Roman Empire

First mention of a solution against death 7 Human sacrifice

July 7, 2016Marcus Ampe15 Comments

In the previous articles about the solution for man and offerings, we talked about the way human beings looked for ways to restore their relationship with God and how they wanted to please God with offerings.

The first human beings had the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge, symbolizing potentialities or possibilities that God has made available to Man, who is free to choose and explore as much as he pleases, even to separate himself from God, like the Prodigal Son from his Father.

Man had made his choice and had to leave the Garden of Eden, trying to build up a decent life. Though now he had to work hard for everything and was aware he had disgusted or displeased God. First there was only the Most High Divine Creator of all things Who was above Adam and Eve and above all other living creatures, the plants and animals. There was no hierarchy.

The first story were we saw human beings ‘fighting’ for a place or rang order is the one of Cain and Abel. Slowly hierarchy entered the human system. From simple hunter-gatherer tribes to complex, modern industrial societies we can find a hierarchy which is loved by people. Some scholars argue that gender played a central role in the formation and functioning of stratification systems. They showed that women’s exclusion from social life placed them in an inferior position, resulting in lessened life chances and status. While women’s standing in social and economic life has improved over the past half-century, women are still restricted by gender roles and patriarchy. Rich literatures examine the impact of family structure, occupational segregation, devaluation of women’s work, and sex-based pay gaps.

We also can see that the colour of skin, the place of origin, became important to place people on a step of the ladder. One’s racial and ethnic background or ethnicity, also greatly came to influence one’s life chances. When not belonging to the troop it could well be that people saw the person suitable to be used as an offer to the gods.

Human life was looked at as something very special and was considered by many as the most valuable material for sacrifice. The killing of a human being, or the substitution of an animal in place of a person, has often been part of an attempt to effect communion with a god and participation in his divine life.

We may find two primary types of human sacrifice: the offering of a human being to a god and the entombment or slaughter of servants or slaves intended to accompany the deceased into the afterlife. The latter practice was more common.

The realisation of human sacrifice to the promotion of the earth’s fertility may explain why the phenomenon has been most widely adopted by agricultural rather than by hunting or pastoral peoples.

In a study published in Nature¹, Joseph Watts, a specialist in cultural evolution at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, and his colleagues have analysed 93 traditional cultures in Austronesia (the region that loosely embraces the many small and island states in the Pacific and Indonesia) as they were before they were influenced by colonization and major world religions (generally in the late 19th and early 20th centuries). {On Human Sacrifice (Article Nature)}

By mapping the evolutionary relationships between cultures, the team suggests that human sacrifice and social hierarchy co-evolved. Although societies can become more or less stratified over time, societies that practised sacrifice were less apt to revert to milder degrees of stratification.

Clearly there were different ways to look at the sacrificial bodies. They could be seen as something very special and very worthy but also as something they did not want in their community and found good enough to give to the gods. More than animal sacrifice human sacrifice helped to stabilize hierarchy, and conceivably, therefore, had a common role in the development of highly stratified societies that generally persist even today. Instead of killing the one in power a substitute was taken to receive for some time divine status and then was put to death. Sacral kings (considered to embody gods of vegetation) were sacrificed when their vigour declined, in order to prevent reciprocal effects on soil fertility. In various places in Africa, where human sacrifice was connected with ancestor worship or veneration of the dead, some of the slaves of the deceased were buried with him, or they were killed and laid beneath him in his grave.

There were also places were people thought the elements of nature, like the moon and the sun, needed human nourishment, which led to sacrifices in which thousands of victims perished annually in their rituals, like by the Aztecs. The Incas confined such wholesale sacrifices to the accession of a ruler.There were instances of human sacrifice in Peru and among tribes of North American Indians.

All human societies have been shaped by religion, leading psychologists to wonder how it arose, and whether particular forms of belief have affected other aspects of evolved social structure. According to one recent view, for example, belief in a “big God” — an all-powerful, punitive deity who sits in moral judgement on our actions — has been instrumental in bringing about social and political complexity in human cultures.

The network of small and island states stretching from Madagascar to Easter Island — challenges that theory. In these states, a more general belief in supernatural punishment did tend to precede political complexity, the research finds, but belief in supreme deities emerged after complex cultures have already formed ².

Joseph Watts, a specialist in cultural evolution at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, who worked on the study, wanted evidence to examine the idea that “big Gods” drive and sustain the evolution of big societies. Psychologist Ara Norenzayan at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, has suggested that belief in moralizing high gods (MHGs) enabled societies to outgrow their limited ability to police moral conduct, by threatening freeloaders with retribution even if no-one else noticed their transgressions^{3, 4}.

Watts says

“Austronesian cultures offer an ideal sample to test theories about the evolution of religions in pre-modern societies, because they were mostly isolated from modern world religions, and their indigenous supernatural beliefs and practices were well documented.”

The believers in moralizing high gods (MHGs) got in their system some people who got control by aligning themselves with those supreme deities and then making lists of things people could and could not do. We can imagine their way of getting more power by making the people afraid with ideas of suffering or torture (in the underground or hell) and by the possibility to become a target of offering. For centuries certain religious organisation or churches made their followers afraid of doomplaces and told them that they could buy themselves free from those torture chambers by giving money to their church. People could buy indulgences.

The granting of indulgences was predicated on two beliefs. First, in the sacrament of penance it did not suffice to have the guilt (culpa) of sin forgiven through absolution alone; one also needed to undergo temporal punishment (poena, from p[o]enitentia, “penance”) because one had offended Almighty God. Second, indulgences rested on belief in purgatory, a place in the next life where one could continue to cancel the accumulated debt of one’s sins, another Western medieval conception not shared by Eastern Orthodoxy or other Eastern Christian churches not recognizing the primacy of the pope. {Indulgence –
Roman Catholicism, encyclopaedia Britannica}

Certain faithgroups or churches wanted their believers to believe that offerings could reduce the the debt of forgiveness of sin. The offers could exist out of many gifts but also by the performance of good works in their life (pilgrimages, charitable acts, and the like) and if their offerings were not yet sufficient they would get a lesser penalty after they died, by temporarily suffering in purgatory instead of eternal suffering in hell. Indulgences could be granted only by popes or, to a lesser extent, archbishops and bishops as ways of helping ordinary people measure and amortize their remaining debt.

