In Athens—Proclaiming the unknown God to philosophers and reasoners.

Acts 17:16-34

• Paul preaches against worldly god.
• Philosophers said, “What does this babbler want to say?”
• Paul brought to the Areopagus to explain his “new” and “strange” doctrine.
• The Unknown God
• All people of this earth are God’s creation.
• As God’s creation, we should not look to artificial and worldly sources for His Divine Nature.
• Resurrection from the dead is mocked but others believe.

Paul preaches against worldly god.
“Now while Paul waited for them at Athens…” Acts 17:16a.

While Paul was in Athens, he was waiting to reunite with Silas and Timothy, who were still in Berea [Acts 17:14-15]. Silas and Timothy would eventually meet Paul in Corinth, as described in Acts 18:1, 5 “After these things Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth…When Silas and Timothy had come from Macedonia…” Berea was a city in the region of Macedonia, north of Athens and just a little to the west. Athens is seen in the region of Achaia, to the west in the image and almost halfway up. Corinth is west of Athens and just a little bit south.

 “…his spirit was provoked within him when he saw that the city was given over to idols. Therefore he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and with the Gentile worshipers, and in the marketplace daily with those who happened to be there. Acts 17:16b-17

The spirit in Paul was stirred within him by the Holy Spirit when he saw how idols were being served instead of the Living God, our Creator. As followers of Jesus Christ, that is the work of the Holy Spirit in us, to be stirred against behaviors that live for a worldly god. The Holy Spirit wants to reconcile the Creator with His creation through faith in Jesus Christ.

The idol that the culture of today follows [which is global] is the atheistic entity that gives them what to speak, do, think, and feel instead of living for the Creator by allowing Jesus Christ to speak and live through them by the Holy Spirit. People in every city of every nation around the world are given over to that idol. “All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Revelation 13:8 The “him” in this verse is the beast of the image and mark of the beast.

In the days of Paul, the only manmade churches of the Living God were Jewish synagogues. Believers in Jesus Christ gathered together wherever they could, and wherever two or more gathered in the name of Jesus, that is where the Church was. We are the temple of God, the temple of the Holy Spirit, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” 1 Corinthians 6:19 Paul purposely spoke against the idol worship to the people attending the synagogues, to caution them against serving the idols of the community and to serve God by faith in Jesus Christ.

In today’s culture, those of the manmade churches have abandoned the Gospel of Jesus Christ as they partner with the values of the community culture. Those values include serving the idol that has power over physiology to give them what to speak, do, think, and feel.

This is spoken to the churches of today, “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write, ‘These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass: “I know your works, love, service, faith, and your patience; and as for your works, the last are more than the first. Nevertheless I have a few things against you, because you allow that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols.” Revelations 2:18-20

The marketplace in the days of Paul was a central location, an economic hub, as there were not Wal-Marts and Krogers everywhere. Paul went to the marketplace to preach about the Creator and to live by faith in Jesus Christ and against living by idols. In today’s culture, there are Wal-Marts and Krogers everywhere, and some cities have two of each and more. That’s because economics have become central to the agenda of the global government. The belief is that a social/economic agenda brings salvation, peace, and security to each person in cities around the world. Unfortunately, the driving force behind the global culture is the entity that despises God and governs through the thoughts, feelings, words, and behaviors of people. Our Lord Jesus teaches, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” Matthew 22:37-39

Philosophers said, “What does this babbler want to say?”
“Then certain Epicurean and Stoic philosophers encountered him. And some said, “What does this babbler want to say?” Others said, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods,” because he preached to them Jesus and the resurrection.” Acts 17:18

In the previous section, Paul was speaking in the synagogues and at the marketplace against the idols that saturated the city. He was making known to them the Living God who is the Creator of all and of Salvation through faith in Jesus Christ. This is like Christians of today who speak against the idol of the community culture, which is within the manmade churches, that speaks and lives through people. They say about us what they said about Paul, “What does this babbler want to say?”

