Ethnic Makeup of the Ancient Egyptians, Israelites, and Hyksos Ethnic Makeup of the Ancient Egyptians, Israelites, and Hyksos A comparative look at the peoples of the Nile and the Levant in the New Kingdom period (18th–19th Dynasties). Ethnic Makeup of the Ancient Egyptians The Egyptians of the New Kingdom (ca. 1550–1189 BC) were primarily a Northeast African population rooted in the Nile Valley. Their features reflected a mixture of indigenous Saharan, Nubian, and Nile Delta ancestry. Genetic studies of royal mummies and skeletal remains reveal a population connected to both Sub-Saharan Africa and the ancient Near East, consistent with Egypt’s geographic position as a crossroads of Africa and Asia. Royal families often intermarried with foreign princesses to cement alliances. For example, Amenhotep III married women from Mitanni and later Ramesses II married Hittite royalty. This resulted in foreign admixture at the highest levels of society, though the g...
Shalom, family. It's been a little while since I've last posted. These past 2 weeks have been nothing but blessings for my family and I. Our adoption of my son was approved by the courts, I was baptized on April 17th, Easter Sunday was a beautiful gathering at my parents house, and today my son got a new personal record of 2:27 for the 800m at our local invitational. Life has been good personally.
Nevertheless, there are also some serious matters that took place and are taking place in the world--specifically the Church--that I feel compelled to address.
As you probably already know, Pope Francis passed just a day after Easter. My heart goes out to saints of the Catholic body as they grieve this loss. While surfing Youtube yesterday I saw a reaction video from a Christian channel about the antichrist appearing. A man named Aba Al-Sadiq stood at a podium in a dimly lit room and preached a sermon in front a crowd of what looked to be mostly muslims. At the end of the sermon he stated that he is of muslim, jewish and christian heritage and is "the successor of Jesus Christ", "the true and legitimate pope", "ruler over all his goods". Here is the message he broadcasted specifically to the body of Christ:
Pretty controversial statements. As I write this, there are already American pastors uploading videos dismissing this or outright condemning him as "the antichrist" and I'm sure many more will be speaking out against him.
Out of curiosity I went to the Youtube page of his content and watched some of his interviews. I have to acknowledge that, whoever he is, he is very knowledgeable of scripture from jewish, christian and muslim text. And I think that coupled with the current political climate between Israel and Gaza, the concern of the end of days being upon us, and many Christians simply not being in the word is what created this disturbance in my gut.
But why am I bothered? Well, in my previous blog, "Fake News", I wrote about deception. Peter had warned the saints about heresy creeping into the church and causing people to fall away from their faith. Again, I'm not calling this man a false prophet or heretic (yet) as I am still a student of scripture and doing my best to divide the word and understand. However, I can see how Aba Al-Sadiq can be a very divisive figure in the near future. His followers posted videos of his flyers being spread around in countries from China to Rome to Egypt to Argentina and more.
He's even got muslims calling into their scholars demanding answers about his presence as the Imam Mahdi.
Just a quick scroll through the comment section of some of his videos and you can see people are challenging religious authority in the muslim community. Aba Al-Sadiq's claims of anointing would be an entire shift in the hierarchy of power amongst the church. The legitimacy of protestantism would be threatened and pastors here in America would be unwise to simply dismiss him a "clown" (in the words of Pastor Marcus Rogers) or cult leader, especially if they care about their congregation. If anything, I think the wisest course of action would be to address all claims and statements made by him with serious exegesis (critical analysis of biblical text) and intellectual honesty.
American Christendom is a house divided. There are many sects and interpretations of scripture among church bodies and no shortage of corrupt churches. Add that to a lack of serious biblical familiarity in the average American education then you have a recipe for apostasy. If your local pastor is unaware then maybe bring it to their attention. But most importantly, read and pray to Yahweh. El Shaddai. The Lord of hosts. Pray for wisdom, understanding and discernment.
In Jesus name. Amen.
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