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Blessing & Curses: Why Study the Book of Deuteronomy?

  Introduction It was a sobering scene.   Location : The plain of Moab, near the Jordan River, at the back door of the ‘Promised Land,’ near the city of Jericho.   Main character: Moses, the aged and faithful servant of God, was about to give his valedictory speech.   The audience: A large group of Israelites: the younger generation, who were born in the wilderness (‘the wilderness generation’).   The challenge: Moses would need all the God-given communication skills he could muster to reach this younger group of people who knew no other leader but him. After all, if Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II, in their 70s, could connect with younger people, why not God’s anointed prophet? The setting: It had been forty years since Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt by the power of God. The journey on foot should have taken around forty days. Yet, due to tempting God ten times (Numbers 14:22, 24-34), the days turned to years. During these forty years, the ...
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Dealmaker? Peacemaker?: Trump and the Middle East

His name is a household word, and it is rare for people, both Americans and non-Americans, to be neutral. They either dislike him intensely or love him wholeheartedly. Yet, regardless of your opinion, Donald Trump is the most colourful man to occupy the Oval Office in modern times.   First elected as US President in 2016 on the coattails of Brexit, his first term in office (2017-2021) was eventful and turbulent. He worked hard and fought hard, and, unlike many career establishment elite politicians, the New York ‘blue collar’ billionaire, Donald Trump, related to everyday Americans, the working class, minorities, and Generation Z young people. That’s how he won two presidential elections, despite being a political outsider. Having left the White House after the disputed 2020 presidential election (one that he never conceded), Trump was considered politically dead. The obstacles to a political comeback were enormous: a second impeachment over the January 6th riot at the Capitol Buil...

Leaving the Wilderness Behind: Why Study the Book of Numbers

Introduction Some of your favourite Bible stories and characters are found in this book. Yet it also serves as a solemn warning about the perils of disobeying God. In all cases, it is folly and madness to say ‘No’ to Him. Welcome to the Book of Numbers, the fourth of the five books of Moses, known as the Pentateuch or Torah (the Law). The stories are great, and the lessons even greater.   The name in the original Hebrew is wayyedabber or ‘ and he said.’ The reason for the name ‘Numbers’ is that it has to do with two censuses. The first is of the ‘generation of the exodus’ (Chapter 1), namely the children of Israel who miraculously departed from Egypt. The second census or numbering was of the ‘generation of the wilderness,’ the generation of Israelites born in the wilderness (chapter 26), to the ‘generation of the exodus.’ Though the exodus generation was headed towards the promised land of Canaan, they never reached it. Numbers will explain the dire reasons why. Key Characters Mos...