Why was Paul called a “babbler” by the Epicureans and Stoics? Because he was speaking of a Living Creator, faith in Jesus Christ who suffered, was crucified, and died to atone for sin, and spoke of the resurrection and eternal life. Paul spoke against the many idols that were used to incite happiness and pleasure through physical gratification.

The Epicureans emphasized happiness and pleasure by the avoidance of pain and fear and encouraged the cultivation of interpersonal relations. This is what today’s atheistic culture is all about in their use of behavior modification. They inflict pain and fear through social disapproval for not conforming to the community culture. Their culture requires conformity to the entity that governs through the thoughts, feelings, words, and behaviors of people. Social approval is conveyed through warmth, happiness, and pleasure when people are living by the entity giving them what to speak and do. Also, the Epicureans considered the fear of God and the afterlife to be superstitious and foolishness. They believed in pursuing the worldly and physical contentment.

The Stoics believed that virtue was enough for happiness and emphasized living in harmony with nature and human reason. This describes the goals of the United Nations and their global culture as emphasis is placed on being in harmony with the “universe”. They believe the salvation of the planet depends on virtuous living through human reasoning [such as living responsibly to eliminate air and water pollution]. Click here for the “Sustainable Development Goals” of the United Nations. Paul very plainly said that God was the Creator of all the earth and everyone on it. As we see by global warming, God has the power over “Mother Nature”, the “Universe”. Global warming is the Fourth Plague, and only repentance towards God, through Jesus Christ, could global warming be reversed. Even then, people refuse to repent, as quoted, “Then the fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and power was given to him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who has power over these plagues; and they did not repent and give Him glory.” Revelations 16:8-9

The more powerful the United Nations become as the one world government the hotter and more intense the effect of global warming becomes.

The philosophers of the Epicureans and Stoics are the essence of the practice of humanism today. Humanism is the fig leaf worn by those who serve the entity giving them what to speak, do, think, and feel. Humanism is “An outlook or system of thought attaching prime importance to human rather than divine or supernatural matters. Humanist beliefs stress the potential value and goodness of human beings, emphasize common human needs, and seek solely rational ways of solving human problems.” 

Our Lord Jesus says, “And in vain they worship Me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ ” Matthew 15:9 Jesus also says, “How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?” John 5:44

The philosophers said of Paul what today’s atheistic culture say of we who live for the Living God through Jesus Christ, “He seems to be a proclaimer of foreign gods…” That’s because we speak about Jesus and the resurrection. God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit is foreign to them. They have no belief in a Living Creator, feel no need for the forgiveness of sin through Jesus Christ, and rely on human emotions to replace the Holy Spirit.

Paul brought to the Areopagus to explain his “new” and “strange” doctrine.
“And they took him and brought him to the Areopagus, saying, “May we know what this new doctrine is of which you speak? For you are bringing some strange things to our ears. Therefore we want to know what these things mean.” Acts 17:19-20

The Areopagus is known as “Mars Hill”.

The Areopagus was a hill similar to Capitol Hill of the United States of America. This is a hill where sets the United States Congress, Supreme Court, and the Library of Congress. That is similar to the Areopagus where met the highest government council and later a judicial court. The Areopagus was basically governed by the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers, as described in the previous section on Acts 17:18. This is where Paul was brought to explain his “new” and “strange” doctrine [the Gospel of Jesus Christ].

Why did the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers think that the Gospel of Jesus Christ was a “new” and “strange” doctrine”? Because their focus was on the physiological or carnal functioning of human beings. The idea of the human spirit needing fellowship with the Spirit of God was a “new”, “strange”, and superstitious way of seeing people. For them, it was odd that Jesus Christ could bring a person into fellowship with the Spirit of God by the forgiveness of sin. That is how today’s governing authorities view their global culture, as a mass of cells and tissues that exists through meeting the needs of carnal physiological functions. That is why people and nations welcome the entity that has power over physiology to give them what to think, feel, say, and do. Their carnal physiological needs can be met in every way [or denied].

