I'm going to post this just in case it's ever an issue for anyone.

The teachings of Radix Fidem support the freedom of conscience. We believe that the conscience is the conscious connection to one's convictions, and that convictions are written on the soul by the finger of God. The believer's conscience cannot be compelled by any human agent.

Further, we declare that, upon embracing the Radix Fidem Covenant, the believer is surrendering their whole existence to Christ, body and soul. This is a feudal commitment in totality. The human fleshly existence becomes sole property of our Lord. The believer is obliged to resist anything that interferes with this custodial arrangement. No human authority, and no contract among human agents, can trump this.

Thus, no government or other authority can claim the power to demand medical compliance in any way, shape or form over the covenant member. If the covenant member believes that any medical procedure is contrary to their convictions, they have the divine authority to refuse, even to the point of death. It is not necessary to give any kind of logical reason for resisting; indeed, it may not be possible to verbalize something coming down from God.

Anyone on this earth who verbally claims to be a member of the Radix Fidem Covenant Community may claim this exemption.

We are participating in our weekly prayer time at 5pm EST. Check out the prayer request forum for some prayer topics, but feel free to lift up your own.

You may also fast. There's no obligation or guidelines to how you should do it, or if you should do it at all. Just fast as the Lord leads and speaks to your convictions.

There is no strong consensus on the days Jesus spent on earth after His resurrection. We know that He met with His disciples twice in Jerusalem at both ends of the week of Unleavened Bread. The parallel passage at the end of Mark takes place in that second meeting. Mark's version of the Great Commission is a little different, because Jesus repeated the message several times. John insists that the third meeting was the incident when seven of the men went fishing and met Jesus the next morning.

So it's only reasonable to assume that the final verses of Matthew's account takes us to at least the fourth meeting. They gathered at the appointed mountain location. Jesus appeared there, and the majority worshiped Him. He was no longer Jesus the man they all knew. While they had believed in their minds that He was the Son of God, it was now driven home to them in a way words cannot describe. Still, some of the followers struggled with it.

There wasn't much He could do about it now. As He approached, He gave them a repeat of the same message He had broached back in Jerusalem. He reminded them that, having risen from death, He was now fully vested with His divine authority over all Creation. He would soon return to His throne. They were to carry on the mission that began with His baptism. It was this same baptism they were to use with those who embraced their message.

More to the point, He commanded them to teach everything He had taught. That would include the meaning of the Old Covenant, so that people could connect the miracles of the past with the miracles to come in the New Covenant. The New Covenant was even more of a privilege, and more demanding on the denial of the flesh. But they would have Him always with them, breathing in their souls.

When Luke continues the story into the Book of Acts, he notes that Jesus hung around for some forty days or so. At some point, He had the disciples return to Jerusalem. The final day is the final verses of Luke's account. Jesus walked with them across the Kiddron Valley, up the long sloping climb over the crest of the Olivet Ridge, and almost into the village of Bethany. Given the circumstances, it's quite likely this was near the end of that last day. The sun was low on the horizon behind the mount of Jerusalem.

He turned to face them one last time, the evening sun shining in His face. Lifting up His hands, He pronounced a blessing on them. He hardly finished His words when He levitated off the ground, rising quickly into the sky, catching more of the last rays of the sun. They watch Him go, and then turn back to their temporary gathering place in the Bethesda quarter of Jerusalem.

Luke tells us they worshiped daily in the Temple and stayed together in close fellowship for the next few days. There was no compelling reason yet to make a complete break from the Old Covenant worship rituals. There's no doubt this puzzled the Sanhedrin and other officials. There was no hint of rebellion or even teaching for a while. Everything went quiet.

I took this photo earlier this week in the morning, facing east out my backyard.

We are participating in our weekly prayer time at 5pm EST. Check out the prayer request forum for some prayer topics, but feel free to lift up your own.

You may also fast. There's no obligation or guidelines to how you should do it, or if you should do it at all. Just fast as the Lord leads and speaks to your convictions.

John was humble enough to make his final chapter about Peter, the appointed leader of the Twelve. This was his endorsement of that appointment, though he published his Gospel long after Peter and the others were dead for at last a decade or more. There's more to this final narrative than meets the eye.

John tells us that this was the third time after His resurrection that Jesus met with His disciples. The previous two meetings were in Jerusalem around both ends of the Feast of Unleavened Bread. They left the city after that, and we find seven of them sitting around in Peter's house in Capernaum, on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee.

