[TeamManager]

>BTW TM, I have a swali about god and miracles. When the
>plagues were beginning in Egypt, many of the miracles
>god did thru Moses were replicated by the Pharaohs guys
>through their gods. When god (thru Moses) turned his rod
>into a snake, the Pharaoh's sorcerers (thru their gods)
>also turned their rods into snakes. When Moses brought
>about frogs, the Pharaoh's guys also made frogs.

@ATLian
I got this from the internet, maybe it will give you some answers.

why God did suffer the Egyptian magicians to borrow power from the devil to invalidate, if possible, those miracles which his servant wrought by his Divine power, the following reasons may be given for it:

1. It was necessary that these magicians should be suffered to exert the utmost of their power against Moses, in order to clear him from the imputation of magic or sorcery; for as the notion of such an extraordinary art was very rife, not only among the Egyptians, but all other nations, if they had not entered into this strenuous competition with him, and been at length overcome by him, both the Hebrews and the Egyptians would have been apter to have attributed all his miracles to his skill in magic, than to the Divine power.

"2. It was necessary, in order to confirm the faith of the wavering and desponding Israelites, by making them see the difference between Moses acting by the power of God, and the sorcerers by that of Satan.

"3. It was necessary, in order to preserve them afterwards from being seduced by any false miracles from the true worship of God."

To these a fourth reason may be added: God permitted this in mercy to the Egyptians, that they might see that the gods in whom they trusted were utterly incapable of saving them; that they could not undo or counteract one of the plagues sent on them by the power of Jehovah; the whole of their influence extending only to some superficial imitations of the genuine miracles wrought by Moses in the name of the true God. By these means it is natural to conclude that many of the Egyptians, and perhaps several of the servants of Pharaoh, were cured of their idolatry; though the king himself hardened his heart against the evidences which God brought before his eyes. Thus God is known by his judgments: for in every operation of his hand his design is to enlighten the minds of men, to bring them from false dependences to trust in himself alone; that, being saved from error and sin, they may become wise, holy, and happy. When his judgments are abroad in the earth, the inhabitants learn righteousness.


>When Moses turned ALL the water in Egypt into blood, and >the sorcerers also turned water into blood. BTW, this is
>another bible discrepancy since if Moses had already
>turned ALL the water in Egypt into blood, where did the
>water the sorcerers turned into blood come from? But I
>digress ... the Egyptian's gods were finally defeated
>when they couldn't create lice.

V24 clearly shows that NOT all water in Egypt had been turned bloody BUT the Nile was already turned bloody


>That has always puzzled me, does that mean that there
>were other gods who just were not as powerful as god?
> ... I'd be interested in your explanation. And since
>the devil isn't mentioned anywhere in the story, let's
>leave him out of the equation...

A study of ancient magician practices in Egypt might assit in understanding .......but since you want the devil left out....Ok, continue to stay puzzled.