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Coffee With Jesus: Luke 24

Brief thoughts from daily devotions The road to Emmaus. A familiar story from the Gospel to many, though today as I read it, I noticed some things which I probably glossed over in previous times. At the start of this chapter we see that some of the women who followed Jesus had gone to the tomb with spices to prepare the body of Jesus, and yet were met with a few surprises: an open, empty tomb and some angels! They ran back to the group of apostles and other disciples to tell the exciting news, and what was their response? “[T]hese words seemed to them an idle tale, and they did not believe them.” (v.11). They thought it was nonsense! Probably not the react...

Ancient Amulet Rewrites History Of Christianity In Europe

...o Yahweh, angels, or any local pagan deities, highlighting the exclusive Christian nature of this amulet. This not only underscores the devotion of the wearer but raises a lot of questions about Christianity in what was once the cultural and administrative hub of Roman Germania. As scholars continue to study this artefact, it serves as a tangible testament to the early presence and enduring legacy of Christianity in Europe, rewriting known history, and showing that all of those myths about Jesus’ deity being an invention of Constantine in the fourth century are a complete fabrication. This should inspire us as believers today to reflect on the historical roo...

Before The Pumpkins: The Day Two Women Defied Rome

...below and angels above. She had already seen her victory. So, she and Felicity entered the arena hand in hand, clothed in faith rather than fear. The account tell us they faced a wild cow chosen, perhaps, to mock their womanhood and maternal instincts as it was noted that this was entirely against the usual custom. The animals charged — the wild cow meant to humiliate them gored and trampled, yet still they rose. Bloodied but unbroken, they embraced one another and offered the kiss of peace, sealing their testimony in love. When the beasts failed to kill them, the guards sent in the sword. The chronicler records the moment with awe: She guided the trembl...

An Examination of Conditional Immortality (Part One)

...on to the angels who sinned and were put in chains. Interestingly, it’s another word borrowed from Greek mythology, for the prison where the Titans were sent as punishment. If you are interested in how we got the word “hell” in our English language, and more importantly, into our Bibles, I highly recommend that you read this study: The Real Hell. A Case for Conditional Immortality (aka Annihilationism) We are often taught that our souls, human souls, are inherently immortal. But where does this idea come from, because it’s never actually stated in Scripture that this is so. This is an Hellenistic philosophical assumption brought into the text (mainl...

Did Herod’s Massacre Of The Innocents Historically Happen?

...January 6th marks the day in the liturgical calendar when the arrival of the Magi visiting baby Jesus with their gifts is celebrated. But with it comes the often distressing account of what is known as the Massacre of the Innocents. Matthew places this moment of revelation of Jesus as King alongside one of the darkest episodes in his Gospel, and it’s a stark contrast: one King is here to bring peace on earth, as the angels declared, the other king brought death and destruction. For some readers, this raises an immediate historical question. If Herod truly ordered the killing of all the male children under two in Bethlehem, why does no other ancient historian...

Was the omniscience of God a developed idea?

...Or do we retroactively place our current theology of God on God? Consider the Garden of Eden: '[T]he Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”'  (Gen. 3:8-10) Now today we make it into a rhetorical question, but was this always so? In this story, God is spoken of almost in a physical-bodily sense as walking in the garden, since "they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden" as he moved about, and then tried to hide themselves from his view! Next think of the tower of Babel - "The Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which mortals had built" (Gen 11:5) - Did he not just know already? Also this story...