Monthly Archives: December 2020

My rough draft letter to President Elect Biden that will be mailed on February 12, 2021! (Part 24) People will move when you raise the taxes too much!!!!

February 12, 2021

President Biden c/o The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW Washington, DC 20500

Dear Mr. President,

The federal government debt is growing so much that it is endangering us because if things keep going like they are now we will not have any money left for the national defense because we are so far in debt as a nation. We have been spending so much on our welfare state through food stamps and other programs that I am worrying that many of our citizens are becoming more dependent on government and in many cases they are losing their incentive to work hard because of the welfare trap the government has put in place. Other nations in Europe have gone down this road and we see what mess this has gotten them in. People really are losing their faith in big government and they want more liberty back. It seems to me we have to get back to the founding  principles that made our country great.  We also need to realize that a big government will encourage waste and corruptionThe recent scandals in our government have proved my point. In fact, the jokes you made at Ohio State about possibly auditing them are not so funny now that reality shows how the IRS was acting more like a monster out of control. Also raising taxes on the job creators is a very bad idea too. The Laffer Curve clearly demonstrates that when the tax rates are raised many individuals will move their investments to places where they will not get taxed as much.

______________________

People will move when you raise the taxes too much!!!!

I feel sorry for the people of California.  They’re in a state that faces a very bleak future.

And why does the Golden State have a not-so-golden outlook?

Because interest groups have effective control of state and local political systems and they use their power to engage in massive rip-offs of taxpayers. One of the main problems is that there’s a bloated government workforce that gets wildly overcompensated. Here are some staggering examples.

A state nurse getting $331,000 of annual compensation.

A county administrator getting $423,000 pensions.

A state psychiatrist getting $822,000 of annual compensation.

Cops that get $188,000 of annual compensation.

A city manager getting $800,000 of annual compensation.

But overpaid bureaucrats are not the only problem. California politicians are experts at wasting money in other ways, such as the supposedly high-speed rail boondoggle that was supposed to cost $33 billion and now has a price tag of $100 billion.

You may be thinking that I’ve merely provided a handful of anecdotes, so let’s recycle some numbers that I first shared back in 2010.

California state spending has outgrown the state’s tax base by 1.3 percentage points annually for 25 years. Simple arithmetic dictates that in lieu of constant tax increases, this perpetuates a deficit. From 1985 to 2009 state GDP in California grew by 5.5 percent per year, on average (not adjusted for inflation). Annual growth in state spending was 6.8 percent, on average.

In other words, California politicians have routinely violated my Golden Rule for good fiscal policy. And when government grows faster than the productive sector of the economy for an extended period of time, bad things are going to happen.

And those bad things can happen even faster when upper-income taxpayers can leave the state.

Walter Williams sarcastically suggested last year that California barricade the state to prevent emigration, reminiscent of the actions of totalitarian regimes such as East Germany.

But since state politicians fortunately don’t have that power, successful taxpayers can escape, and hundred of thousands of them have “voted with their feet” to flee to states such as Texas.

One recent example is NBA superstar, Dwight Howard, who left the Los Angeles Lakers for the Houston Rockets. There are probably several reasons that he decided to make the switch, but the Wall Street Journal opines on a very big reason why he’ll be happier in Texas. The WSJ starts by looking at Mr. Howard’s two options.

NBA labor agreement…allows the Lakers to offer Mr. Howard $117 million over five years, compared to a maximum of $88 million over four years in Houston.

That looks about even when you look at annual pay, with the Lakers offering $23.4 million per year and the Rockets offering $22 million per year, but there’s another very important factor.

…this picture looks a lot different once the tax man cometh: “Howard would pay nearly $12 million in California tax over the four years if he signs with the Lakers, but only $600,000 in state tax should he sign with Houston. This means that a four-year deal with Houston would actually yield an additional $8 million in after-tax income.” California has the highest top rate for personal income in the nation, while Texas has no state income tax.

Some of you may be thinking this is no big deal. After all, the Lakers will sign somebody to take Dwight Howard’s place and that person will also get a huge salary.

That’s true, though Lakers fans probably aren’t happy that they’re destined to be a middle-of-the-pack team. The bigger point, though, is that there are tens of thousands of other high-paid people who can leave the state and there’s no automatic replacement. And many of them already have escaped.

