Mount Gerizim and Mount Ebal

We read in Deut 11:29 how the Israelites were to proclaim blessings on Mt Gerizim and curses on Mt Ebal.

29 Now it shall be, when the Lord your God has brought you into the land which you go to possess, that you shall put the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal.

We then read in Deut 27:12-13 how 6 tribes were to stand on one mountain, while the other 6 were to stand on the other mountain.

12 “These shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people, when you have crossed over the Jordan: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph, and Benjamin; 13 and these shall stand on Mount Ebal to curse: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.”

There are no insignificant details in the Bible, so have you ever wondered how the tribes were divided between the 2 mountains?

Below is an explanation, courtesy of Ps Joseph Prince.

The 6 placed on Mt Gerizim were all descended from Leah and Rachel, Jacob’s wives. All 4 that descended from Bilhah and Zilpah, Jacob’s maidservants, were placed on Mt Ebal.

But why were Reuben and Zebulun numbered among those on the mountain of curses, although they were descended from Leah? 

• Reuben forfeited his firstborn birthright because he slept with Bilhah (Gen 35:22). 

• Zebulun was the 10th son. The number 10 represents the Law.

What an amazing revelation the Holy Spirit has given to my Pastor! #yetanotherreasonwhyIattendNewCreationChurch

Another 25 "Let-Go-Living" Booklets Up For Grabs!

The #TQSHsgGiveaway of 25 booklets of Pastor Joseph Prince's "Thoughts for Let-Go-Living" have been totally snapped up in a matter of just 5 days!

Here are the names of the 1st blessed 25.

1. Gary TXC
2. Nah Annie
3. Ming Ying Yeow
4. Little TBBW
5. Balaji Rajamohan
6. Wei Zi Lin
7. Darren Kho
8. Andronicus Kok
9. William Kok
10. Joslin Chua
11. Patsy Neo
12. Trace Lim
13. Christine Yow
14. Ashley Evelyn
15. Gil Karen
16. Angelyn Chua
17. Alex Ong
18. Joyce Ngo
19. Niki Yappie
20. Rachel Ng
21. Clement See
22. Gillman Lauw
23. Frederick Chan
24. Felicia Huang
25. Schnitzer Ang

5 Easy Steps

That's right. 25 more booklets to be given away!

Due to the overwhelming response, another 25 booklets will be given out.

To stand a chance to be numbered amongst the blessed ones, all you need to do is to carry out the following 5 steps:

1) Like TQSH's Facebook page
2) Share the page
3) Type "Giveaways Galore and Answers to Tough Questions"
4) Set to Public
5) Post

What Is The Ultimate Treasure For Every Seeker?

Yesterday, I blogged about the Hebrew language being the only digital language. This allowed the scribes to copy the original texts that were written by Moses, Joshua, David, etc with great accuracy and precision, and without any error or omission because they could verify this via "row subtotals" and "column subtotals". 

the interlinear Bible leaves the Word untranslated

With this background, let us look at Genesis 1:1. 

Hebrew reads from right to left. Genesis 1:1 in Hebrew is "ba'reshiyth bara elohiym eth ha'shamayim neth ha'erets".

Take note that the scribes had to copy the passage in its entirety, even though there was a word in there that did not seem to make any sense, and may even have appeared superfluous to them.

If we look at a Hebrew-English interlinear bible, note that the word eth appears in this verse, but is not translated! This word is made up of the letters "aleph" and "tav", which are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet.

It was a mystery to the scribes when they copied it down through the ages, but the mystery was finally uncovered by the apostle John a couple of thousand years later.

In Rev1:8, Rev 21:6 and Rev 22:13, we read that Jesus declared that He was the Alpha and Omega. 

The book of Revelations was written in Greek because that was the language of commerce during the apostolic age, hence Alpha and Omega, the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet.

But what language did Jesus speak to his fellow Jews, such as the disciple John and the apostle Paul?  

For that, let us look at what Luke records for us in Acts 26:14 

14 And when we all had fallen to the ground, I heard a voice speaking to me and saying in the Hebrew language, 'Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads (NKJV)

In this verse, Paul (then known as Saul) is recollecting his Damascus Road experience in which Jesus had appeared to Him in a vision. Note that the Holy Spirit saw fit for Luke to record specifically that Jesus spoke HEBREW to Paul.

Aleph-Tav, Jesus' signature

When we put all these together, we realise that Jesus would have spoken to John in Hebrew too, and in those 3 verses in Revelations, He had declared to John that He was the Aleph and the Tav, ie. the first and last letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

When we link this back to Gen 1:1, what Jesus was in fact telling John was that He was that untranslated Word that the scribes had to diligently copy down through the ages, without understanding what it meant.

If we now link this to John 1, we can conclude that the Word being referred to in that chapter = Aleph-Tav = Jesus.

1 In the beginning was the Word (ie. Aleph-Tav), and the Word (ie. Aleph-Tav) was with God, and the Word (ie. Aleph-Tav) was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. 14 And the Word (ie. Aleph-Tav) became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. 

