Investigate Earth Conspiracy Podcast - End Times Podcasts | God Goes To War | The Book of Joshua

Episode Date: February 19, 2024

In this episode, we delve into an in-depth analysis of the Book of Joshua as presented in the King James version of the Bible. This particular chapter underscores the themes of conflict and upheaval within the Israelite community. God commands the Israelites to enter Canaan and engage in a campaign of conquest, a pivotal moment in their journey toward claiming the Promised Land. How does this relate to the wars of today? How should we interpret this chapter? We have many questions!Our X/TwitterOur FacebookOur RumbleOur Instagram

Jenkki, Anna hymessi loist down. Morning has broken, my windows are open. Want to feel the wind go through my hair. Which way do I follow? What happens to my hope you can guide the way. Hello and welcome to Investigator Earth Podcast. I'm your host chat alongside my beautiful wife, Sherry, on tonight's. episode, we are going to have another biblical breakdown episode where we get into the book of

Joshua. As most of you remember, last biblical episode we had was the story of Jesus. I think either before, after that, we had the episode with Bree about the 12 Kings. And then before that, which is when we were going in order of the Bible, we talked about Deuteronomy. And so we're going to get into a little breakdown just of what we covered about Deuteronomy, and then we will move on to Joshua. Now, Joshua is one of these books that, I'll be honest, it was something that, you know, really confused me as I had read this book originally. And it's essentially the story of God goes to war. And so I do encourage everyone, if this is your first episode, biblical breakdown with us, I encourage you to go back and listen to our, we're calling them the end times podcast, and that's

while we are breaking down the Bible. This one will probably be titled God Goes to War. But nonetheless, the book of Joshua is kind of crazy. There's a lot of stuff that goes on in Joshua. Obviously, Joshua is who took over after Moses died. And so, yeah, I'm excited about this one. I'm still refreshed getting back to the Bible stuff. Right.

Getting back to stuff where, look, we've talked a lot about a lot of crazy stuff lately. And I feel refreshed getting back to this. Yeah, because we really have not done. a Bible series since before Christmas. Yeah. And the last one we really did, I think, was the Christmas story of Jesus. Yeah, it was. I think it was like a couple days before Christmas.

Right. So, yeah, it's refreshing to get back. And I just want to get back into the Bible and dive into it and find out things that maybe we don't know about. Yeah. Yeah. And so, you know, we've had people on the podcast. We've talked about the Bible or God and some of our beliefs and all that stuff.

I mean, for example, we had Jake Angelie Chanceley on the. podcast not long ago where he talked about his belief system. He's a shaman. He believes in a very basic structure of kind of almost like the roots he believes of God and the Bible and why so many religions believe very similarly. But I think for Jake, he kind of strips a lot of that away and just goes back to the core beliefs. But he does. You know, he does mention Christ. He mentions God a lot in that episode. And then we get on some other like energy based stuff, which I believe is a part of it. Regardless of however you want to look at it,

there may be some Christians that may listen to the Jake episode and when he starts talking about the Schumann residence or the frequencies or the energy that we constantly interact with in a daily basis. There might be a lot of Christians that think that's pseudoscience or some kind of crazy stuff. But I think that if you are a Christian or you are someone that believes in God,

something that you've never seen technically before, or at least you think you haven't seen God, right? there's no way that you can also look at people like that and say oh they're crazy because they believe that energy somehow control something about our life or our soul or anything. And that's what I don't get about religion is because when anyone has anything to do with frequencies or positive thinking or putting thinking out there into the universe, they say it's a pseudo religion. It's not, you know, or astronomy or anything that goes on those lines.

Astrology, all that stuff, yeah. All of it. astronomy, astrology, all of it. It goes on that line, but when you go back to the Bible, the Bible refers to a lot of things in the sky and the way things were positioned. You know, even going back to the pyramids, everything was positioned for a certain reason, for the sun to hit the pyramid at exact same time every day to know the calendar. So we have to know that that was part of the Bible. Yeah. And I think, too, is like everything that we've researched and everything that we have thought about,

just either Sherry and I or with many other people. The reason why we really wanted to get to the Bible is because there are so many different aspects of what life is and what do we actually know about life. And the more we've done podcast episodes where it's like we don't really know a lot about life. We think we do, but we don't. But I also think on this journey of us finding out and understanding stuff about potentials of UFOs, aliens, interdementuality.

even CERN going to find the God particle or particles to where they can prove other dimensions. And we've said this on many episodes. But I think, you know, as science starts to prove the existence of other dimensions, which gives you immense either power or understanding or knowledge, I think that you have to go to the Bible and start at least hearing what the Bible was saying, what the people in the Bible are saying. Because maybe we're misinterpreting parts of the Bible when we really should be, thinking about, you know, how we can compare and contrast things we're learning now in science

versus old text in biblical scripture. And since we've been doing this Bible series and actually since we've been doing this podcast, I feel way more grounded as far as in my spirituality than I have ever before. Even though I still don't know what religion I am and I don't even think it really matters if I have a religion or not. Yeah. Well, religion, I think, is just so overused the word religion. but I feel more spiritual in my path with God, if that makes sense.

Just going through this whole Bible series and the podcast and my eyes being so open, like open wide. Those two things together, I do feel more spiritual in my life than I ever have. Well, and I think that's something to a lot of point of why we started this, actually, was a lot of your struggles that you had, right? The struggles that you had versus, you know, Christianity versus Jew, you know, your family in large part are Jewish. And, you know, I've grown up in a Christian household. So, you know, for 12 to 13 years that Sherry and I have been together, we have understood

that like we have had differences as far as our religion goes or our belief systems growing up at the very least. but just our conversations and the things that we conversated about and Sherry's struggles versus my struggles and some of our thoughts that's why we were like hey why don't we just read the Bible and determine it for ourselves and then put into also put into that things we've learned about everything else right Schumann residence earth's heartbeat frequencies energy all these things and let's see if like we can maybe give some insight to some of the things that happened back then and trust me there's going to be a lot of stuff in the Bible that we're

going to be very confused about why this would happen. You know, if God is God and a loving God, why did he let this happen? And even in this particular chapter, God goes to war. And this was, like I said, this is a chapter that I've struggled with a little bit. And I think that if you look around at the world today, all the wars that are going on, all the things that are happening, and a lot of these things are either based on religion or belief systems, I mean, you've got Muslims versus Christians, Christians versus Muslims. You've got all. all of this other stuff. There's so many wars that are constantly created because religion, and it's just weird. And it seems like it's always happened. Yeah. And it's a natural part of the

Bible is what it sounds like. And it sounds like from what we've read so far, God make, well, I don't know if God makes these wars, but these wars are created based on religion, like you said. And, you know, it's made me kind of understand that even though God is all knowing and God does, love us. God is an all fearing person, or not person, not all fearing being as well. Yeah. Well, it's just like when God asked Abraham to take his only son to, and, you know, Abraham thought that I'm going to take my son to actually kill him, to sacrifice my son. And this was all in the name of his belief. How much do you believe and entrust in me? How much do you devout your entire life, including your only son?

or you only at that time, I guess it was, his only real or natural son, you know, that alone and that story structure is why so many wars are fought today. Because a lot of these religions or different religions believe that they have to have that devout commitment to their God. And then in that, they believe that if there is an adversarial, either religion or people that are coming against are rising against their religion, then we must defend our religion and also even at times kills, kill others in the name of religion, in the name of God. And I think even when we go back to what we're about to talk about right now, this is some of the mindset and belief systems still going on today based on a lot of the scripture that God talked to, you know, as as he told

Abraham, even the war in Canaanite, which is we're about to talk to, or talk about now. We've got to look back of this historical text and then I think you can understand why all these wars religiously go on today. Right. And I think it's all too the way that different religions have translated this one book into sometimes the ways their religions want them to believe in. Yeah, you're right. You know, they change just little minor things and it changes it into a whole different religion. And I think that's where things are kind of getting twisted in this Bible. Yeah, I 100% agree. Um, And we'll get into some of our thoughts, you know, at the end of this chapter because this is going to be a chapter we really got to think on and chew on, I guess you can say. But let's first, let's go back to what we last talked about, right?

So our last in times episode where we're breaking down the Bible in each chapter, we talked about Deuteronomy. And this is before the Jesus story, before the 12 Kings of Bree. But Deuteronomy is the fifth book of the Hebrew Bible, which is traditionally attributed to Moses, right? So the book is a retelling of the covenant between God and his people of Israel, presented in three addresses or sermons by Moses. It emphasizes the importance of obeying God's laws and consequences of disobedience. One of the key themes in Deuteronomy is the idea that following God's laws bring blessings and goodness, while disobedience leads to disaster.

