The Wider Life

http://anchor.tfionline.com/post/wider-life/
By J. R. Miller

Audio length: 11:26
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“Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes!”—Isaiah 54:2

We do not realize half our possibilities. We do not more than begin to possess our inheritance. Our hills are full of gold—and we only scratch the sand and the shallow soil on the surface! We live in little bungalows in the valley—when there are splendid palaces waiting for us on the hilltops.

We should never be content with a narrow life. We are made for breadth and fullness, and we rob God when we fail to reach our best. Some people assert that Christianity’s ideal for life is narrow. They say it cramps and limits us. It has no place, for example, for physical or intellectual development. It says nothing about art, music, science, or the many phases of human activity. It presents only the moral side—conscience, obedience to heavenly laws, spiritual attainments and achievements.

The answer is that while Christianity may not definitely name the things of the intellect, or distinctly call men to noble achievements in art, in exploration, in invention, in research, in the culture of the beautiful, it really includes in its range everything that will add to the fullness and completeness of life and character. It excludes nothing but what is sinful: disobedience to law, impurity, selfishness, uncharity, and these only narrow and debase, do not broaden and enrich life. It includes “whatever things are true, whatever things are honorable, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report.” Is this a narrow life?

Our Christian faith places no limitation whatever on life—except what would mar, blot, or debase the character. Japanese horticulturists have a trick of stunting trees, and the world is full also of stunted men, only dwarfs of what God made them to be. But the call of Christianity is always for whole men—men reaching up to their best, and out to their broadest in every way. … Christianity seeks the fullest development of every power and capacity of the being. Jesus Christ, our pattern, would have us become full-grown men. As leaders of others, as teachers, as followers of Christ—our influence should be toward the enriching and broadening of lives. … There is no way in which we can prove ourselves better friends to others—than by such influence over them as will make their lives fuller, truer, more loving, more helpful. …

There are many people who live in only one room, so to speak. They are intended to live in a large house, with many rooms, rooms of the mind, rooms of the heart, rooms of taste, imagination, sentiment, feeling. But these upper rooms are left unused, while they live in the basement!

A story is told of a Scotch nobleman who, when he came into possession of his estates, set about providing better houses for his people, who were living huddled together in single-roomed cottages. So he built for them pretty, comfortable houses. But in a short time each family was living, as before, in one room, and letting out the rest of the house.

They did not know how to live in larger, better ways. The experiment satisfied him, that people could not be really benefited by anything done for them merely from the outside. The only true way to help them is from within, in their minds and hearts.

Horace Bushnell put it in an epigram, “The soul of improvement, is the improvement of the soul.” It is not a larger house that is needed for a man—but a larger man in the house! A man is not made larger by giving him more money, better furniture, finer pictures, richer carpets, an expensive automobile—but by giving him knowledge, wisdom, good principles, strength of character; by teaching him love. …

Some lives are narrow, by reason of the way their circumstances have dwarfed them. We may not say, however, that poverty necessarily has this effect, for many who are poor, who have to live in a little house, with few comforts and no luxuries—live a life that is large and free—as wide as the sky in its gladness. While on the other hand there are those who have everything of an earthly sort that heart could desire—yet whose lives are narrow.

There are some people to whom life has been so heavy a burden that they are ready to drop by the way. They pray for health, and instead illness comes with its suffering and its expense. Their work is hard. They have to live in continual discomfort. Their associations are uncongenial. There seems no hope of relief. When they awake in the morning, their first consciousness is of the load they must take up and begin again to carry. Their disheartenment has continued so long that it has grown into hopelessness. The message to such is, “ENLARGE the place of your tent.” No matter how many or how great are the reasons for discouragement, a Christian should not let bitterness enter his heart and blind his eyes—so that he cannot see the blue sky and the shining stars.

Looked at from an earthly viewpoint, could any life have been more narrow in its condition than Christ’s? Think who he was—the Son of God, sinless, holy, loving, infinitely gentle of heart. Then think of the life into which he came—the relentless hate that was about him, the bitter enmity that pursued him, the rejection of love that met him at every step. Think of the failure of his mission, as it seemed, and his betrayal and death. Yet he was never discouraged. He never grew bitter.

How did he overcome the narrowness? The secret was love. The world hated him—but he loved on. His own received him not, rejected him—but his heart changed not toward them. Love saved him from being embittered by the narrowness. This is the one and the only secret that will save any life from the narrowing influence of the most distressing circumstances. Widen your tent! Make room in it for Christ and for your neighbor; and as you make place for enlargement, the enlargement will come.

There was a woman who had become embittered by a long experience of sickness and of injustice and wrong, until she was shut up in a prison of hopelessness. Then, by reason of the death of a relative, a little motherless child was brought to her door. The door was opened most reluctantly, at first; the child was not warmly welcomed. Yet when she was received, Christ entered with her, and at once the dreary home began to grow brighter. The narrowness began to be enlarged. Other human needs came and were not turned away. In blessing others, the woman was blessed herself. Today there is no happier home than hers. Try it if you are discouraged. Begin to serve those who need your love and ministry. Encourage some other disheartened one—and your own discouragement will pass away. Brighten another’s lonely lot—and your own will be brightened.

Some lives are made narrow by their limitations in opportunity. Some men seem not to have the same chance that others have. They may be physically incapacitated for holding their place in the march of life. Or they may have failed in business after many years of hard toil—and may lack the courage to begin again. They may have been hurt by folly or sin and do not seem able to take the upward flights they used to take. There are some people in every community who, for one cause or another, do not seem to have a chance to make much of their life. But whatever it may be that shuts one in a narrow environment, as in a little tent, the gospel of Christ brings a message of hope and cheer. Its call ever is, “ENLARGE the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords, strengthen your stakes!”

There is danger that some of us overdo our contentment. We regard as an impassable wall, certain obstacles and hindrances which God meant to be to us only inspirers of courage. Difficulties are not intended to stop our efforts but to arouse us to our best. We give up too easily. We conclude that we cannot do certain things, and think we are submitting to God’s will—in giving up without trying to overcome, when in fact we are only showing our indolence. We suppose that our limitations are part of God’s plan for us, and that we have only to accept them and make the best of them.

In some cases this is true—there are barriers that are impassable; but in many cases God wants us to gain the victory over the limitations. His call is, “Enlarge the place of your tent!” …
Life should never cease to widen. A man ought to be at his best during the last years of his life. He ought always to be enlarging the place of his tent—until its curtains are finally pushed out into the limitless spaces of immortality!

Read by Jon Marc. From The Wider Life, Chapter 1, by J. R. Miller, 1908. The full book is available at: http://articles.ochristian.com/book17208.shtml.

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Influência

http://anchor.tfionline.com/pt/post/influencia/
Uma compilação

É impressionante a influência de uma vida sobre outra! Apenas um olhar pode mudar um destino. Reuniões de apenas momentos deixaram marcas para o resto da vida e pela eternidade! Ninguém entende esse elemento misterioso denominado influência. Lemos a respeito do nosso Senhor que virtude saiu dEle e curou a tímida mulher que O seguia atrás da multidão e, aproximando-se, tocou a orla da Sua veste... Logicamente, a vida de Cristo é incomparável, no entanto, cada um de nós exerce influência constante — para curar, abençoar e embelezar; ou para gerir, magoar, contaminar e prejudicar a vida de outros.

