THE GOD WHO WALKS IN HISTORY Thesis: The God who reveals Himself in Scripture also reveals Himself in the soil, stones, and civilizations of history. Faith is not blind; it is anchored in time, space, culture, and material reality. SECTION 1 THE GOD WHO STEPS INTO HISTORY Texts: Luke 1:1–4; John 1:14; 2 Peter 1:16 Doctrines: Incarnation, Revelation Luke writes with the meticulous care of a historian, John speaks as a firsthand witness, and Peter writes as a man who saw Christ's glory and majesty with his own eyes. Christianity is not built on myth, speculative theories, or symbolic folklore; it is firmly anchored in concrete moments, specific places, real people, and verifiable historical events. Biblical faith is rooted in time, space, culture, and material reality. Archaeology amplifies and illuminates this truth. While archaeology cannot create faith or prove divine inspiration, it bridges faith and historical inquiry by excavating, deciphering, and evaluating ancient material records. It demonstrates that biblical narratives are historically reliable, connecting sacred Scripture to the real world of ancient civilizations and providing material evidence that grounds divine revelation. The Tel Dan Stele stands as a stone‑carved testimony that King David was not a legend, myth, or literary invention. Discovered in 1993 in northern Israel, this basalt victory monument commissioned by Hazael of Aram-Damascus contains the Paleo-Hebrew inscription Beit David ("House of David"). Written by a pagan king and bitter enemy of Israel, it provides an unshakeable external confirmation of David's historical existence, dynasty, and lasting impact. In similar fashion, the Dead Sea Scrolls, discovered between 1947 and 1956 in caves along the Dead Sea shore, testify that the Scriptures were preserved with astonishing accuracy across generations. Containing biblical manuscripts over 1,000 years older than any previously known Hebrew texts—most notably the complete Great Isaiah Scroll—the scrolls demonstrate the faithful transmission and historical trustworthiness of God's Word across centuries. Illustration: A man once told me, “I don't believe anything I can't touch.” I handed him a pottery shard from Galilee and said, “Then touch the world Jesus walked in.” He broke. This moment illustrates how material evidence grounds divine revelation. The shores of the Sea of Galilee served as the floorboards of Jesus' classroom, where He ministered in real fishing villages like Capernaum and Magdala. Excavations in these towns have uncovered first-century synagogues, black basalt foundations, ancient homes, and fishing tools that directly reflect the Gospel accounts. Such artifacts and pottery shards demonstrate that the Incarnation is not an abstract theory or myth; the Word became flesh, breathed the air of a fishing village, walked on specific floors, and occupied the same physical world we do. By bridging faith and historical inquiry, archaeology confirms that biblical faith is firmly anchored in time, space, culture, and material reality. SECTION 2 — SCRIPTURE’S RELIABILITY THROUGH ARCHAEOLOGY Texts: Isaiah 40:8; Matthew 5:18; Psalm 119:89 Doctrine: Biblical inspiration Archaeology does not create faith it illuminates faith. The Lachish Letters Written during the critical moments of the Babylonian invasion described in the prophetic book of Jeremiah, these military ostraca capture the immense fear, pressing urgency, and real-time collapse of Judah. One notable message vividly records the military outpost's dire situation: “We are watching for the signals of Lachish… but we cannot see Azekah.” As Jeremiah describes a nation enduring a catastrophic siege, the physical soil and artifacts of Lachish tangibly preserve the frantic final communications and authentic voices of its ancient defenders. Other confirmations Numerous other archaeological discoveries provide historical grounding for biblical accounts. For example, the Pool of Bethesda was excavated and uncovered precisely as described in John 5. Similarly, the powerful Hittite Empire—a civilization once dismissed by critics as mere literary fiction—is now fully documented through extensive historical records and material evidence. Illustration: Archaeology acts as a floodlight. It does not create faith out of nothing, but rather illuminates the historic reality that was present all along, allowing us to see the historical record clearly. SECTION 3 — THE WORLD OF THE PATRIARCHS Texts: Genesis 12; Genesis 15; Hebrews 11:8–12 Doctrine: Covenant theology Abraham lived in a world of law, covenant, and custom, deeply embedded in the cultural and legal frameworks of the ancient Near East. Surrounding civilizations possessed sophisticated legal traditions—such as the Code of Ur-Nammu, the Code of Hammurabi, and Hittite laws—demonstrating that codified law and covenantal structures were widespread during the second millennium BC. The 15th-century BC Nuzi Tablets provide abundant cultural confirmation of Genesis, revealing adoption practices identical to Abraham’s heir dilemma where childless couples could adopt a servant as an heir—precisely mirroring Abraham's arrangement with Eliezer (Genesis 15:3). Nuzi documents also detail surrogate motherhood provisions requiring barren wives to provide servant girls to their husbands (matching Sarah and Hagar in Genesis 16:2) and document negotiable birthright transactions similar to Jacob and Esau. Similarly, the 19th-century BC Mari Letters—a collection of 20,000 tablets—describe nomadic migrations, tribal movements, and Northwest Semitic customs that directly mirror Genesis. These texts contain name patterns specifically current in Mesopotamia during this period, including names closely matching Serug, Nahor, Terah, Abraham, and Jacob. Additionally, the contemporary Alalakh Texts further illuminate the authentic family and legal practices reflected throughout the patriarchal narratives. God’s covenant was not communicated in a cultural vacuum; it was spoken into a real society with real expectations, authentic legal customs, and verifiable historical settings. Illustration: A footprint in clay proves someone walked there. Genesis is full of footprints. SECTION 4 EXODUS: THE GOD WHO LIBERATES Texts: Exodus 3; Exodus 12; Psalm 77:14 Doctrine: Redemption The Exodus is not a fairy tale. It is God confronting the Egyptian empire. Egyptian records confirm Semitic populations resided in the Delta. The Merneptah Stele declares “Israel is laid waste,” providing early extra-biblical confirmation of Israel’s presence in Canaan. Furthermore, satellite technology using infrared sensors has detected ancient trails and heat patterns left in desert sands made by large groups leaving the Nile Delta along the Suez coast, mirroring the biblical route. Archaeological excavations at Tell el-Kharouba in northern Sinai revealed a massive Egyptian military fortress guarding "The Way of Horus". This heavily fortified coastal highway explains why God redirected Israel through the wilderness—as recorded in Exodus 13:17–18—sparing a newly liberated population from encountering seasoned Egyptian military garrisons. In Canaan, Late Bronze Age cities show sudden collapses consistent with Joshua’s conquest. At Jericho, archaeological excavations revealed massive fortifications featuring 4.6-meter stone retaining walls topped by mud-brick walls 1.8 meters thick. The collapsed mud-brick walls fell outward to form natural ramps for attackers at the wall base, while a massive 9-meter ash layer attests to fierce, intense destruction by fire. Jars of stored