Tuesday, December 27, 2016

ISRAEL IS NOT CAST AWAY - ROMANS 11








I say then, has God rejected and disowned His people? Certainly not! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. God has not rejected His [chosen] people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?

“Lord, they have killed Your prophets, they have torn down Your altars, and I alone am left [of the prophets], and they are seeking my life.” But what is God’s response to him? “I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”

So too then, at the present time there has come to be a remnant [a small believing minority] according to God’s gracious choice. But if it is by grace [God’s unmerited favor], it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace [it would not be a gift but a reward for works].

What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking [that is, God’s favor by obedience to the Law], but the elect [those chosen few] obtained it, while the rest of them became hardened and callously indifferent; just as it is written [in Scripture],
“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
Eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear[a spiritual apathy that has continued] to this very day.”
And David says,
“Let their table (abundance) become a snare and a trapA stumbling block and a retribution to them “Let their eyes be darkened so that they do not seeAnd make their backs bend [under their burden] forever.”
So I say, have they stumbled so as to fall [to spiritual ruin]? Certainly not! But by their transgression [their rejection of the Messiah] salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make Israel jealous [when they realize what they have forfeited].
Now if Israel’s transgression means riches for the world [at large] and their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fulfillment and reinstatement be!
But now I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, in the hope of somehow making my fellow countrymen jealous [by stirring them up so that they will seek the truth] and perhaps save some of them. For if their [present] rejection [of salvation] is for the reconciliation of the world [to God], what will their acceptance [of salvation] be but [nothing less than] life from the dead?
If the first portion [of dough offered as the first fruits] is holy, so is the whole batch; and if the root (Abraham, the patriarchs) is holy, so are the branches (the Israelites).
But if some of the branches were broken off, and you [Gentiles], being like a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them to share with them the rich root of the olive tree, do not boast over the [broken] branches and exalt yourself at their expense. If you do boast and feel superior, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root that supports you.

You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand by your faith [as believers understanding the truth of the coming Kingdom of God]. Do not be conceited, but rather stand in great awe of God; for if God did not spare the natural branches [because of unbelief], He will not spare you either.

Then appreciate the gracious kindness and the severity of God: to those who fell [into spiritual ruin], severity, but to you God's gracious kindness; IF you continue in His kindness [by faith and obedience to Him]; otherwise you too will be cut off. And even they [the unbelieving Jews], if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in; for God has the power to graft them in again.

For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and against nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much easier will it be to graft these who are the natural branches back into [the original parent stock of] their own olive tree?

I do not want you, believers, to be unaware of this mystery [God’s previously hidden plan]; so that you will not be wise in your own opinion; that a partial hardening has [temporarily] happened to Israel [to last] until the full number of the Gentiles has come in; and so [at that time] all Israel [that is, all Jews who have a personal faith in Jesus as their Messiah] will be saved; just as it is written [in Scripture],
“The Deliverer (Messiah) will come from Zion,
He will remove ungodliness from Jacob.”
“This is My covenant with them,
When I take away their sins.”
From the standpoint of the gospel, the Jews [at present] are enemies [of God] for your sake [which is for your benefit], but from the standpoint of God’s choice [of the Jews as His people], they are still loved by Him for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable [for He does not withdraw what He has given, nor does He change His mind about those to whom He gives His grace or to whom He sends His call].

Just as you once were disobedient and failed to listen to God, but have now obtained mercy because of their disobedience, so they too have now become disobedient so that they too may one day receive mercy because of the mercy shown to you. For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all [Jew and Gentile alike].

Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and decisions and how unfathomable and untraceable are His ways!

For who has known the mind of the Lordor who has been His counselorOr who has first given to Him that it would be paid back to him? For from Him [all things originate] and through Him [all things live and exist] and to Him are all things [directed]. To Him be glory and honor forever! Amen.

Thursday, December 22, 2016

THY KINGDOM COME

In a day when the foundations of society are crumbling, a day of gathering storm and deepening gloom, a day of unprecedented dented peril in which thoughtful men speak of the collapse of civilization and the possible annihilation of cities and nations; even of mankind, the sovereignty of God is an unfailing encouragement that lights the path of the just and affords assurance to all the faithful, who take great comfort in the words of James in the historic council of the church at Jerusalem: "Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world" (Acts 15:18).

