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The spring 2018 issue of Biblical Archeology Review announced the retirement of its founder Hershel Shanks after 43 years of service.
Mr. Shanks is an example of the impact a dedicated layman can make on the scientific, historic, and religious world. Trained as a Harvard lawyer, he fell in love with Biblical Archeology on a Sabbatical to Jerusalem in 1973. It was Shanks who led the crusade to get the Dead Sea scrolls released by the scholars who had kept them under wraps for 50 years. He also covered the major archeological controversies where the religious and political fault lines of the Holy Land are played out.
One of the major fault lines comes between the religious and the secular world views of scholars. The secular scholars are constantly attacking the work of earlier Christian and Jewish archaeologists, with a “Minimalist” school which argues that such Biblical figures as David are mythological. Another line of attack comes from Palestinians who, for political reasons, want to deny Jewish history and try to prevent archaeologists from digging up the Jewish past. There is also an occasional conflict between Jewish and Christian acceptance of findings.

While the BAR, as it is affectionately known, is a secular, not religious, publication, they do try to fairly present the issues. They gleefully reported an artifact which substantiated the existence of the “House of David”, to the chagrin of the Minimalists. In their January/February 2014 issue, they published an article which proves that the site of David’s palace in Jerusalem has been found. Some years back the BAR demolished Palestinian political arguments by proving that the very name of Palestine was derived from the Greek word for “wrestler”, which translates into the national Hebrew name of “Israel” (He wrestles with God). In their January/February 2016 issue they exposed a New York Times article which falsely cast doubt on the historicity of the Jewish temples, a favorite technique of Palestinian propaganda. In the May/ June 2017 issue, eminent archeologist William G. Dever exposed the fallacies of the “Minimalist” view in his article entitled “Whom Do You Believe – the Bible or Archeology.”

Our prayer is that secular, political, and religious attacks on Biblical archaeology will not be allowed to obscure the truth of God’s word. We thank Hershel Shanks for his leadership and pray that BAR and Biblical archaeologists will continue fearlessly stand up to those who want to rewrite history to suit their agendas.

And we thank the Lord that He has left us plenty of evidence to confirm the veracity of the Bible as the solid rock on which our faith can rely.

As Jesus hung on the cross, struggling painfully for each breath, He uttered seven short, powerful statements showing who He was and what was happening, and encouraging those who would follow Him. It was His last sermon.

1. “Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing” (Luke 23:34).
Jesus is not only practicing the forgiveness He preached (Matthew 5:44), He is asserting His divinity as God who forgives sin (Psalm 103:3). Beyond that, however, He is announcing the beginning of the New Covenant under which our sins will be forgiven (Jerimiah 31:33, 34).

2. “I tell you the Truth, today you will be with me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43)
Jesus’ promise of life to the criminal on the cross tells us that He has authority over Heaven (Psalm 115:16), He will conquer death (Psalm 16:10), and through Him we also will live (John 14:19). He is the priest of the New Covenant because of His indestructible life (Hebrews 7: 16, 17).

3. “Dear woman, here is your Son… here is your mother” (John 19:26, 27)
Jesus took time to entrust His mother into the care of the beloved Disciple John, fulfilling the Scripture at Psalm 69:8 that He was estranged from His brothers and showing us that God expects us to honor our family (Mark 7:10-13). We are also reminded that Jesus was the “Seed of Woman”, the Savior born to a virgin promised in Genesis 3:15.

4. “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?” (Mathew 27:46)
Many of those who heard Jesus, and many commentators since have failed to understand that Jesus is quoting the Hebrew title of the 22nd Psalm. Jesus sends us to Psalm 22 to show us that 1000 years earlier it was prophesied that Jesus would be mocked (Psalm 22:6-8) and even prophesying the very words of His mockers (Mathew 27:41-43). In one sense, He was mocking His mockers. The crucifixion is also described, as His hands and feet were pierced (Psalm 22:16), His clothes were divided by casting lots (Psalm 22:14), and it was difficult to speak (Psalm 22:15).

Yet Psalm 22 is not a picture of forsakenness or despair, but is instead a declaration of victory. God did not despise the suffering of Jesus (Psalm 22:24). Rather, God used it to purchase eternal life (Psalm 22:26) and promised that all nations will come to Jesus (Psalm 22: 27, 28). Jesus is telling us that He knew the price and gladly paid it.