Including very well-paid Chevron workers.

Ramirez California Promised LandNow that California’s moochers and looters have imposed an even higher top tax rate of 13.3 percent, expect that exodus to continue. Other pro athletes are looking to escape, andeven famous leftists are thinking about fleeing.

In other words, Governor Jerry Brown can impose high tax rates, but he can’t force people to earn income in California. I don’t know whether to call this “the revenge of the Laffer Curve” or “a real life example of Atlas Shrugs,” but I know that California will be a very bleak place in 20 years.

P.S. Here’s the famous joke about California, Texas, and a coyote. And here’s an amusing picture of the California bureaucracy in (in)action.

_____________

Thank you so much for your time. I know how valuable it is. I also appreciate the fine family that you have and your commitment as a father and a husband.

Sincerely,

Everette Hatcher III, 13900 Cottontail Lane, Alexander, AR 72002, ph 501-920-5733, lowcostsqueegees@yahoo.com

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OPEN LETTER TO BARACK OBAMA ON HIS AUTOBIOGRAPHY “A PROMISED LAND” Part 10 “…I discovered a community of faith—that it is okay to doubt, to question, and still reach for something beyond the here and now.”

December 1, 2020

Office of Barack and Michelle Obama
P.O. Box 91000
Washington, DC 20066

Dear President Obama,

I wrote you over 700 letters while you were President and I mailed them to the White House and also published them on my blog http://www.thedailyhatch.org .I received several letters back from your staff and I wanted to thank you for those letters. 

I have been reading your autobiography A PROMISED LAND and I have been enjoying it. 

Let me make a few comments on it, and here is the first quote of yours I want to comment on:

“…I discovered a community of faith—that it is okay to doubt, to question, and still reach for something beyond the here and now.”

You are a professing Christian, but evidently you have a problem believing the Bible is historically accurate. Here is a simple suggestion. Google the words “53 PEOPLE CONFIRMED.” That should bring you to this article, 53 People in the Bible Confirmed Archaeologically A web-exclusive supplement to Lawrence Mykytiuk’s BAR articles identifying real Hebrew Bible people Lawrence Mykytiuk • 04/12/2017.

President Obama your views are more in line with those of atheistic evolutionists than those scientists such as Isaac Newton who believed in creationism. I had the unique opportunity from 2015 to 2020 to correspond with a famous Harvard educated British scientist named Professor Horace Barlow of Cambridge. Barlow was named after his grandfather Horace Darwin. Most of the correspondence between Dr. Barlow and myself dealt with the views of Barlow’s famous great grandfather Charles Darwin.

A portion of my letter to Dr. Barlow on May 1, 2017 which he responded to on November 22, 2017:

In Francis Crick’s book the ASTONISHING HYPOTHESIS: THE SCIENTIFIC SEARCH FOR THE SOUL I read these words:

(James D. Watson and Francis Crick below)

J
Image result for francis crick

Many educated people, especially in the Western world, also share the belief that the soul is a metaphor and that there is no personal life either before conception or after death. They may call themselves atheists, agnostics, humanists, or just lapsed believers, but they all deny the major claims of the traditional religions. Yet this does not mean that they normally think of themselves in a radically different way. The old habits of thought die hard. A man may, in religious terms, be an unbeliever but psychologically he may continue to think of himself in much the same way as a believer does, at least for everyday matters.

We need, therefore, to state the idea in stronger terms. The scientific belief is that our minds — the behavior of our brains — can be explained by the interactions of nerve cells (and other cells) and the molecules associated with them. (This idea is not novel. An especially clear statement of it can be found in a well-known paper by Horace Barlow.) This is to most people a really surprising concept. It does not come easily to believe that I am the detailed behavior of a set of nerve cells, however many there may be and however intricate their interactions. Try for a moment to imagine this point of view. (“Whatever he may say, Mabel, I know I’m in there somewhere, looking out on the world.”)

