Sunday, December 27, 2015

The Sea of Death (Yam HaMawet)

This story is about the "Sea of Death", but these first few pictures represent the modern day Jordan River Valley in Israel, and show us what the area of the "Dead Sea" might have looked like before its destruction approx. 4000 years ago. In Genesis we see a description of the whole area of the Dead Sea before its destruction:  Lot lifted up his eyes and saw all the valley of the Jordan, that it was well watered everywhere (this was before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah)
like the garden of the Lordlike the land of Egypt as you go to Zoar.


The area of the Dead Sea that was once a beautiful river valley, is approx. 10 mi. wide and about 30 miles long moving South towards the Arabah.


The surface area of the lake now measures approx. 230 sq. mi. or 600 sq km.  A very large area that encompassed the five thriving cities that are described in Genesis, including Sodom and Gomorrah.


Apparently the river valley being extremely productive like the Nile valley in Egypt, could have sustained an immense population. Some estimates of ancient river valleys like in Egypt are as much as 8000 people per sq mi, but conservative estimates put the figure around 2000-4000 per sq mi.


Which means there could have been a population of around one million people inhabiting the area of the Dead Sea before its destruction.


Genesis 13:12 says: "Abraham settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled in the cities of the valley, and moved his tents as far as Sodom".   But the cities of the valley were not destined to be there much longer.  When the Angels visited Abraham, the cities only had a few hours left, but they did not know it.


Genesis 19:24-25  Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of Heaven, and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.


Genesis 19:27-28  Now Abraham arose early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the Lord; and he looked down towards Sodom and Gomorrah and toward the land of the valley, and he saw, and behold, the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a furnace.


Peter wrote: He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter.


Also Jude writes:  Just as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.

It is estimated that the Dead Sea area contains approximately 37 billion tons of salt, and it could be argued that most of that salt was deposited at the time of the valleys destruction, essentially God rained fire(molten salt) mixed with brimstone(burning sulfur) creating a large scale salt bath furnace.  

Salt bath furnaces are used in today's industrial processes to quench and temper different kinds of metal, it is a valued process because of heat distribution, temperature control, and permeability.  It is estimated the amount of salt in the Dead Sea area would have created a Salt Bath Furnace 300 sq.mi in area, and 120 feet deep.  Essentially a "Lake of Fire".  (Abraham beheld the smoke of the Valley ascending as the smoke of a Furnace).

Perhaps this is why Jude writes that they "underwent the punishment of "Eternal Fire".  It not only would have utterly destroyed every thing on the ground, but would have lowered the level of the valley, while at the same time making it impossible for anyone to inhabit the area permanently.
After all it does record that when the Lord was raining judgement upon the valley, Lot's wife stopped, and looked back, and the destruction overtook her, and she became a pillar of Salt. Was this an example of actual Hell fire?




Four thousand years later it still remains an absolute waste land, nothing grows there, and nothing lives there, the only ones that go there are tourists, and those who harvest minerals like salts, and potash for fertilizers and such. We can see why it was named Yam HaMawet by the people that lived in that region.  The surface of the Lake is approx 1400 ft below sea level, and the deepest part of the Lake is about another 1000 ft, so its around 2400 ft below sea level at its deepest point, whether the valley was a lot higher than the entire rift originally or if it was blow torched down further into the earth at the time of its destruction is impossible to know. But in order for there to have been a beautiful river valley like there was, the river would have had to continue on southward instead of just stopping in a dead lake surrounded by hills. 

Many companies sell the "Dead Sea Salts" as health products, like San Francisco Salt Co. The thought of the residents of the "self proclaimed homosexual Capital" of the nation, smearing on their skin the ancient residue of incinerated homosexuals, definitely puts a dark ironic twist on the end of the story. But is this the end of the story of the "The Sea of Death"?  No, actually it is not the end.  The Bible tells us that when Christ Jesus returns to reign over the earth from His Royal City of Jerusalem for a thousand years, there will be a river of life that comes from His throne and it heals everything wherever it goes, and it says that it will go through the area of the dead sea and continue all the way to the ocean, and it will make all the waters fresh, and it will be teaming with creatures, like all the creatures of the great seas. It will once again be a lush fertile valley, to be lived in and enjoyed by all those that make Jesus Christ their King.





