Ararat. Not Africa. (The Genesis Series, Part 30)

There was a day, over half a century ago now, when the Holy Ghost drew me into the valley of decision.  The battle for my soul was raging. God had been working on my sorry soul prior to this moment of challenge.  Some had planted and some had watered, and the time of harvest had arrived—harvest good or harvest bad. 

It was November 8, 1970, around 9:00 pm, and I was in the valley of decision.  In a moment, I would choose life or death, heaven or hell, Jesus Christ or the bondages of doomsday.  My new bride and I chose Christ together, and what a decision!  It was the choice of all choices, the marvel of all magnificence—unspeakably glorious, full of God’s HALLELUJAH!  We were BORN AGAIN—literally born a second time, this time of the Spirit of God. 

Some of you are visiting for the very first time, and some of you have visited frequently, but if you have yet to be BORN AGAIN as Jesus describes in John 3:3, it is time to make your choice. 

Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.  

Your presence today is not happenstance.  Like me, you have been drawn by the Holy Ghost into the valley of decision.  Joel 3:14:

Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.

You are in a very unusual place, and to the uninitiated, it is very mysterious.  You have arrived at a Holy Ghost portal, a portal to the all-powerful and invisible Kingdom of God.  BORN AGAIN is that portal.  Will you enter?  A decision will be made today.  In just a few moments, I will invite you to follow me in a simple prompt, and if you follow from your heart, you will have passed through the glorious portal called BORN AGAIN and into everlasting life.  You are in the valley of decision.  Choose the crucified Christ and today, all your sins and shame will be washed away by His cleansing blood.  Choose the Christ of Golgotha and today, all of Satan’s bondages in your life will be broken, and the word of emphasis is ALL. Choose the resurrected King who sits on the right hand of God and He will baptize you with the Holy Ghost and fire.  What is your decision?   Your time has come.  Here is the prompt I promised: Click onto Further with Jesus for childlike instructions and immediate entry into the Kingdom of God.  NOW FOR TODAY’S SUBJECT.

GOD SAID, Genesis 8:4:

And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.

GOD SAID, Genesis 10:1-10:

1 Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.

2 The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.

3 And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.

4 And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.

5 By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.

6 And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.

7 And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtechah: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan.

8 And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.

9 He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.

10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

GOD SAID, Genesis 11:1-2:

1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.

2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.

MAN SAID: Where are all the God-inspired truths in Genesis?  You can’t trust that old book.  Everybody knows that!  Get a phone and learn something!

Now THE RECORD: Welcome to GodSaidManSaid feature 1250 that will once again certify, through credible third-party sources, the inerrancy of God’s beautiful Book, the majority-text Holy Bible.  All of these Word-centric features are archived here in text and streaming audio for your edification and to be used as battering rams against the spirit of unbelief and the very gates of hell.  Every Thursday eve, God willing, they grow by one. 

Thank you for visiting.  We are overjoyed that you have come.  May the glory of God illuminate every cell in your body.

Man’s science is in a constant state of flux, a constant state of self-contradictions and revisions.  His “truth” of yesterday is debunked by his “truth” of today and his “truth” of today will be debunked by his “truth” of tomorrow.  Contrast that reality with Hebrews 13:8:

Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.    

Psalm 19:7-12:

7 The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple.

8 The statutes of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart: the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.

9 The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring for ever: the judgments of the LORD are true and righteous altogether.

10 More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold: sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb.

11 Moreover by them is thy servant warned: and in keeping of them there is great reward.

12 Who can understand his errors? cleanse thou me from secret faults.

The critics must challenge, for that is what Satan requires of them.  But, oppose as they will, they are doomed to failure.  Satan has paraded hordes of his champions of unbelief before the sons of men to defy the God of the Bible—starting with himself in the Garden—but all have failed miserably, without exception.  Be of good cheer, child of God, your childlike faith in God’s Word will not be disappointed. 

