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Where do I begin…? Definitely not a summary of the topic–not if I intend this to be just a “quick peak.” I will say I’ve been studying the biblical and extra-biblical “scholarship” ( hope that’s what it is) for years now. Like many, I cut my teeth on the Unseen Realm by Heiser. And from there, over the last few years, I kept expanding the research. What started for me mainly as biblical exegesis, with important biblical theology implications, has now become more cultural and

Romans 6 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? 2 May it never be! We who died to sin, how could we live in it any longer? 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were buried therefore with him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life (Romans 6:1-4) I first memorized Romans

Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John 20:29) Poor old Thomas. Next to Peter, which disciples has gotten thrown under the bus in sermons more? The self-righteous snobbery of those who do this to those guys has gotten really annoying to me. We love to dump on Peter because of his denials and his impulsiveness. We do that to Thomas and even label him as “Doubting Thomas” as if his word

For though we live in the flesh (natural world), we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ (2 Corinthians 10:3-5) In my younger years when the temptations of my mind leaned toward impure thoughts, I

I learned something unexpected recently about pigs. They are one of the few species whose “domesticity” can be lost within months. Cows and horses and dogs of course start off as wild and can become domesticated pets. But even if they escape back into the wild for some reason they remain genetically different from their wild cousins. I read about the genetic mechanisms but I won’t bother explaining all that here because my main concern is not to discuss pigs but natures. And

Within the “covenant epistemology” framework of Esther Meek (with thanks to Michael Polany), I am convinced that the most neglected and perhaps crucial step in our knowing is not the “explicit” (call it the domain of the Head Brain) but the “implicit”--what Meek calls tacit knowledge. I believe this is what the Bible would call the Heart. Though much of our energy is devoted to addressing and challenging the explicit knowledge in our heads, I fear not enough attention is give

I recently received a phone call from a contractor who did $30,000.00 worth of work in my home asking why I had not paid the outstanding balance of $700. I’ll spare the boring details other than to tell you I had never gotten a receipt from my earlier payments and, not hearing anything for twelve months, had no reason to even think I owed him money. (For the record, he was correct about it and I have paid him in full!). This got me thinking about the importance of business/l

J.E. Rose But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God does not see as man sees, since man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 167) What can we know about God? What can we say about Him? Well, obviously there are many things, but maybe the better question is, what can we know and say for sure? I want to focus on one particular matter of theological kn

The Personal Name of God by J.E. Rose Most of us who grew up in church heard the story of Moses in the wilderness and his experience with the burning bush: Moses said to God, “Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you;’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ What should I tell them?” God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM,” and he said, “You shall tell the children of Israel this: ‘I AM has sent me to you.’ God said mor

Exodus 16:14-30 J.E. Rose Israel complained about lack of food in the wilderness so God provided manna. However, it is important to dig into the specifics for they contain important principles Jesus himself referred to 1500 years later and which can impact our lives today, especially when we expand the idea of daily nourishment to God’s provison of “strength in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12). The Source: God Exodus 16:14 When the dew that lay had gone, behold, on the surface o