The Bible was written over about a 1500 year time period. The last of the 66 books to be written was Revelation and was written about 100 A.D. World geography was different back then. People's names were strange back then. Pronouncing the names of the places and the people in the Bible can be a real challenge! My new* go-to site for hearing how a Bible word is pronounced is http://thebibleworkshop.com/bible-name-pronunciation/ [*Note: I had written this post in January and had recommended a different site before. That site required Quiktime 7 web plug-in to hear the word pronounced. It was just announced DO NOT install Apple Quicktime 7 on your computer and if you have installed it, uninstall it immediately. Having Quicktime 7 may allow malicious software to attack your PC computer.] Go and check it out. Listen to: Onesimus o-NEH-sih-muhs Philemon fih-LEE-muhn Tychicus TIH-kih-kuhs Keep reading, Carolyn

At church last Sunday we had a speaker come and talk during the Sunday School time between the services. With all that is going on in the world today, I’m not sure I have permission to use his name in this online venue. And his name isn’t important to this post. But let me give you some background on him. He served Active Duty in the United States Air Force for 25 years. He worked in the White House a couple years and also at the Pentagon. But at the pinnacle of his career, he gave it all up to answer the call to evangelism. He is of Jewish background, a believer in Yeshua (the Hebrew name for Jesus) and has been called to a ministry in Israel. His talk was fascinating. He started out by telling us with all of the horrible things we hear in the news that we need to hear about the revival that is going on around the world. The ministry in Israel he works with supports messianic congregations, helps translate Christian books for them, and financially aids those who have been ostracized from their families and found themselves homeless and without a job because of their faith in Jesus. When a Jewish person comes to believe in Yeshua their families often disown them. Sometimes they lose their jobs and find themselves destitute. Just a week ago I watched a video about this very thing. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D_NTqPodYEA&nohtml5=False - the first small section of the video is not clear, but wait until he starts talking.) It is especially difficult for Arabs because becoming a Christian and proselytizing is grounds for death. Being Jewish or Muslim and coming to believe in Jesus frequently equals persecution. He showed us a picture of an Arab believer who after preaching and bringing 130 Muslims to Christ, walked outside and had acid thrown on his face. Yet the messianic congregations are growing. He told us many Arabs are showing up at messianic congregations after having a dream where Jesus is revealed to them! He showed us pictures of a former Palestinian terrorist and a Jewish man who had both become believers washing each other’s feet! Jewish believers and Arab believers are worshipping together! He said, “The solution to the Middle East peace process is the gospel.” We heard about what is going on in Israel, Iran, and China. The gospel message is spreading rapidly. (More Jewish people have come to believe in Yeshua in the past 20 years than in the 2000 years before that. The New Testament tells us the gospel message first went to the Jews and then to the Gentiles. By 100 A.D. the Jews had largely rejected the gospel, but the message of Christ’s redemption to those who believe in Him spread quickly throughout the Gentiles.) He told us about the house churches in Iran and spent quite a bit of time talking about China and their house churches. The Chinese house church has a passion for revival and prayer. In 1948 there were only about 1 million Christians in China. In 50 years it was estimated there were 10 million Christians in China – despite persecution. Now they estimate there are 247 million Christians in China! A recent Pew article said there may be more Christians in China then in any other nation and about 10 million Chinese convert to Christianity a year! All of this has been seen in one generation! Throughout Christian history it is recorded that when persecution occurs, the gospel message spreads quickly. The gospel message is stalled here in our country. It isn’t spreading. Sadly, I suppose we are satisfied with the status quo. Two things come to my mind when I think how casual we are about the Great Commission. First this quote: You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you. - C.S. Lewis, English author and Christian apologist Second is this: Revelation 3:15-16 is written to the church at Laodicea - ‘I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth.’ As believers we become one family. We should care about what is going on around the world. We should financially and prayerfully support our brothers and sisters in Christ. I highly recommend two books on what believer’s go through in their countries. Captive in Iran – A remarkable true story of hope and triumph amid the horror of Tehran’s brutal Evin prison authored by Maryam Rostampour and Marziyeh Amirizaden with John Perry. Captive in Iran (affiliate link) These two remarkable women who were raised Muslim and came to be believers put New Testaments in the hands of 20,000 of their fellow Iranians. They started two secret house churches, including one for prostitutes! In 2009 they were arrested for sharing their Christian beliefs. This book is a fascinating read. Maryam and Marziyeh now live in the United States. They gave up their freedom, their families and their country for their faith. Son of the Underground – The story of Isaac Liu, son of Brother Yun, authored by Isaac Liu with Albrecht Kaul. Son of the Underground Isaac’s father was Brother Yun who was an enemy of the state of China because of his faith in Jesus Christ. Isaac and his mother suffered persecution while his father was imprisoned. They met with other believers in a secret church at night. The secret church had only one Bible. I remember several things about this book fascinated me. But one was that Isaac’s grandmother had memorized every word of every Psalm! Isaac who now lives in Germany also gave his country up for his faith. This speaker last Sunday reminded me – But the eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had designated. When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some were doubtful. And Jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Matthew 28:16-20 (NASB) Lift up His name so that all nations may be blessed.

