21 Now this king of Egypt was a descendant from the loins of Ham, and was a partaker of the blood of the Canaanites by birth.22 From this descent sprang all the Egyptians, and thus the blood of the Canaanites was preserved in the land.23 The land of Egypt being first discovered by a woman, who was the daughter of Ham, and the daughter of Egyptus, which in the Chaldean signifies Egypt, which signifies that which is forbidden;24 When this woman discovered the land it was under water, who afterward settled her sons in it; and thus, from Ham, sprang that race which preserved the curse in the land.25 Now the first government of Egypt was established by Pharaoh, the eldest son of Egyptus, the daughter of Ham, and it was after the manner of the government of Ham, which was patriarchal.26 Pharaoh, being a righteous man, established his kingdom and judged his people wisely and justly all his days, seeking earnestly to imitate that order established by the fathers in the first generations, in the days of the first patriarchal reign, even in the reign of Adam, and also of Noah, his father, who blessed him with the blessings of the earth, and with the blessings of wisdom, but cursed him as pertaining to the Priesthood.
When I was reading this, I began to wonder why Abraham took so much trouble to describe how Egypt was found and by whom and the efforts of Pharaoh to imitate the priesthood. I realized that this information would be valuable in the face of the false religion of Egypt that must have claimed all priesthood authority right along as they insisted their rites of human sacrifice were the right way and their gods were THE gods. Abraham tells the background to expose the counterfeits to show that it was all an attempt to imitate the real thing, though with twists of evil. In the face of Egypt’s grandeur and power, Abraham’s voice is brave; he dares to reveal the truth, which he is sure of even as he is about to be sacrificed. Abraham’s father has been led away by the counterfeit and Abraham probably wanted to prevent others from being led away too.
What does this have to do with us? It shows us how important it is to record the truth about things when counterfeits are gaining ascendency and to explain why the counterfeits have appeal. Though we may see through the counterfeit, others may not and they may be benefited by the principles that we share.
There are so many counterfeits out there. One biggie that I hope is obvious is the difference between love and lust. Lust is predominately what passes for love in the media these days. Several factors contribute to this that I can see:
--Movies are only so long, so they can’t show the whole scope of a healthy relationship forming.
--Media lives and dies by sales and eyeballs, so it will go to extremes to draw interest, which leads to extreme depictions of attraction and sexual intimacy.
So I ask you readers, what characteristics can you share that would help someone differentiate between love and lust? And what other major counterfeits have you seen pop up these days?
Continue reading at the original source →