Podcasts about tigris river

Na'hum. (consolation). Nahum, called "the Elkoshite," is the seventh, in order, of the Minor Prophets. His personal history is quite unknown. The site of Elkosh, his native place, is disputed, some placing it in Galilee, others in AssyriaThe name refers back to Yahweh's compassion connected with Jonah's mission eighty-seven years before. The name Nahum is an abbreviated form of the name Nehemiah, which means “Comfort of Yahweh.”What is the purpose of this book? The book of Nahum is devoted exclusively to the announcement of the destruction of the city of Nineveh, the prophecy gave hope to the people of Judah who had long been terrorized by Assyria's constant and ominous threatBefore I get into this study, I discuss Sabbatai Zevi, who declared himself to be the Messiah in 1666. He amassed a following of over one million believers, half the world's Jewish population during the 17th century, by proclaiming that redemption was available through acts of sin. Sabbatai's believers planned to abolish many of the ritualistic observances, because, according to the Talmud, in the Messianic time there would no longer be holy obligations. Fasting days became days of feasting and rejoicing. Sexual promiscuity, adultery, incest and religious orgies were encouraged and practiced by Sabbateans. Then I go into the design of the Washington Mall and how it compares to the thinking of the Kabbalah, that Sephiroth Tree of Life, and how the Serpent of Wisdom twines itself around that tree1   Burden = ‘mas-saw'' means ‘a lifting up and a placing upon'. It is a burden, a weight or and affliction that is placed on an individual, a nation or an empireNineveh = Among other things, the prophecy of Nahum shows us that Yahweh not only deals with individuals, He also deals with nationsNahum prophesied that: -Nineveh would end “with an overflowing flood". That flood occurred when the Tigris River overflowed its banks and destroyed part of Nineveh's wall-Nineveh would “be hidden”. After its destruction in 612 B.C. the city truly was hidden in that it was not discovered until A.D. 1842-After Nineveh's destruction, it has never been rebuilt-In Nahum 2:1-2, the prophet had prophesied that Assyria would be conquered, but that Judah would be restoredVision = khaw-zone' In the Hebrew this also could be a revelation. Not written before or separately from, its deliverance. This was more than a message communicated to Nahum in words or phrases from Yahweh. Because this was a vision, in some way Nahum saw it2     GOD. = Hebrew El. EL  is essentially  the Almighty , thought the word is never so rendered (see below, "Shaddai"). EL is Elohim in all His strength and power. It is rendered "Yahweh" as Elohim is, but  El  is Yahweh the Omnipotent jealous. = kan-no'; jealous or angry: (Exod. 20:5-7. Deu. 4:24)the LORD. = Hebrew. Yahweh. While Elohim is Yahweh as the Creator of all things, Jehovah is the same Yahweh in covenant relation to those whom He has created. Jehovah means the Eternal, the Immutable One, He Who WAS, and IS, and IS TO COMErevengeth = naw-kam' A primitive root; to grudge, that is, avenge or punish;avengethis furious = khay-maw'; heat; figuratively anger, poison (from its fever)a possessor of wrathtake vengeance on = be an Avenger to3    slow to anger = long-sufferingacquit = clear, or hold guiltlessHave any questions? Feel free to email me; keitner2024@outlook.com 

In this very personal episode of Arabs in Media, I return to Iraq, the country of my heritage, from the home in Baghdad where my father grew up, to sit down with my cousin Ahmed for a conversation that is was as unplanned as it was inspiring. Together, we unpack a story that intertwines family, grief, and acts of service in the midst of bombing.In 2003, on the cusp of the US-led invasion on Iraq, Ahmed's life was forever changed, not only from the drums of war beating louder each day, but with a tragedy born from efforts to protect his family.Hours later, with a satellite phone in hand, Ahmed became an unintentional lifeline for countless families around the world who had been passed his number as one of the only ways to check to see if their family was dead or alive. Steeped in the history of our family home, the Tigris River, and of Baghdad itself—we reflect on the legacy left by our ancestors. It's a story about the weight of loss, the resilience of the Iraqi people, and the power of human connection among family and strangers alike. Echoes of Baghdad marks the beginning of Season Two of Arabs in Media, with an intimate look at Iraq through the lens of family, history, and resilience. Listen on all podcast platforms, and subscribe to Arabs in Media on Substack to comment and learn more about Ahmed's story. 

The Reclaimers form a shaky bond with a member of the Baghdad Thieves' Guild as they traverse the treacherous waters of the Tigris River. Along the way they encounter roving bandits before stumbling upon the oasis tomb that serves as the base of operations for the band of marauders known as the Desert Storm. Will they defeat the guardians of the tomb before a dark ritual conducted by the author of the Necronomicon comes to fruition? Tune in and find out, True Believers!Our original band of WWII Superheroes come together once more to combat the forces of the Axis Powers in part two of our In the Shadow of Evil campaign entitled In the Mouth of Madness. Featuring players from Startplaying.gamesLike what you see? Support us on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/DreamslayerStudiosPick up your Dreamslayer Merch at https://www.teepublic.com/user/dreamslayer-studios or https://dreamslayerstudios.creator-spring.com/Check out our website at https://dreamslayerstudios.renderforestsites.com/Join us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/dreamslayerstudios.entertainment/A Marvel Superheroes FASERIP RPG Actual PlayAdditional Music from this episode may provided by Monument Studios. Thanks to our monthly supporters Shawn Pearce (FluffyAlpacaGM) Staci Teter Artalis Jonathan Morton Oraxsis Laura Shepherd Clint Byrd Michael Brightbill

“Syria is a mix of everything. There are multiple Christian cultures, multiple Muslim cultures, and multiple languages. It’s the crossroads of the world. It made for some of my best travel memories from that time of my life.” —Rolf Potts In this episode of Deviate (which was remixed from an episode of Ari Shaffir’s You Be Trippin’ podcast), Rolf and Ari talk about when and why Rolf traveled to Syria back in the day, and what it was like when he got there (3:30); his experience in staying in a Christian monastery in the mountains outside of Damascus (18:30); Rolf’s journey to the Tigris River, his experience with the Kurds he met in a Syria-Turkey border town, and the types of food on offer in Syria (28:30); Rolf’s enjoyable experience of watching the movie Con Air on a long-distance bus in Syria, and his experience of going to a Sudanese refugee church in Damascus (37:00); Rolf’s experience of accepting hospitality from Syrian Kurds, the experience of eavesdropping on American music at an Aleppo hotel, and what it’s like to watch American movies in other countries (47:00); old travel clothing and gear that Rolf still uses 25 years on, and Rolf’s travel tips and next destinations (1:07:00). Ari Shaffir (@AriShaffir) is a comedian, writer, podcaster, and actor. He is the host of theYou Be Trippin’ podcast,. His latest comedy special, JEW, is available on YouTube. Notable Links: Ari Shaffir on Deviate (archive of podcast episodes) Paris Writing Workshops (Rolf’s travel memoir classes) 2011 Syrian revolution (protests and uprisings in Syria) Five Pillars of Islam (fundamental religious practices) Alawites (Arab ethnoreligious group) Ba’athism (Arab nationalist ideology) Qamishli (city on the Syria-Turkey border) Greater Kurdistan (geo-cultural region) Deir Mar Musa (Syriac Catholic monastery) Traveler ideals and hospitality in Syria (Deviate episode) Suicide door (style of automobile door) KDP (Kurdistan Democratic Party) No-fly zone (area protected from specific aircraft) Fuul (Egyptian stew of cooked fava beans) Con Air (1997 movie) Hannibal Lecter (fictional character) Second Sudanese Civil War (1983-2005 conflict) Marco Polo Didn’t Go There, by Rolf Potts (book) Ibn Battuta (14th century Arab traveler) Benjamin of Tudela (12th century Jewish traveler) Anthem Soul (Rolf’s 2001 radio essay about Syria) James Brown (American singer) Djellaba (unisex robe worn in North Africa) Souvenir, by Rolf Potts (book) Tortuga (travel backpack brand) Vanuatu (South Pacific island nation) Animism (belief system) Cargo Cult (Melanesian spiritual movement) The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel's 2017 album Lumber. Note: We don't host a “comments” section, but we're happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at deviate@rolfpotts.com.

#IRAQ: Shia militias firing drones and rockets:  Dr. Michael Knights is the Jill and Jay Bernstein Senior Fellow at The Washington Institute, specializing in the military and security affairs of Iraq, Iran, and the Gulf states. He is a cofounder of the Militia Spotlight platform, which offers in-depth analysis of developments related to Iran-backed militias in Iraq and Syria. Tigris River

Daniel Chapters 6-10 Q&A: Lions, Beasts, and Angelic Beings, Oh My!In this episode of Sacrilegious Discourse, your favorite heathens dive into the bizarre and bewildering chapters of Daniel Chapters 6-10. Buckle up as we unravel the madness of lion's dens, cryptic visions, and angelic encounters that leave us scratching our heads and questioning our sanity.We kick things off with Daniel Chapter 6, where Daniel's infamous trip to the lion's den gets an unexpected twist. Why were the families of Daniel's accusers punished so harshly? It's a question that even the Bible doesn't seem to answer. We then transition into Daniel's surreal visions in Chapters 7-10, featuring beasts with multiple horns, a bear with ribs in its mouth, and a leopard with four heads and wings. Confused? So were we!Chapter 7 introduces us to four mysterious beasts representing different kingdoms, each more perplexing than the last. We break down the symbolism and attempt to decode the cryptic messages hidden within these visions. Moving on to Chapter 8, we encounter a ram and a goat in a prophetic showdown that leaves us pondering the historical and future implications.Chapter 9 brings us to Daniel's intense prayer and the infamous "70 weeks" prophecy. Is it weeks, years, or something else entirely? We try to make sense of the convoluted timeline and its supposed connection to the coming of the Messiah. Finally, in Chapter 10, Daniel has a terrifying encounter with a celestial being by the Tigris River, setting the stage for even more divine drama in the chapters to come.Whether you're here for the theological deep dive or just the laughs, this episode has a bit of everything. Tune in as we dissect Daniel Chapters 6-10 with our signature blend of skepticism and humor.Visit us at: SACRILEGIOUSDISCOURSE.COM and join us on Discord, where we interact the most AND have live episodes every Wednesday: https://discord.gg/VBnyTYV6nC Join Acast+ to enjoy our podcast adfree! https://plus.acast.com/s/sacrilegiousiscourse. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Daniel Chapter 10: Shiny Men and Heavenly Host ShowdownsHold on to your hats, folks, because this episode of Sacrilegious Discourse is a wild ride through the surreal and cryptic visions of Daniel Chapter 10! We're diving headfirst into a vision involving shiny men with lightning faces, flaming torch eyes, and a voice like a multitude. Daniel is back with more bizarre and mind-bending encounters that leave us scratching our heads and questioning our sanity.We kick things off with Daniel mourning for three weeks, abstaining from choice food, meat, and wine, and forgoing lotions. Why? Because he was so disturbed by his previous visions that he needed a serious cleanse. Then, as he stands by the Tigris River, he encounters a man dressed in linen with a body like topaz and eyes like flaming torches. This heavenly messenger brings a message of conflict and spiritual warfare that spans nations and centuries.As if that wasn't enough, we delve into the cosmic battle between the "prince of Persia" and the angelic forces, including Michael, the chief prince. This chapter sets the stage for a series of apocalyptic visions that will unfold in the remaining chapters. We dissect the cryptic messages, laugh at the absurdity, and try to make sense of the divine drama.Whether you're here for the theological deep dive or just the laughs, this episode has a bit of everything. Tune in as we dissect Daniel Chapter 10 with our signature blend of skepticism and humor.Visit us at: SACRILEGIOUSDISCOURSE.COM and join us on Discord, where we interact the most AND have live episodes every Wednesday: https://discord.gg/VBnyTYV6nC Join Acast+ to enjoy our podcast adfree! https://plus.acast.com/s/sacrilegiousiscourse. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

From the Tigris River to the Mediterranian Sea, Assurnasirpal completes the greatest campaign any Mesopotamian king has managed since the time of Sargon the Great, nearly 1500 years prior. Made possible through logistics, a firm grip on his Mesopotmaian heartland, and his own personal spark of genius, our psycho king turns up the charm to travel further than blade alone could allow, reshaping the near eastern political landscape, and setting in motion events that would alter human history forever.

At That Time Daniel 12:1-13 by William Klock Daniel 12 begins with the words, “At that time”, which means we need to remind ourselves what time Daniel's vision was talking about.  Remember that these last three chapters of the book are one long vision.  It began with Daniel lamenting what he could see.  Pagan kings, instead of being judged for their wickedness, were getting strong and stronger.  And his own people, an awful lot of them, seemed apathetic about the end of the exile.  They'd made lives for themselves in Babylon and simply weren't interested in returning to Jerusalem.  And those who did return were facing opposition at every turn as they worked to rebuild the city and the temple.  Daniel was losing hope.  And so an angel appeared and in the first part of the vision the angel explained that there was more to things than what Daniel could see.  Unseen forces fought a battle in the heavenlies that somehow corresponded to events on earth.  In fact, Daniel was told, the angel Michael fought for the people of God.  Even if he couldn't see any of it, Daniel had reason to hope. And then, in Chapter 11, the angel gave Daniel of vision of things to come, as if to show how God is sovereign even in the wars and intrigues of pagan kings.  First the Persian kings and then the Greeks, as they squabbled and fought over the land of Judah.  That was most of Chapter 11.  Things would get worse before they would get better, but here was a chance to hope—to put into practise that truth that sometimes there's more going on than what we can see.  Even in the intrigue, the subterfuge, the assassination of those Greek kings of Egypt and Syria, even in all that, the God of Israel remained sovereign.  Even as the worst of them came to power.  And that was the heart of Chapter 11: this evil king who wanted to convert the Jews into pagan Greeks. Antiochus made it illegal to live by God's law, he desecrated the Lord's altar, and he forbade the daily offerings made in the temple.  1 and 2 Maccabees tell us how he tried to force Jewish men to eat pork, torturing them and even killing them when they refused and how women who circumcised their sons were thrown off the city walls along with their children.  To remain faithful to the Lord in those days came at a great cost.  Many even paid with their lives.  Meanwhile, a significant segment of the Jewish people capitulated, finding ways to compromise or abandoning their faith altogether.  The faithful died and the unfaithful lived.  It wasn't supposed to be like that.  Daniel was written for these people—to exhort them, to give them hope, and to assure them that the Lord remained sovereign and would vindicate them in the end. And that's where Daniel's vision gets difficult.  Up to the events of about 167BC the vision maps right onto history, but then at 11:40 the angel says, “At the time of the end…”  As I said last week, the natural way to read this is as a continuation of the events that took place under Antiochus Epiphanes.  Verses 40-45 describes another war between Egypt and Syria.  They describe tens of thousands falling, but also being delivered out of his hand.  The king conquers Egypt, Libya, and Cush.  There's a vague description of him going off to another war—or something—and pitching his tent between Mount Zion and the sea, and then—suddenly—he comes to his end. The vision changes in these verses.  What was very specific suddenly becomes vague.  The language becomes more grandiose.  And what's described here doesn't map onto historical events as easily as the earlier parts of the vision do.  So some people think with those words “at the time of the end”, the vision is jumping to some time in the future and that the king is no longer Antiochus Epiphanes, but a future antichrist.  But as I said last week, the vision itself doesn't suggest at all that the timeframe has changed and to interpret it that way ends up undermining the purpose: to give hope to the faithful living under Antiochus.  The reason for the change is twofold.  First, the author of this vision, although writing it as if he were Daniel living centuries before, was really writing it at this point.  Up to now, he's been looking back at events that already happened and now he's looking to the events of the roughly three years that will follow.  Is it actually a prophecy?  Or is it his Spirit-inspired insights based on what he knew of two centuries of Greek fighting coupled with what he knew from the Prophets?  And I think that's key here.  Suddenly, here, the vision borrows language and images from Isaiah and Ezekiel and the Psalms.  He was using those passages to interpret current events and that explains why the language becomes grandiose and why the historical one-to-one's fall apart at this point.  The key truth here isn't so much the exact historical events that would happen, but that in them the God of Israel would act to judge the wicked, and to deliver and vindicate the faithful.  As modern people who tend to think of prophecy mainly as foretelling future events, we forget that prophecy in Israel was always far more interested in telling us about the God behind world events.  And as I said last week, I think that's where the solution to our problems with Daniel lies.  Throughout the Old Testament Prophets we see foretellings of judgement and vindication in history, and we can look back at the historical record and see that they really did happen, but most of the time there's still an eschatological element that we don't see fully fulfilled in the historical events.  As Daniel speaks here of the end, there's the end, the historical end of Antiochus Epiphanes, an end to his blasphemies, an end to his persecution of the faithful, but there's also a sense of this big, this final End with a capital “E”—something that will bring history to a close with a once and for all judgement that ends wickedness forever and sees the faithful, the just fully restored and given justice.  God's judgements in history always point us to a day when all will be set to rights once and forever. So when the angel says to Daniel “at the time of the end”, he is talking about historical events in the near future, but there's an element or an aspect of these events—at least in the way they're described here—that looks forward to and anticipates a future End with a capital “E”. Look at Daniel 12:1-4. “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And there shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. But you, Daniel, shut up the words and seal the book, until the time of the end. Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall increase.”   Things are bad, but they're going to get worse, so the angel reminds Daniel of the beginning of the vision.  There's more to what's going on than what Daniel—or the faithful in Judah—can see, so don't despair.  Again, scripture doesn't fill us in on all the details about these battles in the heavenlies.  Is it angel wresting with angel or is it armies of angels fighting with each other?  How does it work?  How are these battles in the heavenlies connected with what's happening here?  We don't know and it's not important.  The key point is that God's people are not alone in our struggles.  Not only do angels fight for us, but Michael, who is apparently the greatest of them, stands on the side of the people of God.  As he fought the angelic powers behind Persia and behind the Greeks, so—I think it's safe to assume—he fights whatever angelic powers lie behind those who persecute the Church today. The angel describes a time of trouble like never before.  These are the words of Jeremiah 30:7 and they call back to the Lord's promise to restore his people at the end of their exile: “Thus says the Lord: We have heard a cry of panic,          of terror, and no peace…. Alas! That day is so great          there is none like it; it is a time of distress for Jacob;          yet he shall be saved out of it.   “And it shall come to pass in that day, declares the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off your neck, and I will burst your bonds, and foreigners shall no more make a servant of him. But they shall serve the Lord their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them. (Jeremiah 30:5, 7-9) The Lord will once again hear the cries of his people in their distress and as they stand firm in faith against a wicked king, so Michael will fight for them in the heavenlies.  There is a book, the angel reminds Daniel, and the Lord will deliver everyone whose name is written in it.  This book pops up throughout the Old Testament—Exodus, Isaiah, Malachi, and Psalm 69.  It's a census of the covenant faithful.  The book itself is a reminder that the Lord is not only sovereign, but that he's paying attention—that he knows the names of those who kept the faith. To know that the Lord is paying that kind of attention is itself encouraging.  Think back to 11:33, where we read about the “wise” during these dark days: And the wise among the people shall make many understand, though for some day they shall stumble by sword and flame, by captivity and plunder.   The world is not as it should be.  The people who deserve life receive death.  But the Lord keeps the books and he will set everything right in the end.  The angel tells Daniel about the many who sleep in the dust of the earth.  Think of Ezekiel's vision of the valley of dry bones.  An image of death, hopelessness, and injustice.  The people who should know the life of God are dead and all but forgotten.  But there's a promise.  The Lord will restore them to share in his life.  The angel, speaking to Daniel, draws on the language of Isaiah 26:19: Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise.          You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light,          and the earth will give birth to the dead. The angel here in Daniel takes these old prophetic images of resurrection that were originally illustrating Israel's return from exile, here the angel gives those images a literal fulfilment and the return from exile becomes an image or an earnest, a down-payment, on this even better thing that the Lord will do for his people.  They were longing for a restoration to the promised land where they could once against live with his presence in their midst in the temple, but now through the angel the Lord promises that he will raise his people from death and share his life with them.  Those who were dead will sing for joy.  And the wise, the faithful who put their own lives on the line to exhort the rest of the people to faithfulness, the angel says, they will shine like the stars.  He draws on the image of the suffering servant from Isaiah 52: Behold, my servant shall act wisely;          he shall be high and lifted up,          and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you—          his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance,          and his form beyond that of the children of mankind— so shall he sprinkle many nations.          Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see,          and that which they have not heard they understand. The angels speaks of hayyim olam, everlasting life.  It's is the only place this phrase is used in the Old Testament, but it seems to draw on the Lord's promise to the king in Psalm 21.  And it suggests that the Lord is sharing something of himself with the faithful, because everlasting life is something that belongs only to God.  It's what he shared with human beings in the garden by means of the tree of life.  It also calls back to Daniel 2:44 where Daniel is told: The God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever.   The faithful dead will sin for joy forever.  But giving life to the just only balances one side of the ledger.  The angel says, too, that the wicked—the apostate Jews who conspired with Antiochus—they will be raised as well, but instead of being raised to know the life of God, they will be raised to face judgement and death.  The description of them is taken from Isaiah 66:24: “And they shall go out and look on the dead bodies of the men who have rebelled against me. For their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh.”   The wicked, the apostates, and the collaborators who sided with the pagans and forsook the Lord's covenant, who died—presumable natural, peaceful deaths—thinking they'd done the right thing, they are raised briefly so that they can know the Lord's justice, so the books can be set straight, and then we have this image of their corpses being cast in the Valley of Hinnom to rot, a testimony to everyone of the Lord's justice—that regardless of how things may look now, he will in the end give life to the just and destruction to the wicked.   The important thing in all this is the Lord's vindication of his faithful people and, in that, his vindication of himself.  The Lord will make known his faithfulness and, seeing it, the peoples will give him glory.  In reading a stack of commentaries on Daniel, I've noticed that this gets lost.  Everyone puts their attention on when this will happen or they get side-tracked with discussion about what all this means for our concept of the afterlife.  That's not the point.  I love the way the Jewish Bible scholar Jon Levenson puts.  He writes, “The main point…is not afterlife; it is vindication, the vindication of the just and their God against the rebels or defectors who had of late triumphed over them and disgraced them.  In short, in these texts the resurrection of the dead is best conceived as a reversal, not so much of death as of condition and status.  God intervenes to make the downtrodden and the triumphant change places, in the process vindicating his own honor and sovereignty….In stark contrast to recent experience, the faithful traditionalists will live (and the ‘wise' among them will shine radiantly), but the desecrators of the covenant will either die or endure an unending ignominy.”[1] The central part of Chapter 12 comes to a close in verse 4, where the angel tells Daniel to seal all of this up until the “time of the end”.  I think that, again, stresses that the time the author of Daniel was writing about was the days of Antiochus Epiphanes and Judas Maccabeus.  If the book was sealed, no one could read it, so the idea here is that those who read the book would know that this was their time.  And, again, that was meant to give them hope in the midst of very dark days as they watched their own people being killed for their faith. The final paragraph of the book, I think, stresses this pretty clearly.  Look at verse 5 and following: Then I, Daniel, looked, and behold, two others stood, one on this bank of the stream and one on that bank of the stream. And someone said to the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream, “How long shall it be till the end of these wonders?” And I heard the man clothed in linen, who was above the waters of the stream; he raised his right hand and his left hand toward heaven and swore by him who lives forever that it would be for a time, times, and half a time, and that when the shattering of the power of the holy people comes to an end all these things would be finished. I heard, but I did not understand. Then I said, “O my lord, what shall be the outcome of these things?” He said, “Go your way, Daniel, for the words are shut up and sealed until the time of the end. Many shall purify themselves and make themselves white and be refined, but the wicked shall act wickedly. And none of the wicked shall understand, but those who are wise shall understand. And from the time that the regular burnt offering is taken away and the abomination that makes desolate is set up, there shall be 1,290 days. Blessed is he who waits and arrives at the 1,335 days. But go your way till the end. And you shall rest and shall stand in your allotted place at the end of the days.”   So we're now back where we started at the Tigris River with this majestic man clothed in linen and gold.  There are now two others who seem to be angels and “someone” asks the man how long it will be to the end of all this”.  And the man swears to heaven as he tells Daniel that it will be a times, times, and a half time.  This isn't the first time we've heard this figure in Daniel and as before, it's sort of a cryptic way of saying three-and-a-half years.  That's the emphasis of this whole paragraph.  Daniel says that he doesn't understand, and the man more or less says the same thing again in two different ways.  From the time the regular offering is taken away and the altar is desecrated—and that points again to this being about those days when Antiochus did that, not some far future—from that time it'll be 1290 days.  And then the man, and without any other cue I think we have to assume he's referring to the same time period, he says 1335 days.  Both numbers work out to a little more than three-and-a-half years.  Bible scholars debate the reason for the two additional numbers that differ a little from each other and from the first.  Some think each is calculating the time using a different calendar: one lunar, one solar.  Others point out that the numbers are symbolic and that you can work out various sums with them that have their own symbolic meaning.  It's a complex discussion with no certain solution.  The simple point seems to be that all of this was supposed to happen in roughly three-and-a-half years.  So it's worth noting that, indeed, Judas Maccabeus and his forces captured the temple in December of 164 BC.  (Jews celebrate that victory every year at Hannukah.)  And Antiochus Epiphanes also died in December of 164 BC.  That was three years from the desecration of the altar.  It probably took some time for the news to get to Jerusalem.  We know the morning and evening burnt offerings were stopped sometime before the desecration of the altar, but not precisely when, so the three-and-a-half years as a rough number with some symbolic significance fits. And yet, even though Antiochus died and the altar and sacrifices were restored, the wicked were punished and the faithful vindicated, no one was literally raised from the dead.  And this is why so many interpreters have insisted that this all must be about something in the future, not the days of Antiochus Epiphanes and Judas Maccabeus.  To see this as describing future events has been the majority opinion for both Christians and Jews, but it isn't the only opinion.  As I've been studying Daniel, one of commentaries I've been reading is on the history of its interpretation and I've found it interesting that some of the earliest Christian readers of Daniel understood this to be fulfilled allegorically in the victory of the Maccabees and the death of Antiochus.  I think they were on the right track.  Again, as I said last week, it's typical of the Old Testament prophets to write about judgement and vindication, whether of Israel or the nations, in a way that we see fulfilled in historical events, but that also points to a future day—to the great and final End with a capital “E”—that has yet to happen.  And I think that's what's happening in Daniel's vision.  He wrote his book to encourage the faithful living through the dark days of the 160s BC and the people to whom it was written obviously found encouragement in it, because they made sure that the book made it into the Bible as scripture.  They recognised the Spirit of God speaking through this man and his stories and visions.  I can't see them, with so much here that grounds Daniel's vision in the events in which they were living, I can't see them projecting this into some distant future.  They knew that no one was resurrection from death in 164 BC but instead of throwing the book out as a failed prophecy, they were encouraged and exhorted by it, it made sense of the events through which they were living, they understood it to be fulfilled in some way in the events they experienced, and so they identified it as God's word.  This is, again, part of the nature of prophecy in the Bible.  It speaks to the original people and rebukes or exhorts them in their historical circumstances, while also pointing to the future. Brothers and Sisters, life is not easy.  Maybe this is why Daniel is grouped with the wisdom books in the Hebrew Bible.  Because Daniel reminds us that to walk in faith with the Lord doesn't mean an escape from the trials and tears of the world; it doesn't mean an escape from wicked rulers or, for that matter, wicked neighbours; it doesn't give us a get-out-of-persecution-free card.  What it does mean is that the Lord holds us in his hands through the trials and tribulations of life.  Daniel reminds us that our names are written in his book.  Daniel reminds us that no matter how bad things that we can see may look, God fights for us in the heavenlies.  But, I think most important, to walk in faith with God is to know that his acts of faithfulness in the past—and even today—give us a sure and certain hope of vindication and of life everlasting in the age to come.  Daniel and his people gathered year in and year out to eat the Passover meal and in doing that they remembered and participated in the events by which the Lord had rescued their ancestors from Egypt, made them his people, given them his law, dwelt in their midst, and made them a promise of life.  They sat down at that table, recalled the past, and looked forward in hope because the past told them who the Lord is and that he is good and faithful.  And if that was true for Daniel and for the faithful Jews living in the days of Antiochus and for Jesus and his disciples sitting down to eat the Passover in the upper room, how much truer is it for us?  Like I said last week, Jesus did with Daniel what Daniel had done with the Prophets.  Jesus saw himself fulfilling that future element of Daniel's vision.  He saw himself finally inaugurating that big and final End with a capital “E”.  Jesus died and rose from death, as Paul would later write, the firstfruits of that promised and long-hoped for resurrection of the dead—the day when the Lord will set his creation to rights, vindicate his people who have suffered disgrace for their faith, and will reveal his glory as he deals once and for all with evil and sin and with death. Brothers and Sisters, think on that as you come to the Lord's Table this morning.  As we eat the bread and drink the wine we remember the events of that first Easter Sunday when the false verdict on Jesus and his disgraceful crucifixion were overturned and he was vindicated by his Father: restored to life and declared the King.  We remember those events by which he has delivered us from death.  As you pass the font, dip your fingers in the water and remember that Jesus has led us through these waters in an exodus from sin and death.  Brothers and Sisters, we remember the goodness and faithfulness of God revealed in Jesus, revealed in the giving of his Spirit, revealed in the new life he has given.  He has made us his people.  Our names are written in his book.  And so we know—we have hope—for the day when he will bring to completion what began the day Jesus rose from the grave.  One day he will wipe away ever tear and we will sing with joy and shine like the brightness of the sky. Let's pray: Gracious Father, fill us with faith.  As we look back on your mighty and saving deeds, remind us of your goodness and your faithfulness and grow our faith that we might remain faithful to you.  Grow our faith that we might stand firmly for you no matter the circumstances.  Knowing that you have given the life of your own Son because you love us, fill us with your grace and teach us to love you in return with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength as we look forward in hope to day when you bring completion this work of new creation begun in Jesus.  Amen. [1] Resurrection and the Restoration of Israel: The Ultimate Victory of the God of Life (New Haven: Yale, 2006), 190-191.

