The wizard Simon of Samaria wanted to be powerful and famous. His nickname was “The Great Power of God!” and he had a many fans. When he heard the gospel of Jesus, as preached by Phillip and proved by miraculous signs, he believed. Still a fan of “magic,” Simon coveted the power of Peter and… Read More Irenaeus
Justin is the first Christian philosopher. He was born in 100 AD, and was beheaded for his faith in 165. Truth Seeking Scholar Justin was Greek, but he was raised in Samaria. He studied various secular philosophies, and had almost settled on following Plato when a mysterious old man convinced him Jesus was the divine… Read More Justin
I have been following the Catholic Saints calendar this year. Why? Because I’m interested in the stories of the early Christians in the first few centuries. I usually ignore the later “saints” from 900 AD on. Today’s saints interested me. Roman Soldiers Nereus and Achilleus were Roman soldiers. The story surrounding them is more legendary… Read More Nereus and Achilleus
In 2005, Sarah Sallon, a scientist hoping to discover medicinal uses from the ancient date (fruit from the date palm tree), planted 2,000 year old seeds on a lark. One germinated! Its a little tree today. The scientists who germinated the seeds nicknamed the tree Methuselah after the oldest man named in the Bible. Buried… Read More Factoid: Ancient Seeds Sprout
I’m a big geek when it comes to Bible history. I spent an hour this morning pouring over genealogies because I wanted a visual representation of how close Moses was to Adam. Of course Adam and Moses are separated by thousands of years, but in terms of people who knew their grandparents, they are separated… Read More Thinking about how we know
Kay Bonikowsky 