You have arrived at the GodSaidManSaid “Genesis Series;” this is Part 30.  Each of these features begins with the following information from the first feature:

According to a 2006 issue of Discover magazine concerning the deceased Carl Sagan: “Sagan approaches religion like any phenomenon.  He isn’t on a quest for life’s meaning, for a comforting philosophy, or even a guide to how we should treat the neighbors.  Sagan seeks truth of a demonstrable kind.  As a puckish example, he wonders why the book of Genesis didn’t include God-inspired truths…” [End of quote]

I recently reviewed an advertisement from a magazine called Free Inquiry that also has a problem with the God of Creation and the first book of the Bible, called Genesis.  Under the heading “Is God Big Enough for the Universe,” Free Inquiry writes:

The authors of Genesis proclaim that God made the heavens and earth in less than a week.  This feat must have amazed these Bronze Age authors, even though they thought the heavens extended only so far as the sky above them.  Of course, they did not know what stars, planets, or galaxies were.  We now know that the universe is so much bigger and so much more complex. [End of quote]

The BORN AGAIN scratch their heads in bewilderment.  Did these folks actually read the book of Genesis? I suppose they did, but God’s revelation is only revealed to the humbled hearts of the children of faith.  This GodSaidManSaid series will be called “The Genesis Series.”  It is our intention to travel through the entire book of Genesis and publish one major God-inspired truth after another.  We will be pulling from previous GodSaidManSaid features and adding the latest information as we go.

All of mankind finds its root genetically and geographically in the three sons of Noah: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.  All of them landed with the Ark on the mountains of Ararat, which exist in Armenia and Turkey.  From the mountains of Ararat, they traveled to the land of Shinar where, in rebellion against God’s Word they built the Tower of Babel.  This area is located in modern day Iraq.  On the other hand, the world’s academics have taken up a different position.  According to them, all of mankind hails from the continent of Africa.  Today’s latest discoveries confirm the accuracy of the Holy Scriptures, however.  The following excerpts are from the GodSaidManSaid feature, “Mummies and the Sons of Ham.”  As you read the following information, keep in mind that Egypt is listed as one of the world’s three oldest civilizations, and argued by some as the oldest:

Evolution’s cheerleaders have reluctantly come to the conclusion that all humans on earth today come from just one common father and one common mother.  Scientists actually know these two as Y-Chromosome Adam and mtDNA Eve.  Popular consensus says that the earth’s people had their beginning in Africa, but Science News (June 24, 2017) says “not so fast.”  The feature headline reads, “Hominid Roots May Go Back to Europe.”  David Begun of the University of Toronto says:

“Europe is as likely a place of [hominid] origins, and even of the last common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans, as Africa.”  [End of quote]

While the evolutionists debate, God fully and clearly settles this issue in the Holy Bible; the latest discoveries shout YES! 

The headline from Breaking Israel News, June 22, 2017 reads, “Mummy DNA May Prove Ancient Egyptians Descended from Son of Noah Exactly as Bible Describes.”  The subject line of that feature says, “DNA study of mummies indicates ancient Egyptians descended from Biblical Ham.”  A few paragraphs follow:

In a scientific first, DNA taken from Egyptian mummies has been decoded, producing unexpected results about the true origins of the Egyptian people.  These results confirm a controversial theory that traces the First Egyptian Dynasty back to Biblical Ham, as described in the Book of Genesis. 

Scientists have long been baffled by the origins of the Egyptian people.  Until now, there was no empirical data to clarify the issue. The study of Egypt’s population history could only draw on literary and indirect archaeological references, and inferences made from genetic studies of present-day Egyptians.  Based on these sources, most researchers believed that ancient Egyptians came from nearby northern Africa.  Egyptians today exhibit a significant sub-Saharan genetic influence. 

This scientific belief long contradicted the Biblical account, which designates the forefather of Egypt as being Mizrayim, a son of Ham. 

A recent study of the DNA of mummies, led by Johannes Krause of the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, has shed some light on the subject, and his findings support the Biblical narrative. 

The researchers were able to collect 90 samples of mitochondrial DNA and three samples of genomes, the total of an organism’s DNA.  The surprising results showed that ancient Egyptians were more closely related to populations from the Near East and southwest Asia, and not from northern Africa as previously thought. 

