Simon Brown.

Proverbs 8:34-36 Blessed is the man who hears me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at my door posts. For whoever finds me finds life, and will obtain favor from Yahweh. But he who sins against me wrongs his own soul. All those who hate me love death.” Psalm 84: 11 For Yahweh God is a sun and a shield. Yahweh will give grace and glory. He withholds no good thing from those who walk blamelessly. 12 Yahweh of Armies, blessed is the man who trusts in you. 1 John 5:5 Now who is the one overcoming the world, except the one believing that Jesus is the Son of God?

Sunday 30 September 2012

HERE IS WHERE JOHN THE BAPTIST LOST HIS HEAD!


Head of John the baptist.
Salome With the Head of John the Baptist, by Caravaggio, c. 1607 (National Gallery, London). 

Located in Jordan about 15 to 20 miles from and over looking the Dead Sea, roughly 12 miles from the famous place where Moses breathed his last breath at Mount Nebo, was a fortified hilltop palace called Machaerus, in Jordan
Machaerus, in Jordan




                                                                                                                               Machaerus by APAAME 

Built originally in 104 BC-78 BC as stated by Wikipedia, Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 7.6.2. the date varies from different sources.
Machaerus, in Jordan
                                                              Machaerus by APAAME

This place was built by the ruling dynasty of Judea the Hasmonean King, Alexander Jannaeus and destroyed by Pompey's General Aulus Gabinius, Roman statesman and General, supporter of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, in 57 BC, as stated by Wikipedia, Josephus, The Wars of the Jews 1.8.5.
Machaerus, in Jordan
                                                            Machaerus by APAAME

In 30 BC the Roman King Herod came to the throne . He was a complex character, his insecurity in his position led him to be paranoid and obsessive about maintaining his authority. His inner fears led him to order murder and atrocities on a huge scale. As with many figures that rise to power he also had gifts and one of those was that he was known as one of the greatest builders of all human history.   
Machaerus, in Jordan
                                                                Photo by www.romanaqueducts.info    

If we understand the psychological make up of Herod's character then we have a better understanding of why he ordered the murder of innocent babies. To hear that there was another who would be destined to rule and reign tapped into his deepest fear and once he had pinpointed the place he set in motion his plan to rid himself of this threat to his Kingship. His strategies were varied and included the manipulation of the three wise men as told in Mathew 2.

Herod did of course suffer himself in the end, dying a grisly, slow and ultimately painful death. 

It is said that King Herod built Machaerus which is in Jordan as a military base to safeguard his territories east of the River Jordan. He then gave it to his son  Herod Antipas, in 4BC until 39Ad.

Machaerus became the place where Salome who was both Herod's grand-niece and stepdaughter danced seductively before the drunken King Herod. Her feminine wiles worked and so enthralled was he by her erotic dance Herod then promised her anything she wanted. Salome then, on instruction from her mother Herodias, demanded the Baptist's head on a platter which then was her opportunity for revenge for Johns preaching against her marriage to Herod.
The Head of JOHN THE BAPTIST
The Head of JOHN THE BAPTIST
17 For Herod himself had given orders to have John arrested, and he had him bound and put in prison. He did this because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, whom he had married. 18 For John had been saying to Herod, "It is not lawful for you to have your brother's wife."  
Mark 6:17 - 19. 

How do we know that John the Baptist was beheaded at Machaerus?

