Tag Archives: Bill Jackson

Book Reviews, Theology Thoughts

The Deities of the 10 Plagues

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John Martin's painting of the plague of hail and fire (1823).

Over the last year I have been looking for and researching the ancient gods of Egypt in an effort to identifying which deity was defeated by YHWH in each of the 10 Plagues of the Exodus.

Most commentaries on the book of Exodus will reference the fact that the 10 Plagues were a power struggle between the gods of Egypt and the God of Israel – however, none of them (at least, the ones that I could find) ever list out each of the gods. Instead they simply make the statement and move on – maybe, if you are lucky, mentioning one or two of the gods.

However I am happy to report that after a year of digging, I have finally located a book that references the gods defeated by the plagues!

The book that did this is Bill Jackson’s “NothinsGonnaStopIt! The Storyline of the Bible” seminar (it is a DVD series with a workbook).  What is even cooler is that this DVD/workbook was given to me by a friend (thanks B.L.!!) at the recent Vineyard National Conference after he heard that I was starting a sermon series on the metanarrative of the Bible.  God really knows how to take care of His kids!!! 😀

But enough of the back story, here is the paragraph in question:

“When seen in the light of spiritual warfare, the plague of blood was a rebuke of the Egyptian god Ha’pi. The plague of the frogs was a victory over Heqt, the goddess of fertility. Instead of granting normal birth cycles to the Egyptian people, the frog goddess began to give birth to other frogs that multiplied out of control. Kheper, in the form of a beetle (possibly the bases for the “swarms of flies”) symbolizes the daily cycle of the sun across the sky. The plague against the livestock showed the futility of the bull-gods Apis and Mnevis, the cow-god Hathor, and the ram-god Khnum. With the hail, the “heavens” (the home of Nut, the god of the sky) were out of control. The god Serapia was rendered powerless for it was thought to be the god who protected from locusts. With the hail, the “heavens” (the home of the gods) went out of control. And when the sun was blotted out, the power of the sun god Ra was rendered null and void (the great luminaries were again seen as just lights, not powers).

“In the tenth and final plague, YHWH prepared to defeat the last of the Egyptian gods and demonstrate that he was not only the Creator but the King. Since Egyptian Pharaohs considered themselves divine, the angle of the Lord was going to “pass over” the land of Egypt and “strike down” the firstborn sons of all the families in the land, along with the firstborn of their herds for extra measure. “

Speaking about the Exodus in general, I love the quote by Bill Jackson: Continue reading The Deities of the 10 Plagues →

Payette River Vineyard, Sermons

Stories…

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It used to be that people who “told stories” were considered liars – folks who made up stories full of false facts to make them look better. Tall tales, folk lore, fishing stories about the one that got away…

Yet, more and more people are beginning to understand that we are all connected by stories. It is how we get to know people.

{Audio file of this sermon can be found here}

Think back to when you met someone new – say your spouse, girlfriend, boyfriend, or maybe your best friend. What did you do? Did you sit next to each other and exchange resumes? Facts and figures about when they were born, where, what their skill set was, etc?

Boy, that would be a boring date!!

Most likely you sat there and told stories– stories about your favorite movie, the one you saw with your best friends who laughed so hard pop came out his nose… stories about that time when you were in high school and you played football….

Stories…they are the glue that hold us together as a community as a people.

When I first came to Sweet five years ago, I remember reading all the historical signs – looking at the pictures in the Syringa Hall – wandering through the cemeteries of Sweet and Ola looking at the epitaphs on the gravestones. I was trying to get a feel for this community – what was the history of this place? How did it come to be? How did it come to be the way it is? What was God doing in Sweet? And Where was He taking the people?

We live in a disconnected society where people are individuals without any roots. We don’t know where we come from or where we are going…  Yet, if you don’t know from where you’re going, then how would you know if you arrive? If you don’t know where you started – or were your parents, grandparents started – then you could accidentally stop short of the goal without knowing the sacrifices of those who went before you.

Continue reading Stories… →

Book Reviews, Vineyard Movement

God’s Grand Plan

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epicI am hereby dubbing 2010 as the “Year of the Big Picture” as I have read three thick books seeking to tell the grand story of the Bible.

The first one was “The Mission of God” by Christopher Wright and was read in the neonatal intensive care unit while cradling my newborn son. (sadly, I have not gotten around to writing a review of this book even though it was the best one of the three – that and it is the only book I’ve read that actually made me WANT to go back and read Numbers, Leviticus and Deuteronomy!!!).

Months later I read Daniel Fuller’s book “The Unity of the Bible” – which proved to be less about the unity of the Bible and more about a Calvinist approach to theology.

The last overarching book was written in a totally different manner then the other two and is the subject of this post. As you probably guessed by the image on the right, the book in question is “God’s EPIC Adventure” by Winn Griffin.

Written more as a text book with wide margins,  side notes and study questions, “God’s EPIC Adventure” seeks to challenge the fragmentation of the biblical story in modern society by teaching the church to understand what “her story is and how to become the people of God living as his recreated humanity”.

Continue reading God’s Grand Plan →