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Biblical Archaeologists In Jerusalem Discover Rare 2,000-Year Old Ring Engraved With Image Of The Sun God Apollo Shedding Light On Idolatry

Discovery of a rare 2,000-year-old signet ring engraved with the Greek sun god Apollo found in Jerusalem sheds light on idol worship.

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Discovery of a rare 2,000-year-old signet ring engraved with the Greek sun god Apollo gives new evidence of a pluralistic Jewry walking the streets of ancient Jerusalem during the Second Temple period, archaeologist Eli Shukron told The Times of Israel.

In various places in the New Testament, we read about the open idol worship that was taking place in First Century Jerusalem, something that the apostle Paul had to deal with on a regular basis. So with that in mind, it is fascinating  that biblical archaeologists have found a ring engraved with the image of the Greek god Apollo.

“But when they knew that he was a Jew, all with one voice about the space of two hours cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians. And when the townclerk had appeased the people, he said, Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down from Jupiter?” Acts 19:34,35 (KJB)

The counterfeit of the Devil has always existed alongside the real thing from God, and right up to the Second Advent, it always will. Many cultures have a flood legend, a madonna and child legend, and the list goes on and on. Jesus Christ created His Church at the cross 2,000 years ago, and the Devil created his fake church in the declining years of the Roman empire 300 years after that. Nice to see that 21st century researchers are finally catching up to the dusty, archaic, old King James Bible.

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In 2,000-year-old Apollo seal, a sunny glimpse of pluralism in ancient Jerusalem

FROM THE TIMES OF ISRAEL: “It allows us to see a Jerusalem that wasn’t some kind of ultra-Orthodox city, it was more pluralistic,” Shukron said, who is convinced the ring would have adorned a Jew’s finger. The fact that a Jew chose the symbol of a Greek god, “shows the wide variety of practices in Jerusalem. Everyone was a Jew, but there were different groups and perspectives,” he said. he dark brown jasper gem sealing (intaglio) was recently discovered at the Archaeological Sifting Project at Tzurim Valley National Park during the wet sifting of earth taken from ongoing City of David excavations of the foundations of the Western Wall.

Shukron said there is absolutely no doubt that it is Apollo who is engraved on the tiny, oval-shaped, 13 millimeter-long, 11 millimeter-wide, and 3 millimeter-thick sealing. It would usually have been used as a signature stamp on beeswax to seal contracts, letters, wills, and goods or bundles of money, according to a City of David press release.

The profile of Apollo has long flowing hair spilling over his sturdy neck. He has a large nose, thick lips, and small prominent chin, according to the press release. The styled hair is braided above his forehead, with long curls reaching the shoulder.

All of this adds up to the god Apollo in the eyes of a trained archaeologist. “You cannot miss it,” Shukron said. The question then arises, what is a nice Jewish neighborhood such as 1st century CE Jerusalem doing with a pagan Greek god?

According to Shukron, there are already a handful of archaeological artifacts dated to the Second Temple period in which Apollo plays a starring role: Two other Apollo gem sealings were discovered at Masada and another two were found in Jerusalem, one also from the Western Wall drainage tunnels excavations and one in a tomb on Mount Scopus. Shukron noted that whereas during the Roman period, other members of the Greek and Roman pantheon make appearances, for the centuries surrounding the turn of the Common Era, only Apollo has been found. The god symbolized light, health and general well-being and success — something everyone generally aspires to, he said, which is why the symbol was considered “kosher” for these Second Temple Jews.

“It’s important to see that Jerusalem is more than conservatism, there are people like this who [as evidenced by his adoption of a pagan symbol as his signature] would have had more freedom in their thinking,” said Shukron. What is also clear, through his very public use of the symbol, is that there would have been a group of Jews who accepted this usage as well.

