Lately I have been participating in an undergraduate research project at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. We are examining a late 14th/early 15th century copy of Meditationes Vitae Christi (Meditations on the Life of Christ). The Meditationes Vitae Christi (MVC) was written in Latin around 1365-1390 AD by Johannes de Caulibus, but it was formerly attributed to St.…
The Lord has blessed me with the opportunity to learn ancient Greek and to use that knowledge for him. The other day, as I was reading the story of Jesus' resurrection from my Greek New Testament, God allowed me to see something powerful in his word; something I had never noticed before. The last chapter…
The Bible clearly teaches that there is only one God (Mark 12:29-30, John 17:1-3, 1 Corinthians 8:6, Ephesians 4:4-6); and when Deuteronomy 6:4 says, "the Lord our God is one Lord", it means that Jehovah is one in every sense of the word. Occasionally, however, Trinitarian Christians (who believe that God is multiple persons) will appeal…
Credit where credit is due: not all of the thoughts in this post are my own. Special thanks to my friend Josh R. The inspiration for this post came as a result of a sermon that he delivered at our local church. There came a time when Israel went to do battle with one of…
By my counting, the popular website biblegateway.com lists no less than about 50 different English translations of the Bible. These days it seems like everyone is using a different translation of the Bible and arguing over which version is the best, is the easiest to understand, is the closest to the original Greek, and so…
After David became king of Israel, the Lord made a very special promise to him: "And when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build an house for…
The history contained in the book of Judges was one of great turmoil for the nation of Israel. During this time many foreign invading countries came to fight against Israel, and Canaan was no exception to this. In response to this invasion God raised up the prophetess Deborah and the military leader Barak to fight…
David was without doubt one of the greatest kings of Israel. During his reign the kingdoms of Israel and Judah were reunited into one realm (2 Samuel 5:1-5); and his forty years as king marked a sort of Golden Age for the nation that only grew and came into its fullness under his son Solomon.…
When we look at the crucifixion of Jesus, and the trial that led up to it, we see that Pilate did not really want to condemn Jesus. When the mob brought the Jesus to the govenor, Pilate questioned Jesus. "And Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests and the rulers and the people,…
In my opinion, one of the most beautiful verses in the entire Bible is Hosea 2:16 And it shall be at that day, saith the LORD, that thou shalt call me Ishi; and thou shalt call me no more Baali. This verse is amazing. But before we can understand it in all of its depth…
Lectionary 