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worldtouradvicetravel · 1 year

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BEST HONEYMOON PLACES IN JORDAN, 10 DAYS

Enter the world of the Ancient Egyptians and find out why their civilization was able to capture the imagination with amazing Holidays In Jordan, scout Jordan with its Historical sites, get amazing tours to visit all the famous archaeological sites with Best Honeymoon Places in Jordan, Explore Amman "Jordan", visit Umm Qais, Jerash, Ajloun, explore Mount Nebo, Madaba, Dead Sea, finally beguile your eyes at Petra with its amazing wonders.

Visit the most famous archaeological sites with Jordan Egypt Tour Package, Explore Petra city with our Best Honeymoon Places in Jordan, visit Jordan and Egypt, Explore Umm Qais, Jerash, Mount Nebo, Madaba, and Dead Sea to enjoy the largest natural spa in the world.

Experience a marvelous Jordan Petra Tour, Discover the main attractions with Amman to Petra Tour, explore stunning sites of Jordan from Amman to Petra, visit the Rose Red City of Petra, know the legends of Petra, jerash and Dead Sea with World Tour Advice

Overview

Best Honeymoon Places in Jordan, We offer you a honeymoon travel package to visit the best places in Jordan, 10 Days tours to discover Petra, Wadi Rum, the Hammamat, the Dead Sea and Amman in Jordan

Itinerary

Day 1 : Arrival Amman Welcome to Jordan, Our Tour Representative will meet you at Ammann airport, he will hold a sign in his hand with your names, then a direct transfer of half an hour to arrive to your hotel in Amman, check in, free time for leisure, Overnight in Amman

Day 2 : City Tour In Amman, Jerash, Hammamat Ma\'in Hotel (B) Enjoy your breakfast in your hotel in Amman,then meet your tour guide to start your honeymoon tours in Amman the capital of Jordan,you will go to visit the remains of Roman, Islamic periods in Amman,you will see the city view from the citadel hill,you will visit the Archaeological museum, the Roman theatre,a walking tour in the traditional markets, the Souq & Rainbow street, then drive to the north of Amman to visit other beautiful site in Jordan Jerash, which is the best example representing a Roman provincial city in all Middle East, during your tour in Jerash , you will visit Oval plaza, the colonnaded street, the Nymphaeum and Artemis temple, then you will drive to Hammamat Ma\'in 7 check in hotel Overnight in Hammamat Ma\'inJordan in Hammamat Ma\'in,it is located 264 meters under the sea level, it is a natural area surrounded by natural springs & waterfalls Overnight at the Hammamat hotel

Day 3 : Hammamat Ma'in free day for leisure in Hammamat Ma'in, Enjoy your free day in Hammamat Ma'in , it is called also Zarqa Ma'in,, it is a series of natural hotsprings and waterfalls with biblical connections, Hammamat Ma'in are located between Madaba and the Dead Sea in Jordan. the Hammamat springs still run hot till today, now there are modern spa resort in the area, there are many springs but the main waterfall is gushing over a cliff beneath the resort, and its water temperature ranges from 40 to 60 degrees, there you will find Jordanian families & tourists enjoying the Hammamat waters, most of the Jordanian or the Arab families are in fully _veiled robes and the European touriss are in their modern western swimsuits. During the time of king Herod, these springs were called as Baaras, Herod built a big house there & according to the tradition, it was at that villa that Salome danced and John the Baptist was beheaded

Day 4 : Hammamat Ma'in, Free day for leasurs Enjoy your day swimming and enjoying the splendid views of Hammamat Ma'in , it is a free day for leisure

Day 5 : Tours To Madaba, Mount Nbo, Dead Sea hotel Enjoy your breakfast then drive to visit the city of Madaba, it is well known for its mosaic art,Madaba is a home of one of the most famous mosaic in the world,it is the 6 th century mosaic map of Jerusalem and the Holy land,it was done by 2 millions pieces of vividly colored local stones, Madaba mosaic depicts hills & valleys, towns & villages in Palestine, and arrive to Egypt Nile Delta. The mosaic map of Madaba covers Saint George church floor which is a Greek orthodox church built in1896 AD, Saint George church was built on the ruins of other elder Byzantine church, The original mosaic map was 15.6x6m, only about quarter of it was preserved very well. You can see other masterpeices of Madaba mosaic in the Church of The Virgin,the Apostles & in the Archaeological museum depicting nature, daily life things &scenes from the mythology. Proceed your tour from Madaba to visit mount Nbo,it is the place where Moses had gazed at the promised land, then drive to the Dead sea, go to your hotel , check in your Dead sea hotel. Overnight in Dead sea Day 6: Jordan Dead Sea at leisure Enjoy your breakfast in your hotel in Dead Sea, enjoy your free day as many other famous visitor from the ancient history, such asking Herod, or Queen Kleopatra, who were visiting the area, to enjoy its unique characters, the high temprature all the year, the low humidity, Jordan Dead Sea is the lowest point on earth and its water contain the highest content of minerals and salts in all our world Overnight Dead Sea Hotel

Day 7 Free Day for leisure in Dead Sea enjoy your second free day to enjoy the Dead sea

Day 8 Dead Sea Hotel, Dana Village, Wadi Rum, Petra Hotel Enjoy your breakfast in hotel, then drive to the Dana Biosphere Reserve, where you will enjoy the splendid different views in the largest nature reserve in Jordan,then driving towards the protected area ( Wadi Rum desert ), Wadi Rum is one of the most impressive desert landscapes in the world, start your safari tours by jeep 4x4, to explore the desert of Wadi Rum, discover the Nabatean Rock inscriptions, then driving about one hour and half to Petra, check in your hotel in Petra.

Day 9 Petra Day Tour, Petra Hotel After enjoying your breakfast,start a very unique day tour to discover the most important attraction in Petra, which was established by the Nabatean Arab to be their capital,they are a nomadic Aarabic tribe which settled in the area and established COMMERCIAL EMPIRE,You will strat the tour to Petra or walking or riding a horse or a camel to cross the Siq or tha canyon leading you to the Treasury building, discover te red lost city of Petra where you will see the royal tombs, the pharaoh's castle, the street of facades, tombs, temples and ta theatre, back to your hotel in Petra Overnight in Petra

Day 10 From Petra to Amman airport Enjoy your breakfast, check out at 11:30 am or before as your departure time, if your departure time is late we can add a day use in Petra hotel or in Amman hotel as you want, It takes about two hours and half from Petra hotel to Amman airport, the transfer time will depend on your flight time

Included

- Meet and greet service upon your arrival to Amman airport - All the travel package transfer by A/C modern vans,& English speaking ecoter - Accomodation in 5 stars hotels bed and breakfast one night at Amman hotel, 3 nights at Hammamat, 3 nights at Dead Sea, 2 nights at Petra hotel - English speaking Tour guide on spot in Petra 3 hours - English speaking Tour guide on spot in Jerash, one hour - 2 hours jeep safari in Wadi Rum desert

Excluded

- International flights - Meals not mentioned - Tipping kitty - Personal expenses

For more info

· [email protected]

· Website

· https://www.worldtouradvice.com/

· Mobile and what’s App:

· 002 01090023837

#Best Honeymoon Places in Jordan

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nugicus · 4 years

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Top 5 Archaeological Sites and Relics that were Irreplaceably Damaged on Account of Human Stupidity

As a major in the humanities, nothing makes me more livid than learning about the loss or irreversible damage of an immensely important example of cultural heritage due to mankind’s massive propensity to royally screw something up. Reasons for such poorly thought-out actions that lead to the impairment of historical artifacts can be the result of either amateur archaeologists who foolishly believed they knew what they were doing to outright malicious acts of vandalism. Whatever the reason the outcome is still painfully the same: the erasure of a cultural site that is incrementally tied to the fabric of ones cultural identity, preventing those who share that same identity from engaging in their own heritage. Here are some examples I found the most serious.

5. A Bunch of Brits Damaged an Important Irish Archaeological Site Because they Believed they were the Descendants of Biblical Hebrews

Ah, the late 1800s. A time when the European industrial powers had begun to implement foreign policies with an overwhelming focus on dominating other countries, especially those in Africa and Asia, as a means of obtaining inexpensive raw materials to feed their growing economies. In terms of amount of land annexed and political dominance, there was no imperialist power more successful in this complex process than Great Britain. In order to justify such vastly one-sided geopolitical influence, social Darwinian theories were frequently espoused by British statesmen which had the habit of arguing that the supposedly “superior” white race had the right and the duty to civilize nonwhite races that were deemed inferior. However, some Englishmen wanted to take it a step further by advocating an even more ridiculous belief, known as British Israelism.

Influenced by writings, such as John Wilson’s 1840 Our Israelitish Origin, adherents of this theory suggest that the modern day inhabitants of the British Isles are, both genetically and linguistically, the direct descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of ancient Israel. Apparently, according to the pseudo-etymology used by British Israelists, the Saxons are the descendants of the ancient Scythians, a nomadic people who resided on the Pontic Steppe. The Scythians are, in turn, the descendants of the biblical “Isaac,” due to the phonetic similarity between what the Persians called the Scythians, the Sacae, and Israel’s patriarch. The name, Saxons, is also further interpreted to mean “Sac’s sons” or “son of Isaac.”

If all this sounds preposterous to you, that’s because it pretty much is. The languages of the British Isles, such as English, Welsh, and Gaelic, and Hebrew belong to two completely separate language families. The former is Indo-European, while the later is Afro-Asiatic. However, these hints that their theory was nothing more that pseudo-linguistic drivel didn’t stop British Israelists from damaging one of Ireland’s most important archaeological sites, the Hill of Tara.

