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Before The Pumpkins: Reclaiming All Hallows’ Eve

...n through history. Each one bore the light of Christ into the darkness of their age, refusing to give up or give in even when the cost was their life. Today, we stand on the shoulders of these giants of faith. Their courage reminds us that our lives, too, are part of this great story; that our endurance, our love, our quiet faithfulness all take their place among the saints who have gone before. As we begin this journey through their lives, may the same Spirit who sustained them stir our hearts anew. For though centuries divide us, we walk the same road, a road marked by the cross, but leading always toward resurrection! Dive into the lives and testimonies of...

The Coming of Jesus: Coming on the clouds

...ars" when history quite clearly shows the opposite. So to conclude, there's nothing in what Jesus says to suggest anything other than a reference to judgement by God on Jerusalem and the Jewish nation, using the symbolic language of the prophets to make his point, that what was to comes was going to be God's judgement on them!  In the next part of the series I will be taking a closer look at Matthew 24 (and the parallels in the other Gospels) alongside Revelation and seeing how, and if, history shows us that what Jesus prophesied as the signs of his coming were fulfilled.  If you enjoyed this, leave a comment below.   Further Reading: http://www.go...

The Author of Life Knew Death For Our Sake!

...to human history. And then his followers for centuries afterwards celebrate this day and even call it “Good Friday”! What’s so good about Good Friday though if the saviour is barbarically killed on this day? I wondered that for many years when I was younger, until one day it ‘clicked’. It may not have been a very good day as far as Jesus was concerned, by the fact he was being flogged, beaten and nailed to pieces of wood, but in terms of what he accomplished through his death – that is what makes Good Friday so very good! The death of Jesus is a very central point to our faith, though only made sense of by the resurrection. This is the Gospel, th...

Lent: Day 11 - Ignatius to Polycarp

...tools.com/history/. In brief though, if it is genuine, the letter is supposed to written by those who accompanied Ignatius on his travels through Asia Minor and who also witnessed his execution in Rome. After a lengthy trip, they eventually landed in Rome where Ignatius “was thus cast to the wild beasts”. The believers in the city “spent the whole night in tears” and prayer to the Lord, and it is recorded in the closing chapter of this letter that some “saw the blessed Ignatius” standing with them and embracing the group, and “others beheld him again praying” for them and lastly, some saw him sweating and “standing by the Lord” as though com...

Lent: Day 13 - Justin Martyr: First Apology, Chaps. 12-23

...lines the history of Christ; that he born for a purpose and was crucified under Pontius Pilate, and how they learned he was the Son of God to be worshipped. …we reasonably worship Him, having learned that He is the Son of the true God Himself, and holding Him in the second place, and the prophetic Spirit in the third, we will prove. For they proclaim our madness to consist in this, that we give to a crucified man a place second to the unchangeable and eternal God, the Creator of all Demonic Influences This is the start of misunderstanding, and Justin goes on to explain how it is the demons he previously mentioned (see yesterday's reading) that go about...

Creedal Christians: Introduction

...d as oral history, which was handed to them by the eye-witness Apostles themselves. These creeds were eventually used in the daily liturgy and worship of the Church as part of baptisms and hymns, and were also expected to be committed to memory by new converts to the faith. Another well-known example of what could be arguably a creed of sorts, is found in Galatians 3:28 which, upon further inspection, appears to contradict and oppose the more popular expressions and "blessings" that were used by Greeks and Jews of his day. Contrast Paul's wording to the Galatians... "There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male...