Kidnapped, enslaved, and forgotten—until God spoke in a dream. The story of Patrick isn’t just history; it’s an invitation. What happens when we say yes to God, even when it leads us back to the places we’d rather avoid?
Remember back when the word “literally” meant literally? We used to use the word as a way of explaining the exact way in which something happened, but now dictionaries have changed the meaning because we all use it to embellish things that never really happened. That’s a pretty drastic change of definition, but culture has…
A friend recently wrote me the most encouraging note of my life. In it he mentioned, “You have the same spirit as John of Patmos. He possessed a wild imagination full of angelic beasts and fantastical dangers (sound familiar?). He was a poet and a lyricist and a storyteller (again…sound familiar?). He wove the scriptures…
This year we are praying that we raise up 26 new partners, 1 new deacon (which we’ve already started developing!), and 1 new local ministerial candidate for pastoring. Jamin explains some of the spiritual, biblical, and practical reasons behind these needs at 1208.
When I read Revelation in high school, I was super confused by the seven spirits before God’s throne. God was already three-in-one as the Trinity, but now his Holy Spirit was divided into seven parts? Many scholars have tried to explain how such a thing could work. But the seven spirits being the Holy Spirit…
On the seventh day of the Genesis creation poem, God finished his good (not perfect) work and rested—a term implying two separate ideas: (1) he took a break and (2) he took up residence in his earthly temple of Eden. The good (not perfect) humans he designed to take care of his good (not perfect)…
Remember this passage from Revelation? “I was shaking and trembling, and I fell. I looked again at my vision, and, behold, another door opened in front of me. This was a great house and all was built with tongues of fire. It was all worth more in glory and honor and greatness such that I…
Within the spiritual realm there exists a divine postal service of sorts that’s worked by angels. In fact, the word angel literally translated is messenger. While we typically use this word today to denote all the good spiritual beings of Heaven (which is often how the New Testament uses the word), the wider biblical picture…
When Aslan tells Lucy he’ll see her again soon, Lucy asks him to define what he means by soon. Aslan replies, “I call all times soon.” John uses this word in the opening line of Revelation, saying that his prophecies, “must soon take place.” But it’s been a few centuries since he wrote that, so…
While all humans were made in God’s image with equal authority, sin has pushed us to thrive at the expense of another, creating a vast dividing line between the rich and the poor. God saw this in humanity and created laws to make sure humanity took care of one another, but as we can see,…
To some, what’s happening at Asbury these days sounds Pentecostal or Charismatic rather than Wesleyan, which is the tradition the school is grounded in. But this perception comes from what we see of Methodism in the present world. Today, Methodists are often known for things like holiness and reason, but at its starting point, Methodists…
Jamin Bradley 