Daniel’s Prophecy of the golden headed statue and John’s revelation about Satan predicted the Fall of Rome. And how those kingdoms in Daniel’s prophecy represented a belief system that would be done away with before we saw a return of heaven on earth.
But where did that belief system come from? And how did it get so ingrained into our everyday lives that ruling societies were built around it?
To answer that question, we have to understand the underlining religious ideas of those societies. Again, how we see and understand our Creator directly impacts our reality.
Last episode we talked about the Ten (10) Commandments and how these laws were made under duress. Let’s pick back up on that point right here. Just to be clear, the Ten (10) Commandments were giving as instructions to steer the Israelites away from death and destruction. They, in themselves, do not lead to the place we call heaven. Mark 10:17–27 tells us this.
The Rich and the Kingdom of God
17 As Jesus started on his way, a man ran up to him and fell on his knees before him. “Good teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
18 “Why do you call me good?” Jesus answered. “No one is good — except God alone. 19 You know the commandments: ‘You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother.’
20 “Teacher,” he declared, “all these I have kept since I was a boy.”
21 Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
22 At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.
23 Jesus looked around and said to his disciples, “How hard it is for the rich to enter the kingdom of God!”
24 The disciples were amazed at his words. But Jesus said again, “Children, how hard it is to enter the kingdom of God! 25 It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.”
26 The disciples were even more amazed, and said to each other, “Who then can be saved?”
27 Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.”
The purpose of the Ten (10) Commandments were to bring order to a people. They were laws set in place so that the leaders of Israel could lead.
If you notice most of the laws start-off with a negative statement, a warning, ‘Do not.’ Remember the tree of the knowledge of good and evil? Well, these are the evils that humanity should not take-up. And the reason why these laws were necessary is because the Israelites, ‘God’s Chosen People’, were doing all these things. In fact, right before the laws are mentioned the Bible tells us that Moses set apart three cities where someone could flee to if they committed manslaughter. Deuteronomy 4:42 says ‘killing his neighbor accidentally without previously hating him.
The Israelites were so disobedient that the Lord had to speak to them from a fire, in a cloud, in total darkness, from a mountain.
The Bible tells us that it was fear, not Love, that causes the Israelites to accept the Ten (10) Commandments. In Deuteronomy, Chapter 5, verse 25 the leaders of the Israelite tribes say “But now, why should we die? This great fire will consume us and we will die if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer.
So from that point on, hearing from God was associated with death.
Now this is important, because Jesus says that the greatest commandment is to Love God and your neighbors. But how can you truly Love someone who you honestly fear?
Well this is the theme that we’re going to be diving deeper into over the next few episodes. Answering the question of what’s our honest disposition.
You ever heard someone make a general statement that you don’t agree with? Like HBCU’s don’t prepare you for the real world? You might have thought they were crazy or at least ignorant. You might’ve kept it politically correct and said that was a biased statement. The point is, we all have heard or use generic statements to describe aspects of life. The belief behind those statements allude to our personal disposition.
Webster’s dictionary defines disposition in five (5) ways:
1. The act of disposing. To dispose means to place in order, to arrange properly. You ever heard someone say ‘I gotta get my thoughts together’ or may ‘get my mind right?’ Another meaning for dispose is to incline or influence the mind towards something, a particular view.
2. Disposition also means final settlement or management
3. It means control; power
4. It’s the natural tendency or temperament; bent; or propensity.
Now, we just read where the Hebrew-Israelite leaders disposition towards God changed to a fearful one. Before then, Moses had a hard time controlling the people. But Deuteronomy chapter 5, verse 24 says “You said, ‘Look, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice from the fire. Today, we have seen that God speaks with a person, yet he still lives. But now, why should we die? The great fire will consume us and we will die if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer. For who out of all mankind has heard the voice of the Living God speaking from fire, as we have, and lived? Go near and listen to everything the Lord our God says. Then you can tell us everything the Lord our God tells you; we will listen and obey.”
Now it’s important to listen to their disposition. It sounds like they have a foreign and distant relationship with God. Verse 24 says ‘today we have seen that God speaks with a person and still lives. Apparently, the Israelites associated hearing from God with death.
That’s a really important thing to consider, when reading the Bible and understanding the Old Testament disposition.
And for those Israelites who hadn’t learned to fear God before that moment, verse 28 drives it home. Moses says “The Lord heard your words when you spoke to me. He said to me, ‘I have heard the words that these people have spoken to you. Everything they said is right. If only they had such a heart to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that they and their children would prosper forever.”
Fear as a means of control.
This brings us a lot closer to the point of this series. Our concept of God, given to us through Hebrew tradition is authored by Moses. Since Moses is the filter in which we understand the Will of God, it’s important, then to understand the disposition of Moses.
