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Tag: apostles

Apollos and Paul – Apostles crossing paths
Apollos arrives in Ephesus

Acts 18:

The Connection of Christ’s Missions

21 But on taking leave of them he said, “I will return to you if God wills,” and he set sail from Ephesus.

[No mention here of Silas, Luke or Timothy also part of this 2nd mission. Email me or comment if you know where these apostles of the church might be as Paul begins his 3rd missionary journey. – Roger@TalkofJesus.com ]
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Notice where Ephesus fits into our A.D. 51-52 timeline as the noted Jewish teacher Saul of Tarsus [Paul] departs and Apollos, another notable Jewish apostle to the gentiles begins working alongside disciples of The Way of the Messiah Jesus.

Priscilla and Aquila (also Jews) remain in Ephesus as Paul sails back to Jerusalem and Antioch, Syria [his home church].
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Paul’s Third Missionary Journey Begins

23 After spending some time there, he departed and went from one place to the next through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.

As you can see on a map more familiar to Saul of Tarsus than 21st century christians who simply see modern Turkey, the Apostle Paul has once again set out to visit the churches of his Second Missionary Journey.

Ephesus is miles ahead where Paul will journey through the mountains to the Aegean coast where Apollos has already arrived and preached.
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Luke continues his detailed account of Acts of the Apostles by way of introduction to Apollos.
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Who is this Messianic Jew Apollos?

24 Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, came to Ephesus.
- He was an eloquent man,
- competent in the Scriptures.
- 25 He had been instructed in the way of the Lord.
  - (Not by Paul, but by other disciples of the risen Christ.)
- And being fervent in spirit,
- he spoke and taught accurately the things concerning Jesus..
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We'll leave it there for the moment. 
Pretty good credentials for a new Preacher of Jesus to the Jews in Asia Minor (Ephesus).
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Apollos the Baptist

Now, perhaps, some controversy might arise from calling apollos a ‘Baptist.’ This is no mere division of denomination of an early church in Asia Minor. No, the Baptist moniker in the year of our Lord 52 would have referred to the preaching of John the Baptist.

MANY would have heard of the Baptist, perhaps even hearing him preach prior to Herod beheading him.
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A.D. 30 - Twenty some years earlier from Luke's Gospel (yet to be published ten years from now along with ACTS of the Apostles sometime between A.D. 60 and A.D. 62.)
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Gospel of Luke 9:

Verses 18-21 Legacy Standard Bible

And it happened that while He [JESUS] was praying alone, the disciples were with Him, and He questioned them, saying,

“Who do the crowds say that I am?”

And they answered and said,

“John the Baptist, and others say Elijah, but others, that one of the prophets of old has risen again.” And He said to them,

“But who do you say that I am?”

And Peter answered and said, “The Christ of God.”

But He warned them and directed them not to tell this to anyone..
- AND suppose that Apollos and other disciples had heard The Baptist preach and yet as must have been the case for many never heard the Christ of God preach in Person?
- What might these disciples of JESUS recall some twenty years later?
Luke 3:

[John] .. came into all the district around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins;
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Now unlike most 21st century christians, these 1st century Jews knew their SCRIPTURE!
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as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet,
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“THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS,

‘MAKE READY THE WAY OF THE LORD,

MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT.

‘EVERY RAVINE WILL BE FILLED,

AND EVERY MOUNTAIN AND HILL WILL BE BROUGHT LOW;

THE CROOKED WILL BE STRAIGHT,

AND THE ROUGH ROADS SMOOTH.
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AND ALL FLESH WILL SEE THE SALVATION OF GOD.’”
Luke 3:6 LSB quoting: Isa 40:5; Isa 49:6; Isa 52:10

a response to Apollos OR The Baptist OR JESUS

“But indeed the ax is already laid at the root of the trees; therefore, every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

And the crowds were questioning him, saying, “Then what should we do?”
Luke 3:9-10 LSB

John answered, saying to them all,

“As for me, I baptize you with water, but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the strap of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

“His winnowing fork is in His hand to thoroughly clear His threshing floor and to gather the wheat into His barn,

but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.”

So with many other exhortations he proclaimed the gospel to the people.

Gospel of Luke 3:18 LSB of the preaching of John the Baptist

Refining the Preaching of Apollos

Acts 18 continued in Ephesus

26 He began to speak boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately.
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It is expected that mature believers must instruct new followers of JESUS Christ more accurately. 

Even as Aquilla must have given exhortation to Apollos, the Apostle Paul on the way to Ephesus is most like doing the same as he revisits the new churches of previous missionary journeys (some to whom the Apostles has already written an Epistle).
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27 And when he wished to cross to Achaia, the brothers encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him.

God-willing, ACTS of the apostles Paul, Apollos, Aquila and many others — To be continued

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September 1, 2023
Sanctification and your Walk Toward Holiness
WHAT IS SANCTIFICATION and WHY DOES IT MATTER?

