Podcasts about Strabo

Waardeer je onze video's? Steun dan Café Weltschmerz, het podium voor het vrije woord: https://www.cafeweltschmerz.nl/doneren/Hans van Tellingen van onderzoeksplatform strabo houd zich bezig met winkelcentra en binnensteden. Maar de laatste tijd ligt met name de focus op het anti auto beleid. Met hem bespreek ik dit in Staat's Schuld!Link: https://propertynl.com/Nieuws/251a82bd-2e30-43f3-9b24-1885807d9e83/Strabo-autoluw-maakt-onbemind---Deze video is geproduceerd door Café Weltschmerz. Café Weltschmerz gelooft in de kracht van het gesprek en zendt interviews uit over actuele maatschappelijke thema's. Wij bieden een hoogwaardig alternatief voor de mainstream media. Café Weltschmerz is onafhankelijk en niet verbonden aan politieke, religieuze of commerciële partijen.Wil je meer video's bekijken en op de hoogte blijven via onze nieuwsbrief? Ga dan naar: https://www.cafeweltschmerz.nl/videos/Wil je op de hoogte worden gebracht van onze nieuwe video's? Klik dan op deze link: https://bit.ly/3XweTO0

Waardeer je onze video's? Steun dan Café Weltschmerz, het podium voor het vrije woord: https://www.cafeweltschmerz.nl/doneren/Hans van Tellingen van onderzoeksplatform strabo houd zich bezig met winkelcentra en binnensteden. Maar de laatste tijd ligt met name de focus op het anti auto beleid. Met hem bespreek ik dit in Staat's Schuld!Link: https://propertynl.com/Nieuws/251a82bd-2e30-43f3-9b24-1885807d9e83/Strabo-autoluw-maakt-onbemind---Deze video is geproduceerd door Café Weltschmerz. Café Weltschmerz gelooft in de kracht van het gesprek en zendt interviews uit over actuele maatschappelijke thema's. Wij bieden een hoogwaardig alternatief voor de mainstream media. Café Weltschmerz is onafhankelijk en niet verbonden aan politieke, religieuze of commerciële partijen.Wil je meer video's bekijken en op de hoogte blijven via onze nieuwsbrief? Ga dan naar: https://www.cafeweltschmerz.nl/videos/Wil je op de hoogte worden gebracht van onze nieuwe video's? Klik dan op deze link: https://bit.ly/3XweTO0

2024 was het jaar waarin winkels van de Blokker, Bristol en the Body Shop failliet gingen. Des te opvallender dat een andere winkelketen juist spectaculair uitbreidt: Action opende het afgelopen jaar in diverse landen in Europa maar liefst 352 nieuwe winkels, maakte het bedrijf vandaag bekend. Bovendien boekte Action een recordwinst en is het inmiddels meer waard dan bijvoorbeeld Ahold Delhaize, het moederbedrijf van Albert Heijn. Wat is de succesformule van de Action? En betekent dit dat de winkelstraat tóch niet ten dode is opgeschreven?  In Geld of je Leven (EO) gaat presentator Hans van der Steeg hierover in gesprek met: * Paul Moers, retail-expert; * Hans van Tellingen, directeur van winkelcentrumonderzoeker Strabo.

χαίρετε, ὦ ἀκροαταί! In our last episode on Strabo we finally arrive in Greece talking about the temples and shrines around Olympia. This will also be the last episode before the Xmas break. The new season, in which we will be reading Aristophanes, will begin on the 17th of January. καλὸν Χριστούγεννα! Josep & Leigh Support the podcast and get access to episodes in advance as well as bonus materials such as listening exercises and episode transcripts: https://www.patreon.com/Hellenizdein  Follow us on “Twitter”: https://x.com/ancientgreekpod  Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/leighcobley.bsky.social  Join our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/604916774052809  Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ancientgreekpodcast/  Send us an email: theancientgreekpodcast@gmail.com 

John J. Miller is joined by Sarah Pothecary to discuss 'Geography' by Strabo.

χαίρετε, ὦ ἀκροαταί!  Check out our latest episode continuing with Strabo's Geographica this time discussing what he has to say about Germany. Please find the listening exercises attached below. Enjoy! Josep & Leandros Here are the quotes that we read during the episode: εὐθὺς τοίνυν τὰ πέραν τοῦ Ῥήνου μετὰ τοὺς Κελτοὺς πρὸς τὴν ἕω κεκλιμένα Γερμανοὶ νέμονται, μικρὸν ἐξαλλάττοντες τοῦ Κελτικοῦ φύλου τῷ τε πλεονασμῷ τῆς ἀγριότητος καὶ τοῦ μεγέθους καὶ τῆς ξανθότητος, τἆλλα δὲ παραπλήσιοι καὶ μορφαῖς καὶ ἤθεσι καὶ βίοις ὄντες, οἵους εἰρήκαμεν τοὺς Κελτούς. Στράβωνος 7.1.2 ὁ δὲ Ἑρκύνιος δρυμὸς πυκνότερός τέ ἐστι καὶ μεγαλόδενδρος ἐν χωρίοις ἐρυμνοῖς κύκλον περιλαμβάνων μέγαν, ἐν μέσῳ δὲ ἵδρυται χώρα καλῶς οἰκεῖσθαι δυναμένη, περὶ ἧς εἰρήκαμεν. Στράβωνος 7.1.5 κοινὸν δ᾽ ἐστὶν ἅπασι τοῖς ταύτῃ τὸ περὶ τὰς μεταναστάσεις εὐμαρὲς διὰ τὴν λιτότητα τοῦ βίου καὶ διὰ τὸ μὴ γεωργεῖν μηδὲ θησαυρίζειν, ἀλλ᾽ ἐν καλυβίοις οἰκεῖν ἐφήμερον ἔχουσι παρασκευήν: τροφὴ δ᾽ ἀπὸ τῶν θρεμμάτων ἡ πλείστη καθάπερ τοῖς νομάσιν, ὥστ᾽ ἐκείνους μιμούμενοι τὰ οἰκεῖα ταῖς ἁρμαμάξαις ἐπάραντες ὅπῃ ἂν δόξῃ τρέπονται μετὰ τῶν βοσκημάτων. Στράβωνος 7.1.3 φαίνεται γὰρ ἡ νῦν Ἑλλὰς καλουμένη οὐ πάλαι βεβαίως οἰκουμένη, ἀλλὰ μεταναστάσεις τε οὖσαι τὰ πρότερα καὶ ῥᾳδίως ἕκαστοι τὴν ἑαυτῶν ἀπολείποντες βιαζόμενοι ὑπό τινων αἰεὶ πλειόνων.  Θουκυδίδου 1.1 γνώριμα δὲ ταῦτα κατέστη τὰ ἔθνη πολεμοῦντα πρὸς Ῥωμαίους, εἶτ᾽ ἐνδιδόντα καὶ πάλιν ἀφιστάμενα ἢ καὶ καταλείποντα τὰς κατοικίας: κἂν πλείω δὲ γνώριμα ὑπῆρξεν, εἰ ἐπέτρεπε τοῖς στρατηγοῖς ὁ Σεβαστὸς διαβαίνειν τὸν Ἄλβιν μετιοῦσι τοὺς ἐκεῖσε ἀπανισταμένους. Στράβωνος 7.1.4 πρὸς οὓς ἡ μὲν ἀπιστία μέγα ὄφελος, οἱ δὲ πιστευθέντες τὰ μέγιστα κατέβλαψαν, καθάπερ οἱ Χηροῦσκοι καὶ οἱ τούτοις ὑπήκοοι, παρ᾽ οἷς τρία τάγματα Ῥωμαίων μετὰτοῦ στρατηγοῦ Ὀυάρου Κουιντιλλίου παρασπονδηθέντα ἀπώλετο ἐξ ἐνέδρας. Στράβωνος 7.1.4 Support the podcast and get access to episodes in advance as well as bonus materials such as listening exercises and episode transcripts: https://www.patreon.com/Hellenizdein  Follow us on Twitter: https://x.com/ancientgreekpod  Join our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/604916774052809  Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ancientgreekpodcast/  Send us an email: theancientgreekpodcast@gmail.com 

χαίρετε, ὦ προστάται! Listen to our latest episode continuing with Strabo's Geographica, this time discussing the section on ancient Britain (4.5.1-4.5.3). The original text is available to read here: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0197%3Abook%3D4%3Achapter%3D5%3Asection%3D1 καλῶς ὑμῖν γένοιτο! Josep & Leandros  Support the podcast and get access to episodes in advance as well as bonus materials such as listening exercises and episode transcripts: https://www.patreon.com/Hellenizdein  Follow us on Twitter: https://x.com/ancientgreekpod  Join our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/604916774052809  Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ancientgreekpodcast/  Send us an email: theancientgreekpodcast@gmail.com 

χαίρετε, ὦ ἀκροαταί! This week we continue reading Strabo's Geographica, this time talking about the section on Spain. καλῶς ὑμῖν γένοιτο! Josep & Leandros Support the podcast and get access to episodes in advance as well as bonus materials such as listening exercises and episode transcripts: https://www.patreon.com/Hellenizdein  Follow us on Twitter: https://x.com/ancientgreekpod  Join our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/604916774052809  Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ancientgreekpodcast/  Send us an email: theancientgreekpodcast@gmail.com 

χαίρετε, ὦ ἀκροαταί! This week we are reading Strabo's Geographica and so this episode serves as an introduction to discussing the cardinal directions in simple ancient Greek. If you would like to practice this further, you can find more in Logos (p.77, 248) and Polis (p.185, 236). εὐωχοῦ τοῦ ἐπεισοδίου! Josep & Leandros Support the podcast and get access to episodes in advance as well as bonus materials such as listening exercises and episode transcripts: https://www.patreon.com/Hellenizdein  Follow us on Twitter: https://x.com/ancientgreekpod  Join our Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/604916774052809  Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ancientgreekpodcast/  Send us an email: theancientgreekpodcast@gmail.com 

Andre Moubarak highlights the importance of studying first-century Jewish resources to understand the New Testament and the life of Jesus. It presents the teachings of Andre Moubarak from Twins Tours Academy, who emphasizes the significance of understanding the cultural, social, and religious dynamics of ancient Israel. The text then explores various Jewish resources like the Tanakh, Mishnah, Talmud, and Midrash, providing insights into their content, structure, and significance. It also lists websites that offer access to these resources, as well as ancient texts like Josephus Flavius and the Dead Sea Scrolls. The text concludes by examining Roman resources from Tacitus, Pliny the Elder, and Strabo, which offer perspectives on the Roman Empire's influence on Judea.   to learn more online courses go to the link below: www.twinstours.com/academy

Hans van Tellingen, directeur en mede-eigenaar van marktonderzoeksbureau Strabo, schreef drie boeken waar een rode draad in te ontwaren is. Retail is mensenwerk, het fysieke aspect daarin zal het altijd blijven winnen van het zakelijke en functionele E-commerce. We spreken elkaar in zijn prachtige kantoor aan de Herengracht in Amsterdam over trends, generaties, digitalisering en vooral het maatschappelijk belang van winkels.

A little look into the lives of ancient Greek sex workers, particularly two Hetairai, Phryne and Rhodopis, whose accomplishments achieved them 2300+ years long legacies. Help keep LTAMB going by subscribing to Liv's Patreon for bonus content! CW/TW: far too many Greek myths involve assault. Given it's fiction, and typically involves gods and/or monsters, I'm not as deferential as I would be were I referencing the real thing. Sources: Phryne: A Life in Fragments by Melissa Funke; Love in Ancient Greece by Robert Flaceliere; Herodotus' Histories, translated by GC Macauley; Aphrodite by Monica Cyrino (the Nossis poem is found here); Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves: Women in Antiquity by Sarah B Pomeroy; Venus and Aphrodite by Bettany Hughes; Diodorus Siculus and Strabo, from the Topostext entry on Rhodopis. Attributions and licensing information for music used in the podcast can be found here: mythsbaby.com/sources-attributions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  FULL TRANSCRIPT (with timecode) 00:00:17:29 - 00:00:19:10 Welcome to Grace. 00:00:19:12 - 00:00:25:15 Hope, love, the broadcast ministry of Calvary Chapel Birmingham and beautiful Alabama. 00:00:41:19 - 00:01:15:16 It's great to have you with us as together we explore the Bible, verse by verse and chapter by chapter. This broadcast is reaching across the world with the amazing, exciting and life changing Word of God. If you would like to partner with us to take the whole book to the whole world, please consider making a donation. To learn more about Calvary Chapel Birmingham and God's plan for your life, or how you can partner with this ministry, go to Calvary birmingham.com. Today God has an extra special message just for you. 00:01:15:18 - 00:01:18:10 So grab your Bible and let's dig in. 00:01:29:06 - 00:02:04:05 For the last several Sundays, we've been studying through what is commonly known as the Olivet Discourse, and it's called that, of course, because of the location from which the discourse was taught. And that is the Mount of Olives overlooking Jerusalem and the temple of the time. So this is the same spot in which Jesus will come in the future to establish his his kingdom. A few chapters back in our study of Mark, Jesus entered Jerusalem with what seemed to be triumphant acclaim from all the crowds. But after disrupting the commercial activities in the temple, things took a turn. 00:02:04:11 - 00:02:35:04 The next morning, Jesus engaged with the religious leaders, and this was followed by Jesus giving public warning to the crowds and to his disciples about the teachers of the law and the Pharisees. And then he pronounced woes against the religious leaders. We don't have those in Mark, but we have had those in Matthew. Now his disciples began to see that things were getting dangerous because the religious leaders in Jerusalem, they recognized, are out to get Jesus and try to silence him. Much earlier in Jesus's ministry, they had determined to destroy him. 00:02:35:06 - 00:03:05:13 That is, the religious leaders had already determined to destroy him. Even as Jesus is giving this discourse then to his disciples, they are orchestrating their plans, and soon enough, Judas will betray Jesus. In the Garden of Gethsemane, located on this same Mount of Olives. And as for timeline, we where we are, it is two days before Passover, and so Jesus urgently turns his attention to his disciples. He prepares. 00:03:05:15 - 00:03:50:15 He's preparing his followers for the events that are to come. This is the fifth and final discourse from Jesus to his disciples. As we have seen, this discourse is prophecy, and it's to prepare his disciples for what they will experience as they do the work as apostles of preaching the gospel and building the church. And so that they understand the urgency of the message. Jesus describes the catastrophic events of judgment that will befall the nation, including the destruction of the temple and in the even more distant future, the end times and what the end times will mean for not only the world, but for Israel. 00:03:50:28 - 00:04:24:05 That is very important, really, for our understanding of this text. Jesus is speaking to his disciples about the end times and Israel and what it means for Israel. Um, all of what he has said in the discourse and in the parables and the illustrations that are centered around this discourse, has been very Israel centric. However, Gentile believers are not excluded. Certainly all believers need to understand this text. This text will be an important witness for those who enter the tribulation period. 00:04:24:07 - 00:05:00:03 But of course, also for believers today, these are events that will be experienced worldwide, like the Great Flood was a worldwide flood, and an understanding of this text enables us to better understand end times prophecy found in the Old Testament. Um, what is contained in the final book of the Bible, the Revelation of Jesus Christ. But there is also. A great reminder. About and encouragement to faithfulness and warning about unfaithfulness. 00:05:00:06 - 00:05:30:29 Now, you may have heard other pastors teach this text differently. Um, there are a lot of different words you could key off key off of within this text. I mean, we have words like war, plague, earthquake, sorrow. Um, gospel is a good one, of course. Um. Abomination. Desecration. Tribulation. Saved. Elect this generation. Days of Noah is in Matthew, and we'll touch on that today as well. Um. Thief. Uh. Be ready. 00:05:31:01 - 00:06:03:09 Faithful. Wise. Um. We'll see as we, uh, study a little bit in Matthew as well. We'll see the use of the word oil. Um, bridegroom. Uh, talents. And, you know, I myself have heard many messages that. That read a couple of the scriptures from this, and then then kind of pick a word within those couple of verses and key off of it into something completely, um, off topic, uh, sorrow. 00:06:03:11 - 00:06:38:02 You know, sorrow. What are you what sorrow are you dealing with today? Um. Saved. How do you know that you're saved? Do you know that? You know that you know that you know. Oil. Have you experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit, my friend? Is your lamp filled with oil? And. Even to the absurd talents. Will you use your talents to serve pastor's vision for the church? All you have to do is actually read the text in context. 00:06:38:25 - 00:07:14:01 And you will find that that especially is absolutely absurd. Now, with the exception of that last. And I admit that was. That's low hanging fruit. Um, it's it's it's so out there. It's just low hanging fruit now. But, um, with the exception of that last absurd example, there is good reason to deal with many of those other things. But this text is not necessarily the place to deal with those things. Um, deal with those things when you get to the text that actually deals with them in the text does exist, that deals with all those things. 00:07:14:03 - 00:07:45:21 Otherwise you are not rightly dividing the word of truth. The great danger of keying off of one word in a verse or within a small segment of text is then the flesh can take that wherever it wants, almost always ending up with a very subtle message about either earning your salvation or doing the works to maintain your standing or your salvation, which is not only contrary to the good news of eternal salvation by grace through faith. 00:07:45:23 - 00:08:18:18 It is a trap that leads to a rejection of grace and a rebuke at the judgment seat of Christ. Now, we talked about taking a literal approach to Scripture last week as well. It does not mean that that we believe that the earth is flat, or that the moon makes its own light. Rather, a literal approach to the text means we maintain a high standard when it comes to interpreting Scripture. It means we do our best to consider the intent of the author, and not to go beyond that. 00:08:18:20 - 00:09:14:08 And that also means that we are willing to let the text speak rather than us speaking for the text. Now that out of the way, in the previous part of this discourse, after answering the disciples questions regarding the temple and its destruction, Jesus continues with prophecy of the end times and the tribulation and His second coming. Over the last few Sundays, we looked at the condition of the world and the condition of the world. When Jesus comes to take his church, ushering in then the seven years of tribulation, Jesus spoke about conditions Israel will endure during the tribulation, the rebuilt temple implying that the Law of Moses is back in observance, in effect, that Antichrist and the desecration of the Temple Israel fleeing to get away, Israel seeing Jesus's return, the great battle at the end, and Israel's salvation. 00:09:14:10 - 00:09:53:01 And then Jesus moved out of the discourse and into using parable and illustrating again. And with that, Jesus went from dealing with eschatological events to dealing with attitudes, drawing contrasts between those who are faithful, prepared, and watchful, and those who are not. Bart does not include all of these parables and illustrations, and we may. We made note of that last week, but because there has been such terrible teaching for many of these illustration parables, I'm going to take us out of Mark later on this morning and into Matthew so that we can cover that ground as well. 00:09:53:03 - 00:10:30:16 Now, a word of caution in studying these. We must be careful not to make assumptions that will lead us to wrong conclusions. In regards to these parables and these illustrations, it's important to note that the outcome is reward or retribution. Expecting or not expecting. Christ's return makes a large difference in the lives of those characters in the illustrations. We will understand through these paragraphs that unbelievers will suffer loss by not being prepared. 00:10:30:18 - 00:11:01:25 It is also the case that believers will suffer loss to not like unbelievers, but loss nonetheless. Loss of rewards. And so we find Jesus directing believers to watch and to be ready. And that's really that really is important for us to remember as we study through these things. The text may not be speaking of eternal life versus condemnation, even though the text may cause us to want to assume that we must not assume we must remain in context. 00:11:01:27 - 00:11:32:03 And so we find that the greater idea is faithfulness, being watchful so that one is found faithful and faithfulness is rewarded. And that implies that believers who are not watchful and thus not concerned about being faithful to Christ, uh, to Christ, suffer loss not of eternal life, but of rewards. So I think that pretty much well sets up our study as as Jesus continues to teach with the parable of the faithful and the wise slave. 00:11:32:20 - 00:12:09:16 Um, we'll get to that in a second. Here, I want us to pray, and then we'll dig in. Heavenly father, we thank you for this new morning. The breath you've placed in our lungs for the beating of our hearts. Lord, you are truly living God. Compassionate, merciful, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness. Lord, we pray for those who are sick. Lord, we pray for Chris that you would heal him from his sickness. Lord others who might be sick or dealing with different diseases and things. Lord, we ask that you would heal them. Those who are traveling like Larry and Krista, Lord, that you would keep them safe, protect them and bring them back to their family here. 00:12:09:25 - 00:12:40:04 Um, most of all, we ask that that your gospel would be received, uh, or preached to all this world, Lord, and that people would come to understand the truth of Jesus. Um, and as we embark on this study of your word, we ask that our own hearts would be opened to receive all that you have to say to us, Lord, we desire to be heroes and doers. We ask that you would lead us in all of your ways because your ways are good. We pray this in Jesus name. 00:12:40:06 - 00:12:40:23 Amen. 00:12:42:16 - 00:12:44:17 So starting with verse. 00:12:46:17 - 00:12:47:23 32. 00:12:52:23 - 00:13:35:13 We are at the very end of Mark chapter 13, starting with verse 32. But of that day and hour no one knows. Not even the angels in heaven, nor the son, but only the father. Take heed, watch and pray for you. Do not know when the time is. It is like a man going to a far country, who left his house and gave authority to his servants, and to each his work, and commanded the doorkeeper to watch. Watch. Therefore, for you do not know when the master of the house is coming in the evening, at midnight, at the crowing of the rooster, or in the morning, lest coming, suddenly he find you sleeping. 00:13:35:24 - 00:14:05:28 And what I say to you, I say to all watch. Now, as I mentioned last week, the parallel text of Matthew includes some things here that Mark does not. And I want us to read that text of Matthew. Now, the parallel section of Matthew to our text in Mark is found in chapter 24 of Matthew, in particular verses 36 through 44. But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my father only. 00:14:06:00 - 00:14:40:01 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away. So also will the coming of the Son of Man be. Then two men will be in the field, one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken and the other left. 00:14:40:03 - 00:15:22:23 Watch therefore, for you do not know. Uh, for you do not know what hour your lord is coming. But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. Now Mark's gospel doesn't avoid anything. It just gets straight to the point. As we we've observed before, Mark's gospel moves at a much quicker pace than do the other Synoptics, whereas Matthew moves slower, um, and includes much more detail. 00:15:22:25 - 00:16:03:21 The big picture here in Mark is found in Jesus's thesis verse of 32. Um, no one knows the day or the hour. And we should ask ourselves, what is it that no one knows about that day and hour? Well, context helps, and if we keep reading, verse 33 clarifies that you do not know when the time is. Jesus then expounds on to on on that to to make the big point, which is spiritual vigilance, not desperately holding on to salvation as if one day you're going to mess up so bad that the Lord thumps you out of his keeping hand. 00:16:03:27 - 00:16:46:08 But rather believers should not be asleep, as were Peter, James, and John later in the garden, but rather believers should be found faithfully in service to the Lord when he returns. All the servants will be blessed by the return of the Lord. Faithful servants will be rewarded. But we have a problem. Why is it that we have a pretty clear timeline of events given to us, not just in the Olivet Discourse, but in New Testament texts like revelation? If nobody knows the time of the return. 00:16:47:13 - 00:17:20:22 How can this possibly be? Since we have spelled out for us a seven year period of tribulation, at the end of which Jesus returns? Well, what it is, is. That Jesus is speaking of his return. For believers, that comes before the seven year period referred to as the rapture or the catching up of the church. Now, we'll get back to this in a minute, but for now, let's get more into the details of this section from Mark. 00:17:20:24 - 00:17:51:14 And Matthew will tie in to Luke as well a little bit, but we're going to use that more as a means of clarifying. Just just wait for it, I guess. So when when we read, uh, the text from Mark and then from Matthew, there was some things in Matthew that probably. Have struck out at us. Um, probably that bit about Noah, right? That's kind of a word that, you know, the days of Noah that kind of sticks out from that text. 00:17:52:00 - 00:18:28:00 Um, and of course, the days thereof, specifically that part, um, as the days of Noah were so also, will the coming of the Son of Man before is in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark and did not know until the flood came and took them all away. So also will the coming of the Son of Man be. We'll get to that. But first, did you notice a difference between verse 36 of Matthew and verse 32 of Mark? It's subtle. Verse 36 of Matthew says, but of that day and hour, and no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but my father only. 00:18:29:08 - 00:19:05:18 In Mark. In verse 32 it says, but of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the son, but only the father. So it's that phrase, nor the sun. It's in Mark, but not Matthew. And Luke doesn't have this verse at all. So hold on to your hats. We're going to get a little bit nerdy Bible nerdy here, just for a few minutes. Um, some important manuscripts, uh, such as the Alexandrian and the Western manuscripts have an additional phrase that's not included in Matthew, and that is that phrase. 00:19:05:20 - 00:19:39:18 It is, nor the sun. We find it as we just saw in Mark, not Matthew. Many scholars believe that phrase should be included here in the text of Matthew as well. And in fact, modern translations have decided to include this phrase, as it was likely in the original autographs of Matthew. The King James Version does not include it. But I believe it should, because not only do the Alexandrian and Western manuscripts have it, um, almost all. 00:19:40:09 - 00:19:48:12 Of the other witnesses, uh, have that phrase as well. But even if that phrase should be there. 00:19:50:06 - 00:20:26:21 The final part of verse 36 in Matthew. But my father only. Well, it implies the same thing. Only the lack of it in the King James Version and New King James Version just seems to to somewhat soften the prophetic impact of it. So just be aware of this. Even the son does not know. And it's interesting that this lines up with the way that weddings happen in ancient Israel. So the the pattern agrees with what Jesus says here after the betrothal, neither the groom nor the bride knew when the marriage celebration was going to occur. 00:20:26:23 - 00:20:47:09 Instead, the groom then went back home to prepare a place for his bride, and when the father decided it was time, he would send the groom with the wedding party to collect the bride. But the bigger idea here is not what the father knows, nor really of the timing. 00:20:49:03 - 00:21:02:23 Rather, the idea is. Encouragement toward an attitude of being watchful. And prepared. The time is unknowable. 00:21:04:18 - 00:21:10:28 Therefore be ready. If a plumber is scheduled to come to your home to fix your toilet. 00:21:12:16 - 00:21:16:06 And you don't know what exact time they're going to arrive. 00:21:17:22 - 00:21:37:05 What are you probably going to do? Well, you're probably going to pick up any dirty clothes from the floor of your bathroom. You're probably going to empty the bathroom trash can. You might even clean the area around the toilet and the toilet itself. So you don't look like the slob you really are. 00:21:39:26 - 00:22:15:24 So if in little things, we feel like we should be prepared. The imminent rapture of the church should inspire preparation of those who are of the church. No one knows the exact time when the Son of Man will return. His coming is going to be a surprise, so it makes sense to be prepared so that you are not ashamed. Now, who is this warning for? Well, Matthew gives us that information because there Jesus starts this illustration with a comparison. 00:22:16:06 - 00:22:50:13 As the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. And note that just as the flood was worldwide, so also the end times judgments will be worldwide. So then we get the idea now that this word is not limited to Israel, but is for all the world. People need to hear the Word of God taught and preached and that includes the warnings. In the days of Noah, the world did not expect a flood that would cover all the earth, despite the fact that Noah was a preacher of righteousness. 00:22:50:15 - 00:23:14:19 I get that from Second Peter two verse five. Peter is called or Noah is called a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly. Similarly. In the future of in the future, the world will be pursuing normal, everyday, regular routine activities. 00:23:16:05 - 00:23:25:01 They will be going about life as usual. Suddenly. And without warning. Normal life. 00:23:25:21 - 00:23:28:02 Meals. Weddings. 00:23:29:19 - 00:24:04:12 Will be interrupted. And those who remain will find themselves searching for an explanation. Of what is going on. In Noah's day, he and seven others entered the ark and God. Shut that door. Now knowing his family were not Hebrews. They predated Abraham, who was the first Hebrew. And as the world was judged, Noah in the seven others were kept safe in the ark above the waters. 00:24:05:27 - 00:24:38:24 Jesus is Coming begins with the rapture of the church, which can occur at any time. Without sign. Except for the fact that the Bible actually tells us it's going to happen. And then following the rapture, those years of tribulation will come about a total of seven years of tribulation with the abomination of desolation that Daniel and Jesus spoke of in the middle of that time, after which Israel will be scattered once again. 00:24:38:26 - 00:24:54:26 Three and a half years after the abomination, the prophecy of Zechariah tells us that Jesus will set foot on the Mount of Olives and overthrow Israel's enemies. And as Zechariah states in verse nine, the Lord shall be king over all the earth. 00:24:56:27 - 00:25:28:12 Unbelievers will suddenly find themselves in judgment, just as unbelievers were in the days of Noah. As Noah and his family were yet kept safe out of the judgment. So then, those who we see taken away by the flood are unbelievers. Continuing in the text of Matthew, Jesus then added to the illustration by moving to a different illustration said, then two men will be in the field, one will be taken in the other left, two women will be grinding at the mill, one will be taken, the other left. 00:25:31:12 - 00:25:35:09 In regards to just what this illustrates, there are a couple of possibilities. 00:25:36:24 - 00:26:12:12 Then in verse 40 of Matthew, the text points back to when everyone was eating and drinking just before the tribulation. Now the word took in. Verse 39 is the Greek word eru, meaning carried away. As in carried away to their death by the flood waters. And then the word taken that Jesus uses in verses 40 and 41 is a different word. Uh, parallel bono meaning take two oneself or receive. 00:26:13:06 - 00:26:55:27 Now. One possibility is that this illustrates the rapture, with one being taken in the other left behind. And that sounds good. But the problem is that it doesn't track with the NOAA illustration in which the wicked were taken away while the believers were preserved. Rather, it seems to make better sense that this continues the previous illustration, where the world is in tribulation and the church has been removed already. So then in verses 4241, those taken away are the unbelievers, and the ones that are left are those of believing Israel and tribulation saints who are not taken to judgment but remain to enter the Millennial Kingdom. 00:26:56:08 - 00:27:38:16 So then, those who come on to, or who come to believe during the tribulation must be watchful and expectant of the Lord's coming. Others take the view that those who are carried away in verses in verse 39 are unbelievers, while those who are taken in verses 44 through 41 are believers taken up to Christ at the rapture of the church, as I said before. So then those who are left in verses 40 to 41 are the ones who are going to be going through the tribulation events. And if if this view is correct, then the judgment of the tribulation will come on the unbelieving world, like the flood, where they are not expecting it, and before that God will deliver his own from. 00:27:39:03 - 00:28:15:20 The world. In between these two. If neither is exactly wrong, the facts are that the church will be raptured before the judgment, and those who those who believe during the tribulation will also enter the kingdom. However, Jesus had a point greater than than those specifics. The greater idea here is just what we started with. Nobody knows the time. And Jesus is addressing his disciples. His disciples were believers apart from one who would betray the Lord to the chief priests and the Romans. 00:28:15:22 - 00:28:47:14 If if saved individuals this side of the tribulation need to worry about entering into the tribulation, then why be watchful in the first place? Well, the reason is that while Jesus and John three and later Paul and Romans eight said that he who believes in Jesus is not condemned, they are not exempt. They are not exempted from the judgment seat of Christ. Paul spoke of this judgment seat of Christ in Romans, in Second Corinthians. And the Apostle John also did this in his first epistle. 00:28:47:16 - 00:29:21:00 Paul says, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each may receive the things done in the body according to what he has done, good or bad. And he says, we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to him, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each 1st May receive the things done in the body according to what he has done, whether good or bad. So this is not a judgment to condemnation, but a judgment in which believers will receive or lose reward according to their faithfulness to Christ. 00:29:21:23 - 00:29:55:08 Everyone who is at this judgment is saved, but some will be saved with rewards and some will be saved with loss of rewards. So then believers need to watch a Greek word that means be on alert. In light of Christ, sudden, unexpected coming. And this same word for watch is repeated several times by Paul in his epistles and by the Lord not only in the Gospels, but also in revelation. So then look at verses 43 through 44. 00:29:57:00 - 00:30:35:29 Of Matthew 24. But know this, that if the master of the house had not, if the master of the house had known what hour the thief would come. He would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefore you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour. You do not expect anyone who knows before it happens that a thief is going to be coming to his house. And when will certainly make sure to be awake and alert for that event so that he can protect his house and his possessions. 00:30:36:22 - 00:31:00:18 Jesus compares himself to a thief because he will come unexpectedly, and the homeowner or the master of the house is the believer. And if it's important for a homeowner to be so vigilant about things that are transient. Then how much more so is it for a believer to to be aware and vigilant over things that are of eternal value? 00:31:02:18 - 00:31:09:26 Believers who are watching for the rapture will be prepared at any time and not taken by surprise. 00:31:11:21 - 00:31:52:09 It will not experience loss of reward. Jesus promises that there is no condemnation for those who believe in him. So then the believer is absolutely secure and safe from condemnation and promised eternal life. And while most people are concerned with quality of life now, however. Eternal life dwarfs the little time that we have now. So quality of eternal life should be of immensely greater concern. Believers enter into eternal life no matter what God guarantees it, but works will be judged and some will enter with reward, others will enter having lost rewards. 00:31:52:11 - 00:31:56:14 And so, as believers, we should desire to be faithful and wise. 00:32:01:11 - 00:32:34:16 All right. So as I insinuated several times, Matthew includes more illustrations and parables than Mark does. That is illustrations and parables specifically associated with this discourse. And these have been taught so horribly so as to steal away the assurance of believers eternal salvation, that I. I feel the need that we as a body, go back and look at these things. Um, even though Mark does not necessarily include all of these in his text. 00:32:34:18 - 00:32:51:24 So I want you to right now in, um. Yeah, we got time. I want you right now to turn to Matthew chapter 24, if you haven't already. We've been in Matthew, so maybe you've already turned there, but, um, we'll be looking at verses 45 through 51. 00:32:54:01 - 00:32:55:20 I need to do that too. Let's see. 00:33:03:28 - 00:33:04:17 There we go. 00:33:09:21 - 00:33:52:06 Are. All right. And starting the verse 45, it reads this way. Who then is a faithful and wise servant whom his master made ruler over his household to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his master, when he comes, will find so doing. Assuredly, I say to you, that he will make him ruler over all his goods. But if the evil servant says in his heart, my master is delaying his coming, and begins to beat his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunkards. The master of that servant will come on a day when he is not looking for him, at an hour that he is not aware of, and will cut him in two, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. 00:33:52:13 - 00:34:23:24 There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Now this parable continues the theme of the preceding, and that overarching theme is preparedness. After describing what his Second Coming would be like. It makes sense that Jesus would speak of being watchful and prepared. Earlier in both Mark and Matthew, Jesus warned that his return would not be hidden or secret, but would be quick and visible to all. And in the parable of the fig tree. 00:34:23:28 - 00:35:00:18 From verses 28 through 31 of Mark, which I think we looked at last Sunday, Jesus says that the generation that is in the tribulation and sees the abomination of desolation and the cataclysmic events in the heavens, will see his return. But as it was in the days of Noah when only a handful believed God was going to was going to judge the world with this great flood, so also many will be taken by surprise then at his return. Now, it's important to note that the rapture of the church in the Second Coming of Christ are two different things, right? The rapture comes just before the seven year tribulation. 00:35:00:20 - 00:35:35:12 The Bible describes the rapture as Jesus coming in the clouds and calling up his believers to be with him. But in his Second coming, at the conclusion of the tribulation, he sets foot on the Mount of Olives, bringing bringing us with him to judge the world and usher in the Millennial Kingdom. So in his discourse, the rapture would have occurred probably just before verse nine. And from that point on, this discourse seems to be describing the tribulation period. The midpoint of the seven year tribulation is at verse 14 of Mark 13, with the abomination of desolation and Israel fleeing. 00:35:35:14 - 00:36:10:26 The Second coming of Christ then occurs in the discourse with verse 26 of Mark. So then we continue now with the parables and the illustrations, and that takes us to the parable that we just read of the with a faithful servant and a wise servant. Here in Matthew, the Greek word for servant here is doulos. Now doulos speaks of a slave. That is, someone subservient to someone else. And in the New Testament text, it usually speaks of someone who was in a financial situation that required them to sell themselves to someone else in order to survive. 00:36:11:09 - 00:36:46:10 That likely does not refer to someone who has been made a slave by force. Now, all this is this kind of archaic to us today. But someone in that time who was in that kind of life or death situation would have been thankful and demonstrated their thankfulness with faithful service. However. The flesh, nature being what it is. A slave, even though their slavery meant survival rather than starvation and suffering, might begin to resent their master. 00:36:47:06 - 00:37:12:10 Some slaves of the time were very low on the pole. Others were trusted as family members and even given great responsibility and trust in a household. Now slave here is used singularly in this entire parable. This seems surprising because if your Bible has section headings, it probably reads illustration of the two servants. 00:37:14:00 - 00:37:48:06 Well, this is problematic. As the text is speaking of two possible actions of one servant, and how the servants actions in each scenario may be rewarded. In other words, there is one slave in this parable who has been entrusted with great responsibilities and who also has a choice while his master is away. He can be faithful and wise, and the responsibilities given to him by his master, anticipating the joy of reward at his master's return. 00:37:48:08 - 00:38:20:01 Or he can be evil and do whatever his evil desires. Lead him to do things that are characteristic of idolaters, or pagans, or unbelievers, and those who have turned away. Uh, from uh uh, from the faith. Because the master will return suddenly. The master will discover what his entrusted servant has been doing. If he's been faithful. When his master returns, he will be rewarded and given greater position. 00:38:20:09 - 00:38:51:17 If the slave has been unfaithful, the text says he will be divided and be given a place with the hypocrites. Now notice that the master who left the slave and then returns remains the slave master, whether the slave is faithful or unfaithful. But what about verse 51? And this cutting into. Well, that verb, uh, deco tomato means to to cut an object into two parts. 00:38:51:19 - 00:39:25:29 And it is the same verb that's used in Hebrews 11, verse 37, speaking of God's prophets being sawn in two. It is also used in the Septuagint in Exodus in regards to the division of sacrifices. Extra biblical sources such as writings of Polybius and credulous Strabo. Many others demonstrate the use of this word in rhetoric as, uh, as hyperbole for creating a convincing argument. 00:39:26:04 - 00:39:56:28 And that's how it's used here. The dividing of the slave is not the division of the slave himself. It is hyperbole to illustrate being cut to the heart by the Lord's rebuke and suffering great loss. Remember, as Hebrews four says, the word of God is like a two edged sword that can cut deeply and is being appointed. A place with the hypocrites is simply showing that there are those who are found faithful, and there are others who are not. 00:39:57:20 - 00:40:28:22 Jesus denounced the leaders in Israel. He called them hypocrites. And when doing so he did not distinguish between believing and unbelieving leaders. And we know from the Bible that there were at least a few and probably. Many among the leaders who believed yet remained secretive in their belief. And we know that even faithful believers can be hypocrites. 00:40:29:18 - 00:40:58:04 Such as Peter and Barnabas in Galatians two, where Paul rebuked them because in Antioch they got up from their table with the Gentiles to sit with the Jews from Jerusalem when they arrived. We find a similar parable in Luke 12, where in verse 46, instead of hypocrite, we find the word unbelievers. However, the Greek word. Translated. Translated. Uh. Unbeliever. There. Also means the unfaithful. 00:41:00:07 - 00:41:04:22 Which I think is a more sound understanding. The fact. 00:41:07:00 - 00:41:40:29 In fact it is. That's actually how the ESV renders that word in Luke 1246. So the big idea here. Is that when believers are judged, the failure to have endured and faithful service will result in rebuke. The difference is that in one scenario, the wise servant watches for the return of his master, and because he is watchful and he is expectant. He is found serving faithfully. And the other scenario? He thinks his master will not return for a long time. 00:41:41:01 - 00:41:43:01 So he stopped serving his master well. 00:41:45:04 - 00:41:52:18 We often want to associate weeping and gnashing of teeth with the pronouncement of utter condemnation. 00:41:54:04 - 00:42:33:03 And we do find that phrase associated with unbelievers in hell. We also find it used of the tremendous grief. Of believers at the loss of rewards. But context determines how we should understand the text. And so the phrase here speaks of tremendous regret over a wasted opportunity to have received something very valuable. So then its use here in this text speaks of great sorrow experienced by unfaithful believers at the Lord's rebuke, at their loss of reward and loss of privileges. 00:42:34:00 - 00:42:43:20 And loss of joys associated with ruling with Christ in the kingdom. And yet God will wipe away every tear. 00:42:52:20 - 00:42:57:27 Israel was chosen by God in order to be a light to the other nations. 00:43:01:09 - 00:43:33:03 And to be the people through which the Messiah was to to come into the world. And over and over in the text of the Old Testament, we see Israel instead wanting to be just like the other nations and falling into idolatry. And each time we see God discipline them. And we see Israel missing out on God's blessing. Their rejection of Jesus has resulted in very difficult times over the centuries. 00:43:33:27 - 00:43:47:09 For Israel. But Israel is gathered back together. Being gathered back together became a nation again in 1948. They still are experiencing judgment for their unbelief. 00:43:49:07 - 00:44:21:04 But God is faithful always to his promises. In the tribulation, after the desecration of the temple, Israel will repent and will return back to God. 44 144,000 will actually be evangelizing the world. But that's just the number of a special group of believing Israel sealed to act as God's evangelists in all the world. There will be many more who will believe Jesus during the tribulation. And when Jesus returns, it will be good to be found faithful. 00:44:21:06 - 00:44:53:08 All believers will be rewarded or suffer loss at the judgment seat of Christ. But it must be kept in mind that this is not a loss of salvation. As was the case back in the parable of the marriage feast from from chapter 22 of I think it was Matthew or I don't think that was. Yeah, that would have been Matthew we haven't reached. Never mind. Brain 22 of Matthew. The stakes were not eternal life. But quality of eternal life. 00:44:54:23 - 00:45:28:20 Rewards or loss of rewards. It is consistent. As a thread throughout all the Bible that salvation is by faith because of God's grace and not because of any works of our own. People believe those things of which evidence persuades them to be true. That is what belief is. It is a conviction based on available evidence that something is in fact true. Belief is not something that that we work up in ourselves by some strength of will. 00:45:31:02 - 00:45:37:05 I mean belief these days or faith gets gets taught so often as if it's like. 00:45:40:02 - 00:46:01:01 Like Luke Skywalker, you know, trying to trying to raise his his fighter out of the marsh. You know, trying to gather up the the ability to do it. It's this invisible force that we we pulled to ourselves. And we. We then send out to do the things of which we want to be done. 00:46:03:25 - 00:46:05:13 Well, a belief is belief. 00:46:08:09 - 00:46:10:11 We don't work it up within ourselves. 00:46:15:04 - 00:46:17:12 We simply believe something is true. 00:46:21:02 - 00:46:23:27 And I think we can all agree that. 00:46:25:23 - 00:46:31:21 When evidence that something is true persuades you, you are then found to be believing it. 00:46:33:11 - 00:46:39:27 And ultimately when the evidence is not sufficient. Then you don't believe it. 00:46:42:05 - 00:47:00:05 Now. When you believe something, you typically will perform actions that equate with that belief. But that's not always completely, completely the case. You will. Well, during the late 70s, early 80s, most kids knew gravity existed, yet you would still find them jumping off the roof with an umbrella. 00:47:02:13 - 00:47:03:05 Test it out. 00:47:04:21 - 00:47:08:24 Yep. Gravity's true. No umbrella doesn't help. 00:47:17:10 - 00:47:22:01 Not the best example. But. But the people who believe in gravity. 00:47:25:19 - 00:48:01:28 Most people believe in gravity, yet we'll find some way to try and subvert or delay the effects of gravity, right? People who live under, under local or federal laws will still break or subvert the laws in various and creative ways, and people who believe God will yet become more concerned with the things of the world than the things of God. The goodness of the good News is, as Jesus said in John five, most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. 00:48:02:00 - 00:48:38:22 The believer will not come into judgment, but has eternal life. But there is a judgment of works that awaits all believers, where believers will be judged for the things done in the body, and that judgment is not under condemnation, but eternal reward or loss of reward. And the eternal destiny of unbelievers, of unbelievers is based on their unbelief and not their works. And the eternal destiny of believers is based on their belief and not their works. Our eternal rewards will be based on what we do in service for Christ in these fallen bodies, not with what we do. 00:48:38:24 - 00:49:10:15 What we'll do in the future in our glorified bodies. So yes, Jesus is still being Israel centric in these verses. He is speaking to his disciples about Israel in the end times. But rewards for faithfulness is also applicable to all believers, whether taken up in the rapture or those who come to faith during the tribulation. While Jesus is away, he expects his servants, that is, believers, to be faithful and wise until he returns. 00:49:11:27 - 00:49:43:21 Now there are more parables that we will need to deal with from Matthew, and we'll do that next Sunday as additional material for our study of the Olivet Discourse in Mark. The next two parables, the parable of the Ten Virgins and the parable of the talents, further illustrate the importance of wisdom and faithfulness in preparing for the coming reign of the King. But this morning we're going to end here. So stick around. We'll have our. And let's pray. Heavenly father, we thank you for this morning. 00:49:43:23 - 00:49:47:16 We thank you for your love and your grace and your mercy. We, um. 00:49:49:06 - 00:49:58:28 Pray that your name would be holy in our our hearts and that, uh, your name would be, uh, exemplified as is holy in our lives. Um. 00:50:01:06 - 00:50:02:17 That we would be. 00:50:04:14 - 00:50:11:00 A light to this world. To show them. Jesus. 00:50:13:28 - 00:50:14:25 Lord. Um. 00:50:16:16 - 00:50:27:21 This is a day and age where I think we all feel a special need, that we lift up and pray for the leaders of of the world. Um. 00:50:31:09 - 00:50:37:21 And Lord, we. We do pray that. Um, the leaders of this world would. Would rule righteously. 00:50:41:11 - 00:51:11:24 And those who refuse to. Rule in a righteous manner that they would be dethroned. They would be removed from office. And that someone who will serve well will be placed in those places. Um. Give us wisdom as we enter into, uh, the times of elections for this nation in particular. Um. 00:51:13:21 - 00:51:20:24 Lord, we lift up those around this world who are suffering so horribly due to wars. 00:51:24:00 - 00:51:26:27 Lord, help us to be slow to anger. 00:51:28:15 - 00:51:30:00 Help us to be compassionate. 00:51:34:09 - 00:51:51:21 Lord, we ask that you would establish us in all good things, and that you would guard our hearts, keep our hands from evil. Protect us from the deceptions of our great enemy, the devil and Lord is even as we endure the trials of each and every day. 00:51:52:22 - 00:51:53:07 Um. 00:51:53:11 - 00:51:56:05 We thank you that you grow us through them. 00:51:58:03 - 00:52:03:02 You lead us through them. We ask you to be glorified in our trials, Lord. 00:52:07:26 - 00:52:11:24 Father. We. Pray for the food that we're about to. 00:52:14:25 - 00:52:46:16 Share together. Lord, we thank you that you have provided this food and you have given us the, um. What's needed to to make the food and, uh, to cook it, and, um. To taste it and to enjoy it. And we thank you for the time of fellowship that we all have as well. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May he make his face in his light to shine upon you. May he lift up his countenance upon you and give you his peace, his shalom. In the name of Yeshua Messiah. 00:52:46:18 - 00:52:49:22 This Jesus is Messiah, our Lord and our Savior and everyone. 00:52:52:21 - 00:52:55:11 The object of faith is not the gospel. 00:52:55:13 - 00:52:55:28 My friend, the. 00:52:56:00 - 00:53:29:25 Object of faith is Jesus. Being at peace with God is not automatic because you by nature are separated from God. The Bible says for all of sin and fall short of the glory of God, you and I, we are both sinners. Every person is a sinner and sin. Our sin separates us from God. Sincerity, morality, good works, a religion. These are some of the ways that man has tried to close the gap between himself and God. 00:53:30:14 - 00:54:05:11 Only God's love can close that gap of separation between himself and you. He paid the penalty for the sins of the world. The Bible says He Himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness by his wounds you have been healed. But the good news is that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as John the Baptist said, is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. 00:54:06:10 - 00:54:38:13 John the Apostle reiterated this in first John two where we read this, and he himself is the propitiation for our sins. And not for hours only. But also for the whole world. Because of this, despite the fact that we are sinners, we are not blocked from God and from his kingdom because of our sin. He has removed the sin barrier so that now we are all savable. 00:54:39:04 - 00:54:44:22 All we need to do to have everlasting life with God. 00:54:46:21 - 00:54:51:00 Life that can never be lost is to believe in Jesus Christ. 00:54:52:16 - 00:55:28:23 As Jesus said in John 316, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. Jesus very plainly says, whoever believes in him will not perish, but has everlasting life. Because of the cross and the the resurrection of Jesus, all who simply believe in him have everlasting life and will one day be raised from the dead to live physically forever in perfect, glorified bodies. 00:55:30:00 - 00:55:57:15 I can be absolutely sure that I have everlasting life, because I know it has nothing to do with how good or bad I am, and everything to do with Jesus's faithfulness to his promise. You crossed that bridge into God's family. When you believe in Jesus Christ, and God invites you to believe and freely receive forgiveness of sins and. 00:55:57:17 - 00:56:00:09 Eternal life that can never be lost. 00:56:18:16 - 00:56:54:21 Thank you for listening. Remember to be a doer of the Bible and not just a hearer. That means demonstrating God's love to others as he has so abundantly poured out his love into your life. Most importantly, have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior? It's the most important decision you could ever make. Choose your destiny. Don't let the world choose it for you. The Bible says that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. Go to Calvary birmingham.com and click on God to learn more about God's plan for your life. 00:56:54:26 - 00:57:08:07 If you prayed to receive Jesus through this program, please let us know. Go to Calvary birmingham.com and select contact. While you're there, please consider sowing into this ministry by selecting donate. 00:57:13:17 - 00:57:19:19 You have been listening to Grace Hope love with Pastor Sean Bumpers and Calvary Chapel Birmingham. 00:57:28:15 - 00:57:35:11 Thank you, my friend, for your fellowship, and may the Lord abundantly pour out his grace. And love into your life.

