Kwizera Edmond

Of all the horrific stories in the Bible, the one in Judges 19 ranks right near the top.

There are plenty of terrible biblical stories of human beings doing violent things to other human beings, including child sacrifice, murder, theft, and r**e.

Judges 19 encapsulates in one dark narrative what happens when the evil prowling within the human heart is uncaged to do whatever it wants.

As Judges tells us, “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judg. 21:25). And what was deemed "right" received a standing ovation from hell.

A Levite and his concubine are staying overnight in Gibeah when a gang of men surrounds the house and demands that the Levite be handed over to them for sexual abuse. Instead, the Levite callously shoves his concubine outside to these men. They sexually abuse her throughout the night (Judg. 19:22–25).

At dawn, she collapses at the door of the house. In the morning, the Levite finds her lying there, dead, “with her hands on the threshold” (Judg. 19:26–28). He butchered her body into 12 pieces and sent them throughout Israel (19:29).

That story, other stories like it throughout Scripture, and the terrible atrocities of human history, including the untold millions slaughtered during the twentieth century, all bear witness to an unmissable fact:

We human beings cannot save ourselves.
We need help from outside ourselves.

Moral reformation, political change, and educational advancement are good and right, and can certainly provide some improvement, but it is impossible to eradicate evil from the human heart. The sinful human heart is like a wolf; it may be partially domesticated, but a wolf it remains. Fangs and all.

We need help that comes from above.

And that is exactly what we have in God. He sent his Son, Jesus Christ, into our violent world. Jesus took violence into himself and suffered a violent death on the cross in order that, through his resurrection, we might have peace with God and peace with one another.

Our hope, our only hope, is in him, who recreates us in his image and works through us to sow peace and hope into the soil of our troubled world.

Thank you Quran❤️

Bene Data, ivyohimbara umutima wanje n'ivyo nsengera Abisirayeli ku Mana, n'ukugira ngo bakizwe. Ndabashingira intahe yuko bafise ishaka ry'Imana, ariko si mu buryo bg'ubgenge. Ko batari bazi ukugororoka kuva ku Mana bakarondera kwishingira ukugororoka kwabo ubgabo, ntibaganjwe n'ukuva ku Mana. Kuko Kristo ari we ivyagezwe bishikirako, kugira ngw aheshe uwizera wese ukugororoka.
Abaroma 10:1-4

LOCATION WHERE JESUS HEALED A BLIND MAN DISCOVERED

In 2004, a routine sewer repair in Jerusalem uncovered massive ancient steps buried beneath the ground.

Archaeologists soon realized they had found something extraordinary. Coins sealed within the pool’s plaster dated its construction to before the ministry of Jesus, while pottery and additional coins showed that it remained in use during His lifetime.

Its location and connection to Jerusalem’s ancient water system identified it as the Pool of Siloam, the very place described in John 9, where Jesus told a man born blind to wash. The man obeyed and returned able to see.

For centuries, John’s Gospel told us where this miracle occurred. Now archaeology has uncovered the very place the Bible described.

The stones themselves cannot prove the miracle, but they confirm that John described a real place within a real historical setting. Our faith is not built on legends detached from history. Jesus entered the real world, walked through real cities, and changed real lives. The same Christ who opened the blind man’s eyes still opens spiritually blind eyes today, bringing truth and salvation to those who trust in Him.

What does Amman, Jordan have to do with king David?

Modern-day Amman sits on the site of ancient Rabbah, the capital of the Ammonites. While David’s army besieged Rabbah, Uriah the Hittite was fighting there. David arranged for him to be placed on the front lines, where he was killed in battle (2 Samuel 11–12).

This aerial view shows the ancient acropolis and Roman theater circa 1925 and the modern day.

The Apostle Paul was an Egyptian revolutionary who led thousands of assassins into the wilderness.

Well, no, not really. But he was mistaken for that man.

In Acts 21, the Roman commander asked Paul, "Are you not the Egyptian, who recently stirred up a revolt and led the four thousand men of the Assassins out into the wilderness?" (Acts 21:38).

Who was this Roman talking about?

According to the Jewish historian Josephus, an Egyptian Jew gathered thousands of followers around AD 55. He led them to the Mount of Olives, promising that, at his command, the walls of Jerusalem would collapse, echoing Joshua's conquest of Jericho. Before anything happened, however, the Roman governor Felix attacked. Many of his followers were killed or captured, while the Egyptian himself escaped.

Why would anyone follow such a man?

Because first-century Judaism was on fire with messianic expectation. The prophets had promised a coming Messiah. Israel longed for deliverance from Rome. Charismatic leaders repeatedly arose claiming to be prophets, deliverers, or God's chosen instruments.

Acts itself mentions two such figures. Theudas gathered followers before being killed (Acts 5:36). Judas the Galilean led a revolt against Rome (Acts 5:37). Even after the New Testament period, Simon bar Kokhba was hailed by many, including the renowned Rabbi Akiva, as the Messiah during the Jewish revolt against Rome in AD 132-135.

