In Genesis 15, right after God sealed his covenant with Abraham, God told him his descendants will spend 400 years in Egypt
God also promised that he would bring the descendants of Abraham out of Egypt with a mighty hand
Abraham didn't argue with God, he accepted God's verdict as

They called it elephantiasis
A disease said to be caused by a strange mosquito
I was at the Bible College at the time
I had been sent for my Teaching Practice at a church located at Ogudu Ori-Oke
The pastor of this church was a gentleman
He and his wife were chartered accountants

and they were blessed
I was a personal assistant to another pastor and the coordinator of the Bible College had to practically beg my boss to allow me to observe the Teaching Practice at another church (He had insisted I do it with him and I would have spent the time carrying his

Bible and practicing nothing)
When I reported for duty, I was assigned the duty of follow up and evangelism
My primary assignment was to liaise with the follow-up lady and visit all the members who have not been to that church in weeks
I was also given the altar to minister one

Sunday a month (sermon) and other Sundays in various capacities like leading the church in prayer, taking testimonies, and closing prayer
We met this brother on the way to a member's house early one Sunday morning
He was sitting outside a building, wearing yellow slippers and

looking hopeless
We had walked past him but my spirit reached out to me, so I asked the sister to turn around with me so that we can minister to this brother
He was happy we came around
He said he had spent everything he had on the leg and he was desperate enough to accept any

They were at a vigil when the issue came to light
The pastor of the church heard the testimony of one of the men of the church earlier that week and decided to allow him to share with the brethren
The man took the microphone and explained how he had

survived for two years without a job!
As soon as he said "Without a job" the congregation gasped!
It was impossible to even contemplate that the man was out of job for a second
He always dressed corporately and drove a good car
Everybody saw him as one of the gainfully employed

members of the church
The man explained further that a week after he lost his job in a stock brokering firm, his wife found him crying and promised him she would ensure his shame was covered
The man said at the end of every month, his wife would hand over her ATM card to him and

they would both go shopping for the family and for themselves
She knew he would eventually catch a break but she was determined not to let him suffer simply because times were hard
The man talked on and on about his wife's support
and love
While the talk was going on, the

assistant pastor watched the man with awe
When the man was done, a lady raised up her hand in the congregation
She said she wanted to ask a question
She was the assistant pastor's wife
When she was given the microphone, she said she didn't see any wisdom in what the man's wife

The first time he heard that his wife was cheating on him
He cried all the way from Atlanta to Nigeria
He saw a message from his mother
The message said one of the instrumentalists in his church went to report himself to some elders in the church for disciplinary action because

had been engaging in sexual immorality.
Upon investigation, it was discovered that the person he was having sexual relations with was the pastor's wife
The elders didn't know how to go about it
Some said the instrumentalist was framing the pastor's wife in order to bring down

the pastor's ministry and tear his family apart
Others said the pastor's wife should be invited to face the elders and defend the allegations
it was a political issue
Had it been any other person, they would have acted swiftly but the pastor's wife was off-limits, even for the

elders
So they took the case to his mother and his mother sent him a message asking for directions
The message was not such a shock to him
His wife had been threatening that she would ruin his ministry for several months if he does not quit the ministry and return to his medical

practice
He had told her what she was asking him to do was next to impossible
He knew from the age of twelve what his calling was in ministry
He preached his first sermon at a village crusade at the age of fifteen
He got his B. TH degree at the age of twenty before proceeding to

He knew marrying her was a mistake on their honeymoon,
she suddenly went into an eerie silence when they got into the hotel room.
He was still all bubbly and happy
He didn't notice her change of mood until he finished undressing
By that time, she had taken offense that he didn't

pay attention to her change of mood which happened about an hour earlier
He asked her what was wrong with her
She flared up
"Is this how you are going to do husband? If I had died right by your side, you wouldn't have noticed for one hour and three minutes?
Is this was I settled

for?
He was taken aback
It was the last thing he expected
The surprise showed on his face
She saw it and shouted "Oh my God. You regret marrying me right? You are already weary or is that disgust i see on your face?"
He didn't even know what to say, so he sat down and kept quiet

while she ranted and cried
When she was done, he wanted to hold her and placate her
He felt the events of the day had gotten to her and she was just venting
As soon as he touched her on the shoulder, she flared up
"Dont infect me with leprosy. Just go. Get out. I don't want your

sympathy. I dont want you consoling me. Just get out.
He did
He left her in the room
He went into the restaurant of the hotel for two hours
He bought some sparkling water because he wanted their first meal as a couple to be together
By 1AM, he went back to the room and knocked on