This week I am joined by Philip Carr-Gomm, the previous Chosen Chief of the Order of Bards, Ovates & Druids (OBOD) for a fireside chat style episode of Into the Cauldron. Philip began studying Druidry as a spiritual path with Ross Nichols, the founder of The Order of Bards Ovates and Druids. Later he took a degree in psychology from University College London, and trained in psychotherapy for adults at The Institute of Psychosynthesis, in play therapy for children with Dr Rachel Pinney, and in Sophrology – a system of mind-body training for deep relaxation and personal development. We talk about the Order, the cycles of nature & wheel of the year and the process of using nature as a way of returning to one's sense of home & hearth as well as his journey creating Druidcraft Tarot. OBOD is the most popular Neodruidic order in the world and bases its initatory system on the concept of the three roles of bards, ovates and druids originally from the writings of the ancient Greek historian and geographer Strabo, who in his Geographica, written in the 20s CE, stated that amongst the Gauls, there were three types of honoured figures: the poets and singers known as bardoi, the diviners and specialists in the natural world known as o'vateis, and those who studied "moral philosophy", the druidai. It is also partly based on the Welsh Gorsedd of Bards. Check out Philip's website here: https://philipcarr-gomm.com/ Check out OBOD's website here: https://druidry.org/ Interested in Esoteric Scholarship & historical Occult practice? Check out our flagship training program: https://www.mystai.co.uk/omm Follow Mystai in all your usual places:

Listen to this episode on Spotify or Apple Podcasts Let's face it the New Testament probably calls Jesus God (or god) a couple of times and so do early Christian authors in the second century. However, no one offers much of an explanation for what they mean by the title. Did early Christians think Jesus was God because he represented Yahweh? Did they think he was God because he shared the same eternal being as the Father? Did they think he was a god because that's just what they would call any immortalized human who lived in heaven? In this presentation I focus on the question from the perspective of Greco-Roman theology. Drawing on the work of David Litwa, Andrew Perriman, Barry Blackburn, and tons of ancient sources I seek to show how Mediterranean converts to Christianity would have perceived Jesus based on their cultural and religious assumptions. This presentation is from the 3rd Unitarian Christian Alliance Conference on October 20, 2023 in Springfield, OH. Here is the original pdf of this paper. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5Z3QbQ7dHc —— Links —— See more scholarly articles by Sean Finnegan Get the transcript of this episode Support Restitutio by donating here Join our Restitutio Facebook Group and follow Sean Finnegan on Twitter @RestitutioSF Leave a voice message via SpeakPipe with questions or comments and we may play them out on the air Intro music: Good Vibes by MBB Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported (CC BY-SA 3.0) Free Download / Stream: Music promoted by Audio Library. Who is Sean Finnegan?  Read his bio here Introduction When early Christian authors called Jesus “god” (or “God”) what did they mean?[1] Modern apologists routinely point to pre-Nicene quotations in order to prove that early Christians always believed in the deity of Christ, by which they mean that he is of the same substance (homoousios) as the Father. However, most historians agree that Christians before the fourth century simply didn't have the cognitive categories available yet to think of Christ in Nicene or Chalcedonian ways. If this consensus is correct, it behooves us to consider other options for defining what early Christian authors meant. The obvious place to go to get an answer to our initial question is the New Testament. However, as is well known, the handful of instances in which authors unambiguously applied god (θεός) to Christ are fraught with textual uncertainty, grammatical ambiguity, and hermeneutical elasticity.[2]  What's more, granting that these contested texts[3] all call Jesus “god” provides little insight into what they might mean by that phrase. Turning to the second century, the earliest handful of texts that say Jesus is god are likewise textually uncertain or terse.[4] We must wait until the second half of the second century and beyond to have more helpful material to examine. We know that in the meanwhile some Christians were saying Jesus was god. What did they mean? One promising approach is to analyze biblical texts that call others gods. We find helpful parallels with the word god (אֱלֹהִים) applied to Moses (Exod 7.1; 4.16), judges (Exod 21.6; 22.8-9), kings (Is 9.6; Ps 45.6), the divine council (Ps 82.1, 6), and angels (Ps 8.6). These are texts in which God imbues his agents with his authority to represent him in some way. This rare though significant way of calling a representative “god,” continues in the NT with Jesus' clever defense to his accusers in John 10.34-36. Lexicons[5] have long recognized this “Hebraistic” usage and recent study tools such as the New English Translation (NET)[6] and the Zondervan Illustrated Bible Background Commentary[7] also note this phenomenon. But, even if this agency perspective is the most natural reading of texts like Heb 1.8, later Christians, apart from one or two exceptions appear to be ignorant of this usage.[8] This interpretation was likely a casualty of the so-called parting of the ways whereby Christianity transitioned from a second-temple-Jewish movement to a Gentile-majority religion. As such, to grasp what early postapostolic Christians believed, we must turn our attention elsewhere. Michael Bird is right when he says, “Christian discourses about deity belong incontrovertibly in the Greco-Roman context because it provided the cultural encyclopedia that, in diverse ways, shaped the early church's Christological conceptuality and vocabulary.”[9] Learning Greco-Roman theology is not only important because that was the context in which early Christians wrote, but also because from the late first century onward, most of our Christian authors converted from that worldview. Rather than talking about the Hellenization of Christianity, we should begin by asking how Hellenists experienced Christianization. In other words, Greco-Roman beliefs about the gods were the default lens through which converts first saw Christ. In order to explore how Greco-Roman theology shaped what people believed about Jesus as god, we do well to begin by asking how they defined a god. Andrew Perriman offers a helpful starting point. “The gods,” he writes, “are mostly understood as corporeal beings, blessed with immortality, larger, more beautiful, and more powerful than their mortal analogues.”[10] Furthermore, there were lots of them! The sublunar realm was, in the words of Paula Fredriksen, “a god-congested place.”[11] What's more, “[S]harp lines and clearly demarcated boundaries between divinity and humanity were lacking."[12] Gods could appear as people and people could ascend to become gods. Comprehending what Greco-Roman people believed about gods coming down and humans going up will occupy the first part of this paper. Only once we've adjusted our thinking to their culture, will we walk through key moments in the life of Jesus of Nazareth to hear the story with ancient Mediterranean ears. Lastly, we'll consider the evidence from sources that think of Jesus in Greco-Roman categories. Bringing this all together we'll enumerate the primary ways to interpret the phrase “Jesus is god” available to Christians in the pre-Nicene period. Gods Coming Down and Humans Going Up The idea that a god would visit someone is not as unusual as it first sounds. We find plenty of examples of Yahweh himself or non-human representatives visiting people in the Hebrew Bible.[13] One psalmist even referred to angels or “heavenly beings” (ESV) as אֱלֹהִים (gods).[14] The Greco-Roman world too told stories about divine entities coming down to interact with people. Euripides tells about the time Zeus forced the god Apollo to become a human servant in the house of Admetus, performing menial labor as punishment for killing the Cyclopes (Alcestis 1). Baucis and Philemon offered hospitality to Jupiter and Mercury when they appeared in human form (Ovid, Metamorphoses 8.26-34). In Homer's Odyssey onlookers warn Antinous for flinging a stool against a stranger since “the gods do take on the look of strangers dropping in from abroad”[15] (17.534-9). Because they believed the boundary between the divine realm and the Earth was so permeable, Mediterranean people were always on guard for an encounter with a god in disguise. In addition to gods coming down, in special circumstances, humans could ascend and become gods too. Diodorus of Sicily demarcated two types of gods: those who are “eternal and imperishable, such as the sun and the moon” and “the other gods…terrestrial beings who attained to immortal honour”[16] (The Historical Library of Diodorus the Sicilian 6.1). By some accounts, even the Olympian gods, including Kronos and Uranus were once mortal men.[17] Among humans who could become divine, we find several distinguishable categories, including heroes, miracle workers, and rulers. We'll look at each briefly before considering how the story of Jesus would resonate with those holding a Greco-Roman worldview. Deified Heroes Cornutus the Stoic said, “[T]he ancients called heroes those who were so strong in body and soul that they seemed to be part of a divine race.” (Greek Theology 31)[18] At first this statement appears to be a mere simile, but he goes on to say of Heracles (Hercules), the Greek hero par excellence, “his services had earned him apotheosis” (ibid.). Apotheosis (or deification) is the process by which a human ascends into the divine realm. Beyond Heracles and his feats of strength, other exceptional individuals became deified for various reasons. Amphiarus was a seer who died in the battle at Thebes. After opening a chasm in the earth to swallow him in battle, “Zeus made him immortal”[19] (Apollodorus, Library of Greek Mythology 3.6). Pausanias says the custom of the inhabitants of Oropos was to drop coins into Amphiarus' spring “because this is where they say Amphiarus rose up as a god”[20] (Guide to Greece 1.34). Likewise, Strabo speaks about a shrine for Calchas, a deceased diviner from the Trojan war (Homer, Illiad 1.79-84), “where those consulting the oracle sacrifice a black ram to the dead and sleep in its hide”[21] (Strabo, Geography 6.3.9). Though the great majority of the dead were locked away in the lower world of Hades, leading a shadowy pitiful existence, the exceptional few could visit or speak from beyond the grave. Lastly, there was Zoroaster the Persian prophet who, according to Dio Chrysostom, was enveloped by fire while he meditated upon a mountain. He was unharmed and gave advice on how to properly make offerings to the gods (Dio Chrysostom, Discourses 36.40). The Psuedo-Clementine Homilies include a story about a lightning bolt striking and killing Zoroaster. After his devotees buried his body, they built a temple on the site, thinking that “his soul had been sent for by lightning” and they “worshipped him as a god”[22] (Homily 9.5.2). Thus, a hero could have extraordinary strength, foresight, or closeness to the gods resulting in apotheosis and ongoing worship and communication. Deified Miracle Workers Beyond heroes, Greco-Roman people loved to tell stories about deified miracle workers. Twice Orpheus rescued a ship from a storm by praying to the gods (Diodorus of Sicily 4.43.1f; 48.5f). After his death, surviving inscriptions indicate that he both received worship and was regarded as a god in several cities.[23] Epimenides “fell asleep in a cave for fifty-seven years”[24] (Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 1.109). He also predicted a ten-year period of reprieve from Persian attack in Athens (Plato Laws 1.642D-E). Plato called him a divine man (θεῖος ἀνήρ) (ibid.) and Diogenes talked of Cretans sacrificing to him as a god (Diogenes, Lives 1.114). Iamblichus said Pythagoras was the son of Apollo and a mortal woman (Life of Pythagoras 2). Nonetheless, the soul of Pythagoras enjoyed multiple lives, having originally been “sent to mankind from the empire of Apollo”[25] (Life 2). Diogenes and Lucian enumerate the lives the pre-existent Pythagoras led, including Aethalides, Euphorbus, Hermotimus, and Pyrrhus (Diogenes, Life of Pythagoras 4; Lucian, The Cock 16-20). Hermes had granted Pythagoras the gift of “perpetual transmigration of his soul”[26] so he could remember his lives while living or dead (Diogenes, Life 4). Ancient sources are replete with Pythagorean miracle stories.[27] Porphyry mentions several, including taming a bear, persuading an ox to stop eating beans, and accurately predicting a catch of fish (Life of Pythagoras 23-25). Porphyry said Pythagoras accurately predicted earthquakes and “chased away a pestilence, suppressed violent winds and hail, [and] calmed storms on rivers and on seas” (Life 29).[28] Such miracles, argued the Pythagoreans made Pythagoras “a being superior to man, and not to a mere man” (Iamblichus, Life 28).[29] Iamblichus lays out the views of Pythagoras' followers, including that he was a god, a philanthropic daemon, the Pythian, the Hyperborean Apollo, a Paeon, a daemon inhabiting the moon, or an Olympian god (Life 6). Another pre-Socratic philosopher was Empedocles who studied under Pythagoras. To him sources attribute several miracles, including stopping a damaging wind, restoring the wind, bringing dry weather, causing it to rain, and even bringing someone back from Hades (Diogenes, Lives 8.59).[30] Diogenes records an incident in which Empedocles put a woman into a trance for thirty days before sending her away alive (8.61). He also includes a poem in which Empedocles says, “I am a deathless god, no longer mortal, I go among you honored by all, as is right”[31] (8.62). Asclepius was a son of the god Apollo and a human woman (Cornutus, Greek Theology 33). He was known for healing people from diseases and injuries (Pindar, Pythian 3.47-50). “[H]e invented any medicine he wished for the sick, and raised up the dead”[32] (Pausanias, Guide to Greece 2.26.4). However, as Diodorus relates, Hades complained to Zeus on account of Asclepius' diminishing his realm, which resulted in Zeus zapping Asclepius with a thunderbolt, killing him (4.71.2-3). Nevertheless, Asclepius later ascended into heaven to become a god (Hyginus, Fables 224; Cicero, Nature of the Gods 2.62).[33] Apollonius of Tyana was a famous first century miracle worker. According to Philostratus' account, the locals of Tyana regard Apollonius to be the son of Zeus (Life 1.6). Apollonius predicted many events, interpreted dreams, and knew private facts about people. He rebuked and ridiculed a demon, causing it to flee, shrieking as it went (Life 2.4).[34] He even once stopped a funeral procession and raised the deceased to life (Life 4.45). What's more he knew every human language (Life 1.19) and could understand what sparrows chirped to each other (Life 4.3). Once he instantaneously transported himself from Smyrna to Ephesus (Life 4.10). He claimed knowledge of his previous incarnation as the captain of an Egyptian ship (Life 3.23) and, in the end, Apollonius entered the temple of Athena and vanished, ascending from earth into heaven to the sound of a choir singing (Life 8.30). We have plenty of literary evidence that contemporaries and those who lived later regarded him as a divine man (Letters 48.3)[35] or godlike (ἰσόθεος) (Letters 44.1) or even just a god (θεός) (Life 5.24). Deified Rulers Our last category of deified humans to consider before seeing how this all relates to Jesus is rulers. Egyptians, as indicated from the hieroglyphs left in the pyramids, believed their deceased kings to enjoy afterlives as gods. They could become star gods or even hunt and consume other gods to absorb their powers.[36] The famous Macedonian conqueror, Alexander the Great, carried himself as a god towards the Persians though Plutarch opines, “[he] was not at all vain or deluded but rather used belief in his divinity to enslave others”[37] (Life of Alexander 28). This worship continued after his death, especially in Alexandria where Ptolemy built a tomb and established a priesthood to conduct religious honors to the deified ruler. Even the emperor Trajan offered a sacrifice to the spirit of Alexander (Cassius Dio, Roman History 68.30). Another interesting example is Antiochus I of Comagene who called himself “Antiochus the just [and] manifest god, friend of the Romans [and] friend of the Greeks.”[38] His tomb boasted four colossal figures seated on thrones: Zeus, Heracles, Apollo, and himself. The message was clear: Antiochus I wanted his subjects to recognize his place among the gods after death. Of course, the most relevant rulers for the Christian era were the Roman emperors. The first official Roman emperor Augustus deified his predecessor, Julius Caesar, celebrating his apotheosis with games (Suetonius, Life of Julius Caesar 88). Only five years after Augustus died, eastern inhabitants of the Roman Empire at Priene happily declared “the birthday of the god Augustus” (ἡ γενέθλιος ἡμέρα τοῦ θεοῦ)[39] to be the start of their provincial year. By the time of Tacitus, a century after Augustus died, the wealthy in Rome had statues of the first emperor in their gardens for worship (Annals 1.73). The Roman historian Appian explained that the Romans regularly deify emperors at death “provided he has not been a despot or a disgrace”[40] (The Civil Wars 2.148).  In other words, deification was the default setting for deceased emperors. Pliny the Younger lays it on pretty thick when he describes the process. He says Nero deified Claudius to expose him; Titus deified Vespasian and Domitian so he could be the son and brother of gods. However, Trajan deified Nerva because he genuinely believed him to be more than a human (Panegyric 11). In our little survey, we've seen three main categories of deified humans: heroes, miracle workers, and good rulers. These “conceptions of deity,” writes David Litwa, “were part of the “preunderstanding” of Hellenistic culture.”[41] He continues: If actual cases of deification were rare, traditions of deification were not. They were the stuff of heroic epic, lyric song, ancient mythology, cultic hymns, Hellenistic novels, and popular plays all over the first-century Mediterranean world. Such discourses were part of mainstream, urban culture to which most early Christians belonged. If Christians were socialized in predominantly Greco-Roman environments, it is no surprise that they employed and adapted common traits of deities and deified men to exalt their lord to divine status.[42] Now that we've attuned our thinking to Mediterranean sensibilities about gods coming down in the shape of humans and humans experiencing apotheosis to permanently dwell as gods in the divine realm, our ears are attuned to hear the story of Jesus with Greco-Roman ears. Hearing the Story of Jesus with Greco-Roman Ears How would second or third century inhabitants of the Roman empire have categorized Jesus? Taking my cue from Litwa's treatment in Iesus Deus, I'll briefly work through Jesus' conception, transfiguration, miracles, resurrection, and ascension. Miraculous Conception Although set within the context of Jewish messianism, Christ's miraculous birth would have resonated differently with Greco-Roman people. Stories of gods coming down and having intercourse with women are common in classical literature. That these stories made sense of why certain individuals were so exceptional is obvious. For example, Origen related a story about Apollo impregnating Amphictione who then gave birth to Plato (Against Celsus 1.37). Though Mary's conception did not come about through intercourse with a divine visitor, the fact that Jesus had no human father would call to mind divine sonship like Pythagoras or Asclepius. Celsus pointed out that the ancients “attributed a divine origin to Perseus, and Amphion, and Aeacus, and Minos” (Origen, Against Celsus 1.67). Philostratus records a story of the Egyptian god Proteus saying to Apollonius' mother that she would give birth to himself (Life of Apollonius of Tyana 1.4). Since people were primed to connect miraculous origins with divinity, typical hearers of the birth narratives of Matthew or Luke would likely think that this baby might be either be a descended god or a man destined to ascend to become a god. Miracles and Healing As we've seen, Jesus' miracles would not have sounded unbelievable or even unprecedent to Mediterranean people. Like Jesus, Orpheus and Empedocles calmed storms, rescuing ships. Though Jesus provided miraculous guidance on how to catch fish, Pythagoras foretold the number of fish in a great catch. After the fishermen painstakingly counted them all, they were astounded that when they threw them back in, they were still alive (Porphyry, Life 23-25). Jesus' ability to foretell the future, know people's thoughts, and cast out demons all find parallels in Apollonius of Tyana. As for resurrecting the dead, we have the stories of Empedocles, Asclepius, and Apollonius. The last of which even stopped a funeral procession to raise the dead, calling to mind Jesus' deeds in Luke 7.11-17. When Lycaonians witnessed Paul's healing of a man crippled from birth, they cried out, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men” (Acts 14.11). Another time when no harm befell Paul after a poisonous snake bit him on Malta, Gentile onlookers concluded “he was a god” (Acts 28.6). Barry Blackburn makes the following observation: [I]n view of the tendency, most clearly seen in the Epimenidean, Pythagorean, and Apollonian traditions, to correlate impressive miracle-working with divine status, one may justifiably conclude that the evangelical miracle traditions would have helped numerous gentile Christians to arrive at and maintain belief in Jesus' divine status.[43] Transfiguration Ancient Mediterranean inhabitants believed that the gods occasionally came down disguised as people. Only when gods revealed their inner brilliant natures could people know that they weren't mere humans. After his ship grounded on the sands of Krisa, Apollo leaped from the ship emitting flashes of fire “like a star in the middle of day…his radiance shot to heaven”[44] (Homeric Hymns, Hymn to Apollo 440). Likewise, Aphrodite appeared in shining garments, brighter than a fire and shimmering like the moon (Hymn to Aphrodite 85-89). When Demeter appeared to Metaneira, she initially looked like an old woman, but she transformed herself before her. “Casting old age away…a delightful perfume spread…a radiance shone out far from the goddess' immortal flesh…and the solid-made house was filled with a light like the lightning-flash”[45] (Hymn to Demeter 275-280). Homer wrote about Odysseus' transformation at the golden wand of Athena in which his clothes became clean, he became taller, and his skin looked younger. His son, Telemachus cried out, “Surely you are some god who rules the vaulting skies”[46] (Odyssey 16.206). Each time the observers conclude the transfigured person is a god. Resurrection & Ascension In defending the resurrection of Jesus, Theophilus of Antioch said, “[Y]ou believe that Hercules, who burned himself, lives; and that Aesculapius [Asclepius], who was struck with lightning, was raised”[47] (Autolycus 1.13). Although Hercules' physical body burnt, his transformed pneumatic body continued on as the poet Callimachus said, “under a Phrygian oak his limbs had been deified”[48] (Callimachus, Hymn to Artemis 159). Others thought Hercules ascended to heaven in his burnt body, which Asclepius subsequently healed (Lucian, Dialogue of the Gods 13). After his ascent, Diodorus relates how the people first sacrificed to him “as to a hero” then in Athens they began to honor him “with sacrifices like as to a god”[49] (The Historical Library 4.39). As for Asclepius, his ascension resulted in his deification as Cyprian said, “Aesculapius is struck by lightning, that he may rise into a god”[50] (On the Vanity of Idols 2). Romulus too “was torn to pieces by the hands of a hundred senators”[51] and after death ascended into heaven and received worship (Arnobius, Against the Heathen 1.41). Livy tells of how Romulus was “carried up on high by a whirlwind” and that immediately afterward “every man present hailed him as a god and son of a god”[52] (The Early History of Rome 1.16). As we can see from these three cases—Hercules, Asclepius, and Romulus—ascent into heaven was a common way of talking about deification. For Cicero, this was an obvious fact. People “who conferred outstanding benefits were translated to heaven through their fame and our gratitude”[53] (Nature 2.62). Consequently, Jesus' own resurrection and ascension would have triggered Gentiles to intuit his divinity. Commenting on the appearance of the immortalized Christ to the eleven in Galilee, Wendy Cotter said, “It is fair to say that the scene found in [Mat] 28:16-20 would be understood by a Greco-Roman audience, Jew or Gentile, as an apotheosis of Jesus.”[54] Although I beg to differ with Cotter's whole cloth inclusion of Jews here, it's hard to see how else non-Jews would have regarded the risen Christ. Litwa adds Rev 1.13-16 “[W]here he [Jesus] appears with all the accoutrements of the divine: a shining face, an overwhelming voice, luminescent clothing, and so on.”[55] In this brief survey we've seen that several key events in the story of Jesus told in the Gospels would have caused Greco-Roman hearers to intuit deity, including his divine conception, miracles, healing ministry, transfiguration, resurrection, and ascension. In their original context of second temple Judaism, these very same incidents would have resonated quite differently. His divine conception authenticated Jesus as the second Adam (Luke 3.38; Rom 5.14; 1 Cor 15.45) and God's Davidic son (2 Sam 7.14; Ps 2.7; Lk 1.32, 35). If Matthew or Luke wanted readers to understand that Jesus was divine based on his conception and birth, they failed to make such intentions explicit in the text. Rather, the birth narratives appear to have a much more modest aim—to persuade readers that Jesus had a credible claim to be Israel's messiah. His miracles show that “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power…for God was with him” (Acts 10.38; cf. Jn 3.2; 10.32, 38). Rather than concluding Jesus to be a god, Jewish witnesses to his healing of a paralyzed man “glorified God, who had given such authority to men” (Mat 9.8). Over and over, especially in the Gospel of John, Jesus directs people's attention to his Father who was doing the works in and through him (Jn 5.19, 30; 8.28; 12.49; 14.10). Seeing Jesus raise someone from the dead suggested to his original Jewish audience that “a great prophet has arisen among us” (Lk 7.16). The transfiguration, in its original setting, is an eschatological vision not a divine epiphany. Placement in the synoptic Gospels just after Jesus' promise that some there would not die before seeing the kingdom come sets the hermeneutical frame. “The transfiguration,” says William Lane, “was a momentary, but real (and witnessed) manifestation of Jesus' sovereign power which pointed beyond itself to the Parousia, when he will come ‘with power and glory.'”[56] If eschatology is the foreground, the background for the transfiguration was Moses' ascent of Sinai when he also encountered God and became radiant.[57] Viewed from the lenses of Moses' ascent and the eschaton, the transfiguration of Jesus is about his identity as God's definitive chosen ruler, not about any kind of innate divinity. Lastly, the resurrection and ascension validated Jesus' messianic claims to be the ruler of the age to come (Acts 17.31; Rom 1.4). Rather than concluding Jesus was deity, early Jewish Christians concluded these events showed that “God has made him both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2.36). The interpretative backgrounds for Jesus' ascension were not stories about Heracles, Asclepius, or Romulus. No, the key oracle that framed the Israelite understanding was the messianic psalm in which Yahweh told David's Lord to “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool” (Psalm 110.1). The idea is of a temporary sojourn in heaven until exercising the authority of his scepter to rule over earth from Zion. Once again, the biblical texts remain completely silent about deification. But even if the original meanings of Jesus' birth, ministry, transfiguration, resurrection, and ascension have messianic overtones when interpreted within the Jewish milieu, these same stories began to communicate various ideas of deity to Gentile converts in the generations that followed. We find little snippets from historical sources beginning in the second century and growing with time. Evidence of Belief in Jesus' as a Greco-Roman Deity To begin with, we have two non-Christian instances where Romans regarded Jesus as a deity within typical Greco-Roman categories. The first comes to us from Tertullian and Eusebius who mention an intriguing story about Tiberius' request to the Roman senate to deify Christ. Convinced by “intelligence from Palestine of events which had clearly shown the truth of Christ's divinity”[58] Tiberius proposed the matter to the senate (Apology 5). Eusebius adds that Tiberius learned that “many believed him to be a god in rising from the dead”[59] (Church History 2.2). As expected, the senate rejected the proposal. I mention this story, not because I can establish its historicity, but because it portrays how Tiberius would have thought about Jesus if he had heard about his miracles and resurrection. Another important incident is from one of the governor Pliny the Younger's letters to the emperor Trajan. Having investigated some people accused of Christianity, he found “they had met regularly before dawn on a fixed day to chant verses alternately amongst themselves in honour of Christ as if to a god”[60] (Letter 96). To an outside imperial observer like Pliny, the Christians believed in a man who had performed miracles, defeated death, and now lived in heaven. Calling him a god was just the natural way of talking about such a person. Pliny would not have thought Jesus was superior to the deified Roman emperors much less Zeus or the Olympic gods. If he believed in Jesus at all, he would have regarded him as another Mediterranean prophet who escaped Hades to enjoy apotheosis. Another interesting text to consider is the Infancy Gospel of Thomas. This apocryphal text tells the story of Jesus' childhood between the ages of five and twelve. Jesus is impetuous, powerful, and brilliant. Unsure to conclude that Jesus was “either god or angel,”[61] his teacher remands him to Joseph's custody (7). Later, a crowd of onlookers ponders whether the child is a god or a heavenly messenger after he raises an infant from the dead (17). A year later Jesus raised a construction man who had fallen to his death back to life (18). Once again, the crowd asked if the child was from heaven. Although some historians are quick to assume the lofty conceptions of Justin and his successors about the logos were commonplace in the early Christianity, Litwa points out, “The spell of the Logos could only bewitch a very small circle of Christian elites… In IGT, we find a Jesus who is divine according to different canons, the canons of popular Mediterranean theology.”[62] Another important though often overlooked scholarly group of Christians in the second century was led by a certain Theodotus of Byzantium.[63] Typically referred to by their heresiological label “Theodotians,” these dynamic monarchians lived in Rome and claimed that they held to the original Christology before it had been corrupted under Bishop Zephyrinus (Eusebius, Church History 5.28). Theodotus believed in the virgin birth, but not in his pre-existence or that he was god/God (Pseudo-Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies 7.35.1-2; 10.23.1-2). He thought that Jesus was not able to perform any miracles until his baptism when he received the Christ/Spirit. Pseudo-Hippolytus goes on to say, “But they do not want him to have become a god when the Spirit descended. Others say that he became a god after he rose from the dead.”[64] This last tantalizing remark implies that the Theodotians could affirm Jesus as a god after his resurrection though they denied his pre-existence. Although strict unitarians, they could regard Jesus as a god in that he was an ascended immortalized being who lived in heaven—not equal to the Father, but far superior to all humans on earth. Justin Martyr presents another interesting case to consider. Thoroughly acquainted with Greco-Roman literature and especially the philosophy of Plato, Justin sees Christ as a god whom the Father begot before all other creatures. He calls him “son, or wisdom, or angel, or god, or lord, or word”[65] (Dialogue with Trypho 61).  For Justin Christ is “at the same time angel and god and lord and man”[66] (59). Jesus was “of old the Word, appearing at one time in the form of fire, at another under the guise of incorporeal beings, but now, at the will of God, after becoming man for mankind”[67] (First Apology 63). In fact, Justin is quite comfortable to compare Christ to deified heroes and emperors. He says, “[W]e propose nothing new or different from that which you say about the so-called sons of Jupiter [Zeus] by your respected writers… And what about the emperors who die among you, whom you think worthy to be deified?”[68] (21). He readily accepts the parallels with Mercury, Perseus, Asclepius, Bacchus, and Hercules, but argues that Jesus is superior to them (22).[69] Nevertheless, he considered Jesus to be in “a place second to the unchanging and eternal God”[70] (13). The Father is “the Most True God” whereas the Son is he “who came forth from Him”[71] (6). Even as lates as Origen, Greco-Roman concepts of deity persist. In responding to Celsus' claim that no god or son of God has ever come down, Origen responds by stating such a statement would overthrow the stories of Pythian Apollo, Asclepius, and the other gods who descended (Against Celsus 5.2). My point here is not to say Origen believed in all the old myths, but to show how Origen reached for these stories as analogies to explain the incarnation of the logos. When Celsus argued that he would rather believe in the deity of Asclepius, Dionysus, and Hercules than Christ, Origen responded with a moral rather than ontological argument (3.42). He asks how these gods have improved the characters of anyone. Origen admits Celsus' argument “which places the forenamed individuals upon an equality with Jesus” might have force, however in light of the disreputable behavior of these gods, “how could you any longer say, with any show of reason, that these men, on putting aside their mortal body, became gods rather than Jesus?”[72] (3.42). Origen's Christology is far too broad and complicated to cover here. Undoubtedly, his work on eternal generation laid the foundation on which fourth century Christians could build homoousion Christology. Nevertheless, he retained some of the earlier subordinationist impulses of his forebearers. In his book On Prayer, he rebukes praying to Jesus as a crude error, instead advocating prayer to God alone (10). In his Commentary on John he repeatedly asserts that the Father is greater than his logos (1.40; 2.6; 6.23). Thus, Origen is a theologian on the seam of the times. He's both a subordinationist and a believer in the Son's eternal and divine ontology. Now, I want to be careful here. I'm not saying that all early Christians believed Jesus was a deified man like Asclepius or a descended god like Apollo or a reincarnated soul like Pythagoras. More often than not, thinking Christians whose works survive until today tended to eschew the parallels, simultaneously elevating Christ as high as possible while demoting the gods to mere demons. Still, Litwa is inciteful when he writes: It seems likely that early Christians shared the widespread cultural assumption that a resurrected, immortalized being was worthy of worship and thus divine. …Nonetheless there is a difference…Jesus, it appears, was never honored as an independent deity. Rather, he was always worshiped as Yahweh's subordinate. Naturally Heracles and Asclepius were Zeus' subordinates, but they were also members of a larger divine family. Jesus does not enter a pantheon but assumes a distinctive status as God's chief agent and plenipotentiary. It is this status that, to Christian insiders, placed Jesus in a category far above the likes of Heracles, Romulus, and Asclepius who were in turn demoted to the rank of δαίμονες [daimons].[73] Conclusion I began by asking the question, "What did early Christians mean by saying Jesus is god?" We noted that the ancient idea of agency (Jesus is God/god because he represents Yahweh), though present in Hebrew and Christian scripture, didn't play much of a role in how Gentile Christians thought about Jesus. Or if it did, those texts did not survive. By the time we enter the postapostolic era, a majority of Christianity was Gentile and little communication occurred with the Jewish Christians that survived in the East. As such, we turned our attention to Greco-Roman theology to tune our ears to hear the story of Jesus the way they would have. We learned about their multifaceted array of divinities. We saw that gods can come down and take the form of humans and humans can go up and take the form of gods. We found evidence for this kind of thinking in both non-Christian and Christian sources in the second and third centuries. Now it is time to return to the question I began with: “When early Christian authors called Jesus “god” what did they mean?” We saw that the idea of a deified man was present in the non-Christian witnesses of Tiberius and Pliny but made scant appearance in our Christian literature except for the Theodotians. As for the idea that a god came down to become a man, we found evidence in The Infancy Gospel of Thomas, Justin, and Origen.[74] Of course, we find a spectrum within this view, from Justin's designation of Jesus as a second god to Origen's more philosophically nuanced understanding. Still, it's worth noting as R. P. C. Hanson observed that, “With the exception of Athanasius virtually every theologian, East and West, accepted some form of subordinationism at least up to the year 355.”[75] Whether any Christians before Alexander and Athanasius of Alexandria held to the sophisticated idea of consubstantiality depends on showing evidence of the belief that the Son was coequal, coeternal, and coessential with the Father prior to Nicea. (Readers interested in the case for this view should consult Michael Bird's Jesus among the Gods in which he attempted the extraordinary feat of finding proto-Nicene Christology in the first two centuries, a task typically associated with maverick apologists not peer-reviewed historians.) In conclusion, the answer to our driving question about the meaning of “Jesus as god” is that the answer depends on whom we ask. If we ask the Theodotians, Jesus is a god because that's just what one calls an immortalized man who lives in heaven.[76] If we ask those holding a docetic Christology, the answer is that a god came down in appearance as a man. If we ask a logos subordinationist, they'll tell us that Jesus existed as the god through whom the supreme God created the universe before he became a human being. If we ask Tertullian, Jesus is god because he derives his substance from the Father, though he has a lesser portion of divinity.[77] If we ask Athanasius, he'll wax eloquent about how Jesus is of the same substance as the Father equal in status and eternality. The bottom line is that there was not one answer to this question prior to the fourth century. Answers depend on whom we ask and when they lived. Still, we can't help but wonder about the more tantalizing question of development. Which Christology was first and which ones evolved under social, intellectual, and political pressures? In the quest to specify the various stages of development in the Christologies of the ante-Nicene period, this Greco-Roman perspective may just provide the missing link between the reserved and limited way that the NT applies theos to Jesus in the first century and the homoousian view that eventually garnered imperial support in the fourth century. How easy would it have been for fresh converts from the Greco-Roman world to unintentionally mishear the story of Jesus? How easy would it have been for them to fit Jesus into their own categories of descended gods and ascended humans? With the unmooring of Gentile Christianity from its Jewish heritage, is it any wonder that Christologies began to drift out to sea? Now I'm not suggesting that all Christians went through a steady development from a human Jesus to a pre-existent Christ, to an eternal God the Son, to the Chalcedonian hypostatic union. As I mentioned above, plenty of other options were around and every church had its conservatives in addition to its innovators. The story is messy and uneven with competing views spread across huge geographic distances. Furthermore, many Christians probably were content to leave such theological nuances fuzzy, rather than seeking doctrinal precision on Christ's relation to his God and Father. Whatever the case may be, we dare not ignore the influence of Greco-Roman theology in our accounts of Christological development in the Mediterranean world of the first three centuries.    Bibliography The Homeric Hymns. Translated by Michael Crudden. New York, NY: Oxford, 2008. Antioch, Theophilus of. To Autolycus. Translated by Marcus Dods. Vol. 2. Ante-Nicene Fathers. Edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2001. Aphrahat. The Demonstrations. Translated by Ellen Muehlberger. Vol. 3. The Cambridge Edition of Early Christian Writings. Edited by Mark DelCogliano. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge, 2022. Apollodorus. The Library of Greek Mythology. Translated by Robin Hard. Oxford, UK: Oxford, 1998. Appian. The Civil Wars. Translated by John Carter. London, UK: Penguin, 1996. Arnobius. Against the Heathen. Translated by Hamilton Bryce and Hugh Campbell. Vol. 6. Ante-Nicene Fathers. Edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1995. Arrian. The Campaigns of Alexander. Translated by Aubrey De Sélincourt. London, UK: Penguin, 1971. Bird, Michael F. Jesus among the Gods. Waco, TX: Baylor, 2022. Blackburn, Barry. Theios Aner and the Markan Miracle Traditions. Tübingen, Germany: J. C. B. Mohr, 1991. Callimachus. Hymn to Artemis. Translated by Susan A. Stephens. Callimachus: The Hymns. New York, NY: Oxford, 2015. Cicero. The Nature of the Gods. Translated by Patrick Gerard Walsh. Oxford, UK: Oxford, 2008. Cornutus, Lucius Annaeus. Greek Theology. Translated by George Boys-Stones. Greek Theology, Fragments, and Testimonia. Atlanta, GA: SBL, 2018. Cotter, Wendy. "Greco-Roman Apotheosis Traditions and the Resurrection Appearances in Matthew." In The Gospel of Matthew in Current Study. Edited by David E. Aune. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2001. Cyprian. Treatise 6: On the Vanity of Idols. Translated by Ernest Wallis. Vol. 5. Ante-Nicene Fathers. Edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1995. Dittenberger, W. Orientis Graecae Inscriptiones Selectae. Vol. 2. Hildesheim: Olms, 1960. Eusebius. The Church History. Translated by Paul L. Maier. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2007. Fredriksen, Paula. "How High Can Early High Christology Be?" In Monotheism and Christology in Greco-Roman Antiquity. Edited by Matthew V. Novenson. Vol. 180.vol. Supplements to Novum Testamentum. Leiden: Brill, 2020. Hanson, R. P. C. Search for a Christian Doctrine of God. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2007. Hart, George. The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses. 2nd ed. Oxford, UK: Routledge, 2005. Homer. The Odyssey. Translated by Robert Fagles. New York, NY: Penguin, 1997. Iamblichus. Life of Pythagoras. Translated by Thomas Taylor. Iamblichus' Life of Pythagoras. Delhi, IN: Zinc Read, 2023. Justin Martyr. Dialogue with Trypho. Translated by Thomas B. Falls. Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2003. Laertius, Diogenes. Life of Pythagoras. Translated by Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie. The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library. Edited by David R. Fideler. Grand Rapids, MI: Phanes Press, 1988. Laertius, Diogenes. Lives of the Eminent Philosophers. Translated by Pamela Mensch. Edited by James Miller. New York, NY: Oxford, 2020. Lane, William L. The Gospel of Mark. Nicnt, edited by F. F. Bruce Ned B. Stonehouse, and Gordon D. Fee. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1974. Litwa, M. David. Iesus Deus. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2014. Livy. The Early History of Rome. Translated by Aubrey De Sélincourt. London, UK: Penguin, 2002. Origen. Against Celsus. Translated by Frederick Crombie. Vol. 4. The Ante-Nicene Fathers. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2003. Pausanias. Guide to Greece. Translated by Peter Levi. London, UK: Penguin, 1979. Perriman, Andrew. In the Form of a God. Studies in Early Christology, edited by David Capes Michael Bird, and Scott Harrower. Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2022. Philostratus. Letters of Apollonius. Vol. 458. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge, MA: Harvard, 2006. Plutarch. Life of Alexander. Translated by Ian Scott-Kilvert and Timothy E. Duff. The Age of Alexander. London, UK: Penguin, 2011. Porphyry. Life of Pythagoras. Translated by Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie. The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library. Edited by David Fideler. Grand Rapids, MI: Phanes Press, 1988. Pseudo-Clement. Recognitions. Translated by Thomas Smith. Vol. 8. Ante Nicene Fathers. Edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2003. Pseudo-Hippolytus. Refutation of All Heresies. Translated by David Litwa. Atlanta, GA: SBL, 2016. Pseudo-Thomas. Infancy Gospel of Thomas. Translated by James Orr. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co., 1903. Psuedo-Clement. Homilies. Translated by Peter Peterson. Vol. 8. Ante-Nicene Fathers. Edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1897. Siculus, Diodorus. The Historical Library. Translated by Charles Henry Oldfather. Vol. 1. Edited by Giles Laurén: Sophron Editor, 2017. Strabo. The Geography. Translated by Duane W. Roller. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge, 2020. Tertullian. Against Praxeas. Translated by Holmes. Vol. 3. Ante Nice Fathers. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2003. Tertullian. Apology. Translated by S. Thelwall. Vol. 3. Ante-Nicene Fathers, edited by Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2003. Younger, Pliny the. The Letters of the Younger Pliny. Translated by Betty Radice. London: Penguin, 1969. End Notes [1] For the remainder of this paper, I will use the lower case “god” for all references to deity outside of Yahweh, the Father of Christ. I do this because all our ancient texts lack capitalization and our modern capitalization rules imply a theology that is anachronistic and unhelpful for the present inquiry. [2] Christopher Kaiser wrote, “Explicit references to Jesus as ‘God' in the New Testament are very few, and even those few are generally plagued with uncertainties of either text or interpretation.” Christopher B. Kaiser, The Doctrine of God: A Historical Survey (London: Marshall Morgan & Scott, 1982), 29. Other scholars such as Raymond Brown (Jesus: God and Man), Jason David BeDuhn (Truth in Translation), and Brian Wright (“Jesus as θεός: A Textual Examination” in Revisiting the Corruption of the New Testament) have expressed similar sentiments. [3] John 20.28; Hebrews 1.8; Titus 2.13; 2 Peter 1.1; Romans 9.5; and 1 John 5.20. [4] See Polycarp's Epistle to the Philippians 12.2 where a manuscript difference determines whether or not Polycarp called Jesus god or lord. Textual corruption is most acute in Igantius' corpus. Although it's been common to dismiss the long recension as an “Arian” corruption, claiming the middle recension to be as pure and uncontaminated as freshly fallen snow upon which a foot has never trodden, such an uncritical view is beginning to give way to more honest analysis. See Paul Gilliam III's Ignatius of Antioch and the Arian Controversy (Leiden: Brill, 2017) for a recent treatment of Christological corruption in the middle recension. [5] See the entries for  אֱלֹהִיםand θεός in the Hebrew Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (HALOT), the Brown Driver Briggs Lexicon (BDB), Eerdmans Dictionary, Kohlenberger/Mounce Concise Hebrew-Aramaic Dictionary of the Old Testament, the Bauer Danker Arndt Gingrich Lexicon (BDAG), Friberg Greek Lexicon, and Thayer's Greek Lexicon. [6] See notes on Is 9.6 and Ps 45.6. [7] ZIBBC: “In what sense can the king be called “god”? By virtue of his divine appointment, the king in the ancient Near East stood before his subjects as a representative of the divine realm. …In fact, the term “gods“ (ʾelōhı̂m) is used of priests who functioned as judges in the Israelite temple judicial system (Ex. 21:6; 22:8-9; see comments on 58:1; 82:6-7).” John W. Hilber, “Psalms,” in The Minor Prophets, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs, vol. 5 of Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary: Old Testament. ed. John H. Walton (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009), 358. [8] Around a.d. 340, Aphrahat of Persia advised his fellow Christians to reply to Jewish critics who questioned why “You call a human being ‘God'” (Demonstrations 17.1). He said, “For the honored name of the divinity is granted event ot rightoues human beings, when they are worthy of being called by it…[W]hen he chose Moses, his friend and his beloved…he called him “god.” …We call him God, just as he named Moses with his own name…The name of the divinity was granted for great honor in the world. To whom he wishes, God appoints it” (17.3, 4, 5). Aphrahat, The Demonstrations, trans., Ellen Muehlberger, vol. 3, The Cambridge Edition of Early Christian Writings (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge, 2022), 213-15. In the Clementine Recognitions we find a brief mention of the concept:  “Therefore the name God is applied in three ways: either because he to whom it is given is truly God, or because he is the servant of him who is truly; and for the honour of the sender, that his authority may be full, he that is sent is called by the name of him who sends, as is often done in respect of angels: for when they appear to a man, if he is a wise and intelligent man, he asks the name of him who appears to him, that he may acknowledge at once the honour of the sent, and the authority of the sender” (2.42). Pseudo-Clement, Recognitions, trans., Thomas Smith, vol. 8, Ante Nicene Fathers (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2003). [9] Michael F. Bird, Jesus among the Gods (Waco, TX: Baylor, 2022), 13. [10] Andrew Perriman, In the Form of a God, Studies in Early Christology, ed. David Capes Michael Bird, and Scott Harrower (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2022), 130. [11] Paula Fredriksen, "How High Can Early High Christology Be?," in Monotheism and Christology in Greco-Roman Antiquity, ed. Matthew V. Novenson, vol. 180 (Leiden: Brill, 2020), 296, 99. [12] ibid. [13] See Gen 18.1; Ex 3.2; 24.11; Is 6.1; Ezk 1.28. [14] Compare the Masoretic Text of Psalm 8.6 to the Septuagint and Hebrews 2.7. [15] Homer, The Odyssey, trans., Robert Fagles (New York, NY: Penguin, 1997), 370. [16] Diodorus Siculus, The Historical Library, trans., Charles Henry Oldfather, vol. 1 (Sophron Editor, 2017), 340. [17] Uranus met death at the brutal hands of his own son, Kronos who emasculated him and let bleed out, resulting in his deification (Eusebius, Preparation for the Gospel 1.10). Later on, after suffering a fatal disease, Kronos himself experienced deification, becoming the planet Saturn (ibid.). Zeus married Hera and they produced Osiris (Dionysus), Isis (Demeter), Typhon, Apollo, and Aphrodite (ibid. 2.1). [18] Lucius Annaeus Cornutus, Greek Theology, trans., George Boys-Stones, Greek Theology, Fragments, and Testimonia (Atlanta, GA: SBL, 2018), 123. [19] Apollodorus, The Library of Greek Mythology, trans., Robin Hard (Oxford, UK: Oxford, 1998), 111. [20] Pausanias, Guide to Greece, trans., Peter Levi (London, UK: Penguin, 1979), 98. [21] Strabo, The Geography, trans., Duane W. Roller (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge, 2020), 281. [22] Psuedo-Clement, Homilies, trans., Peter Peterson, vol. 8, Ante-Nicene Fathers (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1897). Greek: “αὐτὸν δὲ ὡς θεὸν ἐθρήσκευσαν” from Jacques Paul Migne, Patrologia Graeca, taken from Accordance (PSCLEMH-T), OakTree Software, Inc., 2018, Version 1.1. [23] See Barry Blackburn, Theios Aner and the Markan Miracle Traditions (Tübingen, Germany: J. C. B. Mohr, 1991), 32. [24] Diogenes Laertius, Lives of the Eminent Philosophers, trans., Pamela Mensch (New York, NY: Oxford, 2020), 39. [25] Iamblichus, Life of Pythagoras, trans., Thomas Taylor, Iamblichus' Life of Pythagoras (Delhi, IN: Zinc Read, 2023), 2. [26] Diogenes Laertius, Life of Pythagoras, trans., Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie, The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library (Grand Rapids, MI: Phanes Press, 1988), 142. [27] See the list in Blackburn, 39. He corroborates miracle stories from Diogenus Laertius, Iamblichus, Apollonius, Nicomachus, and Philostratus. [28] Porphyry, Life of Pythagoras, trans., Kenneth Sylvan Guthrie, The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library (Grand Rapids, MI: Phanes Press, 1988), 128-9. [29] Iamblichus,  68. [30] What I call “resurrection” refers to the phrase, “Thou shalt bring back from Hades a dead man's strength.” Diogenes Laertius 8.2.59, trans. R. D. Hicks. [31] Laertius, "Lives of the Eminent Philosophers," 306. Two stories of his deification survive: in one Empedocles disappears in the middle of the night after hearing an extremely loud voice calling his name. After this the people concluded that they should sacrifice to him since he had become a god (8.68). In the other account, Empedocles climbs Etna and leaps into the fiery volcanic crater “to strengthen the rumor that he had become a god” (8.69). [32] Pausanias,  192. Sextus Empiricus says Asclepius raised up people who had died at Thebes as well as raising up the dead body of Tyndaros (Against the Professors 1.261). [33] Cicero adds that the Arcadians worship Asclepius (Nature 3.57). [34] In another instance, he confronted and cast out a demon from a licentious young man (Life 4.20). [35] The phrase is “περὶ ἐμοῦ καὶ θεοῖς εἴρηται ὡς περὶ θείου ἀνδρὸς.” Philostratus, Letters of Apollonius, vol. 458, Loeb Classical Library (Cambridge, MA: Harvard, 2006). [36] See George Hart, The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses, 2nd ed. (Oxford, UK: Routledge, 2005), 3. [37] Plutarch, Life of Alexander, trans., Ian Scott-Kilvert and Timothy E. Duff, The Age of Alexander (London, UK: Penguin, 2011), 311. Arrian includes a story about Anaxarchus advocating paying divine honors to Alexander through prostration. The Macedonians refused but the Persian members of his entourage “rose from their seats and one by one grovelled on the floor before the King.” Arrian, The Campaigns of Alexander, trans., Aubrey De Sélincourt (London, UK: Penguin, 1971), 222. [38] Translation my own from “Ἀντίοχος ὁ Θεὸς Δίκαιος Ἐπιφανὴς Φιλορωμαῖος Φιλέλλην.” Inscription at Nemrut Dağ, accessible at https://www.tertullian.org/rpearse/mithras/display.php?page=cimrm32. See also https://zeugma.packhum.org/pdfs/v1ch09.pdf. [39] Greek taken from W. Dittenberger, Orientis Graecae Inscriptiones Selectae, vol. 2 (Hildesheim: Olms, 1960), 48-60. Of particular note is the definite article before θεός. They didn't celebrate the birthday of a god, but the birthday of the god. [40] Appian, The Civil Wars, trans., John Carter (London, UK: Penguin, 1996), 149. [41] M. David Litwa, Iesus Deus (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2014), 20. [42] ibid. [43] Blackburn, 92-3. [44] The Homeric Hymns, trans., Michael Crudden (New York, NY: Oxford, 2008), 38. [45] "The Homeric Hymns," 14. [46] Homer,  344. [47] Theophilus of Antioch, To Autolycus, trans., Marcus Dods, vol. 2, Ante-Nicene Fathers (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2001). [48] Callimachus, Hymn to Artemis, trans., Susan A. Stephens, Callimachus: The Hymns (New York, NY: Oxford, 2015), 119. [49] Siculus,  234. [50] Cyprian, Treatise 6: On the Vanity of Idols, trans., Ernest Wallis, vol. 5, Ante-Nicene Fathers (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1995). [51] Arnobius, Against the Heathen, trans., Hamilton Bryce and Hugh Campbell, vol. 6, Ante-Nicene Fathers (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1995). [52] Livy, The Early History of Rome, trans., Aubrey De Sélincourt (London, UK: Penguin, 2002), 49. [53] Cicero, The Nature of the Gods, trans., Patrick Gerard Walsh (Oxford, UK: Oxford, 2008), 69. [54] Wendy Cotter, "Greco-Roman Apotheosis Traditions and the Resurrection Appearances in Matthew," in The Gospel of Matthew in Current Study, ed. David E. Aune (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2001), 149. [55] Litwa, 170. [56] William L. Lane, The Gospel of Mark, Nicnt, ed. F. F. Bruce Ned B. Stonehouse, and Gordon D. Fee (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1974). [57] “Recent commentators have stressed that the best background for understanding the Markan transfiguration is the story of Moses' ascent up Mount Sinai (Exod. 24 and 34).” Litwa, 123. [58] Tertullian, Apology, trans. S. Thelwall, vol. 3, Ante-Nicene Fathers, ed. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2003). [59] Eusebius, The Church History, trans. Paul L. Maier (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 2007), 54. [60] Pliny the Younger, The Letters of the Younger Pliny, trans., Betty Radice (London: Penguin, 1969), 294. [61] Pseudo-Thomas, Infancy Gospel of Thomas, trans., James Orr (Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Co., 1903), 25. [62] Litwa, 83. [63] For sources on Theodotus, see Pseduo-Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies 7.35.1-2; 10.23.1-2; Pseudo-Tertullian, Against All Heresies 8.2; Eusebius, Church History 5.28. [64] Pseudo-Hippolytus, Refutation of All Heresies, trans., David Litwa (Atlanta, GA: SBL, 2016), 571. [65] I took the liberty to decapitalize these appellatives. Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, trans. Thomas B. Falls (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2003), 244. [66] Justin Martyr, 241. (Altered, see previous footnote.) [67] Justin Martyr, 102. [68] Justin Martyr, 56-7. [69] Arnobius makes a similar argument in Against the Heathen 1.38-39 “Is he not worthy to be called a god by us and felt to be a god on account of the favor or such great benefits? For if you have enrolled Liber among the gods because he discovered the use of wine, and Ceres the use of bread, Aesculapius the use of medicines, Minerva the use of oil, Triptolemus plowing, and Hercules because he conquered and restrained beasts, thieves, and the many-headed hydra…So then, ought we not to consider Christ a god, and to bestow upon him all the worship due to his divinity?” Translation from Litwa, 105. [70] Justin Martyr, 46. [71] Justin Martyr, 39. [72] Origen, Against Celsus, trans. Frederick Crombie, vol. 4, The Ante-Nicene Fathers (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2003). [73] Litwa, 173. [74] I could easily multiply examples of this by looking at Irenaeus, Tertullian, Hippolytus, and many others. [75] The obvious exception to Hanson's statement were thinkers like Sabellius and Praxeas who believed that the Father himself came down as a human being. R. P. C. Hanson, Search for a Christian Doctrine of God (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2007), xix. [76] Interestingly, even some of the biblical unitarians of the period were comfortable with calling Jesus god, though they limited his divinity to his post-resurrection life. [77] Tertullian writes, “[T]he Father is not the same as the Son, since they differ one from the other in the mode of their being. For the Father is the entire substance, but the Son is a derivation and portion of the whole, as He Himself acknowledges: “My Father is greater than I.” In the Psalm His inferiority is described as being “a little lower than the angels.” Thus the Father is distinct from the Son, being greater than the Son” (Against Praxeas 9). Tertullian, Against Praxeas, trans., Holmes, vol. 3, Ante Nice Fathers (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2003).

