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| Pastor Mathias | | Ms. Brunell - Executive Director | | Mr. Gaffney - Managing Director | | Ms. Helmers - Managing Director | | | |
| Mr. Flynn - Senior Director | | Mr. Bolton - Director | | Ms. Irwin - Director | | Mr. James - Director | | Mr. Levine - Director | | Ms. Radewicz - Director | | Mr. Rodgers - Director | | Mr. Shea - Director | | Mr. Widmyer - Director | | | |
| Ms. Avery | | Ms. Baird | | Ms. Baker | | Ms. Bray | | Ms. Burns | | Ms. Coffey | | Ms. Crane | | Mr. David | | Ms. Drew | | | |
| Mr. Dunlap | | Mr. Ewing | | Mr. Farley | | Ms. Finley | | Mr. Friedman | | Ms. Gay | | Ms. Hahn | | Ms. Hobbs | | Ms. Holder | | | |
| Mr. Horton | | Ms. Lee | | Mr. Maddox | | Ms. Perez | | Ms. Rollins | | Ms. Smith | | Ms. Smith | | Ms. Weslin | | Mr. Wilkerson | | | | | | M.R. Mathias - Ambassador |
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| | | | | From Sunday to Sabbath: The Puritan Origins of Modern Seventh-day Sabbatarianism | Grace Communion International | Sabbatarianism is usually defined as the belief that Christians should observe a particular day of the week as the Sabbath, either the seventh day or the first day of the week. This means more than simply attending church on the weekend. On their Sabbath, Sabbatarians refrain from all customary work, except works of charity, necessity and worship, because they understand the Sabbath to be a law of God. They do so even if it means economic hardship, shunning or persecution.
Church historians generally believe that modern Sabbatarianism, as strict Sunday observance, first flourished among the Puritans. Less understood is the Puritan origin of seventh-day Sabbatarianism. This article traces both the historical development of the Puritan doctrine and its fathering of modern seventh-day Christianity. [More] | |  |
| |  | | | Growing local churches God’s way - Ministry Magazine | The Visalia Seventh-day Adventist Church in California, United States, was reported to be among the fastest growing churches in the North American Division. According to Chad Stuart, in the six years he pastored that church (2008–2014), attendance grew by 133 percent. Membership had a net increase of 284 persons, with 209 of them joining through baptism or profession of faith. During this period, annual local church giving nearly doubled—from $370,000 to roughly $700,000—and the church’s annual contribution to the world church increased from $550,000 to more than $850,000. What are the factors responsible for such growth? Can such growth be replicated elsewhere? Ministry magazine wanted to find out from Chad Stuart, currently senior pastor of the Spencerville Seventh-day Adventist Church, Spencerville, Maryland, United States.
Jerry Page (JP): As pastor of the Visalia church in California you witnessed enormous all-around growth in your church—in membership, stewardship, global giving, and local member support and involvement. How would you describe this?
Chad Stuart (CS): I hesitate to speak about the growth of Visalia Church. How can I when I see the phenomenal growth around the world, in places such as Brazil, Rwanda, and other areas where the church is exploding tenfold and beyond what I’ve ever seen? Yet in spite of that hesitancy, I am happy to share some feelings that spring from my heart when I think of what God did in the Visalia Church. I believe with all my heart that Jesus who built the church can cause that church to grow beyond our expectations. Church growth can actually happen at any time in any place, and that church growth can also fail to happen even when all the best things are happening. Jesus uses prayer, strategy, focus, vision, and intentionality in powerful ways to make the difference between a stagnant church and a growing one.
JP: In your strategy for church growth, you give first priority to prayer. Can you expand on this?
CS: I cannot sufficiently emphasize the fact that at the core of what happened at Visalia is the foundation of prayer. I would love to say that this foundation was due to the deep spirituality of the pastor! The truth is, I was like most pastors: I worked first and prayed later. I gave token platitudes to prayer, and I did not really know or experience the power of prayer—until one day I met Katy. From the first day I arrived in Visalia, Katy began her gentle and friendly nagging. Nag is not a nice word, but I can’t think of a better word. She was persistent in encouraging me to focus more and more on prayer. She practically forced a prayer partner on me. She gave me books to read about prayer. But most of all she prayed that her pastor would pray more. Well, the Lord answered her prayers, and prayer—our talking with Jesus and receiving His power—became the foundation of what we did in Visalia.
JP: How did that happen?
CS: We intentionally placed prayer partners in the church. If you were going to be a leader, you were going to have a prayer partner! We had individuals that prayed every Sabbath morning before church started and another group that prayed Sabbath afternoons at our sister campus. We organized a women’s group that met Wednesday mornings, placing before God the prayer requests that came the previous week. We spent 40 days as a church praying every day at 7:14 a.m. and at 7:14 p.m. After this 40-day period, we organized prayer gatherings in the church each morning, and the church was open for people to come and pray. Every single person that was connected to our church, whether member or not, was on a list and was prayed for weekly by one of our prayer warriors. We preached about prayer regularly. We sent out more than 300 books on the subject of prayer on two separate occasions. Prayer and its power filled our church. Individually we were not the same again, and our church wasn’t the same again.
