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In this podcast, I discuss the several times that Russian President Vladimir Putin has threatened nuclear war since he invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

These threats even included two Russian fighter jets that briefly flew into Swedish airspace armed with nuclear warheads on March 2, 2022.

But this leads to a bigger question: Do any of the Bible’s prophets predict nuclear war will be part of the end-times apocalypse?

I believe several prophecies suggest this may happen, and I will look at two of them. One of them comes from a vision given to the Prophet Zechariah (Zechariah 14:12), and the second from the Apostle John, found in the Book of Revelation (Revelation 8:10-11), John’s written record of a vision he received describing the events that will lead up to the second coming of Christ.

Click here for a more complete transcript.

READ: Putin implies nuclear attack if West interferes in Ukraine. Why it’s not just an empty threat AND ON THE BRINK: Putin’s ‘propaganda chief’ threatens West with nuclear destruction as Russia’s arsenal put on high alert AND Ukraine invasion: Putin puts Russia’s nuclear forces on ‘special alert’ AND Inside Putin’s nuclear arsenal: Russia’s military is armed with some of the most brutal weapons to exist including 4, 447 warheads AND Two Russian fighter jets that violated Swedish airspace earlier this month ‘were equipped with NUKES with the aim of scaring Stockholm’ after Putin had threatened military action if Sweden or Finland joined NATO

Hi, my name is Dean Smith and in this podcast, I want to discuss the several mentions of giants found throughout the Old Testament. Of course, atheists, and their ilk, enjoy mocking the Bible and the Christian faith because of these giants, referring to them as little more than myths.

But is there any historical and archaeological evidence that these giants existed.

Yes, there is, and I want to discuss some of them in this podcast.

And this will include a race of giants reported by American Professor Lee Berger, a paleo-anthropologist, from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, which I will discuss towards the end of this podcast.

Throughout history, there have been giants, such as American Robert Wadlow who holds the Guinness world record for the world’s tallest man at 8’ 11”.

His size was attributed to his pituitary gland constantly releasing growth hormones, a condition referred to as giantism, and in fact, Wallow was still growing when he died in 1940 at the age of 22.

Due to his immense size, Wadlow obviously stood out and when asked in a radio interview how he dealt with people staring at him, Wadlow wryly answered, “I just overlook them.”

But we have also seen hints of something different in our ancient past, a race of giants.

The partial remains of a giant were reportedly discovered in 1890 during excavations at an ancient Bronze Age cemetery located in Castelnau-le-lez, France.

Though only three bones of the Giant of Castelnau were discovered, after comparing them to normal-sized human bones, the researchers concluded that he could have easily stood upwards of 11’ tall.

The discovery, including comparative photos, was published in several scientific magazines at that time.

The French Press reported that four years later the remains of three massive giant skulls, plus other bones, were found at another Bronze Age grave site accidentally discovered while digging a water reservoir.

It was located only five kilometers away from the Bronze Age cemetery in Castelnau.

The remains of the three skulls, including one that measured 32” in circumference, were sent to the Paris Academy. As a comparison, the average human skull has a 22” in circumference.

Curiously, the Bronze Age starts around 3300 BC and ends about 1200 BC, and this fits well within the Bible’s time frame of when it said there were giants on the earth.

And the Bible makes this significant point that it was referring to a race of giants, not a one-off such as a single person suffering from giantism.

It specifically talks about four groups, the Nephilim, Anakin and Rephaim, and an ancient group referred to as the Emites. But they all seem to be connected, suggesting that they originated from one race of giants generally referred to as Rephaim or Rephaites, which literally means a ‘terrible one’ or ‘giant’.

We see the group connection in Deuteronomy, which reads:

“The Emites used to live there—a people strong and numerous, and as tall as the Anakites. Like the Anakites, they too were considered Rephaites, but the Moabites called them Emites.” (Deuteronomy 2:10-11)

And these Rephaim may be connected to odd-shaped archaeological remains, that the Jews call Gilgal Refaim, located on the barren Golan heights overlooking the Jordan valley in Israel, that is also dated to the Bronze Age, between 3,000 BC to 2,700 BC.

It is composed of a four stone concentric rings that circle around a large stone mound in the centre.

The outer stone circle has a diameter of 520 feet (ca. 158 m) and is eight feet (2.44 m) high.

It is uncertain exactly what it was used for, but some believe the large mound at its centre was the burial place for an important king, long since plundered of its contents.

And many, including those in secular fields, believe this ancient structure is tied to the Biblical accounts of the Rephaim, a race of giants that existed at one time in Israel’s history.

The first mention of giants is the Nephilim recorded in Genesis 6:4. They existed in the period just before the flood, at the time that the sons of God or angels married the daughters of men.

Now, some believe the Nephilim were the result of this unholy marriage, except the verse says the Nephilim were already in existence at the time the marriages took place and also existed after. So these giants were separate from the offspring of these marriages.

We also have mention of the Anak in Numbers 13, who we are specifically told are connected to the Nephilim.

Moses had sent 12 men to spy out the Promised Land, and 10 of these spies came back shuddering in terror about the giants they had seen.

We read:

“The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height. And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.” (Numbers 13:32-33)

The Anak were the giants of great height that left most of Moses’ spies whimpering that they looked like grasshoppers in their sight.

The giants are also referred to in Genesis 14:5 where we read that several kingdoms had allied together to battle this race of giants. And though, they were largely successful, they weren’t completely wiped out.

Easily the Bible’s most infamous giant was Goliath, who the Bible says stood six cubits and span or over 11’ tall, and was taken down by David, a young shepherd boy with a sling and a stone.

And we also know that Goliath had one brother and at least four sons who were also giants. Some have suggested this may have even been the reason David gathered five stones from the brook for his sling when he decided to fight Goliath.

Now, as I have mentioned in the past, the ancient Biblical manuscripts were diligently recopied by hand for thousands of years, so it’s argued that the older the ancient Hebrew manuscripts, the closer they are to the original and more accurate they would be.

Our modern Old Testament, which states Goliath is about 11’ 9” tall, is based on manuscripts dated to the ninth century AD.

However, the much older Septuagint version of the Old Testament dated to 250 BC and the Dead Sea scrolls which are manuscripts from the first century AD or the time of Christ have a slightly different size that will prove significant later on.

Both of these much older manuscripts state that Goliath’s size was four cubits and a span, which puts his size at about 7’ 9”.

And we need to keep this perspective because archaeology reveals that the average height of a Jewish male was about 5’ 1” in Jesus’ day.

One of the final mentions of giants is in Joshua 12:4, where we have a reference to Og, the King of Bashan, who is described as the last of the Rephaim. We have no idea how big Og was, other than his iron bed was nine cubits long or about 13 feet (ca. 4 metres) in length (Deuteronomy 3:11).

And some have even wondered if OG was buried at the burial mound on the Golan Heights, which was obviously intended for a very important king, because Bashan’s territory included this region of Israel.

But there is an interesting twist to these accounts, that also needs to be discussed.

The ancient Jewish historian Josephus who lived between 37 AD and 100 AD cited giants in one of his books entitled the Antiquities of the Jews.

But he added one small tidbit of information. Despite their immense size, they also had different facial features than the Jews.

Josephus wrote:

“For which reason they removed their camp to Hebron; and when they had taken it, they slew all the inhabitants. There were till then left the race of giants, who had bodies so large, and countenances so entirely different from other men, that they were surprising to the sight, and terrible to the hearing. The bones of these men are still shown to this very day, unlike to any credible relations of other men.“

Though Josephus said they had a different look to them, the Bible is very clear they were human and intelligent, as evidenced by Goliath’s ability to communicate and Og’s ability to lead a nation.

But did you notice how Josephus added that the bones of these ancient giants were still on display in his day? And, this leads to a fascinating interview that Dr. Chris Smith from Cambridge University in Britain had with Professor Lee Berger on his evolutionary podcast The Naked Scientist in 2007.

Berger is an American-born paleo-anthropologist who works at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. In 2016, Time Magazine recognized Berger as one of the top 100 most influential Americans in the world.

As part of his podcast, Smith actually flew to South Africa to interview Berger on a race of giant humans that once roamed Earth.
According to Berger, these giants existed about 300,000 years ago.

Now, I am not going to get into a discussion about their age discrepancy with the Biblical giants, other than stating that the discovery of soft tissue, blood vessels, and cartilage, inside dinosaur bones, thought to be millions of years old, has resulted in some serious questions about dating.

How could there be soft tissue inside the thigh-bone of a T-Rex believed to be 69 million years old, considering that under the right circumstances fossilization can take place in a matter of a few years.

Similar to what Josephus mentioned, Berger then proceeded to show Smith the thighbones of these giant men that were so large, Berger said it was impossible to calculate how big they actually were.

They have even reproduced replicas of their skulls from the fragments that they discovered.