In other words, Jesus had deliberately put His own "signature", right there in the beginning, in the first verse of the first chapter of the first book.

The above revelation was obtained from a sermon by Dr. Larry Ollison entitled "The Hebrew Language".   The following is an extract from that sermon where he talks about the signature of Jesus appearing in Gen 1:1

Several years ago, Michael Drosnin wrote a book called The Bible Code, in which he claimed that the Bible contained hidden codes about various people and incidents in history. 

Well, the true Bible Code is that the person of Jesus is hidden in the Old Testament Scriptures, and as Christians, it is in our interest to uncover and unveil Him, because the more we know about Him, the more we know our own position, since we are co-heirs with Him. It is in our interest to know more and more about Christ, because as He is, so are we in this world.

Right there in Gen 1:1, His signature is found.

In Gen 3:15, God the Father prophesied that Jesus would be the seed of Eve that would crush Satan's head.

In Num 21, the snake in the desert that cured the Israelites was a picture of Jesus being lifted up so that all who believed in Him may have eternal life (Jn 3:14-15).

And there are many, many more nuggets of truth in the Old Testament Scriptures (Noah's Ark being a type of Christ, Jesus in the genealogy of Noah, Joseph being a type of Christ, Boaz being a shadow of Christ, etc, etc)

When we as seekers start to realise that the Old Testament contains numerous hidden treasures of our Lord Jesus, the Bible becomes like that mystery novel that we just cannot put down! Our hunger and thirst for the Word of God intensifies, as the Holy Spirit progressively unveils and uncovers Jesus, yea even in seemingly "dry" books like Leviticus, Numbers and Lamentations!

Paul says that ALL Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for equipping us -- and ALL means ALL -- including genealogies, numbers, names, etc. There are no insignificant details in the Bible.

So what is the ultimate treasure for every seeker of the truth? It is to uncover the person of Jesus and His finished work on the cross.

* P.S. There are many other passages in the Old Testament whereby Jesus had deliberately put His "signature" for the scribes to copy. 

To set you on your journey of discovery, I would highly-recommend this DVD entitled "Aleph-Tav: Jesus' Signature in the Bible".

https://www.sksbooks.com/products/aleph-tav-jesus--signature-in-the-bible-dvd/

Just How Accurate are the Scriptures?

Let us go back to basics today.  Even before seekers ask tough questions about the Bible, they must first be able to clear any doubts they may have about the accuracy and reliability of the Bible itself.

When I first started work as an auditor back in 1991, one of the areas of work that we as first-year assistants were assigned to carry out was what was then known as Section J, which was the fixed assets of the company we were auditing.

casting and cross-casting

The J lead schedule (or summary page) looks similiar to what you see on the right.

The rows would show the various types of fixed assets (eg. furniture, motor vehicles) while the columns would show their movement during the year (eg. amount brought down from last year, additions and disposals during the year).

During that era, we did not use electronic workpapers yet, which means to say that the J lead schedule was an A3-sized landscape piece of paper, and every single figure had to be manually written onto it.

To ensure that the figures were accurately transcribed, we had to cast (add downwards) and cross-cast (add across) using a calculator. If we arrived at the same grand total, this would give us a reasonable assurance that the individual figures were also accurate.

Of course now with Microsoft Excel, this task is much more simplified, and the casting and cross-casting formulae can be incorporated into the spreadsheet.

Which brings me back to today's subject matter.

The original Scriptures (what we now call the Old Testament) were written in the Hebrew language. In those days, there was no photocopying machine. So if one wanted to make a copy of a particular manuscript, he had to do so page by page, letter by letter.

Each letter of the Hebrew language has a number associated with it. For example, the first letter "aleph" equals one, the second letter "beth" equals two, and so on.

Hence, each and every row and column on a particular page of a manuscript could have a subtotal, similar to the fixed asset lead schedule mentioned above.

After a scribe had painstaking copied a particular page of a manuscript, he will cast and cross-cast to check if he arrived at the sub-totals as indicated on the page he copied from. If any of the sub-totals were wrong, it would mean that he made a mistake somewhere, and would have to throw that away and start all over again (correction fluid was not available in those days).

Those of you out there in my era would be familiar with cassette tapes. Cassette tapes are "analog", hence a recording made of a song, for example, would not retain the quality and clarity of the original. Nowadays, we are in the digital age of CDs and DVDs. These are considered "digital", so copies made retain the quality and fidelity of the original.

God, in His wisdom, had created Hebrew to be a "digital" language, so that the copies that were handwritten by those scribes retained the precision and accuracy of the very first original that was written by Moses, Joshua, David, Solomon, etc.

The above revelation was obtained from a sermon by Dr. Larry Ollison entitled "The Hebrew Language". The following is an extract from that sermon where he talks specifically about the digital characteristics of Hebrew.

In closing, let me share another very interesting fact. When Moses was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write the Pentateuch, he included in the very first verse of the first chapter of Genesis the Hebrew characters "aleph" and "tav" (which are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet). Because of the digital nature of the language (where sub-totals had to tally downwards and across to ensure precision and accuracy), the scribes could not drop these two characters from the copies that they hand-wrote, even though these 2 letters appeared superfluous to them.

