OctGenCon
"The Name Of The Church Is Not Negotiable"
Elder Neil L. Andersen
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
I am an eyewitness to the power of heaven that rests upon our beloved prophet, President Russell M. Nelson. His most sincere desire is to please the Lord and bless our Heavenly Father's children. From sacred, personal experience, I testify of the Lord's love for him. He is the prophet of God.
Liahona
"How Can I Talk to My Teen About Religion"
33 degrees and cloudy this morning. Some rain throughout the day. Kim and Brian are getting to see all types of weather while they are here.
I listened to "Follow Him" with guest Andrew Skinner today. I took so many notes that I finally had to go to the show notes to get all of the information that I wanted regarding the meaning behind the plagues.
Plague #1. The first plague we read about in chapter seven centers on the Nile. Pharaoh went to the Nile each morning to worship the supreme deity. And that supreme deity was the River Nile. It was Herodotus, 5th century BC Greek historian, who said Egypt is the gift of the Nile. So the most important of the deities, and Pharaoh confirms this every morning, is the River Nile.
The River Nile ceases to be a source of life. It's changed from living water, from pure water into blood. Scholars have debated whether or not this is literal or whether or not it was figurative for the red color that the Nile begins to exhibit. What matters to me is that this is the Lord's doing and that the Lord is behind the miracle. The Lord says, "By the corruption of the Nile, I have power over your supreme deity. And by extension, I have power over life and death."
Plague #2. The second plague in chapter 8 verses 6-8 centers on the frog or the goddess Heqet. The frog was sacred in ancient Egypt. It was a symbol of life springing forth. It was associated with the concept of resurrection. It was a symbol of resurrection. The plague of frogs shows that miracles and signs don't produce lasting conversion in more people.
What is interesting about the first two plagues is that the magicians at Pharaoh's court are able to duplicate these signs and wonders just like they were able to duplicate the staff becoming a serpent. It ends after this. They will no longer be able to duplicate.
Plague #3. Exodus 8:16-19 referred to in the text as lice but it's actually stinging gnats that issue from the soil. The soil is also worshipped by the Egyptians. So now Jehovah has caused the soil, which was once magnificent to the ancient Egyptians, to turn on them. People become covered with these lice or stinging gnats.
Plague #4. Actually we like to say flies, but if you'll notice the text, it is 8:24 and the Lord says, "So there are griveous swarms. But notice the word of flies is in italics. Those words don't appear in the original text. There are grievous swarms, and these grievous swarms are none other than the dung beetles, the scarabl. Egyptologists and students of ancient history will recognize that the scarab is an emblem of the sun God Ra, one of the greatest and most enduring symbols in ancient Egypt. These swarms of scarab beetles are supposed to represent these magnificent and kind gods but now have turned against the people and it's the Lord's power that's behind it.
The plagues are dismantling Egyptian theology right in front of the Israelites. It's almost the last God standing, because Jehovah is knocking them off one by one.
The first plagues are just inconvenient. It's uncomfortable. Life has become very uncomfortable. With the stinging gnats it's starting to become painful.
Plague #5. The fifth plague centers on livestock, both the sacred bull, Apis, and also one of the most beloved of the cow goddesses, Hathor. The Apis bull is a sacred animal and represents Pharaoh himself. Hathor was one of the most popular goddesses in all of Egypt She was worshipped widely across the empire. She was the goddess of mothers, the goddess of women, the goddess of women's physical and psychological wellbeing, but also the goddess of dance, beauty and music. She's the personification of joy, of goodness, of celebration, of love. And so when she's attacked, then a really significant part of Egyptian culture is being destroyed, at least in the minds of the Egyptians who know what's going on.
I'm looking at a picture of Hathor, that cow-headed goddess of the desert. When you see their pictures she is represented as a human from but a cow's head. Heqet, the God of resurrection has the head of a frog and a human body.
Every Egyptian noble desired to have eternal life. The idea that family was going to be part of what you would enjoy as you enjoyed eternal life was inculcated into every young Egyptian.
Plague #6. The plague of boils shows Jehovah's power over personal health. This is chapter 9 verses 8-11. There's a difference between the religion of Jehovah and Egyptian religion. Egyptian religion promoted no one-to-one relationship with God. It was a group kind of effort, and we see Jehovah saying, "NO, this is a very personal thing between me and you."