In different cultures an other way was less bloody, having the sacrifice taking place by going under water. Whilst in Mexico young maidens were drowned in sacred wells, others found it sufficient to have an immersion. As such we can find Celtic rituals. Whilst the burning of children occurred in Assyrian and Canaanite religions and at various times among the Israelites, it became a custom by the Israelites to be cleared of sins by immersion to enter a new life. John the Baptist as such came to immerse his cousin Jeshua, Jesus Christ, who was the long awaited Messiah. About 40 days after Jesus’ birth, his parents had brought the customary sin offering permitted in the case of the poor,

“a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.” (Luke 2:24; Leviticus 12:6-8)

The offerings and human sacrifice legitimises political authority and social class systems, functioning to stabilize social stratification. It was also an ideal way to get rid of unwanted people or to take care that those who stood in the way could disappear from the scene.

In this way the Nazarene Jeshua an annoying person and possible peril for the security and peace in the Roman empire and in the Jewish community. Though it was not thought him to be an offer, several thought it better to give him away to be killed instead of the vigilant or robber Barabbas. Pilate knew that it was out of jealousy that the chief priests and elders wanted Jesus out of the way, i.e. being killed.

“Give us Barabbas!”, from The Bible and its Story Taught by One Thousand Picture Lessons, 1910

The man being called to be crucified did not have his roots in the right soil because nobody thought anything good could come out of Nazareth. (John 1:46; 7:41, 52) Although he was a perfect man and a descendant of King David, his humble circumstances did not impart to him any “stately form” or “splendour” — at least not in the eyes of those who were expecting the Messiah to come from a more impressive background.
Spurred on by the Jewish religious leaders, many were led to overlook and even despise him. In the end the crowds saw nothing desirable in the perfect Son of God.

Matthew 27:11-26 NHEBME (11) Now Yeshua stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Yeshua said to him, “So you say.” (12) When he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. (13) Then Pilate said to him, “Do you not hear how many things they testify against you?” (14) He gave him no answer, not even one word, so that the governor marveled greatly. (15) Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release to the multitude one prisoner, whom they desired. (16) They had then a notable prisoner, called Barabbas. (17) When therefore they were gathered together, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release to you? Barabbas, or Yeshua, who is called the Messiah?” (18) For he knew that because of envy they had delivered him up. (19) While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.” (20) Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the multitudes to ask for Barabbas, and destroy Yeshua. (21) But the governor answered them, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” They said, “Barabbas!” (22) Pilate said to them, “What then shall I do to Yeshua, who is called the Messiah?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!” (23) But he said, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the louder, saying, “Let him be crucified!” (24) So when Pilate saw that nothing was being gained, but rather that a disturbance was starting, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this man. You see to it.” (25) All the people answered, “May his blood be on us, and on our children!” (26) Then he released to them Barabbas, but Yeshua he flogged and delivered to be crucified.

In the time before Jeshua the ancient temple courtyard was the altar for offering sacrifices. This foreshadowed God’s provision, according to His will, for a perfect human sacrifice to ransom the offspring of Adam. (Heb 10:1-10; 13:10-12; Ps 40:6-8)

This man, born in Bethlehem, at his immersion was proclaimed by God Himself to be the “Only begotten beloved son of God“. Nobody had managed to fully do the will of God neither could have brought a perfect sacrificial body in front of the Most Divine God. This time that man managed to put aside his will and managed to keep all the time to God’s Will. He was the living proof that man, if he wanted, could keep to God’s Commandments. Still to today there are religious groups in Christendom who want others to believe no man would ever be capable to keep God’s commandments, and therefore Jesus would have to be God himself. This idea makes of God a very cruel God Who imposed Laws to man which He knew they would never be able to keep. But God is a God of love and order Who does not asks more of people than they can endure or do. That what God asks of mankind Jesus managed to fulfil and by doing God’s Will all the time, not going against the Will of God, he was not at any time an opposer or adversary of God. Jesus him being a perfect human being made the sacrifice of his life acceptable in the eyes of God to be the best ransom that could be paid for making an end to the curse of death.

God even expanded the gift of Christ to mankind by declaring all those who have faith in Christ’s sacrifice, righteous on the basis of their faith. By believing in Jesus Christ and following his teachings, when they after their immersion try to keep to the commandments of God, they are viewed by God as sinless while in the flesh.

Romans 3:20-26 NHEBME Because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. For through the law comes the knowledge of sin. (21) But now apart from the law, a righteousness of God has been revealed, being testified by the Law and the Prophets; (22) even the righteousness of God through faith in Yeshua the Messiah to all those who believe. For there is no distinction, (23) for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God; (24) being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Messiah Yeshua; (25) whom God set forth to be an atoning sacrifice, through faith in his blood, for a demonstration of his righteousness through the passing over of prior sins, in God’s forbearance; (26) to demonstrate his righteousness at this present time; that he might himself be just, and the justifier of him who has faith in Yeshua.

Romans 5:1-2 NHEBME Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah; (2) through whom we also have our access by faith into this grace in which we stand. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Differently than in other religions where every time a new sacrifice is needed, the blood of Christ is for ever and makes that no other sacrifices have to be made.

Romans 5:9-10 NHEBME Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we will be saved from God’s wrath through him. (10) For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we will be saved by his life.

Romans 8:1-7 NHEBME There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Messiah Yeshua. (2) For the law of the Spirit of life in Messiah Yeshua made you free from the law of sin and of death. (3) For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh; (4) that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (5) For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. (6) For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace; (7) because the mind of the flesh is hostile towards God; for it is not subject to God’s law, neither indeed can it be.