Tomorrow we will take a closer look at the significance of those 2 letters.

“Thoughts for Let-Go Living” Booklet Giveaway

To celebrate the re-launch of this blog, 25 copies of the latest booklet by Ps Joseph Prince entitled “Thoughts For Let-Go Living / 31 Thoughts to Let Go of Worry and Stress” will be given away totally free-of-charge!

P.S. I first got the booklet back in Nov 2017 as part of a 3-pack “Let-Go Bundle” which also included the Book and Study Guide.  It was then sold as a separate item last month.

However, it was only when Ps Mark referred to it in his sermon today (18 Feb 2018) that all of a sudden they became like hotcakes that flew off the shelves and tables at all the various campuses mere minutes after the 1st service ended.

That was when the Lord prompted me to place an order for 25 of them.

Here is a write-up on the booklet...

Stressed out, burned out, and weighed down by worry and anxiety? 

Release your cares and burdens to the Lord through this 31-day thoughts and prayer booklet! 

Each thought is paired with grace-filled Scriptures and a prayer that will help you to experience the power of the let-go life. Let Jesus dispel your fears and rest your soul as you immerse yourself in His powerful promises. Replace negative thoughts with His encouraging thoughts, and release your cares and burdens to Him through the simple heartfelt prayers here. As you cultivate the habit of letting go of every care to Him and anchor your heart on His Word, you will experience His peace, His supply, and His victory in every challenge!

https://www.josephprince.com/books/thoughts-for-let-go-living-booklet?source=index

So how do you get to be 1 of the 25 blessed receipients?  Very simple!

(1) Go to the "Tough Questions Seekers Have" (TQSH.sg) Facebook page and Like it

(2) Share the TQSH.sg Facebook post with the hashtag #TQSHsgGiveaway

(3) In the comment section of the Facebook post, type in what a Christian should use to "connect the dots" in the Bible?  Clue: The answer can be found in this post entitled "Connecting the Dots via the Scarlet Thread"

Normal Service Has Been Resumed

Dear friends

So much has happened since the last time I blogged.

Stay tuned! Don't touch that dial.

But the good to emerge from all this is that the Holy Spirit has prompted me to continue where I left off in this endeavour in discovering the answers to tough questions seekers have.  It has taken nearly 5 long years but better late than never I suppose :p

To recap, here are my 15 blog entries so far:

Welcome Aboard!

Q1: Is Paradise the Same as Heaven?

Q2: Where Did Adam & Eve's Grandchildren Come From?

Q3: How Did Dinosaurs Enter The Ark?

Q4: Are There Aliens in Outer Space?

CONNECTING THE DOTS VIA THE SCARLET THREAD <--- Fundamental.  Must read!

Q5: Why Did God Punish Some People Yet Allow Others to Get Away Scot-Free?

Q6: Why Was Noah Spared The Flood?

Q7. Why did God Not Punish Abraham for Lying about his Wife?

Q8. Wasn't God Cruel to Test Abraham by Asking Him to Sacrifice Isaac?

Q9. Why Did God Bless Jacob even though he cheated his Dad and Brother?

Q10. Why Did God Kill Onan and Yet Spare Tamar?

Q11. Is God Really the Same Yesterday, Today and Forever?

Q12. Will I See My Pet in Heaven? (Is it OK for Christians to Eat Animals?)

Q13. Why Was God So Inconsistent in His Treatment of the Israelites?

In Q5, I listed down a table showing how God seemed to allow some to get away relatively scot-free and yet unfairly treated or even severely punished others.  The general answer is that those whom He spared were in His "perfect will" of bringing about the promised seed, whereas those that were punished were unfortunately used by the devil to come against His "perfect will".

I shall next blog about Rahab and Achan so stay tuned!

S/N (Link)	Got Away Relatively Scot-free	Punished / Unfairly Treated	Scriptural Reference
01	Noah	Those who perished in the flood	Genesis 9:20-27; Genesis 6:9-8:22
02	Abraham	Pharoah, Abimelech	Genesis 12; Genesis 20
03	Jacob	Esau	Genesis 25 - 27
04	Judah and Tamar	Er and Onan, Reuben	Genesis 35:22; Gen 38
05	The Israelites (between Egypt and Mt Sinai)	The Israelites (after Mt Sinai)	Exodus 1-18; Exodus 19 onwards
06	Rahab	Achan	Joshua 2; Joshua 7
07	Gibeonites	All other inhabitants of Canaan (ie. Jericho, Ai, Jerusalem, etc)	Joshua 9; Joshua 6, 8, 10, 11-13
08	Gideon	Jepthah	Judges 8:30-31; Judges 11:31
09	Ruth	Naomi's family (husband Elimelek, and sons Mahlon and Kilion)	Ruth
10	David and Bathsheba	Uriah the Hittite	2 Samuel 11
11	Gomer (Hosea's wife)	Hosea	Hosea

"Power of Right Believing" Giveaway

Dear friends

I have not blogged about "Tough Questions" for the past 4 1/2 months because of other commitments.  Will resume doing so once I have the Holy Spirit's flow, I promise.