Thursday, December 17, 2015

Family Devotions - Names of Jesus

Last month we shared a thankful activity called the thankful pumpkin for the days leading up to Thanksgiving.  Today we want to share an activity for the days before Christmas that our daughter just loves.  We found some sparkling green felt at our local thrift store that we bought for about $1.  I cut out a Christmas tree with it and then decorated the back ground with snow flakes that we made from coffee filters and made packages for the base, out of origami paper and bows.  We used large tee pins to hang things on the Christmas tree.  I decided it would be great to learn the different names of Jesus and read the scriptures they were used in.  So I looked up a list on the internet and then had our daughter make construction paper candles to write the names on and pin them on the tree.  It has really helped her knowledge of the Bible and she has become more familiar with the New Testament as each day she looks up a scripture and reads it to us.  As you can tell we love to use art and hands on learning.  This also brings up wonderful opportunity to talk about the scriptures.






Monday, December 7, 2015

The Lesser of Two Evils




Seventy four years ago, on December 8, 1941, the day after a surprise attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor, the United States Congress declared war on the Empire of Japan.  Immediately Japan's allies, Germany, and Italy declared war on the United States.  Five days after the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Congress formerly declared war against the governments of Germany, and Italy.  In less than a week we were formerly at war against the governments of three powerful nations and their allies.

The United States was being attacked from east, and west.  Our people, and allies were being eliminated in the Atlantic, and Pacific.  The "Axis Powers" were bent on the destruction of the United States, and our allies.

At the news of the attack on Pearl Harbor there was astonishment, fear, and anger.  There were no words to describe the level of outrage, and the collective trauma that the country felt.  When President Roosevelt gave the "Infamy Speech" the next day after the attack. His words, and courage crystallized, inspired and galvanized the resolve of the American people.  What followed was the greatest mobilization of technology and resources that any nation has ever accomplished.


The last part of the original declaration of war reads:

 "The President is hereby authorized and directed to employ the entire naval and military forces of the United States and the resources of the Government to carry on war against the Imperial Government of Japan; and, to bring the conflict to a successful termination, all the resources of the country are hereby pledged by the Congress of the United States."

All three declarations of war ended with that statement and all of the country's resources were brought to bear.  Immediately President Roosevelt secured the aid of the country's industrial magnates, and almost overnight the nations factories were retooling and stocking for the manufacture of military vehicles, airplanes, ammunition and hardware.


President Roosevelt asked all citizens to join the war effort to build a "Great Arsenal of Democracy." He assured the nation that this unified effort to build ships and airplanes would out-produce and overwhelm the enemy.


Very soon the combined industrial force of the entire nation would be focused on creating everything that all the branches of the military would need to launch their concerted campaigns throughout the Pacific, Atlantic, Europe, and every place that they were so desperately needed.

In the days and weeks that followed the attack at Pearl Harbor, many men immediately joined the military and the rest of the able-bodied men would eventually be drafted into all of the branches of the service.  The nations forts and reception centers would swell with recruits ready for training.  These events would cause a desperate shortage of workers for the existing factories and those that were being hurriedly built everywhere in the country. Production was in full swing, all the factories, the other essential businesses and community services were all gearing up for "round the clock" operation.

The men who lost their factory jobs in the 1930s Depression Era, were now either joining the branches of military service or getting new high paying war effort jobs in all of the new factories, hour by hour the country was becoming more powerful.

In the 1930s women were discouraged from working outside the home, in fact 26 states had laws prohibiting women from working factory (male) jobs, and said that those women would be "destabilizing homes" and  "stealing" jobs from the men who needed them to support their traditional families.  This dynamic was about to change drastically in the 1940s.


The women who held very low paying "women" jobs during the 1930s Depression Era, were now being welcomed into the higher paying factory jobs of the war effort.  Also the men who did not qualify for military service (too young, or old, physically handicapped, or "didn't like girls") were getting the factory jobs too.