The Holy Spirit speaks these words to us about how carnal people cannot receive the things of the Spirit of God because they are strange to them, “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Corinthians 2:12-14

Those who govern and live by the entity giving them what to speak and do has put the spirit out of mind. In fact, that entity replaces the spirit and conscience, while oppressing the presence of the Holy Spirit, in order to assume control over a person’s thoughts, feelings, words, and behaviors [and every aspect of physiology]. This entity gives life to the image of the beast to speak and live through people, so the Spirit of God is a strange idea to them. They oppose the idea of a Living Creator, scoff at the need for the forgiveness of sin through Jesus Christ and oppress the presence of the Holy Spirit. People are groomed to the mark of the beast by what they are given to say and do.

People of today’s atheistic culture do not know the reality of the Holy Spirit living within them by faith in Jesus Christ. They live for earthly happiness and pleasure instead of desiring the fruit of the Holy Spirit [Galatians 5:16-26]. They are looked at as being social/economic beings in need of social approval and finances, instead of spiritual beings in need of God. They walk by the flesh instead of the Spirit. In fact, God is far from being retained in their knowledge, “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting…” Romans 1:8 They have adopted the reasoning of human beings to develop their values and virtues, “…who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen…” Romans 1:25

To today’s atheistic culture, human beings are nothing more than soulless animals and they say there is no Living Creator. “Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man—and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things…” Romans 1:22-23

Jesus says, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:24 We must be born-again from a materialistic, carnal, physiological being to a spiritual being living for God through Jesus Christ. Jesus says, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God… unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” John 3:3, 5-6

“Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God calls Jesus accursed, and no one can say that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 12:3 “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God.” 1 Corinthians 2:14-16

Click here for a post on Ezekiel 8

“For all the Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.” Acts 17:21

That certainly describes the world we live in today, everyone coming up with their own thing, except for anything involving the presence of the Holy Spirit, Jesus Christ, and the Living Creator. The entity that gives people what to feel and think are grooming people to be anything and everything except receptive to Christianity, the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

One thing that I’ve learned from following blogs and social media posts, the majority of people are willing to listen to the latest news, as long as it has nothing to do with the God of Jesus Christ. Whatever your thing is, whatever your personal god is, they are very attentive and supportive with many “likes”, “follows”, and “comments.” They encourage self-expression of personal gods by asking, “May we know what this new teaching is that you are presenting?” When it comes to those who live for Jesus Christ, they are quick to scrutinize and shut Him out, as they say, “You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears…” 

The Unknown God
“Then Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are very religious; for as I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN GOD.” Acts 17:22-23a

The Epicureans and Stoics governed over the Areopagus and considered themselves anything other than religious, as described in the previous section on Acts 17:19-20. At the same time, they had a god for every physiological desire of the human being, except for the God who feeds the human spirit with the Holy Spirit. In other words, while the men of the Areopagus encouraged people to serve the god of their choice, it had nothing to do with religious beliefs but had to do with catering to what made the population feel happy and pleasant. Their culture was designed to maintain peace and harmony by allowing people to choose whatever lifestyle made them happy.

In today’s atheistic culture, people are not held to any specific standards, except to contribute to the pleasure, happiness, tolerance, and peace of the people within the community. That is why the Gospel of Jesus Christ is rejected, because we speak of living in fellowship with the Holy Spirit. We speak of being able to be born-again to change from a lifestyle of seeking physical pleasure and happiness to living a life in the Spirit. People of today’s culture can choose whatever lifestyle they want [within the confines of peace and tolerance], except for living for God through Jesus Christ in the presence of the Holy Spirit.

I often hear the phrase, “You are free to love who you want to love”, except when I say, “I love Jesus Christ”, I’m no longer free to love who I want to love.

