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Lent Day 26: Athanasius: Life of Anthony: Chaps. 51-60

...racles of healing that the Lord did through Anthony Anthony would spend a lot of his time praying with those who suffered, and sometimes those with illnesses would receive healing. But he taught not to boast if they were, and not to mutter if they weren’t, but to rejoice in all things and to be patient because “healing belonged neither to him nor to man at all, but only to the Lord” and God would do good to those he chose, when he chose to, and “those who were healed were taught not to give thanks to Anthony but to God alone”. At one time, a man named Fronto, an Officer of the Court, came to Anthony with a terrible disease where he “used to bite hi...

Jesus Like You've Never Seen Before - Discoveries from Early Christian Art

...I recently made a video on TikTok about what Jesus looks like in religious art and icons across various cultures, showing that people see Jesus as relatable to them and their people groups, and thus often depict Jesus looking the same as their own race. There was a comment made claiming that the Christ Pantocrator icon is exactly what Jesus looked like, and thus all others are wrong. If you’re wondering about the icon name, Pantocrator (Greek: Παντοκράτωρ) literally means “ruler of all”, but usually gets translated as “Almighty” or “all-powerful”. The oldest known icon of Christ Pantocrator,6th-century encaustic icon fromSaint Catheri...

Who is the New Jerusalem?

...e are for healing the nations, and there will no longer be any curse.   Firstly, if this New Jerusalem appearing as a literal city is the culmination of world history after the judgement, second death, sheep and goats etc (in other words – there’s no one left except for God’s own people), why then do the nations still need healing?   Secondly, and maybe the most striking detail, is the mention that there will no longer be any curse. All throughout Scripture, there is one main thing which is always referred to as a “curse” – death (sometimes also synonymous with sin). And that is precisely what Jesus liberated us from by his own death on a cro...

Lent Day 27: Athanasius: Life of Anthony: Chaps. 61-70

...es of the healing miracles which were done through Anthony, which carry over from yesterday's chapters. Many people would travel from far and wide to see and hear Anthony, or to receive prayer for sickness or for freedom from demons, but he “used to ask that no one should wonder at him for this; but should rather marvel at the Lord for having granted to us men to know Him as far as our powers extended.” Two examples are given of a time when Anthony was asked to visit some monks on a boat, and there was a stench so bad in that place that Anthony said it was unusual and not natural. The people on board just said it was due to the cargo of meat, but as Anthony...

Christians and the Coronavirus (COVID-19)

...for their healing in Christ, died from time to time most joyfully along with them, lading themselves with pains derived from others, and drawing upon themselves their neighbours’ diseases, and willingly taking over to their own persons the burden of the sufferings of those around them. And many who had thus cured others of their sicknesses, and restored them to strength, died themselves, having transferred to their own bodies the death that lay upon these. (Epistle 12: To the Alexandrians) Eusebius, in his Church History, also chronicles the efforts of Christians during this plague and notes how selflessly they acted in the face of death: For they alone in t...

BOOK REVIEW: Four Views on Hell 2nd edition

...oom, then healing’ foretold for Israel and nations such as Moab and Egypt, from which he derives “the pattern of judgment followed by restoration.”(114, italics his) The key word for Parry is restorative, not retributive, so that his angle is that “those in hell will be saved out of hell.” (117) Dealing with classic ECT texts like Mk 9, Mt 25, 2 Thess 1:9 and even Revelation, he discerns “salvation postscripts” (123) such as ‘the nations’ and ‘kings of the earth’ who seem to be destroyed late on in Revelation but then re-appear to enter New Jerusalem by Rev. 21-22. In sum, he champions in such passages “post-damnation salvation for all....