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This is a portion of a great (and very prophetic) teaching from Bill Cloud, at a recent conference with Perry Stone in Tennessee:

"...as we were concluding Part I, we were discussing the cycles of God's people, how they start out in obedience, they prosper, they multiply, they're blessed. Then they begin to turn their eyes toward the prosperity and the blessing, rather than the one who has blessed them with that, they turn their heart away from Him - they end up mingling and merging and mixing with the ways of the nations - introducing the nations gods into their homes, etc. - and before you know it the blessings have become curses, because that is what impedes them from returning to their God with all their heart; and so He has allowed those blessings and that prosperity, during those times of rebellion, to be taken away from His people - in order to provoke them to return to Him.
     And we see those cycles repeating over and over. So then, I want to suggest to you that, that cycle was not exempt when Israel was in Egypt. Of course, when they first went down into Egypt, Jacob was with them. This was the time when all of the Patriarchs were alive, as far as the 12 sons of Jacob.
     They are living in the best land of Egypt, the land of Goshen, at Pharoah's invitation. But, if you'll recall, in Genesis 47, that one of the things that sets them apart, one of the reasons they are living in Goshen is because they are shepherds, and shepherds were an abomination to the Egyptians. And so my point will be then, that they were separate from the Egyptians. They lived separate lives, they had a distinctive walk. So when they were in Egypt, they were set apart from Egypt living in the land of Goshen.

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But as they prosper, as they multiply, as they have posession, I want to suggest to you that over time, they begin to spead out, to mix, to mingle, to merge to some degree, with the Egyptians. And I'm going to jump ahead of myself to make this point, just to understand that what I'm telling you is true, because when they get out into the wilderness, later on at Sinai, you'll recall that after they've asked Moses to go to speak to God on their behalf, find out what it is that God wants them to know and come back and tell them, Moses does not return when they think he should. They say we don't know what's become of this Moses. Then there were people in their midst who incited this rebellion. But in the end, he doesn't return when they think he should, and by the way, they apparently miscalculate by as little as 1 day. But because he doesn't return when they think he should, they took their gold and took it to Aaron. Aaron takes the gold and, according to what he told Moses, he threw the gold into the fire and out jumped a golden calf.
     But the point is this - the golden calf incidentis an indication that not only have they been living in Egypt all those years, but, for a long time, Egypt had been living in them. By the way, I'm of the opinion, and I believe Scripture backs this up, that the golden calf incident was evidence that, not so much that they worshipped an idol of Egypt, but that they were taking an idol of Egypt, they were taking what they were familiar with, and then having it represent the God that Moses was speaking to on the mountain...

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...because God had said from the mountain, "I Am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage..." and upon fashioning the golden calf, they said 'this is your god O Israel, that brought you out of the land of Egypt. Then Aaron tags on to that, '...tomorrow we keep a feast unto the LORD'.
  So not only had Israel been living in Egypt, but at some point, Egypt began to live in them.
  Another example of this in the scripture is Ezekiel 20 when God says that while they were in Egypt, He made Himself known to them - He declared that He was their God, and that would mean they were His people. And He told them to put away the abominations which were before your eyes and not defile yourself with the idols of Egypt. But they rebelled against Him, and so He had to pour out His fury upon them in the midst of the land of Egypt. Point being, that while they were in Egypt, before they were in the wilderness, He had to tell them to put away the abominations and to not defile themselves with the idols of Egypt - which would mean He would not have had to tell them NOT to do that if they hadn't been doing that.
    So again, not only has Israel been living in Egypt for all those number of years, but Egypt began to live in them. So what we want to do now is read Exodus chapter 1. Because we see that everything was going really well for Israel. They were growing, they were multiplying, they had posessions, they were prospering, etc.

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Exodus 1:6, "And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation (7) And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty, and the land was filled with them."
     Now the question would be there, what land was filled with them? Keeping in mind, where had they setteled, they had setteled in Goshen. Why had they settled in Goshen? Because they were shepheds, and shepherds were an abomination to the Egyptians. And so when they first went there, they were a seperate people. Not only that, but we have historical information that Jacob had set up houses of study for his family to teach the ways of the God of Israel, and not to embrace the ways of the Egyptians.
    But because they'd multiplied, because they'd prospered, presumably over time, they began to embrace the ways of the Egyptians, the idols of the Egyptians, the abominations of the Egyptians, to mix, to mingle and to creep into their homes, into their families, into their communities. So this mixing and mingling began to spread out from Goshen until the land, that is the land of Egypt, was filled with them. So they go from being a separate people, a characteristic of God's people, to being the same as the people of the land. A mixed people, with a mixed mindset and ideology.