God, who has "declared the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done," has said, "My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure" (Isaiah 46: 10). He who "works all things after the counsel of His own will" is at work in the world in these momentous times, moving inexorably toward fulfillment of an eternal purpose that antedates creation and gives meaning to human history.

History, by divine appointment, is teleological, and the sweep of human events, whatever the sound and the fury, moves toward the appointed end: "Thy Kingdom Come."

Nothing in the course of events can alter the appointed outcome. The unfolding of the days and years, whatever their number, ultimately will issue in all that was foretold by the prophets of old, by our lord, and by his Apostles. The witness of history past, confirming "the prophetic word made sure" (2 Peter 1:19), attests that human events ever move toward the inevitable denouement on which creation itself is predicated: the coming of "The Kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world."

There is, of course, a sense in which the kingdom of God is eternally present rather than prospective, co-existent with Him who "before the mountains were brought forth or ever [He] had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, [is] God" (Psalm 90:2). But the Kingdom of God, as proclaimed and anticipated by both Jesus and the Apostles and prophets of old, is yet future and awaits its manifestation at the end of this age, to appear in a moment of spectacular divine intervention at the coming of God’s anointed one in power and judgment ... but appearing also as the consummation of a long process, as implied by many of our lord's parables.

Why a long process? Why not, instead, instant kingdom? Could not God, in the act of a moment, have created the everlasting kingdom He purposed from eternity? Are not all things possible for God? All things indeed are possible for God, but only within the limitations of consistency with His own nature and being.' God cannot lie, for example, nor can He change, nor can He deny Himself. We may reverently assume that, for the kind of kingdom He intends, God is following the only possible course: the process of human history.

The process comprehends all that God has done, beginning even before His mighty acts of creation when He "laid the foundations of the earth [and] the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy" (Job 38:4,7). It comprehends the creation of angels before earth itself and the origin of sin in the transgression of angels against the will of their Creator. It comprehends the creation of man in the image and likeness of God and the entrance of sin into human experience in the disobedience of man to the word and will of his Creator.

The process comprehends the moral self-discoveries and the redemptive revelations and encounters experienced by the patriarchs of old and all the faithful of their generations. It comprehends the experiences of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and a nation descended from them, and the judges and kings and prophets who appeared among them.

The process comprehends the redemptive mission of Jesus, unfolded in His unique birth, life, ministry, death, resurrection, ascension, and his ultimate return in righteous judgment. It comprehends the labors of the Apostles and the witness of the called-out Assembly to God’s anointed one and His saving message of the good news of the coming Kingdom of God in all generations until the coming of the King and the Kingdom.

The process whereby God is creating the Kingdom which He purposed before the world began comprehends "all nations of men ... on all the face of the earth" (Acts 17:26) and involves every man.

Human history in its totality is the milieu in which the everlasting kingdom is being wrought ... and in which THE ELECTION determined by God from before creation; an ELECTION wholly identified with the Kingdom; is being realized.

"Thy kingdom come"; the Kingdom which was the concern of Jesus in the days of his flesh, the burden of his preaching, the subject of splendid promises and solemn warnings, and the central theme of all his teaching from the beginning of his ministry to the time of his ascension (Acts 1:3). Thy kingdom come!

Psalm 72:19: And blessed be His glorious name forever: and let the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and Amen.

Saturday, December 3, 2016

What's the Point Of Prayer If God Know's The Future?

God's foreknowledge has nothing to do with the reason we aught to pray to Him. The inhabitants of Nineveh prayed when Jonah came through the city telling them God was going to destroy that city and as a result God repented of His decision as Jonah knew he probably would and wasn't happy about God's decision. God answers the prayers of all those who come before Him in a humble and contrite attitude of heart. Heartfelt prayers move God to act in mercy and loving kindness and He always answers the prayer of a humble and contrite person, unless in His over-all plan He sees that giving that person an answer would not be to their good as to the end result He sees for them. That is why some are not healed or don't receive an immediate answer to their heartfelt prayers. God know what is best for us and as a result acts toward us accordingly.