In today’s culture, people are governed by the entity giving them what to feel, think, say, and do. By what they say and do, they are being groomed to a specific lifestyle within the community culture. However, what they are given to say and do never includes the Living Creator, forgiveness of sin through Jesus Christ, nor the Holy Spirit. The entity giving people what to say and do is giving life to the image of the beast to speak and live through them. By what they are given to say and do, they are being groomed to the mark of beast.

“Therefore, the One whom you worship without knowing, Him I proclaim to you: God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. Acts 17:23b-25

The “Unknown God” that is not recognized by today’s culture, which is global, is the Creator of everything and everyone. God created people to have fellowship with Him through the Spirit, but people are filling the spirit and soul with earthly happiness, pleasures, and peace. Paul mentions two very important aspects of the Living God, as described below;

• God does not live in temples made with hands. In other words, manmade buildings where people go to worship any god is not someplace where God lives. That includes the manmade churches, built by human hands, that are known as Chrisitan churches. Anybody can walk into a building, but within their heart, mind, and soul do not represent what the building is built for. Our body is the temple of God, we are the home of the Holy Spirit, and wherever two or more believers gather, that is where the Church is. “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” 1 Corinthians 6:19
  
  People who live for the pleasures, happiness, and peace that this world offers crowds out the presence of the Holy Spirit. “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.” Galatians 5:17 Living for the physiological desires of the body causes a person to reject the forgiveness of sin offered through Jesus Christ. The entity that has power over physiology wants to possess the human body as if it is God by giving people what to feel, think, say, and do. This entity nurtures earthly or carnal desires and is the one “…who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” 2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 The “he” in this verse is the “man of sin”. Click here for a post on the “man of sin”.
  
• God is not worshiped with men’s hands. There is nothing we can offer to God that He needs, that is why His Salvation is a free gift, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God…” There are no buildings, monuments, statues, images, that we can build in honor of God, He doesn’t need any of those things. There is no amount money that we can offer to God, no sacrifices, nor any amount of energy that we can expend to give as part of our worship to God, He doesn’t need any of that. There is nothing that the endeavor of human hands can do to worship God, “…not of works, lest anyone should boast.” Ephesians 2:9 God is not worshipped by any physical or carnal endeavors to bring peace, happiness, and pleasure to the world. God is worshipped in Spirit through Jesus Christ, “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:24 The Living Creator is He who gives everyone life, breath, and all things.

All people of this earth are God’s creation.
“And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings.” Acts 17:26

Paul was clearly Jewish, and now he is speaking to non-Jewish people [the Epicureans and Stoics] to say that all people have one Creator. Paul was saying that the Jewish culture does not have an exclusive right to God over the non-Jewish. In fact, Paul said that every person in every nation who lives on this earth are the creation of the Living God. Whether black, Jewish, Greek, white, Epicureans, Stoics, yellow, brown, or any other ethnicity, God is the Creator of every single person. All are of one blood, the human blood.

As Paul says through the Holy Spirit, all peoples and nations of this world are one in the eyes of God through Jesus Christ, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28

For every country on this earth, God has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their territory. All the different countries and ethnicities include Russia, America, Australia, Canada, Europe. China, North and South Korea, Japan. Indonesia. Alaskan Eskimos. Africa. Israel and the Middle East. Mexicans. Brazilians. And many more. We can all see how the boundaries change over time, such as the divide between North and South Korea who share a common ethnicity. Boundaries are changing worldwide as the ethnicities around the world are mixed into nations across the globe. Each nation has a preappointed time, such as Germany that had its day which rose before WW2 and ended with WW2.

Today, the United Nations intends to progress as the one world government. They intend to do this by bringing all peoples and nations together as one global culture by removing political, religious, and ethnic boundaries. The foundation and unifying force of the global government and its global culture is the entity that gives people what to speak, do, think, and feel. This entity is atheistic as it tosses aside God the Creator, rejects Jesus Christ, and oppresses the presence of the Holy Spirit. This is the government of the beast, and it too has a preappointed time [Click here for a post on the “42 month” rise and fall of the government of the beast].