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Now that's important to understand because we want to go over to Acts chapter 7. The story of Stephen, and when he was taken up before the elders and basically put on trial. He begins to account a history of Israel, more or less.
Vs. 11, "Now there came a dearth over all the land of Egypt and Canaan, and great affliction and our fathers found no sustenance. (12) But when Jacob heard that there was corn in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first."     
(Again, he didn't hear that grain was in Syria or anyplace else, indicating it was a 'global situation', where only Egypt, the most powerful nation on earth, had anything.)
vs. 13, "And at the second time Joseph was made known to his brethren, and Joseph's kindred was made known to Pharoah. (14) Then sent Joseph, and called his father Jacob to him, and all his kindred threescore and fifteen souls. (15) So Jacob went down to Egypt, and died, he, and our fathers. (16) And were carried over into Sychem, and laid in the sepulchre that Abraham brought for a sum of money of the sons of Emmor the father of Sychem.
(17) BUT when the time of the promise drew nigh, which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt. (18) TILL another king arose, which knew not Joseph. (19) The same dealt subtly with our kindred, and evil entreated our fathers, so that they cast out their young children, to the end they might not live. (20) In which time Moses was born...
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So what we wanted to do here, is see that according to Stephen, as he's recounting the story of Israel, if you will, and talking specifically about Joseph going down into Egypt, how Jacob eventually goes down into Egypt during this famine, and when Jacob died he was carried back and laid in the tomb that Abraham had bought.
   But they didn't go back to the land to stay. It says that '...when the time of the promise drew near which God had sworn to Abraham, the people grew and multiplied in Egypt...'
   In other words, one of the reasons the people grew and multiplied in Egypt is because the promise that God made Abraham. And what was that promise? God told Abraham that his descendants were going to be sojourners in the land that was not their own. They were going to serve the king of Egypt, and the term for that servitude would be 400 years.
   So the time was drawing near. The promise that God had made to Abraham which is that at the end of that 400 years God was going to bring His descendents out of Egypt, He would bring them back to the land that He'd sworn unto Abraham. So what Stephen tells us is that time was drawing near. As it was getting close to the time of the promise that God made Abraham to come to pass, what happened? The people began to multiply and grow, and according to Exodus 1, till the whole land of Egypt was filled with them.

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That, in turn, implies that they began to mix and mingle with Egypt, and with Egyptian ways, and we have scriptural evidence to support that.
   But then they multiplied and grew until this new king began to reign over Egypt who did not know Joseph.
  So, here's what we need to understand. Why did this new king over Egypt arise who dealt treacherously with the poeple of Joseph? It's because the time was drawing near for the promise which God had made to Abraham, to come to fruition.
Exodus 1:8, "Now there arose up a NEW king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph."
   Now when we read that in English, some people have assumed that he didn't know who Joseph was. But we need to understand that Joseph, traditionally, went down to Egypt when he was about 17. We know that when he was about 30 years old that he stood before Pharoah. And we know that he was 110 when he died. And that means that he ruled in Egypt, second only to Pharoah, married into the priests family, and ruled in this capacity for 80 years.
   Because of Joesph, rain was stored up, Egypt had enough grain to survive the 7 year famine that had engulfed the known world. Pharoah had become extremely wealthy, receiving all the money from all these peoples who had come to buy grain, he owns all of Egypt, he owns all of the Egyptians...
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Now Egypt is positioned to be the most powerful, the most prosperous, the most influential nation on the face of the earth. And who is responsible for this? It's Joseph...who upon his death, because he was the man who saved Egypt, was probably buried with much pomp and circumstance. So are you going to tell me that this man didn't know who Joseph was? No!
   What it's really saying is this man, this Pharoah had no regard for Joseph. And if he had no regard for Joseph, then that's a way of saying he had no regard for the policies, for the virtues, for the characteristics, for the wisdom that Joseph represented - whereby Egypt could become the most powerful nation on the face of the earth. If you will, he had no regard for the past, he had no regard for foundational principles that established and positioned that Egypt, and that made him, in effect, the most powerful man on the face of the earth. That is what the scripture is saying - he had no regard for Joseph, his policies, his standards. He had no regard for Joseph's people and, by extension, he had no regard for Joseph's God.
  So in short, the political climate in Egypt was CHANGING in those days, and not for the better. In fact, it was a very dramatic, very drastic CHANGE and turn of events.
   BUT  why did it happen? Because 'the time of the promise drew near' according to Stephen in Acts 7. So this "bad" development occured because something "good" was about to happen...

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In short, it did not take God by surprise that this new king arose over Egypt. If it didn't take Him by surprise, then we have to conclude that He, being the Sovereign God, allowed it to happen. WHY? Because the time was drawing near for the promise that He'd made unto Abraham to come unto pass. So, the people grew, they multiplied, they filled up the land, and in so doing they began to mix and to mingle with the Egyptians. They began to allow the ways of the Egyptians, their idols, their abominations, their lifestyle, their values, etc., to mix with their own.
   And so here's my point, we need to keep in mind that the Egyptians had to sell themselves to Pharoah, and the Egyptians had to sell their lands to Pharoah, but the Hebrews did not. And so presumably they continued to multiply, to prosper, etc. And they'd become so enamored with those things that they began to they eventually began to turn their heart away from the God of Israel, and to mix what was Holy with what was profane.
   So when it came time for the promise to come to pass - Guess What? His people were not ready to go. His people had no reason, carnally speaking, they had no provocation to want to leave the land of Egypt. I mean, why would they? They had posessions, they had 'things', they prospered, they multiplied, they were so mighty and so many that they filled the whole land! Why would they want to leave a land where they had everything they ever wanted? Why would they want to leave the most powerful nation on the face of the earth?