Jacob Maxol's life was forever changed by the call of the wild in Durango, Colorado, leading him down a path few dare to tread. As a former Marine, he shares his raw and compelling journey from a childhood immersed in nature to the front lines of global conflict. His service, beginning in the pre-digital camouflage era and stretching through the turmoil of post-9/11 military operations, unveils a transformation not just in warfare but in the heart and soul of a soldier.In the throes of Tigris River operations and the stark landscapes of Iraq and Afghanistan, we're transported to the heart of combat and the unique challenges that come with it. Jacob regales us with tales of survival, the humbling acts of humanitarian relief, and the close-knit bonds formed amidst the chaos. We navigate through the shifting dynamics of an evolving military, including the integration of female Marines in combat units, and the physical and psychological demands of the elite School of Infantry and mountain warfare training.Wrapping up, our conversation underscores the profound impact of veteran support communities in fostering healing and camaraderie post-service. Jacob's story is a testament to the resilience of the human spirit, the unbreakable bonds of brotherhood, and the enduring commitment to service above self. Join us for a powerful exploration of a warrior's life and the indomitable will that drives those who have braved the battlefields.Follow Wild Chaos on Social Media: ⁠⁠⁠Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wildchaosshowYoutube: https://youtube.com/@wildchaos2308?si=8aj6bb-GgcsMhJw7TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@wildchaospodX (Twitter): ⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/thewildchaosMeta (Facebook): ⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/wildchaos/LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/wildchaos

On today's Zero Limits Podcast I am joined for a chat by David Nielsen former US Army Ranger and Delta Force Operator and podcast host of the @thechristologypodcastDave Nielsen served in the U.S. Army for 16 years. The majority of that time was spent in Special Operations. Dave served in the 75th Ranger Regiment before passing selection  to serve in the Army's Special Missions Unit, where he would deploy numerous times. Dave worked in various roles at the Unit, including as an assaulter, breacher, K-9 handler, and sniper team member.His story was featured in Channing Tatum's HBO documentary "War Dogs” retelling the story of three dog handlers and their canine counterparts from the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). He shares stories of his dog "Pepper" who was killed while rooting out an enemy from a sewer hole in Iraq on the banks of the Tigris River and searched for her all night but had to leave once the sun was coming up as they were in enemy-held territory. Dave co-hosts a brand new show called the Christology Podcast. After leaving the Army, he got a theology and biblical studies degree.Website - www.zerolimitspodcast.comInstagram - https://www.instagram.com/zero.limits.podcast/?hl=enShow Sponsors www.3zeroscoffee.com.au Discount code 3ZLimitswww.getsome.com.au Discount code ZEROLIMITS

We resist the call of God for many reasons. Maybe we feel inadequate, or we fear the ramifications. We might prefer the comfort of our current situation or have a distaste for the assignment. The book of Jonah documents one man's resistance to God's call. Others merely protested, but Jonah led God in a full-on chase. God called Jonah to bring a message of repentance to Nineveh, a large city on the eastern bank of the Tigris River (now Iraq). It was over 500 miles from Israel, a month's journey by land. Nineveh was considered “great” because of its size and importance. Morally, however, it was a mess. The people were cruel, violent, and known for idolatry. If he entered that city, Jonah's life could be in danger. Unlike the prophets before him, Jonah did not offer a verbal protest to the Lord. He didn't argue his inadequacy or fear. He just ran. His destination was Tarshish, which may have been in North Africa or even Spain (possibly more than 2,000 miles away). Jonah was serious about his escape. In the narrative, Jonah (probably the author) recorded that he “ran away from the LORD” (v. 3). This, of course, was impossible. The omnipresent God worked through the wind, the water, and the sailors to bring Jonah to a place of confession and discipline. And when the crew had thrown Jonah into the sea to save themselves, God sent a fish to rescue him. From the belly of the fish, Jonah cried, “In my distress I called [kaleo] to the LORD and he answered me” (2:2). In Jonah's distress, God opened his eyes to His mercy and salvation and moved Jonah from disobedience to thankfulness and obedience. >> Jonah's story shows us how we, too, can sometimes disobey or even deny the call of God. But if you read the rest of Jonah's story, you'll see that God is able to bring His servants back—to correct our course in extraordinary ways.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

WARNING TO JERUSALEM IN THE BATTLE OF MOSUL: 3/8: A Stranger in Your Own City: Travels in the Middle East's Long War by  Ghaith Abdul-Ahad https://www.amazon.com/Stranger-Your-Own-City-Travels/dp/0593536886/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr= A Stranger in Your Own City is award-winning writer Ghaith Abdul-Ahad's vivid, shattering response. This is not a book about Iraq's history or an inventory of the many Middle Eastern wars that have consumed the nation over the past several decades. This is the tale of a people who once lived under the rule of a megalomaniacal leader who shaped the state in his own image; a people who watched a foreign army invade, topple that leader, demolish the state, and then invent a new country; who experienced the horror of having their home fragmented into a hundred different cities. When the “Shock and Awe” campaign began in March 2003, Abdul-Ahad was an architect. Within months he would become a translator, then a fixer, then a reporter for The Guardian and elsewhere, chronicling the unbuilding of his centuries-old cosmopolitan city. Beginning at that moment and spanning twenty years, Abdul-Ahad's book centers on the West and in its place focuses on everyday people, soldiers, mercenaries, citizens blown sideways through life by the war, and the proliferation of sectarian battles that continue to this day. Here is their Iraq, seen from the inside: the human cost of violence, the shifting allegiances, the generational change. 1932 Tigris River

The sack of Baghdad by the Mongols in 1258 was a devastating event in history that marked the end of the Islamic Golden Age and the destruction of one of the world's most splendid and culturally advanced cities. Here is a summary of the key points:Background: Baghdad was the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate, one of the most powerful and influential Islamic empires. At its height, the city was a center of learning, culture, and trade, known for its libraries, scholars, and wealth.Mongol Invasion: The invasion was led by Hulagu Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan. He arrived in the region with a massive Mongol army, determined to conquer the Islamic heartland.Siege: In January 1258, the Mongols laid siege to Baghdad. The city was poorly prepared for the assault, and its defenses crumbled under the Mongol onslaught.Sack of the City: After a lengthy siege, the Mongols breached the walls of Baghdad in February 1258. The city fell, and what followed was a brutal and destructive rampage. Tens of thousands of residents were killed, and the city was plundered and set ablaze.Loss of Knowledge: One of the most tragic aspects of the sack was the loss of countless books and manuscripts from Baghdad's libraries and centers of learning. The Tigris River was said to have run black with ink from the countless books thrown into the river.End of the Abbasid Caliphate: The sack of Baghdad effectively ended the Abbasid Caliphate as a significant political and cultural force. Although nominal caliphs continued to exist, their power was greatly diminished.Impact on the Islamic World: The destruction of Baghdad had a profound and long-lasting impact on the Islamic world. It marked the beginning of a period of fragmentation and decline, with the center of Islamic power shifting to other regions.Legacy: The sack of Baghdad is often seen as a symbol of the destructive power of the Mongol Empire and its impact on world history. It also serves as a cautionary tale about the vulnerability of great civilizations to external forces.In summary, the sack of Baghdad by the Mongols in 1258 was a tragic and pivotal event that led to the destruction of a once-magnificent city and had far-reaching consequences for the Islamic world and world history.(commercial at 8:13)to contact me:bobycapucci@protonmail.comThis show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5080327/advertisement

The sack of Baghdad by the Mongols in 1258 was a devastating event in history that marked the end of the Islamic Golden Age and the destruction of one of the world's most splendid and culturally advanced cities. Here is a summary of the key points:Background: Baghdad was the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate, one of the most powerful and influential Islamic empires. At its height, the city was a center of learning, culture, and trade, known for its libraries, scholars, and wealth.Mongol Invasion: The invasion was led by Hulagu Khan, a grandson of Genghis Khan. He arrived in the region with a massive Mongol army, determined to conquer the Islamic heartland.Siege: In January 1258, the Mongols laid siege to Baghdad. The city was poorly prepared for the assault, and its defenses crumbled under the Mongol onslaught.Sack of the City: After a lengthy siege, the Mongols breached the walls of Baghdad in February 1258. The city fell, and what followed was a brutal and destructive rampage. Tens of thousands of residents were killed, and the city was plundered and set ablaze.Loss of Knowledge: One of the most tragic aspects of the sack was the loss of countless books and manuscripts from Baghdad's libraries and centers of learning. The Tigris River was said to have run black with ink from the countless books thrown into the river.End of the Abbasid Caliphate: The sack of Baghdad effectively ended the Abbasid Caliphate as a significant political and cultural force. Although nominal caliphs continued to exist, their power was greatly diminished.Impact on the Islamic World: The destruction of Baghdad had a profound and long-lasting impact on the Islamic world. It marked the beginning of a period of fragmentation and decline, with the center of Islamic power shifting to other regions.Legacy: The sack of Baghdad is often seen as a symbol of the destructive power of the Mongol Empire and its impact on world history. It also serves as a cautionary tale about the vulnerability of great civilizations to external forces.In summary, the sack of Baghdad by the Mongols in 1258 was a tragic and pivotal event that led to the destruction of a once-magnificent city and had far-reaching consequences for the Islamic world and world history.to contact me:bobycapucci@protonmail.comThis show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5003294/advertisement

In the last episode, I explored the question of why diamonds hold such a special place in the hearts of women. In today's episode I'm venturing into the world of mysticism surrounding diamonds. This exploration is based on a passage from a book written over 140 years ago—a book that still holds relevance and wisdom today. I'll be reading a section that caught my eye from a book called "Acres of Diamonds" by Reverend Russell Conwell, a remarkable individual who not only wrote inspiring works but also founded Temple University.  Side note: the book isn't about diamonds per se,  it's more about valuable life lessons that resonate with the past and the present.  I highly recommend it. As the story goes, Reverend Conwell and his entourage were traveling the Tigris River with the help of a storytelling guide who tells them the story of how diamonds came to be, and why women and diamonds have a "liking for one another."   He said that the world was once a fog, a scientific fact that he intertwines with a mystical tale. He describes how the almighty intervened by thrusting a finger into the fog and gradually transforming it into a solid ball of fire. This fiery sphere rolled through the universe, cooling its outer and inner layers, giving birth to the mountains, hills, and valleys of our planet. The Guide moves beyond scientific explanations, suggesting that diamonds were formed in the process. While the scientific accuracy might be questionable, the poetic nature of the story adds a layer of wonder to the creation of diamonds. (Contrasting with clinical explanations that often depict diamonds as mere rocks.) The Guide's tale infuses diamonds with a deeper significance. It's a tale that invites us to see beyond the surface and embrace the mystery. He then explores the allegorical connection between diamonds and women's liking for them. He says diamonds are the highest form of mineral creation, and women are the  highest form in animal creation. This connection between diamonds and women is rooted in this allegory, and explains their affinity for each other. (I love that.) There is fantasy woven into the story to be sure, but there's also something alluring about embracing the mysticism and dreamlike visions they bring to the table. I think that's what diamonds are all about in the end, and it's in large part why we're willing (sometimes begrudgingly) to exchange so much money for such a small thing.   If you'd like help finding a jeweler closer to home, email me at andy@buylikeaguy.com and I'll do my best to put you in touch with some of the best jewelers on earth. Music credits: Preacher Man by Miles Neilson and The Rusted Hearts, used with permission. A killer band with original songs that get stuck in your head.  They're awesome. Listen To Preacher Man on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/track/7ImcaJKIk0ZVtPzuUVV4vc?si=80581c74a9be4987 

Jim Fleming | Daniel 12:5–13

 Once the angelic messenger concluded his final word to Daniel (and us) he hung around for some Q & A. His answers affirm that God will do something truly amazing for many, even in the dark days that are coming.
 Want more information about First Evangelical Church? firstevan.org/connect Website: firstevan.org 
Instagram: @firstevan735 
Facebook: @FirstEvan

Episode 139 of The Adventure Podcast features the return of award-winning writer, broadcaster and explorer, Leon McCarron. Leon is likely best known for his long distance expeditions; over the past decade he's travelled over 50,000km on foot. Matt has spoken with Leon in a previous episode, however he's come back to talk about his new book which details his latest major expedition - in 2021, Leon journeyed the full length of the Tigris River, taking him through Turkey, Syria and Iraq. The river was the lifeblood of ancient Mesopotamia, and is now under serious threat. This episode is longer than normal, as there's so much to cover - from Leon's personal views on modern day Iraq and why he chooses to live there, through to the intricate details of the journey and what he experienced and discovered on that river.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-adventure-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jeremy Stalnecker is the CEO of the Mighty Oaks Foundation. The Mighty Oaks Foundation is dedicated to helping America's military warriors and their families who are suffering from the unseen wounds of combat such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).While growing up in San Jacinto, CA, Jeremy's only goal in life was to leave home and join the Marine Corps. This dream was finally realized with an active duty commission in 1999. Following Infantry Officer Course in Quantico, VA, Jeremy was assigned to First Battalion, Fifth Marines, First Marine Division as an infantry platoon commander. Serving first as a rifle platoon commander in a helicopter company and then as the platoon commander of the counter-mechanized platoon, Jeremy learned valuable leadership and communication skills that he continues to use today. In January 2003, Fifth Marines, as a part of the First Marine Division, deployed to Kuwait in support of what would become Operation Iraqi Freedom. As the war began, First Battalion, Fifth Marines was the infantry battalion used to breech the berm separating Kuwait and Iraq and secured the first major objective of the war. This led to a road march that ended with the battalion occupying Baghdad and seizing the presidential palace in northern Baghdad on the Tigris River. Throughout this movement, Jeremy and the counter-mechanized platoon provided navigation and lead security for the battalion.While in the Marine Corps, God was working in Jeremy's life to turn his heart toward full-time ministry. Just one month after returning from Iraq, Jeremy became a staff member of his home church at Coastline Baptist in Oceanside, CA. Here he gained ministry experience that would equip him for the further leading of God. In his role as an Assistant Pastor, he counseled and mentored many couples and individuals while also maintaining other church responsibilities. It was a great privilege for him to be able to serve in this capacity so close to Camp Pendleton since most of the people he worked with were either Marines or the family members of Marines.In 2008, Jeremy and his family took on a new responsibility when he became the Senior Pastor, just east of San Francisco Bay at Bay Area Baptist Church in Fremont, CA. In this capacity, he continued to minister to families and individuals in a wide range of areas. After serving in the role of senior pastor for nearly seven years, the door leading to a full-time position with the Mighty Oaks Foundation opened. This move brought together both his ministry experience and military background in a way that allows him to serve and minister to many hurting veterans, service members and their families. Along with his wife Susanne and their four children, Jeremy works to reach the hurting and provide the healing found in Christ.www.jeremystalnecker.com 

It's a plan that has been floated for years, but has seen slow progress as of late. A road and railway network, running from southeastern Turkiye, through Iraq, all the way to Basra on the Gulf. Although languishing for years in the planning phase, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gave the project a new jolt, referencing it during a press conference last week with Iraq's Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani. Dubbed the Development Road Project, the railway and road network will begin at Ovakoy on the Turkish-Iraqi border, and head south. It will pass all of Iraq's major cities including Mosul, its capital Baghdad, before finally arriving in Basra and the al Faw port on the Gulf. Iraq's Prime Minister said he had constructive talks with President Erdogan, especially when it came to the economy. The two countries saw a record trade year in 2022, hitting 24 billion dollars. President Erdogan also said that Turkiye would be releasing more water from the Tigris River, to help alleviate water shortages in Iraq, which lies downstream. Guests: Ivan Eland Senior Fellow at the Independent Institute Ahmet Keser Associate Professor at Hasan Kalyoncu University

January 08, 2023 Daily Devotion: "The Perfect Plan" JEREMIAH 29:11 “I know what I am planning for you," says the Lord.“ I have good plans for you, not plans to hurt you. I will give you hope and a good future." Jeremiah is known as the “weeping prophet.” Imagine losing absolutely everything you hold dear-your family, home, country, church, and maybe even your faith. Jeremiah Anguished over what had happened to his people. King Nebuchadnezzar had conquered the Kingdom of Judah, destroying the walls of Jerusalem and the temple built by Solomon. The strongest and most educated were led as captives to serve the conquering king. They left behind all they loved, smoldering in ruins. This young man of God preached to the Hebrew exiles, who now lived in the foreign country of Babylon, along the banks of the Tigris River. Like Job who had lost a future and family; like Joseph and their Hebrew ancestors who were captives in Egypt, despair reigned in the lives of the Israelites-their hope was lost. How could they think of themselves as God's chosen people under such circumstances? In the midst of this hopelessness, this young prophet, Jeremiah, called to speak for God at an early age, dried his eyes and boldly proclaimed a new promise that God had a future filled with hope for these people. That promise did come true for the Hebrew children, and the promise still echoes and holds true today, no matter what the situation in which you find yourself. Do things look bleak in your life right now? Are you flooded with insecurity about the future? Just as God had a plan for His people thousands of years ago, He has a plan for you-all good, pleasing, and perfect plan. And He is trustworthty make that plan happen. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/gerzon-etino/message

War A to Z▪️Abbas I The Great▪️Born - January 27 1571, IranDied - January 19 1629, Iran▪️Wars/Battles of Note - Uzbek-Persian Wars, Turko-Persian Wars, Mogul-Persian Wars, Tabriz 1603,Sis 1606, Siege of Baghdad 1624-1626▪️Through a combination of guile, patience, and determination, Abbas the Great ruled a powerful Persian state for over forty years. Upon taking the throne he faced threats from every direction including the vaunted Janissaries of the Turks and the mighty Mogul Empire to the south. Understanding that he could only deal with one enemy at a time, Abbas prioritized each opponent and then in turn dealt with the Uzbeks, Ottomans, Moguls, and even the Portuguese. His was court of culture and when not campaigning he was a powerful patron of the arts and builder of beautiful cities. On his death the Persian Empire ran from the Indus River to the Tigris River.▪️Rate/Review/Subscribe

Jeremy Stalnecker is the CEO of the Mighty Oaks Foundation. The Mighty Oaks Foundation is dedicated to helping America's military warriors and their families who are suffering from the unseen wounds of combat such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).While growing up in San Jacinto, CA, Jeremy's only goal in life was to leave home and join the Marine Corps. This dream was finally realized with an active duty commission in 1999. Following Infantry Officer Course in Quantico, VA, Jeremy was assigned to First Battalion, Fifth Marines, First Marine Division as an infantry platoon commander. Serving first as a rifle platoon commander in a helicopter company and then as the platoon commander of the counter-mechanized platoon, Jeremy learned valuable leadership and communication skills that he continues to use today. In January 2003, Fifth Marines, as a part of the First Marine Division, deployed to Kuwait in support of what would become Operation Iraqi Freedom. As the war began, First Battalion, Fifth Marines was the infantry battalion used to breech the berm separating Kuwait and Iraq and secured the first major objective of the war. This led to a road march that ended with the battalion occupying Baghdad and seizing the presidential palace in northern Baghdad on the Tigris River. Throughout this movement, Jeremy and the counter-mechanized platoon provided navigation and lead security for the battalion.Find out more about Jeremy and what he does below:https://www.jeremystalnecker.com/ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/march-or-die/id1517415146 https://www.mightyoaksprograms.org/

Good afternoon, I'm _____ with today's episode of EZ News. **Subject: E*Tai-Ex opening ** The Tai-Ex opened up 51-points this morning from yesterday's close, at 13,274 on turnover of 2.7-billion N-T. The market gained ground on Monday as investor sentiment got a boost from a rise on Wall Street at the end of last week on the back of reduced concerns over future interest rate hikes by the U-S Federal Reserve. The bellwether electronics sector led the upturn, while investor interest also spread to old economy and financial sector stocks to push the market over the 13,200-point mark by the close of the trading day. **St. Kitts and Nevis PM in Taiwan ** The Prime Minister of St. Kitts and Nevis is visiting this this week for talks with senior government officials. According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this talks will be focuing on bilateral cooperation projects. Terrance Drew will be meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen, Premier Su Tseng-chang and Foreign Minister Joseph Wu. Drew will also be visiting the Mainland Affairs Council, the Environmental Protection Administration and the National Health Insurance Administration during his four-day trip. Speaking at Taoyuan International Airport on his arriva, Drew decribed Taiwan and St. Kitts as being "friends and partners in international development" and said his visit aims to "strengthen the bonds (團結在一起) of friendship between the two allies." **CECC to Receive Shipment of Moderna Updated Coronavirus Vaccine ** The Central Epidemic Command Center says it will take delivery of a shipment of 600,000 doses of Moderna's second-generation coronavirus vaccine tomorrow. The vaccine targets the original (原本) virus and the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants. According to epidemic command center head Victor Wang, new vaccine's rollout is likely to start on November 18 and the doses will be made available as a booster for people aged 12 years are older. Wang says the government has so far only ordered 600,000 doses of the new Moderna vaccine, and he's not saying whether more doses will be ordered in the future. **American Aid Worker Shot Dead in Iraq ** Two police officials say assailants shot dead an American aid worker in Baghdad. The man was shot as he drove through the capital's central Karrada district on the east bank of the Tigris River but the reason for the killing was not immediately clear. No one immediately claimed (認領) responsibility for the killing. U.S. Embassy officials when contacted by The Associated Press said they had only just heard about the shooting and had no information. Two security officials confirmed a U.S. citizen who worked for an international aid organization had been killed without giving his name. **Greece Exxon Mobil Set for Gas Prospecting Project ** Greece's prime minister says U.S. energy giant Exxon Mobil is poised to start a delayed gas prospecting project off southwestern Greece. The move comes amid tensions over offshore rights between Greece and Turkey and as Europe seeks alternative energy sources due to the war in Ukraine. The exploration project has been heavily criticized by environmental groups, which argue that the deep-sea prospecting would have unbearable (不堪忍受) consequences to endangered Mediterranean whales and dolphins. Critics also highlight the potential risk of spills, and say the project, if successful, would increase Greece use of fossil fuels amid the planet climate change crisis. That was the I.C.R.T. news, Check in again tomorrow for our simplified version of the news, uploaded every day in the afternoon. Enjoy the rest of your day, I'm _____.

The Mighty Oaks Program  Jeremy Stalnecker pt 2 As many of you know, from some of the conversations I've had on this program, my first love was the United States Army. The love of country; the desire to serve and to protect; the brotherhood and comradery you shared. The missions. The dangers. The highs and lows. The struggles. Everyone was going through it together. Everyone was enduring the same thing. Everyone hated it and still loved it at the same time. For those that served, you know what I'm talking about. For those that did not serve, it is hard for me or anyone else to put into words. Our guest today is a veteran and part of a group that you just need to know about. It is the “Mighty Oaks Foundation” and our guest today is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Jeremy Stalnecker. Jeremy was a Marine Corps Infantry Officer with the First Battalion, Fifth Marines, First Marine Division as a platoon commander in various positions. In January 2003, his unit was deployed to become part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. As the war began, his unit was the first to breach the berm separating Kuwait and Iraq and they were able to secure the first military objective of the war. Continuing, they road marched forward and ended up in Baghdad and were able to seize control of the Presidential Palace in northern Baghdad on the Tigris River. Throughout this mission, Jeremy and his unit provided navigation and security for the battalion. One month after returning from war, he became the assistant pastor at his church and gained ministry experience that would equip to doing what he is doing now, serving the Lord and furthering his ministerial responsibilities. In 2008, Jeremy took on the role of senior pastor of the Bay Area Baptist Church in Freemont, California. After serving there for seven years, he accepted a full time position with the Mighty Oaks Foundation where he is able to use both, his military background and his ministry experience to help many hurting veterans, service members, their families as well as first responders and their families. The “Mighty Oaks Foundation” is committed to serving the brokenhearted by providing intensive peer-based discipleship through a series of programs, outpost meetings and speaking events... You have programs for both men and women. Do you have a program for husband and wife to attend together? Survivors guilt is a very serious emotional problem for many of our veterans. How does “Mighty Oaks” help people to answer that question of “Why them and not me?” How do you help hurting veterans to share their stories? Just the fact of being able to talk with someone can often begin the path for healing? Does your organization offer speakers for Veterans events, churches, conferences and things like that? Is there any cost for a veteran, family member, first responder, etc. for your programs? You also host a podcast, https://www.jeremystalnecker.com/ (“March or Die,”) correct?  Tell us about your program? Jeremy, this has been a great interview. I know someone out there listening to us today either needs to get in touch with you or knows someone that needs your services. How can someone get in touch with you, the “Mighty Oaks Foundation,” and apply for your services or have someone come out and speak at an event, etc.? How can someone listen to your podcast? Folks, I have spoken at veterans conferences and I have met many people in what I do that served this nation. Many of the suffer from some form of PTSD, have Traumatic Brain Injuries, have developed severe illnesses, etc. And the services offered by “The Mighty Oaks Foundation” are there to help these folks. Perhaps you know of someone that can use their services. Perhaps you can help them reach someone that can use their services. How? By making a donation to support their work. Every donation matters. Every dollar allows them to continue reaching others that need their...

The Might Oaks Program  Jeremy Stalnecker pt 1 As many of you know, from some of the conversations I've had on this program, my first love was the United States Army. The love of country; the desire to serve and to protect; the brotherhood and comradery you shared. The missions. The dangers. The highs and lows. The struggles. Everyone was going through it together. Everyone was enduring the same thing. Everyone hated it and still loved it at the same time. For those that served, you know what I'm talking about. For those that did not serve, it is hard for me or anyone else to put into words. I left service in 1989 after 12 years. I left the Cavalry, I was a CAV officer, and went into business and somehow found my way into law enforcement – and the rest is history. Amen! Those that have been listening to this program for any length of time knows the story. For those that are new, just keep listening or go the archives and you'll know. The reason I'm bringing this up, especially around the 4th of July holiday, is because each and every man and woman who signed up and served, did so voluntarily. They volunteered to protect this nation and the freedoms we enjoy. Many, many of them who came in after I left service, served their entire careers during conflict. Many served in hazardous areas their entire time in service. Witnessing things that no human being should witness. Participating in action that has left huge, emotional scars that haunt them to this day. Our guest today is a veteran and part of a group that you just need to know about. It is the “Might Oaks Foundation” and our guest today is the Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder, Jeremy Stalnecker. Jeremy was a Marine Corps Infantry Officer with the First Battalion, Fifth Marines, First Marine Division as a platoon commander in various positions. In January 2003, his unit was deployed to become part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. As the war began, his unit was the first to breach the berm separating Kuwait and Iraq and they were able to secure the first military objective of the war. Continuing, they road marched forward and ended up in Baghdad and were able to seize control of the Presidential Palace in northern Baghdad on the Tigris River. Throughout this mission, Jeremy and his unit provided navigation and security for the battalion. One month after returning from war, he became the assistant pastor at his church and gained ministry experience that would equip to doing what he is doing now, serving the Lord and furthering his ministerial responsibilities. In 2008, Jeremy took on the role of senior pastor of the Bay Area Baptist Church in Freemont, California. After serving there for seven years, he accepted a full time position with the Might Oaks Foundation where he is able to use both, his military background and his ministry experience to help many hurting veterans, service members, their families as well as first responders and their families. The “Mighty Oaks Foundation” is committed to serving the brokenhearted by providing intensive peer-based discipleship through a series of programs, outpost meetings and speaking events.. Help me welcome to the program, Jeremy Stalnecker! First question, other than that brief information I just shared, can you tell us in your own words, “Who is Jeremy Stalnecker?” As I was preparing for our interview, I was reading about your career and the mission of protecting the battalion during the major movement, etc. Brother, that was my job in the Cavalry as well. So I can relate to everything you shared about that on your website. Praise God. Your unit was one that breached the berm.  The unit and men that I had served with were part of that “end run” to the rear echelon area and cutting off the supply lines and avenues of retreat. First Cav Division. Praise God. You are the co-founder of the “Mighty Oaks Foundation.”  What brought you to begin this type of organization and how did

Listen to the premiere episode of a new limited narrative series from American Jewish Committee (AJC): The Forgotten Exodus. Each Monday, for the next six weeks, AJC will release a new episode of The Forgotten Exodus, the first-ever narrative podcast series to focus exclusively on Mizrahi and Sephardic Jews. This week's episode focuses on Jews from Iraq. If you like what you hear, use the link below to subscribe before the next episode drops on August 8. Who are the Jews of Iraq? Why did they leave? And why do so many Iraqi Jews, even those born elsewhere, still consider Iraq their home?  Join us to uncover the answers to these questions through the inspiring story of Mizrahi Jewish cartoonist Carol Isaacs' family. Feeling alienated growing up as the only Jew in school from an Arab-majority country, Carol turned her longing for Iraq and the life her family left behind into a gripping graphic memoir, The Wolf of Baghdad.  Meanwhile, Zvi Ben-Dor Benite, professor of History and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at New York University, delves into the fascinating, yet the little-known history of Iraqi Jewry, from its roots in the region 2,600 years ago, to the antisemitic riots that led them to seek refuge in Israel, England, and the U.S. ____ Show Notes: Sign up to receive podcast updates here. Learn more about The Forgotten Exodus here.  Song credits: Thanks to Carol Isaacs and her band 3yin for permission to use The Wolf of Bagdad soundtrack. Portions of the following tracks can be heard throughout the episode:  01 Dhikrayyat (al Qasabji)  02 Muqaddima Hijaz (trad)  03 Che Mali Wali (pt 1) (trad) 05 Fog el Nakhal (trad)  11 Balini-b Balwa (trad)  12 Al Effendi (al Kuwaiti)  14 Dililol (trad)  15 Che Mail Wali (pt 2) (trad)  Pond5: “Desert Caravans”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI), Composer: Tiemur Zarobov (BMI), IPI#1098108837; “Sentimental Oud Middle Eastern”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI), Composer: Sotirios Bakas (BMI), IPI#797324989. ____ Episode Transcript: CAROL ISAACS: A lot of businesses were trashed, houses were burnt. It was an awful time. And that was a kind of time when the Jews of Iraq had started to think, ‘Well, maybe this isn't our homeland after all.' MANYA BRACHEAR PASHMAN: Welcome to the premiere of the first ever podcast series devoted exclusively to an overlooked episode in modern history: the 800,000 Jews who left or were driven from their homes in Arab nations and Iran in the mid-20th century. Some fled antisemitism, mistreatment, and pogroms that sparked a refugee crisis like no other, as persecuted Jewish communities poured from numerous directions.  Others sought opportunities for their families or followed the calling to help create a Jewish state. In Israel, America, Italy, wherever they landed, these Jews forged new lives for themselves and future generations. This series explores that pivotal moment in Jewish history and the rich Jewish heritage of Iran and Arab nations as some begin to build relations with Israel. Each week, we will share the history of one Jewish family with roots in the Arab world. Each account is personal and different. Some include painful memories or elegies for what could've been. Others pay homage to the conviction of their ancestors to seek a life where they were wanted. To ground each episode, we rely on a scholar to untangle the complexities. Some of these stories have never been told because they wished to leave the past in the past. For those of you who, like me, before this project began, never read this chapter in Jewish history, we hope you find this series enlightening. And for those who felt ignored for so many decades, we hope these stories honor your families' legacies. Join us as we explore stories of courage, perseverance, and resilience.  I'm your host, Manya Brachear Pashman, and this is The Forgotten Exodus.   Today's episode: Leaving Iraq.   CAROL: All my life, I've lived in two worlds – one inside the family home, which is a very Jewish world, obviously, but also tinged with Iraqi customs like Iraqi food, a language we spoke—Judeo Arabic. So, I've always known that I'm not just British. I've lived in these two worlds, the one at home, and then the one at school. And then later on at work, which was very English. I went to a terribly English school, for example, there were about a thousand girls. Of those thousand girls, 30 were Jewish, and I was the only Mizrahi, the only non-European Jew. So, there's always been that knowing that I'm not quite fitting into boxes. Do you know what I mean? But I never quite knew which box I fit into. MANYA: Carol Isaacs makes her living illustrating the zeitgeists of our time, poking fun at the irony all around us, reminding us of our common quirks. And she fits it all into a tiny box. You might not know Carol by her given name, but you've probably seen her pen name, scrawled in the corner of her cartoons published by The New Yorker and Spectator magazines: TS McCoy, or The Surreal McCoy.  Carol is homesick for a home she never knew. Born and raised Jewish in London, she grew up hearing stories of her parents' life in Baghdad. How her family members learned to swim in the Tigris River using the bark of palm trees as life preservers, how they shopped in the city sooks for dates to bake b'ab'e b'tamer.  Millions of Jews have called Iraq home for more than 2,600 years, including many of their children and grandchildren who have never been there, but long to go. Like Carol, they were raised with indelible stories of daily life in Mosul, Basra, Baghdad – Jewish life that ceased to exist because it ceased to be safe. CAROL: My mother remembered sitting with her mother and her grandmother and all the family in the cellar, going through every single grain of rice for chometz. Now, if you imagine that there were eight days of Passover, I don't know 10, 12 people in the household, plus guests, they ate rice at least twice a day. You can imagine how much rice you'd have to go through. So little things like that, you know, that would give you a window into another world completely, that they remembered with so much fondness.  And it's been like that all my life. I've had this nostalgia for this, this place that my parents used to . . . now and again they'd talk about it, this place that I've never visited and I've never known. But it would be wonderful to go and just smell the same air that my ancestors smelled, you know, walk around the same streets in the Jewish Quarter. The houses are still there, the old Jewish Quarter. They're a bit run down. Well, very run down. MANYA: Carol turned her longing for Iraq and the life her family left behind into a graphic memoir and animated film called The Wolf of Baghdad. Think Art Spiegelman's Maus, the graphic novel about the Holocaust, but for Jews in Iraq who on the holiday of Shavuot in 1941 suffered through a brutal pogrom known as the Farhud, followed by decades of persecution, and ultimately, expulsion. Her research for the book involved conversations with family members who had never spoken about the violence and hatred they witnessed. They had left it in the past and now looked toward the future. There's no dialogue in the book either. The story arc simply follows the memories. CAROL: They wanted to look forward. So, it was really gratifying that they did tell me these things. ‘Cause when my parents came, for example, they came to the UK, it was very much ‘Look forward. We are British now.' My father was the quintessential city gent. He'd go to the office every day in the city of London with his pinstriped suit, and a rose plucked from the front garden, you know, a copy of The Guardian newspaper under his arm. He was British. We listened to classical music. We didn't listen to the music of my heritage. It was all Western music in the house. MANYA: But her father's Muslim and Christian business associates in Iraq visited regularly, as long as they could safely travel.    CAROL: On a Sunday, every month, our house would turn into little Baghdad. They would come and my mother would feed them these delicacies that she spent all week making and they'd sit and they'd talk. MANYA: As Carol said, she had heard only fond memories throughout her childhood because for millennia, Jews in Iraq lived in harmony with their Muslim and Christian neighbors.  CAROL: Jews have always lived in Mesopotamia, lived generally quite well. There was always the dimmi status, which is a status given to minorities. For example, they had to pay a certain tax, had to wear certain clothing. Sometimes, they weren't allowed to build houses higher than their neighbor, because they weren't allowed to be above their neighbor. They couldn't ride a horse, for example, Jews. I mean, small little rules, that you were never quite accorded full status. But then when the Brits arrived in 1917, things became a bit easier. MANYA: But 20-some years later, life for Jews took a turn for the worse. That sudden and dramatic turning point in 1941 was called The Farhud. ZVI BEN-DOR BENITE: Jews have been living in Iraq for thousands of years. If we start with the Farhud, we are starting in the middle of the story, in fact, in the middle of the end.” MANYA: That's Zvi Ben-Dor Benite, a professor of history and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at New York University. The son of Iraqi Jewish parents who migrated to Israel in the early 1950s, he carries in his imagination maps of old Jewish neighborhoods in Mosul and Baghdad, etched by his parents' stories of life in the old country. He shares Carol's longing to walk those same streets one day.  ZVI: Iraqis, even those who were born in Israel, still self-identify as Iraqis and still consider that home to a certain extent – an imaginary home, but home. And you can say the same thing, and even more so, for people who were born there and lived there at the time. So here's the thing: if I go there, I would be considering myself a returnee. But it would be my first time. MANYA: As a Jew, Zvi knows the chances of his returning are slim. To this day, Iraq remains the only Arab country that has never signed a ceasefire with Israel since Arab nations declared war on the Jewish state upon its creation in 1948. Jews are not safe there. Really, no one has been for a while. The dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, ISIS, and general civil unrest have made modern-day Iraq dangerous for decades. The region is simply unstable. The centuries leading up to the Farhud in 1941 were no different. The territory originally known as Mesopotamia flipped from empire to empire, including Babylonian, Mongol, Safavids, Ottoman, British. Just to name a few. But during those centuries, Iraq was historically diverse – home to Muslims, Jews, Assyrian Christians. Yes, Jews were a minority and faced some limitations. But that didn't change the fact that they loved the place they called home.  ZVI: We zoom in on the Farhud because it is a relatively unique event. Jews in Iraq were highly integrated, certainly those who lived in the big cities and certainly those who lived in Baghdad. Few reasons to talk about this integration. First of all, they spoke Arabic. Second of all, they participated in the Iraqi transition to modernity. In many ways, the Jewish community even spearheaded Iraqi society's transition into modernity. Of course, you know, being a minority, it means that not everything is rosy, and I'm not in any way trying to make it as a rosy situation. But if you compare it to the experiences of European Jews, certainly Europeans in the Pale of Settlement or in Eastern Europe, it's a much lovelier situation. Many Jews participate in Iraqi politics in different ways. Many Jews joined the Communist Party, in fact, lead the Communist Party to a certain extent. Others join different parties that highly identify in terms of Iraqi nationalism. MANYA: Very few Iraqi Jews identified with the modern Zionist movement, a Jewish nationalist movement to establish a state on the ancestral homeland of the Jews, then known as Palestine. Still, Iraqi Jews were not immune from Arab hostility toward the notion of Jewish self-determination. Adding to that tension: the Nazi propaganda that poured out of the German embassy in Baghdad.  CAROL: Mein Kampf was translated into Arabic and published in all the newspapers there. There were broadcasts coming from Radio Berlin, in Arabic, politicizing Islam and generally manipulating certain texts from the Quran, to show that Jews were the enemies of Islam. So, there was this constant drip, drip of antisemitism. ZVI: Another factor is, of course, the British. There is an anti-British government in Baghdad at the time, during the period of someone who went down in history as a Nazi collaborator, Rashid Ali. And Rashid Ali's been removed just before the British retake Iraq. We should remember that basically, even though Iraq is a kind of constitutional monarchy, the British run the show behind the scenes for a very, very long time. So, there is a little bit of a hiatus over several months with Rashid Ali, and then when he is removed, you know, people blame the Jews for that. MANYA: On the afternoon of June 1, 1941, Jews in Baghdad prepared to celebrate the traditional Jewish harvest festival of Shavuot. Violent mobs descended on the celebrants. CAROL: In those two days the mobs ran riot and took it all out on the Jews. We don't, to this day, we don't know how many Jews died. Conservative estimates say about 120. We think it was in the thousands. Certainly, a lot of businesses were trashed, houses were burnt, women raped, mutilated, babies killed. It was an awful time. And that was a kind of time when the Jews of Iraq had started to think, ‘Well, maybe this isn't our homeland after all.' MANYA: The mobs were a fraction of the Iraqi population. Many Muslim residents protected their Jewish neighbors.  CAROL: One of my relations said that during the Farhud, the pogrom, that her neighbors stood guard over their house, Muslim neighbors, and told the mobs that they wouldn't let them in that these people are our family, our friends. They wouldn't let them in. They looked after each other, they protected each other. MANYA: But the climate in Iraq was no longer one in which Jews could thrive. Now they just hoped to survive. In the mid-to-late 40s, Carol's father, who worked for the British army during World War II, left for the United Kingdom and, as the eldest son, began to bring his family out one by one. Then came 1948. Israel declared independence and five Arab nations declared war.  ZVI: So, Iraq sent soldiers to fight as part of the Arab effort in Palestine, and they began to come back in coffins. I mean, there's a sense of defeat. Three deserters, three Iraqi soldiers that deserted the war, and crossed the desert back to Iraq, and they landed up in Mosul on the Eve of Passover in 1949. And they knocked on the door of one of my uncles. And they said, they were hosted by this Jewish family. And they were telling the Jews, who were their hosts that evening, about the war in Palestine, and about what was going on and so on. This is just an isolated case, but the point is that you know, it raises the tension in the population, and it raises the tensions against Jews tenfold. But there's no massive movement of Iraqi Jews, even though the conditions are worsening. In other words, it becomes uneasy for someone to walk in the street as a Jew. There is a certain sense of fear that is going on. And then comes the legal action. MANYA: That legal action, transacted with the state of Israel and facilitated by Zionist operatives, set the most significant exodus in motion. In 1950, the Iraqi government gave its Jewish citizens a choice. Renounce their Iraqi citizenship, take only what fits in a suitcase, and board a flight to Israel, or stay and face an uncertain future. The offer expired in a year, meaning those who stayed would no longer be allowed to leave. ZVI: If you're a Jew in Iraq in 1950, you are plunged into a very, very cruel dilemma. First of all, you don't know what the future holds. You do know that the present, after 1948, suggests worsening conditions. There is a sense that, you know, all the Jews are sort of a fifth column. All of them are associated with Zionism, even though you know, the Zionist movement is actually very small. There are certain persecutions of Zionists and communists who are Jews as well. And, you know, there have been mass arrests of them, you know, particularly of the young, younger Jewish population, so you don't know. And then the state comes in and says, ‘Look, you get one year to stay or to leave. If you leave, you leave. If you stay, you're gonna get stuck here.' Now, just think about presenting someone with that dilemma after 1935 and the Nuremberg Laws, after what happened in Europe. MANYA: In all, 120,000 Iraqi Jews leave for Israel over nine months – 90% of Iraqi Jewry. For the ten percent who stayed, they became a weak and endangered minority. Many Iraqis, including the family on Carol's mother's side, eventually escaped to America and England.  CAROL: My mother and my father were separated by a generation. My father was much older, 23 years older than my mother. So, he had a different view of life in Baghdad. When he was around, it was generally very peaceful. The Jews were allowed to live quite, in peace with their neighbors. But with my mother's generation and younger, it was already the beginning – the rot had started to set in. So, she had a different view entirely. CAROL: My grandmother, maternal grandmother, was the last one to come out of our family, to come out of Iraq. She left in ‘63. And my dad managed to get her out. MANYA: After Israel defeated another Arab onslaught in 1967, thousands more fled. ZVI: This was a glorious community, a large community, which was part of the fabric of society for centuries, if not millennia. And then, in one dramatic day, in a very, very short period, it just basically evaporated. And what was left is maybe 10 percent, which may be elite, that decided to risk everything by staying. But even they, at the end, had to leave.  MANYA: Remember, Carol said she was one of 30 Jewish girls at her school, but the only Mizrahi Jew. The term Mizrahi, which means “Eastern” in Hebrew, refers to the diaspora of descendants of Jewish communities from Middle Eastern countries such as: Iraq, Iran, and Yemen, and North African countries such as: Egypt, Libya, and Morocco. CAROL: It's been interesting. A lot of people didn't even know that there were Jews living in Arab lands. I mean, for all my life, I've been told, ‘Oh, you're Jewish, you speak Yiddish, you come from Poland. You eat smoked salmon and bagels. You say ‘oy vey,' which is great if you do all those things and you do come from Eastern Europe, but I don't. Almost 1 million Jews of Arab lands, nobody knows about what happened to them, that they were ethnically cleansed, removed from their homes, and dispersed across the world. It's our truth. And it's our history and make of it what you will, just add it to other family histories that we know. MANYA: Carol has discovered that even Iraqis did not know of their country's rich Jewish past, nor the fate of its Jewish citizens. Since the animated version of The Wolf of Baghdad premiered at the Israeli and Iraqi embassies in London, accompanied by Carol's accordion and other musicians playing its Judeo-Arabic soundtrack, Iraqis in the audience have been moved to tears.  CAROL: At one Q&A, after we did a performance, one Iraqi gentleman stood up at the front. He was crying. He said, ‘I'm really sorry for what we did to you. I'm so sorry.' And that was immensely moving for me. It was like, well, you know what? We're talking now. It's wonderful. We can sit down together. We can talk in a shared language. We can talk about our shared culture, and we've got more that ties us together than separates us. We've got more in common, right? So, I'm always looking for that, that kind of positive, and so far it's come back to me, multiplied by a million, which has been brilliant. The truth is coming to light, that people know that the Jews of Iraq contributed so much, not just culturally but also socially, in the government too. So, it's this reaching out from Iraq to its lost Jews saying ‘Well where are you? What happened to you? Tell us your story. We want to see where you are. Come back even,' some of them are saying. MANYA: Carol has continued to give a voice to the Jewish refugees of Iraq. Most recently, she has been adapting The Wolf of Baghdad for younger, middle school-aged readers to better understand the story. And high schools in London and Canada have added The Wolf of Baghdad to their history curriculum.  CAROL: Leaving Iraq was called the silent exodus for a reason. We just left quietly and without fuss, and just went and made our lives elsewhere. I do know that life was difficult for them wherever they went, but they just got on with it, like refugees will do everywhere. MANYA: These Jews are just one of the many Jewish communities who, in the last century left Arab countries to forge new lives for themselves and future generations. Join us next week as we share another untold story of The Forgotten Exodus. Many thanks to Carol Isaacs for sharing her family's story and to her band 3yin for the music. Throughout this episode, you have been listening to pieces of the soundtrack from The Wolf of Baghdad motion comic performed by 3yin, a groundbreaking London based band that plays Jewish melodies from the Middle East and North Africa. The soundtrack is available at thesurrealmccoy.com. Atara Lakritz is our producer, CucHuong Do is our production manager. T.K. Broderick is our sound engineer. Special thanks to Jon Schweitzer, Sean Savage, Ian Kaplan, and so many of our colleagues, too many to name really, for making this series possible. And extra special thanks to David Harris, who has been a constant champion for making sure these stories do not remain untold. You can subscribe to The Forgotten Exodus on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts, and you can learn more at AJC.org/forgottenexodus.  The views and opinions of our guests don't necessarily reflect the positions of AJC.  You can reach us at theforgottenexodus@ajc.org. If you've enjoyed this episode, please be sure to spread the word, and hop onto Apple Podcasts to rate us and write a review to help more listeners find us.