References:

Watts, J., Sheehan, O., Atkinson, Q. D., Bulbulia, J. & Gray, R. D. Nature http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature17159 (2016).
Watts, J. et al. Proc. R. Soc. B 282, 20142556 (2015).
Norenzayan, A. Big Gods: How Religion Transformed Cooperation and Conflict (Princeton Univ. Press, 2013).
Norenzayan, A. & Shariff, A. F. Science 322, 58–62 (2008).

Please find also to read:

Preceding articles:

Gone astray, away from God

Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden 3

Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden 4

Creation of the earth and man #3 Of the Sabbath day #1 the Seventh day

Necessity of a revelation of creation 5 Getting understanding by Word of God 3

Creation of the earth and man #6 Of the Sabbath day #4 Mosaic codes, Sabbaths and Sunday

Creation of the earth and man #17 Man in the image and likeness of the Elohim #1 In the image and after the likeness

First mention of a solution against death 1 To divine, serpent, opposition, satan and adversary

First mention of a solution against death 2 Harm or no harm and naked truth

First mention of a solution against death 3 Tempter Satan and man’s problems

First mention of a solution against death 4 A seed for mankind

First mention of a solution against death 5 Evil its law of death

First mention of a solution against death 6 Authority given to the send one from God coming out of the woman

Not trying to make the heathen live like Jews #2

Additional reading

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Creation of the earth and man #7 Of the Sabbath day #5 Respecting the day on which Christ Jesus rose from the dead

August 24, 2015August 24, 2015Christadelphians10 Comments

Constantine, though not a Christian himself, paid homage to the truth so far as to compel the world to respect the day on which Christ Jesus rose from the dead. Hence, in 328, he ordained that the day should be kept religiously, which a Judaizing clergy construed into sabbatical observance according to the Mosaic law concerning the seventh day. This is the origin of that sabbatarianism which so ludicrously, yet mischievously, illustrates the Blue Laws of Connecticut,* the zeal of the Agnews and Plumptres of the House of Commons, and the rhapsodies of the pietists of the passing day. These well-meaning persons, whose zeal outruns their knowledge, seem not to be aware that Christ and his apostles did not promulge a civil and ecclesiastical code for the nations, when they preached the gospel of the kingdom. Their object was not to give them laws and constitutions; but to separate a peculiar people from the nations who should afterwards rule them justly and in fear of the Lord, when the dispensation of the fullness of times should be introduced.

Acts 15:14 The Scriptures 1998+ (14) “Shimʽon has declared how Elohim first visited the gentiles to take out of them a people for His Name.

1 Corinthians 6:2 The Scriptures 1998+ (2) Do you not know that the set-apart ones shall judge the world? And if the world is judged by you, are you unworthy to judge the smallest matters?

2 Samuel 23:3-4 The Scriptures 1998+ (3) “The Elohim of Yisra’ĕl said, The Rock of Yisra’ĕl spoke to me, ‘One who rules over man righteously, (4) “Who rules in the fear of Elohim, Is like the light of the morning when the sun rises, A morning without clouds, Tender grass from the earth From sunshine, from rain.’

Titus 2:11 The Scriptures 1998+ (11) For the saving Gift of Elohim has appeared to all men,

To be able to do this, these peculiars were required to be “holy, unblameable, and unreprovable before God”.

Colossians 1:22-24 The Scriptures 1998+ (22) in the body of His flesh through death, to present you set-apart, and blameless, and unreprovable before Him, (23) if indeed you continue in the belief, founded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the expectation of the Good News which you heard, which was proclaimed to every creature under the heaven, of which I, Sha’ul, became a servant, (24) who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my flesh what is lacking in Messiah’s afflictions, for the sake of His Body, which is the assembly,

1 Thessalonians 2:19 The Scriptures 1998+ (19) For what is our expectation, or joy, or crown of boasting? Is it not even you, before our Master יהושע {Jeshua} Messiah at His coming?

1 Thessalonians 3:11-13 The Scriptures 1998+ (11) And our Elohim and Father Himself, and our Master יהושע {Jeshua} Messiah, direct our way to you! (12) And the Master make you increase and overflow in love to each other and to all, as we also do to you, (13) to establish your hearts blameless in set-apartness before our Elohim and Father at the coming of our Master יהושע {Jeshua} Messiah with all His set-apart ones!

To this end instructions were delivered to them, that under the divine tuition

“they might be renewed in the spirit of their mind; and put on the new man which after God’s image is created in righteousness and true holiness ”.

As for “those without” “who receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved, God sent them a strong delusion, that they should believe a lie”, as a punishment.

2 Thessalonians 2:10-12 The Scriptures 1998+ (10) and with all deceit of unrighteousness in those perishing, because they did not receive the love of the truth, in order for them to be saved. (11) And for this reason Elohim sends them a working of delusion, for them to believe the falsehood,1 Footnote: 1Eze. 20:25, John 9:39, John 12:40, Acts 7:42, Rom. 1:24-28. (12) in order that all should be judged who did not believe the truth, but have delighted in the unrighteousness.

Ezekiel 20:25 The Scriptures 1998+ (25) “And I also gave them up to laws that were not good, and right-rulings by which they would not live1. Footnote: 1Ps. 81:12, Isa. 30:28, Acts 7:42, Rom. 1:24-28, 2 Thess. 2:11.

John 9:39 The Scriptures 1998+ (39) And יהושע {Jeshua} said, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those not seeing might see, and those seeing might become blind.”

John 12:40 The Scriptures 1998+ (40) “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, so that they should not see with their eyes and understand with their heart, and turn, and I should heal them.”1 Footnote: 1See Mt. 13:15.