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They had 'WalMarts' in every town, they had 'Starbucks' on every corner, they had everything at their fingertips. Whay would they want to leave that?
  And see, ladies and gentlemen, that is the point. That's why this new king had to arise over Egypt who did not regard Joseph. It wasn't that he didn't know who Joseph was, he had no regard for who Joseph was. But once again, this did not take God by surprise. Why did He permit it? Because the time was drawing near and His people were not ready to go, because they had not only been living in Egypt - but Egypt was most certainly living in them.
  Exodus 1:8, "Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. (9) And he said to his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we:..."
    First of all, I would like to interject this question. And I don't know the answer. But I want to interject this question, and that is - How did that Pharoah know that the children of Israel were more and mightier than his people? Did he take a census? Did he number the people? Now that's interesting because out of the story of Moses is going to develop the Deliverer, who is a 'type and shadow' of the Messiah.
  And if you'll think back with me, when it came time for the Messiah to be born, what happened in advance of that? Well, you had this Roman Emporer by the name of Augustus Ceaser, who decided the entire world should be taxed, and that tax was a result of a census. He numbered the people of the world, which provoked those who were living in Judea to go back to the land of their forefathers...

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This also provoked Joseph, who had a young bride by the name of Mary, to have to go to Bethlehem. And of course, had he not gone to Bethlehem, then the promised Messiah could not have been born there - fulfilling the prophesies. And what I'm trying to get you to see is - that something 'bad' happened, a census, a tax, and those people didn't respond well to that, I'm sure. But because of the census and the tax that accompanied it - this is was provoked Joseph to go to Bethlehem - fulfilling God's purposes!!
   So in other words, when it came time for God's purposes to come to pass, then all these "bad" things began to happen - "bad" from the point of view of flesh.
   So Pharoah said...'look the children of Israel are more and mightier than we...' So the question is, How did he know that? Again, I don't know the answer, but it would be very interesting to see if there was a census during that time.
   Second question is - Who are his people? Is he referring to the Egyptians? We do know that in Egyptian history there were, at times, changes in the dynastys, and sometimes, and we believe maybe in this particular instance[/i], that there was a new group of people who took over. In fact, there is some debate if this new king was not representing a new dynasty of Egyptian Pharoahs, and specifically, there is reason to believe that this particular king may have been first in a line of the Hyksos people. Which is interesting. Because the origen of the Hyksos is in question, in short, nobody knows, really, where they come from. There is an argument that the Hyksos are Nubian...

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...From the area of Ethiopia, present day KENYA, Uganda, etc. No one knows, for really certain, where they come from. But it is safe to say that the political climate in Egypt, the most powerful nation then on the earth, was beginning to CHANGE and this was not favorable for God's people.
  He looks at the children of Israel and discovers that they are more and mightier than his people. And this is what Pharoah says,
'Come and let us deal shrewdly with them lest they multiply and it happen in the event of war that they also join our enemies and fight against us and so go up out of the land...'
   Now there's several things we want to look at here. And the first thing we want to look at is the words 'let us deal shrewdly with them..." that's New King James. Some translations say, 'let us deal WISELY with them...' In fact, that word in Hebrew is 'cochma' which is wise or wisdom. And that particular word has positive and negative connotations. Because there are people who use wisdom for good, but then there are people who use wisdom for evil purposes. And of course, in context, what is this king wanting to do? He's wanting to deal wisely with these people. And why? To bring about an evil purpose.

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What this reminds me of is back in Genesis 3:1, "Now the serpent was more subtle" (that is shrewd, crafty, sneaky) "than any beast of the field..."
   And though it is a different word translated in Hebrew in Genesis 3:1 (the root word is 'aram'), the principle, I think, is the same. Because if we go back into the beginning, how did the serpent, and we need to understand that the serpent back in Genesis 3 is not just some ordinary serpent, but it is, according to Revelation 12, the dragon, the devil, that serpent of old. How did that serpent operate?
   In other words, we understand from the scripture that the woman was deceived. The man knew what he was doing and that by one man sin entered the world, but the woman was deceived. And how was she deceived?
   Well, first of all, we need to understand that the Hebrew word for serpent is "nachash". And though that word means serpent, it's also translated brass or bronze, but, in fact, its raw meaning is 'SHINING'. And so I'm going to make a suggestion to you. That one of the components that caused the woman to be deceived is, I believe, she's distracted by what she's seeing. What she's seeing is something that's shining, something that is attractive to look at with the eye.
  Now you'll recall that in the scripture, Jesus says, 'He that has an ear, let him hear'. Meaning that, if you have a spirtual ear to hear what I'm saying, you're the ones that are going to hear it. Obviously not everyone had a spirtual ear to hear what he was saying.

