath of God.
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Denise offers the prompt word “carousel” for this week’s Six Sentence Story. The notion of God being in a “good mood” I owe to Michael Wilson.
Isaiah 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful….
Mark 10:14 …Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.
Poetry, Short Prose and Walking 