I am currently reading through Ezra and the amazing permission given for him and his fellow Israelites to be granted freedom to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple there. Not only could they go, but they were given gifts of silver and gold too. My NIV account mentions that there was the equivalent of 22 tonnes of silver and 3.5 tonnes of Gold given. Checking today's silver and gold market prices I worked out that they were given more than £93,000,000 worth. A phenomenal gift.
Then I wondered how would they transport the 25.5 tonnes of heavy metal for the 1000km from Babylon to Jerusalem. If they packed it on to donkeys, which could perhaps comfortably carry 50kg and possibly 100kg at a push, then they would need some 480 donkeys for the task of carrying the silver and gold, let alone all of the other paraphernalia they would take with them.
Ezra's group would have numbered between 8 - 10,000 depending on the number of women and children present. At that time, a veritable city of people crunching along the desert sands.
They took almost exactly four months to achieve the journey.
Babylon the Great
Checking out the modern day location for Babylon on Google Earth led me to a surprising discovery. I typed in Babylon in the search section and almost 40 locations popped up in one small area of earth. No, not the place in Mesopatamia between the river Tigris and the Euphrates. In fact that place didn't pop up at all. It seems that archeological features are not so prevalent on Google Earth.
No. All of the 40 or so spots were placed around the land between the two rivers, (well three perhaps,) the Hudson, the East and the Raritan rivers which pass through and around New York.
I've read many articles where people comment that the Babylon the Great mentioned in Revelation is linked in some way to New York and now even Google Earth confirms many places where the name of Babylon is prevalent within the city limits. Perhaps the correlation is stronger than we think.
The modern day city of Al Hillah lies within a couple of km from the ruins of the old city of Babylon in Iraq, a city perhaps with a deeper history and its territories marked with the battle scars of millenia, where even today, we know of fighting and battles going on between factions within Iraq and the armies of the world "pretending" to be there in the name of peace.
I wonder whose leader is more dangerous?
No. All of the 40 or so spots were placed around the land between the two rivers, (well three perhaps,) the Hudson, the East and the Raritan rivers which pass through and around New York.
I've read many articles where people comment that the Babylon the Great mentioned in Revelation is linked in some way to New York and now even Google Earth confirms many places where the name of Babylon is prevalent within the city limits. Perhaps the correlation is stronger than we think.
The modern day city of Al Hillah lies within a couple of km from the ruins of the old city of Babylon in Iraq, a city perhaps with a deeper history and its territories marked with the battle scars of millenia, where even today, we know of fighting and battles going on between factions within Iraq and the armies of the world "pretending" to be there in the name of peace.
I wonder whose leader is more dangerous?
At Least some sense prevails
The government has been dealt a poor deck of cards and gambled their stake in Supercasinos away. There is no double or quits and there is no plan B. The House of Lords has decided with just 3 votes to scrap the plans for supercasinos in the country.
At least there is still some sense lingering along the corridors of power.
No doubt the lobbyists will badger the government to try again at some point in the future, and hopefully they will be stalwalled again.
At least there is still some sense lingering along the corridors of power.
No doubt the lobbyists will badger the government to try again at some point in the future, and hopefully they will be stalwalled again.
The Parenthesis of ... (Sin)
In the beginning God…
Had a plan to create the earth and populate it with people who would worship him as their creator and take delight in his creation of the animals and the plants, the trees, the mountains, hills and seas around them, plus the myriad of stars above. Perhaps also to interact with God on a more personal level and to worship alongside his angels, just as he had a relationship with Adam in the beginning.
God placed man in the Garden of Eden where there was a whole variety of species awaiting his delight and there was the tree of life.
(Then came sin…..and seperation of man and a 1/3 of angels from God. Through sin, God had to readjust his plan, and send his son to die so that man could be reconciled to God once more and the pain of seperation and death would be dealt with once and for all, by binding Satan up and evicting him in to the lake of fire. This plan took man through many phases and many generations, from two people (adam & eve) through to today, where 6 billion people are living on the earth, and over time whoever knows how many have lived and died in the earth, perhaps 10 – 12 billion over the generations).