But with all the available people going to the factory jobs, there was still a tremendous shortage of workers.  Because of the bigotry of the Industrialists and Politicians, the minorities were purposely overlooked, and the industrial war propaganda machine set its sights on the white homemakers.  A finely tuned assault on the moral core of the nation was about to begin.


One can't help but think that if the industrialists and the government would have abandoned their bigotry, and sincerely welcomed all the minorities into the high paying factory jobs at the outset, the common bond of the war effort would have been sanctified in that respect, and would have greatly aided a natural integration, and the healing of old wounds, maybe even making the pain and suffering of the time, and even the eventual Civil Rights Movement unnecessary. 


At first the Homemakers resisted the call to the factories because they knew how important their role was.  They were the heart of the country, the guardians of the wisdom of the ancients, the Champions of temperance, and Truth.  They were the very anchors of the psychological and moral health of the nation. 


Most men did not want their wives working outside the home, nevertheless because of the great need for workers, the propaganda to get them out of the homes, and into the factories increased. Television, movies, newspapers, magazines, books, and radio all joined in on the propaganda effort,  1942 would see stories and songs about women answering the call like Rosie the Riveter. The stage was being set, and the minds of a entire generation of young people was about to be unwittingly poisoned with the apple of Industrial Feminism.


One by one the Homemakers of the country were leaving for factory jobs, the children were given over to the institutionalized public school system, or the newly created factory day care centers. In just three years there would be 18 million women (40% of the female population of the country) working outside the home.


Because the war lasted several years the mass media industry tried to keep the morale high, and the USO was doing its part to help out too.  Many of the women succumbed to loneliness, and found love at work or at the USO clubs.  Over the years many servicemen would receive "Dear John Letters".  Many men would come back to a empty home.


September 8, 1943 the Italian surrender is announced, on May 8, 1945 the Germans would unconditionally surrender to the Allies. On August 15, 1945 the Empire of Japan would unconditionally surrender several days after atomic bombs were dropped on the cities of Hiroshima, and Nagasaki.  A concerted effort by America, Britain, Russia, and all of the Allies brought about the end of World War II.


Victory was finally achieved, but the cost for America, and the allies was extremely high.  In the end with all tolled (people killed in war or murdered by the Axis Powers) would be over 61,000,000 worldwide.  Both America and Britain each suffered approximately half a million of their people killed in the war.


After the war was over, 5 million women would have to be let go from factory jobs to make way for some of the almost 10 million men that would be released from military service over the next two years. The women that had to leave the factories immediately went into the lower paying, more traditional female jobs like Nursing, Commercial Service jobs, School Teacher, Textiles, etc.


The Industrial Feminism of the 1940's would evolve into the socialistic political feminism of the new-age, the moral core was damaged beyond repair.  The young men and women that survived the war, and the ones that grew up during the war would become the dysfunctional "baby boomers" of the short-lived Golden Age of the 1950's, and the turbulent decades that followed. Like in Tolkien's novel of the time, the shepherds of the forest were so influenced, and distracted by their duty, the Ent Wives became lost, and were never found.


The Homemakers of the 1940's were made to think that they were choosing the lesser of two evils, but the ramifications of their wrong choice would resonate increasingly through the following decades, and the women that made up the moral core would eventually pass into history, and the legacy of the godly Homemaker would almost vanish completely.


The religious organizations had failed to dissuade racial bigotry and feminism in the 1940's.  Their coffers were being filled with 1940's war bucks.  Because of their building and financial agendas they would continue a legacy of failure in the 1950's, not speaking out against feminism and materialism.  The 1950's would see a dramatic increase in divorce, and other social disorders. The social practices of the institutionalized, secularized public school system would unwittingly add to the dysfunction because the children would be conditioned for divorce by having multiple "dating" relationships during their teenage years.


Because of their turbulent history and extreme losses during the war, the collective paranoia, and irrational distrust that would be deeply seated in the Soviet Union would prove to be extremely contagious and last for decades.  More young men would die during the Cold War Era, the Commiphobic leaders in the US Government and military, utilizing the weapons and equipment left over from World War II would wage the Demofrenetic wars of the 1950's, and 1960's, which would cripple the morale and psychological health of an already damaged nation.


