OOPS OF THE DAY ~ February 15

Things in the Bible not really in the Bible ...and a few surprises

Oops of the Day

Joseph, Jesus’ step-father, died while Jesus was still a child.

Matthew 13:2  –   Matthew 13:55-56  –  Luke 4:14-22  –  John 6:42John 19:25-27

Fact of the Day

No!  After Jesus was grown, began his ministry, and moved to Capernaum, he visited his hometown in Nazareth and preached there. The people said, “IS (present tense) this not Joseph’s son?”  IS (present tense) not his mother’s name Mary?  ARE (present tense) not his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas?  ARE (present tense) not all his sisters with us?” 

His step-father apparently died between his visit to Nazareth during his ministry and the crucifixion.

 

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SURPRISE OF THE DAY ~ February 13

Things in the Bible not really in the Bible ...and a few surprises

Surprise of the Day

THIS IS A CORRECTION OF MY POST ON JANUARY 9:

Jesus first went to the temple when he was 12 and had celebrated his bar-mitzva

Luke 2:31-42  –  Matthew 2:19-23

Fact of the Day

No!  Bar-Mitzva was first recorded in history in the 13th century in France.  Jesus’ parents went to the temple every year.  The likely reason they did not take Jesus until he was age twelve was that cruel King Archaelaeus was so mean.

 “After Herod [the Great] died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt 20 and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”

21 So he got up, took the child and his mother and went from Egypt to the land of Israel. 22 But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning in the province of Judea in place of his father Herod, he was afraid to go there. Having been warned in a dream, he withdrew to the province of Galilee, 23 and he went and lived in a town called Nazareth.”

Based on Jesus probably being 2 when Herod sent the soldiers to kill all boy babies 2 and under, Jesus was actually born BC 6.  Herod died in BC 4. So, when Joseph took Jesus back to Palestine, he was about age 4.  One of the first thinks Herod’s successor, Arhaelaus, did was  order 3000 worshipers to be killed right in the temple. So, Joseph took Jesus up to the province of Galilee and to Nazareth where he would be safe.

But young king Archelaus kept getting worse, So, the same year Jesus turned 11, Caesar banished Archelaus to Vienna, Gaul.

FINALLY, it was safe to take Jesus to Jerusalem the following year when he was 12.

 

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SURPRISE OF THE DAY ~ February 8

Things in the Bible not really in the Bible ...and a few surprises

Surprise of the Day

When Jesus came up out of the waters of his baptism, the Holy Sprit descended on him, and God announced he was his son.

Mark 1:9-11 – Matthew 3:16-17  – John 1:12-13 – Acts 2:38 – Galatians 4:5 – Ephesians 1:5 – Hebrew 1:10 & 13

Fact of the Day

Ever since then, when we do what Jesus did that day, the same thing happens to us.  When we come up out of the waters of baptism, the Holy Spirit descends on us and we are then his sons.

Amazing privilege.  Check it out.

 

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SURPRISE OF THE DAY ~ February 7

Things in the Bible not really in the Bible ...and a few surprises

Surprise of the Day

At the end of Jesus’ great commission, just as he was rising up to heaven, he said,   “I will be with you to the end of the age.” 

Matthew 27:29

Fact of the Day

In the original Greek of the New Testament, that word, age, can also be translated, “I will be with you to the end of ETERNITY.”

 

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OOPS OF THE DAY ~ February 6

Things in the Bible not really in the Bible ...and a few surprises

Oops of the Day

The crown of thorns was arranged neatly in a perfect circle with long, bare thorns everywhere.

Matthew 27:29

Fact of the Day

No!  First, it is nearly impossible to fold a branch in a perfect circle.  Try it.  Second, it was spring, not winter.  There were leaves on the bushes and often flowers. A crown of thorns with just leaves on it would imitate Caesar’s crown.  A crown with leaves and flowers on it would mock Jesus (but also be the last thing of beauty he wore).

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OOPS OF THE DAY ~ February 5

Things in the Bible not really in the Bible ...and a few surprises

Oops of the Day

Caiaphas, the High Priest, and Ananus (his-father-in-law, high priest before him) who both condemned Jesus,  believed in everything in the Old Testament just like any other priest.

Matthew 26:3-4  –  John 11:47-53  –  John 18:24-26  –  Acts 4:1-6  –  Acts 5:17

Fact of the Day

No!  High Priest Caiaphas was son-in-law to Ananas, the former high priest and was brother-in-law to Ananas’ two sons.  They were all Sadducees, the ruling elite of the day.  The only part of the Bible they believed was the Law of Moses and used it in a secular sense, not religious.  According to Josephus, they believed once a person dies, they go out of existence. They did not believe any of the prophets (including the poetic prophecies) which make up most of the Old Testament). They were basically atheists.  