Well, we know a lot about Herod and his sons thanks to our good friend Josephus's books The Jewish Antiquities. The historian Flavius Josephus faithfully recorded in extraordinary detail the life of Herod the Great. 
Josephus on John the Baptist
Josephus gives a full description of Machaerus in The Wars of the Jews 7.6.1, and Jewish Antiquities (book 18, chapter 5, 2) by Flavius Josephus (37-100)
Josephus on John the Baptist 
An account of John the Baptist is found in all extant manuscripts of the Jewish Antiquities (book 18, chapter 5, 2) by Flavius Josephus (37-100):[51]
"Now some of the Jews thought that the destruction of Herod's army came from God, and that very justly, as a punishment of what he did against John, that was called the Baptist: for Herod slew him, who was a good man, and commanded the Jews to exercise virtue, both as to righteousness towards one another, and piety towards God, and so to come to baptism; for that the washing [with water] would be acceptable to him, if they made use of it, not in order to the putting away [or the remission] of some sins [only], but for the purification of the body; supposing still that the soul was thoroughly purified beforehand by righteousness. Now when [many] others came in crowds about him, for they were very greatly moved [or pleased] by hearing his words, Herod, who feared lest the great influence John had over the people might put it into his power and inclination to raise a rebellion, (for they seemed ready to do any thing he should advise,) thought it best, by putting him to death, to prevent any mischief he might cause, and not bring himself into difficulties, by sparing a man who might make him repent of it when it would be too late. Accordingly he was sent a prisoner, out of Herod's suspicious temper, to Macherus, the castle I before mentioned, and was there put to death. Now the Jews had an opinion that the destruction of this army was sent as a punishment upon Herod, and a mark of God's displeasure to him.
Again we have overwhelming evidence of Bible Archaeology walking side by side with one another including two Biblical Kings as a surviving witness to a time when Jesus walked on the earth. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this article and I pray it has been of interest and that you will be blessed. 

I am Simon Brown, may God bless those who seek him, in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.

"The Truth Behind The Ark." By Val Smith

NOAH'S ARK
NOAH'S ARK
www.realdiscoveries.com.
Announces:
7/14/12 - 
National Geographic Found Hiding "The Truth Behind The Ark"   A review of the producer's unedited version of National Geographic's so-called documentary actually documents that National Geographic knowingly omitted important successful Ark design nautical testing results for the version they aired for public viewing.   This confirms our suspicions in our first review of "The Truth Behind The Ark."    By Val Smith              

 This article was sent by Real Discoveries.org

The Flood Tablets.

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

WATCH VIDEO. Arabian Adventure to Mount Sinai in Saudi Arabia with Bob Cornuke and Larry Williams.


The Real Mt. Sinai.
Arabian Adventure:                             Photo By Val Smith 10/9/20012

The Real Mount Sinai Found in Saudi Arabia
 




The Real Mt. Sinai? by Chuck Missler
Interesting article by a well known Christian
 teacher. 

by Chuck Missler

[Ed. note: A few years ago, I was visited by a couple who revealed to us, with photos and their personal video, a spectacular discovery in Saudi Arabia. Unfortunately, this was one of these situations-surprisingly frequent in our strange enterprise-which we couldn't disclose publicly because certain lives would have been endangered. Fortunately, information has now come out in public sources that makes it possible to reveal what appears to solve one of the great mysteries in the Bible: Where is the real Mount Sinai?]

Bob Cornuke,1 a dear friend, visited us this past week and shared with us one of his recent adventures, which parallels several previous surreptitious visits to Saudi Arabia and clearly appears to corroborate some surprising discoveries. Bob Cornuke and Larry Williams managed - by means we will defer discussing here - to spend some time in Saudi Arabia and made it a point to check out an astounding theory about the Exodus in the Bible.

Most people understand that Mount Sinai is Jebel Musa, in the Sinai Peninsula, where the Monastery of St. Catherine's is located. Look at any competent Bible atlas, and it will probably include a "?" since that location is traditional, but speculative. There are a number of tenuous conjectures associated with this location and numerous books have been written suggesting alternative candidates, among them Jebel Helal further north in the Sinai Peninsula, or Jebel Serbal, in the south. Another candidate is Har Karkom, known to the Bedouins as Jebel Ideid, also in the north.2 None of these, all in the Sinai Peninsula, have any real archaeological evidence supporting them.

However, Moses, when first exiled from Egypt, dwelt in Midian, at the base of Mt. Sinai. Midian was in the northwest corner of Saudi Arabia. The New Testament has always referred to Mount Sinai as being in Arabia.3

An alternative route for the Exodus according to Cornuke and Williams is suggested in the accompanying map.

The Crossing Point

With scuba gear, they discovered a remarkable land bridge crossing the Strait of Tiran and the southern extremity of the Gulf of Aqaba, between Saudi Arabia and the Sinai Peninsula. Presently about 50 ft. underwater and several hundred yards in width, it drops several thousand feet on either side. The topography of the southern tip of the Sinai also fits the details of the Exodus narrative well.

