44 Degrees: Unveiling the Mystery and Magnitude of the Seasons of Joseph

Copyright © 2014 Kevin McCoy Hunt.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

WestBow Press

A Division of Thomas Nelson & Zondervan

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.westbowpress.com

1 (866) 928-1240

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4908-4158-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-4159-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-4160-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014911108

WestBow Press rev. date: 08/18/2014

CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1   Destiny: Majestic Or Mythical?

Chapter 2   A Tremendous Life

Chapter 3   A Family Restored

Chapter 4   Digging For Proof

Chapter 5   Dreams Beyond This World

Chapter 6   Light It Up!

Chapter 7   Holding The Keys To A Birthright

Chapter 8   The Joseph Principle

Chapter 9   Another Dimension Of Multiplied Grace

Chapter 10 Joseph And The Wings Of America

Chapter 11 The Predestination Of The Forty-Fourth President

Chapter 12 A Blue Moon Revelation

Believe It or Not- Let’s Pray

Bibliography

All praises to God Almighty for allowing our mother, Hattie Viola Merchant Hunt, to grace this life and lay a foundation of love for God and man that touched so many lives in a short amount of years. Emmett G., Ronald C., and I were so blessed to have her as such.

I acknowledge that her untimely death is connected to my endowment of knowledge to record the enlightenment of 44° in due season. My destiny was set into motion at that time.

We know that God makes all things work together for the good of those who love Him and are chosen to be a part of His plan.

—Romans 8:28 NLT

INTRODUCTION

H ave you ever noticed something for the first time that grabs your attention and personal interests, and then, strangely, you begin to see it or hear about it everywhere? It’s as if the item or subject is purposefully placed in front of you (seemingly for your eyes only) when you’d never paid any attention to it before. For example, once my wife and I purchased a car, thinking it was unique in color and style because we had never before seen one like it on the road. As soon as we purchased it, we frequently saw others like it around our town. Then we began to see it everywhere, seemingly in multiples! Of course, at that point it was too late to take it back to the car dealership. Perhaps this phenomenon simply means we are more conscious of things that are of interest to us than those things in which we have no interest.

Reading the Holy Bible as a preteen, I enjoyed the book of Genesis, the first book in the Bible. Reading it several times as a young person, the life of Joseph of Egypt drew me in more than the rest of the stories. More than thirty-five years later, the story still resonates and creates excitement within me, even above so many of the other wonderful characters in the ancient manuscripts. First, Joseph was so young and beloved, yet his own brothers sold him into slavery. This sounds like the end of a tragedy, but Joseph was eventually appointed the most powerful man in all of Egypt. If one understands the greatness of Egypt alone at the height of its dynasties, that’s enough to appreciate why Joseph’s life was and still is so inspirational today.

Interestingly, just as in the car scenario described above, I have been hearing more and more about Joseph of late. During the last several years, the topic of Joseph keeps popping up out of nowhere.

In October 2005, I was in prayerful study, working on a mystery to which the good Lord was opening my mind. Like Monk the investigator or Andy Griffith in the Matlock TV series, I was keyed in, almost in a trancelike state, when suddenly I heard a voice stating, These are the seasons of Joseph. Ever since then, my heart and mind have heard and seen things I would have never paid any attention to before. Since then I have heard more and more about Joseph of Egypt.

A couple of years ago, I was helping a close family friend who was going through a rough time. Unexpectedly she said, It seems like I keep hearing about Joseph a lot lately. What does it mean, Pastor?

Another time several months later, I was coming home from church one Sunday afternoon when I received a phone call from my wife asking if I could stop at the grocery store and pick up a few needed items before coming home. When heading into the store, I saw a blast-from-the-past childhood friend who has flourished in ministry. I had not spoken to him in a while, since his older brother’s funeral. He shared his renewed joy in his ministerial transition, and I was drawn into what he was saying. I was so glad to see him, and I sensed this was another meant-to-be encounter. Without preamble my friend shared with me the excitement he’d experienced in teaching people about the life of Joseph. My mind locked on the name. Joseph! My friend could have said Abraham or Moses or King David or Paul or the Virgin Mary’s husband, Joseph, or the one and only Christ Jesus. But no, he was talking about Joseph of Egypt.