É possível contribuir constantemente para a saúde, felicidade e bondade no mundo, ou então para as dores, pesares, ou sofrimento. Todo momento vivido de maneira honesta e verdadeira, toda vitória sobre o ego ou o pecado, e até mesmo a mínima fração de doçura na vida, contribui para outros serem corajosos, leais e gentis. Exercemos influência constante. — J. R. Miller

*

Certo, dia, voltando da escolar, Mark viu quando o rapaz à sua frente tropeçou e deixou cair os livros que tinha nos braços, junto com dois suéteres, um boné de beisebol, uma luva, e um pequeno gravador. Ajoelhando-se, Mark ajudou o rapaz a recolher os artigos espalhados pela calçada.

Como estavam indo na mesma direção, Mark levou parte da “carga” do rapaz. No trajeto, descobriu que o jovem se chamava Bill, adorava videogames, beisebol, História, estava tendo muita dificuldade com outras matérias e tinha acabado de terminar o namoro.

Depois de ajudar Bill, Mark continuou andando até sua casa. Continuaram se encontrando na escolar, almoçavam juntos de vez em quando e ambos terminaram o Fundamental I. Acabaram indo para a mesma escola secundária, onde tiveram contato brevemente durante os anos. Finalmente chegou o tão esperado último ano do ensino médio. Três semanas antes da formatura, Bill pediu para conversar com Mark.

Bill mencionou o dia, muitos anos antes, quando se conheceram. “Você por acaso se perguntou por que eu estava carregando tudo aquilo?” perguntou Bill. “Eu tinha esvaziado meu armário na escola para não deixar bagunça para os outros arrumarem. Eu tinha escondido alguns soníferos da minha mãe e ia me suicidar quando chegasse em casa. Mas depois daquela caminhada de volta pra casa conversando e rindo, percebi que, se eu me matasse, perderia bons momentos como aquele, e muitos outros que teria no futuro. Mark, aquele dia, você fez muito mais do que apenas me ajudar a recolher os livros da calçada. Você salvou a minha vida.” — John W. Schlatter

*

As lindas florezinhas dente-de-leão, com suas finas pétalas amarelas são consideradas mato, uma praga. No entanto, são as mais lindas flores quando juntadas para formar um ramalhete nas mãos sujas de uma criancinha. Ninguém ralha com as crianças quando as arrancam da grama. Talvez porque elas crescem apenas para serem usados e desfrutados pelas crianças.

Os dentes-de-leão são ignorados ou atacados, nunca cultivados; no entanto crescem em abundância. Não precisam de cuidados ou atenção especial para dar aquelas lindas florezinhas. Brotam nos campos, nos gramados, e entre as rachaduras nas calçadas — até mesmo nos melhores bairros. Já imaginou plantar dente-de-leão no jardim? Eles iam pular para o gramado do lado e ali exibir sua carinha alegre e brilhante. Jamais ficariam só no seu jardim!

O cristão deveria ser mais como o dente-de-leão. Nossos rostinhos alegres e brilhantes deveriam refletir a mensagem de que uma fé simples possui raízes firmes e inabaláveis. Nosso número deveria mostrar ao mundo que, mesmo não sendo sofisticados ou bem cuidados, nossa presença se faz evidente em todos os campos...

Deveríamos ser tão acessíveis quanto possível, como o dente-de-leão. Jesus é assim. Precisamos sair de nossos jardins, pular as divisas e estar onde as pessoas esperam nos encontrar. Nossos rostos alegres e brilhantes deveriam estar presentes em todos os lugares onde as pessoas precisam de ânimo — tanto nas rachaduras na calçada, como no bem cuidado gramado de um clube de campo. — Autor anônimo

*

Na travessia por este mundo pecador,
As pessoas observarão o seu viver,
Então seja limpo e puro no seu interior,
Para verem Jesus revelado em você.

A sua vida é um livro aberto;
Lido por todos a cada momento,
Ela aponta para o céu da acolhida,
E revela Jesus ali vivendo?

Que alegria teremos no ocaso da vida,
Nas moradas além dos montes,
Ao encontrarmos uma alma resgatada,
Porque em nós viu Jesus.

Continue contando a história. Seja fiel e verdadeiro.
Que todos vejam Jesus em você.
— B. B. McKinney

*

Deixe-Me usar seus olhos para ver as necessidades de outros, quer seja algo grande, quer insignificante. Deixe-Me usar seus ouvidos para ouvir os clamores dos perdidos, e a sua língua para expressar Minhas palavras de amor e compaixão, de oração e encorajamento para uma irmã ou irmão desanimado. Permita-Me usar a sua mente e ali colocar apenas os Meus pensamentos — pensamentos de amor e amabilidade. Permita-Me tomar seu coração nas mãos e inspirá-lo com amor pelas multidões que ainda não ouviram falar do Meu amor.

Que Eu possa usar suas mãos para enxugar as lágrimas dos que choram, dar um tapinha nas costas dos desanimados e para ajudar alguém que está caído. Deixe-Me usar a sua boca para um instrumento de amor para alguém que precisa ouvir palavras amáveis. Mesmo que você não esteja buscando maneiras de ser um exemplo do Meu amor, se estiver disposto e atender aos Meus gentis sussurros, Eu colocarei essas situações no seu caminho. Talvez pareçam coisa pouca e sem importância, mas para Mim são muito importantes. É uma elevada vocação ser um instrumento do Meu amor. — Jesus falando em profecia

*

Às vezes, apenas uma palavra, um olhar, ou um sorriso, podem fazer uma grande diferença. A maneira como olhamos, nosso tom de voz, ou aparência podem fazer uma grande diferença. Se não mostrarmos alegria, atitude vitoriosa e animada, podemos muito bem puxar alguém para baixo. Os outros vão partilhar dos nossos espíritos e ser influenciados por nossas atitudes. Por isso é tão importante enfatizarmos o positivo, não o negativo. Pense nas coisas boas.[1] Seja uma pessoa que encoraja, ama e anima os outros. O amor gera amor. Se tivermos uma atitude tranquila e paciente, de confiança e cheia de fé, inspiraremos essa reação em outros. Um pouco de amor tem um longo alcance!

Ninguém é uma ilha; todos têm influência. Uma pessoa amorosa vai inspirar outras a terem a mesma atitude. Se demonstrar amor, as pessoas vão ser contagiadas por esse espírito. O amor de Cristo em ação é contagiante, ele se espalha de coração em coração.

Se convivermos o suficiente com Deus, como Moisés, vamos assimilar um pouco do Seu Espírito, ficaremos felizes, e nosso semblante brilhará com alegria e o Espírito de Deus.[2] Esse é o segredo! Se brilharmos com amor, é isso o que as pessoas refletirão.David Brandt Berg

Publicado no Âncora em setembro 2014. Tradução Hebe Rondon Flandoli.


[1] Filipenses 4:8.

[2] Êxodo 34:29–34; Números 6:25–26.

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E bola outbreak: Officials seeking people who flew with nurse

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-29632433
Both infected nurses treated Duncan at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital
Ebola outbreak
How many have died?
How soon for treatments?
How not to catch Ebola
Living with Ebola

US health officials are seeking 132 people who flew on a plane with a Texas nurse on the day before she came down with symptoms of Ebola.

The nurse, the second person to catch Ebola in the US, fell ill on Wednesday.

Both she and Nina Pham, 26, had treated Liberian Thomas Eric Duncan, who died on 8 October, in Dallas.