As long as I can remember I thought the Bible was sacred and holy. I have always held it carefully like something that was special and I had to handle with care. Because I thought it was a holy book, when I first started going to Bible study groups, I did not highlight or write in it. When I was learning something new about a Scripture passage, I would write it in the study book or in a notebook. Then I started noticing others wrote in their Bibles. And I started wondering why had I believed I could not write in my Bible? Where did I pick that up? Had I been taught that at some point in my upbringing? Or did I come up with that on my own? I doubt that. Most likely someone, somewhere, at some time, told me writing in a Bible was sacrilegious. I mulled it over a long time and I finally decided God wouldn't care if I wrote in it and marked it up. (Matter of fact that is the premise of Inductive Bible Study - to highlight different words different colors and underline words to enhance your understanding!) I believe studying God's Word and writing down what I learn in my Bible and highlighting what impacts me makes Him smile. I'm reading and studying it! And that is sure to please Him. I go to a church where the Word of God is preached and I'm pretty blown away by the biblical knowledge of the people who attend. As far as I can tell, pretty much everyone in my Sunday School class reads the Bible. The people seem spiritually mature - full of love and caring for others. But I also noticed many of them don't mark or write in their Bibles. Their Bibles look well-loved, a bit worn, but for the most part they don't write in them like I do. Does that matter? No. I am a bit curious though. It's weird, back when I was an Occasional Christian and just beginning to read the Bible, I don't think I really understood what holy and sacred was. I would hear the minister or other believers say the Bible was the Word of God and in my mind I would think, 'I don't know if I believe that.' It was written by men a long time ago. They had to have made mistakes. How could we be sure what we have today is what they wrote? How do we know it is from God and not the men's ideas? I guess I thought the Bible was a good book, worthy to read, had some good moral values in it, but also had some out-dated not-applicable ideas too. I just didn't completely buy the Bible was God's Word and therefore, that I had to live by what it said. But then I read the Bible. And I learned how we got it. The fact that it was written over a period of about 1500 years, by over 40 authors, on 3 continents, by men from all walks of life; and has a UNIFIED BODY OF TEACHING - well, that was only something God could do. The theology Isaiah wrote about in 700 B.C. matches the theology Paul wrote about in A.D. 60! And then to look at the manuscript evidence we have (over 5900 part or whole of Greek manuscripts of the New Testament books as of 2012) and how scholars pour over the variances in those manuscripts that came from 3 continents and various centuries and not one variance impacts any theological concept - well, that convinced me! I remember researching the variances in the manuscript evidence and suddenly breaking down crying. There just isn't any way that is a coincidence. It was God. We are very sure we know the text of the books of the Bible in their original languages. And then to look at the translation process where scholars with incredible credentials pour over each and every word to best translate it into our languages makes us convinced God's Word is conveyed to us as the original writers wrote them. I didn't just accept that the Bible was God's Word based on someone just saying that to me. I came to this belief over a period of many years as I learned how we got the Bible, how it is reliable in text, and as I read the Bible for myself. I concluded it had to be God. I totally, completely, absolutely believe God preserved His Word for us. And that belief has very sound logical reasoning. If you hooked me up to a lie detector test today and asked me if I believed the Bible is God's Word - inerrant, infallible, and applicable for my life - I would answer yes, and I would pass that I believe how I answered is true. What a difference it has made reading it while believing it really is His Word! Yes, indeed it is ironic I wouldn't write in my Bible because I thought it was holy and sacred and now I believe it is holy and sacred and I write all over it. It makes me chuckle. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 (NASB) All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work. #Bibleisreliable #readingtheBible

I teach a class called Connecting the Dots of the Bible which shows the students how the entire Bible - the Old Testament and the New Testament go together. We spend a lot of time talking about history and the Hebrew people. God revealed Himself to the Jewish people; He shows them what it means to be in a relationship with Him; and through their lineage would come the Messiah, the Savior of the world, Who would bring about a new covenant with God's people. Jesus was Jewish. The apostles were Jewish. The gospel message was first taken to the Jewish people and then to the Gentiles (non-Jewish people.) Jesus and the writers of the New Testament books often quote Hebrew Scripture (our Old Testament.) It all connects together. When covering the Old Testament in my class we go over Deuteronomy 6:4-9. This passage of Scripture is called the "Shema" and is the Jewish confession of faith. [The complete Jewish "Shema" in their liturgy consists of three sections: Deuteronomy 6:4-9, Deuteronomy 11:13-21, and Numbers 15:37-41.] In chapter 5 of Deuteronomy, right before they are to enter the Promised Land, Moses is repeating the commandments to Israel. Both chapters 5 and 6 of Deuteronomy are powerful and worth reading in their entirety. There is a lot of application in this Scripture for us today. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 (NASB) says: 4 Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. The Shema is recited by Jews just as Christians would recite the Apostle's Creed or the Nicene Creed. It is a statement about what they believe. Pious Jews recite the Shema twice a day - at the beginning of the day and the end of the day. It is often the first Scripture a Jewish child learns. Verse 7 tells us we should be teaching them diligently to our children. God is to have a presence in all of our daily life and we are to speak about this. We are to pass this knowledge of God's words on to the next generation. In verse 8 of the passage about "bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead" is why some orthodox Jewish people tie phylacteries (called tefillin) to their foreheads and left arms. These small boxes contain four Scripture passages (Exodus 13:1-10, Exodus 13:11-16, Deuteronomy 6:4-9, and Deuteronomy 11:13-21.) Image from: http://www.britannica.com/topic/phylactery Verse 9 says to "write them on the doorposts of your house." And that verse also tells them to write God's words on their city gates. A mezuzah is a decorative container containing a small parchment scroll. The scroll has the first two portions of the "Shema" liturgy written on it in Hebrew. (Deuteronomy 6:4-9 and 11:13-21.) The mezuzah is attached to the doorpost of a Jewish home. As the person passes through the doorway, they glance at it and often kiss their fingers and then touch the mezuzah. This serves as a reminder to them that God is with them throughout their day - inside and outside their home. Image from: http://www.mezuzah.biz http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/mezuzah/ But it is Deuteronomy 6:4,5 I want you to hone in on. Does it sound familiar? It should. Our Lord told us it is the greatest commandment. Go to Mark 12:29-31 (or Matthew 22:37-40 or Luke 10:27.) Jesus answered, "The foremost is, 'HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.' The second is this, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' There is no other commandment greater than these." ('YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' comes from Leviticus 19:18.) Our Old Testament is the Hebrew Scripture. God is eternal and unchanging. His precepts put forth in the Old Testament apply to us today. (Not those which were fulfilled by Christ, i.e. the sacrificial system, etc.) Often in the Old Testament the Jewish people erected monuments or put up visual reminders to do just that - remind them of God and His mighty deeds and presence in their life. I like the idea of a visual which reminds me to love the Lord with all my heart and with all my soul and with all my mind and strength. I like being reminded His Words are to be written on my heart and that I am to teach them diligently to my children and talk about them. The Shema - it is a statement of faith for us Christians too! [Shop Mezuzahs.]