Saturday, 16 September 2023   We sailed from there, and the next day came opposite Chios. The following day we arrived at Samos and stayed at Trogyllium. The next day we came to Miletus. Acts 20:15   The words are difficult to directly translate, but they can be more closely rendered as, “And thence having sailed the following day, we arrived opposite Chios. And the other day, we cast-aside at Samos, and having remained in Trogyllium, the adjoining day we came to Miletus” (CG).   In the previous verse, Paul was taken aboard. They then sailed to Mitylene. Now, the voyage continues, saying, “And thence having sailed the following day.” Here and in the final clause, Luke will use present participles to describe the passing of time. This time, it is from the verb epiousa, or next. Being a present participle, “following” gives the needed sense. From one day leading to the next, they have gone from Mitylene where Luke next says, “we arrived opposite Chios.”   Chios is about halfway between Lesbos and Samos. It is an island about five miles off the coast. They would have sailed through this narrow straight but stopped on the eastern side for the night, opposite Chios on the mainland.   The name Chios is found only here. Its meaning is uncertain. Also, the word antikrus, or opposite, is also found only here. It means opposite, over against, or off when used in a nautical sense. Luke next says, “And the other day, we cast-aside at Samos.”   Using a different word, heteros, or “other,” Luke describes the next day's travel where they neared Samos. This is an island south and east of Chios, also mentioned only this one time. Abarim says that most commentators state that the name means “high place” because it has Greece's fifth highest place, being 1434 meters high.   The word translated as “cast-aside” is paraballó. It is also a unique word found only this once. It is directly translated as “cast aside.” In other words, they neared there, merely bringing the ship alongside the island. From there, they crossed over to Trogyllium. As it says, “and having remained in Trogyllium.”   This clause is not found in some manuscripts, rather simply noting the journey going from Samos to Miletus. However, it is likely Trogyllium was included in Luke's original words. Trogyllium is “the rocky extremity of the ridge of Mycale, on the Ionian coast, between which and the southern extremity of Samos the channel is barely a mile wide” (Speaker's Commentary).   Of the name Trogyllium, Abarim says, “To an average Greek speaker, the name Trogyllium probably sounded like Place For Things To Nibble On or The Hole That Gobbles Up.” Of this location, Hastings Dictionary of the New Testament says –   “Trogyllium was a promontory formed by the western termination of Mt. Mycale, on the coast of Asia Minor, about equidistant from Ephesus and Miletus. It runs out into the sea just opposite the island of Samos, from which it is separated by a channel less than a mile wide (Strabo, XIV. i. 12, 13). Its present name is Santa Maria.”   Concerning which manuscript is right, Hastings continues, saying –   “This in itself is likely to have happened. ... The reason for their omission may have been either the mistaken idea in the mind of the copyists that the text located Trogyllium in Samos, or the difficulty of imagining two night-stoppages, one in the harbour of Samos and another at Trogyllium, which is only 4 or 5 miles from Samos. But a night spent at Samos is quite imaginary, for the nautical term παρεβάλομεν [parebalomen] does not mean ‘arrived at' (Authorized Version) or ‘touched at' (Revised Version). All that it implies is a crossing from one point to another; and, while Samos was merely sighted and passed, Trogyllium was the resting-place. An anchorage just to the east of the extreme point of Trogyllium now bears the name of ‘St. Paul's Port.'”   With this understood, Luke finishes the verse with, “the adjoining day we came to Miletus.” Luke again uses a present participle, coming from the verb echó, to describe the day. It means to have, hold, or possess. In this case, “adjoining” gets the point across. The days adjoin. Thus, they hold together.   Miletus is further south and east of Trogyllium. It is on a large promontory in modern Turkey. The area they landed at is now called Gundogan. The name Miletus is from an uncertain origin. Thus, it is not known what it means.   Life application: As has been seen, Luke has used a variety of terms in this one verse to describe the travels. It is inexcusable to not at least attempt to translate them in a variety of ways so that the reader can get the flavor of what is being said. However, the Pulpit commentary says the following concerning the King James Version's failure in this regard –   “The A.V., [meaning the King James Version] which often gives a varied English for the same Greek, has here for varying Greek given the same English [next] three times over.”   If translators are not going to at least attempt to rightly translate a verse, they shouldn't be translating. The word is so rich and varied, and yet so much is lost when the necessary time and effort is not put into giving the flavor of what is being conveyed. For this reason, be sure not to get captivated by a single translation. Refer to several or many. Also, be sure to read commentaries on the things that pique your interest. You will get out of your studies what you put into them.   Thank You, O God, for the wonderful detail and delight that is found in Your precious word. May we be careful to attend to it daily, reading it, studying it, and cherishing its contents. In doing so, we will be blessed in so many ways. Yes, Lord, thank You for this marvelous word! Amen.

John 10:10 "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. 11 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. 12 "But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them. 13 "The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. 14 "I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. 15 "As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. 16 "And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.  In this section of Scripture Jesus is contrasting Himself as the Good Shepherd with the Pharisees, the ones He calls thieves and hirelings.  He tells us that He came to give us life and life more abundantly.  That He will give His life for the sheep, but the hireling (Pharisees and other false teachers) will run when the sheep are in danger.  Jesus says three times in this passage He is the Good Shepherd.  This is one of the seven great I AM statements in this Gospel which shows that Jesus is Yahweh, the Self-Existent One, the One who was In The Beginning with God, the One who IS the WORD OF GOD, the one WHO IS GOD that came in human flesh.  Jesus tells them that He will give his life for the sheep, in other words He will die on the cross for our sins.  He also tells us that He will bring all the people together that believe in Him into one flock.  Just as the tower of Babel separated man from man, Jesus will make us one in Christ. Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  10 "The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly. Stealing is the purpose of the thief, but he will kill and destroy if necessary   “This is a proverbial or well-known way of insisting that there is only one means of receiving eternal life (the Synoptics might have preferred to speak of entering the kingdom, although entering into life is also attested there), only one source of knowledge of God, only one fount of spiritual nourishment, only one basis for spiritual security—Jesus alone.” Carson, p. 385 That they (people) may keep on having life (eternal, he means)” as he shows in 10:28. He is “the life” (14:6). And may have it abundantly (Repetition of (may keep on having) abundance. “To have a surplus,” true to the meaning of overflow Romans 5:20 20 Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, Jesus: The Good Shepherd (10:11-18)  11 "I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. Note repetition of the article, “the shepherd the good one. “Jesus continues I am the good shepherd, really: the shepherd, the good one. The adjective is stressed! This adjective, however, is not agaqo" but kalo". The basic meaning of this word is beautiful. Here it indicates excellent. This shepherd answers to the ideal both in his character and in his work. And he is the only one in his class.” Mr 10:17 Now as He was going out on the road, one came running, knelt before Him, and asked Him, "Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?" 18 So Jesus said to him, "Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. To say he is good based on this passage, Jesus says you have to be God to be good and He is in effect saying I AM GOD Ps 23 says the Lord is my Shepherd For illustration see I Sam. 17:35 (David's experience) and Isa. 31:4. In Judges 12:3, it means, “I risked my life.” The true physician does this for his patient as the shepherd for his sheep. The use of ὑπερ [huper] here (over, in behalf of, instead of), but in the papyri [huper] is the usual preposition for substitution rather than [anti]. This shepherd gives his life for the sin of the world (1:29; I John 2:2). The words ‘for (hyper) the sheep' suggest sacrifice. The preposition, in John always occurs in a sacrificial context, whether referring to the death of Jesus (6:51; 10:11, 15; 11:50ff.; 17:19; 18:14), of Peter (13:37-38), or of a man prepared to die for his friend (15:13). In no case does this suggest a death with merely exemplary significance; in each case the death envisaged is on behalf of someone else. The shepherd does not die for his sheep to serve as an example, throwing himself off a cliff in a grotesque and futile display while bellowing, ‘See how much I love you!' No, the assumption is that the sheep are in mortal danger; that in their defense the shepherd loses his life; that by his death they are saved. That, and that alone, is what makes him the good shepherd.” Carson, p. 386. The good shepherd lays down his life for the benefit of the sheep, but the only way in which he can benefit the sheep, saving them from everlasting destruction and imparting everlasting life to them, is by dying instead of them, as we learn from Matt. 20:28; Mark 10:45, where the preposition anti (instead of, in exchange for) is used. Five ministries of the Good Shepherd The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep. Gives up His life (soul) not just his breath and the things of life. Gave His entire being, felt the pain of hell, the curse of sin, the hate of men. In the OT the sheep died for the shepherd (their sins), in Jesus the Shepherd dies for the sheep.  12 "But a hireling, he who is not the shepherd, one who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees; and the wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.  13 "The hireling flees because he is a hireling and does not care about the sheep. These are the religious Pharisees; they are in it for the money and things this position brings to them. Tit 1:10 For there are many insubordinate, both idle talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, 11 whose mouths must be stopped, who subvert whole households, teaching things which they ought not, for the sake of dishonest gain. 1Pe 5:2 Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; 3 nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; 2Pe 2:3 By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber. The Good Shepherd Loves the Sheep Knows His sheep, and am known by My own – Know implies love. Adam knew his wife  14 “I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. Lays down His life for the sheep  15 "As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep.    5.  He unites the Sheep John 17  16 "And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.     By : Emil G. Hirsch   Immanuel Benzinger   Herodotus (i. 195) and Strabo (xvi. 746) assert that among the Babylonians every man carried a ring and a staff, which latter was decorated at the upper end with a carved representation of a flower or something similar. It seems to have been the universal custom among the ancient Hebrews also to carry a staff (comp. Gen. xxxviii. 18)—a custom which perhaps dates from the time when they lived the nomadic life of herdsmen. The staff was indispensable to the herdsman, for by means of it he kept his flock together (Ex. iv. 2; Lev. xxvii. 32; Ps. xxiii. 4; Micah vii. 14; Zech. ii. 7); the upper end of the long staff was bent, as Egyptian illustrations indicate. Nor was the staff to be despised as a weapon (Ps. xxiii. 4). Similarly, a long, perhaps straight, stick, with a goad at the end, was used by the peasants for driving and guiding the oxen before the plow, and also for breaking the clods behind it, as the peasants still use the stick to-day; this also was an effective weapon (Judges iii. 31; I Sam. xiii. 21, xvii. 43). Finally, the staff was indispensable to the wanderer, and a support to the weak and sick (Gen. xxxii. 10; Ex. xxi. 19; Zech. viii. 4). In the hands of the overseers it became an instrument of punishment, and therefore a badge of office (Isa. ix. 4, xxx. 31, et al.).E. G. H.   Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten.  John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today. https://www.podbean.com/media/share/pb-z897g-aad45f  hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F https://www.paypal.com/fundraiser/110230052184687338/charity/145555

Exactly we're Strabo said it should be. Thanks for listening! Please share and subscribe! Please leave a 5 star review. It helps people find us.

Nimrod is there briefly characterized thus: “He began to be a mighty one in the earth. He was a mighty hunter before the Lord: wherefore it is said, Even as Nimrod the mighty huiter before the Lord.” This narrative is so brief that it is rather obscure. For the Hebrew word relieved “mighty” the Sept. gives γίγας, as if in allusion this, physical stature in connection with his power, or too Gen_6:4, as if the old antediluvian Titans had been reproduced in Nimrod. It is hard to determine in what sense the If the name Nimrod be a Shemitic one, then it plainly means “let us rebel or revolt;”:. — the connection and its results are apparent in the context. The prowess in hunting must have co-existed with valor in battle. What Nimrod did in the chase as a hunter was the earlier token of what he achieved as a conqueror. For hunting and heroism were of old specially and naturally associated, as in Perseus, Ulysses, Achilles, and the Persian sovereigns, one of whom, Darius, inscribed his exploits in hunting on his epitaph (Strabo, xv). The Assyrian monuments also picture many feats in hunting, and the word is often employed to denote campaigning. Thus Tiglath-pileser I “hunts the people of Bilu-Nipru,” and one of his ancestors does the same thing. Both are represented as holding” the mace of power,” a weapon used in hunting, and at the same time the symbol of royalty. Sargon speaks of three hundred and fifty kings who ruled over Assyria, and “hunted” the people of Bilu-Nipru.

Many of you may have never heard of the Rainier International Discovery Fund.  However, Henrik Strabo, the founder and lead portfolio manager of this fund has been managing portfolios for over 30 years.  Henrik is steeped in experience and joins us to discuss how changes around the world can lead to winning investments, and to losers. Surprises often scare investors.  However, when changes occur, this can often mean opportunities for some businesses, and losses for others. Today, we have our fair share of change to deal with.  Think, onshoring, energy transition, AI, political changes, Fed policy, inflation, interest rates, and so on.  And sweeping changes appear to be accelerating, or at the very least a constant.  When the outlook looks the most cloudy - full of unpredictable change - is often when the best opportunities can arise. So, tune in to hear more about how to capitalize on change, or more importantly, how to avoid the losers.

An ancient evil crocodile lady, the first Egyptian superhero, and a battle in the streets of Cairo. It can only be Moon Knight Episode 6, Gods and Monsters!Email: mummymoviepodcast@gmail.comBibliographyAssmann, J. (2011). Death and salvation in ancient Egypt. Cornell University Press. Faulkner, R. O., & Andrews, C. (1990). The ancient Egyptian book of the dead. University of Texas Press. Games Radar. (2023). Moon Knight: Gods and Monsters. Retrieved from https://www.gamesradar.com/ Hart, G. (2005). The Routledge dictionary of Egyptian gods and goddesses. Routledge. IMDB. (2023). Moon Knight: Gods and Monsters. Retrieved from https://www.imdb.com/?ref_=nv_homeLacus Curtius (2023). The Geography of Strabo. Retrieved from https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/strabo/17a3*.htmlPinch, G. (2002). Handbook of Egyptian mythology. Abc-Clio. Rotten Tomatoes (2023). Moon Night: Gods and Monsters. Retrieved from https://www.rottentomatoes.com/ Taylor, J. H. (2010). Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead: journey through the afterlife;[published to accompany the exhibition at the British Museum from 4 November 2010 to 6 March 2011]. The British Museum Press. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Jeff and Dave talk about Milo of Croton, by all accounts the most accomplished athlete of antiquity. This incredible individual was the winner of multiple Olympiads, strongman, wrestler, supposedly deadlifting a stone of more than 1100lbs. The ancients like Pausania, Galen, Strabo, Cicero and more were fascinated not only by his tremendous physical prowess, but equally by his enormous appetite for food and drink. Did he really eat an entire heifer in one sitting? Along the way we look at the Olympic Games, have a short travelogue to Olympia and Nemea, discuss Mohammed Ali, Babe Ruth, Michael Jordan, Michael Phelps, Flo Jo, and more. It's summer, get out, be active, and take AdNavseam along on your workout. You won't regret it. Maybe if you do enough reps you can snap your headband, like Milo, just by flexing the blood vessels in your head!?

Outline:Our Fellowship with God is BrokenGoing to God's HouseStanding Before God with Our BrotherThe King's StewardWe Dine at NoonImpending Eucatastrophe Confession at the DoorBaptizing the SpiesOfferings to the KingThe King Speaks, Israel SpeaksCommunion with the PPK (Prophet-Priest-King)Charge Saint Athanasius ChurchContra Mundum SwaggerVideo Version

Today we discuss how the lost temple of Poseidon may have been discovered, how our circadian rhythms show what time of day is best to exercise, and how researchers decoded a stack of letters written by Mary Queen of Scots during her imprisonment. Poseidon Temple “A lost temple for Poseidon may have finally been rediscovered” by Sara Kiley Watsonhttps://www.popsci.com/science/poseidon-temple-tsunami-greece/“Strabo” by Duane W. Rollerhttps://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780195389661/obo-9780195389661-0230.xml“Poseidon” by Greek Gods and Goddesses Encyclopediahttps://greekgodsandgoddesses.net/gods/poseidon/#:~:text=Poseidon%20was%20god%20of%20the,%2C%20Demeter%2C%20Hestia%20and%20Hera.“Scientists May Have Discovered the Long Lost Temple of Poseidon” by Amanda Kooserhttps://www.cnet.com/science/scientists-may-have-discovered-long-lost-temple-of-poseidon/“Tsunamis buried the cult site on the Peloponnese” by Johannes Gutenberghttps://phys.org/news/2011-07-tsunamis-cult-site-peloponnese.htmlTime to Exercise  “Time of day may determine the amount of fat burned by exercise” by Felicia Lindberghttps://news.ki.se/time-of-day-may-determine-the-amount-of-fat-burned-by-exercise“Time of day determines postexercise metabolism in mouse adipose tissue” by Logan A. Pendergrast et al.https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2218510120“What to know about circadian rhythm” by Janet Johnsonhttps://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/circadian-rhythms“Work out at this time of day to burn the most fat: scientists” by Adriana Diazhttps://nypost.com/2023/02/14/work-out-at-this-time-of-day-to-burn-the-most-fat-scientists/Queen of Scots Letters“Scientists Decipher 57 Letters That Mary, Queen of Scots Wrote before Her Beheading” by Stephanie Pappashttps://www.scientificamerican.com/article/scientists-decipher-50-letters-from-mary-queen-of-scotts-before-her-beheading1/“Deciphering Mary Stuart's lost letters from 1578-1584” by George Lasry, Norbert Biermann, & Satoshi Tomokiyohttps://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01611194.2022.2160677Follow Curiosity Daily on your favorite podcast app to get smarter with Calli and Nate — for free! Still curious? Get exclusive science shows, nature documentaries, and more real-life entertainment on discovery+! Go to https://discoveryplus.com/curiosity to start your 7-day free trial. discovery+ is currently only available for US subscribers.Find episode transcripts here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/poseidon-temple-time-to-exercise-queen-of-scots-letters

Sunday, 25 December 2022   But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down. Acts 13:14   The previous verse spoke of Paul and those with him going to Perga. At that time John departed from them. Now, it continues, saying, “But when they departed from Perga.”   More literally, it reads, “And they, having passed through from Perga.” In other words, it is speaking of the area that is traversed between Perga and the next location. They left Perga, traveled through the land and “they came to Antioch in Pisidia.” Rather, it should read Antioch of Pisidia. Albert Barnes explains the place and the reason, saying –   “Pisidia was a province of Asia Minor, and was situated north of Pamphylia. Antioch was not in Pisidia, but within the limits of Phrygia; but it belonged to Pisidia, and was called Antioch of Pisidia to distinguish it from Antioch in Syria - Pliny, Nat. Hist., 5, 27; Strabo, 12, p. 577 (Kuinoel; Robinson's Calmet). The city was built by Seleucus, the founder of the Antioch in Syria, and was called after the name of his father, Antiochus. He is said to have built 16 cities of that name ("Life and Epistles of Paul," vol. 1, p. 122).”   This area was inland to the north of Pamphylia and Antioch lay at the very northern end of it. Of this area, Cambridge makes an interesting comment –   “Dean Howson (Life and Epistles of St Paul, i. 175) suggests that it was perhaps in this journey that St Paul and his companion were exposed to those ‘perils of robbers' of which he speaks 2 Corinthians 11:26. Pisidia was a mountainous district rising gradually towards the north, and the quotations given by Dr Howson from Xenophon and Strabo shew that there was a great deal of brigand-like life there even in these times, from which Paul and his company may have been in danger.”   Once they arrived in Antioch, it next notes, “and went into the synagogue.” Again, an aorist participle is used, “and having gone into the synagogue.” Each step is detailed methodically by Luke to give the sense of the journey's motion for the reader to join in. Once in Antioch and having gone into the synagogue, it next records that it was “on the Sabbath day.”   The words in Greek more precisely state, “on the day of the Sabbaths.” This is what Paul refers to in Colossians 2 when arguing against observing Sabbath days and other things fulfilled through the work of Christ –   “So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, 17 which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ.” Colossians 2:16, 17   It is a way of designating the day as the Sabbath as a recurring Feast of the Lord (see Leviticus 23:2). Now, having arrived at the synagogue and entered it on this feast day, it says they “sat down.” Like going into a church, the people would go in, sit and await the word from the leader of the synagogue or whoever was designated to begin conducting the Sabbath affairs.   Life application: As noted above, Paul clearly argues against the observance of sabbaths in Colossians 2. The entire passage there refers to the work of Christ ending the Law of Moses. The words hinge especially on verse 2:14 when speaking of the abolishment of the law –   “And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, 14 having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.” Colossians 2:13, 14   The words “having wiped out the requirements” is speaking of the Law of Moses. To wipe out something indicates its removal, like chalk on a chalkboard. To take something out of the way means it was an obstruction that has now been removed. And the metaphor “having nailed it to the cross” specifically speaks of the death of Jesus Christ, the embodiment of the law. In His death, the law is abolished (see also Ephesians 2:15).   The reason for this detail is that people will argue that the word “sabbaths” in Colossians 2:16 is not referring to the weekly Sabbath. This is entirely incorrect. It is, as noted in the commentary above, the plural term used to speak of the fifty-two weekly Sabbaths. The same plural terminology is found in the Old Testament concerning the weekly Sabbath over 100 times.   Exodus 31:31 for example, while speaking of the weekly Sabbaths, refers to them in the plural. The Sabbath is fulfilled in Christ. Hebrews 4:3 says that we rest in Him now. Therefore, a Christian is to not let anyone judge him for not observing a Sabbath Day.   As a point of doctrine: There is no such thing as a Sunday Sabbath. The Sabbath is a Saturday, and only a Saturday. Christian tradition eventually started to claim that worshiping on the Lord's Day (Sunday) had replaced the Saturday Sabbath. The claim is that this day of worship was now the “Sunday Sabbath.” This is incorrect. There is one Sabbath, and it is a Saturday. It is fulfilled in Christ. He is our Sabbath rest (Hebrews 4:3). As such, don't allow anyone to pull a fast one on you and steal the prize from you. Rest in Christ, trust in Christ, and stay away from law observance, including the Sabbath day observance.   Lord God, help us to accept Your word as it teaches us its progressively revealed truths. We are free from the law, we are free from the bondage it imposes on us, and we are at liberty in Christ who has accomplished all things for us. Now, help us to be obedient to faithfully follow You through the New Covenant that came at such a high cost. To Your glory, we pray. Amen.

INTRODUCTION Lord willing, we are going to work our way through Paul's letter to the Corinthians, the letter we commonly call 2 Corinthians. We call it this because we only have two letters that Paul wrote to them, although there was likely another one. THE TEXT “Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth, with all the saints which are in all Achaia: Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Cor. 1:1–2). HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Achaia, mentioned here is our text, is what we would call southern Greece. Northern Greece was known then as Macedonia. Corinth was built on the Isthmus of Corinth, where the Peloponnese was connected to the mainland. Cenchrea (Rom. 16:1; Acts 18:18) was the harbor that serviced Corinth on the eastern side of the isthmus, and another harbor (Lechaeumon) serviced it from the west. The Corinth of classical Greece had been destroyed by the Romans in 146 B.C. and was left desolate for about a century. The Romans rebuilt it in 44 B.C. and wound up making it their capital of Greece. The city was influential and also sexually corrupt and decadent. When Paul first came to Corinth (around A.D. 49-50), the city was around 80 years old, and had a population of about 80,000 people. The city was a nouveau-riche boom town, populated by merchants and other hustlers. The Corinthians were wealthy, and their wealth was seen in trade, in sports, and in entertainment. For example, the theater in that city held 18,000 people. Aphrodite was the goddess of the city, and at one time there were five temples in the area dedicated to her. According to Strabo, the earlier Greek temple to Aphrodite was staffed with a thousand sacred prostitutes, which may also have been the case with the new temple in the Roman era. SUMMARY OF THE TEXT And so to plant a church in Corinth was to plant a church in a key strategic location. This was an important city, and that meant that a church there was going to be an important church. This letter is going to be a robust defense of Paul's authentic ministry, which had been challenged by spurious apostles. This is why Paul begins by saying that his letter is from Paul an apostle of Jesus Christ “by the will of God” (v. 1). The letter was also from Timothy, Paul's co-laborer. It was addressed to the church of God in Corinth, not to mention all the saints throughout all of Achaia (v. 1). The next verse is the standard salutation—grace and peace from the Father and the Son. You have heard me indicate before that I believe the Spirit is not mentioned by name because He is the grace and peace. DRAMA IN CORINTH When Paul had first come to Corinth, he ministered there for about a year-and-a-half. Working together with Timothy and Silas, not to mention Aquila and Priscilla, the initial planting of this church was quite successful. You can read about this period in Acts 18:1-17. After Paul left, he went to Ephesus, then to Jerusalem, after which he returned to Ephesus. After a period of about three years, he wrote 1 Corinthians. This works out because 1 Corinthians was his first letter to them. Paul sent Timothy to Corinth for a visit (1 Cor. 16:1-11). Timothy discovered that Paul's enemies had been at work in Corinth, and had orchestrated a revolt against the apostle. Paul then determined to visit Corinth just briefly in order to address everything. That visit was a disaster, what Paul called his “painful visit” (2 Cor. 2:1). All kinds of stories were circulating about Paul, and many Corinthian Christians had rejected him as a result, and had gone after a “different gospel” (2 Cor. 11:4). Paul returned to Ephesus, wiped out, and sent Titus to Corinth with what he called his “severe” letter (2 Cor. 2:4-5). This missing letter is the original 2 Corinthians, while our 2 Corinthians is 3 Corinthians. Still with me? That missing letter called for the Corinthians to repent, and glory to God, most of them actually did. The bulk of the church came back to Paul's side, although there was still significant clean up that had to take place. That is what is being addressed in this epistle, as Paul is making preparations to come to them for his third visit (2 Cor. 12:14; 13:1). 2 Corinthians is cleaning up after the major battle. AUTHENTIC MINISTRY In this letter we find Paul's most extensive defense of his apostolic ministry. He hatedtalking about himself, but he loved the gospel so much that if a defense of gospel ministry required it, he was willing even to do that. Paul tells the Corinthians in this letter that he had been flogged by the Jews five times (2 Cor. 11:24). The Mishnah tells us that the whip had three leather strands, and 13 strokes would be applied to the chest, 13 to one shoulder, and 13 to the other. This happened to Paul five times. That is 585 welts for the kingdom. Why is Paul emphasizing this kind of thing? Had he given up on trying to impress the Corinthians? Wasn't their problem with him the fact that Paul was so weak in his bodily presence with them (2 Cor. 10:10)? Yes, it was, but as Paul undertook to teach them the true meaning of authentic ministry, the authentic meaning of real ministry, part of that lesson included learning how God loves to showcase His power in the midst of weakness. “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me” (2 Cor. 12:9). “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you” (2 Cor. 4:7–12). So take heart, Christian. In Christ, faithful weakness is our superpower.