Meanwhile, the UN's Ebola mission chief says the world is falling behind in the race to contain the virus, which has killed more than 4,000 in West Africa.

On Wednesday, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said it wanted to interview the people who flew on Frontier Airlines flight 1143 from Cleveland, Ohio, to Dallas, Texas on 13 October.

It said it was taking the measure "because of the proximity in time between the evening flight and first report of illness the following morning".

The nurse, who has yet to be identified, was not showing symptoms of the disease when she flew, the crew has told CDC investigators.

Health experts say people who are not showing symptoms are not contagious.

On 14 October, the nurse came down with a fever and was isolated within 90 minutes. Her diagnosis was announced early on Wednesday.

Both the nurse and Ms Pham treated Mr Duncan at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas.

Mr Duncan, who was the first person to be diagnosed in the US with Ebola, started showing symptoms of the disease just days after he arrived in Texas from Liberia, where he contracted the disease.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says 4,447 people have died from the outbreak, mainly in West Africa.

Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea have been hardest hit by the outbreak, which began in December 2013 but was confirmed in March.

The second nurse had flown to Cleveland on 10 October, two days after Duncan died, then returned three days later on Frontier Airlines.

In a statement, the airline said the plane "remained overnight at [Dallas] airport... at which point the aircraft received a thorough cleaning per our normal procedures which is consistent with CDC guidelines prior to returning to service the next day. "

"It was also cleaned again in Cleveland last night," the airline said.

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The Influenza Pandemic of 1918

https://virus.stanford.edu/uda/
The influenza pandemic of 1918-1919 killed more people than the Great War, known today as World War I (WWI), at somewhere between 20 and 40 million people. It has been cited as the most devastating epidemic in recorded world history. More people died of influenza in a single year than in four-years of the Black Death Bubonic Plague from 1347 to 1351. Known as "Spanish Flu" or "La Grippe" the influenza of 1918-1919 was a global disaster.


The Grim Reaper by Louis Raemaekers

In the fall of 1918 the Great War in Europe was winding down and peace was on the horizon. The Americans had joined in the fight, bringing the Allies closer to victory against the Germans. Deep within the trenches these men lived through some of the most brutal conditions of life, which it seemed could not be any worse. Then, in pockets across the globe, something erupted that seemed as benign as the common cold. The influenza of that season, however, was far more than a cold. In the two years that this scourge ravaged the earth, a fifth of the world's population was infected. The flu was most deadly for people ages 20 to 40. This pattern of morbidity was unusual for influenza which is usually a killer of the elderly and young children. It infected 28% of all Americans (Tice). An estimated 675,000 Americans died of influenza during the pandemic, ten times as many as in the world war. Of the U.S. soldiers who died in Europe, half of them fell to the influenza virus and not to the enemy (Deseret News). An estimated 43,000 servicemen mobilized for WWI died of influenza (Crosby). 1918 would go down as unforgettable year of suffering and death and yet of peace. As noted in the Journal of the American Medical Association final edition of 1918:

"The 1918 has gone: a year momentous as the termination of the most cruel war in the annals of the human race; a year which marked, the end at least for a time, of man's destruction of man; unfortunately a year in which developed a most fatal infectious disease causing the death of hundreds of thousands of human beings. Medical science for four and one-half years devoted itself to putting men on the firing line and keeping them there. Now it must turn with its whole might to combating the greatest enemy of all--infectious disease," (12/28/1918).





An Emergency Hospital for Influenza Patients

The effect of the influenza epidemic was so severe that the average life span in the US was depressed by 10 years. The influenza virus had a profound virulence, with a mortality rate at 2.5% compared to the previous influenza epidemics, which were less than 0.1%. The death rate for 15 to 34-year-olds of influenza and pneumonia were 20 times higher in 1918 than in previous years (Taubenberger). People were struck with illness on the street and died rapid deaths. One anectode shared of 1918 was of four women playing bridge together late into the night. Overnight, three of the women died from influenza (Hoagg). Others told stories of people on their way to work suddenly developing the flu and dying within hours (Henig). One physician writes that patients with seemingly ordinary influenza would rapidly "develop the most viscous type of pneumonia that has ever been seen" and later when cyanosis appeared in the patients, "it is simply a struggle for air until they suffocate," (Grist, 1979). Another physician recalls that the influenza patients "died struggling to clear their airways of a blood-tinged froth that sometimes gushed from their nose and mouth," (Starr, 1976). The physicians of the time were helpless against this powerful agent of influenza. In 1918 children would skip rope to the rhyme (Crawford):

I had a little bird,Its name was Enza.I opened the window,And in-flu-enza.

The influenza pandemic circled the globe. Most of humanity felt the effects of this strain of the influenza virus. It spread following the path of its human carriers, along trade routes and shipping lines. Outbreaks swept through North America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Brazil and the South Pacific (Taubenberger). In India the mortality rate was extremely high at around 50 deaths from influenza per 1,000 people (Brown). The Great War, with its mass movements of men in armies and aboard ships, probably aided in its rapid diffusion and attack. The origins of the deadly flu disease were unknown but widely speculated upon. Some of the allies thought of the epidemic as a biological warfare tool of the Germans. Many thought it was a result of the trench warfare, the use of mustard gases and the generated "smoke and fumes" of the war. A national campaign began using the ready rhetoric of war to fight the new enemy of microscopic proportions. A study attempted to reason why the disease had been so devastating in certain localized regions, looking at the climate, the weather and the racial composition of cities. They found humidity to be linked with more severe epidemics as it "fosters the dissemination of the bacteria," (Committee on Atmosphere and Man, 1923). Meanwhile the new sciences of the infectious agents and immunology were racing to come up with a vaccine or therapy to stop the epidemics.

The experiences of people in military camps encountering the influenza pandemic:

An excerpt for the memoirs of a survivor at Camp Funston of the pandemic Survivor

A letter to a fellow physician describing conditions during the influenza epidemic at Camp Devens

A collection of letters of a soldier stationed in Camp Funston Soldier

The origins of this influenza variant is not precisely known. It is thought to have originated in China in a rare genetic shift of the influenza virus. The recombination of its surface proteins created a virus novel to almost everyone and a loss of herd immunity. Recently the virus has been reconstructed from the tissue of a dead soldier and is now being genetically characterized. The name of Spanish Flu came from the early affliction and large mortalities in Spain (BMJ,10/19/1918) where it allegedly killed 8 million in May (BMJ, 7/13/1918). However, a first wave of influenza appeared early in the spring of 1918 in Kansas and in military camps throughout the US. Few noticed the epidemic in the midst of the war. Wilson had just given his 14 point address. There was virtually no response or acknowledgment to the epidemics in March and April in the military camps. It was unfortunate that no steps were taken to prepare for the usual recrudescence of the virulent influenza strain in the winter. The lack of action was later criticized when the epidemic could not be ignored in the winter of 1918 (BMJ, 1918). These first epidemics at training camps were a sign of what was coming in greater magnitude in the fall and winter of 1918 to the entire world.

