What Happened to Caiaphas and Why Was He Removed from Office?Caiaphas was a high priest for eighteen years (A.D. 18-36), the longest reign of any high priest in New Testament times (the standard term lasted less than three years). He served under Pontius Pilate and, in A.D. 36, Vitellius, the governor of Syria, removed him from his position. Yet An

What Does It Mean to “Put God First”? To put God first means to love Him more than anyone or anything else. It means I choose my attitude, values, responses, and how I use my time with Him in mind. When someone asks me to do something, I run it by Him first. Is this something You want me to do?Putting God first means being filled with the Holy Spir

“When the Sabbath was over, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome bought spices so that they might go to anoint Jesus’ body.”Was the First Salome Wicked?Starting at least in the medieval period, paintings and sermons have taken an erotic, sinister take on the story of the first Salome. She is often described as a loose woman, arousin

What honoring our President DOES NOT meanTo honor our president does not mean we must agree with everything he says or does or that we must commend it or condone it. Or that we cannot speak out for truth and righteousness. To honor our president does not mean that we cannot work within legal means to oppose him and change policies we don’t believe

What Things Are Hallowed?We make many objects and people in our lives hallowed. Sometimes we can hallow such things to point of idolatry. In a biblical worldview, there are only two things that are truly hallowed.The first is hallowed ground. I would say that all ground, or land is hallowed. The land we walk and live on belongs to God. He is the cr

There have been teachings that the Church has replaced Israel, or that the Church is the “new Israel” and the former Israel is lost and no longer relevant. The truth is that the Church includes people of every nation and is merely the continuation and fulfillment of what God started through Israel. Although there are members of Israel in the Chur

God Speaks to Us through Gifted Teachers “When we preached to you, you didn’t think of the words as being just our own but you accepted it as the very Word of God – which of course, it was, and it changed your lives” (1 Thessalonians 2:13, LB).God uses men and women who are yielded to the Holy Spirit to edify, exhort and comfort us on a more person

What now. What can You do with what I’ve been through? It starts with your choice to pray “God, I’m going to keep serving people as I always have and love to do, and to trust You to take my pain and repurpose it. Point me in the right direction and turn this around so that I can help others. Take my pain, and give me a platform for healing… and all

The same bioethical principle for cloning also helps shed light on this topic. We should first consider the fact that Jesus Himself healed people from their infirmities and physical ailments (Mark 3:10; Luke 13:11-13). Excluding the use of embryonic stem cells, any genetic manipulation which helps restore a person to God’s initial design for the hu

What Else Is Happening in Matthew 3?Matthew 3 also contains two other significant happenings. First, not only regular people flocked to John the Baptist in the wilderness. The Pharisees and Sadducees, religious experts who were well respected by many people for their piety and presumed holiness, also came to listen, but John was clear that they, to

Unfortunately, atheists can get out there and just start spouting off about how they hate God. It really is a form of demonic activity. They have gotten so puffed up about God not existing that they want to show Him that they do not care. The Bible says in Exodus 20:5, “Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I, the Lord thy Go

6. How Can It Be - Lauren DaigleLyrics We Love: “You gave Your life to give me mine / You say that I am free, how can it be? Yeah, how can it be?”Sometimes gratitude comes out in waves of overwhelming awe, and Daigle’s lyrics focus on this strong emotion. It is a feeling of confusion, awe, and humility at the idea that God Himself would take on the

What Is the Abrahamic Covenant? The Abrahamic Covenant is the covenant God made with Abraham. God found Abraham, who was part of a pagan family, and revealed all He would do for him.“Joshua said to all the people, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond

Consider how Joseph, when he was reunited with his brothers after they sold him into Egyptian slavery, invited them to a meal at his home, but seated them at a separate table: “They served him by himself, the brothers by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because Egyptians could not eat with Hebrews, for that is detestabl

Signs We Are Falling into Envy Yes, envy affects us all, if we're being honest. And you'll find examples of it throughout the Bible. Cain’s envy caused him to kill his brother Abel. Joseph’s brothers' envy caused them to sell Joseph into slavery. Miriam’s envy caused her to speak out against Moses, and to be judged by God with leprosy. Leah was env

You've probably heard it before, but it's true; just because you stand in a garage, it doesn’t make you a car; just because you sit in a church pew, it doesn’t make you a Christian!This is especially important to understand when making personal or life decisions: should I work for this person or hire them, marry them, take advice from them, and tru

In Deuteronomy, we read two separate passages regarding circumcision. The first is Deuteronomy 10:16, “Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer.” The second is Deuteronomy 30:6, “The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants, so that you may love him with all your heart and with all

When my daddy was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1998, my family and I prayed for healing to cover his body. We prayed in the name of Jesus. Daddy was healed. He was healed completely in Heaven, not here on this earth. Our family wanted daddy to be healed here and now, so we could continue to share time with him. Yet, the Lord had another plan, a be

What Does Sacrilege Mean? Sacrilege can sometimes fall into that messy category of things that are difficult to define, but someone recognizes it when they see it. The dictionary provides the following definition, “the violation or profanation of anything sacred or held sacred; an instance of this; the stealing of anything consecrated to the servic

1 Samuel 14:3 refers to a priest named Ahijah, a direct descendent of Samuel’s mentor Eli. This Ahijah who was part of the group of 600 men that Saul’s son Jonathon took on a surprise raid against the Philistines and may be the same man mentioned a couple of verses later when Saul asks a man named Ahijah to bring out the ark of the covenant (1 Samu