Plague #7. The plague of hail also demonstrates Jehovah's power over the gods of hail and fire. The lightning god, Min, was one of Jehovah's targets. Min is also associated with fertility. Each of these gods have several portfolios. They're associated with and responsible for different aspects of life and eternal life. The god Min also gave its name to one of the governmental districts. There were 42 centers of law and government, and one of these was dedicated wholly to the god Min and it was a sacred area from which agriculture was regulated. Even the ability to grow crops is going to be affected by all of this.
Plague #8. The plague of locust or grasshoppers. These are brought in by the East wind. There are devastating effects from the East wind. It's even mentioned in the Book of Mormon. A West wind would bring moisture from the Mediterranean. Was the East wind an old world symbol for destruction?
The intense and dense cloud of dust came with the East wind and it raised the temperature by many, many degrees and it made life unbearable. It also destroyed the crops. It was not a pleasant thing. In Arabic it's called the khamsin. That has reference to a specific time of the year. 50 days after a certain period you could expect the khamsin, and it really is a very unpleasant situation So the khamsin brings these hoards of migratory locust to devour the crops. These plagues are getting worse and worse.
Plage #9. This plague is darkness. Here we see Jehovah hitting the Egyptian Pantheon very, very hard because when the darkness is brought to pass, the target is Ra, the great sun god, the chief of the Egyptian Pantheon from very, very early times. The sun itself became a god, and it's a prominent figure in ancient Egypt because you rarely see rain. Ra is the creator god. Now Jehovah has struck at the very core of external things that the Egyptians had placed so much faith in. It's not the most serious plague, that of course is reserved for the last plague.
Plague #10. Exodus 11:1-7. The Lord tells Moses that this last plague will cause Pharaoh to let the Israelites go. "When he shall let you go, he shall surely thrust you out. He will be done with you. He will not want to have anything more to do with you. Speak now in the ears of the people and let ever man borrow of his neighbor and every woman of her neighbor jewels of silver, jewels of gold." Basically the Lord is saying you are not going to go out of Egypt without some wealth. They'll be glad to give you the resources that they have just to get you out of the their midst.
All the first born in the land of Egypt shall die, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sitteth upon this throne, even unto the first born of the maid servant that is behind the mill and all the first born of the beasts. So this ultimate disaster includes everybody, except the Israelites, from the high born to the low. The first born of every class of people is affected by this last and great plague. And here we begin to see the symbolism of another first born who would die some 1300 years later of 1250 years later in the person of Jesus Christ.
Whew. I wanted to include this in my journal because I want to have a record of what each of these plagues represented.
James made us venison steak and gravy with biscuits this morning. It was delicious.
James and I walked and listened to "The Valet's Secret." When I was walking by myself I listened to conference talks and then my book, "The Girl at the Gate." I finished "Follow Him" and started listening to "Unshaken" by Jared Halverson. It's over three and a half hours long so I listened to this while I was walking after one chapter from my book.
Yesterday I ran off all of the recipes for Courtney's beginner cakes. Today I ran off all of the intermediate recipes. Tomorrow it will be the advanced. There are so many!
We had rain and even some hail today. It was overcast most of the day which Kim and Brian loved.
Since James couldn't do anything outside he decided to caulk some logs. Brian held the ladder for him.
Something James was using smelled bad and caused Kim to have a headache so he didn't do
anymore caulking. I guess it was the stain.
We listened to Charlie sing "On top of pasgetti online. Kim said she remembers being obsessed with that song when she was little."
This evening I talked Kim into watching "Harmony from the Heart" starring Jessica Loudes and Jesse Metcalf. She doesn't like either one of them very well but when I told her it was about music therapy healing the sick she seemed interested and said she would watch with me. I did not know there was a Suns game on. Brian went downstairs and watched it on his phone. The Suns beat the Warriors 107-103. Kim really liked the movie as did James and I.
I finished my last two ministering interviews today, one with Christ Brady and the other with Denice Hall. Tamara and I both got 100%.
Brian made us chili for dinner. He recipe is so different than mine or Wendy's. He uses no tomatoes or onions because Kim doesn't like them. He uses spices, jalapeno chili's and beans, hamburger, and sausage. It was quite tasty but I felt like the star of the meal was the gluten-free corn muffins. They were delicious!
Kim says in order to bake all of Courtney's cakes in a year I need to start right now and bake at least one a week, maybe two. I think she is right.
I love this!
Brother Tesarek, Resten, and
Colter were there.
I only got a picture of Ruthie, but George and John all got 1st place, all three of them, in this tournament.
Salt River Sunrise
One of Courtney's strawberry cake
Kerri's birthday journal
So funny!
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