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Where Hal Lindsey and Dispensationalism Went Wrong

...ed at the Jewish-Roman War ending with the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70.) Lindsey (p. 87, etc.) saw the existence of nuclear weapons as an important sign of the end times. However, Jesus taught that the so-called “end times” would be when God’s people would “fall by the edge of the sword” (Luke 21:24). Jesus’ prophecies were about ancient warfare, not modern nuclear weapons. The context of this prophecy by Jesus was about the coming destruction of the temple (Luke 21:6). Jesus told his listeners that it would happen when THEY saw Jerusalem surrounded by armies (Luke 21:20), in THEIR generation (Luke 21:32). This all happened when the Roman armies inva...

A Historic Easter Change Is Coming — But Will Protestants Get On Board?

...ollow the Jewish pattern of Passover on the 14 Nisan or always be fixed to the day of the resurrection — a Sunday. It became a bigger issue when not only the Jewish community of believers wanted to follow this method, but when the Gentile Asian communities also claimed that their Quartodeciman practice was of Apostolic origin claiming they got their practice from John himself. But the Julian calendar, which is what the Church used in the fourth century, was increasingly out of sync with the actual solar year, so March 21 — generally assumed to be the date of the Northern Hemisphere’s spring equinox — gradually “drifted” away from the act...

Does Easter Have Pagan Origins?

...ollow the Jewish pattern of Passover on the 14 Nisan or not, and simply follow the days of the week (Friday and Sunday). It became a bigger issue when not only the Jewish community of believers wanted to follow this method, but when the Gentile Asian communities also claimed that their “Quartodeciman” practice was of Apostolic origin! It was a disciple of John the Apostle, and bishop of Smyrna, called Polycarp (c.69–c.155), who followed this practice in one of the seven churches of Asia, as well as Melito, bishop of Sardis (died c.180). Irenaeus tells us that, in his old age, Polycarp visited the bishop of Rome to discuss this matter with him as the Roman...

Lent: Day 6 - Ignatius to the Magnesians

...ds to the Jewish Law and how it relates to Christians, “For if we still live according to the Jewish law,” Ignatius says, “we acknowledge that we have not received grace”, which you can see is a statement echoing Paul’s sentiments throughout his letters to the churches – “you are not under law, but under grace” as he wrote in Romans 6:14 (and Rom 7:4,6; Gal 4:21 etc). This whole chapter is pretty much a short summary of Paul’s teaching on the Law and how we Christians are no longer bound by it; "You who want to be justified by the law have cut yourselves off from Christ; you have fallen away from grace" (Gal 5:4), or as Ignatius phrases it, "...

The Relationship Between Jesus and Sophia

...lished in Jewish thought by the time of Christ, so obviously the earliest followers of Jesus made the connection, which also followed through into the Early Church exegesis and teaching about Christ as the Wisdom of God, as we have just seen. John’s Gospel is the one that most closely makes the link between the contemporary thought of Wisdom and the Word of God in the opening words of his Gospel: John 1:1–3In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. Cast your mind back to Proverbs 8 and you’ll see the s...

The Deity of Christ in the Gospel of Matthew - Part 2

...n earlier Jewish tradition, one from which these later rabbinic sayings were derived. These later rabbinic traditions and the similarity to what Jesus says in Matthew 18:20 suggest that in this saying Jesus is not only claiming omnipresence — a unique attribute of Yahweh but also identifying his presence as the divine presence of God. I will conclude with a quote from Craig Keener[2] giving his summary of this theme in Matthew; “Matthew does not think of “God with us” merely at Jesus’ birth, or during his earthly ministry, or in some abstract way. He revisits this issue toward the middle and end of his Gospel. In 18:20, Jesus announces, “Where...