JP: Prayer can unleash God’s power to change, to transform—even to move a self-satisfied congregation into a dynamic witnessing force for the gospel of Jesus. There must be some other powerful motivating principles that also moved the Visalia congregation to take on the challenge of church growth.
CS: Yes, there are some fundamental principles, but the way we arrived at them was not by our own doing. While I was in the seminary at Andrews University, I heard a story about a doctoral student who was doing research on church growth for his dissertation. This doctoral student went to visit the pastor of the largest church in the world at the time. This Adventist doctoral student wanted to know the secret and strategies of such phenomenal growth within this church. The pastor went into his library and returned with two books, Gospel Workers and Evangelism by Ellen G. White. He told the doctoral student that most of the growth principles he employed in his ministry came from these books. When I heard that st [More] | | |
| |  | | | The Ideal Sabbath Service - Ministry Magazine | I am asked to deal with a topic which is of vital importance in connection with our work, and one around which there clusters a diversity of opinions. Possibly it would seem that the most logical presentation of this topic could be made by the pastor of the church who is primarily responsible for the conduct of the Sabbath service; yet the broadened vision which is developed by the, itinerant executive during years of visiting many churches, and observing how the Sabbath services are conducted in many places, may serve to some good advantage. Let us therefore consider some of the principles which must of necessity have recognition in the conduct of the Sabbath service which tends toward the ideal.
1. Recognize the Sacredness of the Occasion and the Place.— The pastor of the church must have a high regard for the sacredness of the Sabbath, and a deep and serious conviction that the church building is God's sanctuary, in which He meets with His people on the blessed Sabbath day.
2. Personal Preparation for Conducting the Service.—No minister should approach a Sabbath service without an abiding conviction that he has been divinely called to enter the sacred place of worship to deliver a message of salvation to the waiting congregation. At this point lies a subtle danger of following in the footprints of the Jewish priests of old, which lead into the bypaths of formalism. The Jewish priests became so absorbed in the routine of the sacrifices which they offered on each Sabbath, that they came to regard the day merely as a period of hard work and long hours, with little regard to the benefits the sinner was to receive from God's pardoning grace. To-day there is a tendency to face the Sabbath duties with mechanical weariness, which gives expression to such statements as these: The pastor may say, " Well, I have just so many churches to visit to-day, and so many sermons to give: This is my work for the day." Or a departmental secretary visiting the church, may say: " I have this definite program to put through before the Sabbath is over." Instead of this definite routine outline, there should rest upon the heart of the pastor and his departmental associate a sense of the responsibility of standing between the people and God and conveying a message fresh from the throne of Heaven. To approach the Sabbath meeting without a sense of our own need and the needs of the people, is worse than mockery, and explains why many sermons are tame and lifeless, and the Sabbath service is so far from the true ideal.
3. Order and Promptness.— A church service should begin on time, and all preliminaries should be cared for in systematic order. A very essential contributing factor is to make sure that the Sabbath school closes on time. One hour and. fifteen minutes is ample for the Sabbath school; but when the time is extended to fifteen minutes or half an hour longer, a state of confusion results, and causes delay in beginning the preaching service. [More] | | |
| |  | | | The Secret - Ministry Magazine | The Secret
C. L. PADDOCK, Editor, Book Department, Pacific Press Publishing Association
To the casual onlooker it may seem that some successful men and women have had a streak of good luck. But when we get to know these people who are doing things, we find luck did not enter into their success. And there is no magic formula. It is no secret.
A number of years ago the head of a great American steel company one day said to the head of the drafting department, "Al, I would like to have your best man for some special work."
"But all my men are good men," the head of the department replied. "I don't have a number one man."
A few days later an order came from the manager's office asking every man in the drafting room to work two hours overtime.
After some weeks of these extra hours in the department, the manager inquired, "How do the men like the accelerated program?"
"Like it? They don't like it. They are kicking about it—all but one man."
"And who is that?" inquired the manager. "His name is Charlie Schwab. He just eats work. He seems to enjoy it."
"Send him to my office," the manager requested. "He is your number one man—he's the man r was asking about." And the world knows that Charles Schwab became a steel king—an outstanding man in the industry. He enjoyed his work. To him it was not drudgery, but a game, a pleasure.
A reporter heard that everyone had to punch a time clock at the Chrysler plant, even to the manager. It seemed absurd, but on checking the timecard rack he found that Walter P. Chrysler checked in each morning at about eight-fifteen. Beginning time was eight-thirty. And his timecard showed overtime for every evening that week. There was a reason why he was chosen manager.
In the history of the West and the goldrush days there is mention of an old prospector who quite frequently disappeared into the hills for a few weeks, and on returning usually told of having struck a new vein richer and bigger than any he had ever found before. Others who had had poor luck were envious of him and tried desperately to learn his secret. One day he divulged it. "Boys," he said, "I just keep digging holes."