However, I am updating my blog with this entry because I have an exciting announcement to make.

The grace gospel first impacted my life in 2005 and ever since believing right, God has caused me to prosper in every single area of my life.  My marriage has never been stronger.  My relationship with my kids are rock solid.  And most of all, my career is at its very peak.

One of the revelations that God has unveiled to me is that whenever I sow into soil that is fertile, He causes me to reap a bountiful and overflowing harvest.

What do I mean by sowing into fertile soil?  Well, in practical terms, it means sowing into the ministry of men of God that preach the unadulterated gospel of grace.  The good news of God's unmerited favour based on the person of Jesus and His finished work on the cross.  Because Jesus took upon Himself all the bad that we deserved, we can now enjoy all the good that we do not deserve.

This sowing has taken the form of giving out materials by Ps Joseph Prince of New Creation Church and Rev Reuben Ng of Toa Payoh Methodist Church.  These two preach without the need to refer to printed notes because it is the Holy Spirit that gives them utterance.

As a result of not sticking to a script, they tend to go off on "rabbit trails".   Yet it is oftentimes what they say during these seemingly topic drifts that tend to contain a rhema word from God for someone sitting in the congregation.

Over the years, it has been an honour and privilege to distribute the following:

Aug 2007: 50 copies of Destined to Reign (D2R)

Aug 2008: 50 copies of Destined to Reign Devotional (D2RD)

Dec 2008: 25 copies of Humorous Bible Illustrations (HBI)

Aug 2009: 15 copies of The First 50 Sermons (TFFS)

Feb 2010: 60 copies of Unmerited Favour (UF)

Aug 2011: 25 copies of A Centenary of Anointed Sermons (CAS)

Aug 2012: 150 copies of 25 of the Best Sermons in 5 Years (5 x 5 in 5)

And as I look back, these giveaways have always been followed by mega-blessings in terms of bonuses, increments, and the like :-D

It's been more than a year since the last one which was carried out in Aug 2012.


It thus gives me great pleasure to announce that seedtime is here again!  The seed that will be sown this time around will be Ps Prince's newest book entitled The Power of Right Believing (PRB).

This time around, the giveaway will be done in conjunction with a group of fellow grace believers, and we are collectively known as "Grace United".  Together, we are committed to be giving away, (yes, totally free-of-charge), 25 copies of PRB (for a start) !!!

More details will be announced very shortly, so stay tuned and watch this space :-D

29 October 2013 UPDATE: 

Great news!!!  We will be launching our Grace United website in 5 days' time! Meanwhile, please like our Facebook page.  Those who do so and are based in Singapore stand a chance to get a copy of PRB.

3 November 2013 UPDATE: The Grace United website has been officially launched! Click here for a write-up of the giveaway.

Q13. Why Was God So Inconsistent in His Treatment of the Israelites?

"De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da, is all I want to say to you,
De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da, the innocence will pull me through"  The Police, 1981

The above is the chorus to a pop song from the 1980s called "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" by a band known as The Police.

It came to mind because today's blog post hinges on the word "do" :-)

Earlier on I had asked the question whether God was indeed the same yesterday, today and forever.

Let's look specifically at how He dealt with the Israelites by looking at the following passages of Scripture:

1. So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, "What are we to drink?" (Ex 15:24)

2. In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. (Ex 16:2)

3. But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?" (Ex 17:3)

4. All the Israelites grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and the whole assembly said to them, "If only we had died in Egypt! Or in this desert! (Num 14:2)

Now consider God's response to the people's grumbling...

1. He caused the bitter water sweet so that the Isralites could drink it (Ex 15:25)

2. He fed them with quails and manna (Ex 16:13)

3. He caused water to come out from the rock (Ex 17:6)

4. Those who grumbled ended as corpses in the wilderness (Num 14:29,32)

In the first 3 incidents, God responded to their complaints by providing for them in terms of food and water.

Yet in the 4th incident, the response was one of judgement for disobedience!

How then can we say that God is the same yesterday, today and forever, if He appears to be so inconsistent?  It is as though He woke up on the right side of the bed for the 1st 3 incidents and on the wrong side for the 4th.

When we encounter confusing passages in the Bible, we will need to take out that "scarlet thread" to "connect the dots".  Everything should point back to that first prophecy whereby God told Satan that Jesus would one day bring about his defeat.  In other words, we have to look for Jesus and His finished work.

(See the blog entry entitled "Connecting the Dots Via the Scarlet Thread")

Let us find out what exactly happened between Exodus 17 and Numbers 14 to cause such a drastic change of response.  Specifically, something that happened in Exodus 19 and 2o.

Up until then, the covenant that the Israelites were operating under was what was known as the Abrahamic covenant, which we read about in Genesis 15.  Under this covenant, God told Abraham that he would be a father of many, and that through Jacob (later renamed as Israel) his grandson, they would possess the land of Canaan.