Romans 1:24-28 The Scriptures 1998+ (24) Therefore Elohim gave them up to uncleanness in the lust of their hearts, to disrespect their bodies among themselves, (25) who changed the truth of Elohim into the falsehood, and worshipped and served what was created rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amĕn. (26) Because of this Elohim gave them over to degrading passions. For even their women exchanged natural relations for what is against nature, (27) and likewise, the men also, having left natural relations with woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing indecency, and receiving back the reward which was due for their straying. (28) And even as they did not think it worth- while to possess the knowledge of Elohim, Elohim gave them over to a worthless mind, to do what is improper,

They are left to govern themselves by their own laws until the time arrives for Christ to take away their dominion and assume the sovereignty over them conjointly with “the people of the saints”. If they please to impose upon themselves yokes of bondage, binding themselves to keep the first day of the week according to the Mosaic law of the seventh day, they are left at liberty to do so. But for this act of “voluntary humility” they are entitled to no recompense from God, seeing that He has not required it of them. The reward due for observing a Judaized Lord’s day voluntarily inflicted upon themselves; or, the pains and penalties to which they may be entitled for its “profanation”, are such, and such only, as result from the will and pleasure of the unenlightened lawgivers of the nations. It is a wise regulation to decree a cessation from labour and toil for man and beast during one day in seven; but it betrays egregious misunderstanding of the scriptures and singular superstition to proclaim perdition to men’s souls in flaming brimstone, if they do not keep it according to the Mosaic law of the seventh day.

– Thomas, D. J. (1990). Elpis Israel: an exposition of the Kingdom of God (electronic ed., p. 23). Birmingham, UK: The Christadelphian.

Notes

Numbering of days:

According the country one is living and which sort of calendar one is using the first day of the week may be different, being either the Sunday, Monday or Saturday, being named after the classical planets in Hellenistic astrology, a system introduced in the Roman Empire during Late Antiquity and for the worshipping of those gods, sun (Sunday: Old English Sunnandæg), moon (Monday: Old English Mōnandæg), thunder (Thor Thursday: Old English Þūnresdæg), etc..

Saturday: the only day of the week to retain its Roman origin in English, named after the Roman god Saturn associated with the Titan Cronus, father of Zeus and many Olympians. Its original Anglo-Saxon rendering was Sæturnesdæg (pronounced [ˈsæturnezdæj]). In Latin it was dies Saturni, “Day of Saturn.” The Scandinavian Lørdag/Lördag deviates significantly as it has no reference to either the Norse or the Roman pantheon; it derives from old Norse laugardagr, literally “washing-day.” The German Sonnabend and the Low German words Sünnavend mean “Sunday Eve”, the German word Samstag derives from the name for Shabbat.

The Romance languages preserved the Latin names, except for the names of Sunday, which was replaced by [dies] dominicus, domenica, i.e. “Day of the Lord” and of Saturday, which was named for the Sabbath.
The Germanic peoples adapted the system introduced by the Romans but glossed their indigenous gods over the Roman deities (with the exception of Saturday) in a process known as interpretatio germanica.

Sabbatarianism:

Constantine decreed limits of Sunday work (321). Sabbatarianism was uniquely enforced by 17th-cent. English and Scottish presbyterians, especially in the Interregnum.
Strict observance of the sabbath (Hebrew shabath—to rest) as a rest-day in accordance with the fourth commandment ‘Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy’. Christians transferred commemoration from the traditional seventh day to Sunday to honour Christ’s resurrection—by worship rather than absence of work.
Movement within Protestantism whose proponents advocate that certain observances, specifically enumerated in a code of behaviour or law, are required for Christians to properly observe the Sabbath or Sabbath principles. Its historical origins lie in Puritan Sabbatarianism, which delineated precepts for keeping Sunday holy in observance of Sabbath commandment principles.
Today we do find Christian protestant groups who hold Sabbath observance on the Sunday and do find no work may be done on that day.
In Christendom there are also groups like the Seventh-day Baptists who leave most other Sabbath considerations of observance to individual conscience.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church considers that Christians must follow the Mosaic Law in rigorous Sabbath observances based on the Hebrew Sabbath, Friday sunset through Saturday sunset.

Blue Laws of Connecticut:

* By these a woman was forbidden to kiss her child on the sabbath!
harsh, puritanical laws that regulate public morality.
Gov. Theophilus Eaton with the assistance of the Rev. John Cotton in 1655 regulated activities on Sunday for the Colony of New Haven, now part of Connecticut. After the laws were approved, they were printed in London, England, in 1656 and distributed to households in New Haven.
Reverend Samuel Peters, an Anglican forced to leave America during the Revolution. He made up examples of “Blue Laws” in a booklet in order to make America appear backwards and fanatical. List of examples of such laws were published in a book in 1782 titled A General History of Connecticut.
Repeal Day, as Gov. Dannel Malloy signed a bill Monday to end our state’s archaic Blue Laws.

Preceding articles:

Creation of the earth and man #3 Of the Sabbath day #1 the Seventh day

Creation of the earth and man #4 Of the Sabbath day #2 Days 1,7,8 and 50

Creation of the earth and man #5 Of the Sabbath day #3 Ceasing from the works of the flesh

Creation of the earth and man #6 Of the Sabbath day #4 Mosaic codes, Sabbaths and Sunday

Were Gentiles excluded from entering the synagogue?

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Magazine article from: The Catholic Historical Review Confessionalism and Pietism: Religious Reform in Early Modern Europe…editor’s project “Cultural History of Pietism and Revivalism, c. 1650-c. 1850…emphasis on the international dimensions of Pietism as well as its complicated relationship…

Were Gentiles excluded from entering the synagogue?

August 22, 2015Guestspeaker10 Comments

During the time of the second temple (c. 516 BCE to 70 CE) Gentiles were excluded from entering the Temple past the outer court (which was known as the Court of the Gentiles). But there are numerous cases in Scripture of Gentiles attending synagogues around the Roman world. Of course, there could well have been some synagogues that did not allow Gentiles, but Scripture, as far as I can see, doesn’t mention any.

Here are some passages from Acts showing that gentiles did attend the synagogue:

Acts 13:14-50

(14) but they went on from Perga and came to Antioch in Pisidia. And on the Sabbath day they went into the synagogue and sat down. (15) After the reading from the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent a message to them, saying, “Brothers, if you have any word of encouragement for the people, say it.”

