Revelation, or the Apocalypse Ἀποκάλυψις  Martin Luther on the Book of Revelation The book of Revelation almost didn’t make it into the Christian bible! It certainly had things in it that did not make sense to Christians in the centuries after the death of the apostles! For example, the reformerContinue Reading

This document contains the show notes for a podcast I made in November 2019 about bishops in early Christianity and the counsel in the Pastorals regarding the choosing of a bishop. I was interested in doing something like this for a while, due to the scholarship that exists regarding theContinue Reading

Hebrews – An Introduction Today we will briefly examine the text of the book of Hebrews in the New Testament and what we think is going on this text. We will look at who we think wrote Hebrews, when it was written, etc. First of all we know that it’sContinue Reading

Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me (John 5:39). From my reading of the text, Jesus disapproves of searching the scriptures while he addresses “the Jews” (John 5:18) who question him. The reason for this in thisContinue Reading

Moses 1; Abraham 3 – Podcast Moses 1; Abraham 3 Quotes and Notes How we got the Book of Moses, by Robert J. Mathews Book of Moses History of the Book of Moses, by Kent Jackson Moses 1 – Identity Gospel Doctrine notes on Moses 1 The Creation and AncientContinue Reading

The doublets in the Pentateuch Have you ever read parts of the first five books of Moses in the Old Testament and thought, “Didn’t I just read this story? Why is it happening again?” Whether we are talking about the creation of the world, or Jacob getting a name change,Continue Reading

The Flood narrative as a composite text The Flood narrative is an account of two sources, something that is explained by what biblical scholars call the Documentary Hypothesis. This hypothesis explains that two of the sources for this flood narrative are the Priestly and the Yahwist (P and J) –Continue Reading

What did the Deuteronomist reform? How did Josiah’s reign change the religion of the Israelites/The Kingdom of Judah? King Josiah changed the religion of Israel in the mid-seventh century BCE in several significant ways. According to the Old Testament account in 2 Kings 23, he removed all of the thingsContinue Reading

Date (BC) Israel (Northern Kingdom) Twenty monarchs, all were wicked.  Five dynasties were set up in Israel, all were short lived and ended by assassination or violence.  Seven monarchs were murdered, and 1 died of suicide. Judah (Southern Kingdom)  Twenty monarchs, twelve were wicked.  Only 4 advanced their nation economicallyContinue Reading