In the interview, Berger stated:

“They are huge. That’s so big we can’t even calculate how big this individual was. You would need an NBA basketball player to get someone of that height. Someone like this would have been something like over seven feet tall.“

In other words, they were Goliath-sized.

Of course, this leads to the bigger issue. Were these giants a one-off, like Robert Wadlow, meaning that the individual grew to a gigantic size because of a medical issue, such as a misfiring pituitary gland.

When Dr. Smith raised this possibility, Berger said absolutely not, they were part of a race of giants, because they are finding the remains of these giant people all across Africa.

In the interview, Berger told Smith:

“No because we found a lot of them. Everywhere we find them we find them enormous. These are what we call archaic Homo sapiens. Some people refer to them as Homo heidelbergensis. These individuals are extraordinary. They are GIANTS.“

Notice how Berger describes them a human, Homo Sapiens.

Apologetics Press’s Dr. Miller adds that Berger description of this group as being archaic, in Biblical terms, would put them in the pre and post-flood era.

In a follow-up to his interview with Dr. Berger, Dr. Smith added that humanity went through a period of ‘giantism.’ He said:

“One of the most interesting thing that the fossil record reveals is that we went through a period of extreme giantism. These were people routinely over seven feet tall, they were huge.“

So, while, the Bible has been mocked relentlessly for its stories about a race of giants, these ancient writers were right all along.

RELATED: A period of gigantism confirmed AND Our Story: Human Ancestor Fossils AND Giant of Castelnau

Hi, my name is Dean Smith, and in this podcast, I want to talk about arguably the greatest cover-up of the meaning of a Bible verse in the history of the Bible.

And this misinterpretation has an odd connection to an important prophetic event, the Tabernacle of David.

But not only have Christians been involved in this insidious conspiracy, so have Jewish rabbis, but in a much different way.

King David wrote Psalm 51 in the aftermath of his adulterous relationship with Bathsheba that resulted in David initially trying to cover up this affair after Bathsheba became pregnant, and failing that ordered a mafia-style hit to take out her husband.

In verse 5, David lamented:

“Behold I was brought forth in inquity, and in sin my mother conceived me.”

Now, Christians have traditionally used this verse to explain that because of Adam and Eve’s fall into sin, we are all born with a sinful nature, which is true.

But is that what David really meant, when he wrote, “in sin my mother conceived me?“

I think It means exactly what it says. David’s mother conceived Israel’s most beloved king in an act of sin.

This meant that either David’s mother or his father, Jesse, committed adultery. Since Jesse could have married a single woman, it would have involved either a married woman or perhaps even a prostitute, who Jesse would have been hesitant to marry due to the public shame.

And David’s mother being a prostitute is not completely out of the question. In Judges 11:1-2, we read how a married man, Gilead, had relations with a prostitute who became pregnant.

But then the most bizarre thing happens.

Gilead brings his illegitimate son, Jephthah, home to be raised as a member of his family.

But this decision did not go over well, and the sons of Gilead’s wife eventually drove Jephthah from their home so that they would not have to share their father’s inheritance with the son of a prostitute.

Though some are shocked that David was conceived as a result of an illicit affair, it actually explains one of the Bible’s odder stories.

In 1 Samuel 16:1-13, we read how God called the prophet Samuel to anoint one of Jesse’s sons as the next king of Israel after rejecting King Saul because of his disobedience.

Jesse and his family were from Bethlehem, and when Samuel showed up, he asked the elders of the town to round up the sons of Jesse.

But as Jesse’s sons were lined up, Samuel realized that none of them was the one who God had chosen as the next King of Israel.

Puzzled, Samuel asked if these were all the sons and was told that the youngest son, David, was minding the sheep.

This subtly suggests Jesse was the one who had the affair. The same idea is presented in 1 Chronicles 2, when we are told Jesse fathered David, along with six other brothers and two daughters.

The elders quickly rounded up David, who was anointed as Israel’s next king.

Now, most Christian commentators explain David’s absence by suggesting he was excluded because he was the youngest.

But a single word changes our traditional understanding of this account. It is the Hebrew word “charade,” which literally means to ‘shudder in terror.’

When Samuel showed up in Bethlehem, we are told in verse 4, that the elders were ‘charading’. The NASV used the word trembling. They were shuddering in terror. They were absolutely terrified of the prophet.

Because of this fear, when the prophet Samuel asked for all the sons of Jesse, the elders would have made sure they were all there.

Obviously, there must have been a loophole, something in the fine print, that safely disqualified David from being included in that list.

And certainly being illegitimate would qualify.

And similar to Jephthah, I wonder if it was David’s stepbrothers who demanded that David not be included.

Though Christian commentators have covered-up what King David was really saying in Psalm 51, so have Jewish rabbis, but for a completely different reason.

When the rabbis read verse 5, they understood that it meant exactly what it said. David’s mother conceived him in an act of sin.

But this led to an even bigger theological quagmire, which we see hinted at in the Gospels when Jesus and the disciples encountered a man who had been born blind in John 9:2.

The disciples asked if this man was born blind because of the sin of his parents or the man’s sin.

You see, the rabbis taught that the children would be judged for the sins of their parents.

So, how could Israel’s greatest King be the result of an illicit affair, particularly if the woman was a prostitute?

And what kind of example would David set for Jewish youth, if God blessed children conceived in an act of sin.

The threat that God would judge their illegitimate children would be absolutely worthless.

But they had a problem because David clearly said he was conceived in sin. This meant, that the rabbis had to come up with an explanation that was still a sin, but not a really, really bad one.

They had to spin this story.

Now, we need to understand that the rabbis’ explanation is found nowhere in the Bible.

It comes from the Talmud or Mishnah, which is essentially a Jewish commentary of the Bible, that also included a huge list of dos and don’ts that the Jews were required to obey, in addition to the Law.

Though the Talmud is not scripture, it’s often treated as such. For example, many Jewish men today wear skull caps. There is no mention of a man needing to wear a cap in the Bible, it’s from the Talmud.

And to give their cover-up more credibility, the rabbis even provided the name of David’s mother, Nitzevet, which again is not mentioned in the Bible.

According to the rabbis, Jesse and Nitzevet were married, but Jesse had divorced his wife and under the law, it was forbidden for a man to remarry a woman he had previously divorced (Deuteronomy 24:1-4).

After the divorce, Nitzevet did a strange thing. Desiring another child she secretly switched places with her maidservant who was still living with Jesse and one night crawled into bed with Jesse resulting in David’s conception.

According to the Talmud, after she became pregnant, Nitzevet was so embarrassed that she refused to tell the family that Jesse was David’s father, and the sons accused their mother of harlotry.

And this is not even the Talmud’s only embellishment of the story.

It also says that Jesse was an illustrious leader in the Jewish community and even led the Sanhedrin. In fact, the Talmud describes Jesse as “one of only four righteous individuals who died solely due to the instigation of the serpent.” In other words, he didn’t die because he was a sinner.

None of this is mentioned in the Bible.

And as a further display of his righteousness, Jesse told his sons to allow David to be raised as part of the family.

Clearly, the rabbis were pumping Jesse’s tires, so people would understand why David was such a great and glorious king.

Though Jesse’s and Nitzevet’s actions were technically a sin, it was not on the same level as having an affair with a prostitute or married woman.

Now, as I mentioned earlier, the rabbis used the Talmud to create hundreds of new rules and regulations to control how the Jews lived their lives, and because of this both God and Jesus condemned the Talmud.

Isaiah prophesied:

“These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught. (Isaiah 29:13).

Those human rules come from the Talmud, and Jesus even quoted this passage in Mark 7, when the Pharisees asked why the disciples did not perform the ceremonial washing before eating, intended to wash off any gentile contamination, after purchasing food in the market.

This rule is not mentioned in the Bible and comes from the Talmud. And in verse 13, Jesus said the Pharisees were nullifying the word of God with their traditions.

So, this leads to the big question, why would God choose an illegitimate man to be the next King of Israel?

Well, first God was letting everyone know that He will use anyone, no matter their circumstances.

When the disciples asked if the man was born blind because of his parent’s sin, they were subtly suggesting he was illegitimate. But Jesus answered that it was not due to his or his parent’s sin, but that the works of God might be displayed, and promptly healed the man.

But there may have been another reason why God chose David, the illegitimate son of Jesse, as the next King of Israel, and that involved the creation of the Tabernacle of David.

The gold-plated ark of the Covenant was the most important piece of furniture in the Jewish religious life because the very presence of God rested on the ark.

The Ark was initially set up in the Tabernacle of Moses and then eventually moved to the Temple constructed by King Solomon.

But for a few years between the Tabernacle of Moses and the Temple, the ark was in a tent set up by King David in Jerusalem, known as the Tabernacle of David.