(16) So Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said: “Men of Israel and you who fear God, listen. …

(26) “Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation. …

(38) Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, (39) and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses. …

(43) And after the meeting of the synagogue broke up, many Jews and devout converts to Judaism followed Paul and Barnabas, who, as they spoke with them, urged them to continue in the grace of God. (44) The next Sabbath almost the whole city gathered to hear the word of the Lord. (45) But when the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began to contradict what was spoken by Paul, reviling him. (46) And Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly, saying, “It was necessary that the word of God be spoken first to you. Since you thrust it aside and judge yourselves unworthy of eternal life, behold, we are turning to the Gentiles. (47) For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’”

(48) And when the Gentiles heard this, they began rejoicing and glorifying the word of the Lord, and as many as were appointed to eternal life believed. (49) And the word of the Lord was spreading throughout the whole region. (50) But the Jews incited the devout women of high standing and the leading men of the city, stirred up persecution against Paul and Barnabas, and drove them out of their district.

Acts 14:1-2

Now at Iconium they entered together into the Jewish synagogue and spoke in such a way that a great number of both Jews and Greeks believed. (2) But the unbelieving Jews stirred up the Gentiles and poisoned their minds against the brothers.

Acts 17:1-4

Now when they had passed through Amphipolis and Apollonia, they came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. (2) And Paul went in, as was his custom, and on three Sabbath days he reasoned with them from the Scriptures, (3) explaining and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, “This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ.” (4) And some of them were persuaded and joined Paul and Silas, as did a great many of the devout Greeks and not a few of the leading women.

Acts 18:4

And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and tried to persuade Jews and Greeks.

– Sheryl Downs

Creation of the earth and man #4 Of the Sabbath day #2 Days 1,7,8 and 50

August 22, 2015August 22, 2015Christadelphians17 Comments

Continuation of Creation of the earth and man #3 Of the Sabbath day #1 the Seventh day

The ordinances of the law of Moses are styled by Paul “the rudiments”, or “elements of the world”, which, in Galatians, he also terms “weak and beggarly elements, whereunto they desired again to be in bondage”. They evinced this desire by “observing days, and months, and times, and years”;(Galatians 4:3, 5, 9, 10) not being satisfied with the things of Christ, but seeking to combine the Mosaic institutions with the gospel.

Gal 4:3-5 The Scriptures 1998+ (3) So we also, when we were children, were under the elementary matters of the world, being enslaved. (4) But when the completion of the time came, Elohim sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under Torah, (5) to redeem those who were under Torah, in order to receive the adoption as sons.

Gal 4:9-10 The Scriptures 1998+ (9) But now after you have known Elohim, or rather are known by Elohim, how do you turn again to the weak and poor elementary matters,1 to which you wish to be enslaved again? Footnote: 1See v.3, Col. 2:8 & 20. (10) You observe days and months and seasons and years.

This was Judaizing, and the first step to that awful apostasy by which the world has been cursed for so many ages. When the Mosaic constitution, as “the representation of the knowledge and the truth”, had “waxed old” by the manifestation of the substance to a sufficient extent to nullify it, it “vanished away” by being “cast down to the ground” by the Roman power, and with it the law of the seventh day.

Even before its abolition, Paul expressed his fear of the Galatians, “lest he should have bestowed labour upon them in vain”, seeing that they were becoming zealous of the ordinances of the law. They seemed not to understand that the Mosaic economy was only a temporary constitution of things, “added because of transgressions, till the seed should come”; that when he came, “he redeemed them from the curse of the law, being made a curse for them”; and that therefore they had nothing to fear, nor to hope for from keeping, or transgressing its methods. They had got it into their heads that “except they were circumcised and kept the law of Moses”, as well as believed and obeyed the gospel of the kingdom, they could not be saved.

Mat 12:5 The Scriptures 1998+ (5) “Or did you not read in the Torah that on the Sabbath the priests in the Set-apart Place profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?

Therefore they “desired to be under the law”, and began to busy themselves about “keeping the sabbath”, and doing other works which Moses had enjoined upon Israel. Paul was very much distressed at this, and describes himself as “travailing in birth again until Christ be formed in them”. They had been delivered from “the yoke of bondage”, by putting on Christ; but by seeking to renew their connexion with Moses’ law, they were selling their birth-right for a mess of pottage.

“I say unto you”,

saith Paul,

“that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace”.

A partial observance of the law can do no one any good. If he kept the sabbath in the most approved manner, but neglected the sacrifices, or ate swine’s flesh, he was as accursed as a thief or a robber; for to one under the law it saith,

“Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which axe written in the book of the law to do them”;

hence even the sinless Jesus was cursed by it, because he was crucified; for it is written,

“Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree”

Gal 3:4 The Scriptures 1998+ (4) Have you suffered so much in vain – if indeed in vain?
Gal 5:4 The Scriptures 1998+ (4) You who are declared right by Torah have severed yourselves from Messiah, you have fallen from favour.

What hope then is there for Jew or Gentile of escaping the curse of the law, seeing that from the very nature of things connected with the present state of Jerusalem it is impossible to observe it, save in the few particulars of “meat and drink, or in respect of the sabbath” partially, etc. The observance of the seventh day was regulated by the Mosaic law, and the penalties due to its “desecration”, or “profanation”, are pronounced by it alone; but it is dear that the law being taken out of the way, or abolished, by Jesus, who nailed it to his cross, there remain no more retributions for the non-observance of its appointments; and therefore there is no transgression in working or pleasure-taking, or in speaking one’s own words on the seventh day.

On the first day of the creation-week God said,

“Let there be light, and there was light”;

so on the first day of the week “The True Light” came forth from the darkness of the tomb “like dew from the womb of the morning”. It is a day to be much remembered by his people, because it assures them of their justification “in him”, of their own resurrection to life, and of the certainty of his ruling or “judging the world in righteousness” as Jehovah’s king, when they shall also reign with him as kings and priests to God.

Rom 4:22-25 The Scriptures 1998+ (22) Therefore also “it was reckoned to him for righteousness.” (23) And not because of him alone was it written that it was reckoned to him, (24) but also because of us, to whom it shall be reckoned, to us who believe in Him who raised up יהושע {Jeshua} our Master from the dead, (25) who was delivered up because of our trespasses, and was raised for us to be declared right.