Expert of engraved gems Prof. Shua Amorai-Stark made an assessment of the sealing and noted that “at the end of the Second Temple period, the sun god Apollo was one of the most popular and revered deities in Eastern Mediterranean regions. Apollo was a god of manifold functions, meanings, and epithets. Among Apollo’s spheres of responsibility, it is likely that association with sun and light (as well as with logic, reason, prophecy, and healing) fascinated some Jews, given that the element of light versus darkness was prominently present in Jewish worldview in those days,” he said. READ MORE

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

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“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJV)

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Biblical Archaeology

Biblical Archaeologists Making Stunning Discovery Under The Treasury Building At Selah Petra In Harbinger Of The Coming Time Of Jacob’s Trouble

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Archeologists found an untouched tomb containing 12 human skeletons and various treasures under the Treasury room at Selah Petra in Jordan

If you believe your King James Bible, then you know that this planet we live on, and even the universe in which it sits, is very much alive and active. Some great examples of this are stones that can talk, trees that can clap their hands, the sun and the stars turning out their own lights, and the list goes on and on. A stunning new discovery at Selah Petra, the place where God will keep the remnant of Israel safe from Antichrist for three and a half years, has recently started to ‘wake up’ and begin to reveal its secrets. Why now? Great question.

“Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains:” Matthew 24:16 (KJB)

And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.” Revelation 12:6 (KJB)

The Church Age is now nearly at an end, and it will formally conclude in an event we call the Pretribulation Rapture of the Church. From there there time of Jacob’s trouble begins, a 7-year time period that includes the 3.5 year great Tribulation. God will supernaturally preserve a remnant of the Jews, Isaiah 1:9, safe inside the red rock walls of Selah Petra, a place that Daniel 11:41 says Antichrist will not be able to enter. The Church is about to fly, and the Jews and the nation of Israel are about to be ‘the next man up’ on the end times roster. So it makes perfect sense that the ground at Selah Petra is starting to reveal its secrets and it gets itself ready for what’s coming next.

Archeologists find 12 hidden tombs with intact skeletons beneath the Treasury building at Selah Petra in Jordan

FROM THE JERUSALEM POST: Known locally in Jordan as Al Khazneh, the discovery of an untouched tomb under Petra’s famous Treasury room – which was featured in Spielberg’s 1989 movie “Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade,” as the location of the Holy Grail – comes after over 20 years of finding numerous hidden tombs throughout the Treasury.

Dr. Richard Bates, a geophysicist from the University of St. Andrews, led the recent excavation after receiving permission to use advanced ground-penetrating radar at the site. “We were quite shocked that they did give us permission to go in and survey,” the NYT cited Bates.

Bates emphasized that “this was stunning data,” as the radar showed clear signs of voids and structures beneath the Treasury, prompting a joint excavation effort between Jordanian and American teams.

The newly found tombs are believed to be older than the Treasury itself and feature walls that haven’t been seen in the region before. “People think they know Petra. They recognize the Treasury,” said Dr. Pearce Paul Creasman, an archaeologist involved in the dig. “But all these people walk by, and there’s so much more under our feet.”

The skeletal remains found under the Treasury room date from 400 B.C. to A.D. 106 and offer some clues about the Nabatean civilization, which made Petra its capital around the fourth century B.C., according to the NYT. The intact dozen skeletons were within a hidden tomb and were discovered within a chamber divided by a set of walls, something that had not been seen before in the ancient city of Al Khazneh. READ MORE

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.

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But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORTTO THE FIGHT!!!

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

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Biblical Archaeology

The Infancy Gospel of Thomas Is An Egyptian Forgery And Is Once Again Back In The Headlines With An ‘Amazing Discovery’ Designed To Deceive You

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The unbiblical Infancy Gospel of Thomas (IGT) describes Jesus’ life from the ages of five to 12 and was written during the 2nd century in Egypt

Back in 2021, I wrote an article that was purely speculative, just a feeling I had at the time, that we should prepare ourselves for the day when they would ‘discover the bones of Jesus’, thus rendering the entire New Testament impotent. While that still has not happened, yet, still plenty of deception abounds to try and get you to lose your faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ. One of these pieces of fakery is known as the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, and they just discovered ‘exciting news’ about a lost manuscript recently discovered that you need to know. (insert eye-roll here)