This is particularly relevant in the context of the Israelites preparing to enter the promised land. throughout the book Moses reminds the Israelites of their history and God's role in their liberation from slavery in Egypt. He also provides a detailed set of laws and instructions for the Israelites to follow, including laws on worship, leadership, and civil life. The book includes with the death of Moses, which serves as a reminder of the importance of obedience and the consequences of disobedience. Overall, Deuteronomy offers a stern warning that God is worthy of worship and obedience, and that his laws are given to us for our protection, not as punishments. So that is essentially what Deuteronomy talks about. And so Deuteronomy leaves off with Moses' death.

And Moses dies before the Israelites ever enter into the promised land, which is now Israel. And back then it was called Canaanite. And so what we're going to be talking about tonight is the war, right? So this is going to be a crazy, crazy topic. And I'm excited to explore this with you guys. and girls out there. And by the way, I want to say in the description below,

if you want to connect with us on Facebook or X, those are our two most prominent ways to connect with us. If you want to send us a message, give us ideas or your thoughts on this episode. Please go to our Facebook, look up, Investigator with Podcast. Man, we talk all the time over there about what's to come. We share personal pictures and, you know, stories or whatever.

Man, we have our real close-knit family over there. And then if you want to see things we may not get to on the podcast anytime soon, Go to our X account and we are sharing the latest breaking stories over on X all the time. And you can just find us an investigator. So should we get into this Joshua story? Should we go ahead and do this? All right. So Joshua,

Conquering Canaan. Now Joshua in his lightly armed militia surprise at Canaanite force. Joshua carefully picks his fights, targeting Canaan's highlands. There, his militia, swift mobility gives him an incredible advantage over heavily armed forces, such as the chariote. corpse. Now, as we just said, this chapter talks about God goes to war. Now, the time has come for God to deliver on his promise to Abraham some 700 years earlier. God had told Abraham, I am given all this

land as far as you can see to you and your descendants as a permanent possession. This was said in Genesis 1315. God was talking about Canaan, roughly the new. area now called Israel. Now, yet Abraham's grandson, Jacob, moved the entire extended family to Egypt. He did that to survive, to escape a seven-year drought. The Israelites ended up staying there 430 years, first his guest, then his slaves. In the meantime, settlers were building cities all over Canaan. Even as the Israelites approached from the east, a powerful group of people called the Philistines is arriving on the west coast and building towns there. Moses is dead, Joshua is now in charge, and the Israelites are getting ready to invade from the East Bank of the Jordan River.

Now, God speaks to Joshua, perhaps in a dream, telling him not to fear. No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live, God says. For I will be with you as I was with Moses. Now, he said, I will not fail you or abandon you. This is Joshua 1-5. The invasion begins. A border town is the first to fall, Jericho. From there, Joshua.

moves his army into the southern highlands, conquering Canaanite cities. Then he sweeps north with nothing but success. Major cities defeated, Joshua divides the land amongst 12 tribes, and then he assigns them the job of mopping up the resistance in their own territories. The Israelites are now home. So these are the 12 tribes of Israel. Each tribe, he tells them any resisting forces, mop them up, kill them all. We got to kill everyone that is in this.

land of Canaan, right? And so this is already when you start, you know, asking yourself, okay, so the Israelites, according to the Bible, were the chosen people, right? They were slaves once in Egypt. We remember back in some of the other earlier chapters where Egypt, I guess, made the Israelites into slaves, brick makers. And it wasn't until God came to Moses or God or an angel or someone came to Moses as Moses was leaving Egypt.

and he says to Moses, you were going back. You are going back to Egypt. And Moses is like, no, I'm not going back. I'm not going back to Egypt. I am done with that place. And this is when the burning bush thing came into fruition. But nonetheless, this angel or God, but Moses simply says, I didn't know if it was God or an angel, but it was someone sent, right? He had to go back.

This was his new role. And he went back to save the Israelites, take him out of slavery. and this was also during a time that as he went to the Egyptian kings, which were known as gods in Egypt, you know, these Egyptian kings, God told Moses what to tell them. And as he did tell these kings what God said, which is, you release all of our people because our, my God, the God, will come down and wreak havoc on your land and everything. Of course, the kings did not initially believe them. God sent multiple plagues and, and, um, you know, sicknesses and floods and you name it.

He sent everything to convince the Egyptian gods, hey, I mean business. And then that's when Egypt decided to release the Israelites and say, get them out of here. They felt like now. Passover. Yeah, they felt like they were now the curse of Egypt. So that's why they let them know.

Even though they did actually kind of change your mind after they left. But nonetheless, this was all a journey of these chosen Israelites to lead their way to the promised land, this land. of Israel. Now, these people that were Israelites and now in Egypt, they all came from Israel. They did not come from other countries. When they left Egypt, the people that were leaving Egypt, I'm pretty sure those were the original Israelites going back to the promised land.

Yeah, so according to, and by the way, I'm just going to be honest with you guys, I had no idea. I had to look this up. But the Israelites were a nomadic group of sheep. herders and farmers. So according to scriptures, Abraham is considered the first Hebrew. And after established in the covenant, he lived in the small colony of Salem located in Canaan land. They lived in this area for a few generations until a severe famine forced them to move to Egypt. Then after leaving Egypt under the instructions, they reclaimed the land by conquest, right? So essentially Abraham and his

people were the original people there until they had to leave, right? And which is, at some point in time what we had talked about earlier in our series. And then they, as they had to leave and they were put into slavery in Egypt, that's when settlers came into the land and claimed the land. And claimed it. And they were not the original Israelites. Absolutely. So the original Israelites left Egypt to go back to the promised land.

That doesn't mean that they came from other countries into Egypt as suffering slaves. Yeah. according to the scripture, they were already there once before. And when they had to leave, which was the reason why their original family is Abraham's family, his sons, his brother, or his sons, when they went to Egypt. And then when all the family finally went to Egypt, became slaves. And then during that slave process, the original family of Egypt, or sorry, not of Egypt, but the original family of the Canaan land, they were slaves.

And so then settlers came in, whoever, these people were, and they set up shop. Now, obviously, we'll talk a little bit about Nephilim and giants that were seen in the land and all this stuff in just a little bit. But yeah, here we go. So anyways, the final prep for invasion. So Joshua 11 says, tell the people to get their provisions ready. In three days, you will cross the Jordan River and take possession of the land. The Lord, your God, is given you. So after a month of morning, Moses, it's time for the Israelites to move on with Joshua in this lead. Joshua certainly must be worried.

Not only is he suddenly in charge of a nation of refugees, he's about to lead them into war against a country full of cities protected by walls and seasoned soldiers. Invaders out in the open almost always suffer more casualties than defenders behind walls. Now, God calms Joshua, perhaps speaking to him in a dream or a vision. And that's how the Bible says God typically communicated to prophets and other leaders. Strength, courage, God says. You are going to lead this people to inherit the land. I promise to give their ancestors. Give it everything you have. God, your God is with you every step you take. This is Joshua 1, 6 through 7, 9, and the message. This is called the message.

Joshua passes this encouragement on to the Israelites as he orders them to get ready to break camp and cross the river. Now, while the Israelites prepare Joshua sends two spies into the border town of Jericho, six months. miles across the river. And once inside the city, they go to the house of the prostitute named Rahab. I hope I'm saying it right, but a Rahab. Why go to a prostitute question? The Bible doesn't say, but perhaps because it wouldn't have looked especially suspicious for traveling strangers to go there. Or maybe they go there for same reason other men in the Bible go to prostitutes. Because this happened in the Bible. For whatever reason, they do go there and they apparently talk to, talk to, they talk too much to this person, right?

Apparently bragging about their attack force, rookie spies at best, someone may be a customer of Rahab's overhears it and passes the news along to the king. And he's horrified to hear that the Israelites are scouting the city for an attack. He knows that these are the invaders who have just captured the land east of the river. So he sends officers to arrest the scouts, but Rahab hides them in under piles of flack stocks drying to on the roof. She tells the king's men that the Israelites have left. And as soon as the officers head for the river to run down the spies, Rahab

uncovers the guests and asks for a favor. And she says, I know that God has given you the land. We're all afraid. Everyone in this country feels hopeless, Rehab says. I showed you mercy, now show my family mercy. And the spies promised to spare Rahab and her family. So yeah, this is something that, you know, according to the prostitute, they all knew what was coming for what.

whatever reason or whatever, they all felt hopeless. They felt like they were all about to lose their land and they're all going to be killed. I mean, and this is just the reality of this. And she asked these spies, spare my family. Yeah, spare them. And so the conquest of Canaan has little to do with Israelite military savvy. Canaan is God's gift to his people. Even before the invasion starts, God speaks to the victory in past tense.