The war brought the virus back into the US for the second wave of the epidemic. It first arrived in Boston in September of 1918 through the port busy with war shipments of machinery and supplies. The war also enabled the virus to spread and diffuse. Men across the nation were mobilizing to join the military and the cause. As they came together, they brought the virus with them and to those they contacted. The virus killed almost 200,00 in October of 1918 alone. In November 11 of 1918 the end of the war enabled a resurgence. As people celebrated Armistice Day with parades and large parties, a complete disaster from the public health standpoint, a rebirth of the epidemic occurred in some cities. The flu that winter was beyond imagination as millions were infected and thousands died. Just as the war had effected the course of influenza, influenza affected the war. Entire fleets were ill with the disease and men on the front were too sick to fight. The flu was devastating to both sides, killing more men than their own weapons could.



With the military patients coming home from the war with battle wounds and mustard gas burns, hospital facilities and staff were taxed to the limit. This created a shortage of physicians, especially in the civilian sector as many had been lost for service with the military. Since the medical practitioners were away with the troops, only the medical students were left to care for the sick. Third and forth year classes were closed and the students assigned jobs as interns or nurses (Starr,1976). One article noted that "depletion has been carried to such an extent that the practitioners are brought very near the breaking point," (BMJ, 11/2/1918). The shortage was further confounded by the added loss of physicians to the epidemic. In the U.S., the Red Cross had to recruit more volunteers to contribute to the new cause at home of fighting the influenza epidemic. To respond with the fullest utilization of nurses, volunteers and medical supplies, the Red Cross created a National Committee on Influenza. It was involved in both military and civilian sectors to mobilize all forces to fight Spanish influenza (Crosby, 1989). In some areas of the US, the nursing shortage was so acute that the Red Cross had to ask local businesses to allow workers to have the day off if they volunteer in the hospitals at night (Deseret News). Emergency hospitals were created to take in the patients from the US and those arriving sick from overseas.



The pandemic affected everyone. With one-quarter of the US and one-fifth of the world infected with the influenza, it was impossible to escape from the illness. Even President Woodrow Wilson suffered from the flu in early 1919 while negotiating the crucial treaty of Versailles to end the World War (Tice). Those who were lucky enough to avoid infection had to deal with the public health ordinances to restrain the spread of the disease. The public health departments distributed gauze masks to be worn in public. Stores could not hold sales, funerals were limited to 15 minutes. Some towns required a signed certificate to enter and railroads would not accept passengers without them. Those who ignored the flu ordinances had to pay steep fines enforced by extra officers (Deseret News). Bodies pilled up as the massive deaths of the epidemic ensued. Besides the lack of health care workers and medical supplies, there was a shortage of coffins, morticians and gravediggers (Knox). The conditions in 1918 were not so far removed from the Black Death in the era of the bubonic plague of the Middle Ages.

In 1918-19 this deadly influenza pandemic erupted during the final stages of World War I. Nations were already attempting to deal with the effects and costs of the war. Propaganda campaigns and war restrictions and rations had been implemented by governments. Nationalism pervaded as people accepted government authority. This allowed the public health departments to easily step in and implement their restrictive measures. The war also gave science greater importance as governments relied on scientists, now armed with the new germ theory and the development of antiseptic surgery, to design vaccines and reduce mortalities of disease and battle wounds. Their new technologies could preserve the men on the front and ultimately save the world. These conditions created by World War I, together with the current social attitudes and ideas, led to the relatively calm response of the public and application of scientific ideas. People allowed for strict measures and loss of freedom during the war as they submitted to the needs of the nation ahead of their personal needs. They had accepted the limitations placed with rationing and drafting. The responses of the public health officials reflected the new allegiance to science and the wartime society. The medical and scientific communities had developed new theories and applied them to prevention, diagnostics and treatment of the influenza patients.

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Graphs of the Influenza Epidemic Impact

The Public Health ResponseAuthoritative Measures

Preventative Measures

Prophylaxis
 The Scientific and Medical Response

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Viewpoint: The deadly disease that killed more people than WW1

http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-29541235
Public buildings were turned into hospitals to cope with all the cases

A deadly illness took hold as WW1 ended and killed an estimated 50 million people globally. But the horror made the world aware of the need for collective action against infectious diseases, says Christian Tams, professor of International Law at the University of Glasgow.

On Armistice Day, 1918, the world was already fighting another battle. It was in the grip of Spanish Influenza, which went on to kill almost three times more people than the 17 million soldiers and civilians killed during WW1.

Dangerous diseases only reach the headlines if there is a risk of a pandemic, like the current Ebola outbreak. Other than that they are the largely ignored global killers, but every year they kill many more people than wars and military conflicts.

In 1918 the world faced a pandemic. Within months Spanish Flu had killed more people than any other illness in recorded history. It struck fast and was indiscriminate. In just one year the average life expectancy in America dropped by 12 years, according to the US National Archives.


A peace to end all wars?


After WW1, global leaders dreamed of a new world order. How close did they get? Prof Christian Tams explores whether they succeeded in a free online course (MOOC) from the BBC and the University of Glasgow. Click on the like below to learn more.
World War 1: Paris 1919 - A New World Order?


In many countries public health services responded, while societies used to wartime restrictions bore quarantines and other measures with resilience. But massive troop deployments and increased global travel meant that no nation could fight the Spanish Flu singlehandedly. Warring nations would need to co-operate if they wanted to combat global diseases.

In the aftermath of WW1 global security was the major concern. At the Paris Peace Conference of 1919 the Allies redrew boundaries, carved up empires and established the first-ever world organisation, the League of Nations.


How deadly was Spanish Influenza?

One fifth of the world's population was attacked by this deadly virus
Most vicious influenza strain of the 20th Century
Deaths even surpassed the Black Death of the Middle Ages

Source: US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and BBC

Discover how actions taken after WW1 still affect you today


The League was set up primarily to preserve peace, which it did with limited success. But it was also to be a centre for co-ordinating international co-operation. The prevention and control of disease was one of the matters of "international concern" listed in its founding treaty. And very quickly - drawing lessons from the Spanish Flu and other global diseases - the League would lay the foundations of our modern system of global healthcare control.


The League's work for international health is largely forgotten, but it is a remarkable story. Under-staffed and under-resourced, various League health agencies during the 1920s and 1930s began to view global health as a global challenge. This involved crisis responses on the ground, but also long-term work towards prevention and health education.

When the League began its work, the worst waves of the Spanish Flu were over. However, countries in Central and Eastern Europe found themselves in the grip of another disease - typhus. The League mobilised international action that by 1921 had largely managed to contain the spread of the epidemic, through mass examinations, de-lousing and bathing and the imposition of quarantines.

While crisis responses remained important, the League greatly improved work towards the prevention of diseases and pioneered health education. Early-warning systems were set up to gather information on the most common infectious diseases such as Cholera, Yellow Fever or Small Pox. This was then communicated by telegraph to a global network.

The League also promoted health-related research and standardised the use of vaccinations around the globe. And it engaged in the first global attempt at health training. This included large-scale programmes of Malaria education and a concerted effort in the 1920s to improve healthcare in China.

While little of this generated news headlines, it would be foolish to dismiss the League's work. Prevention remains the best cure and the League's efforts are likely to have saved countless lives.
In many countries like France people were urged to wear protective masks
Shop staff in Chicago also wore them
As did did police officers in Washington

In an early form of public-private partnership, international health co-operation brought together League experts, national governments and private charities. All this marked no more than a beginning, but it brought home the basic idea that global health can only be protected through international co-operation.

Current reports about the likely spread of Ebola show threats to the world's health are not over. Such threats of deadly pandemics can still meet with haphazard responses.

But beyond pandemics, which are widely reported, the truly shocking figures are the ones that hardly ever reach the headlines, like that of seven million children dying every year from preventable diseases.

