Happy Thanksgiving!

I just wanted to send you all a quick note, telling you that I hoped you had a fantastic Thanksgiving!  More importantly, even if you didn't, I pray that you remember the biggest reason any of us could ever be thankful:  Jesus.  Happy Thanksgiving!

The Halting of the Sun

Now Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem heard that Joshua had taken Ai and totally destroyed it, doing to Ai and its king as he had done to Jericho and its king, and that the people of Gibeon had made a treaty of peace with Israel and had become their allies.  He and his people were very much alarmed at this, because Gibeon was an important city, like one of the royal cities; it was larger than Ai, and all its men were good fighters.  So Adoni-Zedek king of Jerusalem appealed to Hoham king of Hebron, Piram king of Jarmuth, Japhia king of Lachish and Debir king of Eglon.  “Come up and help me attack Gibeon,” he said, “because it has made peace with Joshua and the Israelites.”

Then the five kings of the Amorites—the kings of Jerusalem, Hebron, Jarmuth, Lachish and Eglon—joined forces. They moved up with all their troops and took up positions against Gibeon and attacked it.

The Gibeonites then sent word to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal: “Do not abandon your servants. Come up to us quickly and save us! Help us, because all the Amorite kings from the hill country have joined forces against us.”

So Joshua marched up from Gilgal with his entire army, including all the best fighting men.  The Lord said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them; I have given them into your hand. Not one of them will be able to withstand you.”

After an all-night march from Gilgal, Joshua took them by surprise.  The Lord threw them into confusion before Israel, so Joshua and the Israelites defeated them completely at Gibeon. Israel pursued them along the road going up to Beth Horon and cut them down all the way to Azekah and Makkedah.  As they fled before Israel on the road down from Beth Horon to Azekah, the Lord hurled large hailstones down on them, and more of them died from the hail than were killed by the swords of the Israelites.

On the day the Lord gave the Amorites over to Israel, Joshua said to the Lord in the presence of Israel:

“Sun, stand still over Gibeon,
and you, moon, over the Valley of Aijalon.”
So the sun stood still,
and the moon stopped,
till the nation avenged itself on its enemies,

as it is written in the Book of Jashar.

The sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day.  There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the Lord listened to a human being. Surely the Lord was fighting for Israel!

Then Joshua returned with all Israel to the camp at Gilgal.

-The Book of Joshua, Chapter X: 1-15

This myth has, perhaps, been once of the most dishonestly upheld myths in the world.  I don't believe it's been treated this way on purpose, mind you, but well-meaning people often don't think things through.

The rumor has been circulating for over nearly a century that NASA has found the "missing day" of Joshua 10.  Unlike the Admonition of Ipuwer, which suggests an event similar to, if not actually, the Exodus, there is no such proof that earth is missing a day. 

There can't be proof.

Let's think about this for a moment from a different angle.  Say you went to the grocer and purchased ten apples.  By the time you arrived home, there were only nine.  The first question you ask yourself? 

"Where's the missing apple?"

How do you know there's an apple missing?  Because you know you should have ten, but you actually have nine.  You need two pieces of information to know if something is missing:  what you should have, and what you actually have.  These are required pieces of information.  Without either, you can't find out if something is missing.

The same rules apply for the Missing Day.  We need to know:

1) How many days there should be

2) How many days there have actually been

We know neither of these.  NASA has not been able to determine how many days there have been in the existence of the earth.  The Bible doesn't even tell us how many days there should have been by this point.  Nor do we know how many there have actually been by this point.  So out of the two pieces of information required to discover that a day is missing, we have neither.

Now, there are possible references to an event similar to this in other literature, which indicates an actual occurrence.  For example, in Book II of the Iliad, Agamemnon prays that Zeus may keep the sun from setting.  If the Greeks observed a day in which the sun stood still, then it is possible that they worked it into their mythology.  Other cultures reference times of great power in which the moon stood still for longer than usual, which also supports the story of Joshua.  I would argue they add extremely compelling evidence, in fact, but none of these prove the event occurred.