Wherever you set foot, you will be on land. I have given you Joshua 1-3. And keeping in mind, the date of this, the conquest of Canaan may have taken place in the 1400s BC or the 1,200s BC. And obviously, this story takes place on the Jordan River, which is now Israel, Canaan, etc. And so if you think about like the Red Light District, prostitutes in the United States started putting red lights in their windows around

1890 and it was a signal light. It identified them as working women on the night shift and open for business. Some say railroad workers started to practice by parking their red lights outside while visiting inside. Others say the inspiration came from the Bible's most famous prostitute, Rehab. She helped Israelite spies escape by sending them down a red rope that she dangled from a window of her house. The spies told her to hang the rope back in the window when they returned with the Israelite army. The signal would help them know which house to spare. So even prostitution, we've heard of red light dishes.

and where that even came from. And I had no idea that that was in the Bible. Yeah, so in the Bible. Wow. Yeah, so it was a red rope that she had sent down. And then this was the way that the spies said, if you want us to spare you, then you got to give us a signal of where you're at.

So then when our army comes in, we will spare you because of what she did for the spies. So that's where the red light district comes in. Potentially, yeah. Wow. That's pretty crazy. And I wonder if people still practice this today, you know. I don't know.

I mean, I think- Prostitutes. Do they put red lights somewhere? Well, I think in like Eastern Europe and some of these places, I think potentially, or not even Eastern Europe, but Europe in general. You know, like I think probably one of the hubs of prostitution is Amsterdam. I'm sure many people have heard about that, but Amsterdam is like the... Red light district.

Yeah, it is. I mean, it's the capital of prostitution. So, but, you know, prostitution was going on even back in the Bible. But the, but the interesting thing here. is still, right? I mean, although I do not know and understand fully, you know, there's a lot of people that reached out to us as we had talked about this before that say, you just don't understand what, why they had to go and kill everyone,

because there were there were giants in there and there were Nephilim. But there were also not giants and there were also not Nephlam. And in my mind, you can't tell me, though, that everyone in this, in this place did not believe in God, maybe, I don't know, but the very least they knew about God, it seems like, or they knew about the potential upcoming invasion to where they all felt hopeless. But why did they feel so hopeless? Because they felt like they were going to be conquered. They knew it. And I understand also that there were a lot of heinous things going on in Canaan this time. You had rape. You had incest. You had beastiality. You had all kinds of stuff, even pedophilia. And so they all worship.

their own gods, which is, I guess also what God said, this is why you're going to go into Canaan and kill every living thing there. But it's still, if you look at it from today's perspective, it is crazy. Just to hear that, especially that far back. And this is God saying this to the Israelites. I mean, this is God saying this to people to go in and kill everyone. But like you said, I think the reasoning behind it, too, is if you're living among Nephlam, then something's wrong anyways.

Because they're not supposed to even be there in the first place. That was not supposed to happen according to the Bible. And if they're living among these giants, you know, normal soldiers, then that's why God's like, you got to go destroy everything and get rid of all of them, including the men and including the Nephlim. Because they're not righteous with me. Yeah. And, but you know what the thing is, is like my thinking on some of the,

this is like because of and and I'm not saying that why or or how it happened in the Canaanite war to where God told the Israelites to go and kill everything. I'm not saying whether that was just or unjust at this point, right? Okay. Because I'm not saying that. But all I am saying is is that I also believe that it does when you have stories like this in biblical text and then you look at today we're in 2024, you know, thousands of years later, it just it's just not an excuse but you know when you look at these religions and these what they call extremist in religions whether it be Muslim or even Jews now I mean they're you know they're calling Jews and Israel you know genocide a genocidal country now because of

Palestine there's so much stuff to take from this because like how much do these religions really grasp from these biblical text and these stories that if you believe in all morality, well, God is the all-powerful morality figure, I guess, was what I'm trying to say. And I think, too, it makes a huge difference in what part of the Bible you're reading because pre-Jesus is all about war and destroying people. post Jesus, if you believe in Jesus, that's more about, you know, being best friends with your neighbor and washing their feet and caring about people and changing the way people think, not just necessarily going and killing them anymore because, you know, that's what Jesus was set to do

was he was sacrificed for us. So we didn't have any more of this stuff going on. Yeah, it's crazy. It's just, but if you think about it, I mean, and if you do, believe in Jesus, that's kind of when it changes. Yeah, it does. Oh, 100% it does. I mean, that's, that's where like the official, I guess, the official belief system or what you're supposed to do. And I don't know, it's so confusing to me, though. And this is what hangs me up so much about just religion and the Bible. It's just what we're talking about right now. I mean, hey, guys,

go and kill everybody in this entire place. Well, I think it's also, too, that it's having faith in this higher power, this God. It's kind of like Abraham. You know, he had to have faith in what God said to do. Yeah. And these people are having faith in what God's saying to do. And if that is the true God, they have to have faith and follow through. And that goes way back to the stories where they didn't follow through.

And that changes the whole picture of everything. Yeah, it was a very, you know, the first books of the Bible. It was it was stories of if you obey God, you get rewarded. If you don't, you get. You have consequences. Yeah, absolutely. Huge consequences. So let's go to crossing the river and flood season, right?

So they had to cross the Jordan River. And the Jordan was overflow in its banks. But as soon as the feet of the priest who were carrying the ark touched the water at the river's edge, the water above the point began backing up a great distance away from a town called Adam until the riverbed was completely dry. And so without bridges, people cross the Jordan River at shallow fords as shown in this painting from the 1840. and you should look at the Jordan painting 1840s crossing and you'll see what it shows but they had to cross in shallow areas of the Jordan River now this is before the actual invasion in the war this is Joshua 315 through 16 now spring is a horrible time across the Jordan River the tag team of rain along with the snow melt from the Mount Herman generally ensures that Jordan overflows its banks throughout the harvest Joshua 315 surging about 10 feet deep. There are no bridges and travelers usually

wait across on underwater sandbars called fords. But not these travelers. Priest carrying Israel's sacred chest that holds the Ten Commandments leads the march. And as soon as they step onto the river's edge something dramatic happens. The rushing flow of floodwater quickly

wanes to a trickle, then stops. No more river, just a damp riverbed. It doesn't take a theologian to make the connection between the miracle of God's most amazing miracle of the Exodus, parting the sea. Certainly some of the Israelites realized right away that God is doing it again. He's paving away before them just as he did for their parents a generation earlier.

He's still as real as he ever was. And once the cross, Joshua orders one man from each of the 12 tribes to gather a stone from the riverbed. And he says, we will use these stones to build a memorial, Joshua explains. in the future your children will ask you what do these stones mean then you can you can tell them they remind us that the jordan river stopped flowing when the ark of the lord's covenant went across so these are the ten commandments as they went across the jordan river uh supposedly quit flowing uh and this was during flood season and it wained down to a trickle now here's some things now many of you will probably say oh well that's that just sounds ridiculous now if you want to talk

about the scientific answer potentially, right? So scientists will say, well, this is possible because of this. And we've done this, looked at both sides of the argument, Bible versus science, throughout this entire series. So did a earthquake block the Jordan River, right, during this time? And so earthquakes have dammed up the Jordan River plenty of times. Once the river stopped at the very spot, the Bible says it backed up in Joshua's day, the city of Adam 20 miles upstream from Jericho.

Now the Jordan River snakes through the Great Rift Valley, a rock scene between two shifting plates of the earth's crust, clay cliffs tower above the river in some areas, and cliffs have come crashing down, blocking the river several times in recorded history. In 1267, 1546, 1834, 1907, 1927, and even 1956. It's the 1927 date that's the most remarkable. A killer quake shook loose the 150-foot cliffs near the ruins of Adam, now a Jordanian ghost town called by its Arabic name, DeMaia. The dirt wall plugged the river, damning it for more than 21 hours, while people downstream explored the dry riverbed.

So this has happened because of earthquakes in the past. And you can, I guess, look at it from like rivers in Colorado or something, or, you know, some western state to where you have these rivers and you have these massive cliff edges on the sides. And so if an earthquake did happen to where it just plunged all this debris and basically a rock slide down to the river, it would stop the flow of the river, at least for a while. Yeah, it makes it like a dam. Yeah, it dams it up.