But global health has massively improved since 1918 and there are numerous untold success stories. Polio, one of the deadliest scourges of mankind, is nearly eradicated thanks to the combined efforts of UN agencies and private charities like the Gates Foundation and Rotary.


What are MOOCS?


MOOCs stands for massive open online courses and are a new way of learning from the world's leading academics. The BBC is launching four WW1 MOOCs, working with leading universities.
Paris 1919 - A New World Order? University of Glasgow
Aviation Comes of Age, University of Birmingham
Changing Faces of Heroism, University of Leeds
Trauma and Memory, The Open University

Explore the courses by registering here.


Where the League relied on telegraphs to spread information, the World Health Organization now holds the means to prepare for health emergencies. And while millions died of Spanish Flu, research and international co-operation have helped us to deal with risks of more recent influenza epidemics.

But the key challenge remains, outside dramatic outbreaks like those of Ebola today or of the Spanish Flu almost a century ago, global health too often remains a side-issue.

In a year that marks the centenary of WW1, it deserves our full attention and the League's network on global health still has much to teach us.

Find out more about MOOCs and register here. Also, discover moreabout the World War One Centenary.

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Could Imhotep, the Egyptian Scientist & Architect, have been the Biblical Joseph?

By Dennis Edwards -- 

Daniel’s Mentor Joseph or the Imhotep Connection:

Interesting enough, the prophet Daniel of the time of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon was not the first Israelite to interpret dreams and end up as chief counsel to head of an important country. Let us review the history of Joseph and his influence in Egypt.

As you may well remember, Joseph, a child of Jacob, was sold into slavery out of his brother’s jealousy of him and his special relationship with their father. Joseph was the first son of Jacob’s beloved wife Rachel for whom he had worked fourteen years as her dowry. Genesis tells us:

3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his children, because he was the son of his old age: and he made him a coat of many colors. 4 And when his brethren saw that their father loved him more than all his brethren, they hated him, and could not speak peaceably unto him. 5 And Joseph dreamed a dream, and he told it his brethren: and they hated him yet the more. 6 And he said unto them, Hear, I pray you, this dream which I have dreamed: 7 For, behold, we were binding sheaves in the field, and, lo, my sheaf arose, and also stood upright; and, behold, your sheaves stood round about, and made obeisance to my sheaf. 

8 And his brethren said to him, Shalt thou indeed reign over us? or shalt thou indeed have dominion over us? And they hated him yet the more for his dreams, and for his words. 9 And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. 10 And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth? 11 And his brethren envied him; but his father observed the saying.[1]

In other words, Jacob wondered what all those dreams Joseph was having really meant. Could there be something to them? As a young adult he himself had had a dream from God.

 13 And he dreamed a dream, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; 14 And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all families of the earth be blessed. 15 And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.[2]

Interesting enough, Mary the mother of Jesus had a similar reaction as Jacob to the events surrounding Jesus’ birth. When the shepherds come and proclaim they have seen angels announcing Jesus’ birth, Mary also becomes pensive wondering what it all can mean. We can read from Luke.

7 And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn. 8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. 10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. 12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. 

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, 14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.15 And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us. 16 And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. 17 And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. 18 And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.[3]

Parents have been wondering for thousands of years what the future will hold for their children. Even so, both Jacob and Mary have similar reactions to the obvious unusual events of their child’s childhood.

Getting back to our history in Canaan, you may remember that out of hatred and jealousy Joseph’s brothers sell him to merchants travelling down to Egypt. It’s a beautiful story which you can read in the book of Genesis in the Old Testament. Eventually, Joseph ends up in prison on a false accusation.

20 And Joseph's master took him, and put him into the prison, a place where the king's prisoners were bound: and he was there in the prison. 21 But the Lord was with Joseph, and showed him mercy, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. 22 And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it. 23 The keeper of the prison looked not to anything that was under his (Joseph’s) hand; because the Lord was with him (Joseph), and that which he (Joseph) did, the Lord made it to prosper.[4]

So Joseph even prospered in his situation in prison in so much that the prison warden put Joseph in charge of the prisoners. In the process of time two men get thrown into prison by the Pharaoh. The Pharaoh’s chief butler and chief baker are detained in the prison, while an investigation is made into which one has done wrong. During the time they are in prison, both men dream a dream which Joseph accurately interprets. On their release, one man is found guilty and hanged and the other is restored to his place of service, just as Joseph had predicted.

Joseph had pleaded with the man who was to be released to remember him to Pharaoh.

14 But think on me when it shall be well with thee, and shew kindness, I pray thee, unto me, and make mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house: 15 For indeed I was stolen away out of the land of the Hebrews: and here also have I done nothing that they should put me into the dungeon.[5]

But the man refrains from mentioning him to the Pharaoh at that time.

23 Yet did not the chief butler remember Joseph, but forgot him.[6]

So Joseph remains in prison. But after two years, Pharaoh dreamed a dream.

7 And Pharaoh awoke, and, behold, it was a dream. 8 And it came to pass in the morning that his spirit was troubled; and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men thereof: and Pharaoh told them his dream; but there was none that could interpret them unto Pharaoh.[7]

Finally, the chief butler reminds the Pharaoh of Joseph in prison and his ability to accurately interpret dreams. Pharaoh calls for him.

14 Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon: and he shaved himself, and changed his raiment, and came in unto Pharaoh. 15 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is none that can interpret it: and I have heard say of thee, that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it. 16 And Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.[8]

Joseph interprets Pharaoh’s dream and in the end the Pharaoh appoints Joseph Prime Minister of all of Egypt.

41 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. 42 And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck; 43 And he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had; and they cried before him, Bow the knee: and he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt. 44 And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without thee shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.[9]

We are now going to look at an interesting study on Joseph done by D. Stoner. Mr. Stoner is the grandson of Professor Peter Stoner author of the famous book Science Speaks. First published in 1957, Professor Peter Stoner’s book showed the mathematically improbability of any one person fulfilling forty-eight Messianic prophecies. We will look at his conclusions in a later chapter. Even though mathematically impossible, the forty-eight prophecies were fulfilled by Jesus.

Following in his grandfather’s footsteps, D. Stoner also does Biblical research looking for confirmations of the Bible’s accuracy in secular history. If the Biblical history is true, surely we should be able to find a mention of Joseph in Egyptian history. Making a careful and a reasonable study, in the manner of his grandfather, young D.Stoner concludes that the famous Imhotep of Egypt may in fact have been none other than Joseph himself. About the above Biblical passage he says the following:

From the way this is worded, it sounds like having a second in command was a new idea to Pharaoh. There did not seem to be anyone else who had to be removed from that position before Joseph took over. The first Pharaoh to have a second in command was Djoser 2668-2649 BC, the second Pharaoh of the third Dynasty (Old Kingdom). By some incredible stroke of luck, this lines up almost perfectly with our estimate of 2682-2651 BC window (for Joseph to appear on the scene in Egypt, according to D. Stoner’s calculations.) This makes Djoser's right-hand man a likely candidate to be Joseph. Due to the recent Mummy movies, the name of Djoser's vizer has now become better known than Djoser's own name: It was Imhotep, which means "comes in peace." Imhotep was not only the first second-in-command, he was also history's first genius. It might be fair to say that no one was as "discreet and wise" as he was. Could the real-life Imhotep have been the Joseph of Genesis?[10]

We will continue from the Bible.

