The space agency’s astronomical models suggest that a lunar eclipse turned the moon red over Jerusalem on Friday, April 3, 33 AD — a date many scholars tie to Jesus’ death. //

The eclipse theory, originally floated by Oxford University researchers Colin Humphreys and W. Graeme Waddington, https://www.asa3.org/ASA/PSCF/1985/JASA3-85Humphreys.html

Combining radiocarbon dating and a new AI program called Enoch yields surprising results.

Rome carved borders in stone. Priests built walls from law and fear. Prophets thundered from mountaintops, hoping the ground would open.

But Jesus moved differently. He never staked a claim on land. He never petitioned for favor. He never drew a boundary he would not cross.

He spoke of a kingdom that cannot be mapped. A reign that begins between two heartbeats. A fire hidden under cold ash.

They wanted a king with banners and cavalry. He offered a seed pressed into dirt.

Read and study God's Word with Bible study software that has in-depth resources such as commentaries, Greek and Hebrew word tools, concordances, and more. //

Searchable Online Bible with Study Resources

Blue Letter Bible is a free, searchable online Bible program providing access to many different Bible translations including: KJV, NKJV, NLT, ESV, NASB20, NASB95 and many others. In addition, in-depth study tools are provided on the site with access to commentaries, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and other theological resources. Browse the site to see all of the Bible study tools available.

The authority of Scripture is a key issue for the Christian Church in this and every age. Those who profess faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior are called to show the reality of their discipleship by humbly and faithfully obeying God’s written Word. To stray from Scripture in faith or conduct is disloyalty to our Master. Recognition of the total truth and trustworthiness of Holy Scripture is essential to a full grasp and adequate confession of its authority.

Our statement of faith, mission, and resources are grounded in the historical, conservative Christian faith.

1. We affirm the Bible to be the inspired, inerrant, and the only infallible and authoritative Word of God. We affirm the Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy.

2. We affirm that there is one God, eternally existent in three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

3. We affirm the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, His virgin birth, His sinless life, His miracles, His vicarious and atoning death through His shed blood, His bodily resurrection, His ascension to the right hand of the Father, and His personal return in power and glory.

4. We affirm that for the salvation of lost and sinful people, regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential.

5. We affirm the present ministry of the Holy Spirit by whose indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a godly life.

6. We affirm the resurrection of both the saved and the lost: they that are saved unto the resurrection of life and they that are lost unto the resurrection of damnation.

7. We affirm the spiritual unity of believers in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Zechariah 3:2 New International Version

The LORD said to Satan, "The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?" //

When trying to identify the source of an NT citation of the OT it is important to consider the Greek OT, from which most NT citations of the OT employ. Please add Zech 3:2 from BES [Brenton's English Septuagint] to your scriptures in your question. blueletterbible.org/bes/zec/3/2/s_914002 //

A:

This is a contentious question and has been much debated even from the time of Origen. According to Origen, the account of Michael disputing with Satan over the body of Moses, is attributed to material contained in the Testament of Moses [also known as, "The Apocalypse of Moses", or, "The Assumption of Moses"]. However, about one third of the text of the Testament of Moses is now missing and there is no mention of such an incident in the text that remains.

Modern critical scholarship (with which I only rarely agree) suggest that this part of Jude is a midrash of Zech 3 and material from the Testament of Moses [eg, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assumption_of_Moses ]. Certainly, Jude quotes often from both the OT pseudepigrapha, eg, Jude 14, 15 quotes 1 Enoch 1:9.

The idea of the LORD rebuking people is a regular theme in the OT, for example: [....]

Why was there a dispute about the body of Moses? And how did this dispute arise, if it happened? What (if anything) is known about this? //

A:

Origen claims that the Letter of Jude picked up the story of Michael and the devil arguing over the body of Moses from a Jewish text called the Ascension of Moses. //

References to this apocryphal story are found in early Christian literature.

The text we have which is titled the Ascension of Moses, however, does not contain this particular event. It may be that our text is missing the section containing the story of the dispute over Moses' body, or we may have misidentified which text we have.