Who are the Jews of Iraq? Why did they leave? And why do so many Iraqi Jews, even those born elsewhere, still consider Iraq their home?  The premiere episode of a new limited narrative series from American Jewish Committee (AJC) uncovers the answers to these questions through the inspiring story of Mizrahi Jewish cartoonist Carol Isaacs' family. Feeling alienated growing up as the only Jew in school from an Arab-majority country, Carol turned her longing for Iraq and the life her family left behind into a gripping graphic memoir, The Wolf of Baghdad.  Meanwhile, Zvi Ben-Dor Benite, professor of History and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at New York University, delves into the fascinating, yet the little-known history of Iraqi Jewry, from its roots in the region 2,600 years ago, to the antisemitic riots that led them to seek refuge in Israel, England, and the U.S. _________ Show notes: Sign up to receive podcast updates here. Learn more about the series here. Song credits: Thanks to Carol Isaacs and her band 3yin for permission to use The Wolf of Bagdad soundtrack. Portions of the following tracks can be heard throughout the episode:  01 Dhikrayyat (al Qasabji)  02 Muqaddima Hijaz (trad)  03 Che Mali Wali (pt 1) (trad) 05 Fog el Nakhal (trad)  11 Balini-b Balwa (trad)  12 Al Effendi (al Kuwaiti)  14 Dililol (trad)  15 Che Mail Wali (pt 2) (trad)  Pond5: “Desert Caravans”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI), Composer: Tiemur Zarobov (BMI), IPI#1098108837; “Sentimental Oud Middle Eastern”: Publisher: Pond5 Publishing Beta (BMI), Composer: Sotirios Bakas (BMI), IPI#797324989. ______ Episode Transcript: CAROL ISAACS: A lot of businesses were trashed, houses were burnt. It was an awful time. And that was a kind of time when the Jews of Iraq had started to think, ‘Well, maybe this isn't our homeland after all.' MANYA BRACHEAR PASHMAN: Welcome to the premiere of the first ever podcast series devoted exclusively to an overlooked episode in modern history: the 800,000 Jews who left or were driven from their homes in Arab nations and Iran in the mid-20th century. Some fled antisemitism, mistreatment, and pogroms that sparked a refugee crisis like no other, as persecuted Jewish communities poured from numerous directions.  Others sought opportunities for their families or followed the calling to help create a Jewish state. In Israel, America, Italy, wherever they landed, these Jews forged new lives for themselves and future generations. This series explores that pivotal moment in Jewish history and the rich Jewish heritage of Iran and Arab nations as some begin to build relations with Israel. Each week, we will share the history of one Jewish family with roots in the Arab world. Each account is personal and different. Some include painful memories or elegies for what could've been. Others pay homage to the conviction of their ancestors to seek a life where they were wanted. To ground each episode, we rely on a scholar to untangle the complexities. Some of these stories have never been told because they wished to leave the past in the past. For those of you who, like me, before this project began, never read this chapter in Jewish history, we hope you find this series enlightening. And for those who felt ignored for so many decades, we hope these stories honor your families' legacies. Join us as we explore stories of courage, perseverance, and resilience.  I'm your host, Manya Brachear Pashman, and this is The Forgotten Exodus. Today's episode: Leaving Iraq. CAROL: All my life, I've lived in two worlds – one inside the family home, which is a very Jewish world, obviously, but also tinged with Iraqi customs like Iraqi food, a language we spoke—Judeo Arabic. So, I've always known that I'm not just British. I've lived in these two worlds, the one at home, and then the one at school. And then later on at work, which was very English. I went to a terribly English school, for example, there were about a thousand girls. Of those thousand girls, 30 were Jewish, and I was the only Mizrahi, the only non-European Jew. So, there's always been that knowing that I'm not quite fitting into boxes. Do you know what I mean? But I never quite knew which box I fit into. MANYA: Carol Isaacs makes her living illustrating the zeitgeists of our time, poking fun at the irony all around us, reminding us of our common quirks. And she fits it all into a tiny box. You might not know Carol by her given name, but you've probably seen her pen name, scrawled in the corner of her cartoons published by The New Yorker and Spectator magazines: TS McCoy, or The Surreal McCoy.  Carol is homesick for a home she never knew. Born and raised Jewish in London, she grew up hearing stories of her parents' life in Baghdad. How her family members learned to swim in the Tigris River using the bark of palm trees as life preservers, how they shopped in the city sooks for dates to bake b'ab'e b'tamer.  Millions of Jews have called Iraq home for more than 2,600 years, including many of their children and grandchildren who have never been there, but long to go. Like Carol, they were raised with indelible stories of daily life in Mosul, Basra, Baghdad – Jewish life that ceased to exist because it ceased to be safe. CAROL: My mother remembered sitting with her mother and her grandmother and all the family in the cellar, going through every single grain of rice for chometz. Now, if you imagine that there were eight days of Passover, I don't know 10, 12 people in the household, plus guests, they ate rice at least twice a day. You can imagine how much rice you'd have to go through. So little things like that, you know, that would give you a window into another world completely, that they remembered with so much fondness.  And it's been like that all my life. I've had this nostalgia for this, this place that my parents used to . . . now and again they'd talk about it, this place that I've never visited and I've never known. But it would be wonderful to go and just smell the same air that my ancestors smelled, you know, walk around the same streets in the Jewish Quarter. The houses are still there, the old Jewish Quarter. They're a bit run down. Well, very run down. MANYA: Carol turned her longing for Iraq and the life her family left behind into a graphic memoir and animated film called The Wolf of Baghdad. Think Art Spiegelman's Maus, the graphic novel about the Holocaust, but for Jews in Iraq who on the holiday of Shavuot in 1941 suffered through a brutal pogrom known as the Farhud, followed by decades of persecution, and ultimately, expulsion. Her research for the book involved conversations with family members who had never spoken about the violence and hatred they witnessed. They had left it in the past and now looked toward the future. There's no dialogue in the book either. The story arc simply follows the memories. CAROL: They wanted to look forward. So, it was really gratifying that they did tell me these things. ‘Cause when my parents came, for example, they came to the UK, it was very much ‘Look forward. We are British now.' My father was the quintessential city gent. He'd go to the office every day in the city of London with his pinstriped suit, and a rose plucked from the front garden, you know, a copy of The Guardian newspaper under his arm. He was British. We listened to classical music. We didn't listen to the music of my heritage. It was all Western music in the house. MANYA: But her father's Muslim and Christian business associates in Iraq visited regularly, as long as they could safely travel.    CAROL: On a Sunday, every month, our house would turn into little Baghdad. They would come and my mother would feed them these delicacies that she spent all week making and they'd sit and they'd talk. MANYA: As Carol said, she had heard only fond memories throughout her childhood because for millennia, Jews in Iraq lived in harmony with their Muslim and Christian neighbors.  CAROL: Jews have always lived in Mesopotamia, lived generally quite well. There was always the dimmi status, which is a status given to minorities. For example, they had to pay a certain tax, had to wear certain clothing. Sometimes, they weren't allowed to build houses higher than their neighbor, because they weren't allowed to be above their neighbor. They couldn't ride a horse, for example, Jews. I mean, small little rules, that you were never quite accorded full status. But then when the Brits arrived in 1917, things became a bit easier. MANYA: But 20-some years later, life for Jews took a turn for the worse. That sudden and dramatic turning point in 1941 was called The Farhud. ZVI BEN-DOR BENITE: Jews have been living in Iraq for thousands of years. If we start with the Farhud, we are starting in the middle of the story, in fact, in the middle of the end.” MANYA: That's Zvi Ben-Dor Benite, a professor of history and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at New York University. The son of Iraqi Jewish parents who migrated to Israel in the early 1950s, he carries in his imagination maps of old Jewish neighborhoods in Mosul and Baghdad, etched by his parents' stories of life in the old country. He shares Carol's longing to walk those same streets one day.  ZVI: Iraqis, even those who were born in Israel, still self-identify as Iraqis and still consider that home to a certain extent – an imaginary home, but home. And you can say the same thing, and even more so, for people who were born there and lived there at the time. So here's the thing: if I go there, I would be considering myself a returnee. But it would be my first time. MANYA: As a Jew, Zvi knows the chances of his returning are slim. To this day, Iraq remains the only Arab country that has never signed a ceasefire with Israel since Arab nations declared war on the Jewish state upon its creation in 1948. Jews are not safe there. Really, no one has been for a while. The dictatorship of Saddam Hussein, ISIS, and general civil unrest have made modern-day Iraq dangerous for decades. The region is simply unstable. The centuries leading up to the Farhud in 1941 were no different. The territory originally known as Mesopotamia flipped from empire to empire, including Babylonian, Mongol, Safavids, Ottoman, British. Just to name a few. But during those centuries, Iraq was historically diverse – home to Muslims, Jews, Assyrian Christians. Yes, Jews were a minority and faced some limitations. But that didn't change the fact that they loved the place they called home.  ZVI: We zoom in on the Farhud because it is a relatively unique event. Jews in Iraq were highly integrated, certainly those who lived in the big cities and certainly those who lived in Baghdad. Few reasons to talk about this integration. First of all, they spoke Arabic. Second of all, they participated in the Iraqi transition to modernity. In many ways, the Jewish community even spearheaded Iraqi society's transition into modernity. Of course, you know, being a minority, it means that not everything is rosy, and I'm not in any way trying to make it as a rosy situation. But if you compare it to the experiences of European Jews, certainly Europeans in the Pale of Settlement or in Eastern Europe, it's a much lovelier situation. Many Jews participate in Iraqi politics in different ways. Many Jews joined the Communist Party, in fact, lead the Communist Party to a certain extent. Others join different parties that highly identify in terms of Iraqi nationalism. MANYA: Very few Iraqi Jews identified with the modern Zionist movement, a Jewish nationalist movement to establish a state on the ancestral homeland of the Jews, then known as Palestine. Still, Iraqi Jews were not immune from Arab hostility toward the notion of Jewish self-determination. Adding to that tension: the Nazi propaganda that poured out of the German embassy in Baghdad.  CAROL: Mein Kampf was translated into Arabic and published in all the newspapers there. There were broadcasts coming from Radio Berlin, in Arabic, politicizing Islam and generally manipulating certain texts from the Quran, to show that Jews were the enemies of Islam. So, there was this constant drip, drip of antisemitism. ZVI: Another factor is, of course, the British. There is an anti-British government in Baghdad at the time, during the period of someone who went down in history as a Nazi collaborator, Rashid Ali. And Rashid Ali's been removed just before the British retake Iraq. We should remember that basically, even though Iraq is a kind of constitutional monarchy, the British run the show behind the scenes for a very, very long time. So, there is a little bit of a hiatus over several months with Rashid Ali, and then when he is removed, you know, people blame the Jews for that. MANYA: On the afternoon of June 1, 1941, Jews in Baghdad prepared to celebrate the traditional Jewish harvest festival of Shavuot. Violent mobs descended on the celebrants. CAROL: In those two days the mobs ran riot and took it all out on the Jews. We don't, to this day, we don't know how many Jews died. Conservative estimates say about 120. We think it was in the thousands. Certainly, a lot of businesses were trashed, houses were burnt, women raped, mutilated, babies killed. It was an awful time. And that was a kind of time when the Jews of Iraq had started to think, ‘Well, maybe this isn't our homeland after all.' MANYA: The mobs were a fraction of the Iraqi population. Many Muslim residents protected their Jewish neighbors.  CAROL: One of my relations said that during the Farhud, the pogrom, that her neighbors stood guard over their house, Muslim neighbors, and told the mobs that they wouldn't let them in that these people are our family, our friends. They wouldn't let them in. They looked after each other, they protected each other. MANYA: But the climate in Iraq was no longer one in which Jews could thrive. Now they just hoped to survive. In the mid-to-late 40s, Carol's father, who worked for the British army during World War II, left for the United Kingdom and, as the eldest son, began to bring his family out one by one. Then came 1948. Israel declared independence and five Arab nations declared war.  ZVI: So, Iraq sent soldiers to fight as part of the Arab effort in Palestine, and they began to come back in coffins. I mean, there's a sense of defeat. Three deserters, three Iraqi soldiers that deserted the war, and crossed the desert back to Iraq, and they landed up in Mosul on the Eve of Passover in 1949. And they knocked on the door of one of my uncles. And they said, they were hosted by this Jewish family. And they were telling the Jews, who were their hosts that evening, about the war in Palestine, and about what was going on and so on. This is just an isolated case, but the point is that you know, it raises the tension in the population, and it raises the tensions against Jews tenfold. But there's no massive movement of Iraqi Jews, even though the conditions are worsening. In other words, it becomes uneasy for someone to walk in the street as a Jew. There is a certain sense of fear that is going on. And then comes the legal action. MANYA: That legal action, transacted with the state of Israel and facilitated by Zionist operatives, set the most significant exodus in motion. In 1950, the Iraqi government gave its Jewish citizens a choice. Renounce their Iraqi citizenship, take only what fits in a suitcase, and board a flight to Israel, or stay and face an uncertain future. The offer expired in a year, meaning those who stayed would no longer be allowed to leave. ZVI: If you're a Jew in Iraq in 1950, you are plunged into a very, very cruel dilemma. First of all, you don't know what the future holds. You do know that the present, after 1948, suggests worsening conditions. There is a sense that, you know, all the Jews are sort of a fifth column. All of them are associated with Zionism, even though you know, the Zionist movement is actually very small. There are certain persecutions of Zionists and communists who are Jews as well. And, you know, there have been mass arrests of them, you know, particularly of the young, younger Jewish population, so you don't know. And then the state comes in and says, ‘Look, you get one year to stay or to leave. If you leave, you leave. If you stay, you're gonna get stuck here.' Now, just think about presenting someone with that dilemma after 1935 and the Nuremberg Laws, after what happened in Europe. MANYA: In all, 120,000 Iraqi Jews leave for Israel over nine months – 90% of Iraqi Jewry. For the ten percent who stayed, they became a weak and endangered minority. Many Iraqis, including the family on Carol's mother's side, eventually escaped to America and England.  CAROL: My mother and my father were separated by a generation. My father was much older, 23 years older than my mother. So, he had a different view of life in Baghdad. When he was around, it was generally very peaceful. The Jews were allowed to live quite, in peace with their neighbors. But with my mother's generation and younger, it was already the beginning – the rot had started to set in. So, she had a different view entirely. CAROL: My grandmother, maternal grandmother, was the last one to come out of our family, to come out of Iraq. She left in ‘63. And my dad managed to get her out. MANYA: After Israel defeated another Arab onslaught in 1967, thousands more fled. ZVI: This was a glorious community, a large community, which was part of the fabric of society for centuries, if not millennia. And then, in one dramatic day, in a very, very short period, it just basically evaporated. And what was left is maybe 10 percent, which may be elite, that decided to risk everything by staying. But even they, at the end, had to leave.  MANYA: Remember, Carol said she was one of 30 Jewish girls at her school, but the only Mizrahi Jew. The term Mizrahi, which means “Eastern” in Hebrew, refers to the diaspora of descendants of Jewish communities from Middle Eastern countries such as: Iraq, Iran, and Yemen, and North African countries such as: Egypt, Libya, and Morocco. CAROL: It's been interesting. A lot of people didn't even know that there were Jews living in Arab lands. I mean, for all my life, I've been told, ‘Oh, you're Jewish, you speak Yiddish, you come from Poland. You eat smoked salmon and bagels. You say ‘oy vey,' which is great if you do all those things and you do come from Eastern Europe, but I don't. Almost 1 million Jews of Arab lands, nobody knows about what happened to them, that they were ethnically cleansed, removed from their homes, and dispersed across the world. It's our truth. And it's our history and make of it what you will, just add it to other family histories that we know. MANYA: Carol has discovered that even Iraqis did not know of their country's rich Jewish past, nor the fate of its Jewish citizens. Since the animated version of The Wolf of Baghdad premiered at the Israeli and Iraqi embassies in London, accompanied by Carol's accordion and other musicians playing its Judeo-Arabic soundtrack, Iraqis in the audience have been moved to tears.  CAROL: At one Q&A, after we did a performance, one Iraqi gentleman stood up at the front. He was crying. He said, ‘I'm really sorry for what we did to you. I'm so sorry.' And that was immensely moving for me. It was like, well, you know what? We're talking now. It's wonderful. We can sit down together. We can talk in a shared language. We can talk about our shared culture, and we've got more that ties us together than separates us. We've got more in common, right? So, I'm always looking for that, that kind of positive, and so far it's come back to me, multiplied by a million, which has been brilliant. The truth is coming to light, that people know that the Jews of Iraq contributed so much, not just culturally but also socially, in the government too. So, it's this reaching out from Iraq to its lost Jews saying ‘Well where are you? What happened to you? Tell us your story. We want to see where you are. Come back even,' some of them are saying. MANYA: Carol has continued to give a voice to the Jewish refugees of Iraq. Most recently, she has been adapting The Wolf of Baghdad for younger, middle school-aged readers to better understand the story. And high schools in London and Canada have added The Wolf of Baghdad to their history curriculum.  CAROL: Leaving Iraq was called the silent exodus for a reason. We just left quietly and without fuss, and just went and made our lives elsewhere. I do know that life was difficult for them wherever they went, but they just got on with it, like refugees will do everywhere. MANYA: These Jews are just one of the many Jewish communities who, in the last century left Arab countries to forge new lives for themselves and future generations. Join us next week as we share another untold story of The Forgotten Exodus. Many thanks to Carol Isaacs for sharing her family's story and to her band 3yin for the music. Throughout this episode, you have been listening to pieces of the soundtrack from The Wolf of Baghdad motion comic performed by 3yin, a groundbreaking London based band that plays Jewish melodies from the Middle East and North Africa. The soundtrack is available at thesurrealmccoy.com. Atara Lakritz is our producer, CucHuong Do is our production manager. T.K. Broderick is our sound engineer. Special thanks to Jon Schweitzer, Sean Savage, Ian Kaplan, and so many of our colleagues, too many to name really, for making this series possible. And extra special thanks to David Harris, who has been a constant champion for making sure these stories do not remain untold. You can subscribe to The Forgotten Exodus on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts, and you can learn more at AJC.org/forgottenexodus.  The views and opinions of our guests don't necessarily reflect the positions of AJC.  You can reach us at theforgottenexodus@ajc.org. If you've enjoyed this episode, please be sure to spread the word, and hop onto Apple Podcasts to rate us and write a review to help more listeners find us.  

As we turn our eyes to the skies, searching the vastness of space, and turn the same to annals of UFO history in the 1940s, we sometimes forget that the proof many of us wish to discover of official disclosure may be far more demonstrable through accounts of human civilization. At the very least, we should not forget who we are and where we came from, or abandon pursuits of these discoveries, in exchange for proving the existence of a totally otherworldly non-human race. New finds are already changing our history by the day, from a 3,400 year-old Mittani empire-city merging from the Tigris River to fossilized footprints dating towards the begging, rather than end, of the Australopithecus era. Compounding a 2021 discovery of abundant life under the Ekström shelf and a new discovery of the same under the Larsen ice shelf, mixed with what we are rapidly learning about UFOs again for the first time in decades, life-as-we-know-it is really life-as-we-knew-it. Scientists tend to reject certain archeological finds and the like because they fail to conform to preconceived notions of fact. Archeologists tend to do the same as do some with strong religious beliefs. Others, seeing the rejection as both ignorance and conspiracy, tend to accept new discoveries at face value while failing to question their validity. This desire to believe can, and is, weaponized to spread false narratives and further confuse the historical record.

Kathleen opens the show drinking a limited-edition Busch Light “For the Farmers,” which she LOVES in the summertime. “GOOD BAD FOOD”: In her quest for new and delicious not-so-nutritious junk food AND in continuing her search for the best Ranch, Kathleen samples Hidden Valley Greek Yogurt Ranch, which she doesn't like as much as regular Ranch dressing. She moves on to taste limited edition Old Bay Seasoned Goldfish, which is her absolute favorite new snack. She moves on to try Canada's own Maynard's Wine Gums, which she likes even though they're too chewy for her new crown. UPDATES: Kathleen gives updates on the Q followers waiting for JFK in Dallas, the St. Louis McCloskey's appeal to get their law licenses reinstated, and the US confiscation of the Russian superyacht in Fiji.“HOLY SHIT THEY FOUND IT”: Kathleen is amazed to read about the discovery of the largest-ever predator dinosaur on the Isle of Wight, and the underwater “lost city of Zakhiku” resurfaces 3,400 years later on the Tigris River. CHRISLEY DOESN'T KNOW BEST: Kathleen is amused when reading that Todd and Julie Chrisley, stars of the reality TV show "Chrisley Knows Best," were found guilty of federal charges of tax evasion and conspiring to swindle community banks out of $30 million in fraudulent loans.VIOLENT HAMSTERS: Kathleen reads the results of a study gone awry, with scientists shocked after gene-editing experiment unexpectedly turn hamsters into hyper-aggressive bullies. The technology being tested makes it possible to turn on or off genes in cells, which could make revolutionary changes in cancer treatment, etc. WALMART BUYS THE DENVER BRONCOS: Kathleen is appalled to read an announcement that the Denver Broncos and the Walton-Penner family, led by Walmart heir Rob Walton, have entered into a purchase and sale agreement for the takeover of the team for $4.65 billion, a record for an American sports franchise.MYSTERIOUS TEXAS “WOLF MAN” SPOTTED: Kathleen is excited to read an article advising that a “wolf-man type creature” was spotted outside the gates of the Amarillo Zoo. The city has turned to the public for assistance in determining who or what the creature is. Kathleen loves ALL things bigfoot or Chupacabra related, and speculates her own thoughts on what the creature could be. FAMOUS CHIMP FOUND IN BASEMENT: Kathleen laughs as she reads an article that a famous Hollywood chimp was recently found by PETA in a Missouri basement.SAVING HAWAII'S LANAI: Kathleen has visited the Hawaiian island of Lanai, and is bothered to read about the outcome of Larry Ellison's purchase of the entire island. The eccentric co-founder of Oracle Corp bought the island, which included its businesses and all the land, which made him everyone's boss, landlord, or both overnight. SHARKCANO ERUPTION CAUGHT ON CAMERA: Kathleen LOVES anything to do with sharks, and is thrilled to read about a “sharkcano” eruption that NASA recently captured on film off the coast of Australia. The underwater Kavachi volcano was dubbed "Sharkano" when it was determined that after the crater was an unlikely home to two species of shark able to exist in an extreme environment.83-YR-OLD SAILS PACIFIC SOLO: Kathleen is thrilled to read an article about 83-yr-old Japanese man who recently set a record by becoming the world's oldest solo yachtsman to sail non-stop across the Pacific Ocean.THE CHILDREN STALL ON CARVANA: Kathleen has always been fascinated with the business concept of Carvana, not believing that people will buy a vehicle sight-unseen, and isn't surprised to read that the “Amazon of Dealers” is in deep financial trouble.WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEK: Kathleen recommends watching “Under the Banner of Heaven” and Teal Swan's documentary “The Deep End” on Hulu.SEE KATHLEEN LIVE: See Kathleen live on her “Do You Have Any Ranch?” Tour. Tickets available at kathleenmadigan.com/tour See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

*) Russian forces face stiff resistance in Ukraine's Donbass A Moscow-backed separatist leader has said that Russian forces had not advanced as rapidly as they had hoped in the battle for Sievierodonetsk. Russia has been seeking to seize the entire Donbass region, consisting of Luhansk and Donetsk, which Moscow claims on behalf of separatist proxies. Capturing the easternmost city of Sievierodonetsk would give Moscow effective control of Luhansk and allow the Kremlin to declare some form of victory after more than three months of the conflict. *) EU agrees ban on 'more than 2/3' of Russian oil imports European Union leaders have reached a compromise to impose a partial oil embargo on Russia at a summit focused on helping Ukraine with a delayed package of sanctions that was blocked by Hungary. The watered-down embargo covers only Russian oil brought in by sea, allowing a temporary exemption for imports delivered by pipeline. EU Council President Charles Michel said on Twitter the agreement covers more than two-thirds of oil imports from Russia, "cutting a huge source of financing for its war machine…” *) Nepal recovers all bodies from site of plane crash Civil aviation authorities in Nepal have said they recovered the last body from the wreckage site of a small passenger plane carrying 22 people that went missing over the weekend. "We have found the last missing body," Deo Chandra Lal, a spokesperson for Nepal's Civil Aviation Authority said. Lal also said preliminary investigations have found that the cause of the crash could be "adverse weather conditions." *) Biden to meet Fed chair as inflation bites pocketbooks President Joe Biden is set to meet with Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell as soaring inflation takes a bite out of Americans' pocketbooks. The meeting will be the first since Biden renominated Powell to lead the central bank and comes weeks after his confirmation for a second term by the Senate. The White House said the pair would discuss the state of the US and global economy and especially inflation, described as Biden's “top economic priority." And, finally… *) 3,400-year-old city discovered in northern Iraq Archaeologists have uncovered an ancient city dating back to the Mittani Empire around 3,400 years ago in the Tigris River in Duhok province, Iraq. Bekes Birifkani, director of historical artifacts and culture in the province explained that the area was inhabited until 1985, before the Mosul Dam was built in 1990, leaving the area submerged under water. Noting that more than 2,000 historical sites have been discovered in the city so far, Birifkani said this year's excavations also yielded important results.

