The Flood According to the Orinoco

Sigu was the son of Makunaima.  Sigu was in charge of all of the animals and the birds that were on earth after Makunaima created them.  This is true.  Now the Agouti knew of a secret tree that was created by Makunaima, and this tree was the first tree created, and so it grew all of the plants and food that we have today.  The tree was a secret because it was special, and so not even Sigu knew of it.  But the Agouti knew of it, and one day he was followed by Rat.  Once Rat saw the tree, he told everyone, even Sigu.  So Sigu decided to cut the tree down, and then take all of the branches from the tree and plant them in the ground, so that each branch would grow its own food, and there would be food everywhere.

Sigu asked Iwarrika the monkey to help, and sent him to bring water from the stream.  While Iwarriak was gone, Sigu cut down the tree, leaving the stump.  The stump was hollow, you see, and so it was filled with water, and in the water were all kinds of fish.  There were big fish and little fish, and they all swam around and around in the tree stump.  But the water, which was kept inside by the tree, was now overflowing, and the land was going to be flooded.  So Sigu took a basket and covered the stump to keep the water in, and then he left so he could begin to plant the tree branches.  While he was gone, Iwarrika came back, swa the basket, and believed that there was fruit under it.  He lifted the basket, but instead of fruit, there was water!  Let me tell you, there was water!  It flooded everything!  It covered the ground, and the trees, and would have killed all of the animals if Sigu had not acted quickly.

Here is what he did:  he took all of the birds and climbing animals, and put them in the tallest trees.  Then he took the other animals and put them in a cave.  He sealed the cave with wax, and told them that he would come get them when the water was gone.  Meanwhile, he sat in the tree with the birds, and waited for the water to go away.  It was very dark, and the storms were fierce, but eventually the water went away.  Sigu knew this because he dropped a seed, and he heard it hit the ground instead of splashing in the water.

When the sky grew light again, Sigu and the animals climbed down from the tree.  Then Sigu let out the animals that were in the cave.  So this is how it happened that the world was flooded.  This is also how it happened that monkeys are afraid of water.

-From the Orinoco Peoples of Middle America    

It's the End of the World As We Know It: The Trumpet Judgments, Part 3

Hail.  Fire.  Blood.  Demons.  These are the fun things in store for those on earth during the first Six Trumpets.  And while I believe (not claiming certainty, here!) that the blast of the Seventh Trumpets follows the Rapture, what we know for certain about this Trumpet is still pretty intense.  Let's back up and put this in context:

The second woe is passed; the third woe is coming soon.

The seventh angel sounded his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven, which said:

"The kingdom of the world has
     become the kingdom of our
     Lord and of His Christ,
and He will reign for ever and
     ever."

And the twenty-four elders, who were seated on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying:

"We give thanks to you, Lord God
     Almighty,
   the One Who is and Who was,
because you have taken Your great
     power
   and have begun to reign.
The nations were angry;
   and Your wrath has come.
The time has come for judging the dead,
   and for rewarding Your servants the
     prophets
and Your saints and those who
     reverence Your Name,
   both small and great - 
and for destroying those who destroy the earth."

Then God's temple in heaven was opened, and within His temple was seen the ark of His covenant.  And there came peals of thunder, an earthquake and a great hailstorm (11:14-19).

The two witnesses have ascended, the "second woe" has finished, and the last trumpet sounds.  This doesn't seem particularly bad, however, because, aside from (yet another) earthquake and hailstorm, all that appears to happen is that the elders and angels in heaven break out in song, right?  What is so "woeful" about that?

Notice their song:  "The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ."  Wait, that doesn't sound so bad either, right?  Isn't that what we are all waiting for?  Believers, yes, but for the world - for those who have taken the Mark of the Beast, who have set up their hopes and security in this world and it's god - the coming of Jesus is a terrible thing.

Let's take a moment and reflect on this term, "woe."  It isn't one we use much in our culture today, but what it signals is a deep, relentless anguish of the soul.  When Job lost his family, his wealth, his health, and his friends and wife all turned against him and tried to persuade him to disavow God, Job became woeful.  He lost everything, and those he trusted tried to take God from him, too.  When the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of Christ, the world will experience woe.

It's humiliating enough to be confronted with being wrong, but to be confronted by Jesus Himself, in the flesh, when you have totally rejected Him?  It's the worst kind of "I Told You So" imaginable.  But I think that what adds insult to injury is that it also heralds the series of events that lead up to Jesus' return and establishment of His Kingdom:  the Seven Bowls of God's Wrath.  Each of these bowls is specifically meant to remove power and authority from the kingdom of the Beast and bring an end to his rule.  And, just like pruning a bush means cutting out part of a living organism, pruning a person and a kingdom can be very, very painful, even if that person and that kingdom deserve to fall.  And of course, as we mentioned just a moment ago, it all leads to that the final moment when the heavens are torn open and Jesus Himself appears and says (much more eloquently, of course), "I told you so."  But all of that - every single moment of it - begins with the blowing of the Seventh Trumpet.