Genesis 15

New King James Version (NKJV)

God’s Covenant with Abram

15 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.”

² But Abram said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?” ³ Then Abram said, “Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!”

⁴ And behold, the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.” ⁵ Then He brought him outside and said, “Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.” And He said to him, “So shall your descendants be.”

⁶ And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.

⁷ Then He said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give you this land to inherit it.”

⁸ And he said, “Lord God, how shall I know that I will inherit it?”

⁹ So He said to him, “Bring Me a three-year-old heifer, a three-year-old female goat, a three-year-old ram, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” ¹⁰ Then he brought all these to Him and cut them in two, down the middle, and placed each piece opposite the other; but he did not cut the birds in two. ¹¹ And when the vultures came down on the carcasses, Abram drove them away.

¹² Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and behold, horror andgreat darkness fell upon him. ¹³ Then He said to Abram: “Know certainly that your descendants will be strangers in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them, and they will afflict them four hundred years. ¹⁴ And also the nation whom they serve I will judge; afterward they shall come out with great possessions. ¹⁵ Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. ¹⁶ But in the fourth generation they shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

¹⁷ And it came to pass, when the sun went down and it was dark, that behold, there appeared a smoking oven and a burning torch that passed between those pieces. ¹⁸ On the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying:

“To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates— ¹⁹ the Kenites, the Kenezzites, the Kadmonites, ²⁰ the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, ²¹ the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites.”

Note that under this covenant, Abraham only had to believe God's promise to him and in return, God would consider him righteous.

⁶ And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.

In other words, Abraham did not have to perform any good deeds in order to be accepted by God.

Let's now look at what happened in Exodus 19 and 20.  It was 50 days after departing from Egypt and the Israelites had reached Mt Sinai.  God was about to introduce through Moses the Ten Commandments and other sets of laws, or what is known as the Mosaic covenant.

Exodus 19

New King James Version (NKJV)

Israel at Mount Sinai

19 In the third month after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on the same day, they came to the Wilderness of Sinai. ² For they had departed from Rephidim, had come to the Wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness. So Israel camped there before the mountain.

³ And Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: ⁴ ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself. ⁵ Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. ⁶ And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”
⁷ So Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and laid before them all these words which the Lord commanded him. ⁸ Then all the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do.” So Moses brought back the words of the people to the Lord.

Note specifically what the Israelites' response to God was in verse 8

⁸ Then all the people answered together and said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do...


The original Hebrew word for "do" is עשה asah (Strong's H6213).

This same word is translated as "make" in the following passages:

Gen 1:26 -- God said "Let us asah man in our image..."

Gen 1:31 -- God saw everything that He had asah and it was very good...

Gen 2:18 -- It was not good for man to be alone, so I will asah him a helpmeet...

It is used to denote definitive accomplishment.  Or in Singlish, "sure can one!"

The Israelites were unfortunately telling God "sure can one!"  That whatever rules He was about to give to them, they were well able to accomplish.  They were effectively boasting in their own efforts, and once that happened, God's way of dealing with them was now based on their obedience or disobedience.  They had to earn their blessings from now onwards based on merits.

Even though they murmured and grumbled between the Passover and Mt Sinai, no one died because the convenant that was in effect at that point of time was the Abrahamic one where God promised Abraham and his descendants a land flowing with milk and honey.

But once the Israelites were under the Mosaic covenant based on their law-keeping and obedience, the stakes were different, and many a times, fatally so.

A person who was found to be gathering wood on the Sabbath was stoned to death (Num 15:32-36)

The earth opened and swallowed up Korah, Dathan and Abiram and their family because they had grumbled against Moses and Aaron (Num 16:31-33).

Another 250 men were consumed by fire because they were offering incense to the LORD, but the Law only allowed Levites to do so (Num 16:35).

14,700 others were struck dead by a plague because they blamed Moses and Aaron for the earlier mentioned deaths (Num 16:49).

Was God inconsistent?  No, because He gave the Israelites a choice.

If they had told God that there were just too many rules and admitted their inability to keep them, God in His mercy would have pardoned them.

But they told God through Moses that they would definitely be able to comply with whatever rules and regulations they were about to be given.

We see a parallel in the New Testament in the way Jesus dealt with people.  The rich, young ruler asked Jesus in Matthew 19 what he had to "do" to have eternal life, and Jesus quote him the Ten Commandments.  Yet, we read in Luke 23:42 how that thief asked Jesus to "remember him when He entered His kingdom" and Jesus' response was that he would be with Him in paradise.  The ruler approached Jesus based on his self-efforts, so Jesus responded as a lawgiver.  The thief approached Jesus just the way he was, and Jesus responded as a saviour.

Today, we no longer need to be afraid of God because we are not under the Old Covenant of Moses based on "Do good, get good. Do bad, get beat". Jesus has fulfilled all those Laws on our behalf, as well as taken upon Himself all the curses that pertained to the Law, and we are now redeemed from them.  Because Jesus' finished work on the cross tore the veil that separated a holy God from unholy men, we can now go into the Holy of Holies and approach God boldly.