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But I wanna go one further with that, and suggest to you, and I think most people would agree with this, wordIt is possible to hear everthing that I'm saying, and not hear everything that I'm saying. In other words, you hear my s, but not everyone hears what I'm actually conveying with those words. And so you have to have an ear to hear.
   Now, it's also evident, I'm sure that there have been times that we have been listening to someone speak, and then something catches our eye and distracts us, and though we are hearing their words, we're not hearing their intent. So I'm gonna suggest to you that, possibly, the woman is distracted because she is looking at something that is shiny, that is attractive to look at, and in part that leads to her disception. Because if she is distracted with her eye, and though she is hearing the serpent speaking, she is not detecting what the serpent is saying.
   How does the adversary come to us? As an angel of light, as something that is shiny, something that is attractive to look at. But why would he do that? To distract us, to disarm us. Why? So that then he can begin to speak with his mouth, and begin to say things, and so if we are distracted then we may not pick up on what he is really getting at with what he's saying.


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Hello Sister Barbara,

Thanks! This story has my interest, and I look forward to future installments. I think that I know where this is going, but it will be fascinating just the same.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Amen, Brother Tom! I couldnt' wait to share it. And I think you do know where this is going. God is showing us so much for these last days through His Word! PRAISE HIS GLORIOUS NAME!!!!

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In other words, when he begins to speak to the woman he says, '..did God say...' - he puts a question mark in her mind and then he goes on to say '..if you eat this fruit you're not going to die. But God knows that on the day that you eat the fruit of this tree that you will become like Him knowing good from evil..'
  So here's what happened. He puts a question mark in her mind - she's already distracted by what she sees - a shining one. He challenges what she knows and then he takes away from what God said by saying '..you won't die..', and then he added to what God said by saying, '..God knows that you'll become like Him knowing good from evil..'. So the woman is deceived at this point. She takes the fruit, eats it, nothing happens frankly. Then she turns to her husband who was with her, he eats the fruit and then their eyes are open and they realize that they are 'naked'.

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And the root word is the same root word describing the subtlety or the craftiness of the serpent, that is 'aram'.
All this is to say that from the very beginning here's what we see. The objective of the adversary, according to John 10, the adversary's objective is to STEAL, KILL and DESTROY. That's the three pronged attack of the adversary. That's his objective.
  What is his methodology? To distract, to disarm, to come as an angel of light, as something attractive to look at, something that is, if you will, shiny, charismatic, to challenge what you know, to challenge what you believe to be the truth, and then to add to what God has said and then to take away from what God has said. And in the end, deception. That deception then leads you to exile and to destruction, to death. That is his objective from the beginning, that is his methodology from the beginning.
  He is shrewd, he is crafty, he is clever. How does a serpent stalk its pray? He doesn't come into town with a brass band to say 'I'm here and I'm here to deceive you and I wanted you to be ready for it'. No. A serpent stalks his pray by slithering into the grass, waiting for its prey to make a mistake, waiting for its prey to let down its guard. Then when he does that, then he very stealthily and very shrewdly sets his trap. That's how he operates from the beginning and ladies and gentlemen, that has not changed.

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All that is to say this, that when Pharoah says '...come and let us deal shrewdly with these people lest they multiply...' - he doesn't want them to multiply. He wants to restrict their multiplication and that means that he wants to restrict and constrict the people of God. So he is an adversary to God's people. And so his wisdom is going to be used for diabolical purposes.
  What is the objective of the adversary from the beginning? To STEAL, KILL AND DESTROY. And look at what's going to happen here in just a few minutes. His methodology is to be subtle, clever, to disarm someone with a charismatic personality. To say one thing but mean something else. I'm gonna put this in our vernacular - he feels that they pose a threat to national security. Because he's afraid that they may side with their enemies in the event of war. And so he sees them as potentially 'domestic terrorists'.
  Now, I hope that you've been keeping up with the news, and I hope that everybody listening to this understands that the Dept. of Homeland Security, under the present administration, considers people who homeschool their children, people who belong to the NRA, people who hava a Bob Barr or a Ron Paul bumper sticker on their car, people who believe in the Bible - all the things that would define alot of you good people listening to this teaching right now...Veterans returning from defending their country. The Dept of Homeland Security, or at least the Sec'y of the Dept of Homeland Security considers all these people to be potentially domestic terrorists and a threat to national security.                                   Cont'd...

