June Highlights
Launched the Mongolian site for Logos Answers
Scott traveled to Israel with a FHU Biblical Archaeology course to excavate at Shiloh
Scott completed FHU Masters Courses in Greek II and Bible Archaeology
The family spent five weeks traveling through the US to visit with supporters
Scott taught Revelation on Zoom for the Restoration School of Preaching in India
Alexis and kids wrapped up another year of homeschooling
Scottie and Samantha spent a week attending Camp Inagehi. Scottie won a top camper award for demonstrating stand-out leadership in his cabin!
Logos Answers Statistics for April–June:
| Lessons Published | Visits / Views | Interactions |
English | 1 | 2,028 | 81 |
Tagalog | 1 | 42 | 1 |
Arabic | 1 | 11 | 1 |
Mongolian | 6 | 120 | 12 |
Logos Answers in Mongolian
Last year at this time, my family and I were in Mongolia working with the church there. We learned much about the people and the opportunities for spreading the gospel. Most people have a very limited understanding about who God is. While we were there, we worked with Eric, the preacher, and Abu, one of the brothers to record our first Bible lesson in Mongolian, which was translated by another sister, Ariunzaya. In March of this year, we were finally able to publish this first video we recorded while in Mongolia.
We are most excited for the prospects of developing content in Mongolian. One reason is because we have a brother willing to use the material in evangelism. The other reason is because of the scarcity in Bible lessons available in the Mongolian language. So far, the number of views and sharing of the content has been promising. We have not done anything to actively promote the lessons yet, but still, the content has reached a broad audience already. Please be praying for our efforts to reach Mongolian speakers with the Gospel!
Bible Archaeology at Shiloh
During the first week of June this year, I had the opportunity of a lifetime. As part of my Freed-Hardeman Masters program, I was offered a scholarship to travel to Israel and participate in an archaeological dig at the site of Biblical Shiloh! As a reminder, Shiloh is the city where Joshua and the Israelites settled the tabernacle after the conquest of the Promised Land around 1406 BC. Shiloh is where Hannah would have prayed for Samuel, where Samuel would have received his prohetic call, and where Eli the High Priest would have fallen out of his chair and died. For five days, our team dug and sifted uncovering more and more of the ancient city. Archaeologists have always known the location of Shiloh, but until recently evidence of the tabernacle had not been uncovered. However, while we were there, the team had uncovered four corners of the tabernacle courtyard, corresponding to the precise dimensions as prescribed under the Law, and they had uncovered walls for the Holy of Holies, also corresponding to Biblically prescribed dimensions! I, myself, even had the opportunity to dig above the location where the ark of the covenant once rested! The whole experience was incredibly beneficial for me to understand and to respect the importance that Biblical Archaeology has in scientifically and historically substantiating our Biblical faith.
Seeing Biblical Sights in Israel
In addition to working at Shiloh, our class had the opportunity to visit with many other Biblical sights. Our goal was to see as many biblical sites as possible. The locations we visited included Joppa, Caesarea Maritima, Ai, Samaria, Shechem, Mt. Ebal, Mt. of Olives and Garden of Gethsemane, the Judgement Seat of Pilate, Herod’s Palace, City of David, Hezekiah’s Tunnel, Pool of Siloam, the Western Wall Tunnels, Church of the Holy Sepulcher, Pool of Bethesda, Jericho, Herodium, Bethlehem, Valley of Elah, Gezer, Bet Shemesh, Caesarea Philippi, Dan, Capernaum, and Sea of Galilee, among others.
My favorite sites were those which had not been overdeveloped through the centuries, where we could better visualize the Biblical accounts. For example, Ai is one of the cities the Israelites conquered during the conquest. For several hundred years, archaeologists believed they knew the location of Ai, however, the geography did not fit the Biblical description. However, recently, Bible archaeologists have uncovered another city in the hills which fits the Biblical description perfectly. Since there is no development near by, it is really easy to see how this location matches Joshua’s description from nearly 3,500 years ago! Another favorite location was Mt. Ebal (the Mount of Curses). Since it is in the West Bank, tourists cannot readily travel there, and there is little development. Recently Bible archaeologists had uncovered a stone altar dating to the time of Joshua, and at that altar, they discovered a “curse tablet” which has the earliest known inscription of Yahweh in all of Israel. This demonstrates irrefutable evidence that Mt. Ebal was the location of the reciting of curses described in Joshua 8.
The whole trip was very fulfilling, and I see it paying great dividends in my teaching of God’s Word down the road. I thank God that I had the opportunity.
Love,
-The Ihle Crew
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