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Sunday, June 13 2010
Snake "charmers" are familiar circus acts in the modern world, but they had their beginning in a far more ancient show. While many regard snake charming to have originated in eastern Asia, the Israelites in the Middle East were not only familiar with it, they practiced it. The Hebrew word that is often translated as "charmer" actually means whisperer (see the Fact Finder question below).
"58:2 Yea, in heart ye work wickedness; ye weigh the violence [see Violence to understand the Biblical meaning of that word] of your hands in the earth. 58:3 The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.58:4 Their poison is like the poison of a serpent: they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; 58:5 Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, charming never so wisely." (Psalm 58:2-5 KJV)
"Behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the LORD"
The lies and deceptions of the "charmers" were very soothing to the people because the people were living lives of lies and deceptions. Their "serpent" that was being charmed however was Satan, the father of lies (John 8:44). The fall of their kingdom happened because of their refusal to repent of their Satanic love of lies i.e. "they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return."
"8:4 Moreover thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the LORD; Shall they fall, and not arise? shall he turn away, and not return? 8:5 Why then is this people of Jerusalem slidden back by a perpetual backsliding? they hold fast deceit, they refuse to return. 8:6 I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright: no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done? every one turned to his course, as the horse rusheth into the battle. 8:7 Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD.8:8 How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the LORD is with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he it; the pen of the scribes is in vain. 8:9 The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the LORD; and what wisdom is in them? 8:10 Therefore will I give their wives unto others, and their fields to them that shall inherit them: for every one from the least even unto the greatest is given to covetousness, from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely." (Jeremiah 8:4-10 KJV)
The Damnation comes not from the sin, but from the refusal to repent when they were given the time and means to do so i.e. "We looked for peace, but no good came."
"8:11 For they have healed the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace; when there is no peace. 8:12 Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination? nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could they blush: therefore shall they fall among them that fall: in the time of their visitation they shall be cast down, saith the LORD. 8:13 I will surely consume them, saith the LORD: there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fade; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them.8:14 Why do we sit still? assemble yourselves, and let us enter into the defenced cities, and let us be silent there: for the LORD our God hath put us to silence, and given us water of gall to drink, because we have sinned against the LORD. 8:15 We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble! 8:16 The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan: the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones; for they are come, and have devoured the land, and all that is in it; the city, and those that dwell therein. 8:17 For, behold, I will send serpents, cockatrices, among you, which will not be charmed, and they shall bite you, saith the LORD.
8:18 When I would comfort myself against sorrow, my heart is faint in me. 8:19 Behold the voice of the cry of the daughter of my people because of them that dwell in a far country: Is not the LORD in Zion? is not her king in her? Why have they provoked me to anger with their graven images, and with strange vanities?" (Jeremiah 8:11-19 KJV)
Fact Finder: Why is Satan called a "snake"?
See The Whisperer
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This Day In History, June 13
81: The Roman Emperor Titus (reigned 79-81) died at age 42. As a military commander before succeeding his father Vespasian, it was Titus who conducted the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 70 A.D.
122: Construction began of Hadrian's Wall in Britain during the time the island was under Roman occupation. Named after the emperor Hadrian (reigned 117-138), parts of the 120 kilometer (75 mile) wall remain visible today.
1321: Italian playwright Dante Alighieri died. His farce Divine Comedy was the inspiration for much of the Vatican's development of the doctrine of an ever-burning hell fire and the non-existent "Purgatory."
1515: King Francis of France battled the Swiss army under Cardinal Matthias Schiner at Marignano in northern Italy.
1549: Pope Paul III ended the first session of the Council of Bologna.
1609: Henry Hudson entered what would later be named New York harbor and claimed the area for Holland.
1759: The Battle of The Plains of Abraham, fought at the western edge of Quebec City, overlooking the St. Lawrence River. The English under James Wolfe, 32, defeated the French under the Marquis de Montcalm, 47, ending French and Indian Wars and settling the political future of Canada. Both leaders were killed. The place is named for Abraham Martin, a ship's pilot who owned part of the land.
1788: New York City was designated the capital of the United States. The first U.S. President, George Washington, was inaugurated there. A new capital city, built on lands adjacent to the Potomac River that had been donated by Maryland and Virginia, was named after Washington, who preferred the name "Federal City."
1898: The Yukon Territory of Canada was established, 2 years after the Klondike gold discovery. Dawson City was named the capital. During the goldrush, Dawson City was the largest city north of Seattle and west of Winnipeg.
1922: The highest recorded shade temperature, 58 degrees Celsius / 136 degrees Fahrenheit, was recorded at Al Aziziyah, Libya.
1942: During the Second World War, the German army began its all-out attack on Stalingrad against stiff Soviet resistance.
