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Ancient “curse” amulet drastically changes perspective on Biblical dating

...ript that has ever been published by at least 200 years. This is earlier than many sceptics believe the Bible existed, making this the earliest appearance of the word YHWH in Israel and it was found at a covenant site. The implications are enormous and will reverberate for many years to come. Mount Ebal, where the amulet was found, was the mountain from which the curses were called out when the children of Israel made a covenant with God before entering the land of Israel, as seen in Deuteronomy 11:29: When the Lord your God has brought you into the land that you are entering to occupy, you shall set the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal....

Great is the Mystery of Faith!

...h: Christ has died, Christ has risen, Christ will come again!”. What we believe and live by in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus is a mystery! It is a strange and powerful thing that God did by sending his Son in the form of a human to grow, teach and ultimately die for us so that we can be made righteous and adopted into the family of God. I don’t think we’ll ever quite wrap our heads around it all fully. I’m going to end this with another poetic excerpt from Melito. I find this to be a very powerful image of what Jesus did for us. I get chills every time I read it. Take a moment to really ponder on these words as you read them and consider th...

Jesus was a pagan copy, and other Christmas myths

...It's that time of year again when certain groups of people like to share memes and videos that apparently "prove" Jesus to be a carbon-copy of ancient Egyptian gods. This has been debunked so many times, yet it's still so pervasive on social media, mindlessly shared over and over again. This myth about Jesus being a copy of other pagan "dying-and-rising gods" doesn't have its roots in Egyptian legend, but rather in the claims of a film called Zeitgeist. A quick search online will bring up many websites which have gone through the claims of this film with a fine tooth comb, and debunked each one. Here's one such example, which lists out the major claims and giv...

From Dust to Redemption: The Meaning of Ash Wednesday

...Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of Lent, a season of repentance, fasting, and preparation for Easter in the Christian calendar. It is observed by many Western Christian traditions, including the Roman Catholic Church, Anglican Communion, Lutheran churches, and some Methodist and Reformed communities. The day falls 46 days before Easter Sunday and is always on a Wednesday. Origins and Historical Development The practice of Ash Wednesday can be traced back to the early centuries of Christianity, though its formal observance developed over time. The use of ashes as a sign of repentance has deep biblical roots, appearing frequently in the Old Testament. People w...

Doubting Defying Jihad: Questioning the Popular Conversion Story

...This is a guest post by “KingsServant” In 2019 a book called Defying Jihad was published by Tyndale House, the reputable Christian publisher telling the story of “Esther Ahmad” a pseudonym used by the author alongside her co-author Craig Borlase, who has previously written alongside, well known Christian personalities such as Matt Redman the singer and Andrew Brunson, an American pastor imprisoned by the Turkish government. As I began to read this book over this past year I was expecting an encouraging account of how a former Jihadi found Christ and escaped her previous accomplices. Very quickly, however, I became uncomfortable, her descriptions of her...

The Coming of Jesus: Introduction

...  Will Jesus return in the way most of us have been taught? I suspect that when many people think of the "Second Coming" — that is, the return of Jesus, images of the world ending in a blaze of fire and glory come to mind; or of some super-war called Armageddon where the Anti-Christ battles it out with God's people one last time before the End comes. You may even think of Jesus surfing across the sky on clouds with a bunch of angel in tow, or maybe the Left Behind book and film series frames your view of the "end times." Whichever it is, one thing I can assure you of is that some of that imagery has been embellished and some misunde...