grain further indicate a brief siege before the city fell, exactly matching the biblical account in Joshua. At Ai, traditional identification with et-Tell presented problems because that site was not occupied during Joshua's time. However, candidate sites such as Khirbet el-Maqatir show evidence of a 15th-century BC fortress that fits all biblical requirements, offering a promising resolution to long-standing geographical and chronological debates. At Hazor—explicitly described as the "head of all those kingdoms" in Joshua 11:10 and noted uniquely in the 14th-century Egyptian Amarna Letters with a ruler titled "king"—excavations uncovered city walls over 7 meters wide, a massive conflagration layer, and evidence of sudden, violent destruction by fire dated to approximately 1400 BC. Illustration: A chain breaks only when something stronger pulls against it. God pulled. The physical collapse of ancient Canaanite fortifications bears silent witness to divine intervention in human history. SECTION 5 — THE KINGDOM ERA: GOD’S RULE IN REAL TIME Texts: 1 Samuel 8; 2 Samuel 7; Psalm 2 Doctrine: Kingship Israel’s monarchy unfolded in the same geopolitical world we excavate today. The Karnak relief records Shishak’s campaign. Samaria ostraca reveals taxation systems matching Scripture. The Babylonian Chronicles align with 2 Kings and Jeremiah. In 701 BCE, facing the imminent threat of Assyrian invasion, King Hezekiah secured Jerusalem’s water supply by redirecting the Gihon Spring—Jerusalem’s only permanent water source—through a 1,750-foot tunnel carved through solid rock, directly confirming 2 Chronicles 32:30. When Assyrian king Sennacherib boasted of shutting up Hezekiah "like a bird in a cage," he underestimated a king who had secured the city's lifeblood so that invading armies would not find water. Inside the tunnel, the Siloam Inscription documents this extraordinary engineering achievement, describing how two teams of stonecutters guided by the sound of their axes carved through rock from opposite directions until meeting in the middle. This discovery validates the strategic preparations detailed in Scripture, demonstrating that Hezekiah did not simply pray and wait, but prayed and prepared by taking decisive action in obedience. Illustration: History is God’s canvas. Kings rise and fall — the Artist remains. Faith does not wait for crisis; faith prepares for victory. Hezekiah dug a tunnel before the enemy arrived. SECTION 6 — JESUS IN THE FULLNESS OF TIME Texts: Galatians 4:4; Luke 4:31–37; John 19:16 Doctrine: Christology Jesus entered a world we can still touch. The Incarnation means the Word became flesh and dwelt in real geographical spaces, walking on physical stones and breathing the air of first-century Judea and Galilee. At Capernaum—known as Jesus' "own city"—excavations uncovered the black basalt foundations of the very synagogue where He taught, along with an octagonal church built over a humble first-century home identified as the House of Peter. Nearby at Magdala, archaeologists discovered a first-century synagogue featuring the "Magdala Stone," which depicts the Second Temple and its Menorah, as well as fishing tools and home structures consistent with the Gospel accounts. In addition, first-century burial practices and ornate limestone ossuaries confirm names common to Jesus' era, including the ossuary of High Priest Caiaphas inscribed "Yehosef bar Qayafa". In 1961 at Caesarea Maritima, archaeologists discovered the Pilate Stone—a limestone block explicitly inscribed "Pontius Pilate, Prefect of Judea"—verifying the exact historical title and identity of the Roman governor who presided over Jesus' trial. Excavations in Nazareth further confirm authentic first-century settlement patterns, establishing that the narrative of Christ is deeply anchored in real time, space, and history. Illustration: Walk the streets of Capernaum today and you walk where Jesus walked. Faith becomes sight. SECTION 7 — THE RESURRECTION: THEOLOGY MEETS TANGIBLE REALITY Texts: 1 Corinthians 15; Matthew 28; Romans 6:4 Doctrine: Resurrection theology The resurrection was proclaimed in a culture that understood death intimately. Second Temple Jewish burial customs involved precise two-stage practices, where bodies were laid in rock-cut tombs before bones were placed in limestone ossuaries. Excavations throughout Jerusalem reveal tombs featuring burial niches and rolling stone tracks that directly mirror the Gospel accounts. For example, the discovery of the ornate limestone ossuary inscribed "Yehosef bar Qayafa" (Joseph, son of Caiaphas) confirms the historical reality of the high priest who presided over Jesus' trial and demonstrates the authenticity of first-century Judean burial traditions. Furthermore, physical evidence such as the heel bone of Yehohanan—pierced by a seven-inch iron nail—forensically confirms Roman crucifixion mechanics and subsequent proper burial in Jerusalem during this era. Excavations beneath the Church of the Holy Sepulchre complex have also uncovered a first-century limestone quarry transformed into a working garden outside the ancient city walls, containing a rock-cut tomb matching the exact geographical and architectural setting described in John's Gospel. Ossuaries and funerary traditions reflect a deeply ingrained belief in bodily resurrection, while subterranean catacombs, sacred symbols, and early Christian inscriptions boldly proclaim, “He is risen”. While archaeology cannot measure the supernatural moment of resurrection, the physical record—from excavated gardens to empty tombs—demonstrates that the Gospel narrative is anchored in tangible historical reality. ” Illustration: A seed buried in the ground does not stay dead. Neither did the Son of God. SECTION 8 — CLOSING MOVEMENT: “THE STONES CRY OUT” Texts: Luke 19:40; Psalm 78:4; Hebrews 13:8 SECTION 8 — CLOSING MOVEMENT: “THE STONES CRY OUT” Texts: Luke 19:40; Psalm 78:4; Hebrews 13:8 Doctrine: Faithfulness of God Scripture is inherently trustworthy because God Himself is faithful. While archaeology is not the primary foundation of faith, it serves as a powerful, unbiased witness to the historical reality of divine revelation. The archaeological record does not invent spiritual truth; rather, it shines a floodlight on the physical setting of redemption, confirming that God acted directly within human history. When Jesus declared in Luke 19:40 that the very stones would cry out, He testified to a reality that echoes through centuries of excavation. From the basalt of the Tel Dan Stele to the rock walls of Hezekiah’s Tunnel, physical artifacts continuously affirm the biblical narrative. As Psalm 78:4 urges believers to tell the glorious deeds of the Lord to the next generation, material discoveries serve as tangible evidence that can be passed down across ages. The stones cry out from ancient city ruins. The scrolls cry out from the caves of Qumran. The inscriptions cry out from military ostraca, royal stelae, and Roman limestone. History itself cries out in unison. And they all proclaim the exact same eternal truth: Jesus Christ is Lord. Yesterday, today, and forever. Just as Hebrews 13:8 affirms His unchanging character, the historical record testifies that the God who acted in centuries past remains the faithful Lord of today and eternity. Final Illustration: Archaeologists brush away layers of dust and debris from ancient ruins to reveal the historical truth beneath. In the exact same way, God brushes away the guilt, darkness, and decay of sin to reveal the glorious, living presence of Christ in the human heart.