86 год до нашей эры. Урок тридцатый. О чит-кодах, их последствиях, любви и сиренах. -==- Подкаст Психо Байкиhttps://pc.st/1620764065КнигаЭрик Нюзум. ПошумимЧат подкастеровhttps://t.me/chatpropodcasty-==-Поддержать подкаст patreon.com/romafallrepublic boosty.to/romafallrepublic -==- Герои выпуска. Осторожно, спойлеры к предыдущим сериям https://telegra.ph/Grecheskij-cikl-3-seriya-Geroi-Orhomen-06-09-==- Подкаст выходит по четвергам. Подписывайтесь на любых платформах и присоединяйтесь в сообществах https://t.me/romafallrepublic https://instagram.com/roma_fall_of_the_republic/?hl=ru https://vk.com/romafallrepublicТаймкоды 00:00 Флешфорвард 03:12 Ранее в РОМЕ 05:52 Эпиграф к серии 06:04 О вислоухих мерах 12:02 О планах любимца фортуны 17:44 О приказах и нюансах их исполнения 20:56 Митридат и чит-коды 24:03 Тетрархи Галатии 27:33 О последствиях неудачного руления 31:59 Камень все стерпит 35:52 Всем пива за счет заведения 38:38 И снова о подозрениях 40:59 Последний шанс Архелая 43:29 О ходячих холмах 52:24 Раздача благодарностей 55:07 Послесловие Источники: Аппиан. Митридатовы войны Плутарх. Сравнительные жизнеописания Тит Ливий. История Рима от основания Города Strabo. Geography Короленков, Антон Викторович. Смыков, Евгений Владимирович. Сулла Короленков, Антон Викторович. Марий, Цинна и Метеллы Молев, Евгений Александрович. Властитель Понта Keaveney, Arthur. Last Republican Bennett Harold. Cinna and His Times. A Critical and Interpretative Study of Roman History during the Period

ATLANTIS FROM THE LIPS OF PLATO LOST, FOUND THEN LOST AGAIN THIS IS ONE AMAZING CITY DOT.CONNECTOR.PODCAST.by.BMC. Atlantis is a timeless hunt. It's treasures in the rough. It offers a lure that attracts even the most stubborn of man. In this story we're going to tag along with one stubborn man by the name of Plato. Yes, I'm sure you've heard nothihgn but good things but in reality he's a prick. He's always been a prick and he'll always been a g The Atlantis Dialog: Plato's Original Story of the Lost City and Continent Atlantis was first presented by the Greek logician Plato in two "exchanges" he wrote in the fourth century B.C. His story of an incredible domain that sank underneath the waves — a story that Plato never at any point got done — has started millennia of discussion about whether Atlantis truly existed. Yet, did Plato mean his story as history, or similarly as a story to assist with outlining his way of thinking? Atlantis, a likely mythical island nation mentioned in Plato's dialogues “Timaeus” and “Critias,” has been an object of fascination among western philosophers and historians for nearly 2,400 years. Plato (c.424–328 B.C.) describes it as a powerful and advanced kingdom that sank, in a night and a day, into the ocean around 9,600 B.C. The ancient Greeks were divided as to whether Plato's story was to be taken as history or mere metaphor. Since the 19th century there has been renewed interest in linking Plato's Atlantis to historical locations, most commonly the Greek island of Santorini, which was destroyed by a volcanic eruption around 1,600 B.C. Plato and His Lost City of Atlantis Plato's Atlantis Plato (through the character Critias in his dialogues) describes Atlantis as an island larger than Libya and Asia Minor put together, located in the Atlantic just beyond the Pillars of Hercules—generally assumed to mean the Strait of Gibraltar. Its culture was advanced and it had a constitution suspiciously similar to the one outlined in Plato's “Republic.” It was protected by the god Poseidon, who made his son Atlas king and namesake of the island and the ocean that surrounded it. As the Atlanteans grew powerful, their ethics declined. Their armies eventually conquered Africa as far as Egypt and Europe as far as Tyrrhenia (Etruscan Italy) before being driven back by an Athenian-led alliance. Later, by way of divine punishment, the island was beset by earthquakes and floods, and sank into a muddy sea. The Atlantis Dialogue: Plato's Original Story of the Lost City and Continent Atlantis was first introduced by the Greek philosopher Plato in two “dialogues” he wrote in the fourth century B.C. His tale of a great empire that sank beneath the waves — a tale that Plato never even finished — has sparked thousands of years of debate over whether Atlantis really existed. But did Plato mean his tale as history, or just as a parable to help illustrate his philosophy? Did you know? In 1679 the Swedish scientist Olaus Rudbeck published "Atland," a four-volume work in which he attempted to prove that Sweden was the original site of Atlantis and that all human languages were descended from Swedish. Though considered authoritative in his homeland, few outside of Sweden found Rudbeck arguments convincing. Plato's Critias says he heard the story of Atlantis from his grandfather, who had heard it from the Athenian statesman Solon (300 years before Plato's time), who had learned it from an Egyptian priest, who said it had happened 9,000 years before that. Whether or not Plato believed his own story, his intent in telling it seems to have been to boost his ideas of an ideal society, using stories of ancient victory and calamity to call to mind more recent events such as the Trojan War or Athens' disastrous invasion of Sicily in 413 B.C. The historicity of Plato's tale was controversial in ancient times—his follower Crantor is said to have believed it, while Strabo (writing a few centuries later) records Aristotle's ...

In this episode we deep dive into the mother of all conspiracy theories, the Flat Earth where science denial alone is nowhere near enough cognitive dissidence to keep the belief alive.This is a deep state cover up that predates the very actors that are covering it up. It goes back at the very least 2500 years and has been perpetuated and hidden from the world by quite literally billions of people. It is very easy to understand how pre-seafaring civilisations believed the Earth was flat. You could be forgiven for assuming that flat earth theory is ancient and it is round earth theory that is new but you would be wrong. The flat earth movement is only a couple of hundred years old.From early antiquity onwards as sailors moved away from hugging the coastline to open sea the horrible truth of a spherical Earth became hard to deny as previously unseen land masses would begin rising out of the horizon upon approach. We will delve into the history of not only Flat Earth Theory but the great thinkers who first figured out our planet is an oblate spheroid flattened at the poles like, Pythagoras, Parmenides, Plato, Aristotle, Archimedes, Eratosthenes, Posidonius, Cicero, Pliny the Elder, Claudius Ptolemy, Strabo, Seneca, Bishop Isidore of Seville  and The Venerable Bede.We'll also look at the first written accounts of OG Flat Earthers like Lactantius and Cosmas the Monk to Illustrious modern day philosophers like former cricketer Andrew ‘Freddie' Flintoff. But of course it really becomes a movement of outright science denial with the arrival of Patent Medicine seller and self-proclaimed curer of old age, Samuel Rowbotham in the 19th century with his dubious experiments on the Bedford canal in Cambridgeshire, England.Rowbotham would light the way for followers like John Hampden, William Carpenter, David Wardlaw Scott and precursor to the modern televangelists Wilbur Voliva.Then just as the idea was dying out, Dover sign writer Samuel Shentoncreates the International Flat Earth Research Society. Taking a step away from scripture and into full blown conspiracy theory.The tinfoil hat wearing likes of Charles Johnson and Daniel Shenton will then bring this ludicrous movement into the 21st century. Primed and ready for some truly despicable swindlers to infiltrate this seemingly harmless pastime for dummies and turn this ironically circular thinking into one of the most pernicious conspiracy theories going. 

Hey Text and Rockers!Shazam.This episode is all about how the ancients started to realize some of their stories were less then true over time... and they were okay with it.Join us to talk about• How early scholars like Strabo found myth to have great value.• The Greek idea of EXEMPLAR.• How ancient characters come to guide your own character.We hope this discussion of what is ancient makes your tomorrow better!You can find out about all things TEXT AND ROCK by clicking HEREor by heading to www.textandrock.com. Feel free to contact us with comments or questions at info@textandrock.com. We LOVE to hear from you.Be good to each other,Mark and EricJoin the TEXT AND ROCK FACEBOOK GROUP by clicking HERE. For a limited time, join our community and get a free digital press item as a free gift.For Text and Rock Poetry, Podcasts, and Video Content or to contact Mark and Eric, visit us at www.textandrock.com.Want to support the show, experience our best creative work, buy merchandise or give an uncommonly better gift or art and heart? Ha! Head to the TEXT AND ROCK DIGITAL PRESS.

People, position, process, and performance form the strength of your nonprofit's capacity to raise funds. Understanding how 'flexible discipline', 'reality gaps', and 'productive conversations' fit are just a few of the shared thoughts from Strabo leader Albert Loveland.//. . . This is a recent episode of The Nonprofit Show --the Nation's daily live streaming broadcast where the Nonprofit Community comes together. Each weekday the hosts and their guest experts cover current relevant nonprofit and social impact topics, from money to management to mission. Learn more . . . https://bit.ly/34yEYk1Signup to Watch the Live Nonprofit show and receive a show time reminder:   http://bit.ly/3nxnADfThe Nonprofit Show is a production from the American Nonprofit Academy   http://bit.ly/2LsVonuThe American Nonprofit Academy provides our Nation's nonprofit community collective News, Inspirations, and Training.If you lead or work for a registered nonprofit 501(c)(3), social impact or service organization, or are thinking of starting a nonprofit--, The Nonprofit Show is an excellent resource of current nonprofit information and operating strategies to make your social impact amazing. Each weekday there are new guest experts and thought leaders on the fast-paced 30-minute LIVE show—with topics ranging across nonprofit boards, foundations, grants, volunteer managers, donor relations, fundraising experts, NPO marketing, grant writers, philanthropy donors, nonprofit legal and tax professionals, CFRE info, nonprofit software and nonprofit apps providers, Nonprofit CRM programs, charity tax expertise, virtual galas, charity auctions, online nonprofit charity event programs, social impact strategic planning, fundraising and fund development, fiscal sponsorships, capital campaigns, community impact analysis, donation management, nonprofit jobs, nonprofit HR, nonprofit classes and training, global NGO organizations, as well as nonprofit sector Thought Leaders.If you are starting a nonprofit and want to make a social impact, The Nonprofit Show is an outstanding way to ask questions and see the trends in charity, as well as obtain nonprofit technical support from specific nonprofit consultants.  #fundraising #nonprofit #socialimpact 

Episode 149 – Truth and Proof – Part 9 – The New Testament is Reliable Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. In John 14:6, Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” The goal of Anchored by Truth is to encourage everyone to grow in the Christian faith by anchoring themselves to the secure truth found in the inspired, inerrant, and infallible word of God. Script: …why are some of you saying there will be no resurrection of the dead? For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless. 1 Corinthians, Chapter 15, verses 12 through 14, New Living Translation ******** Hello! I’m Victoria K. Welcome to Anchored by Truth brought to you by Crystal Sea Books. As listeners who have been with us for the last several episodes know we have been working on a series that addresses Christian apologetics. We’ve called this series “Truth and Proof.” This series was inspired by Dr. Gregg Alexander who has been teaching Sunday school for more than 25 years. Several years ago Dr. Alexander developed a very similar series for his class. When we learned about it, we were so impressed we wanted everyone to have access to the wonderful work Dr. Alexander had done. And Dr. Alexander has been kind enough to join us on a few of our episodes during the series. But today we are joined by another special guest. Today on the show we have Doug Apple who is the manager of the WAVE-94 radio station in Tallahassee, Florida. Doug is an extremely faithful student of the Bible and he has thought deeply about his faith. Doug would you like to take a couple of minutes and tell us a little about yourself? DOUG: - Introductory comments - VK: Wow. 14 grandchildren! That’s such a blessing and I’m sure one of the reasons Doug has been so blessed is because of his love for – and dedication to – God’s Word. Doug is so serious about his love of scripture that he has taken upon himself to memorize entire books of the Bible including several from the New Testament. So, it’s particularly appropriate for us to have Doug here today because today on Anchored by Truth we are going to tackle one of the most important topics about the truth of Christianity – the reliability of the New Testament documents. The New Testament is the part of the Bible that tells us about Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection. DOUG: And, of course, we get the very title of our faith from Jesus. Jesus was the Christ. The term “Christ” comes from the Greek word Christos which means the “anointed one” or the “chosen one.” This is the same term as “Messiah” which came from the ancient Hebrew word “Mashiach.” So, Christianity is essentially a belief in the work and person of Christ. And while that sounds very simple to say it’s actually a truth so profound we’ll spend all eternity understanding it more thoroughly. But we certainly begin our understanding of that truth by reading the New Testament documents. As such, knowing that the New Testament is reliable and true is a fundamental part of demonstrating that the God that logic tells us must exist is, in fact, the God of the Bible. VK: Christianity depends entirely on the historical person of Jesus Christ. Otherwise Paul could not have said the verse that we heard in our opening scripture from 1 Corinthians. Notice that Paul said, “For if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless.” The Apostle Paul stated very plainly that the Christian faith is all about Jesus. And, while there is information about the Messiah in the Old Testament, that information is prophetic. The Old Testament anticipates the arrival of Jesus. But it is in the New Testament that hear we hear about that arrival. Therefore, since the New Testament is the primary source of information about the words and works of Christ, if it is not accurate then we do not possess a first-hand account of Jesus’ claims, character, and credentials. The historical integrity of the New Testament is crucial to Christian apologetics. DOUG: Before we get too much into our discussion about why we can have confidence in the reliability of the New Testament, we should probably note that there are some people who believe that no history can be objectively known. Unfortunately, we live in a time when the past is often manipulated by the subjective desires of historians, writers, politicians, social change advocates, con artists, or others who have an agenda that is served by a revision of history. Political correctness doesn’t just affect how contemporary issues are being framed. It is also being woven into all kinds of discussions of history. Pretty much everyone who is paying attention knows that. But political correctness is not what I’m talking about here. There is a strain of thought among some elites, especially academic elites, who believe that it is impossible for us to know anything true from or about history. VK: But the kind of radical skepticism that would say that history is objectively unknowable eliminates the possibility of knowing anything at all about the past. As soon as we get anywhere close to such a radical belief all university history and classical departments evaporate – there is no source about past events that can be trusted. Such skepticism would eliminate all historical science, such as anthropology, geology, paleontology, archaeology, and forensic science because each of these depends on examining and interpreting remains or evidence from the past. Since everything not occurring now is history, such a belief system would eliminate all eyewitness testimony. Even living witnesses could only testify to what they saw at some other point in time. But if this skepticism were true their testimony would not be considered relevant, real, or accurate. On the other hand, if their testimony could be accepted while they are living, wouldn’t it also be true to say that the records they leave behind are just as credible as their testimony in the present time? DOUG: And, another question: isn’t a statement that says we can’t objectively know history an attempt at establishing an absolute and objective truth about history? The statement that “The past is not objectively knowable” is itself an objective statement about the past. Therefore, the position against the knowability of history is self-defeating. It fails the test of its own central premise. In effect, metaphorically speaking, the idea that we can’t know anything true from or about history shoots itself in the head. VK: So, let’s move on to talking about the reliability of the New Testament documents. As we have indicated without a reliable New Testament, we have no objective, historical way to know what Jesus said or did. We cannot establish whether Jesus was God, what Jesus taught, or what His followers did and taught. We must know if the sources or witnesses used by the authors were reliable, and we must show that the manuscripts were written early enough and with enough attention to detail to be accurate records of actual events. As we look at these questions, we will see that we have every reason to be confident in the accuracy of the New Testament. DOUG: So, what you’ve proposed is that the first step in establishing the historical accuracy of the New Testament is to show that the documents were written by reliable eyewitnesses of the events or their contemporaries. And the second step you mentioned is to show that the New Testament documents have been accurately transmitted from the time of their original autographs, i.e. the original documents, down from the time of their creation to our time. And contrary to what many critics believe and say, there is more evidence for the historical accuracy of the life, death, and resurrection of Christ than for any other event from the ancient world. These issues are a crucial part of the overall rational defense of Christianity. VK: So, let’s start by looking first at one of the things we just mentioned: the dating of the New Testament manuscripts. One of the things we want to determine is whether they were “early enough?” In other words, were they prepared close enough in time to the events they tell us about to be reliable? Critics of the Bible and of Christianity would have better arguments if they are able to separate the actual events from the records of those events by as much time as possible. If they can stretch out the time from the date of the event to when the event was first recorded they can argue that the New Testament writers created the events rather than reported them. This then permits them to argue that the New Testament, especially the Gospels, more than likely contains myths. This is a common assertion among scholars. The longer the time between an event and the first record made about it the more likely that embellishments will creep in. And another thing we want to determine is the question of authorship. Said differently, we want to be sure that the record writer was not too greatly removed from the event. Distance is not a problem if the writer was also an eye witness of the event, but historical records are often prepared by people who were not eye witnesses themselves. But we would still consider a record to be reliable if the writer spoke directly to an eye witness or had direct access to supporting information such as records or artifacts that corroborated key details. DOUG: So, let’s take a look at some specifics at one of the most important books of the New Testament, the book of Acts. The Gospel of Luke and the book of Acts were both written by Luke. The person to whom they were written “Theophilus”, the style, and the vocabulary indicate that they were, indeed, written by the same person. The date and authenticity of the Acts of the Apostles is crucial to the historical account of early Christianity, because if Acts was written before AD 70 then it has great historical value in informing us of the earliest Christian beliefs. AD 70 is a crucial date because that was when the famous Roman general and later emperor, Titus, destroyed Jerusalem. When Titus destroyed Jerusalem a great many Jews died and the rest were scattered. The nation of Israel disappeared in 70 AD and would not be restored for almost 2 millennia. It was ultimately reconstituted in 1948 by the allies after World War II. VK: So, if the book of Acts was written before 70 AD there’s a much better chance Luke would have been able to speak to eyewitnesses while they were still alive. And the fact that Acts was written by Luke is also crucial. We know from Paul’s letters that Luke was a companion of the Apostle Paul during many of his ministry travels. Therefore, if Acts was written by Luke, it brings us right to the apostolic circle. In other words this means Acts was written by someone who would been a close companion to those who participated in the events reported. And Luke himself was likely an eyewitness to some of the events. In other words, we have the very closest relationship of the author to the historical report. DOUG: Right. So, that is one big point about the historicity of the book of Acts. The author would have had personal knowledge of the events he recorded or he spoke to people who had personal knowledge. As to the question of the when Acts as written, the traditional date assigned to the creation of Acts is 62 AD. This means it was written before the loss of many of the eyewitnesses from the destruction of Jerusalem. It also means it was written by a contemporary of Jesus himself because Jesus died in approximately 33 AD. One person who has assigned a date for the composition of Acts to no later than 62 AD is Roman historian Colin Hemer. Hemer cites a wide range of evidence for his view. For instance, there is no mention in the book of Acts of the fall of Jerusalem. This would be an extremely unlikely omission if the fall of Jerusalem had already occurred. Acts contains no hint of the outbreak of the Jewish War which occurred in AD 66. Acts also does not mention the dramatic deterioration of relations between Romans and Jews which preceded the war. This implies it was written before that time. Moreover, there is no hint of the deterioration of Christian relations with Rome which was caused by Nero’s persecution of the Christians in the late 60s. Hemer believes that Acts was most likely composed between 60 AD and 62 AD because of these and other factors. VK: The other factors include the fact that there is no hint of the death of Jesus’ half-brother, James, at the hands of the Sanhedrin. According to the famous Jewish historian, Josephus, in his book, Antiquities, James was martyred in 62 AD. Had the martyrdom of James already occurred it is extremely unlikely that Luke would have ignored an event that important to the early church. Also, the prominence and authority of the Jewish sect called the Sadducees noted in Acts belongs to the pre-70 AD era. This indicates that Acts was written before the collapse of the Sadducees’ political cooperation with Rome. DOUG: Yes. Also, Luke doesn’t give any indication in the book of Acts that he is aware of Paul’s letters, his epistles, to the various churches in Greece and Asia. In both his gospel and in Acts Luke is very careful about getting particular details right. If Acts was written later in the first century, why wouldn’t Luke have attempted to support his historical account by citing relevant sections of the Epistles? The Epistles evidently circulated through the churches and must have become available sources because they were passed along in every generation. This silence suggests that Acts was written early during the apostolic era. Finally, the ending of the book of Acts does not continue Paul’s story. It simply stops at the end of the two year described in Acts 28, verses 30-31. VK: Those verses say “For two whole years Paul stayed there in his own rented house and welcomed all who came to see him. Boldly and without hindrance he preached the kingdom of God and taught about the Lord Jesus Christ.” DOUG: So, the fact that Acts just ends with a simple declaration of what Paul had been doing for the previous two years makes it look very much like Luke was just bringing his narrative up to date at that point. Remember, that Luke tells us that he was writing both of the books attributed to him to a man named Theophilus in order for Theophilus to “know the certainty of the things you have been taught.” In his book, The Book of Acts in the Setting of Hellenistic History, Hemer says, “It may be argued simply that Luke had brought the narrative up to date at the time of writing, the final note being added at the conclusion of the two years.” So, all of these factors tell us that the date for the composition of the book of Acts was quite likely not later than 62 AD and may have been even earlier. VK: So why have we spent so much time now focusing on demonstrating that the book of Acts is a reliable record of history. How does this fit in to our larger goal of establishing that the God that exists is the God of the Bible? DOUG: Because, if Acts is shown to be accurate history, then it brings credibility to its reports about the most basic Christian beliefs. For instance, the book of Acts contains accounts of the life, death (Acts 2:23), resurrection (Acts 2:23, 29–32), and ascension of Christ (Acts 1:9–10). It also contains the records of a number of miracles (Acts 2:22) and it gives us important contextual information that enable us to make better use of that Paul’s letters to the churches that are also important parts of the New Testament. VK: Acts also contains significant details about Jerusalem, Rome, and many other geographical areas that have been extensively substantiated by historical and archaeological research. In other words, Acts is confirmed by overwhelming evidence. Nothing like this amount of detailed confirmation exists for any other book from antiquity. This is not only a direct confirmation of the earliest Christian belief in the death and resurrection of Christ, but also, indirectly, of the Gospel record, since Luke also wrote a detailed Gospel. The evidence that we have that validates Acts confirms not only the historical accuracy of the book of Acts but also the reliability and validity of several other books of the New Testament. DOUG: Exactly. Luke’s Gospel directly parallels the Gospels of Mark and Matthew. As we’ve been talking about, the best evidence is that Acts was composed around AD 60 which places its composition only about twenty-seven years after the traditional dating of the death of Jesus. This places the writing during the lifetime of eyewitnesses to the events recorded – and as we have mentioned this enhances our confidence in the trustworthiness of what it reports. This dating of Acts does not allow time for any mythological development by persons living generations after the events. Furthermore, if Luke wrote Acts, then his “former treatise” (Acts 1:1), the Gospel of Luke, should be seen as written at an even earlier date, and, therefore, easily within the life-time of apostles and eye-witnesses who could have refuted all or part of Luke’s Gospel if he had gotten anything wrong. VK: And as we have mentioned in other episodes of Anchored by Truth we have to remember that all of the New Testament documents were being written in a world that was largely hostile to Christianity. If Luke had been creating fabrications it would have been easy for the people of the time to rebut his books and many of the people of the time had a strong motivation for doing so. The fact that Luke’s records have survived with the content they did tells us that he was reporting the truth. DOUG: So, let’s take a quick look at some of the other writings of Paul. It is widely accepted by critical and conservative scholars that 1st Corinthians was written by AD 55 or 56. This is only about a quarter century after the crucifixion. Further, in 1 Corinthians Paul speaks of “most” of the 500 eyewitnesses to the resurrection who were still alive when he wrote (15:6). This shows that was a substantial body of people at the time that Paul wrote who could confirm the central fact of the Christian faith, Christ’s resurrection from the dead. VK: And along with 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians and Galatians are known to be early. All three reveal a historical interest in the events of Jesus’ life and give facts that agree with the Gospels. Paul speaks of Jesus’ virgin birth (Galatians 4:4), sinless life (2 Corinthians 5:21), death on the cross (1 Corinthians 15:3); resurrection on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:4), and post-resurrection appearances (1 Corinthians 15:5-8). Paul also gives historical details about Jesus’ contemporaries, the apostles (1 Corinthians 15:5-8), including his private encounters with Peter and the apostles (Galatians 1:18-2:14). DOUG: Critics of the New Testament sometimes claim that the New Testament was not written until almost 400 years after Jesus lived – but these critics are confusing the date that the New Testament documents were written with the time at which they were compiled into the form that we most commonly see them today. We have abundant evidence that the New Testament documents were all prepared well before the end of the 1st century AD. For example, we know that the many of the books of the New Testament were widely quoted by the early church fathers starting in the late 1st century AD. Well for the early church fathers to quote the documents they had to have already been in wide circulation. VK: For instance, of the four Gospels alone there are 19,368 citations by the church fathers from the late first century on. This includes 268 by Justin Martyr who lived from 100 AD until 165 AD. There were 1017 by Clement of Alexandria who lived from approximately 155 AD to 220 AD and there were 3822 by Tertullian who lived around the same time. DOUG: And even earlier, Clement of Rome cited Matthew, John, and 1 Corinthians in AD 95-97. Ignatius referred to six Pauline Epistles in about 110 AD, and between 110 and 150 Polycarp quoted from all four Gospels, Acts, and most of Paul’s Epistles. Papias who was a companion of Polycarp quoted from the Gospel of John. This is particularly significant because Polycarp knew John personally and was a disciple of the apostle John. This argues powerfully that the Gospels were in existence before the end of the first century, while eyewitnesses (including the Apostle John) were still alive. Jose O’Callahan, a Spanish Jesuit paleographer, made headlines around the world on March 18, 1972, when he identified a manuscript fragment from the Dead Sea Scrolls, Qumran Cave 7 as a piece of the Gospel of Mark. Fragments from this cave had previously been dated between 50 BC and AD 50 which in 1972 was not typically thought of as being within the time frame for New Testament writings. Using the accepted methods of papyrology and paleography, O’Callahan compared sequences of letters with existing documents and eventually identified nine fragments as belonging to one Gospel, Acts, and a few Epistles. Some of these were dated slightly later than 50, but still extremely early. VK: Both friends and critics agreed that, if valid, O’Callahan’s conclusions revolutionize New Testament theories. If O’Callahan is correct, the implications for Christian apologetics are enormous. The Gospel of Mark must have been written within the lifetimes of the apostles and contemporaries of the events. This completely eliminates any time for mythological embellishment of the record. It must be accepted as historical. And since the manuscripts found in the Dead Sea scrolls are not originals but copies, the originals would have necessarily been written earlier. This means these parts of the New Testament would have certainly been copied and disseminated during the lives of the writers. These early dates do not allow time for myths or legends to creep into the stories about Jesus. Historians generally agree legend development takes at least two full generations. Even putting aside O’Callahan’s claims, the cumulative evidence places the New Testament documents within the first century and the lives of eyewitnesses of Jesus’s life and resurrection. DOUG: There is a growing acceptance of early New Testament dates, even among some critical scholars. Let’s take a quick look at two of them illustrate this point: former liberal archeologist William F. Albright and radical critic John A. T. Robinson. Albright wrote, “We can already say emphatically that there is no longer any solid basis for dating any book of the New Testament after about AD 80, two full generations before the date between 130 and 150 given by the more radical New Testament critics of today” (Recent Discoveries in Bible Lands, 136). Elsewhere Albright said, “In my opinion, every book of the New Testament was written by a baptized Jew between the forties and the eighties of the first century (very probably sometime between about AD 50 and 75)” (“Toward a More Conservative View,” 3). Known for his role in launching the “Death of God” movement, Robinson wrote a revolutionary book entitled Redating the New Testament. In it he determined that the New Testament books should be dated even earlier than even the most conservative scholars ever believed. Robinson places Matthew at AD 40-60, Mark at about 45-60, Luke at or before 57-60, and John at 40-65. This would mean that one or two Gospels could have been written as early as 7-10 years after the crucifixion. At the latest they were all composed within the lifetimes of eyewitnesses and contemporaries of the events who could have refuted any parts of the accounts had they been in error. VK: In short we have very strong evidence that the New Testament documents were written very close to the time of the events they record. We know that they were composed by either eyewitnesses to the events or the authors had direct access to eyewitnesses. And we have so many quotations from the original documents in the writings of the early church fathers we can be very sure that the transmission of the original texts was reliable. This sounds like a time to go to God I prayer. Today let’s listen to a prayer for our country – that God’s hand of mercy and provision would be with us now and always. ---- PRAYER FOR THE NATION (MARCUS) VK: We’d like to remind our audience that a lot of our radio episodes are linked together in series of topics so if they missed any episodes or if they just want to hear one again, all of these episodes are available on your favorite podcast app. To find them just search on “Anchored by Truth by Crystal Sea Books.” If you’d like to hear more, try out crystalseabooks.com where “We’re not perfect but our Boss is!” (Bible Quote from the New Living Translation) 1 Corinthians, Chapter 15, verses 12 through 14, New Living Translation SELECTED FACTS THAT DEMONSTRATE THE HISTORICITY OF ACTS Archaeologists at first believed Luke's implication wrong that Lystra and Derbe were in Lycaonia and Iconium was not (Acts 14:6). They based their belief on the writings of Romans such as Cicero who indicated that Iconium was in Lycaonia. Thus, archaeologists said the Book of Acts was unreliable. However, in 1910, Sir William Ramsay found a monument that showed that Iconium was a Phrygian city. Later discoveries confirm this. Evidence That Demands a Verdict - Ch. 4 p. 8 (angelfire.com) Similarly, Luke’s identifying Gallio as proconsul of Achaia in A.D. 51 has been confirmed by a discovered inscription at Delphi (18:12). His report of Claudius’ expulsion of the Jews from Rome around A.D. 49 is referred to by Suetonius (Life of Claudius, 25:4). His incidental reference to Felix as Roman procurator along with his Jewish wife Drusilla is corroborated both by both Josephus and Tacitus (24:24, cf. Ant. 20:131–43, History, 5:9, Annals, 12:54). His identification of Festus as Felix’s successor is likewise confirmed by Jospehus and Suetonius (Ant. 20:182; Claudius, 28). And his mentioning of Agrippa II and Bernice, elder sister of Drusilla and widow of Herod, is again corroborated by Jospehus (25:13, cf. Ant. 20:145). Is the Book of Acts Reliable? - Greg Boyd - ReKnew The topographical position of Iconium is clearly indicated in Acts, and the evidence of Ac has been confirmed by recent research. Was Iconium in Phrygia or in Lycaonia, and in what sense can it be said to have belonged to one ethnical division or the other? The majority of our ancient authorities (e.g. Cicero, Strabo, Pliny), writing from the point of view of Roman provincial administration, give Iconium to Lycaonia, of which geography makes it the natural capital. But Xenophon, who marched with Cyrus' expedition through Phrygia into Lycaonia, calls Iconium the last city of Phrygia. The writer of Acts 14:6 makes the same statement when he represents Paul and Barnabas as fleeing from Iconium to the cities of Lycaonia--implying that the border of Phrygia and Lycaonia passed between Iconium and Lystra, 18 miles to the South. Other ancient authorities who knew the local conditions well speak of Iconium as Phrygian until far into the Roman imperial period. At the neighboring city of Lystra (Acts 14:11), the natives used the "speech of Lycaonia." Two inscriptions in the Phrygian language found at Iconium in 1910 prove that the Phrygian language was in use there for 2 centuries after Paul's visits, and afford confirmation of the interesting topographical detail in Ac (see Jour. Hell. Stud., 1911, 189). In the apostolic period, Iconium was one of the chief cities in the southern part of the Roman province Galatia, and it probably belonged to the "Phrygian region" mentioned in Acts 16:6. The emperor Claudius conferred on it the title Claudiconium, which appears on coins of the city and on inscriptions, and was formerly taken as a proof that Claudius raised the city to the rank of a Roman colonia. It was Hadrian who raised the city to colonial rank; this is proved by its new title, Colonia Aelia Hadriana Iconiensium, and by a recently discovered inscription, which belongs to the reign of Hadrian, and which mentions the first duumvir who was appointed in the new colonia. Iconium was still a Hellenic city, but with a strong pro-Roman bias (as proved by its title "Claudian") when Paul visited it. Iconium - International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (biblestudytools.com)