Peter must have had a million questions in his mind about his place in the scheme of things. So as the sun began to set, he decided to return to the only thing he was sure about: fishing. It was his profession before both John the Baptist and Jesus showed up. It was the same profession for some of the others, but all of them must have worked at it some, as they all decided to join Peter for a night of fishing. It's when fishing was done in those days. It's when the fish would come up close to the surface to feed.

There would have been two boats -- the larger for carrying the nets and their catch, and a dingy used to drag the net out and into a closed loop, sweeping any fish in the water back toward the bigger boat. Then the net was hauled up into the larger craft with whatever they caught. They were at it all night, catching nothing.

At the earliest light, a fellow on the nearest shore asked if they had caught anything. This would normally be a rather aggressive fish vendor trying to get first shot at their catch. Or maybe this was shore fisherman, because he suggested they try the other side of the boat, as if he knew where the fish were lurking. They tried it. Lo and behold, the net was so laden with fish they couldn't haul it back up into the larger boat. At this point, John being in the crew on the boat that couldn't lift the net, turned and told Peter it was Jesus.

Who could have forgotten a similar scene three years prior, when after a teaching session from the bow of their boat, Jesus suggested they take a run with the net in daylight when the fish had normally dropped in the depths away from the heat of the sunlight? The net that day began to tear from the massive catch.

But not this time. Still, it was too heavy to pull into the larger boat, so they dragged it ashore with the dingy. In his excitement, Peter had grabbed his outer garment -- fishermen worked nearly naked -- and dove into the water, swimming to shore to meet Jesus. The one who might question his commitment to Jesus was ready once again to abandon fishing to fish for men. He was there to meet the small boat with the net. Showing off for his large size and strength, Peter dragged it up on the beach. No, it was not torn this time, so it was easier to keep the whole catch together. They counted 153 unusually large specimens.

Jesus had already built a fire, with small fish cooking in the coals and some bread with it. He suggested they pick out something from their catch to add, so they could all have breakfast together. They knew it was Jesus, even if He didn't appear quite the same as before His death. He served them breakfast as they all sat together in fellowship, just like old times.

When the meal was finished, right in front of everyone, Jesus turned to Peter. The big man's heart must have stopped. Is this when he gets dismissed for his failure? It would only be justice. Instead, He simply asked if Peter loved Him. But typical of Jesus, He used a word John translated into the Greek word agape -- in the context meaning a sacrificial kind of passionate commitment. Did Peter love Jesus above the rest of the group?

Peter had always been a big guy, with big boasting, worried too much what people thought of him, yet not really knowing himself. He often failed to follow through, as he had the night Jesus stood before the Sanhedrin. Over the past couple of weeks, that man had died, and here sat a new Peter, no longer deceived about what kind of man he was. He responded using a word John translates as phileo -- he was still a friend of Jesus, but would not promise to sacrifice for Him.

It was almost as if to say, "That's okay, Peter, pasture my flock" -- take charge of the disciples. A few minutes passed, and then Jesus turned to Peter and asked the same question. Peter gave the same careful response. And again Jesus asked him to assume leadership of this group.

Yet again a few minutes, and Jesus turned to ask if they were still friends. Peter caught on to the change in words Jesus used, coming down to Peter's level. While it stung, Peter was a chastened man and stood his ground for once. He was still willing to serve Jesus from his position as a flawed man. For once Peter was the solid rock about something. And again, Jesus said it was okay, that He still wanted Peter to assume leadership of the group. It was good enough for now.

Three times Peter had denied Jesus, and three times Jesus had affirmed that He still wanted Peter to take charge of this new ministry, despite Peter's admitted imperfections. Then Jesus added that, all too soon, Peter would be forced to face death for even this level of commitment. He would be arrested and led to that death, same as his Lord. It was a prophecy that John saw come true some years later.

And what of the man who wrote this Gospel, the cousin of Jesus who seemed closer to Him personally than anyone else on earth? Jesus told Peter not to worry about it. John's time would come, and it would be much later. Peter was the chief apostle for now. But the way Jesus said it was twisted by others into a myth, that somehow John would live until Jesus returned. John identifies himself as that man, and assured his readers that Jesus had done and said so many things that he still remembered, but writing it all down was an inhuman task.

By the time John published this Gospel, he was himself not far from dying as the last of the Twelve. His Gospel stands as a testimony to John's urgent drive to teach the otherworldly, mystical approach to faith for a new generation that had never known Jesus or other other apostles.

We are participating in our weekly prayer time at 5pm EST. Check out the prayer request forum for some prayer topics, but feel free to lift up your own.