“And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.” 1 Corinthians 15:18,19 (KJB)

There is an excellent book called ‘Did The Catholic Church Give Us The Bible?’ from Chick Publications we sell at the Bookstore, and I highly recommend you get yourself a copy. It shows that there are two lines of manuscripts that produces two lines of Bibles. The first is the line of the preserved text, the Textus Receptus, where our King James Bible comes from. The second line comes from Alexandria in Egypt, and this is where the NIV, ESV, NLT, LSB and the Douay-Rheims used by the Roman Catholic Church comes from. The Infancy Gospel of Thomas comes from Egypt, is not scripture, does not belong in the Bible, and is not to be trusted with its silly stories like having the young Jesus making clay pigeons and then turning them into real birds. Don’t fall for it, that’s the memo.

Experts discover earliest record of Jesus’ childhood after deciphering 2,000-year-old Egyptian manuscript

FROM THE DAILY MAIL UK: The earliest known copy of an incredible story about Jesus performing a miracle as a child has been discovered scrawled on an ancient Egyptian manuscript. The 2,000-year-old papyrus – a material that predates paper – tells the lesser-known story of the ‘vivification of the sparrows,’ when the five-year-old Messiah is said to have turned clay pigeons into live birds, a tale also referred to as the ‘second miracle’.

The clumsiness of the handwriting led the researchers to believe it was likely written as part of a class exercise in a school or religious community in 4th or 5th Century Egypt, which was a Christian society in those times. The original story of Jesus’ miracle is thought to have been written around the 2nd Century as part of the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, a book detailing Jesus of Nazareth’s youth that was ultimately excluded from the Bible.

But until this discovery, the earliest written example of the gospel was from the 11th Century.

Until now, the papyrus had lay unnoticed at the Hamburg State and University Library in Hamburg, Germany.  Experts told DailyMail.com they stumbled upon the papyri while analyzing manuscripts and noticed Jesus’ name in the text.

‘It was thought to be part of an everyday document, such as a private letter or a shopping list, because the handwriting seems so clumsy,’ Dr Lajos Berkes, a co-researcher and lecturer at the Faculty of Theology at Humboldt-Universität said in a press release.

‘We first noticed the word “Jesus” in the text. Then, by comparing it with numerous other digitized papyri, we deciphered it letter by letter and quickly realized that it could not be an everyday document,’ he added.

But this gospel was omitted from the Bible because it was thought to be inauthentic. The Bible was also intended to focus solely on Jesus’ ministry, miracles and what led up to his dying on the cross. In the IGT story, Jesus is just five years old playing in a stream while molding 12 sparrows out of soft clay in the riverbed mud.

The papyrus fragment measured four by two inches and contained a total of 13 lines of a popular religious story from the IGT. Researchers said the story was likely written as part of a writing exercise in a school or monastery because of the clumsy handwriting, irregular lines and other signifiers.

‘Apart from what can be deduced from the general history of the collection, there is no evidence of how or when the papyrus was discovered,’ the researchers wrote in their article. READ MORE

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.

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But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORTTO THE FIGHT!!!

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

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Biblical Archaeology

Biblical Archaeologists Uncover The Astonishing Remains Of The Roman VIth Iron Legion Military Base At The Bottom Of Tel Megiddo

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The VIth Legion Roman legionary base at Tel Megiddo is a 2,000-year old Roman military base that was created where Revelation says Armageddon will take place

In recent years, we have brought you some amazing stories about the discoveries of biblical archaeology in the land of Israel. The past seems intent on bubbling up to the surface almost like it knows that things are getting ready to repeat. The discovery we bring you today takes place in Tel Megiddo, a location that you just may recognize as Armageddon in your King James Bible.