Jesus entered a world filled with would-be deliverers. But unlike them, he never gathered an army, called for revolt, or promised military victory. He rode into Jerusalem, not on a warhorse, but on a donkey. He conquered, not by taking lives, but by laying down his own and taking it up again in his resurrection.

The Christian message did indeed turn the world upside down, or perhaps better, turned it right side up. But it did so not by bloodshed, military conquest, or political revolution, but by proclaiming the gospel, through which God destroys arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of him and takes every thought captive to obey Christ (2 Cor. 10:4-5).

The shroud of Turin ( in 1350 france )🙆🤔

Rimwe na rimwe, biroroshe kudatahura akamaro k'umurongo umwe wo muri Bibiliya. Ivyakozwe n'Intumwa 18:12 bisa n'aho ari amakuru y'amateka aca gusa:
"Maze Galiyo abaye icegera ca Kayisari (Buramatari (Proconsul) muri Akaya, Abayuda bahuriza hamwe batera Paulo..."
Muri uwo murongo umwe gusa hihishije ikintu gifasha abahinga b'amateka gushira igihe nyaco c'ibikorwa vyinshi vy'ubumisiyoneri bwa Paulo.
None uwo Galiyo yari nde?
Izina ryiwe ryose ryari Lucius Junius Gallio Annaeanus. Yari mukuru wa Seneca, umuhinga mu vy'ubwenge (umufilosofe w'Abasitoyike), uwaje kuba umujanama w'Umwami w'abami Nero.
Hari icanditswe c'ibuye (inscription) cavumbuwe i Delphi, kivuga ko Galiyo yabaye Buramatari wa Akaya ku ngoma y'Umwami w'abami Klawudiyo (Claudius), kandi ivyo bishirwa hagati y'umwaka wa AD 51–52.
Kubera ko igitabu c'Ivyakozwe n'Intumwa kivuga ko Paulo yashikirijwe Galiyo igihe yariko akorera i Korinto (Ivyakozwe 18:12–17), abahinga bashobora kwemeza ko Paulo yamaze amezi 18 i Korinto hagati y'umwaka wa AD 50–52.
Iyo tariki imwe yemejwe ni yo yabaye ishingiro ryo gutunganya igihe c'ibindi bikorwa vyinshi vya Paulo.
Bafatiye kuri iyo tariki, abiga Bibiliya bashobora gusubiza hamwe urutonde rw'ingendo za Pawulo z'ubumisiyoneri, igihe amashengero yashinzwe muri Aziya Ntoya no mu Bugiriki, hamwe n'igihe cegeranye c'iyandikwa ry'amakete nka 1 Abakorinto, 2 Abakorinto, n'Abaroma.
Iyo ata bumenyi dufise ku gihe Galiyo yari Buramatari, vyari kuba bigoye cane kumenya neza urutonde rw'ibikorwa vya Paulo.
Ivyakozwe n'Intumwa 18:12 bitwigisha ikindi kintu gihambaye. Luka ntiyanditse inkuru z'idini z'ibihimbano zitagira aho zihuriye n'amateka. Ahubwo yanditse inkuru zishingiye ku bibanza nyavyo, ku bategetsi nyabo, no ku bintu vyabaye vy'ukuri bishobora kugenzurwa biciye mu vyatowe n'abacukuzi b'ivya kera hamwe n'ivyanditswe vya kera.
Incuro nyinshi, ivyo abacukuzi bavumbuye vyaremeje ukuri kw'inkuru zo mu gitabu c'Ivyakozwe n'Intumwa, kandi inkuru ya Galiyo ni imwe mu burorero bwiza busobanutse cane. Icanditswe c'Abaroma cavumbuwe haciye hafi imyaka ibihumbi bibiri, maze gishigikira mu buryo butomoye ivyo Luka yari yaranditse.
Ivyo vyose bikomoka ku murongo umwe gusa.
Biratwibutsa ko Bibiliya atari umugwi w'inkuru z'impwemu zidafise ishingiro ry'amateka. Ubutumwa bwiza bwabereye mw' isi nyakuri, ku butegetsi bw'abagabisha nyabo, mu bisagara nyavyo, kandi hagati y'abantu babayeho koko.
Rimwe na rimwe, akantu gato cane kavugwa mu murongo umwe wa Bibiliya gashobora kudufungurira idirisha rikerekana ukuntu Ivyanditswe Vyera vyizewe kandi bifise ishingiro rikomeye mu mateka.

Ivyo ni vyo vyiza vyemerwa mu nyonga z'Imana Umukiza wacu, igomba kw abantu bose bakizwa bagashika ku kumenya ivy' ukuri.
1 Timoteyo 2:3-4

Ni mwibuke ibihe vya kera,
Mwiyumvire uk' urunganwe rwagiye rukuranwa mu myaka yashize.
Bibaze ba so, barabibamenyesha,
N'abo hambere, barabibabarira.
Gusubira mu vyagezwe 32:7