Richard Bauckham, arguing that the various references to the story are independent of the Letter of Jude, attempts to reconstruct the story's key points... //

Joshua accompanied Moses up Mount Nebo, where God showed Moses the land of promise. Moses then sent Joshua back to the people to inform them of Moses' death, and Moses died. God sent the archangel Michael to remove the body of Moses to another place and bury it there, but Samma'el, the devil, opposed him, disputing Moses' right to honorable burial. The text may also have said that he wished to take the body to the people for them to make it an object of worship. Michael and the devil therefore engaged in a dispute over the body. The devil brought against Moses a charge of murder, because he smote the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand. But this accusation was no better than slander (βλασφημία) against Moses, and Michael not tolerating this slander, said to the devil, "May the Lord rebuke you, devil!" At that the devil took flight, and Michael removed the body to the place commanded by God, where he buried it with his own hands. Thus no one saw the burial of Moses.

The base form of the story seems influenced by Zechariah 3.

As first reported by the BBC, a sharp uptick of men have been attending a Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia (or ROCOR) in Georgetown, Texas, led by Father Moses McPherson. //

After watching McPherson's YouTube channel for a bit, I can see why many people would gravitate toward him, especially men. McPherson seems to reject modernist takes on gender roles and encourages young people to get married, settle down, and have children. In one short, he holds up a pregnancy test and encourages couples to get a positive one. He also calls masturbation "pathetic and unmanly".

A lot of McPherson's positions seem to be blunt, unwavering, and unapologetic, and I think that's what is attracting a lot of men right now. They feel like they can be proud of their masculinity in the way that God sees it, and this ROCOR growth seems to show that men aren't just seeking that kind of welcome; they want to foster it and find fellowship in that kind of scene.

Modern society makes it clear that masculinity is unwelcome and distasteful, and men are often made out to be the bad guy no matter what the scenario entails, yet at this faith, men are held in higher esteem. They're obviously still held highly accountable for their actions, but this accountability comes with love and encouragement, not blame and derision.

I asked my small group a follow-up question: “If 10 minutes of watching porn per day has shaped your brain, what do you think 10 minutes in the Bible could do?” While it wasn’t the mic-drop moment I imagined, a flicker of hope shone on their faces as they began to consider the surprising reality.

Porn shaped us. But the Bible can shape us even more forcefully. //

Gen Z was raised on instant gratification. Everything we want—entertainment, information, food, clothing, and even social validation—is available with a click. We’ve grown up on dopamine media and all its fabricated highs, cheap thrills, and immediate results.

So when a young man opens his Bible, reads a chapter, and walks away with no dopamine burst or goose bumps, it’s easy to think, What’s the point? When the Bible’s formative power takes years to accomplish what algorithms do in moments, it’s easy to think, This isn’t doing anything. He’s left with a simmering frustration toward God, reminiscent of a spoiled child: “It’s my spiritual growth, and I want it now!”

Ironically, it’s his struggle with pornography that reveals the truth he doubts: Small habits shape you in profound ways. Ten minutes of daily porn forms thought patterns, shifted desires, altered speech, and changed relationships. It turns people into objects, intimacy into performance, and satisfaction into orgasm.

What if, in the same way, 10 minutes a day in God’s Word—replacing 10 minutes of porn—could reverse that? Not instantly. Not overnight. But slowly, surely, powerfully. What if every time you thought about clicking on porn you opened the Bible instead? What if 10 minutes of Scripture each day began to reshape you—making holiness the default instead of lust? What if, day by day, your thoughts started to align more with Christ’s? Your desires shifted toward purity? Your hopes restored?

The good news is that this is precisely how God designed us. This is how spiritual growth works. //

And you’re right—reading the Bible alone isn’t enough. But it’s a solid foundation. And it arms you with the truth, habits, and hope you need to fight back.

The Bible teaches you to surround yourself with a community that holds you accountable (Heb. 10:24–25). It teaches you to confess your sins (James 5:16). It teaches you to approach the throne of grace with confidence (Heb. 4:16). It teaches you to pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17). It teaches you to fix your mind on things above (Col. 3:2). It teaches you God’s unbreakable love (Rom. 8:38–39). Scripture doesn’t just inform us once; it reminds us daily.

Breaking free from sin isn’t about a single life-changing moment. It’s about the daily decision to keep fighting. //

Porn teaches your neural pathways to escape into fantasy whenever you feel stressed, anxious, or bored. The Bible teaches your neural pathways to take refuge in God, your salvation and strength (Ps. 46:1).