When we pray to our God and our Father we are talking to Him and letting him know how much we love Him and thanking Him for all he has given us through His beloved son Jesus. We have truth, light, life, and know the way to entrance to the coming kingdom of God to be established in the coming new age. He has given us the right to come boldly into His presence as His begotten sons as his little children to experience His loving arms drawing us to Himself. With all of this before me, why would I not want to come to God in prayer, telling Him about all that I need help for and waiting on His grace to assist me in those things. He has given us an paracletos - one who comes along side to help us and his name is Jesus. He has given us a High Priest in heaven for us to intervene for us as our advocate and his name is Jesus. He has given us a comforter who promises to be with us always and his name is Jesus. He has given us the life giving spirit to be with us and his name is Jesus. Why would I not come before the throne of Jesus' God and ours, Jesus Father and ours and give him thanks for all His wonderful grace poured out on all of us who do not deserve anything at all and yet He has blessed us immeasurably! Halil Yah - Praise God.

Hebrews 13:15 Through him - Jesus therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.

When we do this more and more we will feel the presence of the One with whom we have to do. It is a great comfort to know we are never alone, that our God has provided a person to come alongside us to help keep us on the narrow path that leads to life in the coming new age. That fact alone should to give us reason to come before our God and our Father with thanksgiving and praise continually. Indeed what a friend we have in Jesus and what a Father we have in our God who gives us all we have need of!

Friday, November 11, 2016

Is Yehovah in Control

 Before we can learn to trust that God is in control of all of life’s circumstances, we have to answer four questions: Is God really in control? How much control does He have? If He is not in complete control, then who/what is? How can I learn to trust that He is in control and rest in that?

Is God really in control? The concept of the control of God over everything is called the “sovereignty” of God. Nothing gives us strength and confidence like an understanding of the sovereignty of God in our lives. God’s sovereignty is defined as His complete and total independent control over every creature, event, and circumstance at every moment in history. Subject to none, influenced by none, absolutely independent, God does what He pleases, only as He pleases, always as He pleases. God is in complete control of every molecule in the universe at every moment, and everything that happens is either caused or allowed by Him for His own perfect purposes. 

“The LORD of hosts has sworn, saying, ‘Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass, And as I have purposed, so it shall stand’” (Isaiah 14:24). Nothing is random or comes by chance, especially not in the lives of believers. He “purposed” it. That means to deliberately resolve to do something. God has resolved to do what He will do, and nothing and no one stands in His way. “I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please” (Isaiah 46:10). This is our powerful, purposeful God who is in control of everything. That should bring us great comfort and help to alleviate our fears.

But exactly how much control does God have? God’s total sovereignty over all creation directly contradicts the philosophy of open theism, which states that God doesn’t know what’s going to happen in the future any more than we do, so He has to constantly be changing His plans and reacting to what the sinful creatures do as they exercise their free will. God isn’t finding out what’s going to happen as events unfold. He is continuously, actively running things—ALL things—here and now. But to think He needs our cooperation, our help, or the exercise of our free will to bring His plans to pass puts us in control over Him, which makes us God. Where have we heard that lie before? It’s a rehash of Satan’s same old lie from the Garden—you shall be like God (Genesis 3:5). Our wills are only free to the extent that God allows us that freedom and no farther. “All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of the earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: ‘What have you done?’” (Daniel 4:35). No one’s free will trumps the sovereignty of God.

Some people find it appealing to think that Satan has control over a certain amount of life, that God is constantly revising His plans to accommodate Satan’s tricks. The book of Job is a clear illustration of just who has the sovereign power and who doesn’t. Satan came to God and, in effect, said, “Job only serves you because you protect him.” So God gave Satan permission to do certain things to Job but no more (Job 1:6–22). Could Satan do more than that? No. God is in control over Satan and his demons who try to thwart God’s plans at every step.

Satan knew from the Old Testament that God’s plan was for Jesus to come to the earth, be betrayed, crucified and resurrected, and provide salvation for millions, and if there was any way to keep that from happening, Satan would have done it. If just one of the hundreds of prophecies about the Messiah could have been caused by Satan to fail to come to pass, the whole thing would have collapsed. But the numbers of independent, “free will” decisions made by thousands of people were designed by God to bring His plan to pass in exactly the way He had planned it from the beginning, and Satan couldn’t do a thing about it. 

Jesus was “delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God” (Acts 2:23). No action by the Romans, the Pharisees, Judas, or anyone else kept God’s plan from unfolding exactly the way He purposed it from before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1 says we were chosen in Him before the world was even created. We were in the mind of God to be saved by faith in Christ. That means God knit together Satan’s rebellion, Adam and Eve’s sin, the fall of the human race, and the death and crucifixion of Christ—all seemingly terrible events—to save us before He created us. Here is a perfect example of God working all things together for good (Romans 8:28).