Walking instructions to please God more

Not ME – the deception of SIN

Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. – 1 Thessalonians 4:1 KJV

SOUNDS LIKE GOOD FATHERLY ADVICE, doesn’t it?

Allow me to tell you a story about a letter.
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ONCE UPON A TIME there were some gentile pigs (as Jews supposed them to be) 
who having fled their straw and stick houses to a brother's brick-built house where these young believers thought they were safe from the enemy.

BUT did some young saint slip out through a wider door of their former sins?
And won't the unclean pig only to be barbecued by the enemy?

Paul, a father of these tender believers, knows that the enemy may deceive them. 
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The apostles Paul and Silas have recently received good news about the Thessalonians from Timothy.

ἀπόστολος – Apostles of Christ
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and communication with the Church
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1 Thessalonians 3: .. we were willing to be left behind at Athens alone, 2 and we sent Timothy, our brother and God’s coworker in the gospel of Christ, to establish and exhort you in your faith..

BEFORE Paul’s speech to the idol worshipers of Athens — BETWEEN the two missionary journeys (the first with Barnabas and this with Silvanus) — the risen Jesus sent out JEWS and GENTILES with clarification of the GOOD NEWS (Gospel) of ALL believers becoming sanctified by the blood of the Cross and a call to holiness and righteousness in Christ.

Epistle from the Council of Jerusalem – Acts 15:20

.. we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God,
but should write to them
to abstain from the things polluted by idols, and from sexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from blood.
Acts 15:19b-20 ESV

Letters from other Church Fathers about Sanctification

In the sense that Jesus’ biological half-brother James sends out this apostolic instruction and another letter to the Church, for he too is an apostle (although not by a personal journey into the nations).

In A.D. 49 James writes:

And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
James 1:4

Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.
from a recent letter from James 1:21 ESV written ~A.D. 49 ~ the same time as the Council at Jerusalem

Galatia was a large Roman province which at that time included the region north to the Black Sea but most populated along the Mediterranean and included Cypress, Pamphylia and other regions.

Paul has already written a general epistle to the Galatians in A.D. 49 which includes churches founded during his first missionary journey.

Sanctification of children learning to walk in Christ

Formerly, when you did not know God, you were enslaved to those that by nature are not gods. But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God,

how can you turn back again to the weak and worthless elementary principles of the world, whose slaves you want to be once more?
Paul’s letter (epistle) to the Galatians 4:8-9 ESV

“Abba! Father!” WE ARE NO LONGER SLAVES of these things!
Now the works of the flesh are evident:
- sexual immorality,
- impurity,
- sensuality,
- idolatry,
- sorcery,
- enmity,
- strife,
- jealousy,
- fits of anger,
- rivalries,
- dissensions,
- divisions,
- envy,
- drunkenness,
- orgies,
- and things like these.
I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Paul’s letter (epistle) to the Galatians 5:19-21 ESV
A.D. 50 –

Paul, so pleased with his Thessalonian children, now warns of dangers before them.

1 Thessalonians 4:

2 For you know what instructions we gave you through the Lord Jesus.
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The Apostle sent by Christ our Lord to the Nations commands his beloved young children.
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3 For this is the will of God,

your sanctification:
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Before we continue with Paul's command through the Lord Jesus and God the Father let's DEFINE a term sometimes omitted from some English translations of the Holy Bible.
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ἁγιασμός – Lexicon :: Strong’s G38 – hagiasmos

a word used only by Biblical and ecclesiastical writings signifying:
1. consecration, purification, τὸ ἁγιάζειν.
2. the effect of consecration: sanctification of heart and life, 1 Corinthians 1:30 (Christ is he to whom we are indebted for sanctification); 1 Thessalonians 4:7; Romans 6:19, 22; 1 Timothy 2:15; Hebrews 12:14; ἁγιασμὸς πνεύματος sanctification wrought by the Holy Spirit, 2 Thessalonians 2:13; 1 Peter 1:2.
It is opposed to lust in 1 Thessalonians 4:3 f. (It is used in a ritual sense, Judges 17:3 [Alexandrian LXX]; Ezekiel 45:4; [Amos 2:11]; Sir. 7:31, etc.) [On its use in the N. T. cf. Ellicott on 1 Thessalonians 4:3; 1 Thessalonians 3:13.]
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The King James and other versions of the Bible generally translate this as SANCTIFICATION or HOLINESS. Paul will use it 3x in the next few verses of his Epistle and uses its root word in his benediction [5:23], as well as later in a second letter.
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God has chosen you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.
2 Thessalonians 2:13B

that you abstain ἀπέχω

from sexual immorality

Here’s a HOT TOPIC in Thessaloniki now OR anywhere in every generation.