And oddly, David’s illegitimacy may have played a role in the setting up of this tabernacle.

Despite being king, if he was illegitimate, David was not allowed to participate in the worship at the Tabernacle of Moses according to Deuteronomy 23:2.

So, King David decided to move the ark to a tent in Jerusalem, where he could worship God unhindered.

At this point, the ark of the Covenant was essentially in storage.

During the reign of King Saul, the Philistines had captured the ark after the Israelis took it with them into battle. But the Philistines returned the ark after experiencing the judgment of God, and it ended up at the House of Abinadab where it stayed for several years.

Despite not having the ark, the sacrifices continued on at the Tabernacle of Moses.

So why wasn’t it returned to the Tabernacle of Moses? In 1 Chronicles 13:3, we are told that interest in the Ark of the Covenant had fallen during the days of King Saul. This was probably due to the fact, they had chosen to use it as a good luck charm in a battle, and basically, it didn’t work.

But King David was very interested and decided to move the ark to a tent he had set up in Jerusalem.

But as the ark was being transported on a cart pulled by oxen, a man was struck dead when he touched the ark to steady it. This death horrified David, leading him to believe that his plan to move the ark to Jerusalem was a huge mistake.

In 2 Samuel 6:10-11, David ordered his men to leave the ark at a nearby farm, owned by a man named Obed-edom the Gittite.

But here is the strange thing, Obed-edom was a gentile, and even stranger three months later, David heard that God was pouring out his blessing on this gentile farmer because of the presence of the ark on his farm.

This showed David that God was not upset about moving the ark, but rather by how it was done. David ordered the ark to be successfully transported to Jerusalem on the shoulders of the Levites, as required by the Law.

And in 1 Chronicles 16:37-38, we read that despite being a gentile, Obed-edom ministered regularly at the Tabernacle of David.

Much of what we read in the Psalms, the sacrifices of praise, shouting, the lifting of hands, the dancing, clapping, and the musical instruments revolved around the worship at the Tabernacle of David.

But this lasted for only a few years. The Ark of the Covenant and animal sacrifices were moved to the temple after its construction, resulting in the closure of both the Tabernacle of Moses and David’s tabernacle.

Though the Tabernacle of David was gone, a strange thing happened.

Amos prophesied that God wanted to restore the Tabernacle of David:

“On that day I will raise up
The tabernacle of David, which has fallen down,
And repair its damages;
I will raise up its ruins,
And rebuild it as in the days of old;
12 That they may possess the remnant of Edom,
And all the Gentiles who are called by My name,”
Says the Lord who does this thing. (Amos 9:11-12 NKJV)

And God specifically wanted to restore David’s tabernacle, so He could welcome the Gentiles into the Kingdom of God.

While the Tabernacle of Moses and the Temple represented the law and the sacrifices, the Tabernacle of David represented the grace of God where everyone including the illegitimate and the gentiles could come before the presence of God.

Did this restoration ever take place?

In fact, it did.

After the Holy Spirit fell upon the gentiles in Acts 10, the early church held a major meeting in Jerusalem to discuss what to do with these uncircumcised people.

At that meeting recorded in Acts 15, James quoted from Amos 9 about God’s promise to restore the Tabernacle of David in order to welcome the Gentiles into the House of God.

The church was the fulfillment of this promise to restore the Tabernacle of David, created by the illegitimate son of Jesse.

It’s a picture of God’s grace.
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Hi, my name is Dean Smith and in this podcast, I want to talk about the day the sky split in two.

A while back, I wrote an article on opentheword.org, about an asteroid named 2018 AH, that would be passing by the earth on December 27, 2021. Now, by the time you hear this podcast, it may have already happened.

There was never anything to worry about, since it would be nearly 4.5 million kilometers out when it hurtled by.

But at the end of that article, I wrote about the odd connection that a story in the Jerusalem Post about 2018 AH had with a verse in the Book of Revelation, the Apostle John’s vision of the end times.

And I wondered how many people actually read whole articles these days, so I thought I would focus on the last couple of paragraphs, and put that odd connection front and centre in this podcast.

In his Jerusalem Post article, entitled, “Large asteroid stronger than nuke heading towards Earth late December”, author Aaron Reich compared 2018 AH with the asteroid that exploded over the Tunguska River in Siberia, Russia on June 30, 1908.

Because the two asteroids are roughly the same size, Reich used this comparison to give an idea of the kind of damage 2018 AH could cause if it hit the earth, as it seems to be passing by every few years or so. The last time it visited Earth, as the name suggests, was in 2018.

If anything, at 100 meters in size, roughly 30 stories, 2018 AH is probably bigger than the one that exploded several kilometers above a Siberian forest over 110 years ago.

That asteroid flattened about 80 million trees in an area roughly the size of the landmass of New York City. It’s estimated that the winds reached speeds of 97,000 kilometers an hour and people as far away as Washington, DC, felt the airwaves and tremors from the blast.

Fortunately, it exploded over a sparsely populated area of Siberia, and it’s believed only three people died from the blast.

In the years following the devastation, testimonies emerged of people who witnessed the massive explosion, from afar obviously, and one of them, in particular, provides a description eerily similar to what the Apostle John saw in his vision of end-time events written down in the Book of Revelation around 95 AD.

Now we need to understand, that if John was seeing events taking place centuries in the future, he needed to find words in a limited first-century vocabulary to describe what he was seeing.

In Revelation chapter six, John spoke of the opening of seven seals. When the sixth seal opened, John, who had no idea of what asteroids were, used a word the people of his day were familiar with and said he saw stars falling from heaven.

And in verse 13, John compared the multiple hits to a massive wind ripping the figs from the branches of a fig tree and slamming them into the ground.

It would cause such panic, that the rich and the poor, would hide in caves.

Now, it’s also possible that John was seeing a nuclear attack.

Considering the most advanced weapons of his day were swords and spears, how would he describe an intercontinental missile that leaves the earth’s atmosphere, before reentering in a fiery blaze close to the target and launching multiple nuclear warheads?

John used the only word in his vocabulary that came even close, stars.

But as the Apostle John described what he was seeing, the apostle saw a second strange thing happening. He said the sky split apart:

John writes:

13 and the stars of the sky fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its unripe figs when shaken by a great wind.

And then he adds in the next verse:

14 The sky was split apart like a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was removed from its place. (Revelation 6:13-14 NASV)

Obviously, John had no idea what was going on and used a concept from his day, the opening of a scroll, to describe what he was seeing.

We know that the sky did not actually split apart, but this is how it appeared in John’s vision and it was all connected to these stars slamming into the earth.

And this is eerily similar to a description of the Tunguska asteroid explosion provided by a man named S. Semenov a few years after the explosion. Semenov was about 40 miles (ca. 64 km) away when the blast occurred.

Semenov described what he saw this way:

“I suddenly saw that directly to the north, over Onkoul’s Tunguska Road, the sky split in two and fire appeared high and wide over the forest. The split in the sky grew larger, and the entire northern side was covered with fire. At that moment I became so hot that I couldn’t bear it as if my shirt was on fire; from the northern side, where the fire was, came strong heat. I wanted to tear off my shirt and throw it down, but then the sky shut closed, and a strong thump sounded, and I was thrown a few metres.[…]

“After that such noise came, as if rocks were falling or cannons were firing, the Earth shook, and when I was on the ground, I pressed my head down, fearing rocks would smash it. When the sky opened up, hot wind raced between the houses, like from cannons, which left traces in the ground.”

Twice, in his description, Semenov said the sky split in two, and then a few sentences later he saw the sky closing and then seconds later opening up again.

This is how it looked when the asteroid exploded over the Siberian forest.

And, coincidentally, this is exactly the same description that the Apostle John gave when he saw the stars of heaven slamming into the earth and the sky splitting apart.

We know that the Tunguska event was not what the Apostle John saw because in his vision there were multiple strikes and people fleeing in terror.

But the similarities reveal that Semenov and the Apostle John witnessed similar atmospheric events, validating John’s description of asteroid hits in the end times.

READ: Large asteroid stronger than nuke heading towards Earth late December AND The Tunguska Event

Hi, my name is Dean Smith. We are living in perilous times as governments of all political stripes seem intent on restricting people’s liberties and freedoms, either under the guise of protecting us from COVID or banning speech that some consider offensive, because it disagrees with their beliefs.

In this podcast, I want to discuss the Septuagint’s odd translation of a Bible verse in Deuteronomy that may help explain why this is happening.

The Septuagint is a Greek version of the Hebrew Old Testament that was written around 260 BC. Since the Bible was meticulously recopied by hand down through the centuries, invariably mistakes were made. So the older the manuscript, the closer they were to the original and the more accurate they would be.

This means that the ancient Hebrew manuscripts used for the Septuagint were hundreds of years older than the texts used for our modern Old Testament translations, that are based on Hebrew manuscripts compiled in the 9th century AD.