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So, ladies and gentlemen, it seems to me, that we see developments that reflect what we are reading here in Exodus 1. When the political climate began to change in Egypt, the children of Israel were being considered a threat to national security, as being potentially domestic terrorists.
   But what is ultimately the objective of this Pharoah, he doesn't want them to go up out of the land. He wants to restrict them, he wants to bring them under subjection, but he doesn't want them to leave the land. As a matter of fact, read between the lines - this Pharoah, because of what happened in Genesis 47, owns everybody and everything - EXCEPT the priests, who worship him as god, and the Hebrews. He doesn't own them or their property, because they didn't sell out to his government.
   So what does he want to do? He wants to own them, he wants to own their property. And so he's going to deal shrewdly in order to STEAL, KILL AND DESTROY. He's going to operate behind closed doors. He's not going to announce what he's doing in advance of what he's doing - at least not in a way that it's going to look like his real intentions. He's going to seem like he has another agenda. He's going to disarm with charisma, with that angel of light personna.


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Now, let me get into this, that is the word 'Pharoah'. That is the title that was given to the Egyptian kings. In Hebrew its spelled equivalent to 4 of our letters 'P R A H'. Now every Hebrew word has what's considered to be a 'body'. The 'body' of the word would be the letters that are on the outside. The body is what we see outwardly and so the body on the outside of the word, in this case, 'P & H', would be the body of the word 'Pharoah'.
  And interestingly, the 'body' of the word 'Pharoah' spells the word 'Peh' in Hebrew, which means 'Mouth'. And so Pharoah, in the body, is emblematic of a 'Mouth'.
  Consider what he might look like. He would be among his court, sitting on his throne, dressed in his gowns, his robes, his vestments. I'm sure that it wold be adorned with precious stones, you know, all these 'precious stones would be his covering' if you will. He would be the focus of attention and something 'shining', very attractive and charismatic to behold.
  And, of course, he's the most powerful man on earth, and so when he speaks with his 'mouth', people are going to respond, people are going to jump into action, people are going to be overcome with emotion when he speaks. Because not only is he the most powerful man on earth, but he is a very charismatic, and outwardly brilliant looking person - and I mean brilliance in the sense of something that is shining.
  But once again, when he speaks with his mouth he speaks with authority, and people respond - that's what we see on the outside.
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But when we look at the heart of the word 'Pharoah', the 2 Hebrew letters that form the heart of this word are equivalent to our letters 'R & A'. These letters form the Hebrew word 'Ra'. Now 'Ra', ironically, is the name of the Egyptian diety. But in Hebrew 'Ra' means 'wicked' or 'evil'. And so on the outside of Pharoah, people see a very awe inspiring presonality, someone who is surrounded by all these things that shine, that set him apart, and all these things that set him apart as being the most powerful man on earth.
  But what's on the inside, what's in his heart? It's evil, it's wickedness! And so then, we understand from the scripture that, '...out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks...' But the serpent, who is very shrewd and very crafty, is going to use his mouth to say one thing, and if you're not careful, if you're not listening, if you're not distracted by what you're seeing, then you may never hear the intent that is in the heart of his words.
  And so what do we see in Pharoah? He is an evil on speaking these great things with his mouth. And what is his intent? To STEAL, KILL and DESTROY. He's not going to voice his intent outwardly. He's going to couch his intent with flattering words. He's going to meet behind closed doors. He's going to deal SHREWDLY wth these people, he's not going to tell exactly what he's going to do - because the people would rebel, they'd want to leave the land. So he'll deal CRAFTILY with these people. That's the image.

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But again, his ultimate objective is to keep people from leaving the land. Now that's important because Acts 7 tells us, according to Stephen, that the very reason he came to power was because the time of the promise was drawing near. It was almost time for God's people to go up out of the land of Egypt and go back to the land that God had sworn to their fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. That's the very reason that this new king arose. And yet, this new king, when he comes to power, he doesn't want them to leave the land.
   Kind of an interesting development, wouldn't you say? Here's my point, God knows that His people aren't ready to leave the land, their hearts are in Egypt. And so, what does He allow to happen? He allows this new king to arise over them who has this evil intention in his heart. And it's not that God told Pharoah what to do - it's just that God knew what was in his heart. God knew, because of the 'Ra', the evil, wicked intent that was in his heart, that he would not be willing to leave the people of God unmolested. Because God is the one who put enmity, according to Genesis 3:15, between the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent.
    So God, knowing what is in Pharoah's heart, knows what he's going to do. He's not going to be able to stand by and leave the children of Israel alone. And so, here is the irony of the whole situation - Had that Pharoah come to power, and left the Hebrews alone, the Hebrews would have never wanted to leave the land of Egypt.
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God knowing that, allows this Pharoah to come to power, who is going to molest them, and that is going to provoke them to want to leave the land of Egypt. In other words, the adversary has his objective, the Pharoah wants to contrict them lest they multiply. He doesn't want them to leave the land, but the policies that he institutes in order to obtain his objective, are going to be the very things that provoke the people of God to want to leave the land, and consequently, cry out to their God, who they hadn't been crying out to up until this point. He's going to hear their cry, and He is, with a strong arm and a mighty hand, going to punish those who've sought to STEAL, KILL and DESTROY His people.
  So in the end, the adversary ends up, unwittingly and unwillingly, I am sure, but nevertheless, serves God's purposes!
   Now what was Pharoah's methodology? We know his intent.
Exodus 1:11, "Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharoah treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses."
     Now, it said that they set 'taskmasters' over them. And I think that a lot of us automatically assume that the taskmasters were the guys with the whips, the ones who were causing Israel to go out into the mudpits, to make the bricks. Because a lot of times we get these things from movies, ie Cecil B. DeMill, Charlton Heston and Edward G. Robinson...