So we must always, at all times, use our critical thinking to determine the validity of any story.  While I firmly believe in the event described in Joshua 10, it is because so much of the Bible has already been demonstrated to be true, at the very least plausible, and the God revealed in the Bible has demonstrated Himself to be both present and trustworthy in my own life.  My faith in the accuracy of Joshua 10 does not come from any "proof" attested to by well-meaning but misinformed Christians, however.  Rather than blindly take a claim as fact, just a few moments of thought will tell us that such a claim is simply false.  This is not to say our faith is without evidence, of course, but we all need to be careful about undoing compelling evidence by upholding false truth.

The Cattle of Geryon

Heracles, having completed nine labors, was then sent to Erytheia.  He was tasked with the theft of Geryon's Cattle.  So the demigod traveled across the desert of Libya, where, exhausted by the heat, he fired upon the sun in an attempt to make him hide.  Helios offered Heracles whatever he wanted, so long as he ceased firing upon him.  Heracles demanded the golden cup in which he sailed each night, and Heracles used it to sail to Erytheia.

Upon landing on shore, Heracles was accosted by Orthrus, who gnashed and snarled at him with both of his fierce heads.  Heracles, bearing his olve-wood club, smote the dog upon the head, crushing its skull.  Eurythion, the cattle-herder, who was following Orthrus, saw the deed and rushed upon Heracles.  But Heracles wielded his mighty club and struck Eurythion dead.

Hearing the commontion, Geryon emerged from his home.  Geryon was a giant, fierce in battle, and it was his brother, Eurythion, who had been killed.  Geryon had thus armed himself with three spears, and carried three shields upon his arms.  His three helmets protected his three heads, and he rushed upon Heracles full-force.  Heracles fled, dismayed at the sight of such a fierce monster, but upon reaching the River Anthemus, Heracles turned and fired a poisoned arrow at the giant.  It pierced all three of Geryon's bodies, and the monster cried out in terror and pain before collapsing dead.

Heracles returned home with the cattle, but on the way Hera, who was envious of Heracles, sent a gadfly to bite the cattle, scattering them in many directions.  Though it took Heracles a year, however, he was able to find each of them and bring them back together.  So she caused a flood to raise a river in his path, making it impassable, but he piled stone upon stone into the river until he was able to cross safely with the cattle.  Hera then raised up a monster who was half-serpent and half-woman, but Heracles fought and destroyed her.

At last, Hera relented, and Heracles reached Eurystheus.  There, he sacrificed the cattle to Hera, whose anger was then appeased.

-From Greek Legend


The Celts told a story in which the early inhabitants of the British Isles were ruled by a giant named Albion (incidentally, the earliest recorded name of modern-day Britain is “Albion”).  Albion was son of the Celtic sea-god, and, along with his brothers, went south to France to fight against a strong hero in a clash involving cattle.  This great battle between the giants and this hero resulted, tragically, in the giant’s death.

What is remarkable to me is the fact that two cultures separated by more than 1,400 miles (that's more than 2,300 kilmoeters for our friends outside of the US) can tell the exact same story.  It is not difficult to see the parallels between the Celtic story and this week's story of Hercules, but just in case you missed it, I'll lay it out for you:

1) Both stories involve a strong man.
2) In the Greek story, the strong man crosses the African desert, and then crosses a large body of water in some form of vessel; this would put him in Western Europe.  In the Celtic version, the story takes place in France.
3) Both stories involve a clash over cattle.
4) In both stories, the giants are brothers.
5) In both stories, the giants die.

The only difference (other than the cultural name differences, of course) is that the Greek version mentions a dog, a detail that could simply have been left out in the Celtic version.  Of course, if the story actually happened, then the lineage of the giants in the Hercules myth involves a migration into other parts of Europe, something also claimed by the Greeks to have happened.  In fact, most cultures have a form of migratory myth by which all the cultures of the world developed. 