A WORD FOR YOU. (Insights For Life) And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the day. Genesis 32:24 KJV JACOB WAS LEFT ALONE - part 2. Let me share a particular story about BILL GATES. Bill Gates, the Founder of Microsoft (stepped down as CEO in 2000), has and practice what is called "Think Weeks" program. It is a legendary "twice-yearly ritual", where he "ISOLATES" himself in a remote cabin to DISCONNECT for seven days. He retreats to a secluded, two-story clapboard cabin in a cedar forest in the Pacific Northwest, with a view of the Olympic Mountains—an intentionally DISTRACTION-FREE ENVIRONMENT. During this "Think Weeks", he receives/accepts No visitors, no phone, no internet, and no TV. The only human contact is a caretaker who drops off two simple meals a day. - He spends up to 18 hours a day reading and annotating technical papers and employee memos . His record is 112 papers in a single week! He takes his Meals at the kitchen table while still reading. - These "weeks" led to major pivots for Microsoft, including the Internet Explorer strategy in 1995 and concepts that became the Tablet PC and online gaming. He noted that this intense, distraction-free focus was crucial to his success. This practice was a key strategic tool during his time at Microsoft. Every great man has a secret - an open secret. One of their secret is the ability to isolate, seclude, withdraw themselves into solitude. Have you noticed that great people have few circle of friends. The Eagle spends 150days in isolation, Bill Gates spends 7days twice a year. DESTINY IS WAITING FOR YOU, NOT IN THE OPEN PLACE - BUT IN THE SECRET PLACE. Destinies are birthed in wilderness and in the solitary place. The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them... Isaiah 35:1 KJV. Be blessed, Stay refreshed! #AwordForYou #InsightsforLife #nnamdicaezarsammyministry #NCSM #DewChurchGlobal #LifereFreshingMinistry #IAMADEW

The Rapture Truth # 4 Please, share these lessons with your family, friends, and Facebook groups. To enhance the Kingdom of GOD. Signs of the End of the World They just wouldn’t listen. Some of them even thought it was a joke. At a boarding school in the northern Thailand province of Chiang Rai, young elementary students were asleep one Sunday evening as a deadly danger crept upon them. Investigators believe a faulty fluorescent light broke and sparked a fire. Flames spread quickly, but not so fast that some of the students—as young as five years old—couldn’t be roused and warned about the danger. The Bangkok Post newspaper reported, “Suchada Kong-arsa, an 11-year-old school girl who survived the tragedy … rushed back to wake up her friends and tell them to escape. ‘Most of them did not believe me and went back to sleep but others did and struggled to escape,’ she said.” At least seventeen young students died in the fire. It’s a tragedy, to be sure. But even at the last second, a warning was sounded, yet some wouldn’t, or couldn’t, listen. They had been in that dormitory for weeks, perhaps months. Every night they went to sleep, and perhaps on more than one occasion, pranksters tried to rouse them. The signs around them—frantic pleading, perhaps even the faint scent of smoke—just didn’t register. Can such a tragedy be repeated, and exponentially magnified, as the world nears its final hours? The Bible says millions will ignore the signs of the times and pay a similarly fateful price. WHAT ARE THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES? If Jesus told His closest followers they could tell when His return is near, did He offer some concrete indicators—signs of the times? Yes! He certainly did: “Take heed that no one deceives you. … You will hear of wars and rumors of wars. … Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places” (Matthew 24:4, 6, 7). Not every earthquake, famine, or war is a specific sign of His soon return. We’ve seen these tragedies repeat on a regular basis during the 2,000 years since Christ walked the earth. However, from Jesus’ words, we can expect to see a dramatic increase in the frequency and intensity of these calamities just before He comes back. Let’s look at some of these signs in detail … WARS AND RUMORS OF WARS It’s difficult to switch on the television and not hear news about war and other conflict somewhere in the world. While the last century was perhaps one of the world’s bloodiest, with upwards of 100 million people killed, this new millennium isn’t off to a much better start. Of course, conflict continues to plague these regions. The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States spawned a military invasion of Afghanistan. Eighteen months after 9/11, troops invaded Iraq. Each war lasted years—eight in Iraq, thirteen in Afghanistan—and each conflict left behind fractured regions in its wake, not to mention thousands upon thousands of deaths and injuries. Africa’s sub-Sahara region has seen continued war since the independence movements of the 1950s and 1960s. In the past thirty years, blood-stained conflicts in the Sudan, Ethiopia, Liberia, Somalia, and Sierra Leone—to name but a few—have left their mark. In Rwanda, horrific inter-tribal war between the Hutu and Tutsi tribes killed tens of thousands. In many places, sub-Saharan Africa remains a powder keg, capable of igniting at any moment. The Middle East, including Egypt, Libya, and Morocco, has been bathed in war for years. The “Arab Spring” of 2011 toppled established governments in Egypt, Libya, and Tunisia and led to a massive civil war in Syria, as well as Yemen. Iraq remains in turmoil with civil war. Iran’s nuclear ambitions are of great concern in the region, worrying not only Israel—a nation its leaders have pledged to destroy—but also neighboring Saudi Arabia, a country with the means to field an invading army if needed. South Asia: Periodic clashes flare up between India and Pakistan, both nuclear powers; in Pakistan’s northwest regions, fighting with Taliban invaders continues. There are also continued clashes between South Korea and the nuclear-armed North Korea. Other contentious hotspots include Europe and the ongoing conflict in the Ukraine, where part of that nation was swallowed up by troops from the Russian Federation. Nations surely are “rising against nations,” as this list of wars and conflicts demonstrates. Another threat comes from non-nations, such as the so-called “Islamic State.” This group has committed and encouraged terrorist attacks in Europe and the United States, declaring that it is rising to destroy the West in a holy war to end all wars. The current dramatic escalation in "wars and rumors of war" isn't fantasy—it's reality. According to the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit, an estimated “1.5 billion people live in regions haunted by violent conflicts, whose damage to the global economy is valued at 14.3 trillion U.S. dollars per year.” The same report indicated “over 30 million children are homeless because of wars, natural disasters, and other crises,” the highest number since the end of World War II. FAMINES In the wake of war, famine generally follows. The millions of refugees from Iraq and Syria, for example, are often found undernourished in refugee camps or on their treks to Europe and other nations. The United Nations World Food Program says “some 795 million people in the world do not have enough food. ... That's about one in nine people on earth.” A sudden disruption in food supplies could quickly turn that into a massive famine. DISEASE AND PESTILENCE “Let me give you a stern warning. What we are seeing now looks more and more like a dramatic resurgence of the threat from emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. The