King

When the four Pevensie siblings stumbled through a wardrobe closet into a mythical land, they were surprised. But when they met the King of that land, their surprise grew even…

In August of 480 BC, a few hundred Spartans led by King Leonidas battled against 150,000 Persian warriors led by King Xerxes. The heavily outnumbered Greeks held their ground, repelled the invaders, and controlled the battle for three days.

But there was one thing King Leonidas couldn’t control…and it would prove fatal.

Matthew opens his version of the Good News of Jesus Christ with some unthinkably bad news: the King of the Jews, Herod the Great, becomes jealous and angry, and slaughters innocent baby boys born in and around Bethlehem. Since no other historian mentions this atrocity, many deny it ever took place.

Yeah, murdering innocent people would be soooooo out of character for King Herod….

Suleiman the Magnificent was the longest-ruling leader in the Ottoman Empire. The mighty sultan led successful military conquests on multiple continents and the legal system he set in place transformed the lives of millions for several centuries. But like all men, both great and small, he eventually died.

But through an elaborate hoax, his dead body was kept on the throne!

Joy to the World is the most-recognized and most-published Christmas hymn in America. Since its writing in 1719, Isaac Watts’ tune has become a holiday necessity at sacred – and even secular – gatherings.

But ironically, Watts never intended the song to be about Christ’s birth; in fact, he had a very different occasion in mind.

The act of baptism is usually a painless event. There’s not much to it: take a sinner who desires to follow Christ…and add water. Ta da! That’s baptism: as profound as it is simple.

But history tells of at least one very painful baptism in the life of the Christian church.