One day shortly thereafter when I went into my home office to get my reading glasses, a television commercial came on about visiting the Sight-n-Sound Theater in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The area is known for its Amish population and their pre-nineteenth-century way of living. It is one of the most-visited theaters in Pennsylvania because of its theatrical renditions of different stories of the Bible. Playing at the Sight-n-Sound Millennium Theater was the story of Joseph of Egypt, and the commercial referenced the beauty and majesty of the performance. Of course I was interested in seeing the play! We had been to Sight-n-Sound a number of times, but this play had never been offered. I realized that once again this was one of the seasons of Joseph effects that was revealed to me back in 2005.

What is it about Joseph’s life that has been getting so much fresh attention, whether in cartoons, movies, or Broadway theater shows? It is no longer just religious folks who are going over their Sunday school teachings or studying their Torah (the first 5 books of Moses in the Bible) lessons who speak about this giant of a man. Why isn’t the life of King David, the apple of God’s eye, discussed more often instead? King David is often referred to in the Scriptures, and rightfully so. The Scriptures in the Old Testament predicted that the Messiah of the ages to come is called the Son of David. In fact, his son, Solomon, was not only considered the wisest king of all time but also one of the most celebrated for his wealth and prestige. Yet none of those prestigious men receives the volume of affection and admiration that Joseph, the eleventh son of Jacob, receives. Why is that?

Recently the world stopped to memorialize the life and legacy of South Africa’s Nelson Mandela, who lived his life to overcome the injustices of apartheid in his homeland, even after suffering imprisonment for twenty-seven years. His life touched many nations and international leaders. Nelson Mandela rose from imprisonment in 1990 to become his nation’s first black president only four years later. Former US President Bill Clinton reiterated how Mandela chose to love and respect his political opposition, even placing those individuals in key roles in his cabinetry as president.

Other political leaders offered their reflections of this great man, whose life mimics that of Joseph, as he was also imprisoned and then worked to overcome his country’s oppression and eventually rule that same country.

Former President George H. W. Bush stated, As President, I watched in wonder how Nelson Mandela had the remarkable capacity to forgive his jailers … setting a powerful example of redemption and grace for us all.

• Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron reflected, Tonight, one of the brightest lights of our world has gone out … Nelson Mandela was not just a hero of our time, but a hero of all time.

• Former President George W. Bush offered these words, President Mandela was one of the great forces for freedom and equality of our time.

• Current U.S. President Barack Obama stated, Through his fierce dignity and unbending will to sacrifice his own freedom for the freedom of others, Mandela transformed South Africa and moved all of us. His journey from a prisoner to a president embodied the promise that human beings and countries can change for the better.

• Muhammad Ali added, His was a spirit born free, destined to soar above the rainbows. Today his spirit is soaring above the heavens. He is now free forever. ¹

Like Joseph, Nelson Mandela embodied and inherited much reverence from others. Even in his early days as a Bible student and teacher (at the end of his life, he acknowledged the Methodist faith), I am sure he read about the life of Joseph and the life of Moses and was filled with the wonder of a greater day of freedom for his people. If you listen and watch religious leaders around the country, Catholics, Protestants, and Muslims equally remain intrigued by the life of Joseph, who lived almost 3,800 years ago. His story touches the lifeline of human hope in the midst of the travesty of betrayal, which may be one of the hardest blows to overcome in life.

In the midst of Joseph’s betrayal, he was exalted in an otherwise hostile nation that had looked down on Jews for being nomadic shepherds. Beyond Joseph’s exaltation in Egypt, he helped save many lives of those who were suffering from a severe famine around the known world.

As preachers and teachers, I believe we are attracted to Joseph because, no matter what he went through, the favor of God changed the forecast of extreme sadness to rivers of gladness on his behalf. What great hope to all who have experienced such heartache!