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Cont'd...

And we certainly know that those things did happen. But I want you to consider that, had this Pharoah, when he comes to power, as the political climate changed, had he showed up the next day at people's homes, pulling them out of their homes, causing them to go to the mudpits - had he done that immediately, that wouldn't have been very shrewd. That's important to consider, because the adversary is covert, he deals stealthily.
   
In the parable of the wheat and the tares - when did the enemy come into the midst of the field to sow tares int he midst of the wheat? While men slept! He operates in shadows, in darkness. So the first thing he does is set 'taskmasters' over them. So if these are the guys with the whips, it wouldn't have been very covert. So I want you to entertain the possibility that maybe the 'taskmasters' are a little different than what you and I have imagined.
   
If we take it back into Hebrew, the terminology is 'sari massim'. 'Sari' means princes, rulers, in this case masters. And the word 'massim' the plural form of 'massas' which means burden - that burden can be a levy, a tarriff, a tax. So it's possible, that these initial 'taskmasters' that were set over the people, were TAXMASTERS.

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Why would he want to set TAX-MASTERS over them? Why would he want to put heavy burdens of levys, tarriffs and taxes upon the people of God? Because he did not own them, he did not own their property. And that's what he wants to do. And so the first thing he's going to do is STEAL. He is going to TRANSFER WEALTH. He is going to exact heavy taxes upon the people to put them in an untenable position. And he's going to do it through stealth. His intent is to STEAL, TO KILL AND TO DESTROY. He does not want God's children to continue to grow and to multiply. He sees them as a threat to his government.
     So the first thing he does, I'm going to suggest to you, is he puts these heavy burdens on them and are exacting these heavy taxes on them. And the end result is they build the treasure cities of Pithom and Raa-masas. But is it possible they built them in a way that is different than we thought? I'm not going to be dogmatic about this, I'm just going to give you something to think about. Is it not possible to build something by funding it?
     But then, look what happens:
Exodus 1:12, "But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel."
     So the more they burdened them, the more they multiplied and grew. And so there's something else going on here. God through His people is inciting the Egyptians and Pharoah. And by inciting them, they are in dread of God's people- but what is the next thing that happens?

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Exodus 1:13, "And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigor. (14) and they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, andin brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigor."
   At that point, the Egyptians made them serve with rigor. And they made their lives bitter.
Exodus 1:15, "And the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, ... (16) And he said, When you do the office of a midwife to the Hebew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then you shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live. (17) But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them..."
     So my point is this, it was a process, a methodology employed here to obtain this objective. He wants to restrict the people of God from multiplying and growing, and, ultimately, because he doesn't want them to leave the land, he is going to exact these heavy tax burdens from them, probably to make them vulnerable. The Egyptians come in and force them into this labor, force them into these building programs, and then he's going to try to 'ABORT' the male children!

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You can't get much more 'late term abortion' than while their on the birthing stools. And let me point this out, that one of the first things the new administration did after coming to power, was they reversed a position by Bush II, and they allowed clinics throughout the world, funded by US tax dollars to continue killing babies. And it should be pointed out that the present administration, at least the head of the present administration, believes that it is OK that during a late term abortion, if that baby somehow survives the butchery that it is subjected to, that it is allright to leave that baby lying somewhere and to just let it die.
   I also need to point this out. The 5 books of Moses are divided into 'portions' by the Hebraic community, and everybody in all the synagogues throughout the world read those same 'portions' weekly, thus completing those books in 1 year. In other words, everybody is on the same page.
    Here's my point. In Exodus 1:1 going through the beginning of Exodus 3, that was being read throughout the world in January 2009. More to the point - in Exodus 1:8 is 'Now there arose a new king over Egypt who knew not Joseph..." and then he appropriates all these policies that are ultimately intended to ruin the Hebrew people and bring them under his subjection. The 'portion' above was being read from January 16, 2009 all the way through to January 23, 2009. That means, ladies and gentlemen, that on January 20, 2009, when a new administration was coming into power, when CHANGE was coming to America, this is the 'portion' that was being read in synagogues throughout the world. ..

                Cont'd...."

