If we want to have clarity today and endurance through our remaining tomorrows, we would do well to become literate in the prophets ourselves, remembering a critical principle: The Scriptures are no ordinary texts vulnerable to the scrutiny of our own wavering criticisms; we must submit to the Scriptures. The Scriptures are under no burden to submit to us.

There is hardly a better apology for the state of weakness on the pages of the Bible. In a world and culture that extolled power and success (always a pagan obsession), the apostle Paul embraced everything that made his life miserable.

“The warning is clear and so relevant for our days: it is possible to be so engaged in normal, daily activities; to be so distracted by news and events; so busy pursuing hobbies and inoffensive passions, that we become numb to the prophecies, careless about the times we are living… and That Day of Judgement catches us surprise.”

“The primary goal of our lives in this age is to bear witness to the King and the Kingdom that’s coming. Sometimes God will use miracles to accomplish this witness; often He uses our faithfulness through suffering instead.”

Domestication is the process of taking something that is naturally wild and taming it to make it suitable to fit within a domestic world… the domestication of the Gospel causes it to lose the sharp edge of confrontation that disciples so desperately need.

“The prophets foresaw both Israel’s stumbling and the salvation of the Gentiles, culminating in Israel’s restoration. Paul grasped this divine mystery: Jesus will not return until a remnant from every nation is gathered in, and this ingathering of the nations will lead to the salvation of all Israel.”

It’s safe to say both Gaius and John were “hardcore.” They went all-in on obeying Jesus. But they were also healthy… Both matter. But how are both of these concepts and commands brought under the banner of obedience? 

“The prophets and the apostles had access to that pain, they embraced it as their own, they felt it, and contrary to any intuition it obviously sustained them. It is counterintuitive and paradoxical indeed that pain could sustain, and build-up character. Unless that pain is the expression of undying love…”

“…the seed is the Word of God and the sower spreads the seeds wherever he goes. Not all of them bear fruit and even the ones that fall into good soil bear different amounts of fruit, but this does not discourage the sower. He knows what he has is precious and worthy of being distributed.”

“A cheaply won, ‘personal-escape-route-to-Cloud-Heaven’ Gospel will never be attractive to Gen Z. They want solutions that work on a global and communal scale. My generation is crying out for justice and a half-baked Gospel just won’t cut it.”

The way that the nations behave has never been an acceptable path for the Jewish people. It is a heavy calling and there is no opt-out option for the Jew.

“What made ‘their number’ distinct enough from the rest of the people that they might be recognized as a social unit that could be joined? It wasn’t the venue. They assembled in the Temple. It wasn’t their unique spirit-filled worship services; the worship services were liturgical functions led by the Levitical class. The thing that set the earliest church apart from the rest of the Jewish people was their table.”

“If the coming of Jesus had subverted or altered God’s plan for Israel, Paul would not have been suffering or consumed by unceasing sorrow for his people. Paul’s heart burned for Israel’s salvation.“

“If we lack Jerusalem, we are untethered from the ‘sure and steadfast anchor of our souls,’ the hope of the resurrection and coming restoration. And in our unmooring, we are unprepared to bear faithful witness of the Gospel of the Kingdom to those perishing without knowledge. Worse yet, the danger of a different gospel is that we may well be perishing ourselves.”

After a rollercoaster of negotiations that were threatened by failure at every turn, Egyptian President Sadat, Israeli Prime Minister Begin, and US President Jimmy Carter succeed in brokering a framework for the first Israeli-Arab peace agreement in 1978.

As the Palestinian Liberation Organization takes root in Lebanon, it sparks a civil war in that small and diverse nation, leading to the first Israeli-Lebanese War.

A demonic confluence of Soviet, neo-Nazi and Islamist ideologies work together to produce the most sensational terrorist attacks of the early 1970's.

The origins of the Palestinian liberation movement are neither organically Palestinian nor truly liberating. The PLO was instead a key piece on the Cold War chessboard; co-opted, financed, and armed by the Soviet KGB.

Israeli commandos attempt one of the most daring rescue operations in human history when 94 of its citizens are held hostage by Marxist and Palestinian terrorists in the Ugandan capital of Entebbe.

Israel is caught off guard by a sudden invasion in the Fall of 1973 and finds itself in yet another existential conflict with its surrounding Arab neighbors.