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BANGOR, ME — Stephen King fans have long been perplexed as to how the man who wrote The Shining, the Dark Tower series, and Misery could possibly be the same guy who logs onto Twitter and tweets like a 7-year-old chimpanzee with anger issues. Well, you can consider this mystery solved: the King estate confirmed today that the famed author actually died when he got hit by that van back in 1999, and they've just been releasing manuscripts they found stuffed in his dresser drawer since then. But what about the insane rants posted on his Twitter account? Enter this...

“These are the things you are to do: Speak the truth to one another, render true and perfect justice in your gates. And do not contrive evil against one another, and do not love perjury, because all those are things that I hate—declares the Lord.” These verses, from Zechariah 8:16–17, were discovered in a cave where Jewish refugees hid almost 1900 years ago. The verses, written on dozens of parchment fragments were discovered in a complex and challenging national-archaeological operation undertaken by the Israel Antiquities Authority on the cliffs of the Judean Desert, since 2017, in order to prevent antiquities...

TEL AVIV - Israeli archeologists on Tuesday revealed dozens of recently-discovered fragments of biblical texts, known as the Dead Sea Scrolls, which build on a collection of ancient Jewish religious manuscripts that was first discovered 60 years ago. Israel’s Antiquities Authorities said that the pieces of parchment feature lines of Greek text from the books of Zechariah and Nahum which have been radiocarbon dated to the 2nd century A.D. The discovery is the result of a years-long Israeli excavation in the Judean Desert and are believed to belong to a set known as “The Cave of Horror,” named for the...

They also discovered a partially mummified 6,000-year-old skeleton of a child.For the first time in 60 years, archaeologists have discovered a new fragment of the Dead Sea Scrolls, a cache of ancient Jewish and Hebrew religious manuscripts uncovered in the Qumran Caves on the northern shore of the Dead Sea. The Israel Antiquities Authority, which carried out the excavations, believes the new scroll, written in Greek, is actually a missing part of the “Book of the 12 Minor Prophets” scroll, first discovered in 1961. It contains verses from Zechariah 8:16-17 and Nahum 1:5-6. The minor differences in the wording compared...

Question One: How do we know the Bible is true? (Hebrews 4:12) According to the Bible, all Scripture is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16). Peter confirmed this when he said that those who wrote the Bible were not speaking on their own but spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit (2 Peter 1:21). Many parts of Scripture are directly attributed to God through use of phrases like This is what the Lord says (e.g., Exodus 4:22). Finally, Jesus often quoted from the Old Testament and affirmed it as being God’s Word. Prophecies that were later fulfilled...

One of the manuscripts in question, depicting St. John Climacus’ Ladder of Divine Ascent. Photo: nyt.comThe University of Princeton has denied all allegations that it is unlawfully holding ancient Orthodox manuscripts, as a lawsuit filed by Patriarch Bartholomew charges. The school is also seeking compensation for legal costs, reports the Daily Princetonian. The claim involves three illuminated Byzantine manuscripts more than 1,000 years old that have been valued treasures in Princeton’s collection for decades, reports the New York Times. The manuscripts are St. John Chrysostom’s Commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, written by Nikephoros the Notary in 955, St. John...

Six years ago, Dan Wallace announced in a debate with Bart Ehrman that a paleographer had dated a recently-found papyrus fragment of Mark to the first century. Since then, I’ve received many requests for updates, and I finally have one to give. The fragment has now been published, and there’s good news and bad news. The bad news is that its official date is late second or early third century. Dan Wallace has written a post explaining what happened and offering an apology. Here’s a brief excerpt: In my debate with Bart, I mentioned that I had it on...

The text was created by Jean du Quesne in Lille, a city at the northern tip of France. The art was created by an anonymous artist, known as the Master of the Jardin de vertueuse consolation, in Bruges, a city in the northwest of Belgium.

Day by day, we hear new horrors about the persecution of Christians in the Middle East. Now, believers living under ISIS control in northern Iraq must choose between conversion to Islam, payment of protection money, or death. Ancient churches and shrines are already in flames. I want to concentrate on a unexamined aspect of this problem, one that has done much to shape what we know about the history and nature of early Christianity. In one particular historical era, anti-Christian violence did irreparable damage to our historical sources.   The story goes back to the dual origins of monasticism,...