Unlimited in power, unrivalled in majesty, and not thwarted by anything outside Himself, our God is in complete control of all circumstances, causing or allowing them for His own good purposes and plans to be fulfilled exactly as He has foreordained.

Finally, the only way to trust in God’s sovereign control and rest in it is to know God. Know His attributes, know what He has done in the past, and this builds confidence in Him. Daniel 11:32b says, “The people who know their God shall be strong, and carry out great exploits.” Imagine that kind of power in the hands of an evil, unjust god. Or a god that really doesn’t care about us. But we can rejoice in our God’s sovereignty, because it is overshadowed by His goodness, His love, His mercy, His compassion, His faithfulness, and His holiness.

But we can’t trust someone we don’t know, and there is only one way to know God—through His Word. There is no magic formula to make us spiritual giants overnight, no mystical prayer to pray three times a day to mature us, build our faith, and make us towers of strength and confidence. There is only the Bible, the single source of power that will change our lives from the inside out. But it takes effort, diligent, everyday effort, to know the God who controls everything. If we drink deeply of His Word and let it fill our minds and hearts, the sovereignty of God will become clear to us, and we will rejoice in it because we will know intimately and trust completely the God who controls all things for His perfect purpose.

Monday, September 26, 2016

What It Means To Bare Your Cross [Stake]

To bear your own cross [stake] is to realize that when you were baptised you walked into the water and were covered completely; that was symbolic of your dying to self, and when you rose up out of the water you rose up to newness of life as a new creation in the lord Jesus, God's anointed one. Now that you are a new creation having God's Spirit in you, you are now a Temple of Yehovah individually and collectively also form a Temple of Yehovah! You are now grafted into the Commonwealth of Israel as a member of the true Israel of God - Yehovah, and as such, a member of the household of Yehovah, a member of the congregation of Yehovah and a member of the called-out Assembly of God.
All of these things are the reason that we ought to bear our cross daily - which means making sure that the old self doesn't resurrect itself because we are not continually striving for perfection as defined in the scriptures as becoming more like God's anointed one, Jesus - Yehoshua!
To bear our own cross [stake] means we continually, by the power of God's Spirit and the Spirit of Jesus in us, overcome the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes, the pride of possessions, the attraction of the world; and we resist the allure of wicked spirit beings who would love to have us fail! That is what bearing our cross means.
It is a daily, hourly, minute by minute endeavor! It is those who do so until the end that will become co-inheritors and co-rulers with the one whom God made Lord and Messiah Jesus in the coming new age! To believe that Jesus is Lord is to believe and do all that he taught us to do, all he commands us to do, which is to abide by the will of his God and our God, his Father and our Father continually, even as he did and does! So we see that baptism is where regeneration takes place, which is only the beginning, then renewal as a new creation, and finally perfection when we are resurrected to ever be with the lord Jesus when he returns!