A traveler one day stood watching a lumberjack at his work. As the logs floated down a mountain stream he was seen to jab his hook into an occasional log and pull it aside out of the stream.
"Why do you pick out those few logs?" the traveler asked. "They all look alike. I don't see any difference in them."
"But they are not alike, sir. They are so different. The logs I pull out have grown on the side of a mountain, protected from the storm. Their grain is coarse. They are good for coarse lumber. But the logs that go on downstream grew up on top of the ridge where they were buffeted by the storms, and because of this they have developed a fine grain. We use them for choice work."
Some plants grow well in a hothouse, but will not thrive in the wind and the hot sun and the storms that come. Successful men and women are tried and proved true.
Through the years I have been privileged to work with a good many Adventist ministers. Working as elder, deacon, Sabbath school superintendent, young people's leader or at some other church responsibility, I have gotten to know these men pretty well. Some have stood out from their fellow ministers. I recall one worker, a man who had no scholastic background, no degrees. He had never spent a day in one of our schools. Yet in baptisms he was always out in the lead. There were other men in the conference with much more education, and I am sure many of them had more inherited talents. My wife and I often talked about his success. It really was no secret. That man worked incessantly. He visited his members. He visited interested people. He contacted the newspapers, he made friends of businessmen. He was a youngster with the young people. He played ball or most any game they wanted to play. He invited them to his home and made candy and popcorn balls. He could play "Pop Goes the Weasel" with the violin behind his back. He always stood at the door and shook the hand of every person who attended his meetings. He loved people into the church. There was no secret about his success. He was an untiring worker. And the love he had in his heart found expression in so many, many ways.
I think of another evangelist that became a real pal of mine. He didn't have a college training either. He didn't have much in the way of personality. He mishandled the English language. And we often remarked about his weaknesses as we saw him baptize hundreds of people into the message. There were many things against this brother. But he was a worker. He worked early and late. He never thought of himself. His wife worked just as tirelessly. He knew his congregation. He seemed to sense it when one was not there. After the meeting h [More] | | |
| |  | | | Persecuted Christians Worldwide | Open Doors USA | | For over 60 years, Open Doors has worked in the world's most oppressive countries, empowering Christians who are persecuted for their beliefs through programs like Bible & Gospel Development, Women & Children Advancement and Community Restoration. | | |
| |  | | | Five things worth knowing about the Dead Sea Scrolls | The Briefing | Five things worth knowing about the Dead Sea Scrolls
Greg Clarke | Peter Bolt | 9 September, 2000
Some of the Dead Sea Scrolls are on exhibit at the Art Gallery of NSW until October 15 2000. The scrolls have captured the imagination of many people, Christians and non-believers alike. Do they have anything to offer Christians? Are they in fact dangerous for Christians? What can we say to our non-Christian friends when they ask questions about the scrolls?
1. What are the Dead Sea Scrolls?
In 1947, a shepherd boy stumbled across some scrolls in a cave at Qumran, north-west of the Dead Sea. This led to the discovery of thousands of parchment fragments, representing more than 800 different compositions, drawn from some 11 caves in this location. The scrolls are more than 2000 years old, ranging across three centuries.
The discovery of the scrolls, their journey into the hands of western scholars, and the long delay that occurred before their complete publication makes for a fascinating story. From the beginning, these ancient texts have captured the imagination of writers, journalists and people at large, and the Art Gallery of NSW apparently perceives a level of public interest that warrants the present exhibition. The interest in the scrolls can be perhaps accounted for in a number of ways. Some have suggested that, after the end of the Second World War, the Holocaust and the atomic bomb, when world events seemed to indicate that religion had no place any more, the discovery of the scrolls testified to the endurance of the biblical tradition despite great odds. This cache of ancient Jewish documents perhaps lent extra credibility to the United Nations’ endorsement of the establishment of Israel as the homeland for Europe’s Jewish survivors.
Interest moved to intrigue as various conspiracy theories arose. Scholars originally commissioned to publish the scrolls consisted mainly of Catholic priests. For a long time, Jewish scholars were excluded from the process. In 1953, a ‘secrecy rule’ was adopted—by which only the authorized editors could have access to the unpublished texts. The French Dominicans involved in the editorial process were, in particular, singled out by others as being responsible for obstructing access to the scrolls for examination in the wider scholarly community. There was an incredible delay in releasing some of the scrolls.
This climate contributed to suspicions that the scrolls said something that undermined Christianity. Those sceptical about Christianity in the first place were quick to mount theories that attempted to use the discovery of the scrolls to reconfigure the origins of Christianity in some way.
After the seven scrolls were discovered in 1947, research began in Jerusalem. Before long, however, the scrolls ended up in America (after a great deal of money had changed hands). Between 1949 and 1956, other caves were discovered, and the Qumran settlement was excavated. Several other scrolls were published in the next decade, and in 1966, a concordance was released, showing that most of the texts had been identified and decoded. However, it was not until 1992 that the full list of the 1947–56 finds was made available.
