Breathing Fire
In his beloved novel The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien created some of the most memorable scenes in all of literature. My personal favorite is the mesmerizing conversation between the diminutive hobbit…
A Time, Two Times and Half a Time
Revelation 11 is arguably the toughest chapter in the Bible, but it's key for understanding the book of Revelation as a whole. Chapter 11 unveils the contents of the scroll…
Measuring the Temple
We're now on the cusp of Revelation 11, perhaps the most bewildering chapter in the Bible. We've learned about the crucial scroll (introduced in chapter 5) which contains God's plan…
Hermaneutical Gymnastics
Simone Biles was recently named Sportsperson of the Year by Sports Illustrated magazine. At the 2024 Paris Olympic games, Biles led the US gymnastics team to victory while also securing…
The Wrong Holiday
Christmas is rapidly approaching. Most churches are well into the advent season; Poinsettias and garland adorn their sanctuaries. There is one dynamic which can be reliably observed in evangelical churches…
Heresy and the Canon
Around 140 AD, a wealthy shipowner named Marcion arrived in Rome. He was originally from Sinope, a city in Asia Minor on the coast of the Black Sea. Although he…
The Things Fulfilled Among Us
"Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the…
Is Your Bible the Right Size?
Over the last 500 years, Protestants and Catholics have disagreed over the content of the scriptures. The Catholic Bible contains 7 additional Old Testament books: Tobit, Judith, Wisdom of Solomon,…
Translation of the Seventy
The last few weeks we've been tracing the formation of the Old Testament. Let's summarize what we've learned so far. The key criterion for inclusion in the sacred writings was…
The Hebrew Canon
Here are the closing words of the Torah: "Since then, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face, who did all those miraculous…