David’s Great Grandmother “Where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God” (Ruth 1:16, all citations from NASB). by Ioan Hosu The Book of Ruth has been said to be part of a Bethlehem Trilogy, incorporating the narrative of Ruth and the last two narratives of the Book of Judges (chapters 17-18, then 19-21). Bethlehem was the birthplace of King David, as it would be the birthplace […]
A King With a Good Heart “Hezekiah the son of Ahaz king of Judah began to reign. Twenty and five years old was he when he began to reign; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem. … He did that which was right in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that David his father did. … He trusted in Jehovah God of Israel; so that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any […]
V Religious One of the most consequential shifts in American religion has been the rise of religiously unaffiliated Americans. This trend emerged in the early 1990s. In 1991, only six percent of Americans identified their religious affiliation as “none,” and that number had not moved much since the early 1970s. By the end of the 1990s, 14% of the public claimed no religious affiliation. The rate of religious change accelerated further during the late 2000s and early 2010s, reaching 20% by 2012. […]
“Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12). Produced by Open Doors for two decades, the annual World Watch List (WWL) lists the world’s worst areas for Christian persecution. Of the 50 nations profiled on the Open Doors 2016 World Watch List as the worst for persecution, more than half ranked worse than in 2015. According to WWL analysts, this reflects increased persecution in one or more of five key spheres: private life, family […]
Wrestling Till Daybreak “If God will be with me, and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat, and raiment to put on, So that I come again to my father’s house in peace; then shall the LORD be my God” (Genesis 28:20,21). When Paul discusses the Ancient Worthies in Hebrews chapter 11, he does so by way of exhortation to the saints of the Gospel Age. By remembering the faith demonstrated by the […]