We continue to study Old Testament and this month in a series “Book of Books” discuss the book of Jeremiah. He is unusual among the Hebrew prophets because of the extent to which he revealed his personal feeling. Whereas others delivered their oracles without disclosing much of their inner selves, Jeremiah effectively lays bare the turbulent emotions of a man selected somewhat against his will to be God’s spokesman to his generation. There is no evidence that Jeremiah had either been trained for the priesthood or had officiated in such a capacity. Yet there can be little doubt that he was aware of the responsibilities which the priest traditionally exercise in connection with Law. One important part of his spiritual legacy to mankind was his ability to make his religious life a matter of an essentially personal relationship with God, a situation largely forced upon him by the nature of the persecution which he had to endure.
The courtyard where Salome danced and where Herod Antipas condemned John the Baptist to death was recently identified at Machaerus, the fortress of King Herod in modern-day Jordan. The discovery was published by Gyozo Voros, director of the Machaerus excavations in a book entitled, Holy Land Archaeology on Either Side: Archaeological Essays in Honor of Eugenio Alliata. We talk about this discovery in our program “Archeology and the Bible.”
Famous Russians and the Bible…what part of their creative genius was attached to Christianity and why? We try to find answers in the program called “Inspirational Book.” Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Bunin…they studied the gospels, God was part of their life, and as writers they did their best to reflect spiritual wealth of the Bible in their works and depicted characters.
We continue to study the life of Jesus Christ and His treatment of other people around Him. Jesus was respectful to the sinners, though he denounced sin in all. He had no patience with hypocrisy, whether found in friend or enemy. He did only those things that were right and never left undone one thing that should be done. He did all that He came to do and finished the work the Father assigned to Him. Jesus did good to all men, whether they were his friends or his enemies and He stood always ready to lift men to a higher plane and point them to higher ideals.
We have a number of projects under development that might be interesting to you. Come and download numerous Christian books, listen to our programs, see several video lessons based on Russian Christian art, take a look at pictures of beautiful Alaska. Do you have critical remarks or brilliant ideas about improving our broadcasting? Send us your suggestions and we will do our best to make the programs better.