world is not prepared to cope,” Dr. Margaret Chan, a physician who heads the World Health Organization, has declared. Headlines in 2016 on the rapid spread of the Zika virus speak to this threat. This virus can cause debilitating birth defects and is believed to be carried by certain species of mosquitos; it caused widespread panic during the Summer Olympics. For most of 2014, international headlines centered on an outbreak of the Ebola virus in West Africa. It quickly killed more than 11,000. People carrying the virus showed up in nations far from the outbreak zones, sending waves of panic throughout the world. The influenza crisis of 1918 killed 25 million people in one year. Other fast-spreading diseases have brought tragic consequences, as with the ongoing AIDS epidemic that began in the 1980s. NATURAL DISASTERS Michael Snyder, in his highly regarded “Economic Collapse” blog, noted in 2016 that the earth’s crust is becoming “increasingly unstable,” with forty active volcanoes erupting at the time and more than 3,000 earthquakes in one month’s time. He wrote, “The entire west coast of the United States lies along the [seismic zone known as the] Ring of Fire, and virtually every other section of the Ring of Fire is roaring to life.” An earthquake or a massive volcanic eruption can wreak havoc in minutes. Residents of the San Francisco Bay Area were stunned in 1989 when an earthquake hit one October evening, killing 67, collapsing a major bridge, and causing billions of dollars in damage. Six years later, the Osaka-Kobe area of Japan was rocked by a magnitude 6.9 earthquake that killed thousands. And in 2011, the Fukushima earthquake in northern Japan led to a nuclear accident that spread deadly radiation and resulted in 1,000 deaths. These earthquakes are increasing in frequency and, some observers note, in intensity. And as was seen in Fukushima, the damage from an earthquake itself may be nothing compared with the collateral damage caused by a subsequent tsunami or other disaster unleashed by a tectonic shift. MORAL COLLAPSE When Jesus told His disciples that no one knew the day or hour of His return, He added, “But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be” (Matthew 24:37). What were the days of Noah like? In Genesis, chapter 6, the Bible reports, “The lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. … The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. So God looked upon the earth, and indeed it was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth” (verses 5, 11, 12). You don’t have to look very far to see this happening today. In just a few years, the unthinkable in many societies has happened: Governments around the world have legalized marriages that fall outside of God’s original design. Sexual immorality is now paraded openly, demanding and receiving acceptance in society at large. Divorce has skyrocketed, and in most nations, more couples live together without being married than those who tie the knot. More children are born without the traditional structure of a mother and father than ever before. It doesn’t take much imagination to see that the signs of the end are being rapidly fulfilled. We can know that God is ready soon to act upon the world stage to save those whom He has created, loves, and sent His Son to redeem. But it won’t be by a flood this time as in the days of Noah—it will be the return of Christ to establish something new for those who trust in Him. No longer will famine, disease, or disaster stalk societies. “Neither shall they learn war anymore” (Micah 4:3). What a glorious day that will be!

The Anno Domini–Babel Symmetry Fragmentation, Synchronization, and the Redemptive Structure of History Despite the secular timeline that Homo sapiens existed for roughly 300,000 years, the archaeological record reveals something extraordinary: for the overwhelming majority of that immense span, humanity left behind only scattered, localized traces (small bands, cave art, basic tools), with no explosion of distinct languages, formalized cultures, writing systems, stratified civilizations, or large-scale coordinated societies. Then, in a dramatically compressed window between roughly 3400 and 3000 B.C., precisely the era many biblical theologians associate with the Tower of Babel, everything ignited at once, and across a geographically striking expanse. Proto-cuneiform writing burst forth in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) around 3400–3200 B.C. Almost simultaneously, Egyptian hieroglyphs emerged along the Nile around 3250–3100 B.C. Early signs of complex symbolic systems also appear in the distant Indus Valley region (modern Pakistan and northwest India) by roughly 3500–2800 B.C. Cities and empires rose. Linguistic and cultural distinctions sharpened into enduring, identifiable identities. Independent regional chronologies and civilizational systems multiplied and formalized. Large-scale fragmentation became visible, permanent, and historically dominant. These developments were not confined to a single river valley. They erupted across regions separated by vast deserts, mountain ranges, and seas. After nearly 300,000 years (according to secular timelines) of relative stasis, the sudden, parallel emergence of writing, urbanism, and complex societies in these widely dispersed centers makes the timing even more compelling. Long before modern linguistics or archaeology existed, the Bible pointed directly to this wound: humanity’s fall into divided languages, scattered peoples, and competing civilizations. Babel stands as the oldest and most profound explanation in all of human literature for why our species is splintered into languages, peoples, and competing civilizations. Yet the same sacred Scriptures that diagnose this ancient fracture also prophesy and record the events surrounding the life and death of Jesus Christ, the very figure whose timeline would one day become the unifying framework that began drawing a divided world back together. Over two billion believers alive today, along with countless millions throughout history, recognize that this same Scripture not only foretold these exact events thousands of years in advance, but also their world-transforming aftermath. And despite what skeptics may claim, there are powerful, historically grounded reasons to believe every word of it. A Linear, Shared Temporal Framework A single, linear, shared temporal framework underpins nearly every aspect of modern coordinated life. The Anno Domini (AD) system, rooted unapologetically and exclusively in Christian tradition, marks one of the most revolutionary achievements in human history. For thousands of years after the Babel-era explosion of diversity, humanity still had no effective way to communicate dates, records, knowledge, or coordinated plans across cultural and linguistic boundaries. Each civilization clung to its own cyclical time, anchored to local kings, myths, or cosmic cycles. Trade demanded constant translation of time itself. History remained imprisoned within subcultures. True cumulative progress across borders was practically impossible. Then the Anno Domini system arrived. Anchored directly and irrevocably to the incarnation of Jesus Christ, it introduced a continuous, linear, unbroken count of years capable of embracing every event, every people, and every place on earth. What began as a humble Christian reckoning of time spread through trade, scholarship, exploration, and missionary zeal until it became the de facto calendar of the entire world. The very Scriptures that explained our division supplied the temporal bridge that enabled us to navigate it, overcome it, and finally coordinate across