45 And Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphnathpaaneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On. And Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt. 46 And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt.[11]

Isn't the Bible a fascinating book? Joseph even got to marry the daughter of the most important religious personality, the Priest of On. Now he was not only the Prime Minister, but probably would also have some influence on the religious institution through his marriage to the High Priest’s daughter. He may even have been next in-line to inherit the High Priest position himself. D.Stoner makes the following similar observation:

Joseph married the daughter of the priest of Heliopolis, the Greek name for On. (In Egyptian history), Imhotep became the high priest of Heliopolis. It is not known if the office of "Priest" was hereditary, but we do at least know that Joseph had "family ties" to the office and that he was in a very high-profile public position. He would have been a natural candidate,[12](especially with his spiritual background and experiences and ability of interpreting dreams and hearing from God.)

Wikipedia notes that the following:

The Upper Egyptian Famine Stela, dating from the Ptolemaic period, bears an inscription containing a legend about a famine of seven years during the reign of Djoser. Imhotep is credited with having been instrumental in ending it.

However, Wikipedia makes the following comment:

At the time of first translating the stela, it was thought that the story of a seven-year-famine was connected to the biblical story in Genesis 41, where also a famine of seven years occurs. But more recent investigations have showed that a seven-year famine was a myth common to nearly all cultures of the Near East.[13]

If the seven year famine was in fact a historical event, we would expect to find similar records of it throughout the Near East especially if it was as severe as the Bible denotes. Modern scientists often reject off hand any scientific evidence which confirms what the Bible records. That's why we see the words "legend" and "myth" in the above Wikipedia comment. Since the time of Scottish geologist James Hutton in 1788 and Charles Lyell in 1830 whose published works aimed at removing Moses from science, scientists have increasingly had a naturalistic interpretation of the scientific data. They start with the precept that all of science and history can only be explained by natural causes without the need to implore the hand of a Divine Creator. As one evolutionist Professor of Genetics Richard Lewontin has said,

“We take the side of evolutionary science in spite of the patent absurdity of some of its constructs, in spite of the tolerance of the scientific community for unsubstantiated just so stories, because we have a prior commitment to materialism, that materialism is absolute for we cannot allow a divine foot in the door.”[14]

Earlier scientist, like Galileo, Kepler, and Newton, among many others, said they were thinking God’s thoughts after Him. They did not see the need for science to have an atheistic hand, in fact, they believed that true scientific study only certified the existence of a Divine Creator. At the time of its translating of the Famine Stela scientists were people of faith, therefore, they saw the obvious similarities to the Biblical narrative. As scientists became more atheistic, their world view or belief system caused them to interpret the data through the lens of atheism or naturalism with the need to find another answer which would not confirm the Biblical record.

Let's return to the comparison of Imhotep with Joseph. The statutes of Imhotep presents him as a young man with a scroll on his knees. Joseph was also a young man, just thirty years old, when he became Chancellor of Egypt according to the Old Testament. From Egyptian history we know that Imhotep was responsible for the recording of government documents. He may have also initiated the improved changes in the Hieroglyphic writings to include the phonetic system similar to the writings of the early Sumerians. Since Joseph’s family had come Sumer, again this fits in nicely.

It is interesting to note that the word papyrus actually means “belonging to the house,” or government. Under Joseph, the Pharaoh became the sole property owner in Egypt outside of the priesthood. So we would expect papyrus documents to be government or perhaps religious documents. Since Egyptian history says that Imhotep was also High Priest, there would be no conflict. The question we need to ask is, could Joseph have become High Priest on the death of his father-in-law? To me, it seems there is too much coincidence and similarity to the Biblical record to deny its viability off- hand.

D.Stoner also believes that Imhotep lifespan and Joseph’s correspond exactly which seems to be another confirming factor. But even if there may be some discrepancies with the dates, they may be due to our miscalculations or misinterpretations of the ancient secular records. Since Moses edited the Old Testament records of Genesis and he was familiar with ancient history having had a thorough Egyptian education, it seems likely he would have corrected any known dating errors found in the scriptures.

D. Stoner also shows that Joseph’s Sumerian name could have been mispronounced by the Egyptians to become Imhotep. Joseph told Pharaoh that God had given him a message of peace. Since Imhotep means, “comes in peace,” maybe it was the name the Pharaoh gave him referring to his prophetic message of “peace.” Concerning Joseph’s quick rise to power, D. Stoner notes the similarity to Imhotep's own rapid rise. Again from Egyptian history, nothing is really known about Imhotep before his rise to power. If Imhotep was Joseph, it would be expected that his past would be a mystery. In later Middle and New Kingdoms, Egypt would not be managed by a single Chancellor, but Pharaoh would need a whole team of men.[15]

Here is an inscription found on a stone which once comprised the base for a statue of Djoser: "The Chancellor of the King of Lower Egypt, the first after the King of Upper Egypt, administrator of the great palace, hereditary Lord, the High Priest of Heliopolis, Imhotep the Builder, the Sculptor, the maker of stone vases."

Back to the Biblical account, Pharaoh’s dream was a warning about the famine which will be on the land in seven years hence. Joseph begins to store corn for those times.

47 And in the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls. 48 And he gathered up all the food of the seven years, which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities: the food of the field, which was round about every city, laid he up in the same. 49 And Joseph gathered corn as the sand of the sea, very much, until he left numbering; for it was without number.[16]

53 And the seven years of plenteousness, that was in the land of Egypt, were ended. 54 And the seven years of dearth began to come, according as Joseph had said: and the dearth was in all lands; but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. 55 And when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread: and Pharaoh said unto all the Egyptians, Go unto Joseph; what he saith to you, do. 56 And the famine was over all the face of the earth: and Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold unto the Egyptians; and the famine waxed sore in the land of Egypt. 57 And all countries came into Egypt to Joseph for to buy corn; because that the famine was so sore in all lands.[17]

Joseph’s brothers also must go down to Egypt to buy bread. And after testing them to see if they had repented of their crime against him, he reveals himself to them. But you need to read it from the Bible to get the full impact. And Joseph says to them,

5 Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. 6 For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest. 7 And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

8 So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.[18]

The famine in Egypt continues. Because Joseph knows the future he is able to invest in future markets. He buys up all the extra grain during the years of plenty, probably at a cheap price as there was great abundance. Later, as the famine continues, he is able to sell the grain at a higher price and literally buys up all the property in the land of Egypt and may have initiated the first income tax. Let’s read from the Bible.

11 And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. 12 And Joseph nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father's household, with bread, according to their families. 13 And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very sore, so that the land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine. 

14 And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the corn which they bought: and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house. 15 And when money failed in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Joseph, and said, Give us bread: for why should we die in thy presence? for the money faileth. 16 And Joseph said, Give your cattle; and I will give you for your cattle, if money fail. 17 And they brought their cattle unto Joseph: and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for horses, and for the flocks, and for the cattle of the herds, and for the asses: and he fed them with bread for all their cattle for that year.

18 When that year was ended, they came unto him the second year, and said unto him, We will not hide it from my lord, how that our money is spent; my lord also hath our herds of cattle; there is not ought left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands: 19 Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our land? buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh: and give us seed, that we may live, and not die, that the land be not desolate. 20 And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine prevailed over them: so the land became Pharaoh's. 