Rom 8:11 The Scriptures 1998+ (11) And if the Spirit of Him who raised יהושע {Jeshua} from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Messiah from the dead shall also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit dwelling in you.

1Co 15:14 The Scriptures 1998+ (14) And if Messiah has not been raised, then our proclaiming is empty, and your belief also empty,

1Co 15:20 The Scriptures 1998+ (20) But now Messiah has been raised from the dead, and has become the first-fruit of those having fallen asleep.

Act 17:31 The Scriptures 1998+ (31) because He has set a day on which He is going to judge the world in righteousness by a Man whom He has appointed,1 having given proof of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” Footnote: 1See 10:42.

Rev 5:9-10 The Scriptures 1998+ (9) And they sang a renewed song, saying, “You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals, because You were slain, and have redeemed us to Elohim by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, (10) and made us sovereigns and priests to our Elohim, and we shall reign upon the earth.”1 Footnote: 1Dan. 7:18-27.

This day is also notable on account of the special interviews which occurred between Jesus and his disciples after his resurrection.

Joh 20:19 The Scriptures 1998+ (19) When therefore it was evening on that day, the first day of the week,and when the doors were shut where the taught ones met, for fear of the Yehuḏim, יהושע {Jehsua} came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace to you.”

Joh 20:26 The Scriptures 1998+ (26) And after eight days His taught ones were again inside, and T’oma with them. יהושע {Jehsua} came, the doors having been shut, and He stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!”

He ascended to heaven on this day, even the forty-third from his crucifixion; and seven days after, that is the fiftieth, being “the day of Pentecost”, the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the apostles, and the gospel of the kingdom preached for the first time in his name.
Power being in the hands of their enemies, the Christians of the Hebrew nation still continued to observe the seventh day according to the custom. Hence we find the apostles frequenting the synagogues on the sabbath days and reasoning with the people out of the scriptures.

Act 17:2 The Scriptures 1998+ (2) And according to his practice, Sha’ul went in unto them, and for three Sabbaths was reasoning with them from the Scriptures,

Act 17:17 The Scriptures 1998+ (17) Therefore, indeed, he was reasoning in the congregation with the Yehuḏim and with the gentile worshippers, and in the market-place daily with those who met there.

Act 18:4 The Scriptures 1998+ (4) And he was reasoning in the congregation every Sabbath, and won over both Yehuḏim and Greeks.

Act 19:8 The Scriptures 1998+ (8) And having gone into the congregation he spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading concerning the reign of Elohim.

To have done otherwise would have been to create an unnecessary prejudice, and to let slip one of the best opportunities of introducing the gospel to the attention of the Jewish public. They did not forsake the synagogues until they were expelled. While they frequented these, however, on the seventh day, they assembled themselves together with the disciples whose assemblies constituted the churches of the saints and of God. They ordained elders over these societies, and “taught them to observe all things whatsoever Jesus had commanded them”.

Mat 28:20 The Scriptures 1998+ (20) teaching them to guard all that I have commanded you. And see, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” Amĕn.

Act 2:42 The Scriptures 1998+ (42) And they were continuing steadfastly in the teaching of the emissaries, and in the fellowship, and in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers.

Act 14:21-23 The Scriptures 1998+ (21) And having brought the Good News to that city, and having made many taught ones, they returned to Lustra, and Ikonion, and Antioch, (22) strengthening the beings of the taught ones, encouraging them to continue in the belief, and that through many pressures we have to enter the reign of Elohim. (23) And having appointed elders in every assembly, having prayed with fasting, they committed them to the Master in whom they had believed.

In his letter to the Hebrew Christians, Paul exhorts them “not to forsake the assembling of themselves together”

Heb 10:19-25 The Scriptures 1998+ (19) So, brothers, having boldness to enter into the Set-apart Place by the blood of יהושע {Jeshua}, (20) by a new and living way which He instituted for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, (21) and having a High Priest over the House of Elohim, (22) let us draw near with a true heart in completeness of belief, having our hearts sprinkled from a wicked conscience and our bodies washed with clean water. (23) Let us hold fast the confession of our expectation without yielding, for He who promised is trustworthy. (24) And let us be concerned for one another in order to stir up love and good works,1 Footnote: 1Mt. 16:27. (25) not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging, and so much more as you see the Day coming near.

Such an exhortation as this implies a stated time and place of assembly. On what day, then, did the churches of the saints meet to exhort one another so as to provoke to love and to good works ? Certainly not on the seventh day, for then the apostles were in the synagogues. What day then more appropriate than the first day of the week ? Now it cannot be affirmed that the saints were commanded to meet on this day, because there is no testimony to that effect in the New Testament. But it is beyond dispute that they did assemble themselves together on the first day of the week, and the most reasonable inference is that they did so in obedience to the instruction of the apostles, from whose teaching they derived all their faith and practice, which constituted them the disciples of Jesus.

To keep the first day of the week to the Lord is possible only for the saints. There is no law, except the emperor Constantine’s, that commands sinners to keep holy the first, or eighth, day, or Sunday, as the Gentiles term it. For a sinner to keep this day unto the Lord he must become one of the Lord’s people. He must believe the gospel of the kingdom and name of Christ, and become obedient to it, before any religious service he can offer will be accepted. He must come under law to Christ by putting on Christ before he can keep the Lord’s day. Having become a Christian, if he would keep the day to the Lord, he must assemble with a congregation of New Testament saints, and assist in edifying and provoking them to love and good works, in showing forth the death of Jesus, in giving thanks to the Father, in celebrating the resurrection of Christ, and in praising and blessing God. Under the gospel, or “law of liberty”, he is subjected to no “yoke of bondage” concerning a sabbath day. It is his delight when an opportunity presents, to celebrate in this way the day of the resurrection. He requires no penal statutes to compel him to a formal and disagreeable self-denial, or “duty”; for it is his meat and drink to do the will of his Father who is in heaven.

Thomas, D. J. (1990). Elpis Israel: an exposition of the Kingdom of God (electronic ed., pp. 17–20). Birmingham, UK: The Christadelphian.