But, you know, that's what science says that happened when the Israelites were attempting to cross with the covenant, with the Ten Commandments. but you know did they say I mean you know in the scripture did they say well we waited 21 days because the river was so high or 30 days or whatever

and how convenient was it that an earthquake just so happened as they were about to cross the river I understand the scientific theory behind that but also it just seems like even when science tried to explain some of the things that happened in Egypt to get the Israelites out of

there yeah you can explain some of these things but but how coincidental Is it that it happened in the right time when it need to happen? And how many coincidences should you have? Yeah, you're right. Sorry, I'm choking a little bit. So, yeah, so let's get into the rest of this. Now, walls come tumbling down.

When the people heard the sound of the Rams, horns, they shouted as loud as they could. Suddenly, the walls of Jericho collapsed, and the Israelites charged straight into the town and captured it. So now they have crossed the river and they're about to get into town. So Jericho is the first Canaanite city in the path of Joshua's army. Located in a lush spraw oasis near the Jordan River, it's the oldest settlement ever discovered established at least 7,000 years before Joshua.

Now based on descriptions of archaeologists, Jericho must have looked impregnable. It rests on top of a 10-acre slope mound of earth about 70 feet high. The walls surrounded it. And so this is Jericho. This is the first city that they had to conquer to get into Canaanite. Now, this held all sides of the mound in place as a retaining wall. Another set on top of the wall, bulging six feet thick and perhaps a dozen feet high. Farther up the slope near the top of the mound towered the main wall.

One ancient strategy for taking a town like this would have been to build a monumentous ramp up and over the walls. But for the Israelites, there's no need. God is about to build a ramp for them. Israelites march around the city once a day for six days, led by priests carrying the sacred chest that holds the Ten Commandments. On day seven, they march in absolute silence. But this time they circle Jericho seven times. Suddenly, priests blow ram horns.

At the signal, that's when people scream with lungs at full force. The mighty walls of Jericho collapse. Conveniently, the walls fall outward. This creates a ramp that the Israelites used to charge up and into the city. So some Bible experts wonder if this was a miracle of timing. They wonder if God crumbled Jericho with an earthquake of aftershocks from an earlier earthquake that had damned up the Jordan River. But the Bible doesn't say how God did it.

Israelite soldiers kill everyone except Rehab's family, and they're instructed not to take anything for themselves. In fact, archaeologist John Garstang, digging in the ruins of what is now Jericho. found pots filled with grain, which is a valuable commodity for an invading Arby. It is not something most invaders would have left unless ordered to do so. So there were pots of grain, and in the Bible in the scripture, God says, do not take anything. You just invade and you kill, and we're going to move on, basically. So Jericho resting in pieces.

Now, the bump in the Jericho Oasis is all this left of this ancient city. Jericho city set on top, surrounded by three walls, holes carved into the mound are the work of archaeologists. Most of the experts agree that the city fell suddenly and violently, but they can't agree when. Some say in Joshua's day, others insist Jericho was a ghost town at least a century before Joshua got there. Now, let me just explain this. Any archaeologists that say, oh, it was a century before Joshua ever got there that they fell. I mean, come on, dude. You're grasping at straws.

You have zero clue what you're talking about. talking about. But at the very least, the fact that archaeologists can go to Jericho and look at this city and most archaeologists agree that this city fell violently and fast, it goes back to scripture. And we're talking about archaeologists. And it goes back to an earthquake happen at the same time. Maybe. Yeah. I mean, maybe. But, you know, that's the thing is like, I think that's kind of what we're not understanding. Right. So God doesn't necessarily just say, well, I can just go wipe out everything in the city myself. Why would I ever get you to do it? Right. God does things through, uh, what we may call natural disasters or what we may call, um, events that you don't understand or

realize is God, what it is. And I think that these people had enough faith in their God to move mountains, almost literally. Yeah. Yes, almost literally. Right. So to that term was like, I have enough faith to move mountains, right? Mm-hmm. Well, if they had enough faith that, oh my God, we're at this river that has floodwaters. And God's telling me, no, just trust me. I'm going to make sure this all happens and goes well for you. Well, if it is the case that it was caused by an earthquake is why the Jordan River dammed up, then that would be enough fate to move a mountainter, right?

I mean, that's the actual term of what that would mean. Right. And it sounds like there was like a earthquake that did that to dam it up. and then another earthquake came because a lot of times earthquakes are not just one. They happen in multiple. Yeah. Yeah, many aftershocks. But conveniently it happened at the exact time that they were trying to invade.

Well, it took seven days, which was interesting. Yeah, well, it did take seven days, but eventually it happened. And then they went up, but they knew it was going to happen. They knew that these walls will be torn down. They also knew, according to scripture, that they needed to build some type of ramp to get up and over the wall. walls. And in that, you know, it was a natural wall built by God. So I find that very interesting. One battle the Israelites lose. So the men of I chased the Israelites from the town gate as far as the quarries. Now, the Israelites were paralyzed with fear at this turn of events and their courage

melted away, Joshua's 7-4-3-5. So right after wiping Jericho off the map, the seemingly unstoppable Israelites were stopped by a tiny contingent of militia. from a tiny town with a tiny name, which was AI or I, which I find very interested in this called AI. And I don't know how you pronounce that, but it is literally spelled AI. AI. Wow. Yeah.

So archaeologists estimate that no more than 300 people live there at that time. Joshua sent 3,000 fighters to take the city, but 10 to one odds in Israel's favor were not good enough. Shocked to defeat Joshua asked God for an explanation. It's punishment, God said. An Israelite had taken some goods from Jericho against God's orders. Joshua found the man, Akhan, and executed him and his entire family. So it was a harsh lesson in obedience, but the Israelites seemed to learn it.

There's no report of Israel losing another battle during Joshua's entire campaign. So Joshua found this guy because God said, an Israelite took some goods, and he found know who this guy was and Joshua executed him and his entire family. Yeah, and I bet no one else was going to steal anything else after that. Yeah, it's crazy. But this is what I'm saying is like, and I want to make, I want to say this not in a bad way to saying anything negative towards anything. But you hear about like the Middle East and you hear about some of the heinous stuff that

some of these I don't know I guess what the United States calls terrorist groups or religious groups that are out there in the Middle East that do and can do very heinous

stuff you're talking about ISIS Taliban whatever if someone disobeys they steal they do this they are I mean you know they can chop your head off if you are against them as an American especially during the war and you know right after 2001 and 9-11

and, you know, we had witnessed ISIS and Taliban and some of these other factions that when they did capture Americans, they were heinous. They would cut your head off. They would put you in cages and burn you. They would do all of this crazy stuff. And I think to our, to our, I guess, generation, we look at that stuff and we're just mortified. It's like barbaric. Barbaric.

But this was, look, Joshua did this to a dude. Right. and executed him and his entire family. And the whole family had nothing to do with it. What if they were stealing a bowl of grain to feed his family for that night because who are starving? Exactly. You don't know.

But, you know, I think this is the thing that we don't, this is something that I don't understand about how, you know, if this was happening in today's world and you had someone like Joshua, which, by the way, is probably happening in today's world and just in a different realm, they believe wholeheartedly that their God is telling them this is what we got to do. And no matter what, we have to. to kill every dead body in this place. We're going to do it.

And we regard these people as terrorists. Even with what Israel is doing right now with Hamas, a lot of people say it's a genocide. Because they don't really care. It don't seem like, it doesn't seem like they really give a damn about civilians anymore at this point. It's almost like they're on a mission. Like a religious war mission. They are. It kind of is.

A genocide. Yeah, it is. I mean, and people are surprised by this, but, you know, we're reading it right now. This is coming out of the book of the Bible. Yeah. This is what happens in the Bible, according to God. Yeah, it's nuts. Conquering Canaan, Israelites didn't manage to capture all the cities of Canaan in Joshua's lifetime.

According to the Bible, instead, they concentrated on cities where they had a strategic military advantage, the Highlands. Now, the Israelites were lightly armed foot soldiers who could maneuver swiftly in rough terrain. Often they faced heavily armed infantry, cavalry, and chariot corpse, which fought both. best on flat fields. That may be why Joshua avoided the coastal plains. So from Jericho, the Israelites drove deeper into the central Canaan, sorry, into Central Canaan, taking one Highland city after another. Next, they swept south.