The scrolls can be grouped into three types: biblical, apocryphal and sectarian. Over 200 manuscripts of Old Testament material were discovered. These are the oldest texts of the Hebrew Bible in known existence. Before they were found, the best manuscripts we had were from 1000 years later. Since the Isaiah scroll, one of the earliest scrolls published, matched the later manuscripts with an astounding degree of correspondence, one early result of scrolls research was to bear testimony to the fact that the scribal copying process was extremely trustworthy. The ‘Chinese Whispers’ view (if this name is politically correct) that the Bible has been changed through time has been disproved by the discovery of the scrolls.
The apocryphal scrolls provide other manuscripts of these Jewish writings that were already known. Their discovery at Qumran illustrates that they were read here also, and their preservation suggests that they were regarded with some importance.
The sectarian scrolls contain material written from within the community who kept the scrolls. They include rules, ordinances, biblical commentaries, apocalyptic visions, liturgies, calendars and magical texts. They tell us a bit about the people behind the scrolls.
2. Who wrote them?
The short answer is: no-one really knows. The sectarian scrolls reveal a good deal about their authors without precisely identifying them. From these texts, we do learn that the sect had separated itself from Judaism, and practised a strict religion that highly valued moral purity and had its own calendar. They expected a Messiah (perhaps two), and looked forward to a final apocalyptic battle in which the ‘sons of light’ would be revealed.
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| |  | | | A Portrait Of Jesus' World - Dead Sea Scrolls | From Jesus To Christ - The First Christians | FRONTLINE | PBS | It was among the first seven scrolls found and has been central to discussions about the Dead Sea Scrolls ever since. But this work's centrality has depended less on the accident that it was among the first scrolls discovered (though that has been a factor) than on its character and on the fact that the Cave 1 copy was virtually intact. Also, the sheer number of copies of this work discovered in the caves--thirteen, almost as many as copies of Genesis and Exodus, and more than almost any of the other books of the Bible--dictates this work's centrality in any attempt to understand the phenomenon of the scrolls. Clearly sectarian, this writing uses striking language and imagery to express the mind-set of outsiders.
Scholars commonly refer to this work as the"Community Rule.'' This work is supposed to have governed a community living at Qumran. But that idea is at least partly wrong; the work itself refers to various groups or chapters scattered throughout Palestine. Therefore it did not attach specifically to the site of Qumran (whatever the connection of the Dead Sea Scrolls to the site may be, and whatever the nature of that site may be). This text does not merely reflect a small community living there. Since "community" usually implies a definite and restricted geographical location and thereby calls this mistaken notion to mind, it seems better to find a different word for the text's users. To avoid the misleading connotations of various possible English semi-equivalents we have decided to use one of the association's most common self-designations, Yahad, "unity."
The present text is essentially a constitution or charter for the Yahad. That it is a charter becomes clear by comparison with charters from elsewhere in the contemporary Greco-Roman world. Research by Moshe Weinfeld and Matthias Klinghardt among others has shown that virtually every structural element of this ancient Jewish writing has analogs in the charters of guilds and religious associations from Egypt, Greece, and Asia Minor. Yet it seems that something more is going on in this writing than simply chartering a club...
Josephus, the first-century Jewish historian, described the major Jewish groups as philosophical schools, not clubs. His portrayal is usually dismissed by scholars as a misleading adaptation of the true Jewish situation, done for the sake of his Greek-reading audience. If, however, we give the historian's characterization a bit more credence, we note that in some ways the group described by our text was indeed more like a philosophic academy than a club.
As the work describes it, the association is made up of priests, Levites (a secondary priestly order),"Israel," and Gentile proselytes. In this context "Israel" means not the generality of Jews, but only those who accept the teachings of the group. Other Jews, along with the surrounding Gentile nations, are considered "Men of Perversity" who "walk in the wicked way." Entry into the group is through conversion. Following repentance from sin, the initiate begins a two year process leading to full membership. During this period he (women are not specifically mentioned) receives instruction in the group's secret knowledge and passes through progressively higher stages of purity; Some of the convert's wealth (according to 7:6-8 he retained an unspecified portion of his funds) is merged with that of the group, a practice markedly similar to that of early Christians described in the New Testament book of Acts. Eventually the association assigns him a rank based upon his obedience to the Law of Moses as they understand it. Rank and advancement in group life depends in large measure upon doing "works of the Law" (Hebrew maase ha-torah), a phrase significant also in writings of the apostle Paul.
Each chapter of the association has a leader known as the Instructor, probably the foremost priest, who guides deliberations about rules for the group's government, association funds, and biblical interpretation. Indeed, the heading of the text from Cave 1 states that this copy belonged to an Instructor, who may well have referred to the work when instructing new converts. Decisions are by majority rule. The local chapters comprise at least ten men who meet for meals and Bible study. Each year they conduct a full review of the membership. At that time a man's rank can change, for better or worse, according to his behavior and biblical understanding. The use of military terminology is notable. Members are described "volunteers" and are organized into groups of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. The method of organization is that used in the holy war conducted under Moses and Joshua when Israel first attacked the Canaanites and took possession of the land of Israel. This choice of terminology was, of course, deliberate. The group thought of itself as warriors awaiting God's signal to begin the fina [More] | | |
| |  | | | Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls? | History | Smithsonian | Israeli archaeologist yuval peleg halts his jeep where the jagged Judean hills peter out into a jumble of boulders. Before us, across the flat-calm Dead Sea, the sun rises over the mountains of Jordan. The heat on this spring morning is already intense. There are no trees or grass, just a few crumbling stone walls. It is a scene of silent desolation—until, that is, tourists in hats and visors pour out of shiny buses.