Congrats to Richard Enriquez, who won week 1 of #moxiemillion, by sharing the show to help it reach 1 million downloads this month! Cleopatra-schmeopatra!  Hear the stories of three queens of Africa who should also be household names (though only two of them for good reasons). Links to all the research resources are on the website. 3:06 Moremi of Ife 10:54 Amanirena of Kush 23:00 Ranavalona I of Madagascar  Hang out with your fellow Brainiacs.  Reach out and touch Moxie on Facebook, Twitter,  or Instagram.  Become a patron of the podcast arts! Patreon or Ko-Fi.  Or buy the book and a shirt. Music: Kevin MacLeod, David Fesilyan, Dan Henig. Sponsors: What Was That Like, Sly Fox Trivia, Sambucol Want to start a podcast or need a better podcast host?  Get up to TWO months hosting for free from Libsyn with coupon code "moxie."   When King Karam of Zazzau, a Hausa city-state in what would become Nigeria, died in 1576, he successor has already been waiting to take the throne for 28 years.  After being schooled in political and military matters and proving themselves a skilled warrior, they had been named ‘Magajiya' or heir apparent at age 16.  King Kurama's favorite grandchild would eventually become Queen Aminatu.  My name…   History and folklore have a tendency to intertwine.  This can happen especially when the history has been systematically eradicated.  You'll hear me mention or notice on your own a lot of gaps and uncertainty in today's stories.  The history of Africa is the least well-known or widespread of any continents.  The cause for this is as sad as it is obvious.  Europeans in Africa saw no great libraries or troves of history books, so they assumed the peoples of Africa had kept no history.  In fact, their histories were kept orally, a system that worked out fine until some whitey, the blue-eyed devil, paddy-o, fay gray boy, honkey melon-farmers showed up and started kidnapping and killing people en masse.  Victims of the Atlantic slave trade would be intentionally removed from their families and neighbords and mixed together with people from other communities.  This meant a lack of common language, which was meant to stymie unrest and uprisings on New World plantations.  It also meant that those who knew their history had no one else of their nation to pass it on to, as well as all the gaps created in the collective knowledge back home.     But let's start well before Columbus “discovered” an island with half a million people living on it.   In the 12th century, life was nice for the Yoruba people in what is modern Nigeria, ruled by the beautiful and benevolent Queen Moremi Ajasoro, wife of Oranmiyan, the King of Ife-Ife, and mother to Oluorogbo.  But there was one small problem, and it's a big one.  Their neighbors, the Igbo, literally Forest People, had a persistent habit of raiding their villages to loot, pillage, and kidnap people into slavery, either for their own use or to sell.  This is *not the same as the Igbo ethnic group, and if my friend Phoenix is listening, did I say it right this time?  The raiders were not only terrifying for their violence, but also their strange, alien-like appearance.  So otherwordly were the Igbo that the Ife people thought they'd been sent by the gods as punishment.  The Ifes offered sacrifices to the gods, but all for naught.  The raids continued and the land was thrown into a state of panic.   Not one to sit idly by while her people suffered, Moremi hatched a plan, but she was going to need help and a lot of it.  She would allow herself to be taken prisoner by the Igbo so she could learn about them.  But before she put herself in such a precarious position, Moremi went to the river Esimirin and begged the goddess who lived there to help her save her people.  As the story goes, the river goddess said that she *would help, but only if Moremi would sacrifice that which was most precious and valuable to her.  Moremi was a queen, to wit, rollin' in dough, so she didn't hesitate to agree.  Whatever the river goddess wanted, surely she could spare it, and her people needed saving.   During the next Igbo raid Moremi allowed herself to be captured.  On account of her beauty, she was given to the King of the Igbos as a slave, but it was her keen intellect that allowed her to move up the ranks until she was made the anointed queen.  No idea how long that took or how many more raids happened in the meantime.  If you want to learn about a group of people, you need to infiltrate them and gain access to what they know.  Moremi was not only among the Igbo, she was their queen.  As spy-craft goes, that's S-tier work.  This was how she learned that the terrifying appearance of the raiders that had tormented her people was battle dress made from raffia palm and other grasses.  It made them look monster-y and demoralized their victims with pante-wetting terror, but if you know anything about dry grass and vegetation, you know that those costumes were extremely flammable.  The Ife didn't need spears and weapons to protect themselves.  All they needed was a bit of the old “How about a little fire, Scarecrow?”  She probably picked up tactics and such-like as well, but nobody who's written about her seems bothered to have written that down.  Same with her escape from the Igbo and return to Ife-Ife, which I'm sure was harrowing and adventuresome.  Either way, she returned to her people and said “You know those supernatural beings who've been pillaging and kidnapping us?  Yeah, they're just dudes and it turns out they're also covered in kindling.”  During the next Igbo raid, the Ife armed themselves with torches rather than weapons and were finally able to repel the invaders. [sfx cheer]  One assumes the Igbo backed off after that.  I mean, you didn't see Michael Jackson doing any more Pepsi commercials. [sfx unhappy crowd]  “Too soon”?  It was 1984.   Now that her people were safe, it was time to repay the river goddess for her help, so Moremi assembled a flock of cattle and other livestock, as well as cowrie shells and other valuables, a veritable lifetime's fortune, which she was glad to give up now.  But that wasn't what the goddess wanted, not even close.  As anyone who's ever heard a fairy tale can probably guess, the goddess wanted something much more valuable, more precious than all the commodities even a queen had to offer.  The river goddess demanded the life of Moremi's only son, Ela Oluorogbo.  To go back on her word would be to tempt an even worse fate for the Ife, so Moremi had no choice but to sacrifice Ela Oluorogbo to the river.  The Ifes wept to see this and vowed to their queen that they would all be her sons and daughters forever to repay and console her.   To this day, the Yoruba people mourn with her and hold her in the highest esteem of any women in the Kingdom.  According to sources, anyway.  If, like my friend Phoenix, you have family from that region and no better, not only do I not mind being corrected, I appreciate and even enjoy it, because it means I learned something.  You can always slide into my DM [soc med].  Queen Moremi is recognised by the Yoruba people because of this bravery and celebrated with the Edi Festival as well as with a 42ft/13m statue, popularly known as the "Queen Moremi Statue of Liberty," which is the tallest statue in Nigeria, and the fourth tallest in Africa.   [segue]   While the word “Nubian” is used broadly by many and incorrectly by most of those to refer to all things African or African-American, it refers to a specific region and its people.  In what is today Sudan, south of Egypt along the Nile, was the kingdom of Kush.  I'll wait while the stoners giggle.  By the way, if you work in the cannabis or CBD industry, I'd love to talk to you about doing voiceovers for your business.  My NPR voice, as we call it around the house, is just dripping with credibility.  The Kushites' northern neighbors, the Egyptians, referred to Nubia as, “Ta-Seti” which means the “Land of Bows,” in honor of the Nubian hunters' and warriors' prowess as archers.  Archery was not limited to men, an egalitarianism that gave rise to a number of women Nubian warriors and queens, the most famous of whom was Queen Amanirenas of Nubia, conqueror of the Romans.   Since 1071 BC, the peoples of East Africa had established a small realm along the Nile River valley south of Egypt known as the Kingdom of Kush.  Prior to their autonomy, the peoples of this region had been living under foreign occupation since around 1550 BC when they were absorbed by the Egyptian New Kingdom.  It was during that period that they adopted many aspects of Egyptian culture.  It was only during the catastrophic Bronze Age collapse that the Kushites were able to reassert their independence. By 754 BC, the Kushites actually managed to conquer their former overlords in the campaigns of King Piye and ruled them as the Pharaoh of the “Twenty-Fifth Dynasty.”  they were eventually pushed out of Egypt by the Assyrians by 674 BC, but still maintained independent rule over the region of Nubia.   For many centuries, this small autonomous kingdom had successfully coexisted alongside neighboring foreign dynasties that had been occupying the provincial territories of Egypt, such as the Achaemenid Persians and the Greeks of the Ptolemaic Dynasty.  It was at the end of the Ptolemaic Dynasty, after the death of Cleopatra VII, the one we think of as Cleoptra, that things started to get a little hinky.  When the Roman Empire rose in prominence and annexed the territories of the House of Ptolemy by 30 BC, the Prefect, or appointed provincial governor for Egypt, Cornelius Gallus, attempted to make further incursions into the territories south of Egypt and impose taxation on the Kushites.  The Kushites said, collectively and officially, yeah, no.  They launched counter-attack raids against Roman settlements in southern Egypt in 27 BC The armies were led by the ruling Kushite monarchs at the time King Teriteqas and Queen (or Candace, meaning great woman) Amanirenas.   They began the campaign by launching [more] successful raids on Roman settlements Shortly after the war began, King Teriteqas was killed in battle, and was succeeded by his son Prince Akinidad, but Amanirenas was really in charge as queen regent.  In 24 BC, the Kushites launched another round of invasions into Roman Egypt after the new Prefect of Egypt Aelius Gallus was ordered by Emperor Augustus to launch an expedition into the province of Arabia Felix (now part of modern-day Yemen) against the Arabic Kingdom of Saba.  According to Strabo, the Kushites “sacked Aswan with an army of 30,000 men and destroyed imperial statues at the city of Philae.”  The Greek historian Strabo refers to Amanirenas as the “fierce one-eyed queen Candace.”  Oh yeah, did I forget to mention that?  Sorry, buried the lede there.  Amanirenas didn't lead her soldiers from the throne room, war room, or even a tent camp well behind the lines.  She was in the vanguard, properly leading as leaders these days can't be asked to.  Maybe if we required all the kings, presidents, prime ministers, dictators and their generals fight on the front lines with their sole heir beside them, things would be a little more chill up in this bish.  Amanirenas lost her eye to a nameless Roman soldier and I'm ready and willing to assume she immediately slew him in a single epic, slow-motion swing of her short-sword.      The Kushites had also met and engaged a Roman detachment outside the city of Syene.  The battle was another astounding victory for the Kushites, but these successes would be short-lived That same year, in a battle at Dakka, Prince Akinidad fell, just as his father had, and the Kushites fell back, but took with them all of the riches and slaves they had acquired.  The expedition of Aelius Gallus proved disastrous, as the movement of the army depended on a guide named Syllaeus, who deliberately misdirected them, costing them months of marching.  When they finally reached the capital city of Ma'rib, Sabean, Gallus' siege lasted only a week before he was forced to withdraw due to a combination of disease, the harsh desert climate, and the over-extension of supply lines.  That's basically the trifecta of reasons behind a larger army's retreat.  The Roman navy did better, occupying and then destroying the port of Eudaemon, thus securing the naval merchant trade route to India through the Red Sea, which was no small yams.   Having failed utterly at bringing the Kushite's to heel, Gallus lost his Prefect job to Publius Petronius, who then took his legions and marched directly into Kushite territory, looting and pillaging villages and towns before finally reaching the capital of Napata in 23 BC.  The Kushites attempted to get their own back with a siege of Primis, but Petronius broke through.  It was at this point that the Kushites sued for peace.  You might be thinking that Rome had Kush on the back foot and this was a desperate surrender to save their skins.  Well you can put that out of your mind right now.  The Kushites *did send negotiators to Augustus in 21 BC and a peace treaty *was negotiated, but it was remarkably very favorable to the Kushites.  Rome would pull its soldiers from the southern region called the Thirty-Mile Strip, including the city of Primis,  and the Kushites were exempt from paying tribute.  More importantly, they had managed to secure their autonomy and remain free from Roman occupation.  When have you ever heard of Rome, or any conquering army, giving terms like that?  That leads historians and armchair historians alike, myself included, to conclude that Rome was shaking in their sandals at the prospect of having to continue to fight Amanirena and her warriors on their home turf.  It was worth giving up whole cities and forgoing tribute to stop being beaten by them.    Although the Kushites had managed to retain their independence, Rome's monopoly on Mediterranean trade plus their newly established trade route to India, greatly diminished Kush's economic influence during the 1st and 2nd century CE.  The rising Kingdom of Axum in Ethiopia managed to push the Kushites out of the Red Sea trade which led to even further decline that resulted in the Axumites invading the kingdom and sacking Meroë around 350 AD and that was pretty much that for the kingdom of Kush.  But I've saved my favorite part of Amanirenas' story for last: the souvenir.  When Kush troops moved through an area that had already been conquered by Rome, the warriors would destroy anything Roman that they found, chiefly buildings and statues.  With Augustus being emperor, there were a lot of statues of him about and the Kushites said “get rekt, son” to every last one of them.  The head of one bronze statue was taken back to Meroe, where it was discovered during an archeological dig in 1912, positioned directly below the feet of a Kushite monarch on a wall mural.  Apart from the sick burn, the head was also significant for being the only head of a statue of Augustus ever found that still had the bright white inlays for the eyes, so when you look at it, link in the show notes, Augustus looks like he's permanently, perpetually surprised to have been beaten by a widowed queen with one eye.   MIDROLL   While I'd happily humor debate, especially over a pint and a basket of fries, I'll stake my position Queen Ranavalona I of Madagascar is the bloodiest queen in world history.  People should think of her, not Lady MacBeth or Elizabeth Bathory, when they need an icon for ‘woman with blood on her hands.'  From the start of her reign, she tortured and killed her rivals and presided over the untold suffering of her own people.  In those 33 years, while also successfully repelling European attempts to dominate the country, her orders reduced the population of Madagascar by half, or *more.     Born with a commoner with the name Rabodoandrianampoinimerina in 1778, Princess Ranavalona found upward mobility quickly when her father helped foil an assassination plot being assembled by the king's uncle.  As a reward, King Andrianampoinimerina (y'all should see these names) betrothed Ranavalona to his son and heir Prince Ra and declared that any child from this union would be first in the line of succession after Radama.  Talk about a glow-up.  Ranavalona wasn't the only wife, nor was she the favorite, though at least she was the first, and it probably didn't help their relationship when Radama became king and immediately executed all potential rivals, as was the custom, which included some of Ranavalona's relatives.  When Radama died in 1828, possibly of syphilis, possibly of poison, having not managed to get one child from his dozen wives,  according to local custom, the rightful heir was Rakotobe, the eldest son of Radama's eldest sister.    Rakatobe was considered to be intelligent, as he was the first people to have studied at the first school established by the London mission, which also made him sympathetic to the ambitions and efforts of the European missionaries and businessmen who sought to establish themselves on the island.  R was still a threat, though, as any child she bore would be the heir before Rakatobe, so she had to go.  The military supported R and helped to secure her place on the throne.  Rakatobe, his family, and supporters were put to death, the men with spears and the women starved in prison.  R then ceremonially bathed in the blood of a ceremonial bull.  For anyone who wants a sense of how the rest of this story is going to go, that sets the tone pretty accurately.    At her coronation, she gave a warning to those who would seek to undermine her authority.  “Never say ‘she is only a feeble and ignorant woman, how can she rule such a vast empire?' I will rule here to the good fortune of my people and the glory of my name, I will worship no gods, but those of my ancestors, the ocean shall be the boundary of my realm, and I will not cede the thickness of one hair of my realm.”  So Rana woke up this morning and chose violence, huh?  The late king had attempted to modernize the military by building modern forts and cribbing Napoleonic tactics.  To achieve this, he'd signed treaties with the British and French for supplies and arms, as well as allowing Christian missions to be built.  In turn, the European powers sought to establish dominance over the nation, which is information I will find under W for ‘Who could ever have foreseen that comma sarcastic.'  From the very beginning of her reign, Rona walked that back,ending treaties with the British and restricting the activities of the missions, just little stuff like banning the teaching of Christianity in the missionary schools.  Three years into her reign, King Charles the 10th of France ordered the invasion of Madagascar, but the malaria and political strife back home forced them to pack it in, a big check in Rana's win column.  But just for good measure, she ordered the heads of the dead French soldiers to be placed on spikes along the beaches.  The Queen soon turned her attention to her Christian subjects and a few European missionaries and traders who remained.  If you were caught practicing Christianity. you could expect to be beaten and hundreds were arrested.  Once imprisoned, they face torture and starvation, which beats being hung from a cliff and left to die of exposure in the tropical heat.  Whatever horrific fate they chose for you, your family had to watch.  Rana was not a nice lady, I really can't stress that enough.  Though there were some Christians who kept themselves to themselves and managed to outlive her.     If you were up on charges of treason, you'd face an ordeal by food.  You'd be forced to eat three servings of chicken skin and a poisonous nute from the tangena tree.  If you threw up all of the chicken, and just the chicken, you were free to go.  But it you didn't vomit up all three pieces, you'd be executed, or probably dead from the poison, six of one.  For every other crime, you'll be treated to a nice boiling, either water or oil, depending on the day, or, and here's a phrase, incremental dismemberment.  Queen Rana, I should mention, also did away with trial by jury, because that was a European thing.     Whilst the Queen was fiercely anti European,she was very much aware of her need to modernize.  Madagascar needed industry of its own.  In 1831, a French industrialist and adventurer named Jean Laborde presented himself to the queen after he found himself shipwrecked on Madagascar.  Labardi was soon made the chief engineer to the court, and possibly father of Rana's son Rakoto, charged with building a giant factory to turn out cannons, weapons, soap, ceramics and cement, with the “help” of 20,000 enslaved laborers.  Her military was paid by the kingdom, but not well, but they had a benefit to offset that – official permission to pillage, loot, and extract any value from her subjects.     In 1845, new laws meant that all foreigners on the island would be forced to take part in the public work, many were able to leave Madagascar to avoid such servitude, but the people who lived there weren't so lucky.  These works were usually performed by slaves or by those who hadn't paid their taxes and would find themselves in bondage for the remainder of their lives.  That may not be too long, when you consider how many people they literally worked to death, tens of thousands.  Per year.  To make sure there would always be enough expendable labor in Madagascar, Queen Rana abolished the export of enslaved people.  Importing them, still A-ok.     The public works were bad enough, but the enslaved could never have imagined the horror that would come with the 1845 buffalo hunt.  Have you ever heard of the extravagant boar or deer hunting expeditions/parties of ye olde times and thought they sounded completely extra and nuts?  They look like a carpool to the grocery store in comparison.  The Queen ordered the royal court to embark on a buffalo hunt through the malaria infested swamps and jungles.  In order to allow the royal party to travel more comfortably, some 20,000 forced laborers were sent into the jungles to build a road.  Not a road to one place or between two places, a road that existed solely for this trip.  An estimated 10,000 enslaved men, women and children died due to disease and the harsh conditions.  Mosquitos and bacteria have no care for rank and many of their 50,000 strong hunting party would die in the jungles.  I mean, it was still *mainly servants and slaves dying.  who died by the end of the hunting trip.  And how many innocent buffalo got wiped out in this boondogle debacle? [sfx paper rustling] Let me check.  In round figures, zero.  [in different languages]  1000s died on a buffalo hunt that killed no buffalo, all because the Queen wanted to go on a buffalo hunt.    It is not surprising that many within the Queen's Own court were eager to dispose of her, but the closest anyone got was when her Son Rakoto gave French businessman Joseph-François Lambert exclusive rights to the lumber, minerals, lumber and unused land on the 4th largest island in the world.  All Lambert had to do on his end was get rid of the Queen and make room for Prince Rakoto to become King Radama II.  Lambert attempted to obtain support from the French and British governments, to no avail.  In 1855, the Prince wrote in secret to Napoleon III of France, but Boni III left him on read.  It was not until 1857 that the coup was actually attempted and you might surmise by my use of the word “attempted” that it did not work.  Queen Rana responded by expelling all Europeans from Madagascar and seizing all of their assets.  With their oppressors gone, the enslaved worked in the factories burned those mothers down.  The prince faced no consequences and his actions were downplayed, as though he had been led astray by smooth-talking Europeans eager to exploit their country.    Speaking of no consequences, Queen Ranavalona I died peacefully in her sleep at the impressive-even-today age of 83. While she was one of the few African rulers to keep Europe at bay, but more than half million suffered and died during her 33 year rule.  Per her orders, the country entered into the official mourning period.  The bloodiest queen in history was dead, but she wasn't off-brand.  12,000 zebu cattle were slaughtered, though the meat was distributed to the people; and during the burial, a stray spark ignited a barrel of gunpowder destined for use in the ceremony, which caused an explosion and fire that destroyed many of the surrounding buildings and killed many people.   And that's… The Hausa Queen Amina reigned spectacularly for 34 years, winning wars, enlarging her territory, introducing kola nut cultivation and metal armor, and making sure her traders had safe passage throughout the Sahara region.  Today, she is remembered not only for her bravery, but also for building fortification walls called “ganuwar Amina” around her cities.  Remember…Thanks..   Sources: https://www.pulse.ng/bi/lifestyle/7-most-powerful-african-queens-in-history-you-need-to-know/dwhncf5 https://www.rejectedprincesses.com/princesses/amanirenas https://artsandculture.google.com/story/queen-amanirenas-the-story-of-the-white-nile-nubi-archeress/bALSN3WTK_YEJA https://wonderopolis.org/wonder/Who-Was-the-One-Eyed-Queen-Who-Defeated-Caesar https://face2faceafrica.com/article/amanirenas-the-brave-one-eyed-african-queen-who-led-an-army-against-the-romans-in-24bc https://historyofyesterday.com/madagascars-mad-queen-that-you-ve-never-heard-of-25e27ebe121d https://www.madamagazine.com/en/die-schreckensherrschaft-ranavalonas-i/ https://oldnaija.com/2019/11/06/moremi-ajasoro-history-of-the-brave-queen-of-ile-ife/ https://www.pulse.ng/lifestyle/food-travel/queen-moremi-did-you-know-about-the-courageous-legend-whose-statue-is-the-tallest-in/hr4llg4 https://www.thefamouspeople.com/profiles/hausa-queen-amina-51267.php TikTok: https://africanpoems.net/modern-poetry-in-oral-manner/moremi-ajasoro/  

106 год до нашей эры.Урок одиннадцатый. Сила и власть золота. -==-Поддержать подкаст patreon.com/romafallrepublicboosty.to/romafallrepublic-==-Герои выпуска. Осторожно, спойлеры к предыдущим сериям https://telegra.ph/Germanskij-cikl-2-seriya-Geroi-zolota-Tolozy-12-23 -==- Два консула, два цензора, шесть преторов, несколько квесторов, четыре эдила и целая куча различных трибунов. А еще губернаторы провинций и избранники прошлых лет. Единственные о ком мы не упомянули - это диктаторы, и, хотя их не избирали уже больше ста лет, рано или поздно дело дойдет и до них. Вся эта система сдержек и противовесов, отстраивалась столетиями и ее единственная задача - не дать одному человеку власть над всеми. Сможет ли устоять республика перед личными амбициями? Добро пожаловать в подкаст ROMA. Падение Республики! Сериал о людях, которые в борьбе за власть, славу и деньги устроили игру престолов в древнем Риме. Пошаговое руководство к разрушению республики. Подкаст выходит по четвергам. Подписывайтесь на любых платформах и присоединяйтесь в сообществах https://t.me/romafallrepublichttps://instagram.com/roma_fall_of_the_republic/?hl=ru https://vk.com/romafallrepublic Источники:Орозий, Павел. История против язычников Аппиан Александрийский. Римская историяStrabo. Geography Plutarch. Life of Marius Florus. Roman history Моммзен Т. История Рима. В 4 томах (IV том) Егоров, Александр Борисович. Рим на грани эпох. Проблемы рождения и формирования принципата Бэдиан, Эрнст. Цепион и Норбан Gareth C. Sampson. The Crisis of Rome: The Jugurthine and Northern Wars and the Rise of Marius Duncan, Mike. The Storm before the Storm

To the Church in Smyrna Revelation 2:8-11 by William Klock St. John's second letter sees us travelling up the road, about fifty kilometres north of Ephesus to the city of Smyrna. Ephesus may have been the chief city of the Roman province of Asia, but Smyrna was more ancient and a close competitor. It was a beautiful port city that the Greek geographer Strabo dubbed “the glory of Asia”. On the waterfront, at the bottom of Golden Street, the main thoroughfare, was the Tempe of Cybele. If you were a tourist and made your way up the street through the city, you'd pass other grand temples dedicated to Apollo, Askelpios, and Aphrodite. And at the end of the street, where it met the foothills, was the great Temple of Zeus. The Christians of Smyrna lived surrounded by the glory of the gods of Greece. But those weren't the only temples in Smyrna. The city fathers of Smyrna prided themselves on being forward-thinking and wisely pragmatic. Theirs had been the first of the cities of Asia Minor to align itself with Rome. In 197 B.C they appealed to the Senate for aid against Antiochus III and two years later, proving their loyalty, built the first temple in that part of the world to the goddess Roma. Through the Roman civil wars, they'd always managed to choose the side of the victor. Smyrna knew which way the wind was blowing. For their loyalty, the emperors granted Smyrna the status of “free city” and the construction of an imperial temple—and two more to follow in the years after the time period of Revelation. The citizens of Smyrna were loyal Romans. And that posed a problem for the Christians there as well. Look now at our text, it's just a short four verses beginning a 2:8. Jesus says: “And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: ‘The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life. As I've said before, Revelation is about tribulation, kingdom, and perseverance. Jesus' people live in the midst of tribulation and it's only going to get worse for them, and so Jesus addresses them first by reminding them who he is. As he speaks to each of these seven churches, Jesus calls to mind the image that John gave of him in Chapter 1. For the Ephesians he reminded them that he is the one who holds the seven stars in his hand and who walks in the midst of the lampstands. He sustains his church. For the Smyrneans he reminds them that he is the one who is first and last, the one who died and came to life. In each case, Jesus is urging his people to persevere in the midst of tribulation and he doesn't just say, “I know it's hard, but just do it.” He reminds them that he is with them. The kingdom is now. The kingdom is here. As his church, they are his kingdom and their king is with them. They're not walking through territory that is unknown to their Lord. Jesus has travelled this path before them and he stands with them now. That's what he's getting at in reminding them that he is the first and the last. He is the Lord of history. It was by Jesus—the word—that God created all things in the beginning and it is by him that God is now making all things new. And he is the one who was crucified and rose from the grave. Not only is that how he inaugurated his kingdom, not only is it how he broke the chains of death and sin and is making all things new, it's an apt exhortation in light of what the Christians in Smyrna are facing. They are united with Jesus—yes, in his suffering, but that also means they are united with him in his resurrection and have no reason to fear death. As St. Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “Death is swallowed up in victory” (1 Corinthians 15:54). Now look at Jesus' message itself, verses 9-11: “‘I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have tribulation. Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.' The first thing we should note is that Jesus has nothing bad to say about the people of this church. We can gather from the other letters that had there been a serious problem in Smyrna, Jesus would have mentioned it. These brothers and sisters were faithful. And that's just what's getting them into trouble. Jesus tells them that he's fully aware of their tribulation and their poverty—although he quickly adds that despite their poverty, they are in reality rich. This is in contrast to the Laodiceans who are materially rich, but whom Jesus condemns for being poor in faith. It's because of their faithfulness that the Smyrnean Christians are facing opposition. The immediate cause of the problem, he says, is that they've been slandered by “those who say that they are Jews and are not”. He goes so far as to call them a “synagogue of satan”. What does that mean? Given what we know of the historical situation in Smyrna, it's not too hard to piece together. At this point in time, the Romans weren't really the immediate problem. Until about the time of the Emperor Nero—during whose reign John wrote to these churches—Christians enjoyed a certain amount of freedom. Everyone in the empire was required to offer at least nominal worship to the emperor, but the Jews had made such a fuss over this and caused the Romans so many problems, that they'd been granted an exemption. They agreed to pray for and to offer sacrifices for the emperor and that allowed them to live in a somewhat uneasy tension with Rome. And for some decades Christians were seen as a Jewish sect and enjoyed the same privilege. But during Nero's reign that began to change. The empire didn't approve of new religions and the Jews about that time not only started distancing themselves from Christians, but were only too happy to insist that Christians weren't Jews and to point them out to the Roman authorities. Why would Jews do this? Some Jews were angry that many of their brethren along with Gentile god-fearers were becoming Christians. As far as they were concerned, Jesus was most decidedly not the Messiah. He was a criminal who had been crucified and anyone claiming he was the Messiah was a blaspheming heretic. They were also angered at the Christian approach to the law. And the idea that unclean Gentiles could become Jews apart from total obedience to the law, well, that just had them fuming. Think of Paul telling his story to Agrippa in Acts 26: “I myself was convinced that I ought to do many things in opposing the name of Jesus of Nazareth. And I did so in Jerusalem. I not only locked up many of the saints in prison after receiving authority from the chief priests, but when they were put to death I cast my vote against them. And I punished them often in all the synagogues and tried to make them blaspheme, and in raging fury against them I persecuted them even to foreign cities.” (Acts 26:9-11) Jesus words to the Smyrneans about Jewish slander leading to Roman imprisonment fits with what we know from the historical record. Repeatedly in Acts we see unbelieving Jews working with the Romans and other Gentiles to persecute Christians. Paul refers to this in 1 Thessalonians and we read about it in Tertullian and in the Martyrdom of Polycarp, who was Bishop of Smyrna and martyred about ninety years later. Remember that people like Paul, when they became Christians, wouldn't have thought of themselves as having converted to a new religion. They were Jews and they continued to be Jews. It was simply that in fulfilling God's promises, Jesus had created a new and better way of being Jewish. So the Jews would go to the Romans to report Christians and would argue that these Christians, contrary to their claims, weren't actually Jews and their claims to be so were disturbing the status quo. Worse, they'd argue, these Christians were only use Judaism as a cover for their refusal to recognise the divinity and lordship of Caesar. And, particularly in a place like Smyrna, that sort of accusation could be disastrous, because the Smyrneans were zealous patriots of Rome and loyal worshippers of Caesar. In Smyrna the imperial cult permeated everything. Everyone, rich and poor, was required by law to offer sacrifices to the emperor. In Smyrna, the city fathers thought this so important, that they actually provided the citizenry with money from the treasury to purchase their offerings, just so no one would have an excuse not to. And so to have any real part in public life, in government, in trade, in a guild, in various social circles you had to take part in the imperial cult and from the time that John wrote it only got worse for Christians. The empire demanded its citizens proclaim the lordship of Caesar, but for the Christians that was impossible. Jesus is Lord. They knew it and they could not betray him. And that faith was the basis for their perseverance in the truth. This is just how it went down for Polycarp, one of the most famous martyrs of the early Church. At one particular festival, a Christian name Germanicus was thrown to wild animals in the arena and told to renounce Jesus. He refused and was killed, but seeing his faith only made the crowd angrier. They called for Polycarp, the bishop, to be brought next. He was seized and brought to the arena. He fearlessly confessed that he was a Christian and he was given the choice: Worship the divine Caesar or die. The Jews of Smyrna shouted, “This is the teacher of Asia, the father of the Christians, and the overthrower of our gods, he who had been teaching many not to sacrifice or to worship the gods.” Polycarp would not renounce his Lord and was sentenced to death. The account reports that despite being the Sabbath, the Jews were foremost in gathering wood for the fire to burn the bishop. And as the fire was laid, Polycarp said, “It is well. I fear not the fire that burns for a season, and after a while is quenched. Why do you delay? Come, do your will.” And as he was consumed by the flames he prayed, “I thank thee that thou has graciously thought me worthy of this day and of this hour, that I may receive a portion in the number of the martyrs, in the cup of thy Christ.” The mob that martyred Polycarp echoed the Good Friday mob that shouted to Pilate, “We have no king but Caesar! Crucify him!” Is it any wonder then that Jesus would appeal to his own death and resurrection as the root of faith and source of perseverance for these Christians? They were truly to share in the same suffering that he did, and so he reminded them: I am the one who died and came to life. And in the same way that the unbelief of those Jews who cried out for Jesus' crucifixion exposed them as false Jews by their rejection of the Messiah, so these Jews in Smyrna exposed themselves as false in rejecting the Messiah's people. That's where the “synagogue of satan” part comes from. And in accusing Jesus' people falsely, these unbelieving Jews show who they really belong to. It's much like Jesus statement in John 8: If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. (John 8:42-44) The Church is the true synagogue—the kingdom of God and the temple in which his Spirit dwells—and because of that Jesus' people need have no fear of tribulation. Jesus urges his people to persevere even as they are thrown into prison. That didn't quite mean the same thing then as it does now. Prison itself wasn't a punishment. Prison was where you were held pending trial or execution, which usually came swiftly. The devil would see them thrown in prison. For many of them, release from prison would mean execution. “For ten days you will have tribulation,” Jesus says. That's not so much a literal statement about how long this time of persecution will last. It's a reference to the first chapter of Daniel. Daniel and his three friends were tested for ten days as they went without eating the king's food. The point of the test was to see if they would come out the other side as healthy as the young men who at the king's choice food. The temptation was to compromise with pagan gods by eating from the king's table, eating meat that had been offered to idols. To eat at the king's table was also a symbolic act of loyalty—and remember that the king claimed to be divine. These young Jewish men just couldn't do that. What Jesus is saying is that this time of tribulation will test his people's loyalty to him in the same way that Daniel and his friends were tested. But it's not just a warning; it's also an exhortation. They will come out the other side of this time of testing vindicated, even though it may mean their deaths—because they have already been united with Jesus in his resurrection. “Be faithful unto death,” Jesus tells them, “and I will give you a crown of life….the one who conquers will not be hurt by the second death.” The “second death” is a rabbinic expression. John uses it again in Chapter 20. And if you look at the Targums, the rabbinic commentary on the Old Testament, it means exclusion from the resurrection. As St. Paul wrote in First Corinthians, Jesus it the firstfruits of the resurrection of the dead. Where he has gone, his people will surely follow if they are steadfast in faith. He has triumphed and holds the keys of death and hades. There will be tribulation, but we must persevere, following where Jesus leads and knowing that we face nothing that he has not faced himself. Now, what does this mean for us? There is a general application here for Christians everywhere. No matter how good times are for Christians, we will always face some kind of opposition. The empire and the Caesars that once persecuted and murdered the saints would, several hundred years later be conquered by the gospel and Caesar himself would bow his knee to Jesus. That part of the world over which Caesar had claimed his pagan lordship would gradually be transformed by the gospel into “Christendom”. And yet even then, there were pockets and times of resistance. Jesus reminds Christians everywhere in all times of the need to stand firm in faith. We are his kingdom and we not only must persevere, but we have every reason to do so. And it is by our perseverance, even to death, that our proclamation of the kingdom is validated—that it becomes credible in the eyes of the world and spreads. But, Brothers and Sisters, “Christendom” is no more. In our post-Christian world we face ever-increasing resistance and opposition. And whereas a few decades ago—I think of growing up during the Cold War—we tended to think of opposition in terms of Communism and an authoritarian government shutting churches and kicking in doors to search our houses for Bibles and march us off to prison, things have gone in quite a different direction—a direction I think even more troubling, in part because it's far more subtle and insidious. The Smyrnean Christians faced ostracism, imprisonment, and sometimes martyrdom because they refused to offer that pinch of incense to Caesar. In our day the pressure comes from a post-modern culture in which objective truth has been forsaken and replaced with whatever a person feels to be true. We have become our own gods, creating our own realities and truths. Nevermind that those truths are, in reality, false. And along with that—in combination with it—we've made everything about the therapeutic and about the self. The worst thing that can happen to a person is suffering. And this worldview is everywhere and permeates everything. If you struggle with same-sex attraction, you don't fight it; you embrace it. Anyone who tells you otherwise be damned, because not embracing it brings suffering, shame, and oppression. A man can claim to be a woman because who's to say he isn't—not biology, not genetics, not reality. Science is no longer the basis for truth, feelings are—and if you say otherwise, you're labelled a bigot and oppressor. In one of the latest applications of Critical Theory, a doctor who tells an overweight patient that his diabetes or heart disease is because he's overweight becomes an “oppressor”. If science makes us feel bad, well it's wrong—it's labelled “oppressive”. Once we allow our feelings to define our truth, there's no limit to how absurd the claims become. And we not only make our truths; we put ourselves at the centre of them. Our relationships are increasingly centre on self rather than others. Fix a relationship? Sacrifice for a relationship? No way. If someone is difficult or unpleasant—nevermind that we might be at least part of the reason for that—you cut them off and cut them out. As they say, “You don't need that kind of negativity in your life.” No, you've got to take care of yourself. In fact, we've now got a term for this obsession with self, “self care,” and it's fast becoming as idolatrous a cult as anything the pagan Greeks and Romans did. But all of this isn't just “out there”. The western Church has increasingly embraced what's been dubbed Moralistic Therapeutic Deism—the general belief that God wants nothing more for us than to be happy and good—however you define good. How we “do” church, how we worship, everything about the church is increasingly becoming centred on the self. Worship has been turned into an experience to be judged by how good it makes me feel. Biblical sermons have been replaced by pop-psychology and self-help. Commercialism increasingly dominates how we do things. We stop asking if what we do will please God and instead ask how it will increase our marketshare. And without any deep biblical and theological anchors, Christians are increasingly compromising the good—and truth and everything else—because it's easiest just to go with the cultural flow. The Church is leaving people utterly unprepared for the cultural tide that's now breaking over us. Rod Dreher wrote last year, ““Relatively few contemporary Christians are prepared to suffer for the faith, because the therapeutic society that has formed them denies the purpose of suffering in the first place, and the idea of bearing pain for the sake of truth seems ridiculous.” If you have a chance, find a copy of his book, Live Not by Lies, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest it. And there's a flood of Christians now capitulating to the culture, offering their pinch of incense to the gods of post-modernism. It's become so common we now have a term for it: Deconstruction. And it grieves me to see friends and colleagues going through this process, sliding down this slippery slope that inevitably ends in apostasy. Once orthodox Christians face the pressure and the conflict between Church and culture and they begin to “deconstruct” their faith, pulling it apart piece by piece and then rebuilding it after reconsidering the pieces. It's so often presented as a faithful, mature, intellectual and spiritual exercise, but it's telling that in the end the result is the same very time. You end up retaining whatever bits of Christianity you can without being in conflict with the culture, and whatever is at odds, whatever causes conflict is cast aside. It's always the same bits discarded. The uniqueness of Jesus? Gone. A biblical sexual ethic? Gone. The reliability and authority of Scripture? That's gone too. Justice? Oh, they held on to that, they say. But the version of justice they've got after deconstruction is no longer the biblical understanding of justice; it's a post-modern concept of justice that has far more to do with Marxist ideology than it does the Bible. At least as often as not, you'll find that the person who has gone through this process has a close family member, often a child, who has “come out” as “gay” or “trans”. That's a difficult situation to be in. If you stand firm in faith, there's going to be conflict. But after deconstruction the conflict is gone. You can once again be at peace with yourself and with the world—and most importantly, no one out there can call you a hater or a bigot or whatever the insult of the month is. I've seen it happen over and over again. I've watched friends slide down this slope. I've watched pastoral colleagues slide down this slope. I've watched churches that slide down this slope—listening to one acquaintance locally whose last few sermons have been full of apologies for the sexist and patriarchal language of the Bible. Brothers and Sisters, if you find yourself apologising for the Spirit-inspired words of Scripture, stop. Now. Something's gone wrong. But this is the problem. Our culture values niceness and the therapeutic. The worst thing you could do in Smyrna was to be disloyal to Caesar. In our culture it's to make someone feel bad—even if they should. Shame, which until now we've always understood to be a positive in that it discourages us from doing things we know we shouldn't, well, now shame is a dirty word. And almost as bad as making someone else feel bad is to feel bad ourselves—to be in conflict with the mainstream, to be called out as a hater. Oddly enough, in the incoherence of post-modernism, the one time it is okay—and not just okay, but necessary—to shame someone is when they aren't on-board with the spirit of the age. And Brothers and Sisters, if you think it's hard to be called a hater or a bigot or intolerant, consider how difficult it is for our children. Especially if they've live in the environment of government schooling, they've been immersed in this culture to an extent you and I may struggle to grasp. This is why we need to be diligent and faithful in teaching them the faith, in discipling them, in ensuring they know what's true and what's false, and making sure they are not overcome by our therapeutic and self-centred culture. We need to recover a deep sense of the sinfulness of sin and of the holiness of God. We need to grasp the deepness of the love and grace and mercy of God and to recover a sense of the costliness of the sacrifice that Jesus made to show us that love and grace and mercy. And we need to know that if we are going to identify ourselves with Jesus, it means that we will walk with him in his suffering—in conflict with the gods and kings of this age—but that we do so in faith and in hope—even in joy—knowing that in doing so we are carrying his kingdom to the world and knowing that our kingdom hope is for life and for a world set to rights—truly set to rights by God's standards, which are far higher than those of our culture. It's not just about perseverance in the face of tribulation. We persevere—we will only persevere—because we know the deep truth of the kingdom: Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again. Let's pray: O Lord, come among us, we pray, with your power and strengthen us with your great might; that whereas, through our sins and wickedness we are grievously hindered in running the race that is set before us, your bountiful grace and mercy may speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, to whom with you and the Holy Spirit, be honour and glory, now and for ever. Amen.

113 год до нашей эры. Урок десятый. О корнях, дожде и любопытстве. -==- Поддержать подкаст patreon.com/romafallrepublicboosty.to/romafallrepublic-==-Герои выпуска. Осторожно, спойлеры к предыдущим сериям https://telegra.ph/Germanskij-cikl-1-seriya-Geroi-12-16-==- Два консула, два цензора, шесть преторов, несколько квесторов, четыре эдила и целая куча различных трибунов. А еще губернаторы провинций и избранники прошлых лет. Единственные о ком мы не упомянули - это диктаторы, и, хотя их не избирали уже больше ста лет, рано или поздно дело дойдет и до них. Вся эта система сдержек и противовесов, отстраивалась столетиями и ее единственная задача - не дать одному человеку власть над всеми. Сможет ли устоять республика перед личными амбициями? Добро пожаловать в подкаст ROMA. Падение Республики! Сериал о людях, которые в борьбе за власть, славу и деньги устроили игру престолов в древнем Риме. Пошаговое руководство к разрушению республики. Подкаст выходит по четвергам. Подписывайтесь на любых платформах и присоединяйтесь в сообществах https://t.me/romafallrepublic https://instagram.com/roma_fall_of_the_republic/?hl=ru https://vk.com/romafallrepublicИсточники: Аппиан Александрийский. Римская история Моммзен Т. История Рима. В 4 томах (IV том) Егоров, Александр Борисович. Рим на грани эпох. Проблемы рождения и формирования принципата Короленков, Антон Викторович. Смыков, Евгений Владимирович. Сулла. Щукин, Марк Борисович. Еременко, Владимир Евгеньевич. К проблеме кимвров, тевтонов и кельтоскифов: три загадки Strabo. Geography 7.2.2 Plutarch. Life of Marius Florus. Roman history Gareth C. Sampson. The Crisis of Rome: The Jugurthine and Northern Wars and the Rise of Marius Duncan, Mike (2017). The Storm before the Storm

Hello Interactors,Most people’s awareness of the economy starts with three letters: GDP. It seems every news report about the health of any nation starts with their GDP. And there is only one direction it can go for anyone to be satisfied and that is up. Even though we all know that as those numbers go up the health of our environment goes down. How did we get here? As interactors, you’re special individuals self-selected to be a part of an evolutionary journey. You’re also members of an attentive community so I welcome your participation.Please leave your comments below or email me directly.Now let’s go…BEN AND ARIESIn 1817, German poet, playwright, and scientist, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote, “Every school of thought is like a man who has talked to himself for a hundred years and is delighted with his own mind, however stupid it may be.” Goethe himself fell victim to this, but it’s unlikely he considered his ideas stupid. No member of any school of dogma does. He considered himself a cut above the rest; a genius in fact. At least as defined by his more famous German peer, philosopher Immanuel Kant.  Goethe was a naturalist and believed his genius was his ability to translate his knowledge of the natural world into manmade civic matters – like economics. He was equally adept at using words like “budget, balance, economy, law and order” in describing the workings of the German government as he was describing his gardens. Or mines. Goethe was put in charge of managing area parks, mines, and forests which gave him ample opportunities to marry elements of botany and geology with economics. He was following in the footsteps of the French economic school of thought from the mid-1700s, The Physiocrats. They too believed in the order of natural law. They thought “the only choice humans had was either to structure their polity, economy and society in conformity with the ordre naturel or to go against it.” Talk about being dogmatic. There were some big names in this school of thought; including Benjamin Franklin. He sided with the Physiocrats arguing the only real productive contributions to a nation’s economy was naturally – through land ownership and farming. It’s a school of thought that propelled Thomas Jefferson, also a land loving naturalist, to push for land grabs across the country for the purpose of farming and land taxation. It’s also what separated the industrial mercantilists of the America’s North and the agrarian agriculturalists of the South which eventually led to a civil war.  Colonialization, at its heart, was about land acquisition for agriculture, industry, transportation, international trade, and real estate. It was also about ethnic, racial, and gendered economies, and eventually the development of urban form. It set out to dominate the interaction of people and place. It was also the emergence of the field of economic geography.  But long before the Enlightenment and colonization, in 4th century BC, the State of Qin in western China developed timber maps that included locations and distance measures to the sites. These are some of the oldest economic maps in the world. And then along came the Greek philosopher Strabo. He published a book called Geographica just before his death in 24 AD. It was found and reprinted in Latin in 1469 and describes the interactions of people and places from around the various parts of the world Strabo visited, including their economies. This reprinted work proved more influential to the burgeoning Enlightenment thinkers of 15th century, than Strabo’s first century contemporaries. Either way, economic geography took hold in Europe throughout the Enlightenment and into the 19th century as Goethe was writing erotic plays, listening to Beethoven live, and dabbling in economics between trips to the garden. NEW-MATH MEETS HU-MANStrabo’s work would have been picked up by another German, Alfred Weber – the brother to one of the founders of modern-day sociology, Max Weber, who believed capitalism came to exist through the protestant work ethic. Max ended up winning the ‘who will be most famous’ yearbook prize, but Alfred likely would have been more popular at the time.  He made a name for himself as an economist developing some of the first theories on industrial location in 1929. He wanted to know why and how industries, cities, and farms determine where to locate. So, he developed analytical and interpretive methods to do so.  Citing agglomerations, a collection of contiguous cities, industries, and labor pools, Weber was likely influenced by one of the most prominent British economists of the time, Alfred Marshall. He authored the 1890 book, Principles in Economics, and was the founder of yet another economic school of thought – The Cambridge school of neoclassical economics. We’ll learn more about Alfred later.  Weber and Marshall were also influential outside of Europe. Weber’s work made its way to North America by way of a young mathematician named Walter Isard in the 1940s. Isard was a Quaker and thus a conscientious objector during World War II. His civil service was then satisfied as an attendant in a mental hospital.  He had recently earned his PhD in Economics from the University of Chicago where he was inspired by Weber. He spent his time at the hospital translating Weber’s work from German into English. He went on to teach regional science at MIT, started the first doctoral program in regional science at the University of Pennsylvania, and rounded out his career at Cornell in 1979. He died in 2010 as one of the most influential quantitative geographers in the field.   But while Isard was still a young boy, another strand in economic geography had already been started in America; but from a humanist standpoint. Geographer and geologist, Wallace Atwood, also a University of Chicago graduate, had published a book in 1920 called Teaching the New Geography. It was targeted at elementary school teachers and encouraged a more progressive method of teaching geography to young people that avoided rote memorization of place names.  Page one states that Atwood believes,  “the study of geography in the elementary-school stage should do more than…provide geographical facts – it should give them a real understanding of…a definite power of interpreting their effect on human life.”  He goes on to state,  “Fortunately, we have now learned to teach the facts of place, political, physical, economic, and commercial geography in association with the more vital, more interesting, and more thought-provoking topics of human geography. In other words, we have come at last to focus the study on people, not things.” Atwood became the founding editor of the journal of Economic Geography out of Clark University in 1925 and eventually became the school’s president. The journal continues today to “redefine and reinvigorate the intersection between economics and geography” and is the discipline’s leading academic journal. HEAD AND TAILSThese two schools of thought and approach, technical and naturalist, were both indicators and influencers of the larger field of economics and politics. But they were also two sides of the same coin. On one side, there was a top-down, mathematical interpretation and explanation for what was occurring spatially as goods and people moved through space and time. This approach to economics emerged out of the work of Weber, Isard, and others in Europe and North America who are fondly referred to as the ‘space cadets’. There work complemented another emerging field in economics called econometrics – the application of statistics to economic relationships.  On the other side of the coin were the earthy-crunchy, naturalists. The roots of the French Physiocrats grew into Germany creating sprouts of ideas tended to by people like Goethe. Seeds then spread to America and were planted by Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson. Their land rights and agricultural economic beliefs blossomed into a gridded patchwork of townships, farms, cities, roads, and waterways that stretched across a continent.   Colonial settlers toiled and tilled yielding fruits of labor in the form of property taxes and crop revenue. The funds of which built a military that protected industrialists seeking access to sacred Indigenous land to lay tracks for trains and mountains for mines.  Cities grew across the oceans connecting the northern hemisphere with diverse populations of people cross-fertilizing ideas, yielding new seeds of inventions and innovation, that continued to spread around the world through interconnected vines of nutrient rich endeavors. All of which were extracting natural resources and exploiting human labor at rates never seen in the history of the world.  By the 1900s the industrial age had lined the pockets of the economic elite, coal fired steam stoked success, but also paired pollutants to particles that penetrated the lungs of those less lucky. Trees were toppled, canyons collapsed, and sand stripped of their sediment. It was enough to prompt the Republican naturalist President Teddy Roosevelt to regulate railroads and conserve natural resources; an attempt to give Americans and the environment a “square deal”.   His actions encouraged people like Wallace Atwood to pause and grow concerned. Atwood hoped to inspire a generation by asking children of the 1920s to be thoughtful about the power people have over interactions between physical geography, politics, place, and the effect they have on human life. Imagine where we’d be today if Atwood’s books and words actually took hold. I don’t know about you, but my primary geography education was still pretty much about memorizing Anglo-American names of cities and states around the world.  This coin of economics offers mathematical quantitative spatial and econometric measures that include indicators of success for world-wide economies, on one side, and the other a naturalist-inspired human-environmental articulation of the potential positive and deleterious effects on physical geography and life. The measures of one side of the coin are even inspired by words of the other, like ‘health’ and ‘growth’.  But the two sides suffer from a perverse cycle of codependency that lingers to this day. For example, we live in a society that measures, rewards, and celebrates how increased sales of automobiles contributes to the ‘growth’ of an economy knowing full well their presence is destroying the ‘health’ of the environment and its inhabitants.  As gas prices plummet, economies grow – and so does the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere. Higher wages mean more consumerism and economies grow; and so does the size of toxic landfills and islands of plastic in the ocean. More cars on the road yield more accidents and more injuries and deaths. But they also yield economic growth in the insurance, auto, and healthcare industries as insurance, repair, and medical bills pile high. Economic indicators that rise, also measure our demise. We need no better proof that humans do not act logically nor rationally. THE AIMS AND PAINS OF KEYNESBut that would have been a tough argument to make in the late 19th and early 20th century. Most mainstream economists today would still argue. Arguments that stem from the principles of the preeminent 20th century British economist, John Maynard Keynes.  Remember Alfred Marshall, the father of the Cambridge school of neoclassical economics? Keynes was a family friend and protégé of Marshall’s and expanded on his ideas, attitudes, and beliefs. One of which was the notion that people’s subjectivity in decision making plays a small role.  In his 1921 Treatise on Probability Keynes wrote that when we are faced with a decision, we weigh the facts based on the knowledge we have. The decision that follows is “fixed objectively, and is independent of our opinion.” A probable choice “is not probable” just because we think it is. Some mythical natural law has determined it. I don’t know about you, but despite the knowledge I possess about the negative effects of sugar, it’s probable that I’ll have dessert because in the opinion of my sugar craving brain, I deserve it. And while I know the ocean is full of plastic, it is probable that I will continue to buy plastic products because, in my opinion, I think I want that product. But who am I to judge an Eton grad and one of the most influential people in the history of economics? He must be right. Right? In my opinion, not really. Keynes’ biggest contribution to economics, and the world we live in today, came in his 1936 book, General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money. Here he outlined how an economy could be a nationwide entity bounded by certain governmental policies. These policies act as levers, to use a industrial metaphor, that control prices, interest rates, and even consumer demand – consumers who are governed by natural laws of objective logic uniformly identical to any other human. By positioning humans as yet another cog in a machine, economists could more easily substitute human behavior into their mathematical models. While some, like Cambridge Philosopher Frank P. Ramsey, disagreed with Keynes, and developed alternative mathematics to demonstrate it, Keynes beliefs survived. In large part because should each individual act on their own accord, subjectively, it would be seemingly impossible to mathematically model the outcome. And where’s the fun in that? Economists across Europe and North America agreed. By the end of World War II, Keynesian economics dominated economic scholarship and practice. It’s the model we have today and can be characterized in these four economic processes: Economies are external to our lives. One of the most efficient ways to trick people into believing this fallacy is to put the word ‘the’ in front of Economy. The mechanical metaphors also help to position economic processes as something external to our lives; just like machines. Economies operate under their own internal logical and objective rules. Entire cultures and societies may come and go, but economies are unaffected. Political parties come and go, but economies remain omnipresent. Diverse societies and religions may rise and fall throughout space and time, but economies remain constant and monotheistic. Economies operate on a national scale. The mathematical techniques and apparatus surrounding the analysis and reporting of economies represent the success or failure of an entire nation. It was as early as the 1940s that the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) became the primary indicator of a nation’s economic health. These measures allowed for inter-national comparisons and worldwide economic systems like the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Economies must be operated and managed through governmental intervention. This is the key to perpetual economic growth. Governments not only can make it possible but it is their duty to do so. Politicians latched on to this idea quickly, which is why Republicans and corporations stacked collegiate economic departments with Keynesian thinkers and funded their research.  It’s been 100 years since Keynes published his economic treatise. That’s ten decades of Keynesian economists convincing each other their school of thought is right by pointing to perpetually climbing GDP numbers while ignoring the climbing curve of carbon dioxide concentration. The words of Goethe still ring true: “Every school of thought is like a man who has talked to himself for a hundred years and is delighted with his own mind, however stupid it may be.” It’s not hard to look around to see the students of this school of economics have failed. Our social foundations have been rocked. Our food, water, health, energy, education, social networks, income, work, housing, gender equality, peace and justice, social equity, and political voice are all suffering. And all that surrounds us too: climate change, ozone depletion, air pollution, biodiversity loss, freshwater withdrawals, chemical and soil pollution, and ocean acidification are pushed to their limits. But here’s what gives me hope. If it took just 80 years to dig this hole we’re in, I’m confident we can find our way out in less time than that. I’ve painted a narrow and bleak picture of mainstream economics, but know there are many economists around the world with alternative theories and practices. I’ll be exploring some in future posts. But the Keynesian school is what I want to replace.  So here are some things to embrace.  My school says: economies are embedded in the interactions of people and place.    Economies emerge as people converge in a perpetual swirling of reactions.  Social foundations and friendly relations are what make the economic milieu.  But without clean air and water too, any economy is doomed.  So embrace the patterns as complexities emerge among people and place interactions. References:Economic Geography: A Contemporary Introduction, 3rd Edition. Neil M. Coe, Philip F. Kelly, Henry W. C. Yeung.Goethe's Economy of Nature and the Nature of His Economy. Myles W. Jackson. University of Cambridge. 1992.The History of Economic Thought. Gonçalo L. Fonseca. Institute for New Economic Thinking. Subscribe at interplace.io

It's the age 'ol question we've asked a lot, "Do we have a good work life balance?" Al Loveland from Strabo joins me a the table to talk about changing your tune from balance to success. With just a few pointers and his Famous 4P's, we're all sure to succeed.        Calendar of EventsThis month's calendar of events is brought to you by Notre Dame Prep. Notre Dame Prep is a Catholic High School with the shared values of Reverence, Respect, & Responsibility.. Check them out on the web at ndpsaints.org Desert Botanical Gardens Host Flashlight Nighthttps://dbg.org/events/flashlight-nights-2021/2021-08-21/ Flashlight Nights are nighttime self-guided adventures through Desert Botanical Garden. Nocturnal explorers can bring their own flashlights to shine along the trails to capture the night-blooming plants and animals that appear in the desert after dark. Each evening of Flashlight Nights includes socially-distanced activities for all ages. This week an All female mariachi band will be playing.  Beat the Heat end of Summer at Scottsdale Quarterhttps://scottsdalequarter.com/events-news/event/2021/08/28/default-calendar/beat-the-heat Celebrate the end of summer by cooling down with treats, snow, fun, and music in the sun at our Beat the Heat summer social on Saturday, August 28th, from 10 a.m. - 1 p.m.! Cool down in the snow, play some yard games, grab a Topical Sno snow cone or a boba tea sample from Bubble Bee, ask for a balloon animal, and listen to fun music while you dance around in the splash pad. The first 500 people will also get to pick up toys and items that will help you Beat the Heat!