Now, when we read Deuteronomy 32:8 in our modern Bible translations, it tells us that when God established the nations, He set their boundaries according to the number of the sons of Israels.

8 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, When he separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the people according to the number of the sons of Israel. (Deuteronomy 32:8 NASV)

It is difficult to know what this verse is referring too. How, could the borders of other countries be based on the descendants of the patriarch of Israel.

It doesn’t really make sense.

And this is not even taking into account when God created the nations in Genesis 11, Jacob, who was later renamed Israel, hadn’t even been born yet.

However, this verse reads a bit differently in the Septuagint. It states that the boundaries of the nations were allotted or divided up according to the angels:

“When the Most High divided the nations, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the nations according to the number of the angels of God.”  (Deuteronomy 32:8 Jerome’s version of the Septuagint)

The Septuagint leaves a completely different impression that angels were linked to the creation of the nations. Many believe this is the more accurate rendering, and we see Bible versions, such as the NASV, putting a footnote that the Septuagint states angels.

Some believe this change is more significant than we realize because it also suggests that angels were put over the nations.

And this idea shows up in Satan’s temptation of Jesus recorded in Luke 4:5-6, when Satan offered Christ the nations of the world for a moment of worship.

Then Satan adds that he was able to make this offer, because they had been given to him, a claim that Jesus never challenged.

In other words, Satan is the god of this world and as part of this fallen angels have been set over countries to influence their governments in demonic ways.

So if this is happening, what are we to do about it?

For that answer, we need to look at an incident in the Book of Daniel. The prophet Daniel was raised up during Judah’s captivity in Babylon.

After, the Babylonians were overthrown by the Persians, Daniel realized that Jeremiah’s prophecies that the Jews would be restored to the promised land after 70 years of captivity would soon be coming to pass and Daniel began praying for the Jews to be restored.

But as he entered a 21-day period of fasting and prayer, Daniel received a message from God that a great conflict, literally warfare, was brewing (Daniel 10:1).

At the end of this time of prayer, a godly angel arrived with a message for Daniel.

But this angel had an interesting story, telling Daniel that he had been hindered from delivering this message by the Prince of Persia, but was finally able to break through when the archangel Michael showed up to help.

Since two godly angels were directly involved in the battle with the Prince of Persia, we have to conclude that they were battling the fallen angel put over Persia.

It is also not a coincidence, that Daniel’s 21 days of fasting a prayer coincides with the angel’s statement that he was finally able to break through after three weeks.

Then at the end of Daniel 10, we have one of the Bible’s worst chapter breaks because it literally interrupts the Angel mid-sentence. The angel was speaking in the last verse of chapter 10 to Daniel, and continues in the first verse of chapter 11, when the angels says:

11 “In the first year of Darius the Mede, I arose to be of assistance and a protection for him.

What this means is after successfully fighting the Prince of Persia, the Godly angel had taken a position beside the King of Persia to both assist (literally strengthen) and protect him.

Because of Daniel’s prayer, the spiritual atmosphere had shifted in Persia, and a godly angel was now in a position to influence the politics and the government.

This influence directly led to the decree allowing Israel to return to the promised land.

But this verse also implies that prior to this, the Prince of Persia was influencing the political decisions being made in that country.

We see indications that angels were similarly involved in human politics in the Book of Judges. In Judges 5, we read that Sisera, the king of Philistia, was cruelly oppressing Israel.

The Israelites began calling on God for deliverance, and the Lord raised up the prophetess Deborah who prophesied that Barak was to muster an army and that God would deliver Sisera and his 900 chariots into their hands.

But it appears there was also angelic involvement in this great victory, as Deborah explains in her song of deliverance after Israel’s victory.

19 “The kings came, they fought; then fought the kings of Canaan, at Taanach, by the waters of Megiddo; they got no spoils of silver. 20 From heaven the stars fought, from their courses they fought against Sisera.” (Judges 5:19-20)

So while the Israel called upon God for deliverance, and while Barak gathered a 10,000 man army to fight, we are told that the stars in heaven also fought against Sisera,

As we read in Revelation 12:4, angels are also referred to as stars, and I believe God sent angels to fight the Prince of Philistia, who once defeated was no longer able to influence or protect Sisera, resulting in both the Philstinne’s defeat and the eventual assassination of Sisera.

In 2 Kings 7:6, a similar thing happened when the Armeans, having surrounded the Jerusalem, were spooked into leaving after they heard what sounded like a massive army coming to rescue Israel. There was no physical army, but rather the sounds of a heavenly host.

So again, angels seemed to be involved in the deliverance in Jerusalem.

And the same type of thing is still happening today.

In the 1950s, there was a massive revival in Argentina.

What led to this?

In his book, The Secrets of the Argentinian Revival, Argentine missionary Robert Miller shares that it started at a small Bible school in City Bell, Argentina in 1951, when students began praying for the country.

It turned into 10 weeks of concentrated prayer, with the group spending 10 to 20 hours a day in prayer for their country

At the end of this time of prayer a prophetic word came forth:

“Weep, no more…the lion of the Tribe of Judah hath prevailed. I have overcome the prince of Argentina.”

This prophetic word said the Prince of Argentina had been defeated.
Miller stated that along with this, the prophetic word suggested this would also impact the government, which at the time was being ruled by Juan Peron and heavenly influenced by his wife Eva.

A prophecy at another church spoke of the end of Eva’s influence in the Argentina stating:

“Eva Peron shall tremble…she will see the thunder of My Presence fall upon her face. She will tremble for she will see Me just as I am, and she shall die. I shall remove her and all her men from government.”
Secrets of the Argentine Revival by Robert Miller

A few months later, Eva was dead, and the revival was on that saw stadiums filled, healings and thousands being saved.

So while people did their part, God did his and dispatched godly angels that took out the Prince of Persia and even the Prince of Argentina.

If there was ever a time to pray for our country and our political leaders, that time is now.

Hi, my name is Dean Smith and in this podcast, I wonder: am the only person in the world who suddenly has flashbacks of things that happened to them decades ago?

Well, it happened to me recently and involved an incident of something that took place probably 45 years ago.

It was the 1970s. I was in my twenties and driving an old Rambler station wagon. It was a dusty gray color, probably 15 years old when I bought it. But, along with my Toyota Previa, was the most reliable vehicle I have ever owned.

I was just saved and attending a young people’s Hippy church, a Jesus People church, where everyone had long hair, including the girls. Back then, I had hair past my shoulders and one of my friends had hair down to his waist.

And today, I have sadly resorted to shaving my head, because I am basically bald. It’s very sad.

Anyway, I had put a large “JESUS SAVES” bumper sticker on the back of my Rambler, just below the back window. The background was white, and the two words were emblazoned in large red capital letters.

On my dusty gray, and usually dirty Rambler, the bumper sticker stood out like a neon light.

I can’t remember exactly what I was doing, but I think I was visiting a friend in what was then our city’s hippie neighborhood. When I returned to my car, I noticed that someone had ripped off the bumper sticker.

I was shocked, hurt, and angered by what had happened.

And now, over 45 years later, the memory of this incident is alive and flooding my mind.

Why was it there?

I wondered if God was trying to tell me something, because there are tens of thousands of things that happened to me when I was in my 20s and I probably couldn’t remember 99% of them even if you paid me.

But here was this incident flooding my mind.

Why was this happening?

Well, I have a theory.

I believe that decades old memories can be triggered if there is an emotion still attached to them, and it is this emotion still embedded in these memories that keeps them alive in our mind, and all they need is something to trigger them.

I was angry when that person ripped the bumper sticker off my car and the fact that I was still remembering this incident made me wonder if I had not dealt with my anger over this incident that took place over 45 years ago.

The emotional anger that I felt that day was still embedded in that memory.

So here is what I did.

First, I forgave the person who did this.

In Ephesians 4:26, the Apostle Paul writes, ‘Be angry and sin not.’ In other words, anger is a normal emotion, and it is not a sin to get angry. But then Paul adds, “Do not let the sun go down on your anger.”

So, while getting angry is not a sin, staying angry is.

I had let the sun set well over 16,000 times on my bumper sticker rage.

So I forgave the person. I forgave the person to release the emotional baggage still embedded in that memory.

Then I did a second strange thing, I actually prayed for the individual. It’s possible the person is dead, but if he or she was my age, it is very possible they are still alive.

In Matthew 5, Jesus says pray for those who persecute and bless those who curse you. So that is what I did. Forty-five years later, I prayed for God to bless the person who ripped off that bumper sticker, and then prayed for their salvation.

If you are struggling with memories of past events, maybe it is an indicator you have unresolved emotional issues that you still need to deal with.

I am not saying this is the case, but this is how I dealt with my strange memory.

Hi, my name is Dean Smith and in this podcast, I want to briefly look at three indicators that may suggest you are being controlled by a ‘Spirit of Fear’.