5. “I am thirsty” (John 19:28)
This is another fulfillment of prophecy (Psalm 69:28), when the suffering Savior is given vinegar for His thirst. Yet in the midst of His pain and distress, Jesus used Psalm 69 to tell us that those who seek God will live (Psalm 69:12), and the God does not despise the suffering of His people (Psalm 69:33). There is also the promise that His people will rebuild Judah (Psalm 69:35, 36), an apparent reference to His promise to return.

6. “It is finished” (John 19:30)
To fully understand this statement, we believe that we need to look to the prophet Daniel. He foretold the coming of the Anointed One who would come 483 years (69×7) after the decree to rebuild Jerusalem (458 B.C.), or 26 A.D., and then be “cut off” in the midst of the next 7 years (Daniel 9:25, 26). Jesus is telling us that He has fulfilled Daniel’s prophecy to finish transgression, put an end to Sin, atone for wickedness, bring eternal righteousness, seal up prophecy, and anoint the Holy One (Daniel 9:24). This is the finished work of Jesus on the cross.

7. “Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit” (Luke 43:46)
The last words of Jesus on the cross are taken from Psalm 31. He is telling us that we can take refuge in God (Psalm 31:1-4) and that we can trust God with our life (Psalm 31:15). Our times are in His hands (Psalm 31:19-22) and He preserves the faithful (Psalm 31:23, 24).

With His last sermon Jesus told us what He was doing even as He was doing it.

Can you join Him in saying “Father, into your hands I commit my Spirit?”

This week on March 23rd will mark the 2022nd anniversary of the birth of Jesus.

That’s right. We believe that we can put together the prophecies, historical data, astronomical data, and scripture to pinpoint the birth of Jesus to March 23, 5 BC.

We know from Luke 3:23 that Jesus was about 30 when He began His ministry. The prophet Daniels tells us the year of Christ’s anointing would come 69 7’s, or 483 years, after the decree which sent Ezra to Jerusalem in 458 BC. (Daniel 9:25) Doing the math, and remembering that there is no year “0”, Daniel’s prophecy says Jesus would begin His ministry in 26 A.D. This year is backed up by two dates from Scripture. John the Baptist began his ministry in the 15th year of Tiberius, 25 AD, (Luke 3:1) and Jesus cleared the Temple the first time 46 years after Herod began renovating it (John 2:20) in 20 BC (According to Josephus), or 27 AD. Thus, many Bible scholars believe that 26 AD is the year Jesus began his ministry. If He was 30 years old, remembering again that there is no year “0”, He would have been born in 5 BC.

Jesus would have been born either in the Spring or Fall of the year according to the Scripture surrounding the birth of John the Baptist. John’s father, Zechariah was a member of the priestly order of Abijah (Luke 1:5) which, according to Rabbinical sources, ministered at the Temple in May and November. The Angel Gabriel appeared to Zechariah in the Temple, and Zechariah would have gone home and probably conceived John the Baptist in June or December, who would have been born 9 months later in March or September. We know from Scripture that John the Baptist was six months older than Jesus (Luke 1:26) so Jesus would have been born in September or March of 5 BC.

To find the exact time of year we look to Astronomy and Archaeology. We know that there was a star which appeared when Jesus was born and that Magi from the East, possibly following the prophetic teachings of Daniel the Magi (Daniel 2:48), came looking for Him (Mathew 2:1,2). The Chinese also saw the Star, identifying it as a Nova which appeared in the Spring of 5 BC and burned for 70 days. Dating the star of Bethlehem to the spring of BC means that John the Baptist was conceived in December of 7 BC, Jesus was conceived in June of 6 BC, John the Baptist was born in September of 6 BC, and Jesus was born in March of 5 BC.

King Herod, the tyrannical ruler of Judea, had interviewed the Magi when they arrived in Jerusalem. According to our research, described in The Stars of His Coming, (get free download at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/qa0m17n2q1f6gvv/AAAil7jgo8QIJHAmaHZEdbtya?dl=0 ) there were signs in the Sun, Moon, and Stars surrounding the birth of Jesus beginning with Zechariah in 7 BC. The Magi would have testified to the same date, and for that reason Herod ordered all of the Children under 2 years old in Bethlehem to be killed. Josephus tells us that there was a Lunar Eclipse on Passover and that Herold died later that year. This lunar Eclipse, or Blood Moon, occurred on March 23, 5 BC. The Blood Moon occurred in the Spring of 5 BC, concurrent with the Star of Bethlehem, but one additional piece of evidence is needed to suggest that this is the day Jesus was born.