"Cinderella", or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale about oppression and triumphant reward. Thousands of variants are known throughout the world. The protagonist is a young woman living in forsaken circumstances that are suddenly changed to remarkable fortune, with her ascension to the throne via marriage. The story of Rhodopis, recounted by the Greek geographer Strabo sometime between around 7 BC and AD 23, about a Greek slave girl who marries the king of Egypt, is usually considered to be the earliest known variant of the Cinderella story. Amazon & The Book Depository have copies of the book if you'd like to own a copy. If you haven't already, please follow the show on Instagram for updates. https://www.instagram.com/stwdpodcast/ -- "Our Story Begins" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under     Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License     http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

On the many fantastic additions to the Letter of Prester John (Dragons! Strange Bakeries! Etc!), and on the theories around it. If you like what you hear and want to chip in to support the podcast, my Patreon is here. I'm on Twitter @circus_human, Instagram @humancircuspod, and I have some things on Redbubble at https://www.redbubble.com/people/humancircus. Sources: Prester John: The Legend and its Sources, compiled and translated by Keagan Brewer. Taylor & Francis, 2019. Nowell, Charles E. "The Historical Prester John." Speculum 28, no. 3 (1953). Romm, James S. The Edges of the Earth in Ancient Thought Geography, Exploration, and Fiction. Princeton University Press, 2019. Wang, I-Chun. "Alexander the Great, Prester John, Strabo of Amasia, and Wonders of the East." CLCWeb: Comparative Literature and Culture 14.5 (2012). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hello and welcome again to Lechem Panim. In our study of the book of Acts, we have come to chapter 9, which we will begin looking at during our time together today. But first, I want to tell you a little about a young girl I'm sure many of you have heard of named Anne Frank. Her story is one that has been remembered throughout the decades due to the tragedies that she faced and the sad and cruel way that her life came to an end during the World War II era. At the age of thirteen [she and her family went into hiding in Amsterdam. She kept a diary, which was given to her on her birthday, in which she chronicled the events of the war and her and her families suffering under the Nazi persecution. They had a hiding place called the Annex in which they concealed themselves. But then they were betrayed and captured and sent to the Nazi death camp Auschwitz in Poland in 1944. Anne, her sister Margot, and their mother Edith died in Bergen-Belsen, another camp. The father (miraculously) survived. But later [a friend of the Franks who had brought them food and clothing while they were in hiding, found Anne's diary by her bed and saved it], giving it to Anne's father who survived. It was later published and really [gave a voice and face to all those who suffered Nazi persecution.] Personally, I cannot imagine what it would have been like to live through the trials and persecutions that they faced. But you know, Anne's story is not unique. Sadly, the story of the Jewish people is filled with stories like hers; stories of persecution and fear. There has been in almost every generation of God's people a Pharoah, a Nebuchadnezzar, a Darius, a Haman, a Herod, a Nero, or a Hitler. And the same continues to be true today. And yet God showed His providence in each of those situations and often even used what those rulers intended for evil to actually produce or lead to the good of God's people. God judged Pharoah and delivered Israel out of Egypt. God helped his people endure during the reign of Nebuchadnezzer, delivering Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from the flames. He helped them endure the reign of Darius, during which He saved Daniel from the mouths of the lions (and the rulers who were trying to bring about his death). Haman tried to exterminate all the Jews much like Hitler did, yet God used a young girl named Esther to bring about deliverance and (in the end) it was Haman who died and Esther's cousin Mordecai who came to rule in Haman's former position as Grand Vizier to the king. In the New Testament Herod killed the Jewish boys in an attempt to kill the Messiah. But in the end, he died and the Messiah survived (the One who would bring God's salvation to the world). Nero also failed to exterminate the Christians, whom he blamed for all the ills of Rome (including a fire which he himself started). And in the case of the Nazis, they were defeated and shortly afterwards a great and glorious prophecy was fulfilled for the Jewish people as they became a nation once again. Over and over again God's people are attacked, yet God brings them through. And they (as a people) keep the celebration of that reality at the forefront of their lives. The Jews often sum up their history in three simple phrases: (1) They tried to kill us. (2) We won. (3) Let's eat. The First Great Persecutor of Christianity— Now I say all of this because in our passage today we encounter the first great persecutor of the Christian Church; a man by the name of Saul, a very important religious man who (in ignorance) set himself against Christ and His followers, who at that time were almost entirely Jews. And so this time the enemy came from within the Jewish people. And yet right on cue we see continued this glorious theme of God's providence in working His salvation in the midst of (and even through) times of enormous trial and persecution. The Stoning of Stephen— Now remember that not long before this, Stephen (one of seven church leaders selected to minister to the Hellenists) has just born witness to the Jewish leaders not only of the truth of Jesus being the Christ; the Son of God, but also of their guilt in putting Him to death. And the leaders are outraged at him and verse 7:58 (NIV) says they 58 dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. And it says in verse 8:1 (NIV) And Saul approved of their killing him. An Illegal Act— Now not only was the stoning of Stephen a morally evil act, but it was also an illegal one. Because [under Roman rule the Sanhedrin did not have the legal right to execute without Roman concurrence (see John 18:31).] But they did anyway. And the very first glimpse we have of this man named Saul is when he is standing by, passively watching these Jews murder this innocent man while he watches over their clothes. The very first place we meet Saul in scripture, he's an accessory to murder. He doesn't exactly sound like a pleasant sort of fellow. But he would have been very highly respected by his fellow Jews; and for good reason. Paul's Education at Tarsus— First of all, he was very highly educated. We know this for at least two reasons. First, he was from Tarsus. And [Tarsus was “no ordinary city” (Acts 21:39)] It was a city of intellectual elites; very highly educated people. In fact, [The inhabitants of Tarsus were so well known for learning that Strabo, the Roman geographer, remarked, “The people at Tarsus have devoted themselves so eagerly, not only to philosophy, but also to the whole round of education in general, that they have surpassed Athens, Alexandria, or any other place” (Geography 14.5.13).] And so here was a guy who, having studied abroad in Jerusalem under Rabbi Gamaliel (grandson of a famous Rabbi), has a mastery of Torah, as well as other fields of study normal Jews were not permitted to touch, such as Homer, Euripides, and other Greek literature that was normally considered unclean by the Jews. And that, by the way, would have prepared Saul to better be used by God to communicate the Gospel to the gentiles. But not yet. He Was A Pharisee— Now on top of this Saul was also a Pharisee, which meant that he was a part of the religious elite in Israel. The name “pharisees” means [‘the separate ones', i.e. the holy ones, the true community of Israel,] And so Saul was a very highly respected Jewish leader who would have been among the upper classes sociologically. He was Roman— Now in addition to all of this Saul was also a Roman, which gave him an advantage in certain situations because he had more rights than the average person; such as rights to a trial. The Road To Damascus— And so, all this to say, Saul was a very important and influential man. In fact he says later (after his conversion) in his epistle to the Philippians basically, “If anybody had anything to brag about, I did! As far as the world was concerned, I was doing pretty good. And I thought so too. And I thought I was winning extra points with God by squelching out this blasphemous new religion called Christianity.” Zealous History— And by the way [The zeal Paul demonstrated in persecuting the church is not simply religious fanaticism. Paul saw his devotion for God and his law as part of a noble history in Israel, which lauded those who showed outstanding courage to defend and avenge what was holy.] So Saul is trying to do the right thing. But, because of ignorance of the Gospel and misplaced zeal, he believes he is doing God a service by persecuting these Christians, whom he believes are leading God's people astray, never realizing that they are leading the people to God Himself; to the Messiah. And so it says that after the stoning of Stephen… [Acts 8:1-4 (NIV)]— ...On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. 2 Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. 3 But Saul began to destroy the church. {(As we said before, the Greek underlying this phrase sometimes describes the ravages of wild animals.)} Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison. 4 Those who had been scattered preached the word wherever they went. Not Scared Into Silence— Now I love how these Christian believers weren't scared into silence. No, even though they were forced to scatter, they never stopped sharing the Gospel even though they knew that doing so increased their chances of getting caught or killed. And it makes me think about my life and my ministry. Am I far easily scared into silence? We sometimes think, “What if I offend the other person?” “What if they get angry?” And of course we don't want to do so needlessly. But let me tell you, the message of the Gospel (that all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God; that we are in desperate need of a Savior who can bring us forgiveness and change because we need changing because of how desperately wicked we are); that message is offensive. But you know, most people (at base) recognize the truth of this, which is why they sometimes respond the way that they do. It is the conviction of the Holy Spirit working through you that is causing them to get angry. But you know, we really shouldn't worry about that. As long as we are presenting the Gospel in a Christ-like manner, we are doing our part. And often on the other side of that angry and malicious response is conversion. Ministry Outside A Clinic— I used to be a part of a ministry that met outside of an abortion clinic. We weren't there to protest, but just to offer help to the women and men going in and out and to encourage them to love their baby. And we shared the Gospel where we could and sang hymns together. Now some of these men and women would be infuriated with us. They'd storm past and say they didn't need our religion. But then often they would come out of the clinic later and come up to us and say (often in tears) that because of us (or the hymn that they heard us sing while in there) they had decided to keep their baby. Some of them even came to faith in Jesus. Now over the years (we kept track) hundreds of babies were reported to us by their mothers as having been saved through that ministry. Some of these parents even came back later and joined our ministry, often with their babies, who then became young children. And what we found was that it was often those who got the angriest with us who were actually being convicted the most and who were the closest to making a decision to turn to Jesus and to love their baby. Push Through!— Now remember that this week as you minister to that family member, friend, or stranger. Don't get discouraged when things get rough. If you push through the anger (and sometimes even the persecution) you will often find that the darkness of their response was actually the smoke being produced by the fire of God's conviction. And God can cause that conviction to bring salvation to that person's life if you are faithful to share even when it's tough. And so let us be faithful to always share the hope of the Gospel. Amen.

4 Phasen – Dänemark öffnet die Landesgrenzen bis 26. Juni 2021Am Mittwochabend dieser Woche hat die dänische Regierung einen Plan zur langsamen und schrittweisen Wiederöffnung der dänischen Landesgrenzen vorgelegt. Dazu wird die wöchentliche Risikobewertung von Herkunftsländern und -regionen wieder eingeführt – anhand von verschiedenen Farben mit dazugehörigen Inzidenzwerten. Alle wichtigen Informationen hierzu findet Ihr auf unserer Webseite www.radio37.dk.Die Reederei Bornholmslinjen hat am Freitag mitgeteilt, dass die erste Abfahrt der direkten Fährverbindung zwischen Sassnitz und Rønne erst am 20. Mai 2021 statt findet. Sofern das unter den dann gegebenen Umständen Sinn macht.Wer das alles in Ruhe noch einmal nachlesen möchte, der kann hier schauen: “Urlaub in Dänemark – was geht wann?”, Der Nordschleswiger, 15. April 2021 “Aftale sikrer gradvis genåbning af rejser”, Danmarks Radio, 13. April 2021 “Aftale om en gradvis genåbning for rejseaktiviteter”, Vereinbarungspapier der dänischen Regierung, 13. April 2021 (PDF)  Ab in den Garten: RADIO37 stellt Besuchsgärten vorIm zweiten Teil unserer heutigen Sendung stellen wir Euch ein paar der wichtigsten und schönsten Besuchsgärten auf Bornholm vor. Den Garten vom Kræmmerhuset in Skarpeskade, Strabo in Østermarie, Enghøj Staudehave in Pedersker, der Garten am Landwirtschaftsmuseum Melstedgård bei Gudhjem, Fuglesang Haveparadis bei Ibsker, der wunderschöne Garten am Erichsens Gård in Rønne, das Arboretet in Almindingen in der Nähe der Lilleborg – all diese Gärten und noch viele mehr könnt Ihr auf Bornholm besuchen.Hier gibt's ein paar Links: http://www.123hjemmeside.dk/kraemmerhusetB/ http://www.123hjemmeside.dk/Strabo/ http://enghoj-have.blogspot.com https://www.facebook.com/Fuglesang-Haveparadis-426400477432433 https://bornholmsmuseum.dk/en/visit/gaarden/ https://bornholmsmuseum.dk/en/visit/erichsens-gaard/ https://naturstyrelsen.dk/naturoplevelser/naturguider/almindingen/sevaerdigheder/#arboret https://haveselskabet.dk/lokale/221/aabne-haver-liste Interessante Gartenveranstaltungen auf Bornholm – Kräutertouren, Gartenbus oder Tag des ApfelsOb man nun lieber mit dem “havebussen”, also mit dem Gartenbus, zu verschiedenen Besuchsgärten auf der Insel fährt, an verschiedenen Pflanzentauschbörsen teilnimmt oder den grossen Pflanzenmarkt bei Strabo in Østermarie besucht – Gartenfreunde kommen auf Bornholm auf ihre Kosten. Und dann wären da ja auch noch die Kräuterführungen auf der Hammershus während der Bornholmer Kulturwoche im September, oder Havens dag sowie Æblets dag, letzterer findet immer im Landwirtschaftsmuseum Melstedgård bei Gudhjem statt.Für weitere Gartenveranstaltungen kann man auch hier schauen:https://haveselskabet.dk/lokale/221/arrangementerDie Musik in dieser Podcast-Ausgabe: "It's Coming Together INSTRUMENTAL" von Heifervescent, sowie "Room for a tree" von Stefan Kartenberg und "Maybe it's alright" von den Pure Mids - wiedergegeben durch die Creative Commons Lizenz (cc-by, cc-nc, cc-nd). Habt Ihr Fragen, Anregungen, Themenvorschläge oder Kommentare?Dann schreibt uns: Entweder per Mail an studio@radio37.dk, per Kommentar auf unserer Facebook-Seite radio37.dk - oder ganz einfach per Sprachnachricht an die Whatsapp-Nummer 0045 2290 2750. Wir freuen uns!

Shownotes: https://www.ecommercecafe.nl/hoe-maak-je-de-transitie-van-webwinkel-naar-stenen-winkel/ Lid worden: https://www.ecommercecafe.nl/online-members/ In deze aflevering van het ecommerce café ben ik in gesprek met Hans van Tellingen. Eigenaar van Strabo. Expert over alles wat met retail komt kijken. Met name de klassieke stenen winkels. In deze aflevering kom je te weten hoe je, naast je webwinkel ook een stenen winkel opstart. En hoe je deze succesvol maakt. Hans is ook auteur van Wat Nou Einde Van Winkels. Hans heeft ook een cadeautje voor de luisteraars, beluister de hele aflevering om te weten wat het is en hoe je het kan winnen. Wat wordt er zoal besproken? Gaat er veel veranderen in de toekomst voor stenen winkels? Kijk weet je, er zijn altijd winnaars en verliezers geweest. Alleen sinds het begin van deze eeuw is het iets lastiger geworden om een winnaar te zijn. Een paar jaar geleden, had ik één van mijn vele praatjes over mijn boek op het podium. Deed ik dat voor de winkeliers van Alexandria in Rotterdam. Ik deed dat voor de zelfstandige retailers. En toen zei één van die ondernemers, “Ja u heeft een positief en optimistisch verhaal. Maar ik zit hier al sinds 1986. Het ging altijd hartstikke goed, de klanten kwamen gewoon. Die kwamen binnen en die kochten wat. Nu zie ik steeds minder klanten, dus wat u zegt dat klopt niet.” Op het moment dat ik wilde antwoorden, stond de meneer van de Rituals op. Die had een jaar daarvoor de winkel gehuurd. En die zei dat het de op één na beste vestiging van Nederland was. Dat was eigenlijk precies wat ik wilde zeggen. De plek is op zich niets mis mee. Alexandria is een goed winkelcentrum. Het gaat wel opgeknapt worden, eens in de zoveel tijd is dat nodig. Maar je moet er als winkelier wel wat voor doen. En als je gewoon denkt zoals vroeger, de klanten komen toch wel. Neen dat gaat niet. Je moet met de tijd meegaan. Je moet iets verkopen wat de klanten aanspreekt. Ook moet je een open houding hebben, zodat de klant zich welkom voelt. De toekomst van winkelcentra, gaat die dan ook heel anders uitzien? Nou kijk, er zijn altijd winnaars en verliezers geweest. Je hebt een aantal type winkelcentra en winkel gebieden. Je hebt de binnensteden, die heb ik al benoemt. To voor kort, voor Corona. Deden de binnensteden het goed, tot zelfs uitstekend. Ik verwacht dat ze na Corona grotendeels gaan herstellen. Maar kleinere en middelgrote steden. Die hadden het al moeilijk en die gaan het waarschijnlijk in de toekomst nog moeilijker krijgen. Shownotes: https://www.ecommercecafe.nl/hoe-maak-je-de-transitie-van-webwinkel-naar-stenen-winkel/ Lid worden: https://www.ecommercecafe.nl/online-members/

This week on Gnollvember: We get into it talking exclusively about the Leucrotta! These smell, brutal badger-headed beasts certainly deserve their own episode! We even get a guest appearance by some friends of the show - Strabo and Pliny the Elder! Reading List https://www.encounterthis.ca/blog Socials Patreon Twitter Instagram Facebook Sponsor Strange Fellows Brewing, a Vancouver based brewery who’s Blackmail Stout might be single handily responsible for the formation of our show

Augustus started building the mausoleum following his victory over Anthony and Cleopatra in 31 BCE at the naval battle on the west coast of Greece close to the promontory of Actium – his success brought an end to the civil war and meant that Egypt transitioned to be a Roman province.  Augustus’ cremated ashes wouldn’t be placed inside for another 45 years however he would see it serve as the tomb for several imperial family members and close friends during his lifetime.  Today this imperial burial site is surrounded by a combination of somewhat brutal architecture from the 1930s, a church hospital and a modern museum dedicated to Augustus’ transplanted and reconstructed Ara Pacis.  However, when first completed the Mausoleum would have dominated the landscape as it was tall, strategically positioned in a large open area and visible from a long distance, it was also placed close by the Via Flaminia and the Tiber – both major access routes for Rome. Considering the historical significance of the building, the Mausoleum has suffered (and continues to receive) a surprising level of neglect. At the time of this recording in October 2020 there is still no visitor access despite millions of dollars and multi-year efforts to renovate and re-open the site. That said, given the adjacency of Ara Pacis museum, if you’re already there, it is worth taking a few minutes to look across to the final resting place of the first and perhaps greatest Roman Emperor. What remains is principally the central core and foundation structure of a huge circular tomb.  The design of the upper tiers is the subject of speculation as there are no remaining original external walls and no contemporary evidence in coins, sketches or sufficiently detailed descriptions to allow a confident reconstruction.  That said, we do have one account by Strabo a Greek geographer and historian who lived in Asia Minor during the transitional period of the Roman Republic into the Roman Empire. Writing about the Campus Martius (Field of Mars) shortly after Augustus’ death he says: For this reason, in the belief that this place was holiest of all, the Romans have erected in it the tombs of their most illustrious men and women. The most noteworthy is what is called the Mausoleum, a great mound near the river on a lofty foundation of white marble, thickly covered with ever-green trees to the very summit. Now on top is a bronze image of Augustus Caesar; beneath the mound are the tombs of himself and his kinsmen and intimates; behind the mound is a large sacred precinct with wonderful promenades; and in the center of the Campus is the wall (this too of white marble) round his crematorium; the wall is surrounded by a circular iron fence and the space within the wall is planted with black poplars. The circular mausoleum had a diameter of 300 feet (roughly 89meters) with its entrance to the south – which faces towards the rear of the Chiesa di San Rocco all’Augusteo.  The entrance way led into a roughly 40m wide series of concentric walls that themselves formed three circular corridors.  Each of these corridors had a barrel vault and they surrounded a spiral staircase in the middle of the mausoleum that wound its way up 30meters to the sepulcher where we imagine the ashes of the deceased were placed.  Directly above this area was the pinnacle structure that supported the large statue of Augustus mentioned by Strabo. In front of the entrance were two bronze plaques attached to pilasters on either side of the main doors.  These contained the text of the Res Gestae a personal account of Augustus’ accomplishments.   If you are visiting the site then consider going to the outside wall of the Ara Pacis museum to the side that faces the Mausoleum.  There you will find a complete copy of this latin text which goes into detail of Augustus’ political career; the offices and political honors that he held.  Sometime before the fourth century the entrance to the Mausoleum gained two plain obelisks of red Aswan granite.  These are gone from the site and are now positioned in the Piazza del Quirinale and in front of Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore. In the Middle Ages, the Mausoleum was converted into a fortress and later a site for formal gardens. In the Eighteenth Century, the area inside the upper terrace was used for bullfights, then for circus and theatrical performances, and in the Twentieth Century, before restoration began it was used as a venue for concerts.  Plans to re-open the site remain unclear given the slow progress of the renovation – the latest target date of spring 2020 has clearly not been met. Image:  "Rome. Mausoleum of Augustus." (https://www.flickr.com/photos/36551225@N05/5373995578) by Sergey Sosnovskiy (https://www.flickr.com/photos/36551225@N05) is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/?ref=ccsearch&atype=rich)

MAC6 COMMUNITY CONNECTION Albert Loveland with Strabo Strabo works with small & medium-sized companies on the four Ps. Making sure the organization has the right positions, people, and processes to generate the desired performance of its business and strategic plans. Al Loveland has spent nearly a decade working with small businesses, non-profits, and entrepreneurs in […] The post MAC6 COMMUNITY CONNECTION Albert Loveland with Strabo appeared first on Business RadioX ®.

In today’s blog and Twitter-saturated world of short text, Strabo’s (63 BCE – c. 24 CE) Geographica seems almost from another world.  Not only was it lengthy—composed of 17 books—but […] The post Strabo’s Geographica: The Whole Known World appeared first on Joseph Kerski, Ph.D. - Geographer.

The Religion of the Ancient Celts (1911) Chapter 18: Festivals by J. A. MacCulloch The Celtic year was not at first regulated by the solstices and equinoxes, but by some method connected with agriculture or with the seasons. Names Used in this Section oidhche Samhain Geimredh Earrach Oimelc Samradh Beltane Cét-soman or Cét-samain Samono-s Cyntefyn Foghamar Lugnasadh Brontroghain Tille Keating  samhanach  Mongfind  Mag-tured Tuatha Dé Danann Fomorians Belenos  M. D'Arbois belo-te[p]niâ Belisama te[p]nos Beltane carline cailleach  Professor Pearson Mannhardt and Dr. Frazer Cæsar, Strabo, and Diodorus Irish as Lugnasad, in Gaelic as Lunasdal or Lunasduinn, and in Manx as Laa Luanys Lugudunum Goel-aoust, Gul-austus, and Gwyl Awst Lugh mac Ethlenn Rennes Dindsenchas Demeter and Kore Namnite women Dionysius Periegetes S. Gregory of Tours Berecynthia  Augustodunum  Professor Anwyl to be the goddess Brigindu Teutonic cult of Nerthus, the Phrygian of Cybele, the Hindu of Bhavani, and the Roman ritual of the Bona Dea.   Religion of the Ancient Celts can be found on Sacred Texts. You can find out more about J. A. McCulloch on Wikipedia. Try the Celtic Myth Podshow for a dramatic re-telling of the Tales and Stories of the Ancient Celts at http://celticmythpodshow.com or in Apple Podcasts. Our theme music is "Gander at the Pratie Hole" by Sláinte.  You can find their music on the Free Music Archive.

Hello everybody, and welcome into the Bible Reading podcast - a welcome respite from all of the coronavirus news going around, and filled with enough good Scripture to encourage and edify our souls! Today's passages include Exodus 21, Job 39, Luke 24, and 2nd Corinthians 9. I honestly went back and forth over the topic for today's show. I strongly considered and even began writing about Jesus' command to the disciples to tarry in Jerusalem until they were, "clothed with power from on high," and almost talked about Paul's blessed command to give in 2nd Corinthians 9, but ultimately, I couldn't get away from the allure of talking about the resurrection again, so that is today's focus. It is honestly just hard not to focus on the greatest event in history every time you encounter it in the Bible. With lots of fear going around because of this pandemic scare, I am grateful that - no matter how bad this or any situation gets - those who are saved by grace through faith in the finished work of Jesus on the cross have the wonderful promise of eternal life in Him. Because He lives - we who follow Him will live and not perish. Praise His name! The resurrection is the antidote for all of our fears! By the way, today's episode is a two parter, because I couldn't drop two straight 40 minute episodes on you. Selections from today's show are from my book: Easter Fact or Fiction - Twenty Reasons to Believe Jesus Rose from the Dead, which is available on Amazon. Every time you buy a copy of that book on Amazon, I make a little over two dollars - which is enough to buy my precious children about two rolls of toilet paper. Or, it would be if every store in Salinas wasn't sold out of toilet paper!! I'm tempted to do an episode that attempts to castigate toilet paper hoarders, but I can't really find a Scripture on that, for some reason. Here is a good question from Willem Dykstra about my choice of the CSB for the primary BRP podcast Bible. Hi Chase, I am just curious, why is it that you use the CSB, Christian Standard Bible version? Or at least, why do you use it in your Bible Reading Podcast?Up until your podcast, I had never heard of this version I did just a little googling and only remembered from my googling that it seems to be an updated version of the HCSB. Anyway, when I was just a wee lad growing up in Southern Ontario and attending one of the two Christian Reformed Churches in Bowmanville, Ontario, I think the various Christian Reformed Churches in that area used the RSV. I believe some were also still using the good old KJV (Linus’s speech in the Peanuts Christmas special would not be the same without it). Around the time I started college, or shortly after that (or maybe just before), all the Christian Reformed Churches almost immediately went to the NIV. Every good Dutch, Christian Reformed person will tell you the NIV published by Zondervan (Another great Dutch name) is the Christian Reformed Church’s gift to the rest of Christiandom (I mean, our denomination is even mentioned in the preface and everything) I remember my theology professor when I went to college at Dordt University in Sioux Center, IA, (then it was called Dordt College) although he was a faithful Christian Reformed member did not like that they did the “LORD” in uppercase when they should have used the actual name Yahweh or something like that. I can’t seem to recall if I got his umbrage correct (that was a long time ago). Anyway, fast forward to the time I am now married and living in Minnesota attending Dr. John Piper’s church, Bethlehem Baptist. I remember that he felt very strongly about the ESV and said this would be the last and best version he would ever use. And our church, both campuses at that time, only used the ESV from then on, and I have been using it ever since.Anyways, sorry if I just wrote too much info here. I did not even go into the fact that several years ago (or maybe decades), it seemed Zondervan Publishing and the NIV had fallen from grace when many people took umbrage (myself included) when Zondervan decided to publish a gender-neutral version of the NIV. I don’t remember what this new version is even called (NIrV I think or something like that, but I digress again), but anyways if you have read this far, I really am wondering why is it that you use the CSB? Great question, Willem! I've been a Christian for almost 40 years now, and here is a list of the translations I have favored over the years: 1970s (as a child) The King James Version Plus the Living Bible. (I was a child!) 1980s-early 2000s: The NIV 1984 1998/99-2002ish: The Updated NASB 2002-2008 The 1984 NIV + The Updated NASB 2008-2013 The ESV 2013-2020 The Holman Christian Standard + The ESV + The CSB. My primary preaching translation for the past 7 years has been the HCSB. The reason I chose the CSB for the Bible Reading podcast, is because I thought that more readers would have it than the HCSB, which remains my favorite translation. The biggest difference I see between the CSB and the HCSB is the translation of the Tetragrammaton - the personal name of God. the CSB prefers LORD and the HCSB prefers Yahweh: Comparison of Psalm 83:18 HCSB: May they know that You alone— whose name is Yahweh— are the Most High over all the earth. CSB: May they know that you alone— whose name is the LORD are the Most High over the whole earth. I believe the best way to translate the name of God is indeed to use 'Yahweh,' but I do not believe that LORD is wrong. Today's Big Bible Question is all about the women who were the first witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus. This is a big deal, because the testimony of women was not viewed favorably in the first century, and the fact that all FOUR Gospels feature women as the first witnesses of the resurrection is very significant historically. I believe it offers solid corroaboration to the authenticity of the Gospel accounts. Why have women as the first witnesses of Jesus if you are fabricating a story, or legendizing a story? The only sensible reason to feature women prominently as the first witnesses of the biggest event in history is if they were really the first witnesses. One thing I noticed in yesterday's reading of Luke 23 - that I had glossed over in the past - is that the women were not only witnesses of the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus, but also very close and careful eyewitnesses of the burial of Jesus: 55 The women who had come with him from Galilee followed along and observed the tomb and how his body was placed. 56 Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes.And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment. Luke 23:55-56 It should be noted that for one to argue that the early church fabricated the resurrection of Jesus, one has to commit to the very same sexism that many of the men of the first century were quite guilty of - they must disparage the testimony of women! Consider the words of Josephus and Strabo - one a well known Jewish/Roman historian and the other a notable Roman first century sexist philosopher: A. “But let not a single witness be credited; but three, or two at the least, and those such whose testimony is confirmed by their good lives. But let not the testimony of women be admitted, on account of the levity and boldness of their sex, nor let servants be admitted to give testimony on account of the ignobility of their soul; since it is probable that they may not speak truth” - Jewish/Roman historian Josephus, pointing out the belief that women of his day should not testify in court B: “In dealing with a crowd of women at least, or with any promiscuous mob, a philosopher cannot influence them by reason or exhort them to reverence, piety and faith; nay, there is need of religious fear also, and this cannot be aroused without myths and marvels” - Strabo, a first century philosopher sharing a quite common view of women at the time: that they were immune to reason and comparable to a “promiscuous mob.” A. Flavius Josephus and William Whiston, The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1987), 117. B. Richard Bauckham, Gospel Women: Studies of the Named Women in the Gospels (Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans, ©2002), 270 They weren't the only ones, either! Consider the Mishnah a compilation of the Jewish oral law that was actively used by the Scribes and Pharisees during the first century. (and not the Word of God.) One of the Rabbis found within testifies that, due to their menstrual issues, “women are not competent witnesses to be relied on…they are not halakhically admissible as reliable witnesses.” There are many more examples than just those, and I imagine some of you are mad right now, so let me just sneak in one other somewhat infuriating quote written by our backwards ‘friends’ from antiquity. Celsus was a Greek philosopher and an adamant opponent of Christianity who lived in the second century. Of the resurrection, and the fact that a woman was the first witness of the risen Jesus, Celsus opined: “But we must examine this question whether anyone who really died ever rose again with the same body. Or do you think that the stories of these others really are the legends which they appear to be, and yet that the ending of your tragedy is to be regarded as noble and convincing—his cry from the cross when he expired, and the earthquake and the darkness? While he was alive he did not help himself, but after death he rose again and showed the marks of his punishment and how his hands had been pierced. But who saw this? A hysterical female, as you say, and perhaps some other one of those who were deluded by the same sorcery, who either dreamt in a certain state of mind and through wishful thinking had a hallucination due to some mistaken notion, or, which is more likely, wanted to impress the others by telling this fantastic tale, and so by this cock-and-bull story to provide a chance for other beggars.” James Stevenson, A New Eusebius: Documents Illustrating the History of the Church to AD 337 (London: SPCK, 1987), 133. As you can see here, Celsus’ major attack on the validity of the resurrection account is that it was first witnessed and propagated by a hysterical woman (Mary Magdalene) and, another “one of those,” who was “deluded by the same sorcery.” On behalf of women everywhere, I am offended for you! Be reminded that, though this backwards attitude towards women was staggeringly rampant in the first century, that was not the case with Jesus, the apostles, nor the early church. Perhaps you’ve imagined that the “Jesus Team” consisted of Jesus and the twelve disciples, and those thirteen went around from city to city healing the sick and sharing the good news. You’d be partly right, but the Jesus team was actually quite a bit larger than that, as there were a number (the Bible says “many) of women that also travelled with Jesus and had a critical role on the team, paying for lodging and expenses, etc. Jesus Himself was radical in the way He treated women, having multiple deep individual encounters with them at a time when it would be scandalously inappropriate for a Rabbi to have a one on one conversation with a female. Compare the New Testament to any other document of antiquity, and you will find that it was radically forward thinking in its ethos of women. To be sure, in many cases, women were treated quite poorly in the earliest centuries, and were viewed in a way that does not comport with modern reality. I could add many other quotes to demonstrate this historical fact, but that is not necessary to make the primary and pertinent point here: having a female witness to something monumental in the first century might be a little bit…inconvenient, to say the least. As Josephus notes above, there were many cultures in antiquity where a woman was not allowed to testify in court. In other ancient cultures, they might have been allowed to testify, but their testimony would not have carried as much weight as the testimony of a man. In some of those situations, where women were actually allowed to testify, it would take the testimony of two women to override the testimony of one man. Why is such a cultural issue critical in discussing the resurrection of Jesus? Because, according to Matthew 28, the first two witnesses to the risen Jesus were women, Mary Magdalene and “The other Mary.” Luke adds that Joanna was there, as well as “other women,” and seems to indicate that “the other” Mary, was Mary the mother of James. All four gospels, written down by different men, in different places and at different time periods ALL feature a female (Mary Magdalene) as the first witness of the resurrection of Jesus. Stay Tuned for part two tomorrow!

Hello everybody, and welcome into the Bible Reading podcast - a welcome respite from all of the coronavirus news going around, and filled with enough good Scripture to encourage and edify our souls! Today's passages include Exodus 21, Job 39, Luke 24, and 2nd Corinthians 9. I honestly went back and forth over the topic for today's show. I strongly considered and even began writing about Jesus' command to the disciples to tarry in Jerusalem until they were, "clothed with power from on high," and almost talked about Paul's blessed command to give in 2nd Corinthians 9, but ultimately, I couldn't get away from the allure of talking about the resurrection again, so that is today's focus. It is honestly just hard not to focus on the greatest event in history every time you encounter it in the Bible. With lots of fear going around because of this pandemic scare, I am grateful that - no matter how bad this or any situation gets - those who are saved by grace through faith in the finished work of Jesus on the cross have the wonderful promise of eternal life in Him. Because He lives - we who follow Him will live and not perish. Praise His name! The resurrection is the antidote for all of our fears! By the way, today's episode is a two parter, because I couldn't drop two straight 40 minute episodes on you. Selections from today's show are from my book: Easter Fact or Fiction - Twenty Reasons to Believe Jesus Rose from the Dead, which is available on Amazon. Every time you buy a copy of that book on Amazon, I make a little over two dollars - which is enough to buy my precious children about two rolls of toilet paper. Or, it would be if every store in Salinas wasn't sold out of toilet paper!! I'm tempted to do an episode that attempts to castigate toilet paper hoarders, but I can't really find a Scripture on that, for some reason. Here is a good question from Willem Dykstra about my choice of the CSB for the primary BRP podcast Bible. Hi Chase, I am just curious, why is it that you use the CSB, Christian Standard Bible version? Or at least, why do you use it in your Bible Reading Podcast?Up until your podcast, I had never heard of this version I did just a little googling and only remembered from my googling that it seems to be an updated version of the HCSB. Anyway, when I was just a wee lad growing up in Southern Ontario and attending one of the two Christian Reformed Churches in Bowmanville, Ontario, I think the various Christian Reformed Churches in that area used the RSV. I believe some were also still using the good old KJV (Linus’s speech in the Peanuts Christmas special would not be the same without it). Around the time I started college, or shortly after that (or maybe just before), all the Christian Reformed Churches almost immediately went to the NIV. Every good Dutch, Christian Reformed person will tell you the NIV published by Zondervan (Another great Dutch name) is the Christian Reformed Church’s gift to the rest of Christiandom (I mean, our denomination is even mentioned in the preface and everything) I remember my theology professor when I went to college at Dordt University in Sioux Center, IA, (then it was called Dordt College) although he was a faithful Christian Reformed member did not like that they did the “LORD” in uppercase when they should have used the actual name Yahweh or something like that. I can’t seem to recall if I got his umbrage correct (that was a long time ago). Anyway, fast forward to the time I am now married and living in Minnesota attending Dr. John Piper’s church, Bethlehem Baptist. I remember that he felt very strongly about the ESV and said this would be the last and best version he would ever use. And our church, both campuses at that time, only used the ESV from then on, and I have been using it ever since.Anyways, sorry if I just wrote too much info here. I did not even go into the fact that several years ago (or maybe decades), it seemed Zondervan Publishing and the NIV had fallen from grace when many people took umbrage (myself included) when Zondervan decided to publish a gender-neutral version of the NIV. I don’t remember what this new version is even called (NIrV I think or something like that, but I digress again), but anyways if you have read this far, I really am wondering why is it that you use the CSB? Great question, Willem! I've been a Christian for almost 40 years now, and here is a list of the translations I have favored over the years: 1970s (as a child) The King James Version Plus the Living Bible. (I was a child!) 1980s-early 2000s: The NIV 1984 1998/99-2002ish: The Updated NASB 2002-2008 The 1984 NIV + The Updated NASB 2008-2013 The ESV 2013-2020 The Holman Christian Standard + The ESV + The CSB. My primary preaching translation for the past 7 years has been the HCSB. The reason I chose the CSB for the Bible Reading podcast, is because I thought that more readers would have it than the HCSB, which remains my favorite translation. The biggest difference I see between the CSB and the HCSB is the translation of the Tetragrammaton - the personal name of God. the CSB prefers LORD and the HCSB prefers Yahweh: Comparison of Psalm 83:18 HCSB: May they know that You alone— whose name is Yahweh— are the Most High over all the earth. CSB: May they know that you alone— whose name is the LORD are the Most High over the whole earth. I believe the best way to translate the name of God is indeed to use 'Yahweh,' but I do not believe that LORD is wrong. Today's Big Bible Question is all about the women who were the first witnesses of the resurrection of Jesus. This is a big deal, because the testimony of women was not viewed favorably in the first century, and the fact that all FOUR Gospels feature women as the first witnesses of the resurrection is very significant historically. I believe it offers solid corroaboration to the authenticity of the Gospel accounts. Why have women as the first witnesses of Jesus if you are fabricating a story, or legendizing a story? The only sensible reason to feature women prominently as the first witnesses of the biggest event in history is if they were really the first witnesses. One thing I noticed in yesterday's reading of Luke 23 - that I had glossed over in the past - is that the women were not only witnesses of the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus, but also very close and careful eyewitnesses of the burial of Jesus: 55 The women who had come with him from Galilee followed along and observed the tomb and how his body was placed. 56 Then they returned and prepared spices and perfumes.And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment. Luke 23:55-56 It should be noted that for one to argue that the early church fabricated the resurrection of Jesus, one has to commit to the very same sexism that many of the men of the first century were quite guilty of - they must disparage the testimony of women! Consider the words of Josephus and Strabo - one a well known Jewish/Roman historian and the other a notable Roman first century sexist philosopher: A. “But let not a single witness be credited; but three, or two at the least, and those such whose testimony is confirmed by their good lives. But let not the testimony of women be admitted, on account of the levity and boldness of their sex, nor let servants be admitted to give testimony on account of the ignobility of their soul; since it is probable that they may not speak truth” - Jewish/Roman historian Josephus, pointing out the belief that women of his day should not testify in court B: “In dealing with a crowd of women at least, or with any promiscuous mob, a philosopher cannot influence them by reason or exhort them to reverence, piety and faith; nay, there is need of religious fear also, and this cannot be aroused without myths and marvels” - Strabo, a first century philosopher sharing a quite common view of women at the time: that they were immune to reason and comparable to a “promiscuous mob.” A. Flavius Josephus and William Whiston, The Works of Josephus: Complete and Unabridged (Peabody: Hendrickson, 1987), 117. B. Richard Bauckham, Gospel Women: Studies of the Named Women in the Gospels (Grand Rapids, Mich.: W.B. Eerdmans, ©2002), 270 They weren't the only ones, either! Consider the Mishnah a compilation of the Jewish oral law that was actively used by the Scribes and Pharisees during the first century. (and not the Word of God.) One of the Rabbis found within testifies that, due to their menstrual issues, “women are not competent witnesses to be relied on…they are not halakhically admissible as reliable witnesses.” There are many more examples than just those, and I imagine some of you are mad right now, so let me just sneak in one other somewhat infuriating quote written by our backwards ‘friends’ from antiquity. Celsus was a Greek philosopher and an adamant opponent of Christianity who lived in the second century. Of the resurrection, and the fact that a woman was the first witness of the risen Jesus, Celsus opined: “But we must examine this question whether anyone who really died ever rose again with the same body. Or do you think that the stories of these others really are the legends which they appear to be, and yet that the ending of your tragedy is to be regarded as noble and convincing—his cry from the cross when he expired, and the earthquake and the darkness? While he was alive he did not help himself, but after death he rose again and showed the marks of his punishment and how his hands had been pierced. But who saw this? A hysterical female, as you say, and perhaps some other one of those who were deluded by the same sorcery, who either dreamt in a certain state of mind and through wishful thinking had a hallucination due to some mistaken notion, or, which is more likely, wanted to impress the others by telling this fantastic tale, and so by this cock-and-bull story to provide a chance for other beggars.” James Stevenson, A New Eusebius: Documents Illustrating the History of the Church to AD 337 (London: SPCK, 1987), 133. As you can see here, Celsus’ major attack on the validity of the resurrection account is that it was first witnessed and propagated by a hysterical woman (Mary Magdalene) and, another “one of those,” who was “deluded by the same sorcery.” On behalf of women everywhere, I am offended for you! Be reminded that, though this backwards attitude towards women was staggeringly rampant in the first century, that was not the case with Jesus, the apostles, nor the early church. Perhaps you’ve imagined that the “Jesus Team” consisted of Jesus and the twelve disciples, and those thirteen went around from city to city healing the sick and sharing the good news. You’d be partly right, but the Jesus team was actually quite a bit larger than that, as there were a number (the Bible says “many) of women that also travelled with Jesus and had a critical role on the team, paying for lodging and expenses, etc. Jesus Himself was radical in the way He treated women, having multiple deep individual encounters with them at a time when it would be scandalously inappropriate for a Rabbi to have a one on one conversation with a female. Compare the New Testament to any other document of antiquity, and you will find that it was radically forward thinking in its ethos of women. To be sure, in many cases, women were treated quite poorly in the earliest centuries, and were viewed in a way that does not comport with modern reality. I could add many other quotes to demonstrate this historical fact, but that is not necessary to make the primary and pertinent point here: having a female witness to something monumental in the first century might be a little bit…inconvenient, to say the least. As Josephus notes above, there were many cultures in antiquity where a woman was not allowed to testify in court. In other ancient cultures, they might have been allowed to testify, but their testimony would not have carried as much weight as the testimony of a man. In some of those situations, where women were actually allowed to testify, it would take the testimony of two women to override the testimony of one man. Why is such a cultural issue critical in discussing the resurrection of Jesus? Because, according to Matthew 28, the first two witnesses to the risen Jesus were women, Mary Magdalene and “The other Mary.” Luke adds that Joanna was there, as well as “other women,” and seems to indicate that “the other” Mary, was Mary the mother of James. All four gospels, written down by different men, in different places and at different time periods ALL feature a female (Mary Magdalene) as the first witness of the resurrection of Jesus. Stay Tuned for part two tomorrow!