My sweet Aunt Velma was born in 1923. That makes her 92 years old. [Update: Aunt Velma passed at the age of 95.] She is the nicest person I know. Seriously. Aunt Velma never married or had children and I and my siblings became her family. Our children and their children became her interest in the way a grandparent feels about a grandchild or great-grandchild. She was always at every family gathering and holiday. She watched us kids when our parents went out of town. She sometimes went on vacations with us. Our celebrations became her celebrations. Aunt Velma has been a fixture in my life. I love her dearly. In the past 10 years the relationship between us has developed into something that wasn't there before. It was a close aunt/ niece relationship, but now she has become my role model, my "friend" and my "sister in Christ." She grew up in a small town and was Valedictorian of her high school class. She went to business college, took the state civil exam, and when she was 20 years old she was offered a job with the state many hours from home. Her father (my grandfather) had to give his permission to the state for her to take the job and move! I couldn't believe that when she told me! Different times. She built her life around her career, church and friends in that city. Aunt Velma was a feminist - staunchly supporting the ERA and fighting for women's rights. She was a consistent Christian, serving her church in the Presbyterian Women, elder and Clerk of Session, and teaching Sunday School for decades. Supporting the ERA - Equal Rights Amendment - back row in the middle Decades later my uncle, her brother, got very sick and she quit her career, left her friends and moved to take care of him; taking an office assistant job that was many rungs below her previous job. He died and then she moved back to her hometown and lived with my grandmother. She took a job at the university in her hometown. Years later when my own mother died, she again switched jobs and moved in with my dad for awhile to help him take care of my handicapped sister. When my dad no longer needed her help, she moved back to her little hometown and got another job at the university. My grandmother then developed Alzheimers and Aunt Velma lovingly took care of her at home until she no longer could walk and had to be moved to a nursing home. Her whole life was about sacrificing her wants and dreams to take care of others. This surely puzzles some. That self-sacrificial love for others. It seems by the world's standards that would be an insignificant life. And I suppose on some level I thought that too at the time. After my grandmother passed away my aunt moved to a small house in her little town, continued working at the university, then retired, and made a lovely life for herself surrounded by dear friends. I once asked Aunt Velma if she resented giving up her career and life with her friends to take care of others. She said, "Oh no! That is what family does for each other. It was my responsibility." Aunt Velma started having memory issues and eventually was diagnosed with dementia. Issues started arising like a mail scam and a car accident and I had to get involved. Finally I had to move her to a personal care facility. She had little money in the bank, but she owned her house so I needed to get it on the market and sell it. I made many trips up to clear out her belongings and get her house repaired. People would stop in and help. They wanted to because of what my aunt had done for them. They would continually tell me what a special lady my aunt was. After taking over paying her bills, I found out my aunt gave away 30% of her income to charity. Talk about generous! Spending time in her little town, everyone (and I mean everyone) had a story to tell me about my aunt. How she took a mentally disabled couple out every Fall at night to go spot deer. How she drove her friends to their doctor's appointments, church events and Bible studies. How she was always "so good" to her neighbor's mentally disabled daughter. How she was the first to cook a meal for someone and visit with them when they were ill or grieving. How she volunteered and served at her church - deacon, then elder, clerk of session, committees, mission trips, officer of the regional Presbyterian Women,... It went on and on. Everyone offered to help me however they could. My aunt literally had a servant's heart in all she did. And suddenly in the midst of all of this I found myself somewhat envious of her life. Here was someone who had spent her entire life doing for others. She had given up her important career, her plans, her time, and her money. She lived in a tiny house at the end of a street in a small town. She had never done anything remarkable or been anywhere grand. That had seemed ridiculous to me years ago. But now I found myself longing for what she had - people whose lives had been changed by her and as a result, she really mattered to them. These people who were not her family by blood had become her family through relationship. I had centered my life around my family - my husband and children and my own wants and desires. Had I really nurtured any outside relationships like she had? Aunt Velma had made a rich life for herself. She knew it wasn't about her. I know Aunt Velma is nearing the end of her life. When she is gone those who only knew her in a cursory way might think her life had no lasting impact. They would be wrong. She may not have had a husband or children, but she loved others profusely. She may not have been rich, but she was generous. She was not self-centered like the rest of us. She poured herself out for others. She impacted so many lives! Aunt Velma has always loved Jesus. She belongs to Him and serves Him. She modeled to me what a Christian really is - loving and serving others. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, Philippians 2:3-5 (NASB) "The second is like it, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' Matthew 22:39 (NASB) ... and all of you clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, for GOD IS OPPOSED TO THE PROUD, BUT GIVES GRACE TO THE HUMBLE. 1 Peter 5:5b (NASB) ..., but through love serve one another. Galatians 5:13b (NASB) "But the greatest among you shall be your servant." Matthew 23:11 (NASB) What the world values - it is trivial in the scheme of things. The world doesn't understand what God values. What Aunt Velma has devoted her life to - being there for whoever needed her - that was what was important. At the end it was what really mattered. It had eternal value. She will have a beautiful crown in heaven. I am so blessed to have her as an example of a life well lived. A life full of profound significance. A woman who loved the Lord with all of her heart, soul and mind, and loved her neighbor as herself. She has made the world a better place. We need more Aunt Velmas in this world. May we all ask God to give us a servant's heart for the time we have left here on earth.