You may also fast. There's no obligation or guidelines to how you should do it, or if you should do it at all. Just fast as the Lord leads and speaks to your convictions.

I'm starting on book #5 tonight. No title yet, but these are the books included:
Ancient Truth: The Gospels
Commentary on Matthew 24-25
The Mind of Christ
Soul Seeds: Parables
Gospel Red Herring: Spiritualizing the Text


So...the title will be gospel- or Jesus-related in some way. I'm good with names but I will take any suggestions. For references, here are the other titles. Notice a pattern?:
Ancient Truth: Acts, Letters, and Revelation
Ancient Truth: Moses and the Prophets
Ancient Truth: Old Testament History
Ancient Truth: Wisdom Literature

From what Iain told me, he's wholly unlikely to come back to the forum. Don't try to make sense of that; it's just how he is. But after a long conversation on the phone with him, I believe his biggest need is that he's pretty lonely. In particular, he's lonely for people who understand any part of his faith. It's not just the death of his wife, but the passing of elderly friends he could talk to. There were a few people who would understand his faith and what drives him, but almost no one now.

He needs someone close to him there who can see what he's going through, and have a clue about the depth of his convictions. He's not ready to be a widower.

Pray for him to find an answer to the isolation.

Parallels: Matthew 27, Mark 16 and Luke 24.

Jesus lay in the tomb. As the Lamb, He died on the day of Passover, a High Sabbath. Then, there had been the regular Sabbath the next day. Finally, in the wee hours of morning darkness, the women who had been there when Jesus died, and had seen where His body was laid, left the place where everyone had been hiding. This was almost surely somewhere in Bethesda, the newer quarter of Jerusalem built north of the Temple plaza.

It was just a short walk to the memorial garden as the women carried their spices. John mentions only Mary Magdalene because she plays a central role in what happens next, but the other Gospels tell us at least three more came with her -- the other Mary, Joanna and Salome. They discussed how they were going to get that massive stone moved from the door of the tomb. The door was a large round slab requiring several men to move it.

The doorway was a bit low and required crouching to get through it, but it was also below the ground level, with the threshold even lower, enough so to capture that stone door. It would have to be rolled back up the incline to uncover the entrance. Upon arriving, it was just light enough for the women to see that the stone was completely away from the face of the rock where the tomb had been carved.

Matthew tells us that there had been an aftershock from the quake that struck when Jesus died. This put the guards on edge. Then an angel floated down from the sky, whose very physical form and clothing emitted light. This single being alone rolled the stone back from the door, breaking the seal in the process. All of the guards together probably could not have moved it. Nobody had to tell them this was not someone they could fight; the men nearly swooned. Who can guard against such a powerful being?

After removing the stone away from the face of the tomb, the angel rolled it a bit to one side, pushed it over on one face, and sat down on it. The guards felt utterly powerless, and probably fled almost immediately upon recovering from their shock. At some point, another angel showed up. Nobody could report how Jesus had risen and left, but He was already gone. The angels were waiting for the women to arrive.

As soon as they got close to the tomb, the angels met them and told them they were wasting time, because Jesus was among the living again. They told the women to go back and report that Jesus had risen, and that they should all go to meet Him where He had told them in advance, on some mountain in Galilee. The women hurried away. Near as we can tell, John and Peter were not in the hideout. Mary Magdalene got separated from the others, going to John and Peter, who likely had rented space for their fishing business. The other women went to the group holing up, probably in the same home as the Upper Room. On the way, these others encountered Jesus Himself.

They fell at His feet, hugging His lower extremities in worship. He reiterated the angels' message, referring to the disciples as His brethren, and made sure to mention Peter, the one who would surely have felt he deserved to be written off.

The other women headed for the larger group holing up, probably in the same home as the Upper Room. They told them everything they encountered; it took some doing to convince anyone that they weren't deluded, drunk or joking. Mary Magdalene found Peter and John in their separate hideout, who didn't hesitate to take off for the garden where the tomb stood. John was a faster runner, so he got there first. He stooped down and saw how the linen casing had collapsed inward without having been disturbed. He believed that Jesus had risen.

Peter was slower, but simply blundered all the way into the tomb. He noted the collapsed mummy casing that had not been altered in any other way, and the head wrapping folded neatly close to where Jesus' head had rested. He marveled at what he saw -- obviously the body had been removed without cutting the linen strips soaked in the now dried gum Arabic. After he came out, John went all the way inside, as well. Then they all went back to their hideout in Bethesda.

