Josephus does not tell us that Christianity is true, and Christians do not need Josephus to tell them that Christ is risen. But Christianity makes claims about things that happened in public history under identifiable rulers, priests, and governors. For that reason, testimony from outside the church matters.
The student of Scripture should always have a map open next to their Bible as they read. If possible, they should also travel to Israel, not to make a pilgrimage, but to see the context of the land in which these stories took place. These are not fairy tales made up about fictional fantasy lands; these are stories about real people in real places interacting with a real God.
The word of assurance given to Moses at Sinai echoes through eternity on the lips of the Savior, untroubling troubled souls with the good news that there is one who walks the paths of life with you, and soon he’s coming to bring you to himself.

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True religion or true faith is heavenly. It understands that mankind’s only hope has to come from outside of itself.
He will never leave you nor forsake you. Your faith is not fragile glass.
This is an excerpt from Chapter 6 of Clothed with Christ written by Brian W. Thomas (1517 Publishing, 2024). Now available!
When joined with a good Reformation theology of vocation and the freedom of a Christian, Fujimura’s vision for culture care is something all Christians can embrace, regardless of whether they are artists in the formal sense.
It is the story of a God who is not distant, not indifferent, not doing anything in half-measures, but who is here, now.
The one who delights in the law of the Lord learns to fear his own good works and trust God outside of them.
God can never really be said to be ignoring us, even if our experience with God at any given moment is that he is.
The Lion of Judah, Christ the King, Jesus of Nazareth, will not be away from us for one night.
To embrace our creatureliness is to affirm the truth that we were created to worship.
This is an excerpt from chapter 6 of Scandalous Stories by Daniel Emery Price and Erick Sorensen (1517 Publishing 2018).
If your faith is rooted in the gospel of Zion, in the good news of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection on your behalf, you are already a member of the “heavenly Jerusalem”
This is a companion article to “Johann Spangenberg on Dying Well”