Considered one of the most sacred locales in Ireland and an important symbol of Irish nationhood, the Hill of Tara had been used for three thousand and a half years as a pagan burial site and, during the early Middle Ages, it served as the seat of the High Kings of Ireland. Between 1899 and 1902, British Israelists led by judge Edward Wheeler Bird began to frantically dig up the site, mutilating much of it, in hopes of, get this, discovering the legendary Ark of the Covenant. Because if the Ark of the Covenant would be anywhere it would be in a place ancient Hebrews had no idea even existed. As one could imagine, Irish cultural nationalists, including professional archaeologists and journalists, were furious but ultimately couldn’t do a thing to stop them since the excavators paid off the local landlord and guarded the site with firearms as a means of keeping a group of protesters away from the dig site.

4. A German Amateur Archaeologist uses a very “Unconventional” Method to Excavate Troy

Archaeological fieldwork, especially excavations, are an incredibly meticulous process. The long, painstaking procedure of acquiring grant funds, organizing staff and equipment, mapping out the appropriate dig site, removing earth one layer at a time, and sifting through buckets of dirt looking for artifacts may take months if not years to fully accomplish. There’s a perfectly good reason for such scrupulousness since attempting to excavating a site without the proper know-how is extremely haphazard and can potentially damage the very thing you’re trying to uncover. A perfect case of this are the actions of one Heinrich Schliemann.

Born in 1822 to a relatively poor family in northern Germany, Schliemann had been obsessed ever since he was seven years of age with discovering and excavating the legendary city of Troy. After acquiring a sizeable fortune working as a businessman, Schliemann traveled to western Anatolia where Troy was vaguely believed to have existed. He was then pointed to a to nearby tell (an artificial mound formed by the accumulated debris of generations of people who once resided in a settlement), called Hisarlik, which, according to an Englishman named Frank Calvert who owned the land the mound was located on, as a possible location of Troy. In 1870, Schliemann then gathered a team of about one hundred local laborers and began digging at the site for about three years until he made an astounding discovery: Hisarlik wasn’t just the site of a single, important city, but multiple ones layered on top of one another formed after millennia as the settlement had been repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt by inhabitants.

In order to reach the lowest layer, which he believed was Troy from the Iliad, Schliemann relied on a very unorthodox method that other archaeologists wouldn’t even consider using and for good reason: dynamite. Ancient cities and priceless artifacts were literally obliterated into dust due to his recklessness and poor record keeping until eventually Schliemann thought he found what he was looking for. When he finally reach one of the lowest layers, he discovered a cache of golden objects and jewels, which he proclaimed to be the treasure of Priam, the king of Troy in Homer’s poem. However, there was a serious problem. Not only did Schliemann destroy countless finds on his destructive mission to reach what he believed to be Troy, but the treasures he recovered were actually from a city that existed centuries prior. According to dating methods, the Troy from the Illiad was actually located in the strata Schliemann annihilated with dynamite.

3. The Great Pyramid of Giza is Vandalized by Two German Amateur Archaeologists because they Believed they were Built by Aliens

Currently, one of the primary disseminators of pseudoarchaeological and pseudohistorical theories is undoubtedly the New Age movement. Beginning in the 1960s, this philosophy, which suggests that the world has become too materialistic and has turned away from the spiritualism that is the heart of creation and that there is a non-physical reality than underlies our physical world, is largely responsible for much of the spread of evidence-less beliefs that are related to history and archaeology. These assertions include claims regarding lost, technologically advanced civilizations, such as Atlantis, Lemuria, or Mu, or the theory that aliens have visited us in the Earth’s past and influenced our culture. Such fantastical notions have largely exited the fringe and have become more accepted since the late 20th century thanks in part to being picked up and discussed the History Channel.

Generally speaking, these theorists are typically harmless when it comes to their presence at archaeological sites, that changed in 2013 when a couple of German amateur archaeologists decided to vandalized Egypt’s Great Pyramid of Giza in order to prove that the monuments weren’t built by ancient Egyptians. In April of that year, Dominique Goerlitz and Stefan Erdmann, as well as a filmmaker, were, for some reason, given permission to enter the inner chambers of the pyramid that’s normally closed off to the public and proceeded to take a number of samples from a cartouche, which is a hieroglyphic inscription that normally represents the name and title of an Egyptian monarch, and smuggle them out of the country to Dresden University for further study. Neither men were professional archaeologists, nor were the associated with any institute involved in the field.

Apparently, the purpose of their defacement was to prove their “alternate theory” that the pyramids weren’t built by ancient Egyptians. Rather, they proposed that the Egyptian pyramids were build by a technologically advanced civilization that had existed much earlier than around 2500 BCE, which is when the Great Pyramid of Giza is believed to have been built.

As you can imagine, both German and Egyptian government authorities were absolutely furious over their actions. The three German hobbyists, as well six Egyptian guards and inspectors who let them into pyramid in the first place, are now facing serious charges. Lastly both Goerlitz and Erdmann tried to apologize for their vandalism in a letter directed to Egypt’s Ministry of Antiquities but it has been rightfully rejected.

2. Museum Workers use Epoxy Glue to Repair Tutankhamun’s Mask

Without a doubt, archaeological restoration and conservation is a delicate and arduous task that demands a considerable amount of research. Besides it requiring a professionally trained team of conservators and restorers who’re capable of making sure the object matches its original condition as close as possible while using a variety of methods, it is also highly dependent on that team to be aware of the materials used when the object was constructed. Completing such work can take what seems like ages as the restorers meticulously reverse or preserve the appearance of famous works of art, while following a strict code of ethics and scientific guidelines. Interestingly, employees at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo decided to ignore all that nettlesome repair work when they accidently damaged one of Egypt’s most important works of art.

Back in 2014, the famous Mask of Tutankhamen was clumsily damaged when it had it’s beard broken off while employees were busy fixing a light in it’s display case. Instead of following protocol by relying professional restoration methods and acquiring an expert in art restoration, they made the astonishingly poor decision of hastily gluing the beard back on with a quick-dry epoxy, that is normally used for wood or metal, in order to conceal their crime. This was followed a reckless scrapping by using a spatula in order to get some of the excess glue off, which ended up causing a scratch. They then placed the mask back into the display case with the hopes that no one will noticed. Unsurprisingly, however, guests did notice in 2015 when, on closer inspection, the beard appeared off center and that there was clearly a visible layer of glue between the face and the beard.

Despite fears that the damage was completely irreversible, German restoration specialist, Christian Eckmann, along with a team of conservators, archaeologists, and natural scientists successfully removed the glue and reattached the beard in a delicate operation that took nine weeks. First, they took a 3d scan of the mask to document it and then they raised it’s temperature in order to safely remove the epoxy glue with wooden tools. They then proceeded to fasten the beard by recreating the same technique the ancients would have relied on using beeswax. Now, the mask has been put back on display since late 2015 after a lengthy procedure. Meanwhile, eight of the employees who botched the repair job have been referred to trial by the Administrative Prosecution and are accused of negligence and unrefined restoration of the mask.

1. Greenpeace Damages the Nazca Lines due to a Publicity Stunt

Located in the arid Nazca Desert of Southern Peru, the Nazca Lines are an impressive series of large geoglyphs that span an area of about 19 sq mi. Created sometime between 500 BCE and 500 CE, these expansive markings that were etched in a pebble-covered, windless landscape, vary in design, but they the majority normally come in the form of straight lines that, when combined, are eight hundred miles long. They also appear to depict a myriad of plants, animals, and humanoid figures, such as a hummingbird, monkey, and a whale, that are usually composed of a single continuous line. Since they were first intensively studied in the 1940s, the reason for their existence has largely escaped modern scholars, though there have been numerous theories as to their purpose.

In the past few decades, the extremely fragile geoglyphs have come under threat due to changes in global weather patterns brought on by climate change. Disturbances caused by human actions is also a risk, since the ground is notoriously sensitive due to the fact that the ground is made up of nothing more than black rocks atop white sand. So far any damage the Nazca Lines have attained due to either environmental factors and human impact have been regarded as minimal. However, in December 2014, they sustained damage from an unlikely source which managed to infuriate the Peruvian government. As part of a publicity stunt, individuals affiliated with the environmental organization Greenpeace, of all people, entered an area near the geoglyphs that is strictly prohibited due to the fact that a single step can cause permanent damage. Then, as part of a message meant for a highly important, UN-sponsored meeting regarding global warming that was occurring in Lima at the time, they proceeded to lay down big yellow cloth letters near the hummingbird geoglyph that read: “Time for Change, The Future is Renewable.” After observing drone footage taken in the aftermath of the stunt, it was revealed through visual evidence that new lines were formed after the activists hiked to the site and what appears to be an outline of the letter “C.”

In response to such recklessness, Deputy Cultural Minister Luis Jaime Castillo has threatened legal action against the activists for what he rightly referred to as a “slap in the face at everything Peruvians consider sacred.” The Peruvian government was also seeking to prevent the participants from leaving the country and sought to identify the careless activists. Meanwhile, Greenpeace did its best to apologize for their actions in a statement they issued which states they plan to entirely co-operate with any investigation Peru has planned out. Unfortunately for Greenpeace, the apology did go over well with the people of Peru, which prompted Castillo to refer to it as a “joke,” since Greenpeace had initially refuse to identify the vandals or accept responsibility. After mounting pressure, however, Greenpeace decided to release the names of four of the activists involved by giving their names to prosecutors in the hopes that they will drop the charges against two journalists who were also at the event.