Episode 160 – Paul’s Places – Part 1: New Testament Geography Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The goal of Anchored by Truth is to encourage everyone to grow in the Christian faith by anchoring themselves to the secure truth found in the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God. Script: Script: Here we are—Parthians, Medes, Elamites, people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, and the areas of Libya around Cyrene, visitors from Rome … Cretans, and Arabs. And we all hear these people speaking in our own languages about the wonderful things God has done! Acts, chapter 2, verses 9 through 11, New Living Translation ******** VK: Hello! I’m Victoria K. Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. We’re excited to be with you today as we begin a new series on Anchored by Truth. So, to announce the series and tell us why we are doing it, we have RD Fierro back in the studio. RD is an author and the founder of Crystal Sea Books. RD, you’ve entitled this series “Paul’s Places.” By “Paul” I’m sure you’re referring to the Apostle Paul not the last name of lady who produces frozen fish products. The Apostle Paul, of course, started out life named “Saul.” But sometime after Saul’s conversion on the road to Damascus, Luke tells us in Acts, chapter 13, verse 9, that “Saul” was also called “Paul.” So, RD, maybe the first thing we should tackle is this rather-famous name change. RD: Well, before I comment on that I would like to add to your thanks to the listeners for tuning in today – whether they’re listening on the broadcast or podcast. We’re grateful for anyone who devotes part of their day or week with us. And since we are going to be spending a lot of time in this series talking about names perhaps it is appropriate to spend just a minute talking about one of – as you put it – the most famous name changes in the Bible. The Apostle Paul started out life with the name Saul and all of the initial references to Paul in the book of Acts use the name “Saul.” Chapter 13 in Acts is the first time we hear him called Paul and thereafter in Acts only the name Paul is used for the Apostle. VK: And maybe we should point out that name changes are common in the Bible. Abraham’s original name was “Abrahm.” Abrahm means “the father is exalted.” Abraham means “father of multitudes.” Abraham’s wife was initially called “Sarai” but her name was changed to “Sarah.” Sarai means “Jehovah is prince.” Sarah means “princess.” Obviously, God gave them these name changes to indicate the change he brought about in their lives. They went from being an elderly, childless couple to being, quite literally, the father of multitudes and his princess. But the Bible does not tell us that God gave Paul the name change does it. RD: No. In the case of Saul/Paul it seems likely that Paul himself decided to change how he was called. Saul is a distinctly Hebrew name. Remember that the first king of Israel was called Saul and even though he didn’t do the best job as king, King Saul still held the distinction of being the first king of Israel. And also remember that King Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin. Paul’s father was also from the tribe of Benjamin. So, it’s possible that when Paul was born his parents named him “Saul” to harken back to Israel’s first king. In certain respects, it would have been a matter of pride. VK: Just as today people will often name their kids after famous people of the day –though in America it’s rarely royalty. In America it will more often be a famous entertainment celebrity or sports figure, but in England the names of kings and queens are still commonly used. RD: Right. The name “Saul” means “asked” but likely that was less important to Paul’s parents than the fact that they were naming their son after the first king of Israel who had come from their tribe. The name “Paul” is not a Hebrew name. It’s Roman and it means “little.” So, it’s possible that as Paul began his ministry largely within the gentile world Paul thought using a Roman name would create fewer barriers to the receptivity of his message. Also, it’s possible that after his encounter with Jesus on the road to Damascus, Paul was less likely to think so highly of himself that he wanted to continue to allow a link to be drawn between himself and a former king. Using the name Paul may have just been a natural expression of the humility that characterized Paul’s life after his conversion. VK: And that’s not a bad lesson for us today. Any of those of us who have an encounter with the living God should certainly recognize that humility when we think about ourselves is in order. RD: Agreed. At any rate, even though Paul began to think about himself far differently after his encounter with Jesus, it is consistent with God’s pattern that God used this newly humbled man to write about half of the New Testament. VK: Well, Jesus said in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 14, verse 11, “For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.” That’s the New International Version. So, Jesus humbled Paul considerably. Before his conversion Acts, chapter 9, verse 1 says, “Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples.” Someone who is breathing out “murderous threats” doesn’t sound very humble. RD: No he doesn’t. VK: But afterward, that same man thinks so differently about himself that he starts using a name that means “little” rather than a name he shared with a king – quite a transformation. Yet, God then uses that humbled man to write 13 or 14 of the books of the New Testament. We say 13 or 14 because many commentators think the Apostle Paul wrote the book of Hebrews but that isn’t certain. RD: No. The author of Hebrews does not name themselves. There is evidence within the book that Paul was a good candidate to be the author but there are scholars who think it might have been someone else like Apollos, Barnabas, or even Luke. The generally accepted opinion today is that Paul likely wrote Hebrews but we cannot be dogmatic about it. But we are confident that Paul wrote at least 13 other books of the New Testament which in most Bibles are arranged after Acts. These books are commonly referred to as the “Pauline epistles.” Epistle is just another word for “letter” in the sense of one person sending a letter to another. And 9 of the 13 epistles or letters are designated by geographic names. VK: And those names include the names of 6 different cities and one name of a Roman province which is roughly equivalent to a modern state. There are only 6 different cities because two of the cities received two different letters. RD: Right. The cities of Corinth and Thessalonica each received two different letters. So, those letters are designated 1 and 2 Corinthians and 1 and 2 Thessalonians. The other cities are Rome, Ephesus, Philippi, and Colossae. And while it’s hard to translate ancient locations precisely with current boundaries, roughly 3 of those cities are in Greece, 2 in “Asia” which is modern day Turkey, and Rome, of course, is in Italy. VK: At least Rome hasn’t moved and we all have a pretty good idea of where it’s located today. RD: And it was in the same place in the times when the New Testament was written. VK: So, given that this series is going to be largely about “Paul’s Places” why did you select that passage from the book of Acts as our opening scripture? Only one of the places that was mentioned in that section corresponds to a city to which Paul sent one of his epistles. RD: Well, that section from Acts is a nice example of the big point that I want to get to in this introductory episode of Paul’s Places. It’s true that, of the locations mentioned in that passage from Acts, only one of one location was ultimately the destination for one of Paul’s epistles. But the series of places that is mentioned in that passage gives a great overview of what the eastern half of the Roman Empire looked like during Paul’s day. And therefore, it helps us begin to see how the gospel began its spread from Jerusalem – a spread that is continuing even to this day. VK: Our opening scripture is part of the description of Pentecost – when the Holy Spirit began empowering Jesus’ disciples for their upcoming message to take the gospel, the good news, to all tribes, nations, and tongues. We have to remember that in the 24th chapter of Luke Jesus told his disciples, “It was also written that this message would be proclaimed in the authority of his name to all the nations, beginning in Jerusalem: ... And now I will send the Holy Spirit, just as my Father promised. But stay here in the city until the Holy Spirit comes and fills you with power from heaven.” That’s from the New Living Translation. Jesus gave that message to his disciples after his resurrection. RD: Right. So, Jesus told his disciples to stay in Jerusalem until the Holy Spirit came and filled them with power. The Holy Spirit did that on the Pentecost that followed Jesus’ resurrection. Pentecost was actually one of the Jews’ 3 primary festivals so every year on Pentecost Jerusalem was filled with Jews and proselytes from a wide variety of places literally from around the empire. So, we heard in our opening scripture that at that Pentecost there were “Parthians, Medes, Elamites, [and] people from Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, [etc.] …” Well, if you step back and listen carefully you find out that the person who was doing the speaking is very familiar with the layout of the Roman Empire. And when the speaker was describing their wonder that humble fishermen from a backward part of the empire could speak in so many foreign languages they actually gave a description of the empire in a very coherent way beginning with the extreme eastern edge of the empire. VK: Parthia, in the mind of the writer of the Acts, would designate this empire, which extended from India to the Tigris River and from the Persian desert to the shores of the Southern Ocean. One of the reasons Parthia was listed first was not only because it was on the extreme eastern edge of the Roman Empire but also because Parthia was a power almost rivalling Rome. Parthia was the only existing power which had resisted Rome and not been defeated. The Parthian dominion lasted for nearly five centuries. The Parthians spoke the Persian language as did the Medes who were listed next. So, Parthia was the very edge of the territory that formed the Roman Empire. RD: Right. And proceeding westward from Parthia the speaker mentions the Medes and Elamites. The Medes and the Elamites were essentially from the territory that today we would call Iran. Elam was bounded on the North by Media, on the East by Persia and on the West by Babylonia which could also be called Mesopotamia. And next in the list in Acts comes people from Mesopotamia or modern day Iraq which is adjacent to Iran but west of it. So, the person talking was actually performing a sort-of geographic inventory of the eastern part of the Roman Empire. They started with the east and moved west until they mentioned “Judea” – that’ s modern day Israel – and continued west in a straight line through what today would be Turkey. Then they switched down to the northern edge of Africa, which had also been conquered by the Romans. They finished up by mentioning Rome itself and a couple of widely separated areas – the island of Crete and “Arabs” who would have been from what today is Saudi Arabia. VK: But here is the major point that we want to make – at least for this episode. All of the places mentioned during the description of the Holy Spirit’s activity at Pentecost are places that are easy to locate on both modern maps and maps that were current at that time. In other words, the geography we hear about is real geography. And it’s not just geography that is familiar to Biblical scholars but to anyone who is familiar with the Roman Empire as it existed in the first century A.D. We often mention on Anchored by Truth that one of the four lines of evidence that supports the inspiration of scripture is that scripture contains reliable history. Well, history consists not just of names and dates but also of places. And as a quick reference to just one of the lists of places named in the New Testament shows the places the Bible mentions are real places. This is illustrated very well by the Pentecost episode but we will continually reinforce this point as we move through this “Paul’s Places” series. RD: Well said. One criticism that is often hurled at the Bible is that it is just a collection of myth and fairy tales – descriptions of supernatural spirits, angels coming and going, or people rising from the dead. But what the critic fails to recognize is that those descriptions of supernatural activity are firmly embedded in a framework of historical details that can be easily tested and confirmed. So, the critic asks us to believe that writers, like Luke who wrote Acts, sweated and strained to get minute details of history and geography right but then just sort of gratuitously tossed in supernatural events in an attempt to create some kind of a pious fraud. VK: And one of the things that greatly militates against that being a reasonable position is that the “pious fraud” that Luke and other New Testament writers were creating was the description of a brand new religious faith. And to create a brand new religious faith in the Roman Empire was essentially illegal and therefore anyone who did so risked being put to death. RD: And many Christians in the first and second century were put to death for exactly that reason. People living within the first and second century in the Roman Empire were expected to be willing to state “Kaiser kurios” which means “Caesar is lord.” But after coming to faith in Jesus the Christians couldn’t say that. The Christians said “Christos kurios” or “Jesus kurios” – Christ is Lord or Jesus is Lord. Christians can only confess one person as Lord as that is our Lord and Master Christ Jesus. So, essentially the first and second century Christians within the Roman Empire were considered to be disloyal and unpatriotic because they wouldn’t affirm what the Romans considered the most fundamental test of loyalty to the state – to declare the head of state, Caesar, as lord. VK: A great example of someone who paid the ultimate price because he wouldn’t declare Caesar to be lord was Polycarp. Polycarp was a disciple of the Apostle John. Polycarp was the Bishop of Smyrna. He was born in 69AD and died as a martyr in 155AD. After he was arrested, Polycarp was brought into the inner city region of Rome. The proconsul pressed him and encouraged him to denounce Christ. He refused time and time again. He was threatened in every way imaginable, yet he remained steadfast in his confession of Christ. Eventually the Romans asked Polycarp, “what harm is there in declaring Caesar as lord?” His response was “eighty and six years have I served Him, and He never did me any injury: how then can I blaspheme my King and my Savior?” After that the proconsul who was interrogating him realized that Polycarp was not going to deny his faith and that constituted rebellion in the minds of the Romans. They had to make an example of Polycarp so he was martyred. RD: Right. Sad but right. So, when critics blithely tell us that the gospel writers and other New Testament writers like Paul weren’t risking anything when they included their supernatural assertions alongside their seemingly-mundane details of history and geography they couldn’t be any more mistaken. The New Testament writers were not only risking their livelihoods and reputations they were risking their lives. They knew this so they took extra care to get everything right. That’s one of the reasons it’s important for us to take a little time and study a little about the details of the history and geography of the New Testament. If a writer sweated over the details of “little things” we can certainly have confidence that they also were reporting truthfully when they described supernatural events like the ascension of Jesus or Paul’s resurrection of Eutychus from the dead at Troas. VK: And that’s why we want to do this series on “Paul’s Places.” Taking the time to investigate how the New Testament treats geography helps people see clearly that the Bible is faithful and accurate. It is even faithful and accurate in those areas where many people might think accuracy isn’t that important. But as we often point out because the Bible is the Word of God we must be able to see that it is consistent with what we can observe about the world and universe around us and what we can know from human history. If the Bible were not accurate with what our ordinary observations tell us we would have little reason to insist that it came from an omniscient and omnipotent God. RD: Right. So, as we’ve seen today the opening verses of the book of Acts contain details about geography that we can investigate. When we do we can confirm that the geographic references contained in the text, though they are incidental to the primary point – the arrival of the Holy Spirit – are still accurate and relevant. And the geographic details in Acts are not only accurate with respect to place and orientation but they are also accurate with respect to historical dating. VK: What are you thinking about? RD: For example, several of the places named - Cappadocia, Pontus, the province of Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia – are all located in the nation that we call Turkey today. Cappadocia for instance was a province of Persia and was eventually incorporated in the Roman Empire, 17 A.D. But in the 4th century AD because of shifts in the political landscape the Roman province of Cappadocia began to undergo boundary changes and realignments. The same was true of all of these named regions. Phrygia essentially disappeared entirely in the 7th century AD. So, in Acts these regions were named as they were was true in the 1st century AD Roman Empire but they didn’t remain that way. Again, this supports our confidence in the accuracy of the report receive in Acts. VK: And as we proceed through this study of “Paul’s Places” we will continue to see that pattern repeated. The Pauline epistles were written to particular groups of people in particular places. But they were also written at a particular point of time. If the time and the place don’t correspond then we would have no reason to trust the contents of the letter because we would have evidence the letter was fake. Fake documents are not reliable even if they were created for an ostensibly good purpose. But we will see that the Pauline epistles are consistent historically. They match places we know about from secular history as well as Biblical history. And we will see that many of the concerns the letters address are consistent with what we know about the culture and conditions of the recipients. RD: Yes. We will also see that the book of Acts almost serves as a “guide map” – no pun intended – to putting the epistles into their historical context, both the context of secular and redemptive history. VK: And for anyone who would like to get a preview of how the book of Acts has been validated as a source of accurate history we would recommend that listeners go to our website, crystalseabooks.com, and check out our “Facts in Acts” series. “Facts in Acts” like all our Anchored by Truth series are available there under the Anchored by Truth link. So, do you have any final thoughts before we close today? RD: I do. In our day and time a lot of people have moved away from regularly reading and studying the Bible, its history, and context. This is a shame and a problem for a variety of reasons but not the least of which is that it steals glory from God and power from God’s people. VK: How so? RD: I often hear people say, even ministers, that we can receive power and victory through our Christian faith. VK: And we often hear of people praying that they might receive power and victory from God and the Holy Spirit. And there’s nothing wrong with that. RD: No there’s not. We should all desire to receive power from our faith, power from God, power from the Holy Spirit. But how can we expect to receive the Spirit’s power if we don’t embrace the Spirit’s word? The principle way the Holy Spirit communicates to us is through the Word of God, the Bible. If we want to experience the best that God has for us we must give our best to absorbing the Word that He has already provided. VK: I think most Christians believe the Bible and believe in the Bible. But it is also true that in our day we are seeing far too many Christians not putting their faith into action by immersing themselves in the Bible which they claim to believe. I guess it would be fair to ask in what manner they can demonstrate their belief in the Bible if they do not diligently apply themselves to its reading and study. RD: Exactly. And this implies that we must do some amount of investigation into the times, places, and cultures that produced the content of the Bible. As we’ve said the Pauline epistles were written to specific people in specific places at specific times. The more we know about the people, places, and times the better we are able to understand references that we might otherwise miss. VK: Just as people today exchange information through memes and allusions that require cultural context to be understood. RD: Right. So, we know that people are super-busy today and that’s why we dig out a lot of the information that can give people a head start on doing their own investigation. We strongly believe that when people show an interest in God’s word God will honor that intention and will provide blessings in return. It’s not that we should study the Bible just to be blessed. We should study the Bible because the Bible is the way God has used to bring us His truth – a truth we all need. But we should also not be surprised when God provides us a harvest when we were willing to sow our time and attention. VK: Isaiah, chapter 55, verses 10 and 11 say, “The rain and snow come down from the heavens …They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry. It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit. It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.” That’s from the New Living Translation. When we set our hearts on glorifying God, seek to understand Him through His word, and trust him to guide and provide, the more He will endow us with His Spirit and His power. This sounds like a great time for a prayer. Today, let’s listen to a prayer that all of our lives will be illuminated by the ineffable wisdom that comes only from the Holy Spirit. ---- PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION BY THE HOLY SPIRIT VK: Before we close we’d like to remind our audience that a lot of our radio episodes are linked together in series of topics so if they missed any episodes in this series or if they just want to hear one again, all of these episodes are available on your favorite podcast app. To find them just search on “Anchored by Truth by Crystal Sea Books.” If you’d like to hear more, try out crystalseabooks.com where “We’re not perfect but our Boss is!” (Bible Quote from the New Living Translation) Acts, chapter 2, verses 9 through 11, New Living Translation “Kaiser kurios” which translates to “Caesar is Lord. | Free daily devotional (abiblecommentary.com)

Daniel and The Unanswered Prayer. Today, Pastor Michael is continuing his study on Daniel, a hero of the faith.  Daniel had legendary faith, so much that even Ezekiel named only three people: Job, Noah and Daniel, as heroes of the faith.   Three years after the “Lion's Den” story, we find Daniel in Chapter 10, no longer a young man.  In Chapter 9, the Lord had promised that the Jews would return to the Promised Land.  Almost all of Daniel's life, he's lived in Babylon.  At this point in the story, God has moved the heart of Cyrus of Persia to allow the Jews to return to Jerusalem. So why didn't Daniel return to Jerusalem?  Because it was a long journey and Daniel was in his eighties and potentially have to walk a long, long time (insert Proclaimer's 1980's song reference here). God wanted Daniel to stay and finish his work in Babylon, so he was there for the Lord's purpose. Daniel was in prayer and mourning for three weeks.  He is laboring in prayer at this time.  So why is he so upset?  Didn't God answer his other prayer…the Jews returning to their homeland?  This is the ‘next challenge'…it's not over when one prayer is answered! Not all of the Jews returned to Jerusalem, some (perhaps even a majority) stayed in Babylon.  And Daniel was getting word back that some of those that did return, didn't finish rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem and some were getting back into pagan idolatry.   So, Daniel had to be, needless to say, frustrated.  That's why the laboring in prayer for three weeks., doing nothing but praying.  He wanders out of the city and is distraught.  This is one of the greatest heroes of the faith that has ever lived and he's prayed for 21 days and he feels his prayer isn't being answered.  While Daniel is out wandering around, he notices a white apparition down at the river.  He collapsed at the sight and wondered, “Who is this person by the Tigris River?”.  The being reached down and lifted Daniel up and said, “Daniel, you are greatly loved.  I have been sent with an answer to your prayers.” The angel, it turns out, was sent the first day Daniel started praying.  But here it is, 21 days later and he's just NOW getting to Daniel.  The angelic being explains that he was held up by the Prince of Persia.  Who is this Prince of Persia?  The story involves a demon that had taken over the Persian kingdom and the archangel Michael was sent to deal with him.  So while Daniel was praying, the archangel Michael was dealing with a demon! The angelic being then tells Daniel of God's peace to him and lets him know that the Persian empire is ending and Greece will be taking over.   Which was a lot for Daniel to take in. This vision overwhelms Daniel and the angel touches him 3 times to wake him up.  The angel strengthens him and assures him that the Lord loves him and wanted to reveal his plan to him. If we pray and the answer does not come when we expect it, it doesn't mean God doesn't care.  It means the answer will come in His time, perhaps not our time.   Don't ever give up! Verses can be found today in Daniel 10: 1-21 and Ephesians 6: 12.   Scripture quotations marked CSB have been taken from the Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission. Christian Standard Bible® and CSB® are federally registered trademarks of Holman Bible Publishers.

Jason talks about his experience leading the construction of a 350-meter-long pontoon bridge across the Tigris River in Iraq near Tikrit during the Iraq war. For photos and a full description of the project, please see https://www.buildbigideas.com/post/how-to-build-a-pontoon-bridge-during-the-iraq-war-ep16 In late September 2003, while in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the 555th Combat Engineer Group (TF ABLE) received the mission to construct a bypass around the damaged Tikrit fixed bridge crossing the Tigris River. This bypass would enable the 4th Infantry Division's maneuver units east-west mobility across the Tigris River. The crux of the bypass was the actual crossing of the Tigris. The solution was constructing a 350m bridge, the largest Mabey & Johnson float bridge ever built – capable of trafficking MLC 110 military vehicles. During the 3 weeks of planning and 2.5 months of construction, the 14th Engineer Battalion met with a variety of challenges that forced them to exhibit engineering problem solving skills, developing innovative solutions to complex problems.

This episode is also available as a blog post: http://yhebrew.com/2022/04/27/gods-pattern-count-omer-8-nisan-24-daniels-vision/ Once we understand Day Eight which represents eternity, we can make it through Day Nine which is very twisting symbolized like a basket or snake. The letter tet is nine. Day Nine of the Counting of the Omer finds Daniel standing at the Tigris River seeing a vision. Our Messiah too will come like at Day Nine in a twisted world looking to remove His Land known as Israel. Let us understand His ways in prayer and supplication. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/hadassah-lau/message

The history of the Prophet Hud is referred to in this chapter.  While the last chapter dealt mostly with abstract questions related to the truth of revelation, this chapter illustrates the truth of those questions by referring to the histories of former prophets.  Thus, it deals with the histories of Noah, Hud, Salih, Abraham, Lot and Shu'ayb (peace be upon them all).  A cruel and persecuting enemy is warned of the fate that befell previous people.  This chapter was revealed in Mecca during the last four years of the Prophet's life and consists of 123 verses.Once Abu Bakr said to Prophet Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him, "Of late I have been noticing that you are getting older.  What is the cause of it?" Prophet Muhammad replied that Surah Hud and similar chapters (56-Waqi'ah, 77-Mursalat, 78-Naba', and 99-Takwir) hastened old age on him (Tirmidhi).An attentive reading of this chapter will make you feel the effect of its stern warnings.  God warns us through the different stories of the prophets, where those who put their faith in the outward appearance of the worldly life and rejected the message of the prophets were met with dire consequences.  When God passes His judgment on people, He does not spare anyone, even the closest relative of a prophet.  Only the prophet and his followers are saved.Verses 1-7 Message of GodThese verses discuss the Quran and the attitude of the polytheists towards it and resurrection.The verses of the Quran have been explained clearly.  The message of the Quran is to worship God and seek forgiveness from Him.  Prophet Muhammad warns of God's punishment and at the same time he brings good news of Paradise.  God will judge mankind according to the deeds they did in this life.  Some people try to hide from God, but God knows their innermost secrets.God is responsible for sustaining every living creature.  God created the heavens and the earth in six days to test man if he realizes God's power and is thankful to Him.  Those who deny resurrection consider the Quran to be magic because of its convincing power.Verses 8-11 Polar attitude towards God's favorsThe verses compare the attitude of the believers and the polytheists towards favors and hardships.Do not be deceived by God's postponement of punishment as it can come at any time.  Also, do not lose hope and become ungrateful if God withdraws some of His favors.  At the same time, do not become arrogant if God makes you taste His bounty.  People have this attitude, except the patient ones who do good deeds.  They will be forgiven and have an immense reward.Verse 12 Prophet Muhammad's dealing with pagansThe verse describes Prophet's feeling of discomfort because of the behavior of the polytheists.Verses 13-14 Authenticity of the QuranThe authenticity of the Quran is proven to those who claim Prophet Muhammad fabricated it.  God challenges the experts of the Arabic language to bring ten chapters similar to it.  Their inability to respond should make you certain that the Quran is from God, there is no deity worthy of worship except Him, and you should submit to Him as Muslims.Verses 15-16 Future consequences of present behaviorThe consequence for those desiring solely the reward of this world is that they will receive their wages in this life, but Fire will be their lot in the life to come.  After all, they worked only for worldly objectives.Verses 17-24 The two partiesArchangel Gabriel, God's witness, confirms the Quran.  A person who follows the Quran and Moses' book (i.e.  Torah which foretold the coming of Prophet Muhammad) believes in it.  The Fire is for those who reject it.  Cursed are those losers who attribute lies to God, prevent others from God's path – Islam – and reject life after death.Those who have faith and do good deeds will reside in Paradise.Verses 25-49 Story of NoahThe people of Noah lived in southern Iraq, not too far from present day city of Kufah.  Noah's message to his people was:·       Worship God.·       Fear the punishment of a painful Day.But the leaders of his nation considered him to be a mere human followed by people of low status.  They rejected his answers and invited him to bring on the destruction he promised.  God instructed Noah to patiently bear their mockery and build the ark. Tenderness of a father could not save Noah's disbelieving son from drowning with the rest.  The ark, carrying Noah, fellow believers, and animals landed on Judi, which is said to be a  mountain facing Ibn Umar Island at the junction of the Syrian and Turkish borders, on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, visible from the Syrian town of Ain Diwar.Verses 50-60 Story of HudThe people of ‘Ad, to whom Hud was sent, lived in an area of curved sand hills in the southern part of the Arabian peninsula.  They worshiped a number of idols: wudd, suwa, yaguth, ya'uq, and nasr.Summary of Hud's message to his people:·       Worship God.·       I don't ask you for any reward for my preaching, it is with my Creator.·       Seek forgiveness from God, He will send rain and give you strength.·       I rely on God, my Lord and your Lord.·       God has full control of every creature.·       My Lord can substitute you with better people if you turn away.·       You won't harm God by not worshipping Him.The people rejected his message.  God's punishment which lasted for 8 days and 7 nights destroyed them for rejecting God and disobeying His prophets.  Hud and fellow believers were saved by God's mercy.Verses 61-68 Story of SalihThe dwelling places of Salih's people, Thamud, are situated somewhere between Hijaz and Syria in the southeastern part of Madyan which is situated east of the Gulf of Aqaba.  Chiseled out of stone, their dwellings are still preserved.Salih's message was similar to that of Noah and Hud.  In addition, he produced a female camel from the neighboring hills to prove that he was God's true prophet but warned people not to harm it.  Nevertheless, they killed it, thereby inviting God's wrath in the form of a heavenly scream that left them dead, face down in their homes. Verses 69-76 Story of AbrahamBorn in Iraq, Abraham settled in the city of Ur.  He traveled to Harran in the north of the Arabian Peninsula and then to Palestine with his wife, Sarah, and his nephew, Lot.  Due to a drought, he then moved to Egypt.  Lot returned with Abraham from Egypt, but parted ways because the land was not enough for both their herds.  Lot settled towards the Dead Sea near Sodom and Gomorrah.Abraham had three beautiful character traits: forbearing, repentant, and soft-hearted. He was quick to serve unannounced guests - angels of God - who brought two bits of news.  One, destruction was forthcoming to the people of Lot.  As for the second, the birth of Abraham's son, Isaac, from Sarah, his aged wife, and his grandson, Jacob.  Abraham makes a futile attempt to turn away the angels from Lot. Verses 77-83 Story of LotAs hospitable as his uncle, Lot is distressed to see young, attractive guests who people immediately wanted to sodomize.  Lot tries to reason with the people by pointing to available women for marriage and not to disgrace him.  Feeling powerless to protect his guests, the angels comfort Lot that he will be unharmed.  He was to leave town at nightfall with his family except his wife who would stay behind as she had informed people of the angelic guests.  God destroys them by lifting up the city, throwing it upside down, and raining them with stones due to their wickedness.Verses 84-95 Story of Shu'aybHe was sent to the people of Madyan who lived in the land of Hijaz, next to Syria and east of the Gulf of Aqaba.  According to some historians, that land is the site of the modern Saudi city of Tabuk.Shu'ayb's message:·       Worship God.·       Give full measure, do not give people less than what they pay for.·       Do not spread corruption on earth.·       Seek forgiveness from the Most Merciful, Most Loving Lord.·       Fear the punishment of a Day that will surround all.The disbelievers made fun of Prophet Shu'ayb's prayer, saying does it instruct him that they should leave ancestral gods or change how they dispose of their money. Shu'ayb reminds them that he only wishes reformation and God is his strength on Whom he relies.  His compassionate pleading to look at the ruins of Noah, Hud, Salih, and Lot does not convince them.  Shu'ayb and fellow believers are rescued when a scream destroys them as if they never existed.Verses 96-99 Story of MosesMoses left Egypt, and traveling through Sinai, he headed towards Madyan.  On his way he met his wife, the daughter of Shu'ayb.  On their return journey, God spoke to Moses at Mt. Tur (Mt. Horeb in Sinai) and thereafter, Moses returns to Egypt.God sent Moses with clear proofs to Pharaoh and his ministers, but the latter followed the misguided orders of their ruler instead.  Cursed in both worlds, just as they followed him in the cold water that drowned them, they will follow him into the Fire.Verses 100-102 InjusticeThey wronged themselves, God did not wrong them.  The gods they called upon besides God were of no use to them.Verses 103-109 Scenes from the Day of Resurrection and divine solace to the ProphetThe above narratives of the prophets are ‘signs' related to Prophet Muhammad for the benefit of those who fear the punishment of the afterlife. God will gather all the people on the Last Day, no one will be able to hide himself, and everyone will receive their full share.  On that Day a soul will speak only by God's permission.  The unfortunate ones will enter the Hellfire on that Day for eternity.  The fortunate ones will be in Paradise forever.Verses 110-111 Warning against casting doubt in the books of GodPeople treat their prophets the same.  Some accept their call, and others reject it.  Casting doubt, people denied Moses and the Torah like the pagans of Mecca denied Prophet Muhammad.  Those who rejected the prophets shall face the same fate.Verses 112-115 Means of achieving success in the world and the HereafterProphet Muhammad and the repentant believers with him are instructed by God to remain determined, establish regular prayer, and exercise patience.  Do not cross the boundaries and do not become partners with wrongdoers or else the Fire will touch you.Verses 116-119 God's way in destroying unjust nationsGod does not unjustly destroy cities while the residents are trying to reform.  Had God wanted, He could have made people follow a single religion, but He did not intend so for reasons known to Him.  Thus, people will continue to have differences except those upon whom the Lord has mercy: who follow the teachings of the prophets.  As for the rest, i.e. those who reject the message of God, He will punish them in Hell.Verse 120 The objectives of Quranic stories1.     Consoling Prophet Muhammad.2.     Sending truth to Prophet Muhammad.3.     Advice and a reminder to the believers.Verses 121-123 Practical benefits from the stories of messengers1.     God has absolute and complete knowledge of time and space - what is observable and what is hidden in the heavens and the earth and of the past and the present.2.     Everything returns to God in the life to come.  The creation cannot interfere in it.3.     Therefore, God must be worshipped and relied upon.4.     God knows our actions and our statements.  The good works of the obedient shall not go to waste and the rejection of the stubborn will not be forgotten._______________________________________By Imam Mufti (© 2015 IslamReligion.com)Copyright © 2006 - 2021 IslamReligion.com. All rights reserved.Used with permission.The source of this article is: www.IslamReligion.com

EPISODE 10 Genesis 28-33 "Beneath the Dirt"Questions Answered by This Episode:1 - What evidence proves Abraham's ancestry, and why is this important?2 - What was Abraham's servant's name /steward, and why was he important to Abraham's family?3 - What does the word "Esau" mean, and how could that be reflected in how he looked?4 - What translation by Joseph Smith helps us understand the importance of a sworn covenant?5 - How many camels did Abraham's servant take to search for a wife for Isaac?6 - How far was the round trip? What determined the pathways their family would travel?7 - What happened to Melchizedek, who lived closer in Salem? Did Abraham see him again?8 - How many gallons could each camel drink when Rachel offered to give them all water?9 - How old was Abraham when he died? Where was he and Sarah buried?10 - Who are the descendants of Ishmael? Can you recognize any of those ancient tribes now?11- How many Cuneiform tablets were discovered in the Nuzi ruins east of the Tigris River?12 - How do they help us understand the Patriarchal Customs, Laws and Birthright?13 - What did Jacob do to Rachel when he first saw her?14 - What are "Mandrakes" and why were they used?________ Please support these videos and podcasts: VENMO @LatterdaymediaPaypal: colormymedia@yahoo.comContact us at: LatterDayMedia@yahoo.comwww.Latterdaymedia.comSEND QUESTIONS FROM THIS SERIES TO: www.ComeFollowMe2022.comContact Kay Godfrey at: FootstepsOfJoseph@gmail.comLearn the Old Testament like never before with an Exciting New Educational Series to compliment your study of Come Follow Me 2022.Explore "Beneath the Dirt" on the 1st and 3rd weeks of each month with Archeologist Kay Godfrey and start 2022 with A NEW FOUNDATION of Biblical knowledge.  Other Come Follow Me 2022 episodes will be hosted on the 2nd and 4th weeks by Old Testament experts Farrell & Rhonda Pickering.Pickering Website: www.propheticappointments.comSupport the show (http://www.LatterdayMedia.com)

This week we begin our study of the prophet Nahum, the seventh of our twelve prophetic books. There are no biographical details about Nahum other than the name of his hometown, Elkosh. Nahum is not mentioned in any other biblical text outside of his own book. The location of Elkosh has been lost to history. Fourth century Christian theologian Saint Jerome claimed Elkosh was a village in northern Galilee. Without any additional archaeological discoveries, Jerome's tradition has mostly held. There was, however, an ancient Assyrian village named Alkosh near the Tigris River, just north of Mosul in modern times. If Nahum was part of the Israelite community living in the Assyrian diaspora, his parents were likely deported there in previous Assyrian raids. If the anti-Assyrian prophet was writing against the land of his subjugation, it would certainly add an interesting twist to the text. But the vivid way in which Nahum describes the hills, vineyards, and valleys of Israel points to his being a native of Israel or Judah, not someone born in the diaspora. Nahum does not give an explicit date in his superscription or name a king that would help with dating. Based off clues from the text, however, Nahum likely ministered around the middle of the seventh century BCE. In his third chapter, he mentions the fall of the Egyptian city of Thebes as a historical fact (3:8). Historians know Thebes fell in 663 BCE so the prophet had to have written sometime after that major historical event. With the way Nahum describes the great strength of Assyria, the empire was still a powerhouse in the prophet's day. None of Nahum's prophecies indicate that he witnessed signs of Assyrian weakening. In 612 BCE, Nahum's prophecies were fulfilled when an alliance of Babylonians and Medes managed to overtake Nineveh, Assyria's capital. The fall of Thebes and Nineveh give us the parameters for dating Nahum. He had to have ministered sometime between 663 BCE and 612 BCE. Further narrowing of his dates is not possible. 