21 And as for the people, he removed them to cities from one end of the borders of Egypt even to the other end thereof. 22 Only the land of the priests bought he not; for the priests had a portion assigned them of Pharaoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them: wherefore they sold not their lands.

23 Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh: lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land. 24 And it shall come to pass in the increase, that ye shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones.

25 And they said, Thou hast saved our lives: let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants. 26 And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part, except the land of the priests only, which became not Pharaoh's.[19]

Stoner’s comment on the tax follows below:

Joseph saved Egypt from a seven-year famine by interpreting Pharaoh's dream. According to the Famine Stele (mentioned earlier), Imhotep saved Egypt from a 7-year famine by advising Pharaoh. "After" being advised, Pharaoh had a dream about the solution. As a result, a ten percent tax was imposed (as opposed to 20% tax we see in the above scripture. Regardless of the discrepancy between 10% and 20%, what is true is that), it is an historic fact that Djoser's reign was when the Pharaohs first became wealthy enough to build pyramids.[20]

Joseph’s brethren and father and his wives go down into Egypt and Pharaoh gives them the best land to live on, the land of Goshen. Israel, Joseph’s father, even gets to meet Pharaoh and pray a blessing over him. The Bible tells us,

27 And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions therein, and grew, and multiplied exceedingly. 28 And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the whole age of Jacob was an hundred forty and seven years.[21]

Here are some more observations from Stoner on the Joseph/Imhotep connection.

Joseph's family (Abraham) emigrated from Iraq to Egypt. Imhotep designed the first step pyramid  but as Djoser tomb. It was very similar to the towers/temples in Iraq. Imhotep was even given credit in Egypt for the invention of structures built entirely from stone. Also, ancient statues and paintings always picture Imhotep with a scroll. This is the first historical evidence of literacy. He was even believed by some to have invented writing. Before his time, Egyptian writing involved little more than attempts to illustrate the acts of kings with pictures. Shortly afterwards, Egyptian hieroglyphics developed into a hybrid syllabary form of writing…. Although the pictographs had been adapted to the Egyptian language, the mechanics were unmistakably borrowed from ancient Sumerian which was also a hybrid syllabary form of writing.[22]

Is it possible that Abraham had in his possession a clay copy of the original pre-flood and post flood records of Genesis given to him from Shem who was still alive during Abraham’s lifetime? If there were some written clay copies Joseph could have had the ability to “read” before going to Egypt. Or perhaps Joseph using the oral tradition had memorized the Genesis record up until his time, in which, because of his learning and position in Egypt he was able to record the Genesis record that Moses would later edit under God’s guidance. Another possibility is that Abraham could have learned “reading” during his living in the Sumerian and passed on this ability to his descendants Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. 

Stoner continues,

Joseph was thirty years old when he first stood before Pharaoh (Genesis 41:46) and lived to be 110 years old (Genesis 50:22,26). This puts him in Egypt for about 80 years. It is believed that Imhotep served under four Pharaohs. Probably: Djoser (2668-2649 BC), Sekhemkhet (2649-2643 BC), Khaba (2643-2637 BC), And Huni (2637-2613 BC), (see Clayton p. 30). That's 36-55 years, after which the third dynasty ended.[23]

If Imhotep is Joseph then he would have been ruling from the time he was thirty until nearly eighty-five years old. We have modern day business magnets and religious leaders who have kept their position of power even until that age. So again, the correlation fits.

Stoner makes the following conclusion about Imhotep’s unfound tomb. If Imhotep was indeed Joseph, we would not expect to find his tomb. Why? Because when Joseph died, he asked his descendants to take his body back to Canaan and bury him with his parents. The Bible records that when the children of Israel some four hundred years later depart from Egypt they take Joseph’s body.

19 And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he (Joseph) had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you.[24]

So the fact that Imhotep’s tomb has never been found, though the tombs of other architects have been, fits in perfectly if Imhotep is Joseph. We would not find his tomb in Egypt, because he never made one for himself, as he was expecting to be taken back to Canaan and buried in the cave where his parents were laid.

Why do we not hear about the Joseph-Imhotep connection or possibility in modern history books? Stoner concludes that the powers that be within today’s American educational, historical and scientific community are not interested in this sort of information becoming public knowledge as it gives credence to the Biblical narrative. Like I quoted earlier, they "cannot allow a divine foot in the door.”

As for the Famine Stela, scientists consider it a forgery from some three hundred years later. But forgeries usually are pretty close to the truth so that they pass as the real thing. It seems the priesthood did not want the Pharaohs to forget that they, the priesthood, were part of the seven year miracle seeing that Imhotep, a high priest, was responsible for saving Egypt. Whether the Famine Stela is a forgery or not is really beside the question. The fact is that it is an ancient hieroglyphic inscription and should be given as equal consideration as any other ancient artifact and not dismissed off-hand because of its content is Biblically inconvenient.

One thing we know for sure is that during the reign of Djoser, the Pharaoh suddenly had enough wealth and power to begin the building of gigantic public work projects to themselves. Another interesting point is that the name Djoser could be broken up into “De Joser” or “of José” as we would say in Spanish or Portuguese. The meaning would be “of Joseph.” Since Imhotep was more important than Pharaoh because he had saved the country, could that fact have caused the Pharaoh himself to be remembered as “of Joseph” or Djoser? In any case, the truth is that the Famine Stela has some facts that are accurate which could weigh on the side of it being accurate in total.

If Imhotep was indeed Joseph, this could account for his extraordinary abilities above and beyond those of the normal or upper-class Egyptians. The Bible shows Lot, Abraham's nephew, as a magistrate in Sodom, and Abraham, Joseph's great-grandfather, as an important tribal leader. Besides the spiritual advantages from having learned from his forefathers the importance of maintaining the true God in his understanding and life, Joseph could also have acquired knowledge of Sumerian writing from his fore-fathers. They had dwelt in Sumer before migrating to Canaan and later into Egypt. 

As we have noted earlier and as Stoner concludes: Imhotep is “associated with invention of writing in Egyptian mythology; he is always pictured with a scroll on his lap and was thought to have invented the method of writing on papyrus. Also, it was at approximately this time that Egyptian writing took a quantum leap in its capacity for detailed expression.”[25] The fact that Egypt developed the first practical way of saving information and that all the wealth was in the hands of the Pharaoh may have been the reason for Egypt becoming the first “World Empire.”

“The quantum leap is what took place when Egypt adopted a new system which matched, in many ways, the pictographic system used by the ancient Sumerians. Similarly, it was exactly at this time that the Sumerian idea of giant stepped towers found its way to Egypt; under the direction of exactly this man. The ancient Sumerians had a history of experimental medicine; Imhotep was later deified for his contributions to medicine. It is left as an exercise for the reader to discover in what other ways this match might help explain Egypt's sudden and historic rise to power."[26]

The Joseph-Imhotep connection is quite amazing and almost impossible to deny. Stoner even notes of another study that pushes Imhotep’s ancestry to another architect, Imhotep's presumed father, named "Kanofer."[27] Of course the name “Kanofer” is not too far from Joseph’s first master in Egypt called “Potiphar.” Are these just strange coincidences? They say that truth may be stranger than fiction. The above study just leaves me in wondering if the famous Imhotep of Egyptian history was our very own Joseph?

As you remember, Joseph’s father Jacob or Israel finally went down into Egypt during the famous seven year famine. Like other patriarchs before him, he prays a blessing over his children before his death. Amazingly, Jacob gives a remarkable prophecy about his son Judah. Remember, the Bible is no ordinary book because it is a book of accurate prophecy. Here’s what Jacob prophesied about Judah.