In this episode, we trace the development of Hellenistic geography from the work of Polybius, through Strabo, to its conclusion with Claudius Ptolemaeus.

Here are the historical sources cited in today's sermon for you to see for yourself what was said by historians. Herodotus (The Histories section 1.101) http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text… Strabo, a Greek geographer and historian (The Geography of Strabo Book 11 chapter 9 section 3) http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text… Macrobius (Saturnalia, Book II, Chapter IV,11) http://penelope.uchicago.edu/…/Texts/Mac…/Saturnalia/2*.html

In episode 3 of the A.D. History Podcast, we probe the Germanicus murder cold case, and see the Roman world in Strabo's The Geography. The post Murder of Germanicus Cold Case & Strabo’s The Geography | 21AD – 30AD appeared first on TGNR.

The notes for this episode aren't exactly show notes. For more reasons to believe, please check out my book Easter: Fact or Fiction, 20 Reasons to Believe that Jesus Rose from the Dead (click here) OR: Check this post out on my writing blog: Top Ten Reasons to Believe Jesus Rose from the Dead. Recap: 1 Corinthians 15:  12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say, “There is no resurrection of the dead”? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; 14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is without foundation, and so is your faith. But, as Paul goes on to tell us in 1 Corinthians 15, the Resurrection of Jesus DID, in FACT, Happen!  1 Corinthians 15:20-22 20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. Let's look at another passage on RAMIFICATIONS OF THE RESURRECTION. RAMIFICATIONS - ONE OF MY FAVORITE WORDS. It means - a consequence of an action or event Romans 6:3 Are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in a new way of life.5 For if we have been joined with Him in the likeness of His death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of His resurrection. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that sin's dominion over the body may be abolished, so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, 7 since a person who has died is freed from sin's claims. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him, 9 because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over Him. Reasons to Believe: Apologetics is one of my favorite fields of Theology. When I first heard the term, I assumed Apologetics had something to do with apologizing for our faith - like, being all nice about it. “I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but apart from Jesus, you will die and go to hell….I'm sorry if that sounds harsh, and I'm sorry if that offends you.”  I also thought that Silicon Valley, when I was a teenager, was a valley with a lot of sand in it. I sort of new that silicon could be refined out of sand, so I assumed Silicon Valley was the place where they got the sand to make the computer chips and all of the computer companies just built up around that sandy valley.  I was pretty good at assuming when I was younger. However, apologetics does not have anything to do with apologizing, and everybody with half a brain knows that Silicon is not merely sand, but a tetravalent metalloid used in the production of silicon, and that Silicon Valley is more of a euphemism than an actual place valley filled with sand. SO - what is Apologetics?  We get that word from 1 Peter 3:15 Always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. 16 However, do this with gentleness and respect, keeping your conscience clear, so that when you are accused, those who denounce your Christian life will be put to shame. The Greek there for the word ‘defense' is: Apologian, and it means to defend OR to Answer. Literally it means to Answer from Words, or answer with Words. What Peter is saying is that we Christians MUST - it is a command - Be Ready to DEFEND/ANSWER our Beliefs with Words. (Eat that, Francis of Assisi...who never actually said “Preach the Gospel, if Necessary, use words.”)  Apologetics is the field of Christian Endeavor that is focused on following the Biblical Command in 1 Peter 3:15 - HOW DO WE GIVE AN ANSWER FOR BELIEVING THE GOSPEL - and the CENTRAL CLAIM OF THE GOSPEL, THE RESURRECTION.  Think of it this way - Apologetics is like the crowbar that opens the door, and The Gospel is like the Grenade that you toss in. The Gospel is the thing with the POWER OF GOD IN IT.  (Romans 1:16 “16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is God's power for salvation to everyone who believes”) I thought of that illustration this week, and was immediately kind of excited, almost proud of it, but then I realized, it is kind of violent and boyish. Let me try again:  Apologetics is like the wind that blows away the fog, so you can see an incredible view. The view is the powerful, breathtaking thing, but the wind helps to open eyes to the view. Apologetics - Answering/Defending our faith - is like the flavoring and sweetness in the medicine. The flavoring/sweetness doesn't actually heal you, but it does make people more willing/eager to open their mouths and take in the medicine. A spoonful of apologetics makes the Gospel go down? Not quite - It is the Spirit that makes the heart receptive to the Gospel - but Apologetics has been ordained by God to help open eyes. PROVING something that happened historically is quite difficult, depending on what you mean by ‘proof.'  We don't have video of the Battle of Camden, for instance, and maybe not many of you have heard of it. It was the bloodiest battle of the Revolutionary War. Unfortunately, if you were rooting for America during the Revolution - WE LOST BADLY in this battle. It took place in 1780 just north of Camden, South Carolina. 2000 Brits against 4000 Americans commanded by Horatio Gates. According to American Officer Otho Holland Williams, referring to the British charge, "the impetuosity with which they advanced, firing and huzzaing, threw the whole body of militia into such a panic that they generally threw down their loaded arms and fled in the utmost consternation. The unworthy example of the Virginians was almost instantly followed by the North Carolinians.” Takeaway - one way to win a battle old school is to do a lot of huzzaing!  Furthermore, in a letter to Thomas Jefferson, then governor of Virginia, "picture it as bad as you possibly can and it will not be as bad as it really is.” HOW DO WE KNOW, KNOW, KNOW this happened? Well - we don't have video, or pictures, or surviving witnesses. But virtually no historian alive doubts the major facets of the above narrative about the battle. How do we know it happened?  Reliable Eyewitness testimony in writing.  We see the historical impact of the battle.  So, how can we KNOW, KNOW, KNOW that something so important - and incredible - like Jesus' claimed resurrection FACTUALLY and HISTORICALLY Happened? Well, I think there is several ways to know, and please note that I am not merely saying the way we know is because the Bible says so.  Don't get me wrong, I believe the Bible, but I am thinking of our skeptical friends. That might not be enough for them - so we want to use apologetics to open the door, so we can get the Good News and the truth of the Bible in. Last Week - Appearance of Jesus Argument. By most testimonies, including Isaiah 53:2, Jesus' physical appearance was quite unimpressive. Not tall and imposing, possible monobrow/hooked nose, not handsome or striking. And yet, scientifically and verifiably, Jesus is the most famous person to ever live. HOW COULD THIS BE? I argue that the resurrection of Jesus is the most plausible argument to explain the undoubtable fame of Jesus. Two More Reasons to Believe This Week:  Female Witnesses: Luke 24: 9 Returning from the tomb, they reported all these things to the Eleven and to all the rest. 10 Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them were telling the apostles these things. 11 But these words seemed like nonsense to them, and they did not believe the women. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. When he stooped to look in, he saw only the linen cloths. So he went home, amazed at what had happened. Why is this a big deal? Misnah, one of the Rabbis found within testifies that, due to their menstrual issues, “women are not competent witnesses to be relied on…they are not halakhically admissible as reliable witnesses….JOSEPHUS: “But let not a single witness be credited; but three, or two at the least, and those such whose testimony is confirmed by their good lives. But let not the testimony of women be admitted, on account of the levity and boldness of their sex, nor let servants be admitted to give testimony on account of the ignobility of their soul; since it is probable that they may not speak truth”  – Jewish/Roman historian Josephus, pointing out the belief that women of his day should not testify in court “In dealing with a crowd of women at least, or with any promiscuous mob, a philosopher cannot influence them by reason or exhort them to reverence, piety and faith; nay, there is need of religious fear also, and this cannot be aroused without myths and marvels”[2]   – Strabo, a first century philosopher sharing a quite common view of women at the time: that they were immune to reason and comparable to a “promiscuous mob.”Women, in the first century, were NOT viewed as reliable witnesses, and yet, they are the FIRST witnesses to the MOST CENTRAL and CRUCIAL claim of Christianity. Far from undermining the Central Claim of Christianity - That Jesus Rose from the Dead - I believe this ENHANCES it. In a sexist environment like the first century, why have women as your witnesses unless it actually happened that way?? IF the disciples fabricated the story, why do it this way? If the story was legendary, WHY HAVE THE WOMEN AS THE FIRST WITNESSES?!!? 2. The Stigma of Crucifixion.  Can you think of a single person ever crucified other than Jesus? Perhaps Peter was, but we tend to think Crucifixion was rare in the first century. BUT IT WAS NOT! It was extremely common. Probably hundreds of thousands of people were crucified, and it was a horrible, ignominious way to die. Seneca the younger, a Roman statesman who lived during the time of Jesus, described crucifixion this way:  “I see before me crosses not all alike, but differently made by different peoples: some hang a man head downwards, some force a stick upwards through his groin, some stretch out his arms on a forked gibbet. I see cords, scourges, and instruments of torture for each limb and each joint” There would likely be a large and very upsetting amount of blood spilling from Jesus. The crown of thorns, with one inch or more protrusions, would make deep holes in an area that is absolutely filled with blood vessels. His back would be bleeding profusely from the lashing with the cat of nine tails. The nail wounds on Jesus' wrists and feet would also be bleeding, as first century nails would not be quite as sharp and clean-edged as the nails we have now. And, as noted by Seneca above, it is conceivable that Jesus was stuck through with sticks. All of this blood would be highly upsetting to behold and also incredibly obvious and visible, because the majority of the time the Romans crucified their victims without any clothing whatsoever. Think of the embarrassment and agony of that situation: bleeding profusely, wracked with muscle cramps and pain beyond the ability of the toughest person to endure, having to push up on strained and shredded muscles to just simply get a single breath…and doing it all NAKED. How utterly astounding that the king of the universe would stoop so low. THE DISCIPLES SAW ALL OF THIS!!! WOULD THEY WORSHIP SOMEBODY WHO BARELY SURVIVED IT?  Consider also Willie Francis. Whom, you might ask? One of the first things you will note about Willie Francis is that millions of people don't worship him, and yet he shares a few things in common with Jesus. Willie was convicted of murder in Louisiana in 1945 for an act that he allegedly committed when he was 15. Despite the fact that he was underage; despite the fact that he was not tried by a jury of his peers (his jury was all white); despite the fact that most of the physical evidence against Willie disappeared; and despite the fact that the gun used to kill the victim actually belonged to a deputy sheriff that had threatened to kill the victim in the past – despite all of those things, Willie Francis was convicted and electrocuted in May of 1946. Only, he didn't die. Francis was one of the few people that have ever survived a round with the electric chair, and he did so due to a drunk guard setting things up improperly. Sadly, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it wasn't cruel and unusual to re-execute a teenager, and Francis was re-executed in May of 1947. I have studied the historical records of 1946 to see if there arose a religion around Willie Francis...but found NOTHING. WHY WOULD I?  Well - he survived execution, right? That's What Jesus did?! The idea of worshipping Willie Francis is absurd, despite the fact that he was unjustly and brutally killed. We can cry for his death, but nobody has the instinct to worship an executed man, even one who survived?  IT WOULD HAVE BEEN JUST AS RIDICULOUS TO HAVE WORSHIPPED JESUS IN THE FIRST CENTURY IF ALL HE DID WAS MERELY SURVIVE, BARELY, THE CROSS. It is incredibly strange to worship the survivor of an execution and torture. UNLESS THAT PERSON ROSE FROM THE DEAD AND PROMISED ETERNAL LIFE TO ALL WHO BELIEVED IN HIM. ONCE AGAIN, THE RESURRECTION BEST FITS THE FACTS OF HISTORY!  1 Corinthians? Now brothers, I want to clarify for you the gospel I proclaimed to you; you received it and have taken your stand on it. 2 You are also saved by it, if you hold to the message I proclaimed to you—unless you believed for no purpose. 3 For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. 6 Then He appeared to over 500 brothers at one time;

The notes for this episode aren't exactly show notes. For more reasons to believe, please check out my book Easter: Fact or Fiction, 20 Reasons to Believe that Jesus Rose from the Dead (click here) OR: Check this post out on my writing blog: Top Ten Reasons to Believe Jesus Rose from the Dead. Recap: 1 Corinthians 15:  12 Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say, “There is no resurrection of the dead”? 13 But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ has not been raised; 14 and if Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is without foundation, and so is your faith. But, as Paul goes on to tell us in 1 Corinthians 15, the Resurrection of Jesus DID, in FACT, Happen!  1 Corinthians 15:20-22 20 But now Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21 For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead also comes through a man. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all will be made alive. Let's look at another passage on RAMIFICATIONS OF THE RESURRECTION. RAMIFICATIONS - ONE OF MY FAVORITE WORDS. It means - a consequence of an action or event Romans 6:3 Are you unaware that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too may walk in a new way of life.5 For if we have been joined with Him in the likeness of His death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of His resurrection. 6 For we know that our old self was crucified with Him in order that sin's dominion over the body may be abolished, so that we may no longer be enslaved to sin, 7 since a person who has died is freed from sin's claims. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with Him, 9 because we know that Christ, having been raised from the dead, will not die again. Death no longer rules over Him. Reasons to Believe: Apologetics is one of my favorite fields of Theology. When I first heard the term, I assumed Apologetics had something to do with apologizing for our faith - like, being all nice about it. “I'm sorry to have to tell you this, but apart from Jesus, you will die and go to hell….I'm sorry if that sounds harsh, and I'm sorry if that offends you.”  I also thought that Silicon Valley, when I was a teenager, was a valley with a lot of sand in it. I sort of new that silicon could be refined out of sand, so I assumed Silicon Valley was the place where they got the sand to make the computer chips and all of the computer companies just built up around that sandy valley.  I was pretty good at assuming when I was younger. However, apologetics does not have anything to do with apologizing, and everybody with half a brain knows that Silicon is not merely sand, but a tetravalent metalloid used in the production of silicon, and that Silicon Valley is more of a euphemism than an actual place valley filled with sand. SO - what is Apologetics?  We get that word from 1 Peter 3:15 Always be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. 16 However, do this with gentleness and respect, keeping your conscience clear, so that when you are accused, those who denounce your Christian life will be put to shame. The Greek there for the word ‘defense' is: Apologian, and it means to defend OR to Answer. Literally it means to Answer from Words, or answer with Words. What Peter is saying is that we Christians MUST - it is a command - Be Ready to DEFEND/ANSWER our Beliefs with Words. (Eat that, Francis of Assisi...who never actually said “Preach the Gospel, if Necessary, use words.”)  Apologetics is the field of Christian Endeavor that is focused on following the Biblical Command in 1 Peter 3:15 - HOW DO WE GIVE AN ANSWER FOR BELIEVING THE GOSPEL - and the CENTRAL CLAIM OF THE GOSPEL, THE RESURRECTION.  Think of it this way - Apologetics is like the crowbar that opens the door, and The Gospel is like the Grenade that you toss in. The Gospel is the thing with the POWER OF GOD IN IT.  (Romans 1:16 “16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is God's power for salvation to everyone who believes”) I thought of that illustration this week, and was immediately kind of excited, almost proud of it, but then I realized, it is kind of violent and boyish. Let me try again:  Apologetics is like the wind that blows away the fog, so you can see an incredible view. The view is the powerful, breathtaking thing, but the wind helps to open eyes to the view. Apologetics - Answering/Defending our faith - is like the flavoring and sweetness in the medicine. The flavoring/sweetness doesn't actually heal you, but it does make people more willing/eager to open their mouths and take in the medicine. A spoonful of apologetics makes the Gospel go down? Not quite - It is the Spirit that makes the heart receptive to the Gospel - but Apologetics has been ordained by God to help open eyes. PROVING something that happened historically is quite difficult, depending on what you mean by ‘proof.'  We don't have video of the Battle of Camden, for instance, and maybe not many of you have heard of it. It was the bloodiest battle of the Revolutionary War. Unfortunately, if you were rooting for America during the Revolution - WE LOST BADLY in this battle. It took place in 1780 just north of Camden, South Carolina. 2000 Brits against 4000 Americans commanded by Horatio Gates. According to American Officer Otho Holland Williams, referring to the British charge, "the impetuosity with which they advanced, firing and huzzaing, threw the whole body of militia into such a panic that they generally threw down their loaded arms and fled in the utmost consternation. The unworthy example of the Virginians was almost instantly followed by the North Carolinians.” Takeaway - one way to win a battle old school is to do a lot of huzzaing!  Furthermore, in a letter to Thomas Jefferson, then governor of Virginia, "picture it as bad as you possibly can and it will not be as bad as it really is.” HOW DO WE KNOW, KNOW, KNOW this happened? Well - we don't have video, or pictures, or surviving witnesses. But virtually no historian alive doubts the major facets of the above narrative about the battle. How do we know it happened?  Reliable Eyewitness testimony in writing.  We see the historical impact of the battle.  So, how can we KNOW, KNOW, KNOW that something so important - and incredible - like Jesus' claimed resurrection FACTUALLY and HISTORICALLY Happened? Well, I think there is several ways to know, and please note that I am not merely saying the way we know is because the Bible says so.  Don't get me wrong, I believe the Bible, but I am thinking of our skeptical friends. That might not be enough for them - so we want to use apologetics to open the door, so we can get the Good News and the truth of the Bible in. Last Week - Appearance of Jesus Argument. By most testimonies, including Isaiah 53:2, Jesus' physical appearance was quite unimpressive. Not tall and imposing, possible monobrow/hooked nose, not handsome or striking. And yet, scientifically and verifiably, Jesus is the most famous person to ever live. HOW COULD THIS BE? I argue that the resurrection of Jesus is the most plausible argument to explain the undoubtable fame of Jesus. Two More Reasons to Believe This Week:  Female Witnesses: Luke 24: 9 Returning from the tomb, they reported all these things to the Eleven and to all the rest. 10 Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Mary the mother of James, and the other women with them were telling the apostles these things. 11 But these words seemed like nonsense to them, and they did not believe the women. 12 Peter, however, got up and ran to the tomb. When he stooped to look in, he saw only the linen cloths. So he went home, amazed at what had happened. Why is this a big deal? Misnah, one of the Rabbis found within testifies that, due to their menstrual issues, “women are not competent witnesses to be relied on…they are not halakhically admissible as reliable witnesses….JOSEPHUS: “But let not a single witness be credited; but three, or two at the least, and those such whose testimony is confirmed by their good lives. But let not the testimony of women be admitted, on account of the levity and boldness of their sex, nor let servants be admitted to give testimony on account of the ignobility of their soul; since it is probable that they may not speak truth”  – Jewish/Roman historian Josephus, pointing out the belief that women of his day should not testify in court “In dealing with a crowd of women at least, or with any promiscuous mob, a philosopher cannot influence them by reason or exhort them to reverence, piety and faith; nay, there is need of religious fear also, and this cannot be aroused without myths and marvels”[2]   – Strabo, a first century philosopher sharing a quite common view of women at the time: that they were immune to reason and comparable to a “promiscuous mob.”Women, in the first century, were NOT viewed as reliable witnesses, and yet, they are the FIRST witnesses to the MOST CENTRAL and CRUCIAL claim of Christianity. Far from undermining the Central Claim of Christianity - That Jesus Rose from the Dead - I believe this ENHANCES it. In a sexist environment like the first century, why have women as your witnesses unless it actually happened that way?? IF the disciples fabricated the story, why do it this way? If the story was legendary, WHY HAVE THE WOMEN AS THE FIRST WITNESSES?!!? 2. The Stigma of Crucifixion.  Can you think of a single person ever crucified other than Jesus? Perhaps Peter was, but we tend to think Crucifixion was rare in the first century. BUT IT WAS NOT! It was extremely common. Probably hundreds of thousands of people were crucified, and it was a horrible, ignominious way to die. Seneca the younger, a Roman statesman who lived during the time of Jesus, described crucifixion this way:  “I see before me crosses not all alike, but differently made by different peoples: some hang a man head downwards, some force a stick upwards through his groin, some stretch out his arms on a forked gibbet. I see cords, scourges, and instruments of torture for each limb and each joint” There would likely be a large and very upsetting amount of blood spilling from Jesus. The crown of thorns, with one inch or more protrusions, would make deep holes in an area that is absolutely filled with blood vessels. His back would be bleeding profusely from the lashing with the cat of nine tails. The nail wounds on Jesus' wrists and feet would also be bleeding, as first century nails would not be quite as sharp and clean-edged as the nails we have now. And, as noted by Seneca above, it is conceivable that Jesus was stuck through with sticks. All of this blood would be highly upsetting to behold and also incredibly obvious and visible, because the majority of the time the Romans crucified their victims without any clothing whatsoever. Think of the embarrassment and agony of that situation: bleeding profusely, wracked with muscle cramps and pain beyond the ability of the toughest person to endure, having to push up on strained and shredded muscles to just simply get a single breath…and doing it all NAKED. How utterly astounding that the king of the universe would stoop so low. THE DISCIPLES SAW ALL OF THIS!!! WOULD THEY WORSHIP SOMEBODY WHO BARELY SURVIVED IT?  Consider also Willie Francis. Whom, you might ask? One of the first things you will note about Willie Francis is that millions of people don't worship him, and yet he shares a few things in common with Jesus. Willie was convicted of murder in Louisiana in 1945 for an act that he allegedly committed when he was 15. Despite the fact that he was underage; despite the fact that he was not tried by a jury of his peers (his jury was all white); despite the fact that most of the physical evidence against Willie disappeared; and despite the fact that the gun used to kill the victim actually belonged to a deputy sheriff that had threatened to kill the victim in the past – despite all of those things, Willie Francis was convicted and electrocuted in May of 1946. Only, he didn't die. Francis was one of the few people that have ever survived a round with the electric chair, and he did so due to a drunk guard setting things up improperly. Sadly, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it wasn't cruel and unusual to re-execute a teenager, and Francis was re-executed in May of 1947. I have studied the historical records of 1946 to see if there arose a religion around Willie Francis...but found NOTHING. WHY WOULD I?  Well - he survived execution, right? That's What Jesus did?! The idea of worshipping Willie Francis is absurd, despite the fact that he was unjustly and brutally killed. We can cry for his death, but nobody has the instinct to worship an executed man, even one who survived?  IT WOULD HAVE BEEN JUST AS RIDICULOUS TO HAVE WORSHIPPED JESUS IN THE FIRST CENTURY IF ALL HE DID WAS MERELY SURVIVE, BARELY, THE CROSS. It is incredibly strange to worship the survivor of an execution and torture. UNLESS THAT PERSON ROSE FROM THE DEAD AND PROMISED ETERNAL LIFE TO ALL WHO BELIEVED IN HIM. ONCE AGAIN, THE RESURRECTION BEST FITS THE FACTS OF HISTORY!  1 Corinthians? Now brothers, I want to clarify for you the gospel I proclaimed to you; you received it and have taken your stand on it. 2 You are also saved by it, if you hold to the message I proclaimed to you—unless you believed for no purpose. 3 For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve. 6 Then He appeared to over 500 brothers at one time;

Bienvenidos a marzo de 2019 y bienvenidos al episodio 74 de Trance advanced Music radio show.daedalusdj@hotmail.com

Today we bring to you the story of Rhodopsis: this is the Egyptian version of Cinderella. This is considered to be one of the oldest versions of the Cinderella story. It was first recorded by the Roman historian Strabo in the first century BC. You can listen and subscribe to Baalgatha Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Castbox, and Google Podcasts. Visit gaathastory.com/podcasts to learn more. Form there, you can also leave us a review on your favourite podcasting app or site, we will greatly appreciate it! This story was  narrated by Sheearli Biju for gaatha story. You can learn more about our shows by visiting our website or on Twitter @gaathastory

sermon transcript Babylon’s Judgment Throughout the Ages My goal is to work through each chapter that the Lord has laid on my heart to teach. I preach so that you would have a strong faith in Christ formed in you. The Lord has given me an insight into the nature of faith, that it is the eyesight of the soul. By faith, we are able to see past, present and future invisible spiritual realities that we could not otherwise see. By the Word of God, written for our faith, including the Book of Revelation, such hidden past, present and future realities are unveiled for us. Apart from Christ, we were spiritually blind to these things, but through the ministry of the Holy Spirit based on the Word of God, scales fall from our eyes. We see the past in Revelation 12, with the activity of the dragon, of Satan and his demons throughout redemptive history. He is a wicked adversary who has created a world system that is called Babylon in Revelation 17 and 18. Babylon has a long past history. We are also able by faith to see the present threat of Babylon to our souls. There is a present spiritual reality of Babylon that is assaulting our souls every day. Revelation 18:4-5 is a command from Christ to come out, to be separate from it, to touch no unclean thing, to be pure and holy from this defiling world system that Satan has set up. That will take every strength and grace that God will give to fight that good fight, to finish that race and to keep the faith. There is also a future form of Babylon that is yet to come with the system under the final world ruler, the Antichrist. There is a predictive element to this as well. Babylon: Symbol of Human Defiance and Self-Worship In many ancient cultures, there is a myth of a radiantly colored bird called the Phoenix. Sometimes it is depicted as a large bird which looks similar to a peacock, with purple and red flowing feathers. It could live for a very long time, even as long as five centuries. As the time of its end draws near, it makes an elaborate nest of kindling wood before being consumed in a raging ball of fire. From the ashes, the bird’s progeny rises and begins its own prodigiously long life. This cycle of fiery death and rising from the ashes is a tale often told in the ancient world, and has yielded the expression “like a Phoenix rising from the ashes”. To some degree, the Phoenix is a picture of Babylon as a lasting spiritual reality in human history. The history of the city-state of Babylon has been woven together with overt rebellion against the God of Heaven and against His chosen people. Babylon was an actual city in Mesopotamia, built by a mighty and godless hunter named Nimrod, just years after the flood of Noah. It was built in the fertile region of Mesopotamia, right on the Euphrates River, less than 75 miles from the Tigris River in modern Iraq, only about 50 miles south of modern Baghdad. It was well situated in the area called the Fertile Crescent between the Tigris and Euphrates River, which connected the Persian Gulf with the Mediterranean Sea. It prospered both from the fertile soil and from traffic along the major trade route on which it was located. Thus, it began as a nation of merchants. Ezekiel 16:29 calls it the Land of Merchants. It was also a land of warriors like their mighty founder, Nimrod, the hunter. From Babylon and these other city centers, the concept of the city-state emerged — a region controlled by a city. In the course of time, the inhabitants of the city-state of Babylon said in Genesis 11:4, “Come, let us build ourselves a city, with a tower that reaches to the heavens, [listen to their motives:] so that we may make a name for ourselves and not be scattered over the face of the whole earth.” That is the essence of the Babylonian spirit, the defiant spirit of human potentiality and capability, using technology and intelligence to make a name for oneself. The mighty Babylonian empire rose in time. It was a vassal state under the Assyrian empire, dominated by the Assyrians until at last, under Nebuchadnezzar’s father Nabopolassar, they threw off the Assyrian yoke. When Nabopolassar died, Nebuchadnezzar became the mighty king of Babylon. The Babylonian empire was awesome: irresistible in military power, complex in culture, exquisite in architecture, shrewd in politics. Its army came back up the Fertile Crescent to topple what was left of the dying Assyrian Empire, then swept down through Palestine, conquering what was left of the Jews in that land— the kingdom of Judah. The remnant of Jews that were left in Judah and Jerusalem were deported to Babylon, thus ending Jewish reign in Palestine over the Promised Land. The exile to Babylon was a line of demarcation in the history of the Jews. Prophecies Against Babylon Prior to that, however, God raised up prophets among the Jews to predict the fall of Babylon. He did this through Isaiah and Jeremiah and other prophets. Isaiah 13:19-22 “Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the glory of the Babylonians’ pride, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah. She will never be inhabited or lived in through all generations; no Arab will pitch his tent there, no shepherd will rest his flocks there. But desert creatures will lie there, jackals will fill her houses; there the owls will dwell, and there the wild goats will leap about. Hyenas will howl in her strongholds, jackals in her luxurious palaces.” That was written a century and a half before the Babylonian empire came to be. Jeremiah, who was among the remnant deported in the Babylonian exile, also predicted the destruction of Babylon. In Jeremiah 25:12, speaking of the 70-year exile of the Jews to Babylon, it says, “‘But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians, for their guilt,’ declares the LORD, ‘and will make it desolate forever.’” Sudden Fall and Gradual Demise of Babylon The beginning of the end for Babylon is written in Daniel 5. During Belshazzar’s feast, the writing appeared on the wall, predicting the immediate end of the Babylonian empire. The Babylonians were arrogant, thinking that their mighty, lofty, thick walls would protect them from the invading Medo-Persian army. Belshazzar hosted a drunken feast that night, neglecting to guard the walls. The Medo-Persian invading army took advantage of this by diverting the Euphrates River from under the walls and crawling through the portcullis, unlocking the city gate, and slaughtering the Babylonians while they lay in drunken stupor. This is the very thing Jeremiah had predicted 70 years before. Jeremiah 51:39: “‘But while they are aroused, I will set out a feast for them and make them drunk, so that they shout with laughter — then sleep forever and not awake,’ declares the LORD.” The destruction and desolation of the literal city of Babylon in Mesopotamia did not happen overnight, but gradually fulfilled the words of the prophets. Cyrus the Great of Persia ruled Babylon but destroyed its immense walls so the citizens could not revolt. Alexander the Great wanted to make it the capital of his empire, but he died there before realizing his dream. In 309 BC, a Greek successor of Alexander the Great leveled Babylon. In 275 BC, Antiochus the First deported the remaining civilian population to other cities. Pausanias, a Greek writer and geographer of the Roman period, said there was nothing left within the walls of Babylon by his time. In the last century before Christ, ancient geographer Strabo wrote, the great city had become a wilderness, thus fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy. Roman emperor Trajan, eager to visit, was disappointed in the wasted, unidentifiable pile of rubble. In the modern age, as recently as a century ago, its ruins were discovered by archaeologists. Saddam Hussein had plans to rebuild Babylon, but was thwarted by his toppling in the Gulf War. Some Iraqi leaders want to turn it into a theme park centered around archeological artifacts, but Allied troops that have been there have taken many of the artifacts and ruined the site, which is uninhabited except by wild animals and birds, as Isaiah said it would be. The Spirit of Babylon The literal city of Babylon slowly sank down into the dust of history, but the spirit of Babylon has risen like a Phoenix from the ashes and moved from place to place ever since, a demonic spirit of the world. 1 Peter 5:13 is the key passage to understand the transfer of the spirit of Babylon from the literal city to another city: “She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you her greetings, and so does my son Mark.” Tradition places Peter in Rome when he wrote that, meaning Babylon was code language for Rome. The spirit of Babylon rose from the ashes to infuse the Roman empire of Peter’s day. Babylon itself was a howling, empty wasteland, but “she who is in Babylon, chosen together with you” indicated the bride of Christ, which was locally the church at Rome. Thus, the spirit of Babylon has moved around according to the dominating empire — Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome; the Vandals, the Huns, the Vikings, the Mongols, the Spanish, the French under Napoleon, the English under Victoria, the Germans under Hitler, and so on. Through the ages, two common aspects have characterized the spirit of Babylon: military power and economic power. In Babylon, neither power is wielded for the glory of God or the advancement of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ, but for self glory alone. “Come, let us ‘…make a name for ourselves.’” [Genesis 11:4] The Final Phase of Babylon The final phase of Babylon is yet to come. Antichrist will come as predicted in Revelation 13. He will set up a world-dominating kingdom. Babylon has one final phase, which Revelation 17 and 18 cover. Revelation is not only a prediction of the final seven years of human history, as some take it, but it is also relevant in every generation of church history. Every generation must read and take to heart the warnings therein. Every generation of Christians need to hear Revelation 18: 4-5: “And when you hear the voice of your Savior crying out to you, saying, ‘Come out from her, all my people and be separate.’” We cannot do something exegetically or hermeneutically if we say it is a future book that has nothing to do with us, if we deny the threat that Babylon is to us. Babylon and its essential nature is a wicked world system in defiance of God. We will see its judgment through plagues, and we will hear the voice of God, of Christ, commanding, calling, pleading with us to come out from Babylon and be separate. Babylon’s Judgment Pronounced An Angelic Messenger Proclaims God’s Decree In Revelation 18:1-3, Babylon’s judgment is pronounced: “After this, I saw another angel coming down from Heaven. He had great authority and the Earth was illuminated by his splendor. And with a mighty voice, he shouted, ‘Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great. She has become a home for demons, a haunt for every evil spirit, a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird. For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries, the kings of the Earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the Earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.’” The proclamation of Babylon’s final fall is entrusted to this heavenly messenger, but the decree and power behind the fall of Babylon originates from Almighty God. It is not the angel’s doing, but the angel is the messenger. The angel is described in words that are hard to fathom. He has great authority. Not all angels are equally authoritative. Some angels are called archangels, literally meaning ruler angels. In addition, he has great glory. An overwhelmingly brilliant light surrounds this angelic messenger, like the light of the glory of Heaven that shone around the angel that bore the message that Jesus was born on the hills around Bethlehem, which terrified the shepherds. This angel has the same illuminating glory that shines radiantly, and the light is shining in this dark age. If the earth is still plunged into a thick darkness from the fifth bowl, so deep that it could be felt, there is a general darkness, spiritually and maybe physically at that point at the end. This angel has great authority and glory, and he speaks the decree from God with a voice like thunder, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she has become a home for demons and a haunt for every evil spirit, for every unclean and detestable bird.” God will cast her down. The final fall of Babylon, or the final phase of Babylon being cast down, is yet in the future, but this proclamation is given with repetition in the prophetic past tense, as though it has already happened, giving a sense of prophetic certainty, urgency and finality to the announcement. Babylon has become a home for demons, a haunt for evil spirits. This borrows the language we already saw in Isaiah 13, where nothing but wild animals and birds settle down in the ruins of Babylon. disgusting carrion birds. Often when we see dead deer and other animals along the side of the road, we also see those nasty black carrion birds, which really are doing us all a service. There is that same sense of decay and death here in Babylon. Jesus said in the Little Apocalypse in Matthew 24:28, “Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.” Remember that demons billowed from the guts of the earth in Revelation 9 with the fifth trumpet, and these especially vicious and evil demons perhaps will haunt the final form of Babylon. Babylon’s Wickedness Exposed The wickedness of Babylon is exposed in Revelation 18:3: “For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.” As with Revelation 17 which presented the great whore of Babylon, the prostitute, there is a sense of the allure and enticement of the world toward evil and sin and immorality, especially sexual immorality. 1 John 2 speaks of the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the boastful pride of life. Being the essence of the world, the enticing allure of lusts, Babylon is a system of worldwide corruption, making all the nations drunk. Babylon’s Excessive Luxury The phrase “…the merchants of the earth” indicates the issue of merchandise, commerce, trade, possessions that can be purchased in exchange for money. Verses 3, 7 and 9 mention Babylon’s excessive luxury. “…the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries. … Give her as much torture and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. …the earth who committed adultery [the kings of the earth committed adultery] with her and shared her luxury.” Once when I was visiting at the home of a wealthy man, I skimmed through a magazine he had called Connoisseur which contained articles about the best of the best in various categories. One was about the best carving knives, valued for pure craftsmanship, made by craftsmen who have descended from the Samurai in Japan, with photos of really sharp knives going through tomatoes with no effort, and then again and again and again until it was microscopically thin. One paring knife cost $6000. Another article was about bespoke suits, tailor-made from Saville Row in London: $30,000 for a man’s suit and $40,000 for a pair of Italian shoes. A number of you are wealthy and very generous with your wealth. But it is wrong for us to read Revelation 18, wealthy as we are, and think that the word “luxury” has nothing to do with us. We admire craftsmen and artists who spend a year on a painting or a sculpture, like Michelangelo who worked for years on the Sistine Chapel. We admire that level of skill and go museums to see their work. Is that an evil and wicked thing to sell and purchase such a luxury? This morning I was praying about the topic of luxury and started to see the future of luxury in the new Heaven. We will make things in Heaven with exquisite skill, but the things we make will not become idols. They will be done overtly for the glory of God. That is the future of fine craftsmanship in the New Heaven and New Earth — no idols and no sinful luxuries. In the present, such things are a threat to our souls; there is a warning against excessive luxury. If we take this before God and ask Him to deliver us from sinful luxury, that is the safest we can be. James 5:5, speaking of wicked oppressors, says, “You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter.” I pray that would not be true of any member of First Baptist Church. Do not excuse yourself from looking in the mirror, from asking God, “Is this true of me? I do not want to fatten myself in the day of slaughter.” Babylon’s Judgment Escaped Warning: Flee the Corruptions of Babylon Now There is a category of people who escaped Babylon, whom God delivered. We see the future doom, but this invitation — truly, this command — is given in Revelation 18:4-5: “Then I heard another voice from heaven say: ‘Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.’” This is the application from Revelation 17 and 18, God’s command to His people to come out of her and be separate. There is a warning, a negative motivation — “Flee the wrath to come” — but with a positive implication that “Jesus is better.” That is why we flee, because Jesus is better than anything this world has to offer. He is better than “the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the boastful pride of life.” [1 John 2:16] Lord, Make my heart believe that. I want to know and believe that Jesus is better than the lusts and the pleasures of the flesh. The Test of the People of God in Every Generation Paul picks up on the command to flee in 2 Corinthians 6:17: “Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing and I will receive you.” This is the test of God’s people in every generation. We cannot excuse ourselves and say we are not in the final seven years, so therefore Babylon is not a present reality so we do not need to worry about the warnings. Do not do that. In every generation to Christians, The world will continue to offer benefits and pleasures and possessions and powers if we will only in some way deny Christ. We must stand firm in our faith and be holy. The smoke from Babylon’s future fire can be smelled right now only by faith. The heat from Babylon’s future flames can be felt right now only by faith. The cries of Babylon’s future torment can be heard right now only by faith. We must look at our lives and see the way the luxuries of Babylon have worked themselves into our souls, and we must flee. Babylon’s Judgment Justified God Justifies Babylon’s Judgement In verses 6-8, we see Babylon’s judgment justified: “Give back to her as she has given; pay her back double for what she has done. Mix her a double portion from her own cup. Give her as much torture and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. In her heart she boasts, ‘I sit as queen; I am not a widow, and I will never mourn.’ Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.” God explains Babylon’s judgment to us. He is the just and right in casting down this city; it is payback time now for all the torment that Babylon has caused His people. She will drink torture and grief from the cup in her hand — she has mixed out a huge cup of luxury for herself and she has been drinking from that cup. God will pay her back the same measure she weighed to herself. Her over-confidence is exposed here. This is the same language we see in the book of Isaiah, that Babylon boasts that nothing bad will ever happen to her. She sits like a queen surrounded by her own; she cannot be touched or threatened, so she believes she will never mourn. Widowhood will never come on her nor the loss of children; she is safe. But she is forgetting about the power and the holiness of God. The judgments listed include death, mourning, and famine. The Source of the Judgment The source of the judgment is listed as well: “…for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.” Isaiah 14 says about the fall of Babylon and of Assyria, “This is the plan determined for the whole world. This is the hand stretched out over all nations, for the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart Him, His hand is stretched out and who is able to turn it back?” Babylon’s Judgment Lamented Her Citizens and Merchants Grieve In Revelation 18:9-19, Babylon’s citizens and merchants will lament and grieve her fall through her judgment. This the end of everything they have loved, everything they have lived for, everything they have built their lives on. Idolaters do not give up their idols easily. The sadness that they feel at the fall of this wicked world system shows the wickedness of their own hearts too. They are sad at the fall of Babylon because they loved her. The kings of the Earth will lament her. Revelation 18:9-10: “When the kings of the earth who committed adultery with her and shared her luxury see the smoke of her burning, they will weep and mourn over her. Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry: ‘Woe! Woe, O great city, O Babylon, city of power! In one hour your doom has come!’” The merchants of the earth, those who traded with her, will also grieve. Revelation 18:11-17: “The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes any more-- cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and marble; cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and bodies and souls of men. They will say, ‘The fruit you longed for is gone from you. All your riches and splendor have vanished, never to be recovered.’ The merchants who sold these things and gained their wealth from her will stand far off, terrified at her torment. They will weep and mourn 16 and cry out: ‘Woe! Woe, O great city, dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet, and glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls! In one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin!’” Even the ships’ captains who delivered the cargo to Babylon will lament her. Revelation 18:17-19:“Every sea captain, and all who travel by ship, the sailors, and all who earn their living from the sea, will stand far off. When they see the smoke of her burning, they will exclaim, ‘Was there ever a city like this great city?’ They will throw dust on their heads, and with weeping and mourning cry out: ‘Woe! Woe, O great city, where all who had ships on the sea became rich through her wealth! In one hour she has been brought to ruin!’” The days of luxury and ease sinful self-indulgence will end forever, but not everyone will be grieving. Babylon’s Judgment Celebrated Remember the Blood of the Saints Not everyone will be sad about the fall of Babylon — it will be a source of energetic praise and joyful celebration among the servants of the Lord. Revelation 18:20: “Rejoice over her, O heaven! Rejoice, saints and apostles and prophets! God has judged her for the way she treated you.” Babylon the Great, in Revelation 17:6, was “drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.” Worldly people do not understand why Christians do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation. 1 Peter 4:4 says, “They think it strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation, and they heap abuse on you.” All of Heaven will Celebrate! When Babylon the Great is finally thrown down, all of Heaven will celebrate. We will hear the sounds of the the fourfold Hallelujah. We will be so done with Babylon when we get to Heaven, we will be healed from it forever. Babylon’s Judgment Completed The End of Babylon’s Glory Babylon’s judgment will be completed and symbolized by the casting down of a large boulder. Revelation 18:21-24: “Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a large millstone and threw it into the sea, and said: ‘With such violence the great city of Babylon will be thrown down, never to be found again. [The overthrow of Babylon will be a violent thing; God will do it. Violence has been a part of the seven trumpets and the seven bowls, and then the Second Coming of Christ.] The music of harpists and musicians, flute players and trumpeters, will never be heard in you again. No workman of any trade will ever be found in you again. The sound of a millstone will never be heard in you again. The light of a lamp will never shine in you again. The voice of bridegroom and bride will never be heard in you again. Your merchants were the world's great men. By your magic spell all the nations were led astray. In her was found the blood of prophets and of the saints, and of all who have been killed on the earth.’” We can imagine the action of hurling a boulder the size of a millstone, a massive stone used for grinding wheat into flour, into a pond or a lake — the splash would be huge. It is a symbol of Babylon’s violent fall. With the fall of Babylon comes the end of Babylon’s music. What a payback! Think about the Jews in exile and how they sat by the waters of Babylon, mocked by their tormenting captors, in Psalm 137:1-4: “By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion. There on the poplars we hung our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors demanded songs of joy; they said, ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’ How can we sing the songs of the LORD while in a foreign land?” This is a reversal of that. The songs of Babylon will never be sung again. Instead, we will hear a new song, the song of Heaven, the song of Zion, and we will sing and play that song forever. What payback for that mockery that they did to the Jews in exile! It is the end of all of Babylon’s work. All the skilled craftsmen who spent all their time on creating the luxuries will cease their labors. No one will buy them; their time has ended. As I pointed out earlier, skilled craftsmanship will continue in the New Heaven and New Earth forever. I look forward to seeing what we will all create. We will craft things for the glory and the radiant display of God and use our resurrection hands to make things far more skillfully than anything we find here on earth. But these Babylonian craftsmen are finished; no one will buy their luxuries ever again. It is the end of all light. The light of the lamp will not be seen in Babylon again. It will become a place of utter darkness. It is the end of all human relationships. People will be marrying and giving in marriage right up until the day of the Second Coming. At that point, the sound of bride and bridegroom will be heard no more. The Reason for Judgment Revelation 18:23-24 tells the reason: “By your magic spell all the nations were led astray. In her was found the blood of prophets and of the saints, and of all who have been killed on the earth.” Those who have been killed on the earth extend “from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah, son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. … all these things [this blood] will come upon this generation.” (Matthew 23:35-36). None of the blood shed will be forgotten. Cain asked rhetorically, “Am I my brother's keeper?” to which God replied, “The blood of your brother cries out from the ground for vengeance.” All the blood that has been shed wickedly on earth will be avenged by the fall of Babylon. In the Greek, the word for “magic spell” or “sorcery” is pharmakeia, from which we get the word pharmacy or pharmaceutical. It relates to drugs and perhaps also to a cultic secret religion. There is an alluring smell of sorcery or magic that Babylon has a hold of the minds and hearts of its subjects. We are only now, in our sanctification and our progressive growth, gradually coming out of the haze and stupor of Babylon’s influence. It is still in our minds and hearts. We are still allured and tempted by some of Babylon’s pharmakeia, but there will come a day when it will have no influence on us at all. Applications See the World with EYES OF FAITH Feed your faith with the Word of God. Read Romans, Colossians, Ephesians; saturate your mind with the Gospels; read the prophecies in Isaiah and Jeremiah. You do not need to focus only on Babylon. Fill your mind and heart with the Word of God and your eyes of faith will get sharper. You will be able to see what is really happening. You will be able to see the surrounding world for what it really is — the world that John writes about in 1 John 2 — as a deadly threat to your soul. Let it motivate you with a healthy fear, not of man, but of the temptations of the world. We should say, “Lord, lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” We should be afraid of what the world can do. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, but also the conviction of things not seen. By that we are convicted of sin, and there is a holy fear that comes over us. Hebrews 11:7 says, “By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family.” There is a fear that should grip us of Babylon. We do not build an ark, but we walk in Christ and we protect ourselves from the world. Concerning Babylon in America, do we suppose that the most dominant military nation and the most dominant economy is immune from the spirit of Babylon that rises from the ashes of every old empire and takes over? We have godly public servants that are elected to office like Daniel who are counselors to the rulers, able to give good advice, but the system itself is still Babylon. So come out and be separate. There is repulsion and attraction, so be disgusted and repulsed by the things of Babylon that we described here. She is a haunt of every unclean burden, every demonic spirit. Be disgusted by it and be attracted to the theme of the song that Jesus is better. I would rather follow Christ today than binge on Netflix. I would rather have Jesus than sin sexually by the Internet. I would rather have Jesus than do shopping therapy online or at the mall. Jesus is better than those things. I do not need any of those things to feel better in this life. What About Luxury? To any who are wealthy, which is all of us — and if you do not think so, go to Haiti, India, Pakistan, any country in the third world — take heed of Paul’s words to the pastor Timothy. Paul said in 1 Timothy 6:17-19, “Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.” Let 1 Timothy 6 command you to be generous and live for the future world. You alone know how generous God wants you to be with the wealth He has given you. Do not make assumptions. Ask, “God, what do You want me to do with all this wealth that You have given me?” Today is Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. See abortion as part of the Babylonian system. Some day abortion will be obsolete, praise God. Let’s keep praying and serving and working toward that end. Find ways to help crisis pregnancy centers or women in crisis pregnancies. If you yourself have had an abortion in the past and you are broken and shattered by it, understand the grace of God and the mercy He gives at the cross. If you are sexually tempted with another person, stand firm and do not give in to sexual immorality, which is the root of so many abortions. Come to Christ! My final word has to be to you who are outside of Christ, or perhaps were before you came in here today. Come to Christ. “Come out of her and be separate" is Jesus saying, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” Come to Christ. He can disentangle your heart and your soul from Babylon and save your soul. Closing Prayer Close with me in prayer. Father, we thank You for the things that we learn continually from Your Word. We know that the Word is wise, it is powerful, it is able to save our souls through faith in Christ Jesus. Christ the Savior is better. Lord I pray that you call lost people out of darkness into light. Help them to turn away from worldly wealth and power and pleasure, and the things that do not matter, to turn to Christ and find forgiveness in Him. And help us to share that message. We are a wealthy nation; help us to be willing to talk about Babylon the great and its future fall and to warn people, and to urge people to find in Christ a beautiful Savior. In His name we pray. Amen.

