Jonah, The Miracles of Nineveh

Imagine you live in a city known for violence, idol worship, human sacrifices, beheading the enemy, constant wars, and taking captured enemies for slavery or for sacrifices. Imagine celebrations for victories where babies are sacrificed and burned alive. What miracles would impact you so you would listen to a prophet’s message and repent? What messages could be delivered by a prophet in those circumstances?

Like us, Jonah had a life; he made a living and worked as a unit with his family. When asked to go to Nineveh, he knew he was inadequate for the task, and fear paralyzed him. He learned, as we all learn, that sometimes the challenge we are told to complete changes us more than it impacts the people we teach. Deep down, we know our background, experiences, and religious training do not prepare us to complete the challenges before us. What if we were selected from the foundations of the earth to be prophets?

Like Jonah, we will have doubts? Does God make a mistake?

Come Out of Her

I became a Christian about five years ago. Before that, I was a New Age guru and a practitioner of the occult science of Alchemy. My whole life, I have been fascinated with all things supernatural, spiritual, mystical, and psychic—if you look up the definitions of each word, you will see that they all have the same basic meaning.

He looked at the crowd and said, “How did I get into Alchemy? As I studied everything mystical, I came across a book that explained the science of Alchemy and its history. It sparked interest in me, and I did what I needed to do to find any manuscript on Alchemy. I was around 13 years old when I bought my first book on the subject. Now, what is Alchemy? For me to answer that, I need to first reference Genesis chapter 3. I’m not going to read the entire chapter; I will summarize what it says. We will be analyzing a few key verses to gain better understanding. The serpent goes to Eve and convinces her that if she eats from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, she will be a god as God is. Here is where Alchemy has its roots—why do I say that? Let me explain further...”