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Is fasting an expectation for Christians?

...hers fast forty days … And this variety among observers [of the fasts] did not have its origin in our time, but long before in that of our predecessors. — Irenaeus (c.180) Evidence for this is well established from the ancient letters that we still have available to us, such as from Irenaeus quoted above. As you can see, the fast varied in the earlier times until it became fixed at forty days across the whole Church in the run up to Easter. Fasting has been a steadfast part of the faith not only in the earliest of times, but even as ‘recently’ as the Reformation era. John Calvin, in his Institutes, wrote on the topic as it appears in his time th...

Is it the end of the world as we know it?

...September 28th 2015 will be a supermoon and a red moon at that. I last wrote about these four "blood moons" way back in April last year when certain self-styled prophets John Hagee and Mark Blitz's "End Times" teaching gained some popularity (and subsequent book promotions). One thing that I predicted in my previous article was that if nothing else comes from all of this "end is nigh" nonsense, is that these "prophets" would indeed profit from their books – as has been shown to be true in which the "Four Blood Moons" book has been in the top 20 on the New York Times Best-seller List, and has also recently been turned into a docu-drama! Other than th...

The Coming of Jesus: The Olivet Discourse – Part 2

...Welcome to Part Two of the Olivet Discourse! It’s been a while, so we’ll pick up right where we left off with Matthew 24 verse 15 onwards, after a small recap of the chapter so far. The Olivet Discourse begins with the disciples admiring the architecture of the temple in Jerusalem. Jesus responds to this by telling them that it will all be thrown down and destroyed, to the point that not one stone will be left on another. Later on, when they are sat on the Mount of Olives, Jesus’ disciples come to him and ask “when will this happen?” and “what will be the sign” that all of this is about to commence? If we look at the accou...

My new book, available now! Take a journey through the first 400 years of Church History in only 40 days!

...Take a journey through the first 400 years of Church History in only 40 days! "40 days with the Fathers" is a daily reading plan/devotional spread out over forty days; and over the course of this reading plan you will read extracts and commentary on 23 different early Church texts from a selection of some of the most influential Church Fathers, such as: Didache, Diognetus, Polycarp, Ignatius, Justin Martyr, Cyprian, Athanasius, Cyril of Jerusalem, Ambrose of Milan, and Leo the Great. These people who came before us, those great men of faith, many of whom suffered persecution and martyrdom to preserve the Church and Christ's mission, bridge the gap between th...

Palm Sunday and the End Times

...or almost forty days: 2 Maccabees 5:1–4About this time Antiochus made his second invasion of Egypt. And it happened that, for almost forty days, there appeared over all the city golden-clad cavalry charging through the air, in companies fully armed with lances and drawn swords — troops of cavalry drawn up, attacks and counterattacks made on this side and on that, brandishing of shields, massing of spears, hurling of missiles, the flash of golden trappings, and armor of all kinds. Therefore everyone prayed that the apparition might prove to have been a good omen. This last verse is interesting as it’s also similar to what Josephus notes about the Jewi...

40 days with the Fathers: Companion Texts OUT NOW!

...40 days with the Fathers: Companion Texts is now available to buy as Paperback or Kindle! I am happy to say that the new book is now available in paperback and Kindle format on Amazon! Other eBook formats will be available soon as it rolls out. This book is the companion to my other book (40 days with the Fathers: A Daily Reading Plan), and includes twenty-three Early Church texts in full—including all additional footnotes from the original editors and translators so that you can get as close as possible to reading these ancient texts without needing to know ancient Greek or Latin. It's structured in such a way to read a chapter a day over a 40 day period...