Magic

After you read this post go back and watch this and this. You did not see what you thought you saw. Both are illusions. The first video is essentially an advertisement for a magic company's Floating Card Trick which they sell, with instructions, to stage magicians. The second is a video of illusionist Criss Angel.  I have no idea how he does this but it is an illusion and is not real supernatural magic.

The Egyptian priests in Exodus 7:8 - 8:7 were able to duplicate the miracles performed by Moses using what the Bible calls their "secret arts." Whether or not they actually performed supernatural acts or were merely skilled illusionists, we do not know. The effect, though, was to cause haughty unbelief in Pharaoh's heart. Because he did not believe, God hardened Pharaoh's unbelief.

Jesus does not appear to have been particularly impressed with His own supernatural powers. He expected belief because of who he was, not because he did "magic." He remarked that if the people did not believe Moses, why would they believe him? And he seems to have had what on the surface appears to have been a rather harsh attitude toward unbelief. Harsh unless he was who he clearly said he was.

“And he could do no miracle there except that he laid His hands on a few sick people and healed them.” Mark 6:5 NASB®

"Do not give what is holy to dogs, and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.” Matthew 7:6 NASB®

"Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet.” Matthew 10:14 NASB®

"And as for those who do not receive you, as you go out from that city, shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them.” Luke 9:5 NASB®

There is no biblical record that Jesus ever returned to Nazareth after that day.

These two sites discuss whether or not the unbelief in Nazareth actually limited Jesus' ability to perform miracles.

https://www.christiancourier.com/articles/872-was-christs-power-limited-by-mans-faith

http://home.earthlink.net/~ronrhodes/qjesusmiracles.html

Extra-Biblical Evidences of Biblical Persons and/or Events: The Mortuary Temple of Rameses III

The Medinat Habu Mortuary Temple of Pharaoh Rameses III of Egypt is a massive complex 150 meters long.  On its walls are inscriptions praising Rameses and listing his military triumph over the Sea Peoples in a great land and sea battle which occurred about 1191 BC/BCE.  One of the tribes composing the Sea People was the Philistines, who were Israel’s mortal enemies.  They are believed to have originally come from Crete.

The temple site is near Luxor (al-Uxxor) in Egypt.

Extra-Biblical Evidences of Biblical Persons and/or Events: The Merneptah Stele

The Merneptah Stele is also known as the Israel Stele or the Victory Stele of Merneptah.  A stele (plural: stelae) is an ancient stone or wooden slab put into place for a funeral or as a commerative, usually for the declaration of the deceased's glorious accomplishments.  They were sometimes placed at borders to denote national ownership of a territory.

The Merneptah Stele, dated to about 1205 BC/BCE, declares the glories of the Egyptian pharaoh Merneptah, who ruled from 1213 to 1203 BC/BCE.  The stele lists all the nations conquered by Merneptah, including "Isrir" or "ysri r."  Many believe that this stone, now housed in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, is the earliest known extrabiblical mention of Israel, though an earlier mention, dating to 1400BC/BCE may have been found in 2012 on a random piece of a statue pedestal which for years lay uncataloged and unexamined in the hundreds of fragments held by the Egyptian Museum in Berlin, Germany.

The Merneptah Stele says "Israel is wasted, bare of seed." (Actually, it literally says, "Israel waste (negative) seed/grain his/its.")

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