She kept hanging around him
She told herself she was just being a friend
He was somebody she could talk to
He was somebody she could relate to comfortably
She enjoyed being around him
He enjoyed being around her too & he made it obvious
But he told her right from the outset that

he was a single parent with children
His wife had died giving birth to his twin girls
He had a thriving pharmaceutical drugs import business and was making a lot of money
She met him by chance
She imported some goods for her online business from China
When the goods arrived

the country, she realized she didn't have enough money to clear them
She reached out to some people for a loan
A friend told her about this guy in their church who definitely had the money and would love to help
She went to the church the following Sunday and asked to see him

the service
She told him what the problem was and he sent her the money she needed instantly
He was rich
He was the kind of person she would like to relate with on more than a transactional basis
He was a friend worth having but they had nothing in common
There was no basis for

any familiarity
She cleared her goods and went to return the loan two weeks later
He thanked her for keeping her word and that was it
She changed her church the following week
She wanted to be around him
Perhaps its the money or the fact that she didn't have such as him in her

@ChenHuailun here. I'm adding a supplementary thread before today's scheduled one to expand on the origins and early history of the Church of the East (aka the Nestorian Church) ~ahc #jingjiao 1/

The Church of the East traces its origins to the christological position of the School of Antioch, which held that the human and divine and human essences (ουσία) of Christ were united in a single prosopon (πρόσωπον). ~ahc #jingjiao 2/

This ran against the position of the School of Alexandria, which held that the two essences of Christ were united in a single hypostasis (ὑπόστασις). In general terms, hypostasis is more inherent than prosopon. ~ahc #jingjiao 3/

One implication of the Antiochene rejection of the hypostatic union is that Mary could not accurately be called the Theotokos, or God-bearer. Instead, she is the Christotokos, the Christ-bearer. ~ahc #jingjiao 4/

These Christological debates were further complicated by Syriac terms such as 'kyana' (ܟܝܢܐ), associated with 'ousia' but later translated to 'hypostasis' by Syrian Orthodox; and 'qnoma ' (ܩܢܘܡܐ), sometimes contentiously translated as 'hypostasis' or 'person.' ~ahc #jingjiao 5/

One key element of the Islamic intellectual tradition is the commentary. Commentaries on the Qurʼan (tafsīr) began early in Islamic history, but from about the 12th or 13th century, well into the 19th, commentaries on other scholarly texts became extremely common. -jm

Usually a commentary is called a sharḥ, and a supercommentary (i.e. a commentary on a commentary) is called a ḥāshiyah. Sometimes you get all the way up to a fourth- or fifth-level supercommentary. -jm

Sometimes it's hard to even tell what the "core text" is, because even a very famous text that's the core of many commentaries might present itself as an abridgement or comment on something even earlier. -jm

Commentaries might serve multiple purposes: to explain obscure grammar or vocabulary, to dig into particular legal cases, etc. Even to show why the core text is wrong. Eventually you get some Ottoman Turkish commentaries that translate Persian poems and then comment on them. -jm

Authors of commentaries often mark quotes from the core text by key words like "qawluhu" ("what he said") and manuscripts often emphasize this by writing these words in red or putting a line over the quoted text, so you can figure out who is talking. -jm

[THREAD: HISTORY OF THE HINDU TEMPLE]
1/102
Four hours south of Aswan in Lower Nubia, right by the Nile, is a region dotted with temple complexes built more than 3,000 years ago. Some like the temples of Amada, Derr, and Beit el-Wali go as far back as 1500 BC.

2/102
A little further south, not far from the border with Sudan, is another complex dedicated to Ramses II, Hathor, and Nefertari in the village of Ipsambul, better known locally as Abu Sunbul and internationally as Abu Simbel. These go back to the 13th century BC.

3/102
Djeser-Djeseru, also known as the mortuary temple of Hatshepsut in Upper Egypt also dates to 1400 BC. Over 500 years older is the nearby Mentuhotep II, also a mortuary temple. Both were dedicated to the cult of Amun Ra, besides their respective pharaohs.

4/102
Far older is the Ġgantija complex of Malta. Going as far back as 3600 BC, this one comprises of two temples entirely made of stone and enclosed in a stone wall. From the figures therein, it's understood to be a site of some kind of a fertility cult worship.

5/102
Dating from the same period are the limestone megaliths of Ħaġar Qim and Mnajdra, both said to have once hosted ritualistic sacrifices as part of the same fertility cult worship as found in the Ġgantija complex. Malta has some of the oldest temple complexes in Europe.

According to the #PadmaPurana; there are 8,400,000 life-form species, 900,000 of which are aquatic ones; 2,000,000 are trees and plants; 1,100,000 are small living species, insects and reptiles; 1,000,000 are birds; 3,000,000 are beasts and 400,000 are human species

and as per modern Science research till now they are able to find out only Over seven million species of plants and animals living on planet earth, according to the best estimates made by biologists, means Science is still behind in understanding the biological and multiverse

structure of almighty.But does that means every time we take birth in same earth in same human species  or in some other species in same universe ?, absolutely not, if we look deeply in spiritual reality. Our karmas decides where any being has to move through either in this

universe or in some other Universe and in which life form. It is difficult to understand in which world we take birth and which world we will move through, reason being Brahm-anda is composed of  so many multiverse universes within each of so Many inter- related
Brahmands

and in each of them, it has Many forms of trinity godheads are also present in each and every Universe. we can't imagine. This can be easily Understandable from Many of verses explained in Bhagwad puraan regarding parallel universe and Multiverse theory based on vedic cosmology