πορνεία

porneia

“fornication” is the old word for this “porneia” behaviour nearly no one remembers.
- illicit sexual intercourse
  - adultery, fornication, homosexuality, lesbianism, intercourse with animals etc.
  - sexual intercourse with close relatives; Lev. 18
  - sexual intercourse with a divorced man or woman; Mk. 10:11-12
- metaph. the worship of idols
Each must control our body

4 that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God.
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"..possess his own vessel" [acquire his OWN wife, referring to fornication or adultery, states the King James] 
"..in sanctification and honor,"

THERE IT IS AGAIN - SANCTIFICATION of the flesh (for HOLINESS of the vessel of our spirit).
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WHY CONTROL IT?
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Again, from the KJV, the reason lies at the end of Paul's single long sentence which began back in v.3.
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For this is the will of God, even your sanctification.. That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter:

because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.
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Remember v. 2 pointing back to their previous instruction in Christ?
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OR ELSE!

For God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.

ἀκαθαρσία – UNCLEANNESS?
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 (Isn't there a better way for a 21st century Christian to read this?)
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Of course we could use other words to describe those who refuse to wash their flesh in the sanctifying cleansing water of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible almost always points toward an imagery of walking in the way Christ would be recognized by OUR witness.

Lexicon :: Strong’s G167 – akatharsia

ἀκαθαρσία, -ας, ἡ, (ἀκάθαρτος) [from Hippocrates down], uncleanness;
a. physical: Matthew 23:27.
b. in a moral sense, the impurity of lustful, luxurious, profligate living: Romans 1:24; Romans 6:19; 2 Corinthians 12:21; Galatians 5:19; Ephesians 4:19; Ephesians 5:3; Colossians 3:5; 1 Thessalonians 4:7; used of impure motives in 1 Thessalonians 2:3. (Demosthenes, p. 553, 12.) Cf. Tittmann i., p. 150f.

⁸Therefore whoever disregards this, disregards not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.
1 Thessalonians 4:8 ESV

Paul, Sylvanus and Timothy then return to their opening praise of the Thessalonian church.

9 Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another, for that indeed is what you are doing to all the brothers throughout Macedonia.

But we urge you, brothers, to do this more and more, and to aspire to live quietly, and to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we instructed you, so that you may walk properly before outsiders and be dependent on no one.

I charge you by the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren.
1 Thessalonians 5:27 KJV – conclusion of the first Epistle from Paul to the Thessalonians

Next (or should I say, LAST) – eschatology

I have already detailed Paul’s praise for this church with the enemy at the door of its brick house, BUT we won’t want to overlook the Apostle’s warning of later times like these…

Some commentators believe Paul’s principle purpose in writing to the Thessalonians is warning about last times.

.. the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night.

Stay tuned.
July 17, 2023
New Testament Epistles – Apostolic Letters to the Church
Epistles of the Apostles

Epistles are a type of letter. Have you ever received a letter with GOOD NEWS?

And consequently didn’t these epistles or letters fill you with joy upon reading from the thoughtfulness of this sender of GOOD NEWS?

Epistle from the Council of Jerusalem – Acts 15:20

Previously we spoke of a precedent from a council in Jerusalem with Good News for Gentiles
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Just a reminder from our previous post about the HOT Topics of AD 50 clarified by James (NOT one of two among the Twelve, but an apostle of the GOSPEL of the RISEN JESUS, biological half-brother of the Lord):
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An EPISTLE may be a COMMAND or at the very least as in ACTS 15,

AUTHORITATIVE INSTRUCTION to all.

An epistle from any apostle sent out by Jesus Christ contained authoritative instructions from the Lord to first century disciples throughout the world – Good News with Christ’s encouragement from men sent out by Jesus with the Gospel.

WHO wrote to the 1st century Church?

Like most Christians YOU can likely name several apostles who communicated to various churches and church leaders by letter or epistle. These include (in no particular order):
- Peter
- John
- Paul
- James & Jude (the Lord’s biological half-brothers)
- and others (Silas, Timothy, etc.)
Letters in our spare time

My purpose today is to point to the HOT topics of A.D. 50 through the epistles written about the time of Paul’s second missionary journey in Acts of the Apostles.

And he stayed a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
Acts of the Apostles 18:11 – confirming Paul’s length of stay in Corinth

Corinth – 1st Church Plant in ACHAIA

Paul wrote his 1st epistle to the Corinthians five years after is current residence in the city.

Other Epistles & communication (~A.D. 50)
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Let's take a glance at these instructions for the Church ALREADY IN CIRCULATION in A.D. 50 - two decades after the Pentecost the HOLY SPIRIT filled the saints in Jerusalem - chronologically:
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JAMES

James can be reliably dated ca. A.D. 44–49, making it the earliest written book of the NT canon.
Commentary of John MacArthur

THEREFORE, James has already sent out various authoritative instructions to the church (perhaps even in consultation with some of the Twelve) in his epistle already familiar to most believers PRIOR to instructions from the Council of Jerusalem addressing Jews and Gentiles worshipping together in the Hellenist nations of Rome.