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dailyaudiobible · 4 years

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01/12/2021 DAB Transcript

Genesis 26:17-27:46, Matthew 9:1-17, Psalms 10:16-18, Proverbs 3:9-10

Today is the 12th day of January welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I'm Brian it is great to be here with you today…today as we continue our journey forward in and through the…the first month of this year, the month of January. And we are…we’re well on our way. And, so, as is our custom day by day step-by-step, we enter into a rhythm that allows us to come around this Global Campfire as a community and hear the Scriptures spoken over us, and give some things to think about and meditate upon and to know that we’re not alone in this endeavor no matter what time you might be listening to Daily Audio Bible no matter what time you click play somebody else in the world is also there. There's never a time when this isn’t…when this isn’t just going out into the world. And, so, that is a beautiful thing to know. We’re not in this together and we’re pushing into this second week approaching in a few days the center of the first month. And we are on a journey and we’re not alone and that is a beautiful thing. So, let's dive in and take that next step. We…we’re reading about Jacob and Esau yesterday and sort of the conniving of a birthright away from the firstborn son Esau that was given to Jacob and…well… we’ll continue that story. Genesis chapter 26 verse 17 through 27 verse 46. And we’re reading from the New Living Translation this week.

Commentary:

Okay. Once again, the book of Proverbs, the voice of wisdom is speaking to us and we can hear these phrases and these stanzas of wisdom and take them to hearty, actually pay close close attention to what's being said and promised, or just kinda let it go by us and “yeah yeah yeah, I kinda know that. I know I should honor the Lord with my wealth. Like I’ve been told that all along.” And yeah, we probably have. But there's more to this story. “Honor the Lord with your wealth and the best part of everything you produce.” In other words, your best…your best goes to God and in exchange he will fill your barns with grain and your vats will overflow with good wine. And we may be like, “well…I don't need a barn of grain.” If you were in the time that these words…that these words are being spoken that would be a promise that you're going to be okay, that your needs will not only be met but you will have a surplus and you will be able to use that surplus wisely to not only care for and preserve your own family, but to care for and preserve others. So what God is essentially telling us, what wisdom is speaking to us is of our utter dependence upon God. What we may be able to accumulate in this life on our own without God, the Bible will tell us over and over things like “that will be moth-eaten, that will be destroyed, that will disappear like a vapor.” But walking with God the most-high, who owns the earth, like created the earth has a claim to the planet as well as the universe and all of its resources. Like we have all these boundary lines for our planets. And God permits all of this is if we have ownership, but this is God's world, He made it, He owns it. So, certainly he can get us the resources that we need if we trust in Him by giving our best first. And again we can just look at wisdom here and the voice of wisdom and we could say, “I don't believe that” and not try, not even…not even make an attempt to see if it's real or we can listen to the voice of wisdom and watch it play out in our lives.

And then we zoom back to where we began today in the book of Genesis and we traveled along with Isaac and him having to move around and find a settled place where he could be with his family. And then we watched the animosity grow between Jacob and Esau. And we are at the point now where Jacob has finagled the birthright and the blessing of the firstborn for himself. And Esau is obviously furious, so furious that he's consoling himself by making plans to kill his brother. And, so, Rebekah, Jacob's mother, wants Jacob to flee back to her family, back to her brother and his name is Laban. And we met Laban. Remember when the servant of Abraham went to find Rebekah and when he put the nose ring and the bracelets on her, and she went home. It was Laban who came to see the servant and make the inquiries. So, Rebekah is telling her son Jacob, “go back to my brother Laban” and that's what he's going to do. And we are also starting to get a small sense of geography. Some places are being named. And again, you know, you read the place names or even the people names in the Bible and it's…there so unfamiliar to the culture that we live in and we just kind of glaze over it all. We don't have a map. We don't know the geography. We don't know where things are. And, so, we just imagine in our minds but we’re beginning to hear of places, places like Beersheba, the well of the oath. That's an important place that actually until this very day still exists, and it will become the southern border of a future nation of Israel - from Dan to Beersheba. So, we’re starting to get a sense that Beersheba’s here in the South. And it is. It's right on…right on the edge of the desert. These places exist. You can see many of the places that we’re gonna visit in the Bible in a resource that we…that we worked on for five years. It's called Promised Land and it’s in the Daily Audio Bible Shop. We’ll send you some…a couple of DVDs but we’ll also give you the digital version of it right on the spot. And basically, what it is is over 70 different locations that are biblical verified archaeological locations that…that major things happen in in the Bible, like Beersheba. That's one of them. And, so, you can see these places, not just in a static kind of one-dimensional photograph, but actually filmed where you can kinda get a sense of the scope and the space all around it. More like a 360 kind of view of what the place looks like today and that the place existed and has stories that have been told for thousands of years from that place. So, there is a resource in the Daily Audio Bible shop that can take this journey even deeper and give you a visual of many of the places that we are reading about and will read about in the Bible. So, check that out.

Prayer:

Father, we thank You for Your word. We thank You for all of the different nuances and all of the different complexions, all of the different angles that it comes to us in, whether that be a narrative story or whether that be in spoken wisdom unfiltered into our lives or whether that be in stanzas of adoration and worship in the Psalms. All of the issues of life begin to emerge as we immerse ourselves in the Bible. And, so, we open ourselves and say, Holy Spirit come plant the words in our lives that we might yield the fruit of the Holy Spirit in…in our lives and that it may be visible transformation to those around us we pray. In the name of Jesus, we ask. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is home base, it’s the website, it’s where you find what's going on around here.

And, yeah, the Daily Audio Bible Shop, we were just talking about this. This is where you can find resources like the Promised Land films and take your journey as deep as you want to go and as wide as you want to go. But dive in. The Bible is also intriguing and so powerful in our lives if we hadn't noticed that already. The Bible’s been speaking volumes to us right out of the gate and it doesn't stop it just continues to speak all the way through the year. And, so, often it speaks things that we need right when we need them. And that has just so profoundly beautiful to watch, just to watch God work through it in us so that we’re hearing things when we need to hear them and they’re changing us. So, check out the resources in the Daily Audio Bible Shop.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that dailyaudiobible.com as well. There is a link on the homepage and grateful, humbly grateful for everyone who has clicked that link. If you are using the Daily Audio Bible app you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or the mailing address, if that's your preference, is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement you can hit the Hotline button in the app, the little red button up at the top and share from there, or you can dial 877-942-4253.

And that's it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Good morning DAB family God bless you all. Jeff Scepter, a longtime listener but your wife is a newbie and she just completed I think you said her first year or something like that. I am praying for the wisdom of the Lord to be upon her in the name of Jesus and I’m believing in the name of Jesus that she is going to thrive in this community as you have been. Praise you Jesus. And welcome, welcome, welcome to your wife in the name of Jesus. Hallelujah Lita. Grace filled DeCastro you’re returning to work as a teaching assistant. I am praying for you sister in the name of Jesus for you and those around you. I am praying for the children in the name of Jesus. Hope from the Heartland you first called in to share you know how much you enjoyed doing Instacart and listening to the Christmas party and then your following message was about losing your mom. I am so so sorry. I am praying for the peace of God to be upon you all. I am praying for that comforter to just cover you in His love in the name of Jesus. Airport Missionary you called in sharing your gratitude and how thankful you are in regard to the job that had been prayed for for you and how interesting the experience has been. And I am praying with you sister I am praying for you and I am praying for all those lives that you are touching along the way. Zinab from London God bless you. Welcome, welcome, welcome. I can just say welcome. You know, the DAB community has been amazing in my life and I know it will be for yours and your double DABber. Hooray. Yay! God bless you. Esther from Orlando. I love you all.

Hey DAB family this is Tiffany in New Mexico. I wanted to call in because yesterday I was sick. I’m actually still a little sick but after spending half the morning just laying in bed watching Hallmark movies it suddenly dawned on me that I could be better spending my time getting on the app and going to the Prayer Wall and praying for people. And I know that Brian mentions it quite frequently, but I just wanted to remind you guys that there are so many prayer needs on the Prayer Wall. And it’s…it’s the people that may be afraid to actually call in with a prayer request or some people just need more immediate prayer. So, I just wanted to encourage each of you that if you just have a couple minutes each day to go on to the Prayer Wall and just meet some of these prayer needs because that’s what we are, where a family that prays for one another. So, anyway it blessed my…the rest of my day yesterday being sick in bed and I just thought I might remind you guys that it could also be a blessing for you as well. So, anyway. Love you all. Take care. Bye.

Happy new year Brian and fellow DABbers and I’m so deeply invested in this community that I am now a triple DABber. The saying goes that the third time is a charm and I was definitely charmed by little Ezekiel at DABK. Oh, my word Zeke is a wonder kid I tell you. It warms my heart to hear him read in such pureness and innocence and he is so eager to read the Bible. The interaction with his mom is just adorable. Good job Brian and Jill. God bless you. Okay a big shout out to those who continue to pray for our children and grandchildren, especially Duane who has been so consistent over the years. Know that I pray for your voice too. And Rose, I love your prayers. I offer up a yes and amen for all the prayers that come in for kids and grandkids. Okay, the Christmas party was off the chart. Like Cherry I enjoyed the party with an active imagination sitting by the campfire throwing on the log here and there and partying without even having to practice social distancing. How about that? One last thing before I run out of time. Mike, that was a beautiful statement you made to Brian and I join thoughts with you to continue praying that the Lord will protect him from burnout. When you mentioned that he’s always here for the community I thought of the…the post man, the postman slogan which says rain sleet or snow nothing stops this man of God. And Brian you are very much appreciated and loved. Well, I gotta go running out of time. So, Charm DABber out. Peace on.

