In the Book of Exodus, the Egyptian empire is beset by the plague — 10 plagues, to be exact. Animals behave oddly, and the sky turns black. Even more alarming, the river fills with blood. Everything in that bloody river dies.
Clearly, it’s not possible for a river to start bleeding, but scientists believe the plague in question may have been a red algae bloom. A very real phenomenon, "red tides" are a collection of algae packed so densely the plants discolor water. The blooms are caused by a variety of environmental factors, including warming water and excess nutrients like fertilizer. What’s more, red tides kill — just like the Book of Exodus says the bloody Nile did — with their natural toxins and oxygen-depleting decomposition.
Another nasty aspect of the Exodus were the locusts.
See, short-horned grasshoppers are typically innocuous little things, hopping around, bothering no one. But in times of severe drought, they can undergo a horrible metamorphosis. Triggered by serotonin in their brains, grasshoppers can become locusts — the Jekyll to the grasshopper’s Dr. Hyde. In this new state, locusts breed like crazy, sprout strong wings that can power them for miles, and start to swarm. In groups, they can block out the sun.
Though we haven’t seen too many plagues in recent years, swarms of locusts have been common throughout history. It’s safe to say these tiny terrors definitely messed with ancient Egyptians.
As the plagues are raining down, the Israelites decide to flee from the Egyptians and let’s be real, it wasn’t going well.
That is, until Moses, the original Prince of Egypt himself, split the Red Sea in half, allowing the Israelites to run across to safety before the water rebounded, crashing over the Egyptians and stopping them in their tracks.
Computer simulations suggest this was actually possible. In 2010, an article published in the journal PLOS ONE suggested that a natural phenomenon could have parted the Red Sea. If wind blows hard enough, water can recede from its usual shoreline, exposing land that’s typically awash. Using a computer modeling tool, the researchers were able to show that at one site in the Nile, the right blustery wind could have created a land bridge 2.5 miles long and 3 miles wide, sustaining it for four hours.
Deuteronomy 20:17 instructed the Israelites to “completely destroy them — the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites — as the LORD your God has commanded you.” And the Israelites listened, destroying their enemies.
Or so the Bible said.
But a July 2017 paper published in the American Journal of Human Genetics presents compelling evidence that the Canaanites survived, and that their descendants are thriving in modern Lebanon, according to a historical genome constructed from Canaanite corpses, which were compared to the DNA of 99 modern Lebanese people. According to the study, the vast majority of the DNA tested in the modern Lebanese individuals came from the Canaanites, suggesting someone didn’t follow through with God’s commands.
It’s been immortalized in art for millennia, but what does science have to say about Goliath and his puny, but triumphant, friend David?
Well, for much of human history, people were pretty short. While the average American man today is pushing 5 feet 10 inches, for much of human history the average dude hovered around 5 feet 5 inches. So it’s no wonder that Goliath, reportedly 6 feet 9 inches tall and thirsty for blood, scared the crap out of everyone.
Though he’s since become a relic of history — a parable about overestimating the strong and undervaluing the weak — he definitely could have existed. Some have ventured to guess he was just a guy with gigantism, a disorder typically caused by overproduction of human growth hormones that causes people to grow to an uncommon size. In contrast to some plagued by this disorder, like Robert Pershing Wadlow, who was 8 feet 11 inches when he died, Goliath is downright puny.
God talks a lot in the Bible, which, fair, since it’s his book. But how could anyone — scribes or prophets — hear the big man upstairs? Well, they probably couldn’t. But that doesn’t mean they weren’t hearing something.
Auditory hallucinations, where people hear sounds that aren’t actually there, are actually fairly common in the general population. One study of more than 13,000 participants in Europe indicated that almost 40 percent of people have had an auditory hallucination in their life. Another study, published in the Scandinavian Journal of Psychology in 2015, suggests seven percent of people have experience auditory voice hallucinations, or hearing voices that aren’t there.
Some of the people in either study may have had mental health issues or been influenced by past drug use, of course, but it was by no means all of them. And while those sounds and voices take many different forms, it’s possible some people interpret the stimuli as the voice of God.
Coming back to life is prime content for the Bible — it happened at least twice in the New Testament alone. One of the lucky resurrected was Lazarus.
In the Gospel of John, Jesus gets word that his friend Lazarus of Bethany is dying. But he doesn’t rush to his side. By the time Jesus finally shows up, Lazarus has been dead for four days and is already buried. Nobody wants to dig Lazarus up — the truly dead reek — but Jesus insists. “Lazarus, come out!” he yells and, what do you know, the formerly dead dude pops back to life, good as new.
While this might seem like one of the more outlandish biblical stories to you, a scientifically-minded skeptic, the medical marvel aptly named Lazarus Phenomenon is actually real.
In 2007, an article published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine compiled 38 documented cases of "delayed return of spontaneous circulation." In other words, 38 cases in which people’s hearts appeared to stop, before, uh, un-stopping. Granted, most of these people returned to life in 10 minutes (not four days), and the majority did eventually die from stopping their hearts, but maybe it’s worth a holler of “come out!” before the burial — or at least politely bury your loved ones in a "safety coffin" equipped with a bell should they prove to be, you know, alive.
Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
2 Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
7 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
16 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;
18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
22 The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.
23 But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!
24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature?
28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:
29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?
31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed?
32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.
33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
Seeks Financial help during Covid.Evangelist & Business Owner: Master Carpenter/door manufacture.
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LAST NAME: Ayoub Masih
COUNTRY: PAKISTAN
Phones: +92 137318026
Email: sulemanayoub99@gmail.com
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Orphanage home, needs financial help with food and supplies and sewing materials. 30+ children, one is in need of corrective surgery to better walk. Thank you
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Namaganda Mayimuna
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Ministry Seeks $30 monthly donation for each child from Sponsors. Provides for over 60 children.
The Children Artists' offer their paintings and crafts for sale to earn extra money for themselves.
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COVID losses. Seeks financial help for food and educational supplies for the children; including 50 instructional books. Thank you
FIRST NAME: Asma Azeem
LAST NAME: Azeem Adil
COUNTRY: Sahiwal, Punjab, Pakistan
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Azeem adil House no. 4 streat no. 3 Cristian colany gjjaer ahtta sahiwal Pakistan zip code 57000
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Situation & Intel | Day 11 | Grindstone Ministries Day 11 Hurricane Helene -
NEEDS: TEEN CLOTHING AND MATERNITY CLOTHING
Psalm 122:1-5 The pleasure and profit from means of grace, should make us disregard trouble and fatigue in going to them; and we should quicken one another to what is good. We should desire our Christian friends, when they have any good work in hand, to call for us, and take us with them. With what readiness should we think of the heavenly Jerusalem! How cheerfully should we bear the cross and welcome death, in hopes of a crown of glory! Jerusalem is called the beautiful city. It was a type of the gospel church, which is compact together in holy love and Christian communion, so that it is all as one city. If all the disciples of Christ were of one mind, and kept the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, their enemies would be deprived of their chief advantages against them. But Satan's maxim always has been, to divide that he may conquer; and few Christians are sufficiently aware of his designs.
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