Of course, there are varying degrees of fear, but fear has one goal; it wants to control you and at times, we are completely unaware that are decisions are being dictated by our inner fears.

In the discussion on fear, I want to use probably the most popular verse thrown out about fear provided in the Apostle Paul’s letter to Timothy, when he said:

7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7)

Unfortunately, because of its popularity, verses such as these become common, and we end up glossing over them.

In this verse Paul sets up three characteristics that are alive in a person not controlled by a spirit of fear, namely power, love and a sound mind.

In other words, if you are being controlled by a spirit of fear, these three things will either be missing in your life or at the very least weakened.

The first thing that Paul says is that you will no longer have power. The Greek word dynamos, from which we get our word dynamite, refers to the Holy Spirit power demonstrated in miracles.

But the word can also refer to our natural abilities and strength.

In other words, when we are being controlled by a spirit of fear we lose confidence not only in God, but even in our own God-given abilities.

We are consumed by insecurity and self-doubt.

When Israel was at the border of the Promised Land, Moses sent out 12 spies, and only two came back with a positive report. The other ten were terrified by what these saw in this territory, promised to them by God.

But in fact the biggest problem involved not how big the giants were, but how they felt about themselves.

There we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak are part of the Nephilim); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight. (Numbers 13:33 NASV)

They literally said out loud, we are grasshoppers in our own sight. They were so controlled by a spirit of fear that they considered themselves to be a small, insignificant insect.

But notice what happened next, then the Anak considered them as grasshoppers too. Bullies pick up on people’s insecurities and fears.

These ten spies were not only reinforcing this thinking in their own minds, they were telling everyone how useless they were.

But many of us do the same thing. We may not be comparing ourselves to grasshoppers, but we are essentially saying the same thing.

Have you ever muttered to yourself how stupid you were? Look, we all do stupid things, but that doesn’t make us stupid.

Have you ever called yourself an idiot, under your breath?

Or am I the only one that ever does that?

But when we do this, we are describing what we really think about ourselves.

I am useless.

I am no good.

I am a failure.

I can’t do this.

I am too scared.

I am incapable of defeating this enemy.

This kind of talk actually weakens us, because if faith comes from hearing the word of God, then what happens when we hear negativity, does it produce unbelief.

Several years back, I read a story about an incident that took place in an Eskimo village located in Canada’s northern arctic. While out hunting one spring, a hunter came across a lost wolf pup and brought it back to the village.

At first, it was a novelty and everyone’s favourite pet. But the village dogs knew it was the odd man out, and picked on it.

But that wolf started to grow and within a year, it towered above the other dogs in the village in both power and size.

And the writer recalled seeing this massive, full-grown wolf, being chased around the village by the small, yapping house dog. The wolf could have easily killed that dog in a matter of seconds.

But it was completely blinded to its power and strength.

A few days latter, one of the men took the wolf out into the Tundra and shot it, because the day it ever realized what it really was, it would become the most dangerous predator in the village.

But that is what fear and intimidation does, it blinds you to whom you really are.

But along with this lack of confidence, the Israelis had also lost confidence in God’s ability to help them in this battle.

This fear so dominated their thinking that they completely forgot how God had miraculously delivered them out of Egypt just a few weeks earlier.

A spirit of fear actually paralyzes our thinking. It causes you to forget God’s past provision.

We are blinded to God’s ability and to our own.

Secondly, Paul says if we are controlled by a spirit of fear, the love for others begins seeping out of our lives.

The question we need to ask is how will this loss of love actually show up?

Personally, I think it shows up in an increased harshness and judgmental attitudes towards others.

Coming out of this COVID pandemic, I have been shocked by the comments directed towards people who are not vaccinated for COVID, even at times mocking them if they contract the virus.

Look, I am fully vaccinated, but I am shocked by how our so-called civilized society is so eager to turn the unvaccinated into second class citizens. A friend recently told me that his local municipal government just fired all its unvaccinated employees and didn’t even provide them a severance.

I have seen others becoming angry and judgmental towards people who are not taking COVID as serious as they are. I remember watching a video of a man stalking and harassing a woman who was not wearing a mask at a Target store in the US.

He followed her around the store, and was even pointing the woman out to other shoppers and telling them to shame her.

A survey, conducted by One Poll in September 2021, found that one in seven have dumped friends because they weren’t vaccinated.

Another poll conducted by CoinStar discovered that one in eight people will not be giving Christmas presents to family members who disagreed with their position on vaccines and lockdowns.

Another poll conducted by the Trafalgar Group revealed that 22% of Americans believe that people should lose their jobs if they are not vaccinated, and another 12% were unsure.

So what is behind all of this? I believe the Apostle John provides a clue when he wrote:

There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. (1 John 4:18 NASV)

Do you see what he said ‘fear involves punishment’ and I wonder if people who are controlled by a spirit of fear want to see others punished as well?

Read these headlines in light of the Apostle John’s warning:

When people have a spirit of fear, they want to see others punished.

The third thing Paul mentions is that a person who has a spirit of fear loses a sound mind.

What is this referring to?

Fear is primarily an emotion and I believe when we are controlled by a spirit of fear it overrides our thought life, facts and reason are tossed aside as we focus on worst-case scenarios, the dark and ominous ‘what ifs’.

I recently read a story in the Daily Mail, how an employer in Britain asked a woman to quit wearing a decorative spider broach that she had bought online for about $20.

Apparently, one of her coworkers was terrified of spiders and asked the employer to have it removed because she was finding it uncomfortable.

In an article, on Northwestern Medicine’s website, entitled 5 things you don’t know about fear, the author says that fear can make you foggy writing:

As some parts of your brain are revving up, others are shutting down. When the amygdala senses fear, the cerebral cortex (area of the brain that harnesses reasoning and judgment) becomes impaired — so now it’s difficult to make good decisions or think clearly. As a result, you might scream and throw your hands up when approached by an actor in a haunted house, unable to rationalize that the threat is not real.

I like how they described it as a fogged mind, when we are controlled by fear. We can’t see clearly, and similar to someone out on a foggy night, a person can start seeing imaginary monsters floating through the mist.

I remember a few months back, a younger person in his 20s died of COVID in the area where I live. Now it is ‘very’ unusual for a person this age to die of COVID and the article was quick to point out that he had severe underlying health issues.

But when a woman posted this story on Facebook, the first thing she said was

“I don’t want anyone talking about his underlying health issues.”

She wanted everyone to be as terrified of COVID as she was. She did not want anyone dispelling her fear by pointing out that he had underlying health issues, even though the young man would have undoubtedly survived COVID if he wasn’t so seriously sick.

But she wanted none of this.

Her emotional fear was more real than solid fact. She did not want to be talked out of her fear, and was almost angry at any who would try.

We need to respect COVID, but God does not want us to be terrified of it.

So in closing, if you feel like you are being controlled by a spirit of fear, how do we deal with it?

It primarily comes down to controlling your thought life and that will be one of the most difficult things you will ever do as we can sometimes build up ruts in our mind because of bad thinking.

And just like the wheels of car, your mind wants to fall back into the ruts, your old habits of thinking.

I remember a couple of years back reading an interesting statement that you have about 90 seconds to take control of a thought that enters your mind or it will control of you.

And this is exactly the point that the Apostle Paul made in Romans 12:2, when he said that we are transformed, literally changed, by the renewing of our mind.

God wants to transform your thinking.

With the help of God’s word and the Holy Spirit, we need to take control of our thought life.

We need to, as Paul writes, take captive every thought.

Sources: 5 Things You Never Knew About Fear

Originally posted: Sept 8, 2015

Hi my name is Dean Smith and in this podcast I want to ask: Is there a demonic root to communism?

Some may consider that an odd topic since communist regimes are officially atheistic.

But communism is very much in vogue these days, with an odd twist.

We have the left wing anarchists calling for communism in America, while at the same time tens of thousands of Cubans were taking to the streets calling for an end to communism in the island nation.

Ironically, those who have never experienced Communism want it and those who have actually lived under it are desperate to get rid of it.

But with Cubans taking to the streets, I thought it appropriate to discuss an interesting article in the New York Post written by Juan Reinaldo Sanchez back in 2015. The article was entitled: Inside Fidel Castor’s Luxurious Life on His Secret Island Getaway.

You have probably never heard of Juan, but for 17 years he worked as personal security for Fidel Castro, otherwise known as ‘el commandante’, the glorious leader of Cuba’s glorious communist revolution.

Juan appeared in the background of dozens of publicity photos taken of Castro at home and abroad.

In 1994, Juan had enough and retired, and as thanks for his years of service, Castro promptly threw Juan in prison for several years. After his release, Juan fled to the United States.