We find it in Revelation 12:1, 2, which describes a sign in the Heavens, a woman clothed in the Sun with the Moon at her feet, at the moment of Christ’s birth. The woman clothed in the Sun is the Zodiacal constellation Virgo (The Virgin), which promises that God will send a savior through Virgin birth. Astronomical research shows that the Blood Moon of March 23, 5 BC occurred while the Moon was in the feet of Virgo. Thus, Revelation 12:1, 2 presents us with a picture of the night sky when Jesus was born, and that night was March 23, 5 BC.

Of course we know that the whole world will continue to celebrate the birthday of Jesus on December 25. In its way, it is fitting to celebrate the advent on the old Roman winter solstice, when it all began with the conception of John the Baptist around the winter solstice of 7 BC and signs in the Sun, Moon, and Stars begin to appear.

Even so, it is nice to know His real birthday so we in His family can honor Him on His actual birthday.

Happy Birthday Jesus!

St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, is recognized as an Irish celebration, but in fact the whole Christian world owes a large debt to St Patrick.
Brought to pagan Ireland as a slave, Patrick escaped and returned to his home in Roman Christian Britain. However he was unable to forget the lost souls of Ireland and returned to evangelize the island. The Pagan wizards and priests were no match for the man of God, and the whole island was Christianized as the result of his efforts. For this he is rightly honored as the evangelist of the Irish.
But his legacy of a Christian Ireland blessed far more people than just the Irish. Even before his death in 461 AD the Roman Christian Britain of his boyhood was being overrun by the Pagan Angles and Saxons. Soon the British and Irish switched roles: The newly Christian Irish sent missionaries to the newly Pagan Britain. And in about a century the Anglo-Saxons were Christianized. So the British saved the Irish so the Irish could save the British.
An even more remarkable turn about occurred as the European continent fell into chaos during the time known as the Dark Ages. The formerly barbarian, unlettered Irish were able to save countless manuscripts from destruction and became the custodians of the civilized Western worlds’ knowledge. They also expanded their evangelistic efforts into Europe, bringing about a revival of Christianity in France and Italy. Thus, Patrick’s Irish followers became a beacon of learning and hope in the Dark Ages, helping preserve the centers of European Christianity as well as its British and Irish outposts.
Alas, the Irish were not immune to the instability of their times, as they were first invaded by the Vikings and then colonized by the ungrateful English. After the Reformation they were persecuted for their Catholic faith and allowed to starve in the horrible famine of the 1840’s. The Island remains divided between the Catholic Republic in the South and the Protestant North.
It is ironic that these two peoples, still divided over religion, owe their Christian faith to the other: The Irish to the British Patrick, and the British to the Irish missionaries. Yet, there is progress being made to reconcile these peoples. Several years back we at Corporate Prayer Resources made a Prayer Journey to Ireland and saw our and many other prayers answered as a peace process began in Northern Ireland. There are also continuing reconciliation efforts underway between the Catholics and the Protestants to heal this terrible division.

As we look forward to this St Patrick’s day, the best way to honor St. Patrick would be to pray that there would be reconciliation, forgiveness, and peace between his British homeland and his beloved Ireland, and between Catholic and Protestant.
And may it be so.

The time is fast approaching when the Church will need to remember the lesson of German Pastor Martin Niemoller.

Pastor Niemoller was a man of great courage who had been a submarine captain in the First World War before he entered the ministry. As a minister, he spoke out against the atrocities of the Nazi regime. On March 2, 1938 he was sent to prison, where he spent the war because of his Christian beliefs.

Nevertheless this Christian Hero apologized for his delay in opposing the Nazis. Here is what he said:
“First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Socialist. Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out, because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me and there was no one left to speak for me.”

You may think that Nazi Germany is far removed from today’s America, but you should think again. There are forces in America which no longer believe in individual liberty and democracy. Our freedoms are being diminished day by day, and most Christians remain silent.