REJOICE! He is risen! Our Savior.

From Matthew 27: 62-64 New American Standard Bible: 62 Now on the next day, the day after the preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered together with Pilate, 63 and said "Sir, we remember that when He was still alive that deceiver said, 'After three days I am to rise again.' 64 "Therefore, give orders for the grave to be made secure until the third day, otherwise His disciples may come and steal Him away and say to the people, 'He has risen from the dead,' and the last deception will be worse than the first." Verses 65-66 tell us Pilate orderd a guard to the tomb and told them to make it secure and put a seal on the stone. A little historical background: The Romans conquered Judea in 63 B.C. and imposed a regional government. The Romans governed the region first through King Herod and his successors, then through prefects (such as Pontius Pilate in Jerusalem.) The Romans interest in Judea and Jerusalem was in having a stable and friendly area near Persia, Rome’s rival. Being the prefect of Judea was not a good job to have. The Romans regarded Judea as a land inhabited by barbarians with a strange religion. A prefect had very few troops. The prefect left the day-to-day running of Judea and Jerusalem to the Jewish high priest. A prefect's most crucial role was to maintain law and order. Pontius Pilate was the prefect of Judea from 26 to 36 A.D. The Romans appointed the Jewish high priest and he did what the Romans wanted because if he didn't, he was quickly replaced. The high priest and the chief priests (the Sanhedrin) were pawns of the Roman government. The Roman guard maintained order in the temple and with the Jewish people. When verse 65 says Pilate told the chief priests and Pharisees they could have a guard, this meant a group of highly trained Roman soldiers. It was more than two soldiers because Matthew 28:11 says "some of the guard" and "soldiers" reported what had happened. Jesus' tomb was secured with a large stone by rolling it in a groove downhill to the tomb entrance. It would have taken several men to roll this stone up the groove to open it. The highly disciplined Roman soldiers would have faced death if they had not performed their duty. If the guard had been sleeping, they surely would have heard the stone being rolled uphill by several men. And at this point in the historical account the disciples were in hiding after the crucifixion of Jesus. Surely they were grieved at the death of their Lord and afraid they would be next. No reasonable person would say they had stolen His body. What is so remarkable to me about Matthew 27:62-66 isn't so much the securing of the tomb, but it is what the chief priests and Pharisees say at the end of verse 64. "... otherwise His disciples may come and steal Him away and say to the people, 'He has risen from the dead,' and the last deception will be worse than the first." The last deception will be worse than the first? What was the first deception? They are referring to Jesus claiming to be the Messiah, the Son of God. So they had Him crucified to put such nonsense away once and for all. But Jesus also claimed He would rise on the third day. The chief priests and Pharisees wanted the tomb guarded so the disciples could not steal the body and say the Messiah had risen. The problem with their plan was the first claim by Jesus was not a deception and was not nonsense. Jesus is the Messiah. It is Saturday, but Easter Sunday is coming. He is risen!

Surely our griefs He Himself bore, And our sorrows He carried; Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken, Smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. All of us like sheep have gone astray, Each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all To fall on Him. He was oppressed and He was afflicted, Yet He did not open His mouth; Like a lamb that is led to slaughter, And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers, So He did not open His mouth. Isaiah 53: 4-7 NASB Isaiah was written about 700 years before Jesus was crucified. When Isaiah was written, crucifixion had not even been invented. The first documented crucifixion occurred a couple hundred years later and was done by the Persians. It was a frequently used practice of execution in the ancient world, but it was the Romans who perfected the procedure. A Roman crucifixion was considered the most brutal way to die and was used to deter political unrest. Roman politician Cicero called it "the most cruel and hideous of tortures." Crucifixion was so horrific it spawned a new word, "excruciating" which means "out of the cross." It was a long and excruciating painful way to die. Death by crucifixion was considered to be too brutal for Roman citizens and it was outlawed as a way of executing them. Found guilty of a crime, a Roman citizen would be mercifully and quickly killed by the sword. “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me." Galatians 2:20 NASB Remembering the Suffering Servant.

