Jesus Hated Bank Fees!

As a person entered Herod's Temple precincts, they could proceed upward and inward toward the interior and top. As people would pass through a subsequent level of precincts they would walk through the various courts. Each level would also signify a higher level of 'sanctity'. Thus, the lowest and outermost level was open to everyone who wished and was therefore known as the "Court of the Gentile's".

Following the Chronology of Jesus' life as told by Luke, we see mention of Jesus visiting Herod's Temple a few times. The first time, we see Him displaying the uncharacteristic wisdom of a 12-year old in Luke 2:42,47-48.

Cleansing of the Temple

Luke 19:45-48
Eighteen years later, Luke recounts another visit by Jesus to Herod's Temple. This is towards the beginning of Jesus' public ministry and he's a fully grown 30 year old man.

Now, it's easy to assume that Jesus is utterly disgusted with the whole 'Bazzar' atmosphere, but this is confusing when we consider that this had been the custom during Jesus' entire life.
We may assume that Jesus hadn't become angry prior to this instance as an example of God's instruction for us to be slow to anger.
Or, maybe we assume that Jesus was just not able to show His wrath because He hadn't been physically capable of doing so as a 12 year old boy?
This however would be be a wrong assumption even if we are to discount the fact that He has always been the Almighty God. Consider that His wisdom was shown to be well beyond His years in Luke 2:42,47-48, we can't assume that His physical abilities were not also well beyond His years as well.

So, what could it have been that set off Jesus' anger at this particular moment?

At some point, it had become a rule that the only money accepted in Temple ceremonies was Jewish and Tyrian money. A rule that prohibited the use of foreign currency in the Temple would mean that the Greek and Roman gentiles could no longer purchase items from the vendors. Obviously this was not only inconvenient for the gentiles, but the vendors who had always earned their living by selling their goods would also lose out many potential customers.

In order to resolve this issue, enterprising individuals became money-changers who would accommodate the needs of the vendors by enabling their customers to spend. Of course, like the shop keepers, the money changers also needed to make a living. This could be first recorded account of Bank Fees!

I think we can all relate when Jesus proclaimed them (banks) to be like thieves, lit.~ robbers Luke 19:46.

This account is also reiterated in Mark 11:15-19, Matthew 21:12-17; and John 2:13-25

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How to Prove the Validity of the New Testament

There's thousands of answers given that prove the validity of the New Testament. I admit that I never needed this type of proof myself to believe, but maybe one day this may provide ample evidence to someone who is skeptical about the validity of the Bible. Hopefully, this may give someone a reason to reconsider their skepticism.

2 Peter 1:16-21
16 For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.
17 For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, "This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased"--
18 and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.
19 So we have the prophetic word made more sure, to which you do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts. 20 But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one's own interpretation,
21 for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

In the Bible, the word "Christian" is first mentioned in Acts 11:26: "For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch Jesus' disciples were first called Christians" (Gr. χριστιανοί, from Christ Gr. Χριστός, which means "the anointed")

The New Testament was originally written in Greek, of which 5,650 handwritten copies have survived. When other languages are included, the total of ancient copies approaches 25,000.

Sir Frederic Kenyon, former director of the British Museum, says… "in no other case is the interval of time between the composition of the book and the date of the earliest manuscripts so short as in that of the New Testament."

He continues by adding, "The last foundation for any doubt that the scriptures have come down to us substantially as they were written has now been removed."

In terms of physical evidence that agrees with the eyewitness testimony?
To date, there have been ~ 23,000 archaeological findings directly related to and showing proof of the truths found in the Bible.

The next ancient text to come close to rivaling that number is Homer's Iliad which is thought to have survived in 643 ancient copies.

~ Recognizing this, F. E. Peters remarked:
"On the basis of manuscript tradition alone, the works that make up the Christians' New Testament texts were the most frequently copied and widely circulated books of antiquity."

The most important discovery in the history of biblical archaeological findings has been the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1948. Within these scrolls was found a complete scroll of the book of Isaiah, which is dated to about 100 B.C.

This is where it gets interesting, since scholars can see how well the Massoretic scribes had preserved the OT text. As scholars compared the two Isaiah texts (from 900 A.D. & 100 B.C.), they were startled by the precision of copying.

Isaiah 53, for example, has 166 words, and there are only 17 letters that differ. Ten are just spelling differences. Four are "minor stylistic changes, such as conjunctions." The three remaining letters that differ are the word "light," added in verse 11, which does not affect the meaning.

Of course this predates the time of the New Testament, so how does this go about proving the writings of the NT?

If you cross-reference Isaiah 53:7-9 with Acts 8:32-40 you can see that this is how Phillip preached Jesus to the Ethiopian who received the gift of Salvation.
This act is also repeated in Matthew, Chapter 5, by Jesus to His disciples.

This is just one example out of hundreds that tie the validity of the NT in with the validity of the OT.

Apologetics, NT Proof, Christianity, Bible

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Preaching Jesus For Dummies!

One of my favorite stories in the Bible to use to illustrate God's gift of Salvation is about the Ethiopian who receives Christ ~ Acts 8:25-40.

This story shows who, why and how a person can receive Christ into their heart. The who is anybody, the why is by accepting and the how explains both about the acceptance as well as the ministering. In regards to the ministry part, it's obvious that Phillip was not responsible for the words he spoke, he left it up to the Word. It's obvious that all he did was listen to the instruction of God.