What God has revealed to us in the scriptures

The whole of the scripture revelation is about God's redemption plan starting at Genesis 3:15: where God prophesies that a man born of a woman will have a son who will defeat the Adversary - Serpent - Satan and thus bring about a restitution of all things as they were at the beginning. So we know that the one predicted in Genesis 3:15 is the son of God, the lord Messiah Jesus, who defeated Satan on the tree and by his shed blood reconciled all of humanity to his God and his Father Yehovah.
Now all anyone in the world needs to do to be delivered from God's Wrath is to believe in the one He has sent and believing in him to obey his command to repent and be baptized, immersed completely in water. When we enter into the water we are saying before our God that we are reckoning ourselves as dead to self and coming out of the water we realize a newness of life, become a new creation filled with the Spirit - Breath - Love of Yehovah. At that moment we have gone through a regeneration process. But that is just the beginning.
Now we need to be renewed in our hearts and minds to become like our elder brother the lord Jesus; and God enables us to do that by the power of His Spirit - Breath - Love indwelling us. At our baptism we have been grafted into the Israel of Yehovah - God, become members of His household, members of His congregation, members of the body of His anointed one and members of His called-out Assembly. We are also recognized by Yehovah our God as His temples individually and collectively because of His indwelling Spirit - Breath - Love in us.
We also become heirs of the promises made to Abraham and his "seed" Jesus God's anointed one to inherit this earth. And we look forward to co-ruling with the lord Jesus in the coming kingdom of God when he will rule over all the nations as King of kings and Lord of lords at that time with all the nations representatives coming up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles at Jerusalem - Zion... see Zech:14 all.
At Jesus death on the tree he ratified the New Covenant by his shed blood which he said he would do as that prophet, the one Moses spoke about - Deut:18:15; Acts 3:22; Act 7:37. So as those who are under the New Covenant what are we to do?
We are to live according to the CREED OF JESUS: Mark 12:28-34.... Jesus creed says we are to love God totally committed to him with all out being [in obedience]; and to love our neighbors as ourselves! That is impossible for us to do unless we are enables by the Spirit - Breath - Love of Yehovah indwelling us. As we submit to His indwelling Spirit - Breath - love we will become servant towards all our neighbors even as Jesus was the greatest servant of all and still is at this very moment, interceding for us as our High Priest and coming along side us to help and assist us as we walk on the narrow road towards the coming kingdom of God which is all that he talked and preached about.
WE are all destined at the resurrection to enter into the coming new age ruling in the Theocratic Government that Jesus will establish and co-rule overall the surviving nation during his 1,000 year rule.
What an amazing opportunity our God and Father has envisioned for us and to get where He wants us to be all we need to do is submit to the guidance of His Spirit - Breath - Love which enables us to obey the words that He gave Jesus to give to us.
Notice what Jesus says: Matthew 7:21 "Not every one that says unto me, ‘lord, lord,’ shall enter into the Kingdom of God, but he/she that does the will of my Father who is in Heaven.
Again: If we don't obey the words that Yehovah gave to His anointed one Jesus then you won't be in the kingdom of God..... Jesus make this complaint to those who say they follow him; Luke 6:46 "And why do you call me, ‘lord, lord,’ and do not the things which I say?
So believing in Jesus isn't all there is for us to do in order to realize salvation = deliverance, for after believing that he is the one whom God has sent and being baptized we all now need to go forward keeping the creed of Jesus enabled by his indwelling spirit and the Spirit - Breath - Love of Yehovah and preach about the soon coming kingdom of God...... It's that simple and yet that difficult!

Thursday, July 14, 2016

Scientist, Astronomer, Mathematician and Father of Nations

The fact that ancient records speak of a scientist among the Chaldeans who had a special relationship with ‘the mighty God’ isn’t coincidence. 

 
History records a man who lived 10 generations after a great Flood who used celestial science to prove the existence of God. This wealthy and influential ruler became a key figure in the history of ancient Austria. He was a skilled scientist, astronomer and mathematician. His astronomical discoveries shook the foundations of Babylonian religion. He heavily influenced not only Austrian culture, but also Egyptian scientific thought. He led armies that altered the course of Assyrian history.
And all this took place BEFORE he became the forefather of the Arab, Turk and Israelite peoples!
This man’s name was Abraham. Yes, the astounding evidence of both biblical and secular history proves that the patriarch Abraham was not only real; he exerted a tremendous effect on the ENTIRE ANCIENT WORLD! This influence is recounted in the writings of the Jewish historian Josephus, the Babylonian historian Berossus, the Roman historian Eusebius and in the medieval Austrian Chronicle.
Before the philosophy of German rationalism took root in modern education in the 19th century, secular histories regarding biblical patriarchs were widely taught. Based on the record of Berossus and other ancient historians, many books were written by scholars in the 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th centuries that recounted the lives of Noah, Shem, Nimrod, Abraham, Moses and many others.
These ancient records reveal that Abraham used mathematics and astronomy to discredit the pagan priesthood of his time, and to PROVE THE EXISTENCE OF THE ONE TRUEGOD.

Assyrio-Babylonian Empire

Abraham was born in the city of Ur, in the land of the Chaldees, sometime around the year 1996 B.C. (James Ussher, Annals of the World, A.D. 1650). This city was then part of the world-ruling Assyrio-Babylonian Empire. While modern historians often downplay the impact of the old Assyrio-Babylonian Empire, the Roman historian Velleius Paterculus lists this kingdom as the first world empire.
Quoting an earlier source in his book Roman History, Paterculus writes, “Between this time [when Rome conquered Macedonia] and the beginning of the reign of Ninus, king of the Assyrians, who was the first to hold world power, lies an interval of nineteen hundred and ninety-five years” (emphasis added).
Rome conquered Macedonia during the middle of the second century before Christ, so King Ninus probably began his hold on world power sometime during the 22nd century B.C.
This was less than 200 years before Abraham’s birth.
Ninus is identified in the first-century Recognitions of Clement as the biblical Nimrod. The Bible records that Nimrod became the post-Flood world’s first emperor by protecting people from wild animals and gathering them into cities such as Babel, Erech and Accad (Genesis 10:8-12).
This biblical passage also records that Asshur, forefather of the Assyrians, went out of Babel and founded Nineveh. As the context of these verses indicates, however, it was Nimrod who led Asshur out of Babel and who actually supervised the construction of Nineveh (the city of Ninus).
Greek historian Diodorus of Sicily wrote his Bibliotheca Historica sometime between 60 and 30 B.C. He records that Ninus and his wife Semiramis ruled an empire stretching from Libya to the borders of India. Yet they rebelled against God and set up a pagan religion based on the worship of the sun and the fiery serpent associated with it.