Does this prove that the story happened?  No, but it strains the imaginative mind to come up with a different scenario that explains such a parallel.  So what do you think?  What does the existence of two very similar versions of the same story say to you?

The Mayan Creation of the Earth

This tells of how calm, silence, and suspension held all.  The expanse of the sky was empty, and all was motionless.

This is the first story, when neither man nor beast, neither birds nor fish, and no crabs, trees, caves, rocks, valleys or mountains existed.  There was only the sky.

The ground had not yet appeared; only the sky and sea were there.

Things which were made, things which may move, tremble, or shake the sky did not yet exist.  There was no noise.

Nothing stood.  Only the tranquil ocean existed.

There was only silence, darkness, and immobility in the night.  The creator, Tepeu, and the Forefathers, resided in the water.  They were sages, wise, and thinkers, clever, and they surrounded themselves with light; they concealed themselves under feathers of blue and green, and this is why they are called Gucumatz.  Thus the sky, which is called the Heart of Heaven, existed, and it was the name of God.

Next came the spoken word.  Tepeu and Gucumatz spoke together in the darkness.  Their words were in agreement, and they united them together into a thought, and that thought was Man.  Their next thought was of life and plants, and the Heart of Heaven, which is called Huracán, became three.  The first part is called

Caculhá Huracán, the second part is called Chipi-Caculhá, and the third part is called Raxa-Caculhá.

These three are the Heart of Heaven.

Tepeu and Gucamatz determined to fill the earth, and so it was.  The water receded and the earth appeared.  Light filled the sky, and there was dawn.  They spoke, and the mountains came from the waters.  They spoke, and the Earth was made. 

Through the magic of their word the trees and groves came forth, and they praised Huracán.  "How marvelous is your coming, Heart of Heaven!"

The Heart of Heaven spoke:  "It is done, and the creation has been finished."

So, now, the earth was formed, and then the mountains and valleys.  The rivers were divided, and ran through the hills.  The oceans were divided one from the other.  So the Heart of Heaven made the earth fruitful, and the sky expanded above it.  The work that they did was perfect, and it came about by their thoughts. 

-Taken from the Popul Vuh

Book Awards and the Gospel

Hey, everyone!  In case you missed it, Giants: Legends and Lore of Goliaths, is the recipient of a Gold Medal in the 2016 Moonbeam Awards!  Since I wasn't aware that it was even being submitted for consideration, this is a pretty amazing thing, and caught me completely off-guard.  But I sort of feel the need to say something about it, lest I get distracted by what matters.

First, I didn't win the award, the book did, and the book was most definitely a collaborative effort.  Bill Looney did the absolutely fantastic illustrations, which - in my opinion - make the book.  But the editors over at Masterbooks also had to take my text, take Bill's illustrations, and work them into a coherent, visually-stunning, and interactive work of art.  I only wrote the text, and, truthfully, an illustrated pop-up book without illustrations or pop-up elements is . . . boring.  Really, really boring.  So the book won, and it only did so because of the work of several other individuals.  I've received lots of congratulations so far - and thank you for those - but please stop, as my part was very, very small.

Secondly, the whole point of writing the book was not to win an award, but to introduce people to the mind-blowing concept that the Bible is not simply a book of fairy tales that has no historical significance.  Like Flood Legends before it, Giants is my way of pointing people to the Bible and reminding them that faith - true, Biblical faith - is never blind.  We have a mighty God, an incredible God, a loving, beautiful, awesome God Who has revealed Himself throughout history as recorded in the pages of the Bible.  So when I say the Bible can be trusted, what I'm really saying is that the God of the Bible can be trusted, and, indeed, demands our trust.  He wants us to know Him on a deeply intimate level, and trusting Him is the only way to begin doing that.  Now, this award will, hopefully, make the book more available to people who would not normally come across this sort of thing.  That's my prayer, but the motivation remains the same:  an avenue for sharing the Gospel.