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"There arose a new king over Egypt." that is the most powerful, most prosperous, most influential nation on the face of the earth, "...who knew not Joseph."
   Who had no regard for Joseph, who he was, what he did, the Godly principles that he employed, that made it possible for Egypt to become the most powerful nation on the face of the earth. He had no regard for those things, he had no regard for Joseph's people, and he had no regard for Joseph's God. And he is shrewd, clever and crafty.
   And let me throw this in here too. There are people who would say, 'You can't judge somebody. You know, we're not supposed to judge - judge not lest ye be judged'. But the Bible tells me that I am to know someone by their fruit. You examine the fruit, if it's an orange than you know it came from the seed that produced that orange - it's definately not an apple seed that produced an orange. So I know them by their fruit. To test the spirits, we're told, to see if they're of God. And so if I test the spirits to see if they are of God, how am I gonna know if they're of God or not? Does it line up with the Word of God, and if it doesn't - can it be of God? The answer is NO. So I have to make some kind of a judgment.
    Paul judged the situation that was going on in Corinth, when there was a young man who was sleeping with his father's wife, he judged the situation, not even being there, he told these people to get rid of this guy.
   My point in all this folks is we're told by our culture we shouldn't be judgmental. The reality is that we do have to make judgments. 'You shall know them by their fruit...' and 'test the spirits to see if they're from God...' There is an entire book of the Bible called Judges...
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According to Ezekiel 44, the priests are to teach the people to distinguish between the clean (good) and the unclean (evil) and in matters of controversy they are to be judges who judge righteous judgment. Where is righteous judgement found? In the Scriptures.
  Now, when Jesus says, 'Judge not lest you be judged' this is what I believe, line upon line, precept upon precept, what He is saying - Don't rush to judgement. And if you're going to judge you'd better judge righteously. The only way to judge righteously is by the Word of God. And in every judgment you'd better temper it with mercy, because that's what our Father does. Because if you don't show mercy, you won't be shown mercy.
    Nonetheless, we can't get away from the fact that we do have to make judgments about things. So here's what I'm saying. If someone were to say 'I'm a Christian', and then go out and do something that flies in the face of everything Jesus stands for, is that person truly a follower of Christ? Now we all fail, we all fall short, that's not what we're talking about. I'm talking about someone who says, 'I am a believer. I am a Christian. I am a follower of Christ.' and then consistently goes out and does things by his deeds, or her deeds, that absolutely fly in the face of everything Jesus stood for - case in point - someone who signs an order that makes killing innocents possible.
                   
Cont'd...

Cont'd...

So here's my point. It's my belief that what we see today happening in the financial markets, the auto industry and the bailouts, is a reflection of what already happened in Genesis 47. And because I believe that is true, then I also believe that the ramifications of what happened in Genesis 47 will continue in our country. I also believe further, that what happened in Exodus 1 is happening now, right in front of our very eyes.
  In short, I beleve that the political change that has come to America. That has been evolving for a long time, but nonetheless, has come to fruition in a dramatic way in the recent past, I believe that we are seeing the evidence of a 'Pharoah who knew not Joseph', that new king arising in the most powerful nation on the face of the earth, who didn't know Joseph, who saw the people of God as a threat to national security, to him and to his people, and to his ideology. And who wants to restrict and restrain the people of God and to stop them from being able to go when the time has come to go.
   When the time grew near for the promises to come to pass, that's when Pharoah arose. So if that is happening in our day and time - that is an indication, ladies and gentlemen, that the time is upon us for God's purposes to come to pass.

                           Cont'd...

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Ezekiel 20 tells us the reason the people did not desire to leave was because they had these abominations before their eyes, worshipping the idols of Egypt, everything about Egypt was important to them. When they were in the wilderness they cried out for the leeks and the garlics and all the different 'things' that they had in Egypt and they loathed the bread that God gave them in the wilderness - and indication that Egypt was in them.
    In Ezekiel 20, God, through the priest Ezekiel, speaks to the elders of Israel who had come to inquire of the LORD, and tells them, (paraphrase) 'When you were in Egypt, I had to make Myself known to you.' And the reason that He had to make Himself known to them was because they didn't know Him. They knew about Him, but they didn't know Him. In fact, when Moses was on the being told by God that he was going to go down and speak to Pharoah and the people of Israel, he asked, 'Whom shall I say sent me?' And God said, "I AM THAT I AM" Why would Moses have to know this? Because they only knew ABOUT HIM, they didn't REALLY KNOW HIM.
    If they had known Him truly, would they be polluting themselves with the idols of Egypt? Definately NOT.
So in Ezekiel 20, He says 'I declared that I AM your God, you're My people, I made myself know to you, and I told you to put away the abominations which were before your eyes and to not defile yourself with the idols of Egypt...'

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Cont'd...

Once again, He would not have had to tell them that, if they weren't doing that. But then He also says, 'But you rebelled against Me and you wouldn't stop these things and so I poured out my fury on you in the midst of the land of Egypt.'
  My opinion is that occurred when the first 3 plagues came. Because AFTER the first 3 plagues God sent a distinction between Israel and Egypt. That would infer that the first 3 plagues affected everyone, AT LEAST everyone who was holding fast to the idols and gods of Egypt.
   After Moses speaks to Pharoah, he says he doesn't know this God. And now he's going to make their burdens even heavier. They're going to have to fetch their own straw for the bricks. Once Israel hears of this they go to Pharoah and ask him to relent on this order - he does not - and so they go to Moses and Aaron and say, 'What have you done but to put a sword in the hand of Pharoah to slay us'.
    It becomes very apparent to me that the elders of Israel are mad at Moses, they're mad at Aaron, and possibly even at God. But we see in this is they ARE NOT MAD AT PHAROAH. They are intimidated and scared of Pharoah, and Pharoah, keep in mind, was a god in Egypt.