“In the ancient Egyptians, we don’t find much at all sub-Saharan African ancestry,” Krause told CBC News.  “They look very Near Eastern and have almost zero sub-Saharan African ancestry.”  This, Krause said, illustrates that ancient Egyptians were more closely related to Europeans than they are to modern-day Egyptians.  The study revealed that the African influence on Egyptians is relatively recent, entering into the gene pool after Roman times. 

These new findings fit in with the Dynastic Race Theory espoused by archaeologist David Rohl.  Rohl’s theory is that the ancient Egyptians arrived over sea from Mesopotamia, conquered the Nile Valley, and established the first Egyptian dynasties.  This is in direct contradiction to the previous theory that the first Egyptian rulers and much of the population arrived by a land route from Africa. 

Rohl based his theory, which he explained in his book Legend—The Genesis of Civilization, on the Biblical account of Ham, the son of Noah.  According to Rohl’s theory, Ham and his people moved from Mesopotamia to settle in Egypt after the flood.  Rohl explains that this is the basis for Horus, one of the most significant Egyptian deities, who was, in fact, Ham.  The name “Horus” means “the distant one,” implying that he came from far away.  [End of quotes]

The headline on FaithWire.org on June 27, 2017 reads, “DNA Analysis of Egyptian Mummies May Prove Some Key Old Testament Bible Verses.”  A few excerpts follow:

Did DNA analysis of Egyptian mummies just prove true some key Old Testament Bible verses? 

That’s the question some Christian media outlets are asking after researchers at the University of Tuebingen and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History in Germany made some surprising genetic finds while decoding mummies’ genomes. 

The study concluded that preserved remains found in Abusir el-Meleq, Middle Egypt, were closest genetic relatives of Neolithic and Bronze Age populations from the Near East, Anatolia and Eastern Mediterranean Europeans.  Modern Egyptians, by comparison, share more DNA with sub-Saharan populations. 

The findings have turned years of theory on its head, causing Egyptologists to re-evaluate the region’s history while unlocking new tools for scientists working in the field. 

The study involved analyzing 166 bone samples that came from 151 mummies dating back between 1400 B.C. and A.D. 400. Then, experts looked for genetic differences when samples were compared to modern-day Egyptians. 

And here’s what they found: the samples strongly connected with non-African populations east of the Mediterranean Sea, CNN reported. 

“This is not just the DNA of one person.  It’s the DNA of the parents, grandparents, great grandparents, and so forth,” Johannes Krause, head of the Max Planck Institute, told the outlet. “So, if we don’t find sub-Saharan African ancestry in those people, that is pretty representative, at least for Middle Egypt.” 

So, what does all this mean, Biblically speaking?  According to The Christian Post, some experts believe that the DNA evidence helps bolster the Biblical narrative saying that the first Egyptian dynasty emerged through Noah’s son, Ham.  [End of quotes]

What genetic researchers are discovering is that Noah’s son Ham populated Egypt, even as the Scriptures record.  Psalm 105:23:

Israel also came into Egypt; and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham.   

The Bible is the ultimate history book.

The GodSaidManSaid feature “Genesis: Cooper Found Them All (Part 2)” weighs in with the following information:

The following excerpts from the May 2008 feature from Acts & Facts called “Mitochondrial DNA and a Recent Human Origin:”

A team of scientists that includes Dr. Daniel Criswell of ICR has recently completed a study of mitochondrial DNA and will be presenting its work at this summer’s International Conference on Creationism.  A mitochondrion is a cellular power plant that generates most of the chemical energy the cell needs to support its functions.  Although most of a cell’s DNA is contained in the nucleus, the mitochondrion has its own small DNA molecule and this DNA is passed down from mother to child.  The study has revealed an unexpected lack of diversity within worldwide human mitochondrial lineages, despite high mutation rates, and this supports the idea that humanity is only a few thousand years old.