Then they charged north beyond the Sea of Galilee. Armies of many cities united to stop them, but there were no stopping God or his people. By the end of Joshua's campaign, west of the Jordan, he had defeated the armies of 31 kings. With this captured strip of land, slicing all the way through Canaan's core, Joshua apparently decided that the rest of the work was a mopping up action. So he told Israel's tribal leaders to finish the conquering in their own territories. It's an order they would not fully execute. Many tribes found it easier to get along with the Canaanites than to get rid of them.

And Canaanites' religion would stay too. And that was a bad news for the Israelites. So it sounds like history is repeating itself. Yeah. So they were like, hey, you know what? You know, Joshua told these 12 tribe leaders. Mop it up. Get rid of all of them.

And then, you know, a lot of these leaders and these families just, you know, they were like, well. And the 12 tribes. Yeah, they were like instead of war, we're just going to get along with these people. And let them. Yeah, let them live beside us. We don't agree with them as far as religion or God goes. But we can live with them peacefully. But that's not what God ordered.

No, it isn't. And God is going to make them pay once again, right? And so, you know, this is what, there's, there's so many things I just don't understand about this. Because if you think about today, man, I mean, we're seeing it still. And, you know, we all have our opinions about all of these different people, all these different religions, all these different regions, who's right, who's wrong. And, and then you have also this mass movement of people that, you know, believe every word of the Bible. which I'm not saying I don't believe every word of the Bible. I'm just saying that if every word of the Bible is true, then someone needs to explain a lot of stuff to me, like just for it to make sense. Because I understand we're talking about Nephlin, we're talking about all this stuff, but I also understand like if we are a,

if we're supposed to be a force of good and if we're forced to help other people and love other people, I love our name or no matter what religion there, no matter what they believe, but you can still be, you can still get along with someone that you don't agree with. I mean, it's like today in 2024, we are so divided,

even on politics, right? And people feel like they will fight to the death even over politics. And I think this has just been a sickness of the mind and of people for a very long time, including biblical days. But I say sickness, but God ordered these people. Supposedly God ordered these people.

Now listen, I say supposedly God ordered these people to do this. And I know some of you Christians out there are going to be like, oh, oh, no, he, oh, no, he didn't say God supposedly did this because it said it. He said it and that's what he orders. But you also have to, it goes back to this too. It goes back to, you know, and I'm proving my own point that I don't want to prove the before Jesus and after Jesus. Before Jesus, people had to sacrifice for God. They had to give up their most precious gifts to them, you know. Yeah.

Anything. They had to sacrifice their farm animals or whatever for God to make God happy. It was not only until Jesus came and Jesus was God's son that sacrificed himself for these people that this, I guess this changed. Yeah. And I'm not sure, though. I mean, were there battles after Jesus? I don't know. We haven't got there yet.

Okay, we haven't. And here's the thing. Here's what I want to break down for just a second to everybody. And I want you guys to hear me and I want you guys to respond to my thoughts on this. So if you're like the most devout Christians, write us. Write us about what I'm about to say. If you feel the same way I do based on what I'm about to say, also write us for that. But my thinking is with the Bible, right, is, for example, the writer of Joshua, many people consider to be Joshua.

They have all considered that Joshua was, Joshua was the writer of the Joshua chapter, much like Moses was primarily the writer of most of the first chapters of the Bible. So what we're saying here is that according to Joshua, right? And according to Moses, all of these things were being told to them by God to lead them to these wars, to make them go to these places and destroy an entire area. To claim their own land back.

Well, yeah, to claim their land back. And this was all being said by God. This is all being said. And so these people were led by Joshua, which was the one that God was speaking through, not to anyone else. Right. Just to Joshua and just to Moses. It goes back to Abraham as well, though. I get.

I mean, not Jesus. God promised Abraham he was going to get his land back. And this was way before Moses and Joshua. All I'm saying is, is that these stories were written by people. And regardless of whatever you want to look at, the book of the Bible is not written by God. God did not write it. I mean, he didn't. God did not write these words.

These were people that wrote the words that allegedly talked to God. That's all I'm saying. Okay. Well, people that believe in the Bible say disciples of God wrote the Bible through God. Okay. Yeah, I get that. I get it. I'm just giving you my thoughts, okay? I'm just giving you my hangups, right?

I'm not saying that I'm right. I'm not saying that Christians are wrong. I'm not saying any of that stuff. I'm just trying to get to the bottom of what the hell is going on, really. So the sun stood still and the moon stayed in a place until the nation of Israel had defeated its enemies. That's Joshua 1013. So God has told Joshua not to make peace treaties with the Canaanite kingdoms, but one city kingdom, Gibbyon, shrewdly tricks Joshua into a treaty.

They send ambassadors to his camp at Gilgall near the Jordan River, and the ambassadors lie and say they're from faraway land. They even have the tattered clothes, patch sandals, and moldy bread to prove it. Three days after the Dundale, Joshua discovers that the ambassadors came from King Knight City only 20 miles away, a one-day mark. But lie or no lie, Joshua feels bound by his agreement. Gibbyon's neighbors aren't happy. They feel betrayed, so they send a coalition army from five cities that surround

Gibbion and to kill the people living there. Immediately, Gibbion rushes messengers to Joshua with an urgent call for help. Joshua responds by mustering his army, leading them on an all-light march up in the hills, and taking the coalition forces by surprise. Now that morning, that morning, Joshua prays a bizarre prayer. and he says, let the sun stand still over Gibbeon. And the moon over the valley of, I don't know what that says, Igeon, and this is Joshua 1012.

That's exactly what happens, according to the Bible. God stops the sun and moon in the sky. Some Christians say they believe that God literally stopped the earth's rotation, which would have given the illusion that the sun and moon froze in the sky. As scientific evidence, some say NASA has calculated that the calendar is missing one day. but this is a claim NASA denies on this website. They say it would be impossible to calculate a lost day. Others say the writer admits to pull in the story from the book of Jashar,

a lost book of Hebrew poetry. And they argue that the readers today should give the writer some poetic license. Perhaps Joshua wanted God to help the Israelites finish the battle before the day's end. Or maybe Joshua was asking for a cloud cover so the sun wouldn't burn the energy out of his soldier. who were already weary of the all-night climb some 3,300 feet up from the river, valley. The Hebrew word that says the sun stood still is Damam, and it can also mean the sun stopped shining. In fact, the Bible says thick storm clouds did roll in.

Hell killed more of the enemy than the Israelites killed with the sword. This is Joshua 10, 11. So they're saying a storm rolled in and hell killed more people than Israelites killed with swords. So this is just talking about a just, I mean, and this is just another example, right? You have a story here in the Bible from that has been heavily translated. And it talks about Joshua prays a interesting prayer and ask God to stop the sun and the moon. And, you know, it just, it's strange. It's a strange story, right?

It is strange, but we also have to think about we have a leap year every four years, which deletes a day of our calendar. Yeah, that's true. Listen, I'm just trying to, I'm just trying to give my thoughts as we go through this, right? So carving up the promised land. Give this land to Israel as a special possession just as I have commanded you, Joshua 136. When many of the Canaanite armies defeated, Joshua devised the land among 12 Israeli tribes, which you talked about.

It's a bit like dividing a state into a dozen countries or counties. and Canaan on the west side of the Jordan River was about the size of New Jersey. Each tribe is descended from one of Jacob's 12 sons. So each tribe takes its name from one of those sons. Each tribe gets a plot of ground in the promised land with the exception of the tribe of Levi. Now the Levites are worship leaders, so Joshua scatters them into 48 Levite cities throughout the country. That way no Israelite is too far from their spiritual leaders.

but even without Levi territory, the land is divided into a dozen regions. The Israelites pick up the extra tribe by giving Joshua's family a double share. Joseph's father, Jacob, had predicted as much centuries earlier. When he blessed Joseph's two sons, Jacob elevated them from the status of grandsons to sons. And he says, I am claiming as my own sons these two boys of yours. Ephraim and Manessa. Jacob said they would inherit their own sections of the promised land. That's why there's no tribe of Joseph but tribes of Eprim and Manasa instead.

So the cities of refuge and justice, anyone who kills another person accidentally and unintentionally can run to one of these cities, Joshua 23. So accidents happen and sometimes people die because of them. In Joshua's day, it's an eye for an eye and a life for a life. common law throughout the Middle East, even potentially still this day. And there's a problem. Some people don't distinguish being murder and accidental manslaughter. Accident or not, the killer has to die. Without law enforcement officers, it's usually up to angry relatives of the victim to hunt down and execute the killer. So unlike such laws of today, God's law distinguishes between murder and manslaughter and makes provisions for a fair trial. God names six of 48

Levite cities as cities of refuge. He scatters these half dozen cities throughout the land, so a killer on the run doesn't have to go too far, which is also very interesting. Once inside the city, the killer gets asylum and a trial. If the killer is found guilty of murder, city elders turn the killer over to the victim's relatives. If found innocent, the killer gets to live, but must stay inside the city. Only when a nation's high priest dies is the killer allowed to safely return home.