God sends His judgment to the global government and its global culture through the events of the Seven Trumpets [Revelations 8, 9, 11], and the events of the Seven Plagues [Revelations 16]. Global warming is the Fourth Plague of Revelations 16:8-9 and is instrumental in bringing the destruction of the power center of the government of the beast. The more powerful the United Nations become as the one world government, the hotter and more intense the effect of global warming becomes.

“…so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’ Acts 17:27-28

God is the Creator of every nation of humanity, and with the many boundaries of their territories, we should seek the Lord and find Him to have unity and peace. The only way for this world to unite in peace, security, and prosperity is by searching and finding God. He is not far from us, not in another nation, not within the genes of a specific ethnicity or gender, but He is near to us, within our heart, soul, and spirit. As each person in every nation comes to the Creator who created us all, all peoples and nations form a common bond in Him. God is the giver of life, and in Him we live, move, and have our being. This is similar to what the atheists say who believe in “Mother Nature” as their creator.

Peoples and nations over the ages have tried to build unity, peace, and prosperity by uniting the nations and ethnicities around the world [without recognizing God as the Creator of all]. The building of the Tower of Babel is an example, click here for a post on the Tower of Babel from Genesis 11:1-9. Today, the entity with power over physiology wants peoples and nations to recognize it as God. This entity wants to be served as the one who is the giver of life in which we have our existence. This entity sets in the temple of God, our body, as if it is God by governing through the thoughts, feelings, words, and behaviors of people. This is the one “…who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” 2 Thessalonians 2:4 The “he” in this verse is the “man of sin”. Click here for a post on the “man of sin”.

“When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, when He separated the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the peoples.” Deuteronomy 32:8 “Since his days are determined, the number of his months is with You; You have appointed his limits, so that he cannot pass. Look away from him that he may rest, till like a hired man he finishes his day.” Job 14:5-6

As God’s creation, we should not look to artificial and worldly sources for His Divine Nature.
“Therefore, since we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, something shaped by art and man’s devising.” Acts 17:29

We are the offspring of God, every single person in every nation are the creation and offspring of the Living Creator. The nature of God is Spirit, not of the elements of this earth, so as His offspring we must serve Him in spirit, not through the physical world. “God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:24 God created the elements of the earth; the physical world did not create God. Nothing made in this world has created anything but is created by human hands. The spirit cannot be created by human hands and only through the Spirit can we know the Living Creator.

The Epicureans, Stoics, and people of Athens were creating things from the elements of this earth to show their worship to their god. However, the Divine Nature of God, and of the soul created by God, is not like gold, silver, stone, or anything shaped by art or from people’s ingenuity. It’s impossible to form a relationship with God, who is Spirit, by anything made from the elements of this world. God forms a relationship with His creation within our spirit through His Spirit. God lives from within our spirit and soul.

Today, Satan is using a tool that gives him power over physiology by the entity giving people what to speak, think, feel, and do. This entity is not spiritual but artificial, click here for a post on “Calculating the Number of the Beast”. Also, click here for Ezekiel’s vision of the space satellites, space station, and space shuttle. The Divine Nature of God is not determined by calculating a number, nor is the Divine Nature of God from space satellites. The Divine Nature of God is determined by belief and faith from within the spirit and soul. The entity of this world, the god of this world, is of this universe even as it has the ability to give breath/life to the image of the beast to speak and live through people. People are being groomed to the mark of the beast by what they are given to say and do.

“Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent…”

There was a time of ignorance when peoples and nations didn’t have a clue of how to fellowship with God from within the spirit. Even the Jewish culture was relying on living for God through the laws of Judaism rather than through belief and faith without the letter of the law. Paul graciously surmised that the people of Athens were creating their idols from ignorance, not knowing how to live for God from within the spirit and soul. But now the days of ignorance are over and God commands people everywhere to repent.