——

Why does the Astonishing Hypothesis seem so surprising? I think there are three main reasons. The first is that many people are reluctant to accept what is often called the “reductionist approach” — that a complex system can be explained by the behavior of its parts and their interactions with each other. For a system with many levels of activity, this process may have to be repeated more than once — that is, the behavior of a particular part may have to be explained by the properties of its parts and their interactions. For example, to understand the brain we may need to know the many interactions of nerve cells with each other; in addition, the behavior of each nerve cell may need explanation in terms of the ions and molecules of which it is composed.

(Francis Crick and James D. Watson below)

After reading the above passage I concluded that you do endorse the Secular Humanist point of view that Francis Crickembraced and that is the reductionist point of view. I wanted to point out that the vast majority of great scientists of the last 500 years did hold the view that we live in an open system and they did not hold the view of the uniformity of natural causes in a closed system. Recently I read the article ANSWERING THE NEW ATHEISTS, by  KerbyAnderson,  Sunday, January 30 th, 2011, and that article notes:

(Sean McDowell)

Image result for kerby anderson

Are science and Christianity at odds with one another? Certainly there have been times in the past when that has been the case. But to only focus on those conflicts is to miss the larger point that modern science grew out of a Christian world view. In a previous radio program based upon the book Origin Science by Dr. Norman Geisler and me, I explain Christianity’s contribution to the rise of modern science.{27}

Image result for Dr. Norman Geisler

Sean McDowell and Jonathan Morrow also point out in their book that most scientific pioneers were theists. This includes such notable as Nicolas Copernicus, Robert Boyle, Isaac Newton, Blaise Pascal, Johannes Kepler, Louis Pasteur, Francis Bacon, and Max Planck. Many of these men actually pursued science because of their belief in the Christian God.

Alister McGrath challenges this idea that science and religion are in conflict with one another. He says, “Once upon a time, back in the second half of the nineteenth century, it was certainly possible to believe that science and religion were permanently at war. . . . This is now seen as a hopelessly outmoded historical stereotype that scholarship has totally discredited.”{28}

.Do religious people have a blind faith? Certainly some religious people exercise blind faith. But is this true of all religions, including Christianity? Of course not. The enormous number of Christian books on topics ranging from apologetics to theology demonstrate that the Christian faith is based upon evidence.

The Christian faith is not a blind faith. It is a faith based upon evidence. In fact, some authors contend that it takes more faith to be an atheist than to believe in God.{7}

What kind of evidence would it take today to convince you  that God exists and the Bible is true? I submit to you that Biblical Archaeology is a field that has advanced tremendously in the last few decades and I propose you look in that area. Did you know that Charles Darwin was looking for evidence that confirmed the Bible’s accuracy back in the 19th century and this is one of the exact areas that he mentioned.

Darwin wrote in his Autobiography in 1876:

“But I was very unwilling to give up my belief; I feel sure of this, for I can well remember often and often inventing day-dreams of old letters between distinguished Romans, and manuscripts being discovered at Pompeii or elsewhere, which confirmed in the most striking manner all that was written in the Gospels.

Image result for francis schaeffer

Francis Schaeffer commented:

This is very sad. He lies on his bunk and the Beagle tosses and turns and he makes daydreams, and his dreams and hopes are that someone would find in Pompeii or some place like this, an old manuscript by a distinguished Roman that would put his stamp of authority on it, which would be able to show that Christ existed. This is undoubtedly what he is talking about. Darwin gave up this hope with great difficulty. I think he didn’t want to come to the position where his accepted presuppositions were driving him. He didn’t want to give it up, just as an older man he understood where it would lead and “man can do his duty.” Instinctively this of brains understood where this whole thing was going to eventually go…

Pompeii

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SINCE CHARLES DARWIN’S DEATH WE NOW HAVE LOTS OF HISTORICAL RECORDS AND MUCH EVIDENCE FROM THE FIELD OF ARCHAEOLOGY THAT SHOW THE BIBLE IS HISTORICALLY ACCURATE.

Just like Darwin you need to ask yourself this same question but you will be doing it almost a century and a half later: Is the Bible historically accurate and have I taken the time to examine the evidence? Obviously Darwin was hoping that archaeology would provide some hope for the accuracy of the Bible.

The answer to find meaning in life is found in putting your faith and trust in Jesus Christ. The Bible is true from cover to cover and can be Tusted and find some evidence at this link!!! 