They have come to this harsh and remote site in the West Bank, known as Qumran, because this is where the most important religious texts in the Western world were found in 1947. The Dead Sea Scrolls—comprising more than 800 documents made of animal skin, papyrus and even forged copper—deepened our understanding of the Bible and shed light on the histories of Judaism and Christianity. Among the texts are parts of every book of the Hebrew canon—what Christians call the Old Testament—except the book of Esther. The scrolls also contain a collection of previously unknown hymns, prayers, commentaries, mystical formulas and the earliest version of the Ten Commandments. Most were written between 200 B.C. and the period prior to the failed Jewish revolt to gain political and religious independence from Rome that lasted from A.D. 66 to 70—predating by 8 to 11 centuries the oldest previously known Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible.
Tour guides shepherding the tourists through the modest desert ruins speak of the scrolls’ origin, a narrative that has been repeated almost since they were discovered more than 60 years ago. Qumran, the guides say, was home to a community of Jewish ascetics called the Essenes, who devoted their lives to writing and preserving sacred texts. They were hard at work by the time Jesus began preaching; ultimately they stored the scrolls in 11 caves before Romans destroyed their settlement in A.D. 68.
But hearing the dramatic recitation, Peleg, 40, rolls his eyes. “There is no connection to the Essenes at this site,” he tells me as a hawk circles above in the warming air. He says the scrolls had nothing to do with the settlement. Evidence for a religious community here, he says, is unconvincing. He believes, rather, that Jews fleeing the Roman rampage hurriedly stuffed the documents into the Qumran caves for safekeeping. After digging at the site for ten years, he also believes that Qumran was originally a fort designed to protect a growing Jewish population from threats to the east. Later, it was converted into a pottery factory to serve nearby towns like Jericho, he says.
Other scholars describe Qumran variously as a manor house, a perfume manufacturing center and even a tannery. Despite decades of excavations and careful analysis, there is no consensus about who lived there—and, consequently, no consensus about who actually wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls.
“It’s an enigmatic and confusing site,” acknowledges Risa Levitt Kohn, who in 2007 curated an exhibit about the Dead Sea Scrolls in San Diego. She says the sheer breadth and age of the writings—during a period that intersects with the life of Jesus and the destruction of the Second Jewish Temple in Jerusalem—make Qumran “a powder keg” among normally placid scholars. Qumran has prompted bitter feuds and even a recent criminal investigation.
Nobody doubts the scrolls’ authenticity, but the question of authorship has implications for understanding the history of both Judaism and Christianity. In 164 B.C., a group of Jewish dissidents, the Maccabees, overthrew the Seleucid Empire that then ruled Judea. The Maccabees established an independent kingdom and, in so doing, tossed out the priestly class that had controlled the temple in Jerusalem since the time of King Solomon. The turmoil led to the emergence of several rival sects, each one vying for dominance. If the Qumran texts were written by one such sect, the scrolls “help us to understand the forces that operated after the Maccabean Revolt and how various Jewish groups reacted to those forces,” says New York University professor of Jewish and Hebraic studies Lawrence Schiffman in his book Reclaiming the Dead Sea Scrolls. “While some sects were accommodating themselves to the new order in various ways, the Dead Sea group decided it had to leave Jerusalem altogether in order to continue its unique way of life.”
And if Qumran indeed housed religious ascetics who turned their backs on what they saw as Jerusalem’s decadence, then the Essenes may well represent a previously unknown link between Judaism and Christianity. “John the Baptizer, Jesus’ teacher, probably learned from the Qumran Essenes—though he was no Essene,” says James Charlesworth, a scrolls scholar at Princeton Theological Seminary. Charlesworth adds that the scrolls “disclose the context of Jesus’ life and message.” Moreover, the beliefs and practices of the Qumran Essenes as described in the scrolls—vows of poverty, baptismal rituals and communal meals—mirror those of early Chr [More] | | |
| |  | | | Matthias | The amazing name Matthias: meaning and etymology | There's only one man named Matthias in the Bible, although this name is very similar to that of Matthaios, or Matthew. Matthias was one of two candidates to replace Judas Iscariot; the other one was Joseph Barsabbas, also known as Justus (Acts 1:23). The lot fell to Matthias and although we may assume that he engaged his apostolic ministry with vigor, we never hear from him again.
Etymology of the name Matthias
The name Matthias appears to be a transliteration of a Hebrew name, probably ????? (Mattaiah), which doesn't occur in the Hebrew Bible. This name would consist of two elements, the final one being ?? (Yah) = ??? (Yahu) = ?? (Yu), which in turn are abbreviated forms of the Tetragrammaton ????, YHWH, or Yahweh.
