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Stop the Palestinian Talibanism in Jerusalem - Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA) has introduced a bill to protect the Temple Mount from destruction at the hands of the Palestinian Authority. At this writing, this bill had no
number. Cantor's bill is designed to ensure that no U.S. tax dollars go to Yassir Arafat's organization while his group engages in unsupervised excavation of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. To get updates on this
legislation, go to Cantor's web site at: http://cantor.house.gov.
Clay Tablets and Creation
Clay tablets have preserved for us at least three accounts of creation .... "The Creation Epic," the "Babylonian Creation" record, and a recent find at Elba in northern Syria. While they preserve for us a perverted polytheistic version, they have much in common with the Word of God.
They all tell of:
- Primeval chaos
- Beginning of light
- Creation of firmament
- Appearance of dry land
- Creation of luminaries
- Creation of man
- Deity rests
Other clay tablets supply further information:
- The gods creating the heaven and earth
- Man's origin by the handiwork of god(s), made in god's likeness
- A special day having been set aside after creation
- Man civilized at his beginning, intelligent and reverent in his ways, without disease and sin, living in a garden appointed by his god(s).
- Trees in the garden for food
- Peace among the animals in the garden
- Man offending his god(s), resulting in his expulsion from this garden and followed by sin, sickness, misery, and sorrow
- Re-entrance into the garden prohibited by sacred images (similar to cherubim)
In records which relate to creation, both biblical and archaeological, none mentions or even hints at a theory of evolution. No nations yet have been found with a tradition or a record to the effect that man descended from any lower forms of life.
Temptation Seal: Genesis 3:1-7
A clay impression from this seal shows two figures seated beside a sacred tree, plucking fruit. A serent stands behind the woman, erect, as though whispering to her. This seal shows that the main features of the biblical story were a part of the accepted beliefs of early man.
Garden of Eden Seal: Genesis 3:22-24
This seal shows a man and a woman walking in a downcast position, and strongly suggests the story of Adam and Eve being driven from Eden.
ANCIENT BIBLICAL ARTIFACTS DISCOVERED
Scientists may now have proof that the great flood
during the days of Noah really did take place.
National Geographic Society explorer Robert Ballard
and a team of scientists found what appears to be the
remains of a well-built civilization. The remnants were
discovered twelve miles off the coast of Turkey under
approximately 300 feet of water.
Discoveries have proven that "when European glaciers
melted about 7,000 years ago, the Mediterranean Sea
overflowed into what was then a smaller fresh water lake
to create the Black Sea." On a previous trip, Ballard
found an extinct freshwater shell and a saltwater shell.
He claims that the saltwater shell is approximately
6,500 years old, while the freshwater shell dates back
almost 7,000 years ago.
"So," he said, "we know that there was a sudden
dramatic change from a freshwater lake to a saltwater
sea 7,000 years ago. And we know that as a result of
that flood a vast amount of land went under water.
And we now know that the land was inhabited.
What we don't know is who these people were, we don't
know how broad their settlements were but we are
expanding our studies to try to determine that."
Using various under-water technologies, Ballard was
able to locate a former river valley beneath the sea, and
a collapsed structure including some preserved wooden
beams that appear to be worked by hand.
"The structure was clearly built by humans and was
characteristic of stone-age structures built 7,000 years
ago in the interior of Turkey," Ballard said. A stone
chisel and two other stone tools with holes drilled through
them were also seen on the site.
In the future, more trips and studies will be conducted
to research these developments in depth.
"This is a work in progress," Ballard said.
"It is critical to know the exact era of the people who
lived there, and to that end we hope to recover artifacts
and wood for carbon dating so we can figure out what
sort of people lived there and the nature of their tools."
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DIGGING UP NINEVEH
There was a time when the critics of the Word did not believe the account of Nineveh's population (more than 120,000), as recorded by Jonah. Jonah 4:11No city in that
day was that large, they said.
Excavations at Nimrud, 20 miles from Nineveh, revealed an inscription of King Ashur-nasir-pal II, whose Assyrian armies first began to come up against Israel. 
This inscription mentioned a banquet at the dedication of his palace .... attended by 70,000. Those in attendance were the 'chief" people of Nimrud which leaves one with the impression that many, many more people inhabited the city.
The only record of Nineveh's repentance is what we have from the pen of Jonah. Because of a lack of evidence in secular history, many critics have doubted Jonah's story.
But evidence from the pick and shovel of archaeologists shows there was a period of reformation in the period of Jonah's day. Assyrian kings recorded their exploits, never their defeats or humiliations.
Adad-nirari was the Assyrian king who repented under Jonah's preaching, and under him and the three kings who followed him, there was a let-up in Assyrian assaults
and conquests. It was in this period that Israel had some of her territory recovered. 2 Kings 14:25Such reform does indicate that Jonah's message did have some influence upon those at Nineveh.
But as we know, Nineveh would fall. Archaeology has teamed up with Nahum's prophecy to prove the accuracy of his predictions, even to the smallest details.
This great city stood on the left bank of the Tigris River.
Its walls were one hundred feet high, which were strengthened by 1,500 towers, wide enough for three chariots to ride abreast, and sixty miles in circumference. The side of the city not protected by the Tigris was surrounded by a moat. The oldest aqueduct in history supplied the city with water, even in times of siege, and the city maintained its own food supply. To the Ninevites, their city was impregnable. Yet Nahum predicted its destruction as follows:
With an overwhelming flood:
Nahum 1:8
While its leaders are drunk they shall be devoured as stubble:Nahum 1:10
The enemy against them shall be like chariots with flaming torches:Nahum 2:3-4
In drunkenness they shall seek to prepare their defenses: Nahum 2:5
The gates of the river shall be opened, and the palace shall be disolved:Nahum 2:6
"Nineveh is like a [flooded] pool, whose waters run wild:Nahum 2:8
By its being leveled it will become "empty, and void, and waste":Nahum 2:10; 3:7
"I am against you, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will burn her chariots in the smoke":Nahum 2:13
Fire to destroy her strongholds:Nahum 3:13
No hope for survival .... God will "make an utter end of the place," with "no healing of thy bruises":Nahum 1:8; 3:19
When Nineveh was conquered in 612 B.C. by Cyaxares of the medes and Nabopolassar of Babylon the destruction fulfilled Nahum's prophecy to the last detail.
They sent a demolition squad to destroy the city's aqueduct, and to divert the Tigris River simultaneously, which flooded Nineveh (1:8; 2:6). The flood waters dissolved the mud brick foundations of the houses and buildings, and the walls crumbled. Archaeological evidence also shows that, along with the flood, the city was burned (2:13; 3:13).
Those in authority, as drunk as they were (2:5), and seeing their doom, mounted a funeral pyre and died as they were devoured by the flames. No one wept over her funeral, and she was no more heard of (3:7; 2:13).
From 612 B.C. until A.D. 1845 it was a forgotten site.
Since then, archaeological evidence has tipped the scales in favor of God's Word through Nahum.
For your further study on this subject you might want to check out some of these sites:
NEAR EASTERN ARCHAEOLOGY
MESOPOTAMIA
CHALDEANS
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