Mitochondrial DNA has been used to develop several models of human origins.  The Recent African Origins hypothesis (RAO) is currently the most popular model for human evolution.  Although the RAO model has a number of significant technical problems and makes some assumptions that conflict with a biblical perspective, it contains several interesting tenets: 1) there was a single dispersal of mankind with three main mitochondrial lineages interspersed within clans; 2) the dispersion was centered in the Middle East in the recent past; 3) the dispersion was essentially tribal in nature, with small groups pushing deeply into previously uninhabited territory.  [End of quote]

A host of ancient historians say mankind is rooted at Ararat, just where Noan and the Ark landed.  Josephus, who wrote Antiquities of the Jews shortly after Christ Jesus, makes the following observations concerning the geographical root of the new earth and quotes historians who were ancient even to him:

After this the ark rested on the top of a certain mountain in Armenia; which, when Noah understood, he opened it; and seeing a small piece of land about it, he continued quiet; and conceived some cheerful hopes of deliverance; but a few days afterward, when the water was decreased to a greater degree, he sent out a raven, as desirous to learn whether any other part of the earth were left dry by the water, and whether he might go out of the ark with safety; but the raven, finding all the land still overflowed, returned to Noah again.  And after seven days he sent out a dove, to know the state of the ground; which came back to him covered with mud, and bringing an olive-branch.  Hereby Noah learned that the earth was become clear of the flood.  So after he had stayed seven more days, he sent the living creatures out of the ark; and both he and his family went out, when he also sacrificed to God, and feasted with his companions.  However, the Armenians call this place The Place of Descent; for the ark being saved in that place, its remains are shewn there by the inhabitants to this day. 

Now all the writers of barbarian histories make mention of this flood and of this ark; among whom is Berosus the Chaldean; for when he is describing the circumstances of the flood, he goes on thus: —“It is said there is still some part of this ship in Armenia, at the mountain of the Cordyæans; and that some people carry off pieces of the bitumen, which they take away, and use chiefly as amulets for the averting of mischiefs.”  Hieronymus the Egyptian, also, who wrote the Phœnician Antiquities, and Mnaseas, and a great many more, make mention of the same. Nay, Nicolaus of Damascus, in his ninety-sixth book, hath a particular relation about them, where he speaks thus: —“There is a great mountain in Armenia, over Minyas, called Baris, upon which it is reported that many who fled at the time of the Deluge were saved; and that one who was carried in an ark came on shore upon the top of it; and that the remains of the timber were a great while preserved.  This might be the man about whom Moses, the legislator of the Jews, wrote.  [End of quote]

It was Ararat and not Africa, all the time, just like God said.  It will take a while for the world’s academics to catch up and to update their unbelief, just to find that we have been here the whole time.  It’s so beautiful.  God’s Word is true and righteous altogether, a place to build a life that will last forever. It is so beautiful. 

GOD SAID, Genesis 8:4:

And the ark rested in the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, upon the mountains of Ararat.

GOD SAID, Genesis 10:1-10:

1 Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.

2 The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meshech, and Tiras.

3 And the sons of Gomer; Ashkenaz, and Riphath, and Togarmah.

4 And the sons of Javan; Elishah, and Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim.

5 By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in their lands; every one after his tongue, after their families, in their nations.

6 And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Phut, and Canaan.

7 And the sons of Cush; Seba, and Havilah, and Sabtah, and Raamah, and Sabtechah: and the sons of Raamah; Sheba, and Dedan.

8 And Cush begat Nimrod: he began to be a mighty one in the earth.

9 He was a mighty hunter before the LORD: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty hunter before the LORD.

10 And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar.

GOD SAID, Genesis 11:1-2:

1 And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech.

2 And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there.

MAN SAID: Where are all the God-inspired truths in Genesis?  You can’t trust that old book.  Everybody knows that!  Get a phone and learn something!

 

Now you have THE RECORD.

 

 

References:

Authorized King James Version

Blumner, R., Free Inquiry

GodSaidManSaid, “Genesis: Cooper Found Them All (Part 2)”

GodSaidManSaid, “Mummies and the Sons of Ham”

Josephus, F., Josephus: Complete Works, Kregel Publications, 1960

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