Good morning Daily Audio Bible community this is Diane Olive Braun, and I am an encourager, just one of many, many, many, many. So, I so love this community and I’m gathering around the campfire and putting my logs on warming my hands and my heart. Oh, today I listened to the January 7th 2021. O, what can I say? What can I say? Forgiveness. Oh, thank you Brian, thank you Jill, thank you Ezekiel. Oh Ezekiel, breathing in and say Jesus forgives me. Breathe out all this junk. I just…I’m so sorry. I’ve been so touchy, fretful, resentful. I’ve been so offended. When someone offends me, I get so angry. Jesus says take no offense. And Abraham and Sarah, they were so quick to obey. I’ve been slow to obey. I’m gonna delight myself in…

Hello, I’m Metoo and I’m coming from India, a small place named New Bombay. This is the very first time that I’m listening to the Daily Audio Bible and this has been seven days now and I’m listening to Brian and it has been very encouraging. And also, has been guiding me as well. I look forward to complete the…the whole Bible and towards the end of the year and I look forward and believe that there will be a lot of books and the words from God from the Lord that will guide us each day. This has been a really good seven days and I look forward to hearing each and every session of the Daily Audio Bible. Thank you so much. God bless you all for doing such a great job. God bless you all with wisdom and I thank you…

Hi DAB family this is Lisa from Missouri. I’m calling in because two years ago today I started listening to the DAB. I accidentally came across the app, downloaded it and started listening. I caught up for the six days that I missed. Listening to the DAB and listening to Brian and listening to the prayers of the community and the encouragement and the stories that the DAB community has shared has played a huge part in what God has done in my life over the last two years, how God has transformed my heart and transformed me from the inside out. I re-dedicated my heart can’t May…in May of 2019. I grew up in a Christian home. I went to church. I was saved at a young age but because…but I did stray from that for some years and…but God drew me back and I just want to thank Brian. Thank you Brian for your faithfulness to us, for teaching us and showing us who God really is and how much he loves us. If you’re new to this community and you just started listening, hang in there. Keep listening. God will move in your life. He will open your heart and you will receive so much from him. Hang in there. Keep listening. God bless everyone. Have a…

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thejudahite · 5 years

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For just $14.24 A fact-and-image-filled guide to the arts, cultures, geography, geology, theologies, philosophies, and lifestyles of biblical times. Easy to use, and full of a wealth of information, the Zondervan Compact Bible Dictionary will equip your study of the Bible. The dictionary features: Concise definitions of persons, places, objects, events, and concepts Over 6,000 entries Summaries of the books of the Bible Information about archaeological finds in the Holy Land Hundreds of illustrations Maps of the ancient world from the time of Abraham to the height of the Roman Empire (2000 B.C.-A.D. 117) Conservative scholarship that is comprehensive in scope Ideal usefulness for laypersons, students, teachers, and pastors

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eretzyisrael · 6 years

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Tourists to Jewish holy places must, according to Amnesty, avoid buying a Coke from a Jewish-owned store and instead try to find an Arab-owned store. Sure, the tourists - especially the Jewish ones - might be stabbed for walking into the store, but at least they won't be drinking cola contaminated with Jew cooties.

Settler groups supported by the Israeli government emphasize the Jewish people’s historic connections to the region.

Egads! Settlers are so evil that they actually have the chutzpah to tell visitors that the Bible mentions their history!

Is Amnesty saying the Jewish people do not have a historic connection to the region? It sure seems like they would prefer that this information is buried, because when Jews actually have a connection to their heritage, it makes other Jews and Christians want to visit. And that helps out settlers! The inhumanity!

By the way, do tourists in Palestinian Arab areas hear anything about the Jewish history in the land? Would Amnesty ever complain about it if they don't?

Of course not. Because the subtext of this report is that the Jewish connection to the land is the real problem. It brings tourists. It is suspect. It is one-sided. The Palestinians are the only legitimate residents and the Jews really don't belong. Amnesty is this close to saying that Jews are Khazars and imposters.

It is the same message that Hamas and all the other antisemites give.

Israel has constructed many of its settlements close to archaeological sites to make the link between the modern State of Israel and its Jewish history explicit.

Um, no. Jews moved to these areas to be close to where Biblical events occurred. You can find this secret information out by - gasp - asking them.

Amnesty is saying that such connections are nefarious, when they are natural - if you actually give any credence to Jewish history.

In addition, websites and visitor maps issued by the Israel Nature and Parks Authority and Israel’s Ministry of Tourism do not show the West Bank’s borders. Instead, the area is marked as “Judea and Samaria”, a term for the West Bank used by the government and settlers and not by Palestinians. This suggests a deliberate attempt to conceal from tourists that these places are in the OPT.

How dare Israel use Biblical names instead of the name that Jordanians made up in 1949? Clearly, they aren't interested in preserving Jewish history, but in destroying Palestinian history!

Amnesty knows that the tourists in Judea and Samaria are primarily Christians and Jews who are attached to the Bible. But it still quotes a Palestinian approvingly, saying:

“Tourists coming here are brainwashed, they are lied to, they do not know this is our land.”

Can Amnesty list a single lie that the tour guides are saying? If not, why does it quote someone calling them a liars?

#amnesty international #tourism #israel #west bank #judea and samaria #old city #anti-semitism #history

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wisdomfish · 6 years

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Five Archaeology Books Every Christian Should Read...

1 Archaeology and the Old Testament by Alfred J. Hoerth

A great general overview of the archaeology of the Old Testament organized chronologically, beginning with the Patriarchs in Mesopotamia (a term you should already know), and ending with the Persian exile and the rise of Greece in the Intertestmental Period (the time period between the Old & New Testaments). This is a great book to begin with! There are illustrations, charts and maps throughout the book which are very helpful. At the end of each chapter is a great bibliography for further study.

2 Archaeology and the New Testament by John McRay

This book is the companion volume to the book listed above. It is organized into four parts which focus primarily on the cultural and political background of the New Testament period. Part 1 – The Architecture of New Testament Times; Part 2 – The Building Program of Herod the Great; Part 3 – Archaeology and the Life of Christ, and Part 4 – Archaeology and the Church. Personally, one of my favorite parts of this book is Chapter 11, ‘The Discovery and Contributions of Ancient Documents,’ which discusses the interaction of ancient historical texts with archaeology.

3 Ancient Egypt and the Old Testament by John D. Currid

This is one of my “all time favorite” books on Ancient Egypt and the Bible! This book by Dr. John Currid provides some amazing and excellent insights into the culture of ancient Egypt. According to the Bible, the Israelites lived in Egypt for 400 years. and the religious culture of Egypt would have had a profound influence over they way that they thought. Since Moses (the traditional author of the Pentateuch) also lived in Egypt, then certainly, there would be evidence in the Biblical text that indicates its authenticity. What is the significance of Moses’ staff becoming a serpent in front of Pharaoh? What do the ten plagues listed in Exodus 7-12 have to do with Egyptian gods and even the pharaoh himself? To find out the answers and learn more about Egypt and the Bible, then read the Old Testament book of Exodus and get Currid’s book.

4 Doing Archaeology in the Land of the Bible: A Basic Guide by John D. Currid

The fourth book I recommend to beginners in archaeology is also by John Currid. This book is not very long, but it is packed with great information on the history of archaeology and the Bible as well as the science of archaeology. Interspersed throughout the text, are boxes containing archaeological terms with brief definitions – a great tool for newcomers and a refresher to those already familiar with Biblical archaeology. One example of this is “Stratigraphy: the study of the deposition and relationships of the occupational layers of an archaeological site.”

5 The MacMillan Bible Atlas, 3rd Edition, Edited by Yohanon Aharoni, Michael Avi-Yonah, Anson F. Rainey, and Ze’ev Safrai

I am a firm believer that every Christian should visit the Holy Land at least once if they are able. If not, the next best thing is to get a very good Bible atlas. I my library I have several Bible atlases including a two-volume satellite atlas. But there is one atlas that I come back to again and again, and it is the Macmillan Bible Atlas, 3rd Edition. Having excavated in Israel and seeing first-hand how geography is an integral part of the Biblical narrative – a Bible atlas is vital for getting the context of Scripture. Physical geography is also important even in helping identify ancient Biblical sites (such has been the case at least since Edward Robinson in the 1830’s). As the late archaeologist, Yohanan Aharoni wrote: “It is not too much to say that the geographical position of this little land has always dominated its history. Thus, in the land of the Bible, geography and history are so interwoven that neither can be understood without the other.”

~ Ted Wright

#archaeology #science #atlas #geography #history

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biblicalarchaeology1 · 2 months

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Understanding Ze'ev Herzog and Key Archaeology Terms

Ze'ev Herzog, a renowned Israeli archaeologist, has significantly influenced our understanding of ancient civilizations through his extensive research and excavations. His work often intersects with the field of biblical archaeology, challenging and refining our interpretations of historical narratives found in religious texts. This article will delve into Herzog's contributions, explain key archaeology terms, and explore the identity of the modern-day Edomites.

Ze'ev Herzog's Contributions to Archaeology

Ze'ev Herzog has led numerous excavations across Israel, uncovering artifacts and structures that provide insight into the ancient Near East. His work has been pivotal in reassessing the historical accuracy of the Bible, particularly the narratives surrounding the early Israelites. Herzog's controversial stance on the non-existence of the biblical patriarchs and the exodus story as literal historical events has sparked significant debate within both academic and religious communities.

Key Archaeology Terms

Understanding archaeology terms is essential for anyone interested in the field. Here are some important terms from A to Z:

Artifact: Any object made or modified by humans, typically an item of cultural or historical interest.

Carbon Dating: A method for determining the age of an artifact or site using the decay of carbon isotopes.

Excavation: The process of systematically uncovering archaeological remains through digging.

In Situ: An artifact that is in its original place of deposition.

Stratigraphy: The study of soil layers (strata) to understand the sequence of historical events.

For a comprehensive list of archaeology terms, resources such as biblicalarchaeology.org provide valuable glossaries and educational materials.

Biblical Archaeology and the Site of Legio

Legio is an important archaeological site located in northern Israel, known for its Roman military camp. Excavations at Legio have revealed significant findings about the Roman presence in the region, including the layout of the camp and artifacts that shed light on daily military life. These discoveries contribute to our understanding of the broader historical context in which ancient civilizations interacted.