ALLAH EXISTS Shaikh Muhammad Rebhâmî, one of the renowned Islamic scholars, relates in the fifteenth page of his book entitled Riyâdun-nâsikhîn, borrowing from the book entitled Zâd-ul-muqwîn: The Byzantine Kaiser sent an envoy to Me'mûn bin Hârûn, the seventh Abbasid Khalîfa. An awesome and arrogant man was with the envoy. The envoy said to the Khalîfa, “This man is an irreligious unbeliever. He does not believe in a creator. Byzantine priests failed to answer him. If the Islamic scholars manage to silence him, they will make millions of Christians and Muslims happy.” The scholars of Baghdâd said that there was only one scholar to answer that man, and he was Ahmad Nishâpûrî. The Khalîfa decided on a certain hour of a certain day and ordered all the scholars to convene at the palace. Nishâpûrî was rather late for the session, so he offered the following apology: “I saw something astonishing and quite unusual on my way. Watching it made me late. As I was waiting for the ship at the shore of the Tigris River, a huge tree came out of the earth. Then it fell down and broke into pieces, which presently turned into planks of wood. Then the planks came together to make a ship. Without a captain the ship began to sail.” When the Byzantine unbeliever heard these words he sprang to his feet and said, “This man must be crazy. Are those things ever possible? He who says so is a liar. One must be without a brain to believe him.” Nishâpûrî interrupted him and said, “When these things cannot take place on their own, how can so many astonishing things on the earth come into being on their own? Mustn't a person be even more idiotic and more lowly to deny the creator of all these things?” Thereupon the unbeliever said, “Now I realize and believe that the entire existence has a creator.” Expressing the statement LÂ ILÂHA IL-L-ALLAH, he became a Muslim. It is narrated that a similar event took place during the time of Imâm Ghazâlî. Khalîfa Me'mûn passed away in the hijrî year 218. Endless Bliss First Fasicle | Page 297

Daniel: Daniel 12:5-Daniel Sees An Elect Angel on Both Sides of the Tigris River-Lesson # 377

Daniel: Daniel 12:5-Daniel Sees An Elect Angel on Both Sides of the Tigris River-Lesson # 377

Daniel: Daniel 10:4-Daniel Was By the Tigris River on the Twenty-Fourth Day of the First Month When He Received Revelation From God-Lesson # 299

Daniel: Daniel 10:4-Daniel Was By the Tigris River on the Twenty-Fourth Day of the First Month When He Received Revelation From God-Lesson # 299

The Tigris River represents power in the life of the believer. The Holy Spirit offers you power in every situation.

Sergeant Major Martin Kenny graduated from Parris Island in May 1986. Sergeant Major Kenny mobilized in October 2002 with Bridge Company Bravo as a Platoon Sergeant in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. While serving in Iraq he was responsible for destroying more than 75,000 lbs of enemy ordnance as well as completing several bridging missions across the Tigris River. The Company demobilized in July 2003. In January 2004 he was mobilized in Support of Operation Iraqi Freedom II. During this time the Company was attached to the 420th Army Engineer Brigade. Staff Sergeant Kenny conducted more than 20 bridging operations as well serving as Convoy Commander on numerous convoys logging more than 16,000 miles. Sergeant Major Kenny was mobilized in May of 2009 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom 9.2. On 1 May 2009 Gunnery Sergeant Kenny was selected for the rank of First Sergeant. He was assigned to Combat Logistics Battalion 46 as the First Sergeant of Engineer Company. Engineer Company was responsible for route clearance and the retrograding of equipment and vehicles to facilitate the withdrawal of Marines from Iraq. In January 2010 First Sergeant Kenny was selected to train a Battalion for the 215 Corps Afghan National Army. First Sergeant Kenny deployed to Afghanistan and worked with the Afghan National Army until the end of March 2010. In May 2013 Sergeant Major Kenny was assigned to HMH 772 at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst. In June of 2013 Sergeant Major Kenny was mobilized to Okinawa, Japan helping to reinstate the Unit Deployment Program (UDP). Sergeant Major Kenny retired On August 1st, 2015. He now continues his service to service members and their families through this organization https://www.theweeklyfight.org/

Daniel 10 NLT read aloud by Simon MacFarlane. 1 In the third year of the reign of King Cyrus of Persia, Daniel (also known as Belteshazzar) had another vision. He understood that the vision concerned events certain to happen in the future—times of war and great hardship. 2 When this vision came to me, I, Daniel, had been in mourning for three whole weeks. 3 All that time I had eaten no rich food. No meat or wine crossed my lips, and I used no fragrant lotions until those three weeks had passed. 4 On April 23, as I was standing on the bank of the great Tigris River, 5 I looked up and saw a man dressed in linen clothing, with a belt of pure gold around his waist. 6 His body looked like a precious gem. His face flashed like lightning, and his eyes flamed like torches. His arms and feet shone like polished bronze, and his voice roared like a vast multitude of people. 7 Only I, Daniel, saw this vision. The men with me saw nothing, but they were suddenly terrified and ran away to hide. 8 So I was left there all alone to see this amazing vision. My strength left me, my face grew deathly pale, and I felt very weak. 9 Then I heard the man speak, and when I heard the sound of his voice, I fainted and lay there with my face to the ground. 10 Just then a hand touched me and lifted me, still trembling, to my hands and knees. 11 And the man said to me, “Daniel, you are very precious to God, so listen carefully to what I have to say to you. Stand up, for I have been sent to you.” When he said this to me, I stood up, still trembling. 12 Then he said, “Don't be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer. 13 But for twenty-one days the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way. Then Michael, one of the archangels, came to help me, and I left him there with the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia. 14 Now I am here to explain what will happen to your people in the future, for this vision concerns a time yet to come.” 15 While he was speaking to me, I looked down at the ground, unable to say a word. 16 Then the one who looked like a man touched my lips, and I opened my mouth and began to speak. I said to the one standing in front of me, “I am filled with anguish because of the vision I have seen, my lord, and I am very weak. 17 How can someone like me, your servant, talk to you, my lord? My strength is gone, and I can hardly breathe.” 18 Then the one who looked like a man touched me again, and I felt my strength returning. 19 “Don't be afraid,” he said, “for you are very precious to God. Peace! Be encouraged! Be strong!” As he spoke these words to me, I suddenly felt stronger and said to him, “Please speak to me, my lord, for you have strengthened me.” 20 He replied, “Do you know why I have come? Soon I must return to fight against the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia, and after that the spirit prince of the kingdom of Greece will come. 21 Meanwhile, I will tell you what is written in the Book of Truth. (No one helps me against these spirit princes except Michael, your spirit prince.

One of the earliest murder mysteries comes from One Thousand and One Nights, a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales. After a dead body is found in the Tigris River, the caliph’s adviser is tasked with solving the crime. If he fails, he and his family will suffer a similar fate… Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Daniel is standing by the Tigris River when confronted by a Theophany, an appearance of the pre-incarnate Christ. He is dropped to the ground, but lifted by a Messenger angel sent from the LORD to inform Daniel of what his vision about future warfare meant. The Messenger from God had been in battle for 3 weeks with the prince of Persia, a fallen angel, who resisted God in all ways. Finally, Michael, the archangel came to war with the prince of Persia and got the messenger released. Chapter 10 is the introduction to the Chapters 10-11-12 unit.

The history of the Prophet Hud is referred to in this chapter.  While the last chapter dealt mostly with abstract questions related to the truth of revelation, this chapter illustrates the truth of those questions by referring to the histories of former prophets.  Thus, it deals with the histories of Noah, Hud, Salih, Abraham, Lot and Shu'ayb (peace be upon them all).  A cruel and persecuting enemy is warned of the fate that befell previous people.  This chapter was revealed in Mecca during the last four years of the Prophet's life and consists of 123 verses.Once Abu Bakr said to Prophet Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him, "Of late I have been noticing that you are getting older.  What is the cause of it?" Prophet Muhammad replied that Surah Hud and similar chapters (56-Waqi'ah, 77-Mursalat, 78-Naba', and 99-Takwir) hastened old age on him (Tirmidhi).An attentive reading of this chapter will make you feel the effect of its stern warnings.  God warns us through the different stories of the prophets, where those who put their faith in the outward appearance of the worldly life and rejected the message of the prophets were met with dire consequences.  When God passes His judgment on people, He does not spare anyone, even the closest relative of a prophet.  Only the prophet and his followers are saved.Verses 1-7 Message of GodThese verses discuss the Quran and the attitude of the polytheists towards it and resurrection.The verses of the Quran have been explained clearly.  The message of the Quran is to worship God and seek forgiveness from Him.  Prophet Muhammad warns of God's punishment and at the same time he brings good news of Paradise.  God will judge mankind according to the deeds they did in this life.  Some people try to hide from God, but God knows their innermost secrets.God is responsible for sustaining every living creature.  God created the heavens and the earth in six days to test man if he realizes God's power and is thankful to Him.  Those who deny resurrection consider the Quran to be magic because of its convincing power.Verses 8-11 Polar attitude towards God's favorsThe verses compare the attitude of the believers and the polytheists towards favors and hardships.Do not be deceived by God's postponement of punishment as it can come at any time.  Also, do not lose hope and become ungrateful if God withdraws some of His favors.  At the same time, do not become arrogant if God makes you taste His bounty.  People have this attitude, except the patient ones who do good deeds.  They will be forgiven and have an immense reward.Verse 12 Prophet Muhammad's dealing with pagansThe verse describes Prophet's feeling of discomfort because of the behavior of the polytheists.Verses 13-14 Authenticity of the QuranThe authenticity of the Quran is proven to those who claim Prophet Muhammad fabricated it.  God challenges the experts of the Arabic language to bring ten chapters similar to it.  Their inability to respond should make you certain that the Quran is from God, there is no deity worthy of worship except Him, and you should submit to Him as Muslims.Verses 15-16 Future consequences of present behaviorThe consequence for those desiring solely the reward of this world is that they will receive their wages in this life, but Fire will be their lot in the life to come.  After all, they worked only for worldly objectives.Verses 17-24 The two partiesArchangel Gabriel, God's witness, confirms the Quran.  A person who follows the Quran and Moses' book (i.e.  Torah which foretold the coming of Prophet Muhammad) believes in it.  The Fire is for those who reject it.  Cursed are those losers who attribute lies to God, prevent others from God's path – Islam – and reject life after death.Those who have faith and do good deeds will reside in Paradise.Verses 25-49 Story of NoahThe people of Noah lived in southern Iraq, not too far from present day city of Kufah.  Noah's message to his people was:·       Worship God.·       Fear the punishment of a painful Day.But the leaders of his nation considered him to be a mere human followed by people of low status.  They rejected his answers and invited him to bring on the destruction he promised.  God instructed Noah to patiently bear their mockery and build the ark. Tenderness of a father could not save Noah's disbelieving son from drowning with the rest.  The ark, carrying Noah, fellow believers, and animals landed on Judi, which is said to be a  mountain facing Ibn Umar Island at the junction of the Syrian and Turkish borders, on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, visible from the Syrian town of Ain Diwar.Verses 50-60 Story of HudThe people of ‘Ad, to whom Hud was sent, lived in an area of curved sand hills in the southern part of the Arabian peninsula.  They worshiped a number of idols: wudd, suwa, yaguth, ya'uq, and nasr.Summary of Hud's message to his people:·       Worship God.·       I don't ask you for any reward for my preaching, it is with my Creator.·       Seek forgiveness from God, He will send rain and give you strength.·       I rely on God, my Lord and your Lord.·       God has full control of every creature.·       My Lord can substitute you with better people if you turn away.·       You won't harm God by not worshipping Him.The people rejected his message.  God's punishment which lasted for 8 days and 7 nights destroyed them for rejecting God and disobeying His prophets.  Hud and fellow believers were saved by God's mercy.Verses 61-68 Story of SalihThe dwelling places of Salih's people, Thamud, are situated somewhere between Hijaz and Syria in the southeastern part of Madyan which is situated east of the Gulf of Aqaba.  Chiseled out of stone, their dwellings are still preserved.Salih's message was similar to that of Noah and Hud.  In addition, he produced a female camel from the neighboring hills to prove that he was God's true prophet but warned people not to harm it.  Nevertheless, they killed it, thereby inviting God's wrath in the form of a heavenly scream that left them dead, face down in their homes. Verses 69-76 Story of AbrahamBorn in Iraq, Abraham settled in the city of Ur.  He traveled to Harran in the north of the Arabian Peninsula and then to Palestine with his wife, Sarah, and his nephew, Lot.  Due to a drought, he then moved to Egypt.  Lot returned with Abraham from Egypt, but parted ways because the land was not enough for both their herds.  Lot settled towards the Dead Sea near Sodom and Gomorrah.Abraham had three beautiful character traits: forbearing, repentant, and soft-hearted. He was quick to serve unannounced guests - angels of God - who brought two bits of news.  One, destruction was forthcoming to the people of Lot.  As for the second, the birth of Abraham's son, Isaac, from Sarah, his aged wife, and his grandson, Jacob.  Abraham makes a futile attempt to turn away the angels from Lot. Verses 77-83 Story of LotAs hospitable as his uncle, Lot is distressed to see young, attractive guests who people immediately wanted to sodomize.  Lot tries to reason with the people by pointing to available women for marriage and not to disgrace him.  Feeling powerless to protect his guests, the angels comfort Lot that he will be unharmed.  He was to leave town at nightfall with his family except his wife who would stay behind as she had informed people of the angelic guests.  God destroys them by lifting up the city, throwing it upside down, and raining them with stones due to their wickedness.Verses 84-95 Story of Shu'aybHe was sent to the people of Madyan who lived in the land of Hijaz, next to Syria and east of the Gulf of Aqaba.  According to some historians, that land is the site of the modern Saudi city of Tabuk.Shu'ayb's message:·       Worship God.·       Give full measure, do not give people less than what they pay for.·       Do not spread corruption on earth.·       Seek forgiveness from the Most Merciful, Most Loving Lord.·       Fear the punishment of a Day that will surround all.The disbelievers made fun of Prophet Shu'ayb's prayer, saying does it instruct him that they should leave ancestral gods or change how they dispose of their money. Shu'ayb reminds them that he only wishes reformation and God is his strength on Whom he relies.  His compassionate pleading to look at the ruins of Noah, Hud, Salih, and Lot does not convince them.  Shu'ayb and fellow believers are rescued when a scream destroys them as if they never existed.Verses 96-99 Story of MosesMoses left Egypt, and traveling through Sinai, he headed towards Madyan.  On his way he met his wife, the daughter of Shu'ayb.  On their return journey, God spoke to Moses at Mt. Tur (Mt. Horeb in Sinai) and thereafter, Moses returns to Egypt.God sent Moses with clear proofs to Pharaoh and his ministers, but the latter followed the misguided orders of their ruler instead.  Cursed in both worlds, just as they followed him in the cold water that drowned them, they will follow him into the Fire.Verses 100-102 InjusticeThey wronged themselves, God did not wrong them.  The gods they called upon besides God were of no use to them.Verses 103-109 Scenes from the Day of Resurrection and divine solace to the ProphetThe above narratives of the prophets are ‘signs' related to Prophet Muhammad for the benefit of those who fear the punishment of the afterlife. God will gather all the people on the Last Day, no one will be able to hide himself, and everyone will receive their full share.  On that Day a soul will speak only by God's permission.  The unfortunate ones will enter the Hellfire on that Day for eternity.  The fortunate ones will be in Paradise forever.Verses 110-111 Warning against casting doubt in the books of GodPeople treat their prophets the same.  Some accept their call, and others reject it.  Casting doubt, people denied Moses and the Torah like the pagans of Mecca denied Prophet Muhammad.  Those who rejected the prophets shall face the same fate.Verses 112-115 Means of achieving success in the world and the HereafterProphet Muhammad and the repentant believers with him are instructed by God to remain determined, establish regular prayer, and exercise patience.  Do not cross the boundaries and do not become partners with wrongdoers or else the Fire will touch you.Verses 116-119 God's way in destroying unjust nationsGod does not unjustly destroy cities while the residents are trying to reform.  Had God wanted, He could have made people follow a single religion, but He did not intend so for reasons known to Him.  Thus, people will continue to have differences except those upon whom the Lord has mercy: who follow the teachings of the prophets.  As for the rest, i.e. those who reject the message of God, He will punish them in Hell.Verse 120 The objectives of Quranic stories1.     Consoling Prophet Muhammad.2.     Sending truth to Prophet Muhammad.3.     Advice and a reminder to the believers.Verses 121-123 Practical benefits from the stories of messengers1.     God has absolute and complete knowledge of time and space - what is observable and what is hidden in the heavens and the earth and of the past and the present.2.     Everything returns to God in the life to come.  The creation cannot interfere in it.3.     Therefore, God must be worshipped and relied upon.4.     God knows our actions and our statements.  The good works of the obedient shall not go to waste and the rejection of the stubborn will not be forgotten._______________________________________By Imam Mufti (© 2015 IslamReligion.com)Copyright © 2006 - 2021 IslamReligion.com. All rights reserved.Used with permission.The source of this article is: www.IslamReligion.com

“The reliefs show people being impaled on spikes and the enemy being decapitated and sometimes flayed alive. I mean it’s absolutely brutal, and it was intended to intimidate.” With a powerful empire centered on the Tigris River—today in northern Iraq—the Assyrians were one of the great and formative cultures of the ancient world. They used … Continue reading "Assyrian Reliefs Tell the Story of an Empire"

In the dusty flood plain, 100,000 men and many times that in horses surround the walls of Baghdad. Catapults lob stones relentlessly into the city walls, hauled from great distance. Here, towers collapse under the barrage; there, ladders bring Mongol and subject peoples onto the fortifications, seizing them from the disorganized and panicking garrison. Arrows, some bearing messages, bring both confusion and injury where they land. The mighty Tigris River, the city’s lifeblood, is now part of the trap; pontoon bridges, from them dangling nets embedded with iron hooks, rest both north and south of the city to catch those trying to flee. The final ‘Abbasid Caliph sits frightened and overwhelmed in his palace, as the grasp of Hulegu Khan closes around him. Today, we discuss the fall of Baghdad, 1258. But first, we’d like to remind you that for those of you who enjoy the podcast, your support would be highly appreciated and would help us keep going. We have a patreon available for monthly or even one-time donations or, if you aren’t able to support us financially, positive reviews on Apple Podcasts or other review sites really helps us out. And now, I’m your host David, and this is Kings and Generals: Ages of Conquest.   We left our previous episode off with Hulegu destroying the Nizari Ismaili state, better known at the Order of Assassins, who had controlled a series of fortresses across eastern and northern Iran. By the end of 1256, Hulegu had reduced them to but a few holdouts, and he could begin to look to his next target. Considered heretics of the worst variety by most Sunni Muslims, the Persian writer Juvaini, a member of Hulegu’s retinue, described his victory over the Nizaris in glowing terms, Hulegu as a sword of Islam carrying out God’s will. Juvaini presents Hulegu’s war as a more ‘civilized’ form of conquest compared to that of his grandfather, Chinggis Khan. Destruction was limited to Ismaili territories and the towns and fortresses that failed to submit, as opposed to the veritable tsunami of bloodshed Chinggis Khan wrought on the Khwarezmian empire over thirty years prior. What Hulegu was soon to do in Baghdad and to the titular head of Sunni Islam would not be so praised, and it is perhaps no coincidence that Juvaini’s own chronicle ends with the fall of the Ismailis. As Hulegu left Ismaili territory in the final month of 1256, his eye was drawn to the ‘Abbasid Caliph in Baghdad.   In Islam, the spiritual leader of the religion was whoever was considered the successor to the Prophet Muhammad. For Shi’a Muslims, this was the imam- for Nizari Ismailis, the Imam was the ruler of Alamut, who had just been put to death on Mongol orders. For the majority of Muslims, known as Sunnis, the head of their faith was the Caliph, literally meaning ‘successor.’The first four Caliphs to succeed the Prophet were the “Rightly Guided,” the Rashidun, whose legitimacy is generally unquestioned by most Muslims. The Rashidun were succeeded by the Umayyads, who greatly extended Muslim rule east and west, across North Africa into Spain and across Eastern Iran into Central Asia. In 750, the Umayyad Caliphs were overthrown in the ‘Abbasid revolution. Claiming descent from the Prophet’s uncle ‘Abbas, it was under the early ‘Abbasids that the Caliphal capital was moved from Damascus to the newly established Baghdad along the Tigris River. Never comparable to the power of the Umayyads at their height, from the 9th century onwards the still vast ‘Abbasid empire fragmented with threat from all directions: the Fatimids in Egypt, the Samanids, Buyids and Saffarids of Iran and finally from the steppes, the Great Seljuqs, all of which ground the ‘Abbasids down until their state hardly stretched past the walls of Baghdad. The weakening of the Seljuqs after Sultan Malik-Shah’s death in 1092 allowed the ‘Abbasids to gradually reclaim independence and some authority, even repulsing a Seljuq army attacking Baghdad in 1157. The long reigns of Caliph al-Nasir and al-Mustansir, from 1180 until 1242, saw the ‘Abbasids reclaim much of central and southern Iraq. A far cry from the sweeping power they had held in the 8th century, by the 13th century they still remained influential and held prestige. For 500 years they had been the heads of Islam, and had long cultivated an useful image as invioable and holy, above temporal affairs though they were more often than not mired in them.    For instance, in the late 12th century Caliph al-Nasir was in conflict with the Seljuqs who continued to rule in Iran. He allied with the rising power northeast of the Iranian Seljuqs, the Khwarezmian Empire. Once vassals of the Great Seljuqs, the Khwarezm-shahs now butted heads with them as they expanded southwards, and the reigning Khwarezm-Shah, Tekesh bin Il-Arslan, was happy to ally himself with the Caliph. In 1194 at Rayy, modern Tehran, Tekesh defeated and killed the last Seljuq Sultan in Iran, Toghrul III, ending the dynasty and sending the Sultan’s severed head to al-Nasir in Baghdad. Rather than provide freedom for the Caliphate, Tekesh now wanted to step into the place of Seljuqs. The Seljuqs’ territory in Iran was largely annexed by Tekesh Khwarezm-shah, who soon began making aggressive motions to the Caliph. Al-Nasir encouraged the Khwarezmians’ eastern neighbours, the Ghurids, in their war with Tekesh. Tekesh died in 1200, succeeded by his son Muhammad II as Khwarezm-shah who, through luck, timely assassinations and military victories, overcame the Ghurids, consolidated power over Iran and in 1217 tried to march on Baghdad itself. Muhammad’s march on Baghdad was halted by a vicious snowstorm as he crossed the Zagros mountains, forcing him back. Returning to the northeast of his empire, Muhammad would there make the poor decisions which led to the Mongol Invasion of Khwarezm, covered way back in episode 9 of this podcast.   Now, some authors of the period assert that Caliph al-Nasir actually invited Chinggis Khan to attack Muhammad of Khwarezm- when placed in the context of the Caliph switching to support whoever was on the eastern side of his current foe, there is definitely a logic to it. However, as we described in detail in episode 8 of the podcast, the cause of the Mongol invasion can be found in the foolery of Muhammad Khwarezm-shah alone. Had the Mongols come on the invitation of the Caliph, then surely they would have publicized that to justify the attack and sow further confusion among the Khwarezmians.    In fact, in 1221 when detachments of Jebe and Subutai’s army penetrated into northern Iraq, Caliph al-Nasir was hardly welcoming. Along with the rulers of northern Iraq’s most important cities, Muzaffar ad-Din of Irbil and Badr al-Din Lu’lu’, the de facto ruler of Mosul, the Caliph organized a short lived military coalition, which proved unnecessary as the Mongols soon withdrew. Evidently, the ‘Abbasids spread a rumour that their army was absolutely gargantuan, their power unassailable and heavenly protected, and the Mongols were hesitant to commit. Had they paid close attention in the following years, they might have called the Caliph’s bluff. In 1225 that favoured Khwarezmian rapscallion, Jalal al-Din Mingburnu, defeated a Caliphal army after the ‘Abbasids failed to provide him assistance. Jalal al-Din chased the survivors right to the suburbs of Baghdad, then went north, defeated an army from Irbil sent to assist the Caliph and captured Irbil’s ruler, Muzaffar ad-Din. Caliph al-Nasir, by then elderly, paralyzed and blind for three years, died soon after Jalal al-Din’s attack, and was succeeded by his son, az-Zahir, as the 35th Caliph… for nine months. On Caliph az-Zahir’s death in 1226, he was succeeded by his own son, al-Mustansir, the 36th and penultimate ‘Abbasid Caliph of Baghdad.    As Caliph, al-Mustanir continued to try to strengthen ‘Abbasid control in Iraq and expand the army, but Mongol rule steadily spread over the region. By the start of the 1230s, Chormaqun Noyan and his lieutenants brought the submission of most of Iran and cast Mongol authority over the Caucasus. For Caliph al-Mustansir, the Mongol empire was a vast crescent to his north and east, where it stretched seemingly indefinitely. By 1235, Mongol forces mainly under Chagatai Noyan, “the Lesser,” were probing northern Iraq and directly, but hesitantly, testing ‘Abbasid hegemony in the region. In June 1237, Chagatai Noyan captured Irbil in what is now Iraqi Kurdistan, though the Citadel held out and in August Caliphal forces relieved the city. In February of 1238, an attack was launched on Baghdad, and a panicked Caliph al-Mustansir sent messages to the remaining independent Muslim powers from the Jazira and Syria down to Egypt for aid. Only 2,000 troops from the Ayyubid Sultan of Egypt,  al-Kamil, reached Baghdad, and in June 1238 a caliphal army was defeated near the city. However, the defences of Baghdad itself remained formidable and the city stood defiant while the Mongols turned back from the walls, unprepared for both a long siege and or the fearsome Iraqi summer.  Possibly, the Mongols suffered some sort of reverse while attacking Baghdad; some sixty years later, when the Persian historian Wassaf [vassaf] visited Baghdad, he recorded a Mongol defeat outside the walls, though this goes unmentioned by the other sources.    While Baghdad remained independent, the Mongols continued to take cities in the region. Chormaqun’s successor Baiju brought the submission of the Seljuqs of Anatolia in 1243; in 1244, the Mongol general Yasa’ur rode into Syria, dislodging the remnants of Jalal al-Din’s Khwarezmians. The Ayyubids of Syria, the successors of the once mighty empire of Saladin Ayyubi, largely submitted over 1244-5, and even Antioch, one of the last of the Crusader Kingdoms, offered its submission.  In late 1245 another attack on Baghdad was launched but soon aborted. The new Caliph since 1242, al-Mustasim ibn al-Mustansir, was lucky the attack was called off, for he was rather rapidly running out of allies. It seem that the new Caliph managed to avoid further attacks with a token submission: the Franscisan Friar John de Plano Carpini, present at the coronation of Guyuk Khaan in 1246, noted ‘Abbasid envoys were present in Karakorum and believed they paid a regular tribute.    The 38th and final ‘Abbasid Caliph of Baghdad, al-Mustasim, was not the equal of his father or great-grandfather. While al-Nasir and al-Mustansir sought to strengthen the Caliphate, al-Mustasim was more interested in the luxury of Baghdad, and was nearly universally condemned for decadence. A great lover of music, he sponsored an entire neighbourhood in Baghdad to house musicians, including the most famous of the age, Saif al-Din Urmawi. A lover of pigeon racing, art, calligraphy and treasures, al-Mustasim was also indecisive and easily swayed by factions in his court, some of whom, such as the vizier, sought accomodation with the Mongols, while others urged to meet them in battle. As we will see shortly, the result was al-Mustasim vacillating in policy, wavering between antagonizing the Mongols and sending them gifts. Essentially, the worst sort of man to have in power when Hulegu marched on him with upwards of 100,000 men.    Neither was weak leadership the only problem. Corruption and decadence of Baghdad’s elite alienated the lower classes. A weak currency and high food prices contributed to revolts; many of Baghdad’s soldiers increasingly found themselves unpaid and resorted to bandity or desertion. Topping off years of natural disasters- heavy rain, storms, annual flooding, in 1256, the Tigris, the river which runs through Baghdad, flooded for over a month, washing away much of Baghdad’s lower city. Attributed to divine displeasure at the decadent al-Mustasim, for decades afterwards this flood was remembered as the “Mustasimid flood.” As Mongol armies approached the city, pestilence killed many hundreds, if not thousands. The Caliph stood in a precarious position.   Likely in late 1255, Hulegu sent a message to Caliph al-Mustasim demanding, as Hulegu had done with other rulers across the region, that Baghdad supply troops to help in the attack on the Nizari Isamilis. Al-Mustasim refused. As the ‘Abbasids had been sending tribute in the previous years and were considered vassals, such a refusal was a declaration of independence. Hulegu, having been sent in part to find how sincere the Caliph’s submission was, now had his casus belli, for to the Mongols, the Caliph of Baghdad was now in open revolt. War with the Caliph was not intended to punish Islam specifically; had the Mongols caught the Pope and considered him a rebel, certainly he would have shared a similar fate. What mattered to the Mongols was submission to their divinely mandated rule; refusal to submit was blasphemy of the highest order.   After the fall of Alamut in December 1256, and spending some time near the still-resisting Nizari fortress of Lammasar, Hulegu stayed in Qazwin, just south of Alamut, until March 1257. From Qazwin he undertook a somewhat repetitive journey: from Qazwin he went to Hamadan, then to Dinavar, then Tabriz, then back to Hamadan, then back to Tabriz, then back to Hamadan in September 1257, from whence he would finally march on Baghdad. The reasons for this were multiple, and not just because Hulegu really liked northwestern Iran, though it did give him good time to evaluate the region. Firstly, Hulegu did not want to besiege Baghdad in the summer months, and instead needed to time the march so he arrived outside the city in the winter. Secondly, it provided time for his lieutenants to secure the neighbouring theaters: Kitbuqa Noyan secured through force and diplomacy Luristan and the passes through the Zagros mountains, ensuring Hulegu’s main army could march unimpeded when the time came. In Anatolia, Baiju Noyan had needed to put down a Seljuq revolt, culminating in the battle of Aksaray in October 1256. Baiju then needed to move back east, in order to march on Baghdad from the west when the time came.   Thirdly, Hulegu and the Caliph engaged in an entertaining round of diplomatic fisti-cuffs. Hulegu offered the Caliph another chance to surrender, repudiating him for his failure to send troops against the Nizaris. Hulegu’s threat, as recorded by the Ilkhanid vizier Rashid al-Din, went as follows:   “Previously we have given you advice, but now we say you should avoid our wrath and vengeance. Do not try to overreach yourself or accomplish the impossible, for you will only succeed in harming yourself. The past is over. Destroy your ramparts, fill in your moats, turn the kingdom over to your son, and come to us. If you do not wish to come, send all three, the vizier [al-Alqami], Sulaymanshah, and the Dawatdar, that they may convey our message word for word. If our command is obeyed, it will not be necessary for us to wreak vengeance, and you may retain your lands, army, and subjects. If you do not heed our advice and dispute with us, line up your soldiers and get ready for the field of battle, for we have our loins girded for battle with you and are standing at the ready. When I lead my troops in wrath against Baghdad, even if you hide in the sky or in the earth, ‘I shall bring you down from the turning celestial sphere; I shall pull you up like a lion. I shall not leave one person alive in your realm, and I shall put your city and country to the torch.’ “If you desire to have mercy on your ancient family’s heads, heed my advice. If you do not, let us see what God’s will is.”   The Caliph refused Hulegu’s demands, and when he sent back Hulegu’s envoys, they were harassed by the people of Baghdad; the Caliph’s vizier, ibn al-Alqami, had to send soldiers to protect the envoys to ensure they weren’t killed. When Hulegu learned of the incident, he derided the Caliph as a total incompetent, and then flew into a rage when he heard the official response, which called Hulegu a young and inexperienced man: somewhat humorous, considering al-Mustasim was only four years older than Hulegu. Hulegu’s response was about as subtle as you’d expect. Again, as per the account of Rashid al-Din, quote:   “God the eternal elevated [Chinggis] Khan and his progeny and gave us all the face of the earth, from east to west. Anyone whose heart and tongue are straight with us in submission retains his kingdom, property, women, children, and life. He who contemplates otherwise will not live to enjoy them. Love of status and property, conceit, and pride in transitory fortune have so seduced you that even the words of your well-wishers have no effect on you. Your ear cannot hear the advice of the compassionate, and you have deviated from the path of your fathers and forebears. You must get ready for battle, for I am coming to Baghdad with an army as numerous as ants and locusts. Be the turning of the celestial sphere how it may, the power to command is God’s.”   Upon hearing this message, al-Mustasim’s vizier ibn al-Alqami understood the colossal danger they were in, and fervently argued for the Caliph to appease the Mongols. Al-Alqami has something of a bisecting reputation in the Islamic world. For some, reading the Mamluk sources, the Shia Muslim ibn al-Alqami was a conspirator, plotting with Hulegu to topple the head of Sunni Islam for his own gain. For those reading from Persian and Ilkhanid sources, ibn al-Alqami was earnestly trying to steer the Caliph away from annihilation and save as many lives as he could. On this last response from Hulegu, al-Alqami was able to convince al-Mustasim to send gifts, only for the Caliph to be talked out of it by the dawatdar, Mugahid al-Din Aybek, the Caliphate’s top military man and a staunch supporter of resistance against Hulegu. Convincing the Caliph to abandon the expensive gifts, al-Mustasim sent the following message to vizier al-Alqami to assuage his worries:   “Do not fear the future, and do not talk fables, for there is friendship and unity, not enmity and hostility, between me and Hülägü and [Mongke Khaan]. Since I am their friend, they are of course friendly and benevolent toward me. The envoys’ message is false. Even if these brothers contemplate opposition to or treachery against me, what has the Abbasid dynasty to fear, when the monarchs of the face of the earth stand as our army and obey our every command? If I request an army from every country and mount to repulse the foe, I can incite Iran and Turan against these brothers. Be of stout heart, and do not fear the threats of the Mongols, for although they are powerful upstarts, they pose nothing but an empty threat to the House of Abbas.” If Rashid al-Din is accurate in recording this message, then it goes some way to demonstrate just how greatly al-Mustasim misunderstood the situation. al-Mustasim’s next letter to Hulegu spoke of monarchs who had attacked the ‘Abbasids and suffered divine retribution for it, noting specifically Muahmmad Khwarezm-shah, who for his attack on Baghdad in 1217 suffered the power of Hulegu’s grandfather. Hulegu sent another threat, promising to bring the Caliph “down miserably into the jaws of a lion,” and had enough of parlay.   Hulegu had only to check with the astrologers and diviners of his retinue in order to ensure the assault had good fortune. Variously they warned of failure, catastrophe, and death for harming the Caliph. Finally, Hulegu turned to the famed Iranian scholar rescued from the Nizari fortresses, Nasir al-Din Tusi, and asked what he thought of the matter. After thinking for a moment, Tusi told Hulegu that none of these things would happen. Hulegu asked what would. Tusi replied, “Hulegu Khan will take the Caliph’s place.” And that was enough for Hulegu. The border passes were now secured, and the march on Baghdad could begin.    As Hulegu marched through Kermanshah, massacres followed him. His army approached Baghdad in three directions. Kitbuqa took a route through Luristan, and would march on Baghdad from the south. Baiju Noyan came through northern Iraq, crossing the Tigris near Irbil and closing in on Baghdad’s west and north. Hulegu took the main army through the Hulwan pass and would close off Baghdad from the east, thus encircling the city.    As the armies entered Iraq, cities and towns across Mesopotamia surrendered to them. In January 1258 as the Mongols closed in on the city, the Caliphal army under the Dawatdar tried to repulse Baiju’s army. They were lured into a feigned retreat; a dyke was broken and their camp flooded. Few survivors escaped back to Baghdad. By January 22ned, the Mongol armies had linked up around the city. Not just Mongols, but subject Iranians, Turks, Georgians and Armenians made up this force, with a thousand Chinese siege engineers. The defenders of Baghdad were outnumbered and without hope. For a week, the Mongols prepared their siege lines. Pontoon bridges were built across the Tigris, nets and iron hooks hanging from them to ensure none could escape either up or downriver. No stones for the catapults were within the area, so they needed to be hauled in from elsewhere. A ditch was dug around the city, the earth from the ditch used to build a rampart with gates set in it. Protective coverings were built for the siege engines. With the typical thoroughness of the early Toluids, Baghdad was closed off, its fate sealed.   The assault began on January 29th. An incessant barrage of stones and arrows brought the defenders to their knees. The artillery upon the walls of Baghdad was poorly maintained and outranged by that of the Mongols, useless in the words of one source. Under mobile wooden shelters, the Mongols advanced on the walls, sending arrows deeper into the city. One of the Caliph’s daughters was killed when an arrow passed through a window in his palace. Messages were tied to arrows, proclaiming that all those who did not resist would be spared. By the start of February, towers and bastions along the walls were collapsing. By February 3rd, Mongol forces were capturing the walls. When one of Hulegu’s commanders was killed by an arrow sent from the city, he angrily forced his army on at greater speed.   Realizing just how monumentally he had erred, al-Mustasim sent envoys, among them the once bellicose Dawatdar, to discuss terms with Hulegu. They were quickly put to death. Nothing but the unconditional surrender of the Caliph himself was good enough. Finally, on February 10th, al-Mustasim and his family came out from Baghdad, and put his life in the hands of Hulegu. Initially, the Caliph was treated respectfully. Other notables came out to submit to Hulegu, and many others fled out of the city to escape the pestilence which had already claimed thousands within. These who came out were trapped between the walls of Baghdad and the Mongol palisade. Once the garrison and its weapons were collected, on the 13th of February, the sack of Baghdad began.   In popular culture, the sack of Baghdad is uncontrolled, disorganized, horrifically violent and results in the city’s utter destruction and death of a million people. In reality it was controlled, organized, horrifically violent and resulted in only most of the city’s destruction and deaths of thousands. Rather than wiping Baghdad from the map, it was more of an organized dismemberment. Evidence comes from multiple accounts, but we’ll focus on that of the musician, Urmawi. In contrast to the image of the mob running wild over Baghdad, Urmawi’s account, recorded by the Mamluk historian Shihab al-Din al-’Umari, records the Mongols meticulously planned the sacking. Depending on rank, commanders were given 1 to 3 days to collect loot from sections of the city allotted to them. In Urmawi’s case, his neighbourhood was allotted to Baiju Noyan and his retinue- notably just men Baiju picked to bring into the city with him, rather than a whole portion of his army. Urmawi greeted Baiju with gifts and hosted a feast for him, entertaining him with music and ingratiating himself to the Noyan. Baiju was so pleased he urged Urmawi to come with him to play before Hulegu. Hulegu enjoyed a concert before the walls of Baghdad, ordered Urmawi’s neighbourhood spared and protected with picked men, and even granted Urmawi gardens which had belonged to the Caliph.   Likewise, various sources note that a number of segments of the populations were spared and their property protected: Christians, notably Nestorian priests; Shi’ites and Alids; Khurasani merchants, Qadis, scholars, shaykhs and in one source, Jews. Individuals are mentioned petitioning Hulegu to spare their homes- likely for a hefty payment, of course- but in order to follow these orders, the forces looting the city had to be disciplined enough to actually take note of addresses. Even the oft-repeated statement that the Tigris River ran black with ink of the books of Baghdad’s library must be re-examined, for Nasir al-Din Tusi took many with him to Maragha, where he built his famous observatory. A number of sources indicate the city’s looting lasted only a week, rather than a full month.   Clemency was extended to multiple groups… but for the majority of the city’s population who did not fall into these categories, it appears no quarter was given. For all the gated neighbourhoods like Urmawi’s which were protected, many more were gutted and looted. Treasures collected over the city’s 500 years were stolen, the finest architecture of the ‘Abbasids ruined and torn down. Hulegu entered the city on February 15th, visiting the Caliph’s palace, where al-Mustasim was forced to reveal where he had hidden his wealth. 12,000 severed ears were brought before Hulegu to mark the slain citizenry. The dead littered the street; after a few days, the heat and stench of the rotting bodies led Hulegu to end the looting by February 20th. Notably, the city was not to be left to brigandage: a governor and Mongol officials were appointed, ibn al-Alqami kept his position as vizier, to clean up the bodies and restore the city.   On the 20th of February, Hulegu moved to the village of Waqaf to avoid the foul air of Baghdad, from which he apparently fell sick. At Waqaf, Hulegu had al-Mustasim put to death, most likely rolled into a carpet and stomped upon to avoid spilling his blood on the earth. His family soon followed him.  In European accounts, the popular version was that Hulegu locked Mustasim in his treasury, where he starved to death in an ironic punishment to mark the Caliph’s failures to pay for troops and defences.   So ended the 500 year old ‘Abbasid Caliphate. The impact on Islam is hard to understate. Since the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632, there had been a widely recognized successor to him in the form of the Caliphs -Rashidun, Umayyad and ‘Abbasid. Most Muslims saw him as the spiritual, if not the actual political, head of Islam. For the Caliphate, seemingly inviolable and permanent, to come to such a violent and sudden end sent shockwaves throughout the Islamic world. Caliphates had been overthrown before; previous dynasties like the Buyids and Seljuqs had held the Caliphs as puppets and militarily defeated them, while the Nizari Assassins had claimed the lives of at least two; but never before had the Caliphate actually been erased from existence by a power claiming universal sovereignty in its place. Distant relations of al-Mustasim were eventually set up in Mamluk Cairo as new Caliphs, but were never widely recognized. The Ottoman Sultans would also claim the title of Caliph in time, but none have ever been able to step into the position held by the ‘Abbasids. It’s no surprise that many Muslims throughout the following centuries have referred to the sack of Baghdad as a scar of the psyche of the ummah, one which it has not recovered from today. With the fall of Baghdad, Hulegu could now cast his eyes onto Syria, down the Levantine coast to the newly established Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt. The sense was real that Hulegu was about to bring the whole of Islam under the authority of the house of Chinggis. Our next episode takes us to the Mongol drive to the Meditteranean- and the famous clash of ‘Ayn Jalut, an episode you won’t want to miss. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast, and to help up continue bringing you great content, consider supporting us on Patreon at www.patreon.com/kingsandgenerals. I’m your host David, and we’ll catch you on the next one.

