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Jesus received a rich Jew's burial, thanks to Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea: "Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen." John 19:39-40 Seventy-five pounds, the Bible's "talent," of spices embedded in those linen strips would have created the first century equivalent of about 3" of fiberglass, with three days to harden and cure. It became a rock-hard cocoon or shell for Jesus' body, with a hole just large enough for his neck: Jewish custom was to cover the head with...

Hi everyone! Happy Thanksgiving! Gobble gobble!This week's Wednesday night Bible study is part 13 of our video series on why the New Testament was written. Tonight we're talking about the writings of John. I had a hard time coming up with a title for this one, and "Why John Wrote His Gospel and Epistles" is honestly the least-awkward thing I could come up with.Anyway, here's the video.Why John Wrote His Gospel and EpistlesA bit of a lengthy one this week (clocks in at 17:44). Twitter's been having a field day with me on this, so I can't wait to see...

Tonight, CNN presented a one hour television documentary special entitled “Finding Jesus: Faith, Fact, Forgery.” I thought this title was inappropriate because the entire episode was about whether or not the Shroud of Turin is the burial cloth of Jesus. Thus, the title should have had “Shroud of Turin” in it or the like. CNN did some advertising of this special, so I think they were a bit deceptive about whole thing. They interviewed some scholars, including Ben Witherington III who is a friend of mine. I am always surprised by the attention given the Shroud of Turin by many...

One of the Twelve Apostles in the New Testament, a son of Zebedee, and a brother of James. In his early life he was a fisherman (Mark 1:17–20). He is probably the unnamed disciple of John the Baptist mentioned in John 1:40. Later he received a call to be a disciple of Jesus Christ (Matt. 4:21–22; Luke 5:1–11). He wrote the Gospel of John, three epistles, and the book of Revelation. He was one of three who were with the Lord at the raising of Jairus’s daughter (Mark 5:35–42), at the Mount of Transfiguration (Matt. 17:1–9), and in Gethsemane (Matt....

It has been said that one can use church history to prove just about anything. There is some wisdom to that old adage and that is why we must be careful when we use church history to support what we believe. Also, evangelicals have often rightly declared that as important as church history is, our doctrinal beliefs must first and foremost be grounded in Scripture. Thus, the proper perspective is to pay close attention to church history and learn from it, but also understand that Scripture takes priority over church history when it comes to what we should believe. With...

"Let anyone with understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a person. Its number is six hundred sixty-six." (Revelation 13:16-18, New Revised Standard Version) BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The number 666 -- the "number of the beast," according to the Book of Revelation -- conjures devilish images for many, so forecasts of evil, even doom, are rampant regarding dates or places where the number occurs, including next Tuesday, June 6, or 6-6-06. Fears of 666, long believed to be the dreaded mark of Satan, are based on a "widespread misinterpretation" of the chapter in Revelation...

I'll Take The Word Of God Over The Word Of G.W. Bush By Chuck Baldwin Food For Thought From The Chuck Wagon November 25, 2003 While in London, England last week, President Bush stood beside Prime Minister Tony Blair and said that Christians and Muslims worship the same God. This is the latest example of how willing Bush seems to be to compromise fundamental principle in order to appear politically-correct. In so doing, he has both impugned the God of the Bible and revealed deep ignorance of Christian doctrine. Historic Christian belief has always held that the Creator-God was manifested...