Modern-Day Edomites

The question of who are the modern-day Edomites is intriguing. Historically, the Edomites were a Semitic people living in what is now southwestern Jordan. Over time, they assimilated with neighboring populations and eventually disappeared as a distinct group. Today, tracing their direct descendants is challenging due to the complex history of migration and intermarriage in the region. However, some scholars suggest that certain Bedouin tribes in Jordan and Israel might retain Edomite lineage.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the work of Ze'ev Herzog has profoundly impacted our understanding of ancient history and biblical narratives. Familiarity with archaeology terms and significant sites like Legio enriches our appreciation of the field's complexity. While identifying modern-day Edomites remains speculative, continued archaeological and genetic research may provide further insights.

For those interested in deepening their knowledge, exploring resources such as biblicalarchaeology.org can offer a wealth of information on both specific archaeological findings and general archaeology terminology. By staying informed and engaged with current research, we can better understand the ancient world and its enduring influence on contemporary society. Source Url: https://biblicalarchaeology1.blogspot.com/2024/07/beer-sheba-map-tracing-biblical.html

#ze'ev herzog #zeev herzog #archaeology glossary #archeology terms #archaeology terminology #archaeology terms a to z #biblicalarchaeology.org legio #archaeology terms #who are modern day edomites

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archaeologyinbulgaria · 6 years

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5 Incredible Underwater Discoveries by Black Sea MAP in Bulgaria’s Zone: From Ancient Sunken Ships to the Biblical Deluge

The 13th-14th century Pre-Columbian round ship, possibly Venetian, is one of the top finds of the Black Sea MAP expedition. Photo: Black Sea M.A.P

2018 was the third and last year of the Black Sea Maritime Archaeology Project (Black Sea M.A.P.), an international research endeavor which has made previously unimaginable underwater archaeology discoveries, in terms of ancient sunken ships and not…

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xtruss · 3 years

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Siege Ramps and Breached Walls: Ancient Warfare and the Assyrian Conquest of Lachish

— November 9, 2021 | HeritageDaily.Com

Image Credit: John Theodor - Shutterstock

Back in the day, the Assyrians were one of the Near East’s biggest superpowers, controlling a land mass that stretched from Iran to Egypt.

They accomplished this feat with military technologies that helped them win any open-air battle or penetrate any fortified city. While today, air power and bunker busters help win the war, back in the ninth to the seventh centuries BC, it was all about the siege ramp, an elevated structure that hauled battering ramps up to the enemy’s city walls and let the Neo-Assyrians soldiers wreak havoc on their enemies.

Constructed in Israel, the Assyrian siege ramp at Lachish is the only surviving physical example of their military prowess in the entire Near East. Now, for the first time, a team of archaeologists has reconstructed how the Assyrian army may have built the ramp and used it to conquer the city of Lachish.

The team, led by Professor Yosef Garfinkel and Dr. Madeleine Mumcuoglu of the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU), and Professors Jon W. Carroll and Michael Pytlik of Oakland University, USA, drew on a rich number of sources about this historical event to provide this complete picture.

The outstanding amount of data includes biblical texts (2 Kings 18:9–19:37; 2 Chronicles 32; Isaiah 36–37), iconography (stone reliefs depicting Assyrian battle scenes) and Akkadian inscriptions, archeological excavations, and 21st century drone photographs. They published their findings in Oxford Journal of Archaeology.

Lachish was a flourishing Canaanite city in the second millennium BC and had been the second most important city in the Kingdom of Judah. In 701 BC Lachish was attacked by the Assyrian army, led by King Sennacherib. Garfinkel’s analysis provides a vivid account of the construction of the massive ramp that was built by the Assyrians so that they could haul battering rams up to hilltop city of Lachish, breach its walls, and totally overrun the city.

There have been several conflicting views on how the formidable task of constructing the ramp was achieved. However, the rigorous method employed by Garfinkel and his team, including photogrammetric analysis of aerial photographs and creating a detailed digitally map of the relevant landscape, produced a practical model that accounts for all available information about that battle.

The Assyrians had a mighty and well-equipped army that, in the early eighth century BC, rapidly quelled growing rebellion in the Southern Levant. In 721 BC the Kingdom of Israel was conquered. Twenty years later, the Assyrian army attacked the Kingdom of Judah, laying siege to its most important city, Jerusalem, and launching a direct assault on its second most important city, Lachish. King Sennacherib himself went to Lachish to oversee its destruction, which began with his army building a ramp to reach the walls of the hilltop city.

According to Garfinkel, evidence at the site makes it clear that the ramp was made of small boulders, about 6.5 kg each. A major problem faced by the Assyrian army was the supply of such stones: about three million stones were needed. Where did these stones come from? Collecting natural field stones from the fields around the site would require a great deal of time and would slow the construction of the ramp.

A better solution would be to quarry the stones as close as possible to the far end of the ramp. “At Lachish there is indeed an exposed cliff of the local bedrock exactly at the point where one would expect it to be,” Garfinkel shared.

The research suggests that its construction began about 80 meters away from the walls of the city of Lachish, close to where stones required for the ramp could be quarried. The stones would have been transported along human chains –passed from man-to-man by hand. With four human chains working in parallel on the ramp each working round-the clock shifts, Garfinkel calculated that about 160 000 stones were moved each day.

“Time was the main concern of the Assyrian army. Hundreds of laborers worked day and night carrying stones, possibly in two shifts of 12 hours each. The manpower was probably supplied by prisoners of war and forced labor of the local population. The laborers were protected by massive shields placed at the northern end of the ramp. These shields were advanced towards the city by a few meters each day,” described Garfinkel.

In about 25 days, the ramp, which was the shape of a giant triangular wedge, could have reached the city walls. “This model assumes the Assyrians were very efficient, otherwise, it would have taken months to complete,” said Garfinkel. Indeed, the prophet Isaiah, who lived at the end of the eighth century BC and was an eyewitness to the events, mentioned the Assyrian army in some of his prophecies. He relates to the Assyrians as a mighty, supernatural power, “None of them tired, none of them stumbling, none of them asleep or drowsy, none of them with belt unfastened, none of them with broken sandal-strap.” (Isaiah 5:27).

As the workers built the final stages of the ramp and approached the walls of Lachish, the inhabitants would try to defend their city by shooting arrows and throwing down stones on their enemy. Garfinkel suggests that the workers used massive L-shaped wicker shields, similar to those shown protecting soldiers on Assyrian reliefs.

In the final stage, wooden beams were laid on top of the stones, where the battering rams within their massive siege machines, weighing up to 1 ton, would be securely positioned. The ram, a large, heavy wooden beam with a metal tip, battered the walls by being swung backwards and forwards. Garfinkel suggests that the ram was suspended within the siege engine on metal chains, as ropes would quickly wear out. Indeed, an iron chain was found on the top of the ramp at Lachish.

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tlatollotl · 7 years

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Thomas Stuart Ferguson lay in his hammock, certain that he had found the promised land. It had been raining for 5 hours in his camp in tropical Mexico on this late January evening in 1948, and his three campmates had long since drifted off to sleep. But Ferguson was vibrating with excitement. Eager to tell someone what he had seen, he dashed through the downpour to retrieve paper from his supply bag. Ensconced in his hammock's cocoon of mosquito netting, he clicked on his flashlight and began to write a letter home.

"We have discovered a very great city here in the heart of ‘Bountiful’ land," Ferguson wrote. According to the Book of Mormon, Bountiful was one of the first areas settled by the Nephites, ancient people who supposedly sailed from Israel to the Americas around 600 B.C.E. Centuries later, according to the scripture, Jesus appeared to the Nephites in the same region after his resurrection. Mormons like Ferguson were certain that these events had happened in the ancient Americas, but debates raged over exactly how their sacred lands mapped onto real-world geography. The Book of Mormon gave only scattered clues, speaking of a narrow isthmus, a river called Sidon, and lands to the north and south occupied by the Nephites and their enemies, the Lamanites.

After years of studying maps, Mormon scripture, and Spanish chronicles, Ferguson had concluded that the Book of Mormon took place around the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, the narrowest part of Mexico. He had come to the jungles of Campeche, northeast of the isthmus, to find proof.

As the group's local guide hacked a path through the undergrowth with his machete, that proof seemed to materialize before Ferguson's eyes. "We have explored four days and have found eight pyramids and many lesser structures and there are more at every turn," he wrote of the ruins he and his companions found on the western shore of Laguna de Términos. "Hundreds and possibly several thousand people must have lived here anciently. This site has never been explored before."

Thomas Stuart Ferguson

Ferguson, a lawyer by training, did go on to open an important new window on Mesoamerica's past. His quest eventually spurred expeditions that transformed Mesoamerican archaeology by unearthing traces of the region's earliest complex societies and exploring an unstudied area that turned out to be a crucial cultural crossroads. Even today, the institute he founded hums with research. But proof of Mormon beliefs eluded him. His mission led him further and further from his faith, eventually sapping him of religious conviction entirely. Ferguson placed his faith in the hands of science, not realizing they were the lion's jaws.

But that night, lying in his hammock listening to the rain and the occasional roar of a jaguar in the distance, Ferguson felt surer than ever that Mesoamerican civilizations had been founded by migrants from the Near East, just as his religion had taught him. Now, he thought, how would he convince the rest of the world?