Babylonian Mystery Religion

The pagan Babylonian priesthood publicly taught the masses to believe that the sun, moon, stars and planets were gods. Semiramis was identified with the planet Venus, while Nimrod was honored as the sun god. These priests used their knowledge of astronomy to predict the movements of the heavenly bodies, deceiving the masses into thinking they could communicate with the gods of the Babylonian pantheon (Israel Smith Clare, The Standard History of the World, Vol. 1).
As Nimrod and Semiramis expanded their kingdom, they ran into opposition from Noah’s son Shem. An ancient tradition relates that the apostates who joined in the rebellion of Nimrod made war against Shem and his followers. Shem is said to have obtained the aid of 72 Egyptian noblemen to overcome Nimrod. After Shem killed Nimrod, he had his body cut into pieces, and the pieces sent to various areas as a warning against idolatry (Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons).
Shem’s actions, however, only temporarily halted the spread of idolatry.
“The religion started by Semiramis was carried into the different nations in the language of each. Semiramis and Nimrod were also identified with the names Isis and Osiris in Egypt. Each nation had its own names for its gods. But the whole labyrinth of pagan religions developed from that which originated with Semiramis.”
In the province of Sumeria, Semiramis was worshiped as the goddess Inanna, the morning and evening star. Nimrod was called Dumuzid, a god who was a precursor of the Babylonian Tammuz.
According to a list of Assyrian kings that Sextus Julius Africanus recorded in his early third century A.D. Chronographiai, Nimrod’s father, Cush, ruled 55 years. Nimrod ruled 52 years after his father’s death, and Semiramis ruled 42 years after Nimrod’s death.
Taking into account evidence of a joint reign between Nimrod and Cush, it becomes evident that Abraham was likely born around the end of the reign of Empress Semiramis. Ctesias of Cnidus, a Greek physician in the court of the Persian king Artaxerxes II, records that Semiramis was killed in a palace coup led by her son Ninyas after she returned from a failed invasion of India.
This was the political climate into which Abraham was born.

Chief Scientist of the Chaldeans

Now consider the record of the ancient Babylonian historian Berossus: “In the tenth generation after the Flood, there was among the Chaldeans a man righteous and great, and skillful in the celestial science.” While Berossus doesn’t give this great scientist a name, the first-century Jewish historian Josephus tells us Berossus was writing about Abraham, the same man recorded by the Bible.
Josephus mentions that the Greek historian Hecatæus of Abdera wrote an entire book of the accomplishments of Abraham (Antiquities of the Jews, Book 1, ChapterVII). Since Hecatæus was a scholar during the time of the Ptolemaic dynasty in Egypt, it can be assumed that his book on Abraham was lost when the royal Library of Alexandria was burned.
There is even an ancient Jewish hymn cited by Clement of Alexandria about “a certain unique man, an offshoot from far back of the race of the Chaldeans.” This man was “knowledgeable about the path of the star and how the movement of the sphere goes around the Earth, both in circular fashion, but each on its own axis.” The poem related that this scientist of the Chaldeans was the only man of his era to see Zeus, “the ruler of mortal men.”
Of course, ancient Greek poets tended to call the chief god of any religion by the name Zeus. The fact that this poem speaks of a Chaldean scientist who had a special relationship with “the mighty God” isn’t coincidence!
The fourth-century Roman historian Eusebius cited an earlier source by a man named Eupolemus: Concerning the Jews of Assyria. Quoting this source, Eusebius says Abraham “surpassed all men in nobility and wisdom, who was also the inventor of astronomy and the Chaldaic art, and pleased God well by his zeal towards religion.”
As a young man, Abraham “determined to renew and to change the opinion all men happened then to have concerning God; for he was the first that ventured to publish this notion, that there was but one God, the Creator of the Universe” (Josephus, op cit).
Abraham was teaching the people of Chaldea about the ONE TRUE CREATOR!