<p>VATICAN CITY (AP) -- Access to the Gutenberg Bible and other ancient manuscripts has just gotten easier.</p> <p>The Vatican Library and Oxford University's Bodleian Library put the first of 1.5 million pages of their precious manuscripts online Tuesday, bringing their collections to a global audience for the first time.</p>

The pages are mottled and a little yellow. Some look almost burnt around the edges. A letter from Abraham Lincoln is said to be the auction's centrepiece Enlarge Image The ink is blotchy in places, but the signatures are unmistakable, and magical. You need a good imagination, but stare for long enough and you can picture the writers. Abraham Lincoln for instance, perhaps stroking his beard as he writes from the "Executive Mansion, Washington, April 5, 1864." George Washington, sitting at his desk at Mount Vernon ("in Virginia" he usefully adds on the top right-hand corner) on 2 June 1784....

An ancient document likened to something which could have been featured in best-selling novel The Da Vinci Code was being analysed at a top auction house for its significance today. The manuscript, believed to date from the 17th century, contains biographical details of every person in the Bible. It was unearthed in the depths of the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth where it had been kept in storage for Llandovery College, an independent school near the Brecon Beacons. It was among about half of the school’s archive of books which were taken to the library around 50 years ago....

washingtonpost.com From the Desert, a Wellspring of Ancient Manuscripts By Philip Kennicott Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, June 25, 2003; Page C01 "Our ceilings are not very tight," says Abdel Haidara of the houses in his native Mali. He's talking in Arabic at a Monday afternoon lecture at the Library of Congress in one of the library's more ceremonial rooms. Curiously, there is sign of what looks like a little water damage above an arch window behind him.

QUESTION: I've heard that there have been many manuscripts discovered since 1611 that the King James translators did not have access to. Do these strenghten the Bible or weaken them? ANSWER: They strengthen the King James Bible.

QUESTION: Where do Bible manuscripts come from? ANSWER: Most existing manuscripts of the Bible are divided into two "families." These two families are represented by the cities of Alexandria, Egypt and Antioch, Syria.

Lesson Twelve: Deliberating the Arguments "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me." (John 5:39) LESSON INDEX The foundations of mankind are philosophies, traditions (Col. 2:8 ), and science (1 Tim. 6:20). The reality, however, is that our very bedrock lies with the blessed Hope and His bountiful word (Heb. 11:1-3). What and how we think is not as important as what God says. How we view our world is not how God views it (Isa. 55:8). Therefore, if we are to know the truth of a matter...

Lesson Eleven: Translational Considerations LESSON INDEX As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. (2 Peter 3:16) The majority of objections to the King James Bible can be placed in one of two categories. The first deals with the text. In regard to this, we have not only considered the underlining Greek text of the Authorized Version, but also the Greek text which underlines the vast majority of...

Lesson Eleven: Translational Considerations LESSON INDEX As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. (2 Peter 3:16) The majority of objections to the King James Bible can be placed in one of two categories. The first deals with the text. In regard to this, we have not only considered the underlining Greek text of the Authorized Version, but also the Greek text which underlines the vast majority of...

LESSON 10: TEXTUAL CONSIDERATIONS LESSON INDEX Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts. (Zechariah 4:6) Contextually the above citation concerns the strengthening of Zerubbable with regard to building the Temple. The Almighty God informed his servant that the accomplishment of this deed would not be fulfilled by the potency and purpose of human authorities, but by His Spirit. For us, there is a deeper and continuous meaning. Successful endeavors for God can auspiciously be...

LESSON EIGHT: The Hebrew Masoretic Text and Greek Septuagint What advantage then hath the Jew? or what profit is there of circumcision? Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. (Rom. 3:1-2) LESSON INDEX According to the Bible, the Hebrews were given charge of keeping and copying God's word. The word oracle means revelation, prophecy, canon, or edict. It was unto the Jew, that the Old Testament revelation and canon were committed. This is why twice in the Old Testament they were instructed not to add to or take from the word of God....