“The bible was written by stone age camel herders…” That is a paraphrase of one of the most frequently used excuses non-believers give me for not reading the bible. They say that man at the time of the bible, especially the earliest parts, were just incomprehensible musings of neolithic shepherds wandering the desert.
That excuse is bursting with illogic, but what are you gonna do? Non-believers don’t want to believe. Faith is a choice. Anyway, I bring this up because I am a fan of archaeology.
Don’t you ever wonder how the Great Pyramid at Giza was built? It defies technology, archaeology and man’s understanding today of how they did it. As Jack Kelley wrote in his essay The Great Pyramid of Giza: “The Great Pyramid’s builder knew all the dimensions of Earth and had a command of engineering, astronomy, and mathematics that would be impressive even today.” Some stone age shepherds, eh? Extra-biblical writings and traditions say that the first wave of builders of the Pyramid included Job, Shem, and/or Enoch.
These illogical things in the world kept me wondering about God and thus kept the door opened to His Truth. I always wondered how and why pyramids, monuments, and ziggurats were built, and all over the world, too. The Easter Island statures, the Great Pyramids, and the Mayan temples fascinated me, and still do. Far from the false depiction in history books that the world was populated only in the Middle East, and the Americas were an almost empty continent with a few teepees sprinkled here and there, the fact is, the word was full of worshiping, advanced civilizations. And let’s not forget Atlantis, which archaeologists claim to have recently found.
If the bible was written by brainless stone age shepherds, then how and why did these fabulous monuments arise? Where did the peoples come from? Where did they go? I just knew there was more to the story.
There is a monument or temple of ancient origin on almost every continent. These ancient peoples were worshiping something. They had the technology and know-how to build massive monuments and places of worship that equal or even defy our understanding today. What would compel these people to construct such enormous structures, at great labor and cost? Is the urge to worship innate, I had wondered? Otherwise, how can it be explained that the urge to worship something greater than ourselves had arisen from such disparate cultures across such great distances and through epochs?
“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.” (Romans 1:18-20). It follows that, given the awareness of God universally evident in creation, no person can truly deny the existence of its Creator, even though they may try.
And this week the news articles published tell of yet another ancient worship site in Guatemala scientists have found. Holtun, or Head of Stone, in Guatemala was ‘discovered’ more fully by using advanced 3D holographic imaging, which stripped away centuries of jungle growth to reveal a “seven-story-tall pyramid, an astronomical observatory, a ritual ball court, several stone residences, and other structures.”
Lost Mayan city discovered in rainforest
“According to research presented earlier this month, three-dimensional mapping has “erased” centuries of jungle growth, revealing the rough contours of nearly a hundred buildings. It has long been known to locals that something big is buried in the area, but it is only now that archaeologists have been able to uncover the secrets. Using GPS and electronic distance-measurement technology last year, the researchers plotted the locations and elevations of a seven-story-tall pyramid, an astronomical observatory, a ritual ball court, several stone residences, and other structures. … Reese-Taylor, who called the new mapping study “incredibly significant”, said Head of Stone, which has never been excavated, “was not a New York or Los Angeles, but it was definitely a Denver or Atlanta”.
The city of about 2000 inhabitants flourished for about a thousand years, from roughly 950 BC to 900 AD, when it was abandoned.
I believe the original Pyramid was a godly effort and perhaps it is this to which the following Jeremiah verse points: “God has set signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, even unto this day, and in Israel, and among other men; and has made Himself a Name, as at this day”.(Jeremiah 32:20). All of the 80 or so other pyramids came later, are horribly inferior copies.
I further believe that the urge to worship is innate but absent faith in Jesus as God, it’s easily perverted because of our sinful nature. The Nephilim took advantage of this urge and did pervert it, as shown in resulting worship practices such as infanticide, live sacrifices, bestiality, and worship of satanic rituals and idols. Their monuments, beginning with the Tower of Babel just after the Flood, continued to be built all over the world and it is likely their skill and knowledge that fomented the construction of such complex buildings.
More information on the Nephilim from Jack Kelley here. Chuck Missler explains, here. More info on the Guatemalan city, here. More information on the Creator of everything, here.
There are so many mysteries about these ancient monuments and long-abandoned cities. I’m eager to learn more when we are raptured, glorified and are outside of time. Perhaps we will be able to view these events from our balcony seat in New Jerusalem. Perhaps we may learn why it was abandoned. Just as likely, my interest and curiosity may disappear like a vapor in the face of full glory of Jesus, and He may have many other things for us to learn instead of past history. But still, the mystique of a lost city found in the rainforest makes me wonder. What were they worshiping, and why? Didn’t someone stand up and say, “Not MY baby!?” Didn’t someone take the knowledge gained in constructing these magnificent structures and say, “I’m using this knowledge to the good!”
Sometimes I mourn because the bible says all the earth and its works will be burned up. (2 Peter 3:10) Not the Mona Lisa! Not the Taj Mahal! Not the lost city of Macchu Pichu! Then I realize, how silly. “However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him”. (1 Corinthians 2:9). I can’t wait to see what is next that will be MORE beautiful than what God has already created for us. And the soon-to-be-discovered city of New Jerusalem tops the list.
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