“… the prophet makes clear that [Amos’ audience] celebrate a different god, one they might call Yahweh but one who was nevertheless a deity of their own making. It was a god of blessing and goodness, with no rough edges.

“Theirs was worship disconnected from reality and the living God.”

“Prophetic Anticipation Builds: Unblemished Red Heifers for Temple Ceremony Soon Come of Age” CBN (March 17, 2023).

Messianic teacher Kevin Williams writes: “In case you follow such things, it looks like we are about a year away from a potential Red Heifer update. The article says during the spring of 2024, but based on the other things in the article, I think the fall feasts are more likely. The article is intriguing though, regarding nine pure priests, the secured location, and the notion that the next temple will be ‘a house of prayer for all nations.’”

Richard R. Hammar, “Expanding Abuse Victims’ Rights and What It Means for Churches” Church Law & Tax.

From this landing page, Attorney and CPA, Richard Hammar launches a 4-part series on what the expansion of abuse victims’ rights means for churches.

“50,000 mosques have closed in Iran – Are Iranians seeking truth outside of Islam?” AllArab.News (August 16, 2023).

Here is exciting confirmation that God is doing something in Iran. Thanks to Iran Alive Ministries for pointing out this story of how 50,000 out of Iran’s 75,000 mosques have closed.

Image: Steven Coffey

Sam Storms, “Why Are Charismatics So Weird?” Enjoying God Blog (August 21, 2023).

No thinking Pentecostal/charismatic has ever denied that some that identify with that label do bizarre things and teach strange doctrines. Retired pastor and scholar Sam Storms argues that when cessationists (those who say the miraculous ministry of the Holy Spirit has ceased) hold up these undeniably bizarre examples as if they represent all Pentecostal/charismatics they are being deceitful and not acting like Christ.

Daniel K. Williams, “Evangelicals’ Theology of the Church Must Be Born Again: The ‘Great Dechurching’ is an opportunity for our tradition to rediscover a more enduring ecclesiology” Christianity Today (August 24, 2023).

PR

Adams has written a fine study of the familial, social, occupational, and financial aspects of life in Judea in the period from the sixth century BCE to the first century CE. Each aspect is expertly introduced and discussed in the light of the literary record and material remains. The presentation is clear and accessible. The result is a useful insider’s point-of-view (as it were) for various figures we meet in the post-exilic OT writings and the NT gospels – something like a time-travelogue.

Part of this work’s value consists in its bringing these different aspects of Second Temple life together under a single cover. We can, of course, study each aspect in depth elsewhere, but here we have them all within the space of 200 pages. It would be wrong, however, to characterize this volume merely as a state-of-the-question survey: Adams makes plenty of original contributions throughout the book, and his arguments show an impressive command of Judean material culture. Sociology is consulted where it has something useful to say, but is never given rein over the facts on the ground.

Adams gives particular attention to those who wielded less power in society: women and children, the poor and indebted. This theme culminates in a final chapter on “the ethics of wealth and poverty”, in which we see a variety of stances adopted in Second-Temple sources (including Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes, and Ben Sira). Adams follows this line of ethical thinking to its effects within apocalyptic writings. This seems to be one of Adams’s abiding concerns, and it fits well with the plan of the book. Thankfully, his discussion of these issues does not lead to an exaggeration of the imbalances that existed.

Reviewed by John Poirier

Preview Social and Economic Life in Second Temple Judea: https://books.google.com/books/about/Social_and_Economic_Life_in_Second_Templ.html?id=8qt1BwAAQBAJ

Publisher’s page: https://www.wjkbooks.com/Products/0664237037/social-and-economic-life-in-second-temple-judea.aspx

The 1924 annual report for Angelus Temple in Los Angeles listed 12,000 saved, 3,000 baptized in water, 3,000 new members, 3,600 healings and thousands filled with the Holy Spirit. The Temple’s early years were filled with revival, and people were touched over and over as miracles took place day after day. This revival led to the incorporation of the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel in 1927. The movement has grown to worldwide dimensions and is now commonly called the Foursquare church. I have been part of this family of believers since 1979 when I came to California from New Jersey.

