Did you see Season 2 of The Chosen yet?

 I basically can't even with this show.

If you follow The Chosen on social media, even if you haven't watched season 2, you know that it ended with the Sermon on the Mount. It did NOT disappoint!

Actually the whole season was incredible.

photo from this article

I love how this show stays true to Scripture, while still using current best practices in telling a story—the most important story of all. I love how an episode on just a few verses (Ep 2), sent me to the Bible to see what the Word had to say.

I love how Jesus continues to be portrayed as fully human and fully God. 

I love how the disciples are being portrayed as people with different personalities, so that it's easier to remember who is who and maybe get a glimpse of what it was like to be the first to follow Jesus. Seeing their real struggles, both personally and inter-personally, adds such weight and dimension to what is going on.

I love the humor of the show. (Jesus and Quintus in the same room!?! WOW!)

I love the beauty of it, from the effects to the bright colors. 

I love seeing a portrayal of what these famous events (like miracles, the sermon on the mount, etc) could have looked like. I love the moments when I realize what is happening.

I love the tender moments, the teaching moments, and even the hard moments between Jesus and His followers. 

I love the insights into Jewish culture, like the prayers and Mary Magdalene teaching Ramah how to read. Since I am also learning Hebrew, it was cool to see her teaching the alphabet to her, and me realizing I knew what she meant! 

Basically, I LOVE this show!

I'm still trying to figure out what my favorite moments were from Season 2, because it was just so good. I definitely need to #bingeJesus soon. 

What about you? Have you seen The Chosen yet? It is the first-ever multi-season series based on the true stories of the Gospels of Jesus. Let me know what you thought in the comments below! And if you haven't seen it yet, you need to #comeandsee! It is worth it!

The 9th of Av (Tisha B'Av)

Every year, Israel observes a 3-week mourning period that ends on the 9th of Av. Because they observe the lunar calendar, which is only 360 days, it falls on a different date every year (in regards to the Gregorian calendar, like the US and much of the world use).

This year, the 9th of Av fell on Sunday, July 18.

This is a highly significant date in Jewish history, because of the BIG things that happened in the past. Are you ready for this?

This date became significant in the first place because it is the date that 10 of the 12 spies returned from Canaan with a bad report. This was the Promised Land that God had already given over to them! It was because of this, that the Israelites wandered in the desert for 40 years while everyone in that generation but the 2 spies who said, "Yes! Our God is able!" died.

First of all, I'm always blown away that history like that is traceable down to the exact date. Incredible! Coming from a country that is only officially 250 years old, my culture does not understand the impact of a historical record like that. At the most, we can date back 400 years to the beginning of the US colonies. That's practically last week compared to the ancient land of the Middle East.

What shocked me, though, was the history of what has happened on that date since (a date marking the disobedience and lack of faith of an entire people). Here we go... seriously, are you ready?

1. BOTH the 1st and the 2nd Temples in Jerusalem were destroyed on this date, FIVE CENTURIES APART.
2. Almost 70 years later, the Jews fell to the Romans in 133 AD in the Bar Kochba Revolt. It was then that Roman emperor Hadrian renamed the country, "Syria Palaestina", stripping the name of Israel from the land officially (for more on this topic, click here). Palaestina (Palestine in English) is the Latin form of the word, "Philistine", who were a sea-faring people who did not originate in the Land. It was the custom of the Romans to re-name a defeated land after the enemies of the inhabitants as further denigration.
3. A year later, Rome completely plowed over the Temple Mount, razing the remains to the ground.
4. In 1290, the Jews were expelled from England.
5. In 1492, the Jews were expelled from Spain.
6. World War I began on Tisha B'Av in 1914. Because most historians believe World War II was the conclusion of WWI, that means WWII started that date too. However, more specifically, operations at the Treblinka death camp began on that date in 1942, and deportations from the Warsaw ghetto started on that date.

WOW.

To say this is a significant date to the Jewish people is a gross understatement. I'm still blown away by all I've learned about this. 

I could leave this post here, but I'm going to continue it for a bit. Because recently, I've become more aware of the Jewish foundations of United States of America in regards to our forefathers and the crafting of both the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Pastor Jack Hibbs, from Calvary Chapel Chino Hills in California speaks often of the founding of the US and the Judeo-Christian influence on the founding fathers. If you love history, this is fascinating, and I highly recommend it. 

One thing he's said several times (so I don't have an exact link to share other than his channel), is that in addition to people of Jewish ancestry who were part of the nation's foundations, our country's law is founded on the Mosiac Law. Our nation has benefited, first from following God's Word (and those of us who are Jesus followers), and also in the secondhand blessing coming from God blessing the works of the hands of the Jewish people who ended up in the States (Gen. 12:1-3). 

So much so, that did you catch one of the dates up above?

In 1492, when the Jews were expelled from Spain, one now-famous Jew sailed due West and made an incredible discovery.

Almost 300 years later, on July 4, 1776, the Declaration of Independence, originally crafted on July 2, was signed by all and made official—also on Tisha b'Av.