34 The eunuch answered Philip and said, "Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself or of someone else?"

35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him.

36 As they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, "Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?"

The part that caught my attention however is in verse 35 "from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him."

Do you see why this is so amazing? Look closer "from this Scripture"

What Scripture was he referring to that included Jesus? Consider that at this point in time the only Scripture in existence was what we refer to today as the Old Testament.

So here's the Ethiopian who's having a difficult time trying to figure out who the Prophet is speaking of and Phillip goes forth and shows him in Scripture that it is speaking of Jesus!

Can you preach Jesus to someone who has no knowledge of the New Testament? Can the Old Testament be used to explain who Jesus is?

Truly in light of this, we have it easy today. If the New Testament was published today Phillip may have suggested a more applicable name such as "How To Preach Jesus for DUMMIES!"

I know I've never tried teaching about Jesus exclusively by the OT, but clearly this was the effective and understood method in which Jesus was preached back then.

If anyone knows an effective way in which to do this, I hope to hear from you!

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Is "Lucifer" The Name Of "Satan"?

I find many of us believe that the name of Satan is Lucifer as the text in Isaiah 14:12 would lead us to believe. The usage of the the word lucifer however has caused many not to understand the true meaning if this verse. This is due in large part to a rather careless mistake made by Erasmus in his translation of parts of the Latin Vulgate.

The Vulgate was translated directly from the Greek and Hebrew manuscripts and as such, translated the Hebrew and Greek into Latin. Although the word lucifer appears only one time in the King the Vulgate uses lucifer three times.

The first time it's used in the Vulgate is in Job 11:17 where it translates the Hebrew word boqer as lucifer and is translated in every English Bible that I've seen, including the KJV as morning, in reference to early light.

In a comparing the KJV to newer versions, the word boqer is translated morning a total of 215 times vs's 204 instances in the KJV. The only difference being that the KJV also uses it as day, and early, but always in the same sense as early light. This makes complete sense as the Hebrew word boqer literally means dawn, or daybreak, and is always used to describe a type of light that isn't at it's brightest, such as a midday light.

The next time lucifer is used in the Vulgate is of course in Isaiah 14:12, which the KJV simply fails to translate into English. The Hebrew word here is helel, meaning morning as well.

The last time the Vulgate uses lucifer is in 2Peter 1:19 which is translated as day star in the KJV and morning star in the NASB. Again, relatively the same meaning so they both agree that the Greek word phosphoros means 'light bearing' or 'light bringing'

This is where proper interpretation is very important. If the Vulgate meant to imply that lucifer was the name of Satan I would certainly not feel comfortable with a Bible that claimed Satan would be arising in my heart in this or any other context.

If you cross-reference morning star it appears again in Revelations 2:28; 22:16; & Rev 2:28!

EXPLANATION OF ISAIAH 14:12
1. This is in reference to Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. There is some
speculation that references this to Belshazzar however.
Martin Luther kind of likens this to the Pope in Rome. There's kind
of a pretty good case any which way ya look at I guess.

2. O Lucifer was used figuratively to liken his life, stature and abundant pride to that of Satan who thought he was like God.

How you are fallen from heaven...How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low!

I just thought this was hilarious, they're totally mocking him! They're treating him like Saddam Hussein when they found him in
a spider hole! I can't think of a more sarcastic tone in the rest of Bible.... He just thought he was so great and put himself on
such a high pedestal that from his perspective he was looking
down on all the nations.
When he died he was shown to be just like
everyone else... with all his faults exposed. In addition to this, while it was customary to give a king a somewhat 'Royal Funeral', Nebuchadnezzar was so despised by his people they basically did little more than drop him in a hole.

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Paul, Philemon and Slavery

This is one of the very few "personal letters" by Paul, and is written to Philemon in regards to his slave, Onesimus.

Paul is appealing to Philemon to forgive Onesimus for his transgressions which caused him to run away from him. He shows us how loving and empathetic his true nature is. This also gives us a rare glimpse into the personal side of society back then.

Paul is purposeful in letting Philemon know that Christians are all to be like one family. In his appeal, Paul likens himself to a slave himself by stating that he is like Onesimus, in that he himself is "a prisoner of Christ Jesus". (Philem 1:9)

While it's obvious that Paul doesn't agree that slavery is right, he also knows that the time is not right to change society so dramatically at this moment, less it take the focus off of his message about Christ..

He reminds Philemon that he is his brother in Christ and likewise, so is Onesimus. None the less, he's sending him back "no longer as a slave, but more than a slave, a beloved brother, especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord" ~ Philem 1:16

It is thought that it was this letter by Paul was pointed out to by a Quaker man in Columbus, OH who sent a letter himself to the US Govt that ultimately led to the abolition of slavery in the US.

"...by teaching the common origin and equality of men, their common redemption and Christian brotherhood, by, emancipating them from slavery unto spiritual freedom, equality, and brotherhood in Christ, in whom "there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither bond nor free, neither male nor female, but all are one in Christ Jesus"...(Gal 3:28)
...while paganism and Mohammedanism regard slavery as a normal state of society, and hence do not even make an attempt to remove (slavery)." —The History of the Christian Church

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