When the courts in California overruled the democratic vote against gay marriage, there was little outcry. When the Government sabotaged the Defense of Marriage Act few noticed. When Christians were fined for refusing to participate in gay marriage ceremonies we were told that we were bigots. After the Supreme Court forced gay marriage on the nation, hundreds of florists and bakers have been attacked because of their beliefs. Now the “Progressives” want our daughters to be forced to shower with boys who say they want to be girls. We are getting perilously close to the old Soviet Communist concept of religious “freedom”, where you could have religious beliefs so long as you said nothing and did not act according to your faith.

Freedom of Speech has been under attack in the cause of “Politically Correct” speech. University students, who used to demonstrate for free speech, now demand censorship on college campuses. In the Citizen’s United Supreme Court decision, so adamantly opposed by the “Progressives”, the Government actually argued that they had the right to censor books and movies. Must we wait until they are burning books to arouse from our slumber?

Under the guise of fighting crime the Government has passed thousands of laws which entrap innocent Americans every day. People have gone to jail for getting lost in a snowstorm on Federal lands or failing to follow packaging regulations of foreign countries. The Government can seize your money without proving anything and you have to hire a lawyer to get it back, except that you can’t pay a lawyer because the government took your money. You can become a criminal even if you have no criminal intent, and the “Progressives” fiercely resist any attempt to bring this elementary human right back into our legal system.

To top it off, we now know that government employees have been using their offices for political purposes. In 2012 the IRS and other agencies were used to hinder and attack conservative organizations. In 2016 the FBI and Justice Department used false evidence to spy on a political campaign. This same information was the used to spark an internal “Resistance” campaign where government employees have leaked false information and subverted the elected administration. Some want to go further and overthrow the elected president.

You may not like President Trump or his politics. You may not have much sympathy for a business man who can’t defend himself because the government took his money. You may not agree with Catholics who are persecuted for their opposition to birth control. And the airways and internet are full of obnoxious political speech.

Just remember that if you are cheering for the government as it moves against others, you are only bringing the day of destruction closer to yourself.

Stand up for freedom before there is no one left when they come for you.

Another school massacre has once again exposed how vulnerable our children are. It is time we learned some lessons and applied biblical principles to protect our children.

The first lesson we should have learned is that the social norms which sheltered our children 50 years ago have been shattered. The sexual revolution of the 1960’s produced a hedonistic lifestyle where children became an unwanted side effect. We have murdered 60 million babies and millions of others are abused, neglected, and angry. Half of our children come from fatherless homes, and the manly values of chivalry and protectiveness formerly instilled by fathers and scoffed at. And, after prayer and religion were removed from schools, values are not taught there either. Those wounded, angry, valueless children and grandchildren of the 1960’s will continue to act out in unpredictable and sometimes deadly ways. Society is reaping what it has sown.

The second lesson we should have learned is that government cannot protect us from these random killers. We have seen how laws intended to keep felons and the mentally ill from obtaining guns are not enforced and are even undermined by government agencies. Federal and local law enforcement failed to follow up on obvious warning signals in the Florida shooting. And local deputies failed to enter the school while the unarmed security guard in the school became a martyr by using the only means at his disposal, his body, to protect the students. With 98% of mass killings occurring in “Gun Free” zones, it turns out that “Gun Free” actually means “Killers Welcome”.

It is perhaps coincidental that today marks the Hebrew festival of Purim, where the deliverance of the Jews through Queen Esther and Mordecai is celebrated. What is instructive to us is how the deliverance was accomplished. Mordecai did not ask that the weapons of their enemies be confiscated, nor did he ask for government protection. Instead, he asked that the Jews be given that right to protect themselves and their families (Esther 8:11). Purim shows that God expects us to defend ourselves and our families, and leads directly to America’s Second Amendment rights. As it relates to schools, teachers, also have Second Amendment rights and those called to arm themselves to protect our children should be encouraged to do so.

Arming the people, however, is not enough, because we must strengthen their defenses. In biblical times it was the city wall that kept out the lawless and the enemies of the people, and we have the Book of Nehemiah to show us how important it was to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Under Nehemiah the workers armed themselves to complete rebuilding their defenses (Nehemiah 4:16-18). In our time we must recognize that our schools are surrounded by enemies like Jerusalem was, and take steps to increase their defenses by creating a “Wall” of armed guards and controlled access like the wall provided for Jerusalem.