Study Notes Ed Underwood Nahum God’s Judgment of Cruel Empires The Lord is good – indeed, he is a fortress in time of distress, and he protects those who seek refuge in him (Nahum 1:7). The seventeen Books of Prophecy record the messages of the writing prophets (those whose messages are preserved in writing) God raised up to speak for him following the ministries of the prophets Elijah and Elisha. The failings of the Divided Kingdom Era prompted God to speak to Israel in the north and Judah in the south. They continued to speak to God’s people for over 400 years, including the exile to Babylonia and the return to the Promise Land. (1 Kings 12-Esther) The prophets spoke for God to His people concerning the enforcement of terms of their covenant relationship with God. Each spoke to a specific generation of Israel or Judah to enforce the conditional covenant (Mosaic) in the context of the unconditional covenants flowing from the Abrahamic Covenant. Their message can be summed up in these sentences: You are mine! (Unconditional covenants, Romans 11:29). Walk with me and I will bless you. Walk away from me and I will call you back to myself through loving discipline (Conditional covenant, Romans 9-11). Nahum prophesied the destruction of Nineveh to encourage the people of Judah. Surrounded by high walls, fortified with two hundred towers, encircled by a deep moat, Nineveh was truly an invincible and impregnable fortress—or so the Ninevites thought! Nahum foretold that this proud city and its inhabitants would be powerless to stand before God’s coming wrath. In the 100 years since Jonah’s remarkable revival, the people of Nineveh had returned to their defiant, immoral ways. Nahum’s preaching is not a call to repentance (like Jonah’s), but a decree of death for an evil and cruel people who have worn out the patience of God. The name “Nahum” means “comfort” or “consolation.” His message of the destruction of Nineveh would be a comfort to the nations she had oppressed. Like Jonah, who prophesied about 100 years earlier, Nahum directed his message against Nineveh, the city originally founded by Nimrod (Genesis 10:8-12). The revival in response to Jonah’s message of judgment about 760 BC was short-lived. In 722 BC, Sargon II of Assyria destroyed Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom of Israel, and scattered the ten tribes. Led by Sennacherib, the Assyrians also came close to capturing Jerusalem in the reign of King Hezekiah in 701 BC. By the time of Nahum (660 BC), Assyria reached the zenith of its prosperity and power under Ashurbanipal. Nineveh became the mightiest city on earth with fortifications that seemed and resources to withstand a twenty-year siege. Nahum’s prophecy of the capital’s overthrow seemed unlikely indeed. Nahum was the master poet of the prophets who has been called the poet laureate among the Minor Prophets. “His reverence for the almighty, trust in divine justice and goodness, condemnation of national iniquity, positive conviction that God will keep His word—these are qualities of true greatness. Add to that Nahum’s mighty intellect, his patriotism and courage, his rare, almost unequaled, gift of vivid presentation, and he indeed looms as one of those outstanding figures in human history who have appeared only at rare intervals.” (Walter A. Maier, The Book of Nahum: A Commentary, p. 20) Jonah Nahum The Mercy of God 760 BC Repentance of Nineveh Emphasis on the Prophet Disobedient Prophet Obedient Nineveh Deliverance from Water The Judgment of God 660 BC Callous Cruelty of Nineveh Emphasis on the Prophecy Obedient Prophet Disobedient Nineveh Destruction by Water Nahum: God is a refuge for His people! God calls Nahum to proclaim the coming destruction of Nineveh in order to encourage and comfort Judah. I. THE DESTRUCTION OF NINEVEH DECREED: Nahum prophesies that judgment is certain on Nineveh because it plotted against God. This is a message of comfort to the people of Judah (1:15). The threat of Assyrian invasion will soon be over. (1) II. THE DESTRUCTION OF NINEVEH DESCRIBED: Nahum prophetically describes the defeat of Nineveh showing that God is the judge to encourage the people of Judah to realize that God is more powerful than the mighty Assyrian empire. Assyria will be conquered, but Judah will be restored. Nineveh is burned and cut off forever. (2) III. THE DESTRUCTION OF NINEVEH DESERVED: Nahum declares the reasons for judgment on Nineveh in order to encourage Judah to remember that God is in control and will fight for His people because they are under the covenant. The city is cruel and corrupt. With all of its resources it cannot forestall divine judgment. (3) NAHUM AND YOU: This book is specifically about God’s judgment on Nineveh and the Assyrians. The broader truths of God’s judgment of evil in this world and His care and protection of His people are relevant to any generation. Here are a few thoughts about how we can apply Nahum to our daily lives: 1. Historic Sweep! The LORD is slow to anger but great in power; the LORD will certainly not allow the wicked to go unpunished (Nahum 1:3). The reasons God brought Nineveh and the Assyrians down are the same reasons He will humble any world power. Any nation or movement that thirsts for conquest, practices cruelty and brutality to oppress others, tyrannizes the weak and innocent, and worships false gods can expect Nineveh’s fate. Ultimately, God’s justice will prevail. 2. Prophetic Precision! Nahum predicted that Nineveh would fall due to an “overwhelming flood” (1:8), and this is exactly what occurred. Extra-biblical historical sources record twelve specific fulfillments of details of Nahum’s prophecies. The Tigris River overflowed its banks and the flood destroyed part of Nineveh’s “impregnable” wall. The Medes/Babylonians invaded through this breach in the wall, plundered the proud but cruel city, and set it on fire. Nahum also predicted that Nineveh would “be hidden” from history (3:11). Again, after its destruction in 612 B.C., archeologists did not discover the city’s ruins until 1842 A.D. 3. Comfort and Protection! The LORD is good – indeed, he is a fortress in time of distress and he protects those who seek refuge in him (1:7). This is a mean and sin-stained planet. Enemies rise and fall; world powers rise and fall; God’s people are treated unfairly, even cruelly. But through it all we can depend on Him. He is our only good and sure Protector and our only dependable refuge. Messiah: Though there are no direct messianic prophecies in Nahum, the divine attributes described in 1:2- 8 picture Christ’s work as the judge of the nations in His second advent.

Ali Hussein Kadhim was a baby-faced recruit when he joined the Iraqi forces in the spring of 2014, leaving his wife and two children at home.On June 12, 2014, ISIS militants captured him and thousands of other Iraqi soldiers and brought them to a military camp in northern Iraq. As far as he knows, he is the only survivor of the group he was in, in what became known as the Camp Speicher massacre, one of ISIS’ worst mass atrocities.Related: Court rules Shamima Begum can return to Britain for appealTestimonies like Kadhim’s are being collected by a UN group charged with documenting and investigating the massacre and other ISIS crimes. It’s an enormous, slow-moving endeavor, and more recently, the investigators have had to work around a new hurdle — the coronavirus pandemic.Instead of visiting sources in person, they introduced an app that survivors and families of victims can use to submit evidence, according to Karim Ahmad Khan, who heads the United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Da'esh/ISIL (UNITAD).“So, whether they’re in Iraq, whether they’re in Australia, whether they’re in Germany or elsewhere, that will allow those witnesses to give us their details, to tell us briefly what happened to them, to upload any photographs or any information they may have seized as they fled or were released from their locations,” he said.Khan’s team has also met with survivors and relatives of victims of ISIS’ crimes. The investigators document their stories and collect photos, videos or any other evidence that could help bring those responsible to justice in courts.ISIS may not be in the headlines in the West every day, but the atrocities it committed are fresh in the minds of those who lived through them — which is what helps Khan and the rest of the group keep pushing forward.“It's tough but what gives us pause for thought is the humbling courage of those survivors who have suffered on a scale that none of us could dream in our worst nightmares and yet they wake up every day with a belief that they can live and move forward.” Many ISIS fighters have died on the battlefield, but others are in prisons in Iraq and Syria.“We [told] the other communities that ‘you’re not forgotten. There is no hierarchy of victims. Please bear with us as we start to get additional staff.’” Karim Ahmad Khan, UNITAD“We [told] the other communities that ‘you’re not forgotten. There is no hierarchy of victims. Please bear with us as we start to get additional staff,’” Khan said.Related: Online learning is a big struggle in formerly ISIS-controlled MosulKhan said his team has already helped feed evidence for cases in courts in Europe and Iraq.“So, the work is going well but it must be viewed relative to the amount of criminality that confronts us in relation to Daesh,” he said.Camp SpeicherIn 2017, the Iraqi government asked the international community to help document and investigate crimes of ISIS, or Daesh, as it’s known in Arabic. The UN Security Council passed a resolution to set up UNITAD. Khan said that his group initially faced the daunting task of deciding which crimes to pursue.“The crimes of Daesh are so widespread, there’s no community that refused to bow its head to Daesh that was let off,” he said. “They were targeted, and they suffered enormously.”For example, there are more than 200 mass graves that have been discovered in former ISIS areas. The UN team decided that one of the areas it was going to investigate was the Tikrit Air Cadet Academy, or Camp Speicher.US forces had captured the camp after the 2003 invasion and renamed it after Michael Scott Speicher, an American Navy pilot who died in the Gulf War in the 1990s.Related: ISIS families held in Syrian camps face uncertain futures. Now, the coronavirus also looms.In 2014, the Iraqi military used the camp for training cadets. Kadhim, in an interview with The World, speaking from his home in Diwaniyah, a city about 120 miles south of Baghdad, described the dreadful events that took place at Camp Speicher.He said on June 12, 2014, he and the other Iraqi soldiers were divided into smaller groups, their hands tied behind their backs and loaded onto trucks. Then, they took them to the former presidential palace of Saddam Hussein in Tikrit and ordered them to lie down next to each other.“We were there from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. under the scorching sun,” he said. “We were thirsty. When we asked for water, they beat us.”“Then, they started to execute us.”Kadhim thought of his wife and two children.“We were crying, we were shouting, but nothing affected them,” he said.But Kadhim was lucky that day. He said bullets whizzed right by his head and missed.“When I felt there is no bullet in my head or my body, I [realized] I will live.” Ali Hussein Kadhim, Camp Speicher massacre survivor“When I felt there is no bullet in my head or my body, I [realized] I will live,” he recalled.Related: Afghans in shock after attacks on a maternity hospital and a funeralAfter the sun went down, he got up and escaped on foot. As far as he knows, he said, he is the only survivor of the group.The UN said the group captured and murdered at least 1,700 Iraqi soldiers. It dumped their bodies in mass graves in various locations, including the Tigris River. ISIS published photos and videos of the Camp Speicher massacre online as part of its propaganda.In 2016, the Iraqi government hanged 36 ISIS members convicted of taking part in the massacre.Khan, who has worked on cases connected to other mass atrocities, said it will take time to fully investigate these crimes, “but the course of gathering evidence that withstands challenge, that withstands scrutiny creates a record that stands the test of time.” Meanwhile, Kadhim, who now works for a religious organization in Iraq — and struggles to make ends meet — wants to see those responsible for killing Iraqi soldiers brought to justice. He said he believes they should face the death penalty in public.

The children of Ham possessed the land from Syria and Amanus, and the mountains of Libanus; settling all that was on its sea coasts, and as far as the ocean, and keeping it as their own. Some indeed of its names are utterly vanished away; others of them, being changed, and another sound given them, are hard to be discovered; yet a few there are which have kept their names entirely. The sons of Ham spread out primarily toward Africa. Cush is mentioned often in Scripture, and refers to Ethiopia. One notorious son of Cush, Nimrod, is listed. He moved east into the area of Babylon and Ninevah. (I’ll say more about him later.) Mizraim is Egypt, Put probably refers to Libya, and Canaan, of course, to the many peoples inhabiting the land of Palestine during the conquest. Shem, the third son of Noah, had five sons, who inhabited the land that began at Euphrates, and reached to the Indian Ocean. Of the sons of Shem, Eber is named at the head of the list (10:21) and again later (10:24) because the word “Hebrew” probably comes from his name. Elam was the ancestor of the Elamites, who lived in southeast Mesopotamia. Asshur was apparently the founder of the Assyrians, although nothing is known of him. Arpachshad was in the line leading to Abraham (11:10-26). Lud was probably the Ludbu of the Assyrians, situated on the Tigris River. Aram is the name of the Aramean tribes which lived on the steppes of Mesopotamia. A mysterious note is attached to the name of Peleg (10:25, whose name in Hebrew means “divided”), that “in his days the earth was divided.” Most likely this refers to the dividing of the nations at Babel. Thus chronologically, Genesis 11 fits in here, which may be during Nimrod’s time (three or four generations after the flood). If Nimrod built Babylon, then God could have scattered the nations in his time, after which he moved north to conquer Ninevah. If you recall from the last session, SHEM was the one who was Blessed. He and Japheth. While Ham and his son Canaan were cursed. Support this podcast

Nehemiah was a high official in the Persian court of King Artaxerxes I at the capital city of Susa, which lay 150 miles east of the Tigris River in what is now modern Iran. Nehemiah served as the king’s cupbearer (Nehemiah 1:11), which evidently put him in a position to speak to the king and request favors from him. After hearing about the sad state of affairs in Judah, Nehemiah acquired the king’s permission to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the city and its fortifications. He is even given letters from the king to ensure safe passage and to obtain timber from the king’s forest for the gates and walls of Jerusalem.

Scientist world wide are amazed that a sensational find in a rock and no it's not oil. A 3400 year old palace has emerged from the receding waters of the Mosul Dam Reservoir on the ancient banks of the Tigris River. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://news.iheart.com/podcast-advertisers

Dan Gabriel was in one of the first classes of CIA officers post-9/11.  He completed multiple tours in Iraq & Afghanistan.  Dan and I discuss his journey from college to the front lines of the CIA's war on terror to filming Mosul.  From Dan “MOSUL is a feature-length documentary built around several characters that come from the vibrantly diverse cultures and backgrounds that make up modern Iraq: Sunni Tribesman, Shiite Militias, Christian Fighters, and Kurdish Peshmerga.  The story is told as a journey north along the Tigris River and into the heart of darkness as key participants fight to reclaim Mosul from the grip of the Islamic State in Iraq.”From Dan's BIO: “ Daniel Gabriel is the creative direction behind MOSUL. His knowledge and deep understanding of the region and its politics began while he was working as a CIA counterterrorism officer in 2003, eventually completing six tours to Iraq and Afghanistan in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. After his time with the CIA, Dan's interest in filmmaking led him to complete graduate work in Filmmaking at NYU's Tisch School of the Arts (2013), and in Producing (2014) at UCLA's School of Theater, Film, and Television. This is his debut film.”https://mosul-film.com/ https://www.facebook.com/mosulfilm/ https://twitter.com/filmmosul https://www.instagram.com/mosul_film/ Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/theprotectors)

Episode 50: “Pepper's Handler” Dave Nielsen The guys got the honor to sit down with Dave Nielsen. Dave's service to our country spans almost two decades, first with the 75th Ranger Regiment and then went into a Special Missions unit as an assaulter, dog handler, and sniper. His story was featured in Channing Tatum's HBO documentary “War Dogs” retelling the story of three dog handlers and their canine counterparts from the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). He shares stories of his dog “Pepper” who was killed while rooting out an enemy from a sewer hole in Iraq on the banks of the Tigris River and searched for her all night but had to leave once the sun was coming up as they were in enemy-held territory. Dave also talks about what's its like to retire a second time (this one for good) and gives advice to anyone considering handling a dog in law enforcement or the military. Besides being one of the nicest guys Dave is very outspoken about loss and open about veteran suicide and how to combat it and although we didn't touch on it in this episode we highly recommend you listen to his most recent podcast with John Hendricks and Global Recon. Thank you Dave! HUGE THANK YOU to our continued sponsors: HITS K9 Training and Conference https://www.hitsk9.net or Jeff Barrett at 863-529-5113 US-K9 Rad tugs and reward toys!! (USE DISCOUNT CODE K9PRO) www.usa-K9.com Ray Allen Manufacturing https://www.rayallen.com (USE DISCOUNT CODE WorkingDogRadio FOR 10% OFF your next order) Dogtra (Use Discount Code WDR10) www.dogtra.com QuickDerm by Vet Care Fast Acting Wound Care for all species of animal! Use Code: 10WDR For 10% off your first order!! www.vetcare.us Tactical Police K9 Training at https://www.tacticalpolicek9training.com EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY: Coast 2 Coast K9 www.c2ck9.com Silver State K9 https://www.SilverStateK9.com or on Facebook and Instagram @silverstatek9 Southern Coast K9 at https://www.southerncoastk9.com or 877.903.DOGS True Scent K9 Training Aids available HERE: https://www.truescentk9.com or 512-533-2040 Discount Code WDR15 for 15% off training aids excluding accessories Pat Nolan & Connie Cleveland-Nolan Webinar: ECollars, a Forthright Discussion April 24th at www.patnolan.com and www.onlineobediencetraining.com Arnaud ALM Suits & K9 Equipment https://www.almk9equipment.com (download our podcast for special discount code) Tripwire Operations Group https://www.tripwireops.org Music with permission By Brother Dege – Official www.brotherdege.blogspot.com, on itunes, Amazon, CD Baby or anywhere you stream digital media Edited and co-produced by Alesha Brandt

Episode 50: “Pepper’s Handler” Dave Nielsen The guys got the honor to sit down with Dave Nielsen. Dave’s service to our country spans almost two decades, first with the 75th Ranger Regiment and then went into a Special Missions unit as an assaulter, dog handler, and sniper. His story was featured in Channing Tatum’s HBO documentary “War Dogs” retelling the story of three dog handlers and their canine counterparts from the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). He shares stories of his dog “Pepper” who was killed while rooting out an enemy from a sewer hole in Iraq on the banks of the Tigris River and searched for her all night but had to leave once the sun was coming up as they were in enemy-held territory. Dave also talks about what’s its like to retire a second time (this one for good) and gives advice to anyone considering handling a dog in law enforcement or the military. Besides being one of the nicest guys Dave is very outspoken about loss and open about veteran suicide and how to combat it and although we didn’t touch on it in this episode we highly recommend you listen to his most recent podcast with John Hendricks and Global Recon. Thank you Dave! HUGE THANK YOU to our continued sponsors: HITS K9 Training and Conference https://www.hitsk9.net or Jeff Barrett at 863-529-5113 US-K9 Rad tugs and reward toys!! (USE DISCOUNT CODE K9PRO) www.usa-K9.com Ray Allen Manufacturing https://www.rayallen.com (USE DISCOUNT CODE WorkingDogRadio FOR 10% OFF your next order) Dogtra (Use Discount Code WDR10) www.dogtra.com QuickDerm by Vet Care Fast Acting Wound Care for all species of animal! Use Code: 10WDR For 10% off your first order!! www.vetcare.us Tactical Police K9 Training at https://www.tacticalpolicek9training.com EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY: Coast 2 Coast K9 www.c2ck9.com Silver State K9 https://www.SilverStateK9.com or on Facebook and Instagram @silverstatek9 Southern Coast K9 at https://www.southerncoastk9.com or 877.903.DOGS True Scent K9 Training Aids available HERE: https://www.truescentk9.com or 512-533-2040 Discount Code WDR15 for 15% off training aids excluding accessories Pat Nolan & Connie Cleveland-Nolan Webinar: ECollars, a Forthright Discussion April 24th at www.patnolan.com and www.onlineobediencetraining.com Arnaud ALM Suits & K9 Equipment https://www.almk9equipment.com (download our podcast for special discount code) Tripwire Operations Group https://www.tripwireops.org Music with permission By Brother Dege – Official www.brotherdege.blogspot.com, on itunes, Amazon, CD Baby or anywhere you stream digital media Edited and co-produced by Alesha Brandt

December 16, 2018 AM, Daniel 10.We learn in this message how Daniel was impacted by the vision of a certain man at the Tigris River, and how he learned that something was happening behind the scenes which caused a delay in the answer to his prayers. There is great significance here for the modern believer in Christ as to the matter of prayer, and concerning how the world truly works. There is an unseen, but nonetheless very real, world behind the visible realm. This morning's Scripture reading is found in Leviticus 12 and Luke 2:15-24.

Daniel 12 is a continuation of the angelic revelation to Daniel that started (in Chapter 10) on the banks of the Tigris River as Daniel was completing three weeks of prayer.  It is a further look into the last days of the Great Tribulation and concludes with the encouragement to Daniel to "Go your way till the and. And you shall rest and shall stand in your allotted place at the end of the days."   Like Daniel, we can be encourged by God's sovereign control over all worldly events and rest in the knowledge of his love and care.   Study notes are here.