AFTER ADEQUATE AND SUFFICIENT QUESTIONS OF YOURS BEING ANSWERED THEN YOU CAN BECOME CONVINCED AS SCHAEFFER’S STORY POINTS OUT.

Is your faith in the evidence that supports the theory of evolution comparable to the faith I have in the Word of God being true and God creating the world? Recently I ran across the term “Implicit Faith” and I thought of your view that evolution must be true and we have to be living in a closed system. When I read the book  Charles Darwin: his life told in an autobiographical chapter, and in a selected series of his published lettersI also read  a commentary on it by Francis Schaeffer. I wanted to both  quote some of Charles Darwin’s own words to you and then include the comments of Francis Schaeffer on those words.

The passages which here follow are extracts, somewhat abbreviated, from a part of the Autobiography, written in 1876, in which my father gives the history of his religious views:—

“By further reflecting that the clearest evidence would be requisite to make any sane man believe in the miracles by which Christianity is supported,—and that the more we know of the fixed laws of nature the more incredible do miracles become,—that the men at that time were ignorant and credulous to a degree almost incomprehensible by us,”

Francis Schaeffer commented:

 He now says who can accept the miracles? But notice again this is an argument from presuppositions, because what this means is that he has accepted the uniformity of natural causes in a closed system which I say is the basic presupposition  of modern man. So therefore since he has accepted a closed system he assumes there is no miracle, but that doesn’t mean he has any evidence that there were no miracles. It doesn’t mean he  is at ease as a man because he has ruled these things out. Darwin is a man in tension. Does  the uniformity of natural causes in a closed system explain the wonder of the universe and secondly the mannishness of man? He himself feels caught on these two great hooks of the real world. In others I would say, “DARWIN your presuppositions don’t even satisfy you. You rule miracles on the basis of your presuppositions but your belief of the uniformity of natural causes in a closed system does not even satisfy you.” Darwin went to his death unsatisfied and yet  he was forced to give up his own presuppositions but he never gave them up. It seems to me you have the old man Darwin perspiring in his tension that you can only think of Paul’s conclusion in Romans 1, that when men deliberately turn away from the truth that is there, the external universe and the mannishness of man, God gives them up to an unsound mind. If there even was anybody that ever demonstrated this it was Darwin himself  at the end of his life. It is a position that Darwin holds with implicit faith. You must understand what the term IMPLICIT FAITH  means. In the old Roman Catholic Church when someone who became a Roman Catholic they had to promise implicit faith. That meant that you not only had to believe everything that Roman Catholic Church taught then but also everything it would teach in the future. It seems to me this is the kind of faith that these people have in the uniformity of natural causes in a closed system and they have accepted it no matter what it leads them into. 

There was an amazing man by the name of  H.J.Blackham(1903-2009) and he was the former president of the BRITISH HUMANIST ASSOCIATION. Francis Schaeffer and Dr. C. Everett Koop quoted him in their book WHATEVER HAPPENED TO THE HUMAN RACE?

The humanist H. J. Blackham has expressed this with a dramatic illustration:

Image result for H. J. Blackham

On humanist assumptions, life leads to nothing, and every pretense that it does not is a deceit.79

One does not have to be highly educated to understand this. It follows directly from the starting point of the humanists’ position, namely, that everything is just matter. That is, that which has existed forever and ever is only some form of matter or energy, and everything in our world now is this and only this in a more or less complex form.

_______________

To sum up Schaeffer is saying, “If man has been kicked up out of that which is only impersonal by chance , then those things that make him man-hope of purpose and significance, love, motions of morality and rationality, beauty and verbal communication-are ultimately unfulfillable and thus meaningless.” (Francis Schaeffer in THE GOD WHO IS THERE)

IF WE ARE LEFT WITH JUST THE MACHINE THEN WHAT IS THE FINAL CONCLUSION IF THERE WAS NO PERSONAL GOD THAT CREATED US?

Comments about the evidence supporting the accuracy of the Bible probably prompted Dr. Barlow to write in the letter I received from him in December of 2017: “Notice, however, that he [Charles Darwin] clearly did not lose his sense of the value of truth, and of the importance of forever searching it out.”

