Shabbat Sabbath

When Jesus told His disciples that He would be leaving them shortly, they did not know what He meant. There was no modern transportation in those days, so their perspective was different from ours. We today might mean that we will be taking a plane across the ocean, but in those days they might travel for a month and go just a short distance (as we reckon it).

There was also coming a shift in their prayer life. If they needed something during the time that they walked with Jesus, they only needed to ask Him, and He then asked the Father. It appears that the disciples did not yet have a direct relationship with the Father, but only with Jesus.

Many of the things which we shall say here in our introduction to Ephesians chapter 3, we have already said in our other commentaries on Paul’s epistles. This is because because Paul was teaching Covenant Theology throughout his epistles, and we are merely following along. Covenant Theology is the only true theology, and for as long as we are expositing Paul’s letters, we shall be repeating many of these things over and again as often as Paul made reference to them.

As we have already explained at length, for the first three chapters of this epistle Paul has been teaching Covenant Theology, and explaining to these Ephesians both how and why they should choose to follow Christ. So, for example, Paul has told them that they were chosen in Christ from the foundation of Society, preordained for the position of sons, redeemed, forgiven for their sins, and given an inheritance, since they had before had an expectation in Christ.

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. 

Every year, thousands of young people attend colleges and universities that profess a strong commitment to the Bible and the historic teachings of the Christian faith. Yet today many schools that profess Evangelical Protestant beliefs are straddling an ever-widening chasm between the convictions they claim and the policies they practice.

The UN passed a resolution to try Israel in the International Criminal Court for the crime of “illegally occupying the Palestinian Territories” last week. But at least one expert in international law refutes the charges, explaining that not only is there no “illegal occupation”, and Israel has the right to annex Judea and Samaria.

“The laws of the land are replacing the laws of God in determining good and evil in America.”

Dr. George Barna, a senior fellow with Family Research Council’s Center for Biblical Worldview, conducted research through the Cultural Research Center at Arizona Christian University exploring what Americans believe about morality. From a sampling of 2,275 respondents, Barna aimed to answer this question: How do people decide what is right versus what is wrong?

Archaeologists in Italy were “impressed” with their discovery of a hydraulic system beneath a luxury Roman villa that was covered in the 79 AD eruption of Vesuvius. However, they were “shocked” when they realized that it hadn’t moved in almost 2,000 years.

Scientists recently discovered an ancient Roman water system , or Hypocaust, that provided heated water and air to a luxury Roman villa in the German town of Kempten. Another team of archaeologists working in Italy have now announced the discovery of a Roman hydraulic system at Stabiae, an ancient city about 4.5 kilometers (2.79 miles) southwest of Pompeii.

“Trust Scores” or reputational scores are aspects of having a digital identity that haven’t been discussed much. By default, everyone who accepts a digital identity, whether decentralised or not, will receive a Trust Score.

With the introduction of trusted digital identities, social credit systems are reaching the West.

The tagline of many digital identity advertisements is “At the heart of all digital identity is trust.” But what does that even mean?

Have you noticed it too?  There has been a dramatic shift in the economy in recent days.  It has been sudden and it has been severe.  All over the country, sales are falling like a rock, inventories are piling up to alarming levels, and large companies are beginning to conduct mass layoffs.  

Perhaps it was inevitable that such a downturn would arrive, but the Federal Reserve has made things far worse by rapidly hiking interest rates.  Every other time the Fed has engaged in such a rate hiking binge it has resulted in a recession, and there is no way that we are going to escape unscathed this time around. 

The following are 11 signs that economic activity is plunging off a cliff…

The 24 elders in Revelation chapter 4 represent all of the redeemed of humanity in heaven. In The Revelation Record, Dr. Henry Morris provides more information about the elder’s identity. He writes: “But why twenty-four elders? The term ‘elder’ has both an administrative and a chronological connotation (note I Peter 1:1, 5). That the elders in Revelation are individual men and not just symbolic of all believers is indicated by the individual conversation reported of individual elders (Revelation 5:5; 7:13). They do represent all believers of all ages, but they are also individual men, the elders of all redeemed humanity…

The Russian and Syrian governments announced that they are moving on to the next stage in reconstructing the ancient temple of the pagan god Ba’al in Palmyra. If successful, the project will necessarily mark the third incarnation of the Roman Victory Arch of Palmyra which an ancient Jewish source states must fall and be rebuilt three times before the arrival of the Messiah. On Wednesday, the Syrian Trust for Development, Directorate-General for Antiquities and Museums and the Institute for the History of Material Culture, Russian Academy of Sciences signed an agreement to start the second phase of the project for restoring  the Arch of Triumph that stood outside of an ancient pagan Temple in Palmyra, Syria…