Once in America, Juan wrote a book entitled the “The Double life of Fidel Castro.” It was the hypocrisy he witnessed first hand that finally sickened Juan of Fidel Castro and his glorious communist revolution.

During his presidential reign, Castro was famous for his five hours speeches and currently holds the record for the longest-winded speech at the UN, 4 hours and 29 minutes.

During his speeches, Castro typically wore his army fatigues and boasted he was a man of the people and only earned the equivalent of a paltry $38 US a month and repeatedly claimed he only owned a small fishing hut on the ocean.

But the reality was much more incredible than that, Castro showed the world what you could do with a measly $38 a month if you simply embraced Marxism.

Because according to Juan while earning only $38 a month, Fidel managed to own 20 properties across Cuba, including a luxury home that he built on a small island just off the coast of Cuba called Cayo Piedra or Little Jewel.

Incredibly, with his $38 monthly stipend, Castro was also able to staff his homes. He also owned a large yacht, now to be fair it was donated by Soviet Union President Leonid Brezhnev. But still Fidel was able to pay for crew, gas, food, and the nightly parties from his $38 monthly salary.

It showed how a person could stretch their finances under communism if you just embraced this ideology and put your mind to it.

And he even had a fully stocked hospital. When I say stocked, I mean fully stocked. According to Juan, it included two people with the same blood type as Fidel.

I see a great title for another blockbuster movie, “Vampires of the Caribbean, how communism sucks the life out of you.”

Look I can understand how left wing anarchists are clamouring for communism in America. If you get all this for $38 US a month, what could you expect under Marxism while earning America’s median salary of $3,900 a month.

Yet, for some bizarre reason, tens of thousands of Cubans took to the streets marching and protesting against Cuba’s glorious communist revolution.

Of course, communism was originally the brain child of a German man, Karl Marx, who died in 1883. He wrote the Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital, two major books that provided the basic economic theory behind communism explaining, how you could afford everything Castro had on just $38 US a month?

Marx also called for the end of capitalism and the development of a classless society, as workers rose up and destroyed the ruling bourgeoisie.

Of course, he was simply replacing the current bourgeoisie with a communist one.

And we need to understand a classless society as Fidel understood it.

Several years back, I remember watching an interview of a young man sitting at a Marxist/Leninist propaganda table at a university. When the interviewer asked him to explain all the communist failures over the past several decades, the man retorted he would do communism differently.

And today’s communists are trying to spin these past failures by claiming they weren’t true communism, because they never developed a classless society.

Many tried, but man’s old sinful nature got in the way, time and again.

What is that modern definition of insanity that we often toss around: Doing the same thing again and again, but expecting a different result.

I hate to disappoint you, but not everyone gets their own personal hospital that includes two people with their blood type under communism.

But as communism took root around the world, we have seen nothing but oppression, poverty, denial of basic human rights and tens of millions of deaths.

And this ideology falls in line with what Jesus said in John 10:10, that the thief, an allusion to satan, comes to steal, kill and destroy, which is essentially communism’s motto.

But is there a spiritual dimension to communism?

Though Marx ultimately became famous as the founder of communism, he also had a dark side, yeah one darker than communism.

Karl Marx was a poet. And before he founded communism, he was also a Christian and even wrote Christian literature.

So he understood Christianity and the Bible. He understood God and satan. He understood good and evil.

And as we look at his poetry, we see references to the satanic realm, as he embraced this new strange ideology that dominated much of the world this past century.

In his poem, entitled The Player, Karl Marx wrote these ominous words:

“The hellish vapours rise and fill the brain, till I go mad and my heart is utterly changed
See this sword, the prince of Darkness sold it to me.

And

With Satan I have struck my deal.”

Though Marxist supporters have tried to brush it off as just poetry, Marx knew exactly what he was saying, and almost prophetically, the sword, accompanied by blood and violence, followed communism where ever it gained a foot hold.

The Black Book of Communism, published in 1997, and written by several European academics, detailed the mass murders and genocides committed by communist regimes around the world.

They concluded that up to that point, Communism was directly responsible for at least 100 million deaths including:

But Marx’s poetry had other satanic allusions.

In his poem, Invocation of One in Despair, Marx writes about building his throne high overhead:

“So a god has snatched from me my all
In the curse and rack of destiny,
All his words are gone beyond recall, nothing but revenge is left in me.
I shall build my throne high overhead.
Cold, tremendous shall its summit be
For its bulwark — superstitious dread
For its marshal — blackest agony.”

And when we combine these words with another poem where Marx declares himself equal with God:

“Then I will walk triumphantly
Like a god through the rains of their kingdom
Every word of mine is fire and action
My breast is equal to that of the creator.”

You see an eery resemblance to the words of the Prophet Isaiah, as he described the fall of satan writing:

“But you (satan) said in your heart,
I will ascend to heaven
I will raise my throne above the stars of God
And I will sit on the mount of assembly
In the recesses of the north (Isaiah 14:13-14 NASV)

And in his book, The Devil and Karl Marx, College professor Dr Paul Kengor noted that Karl Marx was often heard chanting one of his favorite sayings:

“Everything that exists deserves to perish”

Kengor said Marx would chant it over and over again. It was actually a direct quote from the Demonic being Mephistopheles in Johann Goethe’s book entitled Faust, where Faust sells his soul to the devil in exchange for wisdom and worldly pleasures.

But there may be another interesting connection between communism and the demonic found in the Book of Revelation, the Apostle John’s vision of the end times. In Revelation chapter 2, John had an unusual word for the church at Pergamum, writing:

And to the angel of the church of Pergamum write: I know where you dwell (katoikeo), where Satan’s throne is and you hold fast My name and did not deny My faith even in the days of Antipas, My witness, My faithful one, who was killed among you, where satan dwells (katoikeo) … (Revelation 2:12-13 NASV)

The same Greek word for dwell, katoikeo, is used to describe both the believers and Satan dwelling in Pergamum. According to the Expository Dictionary of the New Testament, the word means “to settle down in a dwelling, to dwell fixedly in a place.”

In other words, at this point in history, Satan was literally dwelling in the city of Pergamum located in modern Turkey.

But Pergamum was more than just a dwelling place for Satan, the passage adds that Satan also had his throne there, meaning it was also the seat of authority for the satanic kingdom.

And there was an actual physical representation of this authority at Pergamum, because it was also the home of the throne of Zeus — a massive altar built around 200 BC. It was a 35.64 meters wide and 33.4 meters deep.

The altar existed when the Apostle John wrote Revelation, and this was the throne of Satan that John was referring to.

But as Christianity became dominant in Rome, the Pergamum altar fell out of use and gradually disappeared, covered by debris and dirt.

Forgotten for nearly 2,000 years, the altar was rediscovered by German archaeologists in 1878, who then transferred in to a museum on Berlin’s Museum Island in 1901.

Was this move, resurrecting the throne of satan significant?

Well, 13 years after its arrival, World War I started, which was largely instigated by the Germans and Austrians, that resulted in the death of 16 million people.

Then in 1939, Germany under Adolf Hitler started World War II where over 60 million were killed, including 6 million Jews in concentration camps.

Was there a demonic influence behind World War I and later Adolf Hitler or was the thrones’ arrival in Berlin just a coincidence?

Neil Kressel in his book, Mass Hate: The Global Rise Of Genocide And Terror, said this about Hitler:

“Overwhelmingly … Germans speak with mystification of Hitler’s ‘hypnotic’ appeal. The word shows up again and again; Hitler is said to have mesmerized the nation, captured them in a trance from which they could not break loose.”

While many have tried to label Hitler as a right wing dictator. In fact, he rose to power as leader of National Socialist German Workers’ Party, which became know as the Nazi party.

But then a strange thing happens, the Pergamum alter is moved.

After the defeat of Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union — which captured Berlin — took the altar as a spoils of war — transferring it to the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad in 1945.

For most of the time it was there, the country was ruled by Josef Stalin who died in 1953 — arguably the second-greatest mass murder the world has ever seen, second only to Mao.

Now to be fair, Stalin was involved in genocide long before the throne of Satan arrived, but after its arrival, Stalin set up the Eastern Bloc made up of countries the Soviets had supposedly liberated in their push to defeat Hitler.

For the next several decades, as we entered the Cold War era, the Soviet Union exported communism around the world.

In 1958, the Soviets returned the Pergamum altar to communist controlled East Germany. With the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, East Germany was eventually reunited with West Germany.

Today, the altar of Satan sits in the Pergamon Museum in Berlin.

The altar of Zeus or the throne of Satan as John called it has no inherent power. In the Book of Revelation, it outwardly symbolized what was taking place in the spiritual realm. And I suspect the location of this satanic seat of authority has moved over the years.

And though most try to laugh off Marx’s satanic allusions as the words of a poet, there are indications Marx was taking it much more seriously.