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) doesn't take an official position on where the events in the Book of Mormon occurred. But the faithful have been trying to figure it out practically since 1830, when church founder Joseph Smith published what he said was a divinely inspired account of the ancient Americas. Smith said an angel had led him to buried ancient golden plates, which he dug up and translated into the Book of Mormon. Smith's account of buried wonders was one of many in the United States at the time. As white settlers moved west, they encountered mounds filled with skeletons and artifacts, including beautiful pottery and ornaments. Newspapers, including those in Smith's hometown of Palmyra, New York, buzzed with speculation about who the "mound builders" were and how they came by their refined culture. Many settlers, blinded by racism, concluded that the mound builders—now known to be indigenous farming societies—were a lost people who had been exterminated by the violent ancestors of Native Americans. The Book of Mormon, with its saga of righteous, white Nephites and wicked, dark-skinned Lamanites, echoed these ideas.

The Book of Mormon also spoke of sprawling ancient cities, none of which had been identified in the United States. So in the 1840s, Mormons, including Smith himself, took notice of a U.S. explorer's best-selling accounts of visits to the ruins of Mayan cities in Mexico and Guatemala. In 1842, as editor of a Mormon newspaper, Smith published excerpts from a book about the ruins of the Mayan city of Palenque in Mexico, with the commentary: "Even the most credulous cannot doubt … these wonderful ruins of Palenque are among the mighty works of the Nephites—and the mystery is solved."

But non-Mormons continued to doubt, and church authorities gradually retreated from explicit statements about Book of Mormon locations. By the 1930s, when Ferguson learned about Mesoamerican civilizations as an undergraduate at the University of California (UC), Berkeley, the matter had been largely ceded to amateurs who pored over maps and the Book of Mormon looking for correspondences.

Ferguson wasn't impressed by their efforts. "The interested and inquiring mind of the modern investigator is not satisfied with explanations which are vague, unsound, and illogical," he wrote in an article in a church magazine in 1941. By then he was a law student at UC Berkeley and intrigued by the idea of scientifically testing Smith's revelation. In a later letter, he wrote, "It is the only Church on the face of the earth which can be subjected to this kind of investigation and checking." And in another, to the LDS leadership, he declared, "The Book of Mormon is either fake or fact. If fake, the [ancient] cities described in it are non-existent. If fact—as we know it to be—the cities will be there."

Tall and handsome, with a lawyer's practiced authority, Ferguson trusted that the tools of science could persuade the world of the truth of the Book of Mormon. Soon after he finished college, he began searching for clues in colonial documents that recorded some of Latin America's indigenous traditions. One, written around 1554 by a group of K'iche' Mayan villagers in the Guatemala highlands, stated that their ancestors—"sons of Abraham and Jacob"—had sailed across a sea to reach their homeland. The K'iche' were defeated by Spanish conquistadors in 1524, and the biblical references were likely the product of contact with Catholic priests, who enthusiastically converted allies and former foes alike.

But Ferguson, who had grown up in a Mormon family in Idaho, eagerly took such syncretism as proof that Israelites had once settled in the Americas. He was also taken by the myth of Quetzalcóatl, the feathered serpent deity that some colonial priests described as a bearded white man. Ferguson concluded that he was Jesus, appearing in Bountiful after his resurrection just as the Book of Mormon recorded. His library research spurred his first hunt for archaeological evidence, in Campeche in 1948.

Ferguson realized, however, that colonial sources represented circumstantial evidence at best. Nor was it enough to find ruins of past civilizations in more or less the right location, as he had done in Campeche. To persuade and convert outsiders—a priority for Mormons—he sought objects mentioned in the Book of Mormon that archaeologists hadn't found in Mesoamerica: horses, wheeled chariots, steel swords, and, most important, Hebrew or Egyptian script. "The final test of our views of Book of Mormon geography will be archaeological work in the ground itself," Ferguson wrote in 1951 to his friend J. Willard Marriott, the wealthy founder of the Marriott hospitality chain and a powerful figure in the church.

Ferguson's idea that Mesoamerican societies were seeded by Western ones is widely recognized as racist today. But it fit right into the archaeological thinking of the time, when Mesoamerican archaeologists were consumed by the question of whether civilizations had evolved independently in the Americas or had roots elsewhere. "In the 1940s and 1950s, these were the questions everyone was investigating," says Robert Rosenswig, an archaeologist at the State University of New York (SUNY) in Albany.

Ferguson never received a formal education in archaeology. He practiced law to support his growing family—he eventually had five children—as well as his research. But in 1951, he recruited leading archaeologists to explore the origin of Mesoamerican civilization as part of a new institution, the New World Archaeological Foundation (NWAF). First on board was renowned researcher Alfred Kidder of Harvard University and the Carnegie Institution for Science in Washington, D.C. Kidder thought Mesoamerican civilizations had developed independently, but he and Ferguson had met at a museum in Guatemala City in 1946 and struck up a correspondence.

Kidder "is recognized as the best [Mesoamerican] archaeologist of the 20th century," says archaeologist John Clark of Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah, who directed NWAF from 1987 to 2009. To get Kidder on the project, Clark says, "There's no question that Ferguson had to be some charismatic guy." Also recruited was Gordon Ekholm, an anthropologist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, who thought that Mesoamerican civilizations had their roots in advanced Asian cultures.

A ritual figurine from the site of Los Horcones is scanned at New World Archaeological Foundation headquarters.

Their timing was good. Radiocarbon dating had just been invented, and Ferguson immediately recognized its potential for tracing the origins of Mesoamerican cultures. "This is the greatest development since the beginning of archaeology," he wrote to LDS leadership. "I am of the personal opinion that the Lord inspired [radiocarbon dating] that it might be used effectively in connection with the Book of Mormon."

Yet the first years of NWAF were a desperate scramble for money. Ferguson contributed thousands himself and raised funds from wealthy Mormons and the audiences of his lectures about Book of Mormon geography. In 1952, NWAF managed to send a handful of U.S. and Mexican archaeologists to survey the drainage basin of the Grijalva River in Tabasco and Chiapas, which Ferguson believed to be the Book of Mormon's River Sidon.

By this point, Ferguson had become more discerning about time periods than he had been in the jungles of Campeche. The ruins he found there were likely Classic or post-Classic Mayan, from between 250 C.E. and the Spanish conquest—much too late to be Mesoamerica's earliest civilization or the period mentioned in the Book of Mormon, believed to be about 2200 B.C.E. to 400 C.E. "We'll never solve pre-Maya origins by digging up more Mayas," Ferguson wrote to Kidder in April 1953. They needed Formative period sites, dating from about 2000 B.C.E. to 200 C.E., roughly matching the dates associated with the Book of Mormon.

In May 1953, Ferguson arrived in Chiapas to lend a hand. "He was rather alarmed that we hadn't found anything notable, because he felt he had to have something pretty spectacular to go and get more money for another year," recalls John Sorenson, then a master's student in archaeology at BYU (and a Mormon). To jump-start the search, Ferguson chartered a small plane, and he and Sorenson flew over the lush lowlands of central Chiapas. Fifteen kilometers southeast of the state capital, Tuxtla Gutiérrez, they spotted the mounds and plazas of the ancient site of Chiapa de Corzo—which was then unknown to archaeologists. Later NWAF excavations dated the city to the Formative period.

Back on the ground, Ferguson and Sorenson set out by jeep for a 10-day survey to see what else they could find. "We'd go from site to site, town to town, asking ‘Are there any ruins around here?’" says Sorenson, who went on to receive a Ph.D. in anthropology from UC Los Angeles (UCLA) and is now a professor emeritus at BYU. Ferguson also asked locals whether they had found figurines of horses—unknown in ancient Mesoamerica—or sources of iron ore, which Sorenson found naïve. But his own archaeological training paid off, and at some sites he was able to identify the polished, monochrome pottery and hand-sculpted, irregular human figurines of the Formative period, so different from the intricate but standardized figurines the Classic Maya had made from molds. In all, Sorenson and Ferguson surveyed 22 sites on that journey and collected an astounding number of Formative artifacts. "In my humble opinion there is little or no question about it—they are Nephite making," Ferguson wrote to his church funders.

In 1954, LDS authorities granted NWAF $250,000 for 5 years of work. Intensive excavations at Chiapa de Corzo uncovered stone pyramids and tombs, and a wealth of pottery that impressed University of Pennsylvania anthropologist John Alden Mason, then working with NWAF. "Since pre-Classic pottery is not very common anywhere, and that of this region is entirely new, it is of course a very great scientific contribution," Mason wrote to Ferguson. Eventually, archaeologists reported that the site was settled around 1200 B.C.E., likely by people connected to the Olmec, an early civilization that dominated the gulf coast of Mexico from 1200 B.C.E. to 400 B.C.E., centuries before the Classic Maya arose.

Stela 5 from Izapa in Mexico—an early site first extensively excavated by New World Archaeological Foundation archaeologists—shows a mythical tree; some Mormons believe it reflects a prophetic dream from the Book of Mormon.

Then, in the early 1960s, NWAF archaeologists became the first to extensively excavate at Izapa, near the Chiapas coast and the Guatemalan border. They were drawn to the site in part because of a monument that apparently depicts a myth involving a tree; Ferguson's friend and founder of BYU's archaeology department, M. Wells Jakeman, argued that the carving shows visions received in a dream by the Mormon prophet Lehi. NWAF archaeologists, some of whom were Mormon, later soundly rebuffed that interpretation. But Izapa turned out to be a key site in the Soconusco, the Pacific coast region from which every Mesoamerican political power, from the Olmec in 1200 B.C.E. to the Aztec empire in the early 1500s C.E., sourced key luxury goods such as cacao and quetzal feathers. NWAF spearheaded excavations throughout this region. Pottery finds and dates from Izapa and elsewhere formed the basis of the ceramic chronologies for the Formative period that are still used by every archaeologist working in central and coastal Chiapas today.

"They were working in a part of Mesoamerica that was really unknown," says Michael Coe, an influential Mesoamerican archaeologist and professor emeritus at Yale University who, at the time, was surveying Formative sites just over the border in Guatemala. "NWAF put it on the map."