The first part of the name Matthias comes from the root-verb ??? (natan) meaning to give: [More] | | |
| |  | | | Mattaniah | Zedekiah - The Last King of Israel - Jewish History | Zedekiah was twenty one years old when he ascended the shaky throne of Judah, in the year 3327. He was put on the throne by the grace of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, whose power extended over Judah and all neighboring countries after his victory over Pharaoh Necho of Egypt, at Carchemish. Zedekiah, whose name was Mattaniah before Nebuchadnezzar had changed it, succeeded his nephew King Jehoiachin, who had surrendered himself to Nebuchadnezzar in order to save Jerusalem. After plundering the Beth Hamikdosh and the royal palace, and exacting an oath of loyalty from the new king he had appointed, Nebuchadnezzar returned to his land, carrying away from Jerusalem ten thousand captives, including the king and his family, the nobility of the land, and the leaders of the army.
There was great distress among the Jews in the little Jewish kingdom in the Holy Land, and even greater distress among the Jewish exiles in Babylon. False prophets and diviners arose to deceive the people with false hopes that the power of Babylon would soon be broken, and the exiles would soon return home. The true prophet of G-d, Jeremiah, was determined to counteract this influence. He wanted to impress upon his people that the calamity that had befallen them was a punishment from G-d for having turned away from Him and the Torah, and that the only hope left to them was to return wholeheartedly to G-d. It was by the will of G-d that the exiles were led captive to Babylon, and by the will of G-d they would return at the proper time, and not before. Jeremiah sent a letter of encouragement, mingled with admonition, to the exiles in Babylon, containing the following message:
"Build houses, and dwell therein; and plant gardens, and eat their fruit; take wives, and bring up sons and daughters; and take wives for your sons, and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; that you may multiply there, and not be diminished. And seek for the welfare of the city whither you have been banished, and pray for it to G-d, for in its welfare shall lie your welfare. For these are G-d's words: Let not your false prophets that are in the midst of you, and your diviners, deceive you; for in falsehood do they prophesy in My name to you; I have not sent them, said G-d. For this is what G-d said: After seventy years in Babylon will I visit you, and fulfill My good word regarding you, and cause you to return to this place."
In Jerusalem Jeremiah continued to warn the people that the city would be doomed unless there was a general movement for repentance. But his words fell on deaf ears.
King Zedekiah broke his oath of loyalty to the king of Babylon. Ignoring Jeremiah's entreaties and warnings, he secretly entered into an alliance with the king of Egypt to throw off the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar. In the ninth year of his reign Zedekiah declared an open revolt against the Chaldeans (Babylonians). Again Nebuchadnezzar led a vast army to crush the revolt. Remaining at Riblah, he sent his troops southward under the leadership of his chief general Nebuzaradan. On the tenth day of Teveth, in the year 3336 (424 B.C.E.) the Babylonian army arrived at the gates of Jerusalem, and laid siege to the Holy City.
In desperation, King Zedekiah sent word to Jeremiah asking him to pray to G-d for deliverance. Jeremiah replied that the fate of Jerusalem was sealed. He begged the king to surrender and spare the lives of his own children and servants, and of the inhabitants of the city. Zedekiah did not listen to Jeremiah's advice, and he refused to surrender.
Meanwhile Nebuchadnezzar was forced to abandon the siege of Jerusalem because word had reached him that the king of Egypt was marching against him with a large army. There was jubilation in Jerusalem, but Jeremiah predicted that the Chaldeans would return to destroy the city. Jeremiah, who had been barely tolerated in the past, was now accused of being an agent of the enemy, and he was thrown into a dungeon. However, the king ordered that the prophet be brought before him, and asked him for a message from G-d. Jeremiah could only repeat what he had told the king before, adding the request for a better prison than the dungeon in which he had been held. The king granted his request, and every day the prophet was given a loaf of bread, until the supply of bread in the besieged city gave out.