Porn cultivates your neural pathways to default to lust. To take rather than give. The Bible cultivates your neural pathways to default to chaste self-control. To love rather than consume (Gal. 5:22–23). //

What if the battle against porn isn’t just about breaking a bad habit but about building a better one? Because here’s the truth: If you commit to daily Scripture, the Holy Spirit will forge new neural pathways. Slowly but surely, you’ll begin to see the difference. The escape you once sought in porn will start to pale in comparison to the rest you find in God. Sinful desires won’t just be resisted—they’ll be replaced. Over time, dark desires will be expelled by holy longing.

Scripture becomes the anchor steadying you when temptation hits, grounding you when shame creeps in, and holding you fast when everything else tries to pull you under. It’s not the whole fight, but it’s where the fight begins.

The Bible is the only Book that gives us any indication of the true nature of sin, and where it came from.
The Philosophy of Sin, 1107 R

For some time now, there has been a controversy in Christiandom as regards the authenticity of the book of Enoch.

A lot of people are of the view that if the book really mattered, it would have been meant for the people that existed before Christ because the book was more than 300 years old when Jesus Christ was on earth.

Jesus Quotes Book of Enoch

So notice what it is that Eliphaz says about the flood in Job 22:15-18:

Will you keep to the old path that the wicked have trod?
They were carried off before their time, their foundations washed away by a flood.
They said to God, “Leave us alone! What can the Almighty do to us?”
Yet it was he who filled their houses with good things… (Job 22:15-18a, NIV) [3]

According to Eliphaz, God’s role in the flood was to give good things to the people who lived prior to the flood (Job 22:18a), but in response, all they wanted was for God to leave them alone. They told God to depart from them!

Where did God come from?

Time space and matter has to come into being together. The Trinity of trinities created simultaneously.

Scientific Reasons God Is Real: Atheism Doesn’t Add Up!

Unguarded strength is double weakness, because that is where the “retired sphere of the leasts” saps. The Bible characters fell on their strong points, never on their weak ones.

“Kept by the power of God” — that is the only safety.

Many in the crowd that cheered Jesus’ entry on Palm Sunday mistook his mission as one to eradicate their political rulers, rather than to eradicate the sin in their own hearts. Two thousand years later, you can find the same mistake in the pages of The New York Times.

In a Sunday op-ed, the recently resigned Episcopal Rev. Andrew Thayer argues that “Palm Sunday Was a Protest, Not a Procession.” Jesus, he says, was killed for threatening the power of the Roman Empire, an empire with which Thayer draws explicit parallels to the United States under President Donald Trump and “Christian nationalism,” whatever that means.

He says Jesus’ arrival into Jerusalem was an act of “political confrontation.” Jesus, in Thayer’s telling, “came to dismantle the very logic of Caesar: the belief that might makes right, peace comes through violence and politics is best wielded through fear, coercion and control.”

“Dismantling” political empires is, obviously, not why Jesus came to Earth and allowed Himself to be crucified. As any of the children I’ve taught in Sunday school could tell you, He came to take the punishment for our sins so we sinners could be reunited with God by His grace.

Jesus was not protesting Caesar, of whom he had said days before, “Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s.” When He was arrested, His reply was, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me?” When Pontius Pilate asked Jesus what His crime had been, Jesus responded, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest.”

Dr Jordan B Peterson @jordanbpeterson
To become better, you need to know who you are and what you stand for.

American Christians already live as functional atheists, oblivious to the spiritual realm. //

On August 17, 2009, Barack Obama appointed Francis Collins as the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Lauded as a hero of the faith because he professed belief in God while leading the Human Genome Project some years prior, Collins became a link between Christian institutions and the scientific establishment. As association with Collins meant a pastor couldn’t be accused of being some backward-thinking fundamentalist, Collins’s image became synonymous with a more nuanced, reasonable faith – perhaps even a faith that was academically robust.