Jesus and His disciples had left the area around the Sea of Galilee and walked the approximately seventy-five miles to Jerusalem. They had come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Jewish festival of Passover along with other Jews from all over. Jesus entered Jerusalem mounted on a donkey with the people cutting branches from the trees and spreading them and their coats in the road before Him. They were convinced He was the Messiah. The crowds went ahead of Him and shouted praise. “Hosanna to the Son of David; BLESSED IS HE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD; Hosanna in the highest!” (Matthew 21:9) In only a few short days the tides would turn and a Jewish crowd would be shouting, “Crucify, crucify Him!” (Matthew 27:22,23; Luke 23:21) In reading the account of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem in the Gospel of Luke, my attention honed in on Luke 19:41-44. When He approached Jerusalem, He saw the city and wept over it, saying, “If you had known in this day, even you, the things which make for peace! But now they have been hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, and surround you and hem you in on every side, and they will level you to the ground and your children within you, and they will not leave in you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation.” It troubles me when I read about Jesus weeping. Jesus knew what was coming for Jerusalem. Jesus was probably referring to the soon to occur destruction of Jerusalem and the temple. And it was all because they did not recognize Him. God set apart a people for Himself. The Jewish people. Through them God revealed Himself – what it means to be in a covenant relationship with Him. What it means to love Him with all your heart and soul and might. And through God’s people would come the Messiah, the Savior of the world. But God’s own people did not recognize Him. They could have had peace. And now it was gone. Jesus wept over what was to come. The horrific history: In A.D. 66 (a short 35 years or so after Jesus was crucified), the Jewish people rebelled against the Romans who were ruling Judea. Emperor Nero sent a massive army to put the rebellion down. The northern area was defeated by A.D. 68 and Rome turned their full force on Jerusalem. They surrounded the city. Starved them. Then in A.D. 70 the Romans broke the walls and burned and destroyed the temple. Most were slaughtered. Corpses piled up everywhere. Blood ran down the temple steps. Jerusalem lay in ruins. The few Jewish people who survived the destruction of Jerusalem were taken as slaves; many being sent to the mines in Egypt, many to the arenas, many as slaves to Roman households. The people were the spoils. The temple had been plundered and burnt to the ground. Never to be rebuilt. All that was left after the destruction was the Wailing Wall. (Read about this sad time in Jewish history in 70 Titus Destroys Jerusalem.) The first believers in the gospel were Jewish. But by the time of the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in A.D. 70, the Jews, for the most part, had rejected the gospel. By A.D. 100 the church was composed almost entirely of Gentiles (non-Jews.) His own failed to recognize Him. John 1:10-11 tells us: He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. And Luke 20:13-16 tells us in verses 15 and 16a: “So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. What, then, will the owner of the vineyard do to them? He will come and destroy these vine-growers and will give the vineyard to others.” Jesus knew his death was imminent. He knew the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple was going to happen in the future. He knew His people would reject Him. He wept. The hope though comes in John 1:12-13: But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. I find Holy Week both heart-wrenching and at the same time flooding my heart with immense joy. Heart-wrenching for those who still don’t recognize Him. And yet a profound joy and gratitude in what Jesus has done for us. He willingly became the atoning sacrifice for a wretch like me... for a wretch like you. Through Him, we are saved. Mere words don’t profess what my heart feels. Recognize your Savior. #Jerusalem #Savior #covenant

Today in church we sang a song with the words “It is well” in them. [It is Well by Bethel Music.] Whenever I hear these words, "It is well", my mind immediately drifts to those beautiful words penned by Horatio Spafford and to his remarkable faith. Horatio had the Job-kind of faith - the kind of faith that will praise and hold onto God in the midst of the most devastating of circumstances. Horatio Spafford (1828-1888) was a Presbyterian elder from Chicago. He was a very successful lawyer and had a lovely family that included his wife, Anna, and 4 daughters. Horatio invested heavily in real estate along the northern shore of Lake Michigan which made him very wealthy. In 1870 Horatio’s real estate holdings were valued at $38,000 dollars. An incredible amount for that time period! Horatio was a devout Christian who studied the Scriptures. He was good friends with Dwight L. Moody (Moody Bible Institute.) Horatio had it all. But how quickly that can change. On October 8, 1871 the Great Chicago Fire began. Back then everything was made of wood. Even planks were laid down over the sidewalks and on the roads. Little rain had fallen for the months prior to the fire and none in the 3 weeks before the fire. They don’t know how the Chicago Fire actually started but you’ve probably heard the untrue story that an Irish woman, Catherine O’Leary, had left a lantern in the shed and her cow kicked it over. I remember the song from Girl Scout’s: Late one night, when we were all in bed, Old Mother Leary left a lantern in the shed, And when the cow kicked it over, she winked her eye and said, "There'll be a HOT time on the old town tonight." FIRE, FIRE, FIRE! Later a reporter confessed that he had lied about the story and Catherine O’Leary was exonerated. But the damage had been done and she became a recluse for the rest of her life. Poor Mrs. O’Leary. With the lack of rain and the high winds, the fire spread quickly and burned for a couple days. When it was over about one third of the city was destroyed - 70,000 buildings had burned, 73 miles of streets were destroyed, 300 people died and a hundred thousand people were homeless. Horatio had lost all of his real estate holdings. Despite the loss of their wealth, Horatio and Anna spent the next 2 years helping the victims of the fire. In 1873 the Spafford family decided they needed a holiday and decided to go to England to help Dwight Moody with an evangelical crusade. They headed to New York to board the boat. At the last minute Horatio had unexpected business come up back in Chicago. Not wanting to ruin his family’s vacation, he told them to go on without him and he would be along shortly. His family headed to England on the steamship Ville du Havre. Four days into the crossing on November 22, 1873 the ship collided with an iron-hulled ship called the Loch Earn. The Ville du Havre sunk in just 12 minutes. 226 of the 313 passengers died. It was the worst maritime accident in history until the sinking of the Titanic. Anna Spafford survived and was rescued. But all 4 of their daughters (ages 11, 9, 5, and 2) had perished. On December 1, 1873 Anna arrived in Wales and cabled Horatio in Chicago “Saved alone. What shall I do.” Horatio took the next available ship to join his wife. Can you imagine what it would be like to lose four of your children at the same time? During the voyage, when Horatio must have been at the depth of his grief, the captain called him to the bridge and told him they were now passing the place where the Ville du Havre had sunk. The water was 3 miles deep. That night Horatio Spafford penned the lyrics to the great hymn, It Is Well With My Soul. His lyrics may have been inspired by II Kings 4:26 of an unnamed Shunammite woman whose adult only son had died. “Please run now to meet her and say to her, ‘Is it well with you? Is it well with your husband? Is it well with the child?’ And she answered, “It is well.” II Kings 4:26 NASB The words to this hymn are beautiful. They move us. They remind us that no matter what happens in the darkest times of our lives, God is sovereign. They comfort us. It Is Well With My Soul Verse 1 When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to know, “It is well, it is well with my soul” (Chorus) It is well (it is well) with my soul (with my soul) It is well, it is well with my soul Verse 2 Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come, Let this blest assurance control, That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate, And hath shed His own blood for my soul. (Chorus) Verse 3 My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought! My sin, not in part but the whole, Is nailed to His cross, and I bear it no more, Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul! (Chorus) Verse 4 And Lord haste the day when the faith shall be sight, The clouds be rolled back as a scroll; The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend, Even so, it is well with my soul. (Chorus) It is well (it is well) with my soul (with my soul) It is well, it is well with my soul The tragedy didn’t end when Horatio and Anna returned to Chicago. In 1876 they had a son and named him Horatio, but sadly he died at the age of 4 from scarlet fever. They then had two more daughters. Shortly after their last daughter was born, they moved to the Holy Land and founded a mission to serve the poor. In 1888, Horatio died of malaria. Life is hard sometimes. Unbelievably hard. Horatio experienced a Job-like tragedy; and exhibited a Job-like faith. This beloved hymn, It Is Well With My Soul, declares the comforting peace of the believer. It is a real thing. It is what we hold on to. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:7 NASB When life crushes a person one of two things happen. They either blame God and turn from Him or they turn to Him and hold onto their faith in His promises. Horatio held on. It was well with his soul. Is it well with your soul?