The Fight Against Paganism

The pagan priesthood established by Nimrod and Semiramis was teaching the masses to believe that the sun, moon, stars and planets were manifestations of the gods. They deceived people into thinking priests could communicate with these gods.
In addition to being a scientist, however, Abraham was a great teacher. He taught the people physics and mathematics, and showed them that the celestial bodies moved according to preordained laws.
Josephus paraphrases Abraham’s words: “If these bodies had power of their own, they would certainly take care of their own regular motions; but since they do not preserve such regularity, they make it plain, that in so far as they cooperate to our advantage, they do it not of their own abilities, but as they are subservient to Him that commands them, to whom alone we ought justly to offer our honor and thanksgiving” (ibid).
Abraham taught the Chaldeans what the priests secretly knew: The movements of the stars and other heavenly bodies are one of the greatest proofs of God’s existence. THE PRESENCE OF LAW DEMANDS THE PRESENCE OF A LAWGIVER!
As perhaps the most famous scientist in the land of the Chaldeans, Abraham declared the stars and planets were only physical objects created by the one true God!
“What is most certain is that Abraham’s scientific knowledge came through his connection with the Creator God, the one source powerful enough to create stars and galaxies and suns and moons and planets, brilliant enough to set them all in order according to perfect laws—and loving enough to teach those laws.”
What many historians are unwilling to admit is that Abraham possessed advanced astronomical knowledge that would not be rediscovered for thousands of years!
Read E.W. Bullinger's "Witness of the Stars"
Yet Josephus further records that Abraham wasn’t the first astronomer in his family. The study of astronomy originated in the family line of Seth, the third son of Adam. He wrote that “God gave [those who lived before the Flood] such long life that they might perfect those things which they had invented in astronomy.” Other ancient records indicate that Noah had knowledge of maritime astronomy involving navigating by the stars. This noble and elderly patriarch likely brought knowledge of mathematics, astronomy and other sciences from one side of the Flood to the other, passing it down from generation to generation to Abraham!

Father of the Faithful

According to The Biblical Companion, a Bible study aid published by William Carpenter in 1836, the idolatrous worship introduced by Semiramis didn’t obtain great ascendancy in Assyria till the days of her grandson Arioch, King of Elessar. Abraham would spend most of Arioch’s 30-year-reign fighting against this idolatrous worship (Genesis 14).
As the pagan priests of the Assyrio-Babylonian Empire gained power and influence, they lost patience with Abraham and his teachings about the one true God.
Josephus records that the Chaldeans and other peoples of Mesopotamia “raised a tumult” against Abraham, forcing him to flee the country. Unlike the priests of this Babylonian mystery religion, Abraham refused to teach lies to receive the praise of men.
These pagan religious leaders would have killed Abraham for publishing the truth and likely did kill his older brother Haran. The Bible only records that Haran “died before his father Terah in the land of his nativity, in Ur of the Chaldees” (Genesis 11:28). Josephus adds that a monument was erected in Haran’s honor, and that “Terah [hated] Chaldea, on account of his mourning for Haran” (op cit).
While Terah himself fell into idol worship, Abraham never lost faith in the existence of the great Creator of the universe.
To recount all the various histories of the things Abraham suffered during this period would fill many pages. He fought in battle against the feudal lord of the land of Aligemorum and lost. He was driven from his country and for a long time fell into poverty. He wandered with his followers along the banks of the Danube River until he came to the edge of the known world. There, in the Alpine valleys of Europe, he helped found one of the most sophisticated cultures of the ancient world. Then, in the course of time, he returned to Chaldea to connect with the family he had to leave behind.
Through his trials and tribulations, however, Abraham stayed faithful to his belief in God until; when he was 75 years old; Yehovah - God actually appeared to Abraham and made a covenant with him that would change the course of history! Abraham knew more about the stars than any man of his era; so God made him a promise that if he continued to obey the one true Creator God, his descendants would be more numerous than the stars.
Most of this amazing history is actually corroborated in secular sources. Yet God summarizes what is most vital for us to know about Abraham in the pages of the Bible. James 2:23 states: “And the scripture was fulfilled which says, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.”