Preceding article:

Creation of the earth and man #3 Of the Sabbath day #1 the Seventh day

Additional reading:

+++

Necessity of a revelation of creation 11 Believing and obeying the gospel of the Kingdom of God

May 5, 2015Christadelphians43 Comments

Image of the Dutch Reformation iconoclasm (Bee... — Image of the Dutch Reformation iconoclasm (Beeldenstorm) Image from: De eerste jaren der Nederlandsche Revolutie (1555-1568), Elsevier, Rotterdam 1882 Reproduction in: Het beleg van Haarlem; Haarlem’s heldenstrijd in beeld en woord 1572-1572, F. De Witt Huberts, Oceanus, 1944 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Many in this world hate instruction from the Most High Elohim Hashem Jehovah, and throw God’s Words behind them, refusing correction and rejecting His commands (Psalm 50:17). Many rebelled and disobeyed God’s laws. Some even killed God’s prophets, who warned them to turn back to God, and they cursed God’s Holy Name. There were those who like king David guarded God His misvoth (or commandments) and walked after Him with all their heart, to work only, straight in God His Eyes. But many others liked men’s words and and vilified to work above all who are at their face and went and worked other elohim and molten to vex the Most High Elohim and to bow down in front of graven images in front of beings they called ‘god‘.

Neh 9:26-27 NHEBJE “Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against you, and cast your law behind their back, and killed your prophets that testified against them to turn them again to you, and they committed awful blasphemies. (27) Therefore you delivered them into the hand of their adversaries, who distressed them. In the time of their trouble, when they cried to you, you heard from heaven; and according to your manifold mercies you gave them saviors who saved them out of the hand of their adversaries.

1Ki 14:9 NHEBJE but have done evil above all who were before you, and have gone and made you other gods, and molten images, to provoke me to anger, and have cast me behind your back:

Today even in Christendom we can find many people bowing down in front of crucifixes or statues of Jesus or other persons. Those people call themselves also Christians but they seem to forget what God, the Adonai who brought the Israelites out of the land of Egypt, Himself said about such a worshipping with bowing down in front of graven images.

Exo 20:2-7 NHEBJE “I am Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. (3) You shall have no other gods before me. (4) “You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: (5) you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, Jehovah your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me, (6) and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. (7) “You shall not take the name of Jehovah your God in vain, for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

This God Who created the heavens and the earth demanded to follow His instructions.

Pro 4:13 NHEBJE Take firm hold of instruction. Do not let her go. Keep her, for she is your life.

Receive God His instruction rather than silver; God’s knowledge rather than choice gold. For wisdom is better than rubies. All the things that may be desired can’t be compared to it. (Proverbs 8:10-11)

Pro 13:13 NHEBJE Whoever despises instruction will pay for it, but he who respects a command will be rewarded.

The law of truth should be found in followers of Christ but throughout history we can see that there were many who preferred to follow teachings by men who called themselves theologians. already at the time of the apostles false prophets came unto the scene and a few centuries later the ‘church’ sold her soul to the Roman Empire fulfilling the wishes of Caesar Constantine instead of keeping faithful to God’s commandments of honouring only One God Who is One.

When centuries later some rebellious priests found that the Bible alone (sola Scriptura) should have everything to say and to instruct and condemned the Roman Catholic Church, soon they too went the same way as that church making their own doctrines. A 2014 survey on American Evangelical beliefs found that most American evangelicals hold views condemned as heretical by some of the most important councils of the early church. Many came to understand that their personal (“alone”) interpretation of Scripture would be authoritative instead of taking the words like they are written in the Bible (Old and New testament) for what they really express.

G. K. Chesterton remind us that it is arrogant to ignore the teachings of our forefathers in the faith, but we should be weary to find who was in the faith. They faced many of the same theological questions we do today, and their answers have stood the test of time, but that does not mean yet that their answers are the right ones. When we look at the previous theologians their writings we must remember that bishops and councils, after all, can err. We all should also remember that politics played a big part in it as well. That’s how the Nicene Creed came to be.