Jabal al Lawz

Passing the bitter springs of Marah, they came to the mountain known as Jabal al Lawz. Moses kept sheep at Mt. Sinai (Exodus 2:21; 3:1ff); Bob and Larry found vegetation suitable for grazing. (The Israelites camped there 11 months.)

Jabal al Lawz rises about 8,000 feet above the desert. It consists of two snub-nosed peaks, with a natural amphitheater between them; the stage on which the most momentous drama in history had been played out. However, as one approaches closer to the mountain, one encounters military guards and a chain link fence, 15 feet high, topped with barbed wire and a sign, in Arabic and English:

ARCHAEOLOGICAL AREA WARNING:
"IT IS UNLAWFUL TO TRESPASS."
VIOLATORS ARE SUBJECT TO PENALTIES STIPULATED IN THE ANTIQUITIES REGULATIONS
PASSED BY ROYAL DECREE NO. M 26, 
U 23.6.1392

Nevertheless, slipping past the guards at night and digging under the fence, Bob and Larry continued their adventure. Just south of the mountain, they found what they believe may have been the battlefield of Rephidim (Exodus 17:1, 8; 19:2; Numbers 33:14, 15), a dozen football fields in size.

They also found a large altar made up of extremely large, stacked boulders. On one of them they found pictographs of cattle, not sheep native to Arabia. These pictographs resembled the Apis bulls of Egypt. Could this have been the altar for the Golden Calf? (Cf. Exodus 32.)

As one reaches the higher elevations of Jabal al Lawz, the ground turns black, dark like obsidian; the rocks look almost like coal. (Yet when they're broken, they were actually granite.) They were not volcanic; they appeared as if scorched from above (Exodus 19:18). They even found an unusually large crevice in which a man could hide (Exodus 33:22?). They also found an old stream bed; "the brook that descended out of the mount" (Deuteronomy 9:21?).

At the base of the mount, they also found two huge rocks-perhaps 60 ft. long-wedged together, with a flat stone in the middle; possibly the altar of the Bible? (Exodus 20:24-26). Nearby, they also found the remains of the 12 pillars, all in a row, each one about 18 ft. in diameter, spaced 5 ft. apart (Exodus 24:4). Around the mountain, about 400 yards distant, they also found what appeared to be the boundary markers, the bounds set by Moses at the base of the mountain (Exodus 19:12, 21-23).

Needless to say, Bob and Larry are convinced that Jabal al Lawz is, indeed, the long-sought Mount Sinai of the Bible. We understand that a number of books will begin to assemble what is known about the site, and there has been talk of a television documentary.

An Arabian Museum
  
A national archaeological museum is presently under construction in Riyadh. While Saudi Arabia struggles to pay off its $55 billion Gulf War debt, the Kingdom is spending more than a billion riyals-about $266 million-on a new museum, to be completed by the year 2000. Officials believe it will attract international attention. "It will surprise the world." Why?

The mountain labeled Jabal al Lawz also boasts an unparalleled strategic vantage point for military applications as well. We also understand that new roads have been built, leading directly to Jabal al Lawz. Two towers, four stories high, have been erected: they are part of the FPS-117 radar systems for Site N-4 of the Peace Shield Air Defense System.

* * *
Excerpted in part from the article, "Mount Sinai's Deadly Treasure," by Howard Blum, Vanity Fair, February 1998, pp.74-90, which in turn was an excerpt from The Gold of Exodus: The Discovery of the True Mount Sinai, by Howard Blum, in publication by Simon and Schuster.

This article was originally published in the 

**NOTES**

  1. Bob Cornuke is a native Californian, a former football star at Fresno State, and a legendary member of the SWAT team of the Costa Mesa Police Department. A participant in numerous adventures, he is in the ministry and is presently associated with the Family Research Council.
  2. Emmanuel Anati, The Mountain of God, Rizzoli, New York, 1986.
  3. Galatians 4:25.  
Or

Permission to post this article was granted by K-House Internet Team.
I am Simon Brown. May you be blessed and strengthened by the accuracy and the reliability of the evidence that proves Gods word.

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