Modern Names of Places Mentioned in the Bible

 

Caphtor                      Amos 9:7; Jeremiah 47:9               Greece

Cushan                       Habakkuk 3:7                                Jordan

Gomer                        Ezekiel 38:6                                   Possibly Ukraine

Moab                          Numbers 22-24                              Jordan

Persia                          Numerous mentions                      Iran

Phoenicia                    Numerous mentions                      Lebanon

Sidon                          Genesis 10:15                                Lebanon

Tadmor                      2 Chronicles 8:4                            Palmyra, Syria

Tyre                            Isaiah 23:2,12                                Lebanon

Uz                               Job 1:1                                           Jordan and Lebanon

Jump Through the Fire

 

While preparing a post for this blog on the Metallica song, Jump in the Fire (see 4 December 2024), I came across information about the annual Ivana Kupala (Ivan the Battler/John the Baptist) Festival held in Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, and the Baltic States on the 6th and 7^th days of each July. While now considered to have Christian meanings, the Ivana Kupala Festival is a continuation of ancient pagan festivals such as the Celtic Beltane. Jumping over the fire seems to represent purity and cleansing. Cattle were often driven between two fires to protect them from disease.

The Ivana Kupala Festival was originally held during the Summer Solstice, but was moved to John the Baptist’s birthday and Christianized/assimilated by church authorities.

During the festival, people dance around, and jump over, roaring campfires. They then bathe in rivers and lakes to purge themselves of their sins, bring themselves good luck, and ensure their good health. Additionally, couples jump through the flames hand-in-hand to ensure that they will have a happy and prosperous marriage.

Many of the female celebrants wear wreaths made from vines, leaves, and flowers and dress in traditional national clothing.

themoscowtimes.com/archive/jumping-through-fire-at-a-slavic-pagan-festival

A Beautiful Cathedral in Ukraine

Horlivka Cathedral, Ukraine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horlivka#mediaviewer/File:Horlivka_Cathedral,_November_2013.tif

Prayer

Pray for Syria and Ukraine.

Queen in Ukraine

Recently (10-10-10), on the 101 Network on DirecTV, I watched a replay of a concert given by the rock group, Queen, in Kharkov, Ukraine which took place on 13 September 2008.  It was an outside concert and that was a good thing because 300,000 people showed up.  300,000!  That's 21% of the city's population of 1,461,300.

When I told a Chinese woman about the Gospel, she almost immediately lit up and said, "We did not have this in China."  She had found a treasure.  Now, she and her daughter regularly attend church and she smiles all the time.   And her parents, new converts because of her, took the faith back to China with them.

When I thought of her and the people in Ukraine, I thought of the hundreds of thousands, including many Christians, who were persecuted and killed in their countries' pasts in an attempt to create socialist atheist worker's paradises.  The Christian faith survived in Ukraine (where regular church attendance stands at 10%) and in China (regular church attendance at 9%).

At 10%, of the 300,000 at the concert in Kharkov, those who attend church would number 30,000.  Of the 1,461,300 people in Kharkov, 10% means that only 146,130 go to church with regularity.

Before we in America pat ourselves on the back, our percentage of regular church attendance is only 44%.  That means that 56 Americans out of every 100 do not attach any importance to church attendance.  Compare that with Nigeria at 89%.

Go to the link below to see a listing of the rates for 53 countries.
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/rel_chu_att-religion-church-attendance