(Darwin pictured above)

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I responded in a letter on February 2, 2018 with lots of evidence indicating that since Darwin was wishing for archaeological evidence back in 1839 that supported the Bible’s accuracy that there is an abundance of evidence from archaeology now doing just that:

Here is one of your advantages over your great grandfather. With this in mind shouldn’t you investigate evidence that has turned up since your great grandfather’s day?

Here is a simple suggestion. Google the words “53 PEOPLE CONFIRMED.” That should bring you to this article, 53 People in the Bible Confirmed Archaeologically A web-exclusive supplement to Lawrence Mykytiuk’s BAR articles identifying real Hebrew Bible people Lawrence Mykytiuk • 04/12/2017.

You noted that Darwin “clearly did not lose his sense of the value of truth, and of the importance of forever searching it out.”

I wonder how Charles Darwin would have reacted to this article if he was here with us today and could examine the evidence he was wishing for back in the 19th century. I would love to get your reaction to that.

You have been very courteous in your correspondence while at the same time you are willing to listen. It is my goal to imitate that in my life too.

Sincerely,

Everette Hatcher, everettehatcher@gmail.comhttp://www.thedailyhatch.org, cell ph 501-920-5733, 13900 cottontail lane, Alexander, AR 72002 United States

_

53 People in the Bible Confirmed Archaeologically

A web-exclusive supplement to Lawrence Mykytiuk’s BAR articles identifying real Hebrew Bible people

Lawrence Mykytiuk   •  04/12/2017

This Bible History Daily feature was originally published in 2014. It has been updated.—Ed.


1.-Sargon-II-Khorsabad-Bridgeman
1.-Sargon-II-Khorsabad-Bridgeman

Sargon II, one of fifty Hebrew Bible figures identified in the archaeological record.

In “Archaeology Confirms 50 Real People in the Bible” in the March/April 2014 issue of Biblical Archaeology Review, Purdue University scholar Lawrence Mykytiuk lists 50 figures from the Hebrew Bible who have been confirmed archaeologically. His follow-up article, “Archaeology Confirms 3 More Bible People,” published in the May/June 2017 issue of BAR, adds another three people to the list. The identified persons include Israelite kings and Mesopotamian monarchs as well as lesser-known figures.

Mykytiuk writes that these figures “mentioned in the Bible have been identified in the archaeological record. Their names appear in inscriptions written during the period described by the Bible and in most instances during or quite close to the lifetime of the person identified.” The extensive Biblical and archaeological documentation supporting the BAR study is published here in a web-exclusive collection of endnotes detailing the Biblical references and inscriptions referring to each of the figures.

Guide to the Endnotes

53 Bible People Confirmed in Authentic Inscriptions Chart

53 Figures: The Biblical and Archaeological Evidence

“Almost Real” People: The Biblical and Archaeological Evidence

Symbols & Abbreviations

Date Sources


BAS Library Members: Read Lawrence Mykytiuk’s Biblical Archaeology Review articles “Archaeology Confirms 50 Real People in the Bible” in the March/April 2014 and “Archaeology Confirms 3 More Bible People” in the May/June 2017 issue.

Not a BAS Library member yet? Join the BAS Library today.

P1120870 Louvre stèle de Mésha AO5066 rwk.JPG

The Mesha Stele in its current location: The brown fragments are pieces of the original stele, whereas the smoother black material is Ganneau’s reconstruction from the 1870s. (Mentions Omri)

The Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III, 9th century BC, from Nimrud, Iraq. The British Museum.jpg

Black Obelisk of Shalmaneser III in the British Museum. The White Obelisk of Ashurnasirpal I is located next to it. It is the most complete Assyrian obelisk yet discovered, and is historically significant because it is thought to display the earliest ancient depiction of a biblical figure – Jehu, King of Israel. 

seals-of-isaiah-and-king-hezekiah-discovered

Visitors of the Seals of Isaiah and King Hezekiah Discovered exhibit can see up close the bullae of King Hezekiah (left) and of Isaiah (right). Photo: Courtesy Dr. Eilat Mazar.

This broken 2,700-year-old clay seal, discovered in an ancient Jerusalem rubbish pit, may include the name of the biblical prophet Isaiah.