Is God the same yesterday, today and forever?  Indeed He is!

Q12. Will I See My Pet in Heaven? (Is it OK for Christians to Eat Animals?)

We were supposed to go into the book of Exodus, but there are a couple of Genesis-based questions that need answers, so please allow me to address them first.  The first of them is whether we will get to see our pets in heaven and the second of them (which is related to the first) is whether it is ok for Christians to eat animals.

The first question is something I personally struggled with as recently as 6 months ago.  Chuckie, my pet chinchilla, which was supposed to live up to 20 years, passed away after just 3 short years, two days before Christmas 2012.

I grieved over him and even googled variations of "will my pet go to heaven?"  There were various websites offering contrasting views, but I was earnestly looking for one that would give a strong scriptural basis to support the answer that I would get to see Chuckie again one day.

Unfortunately, there was none and I have gradually but finally accepted the fact that I would never get to do so.  As a way to cope with and come to terms with the grief, I created a photo album of him on Facebook to thank him for the wonderful memories.  You can view that album by clicking on the link below:

A tribute to Chuckie, RIP (Facebook Photo Album)

The truth of the matter is that God created man different and special from all the other living things such as birds, reptiles and animals.  While everything else that was created was spoken into being, man was the only one that was given life via the breath of God.  Eve, was created from Adam, and hence inherited the same properties.

We read in Genesis 1:

²⁰ And God said, “Let the water teem with living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth across the vault of the sky.” ²¹ So God created the great creatures of the sea and every living thing with which the water teems and that moves about in it, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. ²² God blessed them and said, “Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth.” ²³ And there was evening, and there was morning—the fifth day.

²⁴ And God said, “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” And it was so. ²⁵ God made the wild animals according to their kinds, the livestock according to their kinds, and all the creatures that move along the ground according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good.

²⁶ Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”

and then again in Genesis 2:

⁷ Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

Man was and is the pinnacle of God's creation.  We are made in His image and meant to have a relationship with Him. While animals have only 2 dimensions -- a body and a soul (the mind, the emotions and the will), man has a third dimension -- a spirit.  And spirit beings are eternal in that they live on forever -- either in heaven or in hell.

Those of you with pets may not want to hear this, but animals unfortunately do *not* have a spirit.  The chickens that were slaughtered to provide that Zinger for KFC and the pigs that were slaughtered to provide the pork ribs for Tony Romas would not be resurrected and go to heaven or hell.  Likewise, my pet Chuckie as well as the other pet hamsters that passed on would only live on in our memories.

Which brings me to the other question about whether it is ok for Christians to eat animals.

I was working as an accounting software consultant from 1997 to 2000, and one of my colleagues back then was a vegetarian.

The surprising thing is that he is not a Buddhist nor a Hindu, but a Catholic! He decided to become a vegetarian (together with his entire family) because he feels that plants are free from diseases such as mad cow disease, bird flu, etc. He also mentioned to me that God's original design was for humans and animals to feed on plants only.

Well, he was right in that sense. We read in Gen 1: 29-30

29 Then God said, "I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.
30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds of the air and all the creatures that move on the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food." And it was so.

In other words, carnivores that we know of today such as the lion, the eagle, the shark, etc -- the original design was for them to eat plants. While plants were meant to be food, animals were meant to be Adam's playmates. He however did not find a suitable helpmeet among them, so God created Eve to be his phyiscal, emotional and spiritual companion.

Alas, because of the fall, the original divine food chain became altered. God had to kill one of Adam's playmates (most probably a sheep) and use its skin to clothe Adam's and Eve's nakedness (Gen 3:21). As a result of man's sin, the entire creation started to decay and groan. The ground became cursed. Animals killed other animals. Man hunted and killed animals.

God's original design was for mankind to be vegetarians, but the question now is whether it is wrong for us to eat animals. Personally, I do not think so. Sure, although carnivorous attributes came about due to the fall of mankind, God always causes good to come out of something meant for evil. We read many examples in the Bible where patriarchs ate meat and God did not condemn or punish them for doing so. On the contrary, there are even instances where He even told them specifically to eat meat!

For example, we read in Gen 25:28 that Isaac had a taste for wild game, and also in Gen 27:3-4 that he instructed Esau to get his quiver and bow and go out to the open country to hunt some wild game for him to eat so that he may give Esau this blessing before he died. We also read in Ex 12 how the Israelites ate the Passover Lamb. We read in Ex 16 that God sent quail in the wilderness for the Israelites to complement their diet of manna. We read in Lev 7 that any male in a priests' family may eat guilt offerings.

And since animals do not have a spirit, it is OK for us to consume their meat for food. However, let us respect the convictions of those that are vegetarians among us. A fellow brother or sister who is a vegetarian for whatever health reasons will not forfeit his mansion in heaven as a result of this :-)

Q11. Is God *Really* the Same Yesterday, Today and Forever?