To protest against an error, such as Romanism, and to affirm that every man has a right to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience, is a very different thing to believing and obeying the gospel of the Kingdom of God, and walking in all the institutions of the Lord blameless. To do this would unchristianize a man in the estimation of State churches and sectarian denominations; for the Bible religion requires a man to “contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints”, which in these times cannot be done without upheaving the very foundations of the self-complacent, self-glorifying, and self-laudatory communions of the antipapal constitution of things. It is true that no man or power has a right to interfere between God and the conscience; but it is also true that no man has a right to worship God as he pleases. This is a Protestant fallacy. Man has a right to worship God only in the way God has Himself appointed. “In vain do ye worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” This is the judgment pronounced by the wisdom of God upon all worship which He has not instituted. He declares it to be vain worship; concerning which the apostle to the Gentiles says: “Let no man judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of a holy-day, or of the new moon, or of the Sabbath; let no man beguile you of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels. Be not subject to dogmatisms (δογματίζεσθε) after the commandments and traditions of men; which things have indeed a show of wisdom in WILL-WORSHIP and humility.”
These exhortations apply to all faith and worship, Papal and Protestant. If Popery judges men in meats, Protestantism doth the same in drinks, and in the Sabbath; they both judge men in holy-days and “movable feasts”; and though Protestantism repudiates the worshipping of angels, it proclaims in its “fasts”, “preparations”, “concerts”, etc. a voluntary humility, anti celebration of “saints and martyrs”, renowned in legendary tales for “the pride that apes humility”. Let the reader search the scriptures from beginning to end, and he will nowhere find such systems of faith and worship as those comprehended in the Papal and Protestant systems. The gospel of the Kingdom of God in the name of Jesus is not preached among them; they are communions which are uncircumcised of heart; theological dissertations on texts, called “sermons”, are substituted for “reasoning out of the scriptures”—for “expounding and testifying the Kingdom of God, and persuading men concerning Jesus, both out of the law of Moses, and out of the prophets”. Puseyism, Swedenborgianism, and all sorts of isms, to which in apostolic times the world was a total stranger, run riot among them; the lusts of the flesh, of the eye, and of the pride of life have extinguished even the energy and zeal of the antipapal rebellion out of which they have arisen; they are dead, twice dead, plucked up by the roots, and therefore the time is come to cut them off as a rotten branch from the good olive tree. Let therefore every man that would eschew the wrath which is begun, and who would become an heir of the kingdom of God, save himself from the unholy, lifeless, and effete denominations of these “Latter Days”. By remaining in them, a man partakes of their evil deeds, and subjects himself to their evil influences. The word of man has silenced the word of God in their midst; and religion has degenerated into a professional commodity sold for cash according to the taste which most prevails in the soul-makers of the world.so
Let us then “cease from men, whose breath is in their nostrils; for wherein are they to be accounted of?” “They be blind leaders of the blind”, in whom is no light, because they speak not according to the law and the testimony of God. Let us repudiate their dogmatisms; let us renounce their mysteries; and let us declare our independence of all human authority in matters of faith and practice outside the word of God. The scriptures are able to make us wise, which the traditions of “divines” are not. Let us then come to these scriptures, for we have the assurance that he who seeks shall find. But we must seek by the fight of scripture, and not permit that fight to be obscured by high thoughts and vain imaginations which exalt themselves against the knowledge of God. Great is the consolation that “the wise shall understand”, and “shall shine as the brightness of the firmament”. Be this then our happiness, to understand, believe, and do, that we may be blessed in our deed, and attain to the glorious liberty and manifestation of the sons of God.
To the Bible then let us turn, as to “a light shining in a dark place”, and, with humility, teachableness, and independence of mind, let us diligently inquire into the things which it reveals for the obedience and confirmation of faith. The object before us then will be, to present such a connected view of this truthful and wonderful book as will open the reader’s eyes, and enable him to understand it, and expound it to others, that he may become “a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth”; and be able intelligently to “contend for the faith”; and by “turning many to righteousness, to shine as the stars for ever and ever”.
In effecting this purpose, we must proceed as we would with any other book, or in teaching any of the arts and sciences; namely, begin at the beginning, or with the elements of things. This was the method adopted by the spirit of God in the instruction of the Israelites by Moses. He began His revelations by giving them, and us through them, an account of the creation of the heavens and the earth; of animals; and of man. This then would seem to be the proper place for us to start from; and as we have the system completely revealed, which they had not, we may extend our enquiries into the reason, or philosophy of things farther than they. Be this, then, our commencement; and may the Lord himself prosper our endeavours to decipher and understand His word, and to disentangle it from the crude traditions and dogmatisms of contemporary theologies, useful in their beginnings as “oppositions” to the Mystery of Iniquity, but now “waxed old and ready to vanish away” with the thing they have antagonized; but which, though consumptive of the civil and ecclesiastical tyranny of the Image of the Beast, have by their glosses in effect taken from the people “the Key of Knowledge”, and thus shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men. Our endeavour will be to restore this “Key”, that they may understand “the mysteries of the kingdom”, and “have right, to the tree of life, and enter in through the gates into the city”. And this we will do if God permit.

Thomas, D. J. (1990). Elpis Israel: an exposition of the Kingdom of God (electronic ed., pp. 6–9). Birmingham, UK: The Christadelphian.

Preceding articles:

Necessity of a revelation of creation 3 Getting understanding by Word of God 1

Necessity of a revelation of creation 4 Getting understanding by Word of God 2

Necessity of a revelation of creation 5 Getting understanding by Word of God 3

Necessity of a revelation of creation 6 Getting understanding by Word of God 4

Necessity of a revelation of creation 7 Getting understanding by Word of God 5

Necessity of a revelation of creation 8 By no means unintelligible or mysterious to people

Necessity of a revelation of creation 9 Searching the Scriptures

Necessity of a revelation of creation 10 Instructions for insight and wisdom

Want (activeinspiration.wordpress.com)
In with the New (joyfullnuggets.wordpress.com)
Psalm 89 (embodiedtorah.wordpress.com)
The Strange Inclination of Christian Church Institutions Against Israel (cinchreview.com)
Pope Francis Told by Doctors to Revamp Diet in Wake of Weight Gain (guardianlv.com)
Why G.K. Chesterton’s ‘Everlasting Man’ has an everlasting appeal… (thechristianreview.com)
Strangers in the Land (munsonmissions.org)
An imaginary interview with a Christian… (nytimes.com)
Acharei Mot: Live (anitasilvert.wordpress.com)
Solution for Willing hearts filled with gifts (christadelphianworld.blogspot.com)

Want (activeinspiration.wordpress.com)
In with the New (joyfullnuggets.wordpress.com)
Psalm 89 (embodiedtorah.wordpress.com)
The Strange Inclination of Christian Church Institutions Against Israel (cinchreview.com)
Pope Francis Told by Doctors to Revamp Diet in Wake of Weight Gain (guardianlv.com)
Why G.K. Chesterton’s ‘Everlasting Man’ has an everlasting appeal… (thechristianreview.com)
Strangers in the Land (munsonmissions.org)
An imaginary interview with a Christian… (nytimes.com)
Acharei Mot: Live (anitasilvert.wordpress.com)
Solution for Willing hearts filled with gifts (christadelphianworld.blogspot.com)

Want (activeinspiration.wordpress.com)
In with the New (joyfullnuggets.wordpress.com)
Psalm 89 (embodiedtorah.wordpress.com)
The Strange Inclination of Christian Church Institutions Against Israel (cinchreview.com)
Pope Francis Told by Doctors to Revamp Diet in Wake of Weight Gain (guardianlv.com)
Why G.K. Chesterton’s ‘Everlasting Man’ has an everlasting appeal… (thechristianreview.com)
Strangers in the Land (munsonmissions.org)
An imaginary interview with a Christian… (nytimes.com)
Acharei Mot: Live (anitasilvert.wordpress.com)
Solution for Willing hearts filled with gifts (christadelphianworld.blogspot.com)

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Creation of the earth and man #7 Of the Sabbath day #5 Respecting the day on which Christ Jesus rose from the dead

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