Roots of Christianity
Jesus, a Friend of Pharisees
The concept that all Pharisees are evil is so ingrained that people often completely ignore or dismiss passages that present Pharisees in a positive light. The Gospels provide both positive and negative depictions of Pharisees. They also assume a cultural setting that esteemed Pharisees, and this fact should mitigate and contextualize the criticisms leveled against them.
7-minute read
The Collapse of the Tomb of Jesus
The tomb of Jesus is on the verge of collapse, and the imminent danger has inspired rival sects of Christianity to set aside their differences at least long enough to do something about it. The hostility preventing the repairs seems to me like an apt metaphor for Christian conflict.
5-minute read
FFOZ on Christian Television
What would happen if a Christian television broadcaster caught the vision for the kingdom and Messianic Jewish teaching? God’s Learning Channel is broadcasting the First Fruits of Zion television show, “A Promise of What Is to Come,” along with other Messianic content, to televisions throughout the United States through various cable networks.
4-minute read
Four Myths about the Birth of Jesus
The art, music, and drama of Christmas paints an image of the birth of Yeshua that has very little in common with reality. Misconceptions like these can adversely alter our view of who Yeshua was and what he came to do. We would all do well to re-examine our presuppositions every so often.
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7-minute read
Judaism for Dummies
Our faith finds its formative impulse in a religion we now call Second Temple Judaism. The most reputable and respected scholars across denominations agree that Jesus, the apostles, and the first generation of Christians were all practicing Jews. So how is it that we know so little about Judaism?
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9-minute read
Carry My Cross
The governments and religious groups that persecuted Christianity throughout the centuries did so under the satanic mission to make the name of Jesus void on the earth. Christians who suffered persecution under the hand of the evil one went to their deaths with the praise of God on their lips.
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4-minute read
Replacing the Jews
The idea of replacement continued under the reign of the Catholic Church, and was manifested in the Crusades, expulsions of Jews from Christian nations, and the tortures of the Inquisitions, that few know continued officially until the beginning of the nineteenth century in Brazil.
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5-minute read
Where Christianity Came From, and Where It’s Going
The church is moving. What common thread connects the megachurch movement, neo-Calvinism, and the Protestant exodus to Catholicism and Orthodoxy? Each of these is an attempt to go forward by going back, but they each miss a critical aspect of the early church:
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9-minute read