In the face of the unstable economic climate in the United States and abroad where unemployment remains high and the cost of living continues to creep upward, the story of Joseph encourages the downcast. Better days are ahead! The Joseph saga is not only about hope, but it also holds powerful principles to help us overcome the worst of times and enjoy the best of times with a sober mind. Even in the face of racial, religious, economic, and other social injustices, his story remains an example of not allowing negative opposition or adversities to have full control of one’s destiny of a better life.

We can say that, other than Jesus, Abraham, and Moses, no one else holds the volume of influence like Joseph of Egypt. This influence goes far beyond him being a favored child of Jacob because of his attractiveness.

In this book we will look into qualitative reasoning as well as the prophecies that were spoken about Joseph, which may have been overlooked in previous teachings. I will also utilize the teaching of gematria, a sage Jewish methodology in which each letter of the alphabet carries a numerical value, and the calculation of the numerical equivalence of letters, words, or phrases helps us gain insight into links between otherwise-different concepts and explore the relationship of words and ideas.²

Just as numbers can be utilized to resolve measurements, volumes, and sizes, gematria works to help us understand the relationship of numbers and words in a Hebrew text. With any law, there is the actual law; how the law works and the process of how the law should be carried out. I will refer to gematria not in its fullness, but I will use the principle (how it works), as well as deductions based on gematria throughout this book. Learning how gematria works within the subject of the season of Joseph will help us appreciate greater meaning and understanding throughout the text. What you read will become more alive and insightful.

During the course of this book, I will call my usage of gematria, the principle, or spirit, of gematria. It will help us to see deeper into the mind of God—the Designer of all things—who created all things with relation to purpose and destiny. Through the use of gematria, we will see that Joseph’s life is right now on full course to touch the fabric of today’s environment.

In Steve Greison’s DVD documentary The Search for the Real Mt. Sinai (2003), Reverend Bob Grant, doctor of theology, says, Tradition is a powerful thing … and once you start fooling with tradition, even if it is legitimate evidence; it is very, very difficult for people to let go of that.

In this book, we will explore both tradition and legitimate evidence, using gematria. I ask that you keep an open mind during this exploration, and let God lead you, as He has led me, to a new level of understanding.

According to 1 Corinthians 13:13: Three things will last forever; faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love (NLT). All of these things are powerfully grafted into the life of Joseph.

So I invite you, readers, both religious and nonreligious, to consider—and yes, even enjoy!—the intriguing knowledge that is about to be shared in this book and the aura that surrounds Joseph’s amazing life. Be open-minded; consider new insights and perspectives into the holy Scriptures, and realize how they can translate into a greater dimension than how they may have been previously understood.

My goal in writing this book was, first, to obey the Lord God, who is the revealer of the secrets of men and the mysteries held within the book and to communicate these mysteries to you. Second, in the midst of the hopelessness and despair in today’s society, I wish to provide a greater light of faith, hope, and love to a world that is being shaken on every side.

—Reverend Kevin McCoy Hunt

CHAPTER 1

DESTINY: MAJESTIC OR MYTHICAL?

T he word destiny refers to a predetermined course of human and natural events. It is a concept that suggests there is a guiding force, or hand, providing direction in human or cosmic events, but the confines of human reasoning subjects the topic to many considerations. Many may consider destiny to be coincidental, while others believe it is inevitable and unchangeable. For most, destiny is connected to a Superior Being and/or Creator of the universe. My reason for discussing such a compelling topic here is not to debate its function but to declare that it does exist.

I believe in destiny but not in the sense that no matter what choices or decisions a person makes, they will not impact that person’s future. I believe there are certain indefinable occurrences and events that work under a greater scenario and under the direction of a Sovereign Being (the Creator of the universe). I believe His will for mankind is for us to eventually become whole and at peace, which was the original design before disobedience came into the picture.

According to the written texts of the Major and Minor Prophets and other holy men, the Creator, through