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dren indoctrinated with thcir own
secular humanist values.
Leaders should see that the
government stops doing its bit lo
dcstroy the family. There are lax
laws, for example, which reward
immorality and pcnalize mar–
riage. There are sex education
programs that ridicule the Bible's
laws on sex. Sorne government
leaders have even gone out of
their way to teach people that
homosexuality is morally pcrmis–
sible. Tax dollars still fund the
murder of unborn children.
The Bible exhorts Christians to
pray that those who are in author–
ity would so do their job thal
those who do God's Work could
" lead a quiet and peaceable life in
all godl iness and honesly"
( 1
Timothy 2:1-3).
Part of this, of course, has to
do with the crime problem. The
Bible reveals that human polit ical
authority must be the "min ister
of God, a revenger to execute
wrath upon him that doeth evi l"
(Romans 13:4). Today, much of
man's criminal law mollycoddles
criminals with light sentences and
lhe easy possibility of parole. l l
hardly obeys the biblical require–
ment that human government is
ordained " for lhe punishmenl of
evil doers" (1 Peter 2:4).
Beyond Tribulation
And yet, perhaps people should
not be too optimistic about the
political leaders of this world .
The Bible says, " Put not your
trust in princes" (Psalms 146:3 ).
The many bureaucratic pressures
against doing the righl things
oflen prove insurmountable.
There is, however, still lighl at
the end of lhe tunnel. Even if world
affairs continue to take their stag–
gering lurches for the worsc, a bet–
ter world would be no more lhan a
few years away. The interim, of
coursc, would not be pleasant. The
Bible describes it as "Great Tribu–
lation ." But at the end Jesus Chrisl
will return and eslablish his Gov–
ernment over all the earth. So if one
party or anolher, indecd, if all
human polilical leaders, fail, lherc
is still hope for a better world- an
immcnsely better world! J esus
Chris t won't fail!
o
42
MT. SlNAI
(Continued from page 6)
ishing lhe idolat ry of the Arabs.
He gave them a new faith,
Islam,
meaning "submission ."
Mohammed regarded Moses as
his predecessor and model. The
Koran refcrs to Moses as "a mes–
senger of Allah , a Prophet. "
Thus, in all three faiths, Moses is
recognized as a genuine prophet
through whom God spoke. And
Mount Sinai, on which Moses
received the Ten Command–
ments, ís held sacred by Jews,
Christians and Moslems alike.
President Sadat 's choice of
Sinai as a symbo l of peace and
unity among faiths and nations is
thus eminently suitable- a "com–
mon denominator" acceptable to
all three religions.
Place of Worship
Sinai has been a place of wor–
ship--both true and pagan-for
mi llennia.
God declared to Moses out of
the burning bush, "When thou
hast brought forth the people out
of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon
this mountain" (Exodus 3: 12).
Following the Exodus, the lsrael–
ites, as God forelold , carne to
Mount Sinai .
Jt
was there,
according to Hebrew tradition, on
lhe very day thal later would be
called the Feast of Weeks or Pen–
tecost, that God uttered the
words of the Ten Commandments
to sorne two million assembled
Israelites (Exodus 19-20), accom–
panied by spectacular supernatu–
ral signs.
Moses subsequcntly built an
altar at the foot of the mountain,
and set up twelve stones repre–
senting the twelve tribes of Israel
(Exodus 24:4). Offe rings were
made to God upon the altar.
Not ma ny days afterwards,
however, Sinai became a si te of
pagan worship.
lt
was in the shad–
ow of the sacred mountain that
the idolatrous Golden Calf was
made (Exodus 32) and "wor–
shiped" in an orgy.
After the sin of the Golden
Calf, Moses pitched a large meet–
ing tent, called the Tabernacle of
the Congrcgalion, outside t he
camp of Israel at Sinai (Exodus
33:7). " And it carne to pass, as
Moses entered into the taber–
nacle, the cloudy pillar descend–
ed, and stood at the door of the
tabernacle.... And t he Lord
spake to Moses face to face , as a
man speaket h
unt o
hi s
friend ... " (Exodus 33:9, 11).
Later, a much more elaborate
Tabcrnacle was erected at Sinai ,
but this time placed at the very
center of the lsraeli te camp. This
Tabernacle- a portable sanctuary
replete with ritual and a pries t–
hood- was const ructed in accord–
ance with instructions given to
Moses by God atop Mount Sinai.
lt
was ultimately superseded by
the building of the Temple in
J erusalem by King Solomon.
The Bible records still another,
later event at Sinai. Sorne six
hundred years after Moses,
another prophet- Eiijah-jour–
neyed to Sinai to seek God. Flee–
ing from the wicked queen Jeze–
bcl, Elijah ' fled' " unto Horeb the
mount of God"
( 1
Kings 19:8),
and lodged in a cave in the side of
the mou n tain. There, amid a
fierce wind, a strong earthquake
and a blazing fire, God spoke to
Elijah and gave him numerous
instruclions to carry out.
Ancient Monastery
Over a millcnnium later, in A.D.
342, Queen Helena, mother of
the Empcror Constantine, visited
Mount Sinai and had a church
built by a spring- the supposed
site of the burning bush observed
by Moses on lhe lower slopes of
the mountain.
Nearly 200 years laler, in lhe
days of the Byzantine emperor
Juslinian l , lhe Monastery of St.
Catherine was constructed at the
same location, in the shady north–
ern fla nk of the mountain. This
isolated Greek Orthodox monas–
tery- still in use today- is the
world 's oldest continuously in–
habited Christian monastery . l ts
library is world famous .
1
t was al this monastery that a
famous Greek manuscript of the
Bible, the
Codex Sinaiticus,
was
discovered in a trash can by thc
German biblical scholar Tischen-
The
PLAIN TRUTH