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The Battle of Lepanto: When Christians Were Skinned Alive for Refusing Islam“I am a Christian and thus I want to live and die. My body is yours. Torture it as you will.”Today in history, on Oct. 7, 1571, one of the most cataclysmic clashes between Islam and the West — one where the latter for once crushed and humiliated the former — took place.In 1570, Muslim Turks — in the guise of the Ottoman Empire — invaded the island of Cyprus, prompting Pope Pius V to call for and form a “Holy League” of maritime Catholic nation-states, spearheaded by the...

On March 7, AD 203, during the reign of the emperor Septimius Severus, five Christians were martyred in the amphitheater of Carthage under the procurator Hilarian. The three men were named Revocatus, Saturus, and Saturninus. The two women, however, are more famous, having their names entered into the Roman Canon of the Mass: Felicitas, a slave eight months pregnant, and Perpetua, a young Roman matron of noble birth who had recently given birth to a child. Unlike many of the Acts of these early martyrs, the antiquity and authenticity of the Passion of Perpetua and Felicitas is not seriously challenged...

Hi everyone! I can't believe I've already made 14 of these!This week's "Why the New Testament Was Written" vlog focuses on Peter's first epistle (if you couldn't tell by the title). We'll talk about when it was written, why it was written, and to whom it was written (and I say this knowing full well someone's going to comment "Because the Spirit told him to").Why I Peter Was WrittenVideo clocks in at 10:05.

The Persecution Letters By Philip Cottraux When we think of Christianity in ancient Rome, one of the first images that comes to mind is Christians being fed to lions in the Coliseum. But this wasn’t the norm throughout most of Roman history. Persecutions came in phases and were often short-lived, according to which emperor ordered it. The Romans didn’t always force their subjects to bow to their gods. Judaism was legal and since Christianity was considered a branch of Judaism, it too enjoyed certain rights and protections. At first. But as it grew, some started to view them with distrust....

The Origins of Gnosticism By Philip Cottraux At the end of last week’s blog I mentioned the “Christian supernova,” a period roughly between 100-200 AD when Christianity exploded rapidly across the Roman Empire. The movement became more diverse as it grew. Orthodox and Coptic Christians divided into more and more complex subgroups. Unfortunately, some got more radicalized until they became isolated cults with teachings directly contradicting the gospel. Perhaps the most infamous of these were the Gnostics. Gnosis is Greek for “received knowledge” or “secret wisdom.” However, “Gnostic” is a modern term; there was no actual group that called themselves...

This week's "Why the New Testament Was Written" vlog (part 10) is about why Luke wrote Acts (if you couldn't tell by the title). We also delve into the importance of Acts in apologetics...Luke's writings vividly detail his historical environment, which is crucial to verifying the truth of Christianity.Why Luke Wrote ActsVideo clocks in at 12:41. Three critical sources: "The Untold Story of the New Testament" by Frank Viola, "Cold Case Christianity" by J Warner Wallace, and "I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist" by Frank Turek and Norman Geisler.

It's Wednesday Bible Study, everyone! This is continuing our weekly video series on why the books of the New Testament were written - this week (part 8) we're taking a look at Philippians.Video: Why Paul Wrote PhilippiansFor those of you who've complained that I can be a tad long-winded, this is the shortest video I've made so far...clocks in at 6:36.

Why Paul Is Important to Christianity By Philip Cottraux Skeptics often ask what makes Christianity right and all other religions wrong. The implication is that various contradicting faiths renders none of them right. But the Christian’s best answer is to point out how well Christianity holds up under historical scrutiny. The ministry, death, and aftermath of Christ is the most well-documented event of the ancient world. The time span between His life and the first historical mentions of Him is the shortest in history; and even when we don’t include the sheer volumes of ancient copies of the four gospels,...

Dr. Andrew Walls, missionary to Sierra Leone and Nigeria and now professor at the University of Edinburgh, teaches on the history of Christianity in Africa.

