Jacob ( Israel) and his entire family leave their homeland because of severe famine, and enter Egypt approximately 1870 BC.

Also known as the Yin 殷 Dynasty, the Shang Dynasty spanned from 1751 to 1111 BC. Unlike the Xia Dynasty, all of the Shang kings mentioned in the Shu Jing have been verified by archaeology (e.g. the Shang oracle bones). 5 The Supreme God of the Shang people was Shang-ti 上帝. He was the omnipotent Supreme God at the top of the spiritual hierarchy who had control over the rain, harvests, and victories or defeats in battle. At this point in history, we have the oldest existing writing of Chinese characters, which are found in the Shang oracle bones. The oracle bones were usually turtle shells or cow bones engraved with Chinese characters, many of which are still preserved to the present day. We find that Shang-ti was already an all-powerful, all-knowing Supreme Deity in China's earliest beginnings. He was already present in His full glory as the Supreme God above all else.

King Wu Yi, who reigned for only four short years, was considered to be one of the most corrupt Shang Dynasty rulers. For over a thousand years of early Chinese history, there was no known record of the Chinese ever fashioning idol images. Wu Yi is attributed with the making of the first idol image in Chinese history. According to Sima Qian 司馬遷 , the Grand Historian of the Han, Wu Yi made an idol of Shang-ti from wood. Then, he played dice with it, causing someone else to play on behalf of the image. When the idol of Shang-ti lost the game, Wu Yi would ridicule and disgrace the image. He would then make a leather bag filled with pig blood, hang it on the idol's neck, and shoot it with an arrow, causing blood to splatter everywhere. He called this sport "shooting at Heaven." In the fourth year of his reign, while hunting between the Ho and Wei Rivers, he was suddenly struck dead by lightning from heaven. The common people recognized this as the just and appropriate vengeance of Heaven, whom Wu Yi had insulted. 6 The Chinese knew that they were never to make an idol of Shang-ti, and they almost never did throughout their 5,000 years of history.

The Zhou Dynasty began in 1111 BC with King Wen's 文王 conquest of the Shang people, and lasted until 221 BC. At this time in their history, we are told "great importance was attached to teaching the people about sacrifice." 7 The Shu Jing explains that the Shang people were defeated because they did not live up to the virtuous standards. The Zhou tribe knew the one true God by the name Tian 天, or Heaven, who had supreme power over the universe and humanity. In their own writings, they regarded Heaven and Shang-ti to be the same deities - two names for the same Supreme God. The Zhou argued that it was useless for the Shang to resist because Heaven willed that the House of Zhou should rule. This doctrine came to be known as Tian Ming 天命, or Heaven's Mandate, and it formed the cornerstone of the Chinese state. Heaven, they said, elected or commanded certain men to be rulers over the tribes of the world, and their heirs continued to exercise this power as long as they carried out their religious and administrative duties with piety, wisdom, and justice. But if the ruling family declined, turned their backs on Shang-ti and the spirits, and abandoned the virtuous ways that had made them worthy to rule, then Heaven would discard them and elect a new family or tribe to be the destined rulers of the world. The Shang kings, they argued, had once been wise and benevolent rulers, and thus enjoyed the full blessing and sanction of Heaven. But in later years, they had become cruel and degenerate. Thus, Heaven called upon the Zhou chieftains to overthrow and punish the Shang to usher in a new dynasty. Sometime during the early Zhou period, the Zhou rulers also introduced the concept that the emperor was the Son of Heaven 天子. Thus, they argued that the emperor, being the Son of Heaven, was the only one worthy enough to worship Shang-ti. Shang-ti, after all, was too high for the common people to worship. As a result, the common people were forbidden to worship Shang-ti. 8 From that time onward, only the emperor would worship Shang-ti, usually once a year on the winter solstice (around December 22nd), and a few other rare occasions. At this point in history, the common people began to loose touch and forget Shang-ti. Most modern scholars believe that the motivation for these new doctrines was for the Zhou to consolidate political power.

Buddha, also known as Siddhartha Gautama, was the founder of Buddhism. He lived from 557 BC to 477 BC in India. He never claimed to be a deity or divinely inspired.

Laozi was the founder of Taoism and was born in 604 BC. He taught that rather than strive for success, men should pursue a passive inaction, and that all things will come naturally to a successful conclusion. Taoism is not the true spiritual roots of the Chinese people. It was introduced over 1,500 years after the beginning of Chinese civilization.

Confucius lived from 551 BC to 479 BC in the Shangtung 山東 Province. He is considered to be China's greatest sage and philosopher. Confucius lived in a period when the Zhou empire was in its decline, and the provinces were fighting for supremacy. During his lifetime, he attempted to restore the glory of the Zhou empire by reviving the moral values of the ancient past. Confucius looked to the golden ages of the sage-kings Yao 堯, Shun 舜, and the early kings of the Zhou Dynasty who ruled the empire with virtue and wisdom, when all was at peace. He revised and compiled several books now contained in the Chinese Classics 四書五經, including the Book of History 書經, the Book of Poetry 詩經, and Spring and Autumn Annals 春秋. Though Confucius himself never claimed to be a diety, Confucian temples are found throughout China and Taiwan today where many Chinese worship him. Though he was a great teacher and philosopher, our true spiritual roots as Chinese are not found through worshipping Confucius.

For about 400 years, long after Jacob and his family entered Egypt, the Jews served the Pharaohs of Egypt as slaves. Moses was the man whom God had called to free the Jewish nation from Egyptian bondage. These events began with Moses' vision of the Burning Bush. Here, God reveals himself to Jewish people for the first time by his name "Yahweh," which is simply translated as "I AM" in the English Bible.