The Slide Rule Effect

 The slide rule effect

By Richard P. Joseph

8/6/2026

I found an interesting YOUTUBE channel called BLK SHP bible talk hosted by a guy named Scott.  He is a scholar in biblical archaeology and does a great job of making the bible come to life by matching archaeological discoveries with the biblical narrative.  He wrote a book and I purchased it.  This book concerns itself with the time of Abraham through the exodus.  So far I am more than well pleased with how he makes the stories come to life simply by interjecting the historical background to the culture and the archaeological effects that have come to light recently.  This was not always possible, and when it was possible those that are bible deniers couldn’t seem to match the biblical narratives up with the Egyptian record.  What Scott had discovered is that both the Egyptian record and the bible were both true but so far the scholars were having trouble corroborating the two together.  Scott et al found a simple way to resolve the conflict.  What Scott did reminds me of a 1960’s funky song called “Right Place but wrong time” by someone called Dr. John. The song is a masterpiece of conflict where things never seem to get resolved.  Things not getting resolved due to preconceived notions has plagued biblical history for too long but fear not, the bible is never wrong.  Scott simply began to slide the timeline of events from the bible backwards toward an earlier Egyptian dynasty than the one that the other scholars were using.  This “sliderule” effect, once matched up with the proper Egyptian reliefs, produced an eye opening discovery.  Once the match was found, the Egyptian record and the bible fell into an exact agreement like a difficult puzzle piece that finally found its home.  Something as simple as adjusting a long held timeline into its proper place resolved all conflicting problems and once again showed how accurate and reliable the bible really is.  

Accuracy and reliability now places the biblical stories into the proper context of history which produces a vivid and exciting storyline.  It makes the bible come alive with color and vitality.  It solves problems that we know about and ones that we didn’t even know existed.  When another biblical scholar named Ed Stevens did the same thing he not only found the answers that he was looking for, he also found answers to questions that he never knew existed.   So why am I so excited about this book and this method?

The excitement comes from the fact that this method is exactly what us preterists have been doing for some time now.  We use the term “context is king” to describe our approach to biblical hermeneutics.  The second thing we do better than anyone else is use the “sliderule’ method.  By simply sliding biblical eschatology into its proper historical spot on the timeline, we have solved a serious problem in today's search for end times prophecy.  While most pastors and so-called scholars are searching in the twilight zone to explain a future coming of Christ, we simply moved the timeline of events into its proper position and the puzzle piece fell right in place.  All of the events in the eschatological scheme match perfectly when slid back into its proper position in the first century.  I am convinced that if Scott applied his method to the new testament he would immediately become a preterist.  We do not force any puzzle pieces into the wrong place and certainly are not looking for that puzzle piece in the frozen unknown tundra of Alaska, it’s right on our table in the box that the puzzle came in.  In the end, I highly recommend the book and I highly recommend the method.  Good job Scott!