For example, it’s no coincidence that unpremeditated manslaughter is not only permissible during this time, the Israelites held space for those who needed to hideout after committing the act. In Exodus chapter 2, verse 11 we read, “Years later, after Moses had grown up, he went out to his own people and observed their forced labor. He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his people. Looking around and seeing no one, he struck the Egyptian dead and hid him in the sand. The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong “why are you attacking your neighbor?” Verse 14 says “who made you commander and judge over us?” The man replied “Are you planning to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?”
There is a term in psychology called psychic determinism. It says that our perception determines our beliefs. And that perception is comprised of built-in valuations and judgements from past experiences. And those experiences, or the way they felt, become our belief system — regardless if those feelings are based in fact.
A person might think he/she is the reason to blame for their parents divorce. Even if the divorce had nothing to do with the child, that belief will carry with the child all throughout life. If left unchecked, the child might think “I messed everything up.” This belief, then, becomes embedded in every thought, word and action we form. Soon that pattern become real and constitutes a person’s reality.
It’s the reason why the Bible cautions is to guard our hearts and lean not on our own understanding. A person who seeks to gain your confidence in order to take advantage of you, simply needs to understand your false realities. Then too, understanding that perception entails a limited view, it’s important to always incorporate other perspectives into your perception.
But back to Moses. Here we see a kid raised in a palace. Someone who, apparently has survivors guilt and as a result develops a biased sense of justice. In other words, ‘he ain’t Black.’ We know this because, one day, he kills an Egyptian for hitting a Hebrew after he witnesses their hard labor. Then next day, he tries to make peace with a Hebrew after seeing him do the same thing as the Egyptian.
It is with this disposition that the African religion is carried out of Egypt. If you recall, everything we know about religion comes from the Torah. The Torah consists of the first Five (5) books of the Bible. The rest of the Old Testament is testimony to the validity of the Torah. Well, religious scholars believe that Moses wrote the Torah. It is how religion escaped Africa and was brought to the Sumerians. From the Sumerians, we see Babylon and the other four (4) world powers, mentioned in Daniel’s prophecy, build empires based on this doctrine.
Now last episode, we talked a little about how the European Renaissance was inspired by a doctrine written by someone who the Egyptians called Djehuti or Thoth.
According to his works known as The Emerald Tablets, Thoth escaped a great flood that destroyed his homeland. He traveled to the land of Khem where he built-up their civilization. His teaching was so sacred that the Egyptians had an order of priests that scribed and carried out his orders. In later years, Egyptian royalty would study this doctrine and use it as the guiding philosophy to maintain civilization. It is responsible for the wonders of Egyptian society. Thoth also warns that ‘clever intellectuals’, and men of ‘ungenerous temperaments’ would attempt to pervert his teachings and prevent people from ‘the light.’
Here he is being depicted in X-Men: Apocalypse.
{insert YouTube video}
The knowledge of Djehuti or Thoth is well known throughout elite circles. In the Avengers series his mythology would be synonymous with Thanos. Partly because he warned a great deal of wrath to anyone who betrayed his teachings. That is what Revelations is all about right?
Anyway, according to the Bible, Moses would have been aware of this core Egyptian teaching. He was raised in Pharoah’s house, remember. As a matter of fact, some historians believe that Moses’s full name was Thutmoses. Here is a clip on it.
{insert video on Thutmoses }
Anyway, Moses’ disposition as an orphan who grew up in the king’s palace places him at the center of every possible conflict anyone could imagine. His questioning about God had to have come into conflict with his learning. How could a righteous God allow his people to suffer? A subject he had to reconsider when he saw two Hebrews fighting one another.
Well our thoughts lead our words. Our words drive our actions. Our actions reaffirm our belief systems. The anger, the rage he must have stored up because of the unfairness he witnessed in the world around him. Feelings that had to be justifiable in his heart. So much so that he separated land for others who were experiences those same feelings. ‘How could God be so cruel to force us to live like this?’ It was excusable then for a person to murder, as long as those feelings hadn’t been recognized as hate.
It was Moses disposition.
The fear of death.
One, we all, can relate to or at least understand. But God is such a loving God that God said, ‘ok, I’ll go with you on this journey just to answer the questions that keep you away from me.’ It was the love of God that allowed the Hebrews to meet their creator in Egypt, and pour out their pain in Israel.
Now we are all being called home. To change our heart’s disposition towards God. There is another perspective on reality that challenges psychic determinism. It’s called psychological astrology. A part of its theory says that those early childhood conditions were preorder prior to our birth. And part of our purpose for being here is to remember the whole picture by healing through the blocks that blind our perception. It says that there is a divine order to our lives, and by aligning our lives in a way that surrenders to our purpose we become obedient to that order and unlock the promises that God has over our lives.
Heaven.