The 1960's would see an astounding increase in feminism, abortion, secularism, divorce, substance abuse and other gross immoral behaviors.  Because of compromise, the Religious Organizations would continue to decline, and develop heretical doctrines concerning feminism, materialism, divorce and remarriage (religious adultery).  Also because of the early baby-stage psychological damage brought on by the dynamic of non-cognate, indifferent, abusive, or missing fathers, many young boys and girls would have their lives destroyed by extremely adverse psychological behaviors, like homosexuality or immoral heterosexual behavior.  Because these behaviors were developed at a very young age by the dysfunctional dynamics of the damaged society, most of the young people would be led to believe that they were actually born that way, and the impotent, dysfunctional Religious Organizations, because of their financial agendas, would turn a deaf ear to millions of children who were crying in the dark.


The dramatic increase in divorce during this time would continue to see huge numbers of divorced parents vying for the affections of the children, all the while running down one another to justify their actions, creating a spoiling atmosphere of non-accountability. The children would be permanently damaged psychologically by this poisonous hypocritical environment, and they would act out the frustration, anger, and pain throughout their lives in various adverse behaviors.  Also the nation's prisons would fill with angry, abused, and neglected youth, who had turned to crime.


In the 1970's, and the decades to follow, because of the psychological damage done to the young boys, millions of them would be eagerly drugged into submission by the medical industry, so they would fit nicely into the institutionalized, secularized, federalized, unionized, feminized public school system.  This would be instrumental in creating a generation of resentful, feminized, chemical dependant new-age dysfunctional males.

For the next 40 years, because of cowardice, and the compromise with wealth, materialism, feminism, and adultery, the clergical religious organizations would become completely apostate, being little more than religious social clubs, that could scarcely be called Christian.  Because of the hypocrisy of the religious organizations, almost an entire generation of young people would abandon the organizations to search for Truth.

During this time the secularized US government, would sacrifice more American lives trying to stabilize the oil-rich Middle East. Struggling with the power of Islam, they would once again understand why their Roman Republican ancestors coined the phrase "Hubris brings Nemesis" (Arrogance brings enemies that cannot be defeated).


Whether or not this is the beginning of the final confrontation of the North, and the South (Greco-Roman civilization vs Islam)  is difficult to ascertain.  Some milestones have been reached, while others have not.  In any case the solution to the spiritual problems of this nation has not changed.



Women entering the workforce of men in the 1940's causing them to abandon their vital role as Godly Homemakers, has proved to be the single most destructive thing that has ever happened to this nation.  Feminism, divorce, abortion, and the resultant apostatizing of the American religious base, have altogether effectively  destroyed more people than all of the wars combined.


Although difficult, the solution is, and always has been, very simple.  People must acknowledge the Truth, humble themselves, and subject themselves to it, and repent.  Only then will they find forgiveness, deliverance, and healing.  Jesus once said "If your right hand makes you sin, cut it off, and throw it from you".  I think this particular scripture applies to our sin as a nation today.



Knowing, as the scripture says, that the road to Hell is large enough for all of the nations to fit onto it, we should try very hard to acknowledge what has happened, so that we will understand how dire our situation is.  As a nation, May the Lord Jesus help us find repentance.

Thursday, December 3, 2015


The Velvet Main

The world is she!
The radiant light of life resides within her warmth
This gleaming love surrounding me that smiles and knits her heart to mine
For through the water we have shared a deep abiding love that binds
And soul to soul it pours within creating heart and limb and mind
This faithful bond, this thread of love that weaves itself within my frame
Moves back and forth with peaceful waves of life for me on velvet main
And though my life, it somehow hangs upon the balance of her fears
The thread I hold within my hand will not erode away with years
For when the sound of life breaks forth from me with voice so small and fine
Then pulls the thread tied to the heart and brings her shining face to mine
Two loving hands I've yet to feel will hold me close and cup my head
And ever shall she stir in me the warmth of water and the thread.

Rich&Elena