Apple Sync

Most, if not all, of us are probably using some form of mobile handheld device such as a smartphone or tablet, be it an iPhone, an iPad, an Android-based or a Windows-based device.

Google Sync

One of the things we frequently need to do is to "synchronise" the data between our portable handheld device and our laptop/computer.  This is so that in the event that we replace or lose our mobile device, we will always have a back-up of the data at home or in the office.

While we need to perform the sync function regularly so that there is uniformity and consistency across all our gadgets and equipment, it is interesting to note that God does not need to perform a sync anytime ever because all three persons of the Trinity -- Father, Son and Holy Spirit were, are, and will be, in sync, everytime, all of the time.

In John 10:30 and John 14:9, Jesus said that "He and His Father are one" and that "whoever sees Him also sees the Father".  Hence, God the Father and God the Son are always in sync.

The Holy Spirit was only given to kings, prophets and priests in the Old Testament, but He is now available to all of us in the New Covenant.

In John 14:16, Jesus told His disciples that after He had gone back to heaven, the Holy Spirit would take His place here on earth to carry on His ministry, viz:

"And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Comforter (Counselor, Helper, Intercessor, Advocate, Strengthener, and Standby), that He may remain with you forever" (John 14:16 AMP)

The above implies that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are also in sync, and by further inference, that all 3 persons of the Trinity are in sync.

One of the most quoted verses is Heb 13:8 whereby the author tells us that "Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever".

And since Jesus is always in sync with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit, the logical conclusion is that "God is the same yesterday, today and forever".

But is He *really* the same?  Is there really no shadow of turning with Him?

I have come across numerous passages, especially in the Old Testament, whereby He seems to be as unpredictable as the weather.

Take the example of how he dealt with Moses.  On the one hand, God appeared to close one eye when Moses killed the Egyptian in Exodus 2:12.  Yet, in Exodus 4:24, we read about how God wanted to kill Moses because he was not circumcised!  But what really took the cake for me was that after all that Moses had done for God (getting Pharaoh to release the Israelites from slavery, parting the Red Sea, bringing the Ten Commandments, having the blueprint to construct the Tabernacle, etc), we read in Numbers 20 that God forbade him from entering the promised land just because he struck the rock instead of speaking to it!

So how can God claim to be the same yesterday, today and forever, when His behaviour is like that of a baby, who giggles and smiles at you one moment, and then throws his toys out of the pram in a hissy fit the next?

Stay tuned, and we will journey through the Exodus story in the next blog entry.

Q10. Why Did God Kill Onan and Yet Spare Tamar?

TODAY'S HEADLINES

Source: http://rarebible.files.wordpress.com

<---  MAN DIES MYSTERIOUSLY AFTER ALLOWING HIS SEMEN TO SPILL TO THE GROUND

Source: http://biblestudyoutlines.org

WIDOW TRICKS DAD-IN-LAW INTO SLEEPING WITH HER AND GETS PREGNANT WITH TWINS --->

The above headlines are befitting for a tabloid like The New Paper.

So it would be shockingly scandalous if one were told that the above really happened and is actually recorded in the holy Scriptures, in Genesis 38 to be precise.

Genesis 38

The Message (MSG)

38 ^1-5 About that time, Judah separated from his brothers and hooked up with a man in Adullam named Hirah. While there, Judah met the daughter of a Canaanite named Shua. He married her, they went to bed, she became pregnant and had a son named Er. She got pregnant again and had a son named Onan. She had still another son; she named this one Shelah. They were living at Kezib when she had him.