Hezekiah Bulla


53 Bible People Confirmed in Authentic Inscriptions

NameWho was he?When he reigned or flourished B.C.E.Where in the Bible?
Egypt
1Shishak (= Sheshonq I)pharaoh945–9241 Kings 11:40, etc.
2So (= Osorkon IV)pharaoh730–7152 Kings 17:4
3Tirhakah (= Taharqa)pharaoh690–6642 Kings 19:9, etc.
4Necho II (= Neco II)pharaoh610–5952 Chronicles 35:20, etc.
5Hophra (= Apries)pharaoh589–570Jeremiah 44:30
Moab
6Meshakingearly to mid-ninth century2 Kings 3:4–27
Aram-Damascus
7Hadadezerkingearly ninth century to 844/8421 Kings 11:23, etc.
8Ben-hadad, son of Hadadezerking844/8422 Kings 6:24, etc.
9Hazaelking844/842–c. 8001 Kings 19:15, etc.
10Ben-hadad, son of Hazaelkingearly eighth century2 Kings 13:3, etc.
11Rezinkingmid-eighth century to 7322 Kings 15:37, etc.
Northern Kingdom of Israel
12Omriking884–8731 Kings 16:16, etc.
13Ahabking873–8521 Kings 16:28, etc.
14Jehuking842/841–815/8141 Kings 19:16, etc.
15Joash (= Jehoash)king805–7902 Kings 13:9, etc.
16Jeroboam IIking790–750/7492 Kings 13:13, etc.
17Menahemking749–7382 Kings 15:14, etc.
18Pekahking750(?)–732/7312 Kings 15:25, etc.
19Hosheaking732/731–7222 Kings 15:30, etc.
20Sanballat “I”governor of Samaria under Persian rulec. mid-fifth centuryNehemiah 2:10, etc.
Southern Kingdom of Judah
21Davidkingc. 1010–9701 Samuel 16:13, etc.
22Uzziah (= Azariah)king788/787–736/7352 Kings 14:21, etc.
23Ahaz (= Jehoahaz)king742/741–7262 Kings 15:38, etc.
24Hezekiahking726–697/6962 Kings 16:20, etc.
25Manassehking697/696–642/6412 Kings 20:21, etc.
26Hilkiahhigh priest during Josiah’s reignwithin 640/639–6092 Kings 22:4, etc.
27Shaphanscribe during Josiah’s reignwithin 640/639–6092 Kings 22:3, etc.
28Azariahhigh priest during Josiah’s reignwithin 640/639–6091 Chronicles 5:39, etc.
29Gemariahofficial during Jehoiakim’s reignwithin 609–598Jeremiah 36:10, etc.
30Jehoiachin (= Jeconiah = Coniah)king598–5972 Kings 24:6, etc.
31Shelemiahfather of Jehucal the royal officiallate seventh centuryJeremiah 37:3, etc.
32Jehucal (= Jucal)official during Zedekiah’s reignwithin 597–586Jeremiah 37:3, etc.
33Pashhurfather of Gedaliah the royal officiallate seventh centuryJeremiah 38:1
34Gedaliahofficial during Zedekiah’s reignwithin 597–586Jeremiah 38:1
Assyria
35Tiglath-pileser III (= Pul)king744–7272 Kings 15:19, etc.
36Shalmaneser Vking726–7222 Kings 17:3, etc.
37Sargon IIking721–705Isaiah 20:1
38Sennacheribking704–6812 Kings 18:13, etc.
39Adrammelech (= Ardamullissu = Arad-mullissu)son and assassin of Sennacheribearly seventh century2 Kings 19:37, etc.
40Esarhaddonking680–6692 Kings 19:37, etc.
Babylonia
41Merodach-baladan IIking721–710 and 7032 Kings 20:12, etc.
42Nebuchadnezzar IIking604–5622 Kings 24:1, etc.
43Nebo-sarsekimofficial of Nebuchadnezzar IIearly sixth centuryJeremiah 39:3
44Nergal-sharezerofficer of Nebuchadnezzar IIearly sixth centuryJeremiah 39:3
45Nebuzaradana chief officer of Nebuchadnezzar IIearly sixth century2 Kings 25:8, etc. & Jeremiah 39:9, etc.
46Evil-merodach (= Awel Marduk = Amel Marduk)king561–5602 Kings 25:27, etc.
47Belshazzarson and co-regent of Nabonidusc. 543?–540Daniel 5:1, etc.
Persia
48Cyrus II (= Cyrus the Great)king559–5302 Chronicles 36:22, etc.
49Darius I (= Darius the Great)king520–486Ezra 4:5, etc.
50Tattenaiprovincial governor of Trans-Euphrateslate sixth to early fifth centuryEzra 5:3, etc.
51Xerxes I (= Ahasuerus)king486–465Esther 1:1, etc.
52Artaxerxes I Longimanusking465-425/424Ezra 4:7, etc.
53Darius II Nothusking425/424-405/404Nehemiah 12:22