I'm humbled and proud that Giants actually won an award and for the part I played in it, I'm excited to see what that does for the distribution of it, but at the end of the day, it's ultimately up to you, the readers, to make this thing work.  You need to pass out the copies you own, you need to discuss these ideas with your friends and families, you need to open your Bibles with them, and you need to do what each and every believer is called to do:  go into all the world and preach the Gospel.  Besides, how cool is the topic of giants, anyway?  It's a good door to go through, so let's go through it together.        

Angkor Wat and the Khmer of Cambodia

Once there was an Indian prince who loved to walk through the countryside outside of the palace.  One day, he met a beautiful princess.  He became so enamored with her, that he married her.

On their wedding night, the princess said to the prince, "I am not of your race.  I am a Naga spirit."  Now the Naga spirits are serpent spirits who dwell in the water.  They often take the form of humans, however, in order to interact with us.  The prince, upon learning that his new bride was a Naga spirit, was not upset, because her human form was so beautiful.

Soon, he had even more reason to rejoice.  The princess' father was so happy about the union that he created a new land for the two of them to rule.  So the prince and princess became the first King and Queen of the Khmer people.

-From Cambodia 



In the heart of Cambodia rises the imposing architectural marvel known as Angkor Wat.  Its massive blocks - some of which weigh in at 3,300 pounds - have been the source of one of the great historical mysteries:  how did such an ancient people move and manipulate more than 5 million of these blocks onto the site?  Japanese archaeologist Estup Uchida, with the aid of satellite technology, believes he has discovered the secret. 

He and his team believe that the ancient Khmer used a series of hundreds of man-made canals to ship the blocks over a distance of 22 miles.  The previous theory had the Khmer shipping the blocks via river over a distance of 54 miles.  By cutting the distance in half, Uchida now believes the temple's construction period - a time frame of approximately thirty years - is far more feasible. 

You can read about the project in more detail at the Cambodian Information Center website, but, in the meantime, there is another component to this story that I want to look at, and that involves the Naga spirits.  This is one of the most startling pieces of information, but it only emerges as important when we consider it in light of the other mythology: 

1) That the Khmer peoples appear to have been experts at engineering and handling waterways, and

2) The Khmer people believed themselves to have been descended from the Naga, ancient Hindu water/serpent spirits.

Naga (or, more correctly, Naaga) spirits and the worship of them date back centuries, and seem to have been an integral and fundamental part of the formation of Hinduism (though, of course, Hinduism has so many forms and integrates so many other faiths that it is difficult to claim this with any certainty).  What is interesting about the Cambodian version of the Naga, however, is that the Khmer who built Angkor Wat believed in seven different types - or "races" - of Nagas.  Even today, if you were to visit Angkor Wat, you would see several statues of seven-headed cobras, each one meant to represent the Naga people who helped found that society.

Here's where things get interesting.  Ancient Sumerian literature tells of a group of seven water spirits who came to shore and brought with them architecture, literature, engineering - civilization, in short.  These "spirits" dressed in the garb of fish, complete with scales, a head and a tail.  It is clear from the literature that they were not traditional mermen, but people dressed in costumes.  It is interesting to note that seven water spirits, complete with scales, brought civilization to Sumeria.

Oh, but there's more.  A Bolivian legend has it that the temple complex of Kalasasaya was built with the aid of a "fish man."  Local statues at the temple portray him as a man with fish scales running down his body, and a belt decorated with several large crustaceans.  In other words, he was an architect and engineer who dressed like a water creature. 

And all of this parallels an ancient Indian (sub-continental India, not Native American) belief that civilization is restored after every calamity by a semi-divine group of beings known as the Seven Risis.

Interesting. . . .

So let's put this all together.  In India, we have a belief that a group of seven learned men skilled in the arts of literature, math, and agriculture help rebuild civilization.  In Cambodia, we have the belief that their kingdom was built by the Naga peoples, water spirits who excelled in engineering, the crowning achievement of that kingdom being a massive temple complex built with the aid of hundreds of canals.  In Sumeria, we have the belief that seven fish-people, led by Oannes, brought civilzation to the ancient Sumerian kingdom.  And in South America, the ancient kingdoms were built with the aid of fish-people.