I was reviewing my 6 week class I developed called Connecting the Dots of the Bible. I’m about to teach it in a couple weeks. In reading over the notes of one of the first slides of the first week, I was again reminded how this all got started. It was the slide on the purpose of the class - the one with the statistics about how people today aren’t reading the Bible. Actually Bible reading is in a rapid nosedive. Each year the statistics come out and each year they drop, and each year I get emotional. The large majority of American Christians are biblically illiterate. Alright, so why does it matter? Because this lack of biblical literacy leads to a lack of biblical doctrine. People have all kinds of mixed-up views on heaven, hell, salvation, the Holy Spirit, Satan, angels, Jesus, God,… Just watch TV and follow social media and you start picking up all the skewed unbiblical beliefs people have. I followed a Facebook thread of people’s comments saying we are under a New Covenant and no longer under the Old Covenant. (Yes we are under a new, but it fulfills the old. Moral law still stands.) Months ago someone told me the only words she had to read and follow in the Bible were Jesus’ words! People on Facebook talk about “good karma and vibes.” Another Christian told me she didn’t care what the Bible had to say on a certain subject because it no longer applied. I heard a comment on a TV show the other night about suicide which I can’t seem to shake from my mind. People say when someone dies they are an “angel” in heaven. At a party some people who serve at their church talked about they think there is something to reincarnation. All kinds of self-help information on how to fix ourselves - we can't. Only He can. In reply to something I said, someone said, "Ppppppfffff. That is in the Old Testament." Saying that as if we can disregard the Old Testament. I saw a Facebook thread where people commented they would pray for the person's situation - not to turn from their sin, but to continue in it. People seem to embrace a loving God, but want to ignore the holy and just part of His character. People want a Savior, but not so much a Lord. There are many Christian sites and social media sites which have encouraging words (good), but largely ignore the holiness of God (bad.) God is holy and loving. The messages are partly true – enough to give people that warm fuzzy feeling, but don't quite take it the full course. And some memes and posts which are shared and appear Christian and have the right amount of "Christianese" verbiage in them; in reality have poor doctrine. (Example "God makes all things work out for good." Only for those who love Him and follow Him.) Then there are those who authoritatively say the Bible text is unreliable… that the Bible is no longer relevant… that there are parts of God’s Word we can ignore. We seem to be at an all-time high (all-time low?) of poor doctrine. I understand. I can relate. It wasn’t that long ago that I was a Christian who didn’t read the Bible and I had some off-base beliefs too. I thought I knew what I was talking about and believed. But I didn’t know what I didn’t know until I knew it. Why does biblical doctrine matter? What you believe in affects your thought process, your actions, your motivations, your decision-making, your relationships, and your worldview - your entire life. And your entire eternity. My feelings about Bible literacy is why this webpage exists. I used to be a member of a large church here that occasionally offered evening and weekend classes. I took many classes with them and was really surprised by what I didn't know about the Bible. As I learned and researched and read the Bible I felt God leading me to teach. I taught many classes at this church. The class I taught the most was called Bible Basics. This was a long 8 week class. I started with what the church had and I began revising it, reorganizing it, and adding to it - trying to find new ways to make it interesting and engaging. I saw what the students weren’t grasping and would try to come up with a more effective way to teach the information. The curriculum was constantly evolving. According to the student’s feedback; they loved it! I've found over the years that many Christians don't know the fundamentals of the Bible. How we know the text is reliable How the Bible is organized What is the difference between various versions The historical periods of the Bible Key words in the Bible How we know the content of the Bible is reliable The time period between the testaments when a lot happened for the time to be prepared for our Savior to be born Geography History How the whole Bible connects together... It may sound boring, but students find it really interesting. People get very excited when they take this class! What always surprises me when I teach this class is how little people really know about God's love plan for us. Oh, they know the big stories of the Old Testament and they know the gospel message. But they don't see how each historical time period flows into the next and how it is one big redemptive plan from Genesis 1 to the Revelation "Amen." I started sensing it was time to leave this church. I was resistant to go and so for a couple years I wrestled with God over this. Finally my husband and I agreed it was time and we landed at a little church. There are a lot of really good churches in the area I live, but I knew as soon as I entered our new church that it was home for us. However, I had a difficult interim period. I had the means to teach at the large church and now I wasn’t leading a women's group or teaching. I went through a ‘what am I supposed to be doing with my life phase?’ I remember one morning, crying and praying, “God, I thought teaching was what You wanted me to do?” And He answered me to keep working on it. I spent at least a year reworking the Bible Basics curriculum into a shorter class called Connecting the Dots of the Bible. I bought a projector and screen so I was mobile to take it to groups in their homes or at their churches. Finally I felt ready to take Connecting the Dots of the Bible to the world. Or at least to the area I live in. (ha ha) I was sure of the curriculum. I was sure that what I had would encourage people to read the Bible. I knew I was in God's will - doing what He wanted me to do. I knew God was calling me to share what I have learned over all of these years. But no one was knocking down my door to schedule a class. No one knew what I had. I joked with my family and told my friends that if I should suddenly die, download all of my files and give it to someone! A woman who took my class, kept telling me, "You have to get a webpage to share this!" Originally it was just going to be a site that told about my various classes. It took months before I started. We are talking a huge technology curve for me! This friend really encouraged me. But to really reach people I was told I should blog. I was resistant. 