But even as NWAF grew in scientific stature, and was finally assured continued existence when BYU took it over in 1961, Ferguson was quietly becoming frustrated. The smoking gun he had been certain he would find—Egyptian or Hebrew script—proved elusive. He once had promised that archaeological evidence for the Book of Mormon would be found within 10 years of NWAF starting excavations. But in 1966 he wrote, "My number one goal of establishing that Christ appeared in Mexico following the crucifixion will never be achieved until significant ancient manuscript discoveries are made. I hope it happens during our lifetimes."

When an ancient manuscript discovery did come, however, it was from a different quarter of the world—and it shook Ferguson's faith to its core.

In the summer of 1835, Joseph Smith had received a curious visitor in Kirtland, Ohio, then the headquarters of his burgeoning LDS church: a traveling showman, with four Egyptian mummies and some hieroglyphic texts in tow. The church bought the mummies and texts, and Smith said he translated the hieroglyphics, resulting in the Book of Abraham, which lays out Smith's cosmic vision of the afterlife. (Although Egyptian hieroglyphics had been deciphered in France in 1822 with the help of the Rosetta Stone, the news had barely reached U.S. shores.) As Smith and his followers moved around the Midwest, often fleeing angry mobs, they carried the mummies and papyri with them. After Smith's death at the hands of one of those mobs in Nauvoo, Illinois, they were sold by his family.

The fate of the mummies remains a mystery. But in 1966, a University of Utah professor examining artifacts at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City came across 11 Egyptian papyri with an 1856 certificate of sale signed by Smith's widow, Emma. The professor realized he was looking at the Book of Abraham papyri, and the documents were returned to the Mormon church.

Ferguson learned the news from a frontpage article in the newspaper Deseret News on 27 November 1967. Within days, he wrote to a friend in the church leadership, begging to know whether the papyri would be studied. Hearing that no studies were planned, Ferguson, as ever, took matters into his own hands. He received photos of the documents from the church and hired Egyptologists at UC Berkeley to translate them. He told the scholars nothing about the religious significance of the papyri. "He was conducting a clearly blind test," Clark says.

The results started coming in 6 weeks later. "I believe that all of these are spells from the Egyptian Book of the Dead," UC Berkeley Egyptologist Leonard Lesko wrote to Ferguson. Three other scholars independently gave Ferguson the same result: The texts were authentic ancient Egyptian, but represented one of the most common documents in that culture.

After decades of stressing the importance of the scientific method and using it to shore up his own faith, Ferguson now found himself at its mercy. "I must conclude that Joseph Smith had not the remotest skill in things Egyptian-hieroglyphics," he wrote to a fellow doubting Mormon in 1971. What's more, he wrote to another, "Right now I am inclined to think that all of those who claim to be ‘prophets’, including Moses, were without a means of communication with deity."

This doubt ultimately spread to Ferguson's archaeological quest. In 1975, he submitted a paper to a symposium about Book of Mormon geography outlining the failure of archaeologists to find Old World plants, animals, metals, and scripts in Mesoamerica. "The real implication of the paper," he wrote in a letter the following year, "is that you can't set Book of Mormon geography down anywhere—because it is fictional."

Although open about his doubts in his private letters, Ferguson didn't discuss his loss of faith with his family. He continued attending church, singing in the choir, and even giving blessings. "[Mormons] are so immersed in that culture … [that] to lose your faith, it's like you're being expelled from Eden," Coe says. "I felt sorry for him."

Ferguson continued to visit Mexico and from time to time stopped by NWAF headquarters in Chiapas, where he spoke frankly with Clark in 1983. "He resented that he spent so much time trying to prove the Book of Mormon. He said it was a fraud," remembers Clark, who is Mormon. The next month, Ferguson died of a heart attack while playing tennis. He was 67.

At the New World Archaeological Foundation, Richard Lesure studies artifacts from Mesoamerica's earliest complex society.

On a recent afternoon at NWAF headquarters here, scholars wander among buildings, sheltered patios, and a courtyard brimming with flowers and citrus trees. UCLA archaeologist Richard Lesure sorts through ceramics he excavated 27 years ago at Paso de la Amada on the Chiapas coast, home to Mesoamerica's first known ball court and elite residences. With NWAF support, Lesure has spent nearly 3 decades studying why mobile, egalitarian hunter-gatherers settled down here and created the oldest complex society in Mesoamerica around 1900 B.C.E., before even the Olmec rose to power.

Upstairs, Claudia García-Des Lauriers, an archaeologist at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona, watches as an undergraduate student carefully positions an opossum-shaped ceramic whistle in the thin red laser beams of a 3D scanner. The researchers are creating a digital version of the ritual object, which García-Des Lauriers discovered at the Classic period site of Los Horcones on the Chiapas coast. Meanwhile, in the backyard, Clark leads an impromptu flint knapping lesson, using obsidian nodules strewn about the lawn.

"It's such a stimulating place to work," says Janine Gasco, an archaeologist at California State University in Dominguez Hills, who began working with NWAF in 1978. "It's been a force in my life."

In the years after Ferguson drifted away from the church and the foundation, NWAF continued to lead excavations, fund graduate students, publish an impressive amount of raw data, and store archaeological collections. Thanks to its work, a region that once seemed an archaeological backwater compared with the nearby Classic Mayan heartland in the Yucatán, Guatemala, and Belize has been revealed as the birthplace of Mesoamerican civilization and an economic and cultural hot spot, where people from all over the region crossed paths. "We wouldn't know anything about [central and coastal] Chiapas if it wasn't for [NWAF]," García-Des Lauriers says.

"Their work set the stage for everything I've done," says SUNY Albany's Rosenswig, who led recent excavations at Izapa to study the origins of urban life in Mesoamerica. When his graduate student Rebecca Mendelsohn, now a postdoc at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama City, excavated in Izapa in 2014, NWAF's original map of its mounds and monuments served as a vital field reference. "I've been surprised at how sound the work from the 1960s still is," she says.

NWAF is still run by BYU, which means its funding comes from the Mormon church and all its directors have been Mormons. But aside from a ban on coffee at headquarters, the archaeologists who work here barely notice its religious roots. "There aren't conversations about religion," Gasco says. "The archaeological community has a lot of respect for the work done here."

Ferguson had hoped the Chiapas coast would turn out to be a crossroads not just for Mesoamerica, but the world. But the more NWAF and its collaborators excavated and analyzed sites in the region, the more they confirmed that Mesoamerican civilization sprang up from entirely New World origins. For archaeologists today, that makes the field all the more exciting. "That's one of the most amazing things about studying Mesoamerican archaeology—it's one of a half-dozen or so cases of independent development of agriculture, development of complexity, development of cities," Rosenswig says.

It is hard to know whether Ferguson would have shared that excitement. For all his trust in science, his goal was to serve his faith. Some believing Mormons still read his books and trust his early, enthusiastic ideas about Mesoamerica. Others who came to doubt their religion also found hope in his story. His loss of faith gave them conviction and strength as they began their own journey down a difficult road, as shown by many who wrote him anguished letters in his later years.

But it is his scientific legacy, long unrecognized, that is perhaps most significant. "Facts are facts and truth is truth," Ferguson once wrote about the archaeological evidence for the Book of Mormon that he was sure was about to be discovered in southern Mexico. His belief in that principle never wavered.

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02/19/2020 DAB Transcript

Leviticus 7:28-9:6, Mark 3:31-4:25, Psalms 37:12-29, Proverbs 10:5

Today is the 19th day of February, welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian it's great to be here with you. Coming to you from Ashdod, ancient Philistine stronghold city here in the land of Israel where we will be launching out today on the first day of our pilgrimage. So, super excited about all of that, super excited to share the photos and video and just talk about what we’re seeing and doing as we begin our adventure. But…well…not a lot has happened yet, but we’ll talk about it at the end but we are at the beginning and we have come around this Global Campfire to allow God's word to wash into our lives and speak to us today. So, we’re reading from the New International Version this week. Leviticus chapter 7 verse 28 through 9 verse 6 today.

Commentary:

Okay, so, in the Gospel of Mark we had the story, a farmer went out to so, right, and he throws seed and it lands on all different kinds of ground and this is a parable that Jesus is telling and we've encountered this parable while we were going to the book of Matthew. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are this synoptic Gospels and so there's a lot of shared material and pretty much all biblical scholars agree that the source material would be Mark, the gospel that we are reading as the earliest of the Gospels. So, Jesus talks about this farmer throwing seed. And, so, we can assume that there's nothing wrong with seed, like the seed is good seed and it was scattered evenly but it was scattered evenly over different kinds of ground. So…so the seed is good, but the hope of the harvest was in the soil. So, in Jesus parable the seed is the word of God and the soil is the human heart. So, right there we see that a collaboration is required, the human and the divine collaborate in God's kingdom. So, we’ve been at this, what…seven…are we seven weeks in yet…six weeks…I don't have a calendar in front of me and I'm still…still trying to keep up with what day this is as we launch this pilgrimage in the land of Israel. But we've been at this, we've established a rhythm, this is a daily thing we do. So, at this point it's a good time to take in Jesus message and apply it to ourselves because harvest is a theme throughout the Scriptures and harvest is a theme throughout our lives and we want the harvest in our lives but we can't expect a harvest that is going to yield 100 times over if the soil of our hearts is…isn't appropriate for that. So, in this analogy the…the word of God, like this is what we do, this is what we’re here for every day. So, this seed is getting thrown out, the word of God all over this community every day and if it only lands on the surface it's gonna get snatched away almost immediately. And don't we know that? Like haven’t it we witnessed that. We might not have thought of it in these terms, but don't we already know this is true and if our hearts are stony and cold and hard there's nowhere for the word of God to take root at all. And if we’re just obsessed by the worries of life or we’re just chasing wealth or some kind of goal or desire, well then according to Jesus, the seed has been thrown and it's good seed but it's fallen on a thorny ground that will choke out the word of God. So, this is as good a time as any to start thinking about what kind of soil we might be and what kind of soil we might be cultivating in our hearts. It…it might be time to do some gardening.