Where does this leave us?  I haven't the foggiest idea.  It appears to leave us with the bizarre notion that there was an ancient race of engineers who dressed as aquatic beings and helped out mankind at its most dire hour. 

Even I realize how ridiculous that sounds.

And yet the parallels - many of them found on the opposite side of the world from others - indicate something must be going on here.  Add to these stories the fantastic tales of mermaids and mermen found almost all over the world, and I begin to suspect two possibilities.  Let's start with the unlikely one.

The first, that mermaids and mermen actually exist.  Despite what many people may argue on conspiracy theory websites, this does not appear to be the case, for several reasons.  There has not been, to my knowledge, any credible physical evidence.  Many fraudulent bodies, many cases of mistaken identity, but no actual remains.  Secondly, biology prevents fish and people from producing offspring.  It is genetically impossible for a human and a fish (or water snake) to produce offspring.  While the universality of the "merpeople" myth does make one wonder, it shouldn't make us wonder for long:  mermaids and mermen do not exist.

Which leaves us with my theory.  What if they were an ancient culture, advanced in many ways?  I'm not talking about aliens or some kind of mystic, Atlantis-like demigods, but a culture who, like the Egyptians, understood agriculture, language, and engineering.  And what if this culture were a maritime culture, its people becoming experts in sailing, swimming, and fishing.  They became so much so, in fact, that the ocean and its components became a matter of worship for them.  And what if that worship developed so much that they began wearing, as means of worship, clothing and accessories that reflected their admiration for the sea?

We do this even today, putting on clothing depicting movie stars and singers.  We buy magazines that give us intimate details of a movie star's life.  Is it strange to think this could be a new phenomenon?  Only, rather than worship Michael Jackson, they worshiped the ocean.  Rather than put up Justin Bieber posters, they put on fish scales.  After all, in both the Sumerian and Bolivian cultures, these are clearly people who dressed as water creatures. 

Could they have gone out in groups of seven, exploring the oceans?  Could they, in their explorations, have found less-developed cultures and, as a means of gesture and goodwill, assisted those cultures with their own knowledge?  Think of it as benevolent imperialism.  Rather than conquer the "lesser" people, they helped these people develop.  

Maybe the Nagas weren't spirits, but people.  Maybe they are the reason we have ancient civilizations.  Maybe, rather than dismiss mermaid tales, we should be investigating them in light of these other legends.  Maybe we should take the Cambodians seriously when they say that they are descended from the Naga, not because they owe their technology to spirit-snakes, but because they owe their civilization to a group of engineers who worshiped the ocean.

Indra and Vrtra

I will declare the mighty deeds of Indra, his foremost of accomplishments, he who is the Thunder-wielder.  He slaughtered the dragon, then let loose the waters, carving and cleaving the pathways of the mountain torrents.  The dragon who lay on the mountain - it was he whom Indra killed.  Tvastr fashioned a bolt of thunder for Indra, and Indra did slay the dragon.  As the many cattle low with a deep thunder, so did the waters of the rivers sound as they flowed to the ocean.  With his deadly thunderbolt, Indra slew the mighty dragon Vrtra, and broke him into pieces.  The waters of the torrents flowed over his body, and the pieces of his body tumbled in the rivers.  Vrtra in his greatness did encompass the mountain, holding back the rivers, and these rivers did now flow over the mighty Vrtra.  Tumbling in the rivers did Vrtra's body ever reach the ocean, O Indra who released the Seven Rivers. 

Indra, you slew the great serpent who obstructed the rivers, and with their rushing, the rivers carved passages in the face of the land; the desert lands were flooded, and the mountains settled into their beds as men who settle to their suppers.  Heaven and Earth trembled, all that moved and was immobile trembled, and Ahi - the serpent who was Vrtra - was torn into pieces by your thunderbolt.   You are Indra, the great Dragon Slayer.

-From the Rig Veda