"What happened after 2014 is another chapter of what happened to this city" say Omar Mohammed, when speaking about his home city of Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq. Mohammed was born in Mosul during some of the worst moments of the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s. “I was born on 8 April, the Baath party was born on 7 April, and the fall of the regime was on 9 April. I turned 17 when I saw the [US] invasion ... 2014 changed everything in my country," he explains. Mohammed was in Mosul under the corrupt Iraqi army, after the US invasion and while the Islamic State (referred to as ISIS: Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, pre-2014) was beginning to strengthen and grow. At the time they already had a foothold in Mosul: “We were used to seeing [car] bombs, weekly there were dead bodies in the street, people gett[ing] kidnapped, people paying taxes to the jihadists. The corruption among the security forces [was] something that was being normalised in the city for about 10 years. The city was terrorised I would say,” explains Mohammed. Even then, heading out to work was not an easy situation. “When I wake up and go out, the first thing I think about: am I going to die?” One story in particular - which is well known among Mosul residents - is about a businessman who refused to pay IS before they seized control of the city in 2014. So to send the man a message "they put a bomb in the car of his son on his wedding day", some time in 2011 or 2012. "After that they told him that if he was not going to pay he should prepare another grave for his other son." Although the Iraqi security forces were in Mosul until 2014, Mohammed points out that such threats were common. “If I get threatened by ISIS, I can’t go to the Iraqi security forces or to the police because they are corrupted and my name will go directly to ISIS and they will come to kill me. So we were blocked in the middle of this corruption and ISIS.” IS enters Mosul Although news of the newly-formed Islamic State armed group in nearby cities was known across Mosul, many chose to stay. In fact, when they arrived, even the Turkish consulate stayed while the former governor appeared in public telling people not to worry  and that everything was ok, explains Mohammed. He adds that as the diplomatic staff didn’t leave, most people didn’t see the need to run away. Even after IS arrived in June of 2014, it didn't show its true colours. "At the very beginning, ISIS (Islamic State of Syria post-2014) wanted to give the people [the impression] that they were there to protect the city, to take the city from the control of the corrupted government. It was very misleading.The people didn’t understand,” adds Mohammed. But then in three weeks things had changed.  “It’s like they pressed [a] button. Everything changed in two days." Mohammed remembers receiving a list of what was permitted and the consequences if people refused to obey. Public executions started, beheadings in the streets, arrests, lashes for not attending mosque, throwing LGBT people off buildings and stoning women on allegations of adultery - actions which took Mosul back to the Middle Ages, he says. Everyone was expected to attend public executions if they were being filmed. A crew of camera men would often repeat the scenes, explaining that a given camera angle or position was not good enough to take a decent shot. Mosul Eye launched The day IS arrived to take over the city, Mohammed says he was using his personal account to post everything. The attack came at 3:00 am on 6 June, an account of which he posted on his personal account as Omar. However, a friend who saw his post told him to be careful. Mohammed erased his personal profile and created an anonymous one called Mosul Eye. “It wasn’t just to share info with others, it was more telling the truth about what’s happening in the city” he explains, adding that the people of Mosul were in a black box. "They couldn’t get out and people couldn’t get in. If no one knew the truth about what was really happening to them, then how would future generations know" he asks. “If there wasn’t another narrative, people would only suspect what happened, they would start investigating and they would find only the narrative of ISIS. So we [would have] lost the truth.” As a trained historian, Mohammed risked his life and that of his family’s to chronicle the day-to-day life in the city. Every day, he would post on his blog stories about how the people lived, the crimes of IS, what IS have done to the people, along with the names of the victims, the impact of the airstrikes. He also listed the names of IS fighters who were killed - in fact, everything that happened. At times he would push his own security boundaries of risk to take photos or videos. But all of this was done to ensure the history of the city was accurately being recorded. Writing about Mosul No one knew of his blog. Not even his family. While Mosul Eye was intended for English-speakers, he had other blogs under various names to target Iraqis. He wanted to clarify a misunderstanding amongst Iraqis outside Mosul that the people of Mosul supported IS, something which was clearly not true. So his blogs became a trusted platform, especially his Mosul Eye among the international community. Even those in his own city were reading his blog through the help of family and friends who could access them outside of the city and report the news. But shouldering the responsibility of such a chronicle became a burden and one that he couldn’t share. “I was so tired, that I couldn’t express my feelings to my mother, to my brother, to my sister. It was heavy on my shoulders, so I thought the only option is to die” he explains. "So I went to the Tigris River, drinking tea, wearing red, smoking publicly,” says Mohammed. He waited for IS to kill him. But to his surprise, no one noticed him. A few months later he decided it was time for him to leave. He had been receiving numerous threats on his blog from IS, and they were getting more active within the neighbourhoods, by searching houses. There was an IS leader living in the house next to his. His neighbourhood in particular had become surrounded by IS. “If they find me, I’m ready to die, but this is my family. I’ve been protecting them for more than a year, so why should I give them up?" he asked himself. The result is that he made arrangements to be smuggled out of the city. Mohammed explains that he left with his notebook and his hard drive that contained every observation about his Mosul under IS. While the car waited for him at six in the morning to sneak him out of the city, he quickly woke his mother up to say a quick good bye without offering any details so as ensure her safety. Even in the safety of Turkey and elsewhere, Mohammed continued to update Mosul Eye until the city was liberated. In November of 2017, he finally decided to reveal his identity and in doing so relieve himself of the burden he had been carrying for nearly two years. He explains that while he had initially vowed to never reveal himself, the liberation of Mosul meant there was no longer a threat to his family. He also wanted the people of his city to learn to trust again. How could they could learn to do so if he didn’t make that first step to reveal his identity,  he asks. On top of all those reasons is the most basic one: “I was also tired of hiding.” Since he revealed his identity, Mohammed has been telling his story to different media outlets and working on his doctoral thesis. He also writes in an effort to move on and find security amongst people. “I’m writing now, writing from the beginning of my life and will continue until the end," he explains. "Writing is helping me to get all of these ideas and images out of my mind." He’s also trying to be as involved as possible from a distance with the cultural revival in his city; a city he hopes to go back to very soon. You can follow Omar Mohammed on Twitter on @omardemosul and @MosulEye  

Do you know what you are made of? Moses [26:10] Recall that your Lord called Moses: "Go to the transgressing people. [26:11] "Pharaoh's people; perhaps they reform." [26:12] He said, "My Lord, I fear lest they disbelieve me. [26:13] "I may lose my temper. My tongue gets tied; send for my brother Aaron. [26:14] "Also, they consider me a fugitive; I fear lest they kill me." [26:15] He said, "No, (they will not). Go with My proofs. We will be with you, listening.  [20:41] "I have made you just for Me. [20:42] "Go with your brother, supported by My signs, and do not waver in remembering Me.   [2:286] GOD never burdens a soul beyond its means: to its credit is what it earns, and against it is what it commits. "Our Lord, do not condemn us if we forget or make mistakes. Our Lord, and protect us from blaspheming against You, like those before us have done. Our Lord, protect us from sinning until it becomes too late for us to repent. Pardon us and forgive us. You are our Lord and Master. Grant us victory over the disbelieving people."  [7:42] As for those who believe and lead a righteous life—we never burden any soul beyond its means—these will be the dwellers of Paradise. They abide in it forever.  [23:62] We never burden any soul beyond its means, and we keep a record that utters the truth. No one will suffer injustice. Planet Earth Season II – Episode 4 - Deserts Kalahari Desert watering hole 100km from the nest’s of the sandgrouse chicks Father has to make a 200km round trip to get water for their young Threat of getting trampled by zebras, elephants or eaten by hawks Go on every day for two months Human being wants the easy way out – think it is better for them [17:11] The human being often prays for something that may hurt him, thinking that he is praying for something good. The human being is impatient.   Sometimes you need God to save you from what you want so He can give you what you need   Uber  Uber drivers thinking they want Uber to incorporate tips, but when they did their wages actually went down? Why, because when the announcement that they added the ability to include tips was made this caused more people to want to drive for Uber and this increased the supply of drivers, but not the demand for rides.   Believers: The Ultimate Victors [2:216] Fighting may be imposed on you, even though you dislike it. But you may dislike something which is good for you, and you may like something which is bad for you. GOD knows while you do not know.  Jonah Nineveh - thinking he can abandon his mission Assyrians  Very bad reputation as a ruthless people Using the skins and bones of the people they conquered  Stone carvings of their ruthlessness as opposed to the Persian showing diversity and friendship Cutting off the heads and sticking them on spikes  Eyes poked out  heads cut off  The Mesopotamian god Ashur was the head of the Assyrian pantheon, and hence every decision made by the ruler was taken under the symbolic ‘validation’ of Ashur – ranging from plundering, massacres to even domestic policies. "Yahweh again commands Jonah to travel to Nineveh and prophesy to its inhabitants.[11] This time he goes and enters the city, crying, "In forty days Nineveh shall be overthrown."[12] After Jonah has walked across Nineveh, the people of Nineveh begin to believe his word and proclaim a fast.[13] The king of Nineveh puts on sackcloth and sits in ashes, making a proclamation which decrees fasting, the wearing of sackcloth, prayer, and repentance.[14] God sees their repentant hearts and spares the city at that time.[15] The entire city is humbled and broken with the people (and even the animals)[16][17] in sackcloth and ashes.[18]” Nineveh Syriac: ܢܝܼܢܘܹܐ‎ was an ancient Assyrian city of Upper Mesopotamia, located on the outskirts of Mosul in modern-day northern Iraq. It is located on the eastern bank of the Tigris River, and was the capital of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Nowadays it is a common name for the half of Mosul which lies on the eastern bank of the Tigris. Battle of Mosul (2016–2017)[edit] Main articles: Mosul offensive (2016) and Battle of Mosul (2016–17) After more than two years of IS occupation of Mosul, Iraqi, Kurdish, American and French forces launched a joint offensive to recapture the city on 16 October 2016.[89][90] The battle for Mosul was considered key in the military intervention against IS.[91] Turkish warplanes participated in the coalition strikes on Mosul, amid the escalating dispute between Baghdad and Ankara about the Turkish presence in Bashiqa.[92] A military offensive to retake the city was the largest deployment of Iraqi forces since the 2003 invasion by U.S. and coalition forces[93] On July 9, 2017, Prime Minister Haider Al-Abadi arrived in preparation to announce the full liberation of Mosul and reclaim the city after three years of ISIL control.[94] A formal declaration was made on the next day.[95] Ancient Warfare: Assyrian Empire and Macedonian Army  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPle6IzDuoU https://www.realmofhistory.com/2016/02/24/10-fascinating-things-you-should-know-about-the-assyrian-army/   Not wanting to fight Do Not Abandon the Messenger  [9:118] Also (redeemed were) the three who stayed behind. The spacious earth became so straitened for them, that they almost gave up all hope for themselves. Finally, they realized that there was no escape from GOD, except to Him. He then redeemed them that they may repent. GOD is the Redeemer, Most Merciful.   Joseph God Protects the Believers From Sin  [12:23] The lady of the house where he lived tried to seduce him. She closed the doors and said, "I am all yours." He said, "May GOD protect me. He is my Lord, who gave me a good home.* The transgressors never succeed." [12:24] She almost succumbed to him, and he almost succumbed to her, if it were not that he saw a proof from his Lord. We thus diverted evil and sin away from him, for he was one of our devoted servants. Joseph thrown in the well left for dead Joseph sold as a slave Joseph framed sent to prison Joseph forgets God and stays in prison Joseph’s Brothers Thinking they wanted to get rid of Joseph Learn how God favors the righteous Joseph save them from famine  Moses and the Teacher Why bore a hole, why kill a boy, why not charge a wage   Mary - I wish I was dead and long forgotten [19:23] The birth process came to her by the trunk of a palm tree. She said, "(I am so ashamed;) I wish I were dead before this happened, and completely forgotten."

sermon transcript Babylon’s Judgment Throughout the Ages My goal is to work through each chapter that the Lord has laid on my heart to teach. I preach so that you would have a strong faith in Christ formed in you. The Lord has given me an insight into the nature of faith, that it is the eyesight of the soul. By faith, we are able to see past, present and future invisible spiritual realities that we could not otherwise see. By the Word of God, written for our faith, including the Book of Revelation, such hidden past, present and future realities are unveiled for us. Apart from Christ, we were spiritually blind to these things, but through the ministry of the Holy Spirit based on the Word of God, scales fall from our eyes. We see the past in Revelation 12, with the activity of the dragon, of Satan and his demons throughout redemptive history. He is a wicked adversary who has created a world system that is called Babylon in Revelation 17 and 18. Babylon has a long past history. We are also able by faith to see the present threat of Babylon to our souls. There is a present spiritual reality of Babylon that is assaulting our souls every day. Revelation 18:4-5 is a command from Christ to come out, to be separate from it, to touch no unclean thing, to be pure and holy from this defiling world system that Satan has set up. That will take every strength and grace that God will give to fight that good fight, to finish that race and to keep the faith. There is also a future form of Babylon that is yet to come with the system under the final world ruler, the Antichrist. There is a predictive element to this as well. Babylon: Symbol of Human Defiance and Self-Worship In many ancient cultures, there is a myth of a radiantly colored bird called the Phoenix. Sometimes it is depicted as a large bird which looks similar to a peacock, with purple and red flowing feathers. It could live for a very long time, even as long as five centuries. As the time of its end draws near, it makes an elaborate nest of kindling wood before being consumed in a raging ball of fire. From the ashes, the bird’s progeny rises and begins its own prodigiously long life. This cycle of fiery death and rising from the ashes is a tale often told in the ancient world, and has yielded the expression “like a Phoenix rising from the ashes”. To some degree, the Phoenix is a picture of Babylon as a lasting spiritual reality in human history. The history of the city-state of Babylon has been woven together with overt rebellion against the God of Heaven and against His chosen people. Babylon was an actual city in Mesopotamia, built by a mighty and godless hunter named Nimrod, just years after the flood of Noah. It was built in the fertile region of Mesopotamia, right on the Euphrates River, less than 75 miles from the Tigris River in modern Iraq, only about 50 miles south of modern Baghdad. It was well situated in the area called the Fertile Crescent between the Tigris and Euphrates River, which connected the Persian Gulf with the Mediterranean Sea. It prospered both from the fertile soil and from traffic along the major trade route on which it was located. Thus, it began as a nation of merchants. Ezekiel 16:29 calls it the Land of Merchants. It was also a land of warriors like their mighty founder, Nimrod, the hunter. From Babylon and these other city centers, the concept of the city-state emerged — a region controlled by a city. In the course of time, the inhabitants of the city-state of Babylon said in Genesis 11:4, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, [listen to their motives:] so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” That is the essence of the Babylonian spirit, the defiant spirit of human potentiality and capability, using technology and intelligence to make a name for oneself. The mighty Babylonian empire rose in time. It was a vassal state under the Assyrian empire, dominated by the Assyrians until at last, under Nebuchadnezzar’s father Nabopolassar, they threw off the Assyrian yoke. When Nabopolassar died, Nebuchadnezzar became the mighty king of Babylon. The Babylonian empire was awesome: irresistible in military power, complex in culture, exquisite in architecture, shrewd in politics. Its army came back up the Fertile Crescent to topple what was left of the dying Assyrian Empire, then swept down through Palestine, conquering what was left of the Jews in that land— the kingdom of Judah. The remnant of Jews that were left in Judah and Jerusalem were deported to Babylon, thus ending Jewish reign in Palestine over the Promised Land. The exile to Babylon was a line of demarcation in the history of the Jews. Prophecies Against Babylon Prior to that, however, God raised up prophets among the Jews to predict the fall of Babylon. He did this through Isaiah and Jeremiah and other prophets. Isaiah 13:19-22 “Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the glory of the Babylonians’ pride, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah. She will never be inhabited or lived in through all generations; no Arab will pitch his tent there, no shepherd will rest his flocks there. But desert creatures will lie there, jackals will fill her houses; there the owls will dwell, and there the wild goats will leap about. Hyenas will howl in her strongholds, jackals in her luxurious palaces.” That was written a century and a half before the Babylonian empire came to be. Jeremiah, who was among the remnant deported in the Babylonian exile, also predicted the destruction of Babylon. In Jeremiah 25:12, speaking of the 70-year exile of the Jews to Babylon, it says, “‘But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians, for their guilt,’ declares the LORD, ‘and will make it desolate forever.’” Sudden Fall and Gradual Demise of Babylon The beginning of the end for Babylon is written in Daniel 5. During Belshazzar’s feast, the writing appeared on the wall, predicting the immediate end of the Babylonian empire. The Babylonians were arrogant, thinking that their mighty, lofty, thick walls would protect them from the invading Medo-Persian army. Belshazzar hosted a drunken feast that night, neglecting to guard the walls. The Medo-Persian invading army took advantage of this by diverting the Euphrates River from under the walls and crawling through the portcullis, unlocking the city gate, and slaughtering the Babylonians while they lay in drunken stupor. This is the very thing Jeremiah had predicted 70 years before. Jeremiah 51:39: “‘But while they are aroused, I will set out a feast for them and make them drunk, so that they shout with laughter — then sleep forever and not awake,’ declares the LORD.” The destruction and desolation of the literal city of Babylon in Mesopotamia did not happen overnight, but gradually fulfilled the words of the prophets. Cyrus the Great of Persia ruled Babylon but destroyed its immense walls so the citizens could not revolt. Alexander the Great wanted to make it the capital of his empire, but he died there before realizing his dream. In 309 BC, a Greek successor of Alexander the Great leveled Babylon. In 275 BC, Antiochus the First deported the remaining civilian population to other cities. Pausanias, a Greek writer and geographer of the Roman period, said there was nothing left within the walls of Babylon by his time. In the last century before Christ, ancient geographer Strabo wrote, the great city had become a wilderness, thus fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy. Roman emperor Trajan, eager to visit, was disappointed in the wasted, unidentifiable pile of rubble. In the modern age, as recently as a century ago, its ruins were discovered by archaeologists. Saddam Hussein had plans to rebuild Babylon, but was thwarted by his toppling in the Gulf War. Some Iraqi leaders want to turn it into a theme park centered around archeological artifacts, but Allied troops that have been there have taken many of the artifacts and ruined the site, which is uninhabited except by wild animals and birds, as Isaiah said it would be. The Spirit of Babylon The literal city of Babylon slowly sank down into the dust of history, but the spirit of Babylon has risen like a Phoenix from the ashes and moved from place to place ever since, a demonic spirit of the world. 1 Peter 5:13 is the key passage to understand the transfer of the spirit of Babylon from the literal city to another city: “She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you her greetings, and so does my son Mark.” Tradition places Peter in Rome when he wrote that, meaning Babylon was code language for Rome. The spirit of Babylon rose from the ashes to infuse the Roman empire of Peter’s day. Babylon itself was a howling, empty wasteland, but “she who is in Babylon, chosen together with you” indicated the bride of Christ, which was locally the church at Rome. Thus, the spirit of Babylon has moved around according to the dominating empire — Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome; the Vandals, the Huns, the Vikings, the Mongols, the Spanish, the French under Napoleon, the English under Victoria, the Germans under Hitler, and so on. Through the ages, two common aspects have characterized the spirit of Babylon: military power and economic power. In Babylon, neither power is wielded for the glory of God or the advancement of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, but for self glory alone. “Come, let us ‘…make a name for ourselves.’” [Genesis 11:4] The Final Phase of Babylon The final phase of Babylon is yet to come. Antichrist will come as predicted in Revelation 13. He will set up a world-dominating kingdom. Babylon has one final phase, which Revelation 17 and 18 cover. Revelation is not only a prediction of the final seven years of human history, as some take it, but it is also relevant in every generation of church history. Every generation must read and take to heart the warnings therein. Every generation of Christians need to hear Revelation 18: 4-5: “And when you hear the voice of your Savior crying out to you, saying, ‘Come out from her, all my people and be separate.’” We cannot do something exegetically or hermeneutically if we say it is a future book that has nothing to do with us, if we deny the threat that Babylon is to us. Babylon and its essential nature is a wicked world system in defiance of God. We will see its judgment through plagues, and we will hear the voice of God, of Christ, commanding, calling, pleading with us to come out from Babylon and be separate. Babylon’s Judgment Pronounced An Angelic Messenger Proclaims God’s Decree In Revelation 18:1-3, Babylon’s judgment is pronounced: “After this, I saw another angel coming down from Heaven. He had great authority and the Earth was illuminated by his splendor. And with a mighty voice, he shouted, ‘Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great. She has become a home for demons, a haunt for every evil spirit, a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird. For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries, the kings of the Earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the Earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.’” The proclamation of Babylon’s final fall is entrusted to this heavenly messenger, but the decree and power behind the fall of Babylon originates from Almighty God. It is not the angel’s doing, but the angel is the messenger. The angel is described in words that are hard to fathom. He has great authority. Not all angels are equally authoritative. Some angels are called archangels, literally meaning ruler angels. In addition, he has great glory. An overwhelmingly brilliant light surrounds this angelic messenger, like the light of the glory of Heaven that shone around the angel that bore the message that Jesus was born on the hills around Bethlehem, which terrified the shepherds. This angel has the same illuminating glory that shines radiantly, and the light is shining in this dark age. If the earth is still plunged into a thick darkness from the fifth bowl, so deep that it could be felt, there is a general darkness, spiritually and maybe physically at that point at the end. This angel has great authority and glory, and he speaks the decree from God with a voice like thunder, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she has become a home for demons and a haunt for every evil spirit, for every unclean and detestable bird.” God will cast her down. The final fall of Babylon, or the final phase of Babylon being cast down, is yet in the future, but this proclamation is given with repetition in the prophetic past tense, as though it has already happened, giving a sense of prophetic certainty, urgency and finality to the announcement. Babylon has become a home for demons, a haunt for evil spirits. This borrows the language we already saw in Isaiah 13, where nothing but wild animals and birds settle down in the ruins of Babylon. disgusting carrion birds. Often when we see dead deer and other animals along the side of the road, we also see those nasty black carrion birds, which really are doing us all a service. There is that same sense of decay and death here in Babylon. Jesus said in the Little Apocalypse in Matthew 24:28, “Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.” Remember that demons billowed from the guts of the earth in Revelation 9 with the fifth trumpet, and these especially vicious and evil demons perhaps will haunt the final form of Babylon. Babylon’s Wickedness Exposed The wickedness of Babylon is exposed in Revelation 18:3: “For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.” As with Revelation 17 which presented the great whore of Babylon, the prostitute, there is a sense of the allure and enticement of the world toward evil and sin and immorality, especially sexual immorality. 1 John 2 speaks of the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the boastful pride of life. Being the essence of the world, the enticing allure of lusts, Babylon is a system of worldwide corruption, making all the nations drunk. Babylon’s Excessive Luxury The phrase “…the merchants of the earth” indicates the issue of merchandise, commerce, trade, possessions that can be purchased in exchange for money. Verses 3, 7 and 9 mention Babylon’s excessive luxury. “…the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries. … Give her as much torture and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. …the earth who committed adultery [the kings of the earth committed adultery] with her and shared her luxury.” Once when I was visiting at the home of a wealthy man, I skimmed through a magazine he had called Connoisseur which contained articles about the best of the best in various categories. One was about the best carving knives, valued for pure craftsmanship, made by craftsmen who have descended from the Samurai in Japan, with photos of really sharp knives going through tomatoes with no effort, and then again and again and again until it was microscopically thin. One paring knife cost $6000. Another article was about bespoke suits, tailor-made from Saville Row in London: $30,000 for a man’s suit and $40,000 for a pair of Italian shoes. A number of you are wealthy and very generous with your wealth. But it is wrong for us to read Revelation 18, wealthy as we are, and think that the word “luxury” has nothing to do with us. We admire craftsmen and artists who spend a year on a painting or a sculpture, like Michelangelo who worked for years on the Sistine Chapel. We admire that level of skill and go museums to see their work. Is that an evil and wicked thing to sell and purchase such a luxury? This morning I was praying about the topic of luxury and started to see the future of luxury in the new Heaven. We will make things in Heaven with exquisite skill, but the things we make will not become idols. They will be done overtly for the glory of God. That is the future of fine craftsmanship in the New Heaven and New Earth — no idols and no sinful luxuries. In the present, such things are a threat to our souls; there is a warning against excessive luxury. If we take this before God and ask Him to deliver us from sinful luxury, that is the safest we can be. James 5:5, speaking of wicked oppressors, says, “You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.” I pray that would not be true of any member of First Baptist Church. Do not excuse yourself from looking in the mirror, from asking God, “Is this true of me? I do not want to fatten myself in the day of slaughter.” Babylon’s Judgment Escaped Warning: Flee the Corruptions of Babylon Now There is a category of people who escaped Babylon, whom God delivered. We see the future doom, but this invitation — truly, this command — is given in Revelation 18:4-5: “Then I heard another voice from heaven say: ‘Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.’” This is the application from Revelation 17 and 18, God’s command to His people to come out of her and be separate. There is a warning, a negative motivation — “Flee the wrath to come” — but with a positive implication that “Jesus is better.” That is why we flee, because Jesus is better than anything this world has to offer. He is better than “the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life.” [1 John 2:16] Lord, Make my heart believe that. I want to know and believe that Jesus is better than the lusts and the pleasures of the flesh. The Test of the People of God in Every Generation Paul picks up on the command to flee in 2 Corinthians 6:17: “Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing and I will receive you.” This is the test of God’s people in every generation. We cannot excuse ourselves and say we are not in the final seven years, so therefore Babylon is not a present reality so we do not need to worry about the warnings. Do not do that. In every generation to Christians, The world will continue to offer benefits and pleasures and possessions and powers if we will only in some way deny Christ. We must stand firm in our faith and be holy. The smoke from Babylon’s future fire can be smelled right now only by faith. The heat from Babylon’s future flames can be felt right now only by faith. The cries of Babylon’s future torment can be heard right now only by faith. We must look at our lives and see the way the luxuries of Babylon have worked themselves into our souls, and we must flee. Babylon’s Judgment Justified God Justifies Babylon’s Judgement In verses 6-8, we see Babylon’s judgment justified: “Give back to her as she has given; pay her back double for what she has done. Mix her a double portion from her own cup. Give her as much torture and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. In her heart she boasts, ‘I sit as queen; I am not a widow, and I will never mourn.’ Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.” God explains Babylon’s judgment to us. He is the just and right in casting down this city; it is payback time now for all the torment that Babylon has caused His people. She will drink torture and grief from the cup in her hand — she has mixed out a huge cup of luxury for herself and she has been drinking from that cup. God will pay her back the same measure she weighed to herself. Her over-confidence is exposed here. This is the same language we see in the book of Isaiah, that Babylon boasts that nothing bad will ever happen to her. She sits like a queen surrounded by her own; she cannot be touched or threatened, so she believes she will never mourn. Widowhood will never come on her nor the loss of children; she is safe. But she is forgetting about the power and the holiness of God. The judgments listed include death, mourning, and famine. The Source of the Judgment The source of the judgment is listed as well: “…for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.” Isaiah 14 says about the fall of Babylon and of Assyria, “This is the plan determined for the whole world. This is the hand stretched out over all nations, for the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart Him, His hand is stretched out and who is able to turn it back?” Babylon’s Judgment Lamented Her Citizens and Merchants Grieve In Revelation 18:9-19, Babylon’s citizens and merchants will lament and grieve her fall through her judgment. This the end of everything they have loved, everything they have lived for, everything they have built their lives on. Idolaters do not give up their idols easily. The sadness that they feel at the fall of this wicked world system shows the wickedness of their own hearts too. They are sad at the fall of Babylon because they loved her. The kings of the Earth will lament her. Revelation 18:9-10: “When the kings of the earth who committed adultery with her and shared her luxury see the smoke of her burning, they will weep and mourn over her. Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry: ‘Woe! Woe, O great city, O Babylon, city of power! In one hour your doom has come!’” The merchants of the earth, those who traded with her, will also grieve. Revelation 18:11-17: “The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes any more-- cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and marble; cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and bodies and souls of men. They will say, ‘The fruit you longed for is gone from you. All your riches and splendor have vanished, never to be recovered.’ The merchants who sold these things and gained their wealth from her will stand far off, terrified at her torment. They will weep and mourn 16 and cry out: ‘Woe! Woe, O great city, dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet, and glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls! In one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin!’” Even the ships’ captains who delivered the cargo to Babylon will lament her. Revelation 18:17-19:“Every sea captain, and all who travel by ship, the sailors, and all who earn their living from the sea, will stand far off. When they see the smoke of her burning, they will exclaim, ‘Was there ever a city like this great city?’ They will throw dust on their heads, and with weeping and mourning cry out: ‘Woe! Woe, O great city, where all who had ships on the sea became rich through her wealth! In one hour she has been brought to ruin!’” The days of luxury and ease sinful self-indulgence will end forever, but not everyone will be grieving. Babylon’s Judgment Celebrated Remember the Blood of the Saints Not everyone will be sad about the fall of Babylon — it will be a source of energetic praise and joyful celebration among the servants of the Lord. Revelation 18:20: “Rejoice over her, O heaven! Rejoice, saints and apostles and prophets! God has judged her for the way she treated you.” Babylon the Great, in Revelation 17:6, was “drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.” Worldly people do not understand why Christians do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation. 1 Peter 4:4 says, “They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you.” All of Heaven will Celebrate! When Babylon the Great is finally thrown down, all of Heaven will celebrate. We will hear the sounds of the the fourfold Hallelujah. We will be so done with Babylon when we get to Heaven, we will be healed from it forever. Babylon’s Judgment Completed The End of Babylon’s Glory Babylon’s judgment will be completed and symbolized by the casting down of a large boulder. Revelation 18:21-24: “Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a large millstone and threw it into the sea, and said: ‘With such violence the great city of Babylon will be thrown down, never to be found again. [The overthrow of Babylon will be a violent thing; God will do it. Violence has been a part of the seven trumpets and the seven bowls, and then the Second Coming of Christ.] The music of harpists and musicians, flute players and trumpeters, will never be heard in you again. No workman of any trade will ever be found in you again. The sound of a millstone will never be heard in you again. The light of a lamp will never shine in you again. The voice of bridegroom and bride will never be heard in you again. Your merchants were the world's great men. By your magic spell all the nations were led astray. In her was found the blood of prophets and of the saints, and of all who have been killed on the earth.’” We can imagine the action of hurling a boulder the size of a millstone, a massive stone used for grinding wheat into flour, into a pond or a lake — the splash would be huge. It is a symbol of Babylon’s violent fall. With the fall of Babylon comes the end of Babylon’s music. What a payback! Think about the Jews in exile and how they sat by the waters of Babylon, mocked by their tormenting captors, in Psalm 137:1-4: “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’ How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land?” This is a reversal of that. The songs of Babylon will never be sung again. Instead, we will hear a new song, the song of Heaven, the song of Zion, and we will sing and play that song forever. What payback for that mockery that they did to the Jews in exile! It is the end of all of Babylon’s work. All the skilled craftsmen who spent all their time on creating the luxuries will cease their labors. No one will buy them; their time has ended. As I pointed out earlier, skilled craftsmanship will continue in the New Heaven and New Earth forever. I look forward to seeing what we will all create. We will craft things for the glory and the radiant display of God and use our resurrection hands to make things far more skillfully than anything we find here on earth. But these Babylonian craftsmen are finished; no one will buy their luxuries ever again. It is the end of all light. The light of the lamp will not be seen in Babylon again. It will become a place of utter darkness. It is the end of all human relationships. People will be marrying and giving in marriage right up until the day of the Second Coming. At that point, the sound of bride and bridegroom will be heard no more. The Reason for Judgment Revelation 18:23-24 tells the reason: “By your magic spell all the nations were led astray. In her was found the blood of prophets and of the saints, and of all who have been killed on the earth.” Those who have been killed on the earth extend “from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. … all these things [this blood] will come upon this generation.” (Matthew 23:35-36). None of the blood shed will be forgotten. Cain asked rhetorically, “Am I my brother's keeper?” to which God replied, “The blood of your brother cries out from the ground for vengeance.” All the blood that has been shed wickedly on earth will be avenged by the fall of Babylon. In the Greek, the word for “magic spell” or “sorcery” is pharmakeia, from which we get the word pharmacy or pharmaceutical. It relates to drugs and perhaps also to a cultic secret religion. There is an alluring smell of sorcery or magic that Babylon has a hold of the minds and hearts of its subjects. We are only now, in our sanctification and our progressive growth, gradually coming out of the haze and stupor of Babylon’s influence. It is still in our minds and hearts. We are still allured and tempted by some of Babylon’s pharmakeia, but there will come a day when it will have no influence on us at all. Applications See the World with EYES OF FAITH Feed your faith with the Word of God. Read Romans, Colossians, Ephesians; saturate your mind with the Gospels; read the prophecies in Isaiah and Jeremiah. You do not need to focus only on Babylon. Fill your mind and heart with the Word of God and your eyes of faith will get sharper. You will be able to see what is really happening. You will be able to see the surrounding world for what it really is — the world that John writes about in 1 John 2 — as a deadly threat to your soul. Let it motivate you with a healthy fear, not of man, but of the temptations of the world. We should say, “Lord, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” We should be afraid of what the world can do. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, but also the conviction of things not seen. By that we are convicted of sin, and there is a holy fear that comes over us. Hebrews 11:7 says, “By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family.” There is a fear that should grip us of Babylon. We do not build an ark, but we walk in Christ and we protect ourselves from the world. Concerning Babylon in America, do we suppose that the most dominant military nation and the most dominant economy is immune from the spirit of Babylon that rises from the ashes of every old empire and takes over? We have godly public servants that are elected to office like Daniel who are counselors to the rulers, able to give good advice, but the system itself is still Babylon. So come out and be separate. There is repulsion and attraction, so be disgusted and repulsed by the things of Babylon that we described here. She is a haunt of every unclean burden, every demonic spirit. Be disgusted by it and be attracted to the theme of the song that Jesus is better. I would rather follow Christ today than binge on Netflix. I would rather have Jesus than sin sexually by the Internet. I would rather have Jesus than do shopping therapy online or at the mall. Jesus is better than those things. I do not need any of those things to feel better in this life. What About Luxury? To any who are wealthy, which is all of us — and if you do not think so, go to Haiti, India, Pakistan, any country in the third world — take heed of Paul’s words to the pastor Timothy. Paul said in 1 Timothy 6:17-19, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.” Let 1 Timothy 6 command you to be generous and live for the future world. You alone know how generous God wants you to be with the wealth He has given you. Do not make assumptions. Ask, “God, what do You want me to do with all this wealth that You have given me?” Today is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. See abortion as part of the Babylonian system. Some day abortion will be obsolete, praise God. Let’s keep praying and serving and working toward that end. Find ways to help crisis pregnancy centers or women in crisis pregnancies. If you yourself have had an abortion in the past and you are broken and shattered by it, understand the grace of God and the mercy He gives at the cross. If you are sexually tempted with another person, stand firm and do not give in to sexual immorality, which is the root of so many abortions. Come to Christ! My final word has to be to you who are outside of Christ, or perhaps were before you came in here today. Come to Christ. “Come out of her and be separate" is Jesus saying, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Come to Christ. He can disentangle your heart and your soul from Babylon and save your soul. Closing Prayer Close with me in prayer. Father, we thank You for the things that we learn continually from Your Word. We know that the Word is wise, it is powerful, it is able to save our souls through faith in Christ Jesus. Christ the Savior is better. Lord I pray that you call lost people out of darkness into light. Help them to turn away from worldly wealth and power and pleasure, and the things that do not matter, to turn to Christ and find forgiveness in Him. And help us to share that message. We are a wealthy nation; help us to be willing to talk about Babylon the great and its future fall and to warn people, and to urge people to find in Christ a beautiful Savior. In His name we pray. Amen.

GRP 100- For the 100th episode of the Global Recon Podcast we have an extremely special episode. On with us is retired Special Missions Operator Dave Nielsen. Dave served first with the 75th Ranger Regiment and then went into a Special Missions unit as an assaulter, dog handler, and sniper. His story was featured in the HBO documentary released on the 13th of this month called "War Dogs" executive produced by actor Channing Tatum. This documentary shows the story of three dog handlers and their canine counterparts from the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). It's a raw, realistic view of what it's like going into combat with these warrior dogs and what its like post-military. Dave talked about his combat jump into Panama in 1989 as a young Ranger. He shared stories of his dog "Pepper" who was killed while rooting out an enemy from a sewer hole in Iraq on the banks of the Tigris River. They searched for her all night but had to leave once the sun was coming up as they were in enemy-held territory. We talked about the mindset required to pass selection for special operations, and the mindset required to surmount any obstacle in life. Enjoy. RIP Pepper. 0:00-Episode overview 3:48-Episode introduction with Chantel Taylor 17:33- Introduction to Dave's career in the Army. Combat jumped into Panama with the 75th Ranger Regiment in 1989. 22:12-Military Working Dog Pepper 55:54-Mindset and passing selection. Fear of success 1:03:00-SOF K-9 Memorial Here is the link to the SOF K-9 memorial page ran by Dave's wife Laura, and a former unit operator: http://www.sofk9memorial.com Here is the link to the full documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojVq2Sa-PD0 Follow my co-host and my pages on social media. Links below. Follow my co-host and my pages on social media. Links below. Global Recon: www.Globalrecon.net https://www.instagram.com/igrecon https://www.instagram.com/blackopsmatter www.twitter.com/igrecon https://www.facebook.com/GlobalReconPodcast/ HP Lefler: https://www.instagram.com/4runner.freyja Chantel Taylor: https://www.instagram.com/mission_critical https://www.instagram.com/altern8rv Music provided by Carson Aune: "A soldiers Best Friend" http://www.carsonaune.com

Daniel 5:27 “...the God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways, you have dishonored. The fingers of the hand were sent from Him” Human fingers appeared out of thin air and began writing on the wall. What was happening? A thousand partiers had done the unspeakable. Years before, the king's dad or granddad conquered Daniel's hometown, Jerusalem. He took holy objects from the temple there and carried them to Babylon. Now, years later, the kid has become king and commands a servant to get the holy objects for his party. They drink and party with golden offering cups made for God- a BAD idea! God stepped in. No one would desecrate His holy things. He wrote a terrible judgement right on the wall. Here it is: MENE (may-nay), MENE, TEKEL, U'PHAR'SIN. A woman in the crowd told the king, “I remember this guy who knows about secrets, Daniel.” Daniel was called and interpreted the writing on the wall. Not good! “King...God has weighed you. Your evil life, combined with trashing God's holy things, shows you weigh nothing. Tonight your life ends and this kingdom is over.” That very night, enemy troops slipped into Babylon, captured the city, and executed the king; just as God said through Daniel just hours earlier. Dishonoring God will cost. It can cost physical life as it did the young king. It can cost the eternal soul as well. Some will curse God and pay a terrible price like the king. But... you and I can honor God like Daniel. The result? A rich fulfilling life, meaningful work and good relationships. All the best of life! Daniel's test- http://bit.ly/hungrylions Backstory: Babylon no long exists as a city. Its ruins now lie within modern day Baghdad. It has a long history. In our story, we see the brutal end of a brutal kingdom and a new kingdom rise- Medo-Persia led by King Darius. While the details vary with historians, the short and bitter of that terrible night goes like this. Babylon was a strongly fortified city with gigantic walls. The Tigris River watered the areas around and through the city. It flowed thru gates under the walls. The surrounding armies were stymied by the imposing walls and the sharpshooter bowmen. But...Darius was not to be deprived. He and his commanders found an “outside the box” solution. “If we can't go over the walls, let's go under!” They waited until a party night (We don't know which celebration it was. Daniel 5 says there was an “event”.) When all the revelers were soused and sauced, the Medo-Persians struck. Commandos slipped through the gates or bars where the Tigris flowed under the walls. Deadly knives and swords finished off guards in the dark until they reached and opened the gates. Then it was a fait accompli. The victors poured into the city killing and conquering. The palace fell, Belshazzar fell before King Darius and the terrible prophecy “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin” was fulfilled. Shake your fist in God's face and no one stands...judgement will come. King Belshazzar mocked God and died brutally. Daniel honored God and his life continued. King Darius took over and Daniel became his prime minister. But... as you heard in Ep 7, there was a BIG test ahead! Daniel's test- http://bit.ly/hungrylions

On a desert-cold, moonlit night just over two years ago, Amir Taaki stepped off the Iraqi sand into a rubber dinghy floating in the Tigris River. The boat was just wide enough to fit his compact body next to the much larger American ex-Army machine gunner sitting beside him.