“And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.” Revelation 16:16 (KJB)

Armageddon is one of those things that the majority of the Greek and Hebrew scholars consign to the realm of fantasy, and not seen as the location for the last battle of Antichrist at the Second Advent. So the fact that as construction is being done in Israel for Road 66, they find remains of the Roman VIth Legion at Megiddo, and Revelation 16:16 the only place in the Bible that mentions Armageddon, what does that make you think of? To me, that’s a lot of 6’s! Even the reference for Armageddon in the Strong’s Concordance is G717 which adds up to 6. Do you think the Lord is telling us something? I sure do.

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1,800-year-old Roman Legionary Base discovered at Tel Megiddo

FROM THE JERUSALEM POST: Architectural remains of the 1,800-year-old Roman VIth ‘Ferrata’ Iron Legion military base have been uncovered in a recent excavation carried out by the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) at the foot of Tel Megiddo, near the ancient Kfar Othnay village (Capercotnai in Greek).

The excavation was funded by the Netivei Israel National Infrastructure Company, said the IAA, which called it “a unique opportunity to uncover part of the full-scale Roman legionary base.”

Directed by Dr. Yotam Tepper and Barak Tzin, the dig is part of the major infrastructure project to expand and upgrade Road 66 from the Megiddo Junction to the Hatishbi Junction at Yokneam. In the course of the excavation, extensive and impressive architectural remains of the Via Pretoria (the main road of the camp) were uncovered, as well as a semicircular-shaped podium and stone-paved areas that were part of a large, monumental public building.

“The Roman Legion camp at Legio was the permanent military base for over 5,000 Roman soldiers for more than 180 years, from 117-120 BCE to about 300 CE,” said Tepper. “Two main roads intersected at the center of the 550-meter- long and 350-m-wide camp, and its headquarters were erected here. It was from this base point that all the distances along the Roman Imperial roads to the main cities in the north of the country were measured and marked with milestones. The ancient building remains were not preserved to a height, as most of the building stones were removed over the years for reuse in building projects carried out during the Byzantine and Early Islamic periods.”

“In the course of the excavation seasons, the upper part of the commanders’ courtyard (principia) was exposed southwest of Road No. 66, and in the present excavation, carried out on behalf of the IAA. We are uncovering the northeastern part of the camp that extends alongside Road No. 66.”

Coins, parts of weapons, pottery sherds, and glass fragments were uncovered, but the most predominant finds are the roof tiles that were found in extremely large quantities. “The roof tiles, some of which were stamped with the VIth Legion stamps, were used for various purposes, for roofing buildings, paving floors, and even coating walls. The technology and know-how, the building techniques, and the weapons that the Legion brought with it from the home country, are unique to the Roman army, reflecting specific Roman Imperial military footprints,” the IAA said.

Engineer Dima Pritsker, director of the northern branch of the Engineering and Development Unit in the Netivei Israel Company: “We are talking about an extremely important road project 15 kilometers long for reducing traffic congestion along the road and to improve the safety of drivers and passengers. The project incorporates the construction of the Megiddo Interchange at the junction of Roads 65 and 66. The Transport Ministry is investing 1.5 billion shekels in the project carried out by Netivei Israel. READ MORE

Now The End Begins is your front line defense against the rising tide of darkness in the last Days before the Rapture of the Church

When you contribute to this fundraising effort, you are helping us to do what the Lord called us to do. The money you send in goes primarily to the overall daily operations of this site. When people ask for Bibles, we send them out at no charge. When people write in and say how much they would like gospel tracts but cannot afford them, we send them a box at no cost to them for either the tracts or the shipping, no matter where they are in the world. We have a Gospel Billboard program. We are now broadcasting Bible studies, Podcasts and a Sunday Service 5 times a week, thanks to your generous donations. All this is possible because YOU pray for us, YOU support us, and YOU give so we can continue growing.

But whatever you do, don’t do nothing. Time is short and we need your help right now. The Lord has given us an open door with a tremendous ‘course’ for us to fulfill that will create an excellent experience at the Judgement Seat of Christ. Please pray for our efforts, and if the Lord leads you to donate, be as generous as possible. The war is REAL, the battle HOT and the time is SHORTTO THE FIGHT!!!

“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

“Thank you very much!” – Geoffrey, editor-in-chief, NTEB

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