8 Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee. 9 Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? 10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.[28]

As you may know, King David of the tribe of Judah is the first really strong King of a united Israel some five hundred years later. Saul, the first King, was of the tribe of Benjamin. But because of his disobedience to the Lord the Kingdom is given to David. David also was a mighty warrior who fought off the Philistines and other enemies and gave the Kingdom its initial statehood. The Kings of Judah are all descendants of David as was Jesus of Nazareth. The reference to Shiloh in verse ten is referring to the Messiah. Jesus’ genealogy is traced back to David in both Matthew and Luke.

We have seen that Daniel was a good student while in Babylon. No doubt he was also a good student before going into captivity. As a worthy Bible student, he would have been familiar with Joseph’s history and how God used him to influence the Pharaoh for good and to save lives. Knowing Joseph’s history would have given Daniel and his mates the faith they needed to know that God was with them to influence the King for good and to save lives, just like Joseph had.

Paul tells us, “For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.”[29]

In other words, Paul is telling us that the histories in the Bible are written to give us knowledge of the past so that we can learn from them and therefore have patience and find comfort through them. The histories in the Bible show us God’s care for those that love Him. They give us faith and faith in turn gives us hope for the present and hope for the future. Daniel and his friends received faith through the Biblical histories they had put to heart as Jewish youths. Those histories gave them faith which then translated into hope for the present and hope for the future.

The Bible histories and truths can do the same for us today. That is one of the reason I am putting so much Bible in the text. In hope that it will give you faith and that faith will in turn give you hope for your present situation and hope for the future even if things are looking bleak at the moment and may become worse in the future. Remember, “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”[30]

Are you low in faith? Maybe you need to rekindle your faith by spending time reading the Book of Books, the Bible. Many a great men of the past have spent time reading the Bible. Let us read about some.

John Quincy Adams, the 6th President of the United Sates who lived from 1767-1848, said the following:

The first and almost only book deserving of universal attention is the Bible. I speak as a man of the world. So great is my veneration for the Bible, that the earlier my children begin to read it, the confident will be my hope that they will prove useful citizens of their country and respectable members of society. I have for many years made it a practice to read through the Bible once every year.[31]

Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President who lived from 1858-1919, had similar thoughts.

A thorough knowledge of the Bible is worth more than a college education. Almost every man who has by his lifework added to the sum of human achievement … has based his lifework largely upon the teachings of the Bible.[32]

Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President who lived from 1809-1865, said,

I can see how it is possible for a man to look down upon the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how he could look up into the heavens and say, there is no God.[33] In regards to this great book (the Bible), I have but to say it is the best gift God has given to man. All the good the Savior gave the world was communicated through this book. But for it we could not know right from wrong. All things most desirable for man´s welfare, here, and hereafter, are found portrayed in it.[34]

In the next chapter we will read of another famous man who also was a avid Bible student.

Footnotes:

[1] Genesis 37:3-11
[2] Genesis 28:13-15
[3] Luke 2:7-19
[4] Genesis 39:20-23
[5] Genesis 40:14-15
[6] Genesis 40:23
[7] Genesis 41:7b-8
[8] Genesis 41:14-16
[9] Genesis 41: 41-44
[10] http://dstoner.net/Genesis_Context/Context.html
[11] Genesis 41:41-46
[12] http://dstoner.net/Genesis_Context/Context.html
[13] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famine_Stela
[14]  Richard Lewontin. “Billions and Billions of Demons,” New York Review, January 9, 1997, p. 31.
[15] http://dstoner.net/Genesis_Context/Context.html part 5
[16] Genesis 41:47-49
[17] Genesis 41:53-57
[18] Genesis 45:5-8
[19] Genesis 47:11-26
[20] http://dstoner.net/Genesis_Context/Context.html, part 5
[21] Genesis 47:27-28
[22] http://dstoner.net/Genesis_Context/Context.html part 5
[23] Ibid, part 5
[24] Exodus 13:19
[25] Ibid, part 5
[26] Ibid, part 5
[27] Ibid
[28] Genesis 49:8-10
[29] Romans 15:4
[30] Romans 10:17
[31] Treasures, World Services, Zurich, Switzerland, 1987, p.188
[32] Ibid, p.190
[33] http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/131220-i-can-see-how-it-might-be-possible-for-a.
[34] http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/392563-in-regards-to-this-great-book-the-bible-i-have
Copyright@DennisE.Molinski

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Peaks and Valleys

http://anchor.tfionline.com/post/peaks-and-valleys/
By Elsa Sichrovsky

For the past few weeks, I’ve been reading C. S. Lewis’ novel The Screwtape Letters, which chronicles a fictional correspondence between a senior devil named Screwtape and a junior devil named Wormwood. From these letters, I have gained fascinating insight into Satan’s strategies for sabotaging my spiritual growth, relationship with God, and interactions with others. One of the letters explores the ups and downs of the human experience, what I call the “peaks and valleys.”

In this letter, Screwtape discusses the period of “dryness and dullness” that Wormwood’s charge is experiencing. Screwtape laments that God intends to use this time to strengthen the young man’s resolve to love and follow Him even without inspiring feelings to validate His presence. Screwtape urges Wormwood to ensure that the young man does not become aware of the normalcy of valleys but instead becomes convinced that his languid, depressing feelings are a permanent condition. As I read, I reflected on my personal peak-and-valley cycle and what I have learned from my valleys.

I have certainly enjoyed “peaks” in my life: periods of success in my work, progress in my studies, camaraderie with family and friends, optimal health, joyful communion with Jesus, and inspiring Bible reading. But I have also experienced “valleys,” such as the one I struggled through just recently. It started with a major setback in my work, followed by problems in my studies, conflicts and strained communication with loved ones, and finally a bout of illness. I found myself at an all-time low, with no inspiration to read my Bible or even pray.

My valley seemed to stretch on endlessly, swallowing me in its dark emptiness and blanketing me in despair. I felt as if God had packed His bags and disappeared. I pled for Him to be near, to pull me through my troubles and to let me feel His presence, but He seemed distant and silent. What is happening? What have I done wrong? I wondered desperately.

I tried to use willpower and effort to re-create the excitement and spiritual high I had enjoyed during my peaks, but this only left me exhausted and more discouraged. It finally dawned on me that faith cannot be measured by feelings, for as Paul says, “We live by faith, not by sight.”1 Focusing on my changeable and often negative emotions only plunged me deeper into my doubts and made my trials more difficult to bear.

Reading The Screwtape Letters confirmed what I’d discovered in my valley. I found that the key was to realize that I was going through a valley and that valleys are common to all of us. My struggles were not indications that I had failed God or that He had abandoned me. Rather, they are painful yet normal parts of human experience in a fallen world. I’d felt as if I would remain in my misery forever, but I found that all valleys end in God’s time, and I emerged with renewed faith in His grace and love.

God used my valley to develop my character and deepen my faith, making me better able to withstand life’s tumults without being tossed to and fro. As Screwtape explains, “[God] wants them to learn to walk and must therefore take away His hand; and if only the will to walk is really there, He is pleased even with their stumbles.” God takes us where we are at, loves us for our feeble efforts, and never abandons us. Often when we feel farthest from Him, that is when He is nearest to us.



1 2 Corinthians 5:7 NIV.

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