 “…because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” Acts 17:31

All the world, all the creation of God in every country everywhere will be judged by the Man whom God has given that authority. That man is Jesus Christ. God sent His Son, Jesus, to proclaim the Kingdom of God, to bring the forgiveness of sin, and to unite us with God through the spirit. When our Lord Jesus died on the Cross to atone for sin, that opened access within our soul into the presence of the Spirit of God. Through Jesus, we are made the temple of the Holy Spirit. Before Jesus made atonement for sin, there was a curtain/veil within our soul separating us from fellowship with His Spirit. By His death on the Cross came the remission of sin, which tore the curtain/veil from top to bottom to reconcile us with God, “And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom…” Matthew 27:50-51

Jesus died on the Cross to atone for sin, then God raised Him from the dead after three days. That resurrection is the guarantee of life beyond the grave, guarantee of eternal life for all His creation who believes in Him. That resurrection is also the guarantee of the judgment to come beyond the grave, “And at that time your people will be delivered, every one who is found written in the book… those who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt. Those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever.” Daniel 12;1-3

Resurrection from the dead is mocked but others believe.
“And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, while others said, “We will hear you again on this matter.” Acts 17:32

Those who believed Paul about God the Creator and the resurrection will be risen from their grave to eternal life. Those who rejected belief in the Divine Creator and the resurrection will be risen from their grave into eternal condemnation in hell.

The Stoics, Epicureans, and people of Athens felt that believing in the resurrection was superstitious. They didn’t believe in a life beyond the grave, eternal life, nor in the judgment to come at the return of Jesus Christ. They only believed in what could be explained within human physiology and human reasoning. This mirrors the beliefs of today’s atheistic culture that lives for what this world has to offer and rejects the notion of the reward of eternal life.

Today’s culture embraces humanism, which is the fig leaf worn by those who govern and live for the atheistic entity that gives them what to speak, do, feel, and think. They only believe in what lies within human physiology and human reasoning. Humanism is “An outlook or system of thought attaching prime importance to human rather than divine or supernatural matters. Humanist beliefs stress the potential value and goodness of human beings, emphasize common human needs, and seek solely rational ways of solving human problems.” 

The resurrection of Jesus Christ is core to His Gospel. By His resurrection, we are born-again by becoming dead to the ways of this world and being resurrected to life in the Spirit. By His resurrection, we are assured of eternal life in the New Jerusalem, after being resurrected from the grave. By His resurrection, we are assured of the judgment to come beyond the grave. Belief in the resurrection brings acceptance of this verse, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

The Holy Spirit speaks these words to us through Paul, “If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.” 1 Corinthians 15:19

“Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty. Yes, and we are found false witnesses of God, because we have testified of God that He raised up Christ, whom He did not raise up—if in fact the dead do not rise. For if the dead do not rise, then Christ is not risen. And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable.” 1 Corinthians 15:12-19

“So Paul departed from among them. However, some men joined him and believed, among them Dionysius the Areopagite, a woman named Damaris, and others with them.” Acts 17:33-34

After Paul spoke about the resurrection of Jesus Christ, he left from among those at the Areopagus [Acts 17:19-20]. At that time, some of those who heard Paul’s words believed what he said about God being the Creator of everybody and about the resurrection. Dionysius was converted to Christianity, is believed to have become the first Bishop of Athens, is greatly respected as a saint in the Catholic churches, and is memorialized on October 3. Damaris, also converted to Christianity and was a prominent woman of Athens, as apparent by her attendance as a member of the Areopagus council.

“After these things Paul departed from Athens and went to Corinth.” Acts 18:1 As seen on the map below, Paul was in Athens. Athens is in the region of Achaia, to the west on the map and almost halfway up. Now he is departing for Corinth which is west of Athens and just a little south.

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“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,“
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:11