(At this link: https://creation.com/archaeology-belshazzar)

Belshazzar: The second most powerful man in Babylon

How archaeology vindicated the Bible’s curious claims about King Belshazzar

by Keaton Halley

Belshazzar

The Bible presents the famous ‘writing on the wall’ episode as occurring on the same day that the city of Babylon, capital of Babylonia, fell to the Medo-Persian empire under King Cyrus the Great. Indeed, Daniel gave King Belshazzar this interpretation of the writing: “God has numbered the days of your kingdom and brought it to an end” (v. 26), and “your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians” (v. 28). The Bible claims that Belshazzar was killed “that very night” (v. 30), and with his death the Babylonian kingdom was now controlled by Medo-Persia.4

However, all other known historical records once disagreed. Ancient historians like Herodotus, Megasthenes, Berossus, and Alexander Polyhistor, not to mention a vast number of cuneiform documents, were united in claiming that the last king of the Neo-Babylonian empire was Nabonidus.5 Belshazzar was not even mentioned anywhere except in the book of Daniel and literature derived from it.6

Cylinder-Nabonidus
Nabonidus Cylinder from Ur

Buried treasures

But just when it looked like all the evidence was stacked against Scripture, a series of archaeological discoveries showed that Belshazzar did exist after all, and the details given about him in the Bible are profoundly correct. 

First, in 1854, four clay cylinders with identical inscriptions were excavated from Ur.7 These Nabonidus Cylinders contained Nabonidus’ prayer to the moon god for “Belshazzar, the eldest son—my offspring.”8 Thus, Belshazzar’s existence was confirmed—as Nabonidus’ firstborn son and heir to his throne. 

Then, in 1882, a translation of another ancient cuneiform text, the Nabonidus Chronicle, was published. According to this document, Nabonidus was a mostly absentee king, spending 10 years of his 17-year reign living in Tema, Arabia (725 km / 450 miles away from Babylon). The king left Belshazzar, whom the text calls “the crown prince”, to take care of affairs in Babylon during that time.9 Also, the Chronicle explained that Nabonidus was away from Babylon when it fell. Two days earlier he had fled from the Persians when they defeated him at Sippar, so Belshazzar was the highest authority in Babylon at the time of its capture.

Nabonidus-Chronicle
Nabonidus Chronicle tablet

Next, the Persian Verse Account of Nabonidus, published in 1924, stated that, as “he started out for a long journey”, Nabonidus “entrusted the kingship” to “his oldest (son), the firstborn.”10 So Belshazzar clearly functioned in the role of a king for years while his father was away.

Furthermore, a variety of other ancient cuneiform texts were found in the early 1900s which also mentioned Belshazzar, including a tablet from Erech in which both he and his father Nabonidus were jointly invoked in an oath, suggesting that both had royal authority.1

Sincerely,

Everette Hatcher III, 13900 Cottontail Lane, Alexander, AR 72002, ph 501-920-5733 everettehatcher@gmail.com

I found Dr. Barlow to be a true gentleman and he was very kind to take the time to answer the questions that I submitted to him. In the upcoming months I will take time once a week to pay tribute to his life and reveal our correspondence. In the first week I noted:

 Today I am posting my first letter to him in February of 2015 which discussed Charles Darwin lamenting his loss of aesthetic tastes which he blamed on Darwin’s own dedication to the study of evolution. In a later return letter, Dr. Barlow agreed that Darwin did in fact lose his aesthetic tastes at the end of his life.

In the second week I look at the views of Michael Polanyi and share the comments of Francis Schaeffer concerning Polanyi’s views.

