You are cursed by the god yhw, cursed. You will die, cursed – cursed, you will surely die. Cursed you are by yhw – cursed. These are the words found on a lead tablet that was recently discovered in a pile of discarded archaeological material on Mount Ebal in the land of Israel. The tablet was so fragile that scientists had to use…
If you want to put the Lord to the test, just ask one simple question, “Is the Lord among us or not?” The people of God in Exodus, chapter 17, were thirsting in the wilderness. They took it as a sign that God had abandoned them. They cried out to Moses for help. God told…
In 2 Peter, chapter one, we have a man who heard God speak directly from heaven urging us to pay attention to God’s Word. That man is Peter. “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses…
Moses said “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live,” (Deuteronomy 30:15-20) As Moses prepares the people of Israel to enter the Promised Land. He makes it clear that the key…
In a recent post I wrote about the two ways Scripture uses the word tempt or test. When the Bible talks about the ways God tests our faith to make it stronger and when Scripture tells about the devil tempting us to sin, it uses the same word. In this post we will discuss how…
Matthew 17:1–9 [1] And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. [2] And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light. [3] And behold, there appeared to them…
We install locks and security cameras on our doors to keep intruders from coming in. But what if the intruder was not some crafty thief but was God? What would keep God from coming in? As we continue with our series Doors of the Bible, tonight’s door is the Passover door. And we see that is…
On display now, through mid-April, is the stunning exhibit “Egypt’s Sunken Cities” at the Minneapolis Institute of Art. More than 1200 years ago two cities along Egypt’s Mediterranean coast disappeared into the sea. Ancient records told of their existence and splendor but very little physical evidence could be found. Then in 1996, the European Institute…
What would you call the entrance to the place where people go to be baptized? If you believe that baptism is a symbolic ordinance performed in obedience to Christ’s command you might call it an entrance or passageway. If you believe that Holy Baptism is a divine mystery through which we are born again into…
Mirror Neurons 