'I don't want to write. I want to teach.' Now I’m not much of a writer (I am a much better teacher!) and what on earth was I going to write about? I spent a couple weeks writing and deleting posts. They were just awful. “But God I’m not a writer!” And then He told me to write about what I teach about. And so that is what I’m trying to do (although I’ve thrown in some posts about what I’ve learned in my own journey as God puts those subjects on my heart.) And www.passiontoknowmore.com came about. But why have I invested so much time and effort into this? There seems to be a lack of sound biblical doctrine and a lack of foundational biblical knowledge in the world today. I believe if people read their Bibles that would change. I believe the Bible is God’s Word. I believe the primary way God will speak to each of us is through His Word. I believe as we read and study the Bible, God’s Word will transform us. And I believe that transformation in our hearts, minds, and souls is the only way to effect real change in the world. I want you to pick up your Bible and read it. I want to encourage you. I want you to gain an eternal perspective. Reading Scripture is life-transforming. One life at a time, I’m doing my part to change the world. Smile. Updated 1/18/17 #Bible #readtheBible #theology

Have you ever looked back on your life and realized how God used you in a certain circumstance? As you get older, you see how one event which happened a long time ago impacts others in ways you couldn’t even fathom at the time. Our lives are intertwined with others. There isn’t any getting around it. We impact each other. And God uses our actions to bring about His plan. God’s plan will be accomplished and it isn’t always in the way we think it will happen. We can read about Philip, the evangelist in the book of Acts and just read it and not fully understand the bigger picture of the impact of his life on mankind. First let’s talk about who Philip was. Philip, the evangelist talked about in Acts is not Philip, the apostle. Two different guys. Philip, the apostle doesn't get too much ink in the Bible. What we know about Philip, the evangelist we read about in Acts 6:1-7; 8:5-40; 21:8-10. He was a Jewish Christian. He had a Greek name and was probably a Hellenist - a Grecian Jew, a Greek speaking Jew. In general the Hebraic Jews considered the Grecian Jews to be liberal. Philip was one of the seven food distributors in the early church in Jerusalem. He was a man full of the Spirit and of wisdom. (Acts 6:3) We know Philip was a contemporary of Saul (who was later re-named Paul after his conversion), Stephen, and the apostles. The last words of the risen Jesus were for His followers to spread the gospel to Judea and Samaria, and to the remotest part of the earth. (Acts 1:8) And yet in Acts the apostles and disciples of the early church were hanging out in Jerusalem. They seemed reluctant to leave at first. It took persecution of the believers in Jerusalem to make them leave and scatter. When they did scatter they took the gospel message to Judea, Galilee, and Samaria. Philip was one of the first to go and he went to Samaria. Now you might not understand the significance of going to Samaria. If you have read or heard about the civil war that occurred in the nation of Israel in the Old Testament, you understand in the New Testament who lives in Samaria. After king Solomon dies and his son, Rehoboam, becomes king; civil war erupts in 930 BC. The nation of Israel breaks up into two nations, Israel (the Northern Kingdom) and Judah (the Southern Kingdom.) The northern nation of Israel turns from the Lord and eventually God judges them and they are conquered by the Assyrians in 722 BC. The Assyrians were brutal. The people who were left were assimilated and became known as Samaritans. The Samaritans built their own temple and mixed pagan practices with Jewish practice. By New Testament times the Jewish people were extremely prejudiced against the Samaritans. They considered themselves to be pure Jews and the Samaritans as "half-breeds." The Jews and Samaritans regarded each other as enemies. (It puts a whole new understanding on the account of the Good Samaritan, doesn’t it?) But Philip goes to Samaria and tells them about Christ. (Acts 8:5) And they responded in great numbers and believed in the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ. Men and women alike were being baptized. Now the apostles who are still hanging out in Jerusalem hear about this. Peter and John head to Samaria to check out what is going on. Peter and John get onboard with the mission. They see how God accepted those who the Jews had considered unacceptable. (Remember Philip, Peter and John were Jewish before they became Christian converts. They most likely had some prejudices against Samaritans.) Philip took the gospel message to Gentiles. (“Gentiles” means people who are non-Jewish.) We so often think of Paul as the apostle to the Gentiles. And he was. But Philip was the first recorded missionary to the Gentiles. This was the beginning of the gospel message being spread to everyone. God’s redeeming love is for all people even those considered as the outcasts of society. Where would Christianity be today if the believers had just stayed in Jerusalem and witnessed to those whom they deemed “acceptable”? Then Philip, Peter, and John are headed back to Jerusalem preaching the gospel to many villages of the Samaritans. (Acts 8:25) But an angel of the Lord sends Philip to an Ethiopian eunuch on the road between Jerusalem and Gaza on his way home. This man was a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. First some background: Ethiopia was located in Africa south of Egypt. (It is actually the modern day country of Sudan, but back then it was Ethiopia. The borders of countries change over time.) The eunuch had traveled a long way to worship God in Jerusalem. This man was probably not a Gentile convert to Judaism, but what the Jews referred to as a "God-fearer." (Deuteronomy 23:1 prohibits eunuchs from converting to Judaism. A eunuch is a castrated man who served as the guard of a harem and as a royal attendant.) This eunuch was in charge of the treasury of Ethiopia – a very important position. And this eunuch was reading from the prophet Isaiah when Philip starts talking to him. Picture of map in ESV Study Bible, Crossway, copyright 2008 Philip tells the Ethiopian eunuch about