                                Cont'd.....

Cont'd...

And so, at this particular time, who are the elders of Israel more afraid of and fear more? The god of Egypt or the God of Israel? The one who can destroy the body, or the ONE who can cast both body and soul into hell? And it seems very obvious they were more intimidated by the god of Egypt.
    And so, ladies and gentlemen, what happens next - 3 plagues that affects everybody that is holding fast to the god of Egypt including those amongst His people.
    In the rest of Ezekiel 20, God does bring them out into the wilderness, He does give them His statutes and His laws and they rebel against it and, in short, they did in the wilderness what they did in the land of Egypt. Then He says 'I'm going to talk to your sons and daughters and make My covenant with them', but they did the same thing their fathers did.
Ezekiel 20:27, (keeping in mind that Ezekiel is speaking to the elders of Israel who have already been scattered at this time and are in exile) "Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel, and say to them, Thus says the LORD GOD; Yet in this your fathers have blasphemed me, in that they have committed a trespass against me. (28) For when I had brought them into the land, for the which I lifted up my hand to give them, then they saw every high hill, and all the thick trees, and they offered there their sacrifices, and there they presented the provocation of their offering: there also they made their sweet savour, and poured out there their drink offerings.
                           Cont'd...

Cont'd...

Ezekiel 20:29, "Then I said to them, What is the high whereunto you go? And the name whereof is called BAMAH to this day."
   In Hebrew, what He asked is 'what is this HaBamah  to which you go?...to this day it's called BAMAH.'
    Now that's interesting for obvious reasons. But the point is this. God says you're doing the same thing today, that they did way back in Egypt. And you're going up to these high places and you even have one that is called BAMAH.
So here's what He says - I'm going to get your attention. Just as He got the attention of Israel who were living in the midst of the land of Egypt, by allowing a new king to arise over Egypt who knew not Joseph. By allowing, if you will, BAD THINGS TO HAPPEN.
    What was His purpose? To cause His people, to provoke them to return to Him, to purge themselves of all the things of the Egyptians, all the comforts, all the luxuries, all the things that tied them to Egypt. He allowed, quote, unquote, BAD THINGS TO HAPPEN so they would return to Him WITH THEIR WHOLE HEART.
   And so, in the end, those BAD THINGS, according to the way the flesh perceives it, are actually GOOD THINGS when they provoke God's people to fall in line with His purposes.
                                Cont'd...

Cont'd...

So, ladies and gentlemen, we'll close with this. It's pretty obvious what I think and what I feel, in that I believe that we are seeing in our country, and not JUST in our country but across the world, that a new king has arisen over Egypt who doesn't know Joseph, who has no regard for Joseph, and he sees God's people as a threat to his kingdom. So he is instituting policies that are intended to restrict and restrain God's people, to keep them from multiplying and growing, and to bring them under his subjection.
     He's going to be very subtle, very shrewd, he's going to say things one way while his intent is another. Many people will be deceived by this, and probably will find themselves in the 'wrong place at the wrong time' before they realize what's going on.
   However, in the end, we understand that our Father is Sovereign. And in the end the adversary unwittingly ends up serving God's purposes. And so, I believe there is a king who has arisen over Egypt who knew not Joseph - but I also believe that as these policies which are intended to bring God's people under his subjection and to restrict them from serving God's purposes - in the end those policies are going to be the very things that call God's people back to Him with THEIR WHOLE HEART. Because in the end, He's said that He's going to gather His people unto Himself.
   In short, we are about to see another Exodus, and this one will cause the first one to pale in comparison!!!!!!!
But that story is for another time, and another teaching.....

END

Very Interesting! - Thanks Sister Barbara.

I think that the time is short. I'd love it if the Rapture was tonight - or Right Now.

Love In Christ,
Tom

1 Corinthians 15:50-58  Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.  51  Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,  52  In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.  53  For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.  54  So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.  55  O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory?  56  The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.  57  But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.  58  Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.


1 Thessalonians 4:13-18  13  But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.  14  For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.  15  For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.  16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:  17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.  18  Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

Amen, Brother Tom,

I'm ready to go now, also!!

I think Obama and all that's going on is a sign, not that he is the antichrist, but a sign from God to be ready -- to get ready by immersing ourselves in His Word!

As we heard someone say, 'Obama's probably not the antichrist, but he sure looks like the 'Employee of the Month'!  ;)

Now that is an accurate way of putting it.

I can certainly agree with that. Obama is just one of many signs around the world that the time is short. I, for one, think we are on the brink of seeing huge and horrible events if Christians are still here to see them. We've already been here long enough to see and hear things that are almost beyond imagination.

Love In Christ,
Tom