^6-7 Judah got a wife for Er, his firstborn. Her name was Tamar. But Judah’s firstborn, Er, grievously offended God and God took his life.
^8-10 So Judah told Onan, “Go and sleep with your brother’s widow; it’s the duty of a brother-in-law to keep your brother’s line alive.” But Onan knew that the child wouldn’t be his, so whenever he slept with his brother’s widow he spilled his semen on the ground so he wouldn’t produce a child for his brother. God was much offended by what he did and also took his life.
¹¹ So Judah stepped in and told his daughter-in-law Tamar, “Live as a widow at home with your father until my son Shelah grows up.” He was worried that Shelah would also end up dead, just like his brothers. So Tamar went to live with her father.
¹² Time passed. Judah’s wife, Shua’s daughter, died. When the time of mourning was over, Judah with his friend Hirah of Adullam went to Timnah for the sheep shearing.
^13-14 Tamar was told, “Your father-in-law has gone to Timnah to shear his sheep.” She took off her widow’s clothes, put on a veil to disguise herself, and sat at the entrance to Enaim which is on the road to Timnah. She realized by now that even though Shelah was grown up, she wasn’t going to be married to him.
¹⁵ Judah saw her and assumed she was a prostitute since she had veiled her face. He left the road and went over to her. He said, “Let me sleep with you.” He had no idea that she was his daughter-in-law.
¹⁶ She said, “What will you pay me?”
¹⁷ “I’ll send you,” he said, “a kid goat from the flock.”
She said, “Not unless you give me a pledge until you send it.”
¹⁸ “So what would you want in the way of a pledge?”
She said, “Your personal seal-and-cord and the staff you carry.”
He handed them over to her and slept with her. And she got pregnant.
¹⁹ She then left and went home. She removed her veil and put her widow’s clothes back on.
^20-21 Judah sent the kid goat by his friend from Adullam to recover the pledge from the woman. But he couldn’t find her. He asked the men of that place, “Where’s the prostitute that used to sit by the road here near Enaim?”
They said, “There’s never been a prostitute here.”
²² He went back to Judah and said, “I couldn’t find her. The men there said there never has been a prostitute there.”
²³ Judah said, “Let her have it then. If we keep looking, everyone will be poking fun at us. I kept my part of the bargain—I sent the kid goat but you couldn’t find her.”
²⁴ Three months or so later, Judah was told, “Your daughter-in-law has been playing the whore—and now she’s a pregnant whore.”
Judah yelled, “Get her out here. Burn her up!”
²⁵ As they brought her out, she sent a message to her father-in-law, “I’m pregnant by the man who owns these things. Identify them, please. Who’s the owner of the seal-and-cord and the staff?”
²⁶ Judah saw they were his. He said, “She’s in the right; I’m in the wrong—I wouldn’t let her marry my son Shelah.” He never slept with her again.
^27-30 When her time came to give birth, it turned out that there were twins in her womb. As she was giving birth, one put his hand out; the midwife tied a red thread on his hand, saying, “This one came first.” But then he pulled it back and his brother came out. She said, “Oh! A breakout!” So she named him Perez (Breakout). Then his brother came out with the red thread on his hand. They named him Zerah (Bright).

As a kid growing up in Sunday school, I do not recall any of the teachers daring to make reference to the above chapter in the Bible.  I was made aware of it as a result of reading through the Bible for myself and truth be told, I was extremely stumbled.

Several years later as a teen (with raging hormones), I did recall coming across a book that declared that masturbation was a serious sin, quoting Gen 38:9.  I was terrified, confessed and asked the Lord for forgiveness. and stopped doing so for quite a while, for fear that God would kill me too :p

Yet, that book's explanation did not really gel because while God killed Onan, He spared Judah and Tamar!  Deep inside, I was asking myself why was masturbation considered a serious sin punishable by death, yet sleeping with one's own daughter-in-law (while she was disguised as a prostitute) and getter her pregnant as a result, was not considered serious enough to deserve even the lightest form of punishment?

It was only recently that passages like this began to make sense.  In order to do so, one has to (yup, you guessed it!) use that "scarlet thread" to "connect the dots".  (See the blog entry entitled "Connecting the Dots Via the Scarlet Thread")

When we see events in the light of that first prophecy in the garden of Eden, about the promised seed of Eve, we can understand why God spared some and yet not others.  We note that inevitably, those in Jesus' genealogy were given His full protection and undeserved, unmerited favour.  Examples include:

• Noah, even though he was a drunkard
• Abraham, even though he was a liar
• Jacob, even though he was a swindler
• Judah and Tamar, even though they slept together as father-in-law and daughter-in-law

while those that Satan used to prevent the seed from coming forth were punished:

• the mixed-breeds who perished in the flood
• the heathen kings who tried to get fresh with Sarah
• the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah
• Onan, who spilt his semen on the floor

We are not told specifically why God killed Er (Judah's first-born).  But he was described in Gen 38:7 as "wicked in the sight of the Lord".  Given the great battle between good and evil, whereby God was arranging for the seed to come forth, one can probably conclude that Er, just like his younger brother, Onan, was inspired by the devil to prevent the seed from coming forth.

Not only were Judah and Tamar spared, Tamar was even given the honour of being specifically singled out and mentioned in Matthew's account of Jesus' genealogy!  [By the way, genealogies are supposed to only mention the patriarchs, yet the Holy Spirit saw it fit to record the names of 5 women, namely Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, Bathsheba and Mary.  I will blog about this amazing phenomenon of grace in a future post, so look out for that].

Oh by the way, Judah was actually Jacob's fourth-born, and chosen by God to be the tribe that not only led the Israelites into battle, but also produce a worthy line of kings, which included David, Solomon, Josiah, and of course, Jesus, the King of Kings.

Reuben, as Jacob's firstborn, was supposed to receive the kingdom, the priesthood and the double-portion inheritance. But because of his misdeed as recorded in Gen 35:22, whereby he slept with his dad's concubine, he forfeited his birthright, viz:

"The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel (he was the firstborn, but when he defiled his father's marriage bed, his rights as firstborn were given to the sons of Joseph son of Israel; so he could not be listed in the genealogical record in accordance with his birthright" (1 Chron 5:1).

As a result, the kingdom ended up going to Judah, the priesthood to Levi and the double-portion inheritance to Joseph (via grandsons Ephraim and Manasseh).

While this was divided under Jacob, all 3 have now been re-united under Jesus. Jesus is the King of Kings, our great High Priest and we are now co-heirs of the inheritance with Him.  Hallelujah!