Now the idea behind this may be according to the laws of God gave Moses. It takes a life to atone for killing someone, even if the death is accidental. The life of the body is in its blood, God told Moses. It is the blood given in an exchange for a life that makes purification possible, Leviticus 1711. The death of the priest apparently atones for the manslaughter, and this death is supposed to satisfy even the victim's relatives. So that's very interesting, by the way, you know, when you were found guilty back then,

they gave you to the family of the victim. Man, wouldn't that be amazing? Wow, that is crazy. And it also said that murder is not just murder. It depends on what kind of murder happened. If it was an accident, it was a lesser offense, I guess. Yeah, it seems like it, right? And so, but they consider that manslaughter even then, you know, and you still have manslaughter charges,

which technically is a somewhat lesser offense. But they still gave you to the family that you murdered the person of. Yeah, I think so. Yeah. And what would happen? Very interesting. I don't know. Because I'm just telling you, I don't know.

I'm just thinking about if one of my precious family members were murdered by someone. Oh, I can tell you what would happen. God's bringing this person to come live with me after they killed my family member? No, but no, but no, the court then said you can do whatever. want to. Right. That includes, you can do anything.

You can kill them, make them a slave, you can do anything. No, I would do, like if someone killed my family and I had the opportunity to do whatever I wanted to.

Family member. Let's just say it was accident, though. Okay, if it was accident. Let's just say it was a car accident. They don't have cars back then, but just like,

this person accidentally killed your family member. But was he drunk? I mean, that's the thing. Was he drunk? because, you know, you know. No, because Jesus wasn't on around yet.

They didn't have wine. No, they had, they still have wine. They still had stuff like that. But what I'm saying is like, you know, how would you as a family member to a victim that say that someone, I mean, say that this was the laws today. And in court systems, if your daughter died in a head-on collision from a drunk driver and the drunk driver gets found guilty and they send that person to your house and you get to do whatever hell you want to with them. could you imagine. Yeah, I mean, what do you do? Woo.

But look, here's the thing. I think at the very least, I think that the, I think that laws and punishment and all that stuff back then was much more heinous than it is today. Oh, absolutely. And, you know, we have to go on if somebody actually murdered somebody out of a heinous act, you know, raped and murdered your daughter or whatever. And that guy is coming to your house and you can do whatever. They'd be dead. They'd be dead pretty fast. I mean, I wouldn't waste any too much of my time.

Oh, it'll be slow. No, yeah. I don't, I don't even want to give this person any more life than possible. But, I mean, it would just, you know, I would make sure that they fully understood they effed up. Yeah, but then we got to think about it. Oh, God, why do I keep going back to Jesus? Because I'm thinking about the shack now, the book that we read in the movie. Yeah.

You know, this guy in the book, his daughter was molested and raped and kidnapped. And somehow this guy learns to forgive this guy. Yeah. And we're talking about we would do an eye for an eye. We would murder this person right away. Well, that's what they believed back then. I mean, Joshua believed it. Many of the leaders, the disciples believed it.

So what is the difference between us thinking back then and thinking now? But you, okay, if that happened to you today and somebody murdered and raped our daughter. Yeah, they would be dead. They still be dead. No matter if you believe in Jesus or not. No, it doesn't matter. If I believe in Jesus or not, they would still be dead. Because in Christian view, you're supposed to forgive people and let God take care of it.

That's the Jesus perspective, right? Right. But this is what we have to understand is that during this time frame of the Bible, It was an eye for an eye. Yeah, but I'm talking about this happened now, Chad. If somebody raped and murdered our daughter and they were, they came, they were found guilty and came to our house. What would you do? Well, if it's legal for us to kill them, then I'm going to do it.

So that's, I mean, I mean, I hate to be that way. But I'm just saying, like, if someone killed my family member and that's legal, without question, they're dead. So you could not just look at them in the eye and say, I forgive you. No, absolutely not. for doing that. Yeah, I can say I forgive you. Now go home to be with God. Peace out.

Honestly. Yeah, I know. Let God handle your stuff. Yeah. And I would be, I mean, I don't know because it's not happened. And hopefully God, that will never happen to us, that we have to be in that position to make that kind of choice. Because even being in that position to make that kind of choice is a hard choice.

You know, especially if you believe in God and you believe that, you know last thing i would say to them as i would be like hey do you know i believe in teleportation and be like what are you talking about i'm about to teleport you to god right now in about five minutes and i'm about to prove to you they exist you're either being teleboarded to god or you're being teleported to hell and that's between you god and satan but it's not up to me i'm just sending you there and because this is legal and by the way in the first part of the bible it says this is legal so if I'm going to hell because I kill this dude that is legal, then everybody in before Jesus is going to hell too. Because they believed eye for an eye.

Yep. So. And we still do in our justice system. I mean, we wouldn't have death row. Yeah. We didn't believe that. That's, that's an eye for an eye. Yeah.

I mean, South Carolina has firing squad, right? I mean, um, you know. And Idaho is getting it now too with like the Idaho order guy. But pedophiles in Idaho. Now they just passed. I think they passed. Bill in Idaho to where if you are caught, if you are convicted of molesting a child under 12 years old, you can get death penalty in Idaho.

And I believe that. I think that's the right thing to do. The only problem with death penalty in a lot of cases on anything is like the, we just know that there are a lot of people on death row that are innocent. That are innocent, yeah. Right. And they, you know, sometimes there are dirty cops or dirty. systems that just want to put somebody, you know.

Really? That's weird. They want to make somebody guilty to let go of that whole thing. Is there a name Fannie? By chance? Fony. Oh, God. Anyway.

You are not. So that's the only thing I have, well, I don't know. I don't know if I believe in death sentence anyways. I don't think that is a human job. I would believe in a death sentence if you could, if you had a, if you had a true and just system that 100% knew for a fact that the person you're about to kill actually committed the crime. And the problem is that, you know, even in the justice system, it seems like there is a battle between prosecutors and defense. Prosecutors always want to win no matter what.

And there's been many instances. They're going to do anything they can to approve it. Yeah, there's been many instances where prosecutors either don't have the evidence that they should have, but they're still going to push us to court. They're going to still try to get that conviction because it looks good on their conviction record, you know, and even though that, you know, even them going to bed at night or probably would think, you know, you know, I guess in the circumstance, right. They should think, well, we didn't truly have enough evidence to actually convict this person to death.

But they do still because they won. They won. It is a win on their record. Oh, absolutely. And I think about, and I know I'm getting off target, but I'm even thinking about the Idaho murderers and Brian Colup. Coleberger. Oh my God, I said Colip.

Like Todd Colup. Coler. We haven't talked to him about him in a long time, but it's kind of the same thing. They're going after the death penalty for him. Yeah. Which, by the way, if he killed the Idaho four, he should get a death penalty. But you just got to make sure you have a full evidence. And by the way, not getting too far off topic.

I think when they go to trial, which is going to be 2025, which is crazy. Yes, I know. When they do go to trial, though, it's going to be a, I think they have so much evidence on this dude. I can't wait for that trial. I was hoping it would be this summer, but it's not going to be. Yeah, they have a lot of evidence on. I'm still like up and down about the whole death penalty thing. Yeah, I am too.

But unless it's my family and I know for sure this person did it, yeah, then I'm all for it. So last words of Joshua, choose today whom you will serve. But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord. You probably heard that. I mean, that's been one of a, it's a great quote that you see in people's homes. It's in their kitchen. Everyone's kitchen. Absolutely, yeah.

So years pass and Joshua grows old. He's 110 and he knows he'll die soon. So he calls together the tribal leaders one last time. And as Moses has done in his last days with the people, Joshua speaks with compassion of a father urging to Israel. to renew their agreement with God. Joshua sees one serious problem, though. The Israelites have failed to drive out all the Canaanites, so he offers a stern warning,

and he says, if you turn away from him, aka God, and cling to the customs of the survivors of these nations remaining among you, and if you are intermarry with them, then know for certain that the Lord, your God, will no longer drive them out of your land,

and say they will be a snare and a trap to, you and you will vanish from the good land that the Lord God has given you. And this is Joshua 23, verse 12 through 13. Israel's leaders pledge their allegiance to God, vowing we will serve the Lord our God. We will obey him. Joshua dies soon afterwards. And for the first time in our life,

as a nation that's only two generations old, the Israelites have no central charismatic person to lead them. So now this is Joshua dies and they don't they no longer have a they don't have a leader. They don't have a big leader. You had Moses and you had Joshua. Now you don't have a leader. And also I want to put this, a prostitute in Jesus family tree. Israelists not only spared Rahab, the prostitute who helped their spies in Jericho.

