Cestius Marches Upon Jerusalem Cestius’ march into Judea was swift and brutal: Antipatris, to Lydda, and soon outside the walls of Jerusalem. Once there, Cestius took a few days to organize his troops and determine a plan of attack. Much to his initial surprise, though, the zealots in Jerusalem proved not to be the most…
The news of the uprising in Jerusalem quickly spread like wildfire throughout the region, and soon people throughout the entire province of Judea retaliated against the Jews living among them. It didn’t matter whether or not their Jewish neighbors had anything directly to do with the uprising in Jerusalem. The persistent agitation and terrorists acts…
Agrippa’s Soldiers Arrive in Jerusalem; the Festival of Xylophory As soon as Agrippa’s soldiers arrived in Jerusalem, it became clear that regaining control of the entire city immediately was out of the question. And so, they, along with the city leaders and the high priests, were able to take possession of Mt. Zion and the…
Throughout the rest of this year, I have determined to write my own, more simplified version of Josephus’ account of the Jewish Revolt of AD 66-70. As mentioned in a previous series on my blog involving Jesus and the Olivet Discourse, I believe that at the heart of Jesus’ prophetic declaration during the Passion week…
Over the past few months, thousands of women throughout the United States have courageously come forward and told their own stories about sexual harassment. This is a good thing. This post, though, is not about that. As it seems to be the case with all movements, especially in our current age of social media, people…
In yesterday’s post I wrote about the article by Valerie Tarico entitled “Why is the Bible So Badly Written?” that was taken down by Salon.com because it had gotten such negative feedback. The long and short of the article, as I said, was the equivalent of a sophomoric complaint about having to read Shakespeare. Specifically,…
A few weeks ago, a friend of mine messaged me on Facebook, “Did you catch the Salon article on the Bible, before it got pulled?” I said, “No, what did it say?” He replied, “Oh it was so bad,” and proceeded to tell me a bit about it and told me if I was able…
Theistic Evolution: A Scientific, Philosophical, and Theological Critique is a 1,000-page book written by rather well-known Evangelicals (Biola professor J.P. Moreland, Discovery Institute’s Stephen Myer, systematic theologian Wayne Gruden) who, although not young earth creationists, are nevertheless opposed to the idea of theistic evolution. In my previous post, I began discussing an interview that J.P….
Last November, the 1,000-page Theistic Evolution: A Scientific, Philosophical, and Theological Critique hit the shelves. Written by Biola professor J.P. Moreland, Discovery Institute’s Stephen Myer, systematic theologian Wayne Gruden, among others, the book essentially argues against theistic evolution and groups like BioLogos and the Faraday Institute that endorse it. This post is not a book…
“And then they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds with great power and glory. And then he will send out the angels and gather his elect from the four winds, from the ends of the earth to the ends of heaven.” (Mark 13:26-27) If you grew up in the late 20th…