Prayer:

Jesus, we invite You into that as we hear Your words and consider what kind of soil we are. This was what You wanted us to think about. And, so, we are thinking about it. And it's interesting because we can probably find patches of all these different kinds of ground as we walk the terrain of our own hearts. It's likely that we can find places that are thriving. But it's also likely that we can find places where the word has been snatched away or where it's rocky ground and there's no place for it to take hold or we’re…we’re just obsessed with something else and distracted and so it's choked out. What we want to be is good soil because what we want to experience is the full harvest and to be a laborer for the good harvest in the lives of others. And, so, we invite Your Holy Spirit to cause us to continually come back to this today, to come back to our own hearts, to come back to its terrain. What does it look like? Show us the places that need tending. Come Holy Spirit we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.

Announcements:

dailyaudiobible.com is the website, home base, where you find out what's going on around here. And today will be our first day of…of touring in the land of Israel. And I won’t really be able to report back much until things happen. So, I'll get to tell you about today tomorrow but yeah, I can tell you about yesterday. Yeah….we got in and we went mudding and went out to a Philistine archaeological site called Akron, a place that I've been trying to get to over three different seasons. And lots of people were like, “why would you want to go there? Like, there’s nothing to see there. Why would you want to go there?” But…well that started out simply by trying to document and a photograph and take film of the…the Philistine strongholds mentioned in the Bible except for Gaza. And, so, we got three of those which is Gath and Ashdod and Ashkelon out. But the last two are modern cities. So, accessibility is relatively easy. This has been hard to get to. So, yeah once we were thwarted it was like, okay it's on. And then we were thwarted again in a different year and it was like, okay I don't care if there's nothing to see there, I…I am going to see that place. And, so, finally mission accomplished and…and then so we got to Ashdod and got all situated in a hotel and had just a fantastic dinner last night just getting familiar, just getting to see each other. It's all gonna become a family and so just making that first acquaintance. Jetlagged everybody, you know, just people all over the map. Some have come in early, got acclimated, some are just like, just getting in and delirious with it all but high on adrenaline. But it's always fun to be there on the Mediterranean coast and just realize “holy moly I'm in the holy land. Like that's the Mediterranean Sea. This is going to be epic.” And, so, that's kind of where we are and what we’re feeling and we’ll be heading southward today out into the wilderness, which is where so much of the biblical stories happen. And, so, we’ll be heading into the wilderness today making our way down to the furthest southern tip of Israel, a city called Eilot, which sits on the shores of the Red Sea. So, thank you. Thank you for your continued prayers over everything from the vehicles to the technology to health to whether to…to jetlag and just everything that goes into this. We’ll be kind of setting a rhythm for our days and we’ll fall into that rhythm, but this is kind of day one. And, so, we’re just getting used to the fact that we’re here at all. And, so, we…we…we gratefully, gratefully thank you for your prayers.

If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible you can do that at dailyaudiobible.com. There's a link on the homepage. And I thank you. Thank you for profoundly for those of you who’ve clicked that link. If you're using the Daily Audio Bible app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner or if you prefer, the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.

And, as always, if you have a prayer request a comment 877-942-4253 is number to dial.

And that's it for today. I'm Brian I love you and I'll be waiting for you here tomorrow.

Community Prayer and Praise:

Good morning DAB family it is Thursday February…no Wednesday, February 12th and I was walking to work, and I just heard the news about Diana. I just wanted to call in to tell her sons God is with you. Keep the faith. Your mom had enough faith for you both and she shared it with you, and she loved you and now she is healed and resting in God’s eternal heaven. So, Lord Jesus, I pray for these children and I pray that their mom’s wishes can be granted for them. This is Sadatres a.k.a. healing heart from Gaithersburg. All of you have a blessed and wonderful day.

Today is February 12th and this is Julie from Texas and I’m calling for Shannon from Texas. Your prayer was heard on the prayer line on February 1st I believe it was. It was one of the last prayers that was played. And I just want to call and stand with you in agreement for complete and total healing against whatever’s causing this attack of migraine that you’ve been experiencing. And, so, Lord I just thank you for touching Shannon’s body just removing stress removing any and every cause that would be coming against her for this migraine. We speak healing, complete and total healing over her body from the top of her head to the soles of her feet. And Shannon I would just encourage you to continue calling in and just plugging into the community with your petitions and prayers and just as well as your local communities not to pull away or isolate in that way of asking for prayer. And while we’re all on our own journey with God and our prayers might not be said perfectly or in an agreement or alignment with one person or the other, we’re still just making an impact together, holding each other’s arms and prayer. It’s just so important just that global community of prayer that we have here. There is power in that. And I’m reminded of Peter who while he had doubt, he was still the only one who stepped out of a boat and walked on water. And, so, I believe that’s what we’re doing here. Maybe our prayers aren’t said perfectly but they are impacting and changing, and we are standing together. So, continue calling in. I want to hear how Jaydrian is doing. I remember crying tears of joy when he gave his life to Christ and you shared that with us. And I know that he’s on his own journey as well and God is faithful to him and will accomplish everything that concerns him and can finish the good work that He started in Jaydrian’s life. So, call back in want to hear from you. Love you. Bye.

Good morning my name is Tatiana. I’ve been listening to DAB for about nine years and this is probably the second time I’ve called in. I…it’s February 12th and I was listening and I just heard Diana Davis sister call in and she said she went home and it just really hit hard for me because I just remember her calling in, her voice so enthusiastic and hopeful even in the days where she was battling her…her health issues. I’m just praying for her family and her sons and that they are comforted and at peace. And it’s just made me realize that some of the issues that we…like for me…that we take…take so…so hard it’s not really that big of a deal. There are people out here battling real issues and they’re going through loss and having health issues and they’re having issues with their family. And a lot of the things that we go through are so trivial to that and made me appreciate the time we have a family and the ones that we love. So, I’m just praying for her family. I hope they know she’s at peace, she’s healed, like her sister said. And I’m just sending up love and prayers for them. Amen.

This message goes out to my little sister who asked a question and is trying to see if anybody else goes through failure upon failure, climbing out of one bad situation just to get dumped into another one. To answer your question little sister, we all go through that. Everybody goes through that. Just a couple things I sensed listening to your message is, I’m hoping that a good night’s sleep has made you see a bit more clearly, has cleared your head a little bit. Also, stepping away from the…the problems, the situations and taking a break and not jumping back into it. That has helped me clear my head and renew my strength. And that’s…they that wait upon the Lord, that’s the verse. Just renewing strength by stepping away. Fighters go through that, pro athletes go through that, just step away it’ll help tremendously. The other thing is, it sounded you were like you are focused on the negative. And I have a trick that I use that I start thanking God for the negative and it refocuses my mind. I can start seeing the good in it and the blessing in it and where God is at. So, just try that. I love you sister. Hang in there you’ll bounce back awesomely. Bye now.

Hello, DABbers my name is Siv I’m calling you from Norway. I want to share a picture with you. I see this person walking, stumbling, falling, stumbling, falling, walking, stumbling, falling, full of bruises, full of wounds, full of hurts. So painful. And why? It’s because you are looking behind your shoulder all the time, it’s because of your past. You’re looking over your shoulder instead of looking in front of you. Fix your eyes on Jesus because your future is not your past. Your future is in Jesus. Your past is gone. Let go and let God. Let go and let God forgive. Forgive yourself, forgive other people that has hurt you and just fix your eyes on Jesus. Get free from your past. Learn from it but don’t live in it. I hope this gives sense to someone. Thank you, Brian for this wonderful podcast and all the great works you do and bless you on the way to Israel. I love Israel. That’s an awesome country. It’s like home for me. I’m going there soon myself. Bless you all. Bye-bye from the…

Hello Daily Audio Bible this is Janel I’m living in China. I called last from Alabama quite a while ago. Just want to thank everybody for the prayers that I got. I actually did make it to China and I’m here now and the corona virus is pretty real. Fortunately, I’m not sick and no one I know is sick that I know of, but it is creating a lot of restrictions on what we can do and how we can work. All of my classes are moving to online or messaging group classes. So, I am really missing out working with my kids and my students. So, if you could all just pray that the coronavirus is contained and significantly lessens and just basically dies out I would really appreciate it and I just thank you all for your prayers and thank you Brian for this amazing community and service that you provide. Bye.

Hello and good afternoon my brothers and sisters this is Harold from St. Louis the guy who’s running the marathon. And I was so touched. I listened to the January 31st community prayer podcast and there was a whole bunch of people just praying for me and my soul and blessing for me. That became so overpowering. And then my brother, Kingdom Seeker Daniel, you said you jumped for joy basically and screamed my name and that was so moving. And I thank every single one of you. There was a guy who even said it was written for me part of the kingdom before I even chose it. And I know I’m not paraphrasing it right. And I thank you and I thank everybody for all of your…all of your praise, all of your prayers all of your encouragement. And then there was the young lady from Glasgow, God’s Girl from Glasgow who said blessed is yours and I just broke down and I cried and then a couple messages later there was another young lady who brought me the prayer to Christ and I accepted and I prayed that prayer and I am in now part of the family of God. And I just want to say that your prayers were all herd and thank you everyone. And if there’s anybody out there right now who has listened to the show or listened to the podcast and has felt the need to call in and just said, “oh I’m too scared or I’m too embarrassed, break that chain right now. Don’t let the devil keep that chain anymore around you.

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