Obviously, while there are connections between the US and Israel because of what was discussed above, it is just a link, that's all. The US is not a replacement or the 'new' Israel or anything like that. Neither has the Church replaced Israel. It's just that our nation has benefitted because of: 1) our foundations, 2) history of Christianity, 3) the presence of Jews in our country, and 4) support of Israel (pre-2021). 

I do find it significant, though, that the entire history of 9th of Av began with the results of an exploration (the 12 spies into the Promised Land), and the story of the US begins with an exploration into a new land. That being said:

• since the whole history of that date began with the original disobedience and lack of faith of the Jewish people, 
• and it continues to be a significant date of pain and consequences of these things, 
• and since there is a connection between the US and Israel, as established above, 
• and because of the recent disturbing and difficult events in the US because our culture has shifted on its values and focus, 

I did some research on the 9th of Av in US events. 

I haven't found much yet, because it is obviously from Jewish culture and the Jewish calendar. So I want to do more. BUT, I did remember something in recent history that happened in the summer, so I looked it up. And, what guess what?

On June 26, 2015, the US Supreme Court upheld in Obergefell v Hodges that all states in the US must grant new (and recognize existing) same-sex marriages within the US. 

This was the 9th of Av of that year.

Please let me know in the comments below: Did you know the history of the 9th of Av? I'd love to know what you think!

**Research links: Chabad.org, The Jerusalem Post, Behold Israel, Wikipedia, Ray Bentley's Step in to the Story: The Dire Straits, Jack Hibbs, 

2,000-year-old building discovered in Jerusalem!

Did you see this?

*from I24 News

A 2000-year-old building was discovered near the Western Wall in Jerusalem!

Wow!

The article states: "With a luxurious lobby, parts of which the Israeli Antiquities Authority has already revealed, the edifice includes a sophisticated fountain and was likely used for banquets and other gatherings of the local elite or to receive foreign dignitaries within walking distance of the Temple.

'It is a truly magnificent building, one of the most splendid public buildings we know of dating from the Second Temple period' said Shlomit Weksler-Bdolah, an archeologist at the IAA."

I love this kind of stuff, and I cannot wait to (I hope to!) see this one day!

The Elijah Chronicles by Ray Bentley and Bodie Thoene

Have you heard of The Elijah Chronicles?

This 3-book series follows American Jack Garrison from his initial fact-finding mission to Israel through an incredible adventure throughout the Holy Land. My favorite part is that it is set in modern times, so there are mentions of real-life world leaders and events that just happened a few months ago. But it's more than just being a modern day story. This is how Amazon describes it: Watch history, prophecy, and current events leap to life as best-selling author Bodie Thoene and prophecy scholar Ray Bentley lead you on a journey that melds the past, present, and future into one unforgettable story. 

I've read many books by Bodie Thoene (co-authored by her husband, Brock), and reviewed them here. So I'm familiar with her work, though not Ray Bentley's. I was excited by the premise of this trilogy and enjoyed it. However, before I go into something specific I learned from this series, I do want to say that as an avid reader, I felt something lacking from this series. The physical books themselves are shorter than a true novel, and their print is large. It felt more like I was reading 3 novellas than 3 full-length novels, and this was evident to me in the reading. I didn't get as immersed in the stories as I normally would, because of the lack of detail. In addition, at times the actual timing in the series felt abrupt and unclear, especially in the 3rd book. Since The Cyrus Mandate is set in 2020 and discusses real-life events, I knew what it was referring to. For instance, Covid-19 and its effects are just suddenly referred to as having arrived and the characters are dealing with the normal. But there was no build up to that (outside of one mention something being released from China in one of Jack's visions). But for readers 10, 20, 30 + years from now, will they understand the minutiae that led to that scene (will we even be here, haha)? It could be the purpose of this series was to show the truths of today and what is going on for the modern reader in a fiction form. If so, this series met its purpose and they writers did a great job! It's just that for me personally, as a lover of Israel and someone who loves a good novel, I wanted more (because it was great)!

There is one thing I wanted to highlight specifically from the series, and that is the discussion on pages 240-242 of The Cyrus Mandate. One of the characters asks how Jews and Arabs are linked in Biblical prophecy, and Jack replies by explaining about the sons of Abraham, not only Isaac and Ishmael, but also the sons he had with Keturah, the wife he married after Sarah died. By his explanation, the Sunni nations are cousins of Isaac's descendants: "They share blood with one another. They are cousins to one another, it makes sense that they could come together in mutual blessing, mutual protection, mutual economic and technology and medical benefit" (referring to the historic Abraham accords). However, Shia Muslims, like Iran, are not related by away of Abraham. And this is where Ezekiel 38-39 comes into play. "God is using geopolitical reasons, pragmatic reasons, economic reasons, protection reasons, all of these things. He's bringing the Abrahamic family together".

I thought this was such a great explanation of the incredibly complicated situation in the Middle East that many outside of this region do not understand completely. And in light of the Abraham Accords that have happened since (UAE, Bahrain, Bhutan, Morocco, Sudan, Kosovo) and the ones that might come soon it was especially enlightening. 

If you like reading contemporary fiction set in "our day" that is strongly linked with real-life events, then this series is worth the read! You can get it here on Amazon, and please let me know what you think about it below!