READ: Inside Fidel Castro’s luxurious life on his secret island getaway

Hi my name is Dean Smith and in this podcast, I want to discuss an issue that has puzzled many people namely: why don’t we find any mention of the devastating 10 plaques or Israel’s departure in Egypt’s archaeological records.

Though Egyptian pharaohs were notorious for downplaying their defeats and glorifying their victories, you would think there would be at least some hint of Israel’s exodus.

Well in fact there is a reference to the plagues, but it hasn’t caught most Christian’s attention because it requires a major rethink of when the Exodus took place. Because, it puts the exodus about 300 years earlier than traditionally believed.

And as an added bonus, in this podcast I will reveal who I think was the actual Pharaoh of the Exodus.

If you have watched any of the movies about Israel’s exodus out of Egypt, they always portray the Pharaoh as a bald-headed Rameses II, arguably one of Egypt’s most powerful and famous pharaohs, who ruled between 1279 and 1213 BC.

There is a reason for this. Because in the Biblical account, we find four references to Ramses. But in each instance, the name is used to describe a city or territory, and not the actual name of the Pharaoh.

That is important because cities, regions and even countries can change their name over time, particularly when there is a new government in power.

And we even see the same thing occurring in Genesis 47:11:

11 So Joseph settled his father and his brothers in Egypt and gave them property in the best part of the land, the district of Rameses, as Pharaoh directed.

It was called the district of Rameses, even though Pharaoh Rameses would not show up until much later, if you hold he was the actual Pharaoh of the Exodus account.

A chapter earlier, this same area is described as the land of Goshen in Genesis 46:3.

Though this seems like a discrepancy, it isn’t. These ancient manuscripts were meticulously rewritten by hand down through the generations, and as the names changed over time, later scribes chose at times to use the area’s current name, that people were familiar with, rather than using its original name.

And this paves the way for an ancient papyrus on display at the Dutch National Museum of Antiquities located in Leiden, Holland.

Called the Ipuwer papyrus, it was discovered in 1828, but wasn’t translated until 1909, when Professor Alan Gardner discovered it was a lament speaking of a very chaotic time in Egypt’s history.

It spoke of disasters, deaths, mysterious natural phenomena and famine.

It was written by a man named Ipuwer who may have actually witnessed the events he was describing as he mixes historical with current events.

The Ipuwer papyrus is dated to the New Kingdom period of Egypt that started around 1550 BC.

In the papyrus, Ipuwer also referred to a group called the Asiatics and most believe this is a reference to an unusual time in Egypt’s history, when the Hyksos, a Semitic people similar to the Jews, conquered the northern half of Egypt in the 17th century BC, driving the Egyptian government into the southern half of the Nile delta.

When the Hyksos took over, they simply assumed the Egyptian government as the Hyksos leaders adopted the title of Pharaoh. They even embraced Egyptian culture, as archaeologist have found sphinxes with the heads of Hyksos pharaohs carved on them.

Around 1550 BC, the Egyptians were finally able to drive the Hyksos from Northern Egypt and retake the Nile Delta. In his papyrus, Ipuwer was referring to the period shortly after the Egyptians regained control and warned the current rulers if they did not rule honestly, Egypt would be judged by their gods similar to what happened years earlier.

And then, Ipuwer goes on to describe some of these judgments that are eerily similar to several of the plagues mentioned in the Book of Exodus.
In the following comparison of the Ipuwer plagues with the Biblical plagues, I used a translation provided by Rabbi Mordechai Becher of OHR Somayach a Jewish seminary.

First, we see a a reference to the first plague found in Exodus 7:20, when God turned the water of the Nile river into blood. It was undrinkable and the Egyptians were forced to dig wells to find clean water (Exodus 7:24)

The Ipuwer papyrus reads:  “The river is blood. Men shrink from tasting — human beings, and thirst after water.” (Ipuwer 2:10)

Secondly, we also have a reference to the fifth plague mentioned in Exodus 9:3, when God struck the cattle and all the animals of Egypt with a plague.
Ipuwer papyrus reads:

“All the animals, their hearts weep. Cattle moan…” (Ipuwer 5:5).

Thirdly, the Ipuwer Papyrus also discusses the sixth plague, when God judged the Egyptians with festering boils that broke out into open wounds. It not only struck people, but animals as well (Exodus 9:8-9).

The Ipuwer papyrus reads:

Fourthly, there is also a reference to the seventh plague, when God sent a massive hail storm that destroyed the herbs (Exodus 9:24-25) and flax and barley crops which were close to harvest (Exodus 9:31-32)

Ipuwer papyrus speaks of a crop failure that affected the Egyptian revenues. It reads:

In connection with the seventh plague, the Bible mentions a massive storm that resulted in lightning that rolled along the ground. Fire was mixed with the hail (Exodus 9:23-24).

The Ipuwer papyrus also speaks of damage due to fire:

Fifthly, the Ipuwer papyrus also mentions the ninth plaque found in Exodus 10:22 where it says that a great darkness covered the land for three days.

The Ipuwer papyrus says:

And this is not the only reference to the plague of darkness from Egyptian archaeology.

The Tempest Stele, a stone monument discovered in Egypt dated to the same times as the events mentioned in the Ipuwer Papyrus, describes a darkness so intense that the Egyptians were unable to light their lamps. Describing the same event, the Bible adds that it was so dark that people could not see each other, and the Egyptians did not leave their homes for three days (Exodus 10).

And finally, there is also a mention of the the last plague, the death of the firstborn, when God sent a death angel to kill the first-born of every family, including the Pharaoh’s (Exodus 12:29-30). The Bible adds that a great cry was heard across Egypt.

Ipuwer papyrus also refers to this plague describing it this way:

But the similarity does not stop there. The Ipuwer papyrus also referred to a couple of other unusual events connected with Israel’s exodus out of Egypt.
Ipuwer talks about a massive transfer of wealth from Egyptians to the slaves of society writing:

What would happen to cause such a strange thing to take place.

We know from the Biblical account, that towards the end of their stay in Egypt, the pharaoh was treating the Hebrews as slaves.

But a strange thing happens after the Pharaoh finally allowed Israel to leave after the deaths of the firstborn.

We read in Exodus 12:35-36, that as they were about to leave, the Hebrews asked the Egyptians for gold and silver, call it back pay for their years of slavery.

Having just experienced God’s judgment through the plagues, it’s obvious by this point the Egyptians were terrified of the Israelis.

According to Ipuwer much of it showed up in the form of jewellery as they poured out of their homes handing over their wealth.

But there is another reference in the papyrus that addresses a second event unique to this time. As Israel was leaving, the Bible says that God led them with a pillar of smoke by day and a pillar of fire by night (Exodus 13:21).

The Ipuwer papyrus also refers to a fire high in the sky, but puts a bit of spin stating that they believed the Egyptian gods were pouring down fire on their enemies. At least that’s what was stated in the official release by the Pharaoh’s press office:

Ipuwer writes:

So despite these very distinct similarities between the Biblical plagues and what is mentioned in the Ipuwer Papyrus, we have to address the bigger issue.
Is there any evidence in the Bible to support this later date for the Exodus?

I believe there is.

If the Ipuwer Papyrus suggests that the plagues of Egypt took place 300 years earlier, shortly after the Hyksos were driven out of Northern Egypt, then this also means that Joseph arrived in Egypt while the Hyksos were in control of Northern Egypt.

As a fellow Semite, Joseph would have had a similar language and culture to the Hyksos and this explains why he so easily rose up to second in command in Egypt.

It also explains why the Hyksos welcomed Joseph’s extended family to settle in some of the prime land in Egypt.

But this also explains two other puzzling passages related to the Exodus story.

The first is found in Genesis 39:1-5. After Joseph was sold into slavey by his brothers to a band of passing Ishmaelites, they headed off to Egypt, and sold Joseph to Potiphar, the head of security for the Pharaoh.

But in the five verses describing this sale, a very strange thing happens.

We are told three times that Potiphar was an Egyptian.

He is described as the “Egyptian officer of Pharaoh,” in verse one. In verse two, Potipher is described as Joseph’s “Egyptian master” and verse 5 also describes Potipher’s house as the “the Egyptian’s home.”

So what is strange about that you ask?

Well it is this.

In the matter of five verses, Moses specifically tells us three times that Potipher was an Egyptian, when he didn’t even need to mention it once, because we would have just presumed the head of the Pharaoh’s security was an Egyptian.

And equally bizarre, Moses specifically described Potipher, as the Egyptian officer of the Pharaoh.

It is like me saying did you know the President of the United States is an American. Then a few second later later jabbing you in the ribs and telling you again he is an American and then two seconds later mentioning he even owns a house in America.

If I did that you would think I was a bit off my rocker, because of course we know he is an American.

But this is essentially what Moses did.

So why did Moses do this?

