Scripture
How stubborn you are, heathen still at heart and deaf to the truth!
~Acts 7:51, NEB
Quote
It is easy to be politically correct but it takes courage to tell the truth.
~Ya’akov
A few days ago I was reading in Acts and came across Stephen sermon to the Sanhedrin…It is very interesting…
‘How stubborn you are, heathen still at heart and deaf to the truth! You always fight against the Holy Spirit. Like fathers, like sons. Was there ever a prophet whom your fathers did not persecute? They killed those who foretold the coming of the Righteous One {Jesus}; and now you have betrayed Him and murdered Him, you who received the Law as God’s angels gave it to you, and yet have not kept it.’
This very brief but poignant message cut them to the bone. They were enraged but Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit and he refused to back down. Then he looked toward heaven and said, “Look, there is a rift in the sky and I can see Jesus standing by the Father’s right hand.” They {Sanhedrin} stopped up there ears and started picking up rocks. They threw Stephen out of the city and then stoned him but he died praying, “LORD do not hold this sin against them.”
We not only have the greatest sermon in this text, excepting the Sermon on the Mount, but we also have the greatest convert: Saul of Tarsus. Someone said, “We owe Paul to the prayer of Stephen.” The prayer was powerful but it may have been the sermon that convicted Paul or a combination of the two. We do not know, Paul never mentions the experience or whether or not it had any bearing on him but I have to believe that it did. I like a man that has the courage to tell the truth even when he knows that they stones are coming.
All these boxes at the bottom are there because I don’t know how to delete them on a Mac. I’ve got to get Josie out here and help me sort this stuff out.
DBC BIBLE READERS
Some of you have called with questions which is good so I have started reading along with you. First question had to do with the four rivers in Genesis 2: Pishon, Gihon, Tigris and Euphrates. The Tigris and Euphrates are located in Iraq and empty into the Persian Gulf. The Pishon and Gihon were tributaries located just north of the Gulf. It is in this area that we believe the Eden existed. As you know, tributaries change over time and the two smaller rivers are not on the map today.
I was telling Holden Sunday night: an interesting study can be done in Genesis five. Going by the numbers given, you can create a pre-flood calendar. It is a great math project. You will discover that Lamech and Methuselah died in the same year, the year of the flood.
In Genesis 6 you have the Nephlim {Giants}. I don’t get into it much and if you haven’t been to seminary, you may find it difficult but a man by the name of Michael Houser has a couple of books and he is on You Tube. Thomas Roy has read both books. He would be delighted to talk to you about this subject.
Nimrod {chapter 10} is a controversial figure. Scholars are divided: some say his name means rebellion and some say brave or valiant. I go with rebellion and I think he is the father of Tyranny. I don’t think he hunted game, he hunted humans. He was a slave trafficer. He built the ancient city of Nineveh and we know what it stood for but there are two schools of thought.
Abraham often claimed that Sarah was his sister and that is true. She and Abraham had the same father but different mothers. There was a lot of incest in this period. Issac married his first cousin and Jacob followed suit. It was common in those days.
Abraham went to Egypt to avoid famine and there he picked up cattle and a slave name Hagar. The cattle were not a problem but Hagar’s son Ishmael would become a thorn in the family’s side. According to Genesis 16:12, He was a wild ass who hand would be against everyone and everyone would be against him. He is the father of the Arab people from whence we get Islam.
The cities of the plain were Sodom, Gomorrah, Zeboyim, Admah and Zoar. All five were located in the valley of Siddim which is he present day Dead Sea. This valley is over 1,300 feet below sea level, semi-tropical and was filled with bitumen which is used to make asphalt. Whatever God did to destroy it created a crater so deep that there is noway water can find an outlet. The Dead Sea is close to 1,000 feet deep in places. This will get you through Genesis chapter 20.