It has been said that those who attack the unprotected are cowards, and the Bible bears this out. Once the Jews were given the right of self-defense under Queen Esther fear overtook the other peoples and the enemies of the Jews were overcome (Esther 9:1-3). Those who had threatened Nehemiah and the Jews never attacked them, and their enemies lost their confidence when the wall was finished (Nehemiah 6:15-16). If we protect our children at school, we can expect that many of these hate filled cowards threatening our children will never attack them.

As we move to protect our children let us also not forget that there are lost generations of young people who are crying out by acting out. Remember The Cross and the Switchblade? We must do more to find them, heal them, and bring them into the love of Christ and the Church. This means more free day care, more foster parents, more adoptions, more mentoring, more evangelism, and yes, more money.
Protecting our children by saving the lost children is the best investment we can make.

Let us pray for wisdom to protect our children, but let us also pray for the compassion to reach out to the lost generations.

It has become fashionable in some circles to deny the Christian foundations of the United States. This week, when we remember President’s Day, would be a good time to listen to the words of our national Fathers and join them in their prayers for America:

Benjamin Franklin: On the Need for Divine Guidance
“I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live the more convincing proofs I see of this truth – that God Governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probable that an empire can rise without His aid?
We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings, that ‘except the Lord build the House, they labor in vain that build it.’ I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his concurring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the Builders of Babel: We shall be divided by our partial local interests; out projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and bye word down on future ages.
And what is worse, mankind may thereafter from this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing Governments by Human wisdom and leave it to chance, war and conquest.
I therefore beg leave to move – that henceforth prayers imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessing on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business, and that one or more of the clergy of this city be requested to officiate in that service.” – June 28, 1787 at the Constitutional Convention

George Washington: Prayer for the United States
“Almighty God, We make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep the United States in Thy Holy protection; and Thou wilt incline the hearts of the Citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to Government; and entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another and for their fellow Citizens of the United States at large, and particularly for their brethren who have served in the Field.
And finally that Thou wilt most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with that Charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind which were the Characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed Religion, and without a humble imitation of whose example in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation.
Grant our supplication, we beseech Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

Thomas Jefferson: National Prayer for Peace
“Almighty God, Who has given us good land for our heritage; We humbly beseech Thee that we may always prove ourselves a people mindful of Thy favor and glad to do Thy will. Bless our land with honorable ministry, sound learning, and pure manners.
Save us from violence, discord, and confusion, from pride and arrogance, and from every evil way. Defend our liberties, and fashion into one united people the multitude brought hither out of many kindred and tongues.
Endow with Thy spirit of wisdom those who in Thy Name we entrust the authority of government, that there may be justice and peace at home, and that through obedience to Thy law, we may show forth Thy praise among the nations of the earth.
In time of prosperity fill our hearts with thankfulness, and in the day of trouble, suffer not our trust in Thee to fail, all of which we ask through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.”

Abraham Lincoln: National Day of Prayer and Humiliation
“Whereas, the Senate of the United States devoutly recognizing the Supreme Authority and Government of Almighty God in all the affairs of men and of nations, has, by a resolution, requested the President to designate and set apart a day for national prayer and humiliation:
And whereas, it is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon, and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history: that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord:
And insomuch as we know that, by His divine law, nations like individuals are subject to punishment and chastisement in this world, may we not justly fear that the awful calamity of civil war, which now desolates the land may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people?
We have been recipient of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown.
But we have forgotten God. We have forgotten the gracious Hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.
Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us!
It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sin and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.
Now, therefore, in compliance with the request and fully concurring in the view of the Senate, I do, by this proclamation, designate and set apart Thursday, the 30th day of April, 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting and prayer.
And I do hereby request all the people to abstain on that day from their ordinary secular pursuits, and to unite, at their several places of public worship and their respective homes, in keeping that day holy to the Lord and devoted to the humble discharge of the religious duties proper to that solemn occasion.
All this being done, in sincerity and truth, let us then rest humbly in the hope authorized by the Divine teachings, that the united cry of the nation will be heard on high and answered with blessings no less than the pardon of our national sins and restoration of our now divided and suffering country to its former happy condition of unity and peace.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand to caused the seal of the United States to be affixed. By the President: Abraham Lincoln.”

To which we can only add: Amen.