In the third week, I look at the life of Brandon Burlsworth in the November 28, 2016 letter and the movie GREATER and the problem of evil which Charles Darwin definitely had a problem with once his daughter died.

On the 4th letter to Dr. Barlow looks at Darwin’s admission that he at times thinks that creation appears to look like the expression of a mind. Francis Schaeffer discusses Darwin’s own words in 1968 sermon at this link.

My Fifth Letter concerning Charles Darwin’s views on MORAL MOTIONS Which was mailed on March 1, 2017. Francis Schaeffer discusses Darwin’s own words concerning moral motions in Schaeffer’s 1968 sermon at this link.

6th letter on May 1, 2017 in which Charles Darwin’s hopes are that someone would find in Pompeii an old manuscript by a distinguished Roman that would show that Christ existed! Francis Schaeffer discusses Darwin’s own words concerning the possible manuscript finds in Schaeffer’s 1968 sermon at this link  

7th letter on Darwin discussing DETERMINISM  dated 7-1-17 . Francis Schaeffer discusses Darwin’s own words concerning determinism in Schaeffer’s 1968 sermon at this link.

8th letter responds to Dr. Barlow’s letter to me concerning  Francis Schaeffer discussing Darwin’s own words concerning chance in Schaeffer’s 1968 sermon at this link.

9th letter in response to 11-22-17 letter I received from Professor Horace Barlow was mailed on 1-2-18 and included Charles Darwin’s comments on William Paley. Francis Schaeffer discusses Darwin’s own words concerning William Paley in Schaeffer’s 1968 sermon at this link.

10th letter in response to 11-22-17 letter I received from Professor Horace Barlow was mailed on 2-2-18 and includes Darwin’s comments asking for archaeological evidence for the Bible! Francis Schaeffer discusses Darwin’s own words concerning His desire to see archaeological evidence supporting the Bible’s accuracy  in Schaeffer’s 1968 sermon at this link.

11th letter I mailed on 3-2-18  in response to 11-22-17 letter from Barlow that asserted: It is also sometimes asked whether chance, even together with selection, can define a “MORAL CODE,” which the religiously inclined say is defined by their God. I think the answer is “Yes, it certainly can…” Francis Schaeffer discusses Darwin’s own words concerning A MORAL CODE in Schaeffer’s 1968 sermon at this link.

12th letter on March 26, 2018 breaks down song DUST IN THE WIND “All we do, crumbles to the ground though we refuse to see, Dust in the Wind, All we are is dust in the wind, Don’t hang on, Nothing lasts forever but the Earth and Sky, It slips away, And all your money won’t another minute buy.”

In 13th letter I respond to Barlow’s November 22, 2017 letter and assertion “He {Darwin} clearly did not lose his sense of the VALUE of TRUTH, and of the importance of FOREVER SEARCHING it out.”

In 14th letter to Dr. Barlow on 10-2-18, I assert: “Let me demonstrate how the Bible’s view of the origin of life fits better with the evidence we have from archaeology than that of gradual evolution.”In 15th letter in November 2, 2018 to Dr. Barlow I quote his relative Randal Keynes Who in the Richard Dawkins special “The Genius of Darwin” makes this point concerning Darwin, “he was, at different times, enormously confident in it,and at other times, he was utterly uncertain.”In 16th Letter on 12-2-18 to Dr. Barlow I respond to his letter that stated, If I am pressed to say whether I think belief in God helps people to make wise and beneficial decisions I am bound to say (and I fear this will cause you pain) “No, it is often very disastrous, leading to violence, death and vile behaviour…Muslim terrorists…violence within the Christian church itself”17th letter sent on January 2, 2019 shows the great advantage we have over Charles Darwin when examining the archaeological record concerning the accuracy of the BibleIn the 18th letter I respond to the comment by Charles Darwin: “My mind seems to have become a kind of machine for grinding general laws out of large collections of facts, but why this should have caused the atrophy of that part of the brain alone, on which the higher tastes depend, I cannot conceive….The loss of these tastes is a loss of happiness.” Francis Schaeffer discusses Darwin’s own words on his loss of aesthetic tastes  in Schaeffer’s 1968 sermon at this link.

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