it on a global scale. The Anno Domini–Babel Symmetry This produces plausibly one of the most powerful symmetries in human history: the Anno Domini–Babel Symmetry. It has two defining realities that mirror each other with remarkable precision. The Babel reality is humanity’s catastrophic fragmentation. One people, one language, one unified rebellion against God, suddenly collapsed into confusion of tongues. Nations were scattered. Rival civilizations emerged in isolation. And this fracture did not happen in one small corner of the world. In the narrow window of roughly 3400–3000 B.C., the very era many biblical scholars associate with Babel, the archaeological record shows the same sudden, explosive burst across widely separated regions: proto-cuneiform writing in Mesopotamia, hieroglyphs along the Nile in Egypt, proto-Elamite script in the Iranian highlands, and early symbolic systems emerging in the distant Indus Valley. These developments spanned thousands of kilometres, from the Tigris-Euphrates river plain to the Nile Delta, the highlands of Elam, and the Indus River plain in South Asia, with only minimal, if any, direct contact between them. After a history of relative silence, large-scale linguistic, cultural, and civilizational division became visible, permanent, and strikingly global. The Anno Domini reality is the great synchronization. A single, unbroken, linear chronology anchored irrevocably to the birth of Jesus Christ became the shared timeline of the entire world. This calendar, developed within the Christian tradition and carried across continents through trade, scholarship, exploration, and expanding global networks, unleashed cumulative knowledge on a planetary scale, forged the arteries of international trade, enabled true cross-cultural coordination for the first time in recorded history, and began the long, transformative process of stitching a fractured humanity back together. This is not a return to pre-Babel uniformity that erases all differences. Languages remain. Cultures remain. Nations remain. But across every real difference, history has moved decisively toward greater coordination, interoperability, and shared reference points. The God who scattered the nations in judgment at Babel is the very same God who is gathering them in grace through His Son. To dismiss this symmetry as a mere coincidence would be ignorant. The same Scriptures that recorded our ancient divisions also foretold and fulfilled their healing in Jesus Christ. The Redemptive Arc Across Every Domain Once this pattern is seen, it explodes across every domain of human experience, with Christianity serving as the undeniable, driving force in each: - Language: From the confusion of tongues at Babel to the greatest translation movement in human history, powered by the Christian Church through missionaries, scholars, and Bible societies, carrying the Scriptures into portions of over 3,500 languages, the New Testament into more than 1,600, and the full Bible into more than 700. No other text or institution has come close to making divine truth and human knowledge accessible across every cultural barrier on earth. - Time: From fractured, local, cyclical calendars to one dominant linear timeline now referenced by the entire world, centred squarely on the birth of Jesus Christ. - Knowledge: From localized, ritual-bound memory to explosive, cumulative, intergenerational, and cross-cultural scholarship and scientific advancement, fueled by the Christian conviction that the God of creation is a God of order, truth, and discoverable reality. - Trade, Law, and Communication: From isolated regional systems to globally synchronized economies, legal frameworks, and near-instantaneous exchange, all made practical and possible by a common calendar rooted in Christ, with the moral and justice foundations of Western law itself flowing directly from the covenant law given through Moses. When you stop and consider this, the implications are nothing short of profound and extraordinarily difficult for any skeptic to explain away. The Bible stands as the most translated, distributed, and meticulously preserved text in human history, with far more surviving manuscript evidence than any other ancient document combined. Christian efforts to translate, proclaim, and apply it drove the global transmission of language, literacy, shared knowledge, ethical codes of law, and civilizational infrastructure across continents. The Redemptive Structure Running Through All of Scripture This symmetry does not stand alone. It flows directly from the very architecture of the Bible itself, one of the most astonishing features of Scripture. Written over more than 1,500 years by more than forty authors from vastly different cultures, languages, and walks of life, the Bible nevertheless displays a single, unbroken, coherent narrative from Genesis to Revelation. No other ancient collection of writings even comes close to this level of unity. The pattern is relentless and unmistakable: order disrupted by sin, separation and fragmentation introduced through judgment, yet always followed by covenant expansion, reconciliation, gathering, and restoration, without erasing the distinctions among peoples. The redemptive arc appears again and again: - In Eden, perfect unity is shattered by the Fall, bringing separation and expulsion, yet God immediately promises a coming Redeemer who will crush the serpent. - After the Flood, judgment falls on a corrupt world, yet God establishes a covenant with Noah that points toward future reconciliation for humanity. - Israel descends into slavery in Egypt, yet God redeems them in the Exodus, binds them to Himself at Sinai through the giving of His law, and commissions them to be a light to the nations. Remarkably, through their faithful preservation of the Scriptures, their monotheistic witness, and the ethical and legal teachings of Moses, Israel actually fulfilled this calling to a profound degree. Their influence shaped moral foundations, concepts of justice, and human dignity across civilizations, laying the very groundwork that would later carry the gospel to the ends of the earth. - Even after exile and judgment scatter His people, the prophets declare a coming day when God will regather the scattered and draw the nations to Himself. - In the New Testament the pattern reaches its climax: at the cross Christ reconciles a fractured world to God; at Pentecost the curse of Babel is reversed as every nation hears the wonders of God in its own tongue; the Great Commission sends the gospel to the ends of the earth; and Revelation’s throne-room vision displays the final victory; every tribe, tongue, people, and nation worshiping the Lamb together. Babel is not an isolated episode. It is the foundational portrait of the human problem. The entire Bible is the story of how God takes that fracture and turns it into the very stage on which He displays His redemptive intentions. At the absolute center of it all stands Jesus Christ, the axis of history, the reconciler of the nations, the One whose name and timeline now hold the world together in ways our ancestors could scarcely have imagined. This is why the Anno Domini–Babel Symmetry is so compelling. The same Scriptures that diagnosed humanity’s deepest divisions also foretold and fulfilled its reunification. This is why we believe the Bible’s extraordinary narrative coherence is not a coincidence, but rather the signature of the living God who has been writing one story of redemption from the very beginning. Conclusion The secular timeline itself creates one of the most striking alignments in the whole discussion. After what is believed to be 300,000 years of archaeological