A year after taking the helm of NIH, Collins reportedly believed that “it is not possible scientifically to settle precisely when life begins.” In fact, before taking over NIH, Collins had already praised eugenic abortions ( when one prenatally tests the baby to see if they’re “fit” or “unfit” and disposes of them if they aren’t up to scruff) as something people “in our current society… are in a circumstance of being able to take advantage of” and something “we have decided as a society… needs to be defended.” And shortly after his confirmation at NIH, Collins said that establishing a new human embryonic stem cell registry was one of his high priorities. If Collins was indeed Mephistopheles’ vessel, the demon wasted no time in devouring his favorite kind of child: very small ones. After all, there are no embryonic stem cells without dead babies. //

In 2006, three years before his appointment at NIH, Collins published his book, The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief, in which he explains how he found harmony between scientific and spiritual worldviews. However, what many Christians drooling over such a “respectable” and “nuanced” Christianity missed is that he defended research on preborn children, so long as they hadn’t been created expressly for such “research.” However his position on this also made space for pursuing scientific discoveries using “the sacrifice and destruction of ‘leftover’ human embryos from fertility clinics.” //

Humanized rats. Remains of unborn babies, purchased from Planned Parenthood and the like, had their scalps removed and subsequently attached to the heads of lab rats. As head of the NIH, not only did Collins approve this study and thus validate its objectives, but he also provided taxpayer funds to pay for it. //

Russell Moore, Rick Warren, Ed Stetzer, David French, Tim Keller (in his day), and the rest of Big Eva all have one thing in common with the “progressive” revolutionaries of today’s culture: the belief that God’s children are indeed for sale. They only differ on the price tag and form of payment. Like Lot, if provided with the right incentives, our theological betters will not hesitate to toss God’s children into the arms of the mob.

There’s a reason why Rick Warren is invited to Davos by the World Economic Forum every year but Pastor Jack Hibbs is not. There’s a reason why Russell Moore is CNN’s and MSNBC’s “phone a Christian” thinker and Voddie Baucham is not. There’s a reason why David French has a weekly op-ed in the New York Times and Eric Metaxas does not. There’s a reason why the New York Times would ask Tim Keller to submit articles, but not ask Pastor Douglas Wilson. Because the former are hirelings and the latter can’t be bought. //

Peskemom7:20p, 7/8/24
Hugh Hewitt- National radio talk show host in early Covid was respectful and deferential to both Fauci and Collins in his several interviews. Then Hugh realized the whole thing was a scam. I listened when he
Graciously but firmly confronted both of them in interviews and heard their shock- annoyance- refusal to consider they were wrong on anything. That hubris and pride alone was so revealing. I realized from then on Collins - whatever "Mr. Rogers/ Captain Kangaroo" demeanor he presents is a very evil man. And hiding behind a Christian facade is demonic. Your analysis is correct. //

Dr Bruce1:31p, 7/9/24

"If I profess, with the loudest voice and the clearest exposition, every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, then I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christianity. Where the battle rages, the loyalty of the soldier is proved; it is for the soldier to be steady on this particular battlefield. It is mere flight and disgrace to him if he flinches at that one crucial point." (E.R. Charles)

https://virtueonline.org/two-litmus-tests-christian-orthodoxy-moral-realm-culture-wars. //

Sweet Foot Slim7:38a, 7/17/24
In reply to Doc Chai
I believe you are totally wrong but what I believe doesn't matter. I do agree that I cannot condemn this (evil) person's immortal soul. That is way above my pay grade.

What I CAN and WILL condemn are his EVIL ACTS. The act of harvesting organs from a living baby, or in my opinion, a baby killed for the specific purpose of harvesting organs is PURE EVIL. Again, to put it into simple terms even a scientist(sic) can fathom, the ACT is evil. Whether I believe the man's soul will be damned is not my call nor not really my concern. If the Lord has mercy on my soul and I get to heaven and find him or Mengele or Hitler hanging with God I will not question my Lord. I don't believe it will happen but it is not my call. I will love my God.

But I WILL condemn with every ounce of my being the EVIL ACTS and the EVIL coverup. If this (who I believe to be evil) person is pure and Godly and full of the Holy Spirit let him shout from the rooftops about his projects of murdering babies and harvesting their organs. A clear indication this just might be pure evil is hiding from the light of truth.

And, yes, I am a knower of science, a trained physicist/mathematician. God gave us the gift of reason to do good for His children, not to murder babies.

If forgiveness means saying, “That’s OK” to things that aren’t OK then none of us should forgive. Forgiveness is not about pushing ourselves to the limit of what we can tolerate. Susan Shapiro in the Washington Post Eight Times It Might Be Healthier Not to Forgive makes the point that whenever forgiveness begins to sound like “you have no reason to still be upset” it shifts the blame from offender to the person harmed. Forgiveness is not about saying “that’s OK” about things that are not OK.