God planned a definitive time for all things to come to a head, to judge and to overcome the sin that caused his creation to go astray. God gave man time to try to overcome sin themselves but instead are destroying the very planet they live on, and creating technological advances which they claim can match those of God (or even transcend them).
The earth will be laid bare. Bare rock. No green grass, trees, plants, animals, people. A new earth. Seedlings will begin, life begins. Lichens and moss. This spreads, young plants will grow and these will spread. Over time the green grass will be renewed and be fresh and pleasing. This will be the new earth. Heaven, where men will dwell to worship God. On the earth there will be a city. The new Jerusalem, where God will dwell amongst man. The tree of life will be there and men will worship God forever. The city will be 12000 stadia long on each of its four sides – 1500 miles long x 1500 miles = 2.25m sq. miles
The people of God in their new bodies will be forever young, forever worshipping the magnificent creator and praising him for his new creations which he will do for us to take delight in once again and never will there be any more sin or death or all of the evil that is associated with it for God in his glory will be the ultimate for whom we run to when he extends his open arms and walks with us upon the lush green grass in the garden.
Had a plan to create the earth and populate it with people who would worship him as their creator and take delight in his creation of the animals and the plants, the trees, the mountains, hills and seas around them, plus the myriad of stars above. Perhaps also to interact with God on a more personal level and to worship alongside his angels, just as he had a relationship with Adam in the beginning.
God placed man in the Garden of Eden where there was a whole variety of species awaiting his delight and there was the tree of life.
(Then came sin…..and seperation of man and a 1/3 of angels from God. Through sin, God had to readjust his plan, and send his son to die so that man could be reconciled to God once more and the pain of seperation and death would be dealt with once and for all, by binding Satan up and evicting him in to the lake of fire. This plan took man through many phases and many generations, from two people (adam & eve) through to today, where 6 billion people are living on the earth, and over time whoever knows how many have lived and died in the earth, perhaps 10 – 12 billion over the generations).
God planned a definitive time for all things to come to a head, to judge and to overcome the sin that caused his creation to go astray. God gave man time to try to overcome sin themselves but instead are destroying the very planet they live on, and creating technological advances which they claim can match those of God (or even transcend them).
The earth will be laid bare. Bare rock. No green grass, trees, plants, animals, people. A new earth. Seedlings will begin, life begins. Lichens and moss. This spreads, young plants will grow and these will spread. Over time the green grass will be renewed and be fresh and pleasing. This will be the new earth. Heaven, where men will dwell to worship God. On the earth there will be a city. The new Jerusalem, where God will dwell amongst man. The tree of life will be there and men will worship God forever. The city will be 12000 stadia long on each of its four sides – 1500 miles long x 1500 miles = 2.25m sq. miles
The people of God in their new bodies will be forever young, forever worshipping the magnificent creator and praising him for his new creations which he will do for us to take delight in once again and never will there be any more sin or death or all of the evil that is associated with it for God in his glory will be the ultimate for whom we run to when he extends his open arms and walks with us upon the lush green grass in the garden.
Watch Out!!!
Homosexual Penguins in the Curriculum: Gay Fairy Tales for British Pupils - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News
We need to be observant about what our kids are being taught in our schools. The flames of the devil are deepening in the minds of our kids through the subtle ways of simple books.
We need to be observant about what our kids are being taught in our schools. The flames of the devil are deepening in the minds of our kids through the subtle ways of simple books.
The 4th Horse - Revelation 6
UN Report Exclusive: Climate Change Impact More Extensive than Thought - International - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News
The above link to DER SPIEGEL's report on Climate Change makes interesting reading, particularly when read in conjunction with Revelation chapter 6, where it describes the Seals and in particular the 4th Seal which reveals the 4th Horse, a pale horse whose rider is called Death and he is given power over 1/4 of all the earth to kill by sword, famine, plague and wild beasts.
1/4 of the earth by sword - Islamism is growing ever popular and 1/4 of the countries on the earth now fully claim they are islamic, and there are representatives of islam in almost every other country, so we could argue that 1/4 of the world's population may base their religion beliefs on Islam.
