Shabbat Sabbath

This is a clear recognition of God’s sovereignty and of the law of devotion. The disciples had been chosen by God and entrusted to Jesus’ authority. Therefore, Jesus had chosen them, He had manifested his “name” (i.e., nature) to them, and He had trained them with the word (logos). Jesus Himself was the Logos (John 1:1), which manifested His name/nature, and this was given to the disciples, so that they might know Him and keep His word.

Having completed His final teaching, Jesus then prayed for His somber disciples in John 17 just before crossing the Kidron ravine on the east side of the city (John 18:1). Perhaps they stood on the bridge that spanned the ravine and looked at the monuments and whitewashed sepulchers among olive trees clearly visible in the light of the Passover moon.

As we have already discussed at length, throughout most of the first half of this epistle to the Ephesians Paul of Tarsus had explained to them why they should be Christians, because they were indeed of the descendants of Abraham through Jacob Israel, the very people who in the period of the Old Testament had been alienated from God and who were now being reconciled in Christ. Here in this fourth chapter Paul has begun to explain how they should…

WARNING: If you decide to read this teaching, you will find the first 3 paragraphs are harsh based on a report of a robbery and murder of a pastor by 2 black men. When he wrote I do not agree with. I just wanted to give the reader a heads up.

In the Gospel of Luke, Yahshua Christ is caught up in a dispute with the Pharisees which is described in Luke chapter 11, and then it says at the beginning of Luke 12: “In the mean time, when there were gathered together an innumerable multitude of people, insomuch that they trode one upon another, he began to say unto his disciples first of all, Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” With this, Christ gives a long discourse which includes…

Dawn broke crisp and clear over Mount Sinai on Sunday morning, as half a dozen climate activists gathered to adorn their cause with religious overtones. They chose the site based on its proximity to COP27, a global climate summit now underway at Sinai coastal resort Sharm El-Sheikh, but once chosen they couldn’t resist conscious parallels to Moses receiving the Old Covenant. 

Andrew Thorburn had no idea the whirlwind he was in for when he accepted the job of chief executive of Australian Football League club Essendon. He would be pressured to resign just over 24 hours after taking the job. At the center of this controversy was not a personal scandal nor an accusation of being unqualified — rather, it was his association with City on a Hill Church, where he served as chairman.

Statistics from a recent Ligonier Ministries survey finds: * 56% believe “God accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam.” * 38% see Jesus as “a great teacher, but he was not God.” * 60% say “The Holy Spirit is a force but is not a personal being.” * 65% think “Everyone is born innocent in the eyes of God.” * 37% agree that “Religious belief is a matter of personal opinion; it is not about objective truth.” These beliefs don’t fit with what the Bible teaches, meaning those surveyed (who self-identified as “Evangelical Christians”) either haven’t read the Bible or they reject what it says. This “falling away” from the foundational beliefs of the Christian faith, by those who profess to be Christians, is an indication the world is on the verge of the seven-year Tribulation. The Bible says the Day of the Lord (the Tribulation) will not come and the Antichrist will not be revealed until “a great falling away” happens first (2 Thessalonians 2:3). Some translations call this “a rebellion” or “apostasy” – an abandonment of the faith by professed Christians. Do these survey responses indicate a great falling away? They seem to…

The region once known as the Fertile Crescent is on the verge of a food crisis as the main sources of water disappear. Officials struggle to cope as a prophetic scenario appears to materialize.

Iraqi officials are reporting that for three consecutive years, the rainy season has begun later and ended sooner than the historic norm. This has been coupled with less water flowing through its two main rivers, the Tigris and the Euphrates. The region has also been plagued by ongoing conflict. 

Yet another Member of Knesset has expressed his desire not only for Jews to be able to freely visit and express their faith atop Jerusalem’s Temple Mount, but for the Third Temple to be build “in our days.” Member of Knesset Nissim Vaturi told an organization that advocates for building the Third Temple that “anyone who represents Israel cannot be disconnected from the Creator. We are all anticipating the Redemption.” Vaturi then openly recited the traditional Jewish prayer stating, “May we merit redeeming this place for the Shechina (holy presence) to dwell, and to build the Holy Temple quickly and in our days.” Jews are typically barred from praying atop the Temple Mount, but police officers present at the time did not prevent Vaturi from doing so. Some Palestinians are accusing Israel’s new Gulf state allies of helping the Jewish state lay the groundwork for the Third Temple.