Bergoglio Vatican celebrates Protestant Revolt with a stamp This is just revolting. They do not even pretend it is not a true celebration of Luther, as the reproduction of the hagiographic image of Luther and Melanchton makes clear. This is the same hierarchy that expels its precious few young people from Brussels Cathedral for praying the Holy Rosary in front of a Lutheran pastor -- the beads are probably a "microagression" that "offends" heretics. *** What truly happened on October 31, 1517? On All Hallows' Eve, a perverted monk in Upper Saxony, possessed by the prince of darkness, divided Christendom...

Christian tradition maintains that after Rome nearly burned to the ground, Nero engaged in a brutal crackdown on Christians which led to the executions of Peter and Paul. On the evening of July 18, in the scorching summer of 64 CE, a fire started in a shop under the Circus Maximus in Rome. The fire quickly spread to nearby homes and businesses and the Circus itself. The fire burned for six days, ravaging the city. It left only four of Rome’s fourteen quarters untouched. The reigning emperor, Nero, a man known for his cruelty and love of theater, scapegoated the...

"This series of lectures will discuss the history, legacy and ongoing significance of the religious tradition which has done more than any other to shape the modern world: Protestant Christianity."

Archaeologists might have uncovered the site of the trial of Jesus. While excavating the floors underneath an abandoned building next to the Tower of David Museum in Jerusalem, archaeologists came across the foundation walls and sewage system that lay beneath Herod the Great’s Jerusalem palace. According to scholars, this is most likely the place ...

A few short years ago the mere suggestion that the Son of God, His Apostles and Saints would face arrest for hate speech would have seemed absolutely ludicrous. However, events have spiraled out of control across the western world. In his opinion that strikes down California’s recently voter approved marriage law, Judge Vaughn Walker wrote that those who speak in the name of religion to put across their views that same sex marriage is wrong are “harmful to gays and lesbians.”Across Europe and Canada, faithful Christians speaking out for traditional marriage face the threat of being hauled off to court for citing...

It wasn't exactly "The DaVinci Code," but a Birmingham priest recently jetted around the world and helped deliver one of the most important documents in Christian history to the pope. "It contains the oldest copy of the Lord's Prayer in the world," said St. Paul's Cathedral Pastor Richard Donohoe. Donohoe assisted in the Vatican Library's acquisition of two rare pieces of papyrus, including the oldest surviving copy of the Gospel of Luke and one of the two oldest copies of the Gospel of John. They were handwritten by a scribe about 200 A.D. and found in Egypt in the 1950s....

Archeologists discover St Paul´s tomb Vatican archeologists believe that they have identified the tomb in Rome´s St Paul Outside the Walls basilica, following the discovery of a stone coffin during excavations carried out over the past three years. Catholic World News reports that a sarcophagus - or stone coffin - which may contain the remains of St Paul has been identified in the basilica, according to Giorgio Filippi, a archeology specialist with the Vatican Museums. "The tomb that we discovered is the one that the popes and the Emperor Theodosius (379- 395) saved and presented to the whole world...

1204: What really happened? When Saladin retook the crusader kingdom of Jerusalem for Islam in 1187,Pope Innocent III declared a new crusade to recapture it. But the crusaders ran into financial difficulties and took advantage of Greek imperial in fighting to raise money. The scheme was a disaster, laying Constantinople to waste, gutting its churches and sending many of its citizens into slavery in Europe. The crusaders never went on to Jerusalem, but calcified the mistrust between eastern and western Christendom IN THE history of crusading, the idea that Christians should unite against Muslims for the defence of the Holy...

(KRT) - He started one of the world's largest denominations - unintentionally - but never joined it himself. He died with 70,000 devoted followers, but never found a happy marriage. A man of astounding accomplishment - and not a few paradoxes - John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, stands among the tallest figures in Christendom. June 17 marks the 300th anniversary of his birth. Methodists worldwide will commemorate the tercentenary with conferences, festivals and special worship services. Expect to find many a Methodist in period clothing, reciting passages from Wesley's prolific works. But don't mistake John Wesley for a mere...