As we reported two weeks ago, Hard Rock entertainment will soon be the new owner of the former Taj Mahal Casino on the Atlantic City Boardwalk. That is very good news for this section of our wooden way that was sitting empty and quiet for much of the summer of 2016 all thanks to daily picketing by using 54 members many of whom did not want to strike against Taj Mahal owner Mr. Carl Icahn . But that's another story for another day. It looks like by the summer of 2018 hard rock will be up and running on that massive property the Taj Mahal. This is certainly good news for Anthony Catanoso…the man who runs Steel Pier, right across the Boardwalk from the former Taj Mahal. This should also speed up development of the $14 million observation wheel the 227 foot high, new age Ferris Wheel that's been sitting offshore in containers ready to be erected on the historic Pier. The Taj Mahal Casino has been closed since October 10. It will soon be controlled and owned by a group of investors one of them being Hard Rock. They’re teaming up with two well-known developers in the area Jingoli and Morris. Jingoli is best known for the current redevelopment of the Albany Avenue area site of the former Atlantic City high school. Moving very fast at building the brand-new Stockton University Boardwalk campus here in Atlantic City. They call it the Island campus. I like to call with the Boardwalk Campus, a much cooler, more intuitive name. I’ll have to ask Dr Harvey Kesselman if he agrees with me, when ACprimetime visits with the Stockton President in a few days. Getting back to HARD ROCK & TAJ, it looks like $300 million is what it will take to allow Hard Rock & Jingoli and Morris to transform this massive property. One of the biggest, if not the biggest footprints in Atlantic City. Maybe the best part of the story is that it's probably gonna provide up to 3000 new temporary and permanent jobs. We always had a sneaking suspicion that Hard Rock was going to eventually take over the former Taj. One clue: Hard Rock Cafe was staying put. Even though it was quite dead down on that side of the Boardwalk in front of the shuttered TAJ. Hard Rock Cafe knew that eventually the mother ship would come in and save that property. Operating through thick and thin even with the casino hotel shutting down back in October 2016. Another success story or another smiling adjacent property would be Bart Blatstein's Showboat Hotel. That certainly bodes well for his investment in the former Showboat Casino now focused on being primarily a Showboat Hotel that's good news. This should also boost evaluations of Blatstein's recently purchased volleyball court / parcel of land, a spot in between Showboat and the former Revel Casino Hotel. And Garden Pier, right in front of the former Revel, now owned by Bart and his Tower Investments, that value most likely has increased from its $1.5 million price tag. So does Glenn Straub and his former Revel casino benefit from the Taj Mahal purchase by hard rock? In the long-term probably yes. But we think in the short term, the value or the interest in getting the Revel up and running is muted at best. Think about it, what investor now wants to come in and try to deal with Mr. Strabo and get the former Revel up and running while knowing that arguably one of the most successful aggressive and smart brand names hard rock is getting to ready to launch just down the Boardwalk? What's our guess? We like to speculate just a little bit. We think that Mr. Straub will eventually find it more advantageous to sell. Still no gaming license for Straub, or his partner/tenant in the property Robert Landino. Both have NO Gaming Licenses. REVEL property will most likely see half-decent profit since Straub purchased it for just $82 million. The building price was closer to $2 billion. We believe now this is pure speculation, that investors that might gain access to that incredible property formerly known as the Revel and the surro...

This week it is all about turning stone into bronze as we enter the Bronze Age. Please be sure to give us a rating and review on iTunes and Google Play. You can talk to us at welshhistorypodcast@gmail.com Resources this week: Alex Gibson, "The timber circle at Sarn-y-Bryn-Caled, Welshpool, Powys: ritual and sacrifice in Bronze Age mid-Wales." Antiquity 66.250 (1992): 84+. World History in Context. Web. 28 May 2016. S.P. Beedham et al., Developments in the Early Bronze Age Metallurgy of Southern Britain, World Archeaology, Vol. 20, No. 3, (Feb 1989, pp. 383-402. Stephen V. Grancsay, Irish Bronze Age Weapons, The Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin, New Series, Vol. 7, No. 7 (Mar. 1949), pp. 181-185. Joan J. Taylor, The Oliver Davis Lecture: The First Golden Age of Europe Was in Ireland and Britain (Circa 2400-1400 BC), Ulster Journal of Archaeology, Third Series, Vol. 57(1994), pp. 37-60. The Geography of Strabo, published in Vol. II of the Loeb Classical Library edition, 1923, http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/4E*.html Music: Celtic Impulse - Celtic by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100297 Artist: http://incompetech.com/

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Strabo's Geographica. Written almost exactly two thousand years ago by a Greek scholar living in Rome, the Geographica is an ambitious attempt to describe the entire world known to the Romans and Greeks at that time. Strabo seems to have based his book on accounts of distant lands given to him by contemporary travellers and imperial administrators, and on earlier works of scholarship by other Greek writers. One of the earliest systematic works of geography, Strabo's book offers a revealing insight into the state of ancient scholarship, and remained influential for many centuries after the author's death. With: Paul Cartledge AG Leventis Professor of Greek Culture at the University of Cambridge Maria Pretzler Senior Lecturer in Ancient History at Swansea University Benet Salway Senior Lecturer in Ancient History at UCL Producer: Thomas Morris.

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss Strabo's Geographica. Written almost exactly two thousand years ago by a Greek scholar living in Rome, the Geographica is an ambitious attempt to describe the entire world known to the Romans and Greeks at that time. Strabo seems to have based his book on accounts of distant lands given to him by contemporary travellers and imperial administrators, and on earlier works of scholarship by other Greek writers. One of the earliest systematic works of geography, Strabo's book offers a revealing insight into the state of ancient scholarship, and remained influential for many centuries after the author's death. With: Paul Cartledge AG Leventis Professor of Greek Culture at the University of Cambridge Maria Pretzler Senior Lecturer in Ancient History at Swansea University Benet Salway Senior Lecturer in Ancient History at UCL Producer: Thomas Morris.

During an uprising against Paul in this pagan city, God used man to protect him.

Stanley Chang reads an excerpt from Mathematics in Civilization by Harold Resnikoff and Ronald Wells, published by Dover Publications. (4:03) "Why were accurate calculations that necessary? ... It shows how an error made by the Greek geographer Strabo in 63 BCE as transferred to Greek astrologer Ptolemy in 150 AD could affect a sailor in 1500 AD."

Introduction We are aware from scripture that we have a personal enemy who seeks our very lives. His name is the devil or Satan, that ancient dragon. It says in 1 Peter 5:8 “Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.” But the scripture reveals that we have an impersonal enemy as well, one that surrounds us at every moment and threatens our souls as well. In 1 John, Chapter 2:15-16, it is called “the world.” “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For everything in the world – the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does – comes not from the Father but from the world.” The world and its desires pass away. A man who does the will of God stands forever. We’re surrounded by the world, and by that, John means, I think, the world’s system. Not the created world that God made and all of its beauty, but the world system, that alluring, powerful, enticing, wicked culture that attacks our very souls and seeks our eternal destruction. The world is made up of living, breathing people whose minds are controlled by the flesh and by the spirit of the power of the air, Satan. These people, as they live out their convictions, as they live out their world views, they craft a world around us that is enticing and luring us away from the things of God, away from Christ. Some of them have political and military ambitions to rule and dominate, perhaps a non-Christian politician running for office, or an Al-Qaeda terrorist masterminding the next terrorist attack somewhere in the world, or the publisher of a pornographic magazine, or an actress willing to do anything in a movie to further her career. It could be a marketing consultant urging a bolder approach to marketing clothing to teens in malls, or a financial expert writing a column on how you can be far richer than you ever dreamed if you just follow his approach of investments, or a motivational speaker telling spellbound audiences ten irrefutable laws for success the way he defines it. And a hundred, even a thousand other enticements are pulling you away from Christ. That’s the world. It’s a seething culture of unbelief, pulsating with the lusts that John mentions: lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, pride of flesh. It is vicious. It is relentless. It is alluring and enticing. It is a cold-hearted enemy to your soul. It would have you. It would pull you away from Christ. It has a symbolic name in the Bible, and that name is Babylon. Now I know that Babylon was a city in ancient Mesopotamia on the Euphrates River. From it arose a mighty empire that, for a time, dominated the world. From that empire came an army that conquered Jerusalem, tore down its walls and burned the temple of God. I’m aware of all that. It was the enemy of the people of God at that time, Babylon. Isaiah 13 clearly predicts the fall of that literal city of Babylon to the Medes in 536 BC. That’s predicted here in this chapter. But Isaiah 13 uses language that soars far above that one event in history. It speaks of God’s wrath poured out on all nations to the point where you can’t even see the celestial beings anymore. The sun, the moon, and the stars are darkened. It’s language that goes right to the end of time. Isaiah 13 speaks of God’s relentless wrath poured out on Babylon, the enemy of His people. It’s fulfilled again and again and again and again in history, not just in one date, one time, 536 BC, but again and again, because from the smoldering ashes of one destroyed Babylon rises the next Babylon. Like a wicked phoenix, from the ashes up it comes to defy God and to attack God’s people. It happens again and again, and God is always against it. He controls that rise. He fights against it and throws it back down. And then the next Babylon comes along. So it is. And not until the end of the world will the final Babylon, the spirit of Babylon, and Babylon itself be crushed forever. In Revelation 17, it depicts Babylon as a harlot riding on a beast with seven heads and ten horns. So you have pleasure plus power. That equals the world to me. That’s what it is. There’s going to be a final form of Babylon, and it will be crushed forever by the glory of the second coming of Christ. No more Babylon, friends. No more world the way John means in 1 John 2. We’ll be free forever and we will live in a pure world where Jesus will reign. There’ll be no enticements away from God, only powerful inducements to worship and to love Him forever. God is going to crush Babylon. That’s exactly what He’s talking about in this very serious and sober chapter. It’s not an easy chapter to read. It’s not pleasant. Yet it is joyful for us as the people of God to know that our enemy is God’s enemy too and that He will rise up and crush it someday God’s Sovereign Rule Over the Nations: Isaiah 13-23 One Central Theme, Many Smaller Oracles As we enter a new section of Isaiah’s prophecies, Isaiah 13-23, these are oracles against the nations, about eleven chapters or so of oracles against the nations, one after the other. Isaiah in these chapters (really throughout the whole book) portrays a God who sits on His throne and rules over the events of history 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. He is working all the time to bring about His plan. It says, right in this oracle section, in Isaiah 14:26-27, “This is the plan determined for the whole world; this is the hand stretched out over all nations. For the Lord Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him? His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?” God is in charge. That is a powerfully vital message for our time, when we’re barraged by a constant stream of news stories that can discourage you as a Christian and beat you down. Reading CNN, looking at CNN, or going to websites can be discouraging. You’re looking at Fox News or one thing after another, a constant stream of stories that gives you the sense that the world is spinning out of control. Well, it isn’t. The message of the oracles in these eleven chapters is that our God reigns. And the message of this first one is that God is against Babylon in any of its forms. He will destroy it in the end. So, we see God’s sovereign rule over the nations. We begin with this oracle against Babylon. We’re going to go from that to oracles against the Philistines in Chapter 14 and against Moab in Chapters 15 and 16. We’re going to look at oracles against Syria and Ephraim in Chapters 17 and 18, Egypt in Chapters 19 and 20, and back to Babylon again in Chapter 21. Edom and Arabia are also in Chapter 21, and finally Tyre is in Chapter 23. These are oracles against the nations. In all of this, God’s going to give clear messages to His people. That’s us and them. The message is, first of all, do not trust in the strength or be allured or enticed by the strength of the nations and the peoples you see around you. Do not put your trust in them. Do not make alliances with them. Don’t put your hope in them. They are just nations. They are as a drop in the bucket, and they will be swept away in the end. The insight here again and again is that that there’s no righteous nation on Earth as we understand a political entity. God’s wrath is against all of them, every one of them. He says very plainly in Isaiah 34:2, “The Lord is angry with all the nations; his wrath is upon all their armies.” That’s something good for us to consider, isn’t it? He’s against them all. Friends, our citizenship is in Heaven. That’s the message of the oracles of these nations. Also, do not question God’s justice when, for a short period of time, a godless people seem to be dominant and ascendant. He’s seen it before. We will see it again and again. God reigns even then. He is not unjust and God cannot be mocked. Judgment Day, the Day of the Lord, mentioned here, will come to them. So for us, as a people of God, trust in Him. Fear God and keep His commandments. Walk in His ways. Pray for the advance of His kingdom. That’s what I get out of the oracles of the nations. That’s a general introduction to the new section of Isaiah that we’re coming to. Isaiah’s Far-reaching Vision Let’s look specifically here at Isaiah’s far-reaching vision when he talks about Babylon. Look at verse 1, an oracle concerning Babylon that Isaiah son of Amoz saw. Many modern scholars seriously question whether Isaiah wrote these chapters. I love it and I don’t; I hate it. But I read it and I wonder how they come up with these things. What they say is that, at the time that Isaiah wrote, 725 BC, Babylon was really nothing. It was just a minor city with some people around it (the Chaldeans) and they were under the boot of the Assyrians like everybody else. So, it’s like Isaiah made a mistake prophesying against Babylon. They were nothing. It was Assyria that was the threat. Well, he’s dealt with Assyria and we’ve seen all that. But now he’s turning to Babylon. It’s no mistake friends. And it wasn’t written after the fact, friends. Not at all. It was written in 725 BC or thereabouts. Babylon and the Medes that are mentioned in this chapter are actually small allies, chafing under the Assyrian yoke. Isaiah is predicting the fall of Babylon to the Medes. Look at verse 17, the Medes are specifically mentioned. He names the people that are going to topple Babylon before either one of them are powerful enough to do anything about it. That would happen one hundred and eighty-nine years after this oracle was given, almost two hundred years later. Can God do that? Can He make that kind of a specific prophecy that far in advance? We Christians, we know the truth. He actually can look seven and a half centuries ahead and talk about Jesus who died as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him; nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by man. A man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.” “We all like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him [on Jesus] the iniquity of us all.” (Is 53:2-3;6) Can Isaiah look into the future and see that kind of detail? Absolutely he can! Can he see that Jesus would be buried in a rich man’s tomb and then raised? He can see all that. He can see whatever God shows him, for God knows the future. God’s Sovereign Plan the Central Theme of History He says in Isaiah 42:9, “See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare; before they spring into being I announce them to you.” This is the power of God. He knows the future. He doesn’t just know the future, He decrees the future and He declares the future! This is what God does. This is the plan determined for the whole world, and God is making it happen. So Isaiah has a far-reaching vision to look ahead one hundred and eighty-nine years from when he was living to the fall of an empire at a city that wasn’t even powerful in his day. He can do that. Babylon’s Symbolic Role in Redemptive History Babylon the Ancient Leader in Human Rebellion Babylon has a symbolic role in redemptive history. Anyone who’s read through the Bible has bumped into Babylon again and again. It’s not just one time. The key question as we look at Isaiah 13 is “If Babylon isn’t even the issue at this point, if the real threat is in Assyria, then why does God give such a prominent place to the prediction of the fall of Babylon?” That’s a good question. Babylon was the ancient leader in human rebellion among the nations. The nations derived their origin from the time when, in Babel, a tower was being built: the Tower of Babel in defiance of the command of God. God came down and confused the languages and that was the beginning of the nations. Babel became Babylon. It’s the same location. That’s where it was. That’s the origination of that national rebellion against God. Babylon the Leader in Human Empire-Building Babylon was also what we call the Neo-Babylonian empire. In the time under Nebuchadnezzar it was a leader in world empire-building. There had never been an empire like it. The cultural level of Babylon was much higher than that of Assyria. It mentions the nobles in our text here. We’ll talk more about that. But Nebuchadnezzar’s achievements were astounding in building Babylon to its level of human glory. We’ve got the famed Hanging Gardens of Babylon and all of the structures there. It’s just a magnificent place. Furthermore, the city of Babylon was mighty and powerful. It seemed invincible: 14 miles square, huge outer walls, which Herodotus tells us were 87 feet thick and 350 feet high. That’s a 35 story building! There were 100 great bronze gates in the walls and a limitless water supply, so they believed. Crops were able to be grown within the walls. You can’t conquer this city. You don’t have an army big enough to go fourteen miles on a side all the around to shut it up tight like a cork. You can’t do it. Even if you could, they could outlast you. They’ve got crops inside. They’ve got farmers. They’ve got water. They’ll just laugh at you, 350 feet above you. You’re not going to be throwing anything over the wall and you’re not going to burrow through it. There’s no way it could fall, so they believed. Babylon was the arrogant symbol of opposition to almighty God. Babylon the Symbol of Human Opposition to God In the New Testament, Peter makes a not-so-obscure reference to Babylon. At the end of his epistle 1 Peter 5, he says this, “She who is in Babylon, chosen together with you, sends you her greetings, and so does my son Mark.” Church tradition tells us he wrote that from Rome. Why does he call Rome, Babylon? I told you, out of the ashes rises the phoenix of another world-conquering, God-hating empire. And that was Rome in Peter’s day. Even after Rome falls, there’s another one, another Babylon that keeps coming. It’s going to keep right on going until the end. Revelation will pick up on this Babylon theme, as we’ll talk about later in the message. But in Revelation 17, as I’ve already mentioned, and in 18, Babylon is there when Jesus returns. And He destroys it. God Summons an Army Against Babylon God’s Activity Central But here in Isaiah 13 we’re focusing on the first empire, the Babylonian empire and the city of Babylon. One hundred and eighty-nine years before it happens, the prophet Isaiah is predicting its fall. By the way, this is one of the most predicted events in history. It’s predicted here in Isaiah 13. It’s predicted in Isaiah 21. It’s predicted for five chapters towards the end of Jeremiah very specifically. It’s predicted in Habakkuk Chapter 2 very plainly. The details are astounding. I already preached through this. It’s recorded for us in Daniel Chapter 5 on the night of Belshazzar’s feast when the writing appears on the wall and Babylon falls to the Medes. It’s not a minor event in redemptive history. It’s a major one. God is summoning an army against Babylon, and, in this chapter, God’s activity is central. Seven times in this chapter God speaks about what He’s going to do against Babylon. He’s taking it very personally. He’s acting very directly. Look at verse 3, “I have commanded my holy ones; I have summoned my warriors to carry out my wrath – those who rejoice in my triumph.” It’s very personal for God. Verses 11-13 say, “I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless. I will make man scarcer than pure gold, more rare than the gold of Ophir. Therefore, I will make the heavens tremble.” Verse 17 even more specifically says, “See, I will stir up against them the Medes.” God raises up the Medes against Babylon. This is very personal for God. He is active and involved. Verses 6 and 9 call it the Day of the Lord. This is the Lord’s day, the day of judgment on the nations. God is acting directly to bring about judgment for His own glory. This is not some random swirling of events in human history that had no purpose, no meaning to it at all, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. No, this is God, essential actor in history, bringing down judgment on a people who will not acknowledge His name or live through His glory. So God summons an army. That’s how He is going to do it. An Army Summoned from the Nations Verses 2-4 say, “Raise a banner on a bare hilltop, shout to them; beckon to them to enter the gates of the nobles. I have commanded my holy ones; I have summoned my warriors to carry out my wrath – those who rejoice in my triumph. Listen, a noise on the mountains, like that of a great multitude! Listen, an uproar among the kingdoms, like nations massing together! The Lord Almighty is mustering an army for war.” God is mustering an army and they’re going to come and destroy Babylon. In ancient times, before radio communication, armies used colorful banners up on bare hilltops to signal across distances. Or they would use signal fires. The nations are massing together. They are organizing to come against the mighty Babylon. Again, it’s no accident. The Lord is mustering this army for war and they’re going to enter, it says, “the gates of the nobles.” These are the Chaldeans. These are the refined Babylonians who exported their Babylonian culture all over their empire. They’re the nobles, the blue bloods, cultured and arrogant. They’re going to be destroyed, all of them. And God calls this personal army to do His will. They are His warriors. He even calls them “my holy ones.” Strange, isn’t it? Holy in this case means set apart for a purpose and for a job that God’s calling them to do. Later on in Isaiah’s prophecy, He’s going to call Cyrus the Great of Persia “my anointed one.” In Greek, it’s the Christ, the Messiah. Now we know that he’s not the Christ, but he’s anointed for a task. So it says in Isaiah 45:4, “For the sake of Jacob my servant, of Israel my chosen, I summon you by name and bestow on you a title of great honor, though you do not acknowledge me.” Cyrus doesn’t know Yahweh. He doesn’t know the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But he’s doing Yahweh’s will, even though he doesn’t acknowledge Him. We’ve already learned that in Isaiah, haven’t we? God raises up instruments to do His will, whether they acknowledge Him or not. The Day of the Lord So this army that’s coming, these Medes and these Persians that are coming to destroy Babylon, they’re doing God’s will. This is the day of the Lord. Look at verses 5 and 6, “They come from far away lands, from the ends of the heavens – the Lord and the weapons of his wrath to destroy the whole country. Wail, for the day of the Lord is near; it will come like destruction from the Almighty.” The invasion of this international coalition of armies against Babylon is not an accidental occurrence. God has brought it. There may be human factors, but it is the Lord, spiritually, riding at the head of the army. It cannot be defeated and the reaction will be nothing less than terror. Look at verses 7-9, “Because of this, all hands will go limp, every man’s heart will melt. Terror will seize them, pain and anguish will grip them; they will writhe like a woman in labor. They will look aghast at each other, their faces aflame. See, the Day of the Lord is coming – a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger – to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it.” There will be a future Day of the Lord. It is described in many places in the New Testament. That Day of the Lord will be like this one only a thousand times worse, a thousand times more intense. In history God just does the same things again and again, like dress rehearsals, and says, “As I did in Sodom and Gomorrah,” or “as I did in Babylon,” or “as what happened with the Romans.” It’s going to happen again at the end, getting us ready for the Day of the Lord. Thus, Isaiah uses extreme language to describe the fall of Babylon, He goes beyond the mere invasion of the city that night, the killing of the Babylonian king and the officials, and the taking over of the city by the Medes and the Persians. He goes much further than that. Look at verses 10 and 13. It’s language that soars above that current event. It says, “The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light.” “Therefore I will make the heavens tremble; and the earth will shake from its place at the wrath of the Lord Almighty, in the day of his burning anger.” This is language that is speaking of the end of the world. It’s going to happen again. Babylon will be crushed again, and, at that point, the stars and the sun and the moon aren’t merely going to be darkened, they’re going to be removed. The stars will fall to the earth, it says in the Book of Revelation, as figs from a tree. God is going to clear everything away, and there will be a new heaven and new earth, the home of righteousness. The Invaders Named Astonishing Accuracy In verse 17, Isaiah names the invaders very specifically. This is God saying, “See what I can do? Even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. I know history before it even happens. I can tell you who’s going to destroy Babylon. It’s going to be the Medes.” Look at verse 17, “See, I will stir up against them the Medes, who do not care for silver and have no delight in gold.” This is astonishing accuracy. As I mentioned, at the time Isaiah wrote, the Medes were no major player on the world scene. Like the Babylonians, they were conquered people under the yoke of the Assyrians. Who were the Medes? They were people living in what is now central Iran, east of Mesopotamia. They inhabited the Zagros Mountains and the high plateaus east of that mountain range. That’s where they came from. As early as 836 BC, the Assyrians referred to them as a threat, as enemies. In 612 BC, they joined together with the Babylonians in helping to crush what was left of the dying Assyrian empire. Assyria’s time was over and the Medes and Babylonians came together and went up the Fertile Crescent and crushed Nineveh. It’s predicted. Assyria is done, finished for good, and the Medes and Babylonians kind of joined together in doing that. But the Babylonians took over under Nebuchadnezzar. They were stronger at that point, and the Medes were subjugated. They were crushed under the Babylonian empire. Single-Minded Weapons of Wrath God declares in advance that once Babylon’s time has passed, the Medes will rise up and it’ll be their turn. They’re going to crush Babylon. Look at them, they’re a single-minded weapon of wrath. Verse 17-18, “See, I will stir up against them the Medes, who do not care for silver and have no delight in gold. Their bows will strike down the young men; they will have no mercy on infants nor will they look with compassion on children.” First of all, they can’t be bought off. You can’t send out a box of silver and gold and they go home, back to where they came from. They’re going to get it all. They don’t want one box. They want everything you have, Babylonians. They’re not going to be bought off that way. They’re ready to exact vengeance. They’re filled with wrath. They’re filled with rage. And they’re going to kill everyone. There’s a mercilessness here. Even the infants and the children, they’re not spared. Desolation Decreed… Then Fulfilled (vs 19-22) The Reason for Judgment: Pride The desolation that is decreed and then fulfilled in verses 19 through 22 comes as an act of judgment by God. Why does the judgment come? Well, the central reason is always the same; it’s pride. It’s the arrogance of the Babylonians. He’s going to crush them because of their pride. Look at verse 19, “Babylon, the jewel of kingdoms, the glory of the Babylonians’ pride, will be overthrown by God like Sodom and Gomorrah.” Isaiah 2 has already displayed how much God hates human arrogance, pride, and boasting. Anything that goes up, anything that gets lofty in defiance of God, He wants to throw down. And in due time, He will. Here, Babylon is called “the jewel of kingdoms, the glory of the Babylonians pride.” It was for this very reason, as you remember, that Nebuchadnezzar was struck with insanity for seven years. Do you remember the King of Babylon? The Babylonian emperor is walking on the roof of his palace and feeling pretty good about his life and his achievements. “Is this not the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?” He’d already been warned about this kind of thing a year before by Daniel. Even while the words are coming out of his mouth, an angel speaks and decrees. And God strikes. In that same day, he is driven away from people and goes out and starts eating grass like cattle for seven years. He’s like that until God grants him repentance and enables his sanity to come back to him. He lifts up his eyes toward heaven and he praises the Most High. He learns his lesson. He is able to be humble. The Horror of the Judgment Well, Nebuchadnezzar learned it, but Babylon didn’t. Babylon didn’t learn it. Babylon is an enemy of God. It will fight against God forever. So if he won’t be that way, he’ll be replaced, and another king will come along who’ll rule Babylon. He’s going to get soft. And look at the horror of the judgment in verses 14 through 16, “Like a hunted gazelle, like a sheep without a shepherd, each will return to his own people, each will flee to his native land. Whoever is captured will be thrust through; all who are caught will fall by the sword. Their infants will be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their house will be looted and their wives ravished.” Destruction, this is what the next Babylon does to the last Babylon. It’s what they do. Unfolding Judgment: Babylon Becomes Desolate Gradually They’re going to get judged when Alexander the Great comes. Then he is going to get judged. And the Greeks are going to get judged when the Romans come. And on and on it goes, one Babylon after another, bringing this kind of destruction. Look at the judgment, the desolation that’s predicted. Look at verses 20 through 22, speaking of Babylon, “She will never be inhabited or lived in through all generations; no Arab will pitch his tent there, no shepherd will rest his flocks there. But desert creatures will lie there, jackals will fill her houses; there, owls will dwell, and there, the wild goats will leap about. Hyenas will howl in her stronghold; jackals in her luxurious palaces. Her time is at hand, and her days will not be prolonged.” Desolation has been decreed for Babylon. No one will live there ever again. It will be leveled and it will never be rebuilt. Now obviously, if you take that literally, then how do you end up with Babylon all the way at the end of the world in Revelations 17? Well, the city itself on the Euphrates River is crushed and it has not been rebuilt. According to this, it never will be. But the spirit of Babylon lives on and it keeps floating from place to place, landing, coagulating in a human empire, and then the next Babylon rises. The last one will be that of the Antichrist, as he organizes the whole world in rebellion against God. So, Babylon continues to live even while this city will never be rebuilt. This decree was fulfilled in stages. It didn’t happen all at once. Cyrus the Persian invades. In 538 BC he comes in and takes the whole empire except the city of Babylon. Darius the Mede (he’s got to be a Mede, of course) comes with the Medes to Babylon itself, and they get in. Jeremiah predicted very plainly, “I will make her officials, her leaders drunk and they will lie down and sleep and never wake up.” This couldn’t be plainer. He also says in Jeremiah, “I will dry up her streams.” What ends up happening is the Medes dried up the Euphrates River by diverting it with a canal. They crawl under the walls. They are very vulnerable to archers, if anybody’s on the wall watching. But nobody is watching, because they are all drunk in their beds because of Belshazzar’s feast. So the Medes come in. They open up the gates, and they run through the palace. They kill Belshazzar. They kill all of the Babylonian officials. But they didn’t kill Daniel, the third highest ruler in the Babylonian kingdom. Because that was Daniel. Remember the purple robe and the gold chain? I don’t think he was wearing it that night. It wouldn’t have been a good idea. But God then sovereignly raised Daniel up to be the third highest ruler in the Persian kingdom as well! Only God could do something like that. Everybody else, though, dies, a direct fulfillment. But the gates and the walls still stood. It was useful. Why destroy it? It was there for a while until another Darius, some time later, actually pulled the walls down and destroyed it. Then Alexander the Great comes along. By this time, it’s little more than a pile of rubble. He decides he wants to rebuild it and make it the center of his empire. The problem is, in Babylon, he drank too much wine and died of alcohol poisoning. His grandiose plans never came to anything. God will not have that city rebuilt. It got worse and worse. By 309 BC, Antigonus the First of Macedonia leveled Babylon. By 275, Antiochus the First took away all the remaining civilian population, deporting them to other cities. Nobody’s even living there in 275 BC. A Greek writer named Pausanias, geographer of the Roman period, said there’s literally nothing where there used to be Babylon. That’s during the Roman period. It happened in stages. In the last century before Christ, an ancient geographer, Strabo, wrote, “the great city of Babylon has become a wilderness.” I don’t think he’s saying, “Oh, I read Isaiah 13.” He is just saying what it is. It’s a wilderness. God made it that way. The Roman Emperor Trajan, eager to visit the famous Babylon, was disappointed when he arrived at the site. There was nothing to see. There’s nothing there. No Arab will pitch his tent there. No shepherd will shepherd his flock there. There’s nothing there. In the present era, in 1811, an archeologist found it. From the end of the 1800s into the 1900s, there were major digs going on. Then Saddam Hussein took power. He wanted to make it the center of his kingdom. Well, two Gulf Wars took care of him! He’s not in power there. There won’t be any new Babylon on the site of the old Babylon, at least not under Saddam Hussein. Much to the chagrin of the archaeologists that are there, US troops are digging and using sand and rubble from the site to fill sandbags. I think they’re fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah 13. They’re not that concerned about archaeology or any of those sorts of things. They’ve got to fill up sandbags because there are threats against them. They don’t want to get blown up. As a Biblical scholar, I look at that and say, “Amen.” Fill it up! Fill up those sandbags with ancient Babylon. Final Judgment: Overthrown Like Sodom and Gomorrah Now, of course, I appreciate archaeology and all that sort of stuff. But it’s happened whether you like it or not. If you’re an archaeologist who weeps over that kind of thing, it doesn’t matter. It has happened. It is going to be hard to get it back. Those guys go on hands and knees with toothbrushes, that kind of thing. These soldiers are in there with shovels, filling up bags. It’s God’s judgment, I tell you, on ancient Babylon. He means to keep it down. In the final judgment, however, Babylon is going to be overthrown like Sodom and Gomorrah. That’s what it says. It’s like Sodom and Gomorrah, but different. Sodom and Gomorrah were overthrown by fire and brimstone coming down from heaven. Judgment coming down from above so it’s clear that God is doing it. No question about it. So it will be at the end of the world. Babylon’s Final Fall Language Goes Beyond the Fall of One Nation When Jesus comes back in Revelation, chapters 17 and 18 describe Babylon’s final fall. Isaiah 13:9-11 says, “See, the Day of the Lord is coming – a cruel day, with wrath and fierce anger – to make the land desolate and destroy the sinners within it. The stars of heaven and their constellations will not show their light. The rising sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light. I will punish the world for its evil, the wicked for their sins. I will put an end to the arrogance of the haughty and will humble the pride of the ruthless.” That’s the end of the world. God is going to judge it. Read about it in the Book of Revelation. In Revelation 17 it talks about when Babylon the great, mystery Babylon, is thrown down like a millstone. And Revelation 18 says that Babylon was destroyed by the sovereign power of God. I was reading an article recently in which some professors were worrying, greatly worrying, terribly worrying, about over-population. Over-population is going to get us, folks. Did you know that? The estimation is that by the year 2050, it will take, these professors say, the resources of four planet Earths to handle the 9 billion people there will be at that time. I don’t think over-population’s going to get us. Look at verse 12, “I will make man scarcer than pure gold, more rare than the gold of Ophir.” The judgment of God is going to get “us,” if “us” is unrepentant rebels who love Babylon. That’s what is going to get “us.” Don’t fear over-population. Fear God. The judgment of God is coming on Babylon, and friends, we live in Babylon. We live in the city of destruction. I don’t just mean we Americans. I’m saying, we who live here on Earth, we live in Babylon. Christ Saves Us From Babylon God’s judgment is coming. It’s going to come once more. God sent His son, the Lord Jesus Christ, to rescue us from it, that we might not have to suffer its curses and plagues. So God says, “Come out from her and be separate.” Speaking of Babylon later in the Book of Isaiah, “Come out and do not share her plagues and her judgments.” Well, come out where? Recently, I was reading through Wayne Grudem’s “Systematic Theology” and he was talking about the attributes of God and God’s omnipresence. Where are you going to flee from the wrath of God? Where are you going to go? There’s nowhere you can hide. One theologian said there is nowhere to flee from God enraged but to God reconciled. There’s nowhere you can flee from God enraged but to God reconciled. And the only place you can find reconciliation with God is at the cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus died on the cross. He shed His blood, under the wrath of God, that we might have a refuge place from the judgment that’s coming on Babylon, that we might have a place to come and be separate and pure and to be protected and to not suffer from the plagues. It says in Galatians 1:3-4, “The Lord Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for our sins to rescue us from this present evil age.” Application Come to Christ And so, what application? Flee to Christ. Flee to Him. I don’t know your spiritual situation. Do you know your spiritual situation? Have you fled to Christ? Are you standing under the shadow of the cross, having been cleansed by the blood of Jesus? Are you ready to face the wrath to come? Have you fled to Jesus? He is the only refuge there is and you don’t need to just flee there once. Friends, we still live in Babylon. It’s still alluring; it’s still enticing; it’s still pulling on us. We’re not done being saved. Flee there every day. Flee there many times a day. Come again and again to the cross of Christ when you’re being polluted by the world. It could be you’re sitting here this morning, Sunday morning, and your conscience is defiled. You know you’re a Christian. There’s no doubt in your mind that you’re a Christian. But you have done things and you have compromised with Babylon in some way. You have been polluted. Flee to Christ again. He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Pray that He might purify us. Understand God’s Sovereign Control Over the Nations Understand the control of God over the flow of human history. It doesn’t matter how many Babylons rise from the ashes of the last Babylon. God is in charge of all of it and He will crush it all at the end. There will be smaller Days of the Lord and then one final Day of the Lord. Call on God to Fulfill His Purposes Finally, call on God to fulfill His good purposes. Say, “Do it, Lord! Crush Babylon. Rescue your people out from her and crush her. Establish Your kingdom. May Your kingdom come and may Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” We come now to a time of celebration of the Lord’s Supper. This is a time in which we are able to look back at what I’ve just mentioned, Jesus’ sacrificial death on our behalf. We’re able to look around in this present time at our own hearts to know whether we’re in the faith, to know whether our consciences are defiled. We can confess our sin and get ready. We should not take this in a manner unworthy of the Lord. Thus, we come under His discipline. We take it very seriously. But remember, it’s for sinners. It’s not for the pure and holy. Jesus said, “I didn’t come to call the righteous but sinners.” So, if you have come to personal faith in Christ and you’ve testified to that by water baptism, you’re free to come and take from this table. We also look ahead to a time when the Lord will be finished with all of this unpleasantness, with all of the judgment, and He will usher in the new heavens and new earth. Close with me in prayer.