They accepted her as a covert. Then Joshua married her. At least that's what some ancient Jewish stories say. But the New Testament, dangling her from the family tree of Jesus, says she married a man named Salman and became the great grandmother of King David, Matthew 1, 5 through 6. It's possible that Matthew was talking about another Rahab, but there's only one famous Rahab in the Bible, the former prostitute who has a tainted background that tracks well worth, sorry, well, with three other women listed Jesus' ancestors. There was Tamar who slept with her father-in-law, Bethesba, who committed adultery with David, and Ruth, a foreign from Moab in what is now Jordan.

Some Bible experts guessed that Matthew included these women to show that women with questionable backgrounds like Mary, the Ewed Mother of Jesus, were mothers of Israel's greatest kings and worthy of respect. So Rahab, the prostitute, could have been in Jesus family lineage. This is what's crazy. It's like, you know, prostitution, man.

They got sting operations everywhere nowadays. You get prostituted. Yeah, you're, you know, you're going to go down. Or you got a pimp. A lot of prostitutes are beaten. They're on drugs. They're on meth. They're on all this crazy stuff.

But prostitution was a thing back in the day. And even apparently, according to the Bible, a lot of prostitutes actually had, were the mothers of kings. It is very interesting to read some of these chapters of the Bible where we try to compare it to today and try to just take stuff from this, right? Well, if that's the case, we should uphold prostitutes because they're mothers of kings. Oh, God. I think you're taking the wrong message.

So let's get into before we close, what is your thoughts on this? Like what? Sherry, what are your thoughts in this? I mean, what do you think about just what do you think about what we just read? Because I just have so many thoughts inside of me that just don't make sense to me. And I wish and I really wish I can get out my thoughts fully and 100% like I want to get out my thoughts. And I could, I could if I wanted to. Well, I can read your mind.

Maybe you're thinking. Maybe I should. Maybe I should. But yeah. And I can read your mind. I know exactly what you. you're thinking. I'm sure you do. I do. Yeah. Because I'm that type of person. Well, you're my wife. And it is our anniversary today. Yeah. Happy anniversary, by the way. But what are your thoughts on it, though? What are your thoughts on just God commanding the Israelites to go and kill everyone? And

when they didn't necessarily kill everyone, he was mad at them. Yes. And that happened. I mean, it was, it happened in history. And history repeated itself with Israelites, with the different generations. And God said, I'm going to wipe out everyone because you are too weak to do what I said to do. You weren't strong enough to follow through, which to me as a human, that's a hard thing to do. Can you imagine God saying take, okay, God's saying, Sherry, here's a knife. You got to kill your husband. Well, Sherry, well, it depends on the day. Sherry my name. Share my life. Give me the knife. Dude, I was actually looking for one. Yes. I was looking for one and now you're going to give it to me. This is definitely God.

Well, it depends if I'm mad at you or not. But, okay, let's do another one. You might want to do another example. Yeah. How about you do Maverick? Oh, I would never kill you. Exactly. Yeah, see, exactly.

You would kill me. Anyways. No, I would not. I don't know. I don't know what I would do, Chad. Would you kill me? Oh, absolutely not. For God?

If God came down and said it, no. No. And here's the thing. This is what I'm saying. no, I wouldn't. You would go against God. Yes. And you would.

Because in my mind, listen, and I'm glad you asked me this question. And I think this is what wraps up my thoughts on this chapter, right? If a God, the God, which I do believe there is a God, by the way. And I want to make something very clear. I want to make something very clear. But if the God comes down and says, hey, Chad. So anyways, I am God. And say that you actually see him.

I'm seeing a movie right now saying, hey, God, I'm God. Yeah, but listen. But he comes down and he says, I'm God. You got to kill your wife or whatever or kill the most important thing to you, which is you, by the way. So it would be you. I'd say, well, if you're God, you would never make me do that. But he did that to Abraham.

Allegedly. Yeah. And I think about all these women that have killed their children for God or religion. you know well listen that's weird too to think about like these women you know you know who I'm talking about there's some women that will actually kill their children and say God told them to do it were they crazy or was God was God talking to them I don't know probably because God if everything we've read so far and if this is all real and true I could not see saying saying that God would not tell somebody not to kill their kids.

But listen to me. Based on what we've read so far. Here's the thing, though. Here's the thing that wraps this up for me in my head. If the Bible talks consistently about good versus evil, in some parts of the Bible, it's hard to distinguish against good versus evil. I mean, if you're saying that God is good,

but he tells all these Israelites to kill all these people in Canaan. How is that good? How is that good? And yet evil is evil, right? Instead of like saying, hey, guys, you know, this is what you're supposed to do nowadays. I'm a Christian. I'm supposed to go out and get other people to become Christians and be a, what's the word?

I can't even think. A missionary. A missionary to your religion. And God wants you to get as many people, you know, to believe in Jesus as you can before Jesus comes back. Here's my thing. I just think that people have misrepresented who God is for a very long. time. So you don't think God was

a... I don't think so, no. He's a guy of war. No, I don't. I think that... I think... And listen, this is... Christians don't kill me, because you're not allowed to, according to Bible. And you're allowed to forgive me if I'm wrong here. Also. But what I'm saying is, is that I

oftentimes think about the King James version in the Bible where it talks about some of this stuff. And it's not just King James. I mean, this is what the Torah believes is a lot of this stuff. I just feel like, you know, we know that these chapters are written by people. These are not gods. These are not angels. These are people like you and me, like everyone.

And supposedly they had some brilliant ability to speak directly with God. But there are people still to this day that think they speak directly to God. And there are people to this day, even in Middle Eastern countries and other countries, Russia, name it. to where they use religion and God for their own power and their own agendas to take over countries, to kill people, to kill the oppositions, to do all these things. And so if you're telling me that people like Joshua and people like Moses, they were just and they were 100% correct, which by the way, the Bible over anything says no one is sin free,

including Moses and including Joshua. Yeah, but that was before Jesus. No, it doesn't matter. No one was sin free. Yeah, you're supposed to be sin free after Jesus. That's not possible though. You're supposed to be forgiven for your sins. Yes, and Adam and Eve proved that no one was sin free, period,

because it started from their very beginning. But nonetheless, all I'm saying here is that I just feel like the interpretation of God with religion is wrong. And that's my opinion. I don't think that God is as heinous as what these stories may come out to be. I don't want to believe in a God like that personally. I don't want to believe that God would say because this is your land, which is, by the way, a very physical tangible, tangible object or thing or place.

And by the way, that's what the Bible speaks about is don't be tangible. Don't think about physical things. Think about me. think about what you have. And yet, and yet here it says you're going to go kill tons of people and you're going to take your land. I mean, it's just, there's a lot of stuff

that doesn't make sense to me about this. Let me ask you a question. Okay, but all I'm saying is, is that if you want my opinion at this moment, I believe that some of these people that wrote some of these stories in the Bible were writing these stories based on historical context to make themselves look better based on some heinous shit they did and then blamed it on God.

And if that's the case, how can you believe in God? I'm 100% believe in God. And when did God really come into the Bible? If you don't feel, if you feel like people are just writing this thing down to make them look better, then who actually was speaking to God? And you said, and let me point that out for a second. You said there's a lot of people that think they're speaking to God, but they're not. But there's also a lot of people like you and I that speak to God every day.

You know, just because I speak. You know, I constantly talk to God. I do too. But I mean, that doesn't mean that God's going to tell me. Okay, that's like me saying that, well, God told you to go kill off New York. No, and God doesn't tell me anything ever. No, but imagine, though, in today's world that you were so devout to God that God came down, not down. he just spoke to you and said, you got to go shoot up an entire city.

I mean, that's basically what this chapter of the Bible is saying. That's like a terrorist organization in my mind. Like if you think about today, I get it. It is a terrorist group of people that go in and kill off an entire country. So if that's how you feel about the Old Testament, then you've got to feel that away, about the New Testament. Yeah. Because it's the same God, right?