The last and final Trumpet of Revelation heralds the pouring out of God's Wrath on the earth.  The preceding judgments?  Just the warm-up, so to speak. The global move to Satanism, the downward spiral we see beginning even today, all of these things are shaken up and interrupted by God's Seals and Trumpets, but they are utterly destroyed - and many of the people involved with them - by a sequence of events heralded by the Seventh Trumpet.  So while it's "only" an earthquake, but mostly a song, don't pass over this Trumpet so quickly.  Let it sink in that this is the beginning of the Day of the Lord.  For those who are in Christ, it truly is an awesome, praiseworthy thing, but for the rest of mankind, it's a horrifying, terrible thing.  It is, in fact, woeful.

Otos and Ephialtes

Otos and Ephialtes were two giants and children of Poseidon.  Just as the gods had challenged the authority of the Titans, so the giants desired to challenge the authority of the gods on Olympus.  The two of them lifted Mt. Pelion, placing it upon Mt. Ossa, in order to ascend into the heavenly realm of Olympus.  But Apollo noted their efforts, and with one arrow, slew them both.

-From Greece

 So let's talk about this for a moment.  There are obvious "Tower of Babel" implications here, something that comes up quite a bit in world mythology.  So much so, in fact, that it I would officially classify it - as if my word were ever truly "official"! - as a Global Myth.  But I think this story is much more than just another Global Myth; it is, rather, the lynch-pin that holds the entire theory of Telephone Mythology together.

Telephone Mythology, if you're unfamiliar with the phrase, states that the most ancient of our stories - Creation, Flood, Babel, etc. - all have their origin in real events, and that the Tower of Babel event is precisely why we have so many different versions of these stories, and yet the stories themselves are not only common to the ancient world (spanning the globe from Australia to Alaska), but they have several common threads that link them together.  The differences can be explained away, but the similarities are difficult to explain.  So is the presence of these stories in hundreds of cultures around the globe.  The only logical explanation for these occurrences is that, at some point in our history, the Tower of Babel actually occurred, mankind was struck with an instant change in languages, and the people, as a result, scattered and became isolated into whatever groups now existed.    

And what do we do with our children?  We tell them stories, of course.  We tell them stories we make up, we tell them stories that are important to us - family history - we tell them the stories we grew up hearing.  This is why "The Three Little Pigs" is still told.  I grew up reading a version of that story, and I tell it to my daughter now.  A singular event, such as the development of different cultures, would inarguably be told and retold.  

But it would also change.  This is why we have several versions of The Three Little Pigs.  In some, the wolf eats the first two pigs, in others, he doesn't.  In some, the wolf dies at the end (and even how he dies varies), in others, he runs away, angry, never to return.  Sometimes the pigs buy their building materials, sometimes they find them and gather them themselves.  The pig who uses straw can be either simple-minded, lazy, or just plain cheap.  The story, which isn't that old, has already morphed into numerous versions.

We also see languages change rather rapidly.  Here in America, we speak English.  But here's the deal: someone born and raised in New York City speaks a vastly different English from someone born and raised in Mobile, Alabama.  The dialects - though both of them English - are so different that many people in these areas can't even understand one another.  

If we look more broadly, the English spoken in America is different from its Mother English, that spoken across the pond in England.  Now, of course, the King's English has itself changed, even since the time of Shakespeare. 

And then there's culture.  While we originally started as (mostly) English colonies, our culture here in America is quite a bit different from the culture over in England.  Much to my dismay, for example, we do not have "tea time."  They regularly build multi-level bookstores.  

So when met with naysayers who scoff and claim that Telephone Mythology is impossible, that "everyone knows" there was no Global Flood, the Tower of Babel is a fairy-tale, and the like, I sort of get perplexed.  We see cultures changing - rapidly, at times - around us even today.  We see stories that are only a hundred or so years old changing around us.  We see languages and dialects changing around us.  In other words, most of the main components of this idea are visible to us, even today, and what we see in this story of Otos and Ephialtes is further example of Telephone Mythology at work.

Which must inevitably lead to the conclusion that the Tower of Babel was, in all likelihood, a real event.  Now, if you dismiss the Bible, you cannot do so on grounds of "science," "evidence," or "logic," for we see the evidence, the science, and the logic of it all around us.  Know, then, that if you dismiss it, it's because you choose to, not because you're smart enough to figure out that it's lying.  Because to assume that it must be false, you, indeed, must dismiss a great deal of this evidence and logic to which you claim to so desperately cling when building your view of reality.  I cannot make you believe the Bible, but I can leave you with no choice but to either accept it, or deny reality.  

