And when the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” Then another horse went forth. It was bright red, and its rider was granted permission to take away peace from the earth and to make men slay one another. And he was given a great sword. Revelation 6:3-4 The […]
October 2025 (15)
Tuesday, October 28 2025
A closed canon?
Tuesday, October 28 2025.
Confusing God’s Word with the physical collection of books is a category error. A close cousin to this is “version onlyism,” such as KJV-onlyism. Be careful with this! The Bible is a testimony to God’s work in history and in the lives of people. It is inspired, yes—but the act of compiling it was […]
Friday, October 24 2025
Rest, and then Rest Transformed
Friday, October 24 2025.
When someone says, “I’m weary of life itself,” they’re not looking for correction — they’re expressing deep fatigue of the soul. It’s not weakness or drama; it’s often the cry of someone who’s been carrying too much for too long. The last thing they need to hear is “get a grip” or “toughen up" […]
Tuesday, October 21 2025
realpolitik
Tuesday, October 21 2025.
When realpolitik—the practice of basing policy primarily on practical interests and power rather than moral or ideological principles—becomes the global norm, the outcome is usually a world that is stable only on the surface and volatile underneath. 1. The Erosion of Trust and Norms In a realpolitik […]
Monday, October 20 2025
The fourth seal
Monday, October 20 2025.
And when the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, “Come!” Then I looked and saw a pale green horse. Its rider’s name was Death, and Hades followed close behind. And they were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill by sword, by famine, by […]
Sunday, October 19 2025
The scroll with the seven seals
Sunday, October 19 2025.
Some background. The Revelation to John reads a lot like the Book of Enoch. In the opening chapter we see the Son of Man. He is among the seven golden lampstands. The seven golden lampstands are the seven churches. We also see seven stars. These seven stars are the angels of the seven churches. John […]
Thursday, October 16 2025
At the resurrection, whose wife will she be?
Thursday, October 16 2025.
That same day the Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Jesus and questioned Him. “Teacher,” they said, “Moses declared that if a man dies without having children, his brother is to marry the widow and raise up offspring for him. Now there were seven brothers among us. The first one […]
Wednesday, October 15 2025
the creation waits
Wednesday, October 15 2025.
For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the […]
Tuesday, October 14 2025
Trivializing the Spirit
Tuesday, October 14 2025.
“Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Flesh is born of flesh, but spirit is born of the Spirit. Do not be amazed that I said, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes. You hear its sound, but you do not know where […]
Monday, October 13 2025
How did things get so weird?
Monday, October 13 2025.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. ... He was in the world, and though the world was made through Him, the world did not recognize Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But to all who did receive Him, […]
Saturday, October 11 2025
Being careful with "canon"
Saturday, October 11 2025.
When a community canonizes a body of literature, it often reifies those works, treats them as concrete and unchallengeable, rather than historically situated and ideologically shaped. Texts don’t generally fall from heaven — they’re written by people in particular social, political, and linguistic […]
Tuesday, October 7 2025
"Scripture"
Tuesday, October 7 2025.
Before the 1st century CE, all Scripture existed as individual scrolls, not as a bound “book.” Each biblical book — Genesis, Isaiah, Psalms, and others — was a separate scroll. A synagogue or temple might have possessed a collection of these scrolls, but they were not physically bound together. […]
Saturday, October 4 2025
There was more than one textual tradition
Saturday, October 4 2025.
From the 5th century CE, Rabbinic Judaism increasingly favored the proto-Masoretic Text, which later became the standardized Masoretic Text (MT). However, the discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls reveal that during the Second Temple period (3rd century BCE–1st century CE), multiple Hebrew textual […]
Friday, October 3 2025
The 66 book "canon"
Friday, October 3 2025.
Evangelicals tend to treat the 66-book canon as immovable and divinely fixed, even though history shows that the boundaries of “Scripture” were fluid and contested for centuries. For some, questioning this canon is seen almost as sacrilege. See: The "Word" of God "sola scriptura" […]
Nature changes its relationship with humanity in God's kingdom
Friday, October 3 2025.
There are many vivid pictures of how nature changes its relationship with humanity in God’s kingdom. The “curse” on creation (Gen 3; Rom 8:20–22) is lifted, so the land and animals cooperate with, rather than resist, mankind. Here are some of the clearest statements: The Curse Reversed “They shall […]