The link above indicates that global warming is on an alarming increase, and by 2050 they estimate that 20% - 30% of all species (including humans?) will be killed off due to the effects of global warming to cause rising sea levels, eradicating low lying lands and islands, freak weather patterns, destroying the hiterto natural pattern of life and causing animals to seek food elsewhere around the planet and thus affecting their breeding rates and populations which also directly affect us for use of food sources and by attacks as certain animals may develop wilder characteristics in the chase for food and attack anyone in their way.
Plants and crops will be affected as the temperature warms and desertification spreads northwards and southwards and a distinct lack of rainfall over much of the lands means that crops will fail and there will be more famines which would not just affect those in poor Africa but may affect North Americans and Europeans since they consume most of the world's supply of foodstuffs and these will become scarce necessitating a change in lifestyle which most would deem to avoid if at all possible.
High ground will become a precious commodity as sea levels rise and those living in flood plains and low lying areas will likely lose their dwellings.
Imagine 1/4 of the earth's population. If by 2050 it is 7+billion then that would equate to 1.75 billion losing their lives.
If global warming continues then the rains may stop. They were not known before the time of the flood. Perhaps the earth will resort back to pre-flood conditions where everything was tinder dry and rain was not known. Then God will destroy the earth this time not by a great flood, but as he says in many passages, by fire. The vegetation will be tinder dry and we already know the devastation that forest fires can cause, as in Australia at the end of 2006. A forest fire on a global scale will destroy the earth and everything in it.
The above link to DER SPIEGEL's report on Climate Change makes interesting reading, particularly when read in conjunction with Revelation chapter 6, where it describes the Seals and in particular the 4th Seal which reveals the 4th Horse, a pale horse whose rider is called Death and he is given power over 1/4 of all the earth to kill by sword, famine, plague and wild beasts.
1/4 of the earth by sword - Islamism is growing ever popular and 1/4 of the countries on the earth now fully claim they are islamic, and there are representatives of islam in almost every other country, so we could argue that 1/4 of the world's population may base their religion beliefs on Islam.
The link above indicates that global warming is on an alarming increase, and by 2050 they estimate that 20% - 30% of all species (including humans?) will be killed off due to the effects of global warming to cause rising sea levels, eradicating low lying lands and islands, freak weather patterns, destroying the hiterto natural pattern of life and causing animals to seek food elsewhere around the planet and thus affecting their breeding rates and populations which also directly affect us for use of food sources and by attacks as certain animals may develop wilder characteristics in the chase for food and attack anyone in their way.
Plants and crops will be affected as the temperature warms and desertification spreads northwards and southwards and a distinct lack of rainfall over much of the lands means that crops will fail and there will be more famines which would not just affect those in poor Africa but may affect North Americans and Europeans since they consume most of the world's supply of foodstuffs and these will become scarce necessitating a change in lifestyle which most would deem to avoid if at all possible.
High ground will become a precious commodity as sea levels rise and those living in flood plains and low lying areas will likely lose their dwellings.
Imagine 1/4 of the earth's population. If by 2050 it is 7+billion then that would equate to 1.75 billion losing their lives.
If global warming continues then the rains may stop. They were not known before the time of the flood. Perhaps the earth will resort back to pre-flood conditions where everything was tinder dry and rain was not known. Then God will destroy the earth this time not by a great flood, but as he says in many passages, by fire. The vegetation will be tinder dry and we already know the devastation that forest fires can cause, as in Australia at the end of 2006. A forest fire on a global scale will destroy the earth and everything in it.
Drills, Drills and more Drills
Have you ever wondered if there is a place where all sorts of drills can be heard. Dentist drills, Pneumatic road drills, hammer drills. Well. I went to such a place. For 20 minutes all I heard was drilling, from all sorts of drills. I felt like I was in a one man submarine being attacked by drills or even by automatic aircraft gunfire. I felt as if I was trapped and people all around were desperately drilling through rock to rescue me.
Well, I was in an MRI scanning machine, you know the time where you lie on a bed and slide through into a large tube.
Best thing? Totally painless. Apart from the drills......
Well, I was in an MRI scanning machine, you know the time where you lie on a bed and slide through into a large tube.
Best thing? Totally painless. Apart from the drills......
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