January Edition
Happy New Year everyone! What a quick year! What a full year! I hope you are excited and hopeful about 2023 and I hope you will be continuing the journey through the Bible as we start the year with the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, beginning in Genesis.
First Place Ministries is launching its eighth year of ministry. We released two new books last year; along with a notebook and our Choose Life app. As we continue to grow and expand, please pray with us about The Choose Life Journal being included on the Bible.com webpage.
If you don’t have a daily Bible reading plan or if you are ready to go deeper into the Word, I encourage you to make January 1st the day to launch a new lifestyle and begin a new discipline.
The Choose Life Journal system is a four-year plan. We are beginning Year Three, having covered the New Testament in Year One, and Wisdom Literature in Year Two. Our schedule is flexible and provides you with options. You may elect to do a chapter a day like we are doing with the daily journal, or you may choose a more aggressive approach. The schedule is posted on our website at www.firstplaceministries.com
Happy New Year!
Rolland
FAITH:
If you are not living your life by requesting of Adonai serendipities daily, I encourage you to consider asking Him for planned appointments, whether they be meeting people face-to-face, or via the internet, or through the old-fashioned method of print. In the last quarter of ’22, I have found two books in my wife’s library which have been pivotal in preparing me for journaling on the book of Genesis, our featured book for the first 50 days of 2023.
I want to introduce you to one of those books today titled The Shinar Directive: Preparing the way for the Son of Perdition by Dr. Michael Lake.
In the book of Genesis, in the tenth chapter, we are given a genealogical record of Noah’s sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Verse 8 declares Cush “fathered Nimrod. He started to become mighty in the land. He was a mighty hunter before Adonai. …The beginning of his kingdom included Babel…. Nineveh, Rechovot-ir, Calah and Resen, between Nineveh and Calah—it is a great city.” He is a city builder and a mighty hunter. His name literally means, “Let us revolt.” Who is he revolting against? Non other than the God of heaven, Adonai.
Let’s begin with Cush, father of Nimrod. According to ancient history Dr. Lake establishes that “Cush was a leading influence in both the formation of Babylon and the construction of the Tower of Babel.” He quotes Alexander Hislop who wrote a classic work The Two Babylons: “Cush is generally represented as having been a ringleader in the great apostacy. Cush had a preeminent share in leading mankind away from the true worship of God.” According to Dr. Lake, Cush “was known by many names throughout history and pagan mythology: Cush, Bel, Hermes, Mercury, and Nebo.”
A little mention of Ham is needed here; “we have been examining the establishment and flow of the doctrines given to mankind through the Watchers. We have called this occult stream “Mystery Babylon.” After the Flood, giants began to appear on the earth again. What is interesting is that giants began to be born primarily through Ham’s line. Dr. Lake cites Nephilim researcher Rob Skiba and his book, Archon Invasion: The Rise and Return of the Nephilim, “The Word tells us that Noah was pure in his generation (100-percent human DNA). Most researchers believe that Noah’s wife was genetically pure, as well as their three sons: Shem, Ham, and Japheth.” Dr. Lake believes that it is “quite possible that the wives of Noah’s sons carried the DNA of the Nephilim within them.”
Now, information about Nimrod: “The biblical record thus agrees with data from the ancient history of Mesopotamia which furnish evidence that the region was first ruled by a non-Shemitic people. Nimrod began to be (i.e., set out to be) a mighty one (gibbor) in the land (10:8). The term tyrant captures the intention of the original. Nimrod’s very name is an encapsulation of his lifestyle. His name means, “Let us revolt.” He must have been a ruthless ruler who was opposed to all existing order.” Dr. Lake’s deduction is “in modern language, this text could accurately say, “And Nimrod began to change genetically, becoming a gibborim, the offspring of watchers on earth.”
I enjoyed this book and I believe it fills some holes about the elite who have schemed to control mankind. Dr. Lake connects the dots about the possible ploys of the elite to enslave mankind, control nations politically and financially, mind control strategies, how transhumanism may be used to build Nimrod’s final army, and how God used the Apostle John to reveal the end of days to us and to teach us how to survive them! Essentially, resurrecting the spirit of and schemes of Nimrod.
If you are interested in the connection and mention of a pre-flood and post-flood event and time in history when Nephilim (Genesis 6:1-5 & 10-11) came to and lived on earth, I encourage you to consider reading The Shinar Directive. You may arrive at a new perspective about what was unleashed upon mankind in the recent years, and the plans men are still talking about to control mankind.
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First Place Ministries is not a 501c3 organization.
Get our new book!
Choose Life Journal
First Place Ministries is seeking to help you establish a daily time with the Scriptures and the Spirit! Available now on our website or through Barnes & Noble or Amazon, is our latest book, Choose Life Journal.
o If you have never read or studied the Bible for yourself, this book is for you. The how and why of personal Bible study time is contained in this book.
o If you have used devotional material before, please consider journaling and discover how the Holy Spirit will mentor you.
o If you have participated in inductive Bible study with directed questions, please consider journaling and allowing the Holy Spirit to direct you into all truth.
o If you have sought a deeper walk and relationship with Adonai, the Choose Life Journal plan is the study aid for you. Each chapter is designed to equip you with the skills to participate in the inductive method of Bible study, journal at the leading of the Holy Spirit, and create an action plan for applying the Word of God.
I have utilized the inductive method of Bible study for over seventeen years. Your thoughts, your actions, your attitudes will be challenged by the Word of God. You will see the transformation which your interaction with God’s Word causes as you become conformed to His image. The Bible is a powerful book! It is “living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword…and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Hebrews 4:12).” I challenge you to try the Choose Life Journal study methodology for 21-days through the book of John.
Books are available via Barnes & Noble and Amazon.
Download the
Choose Life App!
Download the Choose Life App,
now available through your phone’s App store. On the app, you’ll find the
First Place Ministries journals, a Bible reading plan, the written TLV version
of the Bible, as well as an audio Bible (NIV) that you can listen to.
The app, including all these features, is free!
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