Because of the obvious focus on Potipher’s Egyptian heritage, we have to conclude that the fact he was Egyptian was very strange and Moses emphasized it several times to make this point.

And the only time this would be unusual is if Potipher, the Egyptian, was serving as head of security during the reign of a Hyksos pharaoh.

And as strange as that sounds, using local people as head of security during a time of occupation is not all that unusual. When the Germans invaded France during World War II, they only had 7,500 German administrators and military in the country, and used the French police and militia to maintain their control of France. And having French police serving in this way would be useful because they were familiar with the French language and culture.

Then finally in the first chapter of Exodus leading up to Israel’s exodus from Egypt we find another interesting passage.

In Exodus 1:8, we read:

“Now a new King rose over Egypt who did not know Joseph (Exodus 1:8)

Why is this pharaoh described as new king?

During the previous couple of hundred years or so, there would have undoubtedly been several different Hyksos pharaohs.

But there was something different about this one and we are told what it is.

This new pharaoh did not know Joseph or the Hebrews living in the land.

I believe this verse is describing the arrival of the Egyptian Pharaoh Ahmose I, who drove the Hyksos out of Northern Egypt. After regaining this lost territory, the Egyptian Pharaoh had no idea who these strange people were, now living in Egypt’s former territory.

So, Ahmose decides to enslave the Hebrews, but notice the reason he gave for doing this:

“Come let us deal wisely with them [the Israelites] or else they will multiply, and in the event of war, they will also join themselves to those who hate us, and fight against us and depart from their land.”

The new king was very concerned that the Hebrews would join Egypt’s enemy in the event of a war.

Who was this enemy that the pharaoh was concerned about? And why was he concerned that the Hebrews would join them in a war against Egypt?

Ahmose was undoubtedly talking about the Hyksos, that he had just driven out of Northern Egypt, and because of the similar culture, Ahmose was equally concerned Israel would ally with the Hyksos if they ever retried to take Egypt.

So this leads us to our final question. Who was the pharaoh of the Exodus?

Well it was certainly not Ahmose, because several years would pass before Moses approached the pharaoh asking for the release of the Hebrews.

We are told that Moses was adopted into the family of the Pharaoh as a baby where he grew up and later fled Egypt after killing an Egyptian guard and then spent several years in the wilderness, before returning Egypt to lead the Hebrews to the Promised Land.

At this point, Moses was undoubtedly confronting Ahmose’s son, Amenhotep who reigned from 1524 to 1504 BC and because we don’t know how much time there was between the plagues, it is possible they started in Ahmose’ reign and finished in his son’s.

And there is one final detail about Amenhotep’s reign that has an interesting Biblical twist. In his article entitled, Amenhotep, the second king of Egypt’s 18th dynasty, author Jimmy Dunn writes:

“Some information appears to indicate that Amenhotep I’s son died in infancy and that the Pharaoh died childless.”

This confirms what the Bible says about the final plague, that the killing of the first born also touched the pharaoh’s home.

Despite the movies and documentaries portraying the Pharaoh of the Exodus as being Rameses, I believe the Biblical record and archaeology suggests it was actually Amenhotep.

Thanks for joining me on this podcast and we will catch you again

Source:

Hi, my name is Dean Smith and in this podcast, I want to talk about one of the worst chapter breaks in the Bible and how it has the potential to profoundly impact our relationship with God.

You may have never heard of Stephen Langton, but as a Christian you are very familiar with his work.

Langton was the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury between 1207 and 1228 AD. About a year before he died, Langton created the chapter system used in the Old and New Testament. The verses were not added until nearly 200 years later.

Though these have proven hugely beneficial, some chapter divisions tear apart stories that were obviously intended to be together.

But before I criticize one of Langton’s chapter breaks, you first need to know a bit about Langton. Though relatively unknown, his work has had a profound impact on western society.

I would rank him among the top ten most influential Christians in the past 1,000 years or so, and most believers don’t even know who he is, myself included.

Because, in addition to creating the Bible’s chapter breaks, Langton played a major role in writing the Magna Carta which many believe is the most important political document ever written, because it started the journey from tyrants to democracies.

In a nutshell, the Magna Carta stated that all men are equal. That Kings are equally subject to the country’s laws, just like the lowliest of peasants.

The problem first started with Langton’s appointment as archbishop of Canterbury by the Pope, challenging earlier appointments by Britain’s King John. This challenge to King John’s authority ultimately led to a confrontation between King John and the Barons, who were opposed to King John’s arbitrary seizure of property and execution of people he didn’t like.

In addition, King John involved himself in several wars and wars need taxes to pay for them. If King John’s army needed horses, and you were riding by on one, too bad.

The conflict heated up when King John demanded that Langton give up Rochester Castle. Langton refused because it was an unlawful order. In other words, King John was not above the law of the land.

As the conflict heated up between the barons, who agreed with Langton, and the King of England, the Magna Carta was essentially the peace treaty reached between the king and the barons in 1215 avoiding a potential civil war.

It principally stated that everyone was subject to due process by law, that Kings could not execute or arrest anyone simply because they didn’t like them. Everyone needed their day in court. As well, King John could not just seize property when he needed cash, and it also guaranteed freedom of religion.

Though the treaty was eventually broken, the Magna Carta challenged the absolute authority of Kings. And Langton came to this conclusion that this was necessary from his study of the Bible where he believed that God did not want the world to be ruled by Kings, who, if they had unrestrained power would become tyrannical and oppressive.

The Magna Carta, that was one of the earliest political declarations on human rights, paved the way for our modern democracies.

So I have the upmost respect for Langton, as he faced down one or Britain’s more brutal monarchs, but as for the 1,189 chapters he created, I have issue with a few of them.

With that in mind, I want to discuss arguably the worst chapter breaks in the Bible.

By their very nature, chapter breaks indicate a new line of thought and this is the impression we get with the break between Matthew 3 and Matthew 4, as it puts a wedge between two incidents in Jesus life, that are intricately connected.

Let’s first discuss the incident that took place in Matthew chapter 4, where we have the record of Satan’s temptation of Jesus in the wilderness.

Satan threw three temptations at Christ, but I want to look at what I consider the most insidious.

In verse three, Satan challenged Jesus’s stating:

“If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” Matthew 4:3 ESV

The attack was subtle, but it was also a trap.

Satan was asking Jesus to prove He was the Son of God by turning a rock into bread. In other words, it was miracles and power that would prove Christ’s identity as the Son of God.

So how did Jesus respond to Satan’s challenge?

The Lord simply replied:

“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,    but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4 ESV)

Now over the years, people have customarily interpreted this to mean that God’s word, the Bible, is to be our food. We must look to the Bible for our nourishment and growth.

But this verse is not about food, it is about identity.

Because of Langton’s misplaced chapter break, we miss the critical point that Jesus was making.

While Satan was saying Christ needed to prove His Sonship through a power demonstration, Jesus countered this by saying His identity was based solely on what God said about Jesus.

So, had God previously said anything to Christ?

In fact, God had.

Three verses earlier, but in the previous chapter, God spoke to Jesus at his baptism, saying:

“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” Matthew 3:17 ESV

But because of the chapter break, these two stories seem like they are separated by miles, but obviously Matthew intended these two accounts, separated by just three verses, to be together.

Here is what Jesus was actually saying. The Lord stated that His identity was not based on what He did, but rather on who God said Jesus was.

Because Jesus chose to believe what God said about Him, the Lord did not need to prove His Sonship to Himself or anyone.

If Jesus’s identity was based on what He did, then Jesus would have been the Son of God at Bethany when He raised Lazarus from the dead in Luke 11, but not the Son of God in Nazareth, where Mark says He could not perform many miracles because of their unbelief (Mark 6:5).

In other words, Jesus was still the son of God whether He performed a miracle or not.

Had Christ got sucked in to defining His relationship with God by what He did, it was a roller coaster that Jesus could never get off. Because it would never be good enough, every week Satan would have a new challenge — well if you are the son of God now do this or this.

Years ago, I was worked for a pastor who was caught up in this. Every year the annual church camp needed to be better, more powerful, more anointed than the year previous. They weren’t, and frankly it didn’t matter if they were or not. But it mattered to the pastor because his identity was wrapped in what he accomplished. If the camp was a washout, then so was the pastor.

This put intense pressure on anyone who worked for him.

Unfortunately, this is how many Christians live our lives because we have not fully settled who we are in Christ.

One day we feel like a Christian and the next day we don’t. One day we feel accepted by God, the next day we don’t. Many times those feelings come and go because of what we have done. If we commit a sin, we are not a child of God. Have a pretty good day, then we are.

However, the Bible tells us that because of what Jesus did on the cross:

God is well-pleased with us every hour of every day not because of how we live, but based solely on Christ’s redeeming work.

The first thing that Jesus did before He started His public ministry was settle His identity in God, and this must be our top priority as well.