Jeremiah's repeated predictions of the fall of the city, and his pleas for surrender, roused the anger of the defenders of the city. The prophet was seized by his enemies and thrown into a pit, where he almost drowned in mud. A servant of the king, by the name of Ebed Melech of Kush, reported to the king of the prophet's plight. The king ordered the servant to pull Jeremiah out of the pit, and Jeremiah's life was saved in the nick of time. Again Jeremiah was brought before the king, and Zedekiah asked him for the Divine message, assuring h [More] | | |
| |  | | | Bible History Online | | "Bible History Online represents a body of work produced from a lifetime of passion for Bible history. I started this website in 1995 to provide an online resource for students of the Bible and history. This site is not meant to be a complete examination of subjects but a place to find maps, images, helpful tools, and basic information about people, places, and events in the ancient world. If Bible History Online serves to help anyone in their passion and conviction that the Bible is the written Word of God, and Jesus is the Word of God "made flesh", then I will rejoice." - Rusty Russell [More] | | |
| |  | | | Ancient Caesarea Harbor - Biblical Archaeology in Caesarea (Bible History Online) | | Caesarea was the capital of Judea during the reigns of Herod the Great and Agrippa I., and was the usual residence of the Roman Governor, when Judea became a mere province of the Empire. The inhabitants were principally Greeks. The city was the residence of Philip the Evangelist and Cornelius the centurion. Herod Agrippa died here by visitation of God. St. Paul was imprisoned here two years, and had his hearings here before Felix, Festus and Agrippa. The city is now in ruins. - Ancient Geography [More] | | |
| | | | | TRACECA—Restoration of Silk Route | The South Caucasus was part of an ancient trade route as early as 2000 B.C. During the Greek Empire around 750 B.C., Kolkheti on the Black Sea (in what is now Western Georgia) was a trading centre on a route starting in India and running across the Caspian Sea, along the River Kura, through the Surami Pass and along the River Rioni to Phasis (now Poti) on the Black Sea and then via the Bosporus to the Mediterranean countries. Some time around 200 B.C., trade caravans carrying silks and other precious commodities started making their way from Xi’an in China through the countries of central Asia to the Black Sea following a route (Fig. 2) that was to become known as the Silk Road. In fact, the Silk Road did not follow a single route but split into northerly and southerly paths at Dunhuang in the Uygur Autonomous Region. The north route crossed Lake Lop Nur, Kashgar, Khorasm, the South Caucasus and then through Georgia (called Iberia at that time) to Byzantium and Rome. The south route ran via the oases of Khoton and Jarkend through northern Persia and Babylon to reach the Mediterranean ports of Antioch and Tyre.
Control of the valuable trade was the cause of many wars between Rome and Byzantium with regional powers like Parthia and Persia. The route was even consider a state secret in Parthia. Later, the Route came under the successive control of Arabs and Mongols in the eighth to tenth centuries.
In addition to trade, the Road promoted cultural and other exchanges between East and West. Discoveries like glass, and religions like Buddhism, Islam, Judaism and Christianity were spread throughout the region. Periplus, a Greek book from the 1st century A.D. tells us that over 60 languages could be heard spoken in Phasis (now Poti).
In addition to trade and culture, the Road also carried the armies and ambassadors of Rome and other empires. With Chinese records telling of the arrival of Roman ambassadors from Emperor Marcus Aurelius (121–180 A.D.) in 166 A.D. The Southern Caucasus and especially the Darial Pass had great strategic importance in controlling north–south movements and passage to India, which as the historian Pompeius (106–48 A.D.) tells us could be reached in 7 days from Phasis.
However, the discovery of a quicker and safer route to the Spice Islands and Asia around the Cape of Good Hope in the late fifteenth century by European explorers like Bartolomeu Diaz (c.1450–1500) and Vasco da Gama (c.1460–1524) soon led to a decline in the importance of the Silk Road in east–west trade. [More] | | |
| |  | | | Mary, Turkmenistan - Wikipedia | The ancient city of Merv was an oasis city on the Silk Road. It was occupied by Imperial Russia in 1884, triggering the Panjdeh Incident between Afghan forces and the Imperial Russian Army. The modern settlement was founded later that year as a Russian military and administrative post.
A force of the British Indian Army consisting of a machine gun detachment comprising 40 Punjabi troops and a British officer resisted the Bolsheviks near Merv in August 1918 in what was the first direct confrontation between British and Russian troops since the Crimean War.[2]
Mary was developed by the Soviet Union as a center for cotton production through the use of extensive irrigation. In 1968, huge reserves of natural gas were discovered 20 kilometers west of the city.[citation needed]
After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the proclamation of independence of Turkmenistan, on 18 May 1992 Mary became the center of Mary Province. [More] | | |
| |  | | | Reggio Calabria, Italy | Reggio di Calabria (Italian pronunciation: ['redd?o di ka'la?brja], also ['r?dd?o];[3] Sicilian-Calabrian dialect: Rìggiu, Italic-Greek of Bovesia: Righi, Ancient Greek: ??????, Rh?gion, Latin: Rhegium), commonly known as Reggio Calabria About this sound listen (help·info) or simply Reggio in Southern Italy, is the biggest city and the most populated comune of Calabria, Southern Italy. It is the capital of the Metropolitan City of Reggio Calabria and the seat of the Regional Council of Calabria.
Reggio is located on the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula and is separated from the island of Sicily by the Strait of Messina. It is situated on the slopes of the Aspromonte, a long, craggy mountain range that runs up through the center of the region. The third economic center of mainland Southern Italy, the city proper has a population of more than 200,000 inhabitants spread over 236 square kilometres (91 sq mi), while the fast-growing urban area numbers 260,000 inhabitants. About 560,000 people live in the metropolitan area, recognised in 2015 by Italian Republic as a metropolitan city.[4]
As a major functional pole in the region, it has strong historical, cultural and economic ties with the city of Messina, which lies across the strait in Sicily, forming a metro city of less than 1 million people. [More] | | |
| | | | | Facts of Faith.doc - Facts of Faith.pdf | COULD it be thought possible that an all-wise Creator would bring so many millions of
people into existence, as the inhabitants of this
earth, and give them no information as to
why they are here, or what His will is concerning them? No, that would be unreasonable.