And so the choice, then, is up to you.  I hope - no, I actually, literally pray - that you will see this, you will open an actual Bible, and perhaps for the first time, read it for what it is:  Truth.     

Criticisms Regarding Flood Legends and Giants

First of all, if you've purchased either of my books, thank you.  You have helped pay the bills, and I appreciate that.  More than that, though, you've read them, which is, of course, the main reason for writing them; no one writes a book they don't want read.  That, and it's fun to research and compose thoughts.

And, overall, the books have gotten very good reviews, lots of positive feedback, some excellent questions from inquisitive readers.  Every so often, I get an e-mail from an alert reader (yes, I just stole that from Dave Barry) who offers some really good insight into these topics.  It's interesting that something that is so niche and so odd - comparative mythology isn't exactly mainstream - really seems to resonate with people.  I mean, it obviously resonates with me, but I'm a little odd myself, so that shouldn't surprise anyone.  The fact that a relatively large number of people also seem to connect with these books, however, is startling, and immensely humbling.  So, for those of you who have read and enjoyed the books, thank you for sharing in my passion.  I'm always excited when I uncover an old text that supports the Biblical accounts, and it appears that many of you are, as well.

Having said all of that, there is one criticism that is frequently leveled at the books, and that is that they don't mention the Gospel.  I don't talk about Jesus in them; I don't discuss His life, death, or resurrection.  That is true, I don't, and I think there is validity to that criticism.  I spend a good deal of time on this blog talking about the fact that Jesus is everything, but then I don't mention Him in my books.  Seems a little contradictory, doesn't it?

Therefore, if you'll indulge me, I'd like to briefly explain why I wrote them the way I did.  With Flood Legends, my goal was never, ever to hit people over the head with the Bible.  Waving it around, saying, "It's true!" doesn't actually get anywhere with people who summarily reject it before you even open your mouth.  After years and years of talking with atheists, agnostics, self-proclaimed skeptics, and the like, one common theme emerged:  there's nothing believable about the Bible, and in order to believe it, you must shut off your brain, shut down your intellect, and believe in magical fairy-tale coincidences that point to a pretend invisible god.  So before we even get to "The Bible is the Word of God," they've already decided it can't be.

The group of people I most wanted to reach was the atheists who feel that believing the Bible is intellectual suicide.  I didn't want to convince them to believe the Bible - most of them are too hardened and stubborn to just crumble like that - but I wanted them to realize that it was okay not to reject it.  There are historical and scientific reasons to believe that the Bible may be true.  Now, obviously, the Bible is the Word of God, it contains the revelation of God, and reveals the depths of God's love for all of us, as demonstrated through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus, but, as the saying goes, you have to crawl before you can walk.  Unfortunately, so many atheists are intellectual infants, and they can barely even roll over, let alone crawl.  So the attempt was to give them a reason to crawl.

What most "creationist" books out there do, however, is give them just enough information to consider rolling over, and then, at the end as sort of a coda, say, "Oh, and believe Jesus."  To continue my analogy, that's like saying, "Oh, you're almost rolling over.  Good!  Now sprint a 100 meter dash."  This isn't to say that all other books are bad, or have no place, that just wasn't my aim; my aim was to help them get out of their own way, and actually learn how to think.

With Giants, I wanted to be more forceful.  I wanted to demonstrate how the mythology does point back to the Scriptures, highlighting the themes presented in Genesis, I Samuel, and so forth.  I wanted to show that, in spite of all of the bizarre stories out there and the differences in various cultures, there are central truths the run throughout the nations and the ancient accounts of those nations, and that these truths are found and stated in the Scriptures.

If, by the grace of God, my next two books get published, we're going to delve deeper into the Scriptures, look at archaeology and philology, and see how, over and over, the Scriptures can be trusted on numerous points.  And then, because we can intellectually know that the Bible is the Word of God and can be trusted, we can then know that the Gospel can be trusted.  We can know that when Jesus claimed to be God, that's because He is God.  When we read that He died for our sins - when we read that we are sinful - we can honestly reflect on and admit that truth.  Why?  Because instead of viewing the Bible as an archaic book of fiction, we can look at it with the realization that nothing could be further from the truth.   

So, while the criticism is accurate - and I believe it is fair - it's based on a lack of understanding.  I did not convey my motive very well, and so it bears a little explanation.  For those of you who were . . . upset by my lack of the Gospel, I am sorry.  I hope you this clears it up for you. Of course, if you still have questions, you can always e-mail me at charlesmartinjrauthor@gmail.com, or send me a tweet @cdmartinjr_jr.