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OOPS OF THE DAY ~ January 31

Things in the Bible not really in the Bible ...and a few surprises

Oops of the Day

Only a priest or bishop can touch the bread of the Lord’s Supper.  Common worshipers are not allowed to touch it with their hands because it is so holy.  The priest or bishop has to set the bread on the tongue of the worshiper.

Matthew 26:26  –  Acts 20:4-8

Fact of the Day

No! Jesus handed the bread to his apostles and told them to break off a piece to eat.    He did not break it off for them nor did he set it on their tongues.  He just handed it to them. Further, years after Jesus died, a group of Christians met together on the first day of the week “to break bread”.  (In Greek “met” was a religious meeting.) They broke off their own pieces of bread to eat during their Sunday religious meeting.

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SURPRISE OF THE DAY ~ January 30

Things in the Bible not really in the Bible ...and a few surprises

Surprise of the Day

Amazing things happened after Jesus died and after he came back to life.

Matthew 27:54  –  Matthew 28:2

Fact of the Day

There were two earthquakes within three days of Jesus’ death. The first one occurred the moment he died. The second one occurred the moment he came back to life.

WOW

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OOPS OF THE DAY ~

Things in the Bible not really in the Bible …and a few surprises

Oops of the Day

The Jews were required to give a tithe to the temple every year.

Deuteronomy 14:22-28

Deuteronomy 26:12  –  Leviticus 1-5  –  Leviticus 27:2  –  Numbers 21:2  –  I Samul 1:11  –   II Samuel 15:7-8  –   Psalm 22:11, 25  –  Psalm 66:13  –  Psalm 76:11  –  Psalm 116:8,14,18-19  –   Job 22:27  –   Jonah 1:7-9

Fact of the Day  

Yes and No!   It was much more. A good Jew gave about one third of his income, not just one tenth. (1) The Jews had to give an extra tithe every three years for their welfare program. (2) They had to pay for their vows, which in many cases were really special prayer requests.  (3) They had to buy animals for sacrifices for intentional sins, unintentional sins and sins requiring restitution.  (4) If they wanted to thank God for anything special, they had to buy grain for a sacrifice  (5)  If they didn’t have mney to buy the animals or grain, they had to take them out of their own supply, thus depleting their own “pay check.” (6) And every time one of their flocks or herds had a first-born “first-fruits”, they had to sacrifice it ~ another depleting of the “pay check.”  

Still want to follow the Law of Moses to get people to give more?

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OOPS OF THE DAY ~ October 6

Things in the Bible not really in the Bible...and a few surprises

Oops of the Day

God was mean to not protect the southern half of Israel now called the kingdom of Judah from the Babylonian army when they burned down Jerusalem and enslaved the people.

Leviticus 18:25-28 – all of II Chronicles – all listed prophets – Hebrews 11:35b-38

Fact of the Day 

No! Their kings led the people to commit terrible, terrible sins.

  • -Solomon built altars to the CHILD-SACRIFICING god, Moloch, to please one of his wives, and altars to other gods to please his other wives. That was the beginning.
  • -Out of the 20 kings that followed, 13 kings led the people to worship fake deities, mostly PORNOGRAPHIC GODDESSES with their temple prostitutes and Ashera poles,  and CHILD-KILLING GODS who burned them to death.   God sent these men to warn them: Shaiah, Hanani, Ohadiah, Joel, Isaiah, Micah, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel.  These 10 men spent their lives warning them and trying to save them from hell,  but they did not want to give up their LEGALIZED PROSTITUTION and  PEDICIDE.
  • -Hebrews 11 tells how they treated anyone who tried to stop them:  “There were others who were tortured, refusing to be released so that they might gain an even better Resurrection. 36 Some faced jeers and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. 37 They were put to death by stoning; they were sawed in two; they were killed by the sword. They went about in sheepskins and goatskins, destitute, persecuted and mistreated— 38 the world was not worthy of them. They wandered in deserts and mountains, living in caves and in holes in the ground.

At one time, Jerusalem was the most evil city in the world.

God was patient for hundreds of years – generation after generation.  Nothing would stop them.  So he punished them to wake them up. Why?  Because they were his lost children, descendants of Abraham and David, headed for hell, and he wanted them back.  Such unbelievable love! 

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