near-silence, the sudden, simultaneous rise of writing systems, cities, and distinct civilizations erupted across distant regions, Mesopotamia, Egypt, the Iranian highlands, and the Indus Valley, precisely in the narrow window where the Bible places the Tower of Babel. That convergence is hard to dismiss as a coincidence. It points to something far bigger than any single historical detail. The biblical narrative offers a coherent, overarching explanation for the deepest patterns in human history: why we fractured, how we remained divided for millennia, and how a single timeline eventually began stitching the world back together. No other ancient worldview or modern theory accounts for this movement with the same clarity and consistency. The Anno Domini system is far more than a dating tool. It is concrete historical proof that the Christian Scriptures supplied the practical framework the world eventually adopted to overcome the very divisions they first described. What the Bible diagnosed in Genesis, it ultimately addressed through the timeline anchored to Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is not merely the Saviour of individual souls. He is the central figure around whom the entire human story turns. This symmetry gives every Christian a deeper confidence in the reliability of Scripture and a clearer vision of God’s hand in history. The same book that recorded our ancient scattering also provided the unifying reference point that made global coordination possible. The pattern is not accidental. It is the quiet, steady outworking of a redemptive plan that has been unfolding from the very beginning. - Tyler Leroux

This is the sacred mountain of my tribe, the Lummi Indian Nation in the Pacific Northwest in the United States of America,

Please read, consider and share Pester Brat's latest article: The Angry Christian Patriot Sharia-Free America Caucus and National Popular Vote Compact This Article Will Also Appear in a Northwest Alabama Newspaper. It's Been Modified for the Broader Audience Including Several Images https://open.substack.com/pub/pesterbrat/p/sharia-free-america-caucus-and-national?utm_campaign=post-expanded-share&utm_medium=web

GOD'S CREATION = 100 / evolution = 0 QUICK OIL FOR A YOUNG CREATED EARTH. For decades, we’ve been told oil needed millions of years to form. Long ages, slow burial and endless time. But in 2013, scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory took algae, applied approximately 350°C and 3,000 PSI, and produced crude oil in under an hour. Millions of years is just theory. But as creationists, we’re talking about observable, repeatable science. Oil doesn’t require millions of years. It requires the right conditions. And those conditions make perfect sense in a world shaped by rapid, catastrophic burial. The evidence doesn’t point to deep time. It points to a creation designed with built-in processes, ready to operate exactly as we see them today. This also applies to coal, diamonds, and even fossils that can be produced quickly.

March 21 Archbishop Thomas Cranmer. - Reformation Martyr Archbishop Thomas Cranmer was burnt at the stake during the reign of Bloody Mary on 21st March 1556 at the age of 66. Thomas Cranmer edited "The Book of Common Prayer" which has had a tremendous influence on the English language and on liturgical worship for over 400 years. Thomas Cranmer was born on July 2, 1489, at Aslockton, Nottinghamshire, England, 131 miles northwest of London, to parents of modest wealth. He attended Jesus College, Cambridge and received his bachelor and master’s degrees from in logic, classical literature and philosophy. From there, he studied theology, earned ordination by 1520 and obtained a Doctor of Divinity degree by 1526. His wife Joan, died in childbirth; and he married his second wife Margarete and blessed with two children Margaret and Thomas. Around this same time, The King of England, Henry VIII, wanted to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, who had failed to produce a male heir for the throne. Henry sent ambassadors to the Pope regarding the annulment, but the Pope failed to grant it. Soon after, Henry broke away from the Catholic Church and declared himself the head of the Church of England. Henry’s marriage to Anne Boleyn, who had read the works of many Reformers, led to the appointment of Thomas Cranmer as the Archbishop of Canterbury. The church consecrated Cranmer as the archbishop on March 30, 1533. Henry’s motivations for separating from the Catholic Church were political, but Cranmer’s were more theological. Cranmer had met Reformers on the Continent and corresponded with them. As Cranmer became more convinced of Reformed theology, he organized work on a statement of faith that became the Thirty-Nine Articles, a document edited over 30 years that defined the theology of the Church of England in the 16th century. Cranmer also edited the Book of Common Prayer, which contained words for liturgical worship services (such as for baptisms, Communion, morning prayer, etc.), prayers for pastoral care, daily Bible readings, and later, the Thirty-Nine Articles. The Book of Common Prayer has had a tremendous influence on the English language and on liturgical worship for over 400 years. When Henry VIII died Edward VI became king in 1547 when he was just nine years old. Edward was raised Protestant, so the Church of England under Cranmer’s leadership flourished. When Edward died at age 15 in 1553, Henry VIII’s oldest child, Mary, became Queen, and she aggressively reinstated Roman Catholicism until her death in 1558. She accused the Archbishop Thomas Cranmer of heresy for his Protestant views. During the next few months he was subjected to continual pressure to abjure his theological opinions, and at length he was prevailed upon to sign a document acknowledging the Pope’s supreme authority. After two years in prison, and under great pressure from the authorities, and the promise of his former greatness if he would but recant, as well as the queen’s favor, even though they knew that his death was determined in council. To soften the path to apostasy, the first paper brought for his signature was conceived in general terms; this once signed, five others were obtained as explanatory of the first, until finally he put his hand to the following detestable instrument: I, Thomas Cranmer, late archbishop of Canterbury, do renounce, abhor, and detest all manner of heresies and errors of Luther and Zwingli, and all other teachings which are contrary to sound and true doctrine. And I believe most constantly in my heart, and with my mouth I confess one holy and Catholic Church visible, without which there is no salvation; and therefore I acknowledge the Bishop of Rome to be supreme head on earth, whom I acknowledge to be the highest bishop and pope, and Christ’s vicar, unto whom all Christian people ought to be subject. And as concerning the sacraments, I believe and worship in the sacrament of the altar the body and blood of Christ, being contained most truly under the forms of bread and wine; the bread, through the mighty power of God being turned into the body of our Savior Jesus Christ, and the wine into his blood. And in the other six sacraments, also, (alike as in this) I believe and hold as the universal Church holds, and the Church of Rome judges and determines. Furthermore, I believe that there is a place of purgatory, where souls departed be punished for a time, for whom the Church doth godly and wholesomely pray, like as it doth honor saints and make prayers to them. Finally, in all things I profess, that I do not otherwise believe than the Catholic Church and the Church of Rome holds and teaches. I