Jesus Christ. And the eunuch believes and is baptized. Now read Isaiah 56:3-5. In Isaiah’s time foreigners and eunuchs were not considered citizens and were excluded from worship. Isaiah is clearly stating in these verses that God’s blessing is for all people – even foreigners and eunuchs. And here in Acts, Philip is evangelizing to a foreigner who happens to be a eunuch and happens to have a position in his government of great importance. This man’s conversion brought Christianity into the power structure of another government. It brought the gospel to the continent of Africa. And we see the promise God made to Abraham to bless all nations through his descendants start to be fulfilled. This is the beginning of the witness “to the remotest part of the earth” that Jesus commands. Let’s pause and think about this. What applicability does Phillip’s life have to our lives? This account tells us the gospel message is for all people - even what society considers “outsiders.” Also, Philip’s life is an example for us. He immediately obeyed the Lord with going to the Ethiopian eunuch. He witnessed about Jesus Christ. But let’s step back even further and think about this account. We can in our minds reason that the gospel message is for all people - the Jews, the Samaritans, the Romans, the tax collectors, the Gentiles, the Greeks - everyone. Years ago I disliked someone so much that I thought “I hope she burns in hell." There I was a professed Christian and that thought had entered my mind. Shame on me! More than shame. I disgrace and grieve my Lord with that kind of thought. Do I truly believe the Good News of our Christ is for ALL people? Do I really want everyone I know to come to know Jesus as their Savior and Lord? Or are there certain people I want to exclude from saving grace? I examine my heart now and I have come a long way since then. But honestly, God still has some work to do on my heart in this area. Christians make up about a third of the world population and if we truly believed the gospel message is for ALL people, our world would be a different place. My thinking went in a different direction with regards to this. Do I really believe God wants to bless all nations with the good news? Even Iran? Even the extreme Muslims who want to kill us? Is the Gospel for them? The apostles and disciples up until Acts chapter 8 hadn't left Jerusalem yet even though the risen Christ had commanded them to do so. It was the persecution of the early church which scattered the believers. And on that day a great persecution began against the church in Jerusalem, and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles. (Acts 8:1b) And who began that persecution? Saul, who we know as the beloved apostle Paul. (Read Acts 8:1-3.) God used Saul's decision to persecute the church in His plan to reach the world. That persecution of the early church led to the scattering of the Jerusalem believers and the spread of the Gospel. It was the beginning of the Gospel message going to the Gentiles. Many years ago I was going to develop a class on the Protestant Reformation and in doing so I read 4 books on Christian history. (The class never got developed. Life got in the way.) In one of the books it takes Christian history further into the future. It took Christian history all the way up to the year 2159 AD. The author made up the history from now until then with amazing detail. And it was fascinating and has really stuck with me. He says the world has "ultra-rapid population growth, unstoppable climate change, mass depletion of ocean stocks, desertification and widespread soil erosion, increase in drought-related famine, the rise of non-state groups with access to ultimate weapons, religious fundamentalism and terrorism, extreme poverty, economic collapse and raging pandemics." In his made-up history at first the Church responded to the injustices beyond its doors. But then the Church starts bickering. He makes up three horrors - terrorist attacks and flu pandemics (making up the numbers of people who die - 11 million people from one flu pandemic - it was very detailed) and the collapse of the economies of the world powers where millions starve and die. And throughout it all he talks about the role and mostly lack of action by the Church. By 2159 the Church as we know it is mostly gone. There are small communes of Christians and the House Church is resurrected where Christians begin helping those in their community. India is the world power. Israel has been destroyed. The United States is nothing on the world power scene. The author had a vivid imagination and it was a fascinating yet very scary read. We western Christians sometimes act exclusive. We think so highly of ourselves and so little of others. We don’t see Jesus’ message being for the “undesirables.” (Look at our reaction to taking some Syrian refugees for example.) Yes, we say the gospel message is for ALL people, but we don’t live that way. Our money says “In God we trust”, but we don’t live that way. If we did trust God, we would be all over helping others, telling them about the Lord and trusting God to protect us or His will be done to us. We know that God is sovereign over all that happens. He controls history. O Lord, the God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you. 2 Chronicles 20:6 For the kingdom is the LORD'S and He rules over the nations. Psalm 22:28 I certainly don't profess to know God's plan for future history - well, except for the second coming of our Lord when evil is destroyed and God wins. But I do know we are called to serve the Lord and be obedient to what He has commanded us in the time we live and in our sphere of influence. He commanded us to love God with our entire being and to love others. Do we truly believe the gospel message is for ALL people? Or do we want to distort what Christ commanded us to do to only apply to select people and to select nations? It's not too late for us to change our ways. One man, Phillip, the evangelist impacted the world. You can too. Remember who Jesus died for. He died for all of us sinners. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8 (NASB) We learn from the historical narrative of Philip that God accepts those who others considered unacceptable. God's redemptive plan is for all people. The Good News of Jesus is for everyone. And we do not have the authority to disqualify anyone from hearing the Gospel. To do so would be disobedient to our Savior and our Lord. "For My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples." The Lord GOD, who gathers the dispersed of Israel, declares, "Yet others I will gather to them, to those already gathered." Isaiah 56:7b, 8 #witnessing