Just as surely as there is a judgment
day coming, on which we all shall be called to
account for our conduct, so surely He must have given us an infallible rule of life. But
what is this "infallible rule"? The Roman Catholics say it is "The Church, with its
traditions." But the Church has changed so greatly since its origin that if the apostles
could arise from the dead they would not recognis
e it as the church they established. As
for "tradition," it is like a story that gr
ows and changes as it travels. No government
would be satisfied with oral laws. In so important a matter as our eternal happiness we [More] | | |
| | | | | SABBATH HISTORY | | HISTORY OF THE SABBATH 1st Century Sabbath Observance INSTITUTION OF THE SABBATH "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made." Genesis 2:1-3 JESUS "And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read." Luke 4:16 JESUS "And, behold, one came and said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? And he said unto him, if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments." Matthew 19:16,17 JESUS "But pray ye that your flight be not in winter, neither on the Sabbath day." Matthew 24, 20. Jesus asked his disciples to pray that in the flight from the doomed city of Jerusalem they would not have to flee on the Sabbath day. This flight took place in 70 A.D. (40 years after the Cross). HIS FOLLOWERS "And they returned, and prepared spices and ointments and rested the Sabbath day according to the commandment." Luke 23:56. PAUL "And Paul, as his manner was went in unto them, and three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the Scriptures" Acts 17:2 PAUL AND GENTILES "And when the Jews were gone out of the synagogue, the Gentiles besought that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath. And the next Sabbath came almost the whole city together to hear the Word of God." Acts 13:42, 44. Here we find Gentiles in a Gentile city gathering on the Sabbath. It was not a synagogue meeting in verse 44, for it says almost the whole city came together, verse 42 says they asked to hear the message the "next Sabbath." And note this point: - The Bible does not say it is the "old Jewish Sabbath that was passed away," but the Spirit of God, writing the Book of Acts some 30 years after the Crucifixion, calls it "the next Sabbath." JOHN "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day." Rev.1: 10 (Mark 2:28, Isa.58: 13, Ex.20: 10, Clearly show the Sabbath to be the Lord's day). JOSEPHUS "There is not any city of the Grecians, nor any of the Barbarians, nor any nation whatsoever, whither our custom of resting on the seventh day hath not come!" M'Clatchie, "Notes and Queries on China and Japan" (edited by Dennys), Vol 4, Nos 7, 8, p.100. PHILO Declares the seventh day to be a festival, not of this or of that city, but of the universe. M'Clatchie, "Notes and Queries," Vol. 4, 99 2nd Century Sabbath Observance EARLY CHRISTIANS "The primitive Christians had a great veneration for the Sabbath, and spent the day in devotion and sermons. And it is not to be doubted but they derived this practice from the Apostles themselves, as appears by several scriptures to the purpose." "Dialogues on the Lord's Day," p. 189. London: 1701, By Dr. T.H. Morer (A Church of England divine). EARLY CHRISTIANS "...The Sabbath was a strong tie which united them with the life of the whole people, and in keeping the Sabbath holy they followed not only the example but also the command of Jesus." "Geschichte des Sonntags," pp.13, 14 2ND CENTURY CHRISTIANS "The Gentile Christians observed also the Sabbath," Gieseler's "Church History," Vol.1, ch. 2, par. 30, 93. EARLY CHRISTIANS "The primitive Christians did keep the Sabbath of the Jews;...therefore the Christians, for a long time together, did keep their conventions upon the Sabbath, in which some portions of the law were read: and this continued till the time of the Laodicean council." "The Whole Works" of Jeremy Taylor, Vol. IX,p. 416 (R. Heber's Edition, Vol XII, p. 416). EARLY CHURCH "It is certain that the ancient Sabbath did remain and was observed (together with the celebration of the Lord's day) by the Christians of the East Church, above three hundred years after our Saviour's death." "A Learned Treatise of the Sabbath," p. 77 Note: By the "Lord's day" here the writer means Sunday and not the true Sabbath," which the Bible says is the Sabbath. This quotation shows Sunday coming into use in the early centuries soon after the death of the Apostles. Paul the Apostle foretold a great "falling away" from the Truth that would take place soon after his death. "From the apostles' time until the council of Laodicea, which was about the year 364, the holy observance of the Jews' Sabbath continued, as may be proved out of many authors: yea, notwithstanding the decree of the council against it." "Sunday a Sabbath." John Ley, p.163. London: 1640. 3rd Century Sabbath Observance EGYPT (OXYRHYNCHUS PAPYRUS) (200-250 A.D.) "Except ye make the sabbath a real sabbath (sabbatize the Sabbath," Greek), ye shall not see the Father." "The oxyrhynchus Papyri," pt,1, p.3, Logion 2, verso 4-11 (London Offices of the Egypt Exploration Fund, 1898). EARLY CHRISTIANS-C 3rd "Th [More] | | |
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M.R. Mathias 