am sorry that I ever held or thought otherwise. And I beseech Almighty God, that of His mercy He will vouchsafe to forgive me whatsoever I have offended against God or His Church, and also I desire and beseech all Christian people to pray for me. And all such as have been deceived either by mine example or doctrine, I require them by the blood of Jesus Christ that they will return to the unity of the Church, that we may be all of one mind, without schism or division.” The papists forced his full acceptance of the doctrines of purgatory and transubstantiation, and abjured all the beliefs he had formerly professed of a Lutheran or Zwinglian nature. His recantation was immediately printed and dispersed, only to discredit him in the public regard. However, the Queen refused any mercy saying Cranmer’s “iniquity and obstinacy was so great against God,” that “clemency and mercy could have no place with him." Imprisoned for almost three years, Cranmer awaited the verdict from Rome, since the trial was under the Pope’s jurisdiction. The Pope stripped Cranmer of his archbishopric and approved the death sentence. On March 21st he was brought once more to St. Mary’s Church where a platform had been set up for him in front of the pulpit. It was the day before Passion Sunday. A silent throng filled the nave and side aisles as the Provost of Eton climbed the pulpit steps to address them. He explained why Cranmer must die. Notwithstanding his acceptance of the full Romanist faith, and in spite of the fact that four Reforming bishops had already been burnt, Bishop Fisher was still insufficiently avenged. Only the death of the Archbishop could completely balance the account. The expectant congregation, the triumphant tribunal, waited for the solemn denunciation of his erstwhile Reforming opinions which must surely follow. What in fact came next electrified and confounded them. During the sermon Cranmer wept bitter tears: lifting up his hands and eyes to heaven, and letting them fall, as if unworthy to live: his grief now found vent in words: before his confession he fell upon his knees, and, in [prayer to God] unveiled the deep contrition and agitation which harrowed up his soul.... Then rising, he said he was desirous before his death to give them some pious exhortations by which God might be glorified and themselves edified. He then descanted upon the danger of a love for the world, the duty of obedience to their majesties, of love to one another and the necessity of the rich administering to the wants of the poor. He quoted the three verses of the fifth chapter of James, and then proceeded, Let them that be rich ponder well these three sentences: for if they ever had occasion to show their charity, they have it now at this present, the poor people being so many, and victual so dear. And now forasmuch as I am come to the last end of my life, whereupon hangs all my life past, and all my life to come, either to live with my master Christ for ever in joy, or else to be in pain for ever with the wicked in hell, and I see before mine eyes presently, either heaven ready to receive me, or else hell ready to swallow me up; I shall therefore declare unto you my very faith how I believe, without any color of dissimulation: for now is no time to dissemble, whatsoever I have said or written in times past. First, I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth, etc. And I believe every article of the Catholic [i.e. worldwide] faith, every word and sentence taught by our Savior Jesus Christ, His apostles and prophets, in the New and Old Testament. And now I come to the great thing which so much troubles my conscience, “I renounce and refuse, as things written with my hand, contrary to the truth which I thought in my heart, and written for fear of death and to save my life, all bills and papers which I have written or signed with my own hand since my degradation. And forasmuch as my hand offended, writing contrary to my heart, my hand shall first be punished therefore; for when I come to the fire it shall first be burned.” Cranmer regretted his decision and recanted his recant. And as for the pope, I refuse him as Christ’s enemy, and Antichrist, with all his false doctrine. Upon the conclusion of this unexpected declaration, amazement and indignation were conspicuous in every part of the church. The Catholics were completely foiled, their object being frustrated, Cranmer, like Samson, having completed a greater ruin upon his enemies in the hour of death, than he did in his life. He attempted to say more, to denounce the pretensions of the Pope, to re-assert his former denial of transubstantiation. But his outraged judges would allow him to speak no further. He was dragged from the platform and from St. Mary’s Church, to the spot near Balliol College where, only a few months before, he had seen Latimer and Ridley put to death. Here, before a vast concourse, he knelt in prayer and, after shaking hands with some of the bystanders, prepared himself for the stake. Then, in the words of an eye-witness, “when the wood was kindled and the fire began to burn, he put his right hand into the flame saying ‘ This hand hath offended.’” He was tied to the stake, the flaming faggots were piled around him, and “as soon as the fire got up he was very soon dead, never stirring or crying all the while.” The anonymous witness said Cranmer died with patience and courage. His eyes were lifted up to heaven, and he repeated “This unworthy right hand,” as long as his voice would suffer him; and using often the words of Stephen, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit,” in the greatness of the flame, he gave up his spirit. Thus Thomas Cranmer was burned at the stake at Oxford on March 21, 1556. He was a man who changed the course of history in England forever. Thomas Cranmer was essentially a good man; irreproachable in his private life, devout and sincere in his religion, gentle and tolerant towards his fellow-men. He alone had interceded on behalf of Fisher, More and Cromwell, had pleaded for the monks of Sion, and had vainly opposed the rapacious Northumberland in his more outrageous plans of pillage and spoliation. And if at times he stretched his conscience almost to breaking-point in his desire to please and serve his King, it should ever be remembered to his credit that ultimately conscience triumphed over all. In theology he genuinely sought to return to a purer and more primitive faith, essentially orthodox yet purged of what he considered to be medieval accretions and abuses. He played no small part in laying the foundations of an Anglican theology and a doctrinal via media— foundations upon which Parker, Jewel, Hooker and the Caroline divines were afterwards able so notably to build. Of the seventy Collects in the 1552 Book of Common Prayer, Cranmer himself wrote about twenty-four, which are rightly described as 'remarkable pieces of devotion.' Here is the Collect to be prayed on the second Sunday in Advent. Blessed Lord, which hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning; grant us that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them; that by patience, and comfort of thy holy word, we may embrace, and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ. On the importance of the word of God he wrote: "Dost thou not mark and consider how the smith, mason, or carpenter or any other handy-craftsman, what need soever he be in ... he will not sell nor lay to pledge the tools of his occupation ... for then how should he get a living thereby? Of like mind and affection ought we to be towards holy scripture. For as mallets, hammers, saws, chisels, axes and hatchets be the tools of their occupation, so