Somewhere behind the men, Mary Magdalene made her way back to the memorial garden. It would appear they were gone when she arrived. The angels' message had not yet sunk in with her. She stood outside the tomb weeping, fearing the worst had happened. Eventually she stooped down to see what was inside. Not only was the mummy case still there, but also the two angels sat there, one at each end. Again they asked her why she had not believed them the first time.

At that moment, Jesus Himself came up behind her. Being a dutiful Hebrew woman, she avoided eye contact with a man she didn't know. Assuming this was some hired keeper of the memorial garden, she asked about the missing body, willing to take responsibility for it. Without knowing much about Joseph or Nicodemas, she likely figured that the body had been placed there out of mere convenience for the timing with the approaching high holy days. Such a powerful and rich man probably wanted it moved now that the ritual observance had finished.

It took Jesus calling her name for her to realize who it was. She called Him "Master" and tried to hug Him. It was almost humorous how He told her He wasn't gone yet, and suggested they both had a lot to do right now. She could save the hugs for later. She ran back to the disciples' hideout in the Bethesda quarter and added her report to all the others. Most of them would be staying for the week of Unleavened Bread.

Meanwhile, the soldiers that had been guarding the tomb reported to the Sanhedrin, indicating that they had been detached from regular duty and temporarily placed under command of the Temple Guard. They told the whole story. The officials could not allow this to leak out into the public, so they bribed the guards to tell the story that they had fallen asleep, and that during their slumber, the disciples had stolen the body. Of course, this would be an admission of dereliction of duty, a capital offense under Roman military law. The Sanhedrin promised to cover for them by explaining the situation to their officers and to Pilate, but they wanted to keep everything as secret as possible. As the fake story was being repeated around town, it meant there was a warrant for the arrest of the disciples for breaking the Roman seal.

Two of the disciples decided to leave town, Cleopas and one other. They were hiking to Emmaus where they lived. On the way, Jesus casually joined them and asked about their discussion. They were kept from recognizing Him, and were naturally shocked that this fellow wasn't aware of all the noise about Jesus and His death. They mentioned their disappointment with how things turned out, and noted the unconfirmed claims of Him being seen alive. Upon hearing this, Jesus scolded them for being so slow to put the picture together.

Then He launched into a recitation of the prophecies that had indicated quite accurately how the Messiah would die and rise from death. He further reminded them that the Messianic Kingdom would have to be a moral empire of hearts, not some political entity. They must have thought He was a rabbi on the good side of things, and invited Him to stay with them. This was just common courtesy; it was late and time for dinner. They honored their fascinating guest by treating Him as a respected superior. As soon as He blessed and broke the unleavened bread, the Spirit allowed them to recognize Him. And just as suddenly, He vanished.

They immediately forgot the meal and rushed the seven miles back to Bethesda and recounted their experience. As they all were discussing this, Jesus materialized in front of them, greeting them with "shalom!" Most Jews believed in ghosts, and their presence was always bad news. Jesus sought immediately to calm them down, and warned them they had been too locked into their human expectations of a political reform, and never paid any attention to what Jesus had pointedly told them several times about the nature of His reign as Messiah.

While He was in a resurrected body, it was still fully manifested in solid form. He demonstrated this by eating food. He still bore the scars of His execution, and showed them as proof who He was. He began another lecture on the nature of His Kingdom. He was careful to bring it home to them, with none of His normal cryptic statements. He finished by telling them that they now had His divine authority to declare sins forgiven, as the means of demonstrating the new situation, under the New Covenant.

We learn that Thomas had not been present for this late Sunday evening meeting. When the others reported it to him, he showed his character. He was the first one honestly ready to die with Jesus, and was still committed to what he knew best. His commitment rested on what he could verify for himself. Not given to strong emotions either way, he dismissed the wild tales of Jesus alive again, insisting he needed better proof.

It came eight days later, as the disciples tarried in Jerusalem. It was the day after the end of Unleavened Bread. They met again, and this time Thomas showed up. The doors were locked because the warrant for their arrest was still a hot issue in town. Jesus materialized in front of them and turned to Thomas, inviting him to sate his curiosity. At this point, Thomas simply reaffirmed his former readiness to die for Him.

Jesus warned Thomas that the time for hard logical proof was passing. From here on out, Thomas would need to change things. Instead of forming commitments on hard proof, it was now time to let his convictions stand on their own to drive his choices. Taking this as his cue, John reminds his readers that he saw more than enough proof over the coming days with Jesus hanging around a while. People who need proof would never get enough. We will have to take it on faith.

(Edited for grammar and clarity.)