A.D. 49 –

GALATIANS

Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead— 2 * and all the brothers who are with me,

To the churches of Galatia:
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* These 'brothers who are with [Paul]' are listed in the Corinth – 1st Church Plant in ACHAIA post above introducing Acts 18.

Once again, John MacArthur helps us with commentary of the timing of Paul's epistle to the Galatians, churches we have already visited earlier in Acts.
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Paul founded churches in the southern Galatian cities of Antioch, Iconium, Lystra, and Derbe (Acts 13:14–14:23). These cities, although within the Roman province of Galatia, were not in the ethnic Galatian region.

source: BlueLetterBible.org commentaries
WHY do we write letters?

OR emails in this 21st century of the Lord’s church?

OR TEXT someone OR MESSAGE someone in some convenient APP?

The Apostle Paul, previously sent out to the Gentiles by Jesus Christ with the Gospel, begins to write back to the members of these churches he and other apostles had planted. It’s not simply a one-time evangelism but BUILDING UP THE CHURCH for the long run.

Once again, and Epistle is a type of letter with an authoritative purpose.

I’ve hinted at our own evangelism of Christian Social Witness many times before.

What would Paul have done in ATHENS had the Apostle had a cell phone?

OR what evangelism for 18 months while in Corinth now would the Apostle Paul utilized had he owned a satellite-connected laptop computer or iPad?
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Of course this begs the question (now that we may so easily 'Go into all the world and proclaim the Gospel'):

WHY DO YOU INVEST SO MANY MORTAL HOURS IN THIS SOCIAL TECHNOLOGY 
WITHOUT MENTION OF JESUS CHRIST & THE GOSPEL?
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WHEN do we communicate?

This morning I have already been interrupted in my daily ‘routine’ (if we could manage such a thing) by:
- phone calls,
- emails,
- texts,
- i-messages,
- multiple push notifications for the same HOT topic BREAKING NEWS interruption of the day
  - (similar content to each other and speculative news opinion of what it all means I’ve endured for the past several days)
I’m actually initiating some of my own emails related to other parts of my life having nothing to do with my job BUT by various measure important to my relationships with others in witness of the character of the Good News of the Cross in my eternal life.

WHO do we address in our messages?

Mostly, people we know.

YET often the opportunity to SHARE the Gospel will come at an unexpected time in an unlikely place.

YOU do not have to think of yourself as needing the tools of an anointed evangelist like Philip explaining the Gospel from Isaiah to an official of Ethiopian court,

OR Paul and other apostles sent to the Greeks

OR an annointed 20th century evangelist like Billy Graham preaching the Gospel to many in large stadiums throughout the world.
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Here's a HOT TOPIC for you: IS THERE A HELL?
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Did you realize the multitudes attending the crusades of Billy Graham were MOSTLY unconverted ‘christians’ in need of building up the faith of the Gospel already preached to them repeatedly as members of their own church?

Perhaps YOU are one of these in need of hearing the gospel or you want to TALK OF JESUS but just don’t know where to start.

Would some of YOUR christian brothers and sisters be encouraged by an epistle of GOOD NEWS shared by YOU?

WHY did the Apostles write Epistles?

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all.
Paul’s earliest Epistle [~A.D. 49] to the GALATIANS 1:6-7a NIV

ACTS of the Apostles Paul and Barnabas has already witnessed to us that proclaimers of the GOOD NEWS of Jesus Christ will be rejected by many AND even persecuted.

YET they continued to proclaim the gospel IN THESE OTHER CITIES OF GALATIA.

The word of the Lord spread through the whole region..

And the disciples were filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit..

So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there [Iconium], speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders..

[they fled to] cities of Lystra and Derbe and to the surrounding country,

where they continued to preach the gospel.
Acts of the Apostles 13:49,52; 14:6b-7 NIV

Paul’s HOT Topic of his first epistle:

REALLY, apostasy (a rather ‘churchy’-sounding word a professional evangelist might go on to explain).

As we already know from Paul’s first mission these to men of Galatia public opinion is greatly divided in EVERY town with some at the extremes taking extreme measures to ensure that their GOSPEL remains unheard.

(Sound familiar?)

The Apostles wrote epistles to build up the church in general and faithful church leaders specifically.

When we continue chronologically with the HOT topics of these epistles we will talk of JESUS proclaimed to the Galatians and the FALSE GOSPEL the apostle will address in his epistle to them.

WHY NOT COMMENT HERE what YOU think is important about Paul’s letter to the Galatians.
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Summer HOT Topics from the EPISTLES: To be continued...
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June 12, 2023