The Angelus Temple, Church of the Four Square Gospel, built by Aimee Semple McPherson and dedicated January 1, 1923. The temple is opposite Echo Park, near downtown Los Angeles, California.
Image: 2005 photograph / Wikimedia Commons.

The Foursquare denomination held its 2002 annual convention and 75th Anniversary in Denver. Some 2000 pastors and their mates gathered for four days of fellowship, business and inspiration. With a few exceptions, my wife and I have attended these Foursquare conventions for 20 years.

This year, there was some pre-convention tension in some conversations and in several letters to our President that had been circulated to many attendees. The concern was the recent appointment of 27-year-old Matthew Barnett as the senior pastor of Angelus Temple.

Angelus Temple is close to the heart of Los Angeles. It is across the street from Echo Park, which features a lovely lake just off the Hollywood Freeway. The first service at the Temple was held on January 1, 1923, and included unveiling a plaque that dedicated the Temple to the cause of Interdenominational Worldwide Evangelism.

Aimee Semple McPherson, founder of the Foursquare, built this now venerable old sanctuary. Church lore describes 5300 seats that were filled over and over all week long for the first ten years of the Temple’s life. The Temple reached out to help the community while daughter churches sprung up throughout southern California and beyond. During the Great Depression, 1,500,000 people were fed each year through the ministries of the Temple. The Temple impacted ten percent of the population of LA in its early years. Next door a Bible College was built and thrived, peaking in 1929 at 1,000 students. Men and women were there prepared to take the Foursquare Gospel to all corners of the globe.

As the years rolled by, Angelus Temple’s congregation changed from one born out of a miracle revival to an older, well-entrenched group of people who had grown up under Sister’s leadership. Aimee died in 1944, and her son Rolf assumed the leadership of the denomination and the pastorate at the Temple. Rolf McPherson, or “Doc” as he is known in Foursquare circles, later appointed others to pastor the Temple while he concentrated on establishing and building the denomination.

Messianic Foundations
Artwork by Steve Grier © 1997 RBC Ministries. Used by permission.

“… all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” (Luke 24:44 NAS)

These words of Jesus are both wonderful and mysterious. It is easy to see the messianic implications of a passage such as Psalms 22 or Isaiah 53, and the Savior’s great work in bringing those promises into reality.

Certainly even, we can comprehend passages of the Torah (the five books of Moses) which clearly refer to the Christ. No one can doubt the intent of Moses in Deuteronomy 18:15: “The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen, you shall listen to him.” Even the Jewish sages—who do not yet recognize Jesus as Redeemer–acknowledge that Moses was speaking of the coming king of Israel, the Messiah.

Yet, what about a complex book like Leviticus? Do these pages truly speak of the Savior of all mankind? In Luke 24:27 we are told, “And beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, [Jesus] explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.” Our challenge in this document is to find Jesus, even in such a difficult and arduous book as Leviticus.

“Leviticus” in the Hebrew Bible is rendered Vayikra, which means, “and He called.” We leave Exodus with a Tabernacle emanating the awesome power of God with such intensity, that not even Moses could approach. Many rabbis teach that Vayikra began immediately where Exodus ends; that amidst the spectacular manifestation of His Shekinah glory—Vayikra, “and He called to Moses and spoke to him from the tent of meeting.” (Leviticus 1:1)

Only three times in Scripture does God call out to Moses. He often spoke with His servant, but in forty years of leading Israel from Egypt to Israel, rarely did He call to him. In each case, the matter for which Moses was summoned was deeply significant. In the case of Leviticus 1:1, the Supreme Being wanted to detail the ritual and regulations of the sacrificial system. A seemingly crude and barbaric service of bloodletting by today’s sterile, steak-wrapped-in-cellophane FDA standards, but a magnificent picture of the coming work of the Messiah.

While we may not appreciate the concept of sacrifices, they were the means by which our Creator brought life and light into the world. They should never be confused with occult ritual which is at war with the Kingdom of Life. “What fellowship has light with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14)

With that said, let’s move ahead in our examination to discover Jesus in the book of Leviticus. Chapters 1-5 reveal five different types of sacrifices and, therefore, five different characteristics of the sacrificial system. There is a great deal of documentation on how the offerings where to be made, what was acceptable and what was not. We want to focus on why.