Or is it not? Jesus come down as the son of God according to the Bible. And the thing about Jesus is how drastically the relationship between God and people change. And I find that just so very interesting. It is very strange to me how all of a sudden, oh, we're supposed to be good people now. We don't kill people and we don't go and do all this stuff. Because before we had a sacrifice for God. We had to kill things for God until Jesus came.

Yeah, sacrificial lambs. I mean, it was always about killing. Right. Until Jesus came. Exactly. It's just, it doesn't make sense to me. Maybe some people out there that are scholars can explain this to me. And maybe we should bring on scholars and ask them these very tough questions because I feel like you bring on any scholar.

It doesn't matter if you bring on Joe Osteen or Joel. It doesn't matter. I just feel like he's going to have a hard time truly. answering these questions. Well, and they say that the Bible was written through disciples that were listening to God. That was quote-unquote speaking to God through dreams or through whatever they thought God was telling them. Even in the Bible, some Bibles have like the words in red where God was actually speaking. And that's why it's so hard.

I don't know. Jesus. Yeah, those are, I think what those are Jesus words, right? Those are the actual. Yeah, I think so. words were Jesus words. Those are important words. Yeah. As Larry the cable guy said, I don't know. Larry the cable guy said, I'm not a Christian, but I just know when you read them red words,

they're important. They mean they from God. Jesus. I think it's the Jesus words. Well, God and Jesus are supposedly the same thing. Yeah. But listen, here's to wrap up Joshua. And we're going to go beyond Joshua very soon because we've got to get to the bottom of our belief system. we were driven to this topic, right? And we were driven to this topic.

I remember when we started the biblical episodes, Sharon had many conversations. And I started, I had, I did have dreams. I had a lot of dreams about like, hey, you got to do this. You got to do this. You got to do this. You got to talk about this. You got to talk about this.

And so I want people to understand that we're not at all. I don't want you guys to think we're dissuading you from believing the Bible or in this stuff. I'm just giving you my thoughts and opinions and all that stuff. And all I'm saying is that I just don't know that God was. as heinous is what the Bible portrays him as. And I think that if you understand that the first books of the Bible were written by Moses, a person,

a human being, and then Joshua subsequent after that, which was the chapter of Joshua, and then basically the overtaken of Canaan and killing off all the people. And even it was a bad thing according to God, according to the Bible anyway, it was a bad thing for the 12 tribe leaders across Israel to make any type of relationship.

or anything with the remaining people. Now, in what we just read, they did not talk a lot about giants or nephlym or any of the stuff. I hear nothing about them in this one. No, and these are the most. Which we've not gone through the whole Bible in this. We went through parts of it in this episode. We did, but there's 12 scholars that are writing through the absolute most important parts of these chapters in this and kind of what we go through.

And oftentimes I will hear people say, Oh, well, it's just, well, the reason they had to kill everybody was because, you know, there were giants there. Or the reason they had to kill everybody was because these people didn't believe in God. So, okay, or are you saying that the people that don't believe in God now, that everyone should just go kill that do believe in God? Because that's basically what if God came down now, according to what this talks about. Right. God would tell you to go kill off any opposition religion. No. That's not what God wants you to do nowadays.

I don't think. Oh, nowadays. Well, so God changes mind now? I know. I know. It's crazy, right? Yeah. And listen, because nowadays,

we're supposed to change people's minds and make them, you know, lead them to God. But you do make a good point. We have not got to necessarily the full Jesus perspective or story. All I'm saying is, guys, I'm confused by these chapters, okay? That's all I'm telling you. I'm just looking at it from a realistic perspective. and if we're supposed to be good people and in and in good versus evil good versus evil like are are we supposed to be more heinous than we are i mean because that's the question like are we supposed to be

more badass soldiers that are like not accepting anything other than your god because if we are we're mega screwing up and and is this the message in these verses that are saying any opposition to god you should kill or you should go and destroy and take out the opposition. Well, I'm going to have to go back to this again, Chad. Anyone that is a Christian is going to say it's pre-Jesus. And pre-Jesus was pretty brutal. It was not until after Jesus when he sacrificed his own son,

that things started to change in the Bible. Absolutely. And so you growing up Jewish and me growing up Christian, even though I, you know, like I said, I've questioned many things. You've questioned many things. and I've even asked you that. So I'm like, how do Jews live with the Bible that they're given? Well, and then, too, Jesus is a Jew.

And they totally don't even, I mean, I think they believe in Jesus. Well, they denied him. But they deny him as the son of God. Yeah, they denied him. And if you want, which still doesn't make a lot of sense to me is like, why would the fact that Jesus come down, right? and was the son of God to come and to come and save the sinners,

did God somehow just eventually realize, look, there's nothing I'm going to say to these people that they're ever going to. But he made him a son through Mary, who we just read, was not a perfect person either. Apparently a prostitute, Mary was potentially also a prostitute. I don't know.

She was supposedly a virgin when she had Jesus. Yeah, so how is she a prostitute in? I don't know. Yeah, that makes sense. But also at the same time, do you really think that Mary? was a virgin that had a baby. I mean, come on.

Like, we're talking about, no. Personally, I don't think that's the case, but who knows? If you want to talk about that, I mean, they are never, I'm not even going to go into that. I'm not even going to go into that. I read an article today, though, that they said that trans milk for babies is just as healthy as women's milk for babies. And how do they get the trans milk? I don't know. That's what I'm saying.

I have no idea. No, I don't think so. but I mean but what if it said that in the Bible a hundred years from now? Who knows? People like, well, yeah, you remember the book of trans when it talked about the milk of the baby and Jesus gave them that because they didn't even have reproductive organs, but they were able to produce milk and get pregnant apparently because they were actually a woman that was to pretend to be a man.

Anyways, not even going to go in that. Oh, wow. Maybe we should add it out. out. I'm not in that out. Screw it. But guys, that's going to be it. I knew this was going to be a tough episode for me because this is one of the most confusing episodes just from the perspective of today. Right. And I need answers and we're going to keep finding them. We're going to keep looking for those answers. We will get eventually to the Jesus stories and the Jesus era, specifically in a New Testament.

But let us know what your thoughts are. Please reach out to us on Investigator Earth on Facebook or our ex account. Send us a message. Let us know, am I wrong, right? Because I could be. I don't want you guys to just take my word for it. I'm just giving you my thoughts and my opinions based on what I'm reading of the Bible. But I think we should just go ahead and do a status on our Facebook page.

Well, we do actually have one right now. And yeah, let's talk through that because it's so hard. sometimes to go through all the messages. Yeah. Like it's easier on the statuses for us all to communicate together. Well, we do have a message up right now on our Facebook. It is a picture of God. And I think it says our new episodes coming out tonight.

Why don't you guys just go there. Yeah, I think that would be way easier than Messenger. Yeah, whatever your thoughts are, go there and voice your opinion and thoughts on this chapter in particular. Let me know if you agree with me, if I'm wrong, how I'm wrong, or if Sherry's wrong, or whatever. And let us know. And because look, we're going through this journey together.

Some of you, like I said, we've said on other episodes. Some of you may be closer to, I guess, your spirituality and all that stuff than we are. We're just on a journey right now. And we're on a journey for, I think we're on a journey for a reason. I think God is leading us in this path. He is making sure that we are fully aware of, or not fully aware, but, at least fully ready to accept what is going on and our acceptance of the Bible versus non-acceptance. We have a journey.

That's what we're doing. And we're doing it with you guys. And we hope that you will go over to our Facebook and let us know your thoughts on all of this. But that's going to be it. We got a lot of great episodes coming tomorrow night, which will be February the 19th. We have Ashton Forbes on. We're going to talk about the UFO community, the toxicity. It has been a crazy thing for Ashton.

We also have Dave, I think his last name is, I don't know. We have Dave on as well. He is a defense contractor. He is working on a lot of crazy stuff as far as advanced tech. And so we're going to have him on as well. It's going to be a great episode you don't want to miss. And then we will also have another biblical breakdown episode very soon. But guys, listen, all I'm saying is let us know your thoughts.

We're going through this together. I'm not saying for you to believe or not believe. If you believe, good for you. We're just trying to find our way to what we believe and how we believe. And maybe some of you can help us with that. So the name of this song, by the way, is only this matters by 10 Towers. And the song that started this episode was, I Lean on You Wildflowers featuring Christian Smith.

Guys, until next time, we love each and everyone, every one of you. We just want to get to the truth. want to get to reality. We want to try to connect to what is going to help us get through everyday life today. What's going to happen? What's going to happen when we die? What's going to happen in the afterlife? That's all we want to know. And that's our mission. Guys, until next time, we love you. Peace out. Peace out, guys.