In a landmark decision, British researchers have received permission to begin gene-editing experiments on human embryos. This is the first step toward openly embracing high-tech eugenics. Also: US and UK hack video feeds from Israeli drones, Russia and Turkey trade accusations, ISIS attack on Syria's holiest Shia Muslim shrine, Syrian Kurds plan major offensive on border wtih Turkey, and decaying Mosul dam on the Tigris River threatens 1.5 million people.

Jonah and the big fish. Jonah and the whale. Jonah the reluctant prophet. Though each of these is a theme or event in Jonah's life, they are not the focus of the book that bears the prophet's name. In the book of Jonah, we see what he was like. More importantly, we see what God is like. In this sermon, we get a glimpse of the God Who pursues us, even when we flee from Him.

Introduction: The Glory and Power of the Created Angels I wonder how our corporate worship would be transformed if God gave us the eyes of faith to see what's going on in the invisible spiritual realms in this room right now? If you could see angels and demons battling it out on more or less equal terms, the kind of warfare swirling around our heads, perhaps it would leave you powerless, breathless on the ground in terror and amazement, and wonder. The Prophet Daniel had a vision of a heavenly warrior that left him on the ground literally unable to breathe. He was standing on the banks of the Tigris River when suddenly an awesome being came and stood before him. This messenger was a radiant being dressed in linen with a golden belt around his waist. Daniel 10:6 describes him, "His body was like chrysolite, his face like lightning, his eyes like flaming torches, his arms and legs like the gleam of burnished bronze, and his voice like the sound of a multitude." The men who were with Daniel couldn't see this messenger but they fled in terror from an invisible presence. Daniel himself fell to the ground as if in some kind of a mysterious deep sleep, he was breathless, he was trembling violently. And though the messenger commanded him to stand, he was physically unable to do so for long, he literally had no strength whatsoever in his legs. He said, "I am overcome with anguish because of the vision, my Lord, and I am helpless. How can I your servant talk with you, my Lord? My strength is gone and I can hardly breathe." Now, this awesome being was an angel. If you saw such a being, I think you would be tempted, like Daniel, to fall on the ground and call him my Lord, which he does twice, or like the apostle John was on the Isle of Patmos, twice falling down to worship the angel that brought him the revelation. And twice the angel had to tell him the same thing, "Do not do it. I'm a fellow servant with you… Worship God." Twice, Revelation 19 and Revelation 22. Angels are fellow servants with us but they are glorious, holy, exalted, heavenly beings. And were we not better instructed and could we see them with our own eyes, we would be tempted to fall on the ground and worship them. But the holy angels would all instruct us in the same way, "Do not do it, worship God," worship Christ for Jesus is immeasurably greater than any angel. Now, in Hebrews 1, the author's point is to teach us that Christ is immeasurably, infinitely greater than all angels. I. Why Does This Passage Exist? So why does this passage exist? When I think why would the author begin his epistle this way comparing Jesus to angels and saying that Jesus is greater than angels? Well, remember the overall book of Hebrews was written to Jewish people who had made some kind of profession of faith in Christ, but who are under relentless pressure from their Jewish friends and family and neighbors and rabbis to give up their profession of faith in Christ and go back to old covenant religion. They are in danger of going back to Judaism, back to the synagogue, giving up Jesus. And so the author begins with a glorious display of Christ as God, as Creator, and sustainer of the universe. And he's doing this so that they will worship Jesus and so that they will not go back to the old covenant, forsaking the new covenant. So his strategy is to declare right from the beginning the greatness of Christ so that they will not turn their backs on Him and forsake Him. And so Jesus is the superior mediator. The superior mediator, Christ, who brings a superior covenant, the new covenant, resulting in a superior life. Christian life of complete forgiveness, purification in the sight of God and power to serve God. That's what this epistle is about. Now, last week we saw in Hebrews 1:1-3 how he starts so powerfully with the radiance and the greatness of Christ as God and in His office as final Prophet, Priest and King to the Jewish people and to the world. "In the past, God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His son whom He appointed heir of all things and through whom He made the universe. The Son is the radiance of God's glory, and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. And after He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the majesty in heaven." If I'm not careful, I'm just going to preach last week's sermon all over again, which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing but there's more to learn, isn't there? Because the author goes on from there, he links these three verses to this statement. Verse four, "So He became as much superior to the angels as the name He has inherited is superior to theirs." So, he's linking what he just told us about Jesus to the issue of angels. Three Goals of the Author And you may wonder why, why specifically does the author want to show the superiority of Christ to the angels? I believe it's because the angels brought the old covenant to the Jews. Now, if an angel, a holy angel, came from heaven and gave you a message, how seriously would you take that message? If you learn anything from John the Baptist's father Zechariah's example, you better believe it and do what it says or he might do something to you as Gabriel struck him dumb until John was finally born. But you would take that message very seriously, wouldn't you? If an angel came down from heaven and gave you a message. How much more then if the Son of God does it? That God Himself in the person of His Son comes and gives you not a message, but a whole new covenant by which we are welcomed in the presence of God. How seriously should we take that? And so the author's purpose here is to exalt Christ anyway, so that we'll worship Him. So we'll give ourselves fully because we're creative for that. But specifically to compare Christ to angels and show that Christ is infinitely above angels so that we'll not worship angels, but that so we will esteem the new covenant that was given to us by Christ as superior to that that the angels gave, the old covenant. II. Who Are Angels, and What Do they Do? And so who are these angels, what do they do? In verse 4, Christ is compared, a direct comparison to angels. "Christ is as much superior to the angels, as the name He has inherited is superior to theirs." So we're going to talk about angels today because that's what the author is doing. He's comparing Jesus to angels. Again, verse 5, "For to which of the angels did God ever say, 'You are my son?'" Verse 6, "Let all God's angels worship Him." The angels are commanded to worship Christ. In verse 7, the angels are established as servants, mere servants. Also again in verse 14, they're called servants. Verses 7 and 8 shows a direct comparison between Christ and these servants. Verse 7 says, "'He makes His angels winds, His servants flames of fire,' but about the Son, He says, 'Your throne, oh God, will last forever and ever.'" Jesus enthroned as God over all things, angels merely servants. In verse 9 it says that God has set Jesus above His companions. So in the context that's at least talking about angels, He is above the angels, set above them. And then in verses 13 and 14, again, a direct comparison with the angels, "To which of the angels did God ever say, 'Sit at my right hand until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet'?" He's comparing them to angels and verse 14, "Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation?" So right straight through and frankly on into chapter two, he's comparing Jesus to the angels. So who are angels? Well, angels are created beings, so they're creatures, they're created beings. They are spiritual in nature, which we'll discuss this morning, without flesh and bones. They are able, however, to take visible form, looking like human beings, so skillfully that you can actually entertain angels without knowing it. So the author of the Hebrews at the end of chapter 13 says, "Show hospitality to strangers," never know it might be an angel. So they are able to do that, they are, they often appear supernaturally with radiant glory shining around them. It's all in what they want to do. If they want to put you on the ground, they'll put you on the ground. If they want to appear to you, and you don't even know it's them, they can do that too. Whatever God wills. They're highly intelligent, with powerful emotions. They are inquisitive. They're frequently asking what is God up to, what is He doing? So they're not omniscient, they don't know everything, but they're very well informed. They know what's going on, as much as God's revealed to them. They do not marry, they are unable to procreate. They do not die, they are immortal. There is a fixed number of them, and that number is huge, at least 100 million. A large number, a large percentage of angels rebelled with Satan, and were thrown from heaven. Revelation 12 tells that story, thrown to the earth, and they became what we call demons, as we saw on the sermon on hell a number of weeks ago, in which Jesus said, "Depart from me, ye who are cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." So the devil, who was himself an angel, led some angels astray. Those angels who were not led astray are called in 1 Timothy, elect angels. So they're chosen by God not to fall. So election extends not just to humans, but to angels. They are highly organized. There are archangels, which means ruler angels, and there are lesser beings. And there are probably greater levels of angelic power and glory than that. They're clearly more powerful than human beings, for one angel moved the stone in front of Jesus' tomb. Rolled it back and sat on it, it's one of my favorite angel moments in the Bible. As the soldiers become like dead men, laying on the ground before him. He's not too troubled with them. I could say a lot of things right now like, "You want a piece of me? Come and get it," that kind of thing, but he could have handled if there were 1000 Roman soldiers, it would not have mattered. Powerful, and able to move with astonishing speed, frequently depicted as having wings, even six wings. Alright, what do they do? Well, they're created especially to serve God and His people, they are both spectators and participants in redemptive history. They are observers in the book of Revelation. They note the events that are going on on earth and talk about it. They're dispatched by God to pour out wrath and rescue believers who do other key tasks. They were especially involved in the life of Christ, celebrating at the time of His birth, ministering to Him in the time of His humiliation, both in His fasting in the desert and then in Gethsemane, announcing Christ's resurrection to the women and to the apostles, especially active in the life of Christ. Now, how are they especially relevant to the book of Hebrews? Well, I think I've already told you. Look at Hebrews 2:1-3, there it says, "We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard," that's the gospel, the new covenant, "We must pay more careful attention, therefore, to what we have heard so that we do not drift away; for if the message spoken by angels was binding and every violation and disobedience received its just punishment, how should we escape if we ignore such a great salvation?" And so the author is implying, he doesn't directly say it, but implying the angels brought the old covenant. Stephen says this same thing, and so does is Paul. Stephen in Acts 7 says, to the Jews who are opposing him, "You who have received the law that was put into effect through angels but have not obeyed it." So the law is the law of Moses that came through angels. And then Paul says in Galatians 3:19, "The law was put into effect through the angels by a mediator." So the angels brought it to the mediator, the mediator is Moses, then Moses gave it to the people. Jesus is going to be compared to Moses in chapter 3. By the way, Jesus is greater than Moses too. And so the author is saying the angels brought us the Old Covenant, how much more then should we pay careful attention and not ignore this great salvation? That's what he's saying. So Jesus, the greater messenger, brings us a greater covenant. Now, Christ was sent by God to bring us this new covenant. The angels are not mentioned as bringing the old covenant, in the Old Testament you don't see it. There is one verse that could be translated that way, but really get all of this from the New Testament, that's the only way we know it. And we think that, possibly, the angels are more active in bringing Scripture than we think. For example, wasn't it the angels or an angel that brought John the book of Revelation? For it says in Revelation 1:1, "A revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave him to show His servants what must soon take place. He made it known by sending His angel to His servant John," who wrote it down for us. And so the angels were given this kind of role. III. Christ Greater Because of His Name Alright, so how then is Christ greater than the angels? Well, right away the author says in verse 4, He's greater because of His name. And so He became "as much superior to the angels as the name He has inherited is more excellent than theirs." In that famous Shakespearean play, Romeo and Juliet, remember how Juliet was frustrated by the fact that the man she wanted to marry had the name, Montague, and she was a Capulet. Remember the two families were feuding and they couldn't marry. They couldn't get together because of this name Montague. What's in a name? She says that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, so why do I have to worry about his last name? Well, it's all very beautiful, but it's not very simple that way, is it? Names mean something. With the name comes a history, with the name comes a heritage. When we come to the theology and the person of God, God's name is everything. In the Hebrew mindset, the name represented the person, his attributes, his nature, his position, his achievements. Says in Proverbs 22:1, "A good name is more desirable than great riches; to be esteemed is better than silver or gold." So God then in redemptive history puts everything into making a name for Himself. Daniel in 9:15 prays this, "Now, oh Lord, our God, who brought Your people out of Egypt, for the mighty hand and who made for Yourself a name that endures to this day." So God gained a reputation for Himself when He brought the Jews out of Egypt. And God links our salvation from our own sins to this. "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved." And the word Lord there in Romans 10 refers to Jesus. And Jesus steps into the name of God and makes God's attributes and His intentions and His person come alive incarnate before us. We have seen His glory and then you see what Jesus did, how He lived a sinner's life, how He died an atoning death and how He was raised from the dead on the third day. And if you call on that name, though you are a wretched sinner, though you have sinned greatly, you'll be forgiven. If you trust in that name, if you call on the name of the Lord, you will be saved. And that's true all over the world. So God makes much of His name to save sinners like you and me. Jesus Received the Name "Son" So what name is it that he has received, that the angels didn't? Well, what does it say? "So He became as much superior to the angels as the name He has inherited is superior to theirs, for to which of the angels did God ever say, 'You are my son…'?" Well, there is the name. The name is Son of God, that's the name that Jesus has and none of the angels do. "You are my son, today I have begotten you," or today I have become Your Father or again, "I will be His Father and He will be my son." Christ named son of God then, perfectly sums up all of His transcendent greatness and He is as much exalted over the angels as the name that He has received is exalted over theirs. They are angels which just means messengers, Jesus is Son, He is Son of God, He's the heir. And so the author speaks of Christ inheriting a name. He inherited the name Son of God, something He inherited from His Heavenly Father and it is, Christ's name, is the greatest name in all history. Philippians 2, Jesus was willing to turn His back on all that heavenly glory and became a human being. He became a servant and He humbled himself even to the point of dying on a cross. "Therefore, God exalted Him to the highest place and gave Him the name that is above every name. That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father." Jesus' name is the greatest name there is. Son of God, infinitely above all created beings. So the author asks a rhetorical question; "For to which of the angels did God ever say, 'You are my son, today I have become your father?'" The answer is clearly none. None of the angels received such a statement from God. There are more than 100 million angels and not one of them received such a statement or were begotten as the only Son of God. The implication in this is that there are some angels that are greater than others. There are some ranks or orders of angels that are higher than others. For to which of any of them did God say, even the highest angel was never called Son of God. Michael the archangel in Daniel 10:13 is called one of the chief princes. That implies there are more than one of these ruler angels. So he's one of the chief princes. So to which of even the highest order of angels did God ever say, "You are my son"? None. And He is, I believe the eternally begotten Son of God. Now here, the mystery of godliness is great. Christ has eternally existed. He is no created beings, against the Jehovah's Witnesses' false teaching, that Jesus is a created being. He is no created being, He has forever existed and He has forever been God. But there is some question as to whether He has been forever Son, God the Son. People ask because it says, "Today I have begotten you," as though at a certain decisive moment, Jesus became Son. Now, I believe the mystery of godliness is great but that Jesus never changes. He is the same yesterday and today and forever. And our creed, the Nicene Creed, teaches that He is eternally begotten as God the Son. It says, "I believe in one God the Father, Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God. Begotten of the Father before all worlds. God of god, Light of light, very God of very god, begotten not made. Being of one substance with the Father by whom all things were made." Sometimes the translation of the creed reads, "eternally begotten of the Father." Now, the word "begotten" comes from the Greek, "monogenes," which means only generated or only begotten one. John 1:14 says, "And the word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. And we've seen His glory. Glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." Now, the concept is that Jesus was eternally begotten of the Father. But some focus on a decisive moment and I think there is a decisive moment concerning this issue of His sonship. And I think it has to do with the declaration of Jesus as Son. God speaking it to the universe. God declaring it to us so that we will know who He is. "For to which of the angels did God ever say, 'You are my son…'?" There's a declaration here in redemptive history. And when did that happen? I think first and foremost it happened at Jesus' incarnation. We know from biology to have a human baby, you have to have 46 chromosomes, 23 of them come from the father and 23 from the mother. Mary was a virgin. The Angel Gabriel came and announced to her that she would be with child and give birth to a son. "And Mary said to the angel, 'How can this be since I am a virgin?' And the angel answered and said to her, 'The Holy Spirit will come upon you and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. And for that reason, the holy child shall be called the Son of God.'" So at that moment, the supplying of the missing 23 chromosomes in a miraculous sort of way, meant that Jesus had God as His own father. And so I think that's the decisiveness of this statement, "Today I have begotten you." Meaning, today I have declared to the world that You are My Son. Second quote emphasizes the same truth, "Or again, I will be His father and He will be My Son." This is quoting from the Davidic Covenant in 2 Samuel 7. When God promised to David that he would have a son, who would always forever reign on the throne. "I will be His Father and He will be My Son." The only way that Jesus could be both son of God and son of David, is by this incarnation, by the virgin conception inside Mary's body. Now, no angel ever had that honor, dear friends. It's utterly unique in history. Only Jesus received this blessing of being the only begotten son of God. Amazingly though, the Apostle Paul links it to Jesus' resurrection. In Pisidian Antioch, he's there preaching in the synagogue and he says this in Acts 13, "We tell you the good news. What God promised our fathers, He has fulfilled for us their children by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm, 'You are my son. Today I have begotten you.'" Now, isn't that fascinating? When Jesus was conceived inside the virgin Mary, "You are my Son. Today I have begotten you." And then when He again takes on a human body, the statement again made, "You are My Son. Today I have begotten You." And from this point and forever, He will be human, forever the begotten Son of God. Both of them linked to Jesus being a human being. But none of the angels ever had such an honor and the glory to be called the Son of God. IV. Christ Greater Because He Is Worshiped Secondly, Christ is greater because He is worshipped. Look at verse 6, "And again when God brings His firstborn into the world, He says, 'Let all God's angels worship Him.'" God the Father commands the angels. They're merely servants. They are glorious, yes. They are powerful but they are merely servants. They do what they're told. When God, the Father, commands them to do something, they must obey. Here, God the Father, commands all of His angels to worship His Son. What an incredible moment that is in redemptive history. The word here used is firstborn, "When God brings his firstborn... " Greek is "prototokos." It's also used in Colossians 1, "He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation." And again in 1:18: "He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead." So again, incarnation and resurrection both used with that word, firstborn. So then in everything, He might have the supremacy. So, how did it work? Back in those days, in Bible days, there were patriarchal families. The father was the head of the whole family. But his firstborn stood as his heir and stood to receive all of the father's possessions and his position of leadership over the family. Jesus is the heir, and He is the first born over the whole family. And so, God, when He brings His first born into the world says, "Let all God's angels worship Him." Now, this is amazing because God is jealous over His worship, isn't He? He says in the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:2 and following, "I am the Lord, your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other Gods besides me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven or earth or under the earth or in the waters beneath. You shall not bow down to them or worship them for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God." God will have us worship nothing but Himself. Again Isaiah 42:8, "I am the Lord. That is my name. I will not give My glory to another or My praise to idols." And again in Matthew 4, when the devil comes and tempts Jesus says, "I'll give you the whole world if you just bow down and worship me." Jesus says, "Away from me, Satan. For it is written: Worship the Lord your God and serve Him only." But here, amazingly, God commands all of His angels to worship His Son. There is no jealousy in the Trinity, dear friends. The Father is happy to have you worship Jesus. So, why don't you go ahead and do it? Amen! Do it. Do it right now while I'm preaching about Jesus. Just in your heart, esteem Him greatly. Love Him more than you ever have before. Just worship Him and the Father will be honored. He's not jealous of this because Jesus is God. And so it is not a violation of that first commandment, to worship Him. Let all God's angels worship Him. He wants all of creation to celebrate His Son, spreads it widely. Let everyone worship Him. And that's evangelism, by the way, too. Let all human beings worship My Son. And so when you go out as evangelists, you go out in the name of worship, go out there and just compel them to worship. Tell them great things about Jesus and let them worship. And if they won't worship, you go ahead and worship anyway. That's what evangelism is. Now, what is the timing of this? Well, it all has to do with how you translate the verse and where you put the word "again." The NIV puts it at the beginning, it says, "And again when He brings His first born into the world, He says let all God's angels worship Him." But the NASB puts it later in the sentence. Such as, "And when God, again, brings His first born into the world, He says let all God's angels worship Him." Does that make a difference? Well, yes it does. It makes a difference because in that case if the "again" were later in the sentence, it would be talking about the second coming of Christ. When God again brings His first born into the world, He's going to command the angels then, "Let all the angels worship Him." And so, they will. The first time when Jesus came into the world, the angels were there and they were worshipping, right? There was an angel and the shepherds were watching their fields at night. And then an angel came and the glory of the Lord shone all around them and they were sore afraid. I love the KJV on that one. Just stick with, "They were sore afraid." That means really afraid. Glory shining and then the angel said the good news that Christ was born in the city of David. And then, "Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom His favor rests.'" So, that's it. When the Lord brought His first born into the world, all of God's angels were there. But, technically, they weren't worshipping Jesus at that moment; they were worshipping God. I think they were worshipping Him. But could it be that it's referring to the second coming of Christ? When all of God's angels will be there, when the Son of Man comes in His glory and all the angels with Him, He will sit on His throne in heavenly glory. And all the angels will be there. In Revelation chapter five, it takes up this story after Jesus takes the title deed of the earth in His hand and He sits on the throne with God the Father and rules over the earth. This is what it says in Revelation 5, "Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders and in a loud voice they sang, 'Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise.'" Well, there's no doubt Who the angels are worshipping there, the Lamb who was slain. They are clearly worshipping Him. Either way, I think they're worshipping at the beginning. They just worship all the time. They've been worshipping Jesus. I'm just trying to get the verse right. So you won't even trouble about where the "again" happens. You were never worried about it. But I am troubled by it. Is it at the beginning or the end? Does it really matter? All God's angels are worshipping Jesus. And we ought to too. That's the author's clear implication. V. Christ Greater Because of His Nature Christ is also greater, because of His nature. Look at verse 7. "And speaking of the angels, He says, 'He makes His angels winds, His servants flames of fire.'" Angels are mere created beings. They're creatures. Creature means that which is created. And they are creatures. He makes His angels. They're crafted, they're shaped, they're created. He makes His angels. And speaks here of their nature and of their office, what are they like and what are they called to do. Jesus is greater in both senses. As their nature, they're created beings or creatures. Concerning their office, they are servants. Tozer, speaking of the infinite gap between God and all creatures, said this. This is in The Knowledge of the Holy. "Forever God stands apart, in light unapproachable. He is as high above an archangel as above a caterpillar, for the gulf that separates the archangel from the caterpillar is but finite, while the gulf between God and the archangel is infinite. The caterpillar and the archangel, though far removed from each other in the scale of created things, are nevertheless one in that they are alike created. They both belong in the category of that which-is-not-God and are separated from God by infinitude itself." So Jesus is infinitely greater than the highest angel, because He's creator, and they're creature. It also speaks of God's ownership. He makes His angels. They are His, He made them, He can do what He wants with them, they belong to Him. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, made each one of those 100 million angels. Each one of them. Crafted them specially. I think they are each one unique, just like each human being is unique. And so God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit sustains each one of those holy angels. In Him, each one of them lives and moves and has its being. Each one. And why? Because the Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word. Jesus upholds the angels and keeps them alive. Now, two angels have names in the Bible, Gabriel and Michael. Luke 1:19 "I am Gabriel, I stand in the presence of God," so he has a special job, and he knows what his task is. Michael in Daniel 12:1, is the great prince who protects the Jewish people and who fights for them. So they have roles and names. It would be, I think, unhelpful speculation to go beyond this, in the area of names and roles and all that. Though others have done so in spades, dear friends. You want to know about angels? Just go on the internet. And venture into the world of new age mysticism, and start finding out how many angels' names there are. Catholic theology, medieval theology accepted the apocryphal book of Tobit, so you get a third name, Raphael, from an angel there. Cults like the Mormons add the angel Moroni, who gave Joseph Smith the Book of Mormon. And one terrible website I went to gave dozens of angel's names with astonishing extra statements about what this or that angel did. One angel, with a specific name which I shall not utter here, was believed to have created the tree of life. I thought God did that. Anyway, another angel with a specific name, which I will not utter here, is tasked, get this, with the responsibility of helping people to love themselves so they can love others better. And if you can learn the names of each of these angels, then you'll do better in your life. This website told us calling an angel's name is asking this angelic energy to make itself known to you. Sounds like old polytheism to me. A pantheon of deities male and female, that can kind of come and help you. However, the fact that two angels are named, and that the title archangels, at least in there, does give us a sense of differentiation and specialization among the angels, all 100 million of them. But they are merely servants and Christ is the ruler. And speaking of the angels, verse 70, "He makes His angels winds, His servants flames of fire." Then in verse 14, "Are not all angels ministering servants, sent to serve those who inherit salvation." The clear contrast is put together between Jesus and Christ as you look at verse 7 and 8. In speaking of the angels He says "'He makes His angels winds, His servants flames of fire,' but about the Son He says 'Your throne, oh God, will last forever and ever.'" Do you see the contrast? We'll talk about that verse next week, but they're servants, He's on a throne. He's ruling. In verse 14, the author makes a special point that angels are sent to serve us and to help us. To minister to those who are going to inherit salvation. So by bringing the Scripture to Moses at Sinai, or to John on the island of Patmos, they were serving the church. By protecting the people of God from satanic attack, as Michael did in Daniel 12, angels have served the church. By warring against Satan generally, defeating his demonic army, casting down all those demons from Heaven to the Earth, angels were serving the church. By bringing messages, revelations, dreams, answers to prayers, angels did for Daniel, Joseph, Mary, Peter, Philip and others, angels have served the church. By providing food and drink for the suffering like Elijah, who was just at the end of his rope, fleeing from Jezebel, lying wanting to die in the desert, God sent an angel to feed him and give him some water, angels have served the church. By enabling Peter the Apostle to escape prison when King Herod wanted to kill him, angels have served the church. And then by going and killing King Herod and striking him so he was eaten with worms and died, angels have served the church. In the future when angels are dispatched as in the Book of Revelation, to pour out specific aspects of the wrath of God on the persecuting world, angels will be serving the church. When Christ comes in His glory and all the angels with Him, He will send out His angels in heavenly glory and they will gather the elect from one end of the heavens to the other, and angels will serve the church then. Boy, aren't you looking forward to that! That is the rapture, friends. And God will send you an angel to come and get you. And when Christ the judge condemns the reprobates, the wicked, and dispatches them to hell and commands "Tie them hand and foot and throw them outside into the darkness," it will be angels that will weed out of Christ's kingdom everything that causes sin and all those who do evil, throw them in the fiery furnace. Are not all angels ministering spirits, sent to serve those who inherit salvation? They are spiritual beings. They're likened to winds and fire. A wind is a very spiritual thing, isn't it? Jesus likens the ministry of the Holy Spirit to the wind. "The wind," John 3:8, "blows where it wishes. You hear it sound but you can't tell where it comes from and where it's going, and so it is with everyone born of the spirit." As a matter of fact, the Hebrew word for spirit and wind are the same. And you have to tell from context whether it's to be translated spirit or wind, it's "ruah." It's just, I love saying that, just like I studied Hebrew, "ruah." So you can do that, when you do that sound, it just sounds like breath, doesn't it. And so the wind blows. And so the Psalm 104 that this was translated from could be translated, "He makes His angels spirits, His servants flames of fire." But winds, I think, a better translation. Wind is frequently seen to be like the secret power of God affecting Earth in ways that we can't control, powerful. So the wind comes along and the wind moves the water of Noah's flood off the earth and dries the earth. God sends a wind to do that. Or He brings locusts to destroy Egypt during the plague, and then sends a wind to remove them. And then He sends a wind to make a way through the Red Sea and then the wind stops and the way closes back down on Pharaoh and his army. He brings quail with wind. It's this wind coming all the time. And here it says, "He makes His angels winds." Sometimes the angels are even directly linked to weather like in Revelation 7:1, "After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth holding back the four winds of the earth to prevent any wind from blowing on the land or the sea or on any tree." So the angels are up there kind of holding back the wind. There's more stuff going on than we know about, dear friends. And there's more things in the Bible than you thought there was. But the angels are winds. They're doing a spiritual work often invisible, but making a great effect. And so also they're likened to flames of fire. Have you ever sat like at a campfire and just watched the fire like for entertainment? Or like on a Christmas eve, you're watching the fire and it's fun to watch. It's mysterious to me. I can't figure it out. The flames are dancing and moving in there. They're shaped in a certain way. I found out, I didn't know this, but I found out that they're shaped in that characteristic kind of point at the top because of gravity, gravity is pulling on the gases and makes a point at the top. Wow! I didn't know that. Angels are like flames of fire. They're spiritual beings. So much so it says in Isaiah 6 that the angels, they're called seraphim, which literally means "burning ones," radiating with a burning glory, but yet they're covering their faces before Jesus. He makes His angels winds, His servants flames of fire. Now, next time we'll talk about how Christ is also greater because of His throne, because of His anointing, because of His rule over creation, and because of His destiny. VI. Applications What applications can we take from this? First and foremost, I already said it before, but I'll say it again, come to Christ. No angel can save you. No angel ever had flesh and blood to die on a cross for you. You and I are sinners. We have flesh and blood and with our bodies we have violated laws. But the Lord laid on Jesus the iniquity of us all, and Jesus shed His blood. His body was nailed to the Cross that we might live forever, that our sins might be forgiven. If you simply trust in Him, this is your hope. You may have come here feeling defiled and your conscience defiled, it says in Hebrews 1:3, "After Jesus had provided purification for sins," Jesus can purify your conscience and make you feel free again, and clean again. Only Jesus can do that, come to Christ. And second of all, let's understand the author's point here. The New Covenant is greater than the old. So we would be foolish to shrink away from Jesus. We'd be foolish to drift away, that's exactly where he's going into chapter two. We must pay more careful attention. Therefore, because Jesus is greater than angels, we must pay more careful attention to the message He brought, pay careful attention to the Gospel. Don't drift away from Jesus. Get closer to Jesus than you've ever been in your life. Spend more time praying to Him. Spend more time asking Him to forgive you for sins. Spend more time reading His word and saturating your mind in the greatness of Christ. Worship Him more freely. Stay with Christ. Don't forsake the new covenant. And worship Him, Christ, for His infinite greatness. If you saw the angel that Daniel saw in Daniel 10 then the angel were to fall on his face and cover his face before Jesus, wouldn't that give you a sense of the greatness of Jesus? Jesus is great and we should worship Him. And meditate, finally, on the sonship of Christ. He became a son, He took on flesh and blood, so that you could trust in Him as a faithful high priest who was tempted in every way just as you are. Who knows what you're going through, yet was without sin, and Who can usher you right into the very presence of God. Trust this flesh and blood Mediator who is of the same family as you to usher you right into the presence of God so that you can receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Close with me in prayer now.

Time:The Book of Jonah is set during the reign of Jeroboam II (793–753 BC), a period marked by Israel's relative prosperity and expansion. The exact date of the book's composition is debated, but it is traditionally placed in the 8th century BC.Place:Israel: Jonah begins his journey in Israel. He is a prophet from the northern kingdom, specifically from Gath-hepher in the region of Zebulun.Nineveh: The primary setting for Jonah's mission is Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire, located on the eastern bank of the Tigris River (in modern-day Iraq). Nineveh was a large and significant city known for its great wickedness and power.Context:Jonah is part of the prophetic tradition in Israel, where prophets were called by God to deliver messages of warning, repentance, and hope. Unlike other prophets who primarily addressed Israel, Jonah's mission extends to a foreign city, highlighting the universal scope of God's mercy.During Jonah's time, Assyria was a growing threat to Israel. The Assyrians were known for their cruelty and aggression, which makes Jonah's reluctance to preach to Nineveh understandable from a human perspective.Who is Jonah?The son of Amittai from Gath-hepher in Zebulun, who prophesied the restoration of Israel's borders, which was accomplished by Jeroboam II (782–753 b.c.) (2 Kgs 14:25), and the hero of the book of Jonah (1:1).A SEASON OF EXPANSION MUST BE FOLLOWED BY A SEASON OF EXTENSION.1 Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.”Jon 1:1–2 ESV7 Reasons to run from Nineveh:NotoriousIdolatorsNational EnemyEgoVengeanceExiledHopelessQuestions:What Nineveh are you running from?Have you run from your calling?What are your reasons for running?How long have you been running from God?Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and callout against it the message that I tell you.” 3 So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord.Jon 3:1–3 ESV