be the books of the prophets and apostles, and all holy writ inspired by the Holy Ghost the instrument of our salvation" This explains Cranmer's efforts for much of his time as Archbishop of Canterbury to get the English Bible into the hands of the common person in England. As J. I. Packer rightly points out in this regard: 'To make the Church of England a Bible-reading, Bible-loving church was Cranmer's constant ideal.' The declaration that Christ's death is 'a full, perfect and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction' for sin undercuts the entire theological edifice of medieval Roman Catholicism. He wrote "Almighty God our heavenly Father, which of thy tender mercy didst give thine only Son Jesus Christ, to suffer death upon the cross for our redemption, who made there (by his one oblation of himself once offered) a full, perfect and sufficient sacrifice, oblation, and satisfaction, for the sins of the whole world, and did institute, and in his holy Gospel command us to continue, a perpetual memory of that his precious death, until his coming again; hear us O merciful Father we beseech thee..." Yet it was not in the field of dogmatics that Cranmer achieved his supreme distinction. His priceless legacy to posterity is the Book of Common Prayer. It has justifiably been said that as a compiler of prayers in our flexible English tongue Cranmer stands in a class by himself, as surely as Shakespeare stands alone as a poet. Many have achieved a lasting fame on less worthy and enduring merits. 'Few men,' Kenneth Brownell writes, 'did more to shape English Protestant spirituality and to drive into the soul of a nation the fundamentals of Protestant Christianity.' Within two years of Thomas Cranmer's martyrdom, Elizabeth I ascended the English throne and moved the church back in a Protestant direction, revising Cranmer's 42 Articles to 39, and adopting his Book of Common Prayer as the guide to worship. Today Anglicanism is the expression of faith for 51 million worldwide. 500 years ago Archbishop Thomas Cranmer was martyred for his Book of Common Prayer, after witnessing everything he had done in England be undone. He likely died believing he was a failure. Today, the entire world witnessed an event containing liturgy directly based on his words, from a prayerbook tradition he created. God is good. Soli Deo Gloria Coram Deo https://www.historytoday.com/archive/thomas-cranmer-1489-1556-archbishop-canterbury https://www.olivetree.com/blog/bio-thomas-cranmer/ https://www.christianitytoday.com/history/people/martyrs/thomas-cranmer.html https://www.worldhistory.org/Thomas_Cranmer/ https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Cranmer https://www.christianstudylibrary.org/article/setter-forth-christ%E2%80%99s-glory%E2%80%99-remembering-life-and-martyrdom-thomas-cranmer https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/study/module/cranmer

THREE ANGELS BROADCASTING NETWORK DEVOTIONAL My Life–God’s Perfect Plan. By Deborah Shaffer January 21st, 2026 “And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us.” Acts 17:26-27​ I don't believe in coincidence. Every moment of my life— and yours—has a God-inspired purpose. I look back at my life and smile at the good, cry at the bad, and cringe at the ugly. Regardless of the wrong choices I’ve made (and sometimes still make), I’m amazed at how God hasn’t turned His back and given up on me.​ I think of how, as a mere teenager, I boarded a plane and left my home and family in northwest Indiana to the country of Panama to join my teenage military husband—and thus, my ever-changing life journey began.​ I remember how, in spite of being a Christian, I failed God tremendously. I am sure age was a factor, although it was not an excuse. Being out of the view of my godly parents for the first time in my life contributed to my not-so-Christ-like behavior, too. Since this was our first duty station, I planted many “wild oats,” but it also didn't take long for me to repent and vow to the Lord that, from then on, I would behave like His child. As a mother to two babies, we left Panama and moved back to Indiana. Then, we made our way to Texas, North Carolina, Alabama, Germany, Washington State, and back to North Carolina before retiring in Illinois. Sometimes we moved to several places in the same state. Looking back, I can see why I was in each place, how my life was changed, as well as the lessons I learned and how I influenced others.​ I’m sure I’ve forgotten much—probably on purpose. Nevertheless, through it all, God orchestrated where I would live and whom I would meet. ​Your life is the same way, whether you’ve lived in one place, or traveled all over the world. God places us where He wants to use us. We may not always be the Christian influence He desires us to be. But when things get rough and we need spiritual guidance, God is faithful to move people into our life for our benefit and growth. I’m so thankful for that, and to those who were faithful to God’s calling. Whether it is with family, co-workers, neighbors, or strangers, you are where God has placed you according to His wisdom. Share the love of Jesus with them—in word and in action. It’s a great privilege, and it’s part of God's plan for you. You are exactly where God wants you to be!

AMAZING FACTS Daily Devotionals America Bombed! December 28th, 2025 Every American knows about the infamous day (December 7, 1941) when Pearl Harbor was attacked, but few people know that the Japanese bombed the American mainland 10 months later. It’s true! The bizarre and daring mission involved using a submarine to penetrate U.S. coastal defenses. Attached to the deck of the submarine was a small hangar containing a partially disassembled seaplane. The plane was designed to drop incendiary bombs on the dry Northwest forests with the intention of causing a massive inferno. So, on September 9, 1942, a Japanese navy pilot, Nobuo Fujita, and his one assistant, Shoji Okuda, surfaced with the Japanese submarine crew off the North American coast near the border of Oregon and California. After the weather to cleared, the tiny seaplane was quickly assembled and secretly catapulted into the skies. Along with the two 160-pound incendiary bombs, Fujita packed a Samurai sword that had been in his family for 400 years. He reasoned if he was forced down, he would use it to end his life rather than be captured by the enemy. It was a peaceful morning in Brookings, Oregon, when a fisherman heard the sound of a small plane flying overhead. No one dreamed they were in the midst of an air attack. The small plane proceeded east, climbing to 8,000 feet, and dropped its load over a heavily wooded forest, becoming the only foreign enemy to ever bomb the United States mainland. But they didn’t wait around to see what happened. Instead they hurried back to the sanctuary of their sub. At 4:20 p.m. that day, a forest lookout on Mt. Emily spotted a small blaze involving about seven trees that was easily extinguished. Evidently, the wooded regions in Southern Oregon were still moist because of some unseasonable rains that had fallen a few days before the attack. In 1962, twenty years after the attack, Fujita returned to Brookings and presented the city with his cherished Samurai sword to pledge peace and friendship and to make amends for his attack. The sword was placed in the mayor’s office, where it remains today. Did you know the Bible speaks of another ancient sword that God has given to mankind? “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword …” (Hebrews 4:12). No earthly sword can protect you like the Bible. Key Bible Texts And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: (Ephesians 6:17 KJV)